Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to verify the effectiveness of various types of flexible work arrangements and to provide implications on financial performance. This study further examined the effects of flexible work arrangements on firm performance depending on the size of firms.
Design/Methodology/Approach - Using the panel data collected from 2016 to 2018, the study performed multiple regression analyses to analyze the effects of introduction and practical utilization of flexible work arrangements on firm performance, respectively. This study used the panel data of flexible work arrangements from the Korean Women Manager Panel Survey by the Korean Women's Development Institute.
Findings - We found that firm performance was not enhanced by mere introduction of flexible work arrangements. The empirical results provided evidence that the utilization of work from home positively affected firm performance, while the other flexible work arrangements did not have significant effects on firm performance. The findings were more evident in smaller companies, where the utilization of work from home was positively related to firm performance, and flexi-time was negatively related. For larger companies, flexible working hour utilization was positively related to firm performance.
Research Implications - The use of flexible working hours could be of help for larger companies with relatively more rigid culture. Flexi-time utilization could sacrifice financial performance for smaller firms, implying that having core hours might be more crucial for these companies to prevent potential communication problems. The use of work from home may benefit smaller companies with relatively more compact teams or a simpler structure.


The gravitational radiation from two point masses going around each other under their mutual gravitational influence is calculated. Two different methods are outlined; one involves a multipole expansion of the radiation field, while the other uses the inertia tensor of the source. The calculations apply for arbitrary eccentricity of the relative orbit, but assume orbital velocities are small. The total rate, angular distribution, and polarization of the radiated energy are discussed.


A novel visible light responsive metal–organic framework (MOF) with a pillared-layer structure has been constructed from photoactive anthracene derived bipyridine. The as-prepared MOF was studied by single crystal X-ray diffraction, steady-state fluorescence, and electron paramagnetic resonance and so on. Studies reveal the visible light induced free radical formation of the bipyridine pillars in the MOF structure. Consequently, the promising photocatalytic reaction of atom transfer radical polymerization for methacrylate monomers was performed upon the utilization of the MOF material as a photosensitizer to reduce the copper catalyst via electron transfer. It has been demonstrated that the reaction shows characteristics of controlled radical polymerization and the prepared polymers show narrow molecular weight distributions and high retention of chain-end activities. Moreover, the photopolymerization can be easily manipulated by light switching.


: For switched-capacitor (SC) integrator, an exponent-scalable method to obtain very small capacitance spread and large time constant is presented. Based on Nagaraj-89 SC integrator, an additional SC feedback branch with an extra clock phase is employed, resulting in capacitance spread to the 3rd power in z-domain transfer function. Furthermore, with ( N − 2) additional SC feedback branches using ( N − 2) extra clock phases, capacitance spread to the N th power can be achieved in z-domain transfer function. Compared with previous SC integrators, this proposed exponent-scalable method is analyzed, and it is veri fi ed by simulation that larger time constant can be realized with less capacitor area. Moreover, Monte-Carlo simulation shows low relative standard deviation of time constant is also maintained.


Today the educational attention to the children of the pre-school childhood assumes a position on the physical education. In the present article the analysis of published studies on the subject is carried out. The information collected and the empirical evidence attest to the transformations that must be made in the work of teachers to adapt to this reality and be prepared to achieve the integral development of children in preschool children. Therefore, the objective of the article is to propose how to strengthen the role of teachers to contribute to enhance physical education in preschool children.


We have prepared the Ti7-containing, tetrahedral 36-tungsto-4-arsenate(III) [Ti6(TiO6)(AsW9O33)4](20-) (1) by a simple, one pot procedure. Polyanion 1 contains a novel Ti7-core, comprising a central TiO6 octahedron surrounded by six TiO5 square-pyramids, and capped by four {As(III)W9} trilacunary fragments. The title polyanion is solution-stable, as shown by (183)W NMR and mass spectrometry, and exhibits interesting biological properties.


Purple rice is a strain of glutaneous rice rich in anthocyanins and γ-oryzanol. Both types of compounds are involved in antioxidant and lipid metabolism of mammals. Three experimental diet types were used which consisted approximately by half either of purple rice, white rice or corn. Diets were fed to 3×10 pigs growing from about 30 to 100 kg. Meat samples were investigated either as raw or cured loin chops or as smoked bacon produced from the belly. Various physicochemical traits were assessed and data were evaluated by analysis of variance. Traits describing water-holding capacity (drip, thaw, and cooking losses) and tenderness (sensory grading, shear force) of the meat were mostly not significantly affected by the diet type. However, purple rice feeding of pigs resulted in lower fat and cholesterol contents of loin and smoked bacon compared to white rice, but not compared to corn feeding except of the fat content of the loin. The shelf life of the raw loin chops was improved by purple rice as well. In detail, the occurrence of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances after 9 days of chilled storage was three to four times higher in the white rice and corn diets than with purple rice. The n-6:n-3 ratio in the raw loin chops was 9:1 with purple rice and clearly higher with 12:1 with the other diets, meat lipids. Level and kind of effect of purple rice found in raw meat was not always recovered in the cured loin chops and the smoked bacon. Still the impression of flavor and color, as well as overall acceptability were best in the smoked bacon from the purple-rice fed pigs, whereas this effect did not occur in the cured loin chops. These findings suggest that purple rice has a certain, useful, bioactivity in pigs concerning meat quality, but some of these effects are of low practical relevance. Further studies have to show ways how transiency and low recovery in meat products of some of the effects can be counteracted.


Objective: To estimate the risk of recurrence of breast cancer associated with the use of topical vaginal estrogen therapy in the management of vaginal atrophy in women previously treated for breast cancer. Methods: The study group comprised 1472 women with histologically confirmed breast cancer. In 69 of these subjects (4.7%) their only bothersome menopausal problems were vaginal symptoms. In these women, poorly absorbed topical vaginal estrogen cream or tablets were used. The response of these patients was compared with that of the rest of the database. A Cox regression analysis was performed using sex hormone usage after diagnosis as a time-dependent covariate. Disease-free interval was the outcome measured. Results are expressed as a hazard ratio with 95% confidence intervals. The hazard rate is defined as the probability of disease recurrence or of a subject dying from breast cancer over the study period. A second analysis was performed adjusting for factors known to affect breast cancer prognosis. Results: Hormone usage was entered as a time-dependent covariate with disease-free interval as the outcome. Subjects who used a topical estrogen alone for menopausal symptoms had an uncorrected hazard ratio of 0.30 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.11-0.80, p = 0.02). The corrected hazard ratio was 0.57 (95% CI 0.20-1.58, p = 0.28). The hazard rate for a subject dying was not analyzed, as there were too few numbers. Conclusions: Although the small numbers of this study preclude a definitive result, topical estrogen usage does not appear to be associated with an increased risk of recurrence of breast cancer.


In view of the public acceptance and the licensing procedure of projected fusion reactors, the release of tritium during normal operation as well as after accidents is a significant safety aspect. Tritium, being chemically identical to hydrogen and thus interacting directly with water and organic substances, differs considerably from the behaviour of other radionuclides in the environment. Therefore, the two consequence assessment codes UFOTRI and NORMTRI have been developed and applied to estimate the doses to the public from releases of tritium under accidental and routine conditions, respectively. In the frame of ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) and SEAFP (Safety and Environmental Aspects of Fusion Power) the dose/release translation has been determined for typical and various worst case release scenarios. Under worst case accidental release conditions, the dose/release translation for the early dose to an individual at the fence may range from 0.5 to 1 mSv/g HTO. The result for the EDE at the fence is up to 3 mSv/g HTO. The collective accidental dose/release translation is about 2.5 manSv/g HTO. However, due to processes inside the facility, only a small fraction of the mobilised activity may be released into the environment. Finally, the current status of the present assessment models is shortly analysed with regard to the strength and weakness of their approaches which led to the recommendation to concentrate on the plant physiological parts of the tritium codes.


Background: Standardization of a compound Ayurvedic formulation is a critical and essential issue to be considered in assuring the therapeutic efficacy and safety and to rationalize their use in the health care. Sitopaladi churna is a reputed polyherbal formulation of Ayurveda. It is prescribed for the treatment of pleurodynia, intercostal neuralgia, cold, cough associated with bronchitis, pneumonia, tuberculosis, viral respiratory infection, and in pharyngeal and chest congestion. Objective: The present study aimed at physico-chemical standardization of in-house and two marketed brands of Sitopaladi churna. Materials and Methods: In our investigation, in-house churna and two commercial brands of Sitopaladi churna were standardized based on powder microscopy, physico-chemical evaluations, thin layer chromatography (TLC) and high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) finger printing as per standard procedures. Results: The set parameters were sufficient to evaluate the churna based on various physico-chemical parameters. Conclusion: The data evolved can be adopted for laying down the standards for the manufacturing units of Sitopaladi churna.


