Methods for the efficient solid-phase synthesis of glycopeptides have developed rapidly over the past two decades. Incorporation of both O- and N-linked glycosides, as well as branched carbohydrates, into peptides is readily achieved. Synthetic glycoproteins of modest size have also been constructed. As glycopeptide synthesis protocols have progressed, so has the recognition of distinct categories of synthetic difficulties. Such categories include (a) unstable glycosidic linkages, (b) multifunctional amino acids not easily glycosylated and incorporated into peptides, and (c) glycosylated peptide sequences that are subject to side reactions. In the present overview,we describe specific examples for each category of problematic glycopeptide syntheses, as well as solutions to these problems.


Choosing a phenomenological model of $\Lambda$, viz. $\Lambda \sim \dot H$, it has been shown that this model of $\Lambda$ is equivalent to other three types of $\Lambda$, $\Lambda \sim (\dot a/a)^2$, $\Lambda \sim \ddot a/a$ and $\Lambda \sim \rho$. Through an indirect approach, it has also been possible to put a limit on the deceleration parameter $q$. It has been shown that if $q$ becomes less than -1, then this model can predict about the presence of phantom energy.


We provide a direct method for proving Craig interpolation for a range of modal and intuitionistic logics, including those containing a "converse" modality. We demonstrate this method for classical tense logic, its extensions with path axioms, and for bi-intuitionistic logic. These logics do not have straightforward formalisations in the traditional Gentzen-style sequent calculus, but have all been shown to have cut-free nested sequent calculi. The proof of the interpolation theorem uses these calculi and is purely syntactic, without resorting to embeddings, semantic arguments, or interpreted connectives external to the underlying logical language. A novel feature of our proof includes an orthogonality condition for defining duality between interpolants.


Oxytetracycline (OTC) concentration in plasma and tissues, plasma pharmacokinetics, depletion from tissue, and toxicity were studied in 30 healthy calves after IM administration of a long-acting OTC preparation (40 mg/kg of body weight) at double the label dosage (20 mg/kg). Plasma OTC concentration increased rapidly after drug administration, and by 2 hours, mean (+/- SD) values were 7.4 +/- 2.6 micrograms/ml, Peak plasma OTC concentration was 9.6 +/- 2.6 micrograms/ml, and the time to peak plasma concentration was 7.6 +/- 4.0 hours. Plasma OTC concentration decreased slowly for 168 hours (elimination phase) after drug administration, and the elimination half-life was 23.9 hours. Plasma OTC concentration exceeded 3.8 micrograms/ml at 48 hours after drug administration. From 168 to 240 hours after drug administration, plasma OTC concentration decreased at a slower rate than that seen during the elimination phase. This slower phase was termed the depletion phase, and the depletion half-life was 280.7 hours. Tissue OTC concentration was highest in kidneys and liver. Lung OTC concentration exceeded 4.4 micrograms/g of tissue and 2.0 micrograms/g of tissue at 12 and 48 hours after drug administration, respectively. The drug persisted the longest in kidneys and liver. At 42 days after drug administration, 0.1 micrograms of OTC/g of kidney was detected. At 49 days after drug administration, all OTC tissue concentrations were below the detectable limit. Reactions and toxicosis after drug administration were limited to an anaphylaxis-like reaction (n = 1) and injection site swellings (n = 2).


This investigation tested the validity of an unobtrusive measure of attitudinal affect. This method, the "smile-return" technique, requires only that a stimulus person initiate a smile at a potential respondent while simultaneously and symbolically representing the chosen attitudinal referent in some fashion (e.g., through appearance or dress). If the respondent returns the smile, it is assumed that his affective evaluation of that referent is more favorable than if he fails to do so. As evidence of the validity of the technique, the difference in the smile return rates of 100 male and 100 female college students to stimulus persons who wore a campaign button which supported either of two presidential candidates in the 1976 national election was similar to the difference in voter preference for the two candidates as found in opinion surveys of the same population. In a second study, 25 members of a women's studies class showed a higher smile-return rate to a stimulus person who wore a shirt with a feminist symbol on the front than 20 members of a home economics class. Both sets of results were interpreted as evidence of the validity of the smile-return technique.


ABSTRACT In various sonar applications it is important to model the acoustic response of a bubble cloud to a sonar pulse of different types. In a typical approximate approach, a bubble cloud is modelled as a set of point scatterers. The purpose of this research is to analyse the accuracy and limitation of such a representation. For this, a highfidelity Monte Carlo model of scattering of an acoustic pulse from a bubble cloud is developed. In this model a bubble cloud is represented by a set of individual bubbles randomly selected from a known bubble size and spatial distribution. The acoustic signals scattered from individual bubbles are coherently summed into a collective response from the bubble cloud. The building block of the model is the forced oscillations of an individual bubble in an acoustic field. In this research we use the state-of-the-art equation of bubble oscillation. We then consider the acoustic response of a bubble cloud to an acoustic pulse in single scattering approximation and compare it with the analytically calculated backscattering cross section per unit volume. A comparison of the results of the high-fidelity model with the representation of the bubble cloud by a set of discrete scatterers is conducted.


The absorption spectra of fused-silica samples, selected for their "typical" optical properties, are presented. The ultraviolet absorption edge shifts some 30 mμ toward the ir, between 22° and 982°C sample temperatures. In the same range, the 1.4-μ absorption peak passes through a maximum in absorption and the 2.23-μ peak passes through an absorption minimum; both move toward the ir. The water band at 2.75 μ shifts first toward the uv, then toward the ir, with increasing temperature, while monotonically decreasing in absorption.


Increasing demand on the broadband wireless communication over Gigabits has focused renewed attention on 60 GHz millimeter wave. We developed a novel Point-to-Multipoint (P2MP) Gigabit WLAN System on 60 GHz millimeter wave. The proposed system employed wide angle beams antenna overcomes the usability of the conventional system, covers larger areas. Maximum transmission rate was designed to be 1.2 Gigabit/sec. Orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) using 1024 points FFT and convolutional code were implemented with PHY layer of the WLAN equipments. Superframe for multiple beams and frame aggregation for high throughput were designed for MAC layer. All control channels for downlink such as broadcast, frame control and access feedback were aggregated to reduce overhead in addition to aggregation of data frame. Evaluated throughput using proposed frame aggregation was confirmed to be more than 800 Mbit/sec with developed prototype in the case of aggregation size of 10 t1500byte.


The study aimed to examine the significance of perceived trust dimensions in explaining insurance inclusion in Uganda. Insurance inclusion remained very low in Uganda. Although trust is vital for insurance inclusion, it is not known whether all of its dimensions are relevant for insurance inclusion. As such, hierarchical regression analysis was adopted to investigate the predictive power of the individual dimensions of perceived trust on insurance inclusion. The significance of the individual components was attained by determining the change in the adjusted R2 and the significance of the change. Hence, the results showed that integrity (β = 0.316, p < 0.01), credibility (β = 0.252, p < 0.01) and reliability (β = 0.211, p < 0.01) were significant positive predictors of insurance inclusion. However, the results showed benevolence (β = 0.018, p > 0.05) to have an insignificant positive influence on insurance inclusion in Uganda. The effect of benevolence on insurance inclusion was practically and statistically insignificant. Overall results showed that independent variables explained 50.6% of the variance in insurance inclusion in Uganda when combined. Unlike prior studies that have investigated the general effect of trust as the global variable, the current study examined the impact of the independent dimensions of trust in explaining insurance inclusion. Besides, earlier studies ignored the trust theory, which provides key dimensions for understanding trust. The current study reveals that not all dimensions of perceived trust are significant for insurance inclusion in Uganda.


In this article we explore the role of music in shaping and publicizing religious and political subjectivities and belonging among young Muslims in Norway. The article discusses practices of producing and listening to music in light of theories about 'counterpublics' and their soundscapes, the religious and the secular, and majority-minority relations. Musical soundscapes produced and consumed by young Muslims, the article argues, give voice to experiences and sentiments that are marginalized within mainstream cultural productions, and articulate both consensus and dissensus with national political institutions' concepts and norms.


A cross-sectional study to assess job strain and its associated factors among lecturers of the School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) was undertaken between August 2001 and May 2002. The original English version of the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) version 1.7 (revised 1997) by Robert Karasek based on the Job Strain Model was self-administered to 73 (response rate 58.4%) and 80 (response rate 41.7%) lecturers in the medical faculties of USM and UKM respectively. The prevalence of job strain (defined by low decision latitude and high psychological demand) in USM and UKM was 23.3% and 17.5%, respectively; the difference was not significant (p ≥ 0.05). Analysis showed that the associated factors of job strain in USM lecturers were psychological stressors (adjusted OR 1.2, 95% CI: 1.0, 1.4), created skill (adjusted OR 0.4, 95% CI: 0.2, 0.8), working in clinical-based departments (adjusted OR 18.9, 95% CI:1.6, 22.7). The risk factors of job strain in UKM lecturers were created skill (adjusted OR 0.3, 95% CI: 0.1, 0.9), psychological stressors (adjusted OR 1.2, 95% CI: 1.0,1.5) and co-worker support (adjusted OR 0.3, 95% CI: 0.1, 0.9). We conclude psychological stressors and created skill were non-protective and protective, respectively, against job strain in both USM and UKM lecturers. Asia Pac JPublic Health 2004; 16(1): 32- 40.


Abstract Leg exercises through standing, cycling and walking with/without FES may be used to preserve lower limb muscle and bone health in persons with physical disability due to SCI. This study sought to examine the effectiveness of leg exercises on bone mineral density and muscle cross-sectional area based on their clinical efficacy in persons with SCI. Several literature databases were searched for potential eligible studies from the earliest return date to January 2022. The primary outcome targeted was the change in muscle mass/volume and bone mineral density as measured by CT, MRI and similar devices. Relevant studies indicated that persons with SCI that undertook FES- and frame-supported leg exercise exhibited better improvement in muscle and bone health preservation in comparison to those who were confined to frame-assisted leg exercise only. However, this observation is only valid for exercise initiated early (i.e., within 3 months after injury) and for ≥30 min/day for ≥ thrice a week and for up to 24 months or as long as desired and/or tolerable. Consequently, apart from the positive psychological effects on the users, leg exercise may reduce fracture rate and its effectiveness may be improved if augmented with FES.


