Eliashberg theory provides a theoretical framework for understanding the phenomenon of superconductivity when pairing between two electrons is mediated by phonons, and retardation effects are fully accounted for. However, when a direct Coulomb interaction between two electrons is also present, this interaction is only partially accounted for. In this work we use a well-defined Hamiltonian, the Hubbard-Holstein model, to examine this competition more rigorously, using exact diagonalization on a two-site system. We find that the direct electron-electron repulsion between two electrons has a significantly more harmful effect on pairing than suggested through the standard treatment of this interaction.


Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are an emerging family of innate immune cells and have been found to have an important role in infection, inflammation and tissue repair. In particular, recent work has identified significant alterations of ILC responses in tumor patients, suggesting potential roles of ILCs in tumor development. In this paper, we have focused on the basic features of ILCs and their interaction with other immune cells. Importantly, as the role of cytotoxic natural killer cells, assigned to ILC1 family, in cancer has been well established, we have summarized the new findings that showcase the potential role and mechanism of helper ILCs in different tumors. Helper ILCs might promote or inhibit tumor growth and metastasis, which depends on tumor type and ILC subset.


In this paper, sensitivity enhancement of a nanocomposite-based optical fiber sensor with platinum nanoparticles is investigated. This optical fiber sensor is based on the surface plasmon resonance in the nanocomposite layer coating the core of optical fiber. A comparison is carried out for sensitivity between an optical fiber sensor based surface plasmon resonance with platinum layer and the one with nanocomposite layer. The nanocomposite layer consists of platinum nanoparticles with varying volume fraction which is arrayed in a host dielectric material of InN or TiO2. We show that the sensitivity of the sensor with a nanocomposite layer containing platinum nanoparticles is bigger than the sensitivity of the sensor with a platinum layer for all the values of refractive index of sample media. Also, the effect of the thickness of the nanocomposite layer and the volume fraction of platinum nanoparticles on the spectrum of the transmitted power has been investigated.


The members of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) Advanced Life Support Task Force have written a comprehensive summary of trials of the effectiveness of induced hypothermia (IH) or targeted temperature management (TTM) in comatose patients after cardiac arrest (CA). However, in-depth analysis of these studies is incomplete, especially since there was no significant difference in primary outcome between hypothermia versus normothermia in the recently reported TTM2 trial. We critically appraise trials of IH/TTM versus normothermia to characterize reasons for the lack of treatment effect, based on a previously published framework for what to consider when the primary outcome fails. We found a strong biologic rationale and external clinical evidence that IH treatment is beneficial. Recent TTM trials mainly included unselected patients with a high rate of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The treatment was not applied as intended, which led to a large delay in achievement of target temperature. While receiving intensive care, sedative drugs were likely used that might have led to increased neurologic damage as were antiplatelet drugs that could be associated with increased acute stent thrombosis in hypothermic patients. It is reasonable to still use or evaluate IH treatment in patients who are comatose after CA as there are multiple plausible reasons why IH compared to normothermia did not significantly improve neurologic outcome in the TTM trials.


Changes in bio-marker expression in various cardiovascular disorders can be demonstrated by mRNA expression concentration and cardiac proteins by ELISA, histology, immunohistology or immunofluorescence. The latter methods are less sensitive but are cheaper. We now report the development of enhanced immunofluorescence detection of a cardiovascular biomarker, cardiac myosin (CM), by immunofluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry using pretargeting of CM with bispecific antibody (bsAb) and targeting with multi-Rhodamine conjugated negatively charged polymers that show signal amplification, no fluorescence quenching and low background activity.

Methods: bsAb was made by covalent conjugation of monoclonal anti-myosin and anti-DTPA antibodies via thioether bonds. Rhodamine conjugated polymers were made by simultaneous covalent conjugation of 20X molar concentrations of Rhodamine-isothiocyanate (RITC) and anhydride of DTPA to 13.8 kDa polylysine polymers followed by succinylation (R-DSPL). Embryonic cardiocytes or frozen-murine cardiac tissue (10 μ) sections after pretargeting with bsAb (1, 0.1 and 0.01μg/ml) were targeted with the R-DSPL. Controls consisted of anti-myosin RITC, Anti-DTPA-RICT, rabbit anti-murine IgG-RITC or the antibodies labeled with TRITC (1, 0.1, and 0.01).

Results: The 20X R-DSPL contained 18 moles RITC and 30 moles DTPA per mole of polylysine. The distance between adjacent RITC in the 20X polymers was calculated to be approximately 33.6 Angstroms (A). CM in frozen sections still showed fluorescence signal pretargeted with 0.01μg/ml bsAb concentration and targeted with 20X R-DSPL whereas anti-myosin-RITC showed about the same fluorescence at 10 μg/ml concentration. Flow cytometry also confirmed that the pretargeting signal with 1 μg/ml of bsAb was 5 times greater than that obtained with 5 μg/ml of Rhodamine conjugated anti-myosin.

Conclusions: The use of polymer as carriers of multiple fluorophores for targeting after pretargeting with bsAb resulted in fluorescence signal amplification by at least 1000 times. This method of signal enhancement may allow higher sensitivity detection of changes in other cardiac bio-marker associated with development of various cardiovascular disorders.


There has been no research on the topics related to parents' opinions on their
children's consuming habits in Estonia before. Marketing that targets children is as a
whole a new branch of study in Estonia on account of which the present BA thesis can
be seen as conceptional.
Therefore almost half of this paper is dedicated to giving an overview of earlier
thoretical treatments and research. The empirical part of my work consists of
conclusions made on the qualitative text analysis of in-depth interviews with 11
parents and describes their viewpoints.
From one side it was necessary to study parents' standpoints for practical reasons. The
questions how to protect children or how to regulate marketing that is targeted on
children are relevant for Estonian society and regarding the increasing pressure of
marketing, become even more relevant in due time.
That is where the parents have an important role, for they largely shape the
consuming habits of children and the formal methods of any kind (laws or the code of
ethics of marketing) are never effective enough to protect children. The results of the
present work can also be used to compile materials and lectures for parents.
On the other hand, different articles on marketing for children express certain broader
attitudes towards consuming culture that is more widely a subject of social way of
thinking. For adults, children's position is special and describing children works as an
indicator of a wider social thinking.
One of the main focuses in this work is the parents' view on the position of subjects
that are placed in the triangle of child, marketing and the parent. In general, there
dominated a pattern where marketing was seen as manipulative and hazardous for
children. At the same time, it was not regarded as a serious problem because of the
important protective-pedagogical influence of parents. The effect of marketing is also
described in a rather simplified manner, it seems that the prototypes of advertising are the washing powder commercials produced for Eastern European market. Therefore
parents might not even consider the typical complicated marketing materials as direct
advertisements.
Secondly this paper focuses on perceptions of the symbolic values of consumption
and opportunities to cope with cognitive tensions when the parents' resources were
limited (in the state of deprivation). Empirical results brought forth dominating
pattern of "rational" consumption, parents admitted unfilled needs of their children
but as a rule these were seen as unimportant and marginal.
In general there is the detectable ambivalence in viewpoints, which were influenced
by strong cognition of social norms and overall scarce awareness. Parents with higher
tensions showed more considered and protective attitudes.
This topic certainly needs further research in Estonia, especially with an aim to draw
representative conclusions.


To study the process of composting of grape marc and test the resulting compost as a substrate for the cultivation of ornamental plants, six composting processes, with mixtures of dealcoholised grapevine marc and grape stalk (DM+GS) in a 1:1 ratio (v:v), were carried out in Seville (Spain) between 2000 and 2006. The duration of the composting ranged between 20 and 24 weeks in the Spring-Summer season. Weekly, temperature, pH, EC, N-NO3- and N-NH4+, were measured. The maximum temperatures reached values of 65-73°C at a depth between 40 and 80 cm. The compost had a slightly alkaline pH, slightly salinity, high organic matter and total nitrogen contents. The final compost chemical composition in total elements showed values in the same range as those corresponding to plant material, except for Fe. The distribution in the size of the particles gives way to a total porous space that is close to the one considered as optimal in a substrate for soilless cropping. Pore size distribution showed a prevalence of big pores that produces unbalance in the water-air ratios, resulting in a material with a good aeration but with low water retention. The composts were tested as substrates for four ornamental species: geranium, petunia, carnation and gerbera. The results suggest that compost has no limiting characteristics for its use as a medium for the cultivation of ornamental plants in container, and can replace conventional substrates, such as peat and coconut fibre.


Irritable bowel syndrome is a very common clinical problem for which there are no established diagnostic criteria. The two aims of the present study were first, to create a scoring system for the diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome incorporating features from the case history, physical examination, and some basic investigations including erythrocyte sedimentation rate and blood count; and second, to estimate the diagnostic accuracy of this scoring system in terms of its sensitivity and specificity, and of its predictive value in patients diagnosed as having irritable bowel syndrome by conventional methods. A group of 479 consecutive outpatients referred to a gastrointestinal clinic was studied by the usual extensive routine workup practiced at the clinic, including numerous laboratory tests, endoscopy of upper and lower gastrointestinal tract, and ultrasound. In 209 patients, symptoms were related to an underlying organic disease and in 108 patients irritable bowel syndrome was diagnosed without any recognizable organic disease. As a separate exercise, a scoring system including the answers of a questionnaire and the results of eight basic investigations was established. After completion of the study, the score was weighted by means of a logistic regression analysis. Using the weighted score, at a sensitivity of 64%, the specificity for the diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome was 99%, and at a sensitivity of 83%, the specificity was 97%. Patients with organic diseases such as malignant tumor or inflammatory bowel disease were well discriminated by the score. It is concluded that a detailed history, physical examination, and basic laboratory tests are sufficient in most patients for the positive diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome and the exclusion of any underlying organic diseases.