It may seem surprising and perhaps presumptuous to suggest that Europe is in danger of catching a distinctively American disease: regulatory legalism. The United States and the European Community reflect significantly different degrees of political centralization and have different legal and regulatory cultures. In the United States, formal, adversarial procedures and extensive litigation burden the regulatory process. In Europe, most regulatory decisions are developed through informal processes of consultation, and litigation is rare. Nonetheless, recent signs suggest that the European Community is vulnerable to a variant of U.S.-style regulatory legalism. Legislation in the Community increasingly relies on centralized command and control directives to specify not only the particular conduct required of regulated industry, but also the measures through which Member States must implement such legislation. Litigation concerning regulations has been, and will doubtless remain, less prevalent in the Community than in the United States. Nonetheless, Europe will experience far more regulatory litigation than it has been accustomed to. Further, reliance on command and control directives to advance environmental, health, and safety goals in the Community is already beginning to display some of the same dysfunctions that it has in the United States. In particular, the bureaucratic command and control system suffers from information-processing overload, excessive rigidity, and high administrative and compliance costs. The opaque, or at least byzantine, bureaucratic decision-making process creates a "democracy deficit." Finally, command and control techniques breed a new class of regulatory lawyers and lobbyists that seek to influence the regulatory process to benefit their clients.' Concern over these developments may well contribute to the popular unease over the Maas-


This paper's primary objective is to present and study a different class of nano sets known as nano βθ-open sets in nano topological spaces. Additionally, introduced some nano topological concepts by using nano βθ-open set


Faraday's notebooks constitute one of the largest and most revealing archives left to us by a major scientist. These records reveal a good deal of systematic invention and exploration of recording techniques by Faraday, work that reveals much about his thinking about science, as well as of the role of memory in general in scientific thinking.


Precise measurements of the total cross sections of positive and negative π mesons on hydrogen have revealed the presence of structure or enhancements in these cross sections at various momenta up to 3 GeV/c. The present paper discusses measurements of this type and in particular, a recent experiment to search for structure in the region 3 to 7 GeV/c, where previous experiments have shown that, if structure were present, it was likely to reveal itself as an amplitude in the total cross section of 1 mb or less. The recent measurements indicate four regions of structure, two in each of the isotopic spin states 3/2 and 1/2. The possible relation of these regions of structure to the formation of pion-nucleon resonances is discussed.


This paper investigates the potential savings using improved motor and power electronic technology and improved motor control, for different heating ventilation and airconditioning load profiles. Different energy labels (eff1-eff3) and different voltage/frequency (V/Hz) control have been investigated. The general conclusion is that economical savings will be made, both for an Induction Motor (IM) and frequency converter replacement. The analysis also shows that the choice between an eff2 and eff1 IM, for the given load profiles, always generate the highest saving for the eff1 IM. It is also shown that losses introduced by the commonly over dimensioning of the motor can result in increased energy efficiency with appropriate converter control compared with the use of a motor with lower rating, which is opposite to the case with a grid connected IM. KeywordsEnergy savings, HVAC load profiles, Induction motor, Frequency converter


Multimodal presentation using interactive life-like agents is an attractive and effective way to edify, assist and guide the users. However, it is not easy for many people to write such multimodal presentations, due to the complexity of describing various behaviors of character agents and their interaction of particular character system with individual (often low-level) description language. As part of our research, we have developed MPML (Multimodal Presentation Markup Language), which allows the users to write multimodal contents with ease. By extending MPML, we have proposed a new framework for an interactive system that fulfills multimodal presentation through script-based and character-based models in Flash medium.


Propolis is one of the honey bee products that possess various traditional medicinal and pharmaceutical applications owing to its wide range of biological activities. The chemical composition of propolis mainly depends on the plant sources utilized by bees for its manufacturing. Identifying the plant source of propolis is then necessary for its chemical standardization as well as for the beekeepers to provide their bees with the proper plants in their flight range. Propolis has been classified worldwide into at least six types according to geographical origin and surrounding vegetation. However, no previous investigation of the plant source of Egyptian propolis has been reported. Hence, the plant materials surrounding the beehive where propolis had been collected were extracted similarily to propolis using different solvents, and subjected to thin layer chromatography (TLC). The developed chromatograms after being revealed with different techniques were captured using digital camera as a digitizing tool and then evaluated using the image analysis software. The obtained digital densitograms were processed by multivariate data analysis software to explore the inherent correlation between propolis and the surrounding plant materials. The elaborated model succeeded in exploring, for the first time, that Eucalyptus globulus Labill. Tree leaves is the main plant source of Egyptian propolis collected from University of Alexandria Agricultural Research Farm, Apiculture Unit.


This chapter explores boys' embodied performances of gender in school Physical Education (PE). Using a participatory visual research approach, involving video recordings of boys participating in PE, the boys' representations and interpretations of the visual data are explored during both focus groups and individual interviews. In order to interpret the data I draw on Foucault's work on power and disciplinary technologies in which he highlights the body as a site of disciplinary, normalising practices. The boys' visual representations and interpretations illuminate how this disciplinary mechanism is responsible for (re)producing meanings around the normal versus the abnormal masculine body with significant impact on boys' gendered and bodily experiences in PE. The findings in particular highlight how the disciplinary techniques used in this PE setting are aimed at producing suitably docile and gendered bodies which above all are fit, healthy and sporty masculine bodies. In this sense, PE can be seen as a disciplinary machinery which influences how boys inhabit and experience their bodies in different ways which may have long term consequences for how boys perceive their bodies and see themselves as embodied physically educated beings.


This paper proposes a generalized locally weighted group method of data handling (G-LWGMDH) based on evolutionary algorithm (EA) for short-term load forecasting. The locally weighted group method of data handling (LWGMDH) can be derived by combining GMDH with the local regression method and weighted least squares (WLS) regression. The connectivity configuration in the G-LWGMDH is not limited to adjacent layers, unlike the conventional GMDH. Moreover, each node in the G-LWGMDH network has a different number of inputs and a different polynomial order. The performance of the G-LWGMDH depends on choosing these factors before the network is constructed. Therefore, EA is used in this paper to optimally select these factors. In the proposed method, a new encoding scheme is presented, where each chromosome represents the structure of the whole network. The weighting functions bandwidth, the polynomial order for each node, the number of inputs for each node, and the input variables chosen to each node are encoded as a chromosome. The performance of the proposed method (EA-based G-LWGMDH) is evaluated using two real-world datasets. The results show that the proposed method provides a much better prediction performance in comparison with other methods employing the same data.


In this paper, L-lactic acid (LLA) was produced using defatted rice bran hydrolysate. Agricultural waste corn stover bagasse (CSB), under the conditions of good mechanical and chemical stabilities, was used as the immobilized carrier. As a result, a maximal concentration of 88 g L−1 of LLA with an average yield of 0.95 g g−1 and productivity of 5.20 g L−1 h−1 were achieved in a single-stage immobilized repeated-batch fermentation. In addition, when single-stage immobilized continuous fermentation was carried out, a maximal LLA concentration of 84 g L−1 was obtained with an average yield and productivity of 0.97 g g−1 and 5.73 g L−1 h−1, respectively. To balance the increases in the productivity, concentration and yield of LLA, two-stage immobilized continuous fermentation was performed. LLA productivities of 6.20 g L−1 h−1 in the first stage and 2.18 g L−1 h−1 in the second stage were achieved. The whole immobilized fermentation process has potential in L-lactic acid biorefineries and industrialization.


MMPI scores of black, Mexican-American, and white male offenders were compared in order to investigate whether cultural and/or socioeconomomic factors affect this personality inventory. Comparisons were performed on unmatched and matched (education and occupation) groups that utilized all profiles or valid ones only and examined both trait (individual scales) and type (Goldberg indices) differences. Black-white differences on the MA, K, and HY scales appeared to reflect cultural factors, while differences on MF and alcoholism seemed to be accounted for by socieconomic differences among the groups. Cultural factors seemed to be related to differences between Mexican-Americans and white on the L,K,and overcontrolled hostility scales, while socioeconomic factors appeared to explain differences on the Hs scale. Type differences were not apparent except that Mexican-Americans were classified more often as psychiatric, while whites and blacks scored well into the sociopathic range.


Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is widely used because of high resolution imaging capability in all weather and day/night condition. In this paper development of Spotlight SAR simulator is proposed for image quality analysis. Proposed SAR simulator is based on the SAR system design parameters so that SAR image performance can be expected which is essential throughout the full system development procedure from the initial concept design stage to the final in-flight calibration and validation stage. The raw data of ideal point target is first generated by taking account of the flight and imaging geometry and the various SAR system design parameters, and the Spotlight image formation algorithm is implemented in order to obtain the point target response. Finally the image quality of the generated raw data is analyzed in terms of spatial resolution, peak to sidelobe ratio and integrated sidelobe ratio.


Background: Doxorubicin (DOX) cardiotoxicity is dose-dependent and unpredictable. Currently, the clinical methods used for detection of pre-symptomatic DOX-induced cardiotoxicity show low diagnostic sensitivity and identify the existing cardiomyopathy rather than prevent it. It has been reported that DOX cardiomyopathy can occur at low doses, suggesting the presence of increased phenotypic sensitivity by some individuals. Studies have found specific gene expression signatures of circulating blood cells in response to physiological and pathological changes, suggesting that they can be used as biosensors for diagnostic purposes. This study aimed to characterize the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) gene expression profile associated with DOX-induced cardiotoxicity with an ultimate goal to identify biomarkers for early prediction of DOX cardiotoxicity. Materials and Methods. Twenty Sprague Dawley rats were randomized into 2 groups: DOX-treated (n=12) and controls (n=8). DOX-treated rats received a single intraperitoneal dose of 12 mg/kg DOX (similar to 65mg/m 2 for humans) and the controls were injected with saline. All rats were sacrificed 48 hours after DOX administration and blood, and samples from the heart left ventricle (LV) were collected. Histopathological alterations were evaluated microscopically. RNAs was isolated from cardiac LV and PBMCs. Cardiac and PBMC genome-wide expression profiling were performed using Illumina Rat Ref-12 BeadChip microarrays. For statistical analysis the raw data were log 2 transformed and median normalized. The differential analysis per gene was performed using a 2-sample (control vs. DOX-treated) Student9s t-test. Statistical significance was set at false discovery rate (FDR) Results. A total of 1406 transcripts were differentially expressed in the hearts (247 upregulated and 1159 downregulated) and 1526 in PBMCs (271 upregulated and 1255 downregulated) between DOX-treated rats and control rats. Of these 1237 genes (92%) were similarly differentially regulated (179 upregulated and 1058 downregulated) both in the hearts and PBMCs. Fifty metabolic/signaling pathways were significantly affected by DOX-treatment. The top ten of these include oxidative phosphorylation; cell proliferation and differentiation; TGF, WNT and cytoskeletal remodeling; insulin signaling; cell adhesion; regulation of amino acid metabolism, cytoskeleton remodeling, PI3K/AKt signaling and CCR5 signaling in macrophages and T lymphocytes. Discussion: The results from this study showed that PBMC gene expression profile reflected a similar pattern in the hearts of rats treated with DOX and provide a novel and important information about the feasibility of the PBMC as a surrogate marker for DOX cardiotoxicity. The data obtained lay a foundation for further clinical studies to identify the cardiotoxicity risk, predict DOX-treatment response and ultimately to allow the anti-cancer therapy to be tailored to individual patients. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2011;71(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-20-05.