• The history of aviation beginning with the first drawings and flying items goes back to the fifteenth century. • The aviation industry has grown to a remarkable size over the centuries and is one of the important industries of economic growth today. • The aviation industry is structured along the aviation value chain. • Air transport is characterised by high fixed costs, low profit margins in a growing market, and by its dependence on external factors. • The stakeholders of aviation profit from the economies and drivers of aviation. • The aviation system model includes different environments, such as the economic, ecological, social, technological and political environments, which are the platform of the aviation market.


ABSTRACT Physical closure of educational institutes worldwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the emergence of a new era of video-based learning. The current circumstances are unique that have forced students to use digital technologies for their learning purpose. However, the successful usage of such a system relies on the understanding of the adoption factors, for which an integrated model is proposed based on the Technology Acceptance Model and the Task Technology Fit Model. Additionally, this work considers the moderating effects of gender and digital inequality. Data are collected from 232 students all of whom have taken part in a full-semester video-based online learning course in times of the pandemic. A Partial Least Squares method is used for analyzing the data. Results show that video-based learning positively fits into the student's perception and their actual use of the system. The effect of individual characteristics is more than the technology characteristics on the task-technology-fit chain. The integrated model can predict 64.6% of the variance in the final dependent variable: actual usage of video-based learning. Further, while the moderating effect of gender is found to be significant, that for digital inequality is non-significant. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications are discussed.


When an airbag is provided on the vehicle wall side, outside a side frame, a seat back has different designs on the left and right, that is, on the vehicle wall side where the airbag is provided and on the vehicle interior side where the airbag is not provided.
A bracket (16) is mounted to the inside of the vehicle wall-side side frame (14fs) of a seat back frame, the bracket has on the inside thereof a holding bracket (16a) having a substantially square C-shaped cross-section, and an airbag (20) is retained and held by the holding bracket. A screw (20a) protrudes from the inner surface side of the airbag and extends passing through a long hole-like groove (16a1) formed in the holding bracket. An expansion restriction plate (22) is provided over the holding bracket and covers the inner surface side of the airbag, a hexagonal nut (22c) is engaged with the screw which is inserted through the mounting hole (22a) of the expansion restriction plate, and as a result the expansion restriction plate is mounted to the inside of the holding bracket. Thus the airbag on the inside of the side frame is sandwiched between the side frame and the expansion restriction plate.


We describe a large-signal performance of novel high-power radio frequency (RF) switches based on III-nitride insulated gate metal-oxide semiconductor heterostructure field-effect transistors (MOSHFETs). The maximum switching powers for a single MOSHFET with only 1-mm gate width exceed 50W at 10GHz, more than an order of magnitude higher than those achievable using GaAs transistors. In the ON state, the highest powers are determined by the device peak drain currents, 1-2A/mm for the state-of-the art III-N MOSHFETs; in the OFF state their maximum powers are limited by the breakdown voltage, normally well above 100V. Our experimental data are in close agreement with large-signal simulations and the proposed simple analytical model. We also show that the insulating gate design allows for broader bandwidth and higher switching powers and better stability as compared to conventional Schottky gate transistors.


Three polyoxometalates encapsulating high-nuclearity magnetic clusters MFe(5), [As(2)MFe(5)Mo(22)O(85)(H(2)O)](n-) (M = Fe(3+), n = 14; M = Ni(2+) and Mn(2+), n = 15), were synthesized and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and magnetism measurements. The polyanion [As(2)MFe(5)Mo(22)O(85)(H(2)O)](n-) consists of a central MMo(7)O(28) (M = Fe(3+), Ni(2+), and Mn(2+)) fragment and two AsMo(7)O(27) fragments linked together by two trimeric clusters, Fe(2)MoO(μ(2)-O)(2) and Fe(3)(H(2)O), to form a banana-shaped structure with C(1) symmetry. The MMo(7)O(28) and AsMo(7)O(27) units have a similar structure and can be considered as a monocapped hexavacant α-B-Keggin subunit with a central MO(4) group or a central As(III)O(3) group. The polyoxometalates have a low absorption of υ(Mo-O(d)) (925-913 cm(-1)) because most of the Mo atoms in the polyanions have at least two longer Mo-O(d) bonds. The framework of the arsenomolybdates is stable before As(2)O(3) escaping (ca. 300 °C). The analysis of magnetostructural correlations and magnetism measurements indicate the coexistence of ferro- and antiferromagnetic interactions, which give an overall ferromagnetic spin ground state in the compounds.


Endotoxin is a potent inducer of systemic inflammatory responses in human and rodents. Here, we show that in vivo endotoxin triggers a rapid and transient decline in ATP concentration in human peripheral blood leukocytes and murine peripheral blood leukocytes and liver, which is associated with a brief increase in expression of the autophagy indicator LC3-II. In both of these tissues, the ATP concentration reaches a nadir, and autophagy is induced between 2 and 4 h post-endotoxin infusion, and homeostasis is restored within 12 h. Mouse liver SIRT1 and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) protein expression levels decline precipitously within 10 min and remain below detection levels for up to 12 h post-endotoxin administration. In marked contrast, the expression of HIF-1α is induced within 90 min and remains elevated for up to 12 h. The ATP recovery is delayed, and the increases in both HIF-1α expression and autophagy are prolonged in endotoxin-challenged SIRT1 liver knock-out mice. Resveratrol prevents the decline in ATP concentration and SIRT1 expression, as well as the increase in HIF-1α expression and autophagy in liver of endotoxin-challenged wild type mice but not in SIRT1 liver knock-out mice. These results provide novel insight into the state of both cellular bioenergetics and metabolic networks during the acute phase of systemic inflammation and suggest a role for SIRT1 in acute metabolic decline, as well as the restoration of metabolic homeostasis during an inflammatory challenge.


The purpose of the study was to investigate the changes in the endothelial cell count and cell's polymegathism and pleomorphism after selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) in open-angle glaucoma (OAG). SLT has been performed on 18 patients (22 eyes). Each patient underwent confocal microscopy 1 h prior to the laser surgery and then 1 h, 1 day, 1 week, and 1 month after SLT. The obtained micrographs were then analyzed in order to study the infl uence of SLT on the corneal endothelium. The difference in the mean corneal endothelial cell density, polymegathism, and pleomorphism at different time intervals was found to be statistically signifi cant. The mean endothelial cell count was reduced in 1 week after SLT from 2442 6 326 per mm2 to 2352 6 460 per mm2; polymegathism was increased from 46.1 6 11.7% to 50.9 6 13.4%; and pleomorphism was decreased from 46.2 6 11.2% to 40.9 6 7.2%. Cellular damage was also observed on the micrographs that were made in the follow-up after SLT. The highest quantity of damaged cells was observed 1 h after SLT. After 1 month, endothelial integrity was completely restored. If damaging does occur after SLT, it is not severe enough to induce serious changes in the endothelial monolayer. Nevertheless, extra care should be taken when choosing an approach to treating patients with low endothelial cell density.


This work investigates the influence of the carbon surface chemistry on the carbon's electrochemical performance if used as EDLC electrode material. Carbon aerogels were synthesized by crosslinking cellulose acetate through a non-toxic isocyanate and subsequent drying in supercritical CO2 and pyrolysis in inert atmosphere (1000°C, nitrogen atmosphere). Subsequently, the surface chemistry of the carbon aerogels was modified by oxidation (in H2O2) or by nitrogen introduction (impregnation with melamine and co-pyrolysis). Thus the carbon material's surface chemistry was modified depending on the modification method, while the morphology remained similar. All carbon samples were analyzed in terms of morphology (by nitrogen adsorption and mercury porosimetry), composition (elemental analysis), and surface chemistry (Boehm titration and pHPZC). For electrochemical analysis, carbon aerogels were tested in the form of EDLC electrodes in a symmetric test assembly in aqueous electrolyte (cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic cycling). Results show that the carbon's capacitance can be increased by the introduction of heteroatoms. However, the type of functional groups present on the carbon surface seems to really determine capacitance as opposed to the mere presence of oxygen or nitrogen atoms.


А mathematical model of a wire moving through a heating zone, with constant or variable speed an external heat source is constructed as an initial boundary problem for the nonstationary heat equation. Numerical experiments are carried out and graphs of temperature distributions are constructed.


The significance and differential diagnoses of signet-ring cells found in the fine-needle aspirate of metastatic mucoepidermoid carcinoma from the thyroid are reported and discussed. The primary tumor occurred in a 35-year-old man, who had a history of neck irradiation during his childhood. Despite postoperative treatment with 60 Gy external radiation and 1,200 mCi 131I, the patient has at present--12 years after the initial operation--progressive disease with local recurrence in the neck as well as lung metastases.


Tumor hypoxia impedes the outcome of radiotherapy. As the extent of hypoxia in solid tumors varies during the course of radiotherapy, methods that can provide repeated assessment of tumor pO2 such as EPR oximetry may enhance the efficacy of radiotherapy by scheduling irradiations when the tumors are oxygenated. The repeated measurements of tumor pO2 may also identify responders, and thereby facilitate the design of better treatment plans for nonresponding tumors. We have investigated the temporal changes in the ectopic 9L and C6 glioma pO2 irradiated with single radiation doses less than 10 Gy by EPR oximetry. The 9L and C6 tumors were hypoxic with pO2 of approximately 5–9 mmHg. The pO2 of C6 tumors increased significantly with irradiation of 4.8–9.3 Gy. However, no change in the 9L tumor pO2 was observed. The irradiation of the oxygenated C6 tumors with a second dose of 4.8 Gy resulted in a significant delay in growth compared to hypoxic and 2 Gy × 5 treatment groups. The C6 tumors with an increase in pO2 of greater than 50% from the baseline of irradiation with 4.8 Gy (responders) had a significant tumor growth delay compared to nonresponders. These results indicate that the ectopic 9L and C6 tumors responded differently to radiotherapy. We propose that the repeated measurement of the oxygen levels in the tumors during radiotherapy can be used to identify responders and to design tumor oxygen guided treatment plans to improve the outcome.


