Steady buckling (coiling) of thin falling liquid jets is sensitive to surface tension, yet an understanding of these capillary effects lags far behind what is known about surface-tension-free coiling. In experiments with submillimetric jets and ultralow flow rates, we find that the critical dispensing height H_{c} for coiling decreases with increasing flow rate, a trend opposite to that found previously for inertia-free coiling. We resolve the apparent contradiction using nonlinear numerical simulations based on slender-jet theory which show that the trend reversal is due to the strong effect of surface tension in our experiments. We use our experiments to construct a regime diagram (coiling vs stagnation flow) in the space of capillary number Ca and jet slenderness ε and find that it agrees well with fully nonlinear numerical simulations. However, it differs substantially from the analogous regime diagram determined experimentally by Le Merrer, Quéré, and Clanet [Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 064502 (2012)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.109.064502] for the unsteady buckling of a compressed liquid bridge. Using linear stability analysis, we show that the differences between the two regime diagrams can be explained by a combination of shape nonuniformity and the influence of gravity.


The question of uniqueness of backcalculated moduli of a pavement structure subjected to axisymmetric loading is addressed. Two simple examples are presented to demonstrate common difficulties associated with backcalculation, in particular problem conditioning. The sensitivity of the backcalculated solution to layer thickness, assumed Poissons ratios, and seed moduli is examined for a two-layered problem. It is shown that it may be possible to use adjusted measured falling weight deflectometer (FWD) data together with static analysis to effect backcalculated moduli for the subgrade. However, it is concluded that the calculation of the pavement moduli from surface displacement data may not yield representative in situ pseudoelastic moduli because of the nature of multilayered stress analysis and problem conditioning.


ABSTRACT Polymers are a fundamental part of numerous industries and can be conjugated with many other materials and components to have a vast array of products. Biomaterials have been extensively studied for their application in pharmaceutical formulation development, tissue engineering, and biomedical areas. However, the native form of many polymers has limitations concerning microbial contamination, susceptibility, solubility, and stability. Chemical or physical modifications can overcome these limitations by tailoring the properties of polymers to meet several requirements. The polymer modifications are interdisciplinary, cutting across conventional materials, physics, biology, chemistry, medicine, and engineering limitations. Microwave irradiation has become a well-established technique for a few decades to drive and promote chemical modification reactions. This technique allows ease of temperature and power control to perform the synthesis protocols efficiently. Additionally, microwave irradiation contributes to green and sustainable chemistry. In this contribution, microwave-assisted polymer modifications were described with a special focus on their application in developing several novel dosage forms.


We report the prenatal detection of a cystic hygroma in a 17 weeks gestation male foetus with multiple pterygium syndrome. Ultrasonographic study was performed in this pregnancy after the birth of a macerated, hydropic male foetus with large cystic nuchal hygroma in a previous pregnancy.


Statement of purpose Every year, as many as 31 million Americans sustain traumatic injuries leaving survivors with risks of disabilities and health settings with staggering medical costs. Little is known on the societal burden of injuries in terms of medical expenditures associated with traumatic injuries. Therefore, we utilised a nationally representative sample to evaluate the association between traumatic injuries and total health expenditures among U.S. non-institutionalised individuals. Methods This longitudinal study used the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), which follows participants for two years (2007–2008). Injured individuals were selected if only reported a traumatic injury in the second year while controls were individuals without any injury. The independent variable was any self-reported injury affecting health status. Health expenditures included insurance payments as well as out-of-pocket costs. Because total expenditures were available for each year, we used the difference as the dependent variable. In addition to bivariate analyses, we constructed a modified two-part model and difference-in-difference analytic approach to investigate the association between traumatic injuries and medical expenditures. Model covariates included age, gender, education, smoking status, self-reported physical health and hypertension. Results Of the 8,902 individuals in this sample, 923 (10.3%) reported traumatic injuries. Injured individuals were more likely to be smokers, hypertensive and reported lower levels of physical health. In multivariate analysis, reporting traumatic injuries was associated with $1420.5 ($907.5-$1933.5) increase in the average of medical expenditures adjusting for covariates. Conclusions Traumatic injuries pose a substantial burden on medical expenditures. It is noteworthy to acknowledge that these findings are underestimates as they are limited to adults non-institutionalised population. These results lend support to prevention advocacy efforts aimed at highlighting the financial losses due to traumatic injuries. Significance and contributions This is the first study using a nationally representative sample to assess the financial burden of traumatic injuries among U.S. adults.


For several decades orbital debris has been identified as a serious concern by all space-faring agencies and nations as it potentially threatens the current and future space endeavors. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is well aware of the current space debris scenario and is committed to achieving the goal of preserving outer-space for humanity. ISRO works on different aspects to effectively manage the threats due to space debris. This paper provides an overview of past activities carried out in ISRO towards the implementation of space debris mitigation guidelines. One of the significant step taken is the end of life passivation of the cryogenic upper stage of ISRO's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). Another one is the successful design and development of propellant venting system for the upper stage of ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). ISRO's constellation of communication satellites orbiting in GSO's is designed with adequate propellant so that it can re-orbit to the higher graveyard orbit at the end of their operational lifetime. A typical successful re-orbiting and decommissioning operation of INSAT-3E is described in detail here. ISRO has successfully designed and developed the models and software to predict the atmospheric re-entry of satellites and launch vehicle upper stages, also to compute the collision risk between the debris and the operational satellites. ISRO has also developed models to study the evolution of the space debris environment in LEO and GEO. ISRO actively support the efforts of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS) and Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) to develop and adopt the space debris mitigation guidelines.


ABSTRACT The thermal stability of antibiotics commonly detected in food is reviewed. To quantify degradation, 2 major techniques have been reported: liquid chromatography-based methods and microbiological tests. As the degradation products may also display some antimicrobial activity, microbiological tests may not be considered accurate analytical methods for quantifying antibiotic residues' degradation. Degradation percentages are summarized for different antibiotics and for various media (water, oil, milk, and animal tissues). Studies presented in the literature confirm that the thermal degradation of β-lactams, quinolones, sulfonamides, and tetracyclines can be described using a first-order kinetic model. Degradation rates, k, derived for this model for liquid matrix (water) at 100 °C, followed the general trend amongst antibiotic classes: β-lactams = tetracyclines (most heat-labile) > lincomycin > amphenicols > sulfonamides > oxfendazole > levamisole (most heat-stable). Although thermal processing results in a decrease in the concentration of parent antibiotic residues, degradation by-products have not been properly characterized to date. As some of these products were shown to be hazardous, further investigation is needed to determine their impact on food safety and human health. It is therefore currently difficult to definitively conclude whether or not antibiotic degradation during food processing is necessarily beneficial in terms of food safety.


This study is aimed at exploring and understanding the threat perceptions among the investors and business managers due to the terrorist activities in Pakistan. This research further tries to comprehend that how do these threat perceptions inform and affects the business decisions and let-up the capital flight from the domestic economy. The study has relied upon qualitative methodology to understand the stated phenomenon and specifically used semi structured interviews along with field observation to collect the data. Thematic analysis has been used to analyse the filed data.  The study found that threat perceptions due to terrorist activities are the major cause of capital flight and has adverse effect on business decisions. Theoretically, this study helps to understand the phenomenon within the local context and hence explores its new dimensions. Practically, the findings of study may be helpful to devise relevant policies and to stop capital flight.


This research examines supervisional deviant behaviours depending on the primary school teachers' view in Izmir, Turkey. Organizational or workplace deviant behaviours have been studied in number of studies and these types of behaviours are determined. It is obvious that solving the problems of orgaizational deviance contribute to meet organizational objectives. Since the supervision process which aims at revealing the realization level of organizational goals is one of the important part of organizations, determining and solving the problems of supervisional deviant behaviours can also contribute to meet the targets. Therefore this study is organized to determine supervisional deviant behaviours in supervision process depending on the primary school teachers' opinions. Qualitative research was conducted in this study. Extreme-end sampling was used as a procedure of data collection. MAXQDA10.1 data analysis programme is used to anlayze the data. According to research findings supervisional deviant behaviours are observed in Turkish primary schools and supervisional deviance is influenced by three themes namely "supervisors' individual deviant behaviours", "deviant behaviours resulted from supervisors inabilities" and "supervisors unethical deviant behaviours". Consequently, educational system should take some measures to overcome the negative effects of supervisional deviant behaviours for better learning outcomes.

 Key words: Organizational deviance, supervisioanl deviance, primary school teachers' views.


In recent years, starch-based nanoparticles have attracted great interest due to their small size, good biocompatibility, and environmental friendliness, as well as their potential applications in foods, drug delivery carriers, and biodegradable edible films. Compared with nonstarch polysaccharides, starch can be enzymatically hydrolyzed into glucose in vivo, so it can be used as an enzyme-responsive carrier. The recent research progress of starch-based nanoparticles, including starch nanoparticles, starch nanospheres, starch micelles, starch vesicles, starch nanogels, and starch nanofibers, are reviewed in this paper. The main focus is on their responsiveness, digestibility, toxicity, interactions with other components, and applications. Starch-based nanoparticles are nontoxic and responsive to pH, temperature, light, and other stimuli. It can interact with proteins, antioxidants, and lipids through electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding interactions. Starch-based nanoparticles have a wide range of applications, including enhancing the mechanical properties of films and gels, stabilizing emulsions, as a fluorescent indicator, a catalyst, and a nanocarrier to control the release of active ingredients and drugs.