Aim. To study the structure of appealability of the population for emergency medical care for cardiac reasons, and the conformity between the cardiac cause and diagnosis. Methods. Analyzed was the statistical data of appealability of the population for emergency medical care for cardiac reasons in a large industrial center of the Republic of Tatarstan, city of Kazan. Register cards of ambulance calls for the year 2010 served as materials for the study. Results. It was established that cardiac reasons account for 30% of all adult requests for emergency medical care. The main flow (96.4%) was formed by the primary appeals to the ambulance station, and much less frequently (3.6%) by primarily detectable visits to health institutions for acute forms of ischemic heart disease and arrhythmias. Analyzing the structure of cardiac reasons in nature of the requests for care it was revealed that the proportion of disease with a sudden cardiac profile is 37.1%, with acute care of different profiles — 44.5%, sudden illness of other profiles — 16.5%, other — 1.9%. The proportion of disease with a sudden cardiac profile in the structure of other reasons for seaking medical care is 5.5%. During primary referral to the ambulance station the frequency of diseases with a sudden cardiac profile varies depending on the reason and ranges from 24 to 38.9%. Conclusion. These established features of the analysis of appealability of the population for emergent medical care for cardiac reasons provides the basis for the establishment and improvement of the algorithm of questions to ask the caller of an ambulance and its introduction into the work of the dispatching service, which will increase the frequency of conformity of the cause and diagnosis.


Zinc oxide (ZnO) and ZnO:Cu nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized using a rapid, controllable, one-pot and room-temperature pulsed UV-laser assisted method. UV-laser irradiation was used as an effective energy source in order to gain better control over the NPs size and morphology in aqueous media. Parameters effective in laser assisted synthesis of NPs such as irradiation time and laser shot repetition rate were optimized. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra of ZnO NPs showed a broad emission with two trap state peaks located at 442 and 485 nm related to electronic transition from zinc interstitial level (IZn ) to zinc vacancy level (VZn ) and electronic transition from conduction band to the oxygen vacancy level (VO ), respectively. For ZnO:Cu NPs, trap state emissions disappeared completely and a copper (Cu)-related emission appeared. PL intensity of Cu-related emission increased with the increase in concentration of Cu2+ , so that for molar ratio of Cu:Zn 2%, optimal value of PL intensity was obtained. The photocatalytic activity of Cu-doped ZnO revealed 50 and 100% increasement than that of undoped NPs under UV and visible irradiation, respectively. The enhanced photocatalytic activity could be attributed to smaller crystal size, as well as creation of impurity acceptor levels (T2 ) inside the ZnO energy band gap.


Ecotourism has shown significant fast-paced growth and is recently getting tremendous attention in the world. However, there are many challenges in product development and marketing. Suyac Mangrove Eco-Park needs the right marketing research for its community-based ecotourism development for people's welfare, especially the community and the tourists. Hence, the study assesses the level of marketability in terms of 7P's marketing mix and financial performance of Suyac Mangrove Eco-Park.  Likewise, this study sought if a significant difference exists in the level of marketability when respondents are grouped according to designation.


OBJECTIVES
It is not clear whether lymphadenectomy has therapeutic benefit in non-small cell lung cancer management. To avoid unnecessary lymphadenectomy, we attempted to identify clinical or radiologic predictors of pathologic N0 disease in patients with peripheral adenocarcinoma.

METHODS
From August 1992 through April 1997, 269 consecutive patients with peripheral adenocarcinoma who underwent major lung resection and systematic lymph node dissection were enrolled in this study. We reviewed their contrast-enhancement computed tomographic scans and recorded the maximum dimension of tumors both on pulmonary (pDmax) and on mediastinal (mDmax) window setting images, the largest dimension perpendicular to the maximum axis on both pulmonary (pDperp) and mediastinal (mDperp) window setting images, and the size of all detectable hilar-mediastinal lymph nodes. We defined a new radiologic parameter, tumor shadow disappearance rate (TDR), which is calculated with the following formula: TDR = 1 - (mDmax x mDperp)/(pDmax x pDperp).

RESULTS
In multivariable analysis a lower serum carcinoembryonic antigen level and a higher tumor shadow disappearance rate were significant predictors of pathologic N0 disease. Lymph node size on computed tomographic scanning was not a significant predictor. Among 59 patients with a normal preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen level and a tumor shadow disappearance rate of 0.8 or more, 58 (98%) patients had pathologic N0 disease, and the other patient had pathologic N1 disease.

CONCLUSIONS
Mediastinal lymph node involvement was not found in patients with a normal preoperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen level and a tumor shadow disappearance rate 0.8 or more. The patients who meet these criteria may be successfully managed with major lung resection without systematic mediastinal lymphadenectomy.


Thirty-nine patients with fatty hepatosis were treated by a five-day course of inductothermy (short-wave diathermy) on the splenic zone. 20-minute sessions were carried out daily. This resulted in a regular improvement of the antitoxic and absorptive functions of hepatocytes as well as the hepatic blood flow. The favourable effect of this course of inductothermy lasted not less that two weeks after termination of the treatment.


This study builds on knowledge of the interactions of teacher expectations, self-concept and academic achievement. Participants were Psychology students (N =21) fourteen female, and seven male. Their age ranged from eighteen years old to forty-six years old. This was a matched paired, repeated measures design. Participants were given academic tests then matched into two equal groups. The treatment group was told they did exceptionally well, and that they were expected to do well again. The control group was not told anything about their previous performance or what was expected of them. Both groups were given similar tests as before. We hypothesized that the treatment group would show a greater improvement in part two of this study than the control group. The hypothesis was not supported, t (16.31) = 1.122, p = 1.36, n.s.. We also hypothesized that participants who scored higher on selfconcept would have higher scores on the tests. This hypothesis was supported in some areas with various correlations.


Biologically meaningful and standardized definitions of life stages are essential for demographic studies, especially for endangered and intensively managed species such as rhinoceros. Focusing on the black rhinoceros Diceros bicornis, we argue that standardized biological definitions of calf, subadult, and adult, rather than age classes, provide the appropriate basis for black rhinoceros demography. Age classes do not correlate well with the risks of mortality nor characterize, at least for females, the attainment of reproductive maturity. Black rhinoceros demography based on age classes, typical of existing literature, obscures the significance of studies of mortality and fecundity. Comparison of studies also requires standardized definitions. We propose biologically meaningful definitions of life stages appropriate for the demography of the black rhinoceros and encourage the community of rhinoceros researchers to reach consensus on standardized, demographically appropriate definitions for adoption for each rhinoceros species.


Nodding is an important factor in human communication, providing a physical cue for socially communicative acts such as turn taking, backchanneling, and confirmation. In this article, we describe a vision-based online head nodding detector that works with monocular camera images. Using SVM regression, our system estimates the head pose based on facial landmarks. Subsequence dynamic time-warping is then used to compare head pose features against nod templates. In contrast to many other previous implementations, our system was evaluated with study participants who were not instructed to reply by nodding, and shows good results while maintaining a low false positive rate.


This study investigates and analyses the scope and limitations of human resource management (HRM) in a distinctive organisational and social context using a casestudy of management policies and employee responses at the Bank of Thailand (BoT ) at the turn of the century. The theoretical framework for the study is developed through a discussion of influential academic approaches to HRM and some of the main critical commentaries. The main objective of the thesis is to analyse the scope and limitations of the application and implementation of HRM in such a setting. The research uses a qualitative case-study method of research, based on interviews, documentary analysis and participant observation, linked to and informed by actual work experience. It also seeks to place the experience of organisational changes in the BoT in the context of wider developments in work and e:,.ip loyment relations in Thailand. There are three main arguments in this study. Firstly, a `generalised' HRM approach does not set out to accommodate the specificity of organisational activities or the differences between different groups within the org, inisation. Secondly, an `idealised' HRM programme fails to address the importance of power relations and conflict in organisational change. Finally, human resource specialists remain relatively marginalised and are unable to develop and deploy their expertise because the HRM programme does not recognise the importance oF this problem. These arguments are developed through an analysis of (i) the pre-existing pattern of employment and organisational arrangements at the BoT, which involved both paternalism and the concentration of management authorihy; (ii) the origins and rationale of the HRM programme at the Bank, with particular reference to the roles of senior management and outside consultants; and (iii) a detailed discussion of the responses of Bank employees, both managers and other staff, that addresses the character and sources of their mixed responses, involving acceptance and sometimes enthusiasm but also uncertainty and criticism.


