Much rhetoric has appeared over the last few years about the desirability of the basic-needs approach to development planning. The basic-needs approach, however, has remained more of a proclamation of good intentions than a strategy for development. Operationalising it poses certain difficulties. In this article, two novel ways of transforming the basic-needs philosophy into concrete policies and strategies are presented. The discussion consists of explanations of planning tools entitled basic-needs activities and product path analysis. Finally, some brief comments are offered on the use of popular participation in a basic-needs strategy and possible trade-offs between basic-needs satisfaction and growth.


This paper presents the stabilization of the input DC voltages of five-level diode-clamped (FLDC) voltage source inverters (VSI). We propose a cascade circuit consisting of a FLDC rectifier a FLDC VSI. First, the different cascade parts and their control strategies are presented. The stability problem of the input DC voltages of the inverter is investigated. To remedy to this problem, two solutions are proposed: the first one uses the linear feedback control algorithm and the second one uses the non-linear control by the Lyapunov technique at the FLDC rectifiers. As an application, the performances of the double star induction machine (DSIM), as fed by the cascade, are observed. The obtained results are full of promise concerning the use of multilevel diode clamped inverters in high voltage/high power applications such as electrical traction.


Controlled environment experiments showed that velvetleaf plants grown under drought stress or low temperature (LT) treatments had greater leaf epicuticular wax (ECW) deposition compared to plants grown in soil with moisture at field capacity (FC) or a high temperature (HT) regime. Light intensity did not affect ECW deposition; however, increasing light intensity decreased the leaf ECW ester content and increased the secondary alcohol content. Plants grown at an LT regime or under FC had leaf ECW with fewer hydrocarbons and more esters than those grown at an HT or drought stress regime. Velvetleaf absorption of acifluorfen increased as light intensity decreased for plants grown in adequate soil water content, while the opposite was true for drought-stressed plants. Velvetleaf absorption of acifluorfen was approximately 3 and 10 times greater, respectively, with the addition of 28% urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) in comparison to crop oil concentrate (COC) or no adjuvant, regardless of the environmental treatments. Plants absorbed more acifluorfen when subjected to the LT regime in comparison to the HT regime when UAN was the adjuvant, while the opposite was true when COC was the adjuvant. Velvetleaf absorption of acifluorfen was not affected by drought stress when COC or no adjuvant was used and varied between studies when UAN was used. Velvetleaf absorption of bentazon was greatest for plants grown under HT/FC or high light/FC treatments and least with plants grown under HT/drought stress or low light/drought stress treatments, regardless of the adjuvant. However, bentazon absorption was higher with the addition of an adjuvant and for plants grown at a high light intensity or FC condition compared with medium to low light intensity or drought stress treatments. Nomenclature: Acifluorfen; bentazon; velvetleaf Abutilon theophrasti Medic. ABUTH.


Functional vasoconstriction, affecting mainly the arteriolar portion of the vascular system, is now generally conceded to play a major part in the production of the peripheral resistance in cases of essential hypertension. The lack of organic change in the arterioles of some hypertensive patients and the drop in blood pressure often seen after the administration of vasodilating and sedative drugs and after section of the splanchnic and other sympathetic nerves, as well as the marked fluctuations in blood pressure in the same persons at various times, all suggest this to be true. The generalized narrowing observed ophthalmoscopically of the retinal arterioles of patients with the various forms of diffuse vascular disease associated with hypertension is regarded by many as due to spastic constriction or increased tonus in the arterioles rather than to organic change. The recent measurements of the caliber of the retinal arterioles in health and in disease made


PREGLACIAL AND INTERGLACIAL DEPOSITS IN THE TATRA MTS The travertine cemented talus breccia, discovered at the summit of Mount Ciemniak in the Czerwone Wierchy massif of the Western Tatra Range (fig. 1), has been formed at the base of the mountain slope – whose reconstruction is shown in fig. 2 - under completely different morphological conditions. In order to determine the age of the breccia the writer has devoted some time to extensive geomorphological speculations primarily concerned with the detection within the Tatra Mts. of relicts of Preglacial morphology (fig. 3). According to Lucerna's Qpinion (1908) these forms were nearly completely obliterated during the Pleistocene in result of incision work caused by glacier cirques and periglacial activities. It is the writer's belief that conditions which had prevailed during the Quarternary in the Czerwone Wierchy massif allowed for the persistance there of Preglacial relief forms but slightly altered. It is not out of the question that the flat plane summit surface (2100 m.) here, as in the Karkonosze Range of the Sudeten Mts., represents relicts of the Miocene peneplain which developed during the first cycle of erosion after the Paleogene emersion. Hence the polygenic character of Preglacial surface. The age of the talus breccia cannot be accurately determined. Most probably it is a Preglacial deposit, though it may be possibly referred to Miocene or interglacial times. Talus breccias have been also recorded from several other sites. These, owing to their morphological position, should be referred to the interglacial period. One of these breccias has a moraine cover (fig. 4). Within the Tatra Mts., besides relatively compact travertine deposits, some now inactive talus fans are referable to the last interglacial period. These fans are situated within valleys where the work of glaciers during the last glaciation was not very intense.


Abstract Lead exposure in India is common in industries that may present with nonspecific signs and symptoms or symptoms of toxicity, depending on the amount of lead absorbed. We are presenting two case reports of occupational lead exposure in a lead-based battery manufacturing unit, which were presented as intestinal obstruction. Both the patients aged 28 and 24-year old presented with complaints of pain in the abdomen with blood lead levels of 61.1 and 85 μg/dl, respectively. The diagnosis was made clinically before any other radiological investigation or intervention. Both the patients were treated conservatively with D-Penicillamine, following which, both the patients improved symptomatically and the blood lead level also decreased. The importance of a detailed history of occupation & clinically diagnosing such patient will avoid unnecessary investigation and intervention. This will help to reach the correct diagnosis in such cases.


Structure results are proved for submanifolds of Euclidean spaces with semiparallel Ricci tensor under certain additional conditions. Minimal submanifolds are studied in greater detail. A geometric description of a class of normally flat semi-Einstein submanifolds with multiple principal curvature vectors is presented.


— In this article we try to expend the theory of high gradient laser excited electron accelerator by an inverse free-electron laser. The wiggler used in our scheme is produced by segmented cylindrical electrodes with applied oscillatory voltages. We can describe the inverse free electron accelerator by the equations that govern the electron motion in the allied fields of both laser pulse and Paul wiggler field. By focusing on electron energy and electron trajectories and using fourth order Runge-Kutta method, it is found that the electron energy reaches different peaks for different initial axial velocities. It is perceived that a suitable small initial axial velocity of e-beam procreates substantially high energy gain. According to transverse confinement of the electron beam in a Paul wiggler, there is no applied axial guide magnetic field in this devise.


Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (PSAK) 73 regarding leases has been in effect since 2020 in Indonesia. The standard adopts International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) 16, which requires companies to record all lease transactions as finance leases. This study examines differences in capital structure and company profitability before and after implementing PSAK 73 in Indonesia. This study uses financial report data for retail and transportation sub-sector companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) in 2019 and 2020 with a population of 160 observations. The secondary data is sourced from the Indonesia Stock Exchange website. Based on purposive sampling, the total number of observations that can be used in this study is 104 observations. Hypothesis testing was carried out using a paired sample t-test. This study found that in the first year after the implementation of PSAK 73, the capital structure from debt is higher than that from equity. This condition is different from the period before the implementation of PSAK 73. Then the level of profitability in the first year of implementation of PSAK 73 decreased compared to the period before the implementation of PSAK 73. This research recommends that the Financial Services Authority implement risk mitigation rules for companies registered on the IDX regarding the financial impact of Indonesia's new financial accounting standards.


In this paper, an offline flight planner that computes an efficient coverage trajectory for a quad-rotors UAV is presented. The planner consists of three steps: mission definition, automatic path planning and trajectory generation. The proposed planner, as a useful tool, allows an UAV operator to easily define and generate a coverage trajectory for any specific task. The resultant trajectory can be dispatched to a quad-rotors with trajectory tracking controller for the missions that require a complete area coverage. Keywords—Coverage trajectory planning, Aerial robots, Quadrotors.


Several high-resolution A/D and D/A converters such as "dual" slope conversion, delta modulation, R/2R ladder networks with trimming or adaptive adjustment procedures and "dynamic element matching" are discussed. Special attention is paid to dynamic characteristics like signal-to-noise ratio, linearity, distortion and "glitch"-free operation. In complete A/D and D/A conversion systems the anti-aliasing filters must not be forgotten and form part of the total system. Partitioning of the conversion problem into a digital signal processing part, including oversampling and digital filtering, and a converter part improves the system performance. In D/A converters an increase in resolution of 18 to 20 bits can be realized with a linear phase characteristic, while in A/D converters this maximum is at the 16 to l8 bits level. Noise in the sample-and-hold function is the limiting factor in A/D converter systems.


The axonemal organization expressed in the sperm flagella of the cecidomyiid dipteran Asphondylia ruebsaameni is unconventional, being characterized by the presence of an exceedingly high number of microtubular doublets and by the absence of both the inner dynein arms and the central pair/radial spoke complex. Consequently, its motility, both in vivo and in vitro, is also peculiar. Using monoclonal antibodies directed against posttranslational modifications, we have analyzed the presence and distribution of glutamylated and glycylated tubulin isoforms in this aberrant axonemal structure, and compared them with those of a reference insect species (Apis mellifera), endowed with a conventional axoneme. Our results have shown that the unorthodox structure and motility of the Asphondylia axoneme are concomitant with: (1). a very low glutamylation extent in the alpha-tubulin subunit, (2). a high level of glutamylation in the beta-subunit, (3). an extremely low total extent of glycylation, with regard to both monoglycylated and polyglycylated sites, either in alpha- or in beta-tubulin, (4). the presence of a strong labeling of glutamylated tubulin isoforms at the proximal end of the axoneme, and (5). a uniform distribution of glutamylated as well as glycylated isoforms along the rest of the axoneme. Thus, our data indicate that tubulin molecular heterogeneity is much lower in the Asphondylia axoneme than in the conventional 9+2 axoneme with regard to both isoform content and isoform distribution along the axoneme.