Background and Aim: Electrocardiogram (ECG) is one of the most important examination models used to diagnose various abnormal heart rhythms. An EKG records the electrical activity of the heart through wires and electrodes that are attached to the skin of the arms, legs, and chest wall. Early examination of heart defects can improve quality of life through appropriate treatment. One of the abnormalities in the heart is coronary heart disease. CHD is a heart disease that is mainly caused by the narrowing of the coronary arteries due to atherosclerosis or spasm or a combination of both. In this study, a system was designed to classify coronary heart disease from the results of ECG images. Methods: The study consisted of several stages, starting with the collection of ECG image data for cardiac abnormalities which were used for training images and testing images. The next step is pre-processing using a grayscale process to show the intensity value. Furthermore, at the segmentation stage, a thresholding process is used which aims to divide the image into two parts, namely between the object and the background by forming a binary image. The next stage is the process of taking feature values from the segmentation results using Invariant Moment. The final stage is classification using the Convolutional Neural Network. The data used in this study are images obtained from Beecardia physiobank. There are four classifications of images processed in this system, namely Normal, Asymptomatic, Angina Pectoris, and Acute Myocardial Infarction. The amount of data used is 126 where the image is divided into two, namely, 101 training data and 25 testing data. Results: The Convolutional Neural Network method is able to classify coronary heart disease from the results of ECG images very well. The results of the classification process for coronary heart disease from the results of ECG images are able to achieve an accuracy of 92%. Conclusion: The classification system can perform its performance well, as evidenced by the percentage obtained, including a height exceeding 90%. Suggestions for the future, more training data can be used so that at the time of testing, the test data can get higher accuracy.


Consider a network multiplexer with a finite buffer fed by a superposition of independent heterogeneous on-off sources. An on-off source consists of a sequence of alternating independent activity and silence periods. During its activity period a source produces fluid with constant rate. For this system, under the assumption that the residual activity periods are intermediately regularly varying, we derive explicit and asymptotically exact formulas for approximating the stationary overflow probability and loss rate. The derived asymptotic formulas, in addition to their analytical tractability, exhibit excellent quantitative accuracy, which is illustrated by a number of simulation experiments. We demonstrate through examples how these results can be used for efficient computation of capacity regions for network switching elements. Furthermore, the results provide important insight into qualitative tradeoffs between the overflow probability, offered traffic load, available capacity, and buffer space. Overall, they provide a new set of tools for designing and provisioning of networks with heavy-tailed traffic streams.


We describe pHPF, an research prototype HPF compiler for the IBM SP series parallel machines. The compiler accepts as input Fortran 90 and Fortran 77 programs, augmented with HPF directives; sequential loops are automatically parallelized. The compiler supports symbolic analysis of expressions. This allows parameters such as the number of processors to be unknown at compile-time without significantly affecting performance. Communication schedules and computation guards are generated in a parameterized form at compile-time. Several novel optimizations and improved versions of well-known optimizations have been implemented in pHPF to exploit parallelism and reduce communication costs. These optimizations include elimination of redundant communication using data-availability analysis; using collective communication; new techniques for mapping scalar variables; coarse-grain wavefronting; and communication reduction in multi-dimensional shift communications. We present experimental results for some well-known benchmark routines. The results show the effectiveness of the compiler in generating efficient code for HPF programs.


Label assignment (LA), which aims to assign each training sample a positive (pos) and a negative (neg) loss weight, plays an important role in object detection. Existing LA methods mostly focus on the design of pos weighting function, while the neg weight is directly derived from the pos weight. Such a mechanism limits the learning capacity of detectors. In this paper, we explore a new weighting paradigm, termed dual weighting (DW), to specify pos and neg weights separately. We first identify the key influential factors of pos/neg weights by analyzing the evaluation metrics in object detection, and then design the pos and neg weighting functions based on them. Specifically, the pos weight of a sample is determined by the consistency degree between its classification and localization scores, while the neg weight is decomposed into two terms: the probability that it is a neg sample and its importance conditioned on being a neg sample. Such a weighting strategy offers greater flexibility to distinguish between important and less important samples, resulting in a more effective object detector. Equipped with the proposed DW method, a single FCOS-ResNet-50 detector can reach 41.5% mAP on COCO under 1× schedule, outperforming other existing LA methods. It consistently improves the baselines on COCO by a large margin under various backbones without bells and whistles. Code is available at https://github.com/strongwolf/DW.


[1] We have investigated a nighttime medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbance (MSTID) observed by an airglow imager at Shigaraki (34.9°N, 25.4°MLAT), Japan, on 17 May 2001. The structure was identified in the airglow images of OI (630.0 nm and 777.4 nm) as NW-SE band structures (horizontal wavelength: 230 km) moving southwestward with a velocity of 50 m/s. Neutral wind velocity was measured simultaneously from the Doppler shift of the 630.0-nm emission by a Fabry-Perot interferometer at Shigaraki. From these parameters, we performed model calculations of MSTIDs generated by gravity waves and by an oscillating electric field. We found that for the case of gravity waves, the estimated vertical wavelength was too small to explain the observed amplitudes of airglow intensity. For the case of the electric field, we found that an electric field oscillation of ∼1.2 mV/m was sufficient to reproduce the observed airglow amplitudes. This modeled electric field was comparable to that observed by the DMSP F15 satellite as it passed over Shigaraki during our observing period on 17 May 2001. The DMSP ion drift data show that the oscillation of the polarization electric field correlated with the MSTID structure in the airglow image, suggesting that the polarization electric field plays an important role in the generation of MSTIDs.


We choose /spl delta/ functions as metrons to generate MEI (measured equation of invariance) coefficients. For two-dimensional scattering problems, /spl delta/ metrons are equivalent to line sources placed on the surface of the object. The most important advantage of /spl delta/ metrons is that the corresponding measuring functions can be expressed analytically and no numerical integration is needed when computing the MEI coefficients. Considering that finding the MEI coefficients is the dominant part of the computation time consumed by the MEI method, we expect to greatly reduce the computation burden by using /spl delta/ functions instead of sinusoidal functions as metrons. Besides, /spl delta/ functions alleviate the ill-conditioning problem of the MEIC matrix. We have also found that the positioning of line sources must be investigated carefully in order to obtain convergent and accurate results. Our numerical practice shows that for geometry other than circular cylinders, uniformly distributed line sources do not always lead to convergent solutions as the number of coupled nodes increases. In this paper, we propose non-uniform positioning of /spl delta/ metrons around the object surface to guarantee stable and accurate solutions. Numerical results show the efficiency of the technique, especially in handling 2-D electrically large scattering problems.


1 . The oxygen consumption of cat cardiac slices of the left ventricle was measured and the changes produced under the influence of various ions and cardiac glycosides were observed.

2. The introduction of scilliroside in concentrations of 1.6 x 10-8 to 5 x 10-5 M two hours after the beginning of measured respiration produced a maintained increase in the rate of oxygen uptake. The effect and rapidity with which this increase occurred were dependent on the concentration of scilliroside. A concentration of 1 x 10-6 M produced maximal effects. Digitoxin and ouabain in this concentration produced similar results. The oxygen consumption of the papillary muscle of the right ventricle was accelerated by a concentration of 1 x 10-6 M , but not by a concentration of 3.2 x 10-8 M scilliroside.

3. The degree of acceleration of respiration increased as the concentration of added glucose was increased up to 0.2 per cent.

4. The presence of calcium ion was essential to the acceleration of respiration by the cardiac glycosides. When calcium was absent from the medium, the introduction of cardiac glycosides caused a decrease in respiration of cardiac tissue.

5. At a low phosphate concentration the initial respiration was approximately 50 per cent lower than usual. The introduction of scilliroside led to a 75 per cent increase in the rate of oxygen uptake, compared to a 50 per cent increase at higher phosphate concentration. When the concentration of phosphate was low and that of calcium was high the introduction of scilliroside led to a relative acceleration of 150 per cent in the rate of oxygen uptake.

6. Tissues in a medium containing magnesium in concentrations of 1.08 or 2.16 m M , consumed initially less oxygen than when magnesium was absent. The introduction of scilliroside led to a greater relative acceleration in uptake in the presence of magnesium.

7. Hyporespiring tissues showed a relatively greater acceleration in respiration after the introduction of scilliroside than did normally respiring slices.