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

Background: Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have been extensively associated with disease conditions, and shown to be involved in tumorigenesis. In the current study, we aimed to identify miRNAs which are present specifically in the serum of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) patients and correlate these miRNAs with clinical outcomes. Method: A pilot study was first conducted to profile the expression of 754 miRNAs using the Taqman® microRNA Array and identified 89 miRNAs that can be detected at high levels in more than 30% of samples. In this study, we applied a two-stage design with discovery phase of 280 cases followed by the validation phase of 276 cases using the Fluidigm BioMark™ System to assess whether these 89 miRNAs were associated with bladder cancer clinical outcomes. Results: Among 280 cases in the discovery phase, 134 recurrence events were observed. Further stratification by treatment showed that 147 patients received Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) treatment and 78 patients received transurethethral resection only (TUR). COX regression on dichotomized expression of miRNAs revealed that 2 and 6 miRNAs were associated with recurrence in the BCG group and the TUR group with p-values <0.05, respectively. The most significant observed association with recurrence had p-values of 0.008(BCG) and 0.005 (TUR). We constructed risk scores for recurrence using previous miRNAs identified by COX regression. Patients with high risk scores had significantly shorter recurrence-free survival in BCG group (p=0.006, mean survival time 9.04 and undefined for high risk and low risk scores) but not in TUR group possibly due to small sample size (p=0.114, mean survival time 4.60 and 14.04). We are in the progress of further verifying associations between candidate miRNAs and clinical outcomes in an additional 276 NIMBC samples. Conclusion: Our preliminary results demonstrate the potential of miRNAs as predictive markers for NMIBC recurrence.

Citation Format: Shu-Hong Lin, Jie Lian, Yuanqing Ye, Colin P. Dinney, Xifeng Wu. Predictions for recurrence of non-muscle invasive bladder cancers by circulating miRNAs. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 3827. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-3827


Novel memory circuits based on variable-resistance devices (such as memristors) have been recently proposed to overcome the limitations of CMOS based memories. These novel memories although based on different technologies, all share the principle of storing information as the resistance value imposed to a variable-resistance devices. Another promising application of memristors is in content-addressable memory (CAM). The study of memristor based CAM design has become increasingly important with the advent of new hybrid CMOS molecular technologies. To this end, we present a two-transistor-memristor (2T2M) bitcell for CAM design, suitable for low-power applications. The proposed circuit consists of memristors to store data and transistors as access devices, and utilizes complementary logic values at the input. We present detailed simulation based characterization (for both full match and partial match cases) and analysis, considering different word sizes of the proposed bitcells, including full parasitics, using BPTM 45-nm CMOS device models.


Integral of single variable functions is an important issue in calculus. This problem is widely applied in many fields such as physics, economics, etc. Systems for automatic solving integral problems are necessary tools in education. They support students and teachers in learning and teaching mathematics. Current computer algebra systems such as Maple, Mathematica, etc can solve integral problems. However, they output the result only or are limited to give the complete solution. This paper presents a model for representing knowledge about single variable functions and proposes some algorithms for solving integral problem automatically. These algorithms mimic the human way of thinking and produce the solution that explains the calculus process.


Power system engineers and design engineers use normalized values for the variables. This paper presents dynamic modeling and simulation of 3-phase induction motor using dq0 axis transformation of normalized stator and rotor variables in the synchronous reference frame assisted by MATLAB/SIMULINK. For this purpose, the relevant electrical differential equations and mechanical differential equation, known by electrical machine researchers, are stated at the beginning and then generalized model in synchronous reference frames of 3- phase induction motor is developed and implemented by using MATLAB/SIMULINK.


INTRODUCTION
In April 2012 the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford became a major trauma centre (MTC). The British Orthopaedic Association and British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons joint standards for the management of open fractures of the lower limb (BOAST 4) require system-wide changes in referral practice that may be facilitated by the MTC and its associated major trauma network.

METHODS
From 2008 to 2013 a multistep audit of compliance with BOAST 4 was conducted to assess referral patterns, timing of surgery and outcomes (surgical site infection rates), to determine changes following local intervention and the establishment of the MTC.

RESULTS
Over the study period, 50 patients had soft tissue cover for an open lower limb fracture and there was a significant increase in the proportion of patients receiving definitive fixation in our centre (p=0.036). The median time from injury to soft tissue cover fell from 6.0 days to 3.5 days (p=0.051) and the median time from definitive fixation to soft tissue cover fell from 5.0 days to 2.0 days (p=0.003). The deep infection rate fell from 27% to 8% (p=0.247). However, in 2013 many patients still experienced a delay of >72 hours between injury and soft tissue cover, primarily owing to a lack of capacity for providing soft tissue cover.

CONCLUSIONS
Our experience may be relevant to other MTCs seeking to identify barriers to optimising the management of patients with these injuries.


This technical report describes the IDLab submission for track 1 and 2 of the VoxCeleb Speaker Recognition Challenge 2021 (VoxSRC-21). This speaker verification competition focuses on short duration test recordings and cross-lingual trials. Currently, both Time Delay Neural Networks (TDNNs) and ResNets achieve state-of-the-art results in speaker verification. We opt to use a system fusion of hybrid architectures in our final submission. An ECAPA-TDNN baseline is enhanced with a 2D convolutional stem to transfer some of the strong characteristics of a ResNet based model to this hybrid CNN-TDNN architecture. Similarly, we incorporate absolute frequency positional information in the SE-ResNet architectures. All models are trained with a special mini-batch data sampling technique which constructs mini-batches with data that is the most challenging for the system on the level of intra-speaker variability. This intra-speaker variability is mainly caused by differences in language and background conditions between the speaker's utterances. The cross-lingual effects on the speaker verification scores are further compensated by introducing a binary cross-linguality trial feature in the logistic regression based system calibration. The final system fusion with two ECAPA CNN-TDNNs and three SE-ResNets enhanced with frequency positional information achieved a third place on the VoxSRC-21 leaderboard for both track 1 and 2 with a minDCF of 0.1291 and 0.1313 respectively.


Cancer is one of the top deadliest diseases in the US and worldwide. Metastasis, the dissemination of cancer cells from the primary tumors to distant organs, is responsible for 90% of solid tumor-related deaths. Tumor invasion and metastasis is a multistep process in which loss of cell-cell adhesion, increased proteolysis, and cell motility has been shown to be critical steps. Extracellular ATP is potentially a very important factor involved in tumor invasion and metastasis because both cell detachment and migration require energy, which is known to be mainly provided by ATP. Recent studies have indicated that the extracellular microenvironment of tumors contains much higher concentrations of ATP than normal tissues of the same cell origins. Our recent studies demonstrated that extracellular ATP is taken up by cancer cells through macropinocytosis and other endocytosis and promotes cancer cell growth, survival, and drug resistance (1-3). Based on all these, we hypothesized that extracellular ATP (eATP) plays critical roles in the regulation of tumor cell detachment, motility, invasion and tumor metastasis initiation. It was previously shown that ATP-induced purinergic receptor (PR) signaling is involved in metastasis. Our hypothesis is different in that eATP also mediates invasion and metastasis independent of PR signaling. Various bioassays were used in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) A549 cells to test our hypothesis. Our results show that eATP treatment led to a substantially increased number of floating cancer cells, and these cells were viable and formed clones in a clonogenic assay. This indicates that eATP induces cancer cell detachment. Moreover, treatment of eATP also induces cell migration in cell wounding and Transwell migration assays. In vitro invasion assay showed that eATP induced a dose-and time-dependent increase in the invasive capacities of the A549 cells. Western blot analysis indicates that eATP treatment reduced the expression of cell-cell adhesion molecule E-cadherin. PR inhibitors only slightly attenuated these effects. All these suggest novel ATP mechanisms independent of the PR signaling that are unreported before and imply novel targets for inhibiting/preventing metastasis. References 1. Qian et al. Cancer Letters 351; 242-251 (2014). 2. Chen, Qian, and Wu. Free Radical Biol Med 79; 253-263 (2015) 3. Qian et al. Mol Cancer Res 14(11); 1087-1096 (2016) Citation Format: Yanyang Cao, Xuan Wang, Xiaozhuo Chen. A novel mechanism of metastasis: Extracellular ATP promotes invasion and metastasis independent of purinergic receptor signaling [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1968. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-1968


Inventory is one of the important assets owned by the company. Since inventory is an asset, a good and appropriate internal controls are required for the control and management of such merchandise to keep the inventory of the bad things that might happen in order for the business to continue operating. The research method used is qualitative method with descriptive analysis by the data gained from in-depth interview with the owner of the business. From the results of research on PT Albasia Indo Lestari, author can conclude that the internal control of quite low. The lack of professional workers has been the main problem of the business. The practice in the business is also still need improvements and the business should also pay attention to its employees' knowledge and educations so their performances can be improved. There are still many improvements needed so the business can run effective and efficiently.


The abrupt change in the atom-field coupling strength which an atom experiences upon passing into and out of a micromaser cavity leads to changes in the atomic center-of-motion. Very slow (laser-cooled) atoms, however, can be reflected from or tunnel through the cavity, and in the process undergo a new kind of induced emission.