Using the mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking of scale invariance obtained from the dynamics of maximal rank field strengths, it is possible to spontaneously generate confining behavior. Introducing a dilaton field, the study of nontrivial confining and de-confining transitions appears possible. This is manifest in two ways at least: One can consider bags which contain an unconfined phase in the internal region and a confined phase outside and also one obtains a simple model for deconfinement at high temperature from the finite temperature dynamics of the dilaton field.


In every system that strives to achieve free trade, it is necessary to balance this aim with the protection of other values. Such balancing not only has strong implications for competitiveness and economic results, but also goes to the very heart of national regulatory autonomy, constitutionalism and sovereignty. The author first discusses the way in which this issue has been dealt with in the EU in the context of Article 28 EC, and explains how the ECJ has been changing the scope of the Article as well as extending the list of possible justifications for national measures caught by it. The paper then turns to an analysis of comparable issues in the WTO. Emphasis is given to the problems of comparing these two organisations, their mutual influences and convergence. Finally, the author discusses possible approaches and tests which could accommodate free trade as well as the protection of other values.


This guide is designed for faculty needing information on how to use library resources for citation analysis - how many times an article has been cited, databases used for this and the different metrics being used to evaluate an author's body of work Terms and their definitions that are used in the bibliometric field


The mammographic findings in 18 patients with invasive papillary carcinoma were studied retrospectively. The mammograms of 10 patients showed a multinodular pattern, and seven patients had solitary nodules. One patient had an irregular, ill-defined mass in the retroareolar region. Two patients were found to have carcinoma in the contralateral breast, and two patients had intraductal carcinoma adjacent to the invasive papillary carcinoma. The varied mammographic features that may occur with this rare breast malignancy are discussed.


Objectives: Bacterial meningitis is a major global issue. Despite medical advancement in childcare in the last couple of decades, bacterial meningitis is still causing significant mortality and morbidity. We planned this study to find out the frequency as well acute complications related to bacterial meningitis in our setting. Study Design: Observational descriptive study. Setting: Department of Pediatrics, Unit-II, Children Hospital Chandka Medical College / SMBBMU, Larkana. Period: 1st August 2018 to 31st March 2019. Material & Methods: A total of 78 children, aged 1 month to 10 years with bacterial meningitis were included. Acute complications were noted in all the children during their hospital stay along with mortality. A predesigned proforma was used to record all the study data. Results: Out of a total of 78 cases, 48 (61.5%) male and 30 (38.5%) female. There were 13 (16.7%) children between aged 1 to 3 months, 25 (32.1%) between 3 to 6 months, 27 (34.6%) between the age of 6 months and 5 years and 13 (16.7%) above the age of 5 years. Complications were noted in 33 (42.3%) cases, seizure following 4 days followed by subdural effusion and hydrocephalus were the commonest. Children having complications were compared with those who had none, hospitalization history prior to the admission turned out to be statistically significant (p = 0.010). Overall, mortality was noted in 3 (3.9%) children. Conclusion: Bacterial meningitis still remains a major disease related to significant morbidity and mortality. Most complications are seen in young children. Seizure and subdural effusion are noted to be the most frequent complications.


We have the investigated base mediated asymmetric intramolecular oxidopyrylium-alkene [5 + 2]-cycloaddition reaction which resulted in the synthesis of functionalized tricyclic ring systems containing an 8-oxabicyclo[3.2.1]octane core. Intramolecular cycloaddition constructed two new rings, three new stereogenic centers, and provided a tricyclic cycloadduct with high diastereoselectivity and isolated yield. We incorporated an α-chiral center and an alkoxy alkene tether on the substrates and examined the effect of the size of alkyl groups and alkene tether length on diastereoselectivity. The requisite substrates for the oxidopyrylium-alkene cycloaddition reaction were synthesized in a few steps involving alkylation of optically active α-hydroxy amide, furyllithium addition, reduction of resulting ketone, and Achmatowicz reaction followed by acylation of a lactol intermediate. We have proposed stereochemical models for the [5 + 2] cycloaddition reaction via the oxidopyrylium ylide. Interestingly, the alkoxy substituent on the stereocenter and the chain length are responsible for the degree of stereoselectivity of the cycloadduct.


The analytical relations that make it possible to determine the components of the cutting forces arising during the turning on the front and rear surfaces of the cutter and take into account the friction and cutting processes have been defined. It has been shown that taking into account the friction of the rear surface of the cutting tool against the material being cut results in the existence of minimum of the radial component of the cutting force as a function of the friction coefficient. In this case the minimum of the radial component of the cutting force is shifted towards the lower values of the friction coefficient with decreasing intensity, and increasing the rake (including both positive and negative values), which is true for both cutting and abrasive treatment. On the basis of analytical relationships cutting and friction energy in the overall energy balance of machining have been evaluated and the conditions to reduce the friction energy have been defined. The reliability of the theoretical solutions has been confirmed experimentally. It has been stated that with the cutting speed increase in turning the tangential and radial components relation increases due to the decrease in the intensity of friction on the rear surface of the cutting tool. As this takes place the angle of action that is equal to the difference of the conventional angle of friction of the material being cut and the front surface of the cutting tool and the rake angle decreases. This shows that the friction coefficient decreases with the increase in cutting speeds due to increasing temperature and cutting power in the overall energy balance of the turning process. Practical recommendations to improve the efficiency of the machining by reducing frictional energy have been made. The technique of computational and experimental determination of the parameters of the power intensity of the cutting process has been offered


This study was carried out at the Animal House of Animal Production Faculty, University of Padjadjaran, from 21 st March to 8 th May 2003. The objective of the research was to investigate the effects of transferring the rumen liquid of goat on the ram's carcass cuality and pelvic and kidney fat percentation. The number of experimental animal used were 14 lambs with a mean age of  10 months and body weight range of between 13.5 and 17.0 kg. The animals were placed in a big animal house with tile roof, wooden floor, and wooden/wire wall. The big animal house was then divided into 14 pens with an individual size of 1.0 x 0.75m in each of which was confined an experimental animal. The diet of the animals during the experimental period was field grass having contents of 21.83% dry matter, 12.25% crude protein, and 30.25% crude fibre. The grass was offered ad libitum without concentrate addition. Data collected were analysed with t test with two treatments: DK = control rams and DP = treatment rams (goat's rumen fluid as much as 50% of rumen wight). The results of study showed that rumen fluid transfer increased (P<0.05) the recipients carcass quality and the pelvic and kidney fat percentation.


Akabane, Aino and Chuzan virus are arthropod-borne (arbo) viruses mainly associated with reproductive failures in cattle. We investigated apoptosis in Vero cells (C-1586) infected with Akabane, Aino and Chuzan virus. The fragmentation of chromosomal DNA was simultaneously detected with the progress of cytopathic effect from 48 hr to 72 hr post infection, depending on viruses. Although the treatment of cycloheximide blocked apoptosis in Vero cells infected with three viruses, actinomycin D did not prevent DNA oligomerization, thus indicating that de novo viral protein synthesis is critical for viral apoptosis. In addition, the activation of caspase-3 was also detected in Vero cells by indirect fluorescent assay. From the present results, it is of future interest whether apoptotic characteristics of these viruses are related to pathogenecity in vivo.


In the 'Era of Martyrs' at the end of the third century the persecuted Copts, the Christians of Egypt, suffered death or fled into the desert; but they found life possible only where there was water. The most favourable of these few oases was Nitria, today called 'Wadi Natrun' or Valley of Soda, a shallow depression of twenty-two miles by five in the Libyan desert surface. It is situated a camel journey of a day and a half along the ancient track which leaves the Delta near Terenthus, the modern El Tarrana. In it there are eight small lakes, some of whose waters contain soda, others salt. They lie about seventyfive feet below sea-level and are fed not by the Nile, but, as Dr Ball has recently shown, by desert subsoil water flowing from the southwest. Wells dug in their vicinity yield water, brackish but drinkable, and on the shore of one was the town of Nitriotis, the habitation of the sodaworkers and glass-blowers, existing since ancient Egyptian times, Now the desert is crossed by a light railway, run by a company that exploits the salt and sodium carbonate.


The authors report on 5 patients, 4 of them observed over a period of only two months in one community hospital, who developed profound sinus node suppression in the early phase following acute strokes. This complication re sulted in the death of 2; in the remaining 3, it was controlled by electrical car diac pacing or intravenous atropine. In 3 patients, the strokes were due to subarachnoid hemorrhage, and in 2, they were secondary to vascular occlusion. In at least 4 patients, the prognosis seemed favorable from a neurologic stand point. Vagally mediated sinus node arrest may, therefore, represent a poten tially fatal complication of strokes and may be more frequent than currently appreciated. Continuous monitoring in the early phase of acute strokes and pacemaker therapy may be lifesaving in some patients. This and the general phenomenon of functional failure of the sinus node due to a variety of causes are discussed.


During the last decade, leaders in government, business, and social organizations around the world have considered how best to harness the power of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for development. Experts have pointed out that in order for developing countries to put ICT to effective use, they must first be ""e-Ready"" in terms of ICT infrastructure, the accessibility of ICT to the population, and the legal and regulatory framework. Developing-country leaders have been urged to use e-Readiness assessment to measure and plan for ICT integration, focus efforts from within, and identify areas where external aid is required. Several e-Readiness initiatives have been launched to help developing countries in this area, and numerous e-Readiness assessment tools have been created and used by different groups, each looking at various aspects of ICT, society, and the economy (Bridges.org, 2005). The underlining focus of the study was to look at the potential of being e-Ready in conjunction with the social and economic success that the society can achieve in sustaining ICT initiatives.


