In this study, several read/write (R/W) tests were conducted using a hard-disk-drive-type ferroelectric data storage test system based on scanning nonlinear dielectric microscopy (SNDM). A periodically inverted signal, which corresponded to artificial domain stripes formed on LiTaO3 single crystal, could be read correctly with a bit rate of 2 Mbps using this test system. Bit writing on a 50-nm-thick epitaxial LiTaO3 film at 20 Mbps was also demonstrated. In addition, a noncontact probe-height control technique was adapted to solve the problem of tip abrasion. The gap distance between a probe and a medium surface was successfully controlled on the nanometer order using a noncontact SNDM technique with sharp-pointed tungsten needle probes prepared by electrolytic polishing. Bit writing under a noncontact state was also studied. Artificial domain dots with diameters of less than 100 nm could be formed under the noncontact state.


Pancreatic cancer remains a "death sentence," with the poorest survival rates reported for solid tumors. Escalating this problem is the fact that pancreatic cancer is among the most resistant cancers to traditional forms of therapy. But in this new era of targeted therapies, there is reason to hope that significant progress will be made in the development of new treatments in the near future. In fact, we have entered into a new era of cancer therapies and are witnessing the rapid approval of antibodies and small molecule agents that inhibit cancer associated pathways. In the past year we have also witnessed the approval of the first cancer vaccine (Provenge) for the treatment of prostate cancer. Soon after, the first immune check point inhibitor (Yervoy, ipilimumab) that blocks the downregulatory signal, CTLA-4 on T cells, was approved for the treatment of malignant melanoma. These groundbreaking examples have opened the floodgates for a whole new class of anticancer agents.

Until recently, barriers to immunotherapy clinical successes for pancreatic cancer have been due to a lack of understanding of the immune pathways within the pancreatic tumor microenvironment that hinder successful immune responses. Recent advances in our understanding of its immunobiology has identified new targets for developing cancer specific vaccines and new targets for modulating the tumor microenvironment to allow more potent activation and improved access of vaccine induced immune responses. We are just learning that non-neoplastic cells, including cancer-associated myofibroblasts, regulatory T cells, dendritic cells, myeloid-derived suppressor cells, and tumor-associated macrophages, are hijacked by preinvasive and invasive cancer cells to create a tolerogenic tumor microenvironment. Current research is focused on elucidating the mechanisms of this tolerogenic polarization within the tumor microenvironment with the goal of tipping the balance in favor of an anticancer immune response. With the recent advances in molecular technologies and the development of relevant pancreatic cancer mouse models, it is now within our reach to dissect the inhibitory pathways within the pancreatic tumor microenvironment. This will in turn, lead to new therapeutic opportunities that will eliminate these barriers and convert this deadly cancer into a treatable disease.

This presentation will provide historical prospective on the field, and highlight the recent advances and future expectations for the immunotherapy of pancreatic cancer.

References:

1. Thomas AM, Santarsiero LM, Armstrong TD, Chen Y-C, Huang L-Q, Laheru DA, Goggins M, Hruban RH, Jaffee EM. Mesothelin Specific CD8+ T Cell Responses Provide Human Evidence of In Vivo Cross-Priming by Antigen Presenting Cells in Vaccinated Pancreatic Cancer Patients. J Exp Med., 200(3):297–306, 2004.

2. Laheru D, Jaffee EM. Immunotherapy of pancreatic cancer - science driving clinical progress. Nat Rev Cancer 2005; 5(6):459–67. PMID: 15905855

3. Laheru D, Lutz E, Burke J, Biedrzycki B, Solt S, Onners B, Tartakovsky I, Nemunaitis J, Le D, Sugar E, Hege K, Jaffee EM. Allogeneic granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor-secreting tumor immunotherapy alone or in sequence with cyclophosphamide for metastatic pancreatic cancer: a pilot study of safety, feasibility, and immune activation. Cancer Therapy: Clin Can Res 2008 Mar l:14(5):1455–1463. PMID: 18316569 NIHMSID # 105519

4. Lutz E, Yeo CJ, Lillemoe KD, Biedrzycki B, Kobrin B, Herman J, Sugar E, Piantadosi S, Cameron JL, Solt S, Onners B, Tartakovsky I, Choi M, Sharma R, Illei PB, Hruban RH, Abrams RA, Le D, Jaffee E, Laheru D. A lethally irradiated allogeneic granulocytemacrophage colony stimulating factor-secreting tumor vaccine for pancreatic adenocarcinoma. A Phase II trial of safety, efficacy, and immune activation. Ann Surg. 2011;253(2):328-35. PMCID: 3085934.

5. Le DT, Brockstedt DG, Nir-Paz R, Hampl J, Mathur S, Nemunaitis J, Sterman DH, Hassan R, Lutz E, Moyer B, Giedlin M, Louis JL, Sugar EA, Pons A, Cox AL, Levine J, Murphy AL, Illei P, Dubensky TW, Jr., Eiden JE, Jaffee EM, Laheru DA. A live-attenuated Listeria vaccine (ANZ-100) and a live-attenuated Listeria vaccine expressing mesothelin (CRS-207) for advanced cancers: phase i studies of safety and immune induction. Clinical cancer research: an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. 2012;18(3):858–68. PMCID: 3289408.

6. Blankenstein T, Coulie PG, Gilboa E, Jaffee EM. The determinants of tumour immunogenicity. Nat Rev Cancer 2010; 12(4):307–13. PMID: 22378190.

Citation Format: Elizabeth M. Jaffee. Fatal attraction: A new story featuring the immune system and pancreatic cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer: Progress and Challenges; Jun 18-21, 2012; Lake Tahoe, NV. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(12 Suppl):Abstract nr IA17.


Photovoltaic ac-modules may become a future trend in PV system technology. For a reliable integration of the power electronic converter into the PV panel (also called PV module) the thermal mission profile of the photovoltaic system has to be analysed. In this paper, a mechatronic integration strategy is introduced and a thermal test setup is presented showing the need for sophisticated thermal design. Finally, advanced power packaging solutions are presented to find a trade-off between cost, miniaturization and reliability requirements.


The dynamics of the magnetic structure in a well ordered ferromagnetic CoPd stripe domain pattern has been investigated upon excitation by femtosecond infrared laser pulses. Time-resolved x-ray magnetic circular dichroism in photoemission electron microscopy (TR-XMCD-PEEM) is used to perform real space magnetic imaging with 100 ps time resolution in order to show local transformations of the domains structures. Using the time resolution of the synchrotron radiation facility of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, we are able to image the transient magnetic domains in a repetitive pump and probe experiment. In this work, we study the reversible and irreversible transformations of the excited magnetic stripe domains as function of the laser fluence. Our results can be explained by thermal contributions, reducing the XMCD amplitude in each stripe domain below a threshold fluence of 12 mJ cm−2. Above this threshold fluence, irreversible transformations of the magnetic domains are observed. Static XMCD-PEEM images reveal the new partially ordered stripe domain structures characterized by a new local magnetic domain distribution showing an organized pattern at the micrometer scale. This new arrangement is attributed to the recovery of the magnetic anisotropy during heat dissipation under an Oersted field.


The study assessed the impact of e-tax administration on tax revenue in Ondo state internal revenue, Nigeria. The study employed survey research design using primary data sourced from the distribution of a well-structured questionnaire to the staff of the Ondo State Board of Internal Revenue (OSBIR). Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics; through frequency counts, mean scores; and Z-test to test the hypotheses formulated. The study revealed that electronic taxation has significant influence on tax evasion as demonstrated by the calculated Z-test score greater than the Z-table score of (1.96 < 6.44); similarly, it was also shown that electronic-taxation can prevent corrupt practices among some tax administrators as revealed by the Z-table score of (1.96 < 3.08). The study concluded that e-taxation can reduce tax evasion in Nigeria as well as truncate corrupt practices among tax officials in Nigeria. It was recommended that OSBIR embrace e-taxation with urgent deployment of robust Information Technology; and encourage regular training of staff and taxpayers sensitization to facilitate smooth running. This will engender a high level of compliance among taxpayers. Also, e-tax ought to be employed in order to ease the related glitches that swindling stakeholders' interest.


Software tools processing partially common set of data should share an understanding of what these data mean. Since ontologies have been used to express formally a shared understanding of information, we argue that they can be used to improve integration in Software Engineering Environments (SEE). In this paper we discuss an ontology-based approach to improve tool integration and present ODE, an ontology-based SEE.


Nova Mon 2012 was the first classical nova to be detected as a high energy $\gamma$-ray transient, by Fermi-LAT, before its optical discovery. We study a time sequence of high resolution optical echelle spectra (Nordic Optical Telescope) and contemporaneous NOT, STIS UV, and CHIRON echelle spectra (Nov 20/21/22). We use [O III] and H$\beta$ line fluxs to constrain the properties of the ejecta. We derive the structure from the optical and UV line profiles and compare our measured line fluxes for with predictions using Cloudy with abundances from other ONe novae. Mon 2012 is confirmed as an ONe nova. We find E(B-V)=0.85$\pm$0.05 and hydrogen column density $\approx 5\times 10^{21}$ cm$^{-2}$. The corrected continuum luminosity is nearly the same in the entire observed energy range as V1974 Cyg, V382 Mon, and Nova LMC 2000 at the same epoch after outburst. The distance, about 3.6 kpc, is quite similar to V1974 Cyg. The line profiles can be modeled using an axisymmetric bipolar geometry for the ejecta with various inclinations of the axis to the line of sight, 60 \le i \le 80 degrees, an opening angle of \approx$70 deg, inner radius $\Delta R/R(t)\approx 0.4$ for permitted lines and less filled for forbidden lines. The filling factor $f\approx 0.1-0.3$ implying M(ejecta) $\leq 6\times 10^{-5}$M$_\odot$. The ONe novae appear to comprise a single physical class with bipolar high mass ejecta, similarly enhanced abundances, and a common spectroscopic evolution within a narrow range of luminosities. The detected $\gamma$-ray emission may be a generic phenomenon, common to all ONe novae, possibly to all classical novae, and connected with acceleration and emission processes within the ejecta (abstract severely truncated).