Cytoenzymatic and morphological methods were used to reveal local and general immunity disorders in patients with lingering and chronic dysentery. In this connection the therapeutic effect of the immunomodulator T-activin was estimated. 51 patients with the above forms of dysentery were examined. The patients were distributed into basic groups given T-activin and control groups not on the drug. The function of immune cells was evaluated by the enzymic status--the ratio of the activity of the following enzymes: succinate and glycerophosphate dehydrogenases, NADP and acid phosphatase. One of the causes of chronic dysentery was functional deficiency of lymphoid and phagocytizing cells of the colonic mucosa, supported by the data on their enzymic status. Analogous deficiency was discovered in peripheral blood leukocytes. T-activin successfully corrects the revealed immune disorders, stimulates metabolic processes in the cells and reduces inflammation and ameliorates the repair of the intestinal mucosa as well.


We propose a simple approach for the phase space tomography reconstruction of the Wigner distribution of paraxial optical beams separable in Cartesian coordinates. It is based on the measurements of the antisymmetric fractional Fourier transform power spectra, which can be taken using a flexible optical setup consisting of four cylindrical lenses. The numerical simulations and the experimental results clearly demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed scheme.


Crohn's disease and multiple myeloma are pathological entities, the development of which, at least in part, is associated with an immune disregulation. Crohn's disease is often combined with extra-intestinal manifestations from different organs and systems (joints, skin, eyes, etc.). Hematological extra-intestinal manifestations, such as myelodysplastic syndrome, aplastic autoimmune anemia, autoimmune thrombocytopenia, B12-deficiency anemia are less common. The list of extra-intestinal manifestations of Crohn's disease is constantly expanding, including more and more descriptions of the combination of Crohn's disease with diseases of the blood system. The paper presents a rare clinical case of a combination of Crohn's disease and multiple myeloma. The female patient is 53 years old. In 1993 ulcerative colitis was diagnosed and she received Sulfasalazine 4gr per day. In 2015, with the recurrent attack, the diagnosis was transformed towards Crohn's disease basing on colonoscopy. She received steroid therapy. In 2018 the control examination revealed an increase in the level of total protein to 117gr/l. Patient underwent a sternal biopsy. Multiple myeloma was diagnosed on the basis of a myelogram.


Public debt plays a crucial role in the economic development of many countries, the effective management and servicing of the external public debt have become a priority in the financial and economic policy of the state, ensuring the stability of its development. The article aims to develop Ukraine's external public debt management system during the wartime. As a result of the analysis, the key negative consequences of the impact of external debt growth on Ukraine`s economic security were determined, i.e. economic growth slowdown, increased dependence on creditors, increased costs of the public debt servicing, significant reduction in domestic consumption, etc. The developed external public debt management system in the framework of state economic and financial security includes relevant subsystems, principles, functions, objects and subjects, methods. It was substantiated that the appropriate external public debt management system during wartime in Ukraine requires the following additional subsystems: subsystem of crisis planning and response, subsystem of external debt settlement and subsystem for ensuring international cooperation.


The object of this study was to know what changes take place on the dental arch during the changing dentition. For this purpose, two excellent cases were observed from six to twelve years of age, and the following results were obtained from its observation. Enlargement of dental arch was observed till the shedding of the deciduous second molar. In the anterior segment, not only the increment of the arch width but also the labial inclination and/or movement of the permanent incisors was noted in conjunction with the eruption of these teeth. These tendencies were slightly observed during the eruption of the permanent canine. In the buccal segment, the space for the permanent buccal teeth increased during the time of eruption of the permanent canine and first premolar, and this increase made it possible for these teeth to align normally.


ABSTRACT The spread of COVID-19 has caused an increasing demand for public medical rooms, especially in Chinese rural regions. Industrialized building techniques have been shown as capable of fulfilling this demand through the case of the Leishenshan Hospital. However, industrialized construction requires developed technologies and infrastructures, which are often non-existent in rural areas, thus making it difficult to replicate such a feat. Therefore, more suitable solutions for Chinese rural project delivery in the pandemic scenario are needed. Considering the constraints of pandemic prevention and rural applicability, the adaptive industrialized construction (AIC) method has potential as an alternative. This study evaluates the application of AIC by comparing simulated results using AIC and a conventional method, based on five evaluation indicators: construction speed, labourer distribution, material consumption, equipment utilization, and cost. Taking an actual project as the sample building, the results indicate that the AIC method has several advantages. These include a shorter construction period, less labourer gathering onsite, and a lower cost, suggesting it may be an effective solution for rural project delivery during the pandemic. Architects and contractors could employ the same evaluation method to explore more solutions and optimize the construction schedule for future rapid construction needs in rural areas in a pandemic.


Approximately 40 percent of America's Indians live in urban environments; of these, about 12,000 live in Seattle, Washington. With no representation in local government, and lacking the power and cultural sophistication to make the political prccess work for them, many Indian emigres have developed an almost institutionalized distrust of and concommitant failure to utilize the political process, which compounded their alienation from urban society. The Indian Paraprofessional Services Program (IPS) was initiated in 1972 to interrupt this cycle. The first of its kind in the nation, the program trained Indian "ombudsmen', to act as buffers between urban Indians and the alien city environment. The role of the 5 paraprofessionals, mostly from Washington tribes, was to assist Indians caught in criminal and civil legal processes and bureaucratic complications. The 3 month training program emphasized bodies of law and sociology pertinent to Indian clients, covering such things as consumer law, welfare rights, criminal law, housing rights, and counselling skills. Because of increasing case loads and fee generating cases, lawyers who had indicated interest in Indian causes were invited to join the panel. A successful program, the most profound effect of IPS was upon the attitude of urban natives toward the legal process itself, showing that a dispossessed minority can, from among its own leadership, ease its people into their new urban life style while working within the established order. (KM)


Disturbances can affect forest health and are important modulating factors of tree responses to environmental changes. However, standard methods are needed to assess and elucidate the relative effects of disturbance legacies on forest health among species. Here, structural sustainability was used to evaluate and to compare the impacts of contrasting disturbances on the health of Quercus ilex, Cedrus atlantica, and Abies pinsapo forest stands in Morocco and Spain. Disturbance effects on structural sustainability were related to type, severity, and land-use history, and showed inter-regional variability. Cedrus atlantica was structurally sustainable in its core distribution in Morocco, but not at its southern and northernmost geographical range limits. Quercus ilex was structurally sustainable in Morocco. Abies pinsapo was structurally sustainable at optimal elevation sites in Morocco (Rif Mts.), but considering the whole A. pinsapo dataset including Morocco and Spain, the species is structurally unsustainable due to excessive mortality. However, at the lower elevation plots in Spain, unsustainability was due to insufficient mortality. Although some forests were structurally sustainable, none of them were deemed healthy because none met their management objectives. Results also support the key role of disturbance regimes as drivers of forest structural sustainability and adaptive capacity.


The Pan European VOice Conference (PEVOC) was born in 1995 and therefore in 2015 it celebrates the 20th anniversary of its establishment: an important milestone that clearly expresses the strength and interest of the scientific community for the topics of this conference. The most significant themes of PEVOC are singing pedagogy and art, but also occupational voice disorders, neurology, rehabilitation, image and video analysis. PEVOC takes place in different European cities every two years (www.pevoc.org). The PEVOC 11 conference includes a symposium of the Collegium Medicorum Theatri (www.comet collegium.com)


The influence of pulsed electric fields (PEF) treatment on freeze-drying for potato and strawberry tissues was investigated. Samples were pre-treated by PEF (  400 V cm-1) for different treatment times. Freeze-drying was carried out at -17°C and 18.4 Pa or 30 Pa for potato and strawberry tissues, respectively. The effects of PEF pre-treatment was compared with intact samples. The drying time was reduced by 35% for potato and 30% for strawberry. The sample rehydration capacity and the electrolytes released during the rehydration were higher for pre-treated samples. Strawberries texture was characterized by the hardness, the cohesiveness and the springiness.Keywords: Pulsed Electric fields; Freeze-drying; Potato; Strawberry; Textural Properties.


Abstract Background There is no sufficient information on the impact of bovine ampullary oviductal epithelial cells (BAOECs) on in vitro oocyte maturation competence and gene expression. Objective This study aimed to examine the oocyte developmental competence following co-culturing with a monolayer of fresh and frozen-thawed ampullary cells. Materials and Methods Bovine cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were distributed into three groups: control group; where in COCs were cultured in cell-free media for 24 hr and FML and FTML groups in which the COCs were cultured in maturation media for 18 hr and then transferred into a media containing fresh and frozen-thawed BAOECs monolayer, respectively (BAOECs were extracted from the oviducts of slaughtered cattle and were then cultured freshly or frozen-thawed) for a further 6 hr. After 24 hr, the expanded COCs were evaluated for nuclear maturation, fertilization rate, and gene expression (GDF9, StAR, CASP3, and FSHr). Results Nuclear maturation rate in the FTML group was significantly higher than the control group (p = 0.02). The fertilization rate of FTML group was significantly higher than the control and FML groups (p = 0.05 and p = 0.03, respectively). In terms of gene expression, GDF9 were upregulated in the presence of the BAOECs during the last 6 hr of the in vitro maturation (p < 0.001). Furthermore, the expression of the StAR gene in the FTML group was higher than the other groups (p = 0.02). Conclusion Ampullary cells co-culturing (especially frozen-thawed cells) for in vitro maturation of bovine oocytes yields encourages the results and demonstrates the beneficial effect of co-culture on gene expression and developmental competence.


