The present study suggests that the German Expressionist artist Max Beckmann historicized and individualized in his painting The Descent from the Cross the religious Passion theme, as compared to Nithard's Isenheim Altarpiece, in favor of the potential viewer's capability to emphasize not primarily in regards to Christ but in regards to the surrounding figures in terms of their human-ness. In his painting, as well as in his art statement Creative Credo, Beckmann connects Nietzsche's Vitalism with the Gothic period, linking the tradition of the past to the present. He also utilities the objectivity of religion, its constitutions and well established symbols deriving from Gothic artifacts, and secularized them in order to charge humanity with its dullness and callous emotional response to art and postwar life in Germany.


Post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression contributes to the protein output of a cell, however, methods for measuring translational regulation in complex in vivo systems are lacking. Here, we describe a sensitive method for measuring translational regulation in defined cell populations from heterogeneous tissue in vivo. We adapted the translating ribosome affinity purification (TRAP) methodology to measure the relative occupancy of individual mRNA transcripts in translating ribosomes in the Olig2-positive tumor cell population in a genetically engineered mouse model (GEM) of glioma. Global measurement of paired ribosome-bound and total cellular mRNA populations from tumor cells in vivo identified a broad distribution of relative ribosome occupancies amongst mRNA species that was highly reproducible across biological samples. Comparison of the translation state of glioma cells to non-transformed oligodendrocyte progenitor cells in normal brain identified global alteration of translation in tumor, and specifically of genes involved in cell division and synthetic metabolism. Furthermore, investigation of alteration in steady state translational efficiencies upon loss of PTEN, one of the most frequently mutated and deleted tumor suppressors in glioma, identified differential translation of proteins involved in cellular respiration, canonically regulated by PI3K/Akt signaling, and cellular glycosylation profiles, deregulation of which is known to be associated with tumor progression. Application of the translation efficiency profiling method described here to other biological contexts and conditions would extend our knowledge of the scope and impact of this important mode of gene regulation in complex in vivo systems.


Poverty reduction is held as the ultimate objective of microfinance. Microfinance addresses the small financial needs of the unbanked. The demand of basic financial services by the poor is evident. Estimation from the World Bank target over 2 billion people, of which a quarter of the Asian population. These individuals lack access to adequate forms of financing, many of whom are already borrowers of microloans. Overall the market size for the poor is estimated at $ 300 billion, of which only about 4% is met. The market for microfinance is expanding. There were 2.8 billion people worldwide living on less than 2 dollars a day, 10,000 microfinance institutions and 93 million of microfinance beneficiaries (Attali, 2006). The potential market is huge, with an upside of $100 billion and a sector growth of 20% per annum (Monfort, 2007). Financial sustainability and efficiency of microfinance institutions is very important for a well functioning financial system in developing countries. Financial sustainability is equally important for any microfinance institutions as is wide outreach. Relationship between outreach and efficiency is one of the most important topics in recent discussion on microfinance across the geographies. Using a sample of more than 70 microfinance institutions in India, our study attempts to examine the dynamic relationship between outreach to the poor and financial efficiency of microfinance institutions. We explore the patterns of profitability, loan repayment, and cost reduction. This paper also examines the empirical relationship between financial sustainability and wide outreach and its accompanying effect, the effect of outreach on financial self-sufficiency using abundant financial data for MFIs across India between 2003 and 2008. We provide detailed econometric and statistical analysis in this regard. Univariate and multivariate statistical methods have been applied in order to describe the correlates of profitability, focusing particularly on the roles of cost and interest charged on loans, and its relationship on outreach of MFIs. The results of the study addresses the following issues: Does raising interest rates exacerbate agency problems as detected by lower repayment rates and less profitability? Is there evidence of a trade-off between the depth of outreach to the poor and the financial pursuit of sustainability? What is the possibility of occurrence of mission drift? Based on the survey and analysis of high quality financial data of more than 70 microfinance institutions from across India reveals that financial sustainability largely depends on an institution's lending method. As far as trade-off between outreach to the poor and financial sufficiency is concerned, we find that larger loan sizes are associated with lower average costs for both individual-based lenders and solidarity group lenders. On the whole, our results suggest that institutional design and orientation matters importantly in considering trade-offs in microfinance. The results underscore the need to better understand how contracts function using high-quality financial data. The results of this study have high policy implications for socially-oriented microfinance institutions who strive for a wide outreach to the poor while maintaining financial efficiency for sustainability.