The two dimensional human face image (2DHFI) matrices have to be previously transformed into one dimensional image vectors row by row or column by column In the human face recognition schemes based on the one dimensional principal component analysis (1DPCA), such that the 1DPCA scheme is difficult in accurately evaluating the human face image covariance matrix and is time-consuming in determining the eigenvectors. The two dimensional principal analysis (2DPCA) schemes evaluate the HFI covariance matrix more accurately and determine the corresponding eigenvectors more efficiently than 1DPCA schemes. But, the 2DPCA schemes need many more coefficients for HFI representation than 1DPCA schemes. The binary principal component analysis (B-PCA) replaces floating-point multiplications with integer additions to significantly reduce the time consumption of the procedure. This paper utilizes the binary two dimensional principal component analysis (B2DPCA) to construct an effective human face identification system. The presented algorithm combines the scaling process, histogram equalization process, binary two dimensional principal component analysis (B2DPCA) process, and support vector machine (SVM) scheme to construct a human face identification system. The experimental results show that the presented algorithm has good efficiency for human face identification.


We discuss the most important database research advances, industry developments, role of relational and NoSQL databases, Computing Reality, Data Curation, Cloud Computing, Tamr and Jisto startups, what he learned as a chief Scientist of Verizon, Knowledge Discovery, Privacy Issues, and more.


The present study examined the neural correlates of speech and hand gesture comprehension in a naturalistic context. Fifteen participants watched audiovisual segments of speech and gesture while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to the speech. Gesture influenced the ERPs to the speech. Specifically, there was a right-lateralized N400 effect—reflecting semantic integration— when gestures mismatched versus matched the speech. In addition, early sensory components in bilateral occipital and frontal sites differentiated speech accompanied by matching versus non-matching gestures. These results suggest that hand gestures may be integrated with speech at early and late stages of language processing.


New results on uniform convergence in probability for expansions of Gaussian random processes using compactly supported wavelets are given. The main result is valid for general classes of non stationary processes. An application of the obtained results to stationary processes is also presented. It is shown that the convergence rate of the expansions is exponential.


The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of service quality on Carrefour consumer satisfaction. The object of analysis in this study is Carrefour Pamulang. While the units of analysis are consumers who were found shopping at the time the study was conducted. The research method uses quantitative, descriptive and survey. The analytical method used is a simple linear regression analysis with 84 samples and the sampling technique used is accidental sampling and the determination of the number of samples using the Slovin formula. Furthermore, the study was tested with the stages of analysis that included a descriptive analysis of the questionnaire, a validity test, a reliability test, a classic assumption test, a linear regression test and a coefficient of determination test. Hypothesis test results show that service quality has a positive and significant effect on customer satisfaction with a regression coefficient of 0.435 and determination of 18.9%, while the remaining 81.1% is explained by other variables outside this study, for example location, price, promotion, image and others. This finding proves that consumer satisfaction can be explained by service quality. The better the services provided will increase customer satisfaction, thus loyalty will be born.


The ability to detect the magnetic fields that surround us has promoted vast technological advances in sensing techniques. Among those, magnetoresistive sensors display an unpaired spatial resolution. Here, we successfully control the linear range of nanometric sensors using an interfacial exchange bias sensing layer coupling. An effective matching of material properties and sensor geometry improves the nanosensor performance, with top sensitivities of 3.7% mT–1. The experimental results are well supported by 3D micromagnetic and magneto-transport simulations.


Background: Coagulase negative Staphylococci (CoNS) are normal inhabitants of the skin and mucous membranes and thus have been dismissed for a long time as culture contaminants even if they have been isolated from sterile specimens. The risk factors for CoNS infections include patients who are immunocompromised, implanted with foreign bodies or with indwelling devices. The aim of this study was to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns and presence of mecA gene in methicillin resistant CoNS isolated in a teaching and referral hospital in Kenya. Methodology: This was a cross sectional retrospective study. Archived isolates were sub-cultured on 5% sheep blood agar. Speciation and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns were performed by Vitek2 technique. The presence of mecA gene was determined by (PCR). Results: A total of seven species were identified with Staphylococcus epidermidis having the highest percentage at 45.4% and Staphylococcus warneri with the lowest at 2.6%. High resistance to antibiotics that were tested was observed regardless of the source of the isolate. MecA gene was found in 90% of the isolates. Conclusion: Coagulase negative Staphylococci exhibited high levels of resistance generally. Most of the isolates carried the mecA gene. Despite some of the isolates being resistant to Cefoxitin, the mecA gene was not found. There is a possibility that methicillin resistance in these isolates is mediated using a different mechanism.


Kinetic theory (KT) has been successfully used to model rapid granular flows in which particle interactions are frictionless and near elastic. However, it fails when particle interactions become frictional and inelastic. For example, the KT is not able to accurately predict the free cooling process of a vibrated granular medium that consists of inelastic frictional particles under microgravity. The main reason that the classical KT fails to model these flows is due to its inability to account for the particle surface friction and its inelastic behavior, which are the two most important factors that need be considered in modeling collisional granular flows. In this study, we have modified the KT model that is able to incorporate these two factors. The inelasticity of a particle is considered by establishing a velocity-dependent expression for the restitution coefficient based on many experimental studies found in the literature, and the particle friction effect is included by using a tangential restitution coefficient that is related to the particle friction coefficient. Theoretical predictions of the free cooling process by the classical KT and the improved KT are compared with the experimental results from a study conducted on an airplane undergoing parabolic flights without the influence of gravity [Y. Grasselli, G. Bossis, and G. Goutallier, Europhys. Lett. 86, 60007 (2009)10.1209/0295-5075/86/60007]. Our results show that both the velocity-dependent restitution coefficient and the particle surface friction are important in predicting the free cooling process of granular flows; the modified KT model that integrates these two factors is able to improve the simulation results and leads to better agreement with the experimental results.


The light interacting on asymmetric nanostructures can give rise to the phenomenon called extrinsic chirality [1–3], even if the nanostructures are not chiral by themselves. In this cases, light can be manipulated in order to obtain interesting behaviour such as anomalous refraction [4] or circular dichroism [5].


A 7+ year (2001–2008) data set of stratospheric BrO profiles measured by the Optical Spectrograph and Infra-Red Imager System (OSIRIS) instrument, a UV-visible spectrometer measuring limb-scattered sunlight from the Odin satellite, is presented. Zonal mean radiance spectra are computed for each day and inverted to yield effective daily zonal mean BrO profiles from 16 to 36 km. A detailed description of the retrieval methodology and error analysis is presented. Single-profile precision and effective resolution are found to be about 30% and 3–5 km, respectively, throughout much of the retrieval range. Individual profile and monthly mean comparisons with ground-based, balloon, and satellite instruments are found to agree to about 30%. A BrO climatology is presented, and its morphology and correlation with NO2 is consistent with our current understanding of bromine chemistry. Monthly mean Bry maps are derived. Two methods of calculating total Bry in the stratosphere are used and suggest (21.0 ± 5.0) pptv with a contribution from very short lived substances of (5.0 ± 5.0) pptv, consistent with other recent estimates.


This paper describes a fast and simple training method for face detection based on block gradient of the gray level. The gradient orientation is one of the most essential features to describe the image structure. In this paper, the detector is trained just by the positive samples from which the feature values accumulated are regarded as the values' weight to detect. The training set is of 50 faces simples. Each image is divided into three resolutions of 4×4, 8×8 and 16×16 to train the detector for different scales. While the detected value in low resolution is higher than the likelihood threshold, high resolution detector is used for a further detecting. Although the training framework is very simple, the correct detection rate is 91%.


The multimedia interactive conferencing application (MICA), a personal-workstation application for multipoint visual teleconferencing, is described. MICA allows people at two or more locations to share visual material such as documents, photographs, and computer screens in a highly interactive way. It supports the distribution, storage, retrieval, and high-quality display of visuals, real-time interaction by pointing and annotation, and meeting services facilities. The context of multimedia teleconferencing and computer-supported cooperative work is established, relating earlier research to the design of MICA. The services MICA offers are outlined. The handling, compression, and display of multiple media, and the design of a suitable user interface for MICA are discussed. >


Cervical cancer; a health limiting condition focuses on defining the concept of cervical cancer, enumeration of the risk of cervical cancer, explaining the preventive measures, describe the various staging of cervical and finally discuss the various health limitations associated with this very condition. Studies has shown that the following factors such as smoking, grandmultiparity, immunosuppression, sexually transmitted infections (like HIV, Chlamydia infections) Genetic, etc. can increase the susceptibility of an individual to cervical cancer, while human papilloma virus (HPV) has been implicated as a major causative agent to cervical cancer. However, cervical cancer can as well be prevented through primary and secondary preventive measures. The primary prevention is aimed at protecting uninfected women from being exposed to human papilloma virus while secondary prevention is aimed at increasing the health seeking behaviour of those at risk for early detection and management to achieve better prognosis of the disease. The size or extent of cervical cancer can generally be determined using either "TNM staging system or Number staging systems" and the bigger the size, the higher the limitations to the patient. The limitations of cervical cancer comes as a result of advanced cervical cancer or side effect of treatment and this cut across the patient's physiological, Psychological, family and social health respectively. This necessitates the specific roles of nurses both in prevention and treatment of cervical cancer respectively. Thus, when all these efforts are put in place it would help to curb both the incidence and severity of cervical cancer.


Current processors typically embed many cores running at high speed. The main goal of this paper is to assess the efficiency of software parallelism for low level arithmetic operations by providing a thorough comparison of several parallel modular multiplications. Famous methods such as Barrett, Montgomery as well as more recent algorithms are compared together with a novel k-ary multipartite multiplication which allows to split the computations into independent processes. Our experiments show that this new algorithm is well suited to software parallelism.