Hall et al. (Hall et al., 2002, Cerebral Cortex 12:140-149) recently showed that pulsed frequency-modulated tones generate considerably higher activation than their unmodulated counterparts in non-primary auditory regions immediately posterior and lateral to Heschl's gyrus (HG). Here, we use fMRI to explore the type of modulation necessary to evoke such differential activation. Carrier signals were a single tone and a harmonic-complex tone, with a 300 Hz fundamental, that were modulated at a rate of 5 Hz either in frequency, or in amplitude, to create six stimulus conditions (unmodulated, FM, AM). Relative to the silent baseline, the modulated tones, in particular, activated widespread regions of the auditory cortex bilaterally along the supra-temporal plane. When compared with the unmodulated tones, both AM and FM tones generated significantly greater activation in lateral HG and the planum temporale, replicating the previous findings. These activation patterns were largely overlapping, indicating a common sensitivity to both AM and FM. Direct comparisons between AM and FM revealed a higher magnitude of activation in response to the variation in amplitude than in frequency, plus a small part of the posterolateral region in the right hemisphere whose response was specifically AM-, and not FM-, dependent. The dominant pattern of activation was that of co-localized activation by AM and FM, which is consistent with a common neural code for AM and FM within these brain regions.


As the world nears the target of protecting 17% of terrestrial environments, there remain significant gaps in achieving the ecologically representative system of protected areas (PAs) called for under the Convention on Biological Diversity. There is increasing recognition of the contribution that privately protected areas (PPAs) can make to protecting biodiversity, offering the potential to increase existing levels of protection for species and ecosystems, but also to protect biodiversity that currently lies outside existing PA networks. Despite the potential importance of PPAs for achieving an ecologically representative PA network, the complementarity between public and private PAs has received little attention. Our study provides a detailed assessment of the role PPAs play in protecting biodiversity in a megadiverse country. Using the Australian PA network as an example, we provide a comprehensive assessment of the contribution PPAs make to the representation and level of protection of species, ecosystems, and key biodiversity areas. We found that while making up only 1.3% of Australia's land area, PPAs protect a wide range of biodiversity, contributing to the protection of 85% of vertebrate species, 80% of threatened ecological communities, 95% of major vegetation types, and 40% of key biodiversity areas. However, our findings reveal that PPAs largely protect biodiversity already within the PA network, and because of their small size, they currently make only minor contributions to the adequacy of protection for biodiversity. Nevertheless, we show that conservation on private land will be critical to strengthening the PA network, with between 70 and 90% of currently unprotected or poorly protected biodiversity occurring largely on private land. Analyses such as ours, which examine the importance of both public and private PAs to achieve conservation targets, are essential to ensure effective planning of PA networks into the future.


Stefins together with cystatins and kininogens belong to a
large family of cysteine peptidase inhibitors. These molecules
participate in regulation of various biological processes and
have a crucial role as modulators of host immune response (e.g.
antigen processing and presentation, nitric oxide production,
etc.). Stefins are primarily located intracellularly, but they
can be found in high concentrations also in excretory/secretory
products of helminths and thus mediating the parasite-host
molecular communication. Our study is focused on molecular,
biochemical and immunological characterization of stefins which
were identified in four parasitic organisms representing the
four main groups of helminths: Fascioloides magna (Trematoda),
Hymenolepis diminuta (Cestoda), Eudiplozoon nipponicum
(Monogenea) and Trichinella spiralis (Nematoda). Considering
the differences in biology of these parasites (e.g. life cycle,
localization, nutrition) we expect possible divergence in
stefin functions. We performed phylogenetic analysis of
cysteine peptidase inhibitors of various species of organisms
derived from databases and our transcriptomic and genomic data.
Particular genes of stefins of the four model organisms were
selected. Total RNA was isolated, reverse transcription
performed and DNA coding stefin genes was amplified using
specific primers. Obtained genes will be cloned and prepared in
recombinant form for further characterization.


Nowadays, Electronic Commerce (EC) course is becoming one of the most important taught courses at all business schools due to increased businesses over the Internet network by utilizing all available technologies. However, the success of such courses cannot be measured by number of students who pass or fail but rather by how such courses influence and can change the daily life of these students. Previous literature stressed on the important role of the teacher in developing students' skills and knowledge and transferring this expertise outside the classroom. This study explores the factors explain teachers' influence on learners' use of EC technology outside the classroom. A questionnaire (survey) was developed and distributed to the students enrolled in the "introduction to EC" course at the Jordan of University. Using structured equation modeling (SEM) a total of 545 valid questionnaires were retrieved and analyzed. The results of the study showed that teachers' capacity support and behavior support are significant factors that established a facilitating condition which have a significant impact on students' computer self-efficacy. On the other hand, teachers' affection support and computer self-efficacy are found to be significant factors that strengthened students' perceived usefulness which supported the use of EC technology outside the classroom. As a result of increased students' computer self-efficacy and perceived usefulness, the empirical analysis revealed positive significant effect on students' use of EC technologies outside the classroom. This research presented a set of recommendations and polices that are very handful in developing successful EC courses that support the teachers' role, leverage student knowledge that goes beyond the classroom settings.

 Key words: Electronic commerce, student skills, teacher influence, technology.


Initial changes in hepatic microvasculature and carotid (arterial) blood pressure were measured in anesthetized Sprague-Dawley rats receiving an endoportal injection or topical application of serotonin alone, or in combination with selected doses of lodoxamide tromethamine or phentolamine-HCl. Although infusion of 1.0 microgram per 100 g b.w. serotonin and/or 10 micrograms per 100 g b.w. lodoxamide produced no change in arterial blood pressure, 10 or 20 micrograms per 100 g b.w. serotonin evoked hypotension within 40 sec. During this period, in vivo microscopy of transilluminated livers revealed that 1.0 or 10 micrograms per 100 b.w. serotonin elicited constriction of portal venules and sinusoids, and a significant increase in the percentage of these microvessels containing decreased cellular flow. None of these responses was antagonized by 10 micrograms per 100 g b.w. lodoxamide. Topical application of 1.0, 10, or 20 micrograms serotonin provoked constriction of sinusoids and decreased sinusoidal and central venous perfusion, but no systemic hypotension. There was no significant difference in the magnitude of responses to these doses of serotonin alone or with 0.1 microgram lodoxamide; however, 100 micrograms phentolamine potentiated responses to 1.0 microgram serotonin. Given these results, and those of previous studies indicating that equivalent doses of these antagonists block mast cell degranulation or catecholamine-induced activation of alpha receptors, it is suggested that the vascular responses are mediated directly by serotonin and not indirectly by serotonin-evoked mast cell degranulation or alpha-adrenergic stimulation. The vascular receptor(s) triggered remain(s) to be elucidated.


Implants for controlled drug delivery can be very helpful to improve the therapeutic efficacy of a medical treatment, and at the same time reduce the risk of toxic side effects. In this article, four different strategies are exemplarily presented: hybrid bone substitutes combining hydroxyapatite and chitosan hydrogels; vascular stents coated with a bio-inspired polymer; cochlear implants for local dexamethasone delivery; and in-situ forming implants for periodontitis treatment. But this is only a restricted selection, and numerous other approaches and applications based on implants releasing a drug (or a combination of drugs) exist. Compared to conventional implants or pharmaceutical dosage forms, they might offer decisive advantages.


Numerical analysis for slamming impact phenomena has been carried out when 2-dimensional wedge shaped structure with finite deadrise angles enter the free surface by using a commertial CFD code, FLUENT. Fluid is assumed incompressible and entry speed of the structure is kept constant. Geo-reconstruct scheme (or PLIC-VOF scheme) is used for the tracking of the deforming free surface. User defined function of 6 degrees of freedom motion and moving dynamic mesh option are used for the expression of the downward motion of the structure and deforming of unstructured meshes adjacent to the structure. The magnitude and the location of impact pressure and the total drag force which is the summation of pressures distributed at the bottom of the structure are analyzed. Results of the analysis show good agreement with the results of similarity solution, asymptotic solution and the solution of BEM. ※Keywords: Slamming(슬래밍), Impact pressure(충격압력), Wedge structure(쐐기 구조물), CFD (계산유체역학), VOF scheme, Geo-reconstruct scheme(도형-재구성법),


Leucaena leucocephala, locally known as petai belalang", is widely used in Malaysia as livestock forage, reforestation material, as well as furniture and construction timber. The main objectives of the study are to determine physical properties of Leucaena leucocephala at two (2) different parts and three (3) different portions and to investigate the chemical composition of wild Leucaena leucocephala species at two (2) different parts and three (3) different portions under laboratory conditions. Physical and chemical composition, sampling and preparation of samples for these analyses were carried out according to the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry Standards (TAPPI). In physical properties, moisture content and basic density were carried out for every parts and portions of sample. While in chemical composition, Leucaena leucocephala wood was analysed for lignin, holocellullose, a-cellulose and extractives. From the result obtained, it shows that bark and wood in bottom portion have higher lignin percentage which is (31.6%) and (30.3%) respectively. The extractive content showed the highest content in wood (43.7%) and bark (46.5%) at bottom portion. The holocellulose content showed the highest (72.1%) in the wood while the lowest value (68.0%) in the bark at the bottom portion. The highest a-cellulose content showed in wood (41.3%) and bark (34.9%) at bottom portion. For physical properties testing on basic density showed the highest value in both wood and bark at bottom portion. While moisture content showed the highest content in bark at bottom portion which is (56.5%) and (42.1%) in wood at middle portion. This study revealed different parts and portions were affected in both physical and chemical composition of Leucaena leucocephala species.