In next-generation wireless networks, device-to-device (D2D) communication represents a feasible way for mobile users to offload their cellular traffic demand without extra costs for deploying additional infrastructure from the network operators. Cellular (e.g., 3GPP LTE) network assistance can automate user/service discovery and connection establishment procedures, as well as enable secure D2D connectivity between proximate users. Currently, assisted direct connectivity is only available in the form of unlicensed-band protocols (e.g., WiFi Direct), which motivates research on understanding its practical limitations with realistic distributions of users and content. Whereas there are concerns that D2D communication alone may not be efficient due to limited content availability, in this paper, we advocate the use of network coding to upgrade assisted proximate communication and make it realize its full potential. In particular, we demonstrate that even simpler network coding techniques are capable to significantly improve the degrees of content availability for communicating users and thus enhance offloading performance under realistic constraints. Inspired by the recent popularity of wireless content distribution systems over D2D caches, we contribute a practical methodology for assisted data caching and distribution, mindful of the state-of-the-art D2D technology.


Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) have been shown to outperform traditional Gaussian Mixture Models in many Automatic Speech Recognition tasks. In this work, we investigate the potential of modeling long temporal acoustic contexts using DNNs. The complete temporal context is split into several subcontexts. Multiple sub-context DNNs initialized with the same set of Restricted Boltzmann Machines are fine-tuned independently and their last hidden layer activations are combined to jointly predict the desired state posteriors through a single softmax output layer. From preliminary experiments on the Aurora2 multi-style training task, our proposed system models a 65-frame temporal window of speech signals and yields a 4.4% WER, outperforming the best single DNN by 12.0% relatively. With the local independence assumption, both training and testing of the sub-context DNNs can be done in parallel. Moreover, our system has a relative 48.2% parameter reduction compared to a single DNN with the same amount of hidden units.


Background: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of cognitive emotion regulation strategy on the relationship between emotion malleability beliefs and depression, and between emotion malleability beliefs and anxiety in Individuals with GAD (Generalized anxiety disorder) symptoms. Methods: The 103 individuals with GAD symptoms respond to the questionnaires measuring emotion malleability beliefs, cognitive emotion regulation strategy, depression, anxiety. Results: Data from this study show that maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategy mediates the effect of emotion malleability beliefs on depression and anxiety. Adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategy has no mediating effect on them. Conclusions: These results suggest that making the individuals with GAD have emotion malleability beliefs or educating them on emotion regulation strategy may not be enough. Therefore, practical intervention is needed in the overall emotion regulation. Finally, this paper includes implications, limitations, and suggestions for the future study.


An experimental inactivated vaccine against bovine herpesvirus-1 (BoHV-1) was produced aiming to evaluate the systemic and local antibody responses in 12 seronegative heifers, after vaccination and revaccination. Serum samples were submitted to virus neutralization assay and to ELISA test for detection of IgG1 and IgG2 isotypes. Nasal secretion samples were submitted to the same ELISA test for detection of IgG1 and IgG2 isotypes. The results showed that moderate to high neutralizing titres and IgG1 and IgG2 antibody responses were induced after the second vaccination in the serum and in nasal secretions up to 114 days post vaccination. IgG2 antibodies were the prevalent isotype for most of the post-vaccination period. The results indicate that BoHV-1 experimental inactivated vaccine elicited potentially protective IgG1 and IgG2 antibody levels, both in the systemic and mucosal compartments.


Counseling psychology is committed to helping people meet the challenges and solve the problems they encounter in daily routines and in stressful circumstances. To a great extent, this holds true for other professional psychology specialties (including clinical, educational and health psychology) as clients usually seek professional assistance in solving the problems they face. Thus, the study of problem-solving abilities—their measurement and correlates—and efficient ways to improve these abilities is of keen interest to clinicians and researchers.

Counseling psychology has played an influential role in this area of inquiry. Historically guided by early cognitive-behavioral theorists (D'Zurilla & Goldfried, 1971), counseling psychology contributed essential theoretical refinements (Heppner & Krauskopf, 1987) and measurement tools (Heppner, 1988) that remain landmark events. However, related and subsequent theoretical and empirical contributions—appearing primarily in outlets associated with clinical and health psychology, and in the larger, multidisciplinary literature—have yet to be sufficiently integrated with contributions from counseling psychology. This lack of scholarly integration has not necessarily impeded advancements and applications, but it has thwarted a deeper theoretical understanding of the mechanisms at work in the learning and application of social problem-solving abilities.