Background Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic form of inflammatory arthritis that is thought to have an early stage or reversibility with effective therapy ("window of opportunity"). Objectives In the present study, we explored the effects of induction therapy with anti-TNFα antibody infliximab (IFX) plus methotrexate (MTX) compared with MTX alone and with placebo (PL) in patients with very early inflammatory arthritis. Methods In an investigator-initiated, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, multi-center trial, patients with synovitis of 12–16 weeks duration in at least 2 joints underwent one year of treatment with IFX in combination with MTX, MTX monotherapy or PL randomized in a 2:2:1 ratio. The primary endpoint was clinical remission after 1 year (sustained for at least two consecutive visits 8 weeks apart including week 54) with remission defined as no swollen joints, 0 - 2 tender joints and a C-reactive protein (CRP) level within the normal range (<0.5 mg/dl) or a normal ESR (<25 mm/h). Further, sustainability of remission was assessed during the second year of the study, during which patients received no treatment. The trial was registered at www.isrctn.com(ISRCTN21272423). Results See Table 1.Table 1. Number of patients in clinical remission at 6 months, one year and two years 1: IFX+MTX (N=38) 2: MTX (N=36) 3: PL (N=16) 6 Mo 10 (26%) 6 (17%) 0 1 Year* 12 (32%) 5 (14%) 0 2 Years* 9 (24%) 1 (3%) 3 (19%) *p<0.05 across the three groups. 90 patients participated in the present study. At week 54 (primary endpoint), 32% of the patients in the IFX+MTX group achieved sustained remission compared with 14% on MTX alone and 0% on PL (Table). This difference was statistically significant for all three groups (p<0.05) and for IFX+MTX vs PL (p<0.05) separately, but not for IFX+MTX vs MTX (p=0.10), nor for MTX vs PL (p=0.31). Remission was maintained during the second year on no therapy in 75% of the IFX+MTX patients but was lost in 80% of the MTX-only-patients (Table). The analysis of radiographic progression did not reveal significant differences between the three treatment groups. The number needed to treat (NNT) to achieve one additional sustained remission at 52 weeks with IFX+MTX was 3 compared to placebo; the NNT for MTX alone versus placebo was 7 (NNT=6 for IFX+MTX vs MTX alone). Conclusions These results indicate that patients with early arthritis can benefit from induction therapy with anti-TNF plus MTX compared to MTX alone, suggesting the existence of a window of opportunity where intensive treatment can alter the disease evolution Disclosure of Interest T. Stamm Grant/research support from: For all authors: DINORA was partly funded by a grant from Janssen (previously Centocor). TS: AbbVie, Consultant for: AbbVie, Novartis, Speakers bureau: AbbVie, Janssen, MSD, Novartis and Roche, K. Machold: None declared, D. Aletaha Grant/research support from: AbbVie, Pfizer, Grünenthal, Merck Medac, UCB, Mitsubishi/Tanabe, Janssen and Roche, Consultant for: AbbVie, Pfizer, Grünenthal, Merck Medac, UCB, Mitsubishi/Tanabe, Janssen and Roche, F. Alasti: None declared, P. Lipsky Consultant for: Janssen, EMD Serono, Astra Zeneca, UCB, Roche, Celgene, Sanofi and Horizon, but none of them relates to the content of this manuscript, D. Pisetsky: None declared, R. Landewe Grant/research support from: Abbott, Amgen, Centocor, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Schering-Plough, UCB and Wyeth, Consultant for: Abbott/AbbVie, Ablynx, Amgen, Astra-Zeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, Celgene, Janssen (formerly Centocor), Galapagos, Glaxo-Smith-Kline, Novartis, Novo-Nordisk, Merck, Pfizer, Roche, Schering-Plough, TiGenix, UCB and Wyeth, Employee of: RL is director of Rheumatology Consultancy BV which is a registered company under Dutch law., Speakers bureau: Abbott/AbbVie, Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Janssen (formerly Centocor), Merck, Pfizer, Roche, Schering-Plough, UCB and Wyeth, D. van der Heijde Consultant for: AbbVie, Amgen, Astellas, AstraZeneca, BMS, Boeringer Ingelheim, Celgene, Daiichi, Eli-Lilly, Galapagos, Gilead, Janssen, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Regeneron, Roche, Sanofi and UCB, Employee of: DH is director of Imaging Rheumatology bv., A. Sepriano: None declared, M. Aringer Grant/research support from: MA's institution is clinical trial site for AbbVie, Astra Zeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, Pfizer and Roche., Consultant for: AbbVie, Astra Zeneca, BMS, Chugai, GSK, Hexal, Lilly, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi and UCB, Speakers bureau: AbbVie, Astra Zeneca, BMS, Chugai, GSK, Hexal, Lilly, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi and UCB, D. Boumpas: None declared, G. Burmester Grant/research support from: AbbVie, BMS, UCB and Roche, Speakers bureau: MSD, UCB and Roche, M. Cutolo Grant/research support from: BMS, Horizon, Actelion, Celgene and MSD, Speakers bureau: Biogen, Mundipharm, Pfizer and Menarini, W. Ebener Consultant for: Novartis and Abbvie, W. Graninger: None declared, T. Huizinga Consultant for: Merck, UCB, Bristol Myers Squibb, Biotest AG, Pfizer, GSK, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi-Aventis, Abbott, Crescendo Bioscience, Nycomed, Boeringher, Takeda, Epirus and Eli Lilly, G. Schett Speakers bureau: BMS, Celgene, Chugai, Lilly, Roche and UCB, H. Schulze-Koops Speakers bureau: AbbVie, Actelion, AstraZeneca, Biogen International, Boehringer Ingelheim, BMS, Celgene, Celltrion, Chugai, Cinfa Biotech, GSK, Hospira, Janssen-Cilag, Lilly, MSD, Medac, Merck, Mundipharma, Novartis, Pfizer, Hexal Sandoz, Roche and UCB, P. P. Tak Employee of: PPT has become an employee of GlaxoSmithKline. GSK has not been involved in this study., F. Breedveld: None declared, J. Smolen Grant/research support from: Abbvie, Lilly, MSD, Pfizer and Roche, Consultant for: Abbvie, Amgen, Astra-Zeneca, Astro, BMS, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Celgene, Celltrion, Chugai, Gilead, Glaxo, ILTOO, Janssen, Lilly, Medimmune, MSD, Novartis-Sandoz, Pfizer, Roche, Samsung, Sanofi and UCB


Jet fuel yield and quality information were developed by a computer program from crude assay data for three different refineries on flash point and other parameters, for example, freezing point, smoke point, and aromaticscontent. Without regard to other product requirements, availability of Jet A (-40°C freezing point) could be increased 10 to 18 percent with a 32°C (90°F) flash point limit and 22 to 30 percent with a 27°C (80°F) flash point limit compared with the current specification flash point of 38°C (100°F). Availability gains of Jet A-1 fuel (-50°C freezing point) for similar flash point limits are larger. A combination of flash point and freezing point relaxations to 27°C (80°F) and -40°C, respectively, increases Jet A-1 volume by 80 to 90 percent. The theoretical aspects of this study must be emphasized because the competing nonaviation demands for other distillates were ignored. Other fuel properties such as aromatics and smoke point become less critical as flash point is lowered, but the most important new U.S. crude-Alaskan North Slope-still produces jet fuel that is critical in aromatics and smoke point regardless of flash point reduction benefits.


To assess possible roles of atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) in the regulation of blood pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), we performed two series of experiments. First, we studied acute hypotensive, natriuretic and diuretic effects of ANF in pentobarbital-anesthetized SHR and age-matched Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY). A synthetic ANF of 25 amino acid residues was intravenously administered as a bolus at doses of 0.1, 1.0, 2.5 and 5.0 micrograms/kg. In SHR group, a significant decrease in mean arterial pressure (MAP) was observed at a dose of 1.0 micrograms/kg, and the decrease was dose-dependent. On the other hand, in WKY group, the hypotensive effect of ANF was not observed until a dose of 5.0 micrograms/kg. The diuretic and natriuretic effects of ANF were observed at a dose of 2.5 micrograms/kg in SHR and 5.0 micrograms/kg in WKY, respectively. Second, we also studied chronic effect of ANF on the development of hypertension in 6-week-old SHR. The SHRs, on regular diet or given 1% NaCl solution for drinking, were continuously infused into the jugular vein by osmotic minipumps with ANF (15, 75 and 150 micrograms/kg/day) or vehicle (physiological saline) as controls for up to 14 days. ANF at a dose of 150 micrograms/kg/day attenuated transiently the development of hypertension in the sodium-loaded SHR. However, the blood pressure returned to control levels by day 5. ANF at doses of 15 and 75 micrograms/kg/day did not affect the development of hypertension. In SHR on regular diet, ANF at a dose of 150 micrograms/kg/day did not affect the development of hypertension. In addition, ANF did not induce any significant changes in urine volume, fluid intake, and urinary excretion of sodium and potassium in SHR, whether they were sodium-loaded or not, when compared to those in vehicle-infused SHR. These results indicate that there may be a significant difference in the sensitivity to diuretic, natriuretic and hypotensive actions of ANF between SHR and WKY. Moreover, it is suggested that ANF may play significant roles by its vascular effect at the early stage of development of hypertension in sodium-loaded SHR.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


The advance in image/video editing techniques has facilitated people in synthesizing realistic images/videos that may hard to be distinguished from real ones by visual examination. This poses a problem: how to differentiate real images/videos from doctored ones? This is a serious problem because some legal issues may occur if there is no reliable way for doctored image/video detection when human inspection fails. Digital watermarking cannot solve this problem completely. We propose an approach that computes the response functions of the camera by selecting appropriate patches in different ways. An image may be doctored if the response functions are abnormal or inconsistent to each other. The normality of the response functions is classified by a trained support vector machine (SVM). Experiments show that our method is effective for high-contrast images with many textureless edges.


This article discusses the Qur'an source of Islam, holy book that contains the words of God. However, in reality, many Muslims are still unable to read the Qur'an properly and correctly, both children, adults and the elderly. Proficiency in reading Qur'an is one of the most important areas. The method used in service is Participaciory Action Research (PAR) Participatory activities in research that PAR is an action research activity as result of  research process, namely research that begins with planning, carrying out actions or actions, and evaluating the results of actions. Counseling activities are carried out on Sunday, March 5, 2023 at 16.00 The material provided is law of tajweed, besides that elderly TPQ students get material about women's fiqh. Furthermore, lecturer provide tajweed material to students as reference for learning to read the Koran. The delivery of tajweed is a form of care to the elderly TPQ Pendowo hamlet. Besides that. The delivery of tajweed material is expected to help make it easier for students to understand the law of reading the Qur'an. Taman Pendidikan Al-qur'an is an institution that focuses on teaching reading and writing al-qur'an correctly in accordance with the law of tajweed. Al-Qur'an education park has the aim of forming a good person and holding fast to the Qur'an. The importance of the Qur'anic education park in human life is the reference of every problem. Therefore, every human being needs to instill a sense of love for the Qur'an.