Several peer-to-peer systems for live streaming have been recently deployed (e.g. CoolStreaming, PPLive, SopCast). These all rely on distributed, epidemic-style dissemination mechanisms. Despite their popularity, the fundamental performance trade-offs of such mechanisms are still poorly understood. In this paper we propose several results that contribute to the understanding of such trade-offs.
 Specifically, we prove that the so-called random peer, latest useful chunk mechanism can achieve dissemination at an optimal rate and within an optimal delay, up to an additive constant term. This qualitative result suggests that epidemic live streaming algorithms can achieve near-unbeatable rates and delays. Using mean-field approximations, we also derive recursive formulas for the diffusion function of two schemes referred to as latest blind chunk, random peer and latest blind chunk, random useful peer.
 Finally, we provide simulation results that validate the above theoretical results and allow us to compare the performance of various practically interesting diffusion schemes terms of delay, rate, and control overhead. In particular, we identify several peer/chunk selection algorithms that achieve near-optimal performance trade-offs. Moreover, we show that the control overhead needed to implement these algorithms may be reduced by restricting the neighborhood of each peer without substantial performance degradation.


Single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT)-based devices are expected to play an important role in the next generation of electronic integrated circuits. As an important structural unit for SWNT-based electronics, the Schottky junction has a series of functions such as rectification, photoelectric detection, switching, etc. Here, we demonstrate a well-controlled localized radical reaction method to prepare an intramolecular SWNT Schottky junction with a closed edge. This junction exhibits strong gate-dependent rectifying behavior and a high rectification ratio of 962. Furthermore, the semiconducting part on the junction side could be effectively tuned from p-type doping to n-type doping, resulting in reversible rectifying behavior. Our work paves a new avenue for the design and synthesis of an SWNT Schottky junction, which is very important to future applications for carbon-based nanoelectronic devices.


The skin is a dynamic and complex organ that relies on the interrelation among different cell types, macromolecules, and signaling pathways. Further, the skin has interactions with its own appendages and other organs such as the sebaceous glands and hair follicles, the kidney, and adrenal glands; systems such as the central nervous system; and axes such as the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis. These continuous connections give the skin its versatility, and when an injury is caused, some triggers start a cascade of events designed to restore its integrity. Nowadays, it is known that this psychoneuroimmune–endocrine intercommunication modulates both the homeostatic condition and the healing process. In this sense, the skin conditions before a trauma, whether of endogenous (acne) or exogenous origin (injury or surgical incision), could regulate the process of tissue repair. Most skin diseases such as psoriasis and atopic dermatitis, among others, have in their pathophysiology a psychogenic component that triggers integrated actions in the nervous, immune, and endocrine systems. However, fibroproliferative disorders of wound healing, such as hypertrophic scar and keloid, are not yet included in this listing, despite showing correlation with stress, especially with the psychosocial character. This review, by understanding the "brain–skin connection", presents evidence that allows us to understand the keloid as a psychomediated disease.


Plasma ion implantation (PII) hydrogenation is an efficient method for defect passivation in polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin film transistors (TFTs). We have developed a process that can achieve saturation of device parameter improvement in 30 min, whereas conventional plasma hydrogenation takes approximately 4 h. Our model predicts that much shorter process times are possible. We have analyzed the gate oxide charging which occurs during the PII process and controlled it to the extent that processed devices are damage-free. The long-term reliability of PII hydrogenated devices is superior to that of conventional parallel-plate plasma hydrogenated devices.


We study the problem of Robust Outlier Arm Identification (ROAI), where the goal is to identify arms whose expected rewards deviate substantially from the majority, by adaptively sampling from their reward distributions. We compute the outlier threshold using the median and median absolute deviation of the expected rewards. This is a robust choice for the threshold compared to using the mean and standard deviation, since it can identify outlier arms even in the presence of extreme outlier values. Our setting is different from existing pure exploration problems where the threshold is pre-specified as a given value or rank. This is useful in applications where the goal is to identify the set of promising items but the cardinality of this set is unknown, such as finding promising drugs for a new disease or identifying items favored by a population. We propose two $\delta$-PAC algorithms for ROAI, which includes the first UCB-style algorithm for outlier detection, and derive upper bounds on their sample complexity. We also prove a matching, up to logarithmic factors, worst case lower bound for the problem, indicating that our upper bounds are generally unimprovable. Experimental results show that our algorithms are both robust and about $5$x sample efficient compared to state-of-the-art.


The SCRAN multimedia resource base has been built with capital funding from the National Lottery, but its future relies on securing a revenue stream to support its services. This article describes how SCRAN has gone about building an e‐commerce service.


Abstract BACKGROUND. Intraoperative neural monitoring (IONM) has begun to be studied in detail by surgeons around the world since several decades ago from the need to verify functional integrity of the neural elements. Parotid gland surgery requires a thorough knowledge of the anatomy of this region by ENT surgeons. Also, the surgeons performing parotid surgery need to have important strategies of management which include: handiness to identify facial nerve, dissection nerve branches and application of neuromonitoring in order to preserve nerve functions. OBJECTIVE. This study has analysed the usefulness of intraoperative continuous monitoring in superficial or in total parotidectomy. It identifies the facial nerve and reduces the risk of postoperative facial palsy. We have been using intraoperative continuous monitoring - evoked facial nerve electromyograms (EMG). MATERIAL AND METHODS. Continuous intraoperative facial nerve monitoring was prospectively achieved in the case of three patients diagnosed with benign tumors, on which parotidectomy with the preservation of the nerve was carried out in order to highlight the value and efficacy of this method. RESULTS. In our country, continuous intraoperative facial nerve monitoring performance is still not a common practice in ENT Departments. It revealed postoperatively that the incidence of temporary or permanent facial palsy was 0% and the minimal stimulation was obtained at levels equal to 0,5 mA, which implies integral functioning of the facial nerve. CONCLUSION. In parotid surgery, facial nerve IONM represents the gold standard in recognition of real-time electrophysiological signals, electromyography waves and auditory signals to enable the correct approach wherever possible, avoiding extensive nerve damage. It is known the importance of continuous IONM in postoperative prognosis of the neural function and intraoperative decision making regarding the technical surgery.


The field of art history faces unique challenges with regard to digital practice. While access and availability of the art historical corpus have been facilitated by the development of online repositories, tools for analysis or computational processing have been slow to emerge. This paper surveys some of the current directions in "digital" art history and addresses the difficulties that arise with regard to the remediation of images and their availability (and resistance) to techniques of data mining and other computational techniques.


Government policies that are based on age do not adjust to the fact that a given age is associated with a higher remaining life expectancy and lower mortality risk relative to earlier time periods due to improvements in mortality. We examine four possible methods for adjusting the eligibility ages for Social Security, Medicare, and Individual Retirement Accounts to determine what eligibility ages would be today and in 2050 if adjustments for mortality improvement were taken into account. We find that historical adjustment of eligibility ages for age inflation would have increased ages of eligibility by approximately 0.15 years annually. Failure to adjust for mortality improvement implies the percent of the population eligible to receive full Social Security benefits and Medicare will increase substantially relative to the share eligible under a policy of age adjustment.


Density functional theory calculations are performed to explain the electrical behavior of a π-conjugated oligo(phenylene ethynylene) resembling a resonant tunneling diode. Results of this theoretical study are compatible with the assumptions that electron transport occurs through the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital, that the conduction barrier is determined by the molecule chemical potential, and that the molecule becomes charged as the external potential increases. We are able to explain the nonlinear character of the current−voltage characteristic of the molecule and its temperature dependence. The intrinsic controlled-amplification feature of these molecules is indicated.


This article examines the application of a first hitting time (FHT) model, using an operational time scale, to assess mortality risk differentials of the work environment. A major case application is presented that applies the model to three job categories of railroad workers. The data set involves a study of more than 50 000 workers with mortality assessed from 1959 to 1996. Lung cancer mortality was assessed because of a suspected link to diesel exhaust exposure. Based on a model that stipulates that death occurs when the disease state of a subject first hits a threshold value, the FHT model provides insights into factors influencing disease progression. In this application, in particular, the findings suggest that a job category in 1959 alters the risk of death from lung cancer. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Individual recognition technology such as iris recognition and bar coding has been extensively investigated for non-face-to-face authorization. However, there are still strong unmet needs for facile, rapid, and robust individual recognition. Here, we developed multispectral transparent films of upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) for near-infrared (NIR) encoding of wearable devices including contact lenses and patch devices. A multispectral UCNP film in a contact lens showed various luminescence colors of patterns under 980 nm NIR light irradiation and each color could be assigned to a specific code by RGB value analysis. The encoded film of UCNPs in the contact lens was successfully decoded by the RGB value analysis with a charge coupled digital (CCD) camera. Furthermore, the UCNP barcode film could be applied in the form of attachable barcode patches onto various substrates like porcine skin and paper currency. Taken together, we could confirm the feasibility of multispectral UCNP transparent films as a facile individual recognition platform for non-face-to-face authorization.


We present in this article a top-down inductive system, ALLiS, for learning linguistic structures. Two difficulties came up during the development of the system: the presence of a significant amount of noise in the data and the presence of exceptions linguistically motivated. It is then a challenge for an inductive system to learn rules from this kind of data. This leads us to add a specific mechanism, refinement, which enables learning rules and their exceptions. In the first part of this article we evaluate the usefulness of this device and show that it improves results when learning linguistic structures.In the second part, we explore how to improve the efficiency of the system by using prior knowledge. Since Natural Language is a strongly structured object, it may be important to investigate whether linguistic knowledge can help to make natural language learning more efficiently and accurately. This article presents some experiments demonstrating that linguistic knowledge improves learning. The system has been applied to the shared task of the CoNLL'00 workshop.