This paper presents a fast algorithm for electromagnetic data inversion to three-dimensional (3D) resistivity models. The algorithm is distinctive for the level of accuracy it attains while bypassing the sensitivity matrix update. A common sensitivity matrix for homogeneous half-space is used in all iterations. Instead of updating the sensitivity matrix, the smoothness filter coefficients at each model element are updated, based on the spatial variations in resistivity in the model derived from the latest iteration. This substitution is expected not only to reduce the computation time required for large-scale inversions, such as those for 3D surveys, but also to allow the resolution of sharp boundaries in resistivity structures. Our algorithm was applied to 3D magnetotelluric inversion in order to confirm its effectiveness. Using synthetic examples under several conditions, we demonstrated that the method can reduce the number of forward calculations required to reduce data misfits to noise level, and that the method is robust for constructing target models even with sharp boundaries without generating fatally false resistivity structures or boundaries under noisy conditions.


Highly selective and direct electroreductive ring-opening carboxylation of epoxides with CO2 in an undivided cell is reported. This reaction shows broad substrate scopes within styrene oxides under mild conditions, providing practical and scalable access to important synthetic intermediate β-hydroxy acids. Mechanistic studies show that CO2 functions not only as a carboxylative reagent in this reaction but also as a promoter to enable efficient and chemoselective transformation of epoxides under additive-free electrochemical conditions. Cathodically generated α-radical and α-carbanion intermediates lead to the regioselective formation of α-carboxylation products.


This work examines the thermal degradation of polybenzoxazines by monitoring the thermal degradation and evaluating the physical properties of the materials during the process. Polymers from five chemically similar bis-benzoxazine monomers have been prepared and characterised. One of the major successes of this project has been developing a reliable method to produce polybenzoxazines that are free of voids. DSC and DMA have been used to study the thermal and mechanical properties of the polybenzoxazines revealing that the phenolphthalein based bisphenol linkage (PBP-a) gives rise to the highest glass transition temperature at 200°C with the dicyclopentadiene linkage (PBD-a) giving the lowest (150°C), a trend which has been shown to relate to crosslink density. Thermal degradation of the materials has been studied primarily via TGA to reveal that under nitrogen polybenzoxazines (generally) undergo three stages of thermal degradation. These were identified by pyrolysis-GC/MS as: breakdown of Mannich bridges (releasing aniline), collapse of bisphenol linkages (releasing phenolic species) and finally degradation of the remaining char (releasing more complex structures). Char yield (at 800°C) was greatest for PBP-a and least for PBD-a. Experimental parameters such as particle size, heating rate and atmosphere have also been found to influence thermal degradation. Pyrolysis-GC/MS has, in addition demonstrated how degradation processes vary with polybenzoxazine backbone, atmosphere and temperature. Some polybenzoxazines have been found to expand dramatically as they are heated with some forming irregular shapes (PBP-a) whilst others (PBT-a) retain their shape well. As they char, polybenzoxazines have been found via X-ray micro-CT scanning to form porous networks dependent on backbone structure. Nanoindentation has also revealed that these materials become harder as they are charred at increasing temperatures. Computer models have been developed to simulate and predict Tg, onset of thermal degradation temperature and volumetric changes of the polybenzoxazines used in this work.


Ventilation of wide spaces often requires a correct mixing of a jet in a cross flow. The present paper describes the application of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to model the interaction of a free stream jet with a cross flow, taking into account temperature gradients between the two streams. The model uses the finite volume technique for solving the conservation equations of fluid: mass, momentum and energy. Buoyancy is described by the Boussinesq approximation. The convergence of the solution required a high mesh refinement in the region of flow interaction.The data were compared with experimental results obtained in a subsonic wind tunnel. The experiments were carried out along the 4.0 m long test section of a 1.4×0.8 low speed wind tunnel. The jets were injected at 90° through orifices 25 mm in diameter drawn from a plenum either at the same or higher temperature the free stream. The jet velocity to the free stream velocity ratio was set at 8 for a single jet and between 4 and 16 for multiple injections. Data include velocity, pressure and temperature.The results show that the injection of relatively small cross-flow rates can cause the development of large regions of interaction with the main flux, accompanied by the creation of large scale flow structures, which contribute effectively to rapid mixing of the two streams.A CFD simulation of temperature showed that a jet 30 diameters downstream (30D) is an extension of the plume covering almost half of the cross section and a good homogeneity, then the extension of the plume 120D which covers almost the entire cross section and an optimum mixing occurs.The CFD simulation temperature of 13 jets showed that a toroidal extension of the plume and a good homogenization as early as 30D downstream of the injection point, occurs.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