Biosphere 2 - introduction and research progress Biospherics and Biosphere 2, Mission One (1991-1993) Biosphere 2 - engineering design construction and engineering of a created environment -overview of the Biosphere 2 closed system tropical rainforest biome and Biosphere 2 - structure composition and results of the first two years of operations characteristics of soils in the tropical rainforest biome and Biosphere 2 after three years simulations of community metabolism and atmospheric carbon dioxide and oxygen concentrations in Biosphere 2 litterfall and decomposition rates in Biosphere 2 terrestrial biomes the Biosphere 2 coral reef biome mangrove ecosystem development in Biosphere 2 soil in the agricultural area of Biosphere 2 (1991-1993) bioregenerative recycling of wastewater in Biosphere 2 using a constructed wetland -two year result the agricultural biome of Biosphere 2 - structure, composition and function the diel carbon cycle of the Biosphere 2 ocean high quality continuous measurements of CO2 in Biosphere 2 to assess whole mesocosm carbon cycling ecosystem-level evapotranspiration and water-use efficiency in the desert biome of Biosphere 2 growing wheat in Biosphere 2 under elevated CO2 -observations and modelling dynamics of the global water cycle of Biosphere 2 simulation of the water cycle in Biosphere 2 the Biosphere 2 canopy access system multispectral imaging of vegetation at Biosphere 2 simulation of heat and humidity budgets of Biosphere 2 without its air conditioning.


Unsymmetrical pincers have been shown to be better than the corresponding symmetrical pincers in several catalysis reactions. A new unsymmetrical PNN propincer, 2-(3,5-dimethylpyrazolylmethyl)-5-(diphenylphosphinomethyl)pyrrole (1), was synthesized from pyrrole through Mannich bases in a good yield. In addition, the new byproduct 2-(3,5-dimethylpyrazolylmethyl)-5-(dimethylaminomethyl)- N-(hydroxymethyl)pyrrole was also isolated. The reaction of 1 with [PdCl2(PhCN)2] and Et3N in toluene yielded [PdCl{C4H2N-2-(CH2Me2pz)-5-(CH2PPh2)-κ3 P,N,N}] (2). The analogous reaction between 1 and [NiCl2(DME)] or NiX2 (X = Br, I) in the presence of NEt3 in acetonitrile afforded [NiX{C4H2N-2-(CH2Me2pz)-5-(CH2PPh2)-κ3 P,N,N}] (3; X = Cl, Br, I). All complexes were structurally characterized. The norbornene polymerization behaviors of the unsymmetrical pincer complexes 2 and 3 in the presence of MMAO or EtAlCl2 were compared with those of the symmetrical pincer complexes chloro[2,5-bis(3,5-dimethylpyrazolylmethyl)pyrrolido]palladium(II) (NNN), chloro[2,5-bis(diphenylphosphinomethyl)pyrrolido]palladium(II), and chloro[2,5-bis(diphenylphosphinomethyl)pyrrolido]nickel(II) (PNP) at different temperatures. The PNN and NNN complexes exhibited far greater activity on the order of 107 g of PNB/mol/h, with quantitative yields in some cases, in comparison to the PNP pincer palladium and nickel complexes. This trend was also supported by the iPr group substituted PNP nickel and palladium pincer complexes. These polymerization behaviors are explained using steric crowding around the metal atom with the support of NMR studies and suggested that the activity increases as the Npyrazole donor increases. Polymers were characterized by 1H NMR, IR, TGA, and powder XRD methods.


Fluid (water) flow translation motion conveyor (transporter) is being reviewed. In this device the actuator blades move in the plane axis parallel cycloidal motion, but the fluid flows away perpendicular to the rotation axis in translation direction. For this purpose the blade two component movement is synthesized by kinematics of the gear box: the first rotation takes place around the central axis of each blade, while the other rotation moves around this centre around the central axis of the transporter. The movement is designed in such a way that the central axis rotates twice as fast as the blades around its axles. The kinematics and dynamics of the transporter movement are analyzed, taking into account the characteristics of the drive motor and the blade interaction forces with fluid. The results of the analysis are shown in the graphs obtained by computer modelling. The possibility of creating a multi-element conveyor is being reviewed on the basis of one rotational element. In this case, it is possible to increase the efficiency of the system in such a way that the individual small conveyors in pairs operate in counter phase (rotates opposite). For transporter experimental investigations a special system is made inside the water tank. The system includes a rotating beam with a possibility to stick the devise in the end of this beam. Measurement sensors and the engine power system cable are connected to the control system via sliding contacts. A direct current electric motor is created in the conveyor drive. It allows to change the blade drive rotation number of a wide range. The design used in the work may also be used for other purposes, for example, for generation of energy from fluid flow. In this case, like before, all formulas can be used as calculation in relative interaction.


Negative emotions are not only a natural component of the world of work, they must be acknowledged and engaged if individuals are to make good decisions and if businesses are to create effective teams. Understanding that anger is a fear based emotion and that the brain is structured so anger and fear can be processed more quickly than rational thinking provides tremendous insights for occupational health personnel. Occupational and environmental health nurses can use the techniques presented in this article to develop employee self awareness and skills for positively channeling their workplace anger and anxiety.


Because of its function, the X chromosome has a special status in mammalian genomes, with the specific occurrence of genes that influence both female and male fertility. Long ago, the XO karyotype (Turner syndrome) was associated with infertility, proving the correlation between normal X chromosome dosage and normal female fertility. Nevertheless, the search for specific X-borne fertility genes was not completely successful and suggested, instead, that female X-linked fertility, for example, depends upon groups of X-linked genes. Conversely, X-linked hyperfertility has been observed in sheep, where a mutation in BMP15 leads to a hyperfertile phenotype, but only in the heterozygous state. Many male fertility genes map to the X chromosome, consistent with a genetic model developed in the early 1990s. Ironically, NR0B1 (formerly DAX1), once presented as the paradigm of genes responsible for ovarian development and function, is probably one of these male fertility factors and is active in the maintenance of spermatogenesis. Indeed, duplications of this gene on the human X chromosome lead to XY sex reversal, as NR0B1 is able to counterbalance the effect in humans. Nevertheless, invalidation experiments in mice demonstrate the effect of this factor on male germ-cell production.


Background Inadequate sleep hygiene (SH) is considered one the factors contributing to insomnia, including comorbid insomnia with mental disorders. However, the practice of SH by depressed patients with comorbid insomnia has not been explored. We aimed to compare the practice of SH between patients with major depression with comorbid insomnia, primary insomnia, and good sleepers. Methods One hundred and eighty-two adult individuals participated: 62 outpatients with major depressive disorder with comorbid insomnia (MDD), 56 outpatients with primary insomnia (PI), and 64 good sleepers (GS). All participants were assessed with a structured psychiatric interview, an insomnia interview, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Insomnia Severity Index and the Sleep Hygiene Practice Scale. We compared the practice of SH as a whole and by domains between the groups and the relation between SH practice, insomnia and sleep quality. Results Patients with PI and MDD showed a significantly worse practice of global SH. In the comparison by SH domains, MDD and PI groups had significantly higher scores than GS in all domains; individuals with MDD showed a significantly worse practice of sleep schedule and arousal related behaviors than PI group. SH practice was significantly related with insomnia and sleep quality in the whole sample, however only in the PI this association remained significant. Arousal-related behaviors domain was the main predictor of insomnia and sleep quality. Conclusions Although patients with insomnia comorbid with MDD or with PI have a worse SH practice than GS, only arousal-related behaviors and drinking/eating habits contribute significantly to insomnia severity and sleep quality.


ASTER is a Japanese sensor which is one of the five equipments that are on board of the Terra satellite launched by NASA in 1999. The sensor has been collecting satellite imagery since 2000. The ASTER GDEM was released to the public after a joint operation between NASA and METI (Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry). It is the most complete DEM of the earth ever made, covering 99% of its surface in 1 arc second resolution. The previous most comprehensive DEM, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) DEM, covered approximately 80% of the Earth's surface, with a resolution of 3 arc seconds, and 1 arc seconds. The GDEM covers the earth from 83 degrees North to 83 degrees South (SRTM's coverage is from 56°S to 60°N), becoming the first DEM that covers the Polar Regions. Nowadays the second version is in use, which is corrected and enhanced in terms of several artifacts. In spite of these corrections it is reported that there are still some artifacts such as wells and spikes in the data. In this study ASTER DEM and SRTM DEM are analyzed against local height data. The ground truth data is local DEMs created by using 25K national topographic maps. We will do an area based comparison between ASTER DEM, SRTM DEM and local DEMs. For this purpose we selected 37 25K map sheets randomly distributed over the country. Furthermore we create 3D visualizations and compare them in terms of detail richness of the topography. Finally it is concluded that SRTM DEM seems to be superior to ASTER DEM over the Turkish territory.


AIMS
To compare specific features and prognosis of polytrauma victims requiring urgent laparotomy, after a free fall from a height (FFH) or a motor vehicle accident (MVA).

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Urgent laparotomy was performed only in case of massive hemoperitoneum associated with hemodynamic instability. Injury severity score (ISS) and hospital mortality rate were used to determine the severity of trauma.

RESULTS
Two hundred and four patients underwent urgent laparotomy for blunt abdominal trauma: 79 after FFH (intentional defenestration: 65, accident: 14), and 125 after a MVA. Mean ISS was higher after FFH (39 +/- 11) than MVA (35 +/- 12) (P< 0.05). Spine injury and pelvic fractures were more frequent and more severe in FFH patients, with a high incidence of retroperitoneal hemorrhage. Juxta-hepatic veins and inferior vena cava tears usually occurred after FFH. Hospital mortality was 48% (38/79) after FFH and 30% (37/125) after MVA (P< 0.01). Predominant cause of death was associated injuries. The height of the fall was not a prognostic factor, unlike the quality of the landing surface: the mortality dropped from 59% (34/58) when patient fell onto a hard ground, to 19% (4/21) in case of soft landing surface (P< 0.05).