The artillery rocket system is the sophisticated type of defence system. One of it is Preformed fragment type warhead. The tungsten fragments-ball, needles, cubes etc. are arranged around the charge mass in such a way that on initiation the fragments are propelled with very high velocity by rupturing the ballistic casing. These ballistic casing can be made of different materials according to the aerodynamic loading, structural loads etc. Generally used casing materials are FRP, steel, aluminium. Due to difference in the material properties the fragment velocity, energies and the pressure generated are affected. To study these effect static and dynamic trails prove costly and time consuming. So an alternative method of simulation of warhead with different ballistic casing is presented. During simulation the multilayer fragments are replaced by single layer having equivalent mass as it is difficult to model 20000 no of fragments. Hence the results obtained are in good agreement with the available data.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Multiplane transesophageal echocardiography provides countless tomographic planes through an angle of 180 degrees, thus overcoming the restriction encountered even with biplane transesophageal echocardiography. However, the incremental diagnostic value and clinical usefulness of this technique over biplane transesophageal echocardiography has not been extensively studied.

STUDY POPULATION AND METHODS
In order to evaluate its advantages over biplane imaging, 250 patients (129 male, 121 females) aged 14-86 years, underwent multiplane transesophageal echocardiography. Indications for the study were the following: source of embolism in 83 patients, suspected prosthetic dysfunction in 58 patients, valvular disease in 46 patients, congenital heart disease in 30 patients, aortic disease in 17 patients, intra- or paracardiac masses in 11 patients, and other reasons in 5. All the patients underwent an initial comprehensive diagnostic assessment using only the transverse (0 degree) and longitudinal (90 degrees) plane as the biplane imaging technique. "Off-axis" tomographic sections through the full 0 degree to 180 degrees angle were subsequently obtained by means of the gradual electrical rotation of the transducer. The echocardiographic information obtained by rotating the transducer was then compared to that obtained by biplane imaging to determine whether the additional information provided by "off-axis" sections a) carried diagnostic data; b) were to be considered useful but not diagnostic; or c) irrelevant.

RESULTS
Additional diagnostic information was obtained in 24 out of the 250 patients (9.6%), including the source of embolism in 9 patients, mitral insufficiency in 6 patients, bicuspid aorta in 2 patients, aortic endocarditis in 2 patients, mitral prosthetic dysfunction in 4 patients and complex congenital heart disease in 1 patient. Additional useful but non-diagnostic information was obtained in 162 patients (64.8%). These data mainly allowed a more comprehensive assessment of the cardiac abnormality, enhancing confidence in the transesophageal diagnosis. Finally, data considered to be irrelevant were found in 64 patients (25.6%).

CONCLUSIONS
The present study indicates that the wide range of tomographic planes provided by multiplane transesophageal echocardiography allows a more comprehensive evaluation of cardiac diseases and makes an accurate diagnosis possible in a significant number of cases.


Intestinal malrotation is a congenital condition that can have disastrous, potentially fatal sequelae. It is believed to occur in approximately 1 in 500 live births.1 Malrotation results from failure or interruption of the normal process of rotation, positioning and fixation of the embryonic gut during development, so that it is has a propensity to twist or volve about its mesentery. This interrupts its blood supply, which can lead to infarction of extensive amounts of gut. Malrotated gut is also prone to obstruction by congenital bands of fibrous tissue (Ladd's bands) traversing the bowel externally. The majority of patients with this condition present in early infancy with bilious vomiting; however, if the diagnosis is not considered and prompt action taken to confirm or exclude malrotation, the consequences can be catastrophic.

Bilious vomiting in childhood is a symptom that must be taken seriously because it can indicate serious gut pathology. A diagnosis of malrotation should always be considered in a child of any age with bile stained vomiting. In malrotation this is due to bowel obstruction distal to the ampulla of Vater where the biliary system joins the bowel. Other causes of high intestinal obstruction, such as duodenal stenosis, duodenal atresia or proximal jejunal atresia, are accompanied by bilious vomiting. Non-obstructive causes of bilious vomiting include intestinal ileus secondary to electrolyte imbalance and gastrointestinal infection.2

Some knowledge of the complex embryology of the gut is useful in order to understand the significance of malrotation. Formation of the embryonic gut begins by the 2nd week of gestation. The gut develops from the yolk sac and becomes internalised forming a single short tube lined with endoderm by the 3–4th weeks, joined in its mid-portion to the yolk sac by the vitellointestinal duct. The surrounding layers of mesoderm form the parietal peritoneum and …


: Reducing the noise and improving the sound quality of vehicles' interior space is one of the challenges to enhance passengers' experience. This is an ever-growing issue as entirely electric cars are becoming commonplace, making previously unnoticed noise a significant problem. Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) units are a major noise source in a vehicle's interior space, yet automotive manufacturers only give a maximum dB specification to HVAC unit manufactures. Problematic noise is only typically identified once the unit is within the vehicle at the late stages of a project. Psychoacoustics is the study of human perception to sound, allowing unpleasant noise to be identified within recorded data. Within this study, an industrial prototype HVAC unit was analysed using a 96-channel acoustic camera capable of isolating and locating noise sources from the unit using beamforming. In addition to identifying the location of noise sources, several psychoacoustic metrics were used, such as sharpness and loudness, to identify undesirable noise within an extensive data set due to the vast range of test configurations. Testing was conducted to analyse the unit. Within the initial testing, an 'annoying' sound was identified at a particular motor RPM, and this was located using the camera to an area which indicated that it was a result of structural resonance. In addition, present was a high-frequency source which could not be located accurately. The results of this testing enable modifications to the unit to be made early in its' development, either structurally to alter the resonance of the unit or within the settings to ensure certain RPMs are avoided.


The thin layer drying characteristics of blanch-assisted water yam slices were investigated with respect to its un-blanched water yam slices in a convective hot air oven. The yam slices (diameter 4 cm; thickness 0.8 cm) were dried at temperatures 50, 60 and 70 °C, respectively with a constant air velocity of 0.13 m/s. The drying data obtained were fitted into six existing drying models: Page, Newton, Midilli, Henderson and Pabis, Logarithmic and Diffusion model. Non-linear regression analysis was used to determine the model parameters; the coefficient of determination (R2) and standard error of estimates (SEE) in order to determine the model best fit. The study showed that the drying process occurred in the falling rate drying period. The blanch-assisted slices had a faster drying rate than the un-blanched yam slices. Among the models, the diffusion model gave the overall best fit for the drying data obtained. The effective moisture diffusivity ranged from 3.18×10-8 to 4.47×10-8 m2/s for the blanch-assisted slices and from 4.73×10-8 to 7.33×10-8 m2/s for the un-blanched slices. The activation energies of the blanch-assisted and un-blanched yam slices were 15.5 kJ/mol and 20.1 kJ/mol, respectively. These processing conditions obtained for water yam flour would be suitable for its process design and control thereby enhancing its utilization and overall acceptability.


: The unsteady-state, incompressible and three-dimensional large eddy simulation(LES) was carried out to analyze the structure of turbulent flow fields according to the operating loads of three-dimensional small-size axial fan(SSAF). LES shows the best prediction performance in comparison with any other Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes(RANS) method because static pressure coefficients analysed by LES show a little bit larger than measurements including all flow coefficients. Also, it can be known that the wake of SSAF is divided into from axial flow to radial flow before and behind stall region according to the increase of static pressure through LES analysis.


Spirit possession and the belief in witches and their curses is common in Uganda. This paper discerns a number of common themes that run through many of these experiences. In particular, sex as a motif for deviance and evil is noted as a common feature of many of the possession stories and all contact with spirits is seen as fundamentally dangerous. There is also some commonality in the content of some stories recounted by interviewees. This paper compares the observations and interviews conducted in Uganda and their common themes with Eni's book Saved from the Powers of Darkness, with Ugandan cultural traditions and Ugandan experiences of terrorism to probe the origins of their conceptualisations. Through these comparisons it is possible to note Nigerian influence in at least some Ugandan expressions of the experience of spirit possession. However, Ugandan, rather than Nigerian, traditions and experiences are probably more important overall. Besides the traditions that are noted as influences on the way in which spirit possessions are expressed and experienced, the possibility for the breaking of witches' curses being a cohesive of community activity is noted, as is a connection between the casting out of spirits and the resolve (or at least desire) to live a better, morally reformed, life in accordance with what is being preached in a church. This paper notes evidence that supports Horton's suggestion that spirit possession is the theorisation of the world in order to understand and affect it. Key words : Spirit Possession; Witchcraft; Deliverance; Pentecostalism; Uganda


This study was purposed to investigate the effects of rat marrow mesenchymal stem cell (rMSC) transplantation on left ventricular (LV) function in a rat myocardial infarction model. Myocardial infarction was performed in male Lewis rats by ligating the proximal left coronary artery. Rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: sham operation group (only thoracotomy, n = 8), AMI group (DF12 injection, n = 10), rMSC group (Dil-Labeled rMSC transplantation). At 8 weeks later, the cardiac functions including left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular end systolic pressure (LVESP), left ventricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP), +dp/dtmax and -dp/dtmax were evaluated by echocardiography and cardiac catheterization. The presence and differentiation of engrafted cells were assessed. CD31 was detected by immunohistochemical staining to demonstrate neovascular formation. The results indicated that the cultured in vitro rMSC expressed CD90, CD44, CD105, CD54; did not express CD34, CD45, CD31, as compared with AMI group, rMSC group showed a significant increase of LVEF, LVESP, +dp/dtmax, -dp/dtmax and a significant decrease of LVEDP. Immunofluorescence demonstrated that some transplanted rMSCs were positive for myosin, suggesting that small number of transplanted rMSCs differentiated into cardiac-like cells. Immunostaining showed marked augmentation of capillary density in the rMSC group than that of AMI group. It is concluded that transplanted rMSCs can differentiate into cardiac-like cells and rMSC transplantation can improve LV function after myocardial infarction in rats.