In this paper, we present new bibliographical reference corpora in digital humanities (DH) that have been developed under a research project, Robust and Language Independent Machine Learning Approaches for Automatic Annotation of Bibliographical References in DH Books supported by Google Digital Humanities Research Awards. The main target is the bibliographical references in the articles of Revues.org site, an oldest French online journal platform in DH field. Since the final object is to provide automatic links between related references and articles, the automatic recognition of reference fields like author and title is essential. These fields are therefore manually annotated using a set of carefully defined tags. After providing a full description of three corpora, which are separately constructed according to the difficulty level of annotation, we briefly introduce our experimental results on the first two corpora. A popular machine learning technique, Conditional Random Field (CRF) is used to build a model, which automatically annotates the fields of new references. In the experiments, we first establish a standard for defining features and labels adapted to our DH reference data. Then we show our new methodology against less structured references gives a meaningful result.


Idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease (iMCD) is a lymphoproliferative disease of unknown etiology. Deciphering mechanisms involved in CD pathogenesis may help improving patients' care. Six cases of stereotyped sub‐diaphragmatic iMCD affecting lower limb‐draining areas and associated with severe and often ulcerative lower extremity chronic dermatological condition were identified in our cohort. Pathological examination revealed mixed or plasma‐cell type MCD. In three patients, shotgun metagenomics failed to identify any pathogen in involved lymph nodes. Antibiotics had a suspensive effect while rituximab and tocilizumab failed to improve the condition. This novel entity requires a specific approach and exclusion of potentially harmful immunomodulation.


Abstract The study attempts to answer the following question: Does human impact contribute to changes recorded in the Ner river ice regime? In replying to this question, data on water consumption in Lodz (Łódź) (a city in central Poland) in 1951–2017 were used, as well as observations of ice cover and all ice phenomena for the same period. The ice regime and water temperature of the river have changed over the past 70 years. The changes result not only from changes caused by global warming but also from additional fluctuations in this temperature as determined by changes in the quantity and quality of wastewater discharged into the river from the Lodz city agglomeration. The frequency of ice phenomena in the river decreased, and their duration dropped by almost half. This tendency was compounded by a decrease in number of days with ice phenomena, which in turn was caused by a rapid increase in the amount of waste and thermally polluted waters supplied from Lodz. The river water temperature has now stopped increasing. The course of the river ice regime now resembles that of a natural watercourse again.


The medical profession should be terrified at the possibilities hidden in the happenings in Morristown, NJ. The Karen Ann Quinlan case does not, as such, raise problems unfamiliar to the physician. For some years, physicians— though perhaps not all, or even as many as some would like—have been refusing to inflict artificial life-supports on irretrievably dying patients. Two principles are crucial to the ethos of the medical profession and are imprinted deep in the hearts of individual physicians. First, their task is to heal and cure, whenever possible. Second, when a cure is no longer possible, they are to care for and comfort the dying. Members of the medical profession, understandably and laudably, resist—and sometimes even resent their inability always to cure; they, like all of us, recoil when they see that death is to be the victor. Like all of us, the physician has much to learn about companying


: As we contemplate what the future holds for dentistry, it is helpful to look back at where it's been and how far it has come.


PT. Macindo Mitra Raya is a type of diesel oil (BBM) industrial company that supplies diesel fuel to full fill industrial nesercity, where one of the prices of diesel is the cost of inventory that needs to be managed. This study aims to determine the total cost of diesel fuel type inventories and determine the amount of stock of diesel fuel that is economical at PT. MACINDO MITRA RAYA through the Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) method. To calculation the number of economical orders, the formula √ 2𝐷𝑆 𝐻 is used. Then to determine the total fuel inventory cost, the formula √2𝐷𝑆𝐻 is used where D is the annual fuel order, S as the order ordering cost and H as the total ordering cost per message. From the results of the study indicate that the economical order for PT.Macindo Mitra Raya is 48,814.07 liters and the amount of inventory costs is Rp. 1,199,039,533. From the results obtained from the research conducted it has implications for the greatest efficiency in the cost of inventory of PT. Macindo Mitra Raya.


MoS2 and generally speaking, the wide family of transition‐metal dichalcogenides represents a solid nanotechnology platform on which to engineer a wealth of new and outperforming applications involving 2D materials. An even richer flexibility can be gained by extrinsically inducing an in‐plane shape anisotropy of the nanosheets. Here, the synthesis of anisotropic MoS2 nanosheets is proposed as a prototypical example in this respect starting from a highly conformal chemical vapor deposition on prepatterend substrates and aiming at the more general purpose of tailoring anisotropy of 2D nanosheets by design. This is envisioned to be a suitable configuration for strain engineering as far as strain can be spatially redistributed in morphologically different regions. With a similar approach, both the optical and electronic properties of the 2D transition‐metal dichalcogenides can be tailored over macroscopic sample areas in a self‐organized fashion, thus paving the way for new applications in the field of optical metasurfaces, light harvesting, and catalysis.