Leveraging built-in cameras on smartphones and tablets, face authentication provides an attractive alternative of legacy passwords due to its memory-less authentication process. However, it has an intrinsic vulnerability against the media-based facial forgery (MFF) where adversaries use photos/videos containing victims' faces to circumvent face authentication systems. In this paper, we propose FaceLive, a practical and robust liveness detection mechanism to strengthen the face authentication on mobile devices in fighting the MFF-based attacks. FaceLive detects the MFF-based attacks by measuring the consistency between device movement data from the inertial sensors and the head pose changes from the facial video captured by built-in camera. FaceLive is practical in the sense that it does not require any additional hardware but a generic front-facing camera, an accelerometer, and a gyroscope, which are pervasively available on today's mobile devices. FaceLive is robust to complex lighting conditions, which may introduce illuminations and lead to low accuracy in detecting important facial landmarks; it is also robust to a range of cumulative errors in detecting head pose changes during face authentication.


A case of Lyme disease with cardiac involvement in a patient with congenital kidney pathology is presented. Carditis is one of manifestations of Lyme borreliosis. That is why when myocarditis of obscure etiology is detected in an area endemic for tick borreliosis special laboratory investigation for exclusion of Lyme disease should be carried out.


Background Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in early adulthood (<40 years old) may be associated with unrevealed diagnoses of Kawasaki disease (KD) in childhood. Daniels et al. showed that 5% of young adults with acute coronary syndrome might have antecedent Kawasaki disease in a cohort with Kawasaki disease incidence rates ranging from about 9 to 20 per 100,000 children under 5 years of age. However, there is no relevant research from the cohort with higher incidence rates (>80–100 per 100,000 children under 5 years of age) of Kawasaki disease. Methods We conducted a multicenter, retrospective study by reviewing medical records and angiographic data from two institutions (middle and southern Taiwan, respectively) of adults <40 years of age who underwent coronary angiography for clinically suspected acute coronary syndrome (2009–2019). Angiographic images were independently analyzed by three cardiologists who were blinded to the medical records. Demographic and laboratory data and risk factors of coronary artery disease were integrated to assess the likelihood of antecedent KD. Results All 323 young adults underwent coronary angiography, and 27 had coronary aneurysms. The patients' clinical and angiographic characteristics were evaluated, and 7.4% had aneurysms likely to be associated with KD. Most subjects were male (23/24), and their low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels were significantly higher (p = 0.028) than those of subjects unlikely to have KD. Conclusion This study proposed that the cohort with higher Kawasaki disease incidence rates may have a higher prevalence of young adult ACS associated with antecedent KD. The importance of determining the clinical therapeutic significance of antecedent Kawasaki disease in young adult ACS warrants advanced research. Higher LDL levels may have a long-term cardiovascular impact in KD patients with persistent coronary aneurysms.


Yogyakarta is a city in Indonesia whose lively art and cultural activities attract local and international tourists. This uniqueness led Yustina Neni to build a restaurant, a gallery, and an art shop in one building. The number of art activities and artists' interests to make exhibition in her space continuously increase, forces her to make a comfortable atmosphere there. The atmosphere is one of the most significant elements to build ideal exhibition circumstance in the gallery. The atmosphere is built through general elements in the space such as the floor, wall, plafond, furniture, and aesthetic elements. Based on the data collected through literatures, field studies, and survey done through the clients, staffs, and customers, the main problem occur is how to design the ideal interior to a restaurant, art shop and gallery. The interior design is not a mere general interior design, but is a specific set that can represent Kedai Kebun Forum's character, meet the wants of the clients, and at the same time be a comfortable place for the customers and staffs. The management of Kedai Kebun Forum hopes that the gallery can be a comfortable space as a place for art appreciation in Indonesia. Besides, Kedai Kebun Forum hopes to be a cafe and restaurant that can represent Yogyakarta, not only Tirtodipuran area. They hope to make Kedai Kebun Forum as a cozy place to hang out in Yogyakarta, and at the same time is also chill, homey, and artsy. KEYWORD: Hangout-place, Art, homey


In a 63-year old woman, a surgically removed leiomyoma of the inferior vena cava recurred, 4 years later, as a leiomyosarcoma. These two smooth muscle tumours, one benign the other malignant, seldom involve the inferior vena cava. Both produce few clinical symptoms and therefore are belatedly diagnosed, except for suprarenal or retrohepatic lesions which rapidly exhibit signs of compression. Computerized tomography, angioscans and cavography are necessary to make a provisional diagnosis and determine the operative strategy. The differential diagnosis between leiomyoma and leiomyosarcoma rests on cellular or nuclear atypias, mitotic index and sometimes cytological and staining details showing the myofibril. These tumours develop slowly in the renal segment. Treatment is primarily surgical. The case reported here raises the problem of the leiomyoma-leiomyosarcoma sequence: are we confronted with degeneration, or is there such a thing as a smooth muscle fibre disease?


One of the most important characteristics for controlling processes on the quantum scale is the fidelity or robustness of the techniques being used. In the case of single atoms localized in micro-traps, it was recently shown that the use of time-dependent tunnelling interactions in a multi-trap setup can be viewed as analogous to the area of multi-level optics. The atom's centre-of-mass can then be controlled with a high fidelity, using a STIRAP-type process. Here, we review previous work that led to the development of multi-level atom optics and present two examples of our most recent work on quantum state preparation.


A ground-slot coupling technique is applied to design a novel multilayer active hybrid-ring power divider. The prototype consists of three ground slots to couple signal between circuit layers, and two single-stage HEMT amplifiers to boost the coupled signal. It is tested in C-band with 40% -3 dB bandwidth. At 5 GHz center frequency, it has 8 dB small-signal gain and 10 dBm output P1 dB.


A study was conducted during 1998 covering three Village Development Committees (VDCs) of Chitwan district, Nepal, to examine the consistency of results if carried out independently using formal and informal methods of information collection. Gender analysis (access and control profiles), and a face-to-face household survey (n = 123 households) were employed for this purpose. Gender differences in access to and control over household resources was studied. Results showed a consistent response from both household survey and gender analysis for most of the parameters studied, such as access to agriculture extension and veterinary services, participation in training, and community work. Gender response for control over resources, such as income from small animals was also similar from both methods. However, some of the parameters were not consistent in response. For example, there was no participation of women in control over income from cash crops and cereal crops and large animals as strongly indicated by gender analysis, which was not visible in the case of household survey. This raises a question about the reliability of using only one approach of information collection for rural development research. On the basis of these results, we suggest a combine approach of quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection, which could be more reliable, informative and appropriate. The use of multiple methods also allows the researcher to cross-reference in order to validate the trustworthiness of information. Key words: Gender analysis; household survey; triangulation DOI: 10.3126/narj.v7i0.1875 Nepal Agriculture Research Journal Vol.7 2006 pp.98-102


(5) Miscellanea. The New Drugs, Instruments and Appliancessection will be incorporated in a miscellanea of news of topical interest which will include notices of society meetings, lectures and so on. The inclusion of these new features has necessitated suspension of Radiological Diagnosis, Reflections of Current Literature and Essays on Treatment in General Practice. The changes described above will give the journal a wider coverage of important topics and the editors hope that the introduction of these new features will result in l\1EDlCINE ILLUSTRATED becoming of even greater interest and value to its readers.


Basing on literature and own experience authors have presented possibilities and advantages this method. During 1994-1997 3239 patients were hospitalized, 249 because of larynx diseases. 88 (35.34%) from them were operated by Kleinssaser tool kit with control by surgical microscope. Between these patients in histological examination were found in 30 patients--changes of hypertrophy, in 23 patients--polypus vocal fold, in 17 patients cancer of larynx--early shape, in 12 patients--vocal nodulus and 2 patients--Reincke oedema, 2--laryngeal papillomas and 2--cysts of larynx. Patients with cancer of larynx were treated by partial laryngectomy. Other patients had return full function of larynx.


Wireless access in vehicular environments (WAVE), is especially designed to support vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) requirements, where rapidly changing channel conditions introduces unsynchronized transmissions. In such networks, instead of dealing with interferences in medium access control (MAC) layer or physical layer alone, both layers should be considered to cooperate and complement each other. In this paper, multipacket detection (MPD) technique with frequency domain equalization (FDE) is proposed for VANETs, with cyclically shifted different interleavers for different nodes, to remove interference and reducing the information exchange between nodes. These promising multi-hop wireless networks are used in situations, where temporary network connectivity is needed. Therefore, to improve the communication between vehicles (V2V) and from vehicles to roadside infrastructure (V2I), MPD-FDE with interference cancellation (IC) schemes can be used iteratively to successfully decode and receive even colliding packets. For designing such a protocol, different key aspects are discussed with an emphasis on iterative MPD-FDE. Numerical results with different network nodes, show the MPD-FDE performances for coded and uncoded transmissions with different IC schemes, where successive IC (SIC) is much better than parallel IC (PIC) schemes. It is also shown that the proposed protocol provide reliable detection and excellent throughput improvements, with much less resource consumption compared to multiple random interleavers.


Motivated by the documented linkage between water‐borne disease outbreaks and heavy rainfall, we compare simulations of precipitation in Wisconsin from two different downscaling procedures (statistical and dynamical) and global climate models (GCMs) for the late 20th and middle 21st centuries (SRES A2 greenhouse emissions scenario). In the inter‐model mean, all the three methods produce reasonably accurate simulations of seasonal and annual precipitation amounts during the historical period of 1971–2000 (yearly biases <5%), but the GCMs severely underestimate extreme precipitation compared with downscaled output and observations. The modelling methodologies agree that Wisconsin should experience a modestly wetter future climate (annual increase <10%) by the middle 21st century (2041–2070), comprised of more precipitation during winter, spring, and autumn but an equivocal summertime signal. The future simulations also exhibit robust increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme daily precipitation, consisting of larger relative changes in the return periods of heavy events (up to −50%) than in the accumulations (<30%). Although the modelling procedures vary substantially in their projected absolute differences in future precipitation, they agree surprisingly well on the simulated relative differences (percent change) of both mean and extreme precipitation. Unfortunately, there is little consistency in the simulated spatial patterns of future precipitation change across Wisconsin, complicating societal adaptation measures to enhanced extremes. Nevertheless, the composite projections presented here suggest that impending hydrological changes in Wisconsin represent a public health threat, by virtue of increasingly extreme precipitation promoting water‐borne disease outbreaks.