Terms such as spirituality and spiritual needs are abstract and difficult to understand. Realization of spirituality of hospice patients was premise in addressing expression of their spiritual needs. This study investigated expectations expressed during life review and tried to prove that the expectation was intelligible term for spiritual needs in Chinese hospice from May 2011 to June 2013. Among the 107 recruited patients, families were the most frequent emotion-expressing recipients, and 133 expectations related to patients' spiritual needs were identified. The emotion-expressing recipients and the patient's expectations were not affected by demographic characteristics. The expectations in life review with hospice patients and their families had the features of spiritual essence. The identified expectation contents could be used to address spiritual needs in hospice care in Chinese.


The cleaning of fine coal (-1000 i?½m) in todayi?½s coal preparation plants is an economically important factor. Coals with high ash contents are, in general, commercially undesirable. Current wellknown techniques for treating fine coal include froth flotation and spirals. The primary critical factor with regards to spirals is the efficiency of the process whereas that of flotation, is the cost of the reagents used. Research into enhanced gravity separation techniques has resulted in several commercially available enhanced gravity separators. This project was based on a preliminary investigation into the feasibility of one such separator, to effectively treat fine (-500 i?½m) coal. Experimental variables included particle size and speed of rotation of the said instrument. The performance of the separator was compared to the results obtained from liquid density separations done for the two coal fractions evaluated. From the results obtained in this preliminary study it appears that the piece of equipment investigated does not measure up to expectations. Recommendations for further investigation include the evaluation of the instrument on other South African coals to obtain conclusive results.


Earth observation (EO) is a prime instrument for monitoring land and ocean processes, studying the dynamics at work, and taking the pulse of our planet. This article gives a bird's eye view of the essential scientific tools and approaches informing and supporting the transition from raw EO data to usable EO-based information. The promises, as well as the current challenges of these developments, are highlighted under dedicated sections. Specifically, we cover the impact of (i) Computer vision; (ii) Machine learning; (iii) Advanced processing and computing; (iv) Knowledge-based AI; (v) Explainable AI and causal inference; (vi) Physics-aware models; (vii) User-centric approaches; and (viii) the much-needed discussion of ethical and societal issues related to the massive use of ML technologies in EO.


Background: Narcissism is seen as a normal but heterogeneously formed personality variable, ranging from 'grandiosity-exhibitionism' to 'vulnerability-sensitivity'. This article reports the development and factorial validation of a short version of a narcissism inventory. Sampling and Methods: The sample includes data of 4,509 consecutive psychosomatic inpatients. The overall sample was divided in 2 equally sized randomized subsamples. One sample (n = 2,262) was used for exploratory factor analysis (principal component analysis). The other sample (n = 2,265) was used for confirmatory tests of the model fit of the newly built NI-20 version, and to analyze the model fit separately for men and women using structural equation modeling with AMOS software. Results: The short version (NI-20) consists of 20 items, with items representing almost all of the original 18 subscales and 4 second-order dimensions. The NI-20 possesses properties similar to the NI-90, with a considerable gain in test economy. The 4-factor structure of the NI-20 was confirmed, and reaches good fit indices. Conclusions: The NI-20 is an economical instrument with acceptable psychometric characteristics that reflects the heterogeneous aspects of narcissism. A methodological limitation is that the interactions between sociodemographic variables were not included as potential predictors.


Background and Objectives The interleukin (IL)-36α is a recently described member of the IL-1 cytokine family with pro-inflammatory and clearly pathogenic properties in psoriasis arthritis (PsA). The majority of patients with PsA and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) benefit from cytokine blocking therapies against TNFα; however, despite novel developments, subgroups of patients do not respond to this therapy. Therefore it is necessary to get a better understanding of the pathogenesis of synovitis in PsA and RA to learn more about the complex cellular interplay and to develop new treatment approaches. Therefore, we wanted to determine the IL-36α expression in PsA compared to RA and osteoarthritis (OA). Materials and Methods Synovial tissue obtained from arthritis patients were stained for IL-36α, IL-36 receptor (IL-36R) and IL-36R antagonist (IL-36Ra) by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence. Lysates were tested for IL-36α by immunoblotting. Synovial fibroblasts (FLS) cultured in the presence of IL-36α were assessed for cytokine expression by quantitative real time PCR and Multiplex assay. IL-36α-induced signal transduction in FLS was analysed by immunoblotting. Results The IL-36R and its ligands IL-36α and IL-36Ra could be detected in inflammatory arthritis in the synovial lining layer as well as cellular infiltrates. IL-36α was significantly higher expressed in PsA and RA synovium compared to OA (p = 0.0011 and p < 0.0001, respectively). No differences were seen in IL-36R and IL-36Ra. The expression of IL-36α was confirmed by western blot analysis. IL-36α induced expression of IL-6 and IL-8 in FLS. CD138-positive plasma cells were defined as a major cellular source for IL-36α. Functionally, IL-36α induced the expression of IL-6 and IL-8 in FLS through NF-κB/p38-activation. Conclusions Here, we describe that the novel cytokine IL-36α, mainly expressed by plasma cells, is upregulated in PsA and RA synovium and leads to IL-6 and IL-8 production by synovial fibroblasts. This finding needs further studies to determine if the IL-36 family can function as a potential target for arthritis therapy.


Past studies discussing the origins of agriculture have mainly emphasized changes in environmental and human-behavior factors as possible explanations for the shift from foraging to farming. This paper focuses on how increase in the biological fitness of both farmers and crops enabled the rapid evolution and success of farmers and agriculture. It is shown that the first plants under domestication achieved their superior fitness mainly as a consequence of some of their genetic and life-history traits. It led these species to be extensively integrated into human subsistence and eventually dominate the farmers' fields. Concurrently, the first farmers gained their enhanced fitness by producing food surplus and by acquiring extra social prestige and power, while materializing the tendency to higher reproduction rate, and eventually to the expansion of farming populations. The unbreakable dependence between high fitness crops and high fitness man, namely their coevolution is a key issue and a promising research area in the understanding of the human story and the origins of agriculture.


The main objective of this review was to provide a quantitative and methodologically sound evaluation of existing treatments for bereavement and grief reactions in children and adolescents. Two meta-analyses were conducted: 1 on controlled studies and 1 on uncontrolled studies. The 2 meta-analyses were based on a total of 27 treatment studies published before June 2006. Hedges's g and Cohen's d were used as measures of effect size and a random-effects model was applied. Results yielded small to moderate effect sizes. Interventions for symptomatic or impaired participants tended to show larger effect sizes than interventions for bereaved children and adolescents without symptoms. Promising treatment models were music therapy and trauma/grief-focused school based brief psychotherapy.


The evolution of QCD coupling constant at finite temperature is considered by making use of the finite temperature renormalization group equation up to the one-loop order in the background field method with the Feynman gauge and the imaginary time formalism. The results are compared with the ones obtained in the literature. We point out, in particular, the origin of the discrepancies between different calculations, such as the choice of gauge, the break-down of Lorentz invariance, imaginary versus real time formalism and the applicability of the Ward identities at finite temperature.


The time dependent forces resulting from a two-phase air-water mixture flowing in an elbow and a tee are measured. Their magnitudes as well as their spectral contents are analyzed. Comparison is made with previous experimental results on similar systems. For practical applications a dimensionless form is proposed to relate the characteristics of these forces to the parameters defining the flow and the geometry of the piping.Copyright © 2006 by ASME


Chemokines control cell migration in many contexts including development, homeostasis, immune surveillance and inflammation. They are also involved in a wide range of pathological conditions ranging from inflammatory diseases and cancer, to HIV. Chemokines function by interacting with two types of receptors: G protein-coupled receptors on the responding cells, which transduce signaling pathways associated with cell migration and activation, and glycosaminoglycans on cell surfaces and the extracellular matrix which organize and present some chemokines on immobilized surface gradients. To probe these interactions, imaging methods and fluorescence-based assays are becoming increasingly desired. Herein, a method for site-specific fluorescence labeling of recombinant chemokines is described. It capitalizes on previously reported 11–12 amino acid tags and phosphopantetheinyl transferase enzymes to install a fluorophore of choice onto a specific serine within the tag through a coenzyme A-fluorophore conjugate. The generality of the method is suggested by our success in labeling several chemokines (CXCL12, CCL2, CCL21 and mutants thereof) and visualizing them bound to chemokine receptors and glycosaminoglycans. CXCL12 and CCL2 showed the expected co-localization on the surface of cells with their respective receptors CXCR4 and CCR2 at 4°C, and co-internalization with their receptors at 37°C. By contrast, CCL21 showed the presence of large discrete puncta that were dependent on the presence of both CCR7 and glycosaminoglycans as co-receptors. These data demonstrate the utility of this labeling approach for the detection of chemokine interactions with GAGs and receptors, which can vary in a chemokine-specific manner as shown here. For some applications, the small size of the fluorescent adduct may prove advantageous compared to other methods (e.g. antibody labeling, GFP fusion) by minimally perturbing native interactions. Other advantages of the method are the ease of bacterial expression, the versatility of labeling with any maleimide-fluorophore conjugate of interest, and the covalent nature of the fluorescent adduct.


Studies made of mortality tendencies due to bladder cancer made in various industrialized countries show evidence of an increase with time in death rates. This situation is also seen in Spain with some characteristics which we analyze. An actual increase of 60% in risk of death due to bladder cancer in males was found between 1955 and 1975. A definite tendency in women was not observed. The characteristics of the tendency curves indicate the grave importance that this tumor could eventually have in Spain and the need to adopt a policy of adequate intervention.


This article presents the voices of 30 young fathers from the first interview-based study in Denmark on young fatherhood. The findings show that men face significant challenges when they become fathers at a young age and that they often feel stigmatised by society. Young fatherhood, however, can also promote social integration and produce forms of empowerment. Unlike most international research on young fatherhood, this study shows that economic circumstances do not play a crucial role in the ability of fathers to gain access to their children. This may be due to support aimed at socially disadvantaged families provided by the state. The results further indicate that early fatherhood should be seen as a transitional process, rather than as an event, with the young father gradually abandoning teenage life and where a delay in the development of the father-child relationship does not necessarily rule out the later emergence of a stable father-child relationship.