Consumer behavior is a vast and complex subject. Also consumer purchase decision is controversial and challenging issues. Understanding consumer behavior and "knowing consumers' are not that simple. It is almost impossible to predict with accuracy, how consumers will behave in a given situation because of the changing technology, innovation, and changes in lifestyle. Email is a common form of communication used for both personal and professional purposes. With businesses coming to understand how effective email marketing can be, email marketing is gaining in popularity. Email marketing tests and studies reveal that email marketing can affect consumer behavior, even convincing consumers to go to websites for more information or to make a purchase.


As part of efforts to curb road deaths and serious injuries, the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) invited the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) to work with the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (Departamento Nacional de Infraestrutura de Transportes, DNIT) to assess the safety of Brazilian roads. During this second assessment of Brazilian roads, approximately 3,400km of roads were assessed. This technical report describes the road assessment project and includes details on data collection, the methodology used and a summary of the results. The infrastructure-related risk assessment involved detailed surveys and coding of 50 road attributes at 100 meter intervals along the network and creation of Star Ratings, which provide a simple and objective measure showing the level of risk on the road network. The star ratings show that 1 percent of road length is rated as 5-star, 9 percent is rated as 4-star, 58 percent is rated as 3-star, and the remaining 32 percent is rated as 2-star and below for vehicle occupants. For motorcyclists, no roads were rated as 5-star, only 3 percent of road length is rated as 4-star, 47 percent is rated as 3-star, and the remaining 50 percent is rated 2-star and below. For pedestrians less than 1 percent is rated as 4-star and 5-star, 2 percent is rated as 3-star and the remaining 13 percent is rated 2-star and below. For bicyclists less than 1 percent is rated as 5-star or 4-star, 5 percent is rated as 3-star and the remaining 14 percent is rated 2-star and below. The project also involved the creation of a Safer Roads Investment Plans, which draws on more than 90 proven road safety treatments, ranging from low cost road markings and pedestrian refuges to higher cost intersection upgrades and full highway duplication.


This paper advances previous research in corporate social reporting (CSR) by using a taxonomy of five distinct rhetorical strategies to examine any differences in term of type of ethical categories and to identify moral attitudes towards different societal activities between Shari'ah compliant company Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad (BIMB) and Non-Shari'ah compliant company Malayan Banking Berhad (Maybank). The data is analyzed using content analysis. The findings revealed that there are different rhetoric applied in both types of companies such as Agency (profit), Benefit (collective welfare), Compliance (law and contracts), Duty and Ethos (virtue). In term of moral attitudes, both types of companies disclosed relatively similar behaviour and commitment towards CSR. This research is the first of its kind to be conducted in Malaysia by using this new approach and will contribute new insights to existing CSR literatures in Malaysia.


Primary immunodeficiency diseases are rare disorders characterized by quantitative or qualitative defects in cells or components in the immune system, resulting in a high degree of susceptibility to various types of infections. During differentiation, stem cells undergo a series of discrete steps, governed by a large number of different genes. Mutations/deletions in these genes will result in a block in differentiation of the affected cell lineage(s), leading to immunodeficiency. To date, more than 150 different types of disorders have been described. In this review, we will focus on novel findings in antibody deficiency syndromes.


This work deals with a development of a tool for ear ventilation tube production. Ear tubes are medical devices, which allow ventilation and provide pressure equalization in the middle ear cavity for prolonged period of time; in case of repetitive inflammation. These implants are normally made from metals or classical polymeric materials. Whereas, today, the effort is to develop bioresorbable tubes based on polylactic acid, which could replace currently used material. The benefit provides no requirement of secondary surgery for their removal. The size of ear implants is only in millimetres and the tool for their manufacturing requires a special technology. In this paper, two tubes and a transfer mold for their production was designed using 3D CAD software Catia V5R18. Subsequently, the special manufacturing process for the mold cavity plates using the rapid prototyping and electroforming technology was proposed. The designed tool is intended for biodegradable tubes, which will be further tested in the laboratory.