Background : Some of the reported factors that increased the risk for coronary events in hypertensive individuals include elevated total cholesterol (TC), reduced high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) and physical inactivity. Aim : To investigate the effect of continuous exercise training programme on blood pressure and lipid profile in subjects with hypertension. Methods : Two hundred and seventeen male patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension were age-matched and grouped into continuous and control groups. The continuous (n=112; 58.63 ± 7.22 years) group involved in an 8 weeks continuous training (60-79% HR max reserve) programme of between 45 minutes to 60 minutes, while age-matched controls hypertensive (n=105; 58.27± 6.24 years) group remain sedentary during this period. Cardiovascular parameters [Systolic blood pressure(SBP)& diastolic blood pressure (DBP)], VO2max, TC, HDL and Artherogenic Index were assessed. Students' t-test and Pearson correlation test were used in data analysis. Results : Findings of the study revealed significant decreased effect of continuous training programme on SBP, DBP, TC and significant increased effects on VO2max and HDL level at p< 0.05. Also there was a significant negative and positive correlation between changes  in VO2max and changes in TC and HDL respectively. Conclusions : Continuous exercise training programme is an effective adjunct non-pharmacological management for hypertension and a means of normal regulation of lipid profile. Keywords : Hypertension, Blood pressure, Lipid profile, Continuous exercise


Multi-dimensional composite detection technology can realize the spectrum, polarization, intensity imaging three functions, effectively explore and observe the space target. This paper first introduces the current situation of spectrum, polarization and intensity imaging at home and abroad. On this basis, the idea of three-in-one solution of spectral polarization imaging is proposed, and it is believed that spectral polarization imaging detection technology will become the new technology direction of space target monitoring in China.


Primary or idiopathic membranous nephropathy (MN) is distinctive and one of the most common causes of nephrotic syndrome in adults. It is quite prevalent in all races and has no gender predisposition. However, white adults are at more risk of MN. It is a relatively less common entity in pediatric population. We report a case of 12 years old female with idiopathic MN. She had no symptoms suggestive of nephrotic syndrome and was normotensive. She had incidental finding of proteinuria which was investigated, and renal biopsy revealed the features of MN.


The traditional class action is broken, and we propose to replace it with a new mechanism for structuring mass claims: aggregation by acquisition. We argue that legal causes of action should be freely alienable, such that even small claims could be bought and sold. In such a world, financiers could purchase claims (or shares of claims) directly from individual claim holders, assembling a mass of claims that may be negative-value if litigated individually but positive-value when litigated together. Aggregation in this way would solve the same collective action problems as class actions and derivative actions, but without generating the serious pathologies that plague those procedural devices.Our proposal may sound like a fanciful thought experiment, but in fact it is already at work in one small corner of corporate litigation: stockholder appraisal. We present the example of appraisal here — where claims effectively trade with shares of stock and where litigation appears strongly meritorious — as a microcosm of how aggregate litigation would work under our proposal. As we explain in this Article, our proposal would improve the deterrent effect of private litigation, would deliver faster and more concrete relief to injured persons, and would minimize the volume of nuisance litigation. While aggregation by acquisition may hold promise across a broad swath of substantive law, it could most easily be put into practice in corporate and securities litigation. We outline the reforms necessary for doing so. Extending our proposal to other spheres of litigation would be more complex, raising many serious but potentially surmountable obstacles.


Background: Introgressive hybridisation is an evolutionary catalyst producing novel variants able to explore new ecological niches and evolve as new hybrid taxa. However, the role of 'hybrid swarms' – highly variable populations produced following interspecific hybridisation – in generating this evolutionary novelty has been poorly studied. Aims: We examine the alternative origins of tetraploid hybrid derivatives of Senecio vulgaris and S. squalidus, via local polytopic formation or long-distance dispersal from a single perennial hybrid swarm around Cork, Ireland. Methods: Morphometric, isozyme and chloroplast DNA analysis. Results: The Cork hybrid swarm and UK hybrid swarms exhibited a broad range of morphological variation and contained individuals similar to the stable tetraploid hybrid derivatives; S. eboracensis and S. vulgaris var. hibernicus. Chloroplast DNA analysis shows that S. eboracensis did not evolve from the Cork hybrid swarm. However, UK S. vulgaris var. hibernicus populations exhibit a broad range of variation for both chloroplast and isozyme markers, but were not distinguishable from Cork material. Conclusions: Our study confirms that S. eboracensis did not evolve from the Cork hybrid swarm, and while our analyses could not demonstrate this conclusively for S. vulgaris var. hibernicus the ease with which hybrid swarms have been generated in the past makes a polytopic origin for S. vulgaris var. hibernicus the most likely scenario.


Towards non-genetic, precise neural stimulation, we develop a photoacoustic neural stimulation technology. It employs a fiber-based optoacoustic process, in which pulsed light is delivered through an optical fiber into an absorbing layer coated at the tip, resulting in transient heating and generating a localized acoustic wave. We report photoacoustic stimulation in vitro and in vivo through a lab-built fiber based optoacoustic emitter (FOE). Single neuron optoacoustic neural modulation is achieved through a tapered FOE (TFOE) developed with negligible thermal deposition. TFOE single neuron stimulation is shown to be compatible with patch and provides insights towards mechanical modulation of neural systems.


A CRD experiment was conducted to study three different soybean meals on experimental qualitative properties, digestibility of protein and performance in broiler chickens for a 42 day period. A total of 195 day-old Ross 308 male broiler chickens were randomly distributed to 3 dietary treatments with five replicates of 13 chicks each. To measure digestibility of protein, thirty 15-day-old Ross 308 male broiler chickens were randomly distributed to 3 dietary treatments with five replicates of 2 chicks each. Three soybean meals including two Iranian and one Argentinean ones classified according to experimental properties (Urease activity, Protein Solubility and Heat Damaged Index) into classes of high, medium and low quality soybean meals were used. Protein digestibility was similar in different treatments. Weight gain and feed intake only in starter and feed conversion ratio in each period were not affected by treatments. Weight gain and feed intake in growing period increased significantly using high quality soybean meal, However they were not affected by low and medium quality soybean meals. Weight gain and feed intake were not affected by high and low quality soybean meals in finisher and overall and there was not also significant using medium and low quality soybean meals during the overall period. However they decreased by medium quality soybean meal in finisher and overall period. Pancreas and abdominal fat weights at 21d and 42d were not affected by different treatments. Liver weight at 21d was the same in different treatments while it decreased significantly at 42d by medium quality soybean meal.


Similar to Poland, Hungary also experienced a peaceful transition from communism to democracy and market economy. The Hungarian Round Table Talks were organized in 1989, following the successful Polish model. While the Round Table Talks were similarly crucial in Hungary and in Poland in paving the way for institutional and political changes, and concluded in a very successful manner for the opposition parties, conspiracy theories similar to those seen in Poland (see Soral and Kofta in this issue) are proliferating in Hungary as well. The article argues that the rejection of the "compromises" around the transition is due to the very nature of populism: it likes black-and-white, Manichean logic. This article briefly introduces the process of the Round Table Talks and summarizes the literature's findings on the general social psychological impacts of the transitions. Transitions always provide fertile ground for conspiracy theorizing as they are unexpected even with widespread consequences that fall beyond the control of most members of a society. But in Hungary, these conspiracy theories have been politically exploited in order to fuel discontent towards the democratic institutions - and in this way, they were instrumental in the "second transition", the illiberal de-democratization after 2010.


A key challenge to ensuring the rapid transition of robotic systems from the industrial sector to more ubiquitous applications is the development of algorithms that can guarantee safe operation while in close proximity to humans. Motion planning and control methods, for instance, must be able to certify safety while operating in real-time in arbitrary environments and in the presence of model uncertainty. This paper proposes Wrench Analysis for Inertial Transport using Reachability (WAITR), a certifiably safe motion planning and control framework for serial link manipulators that manipulate unsecured objects in arbitrary environments. WAITR uses reachability analysis to construct over-approximations of the contact wrench applied to unsecured objects, which captures uncertainty in the manipulator dynamics, the object dynamics, and contact parameters such as the coefficient of friction. An optimization problem formulation is presented that can be solved in real-time to generate provably-safe motions for manipulating the unsecured objects. This paper illustrates that WAITR outperforms state of the art methods in a variety of simulation experiments and demonstrates its performance in the real-world.


We present a hardware solution that can reliably block most of the malicious TCP traffic at the edge routers while passing the legitimate TCP traffic during a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Internet. By allocating bandwidths separately for TCP, the TCP portion of the bandwidth can be protected. In a simulation study, the filter successfully blocked 99.9% of the attack traffic while legitimate traffic showed nearly identical performance as in the non-attacked condition. This filtering is transparent to the hosts or routers and a filtering device can be easily attached to router ports.


Consolidation of nanocomposite AlMg2/graphite powders, produced by mechanical synthesis in a planetary ball mill, was carried out. Using the methods of Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction analysis, the structural-phase composition of the obtained bulk materials was studied. It was found that the samples have nanocomposite structure consisting of nanocrystalline aluminum and nanosized graphite particles. An increase in the consolidation temperature up to 450 °C leads to the formation of a dispersed phase of aluminum carbide. The effect of graphite percentage and consolidation conditions on the microhardness was estimated. Mechanisms of bulk material hardening are determined. Tribological tests of the obtained nanocomposite materials under conditions of contact interaction with 4Kh5MFS steel at a load of 1–10 N were carried out. Data on the change in the friction coefficient and magnitude of mass wear depending on the consolidation conditions and the graphite content were obtained.