The evolving role of the state in the provision of health care has seen the adoption of new management philosophies to ensure that goals set for the system are reached. In particular, the term New Public Management (NPM) has tended to dominate reforms to help address perceived shortcomings in public sector services. NPM is based on the use of freemarket type arrangements as a mechanism to solve problems, the control of which provides new challenges. One particular challenge that has arisen from the combination of NPM with the large number of agencies involved in care provision is that of addressing the issues arising from the improved understanding of the determinants of health. This has led to the evolution of differing care arrangements across differing sectors at all levels. If resources are to be used as intended, the control of delivery systems to oversee their use must exist. The overarching term for such activity is â governance. This paper provides an overview of the issues that arise for addressing governance of oral health care and the subsequent challenges that face those responsible for ensuring compliance.


Conclusion: pharmacy cost for compared to adalimumab driven the rebate, due to its higher clinical efficacy, the CPR was consistently lower for SE+ RA patients treated with abatacept. The results may be useful for US healthcare decision makers in understanding how to opti-mize treatment for SE+ RA patient while minimizing costs in today's budget con- strained environment. in the patients with arthritis, is caps of the bottle. bottles with cap to come workable dataset to adherence. raw data to a workable dataset to analyze adherence data are recorded by caps. cap Background: The treatment goal in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is sustained remis- sion and prevention of RA flares [1]. While targeted biologics have improved disease outcomes, almost one-third of patients (pts) discontinue treatment by 1 year and 50% by 2 years, with lack of efficacy as the most common reason [2]. Repository corticotropin injection (RCI) is a naturally sourced complex mixture of adrenocorticotropic hormone analogues and other pituitary peptides and is an agonist for all 5 melanocortin receptors (MCRs). Activation of MCRs by RCI has been shown to have direct and indirect anti-inflammatory and immunomodula-tory effects. RCI is indicated for adjunctive therapy for short-term administration in RA flares or uncontrolled disease [3]. Objectives: To characterize RA pts that initiate RCI therapy and identify pre- dictors of RCI initiation, compared to biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). Methods: This retrospective cohort study identified pts with ICD-9/10 diagnosis for RA over an 11-year period (2008-2018) in a large claims data- base (Truven MarketScan®). Adults with ≥1 claim for RCI (RCI cohort) or ≥1 RA-related biologic claim but no RCI (non-RCI cohort) were selected and characterized by demographics, disease severity (Claims-based Index for RA Severity, CIRAS), comorbidities (Charlson Comorbidity Index, Retrospective and descriptive study of the evolution of pregnancy in with inflammatory


Between November 1965 and December 1983, 293 patients were treated for Graves' disease using 131I. All patients were asked to identify a stressful event antedating the onset of overt clinical symptoms. Eighty-one patients were able to do this (27.6%). Six patients were lost to follow-up, the others were followed from 1 to 155 mo. Two hundred forty-four patients received a single treatment, 49 required two or more treatments. Stress and nonstress individuals were consistent with respect to age, sex, number of treatments and the dose of radioiodine. Patients with stress initiating the symptoms of Graves' disease became hypothyroid earlier, 50% at 12 mo compared with 36 mo for the nonstress group, p = 0.01. At 10 yr 5% of the stress group remained euthyroid compared with 17% nonstress. We conclude that stress in the 12 mo or less before the onset of clinical symptoms potentiates the development of hypothyroidism induced by a standard dose of radioiodine.


The diagnostic test system under trial has been shown to permit the detection of S. sonnei and S. flexneri specific antigens with an accuracy of 10(-3) micrograms. Along with high sensitivity, the test system has sufficiently high specificity. Statistically significant differences in the occurrence of specific dysentery antigens and their levels in the blood of dysentery patients and healthy persons have been revealed.


ABSTRACT To identify the Toll-like receptor 2 ligand critically involved in infections with gram-positive bacteria, lipoprotein lipase (LPL) or hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is often used to selectively inactivate lipoproteins, and hydrofluoric acid (HF) or platelet-activating factor-acetylhydrolase (PAF-AH) is used to selectively inactivate lipoteichoic acid (LTA). However, the specificities of these chemical reactions are unknown. We investigated the reaction specificities by using two synthetic lipoproteins (Pam3CSK4 and FSL-1) and LTAs from pneumococci and staphylococci. Changes in the structures of the two synthetic proteins and the LTAs were monitored by mass spectrometry, and biological activity changes were evaluated by measuring tumor necrosis factor alpha production by mouse macrophage cells (RAW 264.7) following stimulation. PAF-AH inactivated LTA without reducing the biological activities of Pam3CSK4 and FSL-1. Mass spectroscopy confirmed that PAF-AH monodeacylated pneumococcal LTA but did not alter the structure of either Pam3CSK4 or FSL-1. As expected, HF treatment reduced the biological activity of LTA by more than 80% and degraded LTA. HF treatment not only deacylated Pam3CSK4 and FSL-1 but also reduced the activities of the lipoproteins by more than 60%. Treatment with LPL decreased the biological activities by more than 80%. LPL also removed an acyl chain from the LTA and reduced its activity. Our results indicate that treatment with 1% H2O2 for 6 h at 37°C inactivates Pam3CSK4, FSL-1, and LTA by more than 80%. Although HF, LPL, and H2O2 treatments degrade and inactivate both lipopeptides and LTA, PAF-AH selectively inactivated LTA with no effect on the biological and structural properties of the two lipopeptides. Also, the ability of PAF-AH to reduce the inflammatory activities of cell wall extracts from gram-positive bacteria suggests LTA to be essential in inflammatory responses to gram-positive bacteria.


The research was conducted with the aim of describing the religiosity habituation program, describing the methods used to internalize the religiosity habituation program for mentally retarded children, and identifying inhibiting and supporting factors in efforts to instill religiosity in mentally retarded children at the Qothrunnada Islamic Special School (SLB). This research uses a qualitative descriptive method by conducting observations, interviews, and also documentation. Development is also carried out in research through literature studies with reference to journals and related sources. The results showed that the Qotrunnada Islamic Special School (SLB) Qothrunnada Islamic SLB had several religious habituation and character support programs. The programs are habituation of disciplined behavior, habituation of carrying out 3S (smile, greeting, greeting), habituation of performing Dhuha prayers in congregation, habituation of Quran literacy, habituation of cleanliness, habituation of congregational midday prayers, MTQ extracurricular program, habituation of neatness, and habituation of respecting the opposite sex.


It can be theorized that loneliness plays a significant role in the development and continuation of violent, antisocial attitudes and behavior. Analysis of case reports of two serial killers, Dennis Nilsen and Jeffrey Dahmer, indicate that there is evidence for such a link. In this article, a list of significant correlates of loneliness and antisocial behavior is presented. This may be useful for the assessment of possible dangerousness and in the development of prevention and intervention programs. Suggestions are made for the adequate treatment of loneliness and correlated violent, antisocial behavior. A need is recognized for more research into the psychosocial, emotional, neurobiological, cultural, and ethnic determinants of loneliness and their correlation to specific antisocial and/or criminal behavior.


Serratia marcescens is a well recognized nosocomial pathogen. We report an outbreak with this organism in 8 neonates in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Seven cases were treated successfully with meropenem after the failure of imipenem treatment. Although they have similar anti-microbial effects, meropenem can effectively treat the S. marcescens sepsis resistant to imipenem.


Abstract IUPAC Changing for a New Century The future mission and function of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) must rest on globalization of science and technology, interdisciplinary unification of chemistry, fast expansion of the chemical sciences beyond their traditional boundaries, and mission-oriented service of chemistry. I believe that one of the most important accomplishments of IUPAC during the last two years is the formulation of a Mission Statement and a Strategic Plan based on long-range goals. The present structure of IUPAC precludes the fulfillment of many of its central scientific functions, as reflected in organizational fragmentation and resulting hindrance in the inception and conduct of horizontal interdisciplinary projects. An integrated program for changes in the organization of the Union's scientific work was approved by IUPAC's Bureau, whose objectives are to improve quality, relevance, international impact, and effectiveness of IUPAC's scientific work. This integrated holistic program rests on major changes in the responsibilities of the Divisions, in project evaluation, and in the future function of the Commissions. Most parts of the program are well underway. The IUPAC Council in its Meeting in Berlin (August 1999) has undertaken additional steps to enable the new program to operate effectively. By deciding not to extend the current thirty- seven IUPAC Commissions beyond the end of 2001, the Council revitalized our scientific activities, ensured the selection of only high-quality projects to bear IUPAC's label, and encouraged the participation of the worldwide chemistry community. These steps are essential for shaping IUPAC's contribution into the 21st century. The scientific core activities of IUPAC will rest on the principles of quality, relevance, impact on broad fields, merging of science and technology, international dimensions, openness, and communication. New research fields, where the activity is truly international, are expected to contribute to high-quality, significant scientific developments and to constitute the cutting edge for new technologies. IUPAC became involved in the identification, characterization, and recommendation of novel research directions by the organization of conferences, with the involvement of the world scientific leadership, on New Directions in Chemistry. It is a great pleasure and privilege to announce that this enterprise has been successfully inaugurated with a Workshop on Advanced Materials: Nanostructured Systems, held 14 -18 July 1999 in Hong Kong. The entire world chemistry community owes a debt of gratitude to the International Organizing Committee and its Chairman, Professor Mostafa El-Sayed, for seizing an initiative to promote this important area of emerging science and technology, and for shaping an outstanding program that reflects the current status of the field and its international participation and appeal. It is fitting that IUPAC should also seek to promote this important subject through publication of a special topic issue of Pure and Applied Chemistry, devoted exclusively to a collection of review articles and research papers based upon presentations made at the Workshop. Those delegates who contributed to this issue deserve credit for their willingness to share their results and insights with a wider audience. Joshua Jortner IUPAC Past President


The First World War was not only a military conflict but also an economic war. In all belligerent countries, labour and resources were shifted from civil production to military production. Factory workers, miners and farmers produced a steady flow of supplies for the frontlines. Financial mobilization provided the money for arms, ammunition, and other supplies. In contemporary understanding "financial mobilization" comprised all fiscal and monetary instruments that were necessary to finance the war. The aim of this paper is to discuss the interaction between the government and the central bank in Germany in financing the First World War. Aspects include the pre-war plans for financial mobilization, the fiscal and monetary policies of the war years and their inflationary consequences, the financing of foreign trade and financial demobilization during the transition from war to peace.