This article proposes a current path tracking approach that uses a current path state to correlate device status and operating mode of an inverter under normal and abnormal conditions. Based on graph theory, a node-path modeling method is proposed and applied in the T-type inverter topologies. The model reflects system state transitions, given healthy or faulted transistors. Effective conduction paths and node potentials can be derived with the model to indicate circuit faults. In addition, a hierarchical diagnosis method is proposed for single-transistor open-circuit (OC) faults based on estimated output voltage vectors. The diagnosis involves two steps. First, an OC fault can be detected by following a residual between an actual voltage vector and its reference voltage vector calculated from duty ratios of intended current paths. Next, faulty transistors sharing similar features can be distinguished by adopting a current path state reconfiguration approach. Diagnosis variables can be obtained from the controller, and their errors, because of sampling, signal delay, and dead time, are taken into account to avoid misdiagnosis. Experimental results verify the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed method.


The augmented reality applications are effectively applied in education and therapy for people with special needs. We propose to apply the augmented reality portal as a special tool for the teachers to interact with people at the moment when a panic attack or anxiety happens in education process. It is expected that applying the augmented reality portal in education will help students with ASD, ADHD and anxiety disorder to feel safe at discomfort moment and teachers can interact with them. Our application with the augmented reality portal has three modes: for teachers, parents, and users. It gives the ability to organize personalized content for students with special needs. We developed the augmented reality application aimed at people with cognitive disorders to enrich them with communication skills through associations understanding. Applying the augmented reality application and the portal discovers new perspectives for learning children with special needs. The AR portal creates illusion of transition to another environment. It is very important property for children with ADHD because they need in breaks at the learning process to change activity (for example, such children can interact with different 3D models in the augmented reality modes) or environment. The developed AR portal has been tested by a volunteer with ASD (male, 21 years old), who confirmed that the AR portal helps him to reduce anxiety, to feel calm down and relaxed, to switch attention from a problem situation.


The purpose of this study was to establish the influence of contractors' financial capacity on performance of road construction projects in Kakamega County, Kenya. The objectives of the study were: To establish the influence of contractors' financial capacity on performance of road construction. The study adopted descriptive survey design and the sample size of 135 (102 contractors and 33 supervising engineers) were obtained from a population of 203 employees using the Yamane (1967) formula. Stratified random sampling was applied in selecting the respondents. Data was collected through questionnaires and interview schedule and was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics and thematic were applied to analyze data. Descriptive statistics utilized mean and standard deviation. Content validity was used to test validity and was subjected to scrutiny by the research supervisor and discussing with lecturers. Test-retest was used to establish the level of reliability of the research tools by administering questionnaires were administered to a sample of 10 respondents (7 road contractors and 3 supervising engineers) through dividing the sample randomly into halves in different occasions. Cronbach's Alpha was used to test reliability which revealed that the alpha coefficient of 0.754; hence reliable. Tables were used to present qualitative data while themes were used present qualitative data. Inferential statistics was used to explore the nexus between the independent variable and the dependent variables. To ensure that project financing does not affect successful completion and performance of road construction project the researcher recommended that enough finances should be set aside for the project before it commences. Highly qualified and experienced road contractors with a relevant experience and technical skills should be hired to implement road projects. In order to increase job-site productivity, it is beneficial to select equipment with the proper characteristics and a size most suitable for the work conditions at a construction site. Road contractors should frequently hold site meetings to help in timely completion of road projects. Road contractors should regularly attend training to enable them to acquire problem solving skills and techniques so as to improve quality management of road projects.


The medical records of 123 patients treated for brain tumors at Children's Hospital and Medical Center, Seattle, Washington, between 1985 and 1987 were reviewed. The endocrinological complications of radiation therapy and the effectiveness of growth hormone (GH) replacement therapy were assessed. These were the first 2 years after synthetic GH became available. The disease pathology was confirmed at craniotomy or biopsy in 108 patients. Ninety-five children completed radiation therapy and 65 of these were alive at the time of review; these 65 children represent the study population. The most common tumor types were medulloblastoma, craniopharyngioma, and ependymoma. Endocrine evaluation was initiated with changes in the patients' growth velocity. Patient workup included skeletal x-ray films for determination of bone and analysis of thyroxin, thyroid-stimulating hormone, and somatomedin-C levels. Following 1-dopa and clonidine stimulation, provocative studies of GH levels were performed. Growth hormone failure and short stature were observed in 26 children, most commonly in the 2nd year after tumor treatment. Eight patients with GH failure were also hypothyroid. Hormone replacement therapy was initiated with recombinant GH, 0.05 mg/kg/day, and all children so treated showed an increase in height, with eight patients experiencing catch-up growth. There were no complications of therapy or tumor recurrence. Studies of baseline bone age and somatomedin-C levels on completion of radiation therapy are recommended. Comprehensive endocrine studies should follow changes in the patients' growth velocity. With early GH replacement, catch-up growth is possible and normal adult heights may be achieved.


A simple method is proposed for the precise alignment of the angular orientation of the axes of the experimental set-up and single crystals therein in rectangular laser light scattering experiments, e.g. Raman scattering or luminescence. The method is based on predictable equalities of the polarized Raman scattering intensity. The maximum sensitivity is obtained when one of the polarization vectors of the incident or scattered light is fixed and the other one rotated to the +or-45 degrees positions.


Telomeres are specialized functional complexes that ensure chromosome stability by protecting chromosome ends from fusions and degradation and avoiding chromosomal termini from being sensed as DNA breaks. Budding yeast Tel1 is required both for telomere metabolism and for a Rad53-dependent checkpoint responding to unprocessed double-strand breaks. We show that overexpression of a GAL1-TEL1 fusion causes transient telomere lengthening and activation of a Rad53-dependent G2/M checkpoint in cells whose telomeres are short due to the lack of either Tel1 or Yku70. Sudden telomere elongation and checkpoint-mediated cell cycle arrest are also triggered in wild-type cells by overproducing a protein fusion between the telomeric binding protein Cdc13 and the telomerase-associated protein Est1. Checkpoint activation by GAL1-TEL1 requires ongoing telomere elongation. In fact, it is turned off concomitantly with telomeres reaching a new stable length and is partially suppressed by deletion of the telomerase EST2 gene. Moreover, both telomere length rebalancing and checkpoint inactivation under galactose-induced conditions are accelerated by high levels of either the Sae2 protein, involved in double-strand breaks processing, or the negative telomere length regulator Rif2. These data suggest that sudden telomere lengthening elicits a checkpoint response that inhibits the G2/M transition.


Optimal proppant placement is critical to maintaining productivity from stress-sensitive reservoirs, in which
gas conductivity depends on the connectivity of the network of secondary fractures to the wellbore. In a
colloquial sense, this research places micro-proppants in induced and natural fractures, shows how they
are excluded from reaching far into the reservoir, and describes which sizes of proppants this occurs for.
Micromechanical modelling of a hydraulic fracturing fluid, in which the hydrodynamics between the fluid
and solid phases are fully resolved, is achieved via the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) for fluids coupled
with the discrete element method (DEM) for particles. It is shown that proppant transport along the primary
hydraulic fracture channel is strongly inhibited by leak-off into the secondary fracture system. This leakoff is strongly affected by the migration of particles across the fracture width, which in turn is a function of
reservoir and treatment properties. A novel numerical approach is proposed for predicting proppant transport
through the secondary fracture system, with far-reaching applications to porous media particulate transport.


Overlay multicast, which performs topology construction and data relaying in the application layer, has recently emerged as a promising vehicle for data distribution. In most of the existing systems, only a single stream is assumed for each overlay, and multiple streams, if needed, are distributed separately. In addition, while the overlay node performs relay functions, they generally do not filter the content to match the heterogeneous bandwidth constraints. We consider a more general model, in which a multicast session may consist of multiple data streams, such as video and audio, which are to be delivered to the same set of nodes. The services to these steams are elastic through layer dropping, shaping, or transcoding. In this paper, we focus on an important resource allocation problem in such an adaptive multi-stream multicast framework: Assume that each stream has an associated utility function, how to maximize the total utility of all the streams in a multicast session. The problem involves optimization not only in individual nodes, but also in the global overlay structure. We show that, given a total bandwidth of the streams, there is an efficient and optimal solution for the allocation problem at a single node. The problem however can be much more complicated in a hierarchical structure like tree. Yet we show that, if the utility is concave with bandwidth, i.e., the marginal improvement diminishes with bandwidth increase, then the upstream constraint can be ignored and a local optimal solution is simply the global optimal solution.


To study the role of hydrogen bonding via interfacial water molecules in protein-protein interactions, we examined the interaction between hen egg white lysozyme (HEL) and its HyHEL-10 variable domain fragment (Fv) antibody. We constructed three antibody mutants (l-Y50F, l-S91A, and l-S93A) and investigated the interactions between the mutant Fvs and HEL. Isothermal titration calorimetry indicated that the mutations significantly decreased the negative enthalpy change (8–25 kJ mol−1), despite some offset by a favorable entropy change. X-ray crystallography demonstrated that the complexes had nearly identical structures, including the positions of the interfacial water molecules. Taken together, the isothermal titration calorimetric and x-ray crystallographic results indicate that hydrogen bonding via interfacial water enthalpically contributes to the Fv-HEL interaction despite the partial offset because of entropy loss, suggesting that hydrogen bonding stiffens the antigen-antibody complex.


The article presents the results of the research aimed at determination of dose-forming foodstuffs in daily diet of the population of North-East Gomel region. The internal irradiation dose of the population of Chechersk, Vetka, Dobrush districts within 2009-2012 was formed basically at the expense of milk. The article presents the results of the radiometric research of foodstuffs produced in private and collective farms in the above listed districts.