In P2P file sharing systems over mobile cellular networks, the bottleneck of file transfer speed is usually the downlink bandwidth of the receiver rather than the uplink bandwidth of the senders. In this paper we consider the impact of downlink bandwidth limitation on file transfer speed and propose two novel peer selection algorithms named DBaT-B and DBaT-N, which are designed for two different cases of the requesting peer's demand respectively. Our algorithms take the requesting peer's downlink bandwidth as the target of the sum of the selected peers' uplink bandwidth. To ensure load balance on cells, they will first choose a cell with the lowest traffic load before choosing each peer. We also provide a Fuzzy Cognitive Map that can be used to estimate peers' service ability in P2P systems over mobile cellular networks. Simulation results show that in respective cases DBaT-B and DBaT-N can both achieve much better load balance on cells than some traditional algorithms while ensuring favorable file transfer speed.


Summary: Toxin produced by Clostridium botulinum types A, B, E and F may be activated by exposure to trypsin (Duff et al., 1956; Bonventre & Kempe, 1959, 1960; Iida, 1970). In C. botulinum types C and D, the toxicity of C2 toxin, which is a minor toxin produced by both types C and D, is increased when the culture supernatant is treated with trypsin (Jansen & Knoetze, 1971; Eklund & Poysky, 1972). Activation of the major toxins (C, and D), however, has never been reported. The present communication suggests that some strains of C. botulinum type D produce their major toxin in a form that may be activated by trypsin.


Much of the existing literature on the current financialized era of capitalism is guilty of essentializing the US experience. The methodological implication of this conceptual starting point has been that financialization in Europe was, and still is, generally assessed in comparative terms against the yardstick of US developments. This limitation obscures from view the unique trajectory of European finance-led innovation, and consequently, the extent to which European economies have become vulnerable to financial instability and crisis. To remedy this, the present article investigates the micro-foundations of European financialization in the lead-up to the 2007–2008 global financial crisis to uncover the reasons for the surprising severity and persistence of financial instability in Europe. The article argues that while the institutions, actors and practices underpinning European financialization may differ markedly from those in the US, the former were nevertheless at once reconstituted by, and constitutive of, the continuous global process of finance-led restructuring. This work offers insights that go beyond the specificities of European financial capitalism. It facilitates a more nuanced approach to banking and macroprudential policy reform in Europe as well as encourages further research into the financialization of accumulation in other national and regional contexts.


To explain resource heterogeneity, past research focuses on how rivals' resources are hidden from firms and firms accordingly have difficulties accessing them. We argue that resource heterogeneity may also arise when firms are deterred from a technological space upon being shown what resources rivals already possess within that space. To illustrate this deterrence effect, we use patent reexamination certificates, which indicate strategic stakes within a technological space without materially disclosing additional details of the underlying technologies and hence avoid the confounding effect of attracting competition through disclosure. We demonstrate how rivals' reexamination certificates within a technological space induce a firm to subsequently allocate less inventive effort in that space, based on two mechanisms—indications of rivals' developmental speed and exclusionary ability. We further develop these two mechanisms by arguing that the deterrence effect is stronger when rivals' speed is enhanced by their downstream capabilities, or when rivals' exclusion is enhanced by their litigation experiences. Findings suggest that a firm's path of resource accumulation evolves through avoidance of rivals' paths, and deterrence may constitute a viable alternative theory of resource heterogeneity. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Purpose: The study is due to the recent outbreak of global corona virus and is aimed at raising the need for international solidarity and cooperation for the overall development of humanity, starting with the perception that human security threats are increasing and international cooperation and solidarity are collapsing due to each country's selfish response. Method: In order to achieve this purpose, the cause of the current outbreak of COVID-19 and the cause of the collapse of international solidarity was investigated and seek joint reconstruction and cooperation in the international community, focusing on South Korea's K-quarantine system. Results: South Korea played an early leading role in preventing COVID-19, centering on the K quarantine system. Based on this, the COVID-19 response strategy is being transferred to countries around the world. Developed countries such as the United States, Europe, and Japan, however, suffered numerous damage and economic damage due to the failure of early quarantine. In addition, there are differences over the responsibility battle, transparency, vaccine development and distribution of the COVID-19 crisis between the U.S. and China. Conclusion: Today, the COVID-19 crisis is rapidly spreading due to the openness and mobility of the international community as one of human security and poses a major threat to humanity. Due to the imbalance of related substances such as vaccine development, quarantine system, medicines, and masks, there is a serious gap in response between developed and underdeveloped countries. In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, the international community wants to strengthen cooperation and solidarity to contribute to the construction of a bright future for mankind. At the same time, the government will seek ways to overcome the COVID-19 crisis, which has emerged as the biggest threat to health and security, through active participation and support from local governments and civic groups. [Keywords] COVID-19, Human Security, Public Health Emergency of International Concern(PHEIC), World Health Organization(WHO), K-Quarantine Model


Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is well described as a common cause of chronic liver disease, mostly in the obese population. It refers to a spectrum of chronic liver disease that starts with simple steatosis than progresses to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and cirrhosis in patients without significant alcohol consumption. NAFLD in the non-obese population has been increasingly reported and studied recently. The pathogenesis of nonobese NAFLD is poorly understood and is related to genetic predisposition, most notably patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing 33 G allele polymorphism that leads to intrahepatic triglyceride accumulation and insulin resistance. Non-obese NAFLD is associated with components of metabolic syndrome and, especially, visceral obesity which seems to be an important etiological factor in this group. Dietary factors and, specifically, a high fructose diet seem to play a role. Cardiovascular events remain the main cause of mortality and morbidity in NAFLD, including in the non-obese population. There is not enough data regarding treatment in non-obese NAFLD patients, but similar to NAFLD in obese subjects, lifestyle changes that include dietary modification, physical activity, and weight loss remain the mainstay of treatment.


Small transverse displacements of a flat elastic plate are governed by a single linear equation, but large displacements entail stretching of the middle surface and consequent tensions, which interacting with the curvatures (i.e. by 'membrane effect') introduce non-linear terms into the conditions of equilibrium and so make those equations no longer independent. The second-order terms were formulated by von Kármán in 1910, but the amended ('large deflexion') equations have been solved only in a few cases, and then with considerable difficulty. In this paper four examples are treated approximately by a technique based on relaxation methods. The first and second are relatively simple problems which have been solved exactly and so serve as test cases, viz. (a) a circular plate, with clamped edge, which sustains a uniform transverse pressure and (b) a circular plate, with 'simply supported' edge, which buckles with radial symmetry under uniform edge thrust. The third and fourth examples present great difficulties to orthodox analysis: they are (c) a square plate, sustaining uniform transverse pressure, of which the edges are clamped, (d) a square plate buckled by actions which, clamping its edges, tend initially to induce a state of uniform shear.


Currently, overweightness and obesity are the biggest health problem faced in the twenty-first century. The major causes of this problem are lack of physical activity and excessive consumption of processed food. Individuals who are overweight typically show abnormal cardiovascular function, and obesity is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, such as hypertension, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. Hypertension has been found to occur more frequently in overweight compared to lean individuals and poses a risk for hypertension development in young overweight adults. Obesity has also been found to be associated with reduced life expectancy and sudden death largely through its negative effect on the cardiovascular system. Degradation of a number of key autonomic cardiovascular markers, such as reduced heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity, is associated with the development of these lifestyle diseases. Also alterations in the metabolic profile, such as dyslipidemia and hyperglycemia, can lead to impairment in cardiac structure and function. Regular exercise has been widely used as preventative medicine to reverse autonomic, cardiovascular, and metabolic decline. Thus, incorporating regular exercise into daily activity may prevent the development of these cardiovascular diseases and accompanying risk factors.


The simulation of erodible dambreak using two-layer shallow water equations and SCHR scheme are elaborated in this paper. The results show that the two-layer SWE model in a good agreement with the data experiment which is performed by Louvain-la-Neuve Université Catholique de Louvain. Moreover, the parallel algorithm with multicore architecture are given in the results. The results show that Computer I with processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2500 CPU Quad-Core has the best performance to accelerate the computational time. Moreover, Computer III with processor AMD A6-5200 APU Quad-Core is observed has higher speedup and efficiency. The speedup and efficiency of Computer III with number of grids 3200 are 3.716050530 times and 92.9% respectively.


The aim of this research is to examine the predictive characteristics of prospective classroom teachers on their creative personality traits and their perceptions of 21st century skills competency. This research was carried out according to the correlational survey model, which is one of the quantitative research methods. The participants of this research are prospective classroom teachers studying at a university in Turkey in the spring term of 2020-2021. The scales used in the research were sent to the students online (Google Forms). In this research, the Creative Personality Traits Scale and the 21st Century Skills and Competences Scale were used as data collection tools. The relationships between the dimensions determining the scale levels of the prospective classroom prospective teachers were examined through correlation and regression analyses. t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post-hoc (Tukey, LSD) analyzes were used to examine the differences in scale levels according to the descriptive characteristics of the prospective classroom teachers. The regression analysis performed to determine the cause-effect relationship between creative personality total and century skills proficiency total was found to be significant. In this context, it can be suggested to carry out activities to improve the creativity of prospective teachers who will raise the new generation so that they can develop their 21st century skills.