Silicon bipolar transistors with current gain as high as 80 at 77 K are described. ECL (emitter-coupled-logic) circuits using these transistors are operational at low temperatures with no degradation in circuit speed observed until about 165 K as compared to its speed at a typical system operating temperature of 358 K (85 degrees C). The key design and performance issues for low-temperature operation of bipolar (or BiCMOS) circuits are addressed. The device used in the investigation is a scaled double-poly self-aligned transistor. Transistor small-signal response measured by standard S-parameter techniques as a function of temperature is shown. The static noise margin improves at low temperatures, suggesting that reduction of circuit logic swings will be possible. State gain can be greater than unity with V/sub L/ less than 200 mV at 85 K provided the pull-up resistance to emitter resistance ratio is kept sufficiently large.<<ETX>>


Patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) are particularly vulnerable to many of the risk factors of malnutrition. The delivery of nutritional care to these patients is an essential component in reversing or averting the development of malnutrition in this population group. The attitudes of the staff involved in the care of these patients may greatly influence the quality of care provided. Staff of special care units (SCU) for dementia patients and of adult day care programs (ADC) filled out a questionnaire designed to determine their attitudes towards the provision of nutritional care to AD patients. SCU staff scored significantly higher (p < .05) than ADC staff in only two of the twenty attitude statements: "Iprefer feeding residents who are restrained" and "I am concerned about the nutritional status of the residents" which may be explained by the possible differences in the severity of the disease of the client population served. Overall, results of this survey indicate that staff of ADC and SCU have relatively positive attitudes toward the provision of nutritional care for those with dementia and that they enjoy situations that allow positive interactions with clients. These results suggest that staff may have the inclination to increase their nutritional care efforts and to participate in training programs designed to reduce or to avert the development of malnutrition in AD.


Given that the Latino community is the second largest ethnic group in the US, an understanding of how Latinos are discussed and targeted on social media during US elections is crucial. This paper explores these questions through a data analysis on Reddit, one of the most prominent and popular social media platforms for political discussion. We collected Reddit posts mentioning Latinos and the US midterm elections from September 24, 2017 to September 24, 2018. We analyzed people's posting patterns over time, and the digital traces of the individuals posting the majority of content and the most popular content. Our research highlights data voids that existed in online discussions surrounding Latinos prior to the US midterm elections. We observe a lack of neutral actors engaging Latinos in political topics. It appears that it is the more extremist voices (i.e. individuals operating within subreddits who identify themselves as political trolls) who are creating the most political content about Latinos. We conclude our report with a discussion of the possible dangers of data voids (especially with regard to their ties to mis- and disinformation) and recommendations to increase the involvement of the Latino community in future US elections.


Changes in the anatomy and function of the gastrointestinal tract after bariatric surgery markedly change patients' eating patterns. Malnutrition is a significant risk associated with all bariatric procedures, which can lead to dangerous nutritional deficiencies. However, if correct patient selection is conducted and if patients receive thorough preoperative nutrition education and postoperative nutritional follow-up, these deficiencies are largely preventable. Nurses are important members of the multidisciplinary team; assisting in patient selection, providing hands-on care, and educating the patient on the surgical process and post-operative dietary restrictions. It is critical for nurses to understand immediate and projected nutritional consequences of surgery, in order to monitor the patient for diet tolerance and nutrient deficiency symptoms, to encourage dietary compliance, and to reinforce the long-term dietary restrictions. With appropriate supplementation and patient compliance, all nutritional deficiencies can be avoided or corrected.


: Objective: To assess the maternal complications in woman with twin pregnancy at tertiary care hospital Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted at Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur from July 2018 to December 2018 over the period of 6 months. Total 432 cases of twin pregnancy having gestational age >20 weeks were selected. Complications of twin pregnancy were assessed. Results: During study period, there were 432 twin pregnancies out of total 13539 pregnancies. Most of the cases were belonged to age group 21-30 years. Primigravida were 45.7% out of total twin pregnancies. Preterm deliveries was seen in 304 (70%), followed by anemia 259(60%) cases, preterm rupture of membranes in 120 (39.4%) cases, pregnancy induced hypertension in 122(28.3%) cases, cholestasis of pregnancy in 24(5.5%) cases, total 20(4.6%) found with antepartum hemorrhage, gestational diabetes mellitus in 08(1.8%) cases. Total 44 (10.2%) cases were found with PPH and mortality rate was 02(0.46%). Conclusions: In present preterm labor, GDM, PIH and anemia were the most common complications. Most of the cases found with mild to moderate anemia. In most the cases C-section was performed. PPH was noted in most the cases.


We present a reliable and nondestructive analytical method for the determination of urea concentration in a pharmaceutical cream formulation using Raman spectroscopy. A pharmaceutical cream is a highly viscous emulsion; therefore, its composition and physical mixing could be inhomogeneous on a microscopic scale. The local environment around the urea could vary, which could influence the molecular vibrations of the urea molecule. As expected, when Raman spectra were collected by focusing the laser onto a tiny area (∼2–3 µm), the position of the urea band at 1003 cm−1 varied as a result of the microscopic inhomogeneity within the sample. Therefore, acquisition of Raman spectra representative of the entire sample rather than a localized portion of it is very important for the analysis of pharmaceutical creams. Based on the preliminary Raman mapping results of a urea cream, a sample area of at least 750 × 750 µm should be covered for reliable quantitative analysis. In this study, we used a wide-area illumination scheme capable of covering a sample area of 28.3 mm2 for Raman spectral collection in order to ensure a reliable representative sample. In addition, to simplify the measurements, Raman spectra of urea creams in plastic bottles were directly collected without further sampling, and partial least squares regression was used for quantitative analysis. The urea concentrations were accurately determined despite the spectral collection being performed through plastic bottles. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Despite our country's affluence and high-tech advances in neonatal intensive care, in 1994 the U.S. ranked twenty-first in infant mortality rates among developed countries with populations over 2.5 million. Women with low-risk pregnancies are frequently failed by the traditional obstetrical system, either because they cannot afford proper prenatal care-and therefore often give birth to babies who need to be assisted by expensive neonatal intensive care-or because the system fosters an attitude of dependency on doctors, surgery and drugs, rather than a sense of empowerment during the birth process. This enlightening book demonstrates with conviction that childbirth can and should be a process of empowerment, and that midwifery should be the standard of care for women with low-risk pregnancies. Diary of a Midwife, written by a certified nurse-midwife and the founder of the first nurse-midwifery graduate education program in Virginia, is based on the author's 13 years delivering babies in rural Virginia. Through the author's experiences as a midwife, mother of three, and veteran of training as a labor and delivery nurse in a busy hospital's maternity ward, the midwife care alternative is revealed to be the best way for healthy women to be collaborators in their own care. Midwives encourage women to develop their inner power for the birth process by providing teaching, support, and comfort. Adequate prenatal care reduces the number of premature and low-birth weight babies, and costly, traumatic medical interventions such as Cesarean and forceps deliveries, episiotomies and routine anesthesia are often avoided. Author Juliana van Olphen-Fehr movingly shows that midwifery is an art and that it can do much to create mothers who are able to greet their newborns with dignified, loving, and strong arms. _


The Exabyte 8-mm helical-scan storage devices in use at Fermilab in a number of applications are described. These devices have the functionality of magnetic tape but use media that are much more economical and much more dense than conventional 9-track tape. The discussion covers: uses for helical scan tape systems; the initial evaluation of Exabytes; their use in the Fermilab lattice supercomputer project; their use in a VME-based data acquisition system; the problems observed in a VME environment; their use as general-purpose tape drives for VAX/VMS; a copy facility for converting 9-track tapes to 8-mm cartridges and replicating 8-mm tapes for distribution to dispersed experiment collaborators; problems observed under VMS; and diagnostics implemented to reproduce and understand the problems remaining with these devices. >


The nonlinear response of a cylindrical monopole antenna immersed in a steady-state collisionless magnetic-field-free plasma and driven by a single-frequency RF source is investigated. The thickness of the ion sheath surrounding the antenna is controlled by a DC bias applied to the latter. It is found that at frequencies of the driving signal close to twice the frequency of a sheath wave resonance, the 1/2-subharmonic is excited, provided that the input power level is sufficiently high. The dependence of this process on the sheath thickness and on the electron plasma density is studied in the vicinity of several sheath wave resonances. This nonlinear effect is interpreted as a parametric excitation due to the periodic modulation of the sheath thickness, and hence its capacitance, by the applied RF signal. A similar effect can be obtained by replacing the antenna-sheath-plasma structure in the measuring circuit by a variable capacitance diode. A numerical analysis of the differential equation describing the current waveform in a microwave network modeling the antenna-sheath-plasma system is presented. It confirms the fact that a periodically modulated capacitance embedded in a linear circuit is responsible for the observed excitation of the half-frequency of the input signal. >


OBJECTIVE
To analyze the polymorphism and haplotypes of HLA-A, B, Cw, DRB1 and DQB1 loci in Chinese Han population.