CONCLUSION
Blunt abdominal trauma requiring urgent laparotomy is more severe after FFH than after MVA. The usual cause of death is associated injuries in both groups. Quality of the landing surface is a discriminating factor for mortality after FFH.


CT guided lung biopsy is an important diagnostic tool for lung tumours. Quoted pneumothorax rates are wide at 0-61% 1 . This study aims to assess our pneumothorax rate and outcomes by reviewing radiology, spirometry and biopsy methods for CT guided lung biopsy patients in 2015. 85 patients had biopsies. Mean age was 68.3yrs (SD 10.2). 61% were male. 74% attained a diagnosis. 8 patients (9%) had a pneumothorax (7 – small and managed conservatively, 1 – chest drain; 6 – discharged on the same day, 2 – admitted overnight). 93% of patients had spirometry pre-biopsy. Mean % predicted FEV 1 was 78 (SD 22.0). 89% had an FEV 1 >50% predicted. The mean % predicted FEV1 in pneumothorax patients was 102 (SD20.8), significantly higher than patients without at 77 (SD 21.0) (p=0.0128, unpaired t-test). Pneumothorax rates were unrelated to needle size (≥20G vs 2, p=0.897 χ2). Patients with a pneumothorax had significantly better spirometry. In addition, biopsies were performed on few patients with an FEV1 1 . These findings may reflect a more cautious approach in those with poor lung function. However, CT biopsy is a safe test. Though some patients had a pneumothorax, few required admission or intervention. This may indicate a potential to perform this test on a wider range of patients. 1 Manhire, A et al. Thorax 2003:58:920–936.


BACKGROUND
Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is the standard procedure to distinguish tricuspid aortic valve (TAV) from bicuspid aortic valve (BAV). Published studies assessed the accuracy of TTE for BAV under ideal conditions. Conversely, we aimed at assessing accuracy of TTE for BAV under routine conditions.

METHODS
This retrospective, cross-sectional study of 216 adults included 132 men aged 62±14 years. Of these, 108 had BAV and 108 were age-matched individuals with TAV. All diagnoses were confirmed at surgery. We assessed TTE in two patient groups. First, in the (I) group of all 216 individuals, where we assessed accuracy for BAV according to the original diagnoses as documented by the primary investigators during original TTE examination. Second, we assessed accuracy for BAV according to expert re-evaluation in (II) all 158 TTE with availability of original recordings. Third, we performed a meta-analysis of published results on the accuracy of TTE for BAV according to PRISMA standards.

RESULTS
Sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of (I) primary investigators was 46.3%, 97.2, and 71.8% as compared to (II) expert re-evaluation with 59.7%, 93%, and 77.8%, respectively. Sensitivity was significantly higher at re-evaluation (P<0.001). TTE at a non-tertiary care center (P=0.012), presence of aortic aneurysm (P=0.001) and presence of severe aortic valve calcification (P=0.003) predicted an inaccurate diagnosis of BAV. Conversely, meta-analysis of published TTE studies identified a pooled sensitivity of 87.7% and a pooled specificity of 88.3% for BAV.

CONCLUSIONS
The current study shows that TTE yields almost ideal diagnostic accuracy when ideal investigators examine ideal patients. However, the study also shows that TTE yields suboptimal diagnostic accuracy under routine conditions. TTE in non-tertiary care settings, concomitant aortic aneurysm, and presence of severe aortic valve calcification predict an inaccurate diagnosis of BAV.


Primary Sjögren syndrome (SS) is an autoimmune disease characterized by diffuse lymphoid cell infiltrates in the salivary and lacrimal glands, resulting in symptoms of dry eye and dry mouth due to insufficient secretion. Previously, we have identified the 120 kDa alpha-fodrin as an important autoantigen on the development of SS in both animal model and SS patients, but the mechanism of a -fodrin cleavage leading to tissue destruction in SS remains unclear. In murine primary SS model, tissue-infiltrating CD4+ T cells purified from the salivary glands bear a large proportion of Fas ligand (FasL), and the salivary gland duct cells constitutively possess Fas. Infiltrating CD4+ T cells identified significant 51Cr release against mouse salivary gland (MSG) cells. In vitro studies demonstrated that apoptotic MSG cells result in a specific alpha-fodrin cleavage into 120 kDa, and preincubation with caspase-inhibitor peptides blocked alpha-fodrin cleavage. The treatment with caspase-inhibitors in vivo prevented the development of autoimmune lesions in the salivary and lacrimal glands. Thus, an increased activity in caspase cascade may be involved in the progression of alpha-fodrin proteolysis and tissue destruction on the development of SS.


The market of platform business is typically served by a few dominant players, presenting "winner-takes-all" phenomenon. This study aims to find service characteristics leading to the phenomenon. Six different service-characteristics were considered : Same-side network effect, cross-side network effects, entry barrier, multi-homing cost, switching cost, and heterogeneity of preference. To assess the degree of concentration of market share, HHI (Herfindahl-Hirschman Index) is calculated for top three major players. Based on the HHI value, 10 most eminent platform businesses are classified into three different segments and each segment is characterized with key factors. The results from this study provide some insight into the strategic management of platform business.


Faces of android robots are one of the most important interfaces to communicate with humans quickly and effectively, as they need to match the expressive capabilities of the human face, it is no wonder that they are complex mechanical systems containing inevitable non-linear and hysteresis elements derived from their non-rigid components. Identifying the input-output response properties of this complex system is necessary to design surface deformations accurately and precisely. However, to date, android faces have been used without careful system identification and thus remain black boxes. In this study, the static responses of three-dimensional displacements were investigated for 116 facial surface points against a discrete trapezoidal input provided to each actuator in the face of a child-type android robot Affetto. The results show that the response curves can be modeled with hysteretical sigmoid functions, and that the response properties of the face actuators, including sensitivity, hysteresis, and dyssynchrony, were quite different. The paper further proposes a design methodology for surface motion patterns based on the obtained response models. Design results thus obtained indicate that the proposed response properties enable us to predict the design results, and that the proposed design methodology can cancel the differences among the response curves of the actuators. The proposed identification and quantitative evaluation method can be applied to advanced android face studies instead of conventional qualitative evaluation methodologies.


We deployed a dense-array seafloor seismic observatory in the source area of great subduction earthquakes in southwest Japan in 2010. We observed the development of long-period motions in the seafloor strong-motion data at a moderate inland event (Mw 5.8) occurred in April 2013. The observed seismic waveforms are significantly prolonged and amplified, which does not agree with an empirical relation of amplifications for epicentral distances. We reproduce these features of waveforms at the seafloor stations in the period range of 10-20 s with FDM simulations and demonstrate the significant effects of seawater and sediment structures in ocean area on seismic wavefields. The long-period motions are predominantly caused by the propagation of surface waves developed within sediment layers in the subduction area. For the motions of the vertical component, the presence of a seawater layer also contributes to the developments. The snapshots in the cross section in depth show more trapped seismic energies and slower seismic-wave propagation in the subduction area than those in the land area, which produces the amplified and prolonged long-period motions at the seafloor stations. The snapshots in the horizontal plane show the distortion of concentric wave trains propagating from the source, indicating significant lateral variations of seismic velocity structures between land and ocean areas. The long-period range we analyzed is very important for magnitude estimations and moment tensor and finite-source analyses at great subduction earthquakes. Our observation and simulation results highlight the importance of ocean-specific structures for the seismic wave propagation and would contribute to advancing the seismic source studies and the strong-motion prediction by using seafloor station data.


In a step toward faster and smaller computer memories, researchers pushed the wall between two magnetic regions at over 100 meters per second, 100 times faster than ever before.


Two simple methods of estimating the plasma position in a large-aspect-ratio, low-βp tokamak with an iron core transformer are demonstrated: a magnetic diagnostic method and an optical method. The magnetic diagnostic method utilizes an array of magnetic pickup coils to measure the poloidal magnetic field produced by the plasma current. To include the effects of toroidicity and an iron core transformer, the correction factor was calculated with the magnetic material (or iron core) inside the calculation domain and incorporated in the analysis. The evolution of horizontal and vertical displacement of the plasma center obtained in this way is used to control the KAIST-Tokamak plasmas. To compare the plasma position estimated using the magnetic pickup coils, a simple optical method is also demonstrated on KAIST-TOKAMAK using a composite video signal from a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera. The two results are in good agreement.


Abstract  Many yellow silt layers have been identified in the Holocene sediments in the last lake of Lop Nur (playa), Xinjiang, northwestern China. Statistics of drill‐hole cores have revealed more than one hundred layers, which exhibit regularity in time sequence. Study has further verified that these yellow silt layers were deposited through eolian processes. The time‐frequency distribution diagram shows an obvious peak occurring at about 8200 a B.P., which is consistent with the dry, windy and cold climate event occurring at 8200 a in other places around the world. Therefore, this event is regarded as a response to the global climate change.


The paper presents the results of a study of changes in the salary schemes and working conditions of medical staff, their labor motivation and the compliance of these changes with the objectives of the so-called "effective", performance-based, contract being introduced. The data from a set of surveys of employees at public medical facilities in 2009–2018 served as the empirical base of the study. It is shown that the introduction of the effective contract had changed the role of factors determining the salary of medical workers. Whereas earlier qualification had been the leading factor, afterwards it was the volume and quality of the work performed as well as the outcomes of a given medical institution or unit. Most doctors had increased the amount of work they do, and the secondary employment of medical staff had slightly been reduced. Survey data indicate quite a stable hierarchy of labor motives among medical workers, the leading ones being earning money, professional interest in work, and altruism. In 2018, the role of the guaranteed employment motive was elevated. Among the positive changes are an increase in the satisfaction of medical workers with the salary, conditions for advanced training, and rules of remuneration. The identified outcomes are generally consistent with the objectives of introducing the effective contract, and they allow one to argue that the new salary scheme has had a positive impact on the labor motivation of medical staff. However, the conclusion of an effective contract was noted by only half of respondents. For the rest, it all boiled down to an increase in salary. These results indicate serious failures in the administration of this reform.