This study investigated the motivators knowledge workers employ when sharing knowledge though enterprise social media (ESM) in a telecommunications context. A questionnaire was distributed among knowledge workers in one of the leading telecommunication companies in the Sultanate of Oman. Based on the Structural Equation Modelling-Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) analysis of 100 responses from knowledge workers, results showed that technological motivators had significant effects on knowledge workers' knowledge sharing through ESM. Further analysis based on the knowledge type indicated that technological motivators and organizational motivators significantly impact knowledge workers' tacit knowledge sharing, whereas only technological motivators impact knowledge workers' explicit knowledge sharing. This study provides decision makers with useful insights on the motivators of sharing knowledge through ESM and further advances knowledge workers' learning and business operations, especially in under-investigated countries.


The aim of the article is the evaluation of the role of political-economic factors in transition of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe on the background of their economic performance. The evaluation makes use of various methodological approaches differentiating between the extent (speed) of structural reforms and the quality of institutional framework. The surveyed factors include political and economic freedom, initial conditions, process of liberalization, and quality of governance. Despite some caveats of such analyses which limit the explanatory value of the observed relationships, the political-economic factors can be considered an important ingredient explaining diverging economic performance of transition countries, particularly in the case when the performance differences are rather large.


The widespread adoption of communication and control infrastructures will not only improve the microgrid system performance in normal conditions but also increase microgrid cybersecurity risks. Potential cyberattacks can deteriorate microgrid performances by corrupting and intercepting data exchanges among participating DERs, whereby microgrids deviate from desired operating conditions and stable microgrid operations are jeopardized. In this paper, a cross-layer control strategy is proposed to enhance the microgrid resilience against false data injection (FDI) and denial of service (DoS) attacks. On the one hand, the proposed control strategy will not interfere with microgrid normal operations when there are no cyberattacks. On the other hand, the proposed control strategy can effectively mitigate the impacts of FDI and DoS attacks on microgrids without relying on prompt detection and isolation of cyberattacks. The stability of the proposed control strategy is demonstrated using the Lyapunov theory under different scenarios, including without and with FDI and DoS attacks. The effectiveness of the proposed cross-layer resilient control strategy against cyberattacks is validated in a 12-bus microgrid system using time-domain PSCAD/EMTDC simulations.


Abstract Purpose Microwave ablation (MWA) is feasible for severe renal secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) and primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) patients ineligible for parathyroidectomy (PTX). Here we compared the clinical manifestations and characteristics of parathyroid glands in these two groups, and summarized the techniques, safety and efficacy of MWA. Methods Baseline clinical characteristics, ablation-related techniques, adverse events/complications, and efficacy were recorded. Results In SHPT group, malnutrition, cardiovascular/pulmonary complications, and abnormal bone metabolism were severe. SHPT patients had more hyperplastic parathyroid glands. The volume of each gland was smaller, and the time of ablation for a single parathyroid was shorter in the SHPT group, although there were no significant differences compared with patients in the PHPT group. Three patients in both groups had recurrent laryngeal nerve injuries and all recovered, except for one SHPT patient. By the end of follow-up, serum iPTH levels had decreased from 2400.26 ± 844.26 pg/mL to 429.39 ± 407.93 pg/mL (p < .01) in SHPT and from 297.73 ± 295.32 pg/mL to 72.22 ± 36.51 pg/mL in PHPT group (p < .01). Hypocalcemia was more common (p < .001) and serum iPTH levels were prone to rebound in SHPT patients after MWA. Conclusion MWA can be reserved for those who had high surgical risks because of less invasiveness. Injuries of recurrent laryngeal nerves should be noticed. The health status, perioperative, and intraoperative procedures were more complicated and all parathyroids found by ultrasound should be ablated completely in SHPT patients.


Much of the focus of international comparative studies of students' achievement has been on New Zealand students' falling standards. Using the most recent findings from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and, in particular, Year 9 New Zealand students' performance in specific items, this article suggests that there is much more we can learn from this large-scale assessment. For example, in what ways are students' achievements changing over the years? How has our students' higher order thinking in science changed? What have we done well and not so well? By highlighting the values of the TIMSS Science Study, it is hoped that teachers and schools will be more likely to consider and use the findings to plan curriculum and to design assessment.


The Internet of Things and associated smart products are finding application in evermore domains. Within agriculture it is described under the term smart farming. Using smart products allows farmers to automatically record relevant information, monitor operating procedures or remotely control machines. To make these capabilities usable for added value, not only smart products but entire information systems that align to the domain and its requirements are necessary. Within the literature, various architectures can be found already. However, many lack a methodical foundation or an abstraction of application cases and technology. Against this background, the article presents an information system architecture independent of application cases or technology and oriented toward the domain of smart farming. Starting point of the development is a systematic literature review, based on Webster and Watson [1] in combination with Vom Brocke [2, 3], based on 18 existing architecture approaches that are analyzed and aggregated.