METHODS
A total of 186 unrelated healthy individuals from southern China were analyzed by sequence-based typing. Two-, three-, and five-locus haplotypes were estimated using the Expectation Maximization Algorithm. RESULTST: Twenty-eight alleles for the HLA-A locus, 49 HLA-B alleles, 24 HLA-C alleles, 29 HLA-DRB1 alleles and 20 HLA-DQB1 alleles were detected. The A*0207-B*4601(10.81%), A*3303-B*5801(6.14%), B*4601-DRB1*0901(6.22%), B*4001*-DRB1*0901(3.78%), DRB1*090-DQB1*0303 (12.16%) and DRB1*1202-DQB1*0301(8.38%), A*0207-B*4601-Cw*0102 (10.75%), A*3303-B*5801-Cw*0302 (5.14%), A*0207-B*4601-DR*0901(5.07%), A*3303-B*5801-DRB1*0301(2.96%), A*0207-B*4601-Cw*0102-DRB1*0901-DQB1*0303(4.87%) and A*1101-B*1301-Cw*0304-DRB1*1501-DQB1*0601(2.43%) were the most common haplotypes in the southern Chinese Han population.

CONCLUSION
The results have shown the characteristics of the five HLA loci haplotype distribution and provided more information in anthropology, disease association studies and transplantation.


Optoelectronic-VLSI (OE-VLSI) technology represents the intimate integration of photonic devices with silicon VLSI electronics. We review the motivations and status of emerging OE-VLSI technologies and examine the performance of OE-VLSI technology versus conventional wire-bonded OE packaging. The results suggest that OE-VLSI integration offers substantial power and speed improvements even when relatively small numbers of photonic devices are driven with commodity complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor logic technologies.


At some stage in the near future, the rapid expansion of photovoltaic solar energy conversion based on thin films of semiconductors such as cadmium telluride (CdTe) and copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) could become subject to constraints arising from materials availability and security. For this reason, the development of alternative PV technologies based on earth-abundant elements has become a research priority. This chapter deals with a range of compound semiconductors that could be used to replace CdTe or CIGS as the light-absorbing layer in thin film solar cells. Because this is a rapidly expanding field, the authors have chosen to place the main emphasis on important fundamental aspects and emerging issues rather than just on device performance. The highly promising kesterite copper zinc tin sulfide/selenide (CZTS(Se)) is discussed in detail in order to illustrate the importance of phase equilibria and thermodynamics when considering the quaternary systems that are alternatives to CIGS. The chapter continues with an in depth discussion of the current state of understanding of the electronic properties of CZTS(Se) before reviewing the different synthetic methods that are being used to prepare kesterite layers for devices. The approach taken by the authors clearly demonstrates the central importance of thermodynamics and kinetics in understanding the formation and thermal stability of CZTS(Se) layers. After a short section on the most important opto-electronic properties of absorber layers, the chapter concludes with a comprehensive survey of a range of other potential absorber materials such as pyrite (FeS2), tin sulfide (SnS), copper tin sulfide (Cu2SnS3) and the copper bismuth/antimony sulfide family.


Integral equations of uniform fluids have been considered unable to predict any characteristic feature of the fluid-solid phase transition, including the shoulder that arises in the second peak of the fluid-phase radial distribution function, RDF, of hard-core systems obtained by computer simulations, at fluid densities very close to the structural two-step phase transition. This reasoning is based on the results of traditional integral approximations, like Percus-Yevick, PY, which does not show such a shoulder in hard-core systems, neither in two nor three dimensions. In this work, we present results of three Ansätze, based on the PY theory, that were proposed to remedy the lack of PY analytical solutions in two dimensions. This comparative study shows that one of those Ansätze does develop a shoulder in the second peak of the RDF at densities very close to the phase transition, qualitatively describing this feature. Since the shoulder grows into a peak at still higher densities, this integral equation approach predicts the appearance of an orientational order characteristic of the hexatic phase in a continuous fluid-hexatic phase transition.


We propose a platform-independent multi-threaded function library that provides data structures to generate, differentiate, and render both the ordinary basis and the normalized B-basis of a user-specified extended Chebyshev (EC) space that comprises the constants and can be identified with the solution space of a constant-coefficient homogeneous linear differential equation defined on a sufficiently small interval. Using the obtained normalized B-bases, our library can also generate, (partially) differentiate, modify, and visualize a large family of so-called B-curves and tensor product B-surfaces. Moreover, the library also implements methods that can be used to perform dimension elevation, to subdivide B-curves and B-surfaces by means of de Casteljau-like B-algorithms, and to generate basis transformations for the B-representation of arbitrary integral curves and surfaces that are described in traditional parametric form by means of the ordinary bases of the underlying EC spaces. Independently of the algebraic, exponential, trigonometric, or mixed type of the applied EC space, the proposed library is numerically stable and efficient up to a reasonable dimension number and may be useful for academics and engineers in the fields of Approximation Theory, Computer Aided Geometric Design, Computer Graphics, and Isogeometric and Numerical Analysis.


Breastfeeding is an ideal source of nutrition with a balanced composition and adapted to the baby's growth needs. Based on data from the 2012 IDHS, babies who exclusively breastfed up to 6 months were 42 percent. The main causes are low maternal knowledge and lack of family support in breastfeeding. Peucangpari Village is one of the villages in the working area of Cigemblong Health Center, Lebak, Banten, where the coverage of exclusive breastfeeding is still low, which is only 11.9%. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between knowledge, education and family support with exclusive breastfeeding. This study is a correlation with a cross sectional approach. The population in this study were mothers who had babies aged 6-24 months in Peucangpari Village, Cigemblong Lebak as many as 42 people, the study sample was taken using a total population technique. The results showed that there was a relationship between knowledge, education, and family support with exclusive breastfeeding in Peucangpari Village, Cigemblong Lebak in 2018. Researchers suggested the need to provide health education to all communities, especially mothers who have babies about the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding, so that the community or mother those who have not given exclusive breastfeeding to their babies can increase their knowledge and will give exclusive breastfeeding to their babies.


. Al – ZrW 2 O 8 powder mixture was sintered to obtain alloys were Al – ZrW 2 O 8 pseudo alloys. The structure formation process of the pseudo alloys obtained was investigated. During sintering process zirconium tungstate was found to decompose into constituent oxides with consequent formation of WAl 12 and ZrAl 3 intermetallic compounds. Increasing the sintering time up to 5 hours leads to re-synthesis of the zirconium tungstate represented with elongated particles - microfibers. The formation of internal stresses in the material was shown using XRD and Williamson-Hall analyses. The value of internal compression stresses was estimated to be 90 MPa. Vickers hardness of the pseudo alloys obtained increases by two times with increasing sintering time from 1h to 5h.


The balance between proliferation and apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) plays a critical role in the initiation of atherosclerosis. LncRNA-MEG3 is involved in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis through regulation of endothelial cell proliferation and migration. Its effect on the dysfunction of VSMCs and the corresponding mechanisms are actively researched. In this study, we observed that downregulated lncRNA-MEG3 expression was inversely correlated with the microRNA-26a level in coronary artery disease tissues. The overexpression of lncRNA-MEG3 could inhibit VSMCs proliferation while facilitating apoptosis. Moreover, alteration in the miR-26a/Smad1 axis could antagonize this effect. Bioinformatic analysis indicated that lncRNA-MEG3 could interact with miR-26a via complementary binding sites. The enforced expression of lncRNA-MEG3 could reduce the level of miR-26a in VSMCs, while the expression of Smad1 increases. Further, the direct binding between lncRNA-MEG3 and miR-26a was confirmed via dual-luciferase reporter assay, which indicated that lnc-MEG3 could sponge miR-26a as a competing endogenous RNA. In summary, we propose that lncRNA-MEG3 modulates the proliferation/apoptosis balance of VSMCs in atherosclerosis by regulating the miR-26a/Smad1 axis.


We sought to determine if pyelonephritis and preterm delivery occur more frequently among pregnant women with polymicrobial growth from screening urine culture than among women with negative urine culture. A retrospective cohort study was performed. Three hundred eighty pregnant women with greater than 100,000 colony-forming units per milliliter of polymicrobial growth from urine culture performed at less than 20 weeks of pregnancy were compared with 375 women with negative urine culture. Admissions for pyelonephritis were identified from discharge records. Gestational age at delivery was determined from a research registry. Frequency of pyelonephritis and preterm delivery did not differ between the two groups. Frequencies of pyelonephritis were 0.3% and 0% in women with polymicrobial and negative urine culture, respectively ( P=0.32). Frequencies of preterm delivery were 16.8% and 16% ( P=0.76). Among those with repeat urine cultures, 4.6% in the polymicrobial group and 2.4% of those in the negative initial urine culture group had a positive culture later in the pregnancy ( P=0.21). There is no association between polymicrobial growth from screening urine culture and pyelonephritis or preterm delivery.


Since their discovery over 55 years ago, adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors have become powerful tools for experimental and therapeutic in vivo gene delivery, particularly in the retina. Increasing knowledge of AAV structure and biology has propelled forward the development of engineered AAV vectors with improved abilities for gene delivery. However, major obstacles to safe and efficient therapeutic gene delivery remain, including tropism, inefficient and untargeted gene delivery, and limited carrying capacity. Additional improvements to AAV vectors will be required to achieve therapeutic benefit while avoiding safety issues. In this review, we provide an overview of recent methods for engineering-enhanced AAV capsids, as well as remaining challenges that must be overcome to achieve optimized therapeutic gene delivery in the eye.


This paper describes computational models of situated work in complex, heterogeneous dynamic systems that include humans, physical systems, computer agents and regulatory requirements, using aviation as the domain being examined but highlighting modeling principles generalizable to other domains. Work is defined formally here as purposeful activity acting on, and responding to, the environment as required by the situation. This work is performed by a team of automated and human agents, and involves both cognitive and physical activity. At its most atomic, work may be represented as actions that evaluate the current situation, and then act on the environment, as well as 'teamwork' actions and 'decision actions' whereby agents evaluate the situation to select the appropriate sets of actions (i.e. strategies). Work is thus a response to the situation, with strategies chosen in response to the physical environment, the allocation of responsibility within the team; and agent status including expertise, the demands on the agent, and resources available to the agent such as time and information. In addition, a description of the structures inherent to work is also used to organize the actions into an abstraction hierarchy: at the bottom are the resources and actions, but at higher levels of abstraction more aggregate functions provide descriptions that relate the detailed actions to the specific goals of the work. Historically, such models have been used qualitatively, but had a disconnect from computational modeling of situated behavior. Therefore, this paper details how they may be dynamically simulated to examine how work can be studied dynamically as situated within a dynamic environment driving, and responding to, agent activity.