The escalation of the crisis between society and administration had a negative impact on public administration, as highlighted by criminal acts (bribery, extortion, abuse of power). Other consequences of this crisis have been the bad administration phenomena, such as delays in carrying out the practices, lack of attention to people's questions and failure to comply with working hours. These phenomena culminate in treating people without due respect and necessary kindness. In this context, the so-called applied ethics has developed, consisting of the construction of rules for moral behaviour, adapted to particular fields as well as to the public.


The growing use of decision analytic modelling (DAM) to aid decision making in healthcare has triggered the need for increased scrutiny of the methods used and the assessment of compliance with these methods. The assessment of structural uncertainty surrounding the choice of model structure and model external validity represent some of most frequent challenges faced by researchers.
This thesis used systematic reviews and two case studies focused on the self-management of hypertension in patients at high risk and thrombolysis in acute stroke to critically examine all available guidelines and statements of good practice and the adherence of current research to good practice guidelines. Two case studies were developed to assess structural uncertainty surrounding the choice of model structure and the impact of the exclusion of secondary events.
The results here indicate that DAM guidelines lack practicality due to the extensive amount of information available and their complexity; furthermore, researchers are failing to identifY and correctly assess model structural uncertainty. This thesis makes an important contribution to current knowledge by developing and proposing the use of a practical five-dimension framework to improve the current standards of reporting results of DAM and by illustrating, through case studies, the assessment of structural uncertainty arising from the choice of model structure via scenario analysis and the use of extensive sensitivity analysis.


The first measurement of the T/sub cs/ at 80 kA was successfully performed in the ITER TFMC. Two resistive heaters are available on the inlet piping of the P1.1 and P1.2 pancakes, and can be independently operated. An "optimum" heating scenario, based on the multi-step (staircase) strategy developed before the tests, was determined and used for T/sub cs/ measurement. The test ended with the quench of the coil, followed by the dump. A normal zone was originated first in the P1.2 conductor, with the inlet helium temperature in P1.2 of about 8.7 to 8.9 K just before the quench, as expected from previous analysis. The results of the test are presented and analysis is performed for an accurate assessment of T/sub cs/, evaluating the effects of Joule heating in the joint, heat exchange through the joint between P1.2 and the slightly colder P1.1, and helium propagation from the heater to the peak field region in the conductor.


Healthcare service quality and hospitalized patient satisfaction in Albania have never truly received the necessary attention. The aim of this study is the assessment of key elements of service quality and their relationship with patients' satisfaction with receiving healthcare at public health institutions in Albania. The study examines five key dimensions of quality such as responsiveness, reliability, assurance, tangibles, and staff empathy to assess properly the healthcare quality and patient satisfaction in Albania based on the SERVQUAL instrument, which measures the differences between patient's perceptions of service quality received, and their expectations in terms of these five dimensions. A total of 800 randomly selected patients were interviewed in the main cities of Albania in public hospitals. A respective literature review was also a necessity to determine not only the appropriate methodology to be applied, together with the right quality dimensions to use but also for a better understanding of the link between service quality and patient satisfaction. The determination of the main quality factors which contribute to patient satisfaction, as well as, their order of importance, is another key aspect of the study, which finalizes with appropriate recommendations that might help quality improvement in future. The analysis shows that overall patient satisfaction is affected in public hospitals by all dimensions of service quality. Therefore, patients' perspective is extremely important in assessing healthcare service quality and should be taken into consideration by healthcare managers and policymakers in Albania, whenever significant reforms will be undertaken to improve the quality of services in this sector.


In this article, the authors focus on issues of instruction in classrooms. Initially, a brief definitional and historic section is presented. This is followed by a discussion of four assumptions about the current state of affairs: (a) evidence-based practices should be identified and used, (b) children's phase of performance should dictate practice selection, (c) naturalistic procedures should be used, and (d) play is a defensible curricular domain. Three challenges (instructional, experimental, and resources) are noted.


The prevalence of learning disabilities amongst South Asian communities in the United Kingdom is thought to be almost three times higher than in any other community. Despite this, service utilisation amongst this group remains low and working cross-culturally can pose unique challenges for service providers. The experiences of South Asian families caring for a child with learning disabilities within the United Kingdom are multifaceted. This article proposes an experiential–contextual framework for exploring these experiences. The framework incorporates minority experiences as well as medical and social models of disability. The experiential–contextual framework has been applied to understanding important aspects of South Asians experiences, including: the interpretations and understanding of learning disabilities; interactions with healthcare systems; minority group pressures; and the influence of acculturation and diversity within ethnic groups.


Background Spinal ankylosis is most important reason of functional impairment in ankylosing spondylitis (AS). In routine practice, all patients who learned diseases's name ask ankylosing posture and risk factors for ankylosis. Thus, risk factors of ankylosing posture is a priority for patient perspective. Objectives Objective of this study was to assess risk factors of advanced spinal ankylosis in patients with AS during biological treatment. Methods HÜR-BİO (Hacettepe University Rheumatology Biologic Registry) is a single center biological registry since 2005 in Turkey. Here, patients analysed were AS patients treated with TNFi. Data collected includes demographic data, co-morbidities, smoking, baseline and follow-up disease activity parameters (such as BASDAI, BASFI, CRP, ESR, global VAS). There are 630 AS patients with TNFi in this database. Available digital radiographic imaging of lumbar spine radiographies were reassesed for spinal ankylosis by a physician (UK). Two intervertebral adjacet bridges and/or fusion at the lumbar spine defined advanced spinal disease (1), and typical bamboo view defined as bamboo spine. Univariate and multivariate analysis were performed to determine risk factors in advanced spinal ankylosis. Results In all, 530 (65.9% male) patients were analyzed. Mean age was 41±11 years old, mean disease duration was 9.7±7.2 years. Mean TNFi duration was 37±30 months. At least one syndesmophyte was found in 248 (46.8%); 99 (18.7%) patients had advanced spinal ankylosis (60 bamboo spine, 39 advanced spinal disease). Patients with advanced spinal ankylosis were older (51±9 vs 39±10 p<0.001), had a longer disease duration (16±9 vs 8±6 years, p<0.001), were more frequently male (84/99 (84.8%) vs 263/431 (61.0%), p<0.001), with higher weight (79±13 vs 74±14 kilogram, p=0.002), more radiological hip involvement (39/91 (42.8%) vs 54/376 (14.3%), p<0.001), severe hip involvement (17/91 (18.7%) vs 25/376 (6.6%), p<0.001), more frequently uveitis (17/80 (21.2%) vs 37/329 (11.2%), p=0.018), hypertension (20/80 (25%) vs 33/329 (10.0%), p<0.001), amyloidosis (6/80 (7.5%) vs 5/330 (1.5%), p=0.001), smoking (11.7±13.8 vs 6.5±9.5 packet-year, p<0.001). Baseline disease activity parameters were similar with and without advanced spinal ankylosis [BASDAI 5.7±1.6 vs 5.7±1.7, p>0.05, BASFI 5.2±2.5 vs 4.5±2.5, p>0.05, ESR 35±21 vs 32±23 mm/hour, p>0.05, CRP 3.4±4.6 vs 3.1±3.0 mg/dl, p>0.05]. However, last visit CRP (1.94±3.57 vs 1.08±1.62 mg/dl, p=0.003) and BASFI (3.99±2.51 vs 2.43±2.18, p<0.001) were higher in advanced spinal ankylosis group. Multivariate analysis shown that male sex OR 4.3 (95%CI 1.9-9.8), age OR 1.1 (95%CI 1.07-1.14) and disease duration 1.1 (95%CI 1.05-1.15) were independently associated with advanced spinal ankylosis. Conclusions In our database, advanced spinal ankylosis is a frequent condition in this group of AS patients treated with TNFi. Male sex and higher disease duration were important risk factors for ankylosis, as expected. Although in those patients, disease activity was supressed after TNFi, impaired functional capacity was still apparent for those advanced spinal ankylosis. References Ann Rheum Dis 2011;70:799–804. Disclosure of Interest : None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.4041


Cellulose-based composites with superior mechanical and electrical properties are highly desirable for a sustainable and multifunctional substrate of flexible electronics. However, their practical application is hindered by the lack of superflexible cellulose-based composites to fabricate ingenious flexible electronics with considerable robustness. Here, cellulose derived from underutilized biomass (Edgewo-rthia chrysantha Lindi, ERCL) was composited with highly-conductive silver nanowires (AgNWs) through a general papermaking process. Benefiting from the interactions between cellulose and AgNWs including hydrogen bonding and van der Waals force, the composite presented superb electrical conductivity (> 27000 S/m) and flexibility (folding times ≥1110). By employing it as the substrate of flexible pressure sensors (FPSs) through layer-by-layer assembly, improved sensitivity (Gauge Factor=846.4), rapid response (0.44 s), and excellent stability (≥2000 folding cycles) were demonstrated. Impressively, the novel FPS could monitor human motions, including finger bending, elbow flexion, speaking, and pulse, suggesting its great potentials in emerging flexible electronics.