This report is written as closure for my Bachelor End Project for my study Mechanical Engineering at the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven. The reserved time for this project is 252 hours which is equal to 9 ECTS. I have worked on this project from September 2012 until January 2013. My Bachelor End Project is done for Tech United as part of the 5K Turtle project. This project aims to reduce the cost of the RoboCup MSL league robot from Tech United, named 'Turtle', to 5000 euro. The project is done in cooperation with three companies; 'ACE', 'Frencken Mechatronics' and 'VEDS'. My Bachelor End Project focuses on the Ball handling of the Turtle. A part of the project is done in cooperation with Tom Schoenmakers who also worked on the 5K Turtle project for his Bachelor End Project. I would like to thank Tom Schoenmakers for his input and partnership. For this project I got a lot of input from Tech United and the EPC so I would like to offer them my gratitude. I would also like to thank the 3 companies, 'ACE', 'Frencken' and 'VEDS' for their input as well. Special thanks go to Piet Steeghs, who helped both Tom and me a lot with cost reduction and mechanical designing. I would like to mention Peter Teurlings and thank him for his part in the project. Finally I would like to thank Jordan Bos, Frank Steeghs and Heico Sandee for their coaching.


Purpose: The authors have developed a system that searches for radiologic reports, and we have evaluated the utility of this system for clinical application, research and medical education. Materials and Methods: The system retrieves radiologic reports from the OCS (ordering communication system) server and stores them in a separate computer. A CGI (common gateway interface) program was written to search the database with variable keywords given by the user. The system satisfied the requirements of functionality, accessibility and security. Results: Users could search for radiologic reports with variable keywords using the web browser, and the user could refine the results using combinations of these keywords. The system has been running successfully for 2 years, and radiologists have used this system for searching or collecting cases, keeping reports and gathering statistics. Conclusion: The simple text searching system has been developed in a short time period with only small costs and a bit of hard effort, and this system is practical for clinical use, research and medical education.


With the growing complexity of e-business applications and the urgent need for ensuring its reliability, much effort has been made to advocate the application of model checking in probing hidden flaws in these applications. This work devotes itself to the performance enhancement in reasoning e-business processes with model checking. Our major contribution lies in: (1) a set of business bug patterns are extracted from workflow patterns to exploit existing business knowledge in probing undesired violations in e-business processes; (2) the semantics of business bug patterns are formally captured with the IEEE standard of PSL; (3) guided verification algorithms are development based on the above findings to accelerate the reasoning of complex e-business applications. Their efficiencies are testified with three concrete business cases in banking and manufacturing domains with our business process verification toolkit of OPAL


Resting and protection of wound surfaces after surgery are important in the promotion of wound healing. However, auricles protrude from the body surface, and there is hair in their surroundings. Therefore, postoperative dressing and protection require some modification. There are commercially available products for this purpose, but time is required for purchasing, and the cost is high for a product used only temporarily. In this study, we made a modification of simply using a dust mask for auricular protection after surgery, and we obtained relatively good results.


The idea of disobedient machines is developed from the perspective of the historical and current developments in artificial intelligence (AI). Disobedience is often used in arts and technology as both a theme and a tool. Beyond that, misbehaviour is presented as one of the skills that is indispensable for natural intelligence. The article doesn't delve into the use of AIs as an assistive tool for creation. Instead, it speculates if AIs will afford the emergence of an independent, autonomous artificial creator. Different approaches to AIs are presented, from symbolism to emergism. The affordances of machine learning models are described, as well as their limitations like the incapacity to generate breakthroughs outside of their training data, their determinism, and the inability to use analogies to solve unseen problems. Other missing human (or biological) skills present in art are emotion, goal-less production, and agency, which is a problem even when human volition is studied. The limits of computational formalism are like the limits in mathematical reasoning – it always requires some external rules, or axioms demonstrated, like Gödel's proof. Hofsdtader's theory of consciousness proposes a way to conciliate the fact that human creativity is also based on closed, fixed biological rules. Finally, it is argued that a machine cannot be creative unless it is also able to misbehave. However, computers must follow a set of instructions or they stop functioning – that is the definition of a Turing machine. Hence, we must face the paradox of wanting well-behaved systems, with the limitations of symbolic machines, while at the same time demanding more autonomous, creative outputs. It is paramount to explore algorithmic misbehaviours that could circumvent this paradox for further development of AIs for the arts and society in general.