In bivalves, many functional parameters show seasonal changes in relation to both abiotic (such as temperature and salinity) and biotic factors (such as gonad maturation, food availability). Available data indicate that also immune parameters can show seasonal fluctuations in the marine mussel Mytilus spp.. In this work we report data on hemocyte lysosomal membrane stability (LMS) and phagocytic activity, as well as on soluble lysozyme activity, in the hemolymph of mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) collected over a 24 month period in the Adriatic Sea (2006-2007). The results indicate that all the parameters measured show seasonal fluctuations over the year, with lysozyme activity showing the largest changes. Lowest LMS values were observed in early winter and early autumn, whereas maximal values of phagocytic activity were observed in winter and increasing serum lysozyme activities were recorded in autumn. The observed seasonal fluctuations are discussed in relation to both abiotic (temperature) and biotic (changes in endogenous modulators) factors.


Abstract U.S. climate change-related policy response is failing, despite scientific consensus on core realities, in part because of comprehensive, simultaneous, yet incommensurable doctrines and political biases. Climate disruption is a critically important agenda for homeland security and emergency management, yet as framed today, the policy communication regime frequently requires many skeptics or deniers to abandon their opinions, cultural commitments and epistemic frameworks. Public opinion consensus would be optimal, but the traditional education/information approach is flawed, and continued delays in significant mitigation and adaptation policy implementation will mean far larger future costs to protect civilian environmental security and national interests. Thus, effective response demands new messaging strategies, pursuing interim progress, leveraging overlapping consensus, enhancing risk analysis literacy, and constructing alternative, intermediary categories of multiple parallel discourse. These framings would center on security, economic interests, public health, religious stewardship, and other themes. Customized audience discourses may enable better public and opinion leader buy-in, partly transcending polarization, since such leaders have a unique ability to help translate and promote these various discourses. In addition, eventual construction of a multi-dimensional map could optimize effective messaging and supportive coalitions. Otherwise, stalemate on climate-related policy and environmental security will continue, with increasingly likely catastrophic implications.


The breakdown of translational symmetry of a polyethylene chain, associated with a Peierls-like phase transition, has been analysed using the general principles of 'action of a group on a set'. All possible phase transitions (dimerization, trimerization, or, in general, p-merization) are classified and the corresponding driving modes are derived.


We report a new technique for shaping an ultrashort pulse and measuring a pulse shape in real time using an optically induced dynamic grating in a nonlinear material. The technique is all optically controllable, not limited by electronic switching time, and works over a wide range of wavelengths. We demonstrate the technique by using three kinds of nonlinear materials: a Bi12SiO20 (BSO) crystal, a DODCI solution and a ZnSe film.


Motivated by upcoming data from astrometric and spectroscopic surveys of the Galaxy, we explore the chemical abundance properties and phase-space distributions in hierarchically formed stellar halo simulations set in a ΛCDM universe. Our stellar halo metallicities increase with stellar halo mass. The slope of the [Fe/H]-M* trend mimics that of the satellite galaxies that were destroyed to build the halos, implying that the relation propagates hierarchically. All simulated halos contain a significant fraction of old stellar populations accreted more than 10 Gyr ago, and in a few cases some intermediate-age populations exist. In contrast with the Milky Way, many of our simulated stellar halos contain old stellar populations that are metal-rich, originating in the early accretion of massive satellites (M* ~ 109 M☉). We suggest that the (metal-rich) stellar halo of M31 falls into this category, while the more metal-poor halo of the Milky Way is lacking in early massive accretion events. Interestingly, our hierarchically formed stellar halos often have nonnegligible metallicity gradients in both [Fe/H] and [α/Fe]. These gradients extend a few tens of kiloparsecs, and can be as large as 0.5 dex in [Fe/H] and 0.2 dex in [α/Fe], with the most metal-poor halo stars typically buried within the central ~5 kpc of the galaxy. Finally, we find that chemical abundances can act as a rough substitute for time of accretion of satellite galaxies, and, based on this finding, we propose a criterion for identifying tidal streams spatially by selecting stars with [α/Fe] ratios below solar.


Low dissipation, tunable coupling to other quantum systems, and unique features of phonons in the aspects of propagation, detection and others suggest the applications of quantized mechanical resonators in phonon-based quantum information processing (QIP) in a way different from their photonic counterpart. In this paper, we propose the first protocol of entanglement concentration for nonlocal phonons from quantized mechanical vibration. We combine the optomechanical cross-Kerr interaction with the Mach-Zehnder interferometer and, by means of twice optomechanical interactions and the photon analysis with respect to the output of the interferometer, achieve ideal entanglement concentration about less-entangled nonlocal phonon Bell and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states. Our protocol is useful for preserving the entangled phonons for the use of high quality phonon-based QIP in future.


Background: Aging results in a decline in a number of cognitive abilities, including visual memory (VM) and visual discrimination (VD). Since common cortical networks subserve eye movement and attention, voluntary eye movement may improve visual attention. The aim of this study was to identify the improvement in VM and VD, after implementing a saccadic eye movement (SEM) in the institutionalized healthy elderly. Material and Methods: The study involved a sample of 36 participants (29 women and 7 men), and the mean age was 79.03 years (range 76-84 years). They were randomly allocated to the experimental group (n = 16) and control group (n = 20). Participants in the experimental group performed SEM, SEM performed 5 times per week for 4 weeks: twice daily at the same time in the morning and afternoon. The program was carried out for 3 minutes, and it consisted of SEM. The target's moving frequency was set at 0.5 Hz. VM and VD at the baseline and post-intervention were measured. Results: VM significantly improved in the experimental group (p < 0.01), and significant differences were observed compared to the control group (p < 0.01). But, VD was not changes. Conclusion: The results demonstrate that the SEM improves VM more than VD. In conclusion, SEM was effective interventions for improving VM in institutionalized elderly persons.


The p16/MTS1/CDKN2 gene and the cyclin D1/PRAD-1 gene cooperatively regulate cyclin-dependent kinase 4-mediated phosphorylation of pRB in the cell cycle of normal cells. p16/CDKN2 gene and cyclin D1/PRAD-1 gene alterations have been detected in squamous cell carcinoma cell lines and in several primary squamous cell carcinomas of the esophagus. We immunohistochemically assessed p16 and cyclin D1 expression in 111 squamous cell carcinomas of the esophagus after evaluation of the antibodies against p16 and cyclin D1 protein using four squamous cell carcinoma cell lines. Loss of p16 expression was detected in 56 of 111 cases (50%). The mean number of metastatic lymph nodes without p16 expression was significantly higher than the number of nodes with p16 expression (P = 0.04). The postoperative survival rate for patients without p16 expression was significantly lower than that of patients with p16 expression (P = 0.04). Cyclin D1 overexpression was found in 28 of the 111 cases (25%) and correlated with distant organ metastasis after curative surgery (P = 0.05). The survival rate of patients with cyclin D1 overexpression was significantly lower than that of patients without cyclin D1 overexpression (P = 0.01). A positive correlation between the loss of p16 expression and cyclin D1 overexpression was observed (P = 0. 03). The loss of p16 expression and overexpression of cyclin D1 may be useful prognostic indicators in patients with squamous cell carcinomas of the esophagus. It may be possible to select more suitable treatment for patients with squamous cell carcinomas of the esophagus by evaluating the status of p16 and cyclin D1 expression.


OBJECTIVES
Our purposes were to investigate maternal infusions of intravenous gamma-globulin, to prevent intracranial hemorrhage, and to determine whether 1.5 mg dexamethasone and 60 mg prednisone per day add to the effect of intravenous gamma-globulin.

STUDY DESIGN
Fifty-four women with alloimmune thrombocytopenia and thrombocytopenic fetuses were randomized to intravenous gamma-globulin 1 gm/kg per week with or without dexamethasone. Nonresponders after 4 to 6 weeks received continued intravenous gamma-globulin plus 60 mg of prednisone per day ("salvage").

RESULTS
Dexamethasone did not add to the effect of intravenous gamma-globulin. Overall, there was a mean platelet increase from the first to the second fetal blood sampling of 36,000/microliters (n = 47) and from the first fetal blood sampling to birth of 69,000/microliters (n = 54). A total of 62% to 85% of fetuses responded. There were no intracranial hemorrhages. "Salvage" increased the platelet count in 5 of 10 nonresponders to intravenous gamma-globulin.

CONCLUSION
Intravenous gamma-globulin treatment is appropriate for thrombocytopenic fetuses with alloimmune thrombocytopenia before use of weekly in utero platelet transfusions, even in severe thrombocytopenia.


The relevance of the research subject is explained by a fundamental change in the conditions of existence and development of agents of the digital economy, limited knowledge about their behavior under conditions of quarantine restrictions. The aim of the research is to study the series of the dynamics of the price of bitcoin and the frequency of online requests for bitcoin as an indicator of the behavior of agents of the digital economy using the methods of qualitative recurrent analysis. The types of constructed time series plots of the price of bitcoin and the frequency of requests for bitcoin are defined as drift with a superimposed linearly gradually increasing sequence, which indicates the unpredictability of the behavior of digital economy agents with a gradual stabilization in new quality trend. The scientific novelty of the research results lies in the proven connection between the series of bitcoin price dynamics and the frequency of online requests for bitcoin, tracking changes in the behavior of digital economy agents before and after the introduction of quarantine restrictions. The procedure for conducting a qualitative recurrence analysis of the series of dynamics is generalized, which takes into account the specifics of the formation of the frequency of online requests for bitcoin, the price and the behavioral aspect of its formation. The practical value lies in defining the characterization of the behavior model of digital economy agents under conditions of quarantine restrictions. The behavior of digital economy agents in the context of COVID-2019 requires further research, in particular, using cross-recurrent analysis methods.