The aim of the present study was to explore the difference in toxicity mechanism of TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) at low concentrations (≤1 μg mL−1), in a freshwater bacterial isolate, Bacillus licheniformis, under light (UV-illuminated) and dark (non-illuminated) conditions. Standard plate count and MTT assays showed the dose dependent decrease in the bacterial cell viability. The difference in reduction of cell viability under light (20.7%) and dark conditions (21.3%) was statistically non-significant at 1 μg mL−1 concentration and 2 h interaction period. The fluorescence microscopy of the NP interacted cells (1.0 μg mL−1, 2 h) under light and dark conditions showed the mixture of live and dead cells. A significant dose dependent increase in intracellular ROS generation compared to control was noted. The ROS level after 2 h of interaction was significantly higher under light conditions (7.4 ± 0.13%) as compared to dark conditions (4.35 ± 0.12%). The LDH analyses confirmed a statistically significant increase in membrane permeability under dark conditions compared to the light conditions. The NPs were stable against aggregation in sterilized lake water matrix for a period of 24 h, under both light and dark conditions. However, in the presence of bacterial cells an elevated rate of sedimentation was noted under dark conditions. The electron microscopic (SEM, TEM) observations suggested the concentration buildup of NPs near the plasma membrane leading to internalization. The zeta-potential analysis proved that NP attachment was not charge based. The FTIR studies demonstrated the possible involvement of surface functional groups in the attachment. The concentration of dissolved Ti4+ ions was found to be negligible during the test period. The dominant cytotoxicity mechanism under light conditions was found to be ROS generation, whereas, NP attachment to the cell membrane leading to membrane damage significantly contributed in dark conditions.


In 2010, an inventory to the performance of repairs in the Netherlands has been executed, in response to reported low performances of repairs in Europe. Extensive records were collected concerning, among other, the age of the repairs and their current conditions in a similar way as in the European inventory conducted five years earlier. The results indicate that the failure rates of the Dutch repairs are similar to that of the European failure rates: ca. 20% failed within 5 years and 90% failed within 25 years. The failure of the repairs mostly was contributed to an insufficient execution (50%), in contrast to the European investigation. Here, more than 50% of the failure was contributed to incorrect diagnosis or incorrect design of the repair. The service life of most repairs was difficult to establish since either it had not yet ended or because the precise moment of failure (inside or outside the required service life) could not be established. © 2012 Taylor & Francis Group.


Increase in human activities led to environmental contamination of physical, biological and chemical nature. Some of the contaminants can be determined using biomarkers such as Cholinesterases; Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and Butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) activities. A cross section study was performed to assess the anticholinesterase contaminants in Ruvu river using cholinesterase biomarker in African Sharptooth Catfish ( Clarias gariepinus ). A total of 40 fish was used to collectblood plasma and brain samples for AChE and BChE activities assessment. Ellman's methodand 5, 5'-dithiobis-2-nitrobenzoic acid (DTNB) chromophore were used during enzymes activities determination. The findings of AChE and BChE activities in blood plasma and BChE activities in brain showed no statistical significant difference (p> 0.05) among the fish from the various study sites and between fish from the study sites and the control. Also, no statistical significant difference in the brain AChE was observed among the fish from the study sites. However (p˂ 0.05) was observed in fish from Ruvu Darajani when its AChE activities were compared with that of control fish. The percentage of AChE inhibited was higher in brain than in blood plasma whereas the inhibition of BChE activities was higher in blood plasma than in the brain of fish from Ruvu Darajani.Fish samples from Ruvu darajani were observed to have highest inhibitions for both the brain AChE and blood plasma BChE activities (31.7% and 13.4%respectively).This indicates that Ruvu Darajani is highly contaminated with anticholinesterase compounds than other areas. Therefore, this study revealed that activities of AChE and BChE in C. gariepinus are useful biomarker for assessing aquatic environmental contaminants caused by anticholinesterases. Keywords : Anticholinesterases, Claria gariepinus , Biomarker, Ruvu river, Tanzania


Noninvasive imaging should facilitate the analysis of changes in experimental tumors and metastases-expressing photoproteins and result in improved data consistency and experimental animal welfare. We analyzed quantitative aspects of noninvasive imaging of luciferase-labeled tumors by comparing the efficiency of noninvasive light detection with in vitro quantification of luciferase activity. An intensified charge coupled device video camera was used to noninvasively image luciferase-expressing human prostate tumors and metastases in nude mice, after ip inoculation of luciferin. Repeated imaging of anesthetized animals after intervening growth periods allowed monitoring of tumor and metastases development. Comparison of photon events recorded in tumor images with the number of relative light units from luminometric quantification of homogenates from the same tumors, revealed that the efficiency with which light escapes tumors is inversely related to tumor size and that intensified charge coupled device images alone are not sufficient for quantitative evaluation of tumor growth. However, a combined videometric and luminometric approach did allow quantification and was used to show the cytostatic effects of paclitaxel in three different human prostate tumors growing in nude mice.


Influence of loudness on sound recognition was investigated in an explicit memory experiment based on a conscious recollection-test phase-of previously encoded information-study phase. Three encoding conditions were compared: semantic (sounds were sorted in three different categories), sensory (sounds were rated in loudness), and control (participants were solely asked to listen to the sounds). Results revealed a significant study-to-test change effect: loudness change between the study and the test phases affects recognition. The effect was not specific to the encoding condition (semantic vs sensory) suggesting that loudness is an important hint for everyday sounds recognition.


Insurance industry in India is relied upon to contribute US $280 billion by 2020.This portends a significant leap for Insurance companies in India. The increased awareness, ever expanding distribution channels, improved service quality and innovative products are all contributing to the robustness of Insurance business in India. Besides these, insurance companies in India have an enormous potential that is under tapped. This is significantly evident in the existing penetration rate which is meagre 3.69%. Insurance industry in India has witnessed tremendous changes in the past decade, attributed to the dynamic changes in micro and macro factors such as- booming competition, changing demographic profile of the customers, government regulations, product innovation and technology interface. In the ensuing study an effort is made to identify and discuss the factors fostering or encumbering consumers from purchasing policies of Insurance companies. By adopting a diagnostic research design and survey technique, data was collected from around 124 sample elements that were chosen randomly using probability sampling method. Among the ten perceived benefits, high rate of return, tax benefits and policy tenure were found to be the key determinants positively influencing the buying behaviour of consumers. Similarly cumbersome terms and conditions, lack of transparency and procedural delays were found to be the factors that impede purchase action of consumers


InGaP microdisk optical resonators are embedded in indium tin oxide (ITO) to investigate how the optical absorption in electrodes impacts the resonance properties. The quality factor is slightly reduced in comparison with air-embedding microdisks, and the measured quality factor is 960 for a 1.2 μm diameter, 170 nm thick disk embedded in ITO media. The experiments show that the absorption loss in ITO media has smaller contribution to the reduction of total quality factor than the scattering and radiation losses. The analysis indicates that the suppression of non-absorption loss would improve the quality factor to 104.


Summary International declarations that articulate core values, goals and standards have played an important role in enhancing the quality of care in a number of areas of medicine. This document attempts this task for early intervention in psychotic disorders. It was originally inspired by the St Vincents declaration on the care of diabetes and carefully developed by David Shiers and Jo Smith with support from the Initiative to Reduce the Impact of Schizophrenia, National Institute for Mental Health in England and Rethink, resulting in the UK-focused Newcastle Declaration. The World Health Organization and the International Early Psychosis Association then collaborated to produce an international version of the declaration, which articulates the universal principles of early intervention and tries to blend these with local capacities and cultural diversity.


The present study explored the effects of the current round of health care reforms on practicing physicians in terms of income, cost of care, and improvements in the quality of care. Six neurologists from various parts of the country, all facing widely differing environmental factors, were interviewed. The results demonstrate that health care reform has forced physicians to work more hours to maintain their incomes, has done little to control costs, and has generated little interest in quality improvement plans. In fact, due to referral patterns, quality levels may have decreased under capitated payment plans. The conclusion is that health care must be reformed at the local level and involve physicians with a wide array of specialties.


The quality of the pipe-borne water supplied to Sokoto metropolis was determined in this study. The total bacterial count was carried out using surface plating method of inoculation. The coliforms were enumerated using multiple tube fermentation technique (Most Probable Number Method). Some physicochemical parameters were also analyzed. The study confirmed that the bacterial load the municipal water samples ranged from 2x10 3 – 4.6x104 cfu/ml. Out of the 50 sample analyzed, 27 showed zero coliform count, while 23 were positive for coliform test and ranged from 3-30 coliforms per 100 ml of water. The pH of the water was slightly acidic (5.1). Four genera of coliforms were identified and E. coli, E. aerogenes, Citrobacter and Klebsiella spp. This study suggests that the appropriate authorities should improve the quality of the municipal pipe-borne water supply by regular monitoring of its bacterial load and coliform counts. Keywords: Water quality, coliforms, bacterial load, Nigeria International Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences , 5(3): 213-216, 2009


The purpose of the study was to test moderating role of self compassion in the relationship between self-focused attention and social anxiety. Scale for Dispositional Self-focused Attention in Social situation, Self-Compassion Scale, and Social Avoidance and Distress Scale were administered to a sample of 425 undergraduate students. The result was as follows: First, Correlation analysis was conducted to examine the relation among self-focused attention, self-compassion, social anxiety. Self-focused attention was positive significantly correlated social anxiety. In contrast, self-compassion was negative significantly correlated social anxiety. Second, self-compassion interacted with self-focused attention such that it played a more prominent role in protecting against social anxiety symptoms during lower self-focused attention than during higher self-focused attention. This result suggested the importance of self-focused attention and self-compassion in psychological approach to university students who have difficulty in social anxiety. (Korean J Stress Res 2016;24:65∼74)


High-resolution time of flight neutron powder diffractometry has been used to determine the antiferromagnetic structure of ferric arsenate at 4.2 K. The structure is incommensurate with a magnetic propagation vector (0.04994(3), 0, -0.24725(2)) in the a*-c* plane of the monoclinic unit cell. The spins of 4.01(2) µB on the Fe3+ ions rotate in a plane containing b* and making an angle of 34.1(7)° to [001] in β obtuse. The structure shows that the dominant antiferromagnetic coupling is between Fe3+ ions which are linked through tetrahedral arsenate groups giving a frustrated exchange network.