This paper traces the roots and development of the Church of God with Signs Following, a charismatic Christian group of worshippers that has been increasingly investigated and publicized by the courts and media in the last half century. A Church of God with Signs Following service is much like any other within the Pentecostal Holiness tradition, utilizing spiritual gifts such as "glossolalia" (speaking in tongues) and healing, but with a few important exceptions: members regularly take up poisonous serpents and imbibe deadly toxins during the course of worship. According to members, their ways are Biblically justified and they are subject to no law but God's. This unique tradition has caused widespread notoriety and stigmatization of the group and to their current position as one of the least understood sects of Christianity. This paper also examines their particular beliefs and practices to explain and hopefully dispel the basis of the modern-day view of the group as deviants from Christianity, or as members of a barbaric cult. The presence of the church as a uniquely rural and southern phenomenon is also explored, as well as popular opinion and litigation that the church has historically faced. Above all, we seek an understanding of how and why this particular (and undeniably peculiar) denomination has endured and staked its claim as a legitimate religious institution in a land where it has been the object of fear and ridicule for decades.


Point‐projection K‐shell absorption spectroscopy has been used to measure absorption spectra of transient plasma created by an ultra‐short laser pulse. The 1s‐2p and 1s‐3p absorption lines of weakly ionized aluminum and the 2p‐3d absorption lines of bromine were measured over an extended range of densities in a low‐temperature regime. Independent plasma characterization was obtained using frequency domain interferometry diagnostic (FDI) that allows the interpretation of the absorption spectra in terms of spectral opacities. Assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium, spectral opacity calculations have been performed using the density and temperature inferred from the FDI diagnostic to compare to the measured absorption spectra. A good agreement is obtained when non‐equilibrium effects due to non‐stationary atomic physics are negligible at the x‐ray probe time.


AbstractNowadays, the internet has become one of the main resources for distance education, learning or training purposes. Various learning management systems (LMSs) have been designed for providing various services to learners in all parts of the world. Each of these LMSs has some similarities or differences with others regarding to capabilities or services. One of the main problems in Iran is teaching foreign languages to people with different genders, experiences, jobs, educational levels, etc. People need to learn English for different purposes, but unfortunatly, all the learning matrials are similar for all the learners without considering their capabilities, age, actual usage, etc. This paper attempts to design a personalized LMS for teaching foreign language to people whose native language is not English. Our experimental results indicated that the proposed LMS is useful for teaching conversation or grammar of foreign languages such as English language even to illiterate people or those with low ed...


This paper discusses how to apply a clustering technique for a video-on-demand (VoD) service to optimize the media-data replication strategies over unstructured peer-to-peer (P2P) overlay networks. In particular, the failure recovery of high popularity video can be accomplished with distributing high quality impact and popular replicas to the regions of low peers density or discontinuous area. The simulation results demonstrate that replicas of the popular and high video-distortion data are more significant and reflect the physical demands than those of uniformly distributed replication scheme for media-resource sharing P2P applications. In addition, the workload of VoD server can be reduced, and the averaged visual quality can be improved in the overall system.


Fictitious-current models have been applied extensively in recent years to a variety of time-harmonic electromagnetic-wave scattering problems. An extension of the current-model technique is introduced that facilitates the solution to problems subsuming scatterers that contain a variety of length scales. This extension is in tune with the current-model technique's philosophy of using simple current sources whose fields are analytically derivable. The approach amounts to letting the coordinates of some of the source centers assume complex values. Positioned in complex space, the simple current sources radiate beam-type fields that are more localized and that are better approximations of the scattering from the smooth expanses of the object. The coordinates of the other source centers retain their conventional real values. These latter current sources are used, of course, to approximate the fields in the vicinity of the more rapidly varying expanses of the object. We use the new approach to analyze electromagnetic scattering by an object comprising two adjacent perfectly conducting spheres of different size. We find that it renders the solution computationally more effective at the expense of only a slight increase in its complexity.


The ability to measure the satisfaction of (groups of) voters is a crucial prerequisite for formulating proportionality axioms in approval-based participatory budgeting elections. Two common -- but very different -- ways to measure the satisfaction of a voter consider (i) the number of approved projects and (ii) the total cost of approved projects, respectively. In general, it is difficult to decide which measure of satisfaction best reflects the voters' true utilities. In this paper, we study proportionality axioms with respect to large classes of approval-based satisfaction functions. We establish logical implications among our axioms and related notions from the literature, and we ask whether outcomes can be achieved that are proportional with respect to more than one satisfaction function. We show that this is impossible for the two commonly used satisfaction functions when considering proportionality notions based on extended justified representation, but achievable for a notion based on proportional justified representation. For the latter result, we introduce a strengthening of priceability and show that it is satisfied by several polynomial-time computable rules, including the Method of Equal Shares and Phragmén's sequential rule.


This report is summarizing the results of recent research activities on the fields of soil degradation, soil quality and soil information systems performed in the Joint Research Center, in collaboration with partner institutions. An overview is given about the the main soil threats (erosion, compaction, salinisation, landslides, decline of soil organic matter, biodiversity decline and contamination) and a soil quality concept with relevance to the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection. How to obtain EU publications Our priced publications are available from EU Bookshop (http://bookshop.europa.eu), where you can place an order with the sales agent of your choice. The Publications Office has a worldwide network of sales agents. You can obtain their contact details by sending a fax to (352) 29 29-42758. The mission of the JRC is to provide customer-driven scientific and technical support for the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of EU policies. As a service of the European Commission, the JRC functions as a reference centre of science and technology for the Union. Close to the policy-making process, it serves the common interest of the Member States, while being independent of special interests, whether private or national. LB -N A -2338-EN -C


Noting that large numbers of Canadian children enter kindergarten lacking basic adaptive, social, and academic skills and that research supports the effectiveness of early intervention, this master's project proposes a model addressing effective implementation of a collaborative multi-agency early intervention program in Manitoba that is family-focused and designed to enhance success in school by focusing on adaptive, social, and academic areas. The project's literature review identifies major risk conditions, characteristics of effective early intervention programs, and the efficacy of early intervention. The proposed model focuses on child and family needs, establishing coordinated interagency/parent collaboration by means of an integrated school-linked services planning team. In addition, the model requires: (1) identification of services currently provided; (2) identification of the needs of children, families, and individual service providers; (3) identification of roadblocks to effective intervention; (4) development of innovative strategies to address roadblocks; and (5) development of strategies for evaluating the process, students, and the model. The model provides three "hubs" of service delivery to at-risk family and child: community-based facilities, school-based facilities, and the home. Steps for implementing the model are discussed, from developing the collaborative team to identifying a control group and collecting baseline data for evaluation. Anticipated results are also presented. (Contains 54 references.) (KB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Windows of Opportunity for At-Risk Children Through Preschool Early Intervention


Hydrogen is an unusual substance in that its molecule exists in two forms, known as ortho and para, with markedly different properties. Energy level of the ortho molecule is higher than para, therefore, the latter is employed for industrial purposes. Consequently, for a high  conversion of  ortho to para hydrogen a catalyst reactor must be employed.  Therefore, one of  the main objectives of this work is to design a tubular reactor. To obtain this objective, one the parameters which should be considered is the proper selection of a catalyst that can in turn effect the price and the life of  it. In this work and for an  optimum of hydrogen  feed and  its  liquefaction, the following parameters for the cryogenic apparatus in the Linde-Hampson cycle such as heat requirements, nitrogen needed for the cycle, specific capacity of  refrigeration, compressor work and the  cycle efficiency have been computed.


With the creation of computer networks in the 1970s came the birth of distributed network applications. Since then, there have been many applications that spanned multiple machines, but in the last 20 years no one created a serviceable network middleware package for developing highly effective distributed applications, that is, until now. This paper describes the design and architecture of T Spaces, a project at the IBM Almaden Research Center that fills the network middleware void. T Spaces embodies the three main characteristics of a useful mechanism for network programs, namely, data management, computation, and communication. Since it has the potential to connect any program to any other program on a computing network, T Spaces is an ideal platform on which to build a global computing services platform where any program or system service is available to any other program or service. In addition, its small footprint and JavaTM implementation make T Spaces an ideal platform for writing distributed applications for embedded and palm-top computers, thus forging a needed gateway from the emerging embedded and palm-top computers to established desktop and server computers.


A novel controller design approach is developed to determine personalized chemotherapy drug delivery protocols for cancer treatment. The methodology combines successive approximation approach for optimal control and model reference adaptive control to realize the proposed drug administration scenario for patients without prior knowledge of model parameters in the nonlinear cancer dynamics. Although many approaches have been proposed to determine the optimal drug delivery protocol for eradicating tumor in the nonlinear cancer model, the main shortcoming of these approaches is the requirement of nonlinear model dynamics, which is unknown to physicians in reality. To overcome this deficiency, we first determine the optimal drug delivery protocol for a reference patient with known mathematical model and parameters via successive approximation approach technique. Then, using the proposed approach, we adapt the reference patient's drug administration scenario to unknown cancer patients by suggesting a new adaptation mechanism for the unknown nonlinear plant dynamics. An efficient and robust approach is proposed here for the physicians to prescribe a personalized chemotherapy protocol for a cancer patient by regulating the drug delivery protocol of a reference patient. The efficacy of the proposed algorithm in eradicating the tumor lumps with different sizes in several patients is verified using numerical simulations in which the unknown parameters are randomly selected in the Monte Carlo approach.