A microfabricated capillary electrophoresis chip has been recently developed and many researchers have reported its attractive potentials such as the drastic increase of speed, reduced sample volumes, higher resolutions and so forth. Furthermore the more aggressive strategy is to integrate a variety of components of analysis system on a chip and has been rapidly developed as so-called "/spl mu/-TAS (micro total analysis system)", which is composed of microchannel network for sample pre- and post treatment, chemical reactions and separations and also detection systems like bio/chemical sensors, microoptics and microelectronic devices. In order to achieve the health care device that allows short-time inspection of human body by analyzing a slight amount of body fluid like blood, urine or saliva, we have been developing the micro analysis devices, and so far on-chip analysis of blood cells and serum have been studied based on micro-capillary electrophoresis chips. In this article, for the purpose of on-chip cell and/or particle separation and manipulation, (1) a separation of the serum and blood cells from the whole blood using a centrifugal chip, and (2) cell trapping using interdigitated electrodes have been investigated.


CdTe solar cells have shown high efficiency and the technology is scalable. As a result thin film CdTe modules are competitive with crystalline silicon modules. Thin film CdTe devices with efficiency above 22% have been reported using high substrate temperatures during the
deposition process. It is known that high substrate temperatures result in large grain size with a reduced number of grain boundaries and this is believed to contribute to the high efficiency. However, use of high temperature requires robust substrates and excludes the use of most flexible substrate materials. It also involves higher energy consumption and more complicated machinery. In this work we present a process for high efficiency solar cells with an improved front contact, by introducing
magnesium-doped zinc oxide high resistance transparent layer. By optimizing the fabrication process we have achieved a conversion efficiency exceeding 16%, which is one of the highest reported for substrate temperatures
below 500°C.


A model is presented for the C-V characteristics of partially-depleted (PD) and fully-depleted (FD) SOI-MOS capacitors. The proposed model is flexible, allowing introduction of all types of nonidealities typical to MOS type structures. New formulae for the low- and high-frequency capacitances of these structures are derived. Due to the various charges stored in these structures, unusual and more complex C-V curves are obtained. C-V curves where interface-state densities have been individually introduced (one at a time) at all three SiO/sub 2/-Si interfaces of the SOI-MOS-C are also demonstrated. The model has been validated by fitting the predicted HF C-V curves for SOI-MOS-C and its inherent structure, the SIS capacitor, to the experimental data. The extracted electrophysical parameters of the studied structures, for both PD and FD cases, are very close, if not the same as the values determined during their fabrication.


Today, society is more aware of their well-being and health, making wearable devices a new and affordable way to track them continuously. Smartwatches allow access to daily vital physiological measurements, which help people to be aware of their health status. Even though these technologies allow the following of different health conditions, their application in health is still limited to the following physical parameters to allow physicians treatment and diagnosis. This paper presents LM Research, a smart monitoring system mainly composed of a web page, REST APIs, machine learning algorithms, psychological questionnaire, and smartwatches. The system introduces the continuous monitoring of the users' physical and mental indicators to prevent a wellness crisis; the mental indicators and the system's continuous feedback to the user could be, in the future, a tool for medical specialists treating well-being. For this purpose, it collects psychological parameters on smartwatches and mental health data using a psychological questionnaire to develop a supervised machine learning wellness model that predicts the wellness of smartwatch users. The full construction of the database and the technology employed for its development is presented. Moreover, six machine learning algorithms (Decision Tree, Random Forest, Naive Bayes, Neural Networks, Support Vector Machine, and K-nearest neighbor) were applied to the database to test which classifies better the information obtained by the proposed system. In order to integrate this algorithm into LM Research, Random Forest being the one with the higher accuracy of 88%.


In this paper we consider perturbations of totally positive Cauchy matrix and obtain bounds on the perturbations so that the total positivity of resulted matrix persists. The bounds are written in terms of decay estimates which characterize the decay of the elements of the resulted matrix. We obtain results for diagonal and all entries above the diagonal. Some results on combined matrix of Cauchy matrix are studied.


This paper compares Arabic and English speech rhythms to increase awareness of this neglected and often misunderstood topic in foreign language acquisition. Unlike previous studies, we adopt a phonological view of speech rhythm rather than an isochrony-based phonetic view. We detail the components of speech rhythm at the word and utterance levels in Arabic and English focusing on the rhythmical differences that would affect the learners' rhythm of both languages negatively. Findings suggest that Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Jordanian-Ammani Arabic (JAA), unlike English, should be placed at the lower end of the rhythmic continuum. The study opens new directions for future research and concludes with pedagogical implications for learners of Arabic and English.


Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is a critical factor in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In the clinical setting, nearly 98% AD patients have CAA, and 75% of these patients are rated as severe CAA. It is characterized by the deposition of the β-amyloid peptide (mainly Aβ40) in the walls of cerebral vessels, which induces the degeneration of vessel wall components, reduces cerebral blood flow, and aggravates cognitive decline. Platelets are anuclear cell fragments from bone marrow megakaryocytes and their function in hemostasis and thrombosis has long been recognized. Recently, increasing evidence suggests that platelet activation can also mediate the onset and development of CAA. First, platelet activation and adhesion to a vessel wall is the initial step of vascular injury. Activated platelets contribute to more than 90% circulating Aβ (mainly Aβ1-40), which in turn activates platelets and results in the vicious cycle of Aβ overproduction in damaged vessel. Second, the uncontrolled activation of platelets leads to a chronic inflammatory reaction by secretion of chemokines (eg, platelet factor 4 [PF4], regulated upon activation normal T-cell expressed and presumably secreted [RANTES], and macrophage inflammatory protein [MIP-1α]), interleukins (IL-1β, IL-7, and IL-8), prostaglandins, and CD40 ligand (CD40L). The interaction of these biological response modulators with platelets, endothelial cells, and leukocytes establishes a localized inflammatory response that contributes to CAA formation. Finally, activated platelets are the upholder of fibrin clots, which are structurally abnormal and resistant to degradation in the presence of Aβ42. Thus, opinion has emerged that targeting blood platelets may provide a new avenue for anti-AD therapy.


Modernization of local government leads inevitably to the vexed question of how to structure local government to meet the changed circumstances in which it operates. This acknowledgement is no less so for the Caribbean in general and Jamaica in particular, where forces such as increased suburbanization and higher level of citizen demands on local government have prompted policy to respond to the changing world of local government. The recalibration of local government structure serves key objectives – to achieve economies of scale; to assure organisational viability and to reinvigorate local democracy. The Portmore Municipal Council (PMC) in Jamaica, enacted by the Municipalities Act of 2003 is representative of fragmentation of local government and innovates local policy and administration in two ways: (a) popular election of Mayor; and (b) construction of local/community self-management institutional arrangements. This paper reviews the experience of the PMC during its formative years of operation to determine the extent to which the philosophy and practice of local/community self-management norms are being institutionalised into the operations of the municipality and identify lessons for the broader adoption of a process of municipalisation.


Owing to a variety of physical and chemical factors, in conjunction with aquatic physicochemical conditions, fluvial/lacustrine suspended and bed sediments can act as both sources and carriers of a wide variety of inorganic constituents and nutrients. Many of these constituents reflect local environmental conditions and are derived from both point and nonpoint sources. When sources have an anthropogenic origin, and chemical levels exceed the typical range of local baseline concentrations, sediments can be described as contaminated. Most land-use categories (e.g. agriculture, forested, and rangeland) do not appear to exert a substantial effect on sediment-associated inorganic chemical levels. On the other hand, mining and/or mining-related activities are a major exception, and although this land use can be geographically limited, it can cause extensive local and downstream sediment contamination. Urban centers and urbanization (increasing amounts of impervious surfaces), as a result of industrial and wastewater discharges, power generation, and transportation-related activities, also can cause extensive sediment contamination. Population density can be related to urbanization and, at levels ≥27 people (p) km−2, also appears to exercise a substantive effect on sediment chemistry. In fact, population density appears to be a more consistent influence than urban percentage, and displays stronger positive correlations with sediment contamination. The most common sediment-associated inorganic/nutrient contaminants appear to be Pb, Hg, Ag, Zn, Cd, Cu, Sb, S, Ni, Sn, Cr, As, TC (total carbon), Co, Fe, P, and TOC (total organic carbon).

Keywords:

sediment;
trace elements;
metalloids;
nutrients;
urban effects;
mining effects


We present a scheme for the first-principles calculation of EPR lineshapes for continuous-wave-EPR spectroscopy (cw-EPR) of spin centers in complex chemical environments. We specifically focus on poorly characterized systems, e.g. powders and frozen glasses with variable microsolvation structures. Our approach is based on ab initio molecular dynamics simulations and ab initio calculations of the ensemble of g- and A-tensors along the trajectory. The method incorporates temperature effects as well as the full anharmonicity of the intra- and intermolecular degrees of freedom of the system. We apply this scheme to compute the lineshape of a prototypical spin probe, the nitrosodisulfonate dianionic radical (Fremy's salt), dissolved in a 50 : 50 mixture of water and methanol. We are able to determine the specific effect of variations of local solvent composition and microsolvation structure on the cw-EPR lineshape. Our molecular dynamics reveal a highly anisotropic solvation structure with distinct spatial preferences for water and methanol around Fremy's salt that can be traced back to a combination of steric and polar influences. The overall solvation structure and conformational preferences of Fremy's salt as found in our MD simulations agree very well with the results obtained from EPR and orientation-selective ENDOR spectroscopy performed on the frozen glass. The simulated EPR lineshapes show good agreement with the experimental spectra. When combined with our MD results, they characterize the lineshape dependence on local morphological fluctuations.