Successful countries provide economy and society with infrastructure needed to maintain growth. Development experience suggests that investing 7 percent of GDP in infrastructure is the right order of magnitude for high and sustained growth. Over the last twelve years, the government of Vietnam was able to sustain infrastructure investment at 10 percent of GDP. This remarkably high level of investment has resulted in a rapid expansion of infrastructure stocks and improved access. Despite this achievement, Vietnam is experiencing more and more infrastructure weaknesses that negatively affect its ability to sustain high economic growth in the long term. Transport and electricity – the two most essential infrastructure activities – appear to be the weakest infrastructure sectors in Vietnam with blackouts and traffic jams occurring more and more frequently. In transport, many large-scale railway, seaport and airport projects are being planned in near total disregard of the emergence of fast growing industrial clusters. These wrongheaded projects will need to be terminated in order to make funds available for a few crucial projects in the most rapidly growing regions that currently face severe transport bottlenecks. The private sector participation in transport development will help identify and execute the most viable projects. But its potential will only be realized if the returns to private investors come from the projects' own cash flow, rather than from government subsidies in the form of land. In electricity, the investment pattern of over-reliance on hydro needs to be changed. If hydro continues to be the single largest production source, then extensive idle time will be inevitable for thermal stations, since the wet/dry season power output ratio is so uneven. Vietnam must determine the appropriate mix of hydro and thermal generating capacity that can reliably supply the country's demand. Electricity prices have to be raised to levels that enable EVN or a single buyer in the future to contract for new generating capacity through competitive bidding. The roadmap for liberalization in the energy sector contemplated in the 2004 Electricity Law needs to be implemented if Viet Nam is to successfully attract the volume of investment and promote the levels of competition and private sector participation required to meet Viet Nam's long term energy and, hence, developmental needs.


A series of experiments were carried out to investigate unsteady behavior of the flow field as well as the boundary layer of an airfoil oscillating in plunging-type motion in a subsonic wind tunnel. The measurements involved surface-mounted hot films complimented with surface pressure. In addition, wind tunnel wall pressure distribution was acquired to furnish a baseline for the wall interference corrections. The airfoil is the section of a 660-kW wind turbine blade. The experiments were conducted at a Reynolds number of 0.42 million, and over two reduced frequencies of k = 0.06 and 0.085, at prestall, nearstall, and poststall regions. The unsteady aerodynamic loads were calculated from the surface pressure measurements, 64 ports, along the chord for both upper and lower surfaces of the model. The plunging displacements were transformed into the equivalent angle of attack. The surface hot-film measurements provided information about the boundary-layer events. The boundary-layer transition occurred via a laminar separation bubble. Variations of the surface pressure coefficients and aerodynamic loads with the equivalent angle of attack showed strong sensitivity to the reduced frequency and the mean angles of attack. The wall pressure distribution was affected by the model oscillation especially the region underneath the model.


Applying the hydrogen (H) radical exposure at the last step of MOSFET fabrication process, an oxygen (O)-terminated channel was converted to a H-terminated one to obtain subsurface hole accumulation for field-effect transistor operation. Low-resistive titanium carbide (TiC) source/drain and alumina gate oxide were resistant to the hydrogenation process. The shallow TiC side contacts (~ 3 nm in depth) to the hole accumulation layer (channel) showed good ohmic contacts with a specific contact resistance of 2 X 10-7-7 X 10-7 ¿·cm2. For diamond MOSFETs with the TiC ohmic layer, the saturated maximum drain current and maximum transconductance reached 160 mA/mm and 45 mS/mm, respectively. An fT of 6.2 GHz and an f max of 12.6 GHz were obtained. The hydrogenation-last approach is a nondestructive method for the fabrication of diamond MOSFET with high production yield.


SUMMARY Northern elephant seals are naturally adapted to prolonged periods (1–2 months) of absolute food and water deprivation (fasting). In terrestrial mammals, food deprivation stimulates ATP degradation and decreases ATP synthesis, resulting in the accumulation of purines (ATP degradation byproducts). Hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HGPRT) salvages ATP by recycling the purine degradation products derived from xanthine oxidase (XO) metabolism, which also promotes oxidant production. The contributions of HGPRT to purine recycling during prolonged food deprivation in marine mammals are not well defined. In the present study we cloned and characterized the complete and partial cDNA sequences that encode for HGPRT and xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR) in northern elephant seals. We also measured XO protein expression and circulating activity, along with xanthine and hypoxanthine plasma content in fasting northern elephant seal pups. Blood, adipose and muscle tissue samples were collected from animals after 1, 3, 5 and 7 weeks of their natural post-weaning fast. The complete HGPRT and partial XOR cDNA sequences are 771 and 345 bp long and encode proteins of 218 and 115 amino acids, respectively, with conserved domains important for their function and regulation. XOR mRNA and XO protein expression increased 3-fold and 1.7-fold with fasting, respectively, whereas HGPRT mRNA (4-fold) and protein (2-fold) expression increased after 7 weeks in adipose tissue and muscle. Plasma xanthine (3-fold) and hypoxanthine (2.5-fold) levels, and XO (1.7- to 20-fold) and HGPRT (1.5- to 1.7-fold) activities increased during the last 2 weeks of fasting. Results suggest that prolonged fasting in elephant seal pups is associated with increased capacity to recycle purines, which may contribute to ameliorating oxidant production and enhancing the supply of ATP, both of which would be beneficial during prolonged food deprivation and appear to be adaptive in this species.


Biaryl compounds are versatile building blocks in the synthesis of natural products, pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals and π-conjugated organic materials. This review describes a recent progress for the biaryl cross-coupling reaction of heteroaromatic compounds using hypervalent iodine reagent. Our novel biaryl coupling reaction is a unique method for constructing various heteroaromatic biaryls without use of transition metal catalysts. From mechanistic point of view, the coupling reaction was realized through stable iodine intermediate generated from heteroaroamatic compound and iodine (III) reagent.


The subgap structure in current–voltage (I–V) characteristics of a stack of intrinsic Josephson junctions in high-Tc superconductors is studied. An analytical formula for the I–V characteristics is obtained which had taken into account the influence of the dynamically breaking of charge neutrality (DBCN) in CuO2 layers on the subgap structure. It is shown that DBCN does not affect the positions and the amplitudes of the subgap peaks, but changes the curvature of the branches in the I–V characteristics. As a possible manifestation of the non-equivalence of the junction, the experimental I–V characteristics of intrinsic Josephson junctions are presented. This paper was presented at the 8th International Superconductive Electronics Conference, Osaka, Japan, 19–22 June 2001.


We study the macroeconomic information conveyed by transaction flows in the foreign exchange market. We present a new genre of model for the concurrent empirical link between spot prices and transaction flows that produces two new implications for forecasting: (i) transaction flows should have incremental forecasting power for future fundamentals relative to current spot prices and fundamentals, and (ii) transaction flows should have forecasting power for future excess returns if the information conveyed affects the risk premium. Both predictions are borne out empirically. Transaction flows in the EUR/USD market forecast GDP growth, money growth, and inflation. They also forecast future exchange rate returns, and this occurs via the information that flows carry concerning the future of the macro variables that drive the risk premium.


The present study examines a large scale intervention program within the manufacturing industry with the purpose of improving cooperation and health among both management and production teams. Altogether 31 management teams and 132 production teams, comprising 1596 individuals, participated in this intervention program. All the management teams were assigned a budget of nine hours of consultation-time each, plus a GDQ-measurement before and at the termination of the project. There were six meetings during the project and each meeting lasted one and a half hours. Four groups met concurrently, in the same room together with the two consultants. The present results target the issue of consultants' and managers' perceptions of the intervention process, but not the outcomes or the result of the intervention performed. Interviews were carried out with the two consultants who conducted the whole intervention and ten of the top managers who participated in the intervention. The interviews focused upon critical aspects associated with either success or failure before, during and after the intervention program. Content analyses were performed for consultant and managers separately, in order to extract themes describing their views of the intervention process. Similarities and differences between consultants' and managers' perceptions of the process are discussed.


Malaria is a potentially life-threatening infection caused by several protozoa in the Plasmodium genus. Malaria is transmitted through the bite of a female Anopheles mosquito, which serves as the definitive host and vector of the disease. Geographically, malaria is normally found in warm, tropical climates that can support the Anopheles mosquito year-round. In uncomplicated malaria, signs and symptoms are often nonspecific. Due to the ongoing hemolysis, patients classically present with fevers followed by a characteristic paroxysm of chills, high fevers, and malaise. The classic gold standard for the diagnosis of malaria is light microscopy of Giemsa-stained peripheral blood smears. Pharmacotherapy depends on the suspected Plasmodium species, the local patterns of drug susceptibility, and the clinical status of the patient. Chemoprophylaxis is recommended for all individuals traveling to regions with endemic malaria.


Background and Aim: Patients with primary headaches are increasingly recognized to have impairments in various neuropsychological functions. However, there is a paucity of data on the cognitive functions of patients with primary headaches, especially during a headache-free period in Indian population. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate a cohort of primary headache patients and healthy controls using an auditory P300. Methods: There were 75 patients including 51 migraine, 16 tension-type headache, and 8 cluster headache patients. They were subjected to a thorough neurological evaluation, following which they were evaluated with an auditory P300 using the oddball paradigm. Results: Significantly, prolonged latencies (P < 0.001) were seen at Fz, Cz, and Pz in all cases as compared to controls. Further, comparison of all three groups with control and comparison of individual group with controls yielded similar results. Conclusion: Abnormal P300 observed in these patients even during the interictal period suggests the presence cognitive abnormalities in patients with a primary headache.


While the basic idea of using Conceptual Graphs as query interface to relational databases has already been stated very early in [Sow84], no approach so far has covered the full expressiveness of modern database query languages. Especially negation and the so-called aggregating functions have not been treated. In this paper, we present Nested Concept Graphs with Cuts which extend the syntactical Concept Graph (which mathematize Conceptual Graphs) to treat simultaneously negation and nesting. With these extensions they have the expressiveness of database query languages (e. g. SQL), which will be exemplified by selected queries.