"'The Art of Translation', according to Alexandru Cioranescu" Alexandru Cioranescu's work (1911-1999) as a researcher in Comparative Literature was developed in Spain since the fifties. Cioranescu is not only the author of the first modern manual of Comparative Literature written in Spanish but his interest in the issues pertaining to this discipline (exchanges, contacts, translation) was constant over more than four decades in his Spanish bibliography. This article retakes one of the Romanian philologist's articles that may well be seen as an expression of his ideal of literary translation.


Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by fungal species, which pose significant risk to humans and livestock. The mycotoxins which are produced from Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Fusarium are considered most important and therefore regulated in food- and feedstuffs. Analyses are predominantly performed by official laboratory methods in centralized labs by expert technicians. There is an urgent demand for new low-cost, easy-to-use, and portable analytical devices for rapid on-site determination. Most significant advances were realized in the field bioanalytical techniques based on molecular recognition. This review aims to discuss recent progress in the generation of native biomolecules and new bioinspired materials towards mycotoxins for the development of reliable bioreceptor-based analytical methods. After brief presentation of basic knowledge regarding characteristics of most important mycotoxins, the generation, benefits, and limitations of present and emerging biorecognition molecules, such as polyclonal (pAb), monoclonal (mAb), recombinant antibodies (rAb), aptamers, short peptides, and molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), are discussed. Hereinafter, the use of binders in different areas of application, including sample preparation, microplate- and tube-based assays, lateral flow devices, and biosensors, is highlighted. Special focus, on a global scale, is placed on commercial availability of single receptor molecules, test-kits, and biosensor platforms using multiplexed bead-based suspension assays and planar biochip arrays. Future outlook is given with special emphasis on new challenges, such as increasing use of rAb based on synthetic and naïve antibody libraries to renounce animal immunization, multiple-analyte test-kits and high-throughput multiplexing, and determination of masked mycotoxins, including stereoisomeric degradation products.


This study aimed to compare the longitudinal change in depressive symptoms among healthcare professionals in Japan who are willing to receive novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination and those who are unwilling to receive COVID-19 vaccination. The baseline survey was conducted in October 2020 (Survey time 1: T1); respondents in T1 were invited to participate in May 2021 (Survey time 2: T2). Depressive symptoms were assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Group comparisons of the estimated mean of PHQ-9 score at T1 and T2 were estimated by the analysis of covariance. In T1, 597 participants (response rate: 4.4%) completed all questions. In T2, 211 participants (follow up rate: 35.3%) completed all questions. The group and time interaction effect was significant (F(1, 207)=3.9, p=0.049); depressive symptoms were worse among healthcare professionals who were unwilling to receive vaccination than among those who were willing to receive vaccination. This study showed that depressive symptoms were worse among healthcare professionals who were unwilling to receive COVID-19 vaccination than those who are willing to receive COVID-19 vaccination. This suggests that it is important to take care of healthcare professionals who are unwilling to receive vaccination to prevent mental health deterioration.


A 28-day feeding trial was conducted to determine the effects of dietary inclusion of Mucuna seeds: soaked in Calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH) 2 ) solution, soaked in Ca(OH) 2 and cracked water-soaked and cooked, on the performance of broiler chicks. Two batches of raw Mucuna seeds were used. The first batch was soaked in 3% Ca(OH) 2 for 48 hours. Part of the soaked seeds were sun-dried and milled. The remaining part were cooked, sun-dried and milled. The second batch was cracked, soaked in water for 48 hours and cooked before sun drying and milling. Both meals were analyzed for their proximate composition and included in broiler starter diets at 20% dietary level respectively. The control diet contained no mucuna meal. Each diet was fed to a group of 40 broiler chicks in a completely randomized design replicated four times. At 20% dietary level containing Ca(OH) 2 soaked seed meal significantly (P<0.05) depressed the performance of the birds in terms of feed intake, growth rate and feed conversion ratio. However. soaking in Ca(OH) 2 prior to cooking and cracking prior to soaking in water and cooking did not adversely affect the performance of the birds in all parameters measured. Keywords: Mucuna pruriens seed, water soaked, Ca(OH) 2 soaked, feed intake, growth rate, feed conversion ratio.


Purpose: To analyze the speech articulatory characteristics of individuals with dentofacial deformities (DFD) and assess differences compared to individuals with dentofacial balance. Methods: Sixty individuals participated, being 30 presenting DFD (19 with class III and 11 class II skeletal malocclusion, 18 women and 12 men, age group 18–40 years) and 30 individuals from a control group matched for gender and age. The assessment of the diadochokinesis (DDK) was evaluated using the emissions /pa/, /ta/, /ka/, /pataka/, and /i/. Results: The individuals with DFD produced fewer emissions per second: at syllable "ka" and sequence "pataka" for the total of individuals; syllable "pa" and sequence "pataka" for women, individuals with class II and class III malocclusion. The parameters related to the irregularity of the cycles were higher for the group with DFD than for the control, as well as emission of the syllable "pa" for the total of individuals, group of class III malocclusion and women, during production of the syllables "ta" and "ka" for all individuals and group of class III and during emission of the vowel "ï" for women. Conclusions: Differences regarding speed and stability of oral and laryngeal DDK were found among individuals with DFD compared with the control group.


Space-based gravitational wave detection aims to measure gravitational waves with strains of down to 10−20 in 10−4 Hz ∼ 1 Hz frequency band. In order to achieve this measurement sensitivity, inter-satellite laser interferometry with picometer precision for an armlength of 108 ∼ 109 m is required. However, the coupling of the transmitting-beam misalignment and the wavefront distortion results in a non-negligible measurement error of intersatellite laser interferometry. Considering a wavefront distortion model composed of the first 55 terms of Zernike polynomials, we analyze the coupling effect of beam misalignment and wavefront distortion in both analytical and numerical methods. Calculation results show that the position of the stationary point is mainly determined by defocus, astigmatism and coma of the wavefront distortion of the transmitting beam. Moreover, a large defocus and small coma are preferred to achieve a better alignment of the stationary pointing direction with the inter-satellite line-of-sight, such that the coupling noise and received laser power can be optimized.


Background Interleukin 31 (IL-31) is a T helper type 2 effector cytokine that plays an important role in the pathogenesis of atopic and allergic diseases. IL-31 may be involved in promoting allergic inflammation and in inducing airway epithelial responses such as allergic asthma. Methods Single-base extension analysis was used to detect the genotypes of IL-31 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and we compared the genotype and allele frequencies of the IL-31 SNPs between patients with asthma and healthy controls. Results There were no significant differences in the genotype and allele frequencies of the IL-31 SNPs between patients with asthma and healthy controls. Furthermore we compared the genotype and allele frequencies of IL-31 SNPs between patients with atopic asthma, those with non-atopic asthma and healthy controls. This showed that the SNPs were not associated with the susceptibility to atopic asthma. There were no significant differences in the haplotype frequencies of IL-31 SNPs between patients with asthma and healthy controls. In patients with asthma, the IL-31 SNPs were significantly correlated with total serum levels of IgE (p=0.035). Conclusions Our results indicate that, the IL-31 SNPs may be associated with IgE production in patients with asthma.


Future thinking, which is the ability to project oneself forward in time to pre-experience an event, is intimately associated with emotions. We investigated whether emotional future thinking can activate emotional facial expressions. We invited 43 participants to imagine future scenarios, cued by the words "happy," "sad," and "city." Future thinking was video recorded and analysed with a facial analysis software to classify whether facial expressions (i.e., happy, sad, angry, surprised, scared, disgusted, and neutral facial expression) of participants were neutral or emotional. Analysis demonstrated higher levels of happy facial expressions during future thinking cued by the word "happy" than "sad" or "city." In contrast, higher levels of sad facial expressions were observed during future thinking cued by the word "sad" than "happy" or "city." Higher levels of neutral facial expressions were observed during future thinking cued by the word "city" than "happy" or "sad." In the three conditions, the neutral facial expressions were high compared with happy and sad facial expressions. Together, emotional future thinking, at least for future scenarios cued by "happy" and "sad," seems to trigger the corresponding facial expression. Our study provides an original physiological window into the subjective emotional experience during future thinking.


In this paper, we introduce the Generalized Cheeger-Gromoll metric on the tangent bundle TM, as a natural metric on TM. We establish a necessary and sufficient conditions under which a vector field is harmonic with respect to the Generalized Cheeger-Gromoll metric. We also construct some examples of harmonic vector fields.