The correlation and regression study deals with the drinking water quality of Suşehri located at Central Anatolian region of Turkey. Over the period between May 2013 and June 2014, twelve field surveys were conducted and water samples were collected from four different stations in Suşehri. In the collected water samples, totally fourteen physicochemical parameters were analyzed. Physicochemical parameters studied were in varying ranges such as water temperature 14.00-20.60°C, dissolved oxygen 3.80-6.50 mg/l, BOD5 0.50-1.60 mg/l, pH 7.00-8.00, ammonium 0.00-0.16 mg/l, nitrite 0.00-0.25 mg/l, nitrate 0.00-2.30 mg/l, ortophosphate 0.00-0.25 mg/l, chloride 4.00-12.00 mg/l, carbonate hardness 2.20-8.20 0dH, acid binding capability 0.80-3.00 mmol/l, total hardness 2.60-9.20 0dH, calcium 18.56-65.69 mg/l and magnesium 11.13-39.38 mg/l in Suşehri. Highly positive correlation coefficient is observed between carbonate hardness and acid binding capability (R=0.975**), carbonate hardness and total hardness (R=0.891**), carbonate hardness and calcium (R=0.899**), carbonate hardness and magnesium (R=0.892**), acid binding capability and total hardness (R=0.892**), acid binding capability and calcium (R=0.899**), acid binding capability and magnesium (R=0.893**), total hardness and calcium (R=0.996**), total hardness and magnesium (R=1.000**), calcium and magnesium (R=0.996**). The correlation and regression study showed significant linear relationship among different pairs of water quality parameters in Suşehri. Based on the data recorded, all of the physicochemical parameters are well within the permissible limits as per standards. The quality of water is safe for drinking purposes in Suşehri.


Power failure resulting from tower collapse due to violent seismic events might bring enormous and inestimable losses. The Chi-Chi earthquake, for example, strongly struck Taiwan and caused huge damage to the power system on September 21, 1999. Nearly 10% of extra high voltage (EHV) transmission towers were damaged in the earthquake. Therefore, seismic hazards of EHV transmission towers should be monitored and evaluated. The ultimate goal of this study is to establish a damage level assessment model for EHV transmission towers. The data of earthquakes provided by Taiwan Central Weather Bureau serve as a reference and then lay the foundation for earthquake simulations and analyses afterward. Some parameters related to the damage level of each point of an EHV tower are simulated and analyzed by the data from monitoring stations once an earthquake occurs. Through the Fourier transform, the seismic wave is then analyzed and transformed into different wave frequencies, and the data would be shown through a response spectrum. With this method, the seismic frequency which damages EHV towers the most is clearly identified. An estimation model is built to determine the damage level caused by a future seismic event. Finally, instead of relying on visual observation done by inspectors, the proposed model can provide a power company with the damage information of a transmission tower. Using the model, manpower required by visual observation can be reduced, and the accuracy of the damage level estimation can be substantially improved. Such a model is greatly useful for health and construction monitoring because of the advantages of long-term evaluation of structural characteristics and long-term damage detection. Keywords—Smart grid, EHV transmission tower, response spectrum, damage level monitoring.


Providing optimal care to the infant, child, and adolescent patient who is treated with long-term dialysis therapy mandates that attention be directed to a variety of clinical issues in addition to those related to solute removal and fluid management. Therapeutic plans must be formulated by a multidisciplinary team of pediatric specialists to address the clinical parameters of growth, anemia and osteodystrophy management, cardiovascular health, nutritional adequacy, education, cognitive development, quality of life, preparation for transplantation, and transition to adult care. This review highlights key components of current management recommendations based on a combination of published guidelines, pediatric registry data, and the combined clinical experience of the authors. Whereas some components of this review reflect a modification of the content and recommendations contained in the original publication from more than a decade ago, the contrast emphasizes the advances in understanding and therapeutics of many aspects of pediatric dialysis care that have taken place in the interim. In turn, the content of this article should provide the reader with valuable guidance toward the goal of providing optimal care to patients receiving dialysis.


The Inquiry Journal Facilitation is a project that helps preservice teachers develop habits of mind for engaging in critical dialogue about the situations they confront in their teaching contexts. In this project, preservice teachers compose a piece of writing that examines an idea, question, or issue that emerges from their clinical teaching site and lead an inquiry-based discussion about the ideas raised in their writing. Pairing the activity of writing with the activity of discussion creates a context for preservice teachers to create "exploratory speech" (Smagorinsky, 2013) collaboratively. In doing so, preservice teachers practice intellectual moves—framing observations, explaining those constructions, and posing questions—that are essential for teacher-learning.


The first comprehensive review of the theory and practice of one oftoday's most powerful optimization techniques. The explosive growth of research into and development of interiorpoint algorithms over the past two decades has significantlyimproved the complexity of linear programming and yielded some oftoday's most sophisticated computing techniques. This book offers acomprehensive and thorough treatment of the theory, analysis, andimplementation of this powerful computational tool. Interior Point Algorithms provides detailed coverage of all basicand advanced aspects of the subject. Beginning with an overview offundamental mathematical procedures, Professor Yinyu Ye movesswiftly on to in-depth explorations of numerous computationalproblems and the algorithms that have been developed to solve them.An indispensable text/reference for students and researchers inapplied mathematics, computer science, operations research,management science, and engineering, Interior Point Algorithms: * Derives various complexity results for linear and convexprogramming * Emphasizes interior point geometry and potential theory * Covers state-of-the-art results for extension, implementation,and other cutting-edge computational techniques * Explores the hottest new research topics, including nonlinearprogramming and nonconvex optimization.


In cellular environments, coupled hydrolytic reactions are used to force efficient product formation in enzyme-catalyzed reactions. In the first step of protein synthesis, aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases react with amino acid and ATP to form an enzyme-bound adenylate that, in the next step, reacts with tRNA to form aminoacyl-tRNA. The reaction liberates pyrophosphate (PP(i)) which, in turn, can be hydrolyzed by pyrophosphatase to drive efficient aminoacylation. A potential polymorphic variant of human tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase is shown here to sequester tryptophanyl adenylate. The bound adenylate does not react efficiently with the liberated PP(i) that normally competes with tRNA to resynthesize ATP and free amino acid. Structural analysis of this variant showed that residues needed for binding ATP phosphates and thus PP(i) were reoriented from their conformations in the structure of the more common sequence variant. Significantly, the reorientation does not affect reaction with tRNA, so that efficient aminoacylation is achieved.


Onchocerciasis or "river blindness" is a chronic parasitic neglected tropical disease which is endemic both in mainland and insular Equatorial Guinea. We aim to estimate the current epidemiological situation of onchocerciasis in Bioko Island after vector elimination in 2005 and more than sixteen years of Community Directed Treatment with Ivermectin (CDTI) by using molecular and serological approaches for onchocerciasis diagnosis. A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out in Bioko Island from mid-January to mid-February 2014. A total of 544 study participants were recruited. A complete dermatological examination was performed and three skin snips were performed in every participant for parasitological and molecular assessments. Blood spots were also taken for determination of Ov16 IgG4 antibodies trough an "in-house" ELISA assay. Overall, we found 15 out of 522 individuals suffering any onchocerciasis specific cutaneous lesions and 16 out of 528 (3.0%) with onchocercal nodules in the skin. Nodules were significantly associated with age, being more common in subjects older than 10 years than in younger people (3.9% vs. 0%, p = 0.029). Regarding the onchocerciasis laboratory assessment, no positive parasitological test for microfilaria detection was found in the skin snips. The calculated seroprevalence through IgG4 serology was 7.9%. No children less than 10 years old were found to be positive for this test. Only one case was positive for Onchocerca volvulus (O. volvulus) after skin PCR. The present study points out that the on-going mass ivermectin treatment has been effective in reducing the prevalence of onchocerciasis and corroborates the interruption of transmission in Bioko Island. To our knowledge, this is the first time that accurate information through molecular and serological techniques is generated to estimate the onchocerciasis prevalence in this zone. Sustained support from the national program and appropriate communication and health education strategies to reinforce participation in CDTI activities are essential to ensure progress towards onchocerciasis elimination in the country.


The early 1970s marked the transition of experimentation with illicit drugs from a deviant behavior to a normative behavior among adolescents in the United States as well as the resurgence of the feminist movement in this country. A sample of 572 women from 21 treatment centers in 11 states was divided into two groups--age 35 and over, and under 35--to roughly correspond to whether they had reached adulthood before or after these cultural shifts. Younger and older women exhibit significant differences with respect to substance use patterns and prevalence of eating disorders, childhood antisocial behaviors, suicide attempts, and abuse by boyfriends and spouses.


The metabolic effects of intravenous infusion of glucose, fructose, sorbitol or xylitol were investigated using human volunteers. The infusion period was 4 hours or 48 hours. Serum phosphate concentration decreased quickly and independent on the kind of the carbohydrate used. On the other hand, the serum concentration of potassium or sodium did not show any greater deviations from normal. Considering the renal excretion, greater differences between the single substances were seen. Renal potassium excretion was increased especially during xylitol infusions, and not as much during sorbitol infusions, as compared to infusions with glucose or with fructose. These differences were demonstrated especially for the first 12 hours of the infusions periond. During the infusions of glucose or of fructose an oral substitution of the electrolytes was suggicient. However, during xylitol infusions an intravenous substitution of potassium salts was necessary, despite the fact that the changes in serum concentration were only small. It is emphasized to carefully monitor serum electrolyte concentration and renal electrolyte excretion during long lasting intravenous infusions therapy.


A metallic photonic bandgap (MPBG) resonant antenna is introduced, which has novel characteristics (such as high directivity and high radiation resistance for a certain range of frequencies) as compared to conventional MPBG antennas. The linear MPBG resonant antenna is formed by infinitely long metallic rods in vacuum. The numerical results for the radiation pattern and the radiation resistance are presented. By adjusting the structure of the MPBG resonant antenna and its working frequency, an optimal structure is achieved. The physical reasons for the novel characteristics of the MPBG resonant antenna are also explained.