The State Government of Queensland, Australia, has recently embarked on unparalleled reform of the water industry in the populous South-East corner of the state. This reform goes well beyond that previously seen in either the Australian electricity or water industries, and involves the geographic aggregation of 25 separate local government-owned water authorities into a five-tiered, vertically disaggregated series of new water supply and delivery businesses. Particular priority has been placed on establishing the bulk and manufactured water, trunk distribution and grid management entities that will be crucial to meeting the short and long-term water supply needs of this rapidly-growing region, however the scope of reforms covers the full water supply chain through to the consumer. The scale and pace of the reform poses significant challenges for both the industry and its regulators. To achieve the Government9s aggressive timetable and delivery outcomes, all parties have had to mobilise quickly and manage the complex task of business transformation while maintaining service continuity - and against a backdrop of severe drought, unprecedented capital works programs, ongoing population growth and concurrent local government amalgamations and boundary changes. If executed properly, however, the reforms offer many potential benefits for the Government, the water authorities, and the community. This paper examines the progress of the Queensland reforms to date, and discusses the approaches taken, key observations, and challenges and opportunities for both the water businesses and the regulators.


We report a 44-year-old white male presenting with an acute anterior myocardial infarction. Cardiac catheterization at 2 weeks postinfarction revealed total occlusion of the left main coronary artery. There was a normal dominant right coronary artery supplying moderate collaterals to the left coronary system. The patient was managed with conservative therapy and was N.Y.H.A. functional class II on followup 2 years later. A review of the literature relative to myocardial infarction caused by acute left main coronary artery occlusion is presented, and unique features of these cases are described.


We implement a visual interpretability method Layer-wise Relevance Propagation (LRP) on top of 3D U-Net trained to perform lesion segmentation on the small dataset of multi-modal images provided by ISLES 2017 competition. We demonstrate that LRP modifications could provide more sensible visual explanations to an otherwise highly noise-skewed saliency map. We also link amplitude of modified signals to useful information content. High amplitude localized signals appear to constitute the noise that undermines the interpretability capacity of LRP. Furthermore, mathematical framework for possible analysis of function approximation is developed by analogy.


The effect of gamma irradiation on two types (superstrate- and substrate-type) of CdS/CdTe photodiodes, which we have proposed as potential photoconducting films for compact image sensors with a field emitter array (FEA), was investigated. A 60Co gamma-ray source was employed, and the total gamma irradiation dose was more than 500 kGy. For the superstrate-type structure, the irradiation caused the short-circuit current density (JSC) to decrease, probably due to the resulting decreased transmittance of the glass substrate. On the other hand, little degradation of the I -V characteristics or spectral response was observed after the gamma irradiation for the substrate-type structure. These results suggest that, taking into account the decrease in transmittance of the glass substrate, the CdS/CdTe photodiodes have sufficient tolerance to high gamma-ray exposure. (© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


BACKGROUND
Prescription opioid use often precedes opioid misuse, abuse, and addiction.

OBJECTIVE
To characterize the national opioid prescription practices of Mohs surgeons, with general dermatologists serving as a comparison group.

METHODS
A retrospective cross-sectional study using Medicare prescription data to analyze opioid prescription characteristics.

RESULTS
In 2014, 2,190 Mohs surgeons prescribed a total of 86,526 opioids, whereas 10,347 non-Mohs dermatologists prescribed 45,033 opioids. Among Mohs surgeons, 51.8% prescribed more than 10 opioids, whereas 93.3% of non-Mohs dermatologists prescribed 0 to 10. The estimated opioid prescription rates for Mohs surgeons and non-Mohs dermatologists were 5.9% and 0.7%, respectively. Among those prescribing at least 10 opioid claims, the mean number of opioids supplied and mean opioid prescription rate was 72.4 and 13.5, respectively, for Mohs surgeons versus 32.5 and 5.1 , respectively, for non-Mohs dermatologists. The mean days' supply of opioids was 3.9 for Mohs surgeons versus 7.9 for non-Mohs dermatologists. There was a minimal-to-moderate association between the number of procedures performed and the number of opioids prescribed. Men and Mohs surgeons located in southern states tend to prescribe a greater number of opioids.

CONCLUSION
Mohs surgeons prescribed short courses of opioids and less than both the national average and providers that care for patients in pain.


Background: Musculoskeletal pain and disorders represents one of the greatest problems of dental professionals. The present study aimed to make an assessment of the work-related musculoskeletal pain (WRMP) of the neck, shoulders and back of the professors at the Dental Hospital of the University of Barcelona (DHUB) during the last 12 months. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed. WRMP were assessed using validated questionnaires. Descriptive and bivariate analysis of the data were performed. Results: 165 teachers received the survey, 70 responded and 43 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. 86.05% of respondents reported WRMP during the last 12 months, with shoulders being the most common location. 83.78% of the dentists had gradual pain of moderate intensity. Nearly one-third of these periods of pain had negative consequences. Extreme cervical torsions and flexions during work have been found to be associated with WRMP in the shoulders. In addition, Body Mass Index (BMI) was related to lower back WRMP. Conclusions: Excessive cervical twists and flexions are predictors of shoulders'. A high BMI can be considered a trigger factor of lower back WRMP. Several strategies could reduce the impact of factors associated with WRMP. Further research is needed to prevent WRMP in dentists.


This paper present an application of the local activity theory [Chua, 1998] to a specific reaction–diffusion cellular nonlinear network (CNN) with cells defined by the model of morphogenesis first proposed in [Gierer & Meinhardt, 1972]. Both the local activity domain and a subset called the "edge of chaos" are identified in the cell parameter space. Within these domains, various cell parameter points were selected to illustrate the effectiveness of the local activity theory in choosing the parameters for the emergence of complex (static and dynamic) patterns in a homogeneous lattice formed by coupled locally active cells.


Abstract. In reviews, the content of a scientific or science-based document is
assessed by invited experts. Classical peer reviews are carried out by
experts who belong to the same specialist community as the experts whose
work is being reviewed. Performing peer reviews is an essential element of
the publishing process for articles in scientific journals. This established
practice aims at ensuring scientific quality and at fostering scientific
discourse. Reviews can also be carried out on a science-based safety case.
International experience already exists with peer reviews of safety cases.
Such peer reviews can be initiated by the implementer, the regulator, or
political bodies that issue a mandate to invited experts. The aim of a
peer review is to examine and, if necessary, improve the quality of a safety case, which can also strengthen the credibility of the safety case in the
eyes of various actors, including practitioners in waste management and
scientists, but also the interested public. Classical peer reviews have long been viewed critically in academic science.
In view of complex issues, pluralistic values, and unpredictable
developments, it is argued that it is appropriate to involve non-scientific
peers in the review of documents on socially relevant issues. This gave rise
to the idea of "extended peer-reviews" (Funtowicz and Ravetz, 1993), or, more
precisely, reviews in an extended peer community, which can also be applied
to reviews of safety cases. In the research project TRANSENS (Transdisciplinary research on the management of high-level radioactive
waste in Germany), such extended peer reviews are placed in the context of transdisciplinary methods and tools. Our research indicates that
extending the concept of peer reviews by involving various types of actors
and using transdisciplinary methods and tools, so-called Td reviews, has the
potential to improve the quality, legitimacy, and acceptance of a safety case and is suitable for contributing to a participatory, science-based,
transparent, self-questioning, and learning site-selection procedure in the
sense of the Site Selection Act (Eckhardt et al., 2023). Resilient safety is based on the ability to adapt to and recover from
damaging impacts. The socio-technical system of radioactive waste management
should be able to quickly return to a safe state in the event of a
disruption. With Td reviews, further bodies of knowledge are introduced into
the safety case, different perceptions and values, and an external
perspective, which is not biased in the same way as that of peers in the
classical and narrower senses. Thus, the quality, legitimacy, and acceptance
of the safety case can be strengthened, and Td reviews are expected to have
a positive impact on the resilience of the safety case and on the repository
planning and optimization associated with the safety case (Eckhardt et al.,
2023). So far, the systematic implementation of peer reviews has not been
legally anchored in Germany, and experience with such processes is limited
(Röhlig and Sträter, 2022). Therefore, there is a good chance at
present of involving – initially on an experimental basis – not only peers,
but also an extended peer community in the review of upcoming safety cases.


Accounting for 71% of petroleum consumption, the U.S. transportation sector generates about one third of the nation's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While public transportation is a relatively small portion of the overall transportation sector, it is not insignificant, producing approximately 10.9 million tons of GHG emissions annually. Reducing energy consumption and GHG emissions of public transit vehicles can provide substantial cost savings and generate significant environmental benefits. The U.S. Federal Transit Administration's (FTA's) strategic vision focuses on the wide adoption of innovative electric drive transit technologies as an ultimate alternative to traditional diesel-powered transit vehicles. To implement electric propulsion transit technologies, FTA developed the Electric Drive Strategic Plan (EDSP) that provides for a wide range of activities for the development, demonstration, and evaluation of the advanced electric drive technologies, including propulsion systems, components, accessories, and infrastructure. The ultimate goal of this plan is to achieve commercial availability of zero tailpipe emission, highly efficient, and affordable transit vehicles by 2030, leading to drastic improvements in the energy efficiency and GHG emissions of the U.S. transit fleet. Implementing the goals of the EDSP is projected to save 4.9 billion diesel gallon equivalents of fuel and eliminate 98.7 thousand tons of NOx and 52.9 million tons of CO2 in tailpipe emissions over the period 2010 to 2030. The implementation and wide adoption of electric drive transit technologies in the United States is expected to significantly reduce public transportation fuel costs and provide environmental benefits valued at $1.4 billion over the 20-year period.


While the role of traditional livelihoods has decreased, tourism has become an important tool for regional development in northern peripheral areas, and the economic and political expectations have increased. National parks have become attractive tourist destinations also in Finland. This article analyses how the central stakeholders – park authorities, tourists and tourism entrepreneurs – perceive the role of tourism in Finnish national parks. Parks are understood as spaces constructed by historical and social practices; the role of tourism is thus neither historically nor culturally unchanging or indisputable. By analysing planning documents and interviews, the study identifies four discourses that define the interaction between nature conservation and tourism in Finnish parks: 1) national parks as conservation areas, 2) national parks as tourist destinations, 3) national parks as destinations of sustainable nature-based tourism, and 4) national parks as resources for local people. The study indicates that the role of tourism has increased in national parks in Finland. Nowadays the aim is to integrate the ecological goals of nature conservation and the economic goals of nature-based tourism by implementing the principles of sustainability. The possible effects of the recent discursive shift on the future development of protected areas are also discussed in the article.