Generally, in the financial literature, the notion of quadratic VaR is implicitly confused with the Delta-Gamma VaR, because more authors dealt with portfolios that contained derivatives instruments. In this paper, we postpone to estimate both the expected shortfall and Value-at-Risk of a quadratic portfolio of securities (i.e equities) without the Delta and Gamma Greeks, when the joint log-returns changes with multivariate elliptic distribution. To illustrate our method, we give special attention to mixture of normal distributions, and mixture of Student t-distributions. Key Words: Classical analysis, Computational Finance, Elliptic distributions, Risk Management


We build on a recently proposed method for stepwise explaining solutions of Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSP) in a human-understandable way. An explanation here is a sequence of simple inference steps where simplicity is quantified using a cost function. The algorithms for explanation generation rely on extracting Minimal Unsatisfiable Subsets (MUS) of a derived unsatisfiable formula, exploiting a one-to-one correspondence between so-called non-redundant explanations and MUSs. However, MUS extraction algorithms do not provide any guarantee of subset minimality or optimality with respect to a given cost function. Therefore, we build on these formal foundations and tackle the main points of improvement, namely how to generate explanations efficiently that are provably optimal (with respect to the given cost metric). For that, we developed (1) a hitting set-based algorithm for finding the optimal constrained unsatisfiable subsets; (2) a method for re-using relevant information over multiple algorithm calls; and (3) methods exploiting domain-specific information to speed up the explanation sequence generation. We experimentally validated our algorithms on a large number of CSP problems. We found that our algorithms outperform the MUS approach in terms of explanation quality and computational time (on average up to 56 % faster than a standard MUS approach).


Agenda-building theory explains how groups articulate and transform their interests into issues that garner attention, public approval, and responsiveness from public officials. This study indicates that news sources interviewed during the U.S. health care reform debates articulated their interests through strategic use and avoidance of specific tactics. In-depth interviews were conducted with 14 news sources. Narrative analysis of interview transcripts revealed that news sources utilized external messaging, industry networking, distinguishing factors, and continuing education, yet avoided partisan politics, inflammatory language, and emotional appeals. These findings extend agenda-building theory by suggesting that groups can transfer interests to the public agenda by avoiding certain tactics.


The three-dimensional architecture of the isthmic myosalpinx in the guinea pig was investigated by means of a technique that involves stretching the myosalpinx under a dissecting microscope, followed by selective digestion of the interstitial connective tissue with KOH and, finally, observation under a scanning electron microscope. The images obtained in this way prove that the myosalpinx is arranged in single bundles of smooth muscle cells which essentially do not show any specific geometrical course. Furthermore, smooth muscle cell bundles following an oblique course, not referred in the literature prior to this report, were demonstrated. These new three-dimensional microanatomical results call for a reevaluation of the functional role of oviduct motility.


Agent Technology provides a new methodology in implementing workflow environments. This paper is concerned with how this shift in paradigm affects traditional security concepts like access control and separation of duty principles. The discussion focuses on the implementation of task allocation in an agent-based workflow environment (AWE) that is currently being developed. Task allocation is fundamentally driven through constraining access of users through enforcing constraints.


Adults learned the meanings of rare words (e.g., gloaming) and then made meaning judgments on pairs of words. The 1st word was a trained rare word, an untrained rare word, or an untrained familiar word. Event-related potentials distinguished trained rare words from both untrained rare and familiar words, first at 140 ms and again at 400-600 ms after onset of the 1st word. These results may point to an episodic memory effect. The 2nd word produced an N400 that distinguished trained and familiar word pairs that were related in meaning from unrelated word pairs. Skilled comprehenders learned more words than less skilled comprehenders and showed a stronger episodic memory effect at 400-600 ms on the 1st word and a stronger N400 effect on the 2nd word. These results suggest that superior word learning among skilled comprehenders may arise from a stronger episodic trace that includes orthographic and meaning information and illustrate, how an episodic theory of word identification can explain reading skill.


The article, on the basis of Jonas Avyžius' novel Sodybų tustėjimo metas and its translation into
English The Lost Home (via the Russian language), discusses some aspects of the translation of culturespecific items. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the problems which the translator encountered while rendering culture-specific items from Lithuanian into English and, to some extent, discuss some of the translation strategies employed while translating certain items into English. Following Newmark's proposed domains in which culture-specific items seem to be most prominent, i.e. ecology, material culture, social culture, organizations etc, we also included into the research (on the basis of the accumulated data) deminutive words because of their high occurence in Lithuanian. Forms of address, proper names and nicknames were also taken into consideration and treated as culture-specific items.

Keywords: culture specific-items; translation strategies; equivalence; cultural identity.


This study aimed at developing some mathematical models for the estimation of achene weight in oak based on fruit biometric parameters and at evaluating through principal component analysis (PCA) fruit size group affinity with biometric parameters. We studied fruits of two oak species, Quercus petraea and Quercus robur. At achene level, we determined such parameters as achene length (Al), middle achene diameter (MAD), achene basis diameter (Abd), achene tip diameter (Atd), and achene weight (Aw). At cupule level, we determined such parameters as cupule height (Ch), outer cupule diameter (Ocd), inner cupule diameter (Icd), cupule all thickness (Cwt), and cupule weight (Cw). We also calculated fruit size index (FSI). Regression analysis was used to find out equations as achene weight prediction models based on studied biometric parameters. The working process followed a logical pattern suggested a general working model. We obtained a linear equation for the estimation of achene weight based on Atd in Q. robur; all other achene weight prediction equations were of the second-degree polynomial type in both Q. robur and Q. petraea. The level of statistic safety in the estimation of fruit size ranged between R = 0.720 and R = 0.962 in Q. petraea and R = 0.376 to R = 0.928 in Q. robur, respectively. Based on biometric parameters, the fruits of the two species studied were grouped into seven size classes. The PCA analysis explained the variance based on PC1 as 92.573% and on PC2 as 6.2315% in Q. petraea and as 82.041% based on PC1 and as 16.032% based on PC2 in Q. robur. For size classes Qp1-Qp3 in Q. petraea and Qr1 in Q. robur, the least variation of any size parameter leads to achene size, while size classes Qp4 and Qr7, diameter variation significantly determines achene weight increase. In size classes Qp5-Qp7 and Qr2-Qr6, fruit length variation induces a significant fruit weight increase.


We propose a unified explanation for the origin of dark matter and baryon number asymmetry in a non-supersymmetric model for neutrino masses. Neutrino masses are generated in two distinct ways, that is, a tree-level seesaw mechanism with a single right-handed neutrino and one-loop radiative effects due to a new additional doublet scalar. A spontaneously broken U(l)' brings a Z2 symmetry which restricts couplings of this new scalar and controls the neutrino masses. It also guarantees the stability of a CDM candidate. We examine two possible candidates for the CDM in the model. We also show that the decay of a heavy right-handed neutrino related to the seesaw mechanism can generate baryon number asymmetry in the universe through leptogenesis.


We give an almost complete classification of empty lattice simplices in dimension 4 using the conjectural results of Mori-Morrison-Morrison, later proved by Sankaran and Bober. In particular, all of these simplices correspond to cyclic quotient singularities, and all but finitely many of them have width bounded by 2.


Summary: The influence of the nitrogen source on pyoverdine production by Pseudomonas fluorescens grown in chemostat culture in synthetic media at constant pH was studied. Pigment synthesis was highest in a medium with proline as the nitrogen source; other amino acids were less effective in promoting pigment synthesis. The pH and Fe3+ content of the media affected pyoverdine production. The ratio of pigment to growth was maximal at pH 8. When the Fe3+ concentration was increased from 10 to 200 μg 1-1 in media with the same nitrogen source, pyoverdine synthesis decreased. Since the Fe3+ contents of the synthetic media were different, the amount present was adjusted to a standard concentration to permit comparisons between the various nitrogen sources.


Background: Previous studies have found that residents of deprived neighbourhoods have an increased risk of perceived stress compared to residents with similar sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics in nondeprived neighbourhoods. While stress may provide an explanatory pathway linking neighbourhood deprivation to health-risk behaviour, only limited research has been undertaken on whether perceived stress influences health-risk behaviour in deprived neighbourhoods. Moreover, it is uncertain whether perceived stress has a negative effect on the associations between socioeconomic status and health-risk behaviours in deprived neighbourhoods. The overall aim of this study was to compare perceived stress in deprived neighbourhood with that in the general population, and to examine whether perceived stress was associated with health-risk behaviours (including their co-occurrence) in deprived neighbourhoods. A further aim was to examine whether perceived stress modified the associations between socioeconomic status and health-risk behaviours. Methods: Four questions from the Perceived Stress Scale were used as indicators of perceived stress. Multiple logistic regression analyses were applied to cross-sectional data from 5113 adults living in 12 deprived neighbourhoods in Denmark. Data from 14,868 individuals from the nationally representative Danish Health and Morbidity Survey 2010 were used as a comparison group with regard to perceived stress. Results: Residents of deprived neighbourhoods had higher odds of perceived stress than the general population. Associations between disposable income, economic deprivation, strain, and perceived stress were found in deprived neighbourhoods. Perceived stress was significantly associated with higher odds of health-risk behaviour, including a low intake of fruit or vegetables, daily smoking, physical inactivity, and the co-occurrence of health-risk behaviours, even after adjustment for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Perceived stress was more strongly associated with physical inactivity and having two or more health-risk behaviours among residents with medium/high socioeconomic status compared to residents with low socioeconomic status. (Continued on next page) * Correspondence: email@example.com Unit for Health Promotion Research, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Niels Bohrs Vej 9, 6700 Esbjerg, Denmark Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s). 2018 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Algren et al. BMC Public Health (2018) 18:250 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5170-x


As epidemiological methods are used increasingly to evaluate the effects of cancer treatment, guidelines for the application of such methods in clinical research settings are necessary. Towards this end, we present a hierarchical step-model for causation of bias, which depicts a real-life study as departing from a perfect setting and proceeding step-wise towards a calculated, often adjusted, effect-parameter. Within this model, a specific error (which influences the effect-measure according to one of four sets of rules) is introduced on one (and only one) of the model's four steps. This hierarchical step-model for causation of bias identifies all sources of bias in a study, each of which depicts one or several errors which can be further categorized into one of the model's four steps. Acceptance of this model has implications for ascertaining the degree to which a study effectively evaluates the effects of cancer treatment (level of scientific evidence).