Peculiarities of interrelations between the thoracic duct terminal regions and left vertebral vein were studied in 158 human cadavers. In case of long and thin neck trunks of the thoracic duct and vertebral vein ere established not to adjoin. Here a lympho-venous end-to-side anastomosis may be applied in vertebral vein mobilization. In short and thick neck intercrossing of the trunks was observed. In this case any type of lympho-venous anastomosis may be applied.


Synthetic aperture radars are radar platforms that generate detailed images through radio frequency transmission and receiving. These systems can be high peak power, complex systems that can suffer from internal component or subsystem degradation. In addition, the operational environment can also affect the final image of the radar due to scene-based radio frequency interference (RFI). Because of these effects, it is ideal to be able to identify, classify, and quantify the degradation of these systems in order to optimize their performance and life. The work presented in this paper is an extension of QorTek's previous work using Symbolic Analysis to detect degradation using the radar's phase history data. In conjunction with the KEYW, Corp., QorTek has acquired field data to train and test its algorithm. To test the trained algorithm, a prototype hardware/software system integrating the SA approach was designed, built and flown on a test flight piggybacking on a radar system provided by KEYW. The initial results were very positive and also identified areas of improvement. The training and test results as well as the flight-test plan and results are presented in this paper. The paper concludes with specific improvements to be made to the algorithm for the next round of radar integration and flight-testing.


Sharing the same island, the Dominican Republic and Haiti are confronting similar environmental challenges. Located on the path of tropical storms, Hispaniola Island is frequently exposed to natural disasters like heavy rainfall, flooding and landslides, aggravated by human-induced environmental degradation. At the same time, the differences between the two nations are extreme. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and a well-known case in environmental studies as nearly all of its forests have disappeared. In the Dominican Republic, a middle-income country known for its beaches and tourist resorts, deforestation and soil erosion is also a problem, but to a much lower extent compared to its neighbour state. Above all, the rural economy in both countries is suffering from both sudden disasters and slow-onset environmental degradation. Together with the lack or withdrawal of state support, the incentives for migration as an adaptation strategy are increasing in this panorama of environmental degradation and economic losses. On the basis of field research in selected regions of both countries, this paper analyses the impacts of environmental change on internal and international migration flows on Hispaniola Island.


Chiral α-hydroxy-β-lactams are key fragments of many bioactive compounds and antibiotics, and the development of efficient synthetic methods for these compounds is of great value. The highly enantioselective dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) of α-keto-β-lactams was realized via a novel proton shuttling strategy. A wide range of α-keto-β-lactams were reduced efficiently and enantioselectively by Ni-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation, providing the corresponding α-hydroxy-β-lactam derivatives with high yields and enantioselectivities (up to 92% yield, up to 94% ee). Deuterium-labelling experiments indicate that phenylphosphinic acid plays a pivotal role in the DKR of α-keto-β-lactams by promoting the enolization process. The synthetic potential of this protocol was demonstrated by its application in the synthesis of a key intermediate of Taxol and (+)-epi-Cytoxazone.


Patient safety still remains as one of the biggest challenges for healthcare professionals. Surgical adverse events comprise 8% of all iatrogenic complications, half of them being easily preventable with simple checkup methods. Especially in pediatric surgery, where not only meaningful differences in anatomy or treatment response lie, but more importantly limited communication with the patient occurs, additional precautions have to be undertaken. In 2008, as a result of Safe Surgery Saves Lives campaign, Surgical Safety Checklist was introduced. A standardized checklist of all crucial perioperative steps is meant to be performed in every operating theater, ideally under all circumstances. The aim of our study was to present the current views and effectiveness of implementation of surgical safety checklists in pediatric surgery settings. We analyzed substantial articles on implementation and challenges of surgical checklist in pediatric surgery from period 20082018. Within 310 articles of PubMED database, 10 substantial articles on pediatric surgery safety were identified and reviewed. 70% of articles discussed the implementation of the checklist and postimplementation improvements, 20% included healthcare and parents attitude towards safety checklists. One article presented the variation of the surgical safety checklist in pediatric surgical and ambulatory settings. Most of the articles noted the prevention of adverse events correlated with the usage of the checklist, as well as positive attitude of healthcare providers and patients family towards checklist implementation was noted. Main challenge was the fidelity of the completion, especially in emergency settings. The Surgical Safety Checklist unifies the process of avoiding human error in surgery at all costs. Reviewed research presents improvements in prevention of adverse events in pediatric surgery, as well as innovative solutions for issues related mainly to pediatric patients, such as inclusion of guardians or even patients in safety check process, or implementing procedural or bedside safety checklists. World Scientific News 99 (2018) 107-118 -108


Superconductivity of YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-\delta}$ single crystals was investigated in small magnetic fields. In magnetic measurements the superconducting transition for $\textbf{H} \| c$ appears 0.4 K higher than for $\textbf{H} \bot c$. In this temperature range superconductivity is two-dimensional and the total thickness of superconducting layers is about 0.83 of the sample thickness, which is a consequence of the occurrence of the quasi-insulating plane in the unit cell of the crystal structure. Resistivity in the \textit{ab}-plane and along the \textit{c}-axis was measured simultaneously. In these measurements two-dimensional superconductivity was observed in a temperature range of 0.6-0.8 K with the clear signs of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Touless (BKT) transition which occurs approximately 0.15 K below $T_c$, the mean-field transition temperature.


Szemerédi's regularity lemma and its variants are some of the most powerful tools in combinatorics. In this paper, we establish several results around the regularity lemma. First, we prove that whether or not we include the condition that the desired vertex partition in the regularity lemma is equitable has a minimal effect on the number of parts of the partition. Second, we use an algorithmic version of the (weak) Frieze–Kannan regularity lemma to give a substantially faster deterministic approximation algorithm for counting subgraphs in a graph. Previously, only an exponential dependence for the running time on the error parameter was known, and we improve it to a polynomial dependence. Third, we revisit the problem of finding an algorithmic regularity lemma, giving approximation algorithms for several co-NP-complete problems. We show how to use the weak Frieze–Kannan regularity lemma to approximate the regularity of a pair of vertex subsets. We also show how to quickly find, for each ε′>ε, an ε′-regular partition with k parts if there exists an ε-regular partition with k parts. Finally, we give a simple proof of the permutation regularity lemma which improves the tower-type bound on the number of parts in the previous proofs to a single exponential bound.


ABSTRACT Although bacterial-fungal interactions shape microbial virulence during polymicrobial infections, only a limited number of studies have evaluated this interaction on a genetic level. We report here that one interaction is mediated by sopB, an effector of a type III secretion system (TTSS) of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. In these studies, we screened 10 TTSS effector-related mutants and determined their role in the killing of C. albicans filaments in vitro during coinfection in planktonic environments. We found that deleting the sopB gene (which encodes inositol phosphatase) was associated with a significant decrease in C. albicans killing at 25°C after 5 days, similar to that caused by the deletion of sipB (which encodes TTSS translocation machinery components). The sopB deletion dramatically influenced the killing of C. albicans filaments. It was associated with repressed filamentation in the Caenorhabditis elegans model of C. albicans-S. Typhimurium coinfection, as well as with biofilm formation by C. albicans. We confirmed that SopB translocated to fungal filaments through SipB during coinfection. Using quantitative real-time PCR assays, we found that the Candida supernatant upregulated the S. Typhimurium genes associated with C. albicans killing (sopB and sipB). Interestingly, the sopB effector negatively regulated the transcription of CDC42, which is involved in fungal viability. Taken together, these results indicate that specific TTSS effectors, including SopB, play a critical role in bacterial-fungal interactions and are important to S. Typhimurium in order to selectively compete with fungal pathogens. These findings highlight a new role for TTSS of S. Typhimurium in the intestinal tract and may further explain the evolution and maintenance of these traits.


The kinetics of T and B cell immune recovery after bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is affected by many pre- and post-transplant factors. Because of the profoundly depleted baseline T and B cell immunity in recombination activating gene 2 (RAG-2)-deficient severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) patients, some of these factors are eliminated, and the immune recovery after BMT can then be clearly assessed. This process was followed in ten SCID patients in parallel to their associated transplant-related complications. Early peripheral presence of T and B cells was observed in 8 and 4 patients, respectively. The latter correlated with pre-transplant conditioning therapy. Cells from these patients carried mainly signal joint DNA episomes, indicative of newly derived B and T cells. They were present before the normalization of the T cell receptor (TCR) and the B cell receptor (BCR) repertoire. Early presentation of the ordered TCR gene rearrangements after BMT occurred simultaneously, but this pattern was heterogeneous over time, suggesting different and individual thymic recovery processes. Our findings early after transplant could suggest the long-term patients' clinical outcome. Early peripheral presence of newly produced B and T lymphocytes from their production and maturation sites after BMT suggests donor stem cell origin rather than peripheral expansion, and is indicative of successful outcome. Peripheral detection of TCR excision circles and kappa-deleting recombination excision circles in RAG-2-deficient SCID post-BMT are early markers of T and B cell reconstitution, and can be used to monitor outcome and tailor specific therapy for patients undergoing BMT.


PURPOSE OF REVIEW
Our current treatment algorithms include only IFN-β and glatiramer as available first-line disease-modifying drugs and natalizumab and fingolimod as second-line therapies. Today, 10 drugs have been approved in Europe and nine in the United States making the choice of therapy more complex. The purpose of the review has been to work out new management algorithms for treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis including new oral therapies and therapeutic monoclonal antibodies.