Writing for publication is an important component of nursing scholarship. Navigation of the publication process can be challenging for both the novice and expert writer. Despite a number of published articles related to writing for publication, there is a paucity of research in barriers encountered after manuscript submission. Fourteen nurse editors participated in this qualitative descriptive study. The purpose of the study was to identify and describe actual or perceived barriers that nurse authors encounter during the revision process from the editor's perspective. In addition, editors described various strategies that are employed during the revision process. Seven categories were identified related to barriers encountered by the nurse author, which include novice author, revision request, author guidelines, academic integrity, motivation, time, and international submissions. Five strategies employed by editors were identified, and include their approach to the author, revision request, mentorship, time, and the peer reviewer. Approaches to minimize, reduce, or remove barriers included four key players: academic institutions, editor, author, and institutions. This study confirms much of what has been written in articles concerning writing for publication. The current study provides additional illumination of this subject and can be instrumental in allowing the editor, author, academia, and healthcare institutions to reflect on their role in reducing barriers and promoting nursing scholarship. To promote continued growth in nursing scholarship, it is important for authors, editors, academia, and healthcare institutions to seek ways to reduce barriers that may be encountered during the revision process.


The impact of tumor location on patient survival in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains controversial. This study investigated the association between primary tumor location and survival rates for resectable PDAC. Additionally, we assessed if this association remains consistent across categories of the Tumor-Node-Metastasis staging system. We analyzed 2471 patients who underwent surgical resection between 2000 and 2018 at a single center. Subgroup analysis was performed according to the Tumor-Node-Metastasis staging system. Among the group, 67.9% (1677 patients) had pancreatic head cancer (PHC) and 32.1% (794 patients) had pancreatic body/tail cancer (PBTC). Patients with PHC had worse overall survival and worse disease-free survival than those with PBTC. Patients with PHC had worse survival in stage IB and stage IIB than those with PBTC. No significant difference was observed for stages IA, IIA, and III. Multivariate analysis showed that elevated CA 19-9, mGPS, a longer hospital stay, complication, accompanying vein resection, larger tumor size, worse differentiation, higher TNM stage (stage IIB, III, IV), presence of LVI, and positive resection margin were risk factors for poor survival after resection. In resectable PDAC, patients with PHC had worse overall and disease-free survival than those with PBTC. However, tumor location was not an independent prognostic factor for PDAC.


Philip Clayton's God and Contemporary Science is summarized and discussed. Clayton presents a theological reading of biblical texts. In my opinion, science-and-religion studies should deal more substantially with insights of secular studies on the situated character of these texts. Clayton uses the relationship between mind and brain as analogy for the relationship between God and the world. This runs the risk of understanding God as analogous to the mind and hence secondary and emergent relative to the world. Besides, Clayton's arguments for "mental causation" are wanting. But then, why should a defender of panentheism decouple the mental and the material?


The people of the world are an audience to which the Illuminati entertain with propaganda. Just one of the thousands of recent examples of this type of acting done for the public was President Bill Clinton's 1995 State of the Union address. The speech was designed to push all of the warm fuzzy buttons of his listening audience that he could. All the green lights for acceptance were systematically pushed by the President's speech with the help of a controlled congressional audience. The truth on the other hand doesn't always tickle the ear and warm the ego of its listeners. The light of truth in this book will be too bright for some people who will want to return to the safe comfort of their darkness. I am not a conspiracy theorist. I deal with real facts, not theory. Some of the people I write about, I have met. Some of the people I expose are alive and very dangerous. The darkness has never liked the light. Yet, many of the secrets of the Illuminati are locked up tightly simply because secrecy is a way of life. It is such a way of life, that they resent the Carroll Quigleys and the James H. Billingtons who want to tell real historical facts rather than doctored up stories and myths. I have been an intense student of history since I could read, and I am deeply committed to the facts of history rather than the cover stories the public is fed to manipulate them. I do not fear the Illuminati taking over this country and doing away with the Constitution, because they took over this country long ago, and the Constitution has not technically been in effect due to Presidential emergency decrees since W.W. II. Being a follower of Christ does not mean we should fear. Perfect love for Almighty God casts out our fear for the situation He has place us in. Don't think for a moment you are going to vote the Illuminati out of office. They control the major and minor political parties. They control the process of government, they control the process of information flow, they control the process of creating money and finally they control Christendom. (However, God controls the hearts of His people.) I have provided information on how to respond in some of my other writings. This book will not tell you how to deal with the Illuminati families. This volume is simply the first of two volumes which is published to give an overview of what the Illuminati is. In short the Illuminati are generational Satanic bloodlines which have gained the most power. A generational Satanist described the Illuminati as "Satan's elite."


OBJECTIVE
To determine the clinical and biochemical effects of fasting during Ramadan on patients with cardiac disease.

METHODS
Eighty-six outpatients with heart disease with intention to fast were studied in the month of Ramadan 1996 (1416 H) at the King Fahd Armed Forces Hospital, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Detailed clinical and biochemical assessments were performed within 3 days before the start of Ramadan and then on the last day of Ramadan.

RESULTS
There were 54 (62.8%) males and 32 (37.2%) females with a mean age of 56.3 years (range, 17-84 ). Forty-six patients (53%) had coronary artery disease, 23 patients (27%) had valvular heart disease, 13 patients (15%) had congestive heart failure and 4 patients (5%) were treated for arrhythmia. Sixty-two patients (72%) were in New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class I, 18 patients (21%) in Class II, and 6 patients (7%) were in Class III. Seventy-four patients (86%) managed to fast during the entire Ramadan, 9 patients (10.4%) missed the fasting for up to 7 days, and 3 patients (3.5%) could not fast. There were no significant changes in the NYHA Class (p=0.12). No significant changes occurred in any of the hematological or biochemical parameters during the fasting of Ramadan.

CONCLUSION
The effects of fasting during Ramadan on stable patients with cardiac disease are minimal. The majority of patients with stable cardiac disease can fast during Ramadan without significant detrimental effects.


In this paper, we aim at using Deep Belief Networks (DBNs) to solve the problem of image super-resolution (SR). We exploit the hierarchical structure of the DBNs to capture the non-linear mapping from low-resolution (LR) patches to their high-resolution (HR) counterpart. When a query LR image is input, we divide it into a list of patches, then we put each patch into a forward propagation network which is a trained deep belief network. The output is the predicted HR patches. Finally, we combine the HR patches into expected HR images. We evaluate our approach on a popular dataset which is used in other super-resolution literature. Experimental results demonstrate the performance of our method is superior to several state-of-the-art super-resolution methods both quantitatively and perceptually.


Clinical examination of 74 patients vitiligo revealed concomitant diseases of the skin, endocrine system, nervous system and chronic diseases of the digestive organs. Biochemical studies revealed marked changes at different stages of protein metabolism. Considering this, the authors worked out a method of pathogenetic treatment.


There is widespread agreement that innovative funding solutions are necessary to address capital requirements of social enterprises, social purpose businesses and not-for-profits in the social economy. The community contribution company (C3) is a legal organizational form for social enterprise, introduced in British Columbia, Canada, in 2013. In creating this legal form, the British Columbia government intended to provide social entrepreneurs with a recognized legal structure designed, in part, to assist social enterprises in gaining access to investment capital. Drawing on interviews from 14 of the 35 registered C3s and a review of filing data, this study provides information to help understand what attracted organizational founders to the C3 model, what challenges are experienced by C3s engaging with investors and financial institutions, and what opportunities there are for improvement to the C3 legal form. This study found that reasons outside a motivation to access investment capital are key driving factors for incorporating as a C3; there is currently a low level of engagement from impact investors; financial incentives may have a role in increasing investment in C3s; and there is an expressed need and opportunity to enhance education about the model to further support C3s. While the consensus from interview respondents was that benefits of incorporating as a C3 outweighed disadvantages, we found that the model has not helped organizations attract social finance and investment. As this model is in relatively early stages of implementation, the lessons learned in this study can inform investors, social finance intermediaries, entrepreneurs, and policy makers.


Cardo- phenolphthalein formaldehyde resin was studied as a binder of antifriction organoplastics. The role of the phthalide cycle in the structure of the polymer during its curing process is shown. Experimental data on the effect of processing temperature on the tribological and thermofriction properties of organoplastics reinforced with polyoxadiazole fiber are presented.


Why are climate change, vaccines, and even whether women have a role to play in scientific fields all debated so hotly in the news? Does news coverage match the evidence?


The use of gonadotropin‐releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists in a long protocol appears to enhance the probability of conception in the presence of endometriosis. In addition, there is evidence to suggest that the use of prolonged downregulation with GnRH agonists prior to ovarian stimulation for in vitro fertilization (IVF) is beneficial for achieving pregnancy. Until now, GnRH antagonists have not been used in patients with endometriosis. The management of endometriomas prior to stimulation for IVF and its impact on reproductive outcome are still subject to debate.