The article is a work-in-progress report of a research endeavor that deals with the design and development of a novel approach to computer aided diagnosis (CAD) of mammographic images. With the initial emphasis being on the analysis of microcalcifications, the proposed approach defines a synergistic paradigm that utilizes new methodologies together with previously developed techniques. The new paradigm is intended to promote a higher degree of accuracy in CAD of mammograms with an increased overall throughput. The process of accomplishing these goals is initiated by the fractal encoding of the input image, which gives rise to the generation of focus-of-attention regions (FARs), that is, regions that contain anomalies. The primary thrust of this work is to demonstrate that by considering FARs, rather than the entire input image, the performances of the ensuing processes (i.e., segmentation, feature extraction, and classification) are enhanced in terms of accuracy and speed. An experimental study is included that demonstrates the impact of FAR generation on the process of microcalcification segmentation.


The study investigated the use and the specific commitment of reading strategies in normal and dyslexic students. In study 1, 141 5th to 8th graders students (10-14 years) were evaluated in Reading Competence Test of words and nonwords (RCTWN). In study 2, 15 students with dyslexia (10-13 years), also attending the 5th to 8th grade, participated and were assessed with the computerized version of RTCWN. In study 1, there was a significant effect of the RTCWN item type, grade (5th graders performed significantly worse than 7th and 8th graders) and item-grade interaction on performance, suggesting that the three reading strategies are consolidated from 6th grade on. In study 2, there was a significant effect of item type, suggesting specific deficits in alphabetic and orthographic strategies in dyslexics. The identification of specific processes underlying performance is characteristic of cognitive neuropsychological evaluation. Keywords: cognition; assessment; language; learning disorder; reading.


n China, the online purchases of meals grow rapidly. The online ordering and meal delivery services allow a busy urban consumer for a specific selection at a convenient time. This paper examines the satisfaction of consumers with the overall quality of service provided by the meal delivering companies and the speed of delivery. The level of satisfaction with the overall meal delivery service provides insights that permit improvement of service quality and its essential attribute, the delivery speed. The study uses the sample of 554 respondents from all but two China's provinces collected between June 3 and July 30, 2017. A pilot test was administered among students of a major urban university. Data were collected through an online survey administered by the reputable commercial company. The structured questionnaire contained questions probing for views on several aspects of meal delivery services and requested a respondent to share the information about socio-demographic characteristics. The scale applied in the posed questions allowed the ordered logit to estimate the relationships. Results show, among others, that the average meal price and expectations of food safety were important to consumer perception of service quality, while the type of meal type of meal mattered with regard to speed delivers.


Purpose
Based on more than 2.7 million online reviews (ORs) collected with big data analytical techniques from Booking.com and TripAdvisor.com, this paper aims to explore if and to what extent environmental discourse embedded in ORs has an impact on electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) helpfulness across eight major destination cities in North America and Europe.

Design/methodology/approach
This study gathered, by means of Big Data techniques, 2.7 million ORs hosted on Booking.com and TripAdvisor, and covering hospitality services in eight different destinations cities in North America (New York City, Miami, Orlando and Las Vegas) and Europe (Barcelona, London, Paris and Rome) over the period 2017–2018. The ORs were analysed by means of ad hoc content analytic dictionaries to identify the presence and depth of the environmental discourse included in each OR. A negative binomial regression analysis was used to measure the impact of the presence/depth of online environmental discourse in ORs on e-WOM helpfulness.

Findings
The findings indicate that the environmental discourse presence and depth influence positively e-WOM helpfulness. More specifically those travelers who write explicitly about environmental topics in their ORs are more likely to produce ORs that are voted as helpful by other consumers.

Research limitations/implications
Implications highlight that both hotel managers and platform developers/managers should become increasingly aware of the importance that customer attach to environmental practices and initiatives and therefore engage more assiduously in environmental initiatives, if their objective is to improve online review helpfulness for other customers reading the focal reviews. Future studies might include more destinations and other operationalizations of environmental discourse.

Originality/value
This study constitutes the first attempt to capture how the presence and depth of hospitality services consumers' environmental discourse influence e-WOM helpfulness on multiple digital platforms, by means of a big data analysis on a large sample of online reviews across multiple countries and destinations. As such it makes a relevant contribution to the area at the intersection between big data analytics, e-WOM and sustainable tourism research.


Complexes [MCl2 {CH3N (CH2CH2N = (CRR)-R-1)(2))}](3, M = Co, R-1 = H, R-1 = Ph; 4, M = Fe. R-1 = H, R-2 = Ph; 5, M = Co, R-1 = R-2 = Ph) were prepared and characterized by IR spectra and elemental analysis. The combination of each of complexes 3-5 with ethylaluminoxane (EAO), respectively, was found to be moderatety active for ethylene oligornerization to low carbon olefins. The activity of 113 kg oligomers . mol(-1) Co . h(-1) for complex 3(100 mol of EAO, 180 degreesC and 1.8 MPa ethylene) was observed with a selectivity of 93% to C4-10 olefins, of which 96% were linear C4-10 olefins. The catalytic properties of complexes 3-5 were compared with those of analogous P,P-coordinated complexes [MCl2{CH3N(CH2CH2PPh2)(2)}](1, M = Co; 2, M = Fe).


The suppurative peritonitis is still one of the major clinical concerns for surgeons in these days. The presence of bacteria and endotoxins within the peritoneal cavity activate a chain of reactions, which mostly are still unknown, but frequently determinate the course of the disease. Because of the multifactorial system of the biochemical processes, we are coming to the paint to ask for a final chemical reaction of all these processes. The final reaction in this high toxic systems is taken place in an acidic pH range. Our experiments show, that the intraperitoneal alcalisation by lifting up the pH in the physiological range or even higher produces a stop in the septical reactions. Consequently because of these results we changed our treatment for severe peritonitis as followed: 1. Focus sanitation: Consequent treatment for the underlying cause of infection. 2. Continuous abdominal lavage over 4 catheters in each of the quadrants of the abdominal cavity with 101 of saline solution together with 8.4% Na-bicarbonate up to a pH-range of 7.6. 3. First revision of abdomen after 12 h after removing the catheters the normal intraoperative lavage with 10-15 1 saline solution with 8,5% Na-bicarbonate is performed. 4. The abdomen remains open and daily revisions and lavage with Na-bicarbonate are performed. 5. Early clinical data support the experimental findings.


Spinal cord compression from a metastasizing burn scar cancer has not previously been reported. A patient with rapidly progressive paraparesis associated with vertebral collapse and an extradural soft tissue mass of undetermined origin is presented. The clinical history, radiological diagnosis, and histological features of cicatrial carcinoma are discussed along with a brief review of the relevant literature.


DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) arise regularly in cells and when left unrepaired cause senescence or cell death. Homologous recombination (HR) and nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ) are the two major DNA-repair pathways. Whereas HR allows faithful DSB repair and healthy cell growth, NHEJ has higher potential to contribute to mutations and malignancy. Many regulatory mechanisms influence which of these two pathways is used in DSB repair. These mechanisms depend on the cell cycle, post-translational modifications, and chromatin effects. Here, we summarize current research into these mechanisms, with a focus on mammalian cells, and also discuss repair by "alternative end-joining" and single-strand annealing.


The vegetation succession and soil enzyme activities restoration with different growing years was analyzed by applying the spatio-temporal substitution method. The result showed that H. Rhamnoides and A. Desertoru are predominant species of the shrub layer. With the restore years prolonging, the species diversity index (H′, 1/D), saccharase, urease, phosphatase and catalase activities were increased, can reach about 84.3 to 96.4 percentage of CK in green zoon soil, while the cellulase is only about 30.5 and 28.8 percentage in gangue fields. The plant and soil characters could restore to original soil with human control.