OBJECTIVE
This phase-I study transferred the concept of isovolemic hemodilution, which has been proven beneficial in the treatment of experimental acute pancreatitis to the patient.

SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA
Pancreatic ischemia represents one main mechanism in the pathogenesis of necrotizing pancreatitis. Isovolemic hemodilution with dextran 60 has been shown experimentally to limit the progression of pancreatic necrosis by improving pancreatic microcirculation.

METHODS
Thirteen patients with clinically severe nonbiliary pancreatitis and CT-classification E according to Balthazar were enrolled. Exclusion criteria were anemia, coronary heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coagulopathies, and secondary referral. The volume of blood to be exchanged for dextran 60 was calculated from a nomogram based on body surface. Isovolemic hemodilution aimed at a hematocrit of 30%. Independent from the exchange procedure conventional fluid resuscitation was performed to adjust the central venous pressure at 6 +/- 2 mm Hg.

RESULTS
Whole blood (750-1,700 mL) was exchanged for dextran 60 during 45 to 70 minutes. No adverse effect was encountered; central hemodynamics were not affected. Considering a mean Ranson score of 5, mortality was low (7.7%). Progression of pancreatic necrosis was registered in only two patients subsequently undergoing surgical treatment (15%).

CONCLUSIONS
Isovolemic hemodilution is practicable in patients. A randomized trial has to prove whether isovolemic hemodilution can substantially alter the course of acute pancreatitis as anticipated from animal studies.


Comprehensive studies comparing tensile properties of sutures are over 25 years old and do not include recent advances in suture materials. Accordingly, the objective of this article is to investigate the tensile properties of commonly used sutures in cutaneous surgery. Thirteen 3-0 sized modern sutures (four nonabsorbable and nine absorbable) were tensile tested in both straight and knotted configurations according to the procedures outlined by the United States Pharmacopeia. Glycomer 631 was found to have the highest failure load (56.1 N) of unknotted absorbable sutures, while polyglyconate (34.2 N) and glycomer 631 (34.3 N) had the highest failure loads of knotted absorbable sutures. Nylon (30.9 N) and polypropylene (18.9 N) had the greatest failure loads of straight and knotted nonabsorbable sutures, respectively. Polydioxane was found to have the most elongation prior to breakage (144%) of absorbable sutures. Silk (8701 MPa) and rapid polyglactin 910 (9320 MPa) had the highest initial modulus of nonabsorbable and absorbable sutures, respectively. The new data presented in the study provide important information for guiding the selection of suture materials for specific surgeries.


Physical limitations based only on antenna volume, form factor and material parameters are applied to electrically small antennas in the form of single dipoles. The upper bound on the gain-bandwidth product is solely determined by the polarisability matrix that characterises the antenna when it is immersed in a uniform applied static field. The polarisability, and hence the bandwidth, is increased by loading the dipole arms close to their ends. The half-power impedance bandwidth is increased from 5 to 13% by moving the coils from the centre to the ends of the dipole arms. The introduction of a stub-matching further improves the bandwidth but the physical limit is not reached. Finally, a dual-resonance dipole antenna is analysed. It is observed that a second resonance hardly reduces the bandwidth of the first resonance if the resonances are separated more than 1.7 times in frequency.


Numerical simulation method was adopted to study the internal flow field of the under inlet bag-type dust collector by the CFD software Fluent.It was found that problems such as uneven distribution of gas flow,great equipment resistance,etc.,were existed in the original design scheme.Improved measures of adding guide plate in the passageway of air inlet were presented.Results show that after improvement,the stream distribution becomes more uniform,and the pressure difference between inlet and outlet decreases,and all parts of the dust collector can play a good role in dust removing in four conditions.Therefore the wearing of the bags are effectively reduced,and the dust collection efficiency and the operational stability are enhanced,providing theoretical basis for the optimization design of the structure of the bag filter.


On 23 June 2001, at 20:33 UTC, a major earthquake occurred near the coast of southern Peru, about 190 km west of Arequipa (16.15°S, 73.40°W). A revised magnitude of 8.4 was computed for this earthquake by the United States Geological Survey, NEIC (see http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/01_EVENTS/0l0623203313/010623203313.html for further information). The earthquake occurred along the west coast of Peru (Figure 1) at the boundary between the Nazca and South American Plates and resulted from thrust faulting along this boundary as the Nazca Plate subducts beneath the South American Plate. The two plates are converging toward each other at a rate of 78 mm/yr (DeMets et al. , 1990).

Southwestern Peru has a history of very large earthquakes. The 23 June shock originated just southeast of the source of a magnitude 7.7 earthquake that occurred in November 1996. This area of the plate boundary has not recorded a major rupture since the 1868 earthquake of magnitude approximately 8.5–9 (Dorbath et al. , 1990; Comte and Pardo, 1991). The 23 June shock occurred in a previously identified seismic gap (Nishenko, 1985). The 1868 earthquake was more destructive than the 23 June earthquake and produced a tsunami that killed hundreds of people along the South American coast. The 23 June earthquake is very similar to the 1995 Mw 8.1 Antofagasta earthquake (Ruegg et al. , 1996), which ruptured a zone of about 180 × 70 km2 of the Chilean coast, along which no major historical earthquake has been recognized before.

The city of Arequipa, located 190 km east of the main shock epicenter, experienced damage during the 23 June earthquake. At Arequipa several precise positioning systems are permanently operating, including continuous GPS station of the IGS, DORIS beacon, Satellite Laser Ranging.

In this study we give a quick report about surface deformation …


Ultra-cold atom system provides novel technology to simulate traditional solid state physics, including boson and fermion particles. Due to the flexibility of tuning pa- rameters, people can further understand basic physics behind strongly correlated effects, especially mechanism of unconventional density wave and superfluidity. Using weak cou- pling renormalization group method, we propose and study several models which can be realized in experiments. Ranging from most well-known extended Hubbard model, to spin- polarized Fermi Hubbard model and multi-flavor Fermi-Fermi mixture, we establish solid theories to explain the origin of new states of matter, and the experimental techniques to exploit them. The effects of lattice structure and particle density in fermionic system play important roles for determining phase diagram in low energy scale. Due to the presence of lattice, these systems have insulator phase at half-filled. The density imbalance, however, prevents formation of conventional density wave state, and the screening interaction dra- matically affects other species's behavior. The interplay between screening interaction and square lattice is key ingredient of unconventional density wave and superfluidity. Our studyvishows that the unconventional density wave and superfluidity can be realized and detected in ultra-cold atom experiments.


We present SVAEC, a visual adaptive environment to assist students, professors and researchers in their knowledge representation and visualization tasks for improving engineering education. The system provides a Web 2.0 rich environment and it encourages the user to interact with already represented knowledge and to include new one. For this purpose it combines an adaptive visualization of the knowledge structure with new features as the nested visualization view and the text parsing tool. The adaptive process of the knowledge structures representation utilizes the user and knowledge profile, including mouse movements and keyboard inputs as a source for extracting user information. At present, a Web mining component is being developed for extracting knowledge from educational Web resources.


Workload characterization involves the understanding of the relationship between workload configurations and performance characteristics. To better assess the complexity of workload behavior, a model based approach is needed. Nevertheless, several configuration parameters and performance characteristics exhibit non-linear relationships that prohibit the development of an accurate application behavior model. In this paper, we propose a non-linear model based on an artificial neural network to explore such complex relationship. We achieved high accuracy and good predictability between configurations and performance characteristics when applying such a model to a 3-tier setup with response time restrictions. As shown by our work, a non-linear model and neural networks can increase the understandings of complex multi-tiered workloads, which further provide useful insights for performance engineers to tune their workloads for improving performance


Competency in technological pedagogical content knowledge is one of the fundamental standards to become a qualified teacher in 21. century. Teachers are expected to have TPACK with technology integration efficacies in their classroom. This research aims to explain the roles of TPACK and its components on behaviorist and constructivist learning – teaching conceptions. Designed as an explanatory research the current study employs hypotheses explaining cause – result connections amongst independent variables (knowledge of technology, knowledge of pedagogy and content knowledge), mediators (technological content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, technological pedagogical knowledge, and technological pedagogical content knowledge) and dependents (behaviorist and constructivist teacher conceptions). One of the structural equation modeling applications benefits from path analysis to uncover these associations. Mediation effects between them are tested through the Sobel tests and biascorrected bootstrapping confidence interval. The path analyses point out that behaviorist teacher conception is just affected by technology knowledge. They show also that technology and pedagogy knowledge have indirect effects on constructivist teacher conceptions via technological content, pedagogical content, technological pedagogical knowledge, and TPACK. It is found that content knowledge is an agent directly affecting constructivist teacher conceptions. It is suggested that teachers should take part in workshops, projects etc. on TPACK or technology integration.


In this paper, we propose an algorithmic fusion approach for performance improvement of the license plate recognition (LPR) systems which is a very important research topic in computer vision and pattern recognition areas. Basically, the building blocks of LPR system is composed of locating the LP, character segmentation and character recognition stages. Character segmentation and recognition phases are well studied in the fields of image processing and pattern recognition and very robust solutions were proposed in the literature. However, the most important problem of the LPR systems is locating the pixel precise position of the LP inside the image. In our previous work, we proposed a horizontal scan method to locate the LP. In this paper, we propose a square detection based LP locating algorithm which also locates the two lined LPs. In order to design a robust stage for the locating plate block, we present a new approach that combines the dexterity of the two different LPR locating algorithms within algorithmic fusion framework. According to our experiments, we observe that the overall performance of the LPR system is increased by the proposed algorithmic fusion method.