To clarify whether 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (statin) increases lipoprotein lipase mass in preheparin plasma (preheparin LPL mass), we observed the change in preheparin LPL mass during administration of atorvastatin and pravastatin to type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with hypercholesterolemia. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups. One group was 24 patients given atorvastatin (10 mg/day), and the other was 23 patients given pravastatin (20 mg/day) for 4 months. After 4 months of administration, no significant change of HbA1c was observed. TC significantly decreased in the atorvastatin group compared to the pravastatin group. TG significantly decreased in the atorvastatin group. Low density lipoprotein cholesterol level significantly decreased in both groups (- 36.3%, p < 0.01 in atorvastatin, - 24.3%, p < 0.01 in pravastatin). Preheparin LPL mass slightly increased in both groups after 4 months of administration. Especially in patients who showed low preheparin LPL mass (less than 50 ng/ml) before statin administration, preheparin LPL mass significantly increased in both groups (+ 25.8% in the atorvastatin group, + 24.39% in the pravastatin group). These results suggested that administration of atorvastatin and pravastatin to type 2 diabetic patients with hypercholesterolemia increased serum preheparin LPL mass concentration. Especially, its effect was remarkable in patients who showed low preheparin LPL mass.


We originally introduce a device to achieve monitored flows of Langmuir monolayers on predesigned wet circuits imprinted on a solid support. The hydrophilic track is first engraved in contact with a hydrophobically coated metallic plate that is fitted into a three-compartment Langmuir trough. Two different designs are tested to confirm flow stability and control. In particular and as a first utility, we measure the diffusion coefficient of a fluorescent probe using Y-junction geometry.


This paper presents the Norwegian Review Corpus (NoReC), created for training and evaluating models for document-level sentiment analysis. The full-text reviews have been collected from major Norwegian news sources and cover a range of different domains, including literature, movies, video games, restaurants, music and theater, in addition to product reviews across a range of categories. Each review is labeled with a manually assigned score of 1-6, as provided by the rating of the original author. This first release of the corpus comprises more than 35,000 reviews. It is distributed using the CoNLL-U format, pre-processed using UDPipe, along with a rich set of metadata. The work reported in this paper forms part of the SANT initiative (Sentiment Analysis for Norwegian Text), a project seeking to provide resources and tools for sentiment analysis and opinion mining for Norwegian. As resources for sentiment analysis have so far been unavailable for Norwegian, NoReC represents a highly valuable and sought-after addition to Norwegian language technology.


Noise measurements have been performed in MgO-based tunnel junctions with normalized resistance in the range of 105–107Ωμm2 and various magnetoresistance ratios were investigated. Noise measurements in the frequency range of 1–1000Hz shows magnetically dependent pure 1∕f power spectra at low frequency. The 1∕f noise scales with bias voltage, indicating that the 1∕f noise can be attributed to magnetic tunnel junction resistance fluctuations. Bias voltage dependence of random telegraph noise (RTN) was observed, indicating electronic origin due to the charge-trapping mechanism. In the presence of the easy-axis bias field, our data exhibit a magnetic-field dependence of RTN that originates from magnetization fluctuations. A phenomenological noise parameter, defined for the comparison of noise levels in different junctions, was shown to be independent of the junction resistance-area product in the range investigated. This observation suggests that the decrease in tunnel resistance does not play an important ro...


Pegmatite is the main source of feldspar for ceramics industry. Usage of pegmatite in ceramic industry causes some problems due to the presence of mica and iron oxides. These materials reduce tile strength, hardness and density of the final product leading to low quality ceramic products. Southern Saudi pegmatite separation treatment was carried out in two phases in order to improve the ceramic quality of the feldspar obtained from this pegmatite. The first phase consists of gravitational separation to remove the heavy impurities and in the second phase magnetic separation was carried out to further minimize iron content. Porcelain ceramic batches were prepared by wet-mixing, drying, pressing (semi-dry press) and fired at temperatures from 1000 to 1350 °C. The porcelain ceramic bodies were prepared and examined by DTA, X-ray diffraction, SEM and tested for bulk density, linear shrinkage, water absorption and flexural strength. These results indicated that, after treatment (gravity and magnetic separation), the pegmatite can be considered as a good source of potash feldspar. The present study provides a positive indication for using of Southern Saudi pegmatite after treatment in ceramic industries.


Indoor air quality (IAQ) is a matter of public concern these days whereas air pollution is normally monitored outdoors as required under national air quality strategies. In consequence, much less is known about air pollution levels indoors. As 70% of the Indian population lives in villages in rural areas this study attempts to provide information about the present IAQ of rural residential homes in Agra (the city of the Taj Mahal), India, during 3 months of the rainy season from July to September 2003. Measurements were made in the living rooms of the homes and included CO, NO, NO2, SO2 and particulate matter (PM10). The results were analysed statistically and indoor concentrations were correlated with outdoor concentrations for all the houses. It was found that the average indoor concentration of CO was 1.8±0.4ppm, for NO it was 0.12±0.06ppm, for NO2 it was 0.09±0.02ppm, and for SO2 it was 0.06±0.01ppm whereas PM10 was found to be 0.0287ppm. It was seen that the indoor concentrations at all the houses of the 5 villages studied had a positive correlation with the outdoor concentrations but little of the variation indoors was due to outdoor sources. An activity schedule of inside and outside these homes was also prepared to see its influence on the concentrations of pollutants. As standards for indoor air were not available for the Indian conditions the results were compared with standards of other countries, which showed that they lay below permissible limits.


This study addresses the light intensity dependence of charge accumulation in a photocatalyst suspension, and its impact on both charge recombination kinetics and steady-state H2 evolution efficiency. Cyanamide surface functionalized melon-type carbon nitride (NCNCN x) has been selected as an example of emerging carbon nitrides photocatalysts because of its excellent charge storage ability. Transient spectroscopic studies (from ps to s) show that the bimolecular recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes in NCNCN x can be well described by a random walk model. Remarkably, the addition of hole scavengers such as 4-methylbenzyl alcohol can lead to ∼400-fold faster recombination kinetics (lifetime shortening to ∼10 ps). We show that this acceleration is not the direct result of ultrafast hole extraction by the scavenger, but is rather caused by long-lived electron accumulation in NCNCN x after hole extraction. The dispersive pseudo-first order recombination kinetics become controlled by the density of accumulated electrons. H2 production and steady-state spectroscopic measurements indicate that the accelerated recombination caused by electron accumulation limits the H2 generation efficiency. The addition of a reversible electron acceptor and mediator, methyl viologen (MV2+), accelerates the extraction of electrons from the NCNCN x and increases the H2 production efficiency under one sun irradiation by more than 30%. These results demonstrate quantitatively that while long-lived electrons are essential to drive photoinduced H2 generation in many photocatalysts, excessive electron accumulation may result in accelerated recombination losses and lower performance, and thus highlight the importance of efficient electron and hole extraction in enabling efficient water splitting photocatalysts.


Text in social media posts is frequently accompanied by images in order to provide content, supply context, or to express feelings. This paper studies how the meaning of the entire tweet is composed through the relationship between its textual content and its image. We build and release a data set of image tweets annotated with four classes which express whether the text or the image provides additional information to the other modality. We show that by combining the text and image information, we can build a machine learning approach that accurately distinguishes between the relationship types. Further, we derive insights into how these relationships are materialized through text and image content analysis and how they are impacted by user demographic traits. These methods can be used in several downstream applications including pre-training image tagging models, collecting distantly supervised data for image captioning, and can be directly used in end-user applications to optimize screen estate.


We describe the case of tertiary syphilis involving the skin. The lesions had a nodular-ulcerative form, localized on both arms. The patient had high titers of treponemal and non-treponemal serological tests for syphilis and histopathological picture was indicative for nodulo-ulcerative syphilis. No cardiological, neurological or ophtalmological abnormalities were found. The patient was treated with 2.4 million units i.m. of benzathine benzylpenicillin three times at weekly intervals, according to European Guideline. Unfortunately, the patient was lost for scheduled follow-up. More than two years later the skin lesions healed completely leaving discrete scars and a four-fold decline in a titre of Venereal Disease Laboratory Test was noticed.


A dinuclear gold(I) complex featuring a strongly donating bis-N-heterocyclic imine ligand was synthesised and characterised by different methods, including single crystal X-ray diffraction (SC-XRD) analysis. The compound has been tested for its antiproliferative effects in a panel of human cancer cell lines in vitro,showing highly selective anticancer effects, particularly against human A549 non-small cell lung cancer cells (NSCLC), with respect to non-tumorigenic cells (VERO). The accumulation of the compound in A549 and VERO cells was studied by high-resolution continuum source atomic absorption spectrometry (HRCS-AAS), revealing that the anticancer effects are not particularly related to the different amounts of Au taken up by the cells over 72 h. Enzyme inhibition studies to evaluate the activity of the seleno-enzyme thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) in cancer cell extracts show that the gold(I) compound is a potent inhibitor (IC50 = 0.567 ± 0.208 µM), while the free ligand is ineffective. This result correlates with the observed compound's selectivity towards A549 cells overexpressing the enzyme.


A clear exchange bias has been observed at room temperature in a series of BiFeO3(t)/NiFe(3.6 nm) bilayers, in which the BiFeO3 layers are single-phase polycrystalline with t varied from 8 nm to 240 nm. With increasing t, both the exchange bias field (HE) and the coercivity (HC) increase sharply and approach maxima when t is about 40 nm, which is close to one half the spin cycloidal modulation period (64 nm) of the bulk BiFeO3 material. The oscillatory variations of HE and HC with the BiFeO3 layer thickness suggest that the cycloidal spin structure may exist in polycrystalline BiFeO3 thin films. The angular dependence of the exchange bias exhibits collinear unidirectional and uniaxial anisotropies in the present BiFeO3/NiFe bilayers.