DNA methylation is an essential epigenetic modification in eukaryotes required for genomic stability, control of gene expression and regulation of chromatin structure. Consequently, abhorrent alterations in methyl-CpG modifications across the genome, leading to inappropriate transcription, are associated with many diseases including cancer. Thus, an interest in discerning the regulatory mechanisms linking DNA methylation with gene expression in the disease state has emerged. The ZBTB methyl-CpG binding proteins (MBPs) are specialized transcription factors that mediate transcription by specifically targeting both methylated and sequence-specific DNA sites through a conserved set of Cys2His2 zinc fingers. While ZBTB MBP expression has become increasingly associated with higher grade tumors, we have only begun to understand the underlying complexities by which this family mediates gene expression. Here we combine interdisciplinary in cell genomic with in vitro biophysical approaches to begin to delineate the mechanisms by which this family of MBPs recognize DNA and regulate transcription in cancer. Specifically, for the founding member of this MBP family we utilized multiple genome-wide methodologies to identify its genomic targets, the methylation status at these sites and the transcriptional effect of this protein in cancer cell lines. We observed that protein expression levels, gene occupations and transcriptional responses were variable between cancer phenotypes. Additionally, ZBTB depletion results in variable phenotypic alterations between cell types indicating that protein presence may provide a means for defining these pathological states. Further, we have designed multiple protein constructs around the zinc finger domains of the ZBTB MBPs. Biophysical characterization of the binding interactions of these protein regions with various epigenetically modified DNAs has provided preliminary understanding for the differential mode of DNA recognition exhibited by the ZBTB MBP family members. Together, these findings provide initial insights into the molecular basis by which these proteins preferentially recognize, interpret and translate epigenetic signals into transcriptional responses in cancer cells. Citation Format: Tommy W. Terooatea, Megan J. Wallace, Marta W. Szulik, Alan C. Chugg, Sven Miller, Bethany A. Buck-Koehntop. Investigating methyl-CpG DNA recognition in cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 2957. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-2957


An integral equation method of finding equilibria of a z-pinch situated in an external magnetic multipole field, due to a number of symmetrically placed external current-carrying conductors (Extrap configuration), is developed. A perturbation technique has been used, where the influence of the external field is treated as a small correction to a zero external field z-pinch circular equilibrium. To first order, equilibria for various current profiles are explicitly calculated. It is found that profiles of skin type give the largest perturbations of the magnetic surfaces from circular shape, whereas the plasma is much less distorted for peaked current distributions. Furthermore, except for the skin current case, the displacement of the outermost plasma edge is found to be very little affected by the details of the current profile, and is determined essentially by the total plasma current only. Second order effects are also considered.


We examined US nurse practitioner (NP) and physician assistant (PA) outpatient antibiotic prescribing. Antibiotics were more frequently prescribed during visits involving NP/PA visits compared with physician-only visits, including overall visits (17% vs 12%, P < .0001) and acute respiratory infection visits (61% vs 54%, P < .001). Antibiotic stewardship interventions should target NPs and PAs.


Given a collection of images, humans are able to discover landmarks by modeling the shared geometric structure across instances. This idea of geometric equivariance has been widely used for the unsupervised discovery of object landmark representations. In this paper, we develop a simple and effective approach by combining instance-discriminative and spatially-discriminative contrastive learning. We show that when a deep network is trained to be invariant to geometric and photometric transformations, representations emerge from its intermediate layers that are highly predictive of object landmarks. Stacking these across layers in a "hypercolumn" and projecting them using spatially-contrastive learning further improves their performance on matching and few-shot landmark regression tasks. We also present a unified view of existing equivariant and invariant representation learning approaches through the lens of contrastive learning, shedding light on the nature of invariances learned. Experiments on standard benchmarks for landmark learning, as well as a new challenging one we propose, show that the proposed approach surpasses prior state-of-the-art.


is now under the Consulting Editorship of William J. Mitchell, the distinguished Chairman of the Music Department at Columbia University. Professor Mitchell, who assumed his new responsibilities with McGrawHill on January 1, 1963, will continue the notable work of his colleague... Douglas Moore . . . the preceding Consulting Editor of the McGraw-Hill Series in Music. Under Professor Mitchell's leadership, McGraw-Hill intends to continue to publish and distribute a vital series in music... a series composed of significant books in theory, history, and music appreciation.


An adjoint sensitivity analysis of the relaxed Arakawa‐Schubert scheme in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration GEOS-1 GCM with respect to perturbations in large-scale environmental fields was conducted. The response functions were defined as measures of the strength of convective cloud precipitation, the cloud-induced heating and drying (moistening) in both the instantaneous and time-integrated sense. The roles of different variables in producing variations on the response functions were evaluated and the most sensitive vertical levels of the perturbations were identified with the gradient provided by the adjoint model. It was found that the potential temperature perturbations had significant impact on all the response functionals analyzed, especially on the convective precipitation. The perturbations at subcloud layers and at midtroposphere from 500 to 600 hPa were found to be the most influential. The impact from the moisture fields was most significant on cloud heating and drying effects and the strongest influence came from the subcloud layers. The moisture perturbations at midtroposphere also significantly influenced the cloud drying (moistening) effect. On the other hand, the cloud-induced heating and drying at levels between 400 and 600 hPa felt the strongest impact from perturbations in large-scale fields. The influence of the perturbations in the wind field was weaker but still provided reasonable sensitivity patterns. The time-integrated and instantaneous sensitivities for the same response differ only in magnitude but not in the general distributions. The impact of large-scale condensation and reevaporation on the sensitivity was also evaluated. Their effect was significant at the midtropospheric level and they enhanced the model sensitivity to perturbations in temperature and moisture fields. The sensitivity analysis results obtained indicated that accurate gridscale vertical profile of temperature and moisture, especially at subcloud layers and midtroposphere between 500 and 600 hPa were essential for the accurate evaluation of the cumulus cloud effects. The implications of the results of this work for variational data assimilation were also discussed.


A novel technique to generate high-density plasma-called inductively coupled plasma (ICP), enhanced capacitively coupled plasma (CCP)- is successfully developed. The plasma can be generated using different frequency configurations, such as ICP-enhanced single-frequency capacitively coupled plasma (SFCCP) and dual-frequency capacitively coupled plasma (DFCCP). The characteristics of the plasma in the following frequency combinations are mainly investigated using a Langmuir probe, SFCCP (60 MHz), DFCCP (60 MHz, 13.56 MHz), SFCCP (60 MHz) and inductively coupled plasma (13.56 MHz), DFCCP (60 MHz, 13.56 MHz) and inductively coupled plasma (13.56 MHz). In this letter, the nitrogen and hydrogen mixture gas discharge characteristics of different configurations are studied. After the analysis, we can acquire the electron temperature and ion density. Then, the effect of inductively coupled discharge on SFCCP and DFCCP can be summarized. In our preliminary investigations, the main results can be given as follows. ICP can make the density of SFCCP increase and the distribution of the electron temperature in a radial direction more uniform. In addition, ICP not only can make the ion density of DFCCP increase, but also can improve the radial uniformity. Further experiments may be needed to clarify the mechanism.


Current service management systems reach a great level of heterogeneity and complexity. Evolution towards NGS (next generation services) arises intensely these problems. NGS will rely on a distributed architecture where numerous entities are involved to realize the service functionalities. Our belief is that autonomic management is the key approach to deal with the complexity of management systems within next generation networks. In this paper we present an overview of the work in progress about the autonomic management of the NGS


One of the main keys of positioning and ranging technologies in wireless telecommunication networks is the values of distance and RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication), side along with the cell perimeter have a significant relationship for the effect of the network quality in terms of quality in services and connectivity, and not less in the roaming stage. Many research results drove to influence these keys to the handover delay in the broadband network, so in many cases that MT handover between the boarders of location areas or zones has been affected by long time delay and packet data lost. Over recent years many signal propagation schemes have been presented to describe the relationship between cell size and Mobile terminal distance between the current and the targeted base station and RSSI. In this paper, the modify scheme of the location management area (LMA) -based multimedia broadcast services scheme has been presented , the effect of cell size and distance between BS and MT and the RSSI , which shown their influence of the handoff delay . The analytical algorithm results showed the reduction of the handover delay in smaller perimeter cell size compared to the large cells in location management area.


Defining the structural organization of emotions is a central unresolved question in affective science. In particular, the extent to which autonomic nervous system activity signifies distinct affective states remains controversial. Most prior research on this topic has used univariate statistical approaches in attempts to classify emotions from psychophysiological data. In the present study, electrodermal, cardiac, respiratory, and gastric activity, as well as self-report measures were taken from healthy subjects during the experience of fear, anger, sadness, surprise, contentment, and amusement in response to film and music clips. Information pertaining to affective states present in these response patterns was analyzed using multivariate pattern classification techniques. Overall accuracy for classifying distinct affective states was 58.0% for autonomic measures and 88.2% for self-report measures, both of which were significantly above chance. Further, examining the error distribution of classifiers revealed that the dimensions of valence and arousal selectively contributed to decoding emotional states from self-report, whereas a categorical configuration of affective space was evident in both self-report and autonomic measures. Taken together, these findings extend recent multivariate approaches to study emotion and indicate that pattern classification tools may improve upon univariate approaches to reveal the underlying structure of emotional experience and physiological expression.


The twenty-first century witnessed tremendous progress in the field of information and communication technologies, education technologies, globalization, and modernization, in which the rich countries equip schools, colleges, institutes and universities with educational technologies which include computer labs, intranet (LAN &WAN), internet (the Web) & Wireless, projector, (LCD), multimedia, mobiles and digital media. Teacher are also trained how to use such educational technologies. On the contrary, the developing and poor countries, which make the majority of the world population, are still lagging far behind the rich countries in terms of those mentioned facilities in their schools. The majority of school teachers, colleges and university lectures are still "technology illiterate" and they have minimal basic knowledge about using technological devices and media. They are still using traditional instructional materials like the blackboard or green board with chalks. Hence, the contemporary educational settings need highly trained, multi-skilled and technologies literate teachers in order to carry out their mission professionally and effectively, and to face the growing challenges in the field of education. In line with the education demands, this paper aims to highlight the kind of teachers who are capable, dynamic and well equipped to work in schools ins such conditions. This paper also addresses the question of how the International Islamic University Malaysia can help to train and produce such teachers who can carry out their responsibilities locally and internationally. These teachers need to process versatility to ensure students are still educated to be ready for the ICT-based workplace when they leave school.