RECENT FINDINGS
Recent large placebo-controlled trials in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis have shown efficacy of new oral disease-modifying drugs, teriflunomide and dimethyl fumarate, with similar or better efficacy than the injectable disease-modifying drugs, IFN-β and glatiramer acetate. In addition, the new oral drugs seem to have a favorable safety profile. Further, the monoclonal antibody alemtuzumab, which in clinical trials has shown superiority to subcutaneous IFN-β 1a, has been approved in Europe, but not yet in the United States.

SUMMARY
In de novo-treated patients, the injectables, IFN-β and glatiramer acetate, will to a great extent be replaced by the new orals, dimethyl fumarate and teriflunomide. However, patients who are stable on an injectable with no or minor side-effects could continue their current therapy. Alemtuzumab should be used as a second-line therapy.


Approximate entropy (ApEn), a recently developed mathematical formula quantifying regularity, was applied to fetal heart rate (FHR) data. Three groups were analyzed: 1) 19 women had normal labors (uncomplicated course of labor, vaginal delivery, no unusual FHR tracings, and 1- and 5-minute Apgar scores of at least 7 and 9, respectively; 2) 15 women had presumed fetal distress (severe cord or late decelerations, bradycardia, or tachycardia; delivery by cesarean with both arterial and venous cord pH above 7.20); and 3) 20 women had acidotic fetuses (both venous and arterial cord pH less than 7.20). Hourly mean (+/- SD) ApEn values for the three groups were: acidotic fetuses, 0.924 +/- 0.235, 102 hours; normal fetuses, 1.051 +/- 0.145, 97 hours; and nonacidotic "distressed" fetuses, 1.043 +/- 0.147, 74 hours. The ApEn values for nonacidotic, presumed distressed fetuses were not significantly different from those of normal fetuses (P greater than .75). Acidotic fetuses had many more instances of ApEn hourly values less than 0.8 (28%, 29 of 102) than did the normal and the nonacidotic, presumed distressed fetuses combined (5%, nine of 171). The probability that ApEn was less than 0.8 was larger for acidotic fetuses than for the other groups (P less than .00003), supporting the hypothesis that extremely regular FHR patterns imply a greater likelihood of acidosis. Significant hourly deviations in ApEn generally corresponded to drug administration or to physiologic changes such as cord compression and its relief. Thus ApEn, a major departure from variability statistics, appears to be able to detect subtle and possibly important differences in heart rate that are not visually apparent.


Abstract : This report provides the results for the 2012 Workplace and Gender Relations Survey of Active Duty Members (2012 WGRA). The overall purpose of the 2012 WGRA is to document the extent to which active duty members reported experiencing unwanted sexual content and sexual harassment in the 12 months prior to filling out the survey. Additional information on details of the unwanted sexual contact experience, bystander intervention, and members' perceptions of the effectiveness of sexual assault policies, training and programs are also presented.


A search of the literature from the past 30 years reveals that there is a dearth of research surrounding effective interventions for intellectually gifted children in the early childhood years. The findings of 11 empirical studies of educational provisions for young gifted children were located and the methodological rigor of the studies examined. Aspects problematic to research with young gifted children are discussed, including issues relating to sample sizes, definitions of giftedness, difficulties in conducting experimental studies, finding appropriate standardized measures for use with gifted children, and measurement of program outcomes. Suggestions are made for strengthening future research in the field of early childhood gifted education.


Mobile video surveillance system based on ARM9 uses unique high-bandwidth business applications of 3G wireless network. The design of hardware and software of embedded monitoring system is described. The running platform of 3G network show that the system can work well in the circumstances of the limited bandwidth.


Antibiotic prophylaxis for the prevention of endocarditis due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis (MRSE) was evaluated in a modified rabbit endocarditis model and compared with results obtained with methicillin-sensitive S. epidermidis (MSSE). One dose of nafcillin, cefamandole, cephalothin, or vancomycin neither prevented endocarditis nor sterilized the blood of rabbits challenged with each of two MRSE or two MSSE isolates. One dose of gentamicin protected greater than or equal to 80% of animals challenged with three of the four isolates, and one dose of rifampin protected greater than or equal to 90% challenged with any of the four isolates. Multiple doses of any of the antibiotics prevented endocarditis in greater than or equal to 80% of rabbits challenged with MSSE, and four doses of vancomycin protected rabbits challenged with MRSE. However, MRSE endocarditis was prevented in less than or equal to 25% of animals given six doses of nafcillin or cephalosporins. Thus, nafcillin and cephalosporins were ineffective prophylaxis for MRSE endocarditis, whereas vancomycin, gentamicin, and rifampin were effective.


The framing into demand driven operations is because of the operations research modelling approach. The modelling approach requires continuous regressors and an independent response factor. The demand as an operating factor is considered as independent response factor in relation to the continuous regressors. The method validation is made along several longitudinal case studies to cover local, global and international industrial operations. The examined operational scope is from continuous operations to one-off production. Concerning scheduling, these examined demand driven, industrial operations are considered as open and dynamic, flow shop or job-shop operations. The examined managerial scope is from local work management to global industrial operations management. The theoretical framework of this study is based on operations management, productivity and controllability engineering. The strategical target is to improve productivity. The operational target setting is based on linear goal programming, streamlined demand driven material flow and specified operating factors according to this study, Forrester effect diagnostics and replenishment models. The engineering of strategical target into exact operational schedule as a task target is hard to accomplish, because of the combinatorial dynamic job-shop problem. The purpose of this study is to simplify this managerial task. These study operating factors are the heart in constructing a Decision Support System for the examined operations, alongside the method's product flow diagnostics. This operations management method consists of the operating factors, specified in this study and these specified factors' use in constructing a Decision Support System, by engineering current operations management system. The construct consist two parts. Firstly, the exact operational target alignment along this method diagnostics and secondly, the control mechanism according to this operational linear target. The expected managerial benefit is in productivity improvement. The practical benefits are in savings in logistics costs and improvement in customer service, due to shorten lead time and exacting delivery.


Evidence for increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases has accumulated during the last years. Traditional cardiovascular risk factors contribute in part to the excess of cardiovascular risk in these patients and several mechanisms, including precocious acceleration of subclinical atherosclerotic damage, inflammation, and immune system deregulation factors, have been demonstrated to strictly interplay in the induction and progression of atherosclerosis. In this setting, chronic inflammation is a cornerstone of rheumatic disease pathogenesis and exerts also a pivotal role in all stages of atherosclerotic damage. The strict link between inflammation and atherosclerosis suggests that cardiovascular risk may be reduced by rheumatic disease activity control. There are data to suggest that biologic therapies, in particular TNFα antagonists, may improve surrogate markers of cardiovascular disease and reduce CV adverse outcome. Thus, abrogation of inflammation is considered an important outcome for achieving not only control of rheumatic disease, but also reduction of cardiovascular risk. However, the actual effect of anti-rheumatic therapies on atherosclerosis progression and CV outcome in these patients is rather uncertain due to great literature inconsistency. In this paper, we will summarize some of the main mechanisms linking the inflammatory pathogenic background underlying rheumatic diseases and the vascular damage observed in these patients, with a particular emphasis on the pathways targeted by currently available therapies. Moreover, we will analyze current evidence on the potential atheroprotective effects of these treatments on cardiovascular outcome pointing out still unresolved questions.


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Objective To investigate the relationship among the serum homocysteine (Hcy), folic acid and vitamin B12 with coronary arteriopathy.Methods In a cross-sectional study, serum Hcy levels of 210 cases with (CHD), 115 non CHD subjects from a consecutive series of subjects with chest pain or myocardial infarction(MI) undergoing diagnostic coronary angiography and 63 subjects undergoing health examination were measured using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection. Serum folic acid and vitamin B12 level were measured by radioimmunoassay method. Serum cholesterol and lipoproteins were also measured. The information on conventional risk factors were collected by interviews.Results The coronary arteriopathy was correspondingly related with male, smoking, diabetes, folic acid, vitamin B12, ApoA1, and Hcy level. The mean serum Hcy level were significantly higher in CHD patients than in non CHD patients(19.01±10.36 μmol/L n=210 vs 11.5+4.97 μmol/L n=115, P<0.01). The mean serum folic acid level and vitamin B12 level were significantly lower in CHD patients (4.5±1.5 pg/ml vs 414.6±142.3 pg/ml) than in non CHD patients (5.6±1.4ng/ml vs 537.7±136.6 ng/ml), P<0.01. There is no difference on the mean serum Hcy level in NCHD cases and the healthy subjects. The mean serum ApoA1 (1188.8±206.1 mmol/L vs 1262.1±201.4 mmol/L)level was significantly lower in CHD patients than in non CHD patients, P<0.05. CHD patients had higher rates of smoking, aging and suffering from diabetes than non CHD patients. By multivariate logistic regression, the OR of Hcy, aging, male and diabetes were all≥1, P<0.01, which means all these factors are independent risk factors. With forward method, when folic acid, vitamin B12 and Hcy entering the regression model, the coefficients of Hcy changed greatly, showed multivariate co-liner on logistic regression.Conclusion The results of our study showed that Hcy, male, senility and diabetes were all independent risk factors in the development of arteriopat


The article discussed the car market in Poland, including vehicles with electric drive. The assumptions for the competition for a Polish electric car have been presented. The structure of the vehicle's body and prototype was analyzed in terms of the location of the batteries. The requirements for connection cells into battery packs are indicated. Methods for determining energy consumption were analyzed. Real energy consumption values were estimated. The problem of the lack of charging infrastructure for batteries has been discussed. Examples of charging times for batteries using high power chargers are shown.