Alginate hydrogel beads are widely used as an encapsulation medium for biomedical, bioprocessing, and pharmaceutical applications. The size and shape of the beads are often critically controlled since in many usages the beads are monodisperse in size and spherical in shape. Extrusion dripping is a well-known method to produce alginate beads. Nevertheless, the production of beads of desired size and spherical shape is often achieved based on one's experience or trial and error. An overview is provided on alginate properties, formulation and preparation of alginate and gelling solutions, production conditions, and post-production treatment that may influence the bead size and shape. Various methods of bead size and shape measurement are also discussed.


The problem is to develop a model of fluids and the rmal transfer to improve the functioning of the oven and maintain its current op eration as a hybrid dryer (solar assisted gas or electricity) 24 hours a day. For the foregoing the methodology is to model the flow of fluids in the c hamber to determine operating speeds which are validated experimentally . As a third stage is deemed thermal capacity of the power assisted. The second step is to calculate the ratio of overall losses of the camera that is a function of factors combined convection and radiation and materials manufacturing which wil l have a thermal


This paper focuses on the active flow control of a computational fluid dynamics simulation over a range of Reynolds numbers using deep reinforcement learning (DRL). More precisely, the proximal policy optimization (PPO) method is used to control the mass flow rate of four synthetic jets symmetrically located on the upper and lower sides of a cylinder immersed in a two-dimensional flow domain. The learning environment supports four flow configurations with Reynolds numbers 100, 200, 300 and 400, respectively. A new smoothing interpolation function is proposed to help the PPO algorithm to learn to set continuous actions, which is of great importance to effectively suppress problematic jumps in lift and allow a better convergence for the training process. It is shown that the DRL controller is able to significantly reduce the lift and drag fluctuations and to actively reduce the drag by approximately 5.7%, 21.6%, 32.7%, and 38.7%, at $Re$=100, 200, 300, and 400 respectively. More importantly, it can also effectively reduce drag for any previously unseen value of the Reynolds number between 60 and 400. This highlights the generalization ability of deep neural networks and is an important milestone to active flow control.


Our objective in this paper is to argue the relations between civilians and military in the process of consolidation of the democracy in the South America, Argentina and Brazil in particular and how these countries promoting the integration in the defense and security areas. The perspective adopted is that the stability degree in civilian-military relations directly happens on the development of the cooperation in regional security and of course on stability of the Latin American democracy.


The present experiment was designed to investigate the effect of motivating conditions on the estimation of time in rats with a single T-maze of corridor type. A diagram of the apparatus used is shown in Fig. 1. The animal was put on the starting platform, and the door 1 and door 2 were opened at the same time. When the animal ran past, door 2 was closed. A compartment was thus formed between door 2 and door 3 in which the animal was confined for the desired length of time. If this interval was 50 seconds the animal was to learn to make a right (or a left) turn which leads to the food at the goal. If the shorter interval of 10 seconds was used the animal was to turn reversely to the left (or the right). Thus the animal was required to stay in the detention compartment for the desired length of time before he was permitted to react to the bifurcation, where he was expected to learn an alternative choice of pathway to the goal according to the length of interval. Non-correction method was used. The time of food intake at the goal was about 25 seconds.In Experiment I it was shown that the rat could react differentially to different time intervals (10sec vs. 50sec) presented before the reaction was made. After each animal had learned the 10sec vs. 50sec discrimination, the differential between the time intervals was reduced by increasing the shorter interval and decreasing the longer one. Thus, it was shown that the animal could also discriminate 15 seconds from 45 seconds (Table 1 and 2). These results well agreed with that of Heron.As for a "timing mechanism" which afforded such a time discrimination, the hypothesis was presented that excitatory potential as well as inhibitory one might be summated at the same time in the organism during the time interval spent in the detention compartment. The stimulus change by opening the door (d3) would lead to reduce the inhibitory potential and result in the evocation of reaction. The level of tension thus summated at the time of reaction would afford the internal cue to select a definite pathway to the goal.In Experiment II, six conditions of food deprivation (1-, 12-, 24-, 36-, 48-, and 60-hr) which would be supposed to affect the level of tension, were chosen. In the test trials, the animal was confined for 30 seconds in the detention compartment. The ratio of frequencies of responses to the goals associated with the shorter and the longer time interval showed that the animal estimated 30 seconds much longer when he was tested after each of the 24-, 48-, and 60-hr food deprivations in comparison with the 1-, 12-, and 30-hr deprivations (Table 3 and Fig. 2). It is necessary to note that test trials were run every day at the same time (i.e. midnight) under all conditions of deprivation throughout the experiments except Experiment VI.These results in Experiment II did not, however, seem to be a monotonic function of the Food Deprivation Hours (FDH). Then, another way of explanation of the result required to assume the factor of the Maintenace Schedule Cycle (MSC) in addition to the factor of FDH. It is matter of course that the drive would be determined by this MSC which was learned to be a daily cycle with reinforcement at a fixed time for a rather long period.In Experiment III the change of distribution in frequencies of responses to the right goal as well as to the left one was asked for by decreasing the time interval in the detention compartment under the conditions of 12-, 24-, and 48-hr food deprivation. If the time interval which evoked the equal frequenceis of responses to both goals was to be found it might be defined to be the psychological middle time interval between the shorter and the longer time interval used in the training of the time discrimination. Then it would be supposed that such an estimated middle time interval might shift to the shorter time under the lower drive conditons. The results shown in Table 4 and


The considered problem is the scheduling of a set of jobs on identical parallel machines in order to minimize the total tardiness without any preemption or splitting. Each job has its own processing time, release date and due date. All the machines are considered identical (with same speed) and available during all the scheduling period. This problem is NP-hard. An exact resolution, an Ant Colony Algorithm (ACO), a Tabu Search (TS) method, a set of Heuristics based on priority rules and an adapted Biskup Hermann Gupta (BHG) method are proposed to solve the problem. The obtained results are discussed and analyzed.


A service network with decentralized ownership is a system where nodes offering a variety of services are administered by different organizations -- or even by a set of individuals. In such a context, nodes hosting services can dynamically enter and exit the system without prior notice, and there is no centralized point of control. If one wants to build into such a system the ability to direct incoming requests for the various hosted services to those nodes that can efficiently fulfill them, one option is to introduce in the system an entity that serves as a gateway to accept service requests, and is an intermediary to re-direct requests as needed. That implies that this intermediary is able to acquire and maintain accurate and up-to-date information on where it can direct incoming requests. Another option, which is the one we pursue in this paper, is to build the system as an overlay network, in which the nodes hosting instances of each of many different types of services can self-organize as "virtual clusters", and efficiently load-balance incoming requests amongst themselves. We describe our design and evaluation of a decentralized computing framework of this kind. We leverage a resilient peer-to-peer overlay that automatically re-configures its topology, responding to the number of different service types executing on the peer nodes, the dynamics of the participation of those nodes (peer churn), and the traffic coming into the system for the various services.


The orchestration of counter-measures in the context of security incidents remains a challenging task for network operators. The main objective of this demonstration is to present how this orchestration is possible in the context of a virtualized NDN network. Based on an adaptation of the TOSCA topology and orchestration model, it is possible to trigger these counter- measures after the detection of NDN specific attacks. We show how the Montimage Monitoring Tool (MMT) has been adapted to detect typical Content Poisoning Attack (CPA), and how the orchestrator can trigger reactions to mitigate their impact on the network.


Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) could achieve the functional image of the organ of interest, so the diseases can be found much earlier. Cone-beam SPECT reconstruction can improve the photo density and spatial resolution of the reconstructed image. A simple method for cone beam reconstruction is to rebin the cone-beam projection data into 2D sinograms and use 2D reconstruction method to obtain the 3D reconstructed images. In this paper, we proposed two rebinning methods for cone-beam SPECT reconstruction with non-uniform attenuation, these two algorithms both can obtain good reconstruction results, especially when reconstructed slice is close to the mid-plane.


Abstract. A new web-based and mobile decision support system (DSS) for search-and-rescue (SAR) at sea is presented, and its performance is evaluated using real case scenarios. The system, named OCEAN-SAR, is accessible via the website http://www.ocean-sar.com . In addition to the website, dedicated applications for iOS and Android have been created to optimise the user experience on mobile devices. OCEAN-SAR simulates drifting objects at sea, using as input ocean currents and wind data provided, respectively, by the CMEMS and ECMWF. The modelling of the drifting objects is based on the leeway model, which parameterises the wind drag of an object using a series of coefficients. These coefficients have been measured in field experiments for different types of objects, ranging from a person in the water to a coastal freighter adrift. OCEAN-SAR provides the user with an intuitive interface to run simulations and to visualise their results using Google Maps. The performance of the service is evaluated by comparing simulations to data from the Italian Coast Guard pertaining to actual incidents in the Mediterranean Sea.


The parameters of additional treatment of biologically pure antibiotic production sewage in winter were studied on a pilot model of a 3.72 m3 biopond with higher aquatic plants (Phragmites communis). Sufficiently high efficiency of the process of possible provision of the required sewage quality were shown. A mathematical model of the process based on the first order reaction equation was developed. Its application was estimated and the values of the equation constants were measured.


This dissertation examines the role of the women's magazine in relationship to the feminist movements from the first wave of the nineteenth century to the second and third waves, discussing how this has evolved into a form of 'popular feminism'. Women's magazines were instrumental in spreading feminist ideas to the masses and are a symbol of its successes. However they have also been at the forefront in reflecting much anti-feminist and post-feminist sentiment. Women's magazines should aim to represent their readers and cover relevant topics with the aim to inform and advise their readers, it is therefore important to analyse the ideological messages that are presented to this mass audience.

Cosmopolitan magazine is an example of a publication, which represents the successes and gains of the feminist movements, as well as the subsequent mediation and commodification of feminist ideals into popular culture and advertising. This dissertation concludes that Cosmopolitan has adopted some 'popular' ideas of the movement, selling these aspects to its advertisers and readers resulting in a form of 'popular feminism', which ultimately undermines the movement.