A numerical simulation is carried out for static vortices in a long Josephson junction with an exponentially varying width. At specified values of the parameters the corresponding boundary-value problem admits more than one solution. Each solution (distribution of the magnetic flux in the junction) is associated to a Sturm–Liouville problem, the smallest eigenvalue of which can be used, in a first approximation, to assess the stability of the vortex against relatively small spatiotemporal perturbations. The change in width of the junction leads to a renormalization of the magnetic flux in comparison with the case of a linear one-dimensional model. The influence of the model parameters on the stability of the states of the magnetic flux is investigated in detail, particularly that of the shape parameter. The critical curve of the junction is constructed from pieces of the critical curves for the different magnetic flux distributions having the highest critical currents for the given magnetic field.


Background: Many bacteria of clinical importance survive and may grow in different environments. Antibiotic pollution may exert on them a selective pressure leading to an increase in the prevalence of resistance. Objectives: In this study we sought to determine whether environmental concentrations of antibiotics and concentrations representing action limits used in environmental risk assessment may exert a selective pressure on clinically relevant bacteria in the environment. Methods: We used bacterial inhibition as an assessment end point to link antibiotic selective pressures to the prevalence of resistance in bacterial populations. Species sensitivity distributions were derived for three antibiotics by fitting log-logistic models to end points calculated from minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) distributions based on worldwide data collated by the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST). To place bacteria represented in these distributions in a broader context, we performed a brief phylogenetic analysis. The potentially affected fraction of bacterial genera at measured environmental concentrations of antibiotics and environmental risk assessment action limits was used as a proxy for antibiotic selective pressure. Measured environmental concentrations and environmental risk assessment action limits were also directly compared to wild-type cut-off values. Results: The potentially affected fraction of bacterial genera estimated based on antibiotic concentrations measured in water environments is ≤ 7%. We estimated that measured environmental concentrations in river sediments, swine feces lagoons, liquid manure, and farmed soil inhibit wild-type populations in up to 60%, 92%, 100%, and 30% of bacterial genera, respectively. At concentrations used as action limits in environmental risk assessment, erythromycin and ciprofloxacin were estimated to inhibit wild-type populations in up to 25% and 76% of bacterial genera. Conclusions: Measured environmental concentrations of antibiotics, as well as concentrations representing environmental risk assessment action limits, are high enough to exert a selective pressure on clinically relevant bacteria that may lead to an increase in the prevalence of resistance.


We analyse the theoretical and empirical constructs of federal fiscal relations and present a roadmap to integrate gender in fiscal federalism. Applying an "equally distributed equivalent" methodology, gender equality is measured for this purpose. This also involves an analysis of the institutional space through a "gender lens", especially in the tax and expenditure assignments as well as the intergovernmental fiscal transfers. We arrive at the following four inferences. One, fiscal federalism, theoretically, is neither good nor bad for gender equality. The impact of fiscal federalism on gender equality outcomes depend on the interface between institutional design and intergovernmental fiscal transfers. Two, with the progress of federal governance and fiscal decentralization, significant expenditure assignments that are important for gender equality including health care, labour and education are given importance in the gender budgeting design. Three, the fiscal allocations relate to eliminating the statistical invisibility of unmonetised care economy labour that may promote women's economic empowerment need further emphasis. Four, the system of taxation and tax policy design are relevant to gender equality. However, evidence suggests that differential tax system and tax exemptions cannot correct gender inequalities. Five, in addition to integrating gender criteria in the tax-transfer formula, the fiscal federalism arrangements such as specific-purpose grants to subnational governments can promote gender equality.


Meadows in highlands are an important source of feed for livestock especially when harvested as hay for the winter period. Hay production from meadows largely depends on water table and management practices. A study was conducted on meadows with different water table levels (L1: high, L2: medium, L3: deep) for investigating effects of nitrogen (N) fertilization (N0: 0, N75: 75, N150: 150, N225: 225 kg N ha−1) and cutting stage (CS1: pre-anthesis, CS2: anthesis, CS3: milk accumulation) on hay yield and botanical composition in 1997 and 1998. Dry matter (DM) production changed depending on water table levels among sites. DM production showed relatively small increases when cutting was delayed in L2 until cutting stage CS3. The DM production and crude protein (CP) yield increased in response to N application, and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) was the same in L1 and L2, but decreased in L3. N application slightly increased the ratio of grasses to legumes at L2 and L3. N had no effect on grass to legume ratio in the L1 location and L1 was dominated by rushes and sedges. As cutting was delayed in L1 and L2, the proportion of grasses increased, but rushes and sedges decreased. Fertilization practices have definite influences on botanical composition and production on meadows. Therefore, we propose 150 kg ha−1 nitrogen for flooded meadows to prevent N runoff, and 225 kg ha−1 for dry meadow in highlands. Cutting should be at the pre-anthesis stage.


Dementia cases are expected to grow for African Americans and surrogate decision makers (SDMs) will have a significant role at the end of life (EOL). This qualitative exploratory case study used Cognitive Task Analysis and an integrated conceptual framework to understand the EOL decision experience of African American SDMs for patients with advanced dementia. Using a holistic multiple-case design, 8 African American SDMs were interviewed about their experiences with the decision-making process, including role acceptance, role enactment, and emotional outcomes of decision making. Thirteen themes germane to understanding the EOL decision experience of African American SDMs were identified. Findings suggest African American SDMs often lack sufficient knowledge of disease prognosis and intervention options to make informed treatment choices at EOL. In particular, African Americans extend the caregiver role to SDM for patients with dementia at EOL without being fully aware of the role and decision-making responsibilities. Surrogates lacked a general understanding of EOL options resulting in underutilization of hospice and palliative care and subsequent regret, and few interventions exist to improve the uptake of EOL care services. There is a need to develop culturally appropriate role preparation, education, and decision support to improve EOL treatment decisions and emotional adjustment of surrogates of patients with advanced dementia, which should be rendered early and throughout the illness trajectory.


This chapter outlines a health and safety management system that encompasses all of the work environments in a pharmaceutical company, including the laboratory, manufacturing, sales, and corporate forces. It discusses information flow and integration to address physical, biological, and chemical hazards present.


Infectious complications in the respiratory tract caused by microorganisms from the Burkholderia cepacia complex are the main cause of death among patients with cystic fibrosis. Natural and acquired resistance mechanisms allow Burkholderia cepacia complex pathogens to adapt to the conditions of regular antibiotic therapy, which necessitates the use of antibacterial drugs with an alternative mechanism of action. Studies on the importance of iron as an essential factor in the metabolism of bacteria and methods of its acquisition from the environment contributed to the development of a new antibiotic from a number of cephalosporins – cefiderocol. In the structure of cefiderocol, a fragment is formed that imitates siderophores – chelating molecules that ensure the transport of iron ions into the internal environment of the microorganism. A unique mechanism, described in the scientific literature as a "Trojan horse", allows antibiotic molecules conjugated with siderophores to effectively penetrate into the bacterial cell, exerting a bactericidal effect. Thus, cefiderocol can be used to treat infectious complications in the lungs of patients with cystic fibrosis caused by bacteria from the Burkholderia cepacia complex, including multidrug-resistant strains. In addition, the spectrum of activity of cefiderocol allows the use of this antibiotic in the treatment of infections caused by nosocomial gram-negative bacteria such as Enterobacterales, Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas and Stenotrophomonas.


In large deformations, internally pressurised elastic spherical shells and tubes may undergo a limit-point, or inflation, instability manifested by a rapid transition in which their radii suddenly increase. The possible existence of such an instability depends on the material constitutive model. Here, we revisit this problem in the context of stochastic incompressible hyperelastic materials, and ask the question: what is the probability distribution of stable radially symmetric inflation, such that the internal pressure always increases as the radial stretch increases? For the classic elastic problem, involving isotropic incompressible materials, there is a critical parameter value that strictly separates the cases where inflation instability can occur or not. By contrast, for the stochastic problem, we show that the inherent variability of the probabilistic parameters implies that there is always competition between the two cases. To illustrate this, we draw on published experimental data for rubber, and derive the probability distribution of the corresponding random shear modulus to predict the inflation responses for a spherical shell and a cylindrical tube made of a material characterised by this parameter.


We performed an extensive analysis about the reaction conditions of the 1,4-Michael addition of amino acids to 1,4-naphthoquinone and substitution to 2,3-dichloronaphthoquinone, and a complete evaluation of stoichiometry, use of different bases, and the pH influence was performed. We were able to show that microwave-assisted synthesis is the best method for the synthesis of naphthoquinone–amino acid and chloride–naphthoquinone–amino acid derivatives with 79–91% and 78–91% yields, respectively. The cyclic voltammetry profiles showed that both series of naphthoquinone–amino acid derivatives mainly display one quasi-reversible redox reaction process. Interestingly, it was shown that naphthoquinone derivatives possess a selective antitumorigenic activity against cervix cancer cell lines and chloride–naphthoquinone–amino acid derivatives against breast cancer cell lines. Furthermore, the newly synthetized compounds with asparagine–naphthoquinones (3e and 4e) inhibited ~85% of SiHa cell proliferation. These results show promising compounds for specific cervical and breast cancer treatment.