Neural stem cells (NSCs) are capable of self-renewal and differentiation into neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes under specific local microenvironments. In here, we present a set of methods used for three dimensional (3D) differentiation and miRNA analysis of a clonal human neural stem cell (hNSC) line, currently in clinical trials for stroke disability (NCT01151124 and NCT02117635, Clinicaltrials.gov). HNSCs were derived from an ethical approved first trimester human fetal cortex and conditionally immortalized using retroviral integration of a single copy of the c-mycERTAMconstruct. We describe how to measure axon process outgrowth of hNSCs differentiated on 3D scaffolds and how to quantify associated changes in miRNA expression using PCR array. Furthermore we exemplify computational analysis with the aim of selecting miRNA putative targets. SOX5 and NR4A3 were identified as suitable miRNA putative target of selected significantly down-regulated miRNAs in differentiated hNSC. MiRNA target validation was performed on SOX5 and NR4A3 3'UTRs by dual reporter plasmid transfection and dual luciferase assay.


Optical disks are widely used in libraries and archives as digital data media due to their archival storage stability. Nevertheless, there is relatively less focus on the understanding of physical and chemical degradation mechanism. To observe the degradation mechanism of an optical disk, the accelerated aging test was designed with high temperature and relative humidity of 85 °C and 85% in this study. After 1500 h of aging, digital versatile disk recordable (DVD+R) media resulted in a high value of over 280 in the PI sum 8 value, which means a severe data degradation in the media. From the microstructural observation of recorded marks and the chemical analysis of the reflective layer after this accelerated aging test, gradual physical deformation of recorded mark edges and chemical change of the reflective layer were observed, and they might be related to the severe increase of PI sum 8.


Architectural, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) researchers have characterised user resistance as one of the major barriers to the widespread diffusion of VDC technologies. These researchers have mainly argued that resistance is a dysfunctional characteristic of change recipients that hinders successful change. Contrary to this conceptualization, many change management researchers see resistance as important and necessary attribute of individuals during any change process, be it successful or unsuccessful. These researchers suggest reconceptualising user resistance from a negative individual psychological characteristic of users to an important function of the change process itself. This paper argues that such a process conceptualization of user resistance is more valuable to understand change processes during the implementation of Construction IT than the conceptualisation of resistance as individual user characteristic. The paper shows the value of the process conceptualization by analyzing ethnographic interviews with change recipients from two construction projects. In line with the proposed re-conceptualisation, the analysis of the interviews from a process perspective suggests that user-resistance is not always a negative barrier, but oftentimes a necessary and important part of a Construction IT implementation. The interviews show that resistance can lead to an ongoing discourse about the technology between change agents and change recipients which is an important antecedent of a successful implementation. The paper, therefore, suggests that Construction IT change agents start involving resistant Construction IT recipients within an ongoing discussion that focuses on the immediate benefits the technologies offer to improve the day to day work processes of AEC professionals.


The mud crab, Scylla paramamosain Estampador, 1949, is a widely farmed commercial species in the South-East coastal areas of China. The crabs are captured and placed in a water-free container for further transportation. The long-time air exposure makes the crabs suffer from oxidative stress, triggering cell apoptosis and leading to the crab's death. In this study, the homologue of the apoptosis regulator BAX was firstly identified in S. paramamosain and named as SpBAX . The coding region of SpBAX yielded a polypeptide of 278 amino acids, consisting of the defining motif of the BAX s family including Bcl-2 homologous BH1, BH2, BH3 regions and a transmembrane (TM) domain. Subcellular prediction suggested that SpBAX was located in the cytoplasm. The three-dimensional structure showed that SpBAX contained 8 helical regions. Two central α -helices ( α 5 and α 6) flanked on one side by α 3 and α 4, and on the other side by α 1, α 2 and α 7, which showed the same structure as BAX s in mammals. The highest expression level of SpBAX was detected in hepatopancreas tissue. The expression level of SpBAX was up-regulated in 12 h in hepatopancreas and in 24 h in haemocytes after air exposure. Meanwhile, a flow cytometry assay revealed that the proportion of apoptotic haemocytes exceeded 65% after air exposure for 36 h, showing a significant difference with the control group. These results indicated that the cloned SpBAX might be involved in the response to air exposure stress by causing cell apoptosis. This study may thus be helpful to clarify the mechanisms of the air-exposure stress response in the mud crab.


We present a high-level theoretical study of the interaction of the ground-state CH + cation with the noble gas, Ng) He to Xe, atoms. Considerably strong C -Ng bonds were detected in the ground-state singlet HC(Ng)+ and HC(Ng) 2 species when Ng) Ar, Kr, and Xe. Bonding occurs in a Lewis acid -base fashion via dative bonds of HC+ r :Ng type, resembling the bonding nature of the recently isolated N 5 cation. Both closed-shell HC(Ng) + and HC(Ng) 2 cations are likely to be isolable under appropriate experimental conditions.


The current investigation was initiated by evidence from the literature indicating the presence of significant numbers of unhappy and underachieving students in the middle level of education (Anderman and Midgley, 1996, Anderman, Maehr and Midgley, 1999, Eccles, Wigfield, Midgley, Reuman, MacIver and Feldhlaufer, 1993, Harter, Whitesall and Kowalski, 1992, Kaplan and Owings, 2000, Ryan and Patrick, 2001). The main hypothesis guiding this literature is that school structures, environments and cultures negatively affect students' motivation, producing negative psychological reactions, which in turn can lead to declines in middle-school students' engagement and achievement at school. This research aims to specifically identify what structures, environments and cultures may inhibit this (dis)engagement and (under)achievement. This paper identifies the key elements that constitute effective middle schooling through a review of recent literature. Such an approach offers a clear account of the current state of middle schooling in Australia, which is useful for schooland curriculumlevel planning and program development.


In recent years, car-sharing services have emerged as viable alternatives to private individual mobility, promising more sustainable and resource-efficient, but still comfortable transportation. Research on short-term prediction and optimization methods has improved operations and fleet control of car-sharing services; however, long-term projections and spatial analysis are sparse in the literature. We propose to analyze the average monthly demand in a station-based car-sharing service with spatially-aware learning algorithms that offer high predictive performance as well as interpretability. In particular, we compare the spatially-implicit Random Forest model with spatially-aware methods for predicting average monthly per-station demand. The study utilizes a rich set of socio-demographic, location-based (e.g., POIs), and car-sharing-specific features as input, extracted from a large proprietary car-sharing dataset and publicly available datasets. We show that the global Random Forest model with geo-coordinates as an input feature achieves the highest predictive performance with an R-squared score of 0.87, while local methods such as Geographically Weighted Regression perform almost on par and additionally yield exciting insights into the heterogeneous spatial distributions of factors influencing car-sharing behaviour. Additionally, our study offers effective as well as highly interpretable methods for diagnosing and planning the placement of car-sharing stations.


In this work we consider the role of aperiodic order in different domains of science and technology from an interdisciplinary approach. To start with, we introduce some general classification schemes for aperiodic arrangements of matter. Afterwards, we review the main physical properties and possible applications of quasiperiodic crystals. Several conceptual links between quasiperiodic crystals and the hierarchical structure of biopolymers are then discussed in connection with the charge transfer properties of both biological and synthetic DNA chains. The widespread presence of Fibonacci numbers and the golden mean in different physical contexts is also discussed. Promising technological applications of aperiodic systems are finally reviewed by considering both current and potential applications. In particular, we analyse the capability of exploiting aperiodic order in the design of novel devices based on semiconductor heterostructures and dielectric multilayers.


With the progress in optical technology, the span of the Passive Optical Network (PONs) grows from 20km to 100km or even larger, known as super PONs or Long Reach PONs (LR-PONs). Because of the long span, an LR-PON can server many Optical Network Units (ONUs). In addition, since Optical Line Terminal (OLT) and ONUs are placed at a long distance from each others, the propagation delay of data and control signals between OLT and ONUs is long compared with traditional PONs. Since this long propagation delay increases packet delay and decreases channel utilization, it is an important challenge in an LR-PON. In this paper, we propose a new Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation (BDA) scheme called Multi Group DBA (MG-DBA) to improve utilization and to decrease packet delay. In MG-DBA, ONUs are classified into several groups. Therefore, when one group is sending its data to the OLT, the bandwidth for another group is simultaneously calculated. In addition, the OLT uses the Smallest Available Report First (SARF) for bandwidth calculation for each group to minimize packet delay. Simulation results show that the proposed MG-DBA algorithm can significantly reduce packet delay and improve channel utilization.


The community service of public utilities has known all through time various regulations and revisions that have been done according to the political, economic and administrative views of that period. In the 1866 Constitution, they were considered as public utilities, whereas Law 129/1938 labelled them as communal exploitation and the communist regime revised them as public households. The current legislation, written according to the European principles established them as community service of public utilities. The present politics and administration encourage a certain openness of market of public services, but the community services of public utilities still implies a certain degree of monopole. That is due to the fact that this type of services are offered through a local administration infrastructure and also to the fact that they serve the public interest, enclosing accessibility and capacity to be supported by all users. The aim of this paper is to present the evolution of the way the community services of public utilities have been organized and have been supplied to the people. The analysis is done taking into consideration the different legal laws that regulate this field but also the relation between suppliers and users that functions in a monopole market. The decisions and the evolution in this particular market are only dependent on the local public authorities and the protective political measures taken by the authorities. This paper aims to point out the directions to be followed in the future regarding the community services of public utilities, monopole or liberalization


The critical current density of a (Bi2-xPbx)Sr2Ca2Cu3O10- delta silver-sheathed tape has been measured in fields up to 15 T and at temperatures from 2 K up to Tc. Measurements were made for three different field current orientations of the tape. Below 10 K there is a dramatic anomalous rise in the critical current as the magnetic field is decreased below a value BA. The value of BA is temperature dependent but orientation independent. At 4.2 K and 2 K, BA is 1.5 T and 2 T respectively. At 10 K and above this anomalous behaviour disappears. The effect is attributed to the existence of a low-Tc ( approximately 10 K) superconducting phase at the grain boundaries in the tape and clearly demonstrates the importance of intergrain connectivity in obtaining high critical current densities in (Bi2-xPbx)Sr2Ca2Cu3O10- delta tapes.