Background Increased arterial stiffness is common in patients with diabetes, and inflammation is one of the main causes of increased arterial stiffness. Platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR) are novel inflammatory markers that are reproducible, widely available, and easy to measure, and are associated with low costs. This study sought to investigate the predictive value of these novel inflammatory markers in patients with diabetes having arterial stiffness. Methods We retrospectively included inpatients with diabetes mellitus from the Endocrinology Department of the Chengdu Fifth People's Hospital from June 2021 to May 2022 and collected data on their general information, biochemical indicators, and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV). After propensity matching, the risk relationship between PLR, NLR, and MLR and arterial stiffness was assessed in the recruited patients. Results A total of 882 hospitalized patients with diabetes were included in this study and categorized into the low baPWV (507 cases) or high baPWV group (375 cases) based on the baPWV. After propensity matching, there were 180 patients in all in the high and low baPWV groups. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that high PLR, NLR, and MLR were independently associated with an increased risk of arterial stiffness in patients with diabetes. In the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the NLR area under the curve (AUC) was 0.7194 (sensitivity = 84.4%, specificity = 51.1%) when distinguishing low baPWV and high baPWV in patients with diabetes, which was higher than that for PLR AUC (0.6477) and MLR AUC (0.6479), and the combined diagnosis for AUC. Conclusions NLR was superior to PLR, and MLR and combined diagnosis have certain predictive values that indicate the increase in arterial stiffness in patients with diabetes. These predictive values can help with the early identification of increased arterial stiffness in patients with diabetes.


We demonstrate what is to our knowledge the first optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on a cylindrical phase-matched nonlinear crystal. Experiments are performed with an uncoated KTiOPO(4) crystal cut as a cylinder with a diameter of 21.2 mm and a thickness of 5 mm. We achieve 20.5-internal-degree angular tuning in a 1064-nm-pumped type III OPO, which would correspond to ~36 degrees external angular rotation for a parallelepipedal crystal. The goals of using such a device are to narrow the spectral width of the output and to enhance the spatial quality of the generated beams in widely tunable OPO's.


The Co-free materials with high erosion resistance are anticipated for parts of equipment in nuclear power plants. The erosion resistance of Ti–Ni shape memory alloys (SMAs) against the impact of hot water jet onto the specimen surface was investigated experimentally and by finite element method (FEM). The results are compared with that of an existing Co-based alloy (Stellite). Both of the erosion damaged cross-sectional area and the maximum damaged depth increased linearly with the elongated exposure time. The damaged areas of SMAs were extremely small compared to those of Stellite. However, no significant difference in the maximum damaged depth was found between the two materials. From the FEM results, larger values of the maximum shear stress and the mean stress were found to distribute in the specimens in testing. It is estimated that the essential erosion damage mechanism of Ti–Ni SMAs is cavitation. In Stellite a combination of the shear stress and the cavitation controls erosion. The erosion resistance of the Ti–Ni SMAs is superior to that of Stellite. It is suggested that the Ti–Ni SMAs will be one of the promising alternative materials for Stellite.


A new unified account for anaphoric and non-anaphoric (attributively used) definite descriptions is proposed that avoids making use of lexical ambiguities and the notion of minimal situations.


2 Abstract Rainfall is a natural phenomenon that needs to be studied more deeply and interesting to be analyzed. It involves numbers of human activities such as aviation, agriculture, fisheries, and also disaster risk reduction. Moreover, the characteristics of rainfall data follows seasonality, fluctuation, not normally distributed and it makes traditional time series challenging to use. Therefore, neurocomputing model can be used as an alternative to extraction information from rainfall data and give high performance also accuracy. In this paper, we give short preview about SST Anomalies in Manado, Northern Sulawesi and at the same time comparing the performance of rainfall forecasting by using three types of neurocomputing methods such as Generalized Regression Neural Network (GRNN), Feed forward Neural Network (FFNN), and Localized Multi Kernel Support Vector Regression (LMKSVR). In a nutshell, all of neurocomputing methods give highly accurate forecasting as well as reach low MAPE FFNN 1.65%, GRNN 2.65% and LMKSVR 0.28%,


This paper presents the design of a linear antenna array for use in a 24 GHz radar tachymeter. The task of the proposed radar tachymeter is the precise measurement of the distance and angle to a cooperative transponder. To obtain the desired high accuracy, we designed an optimized sparse antenna array. The antenna pattern was selected using a brute-force optimization method. A fixed number of array elements was placed on a limited number of allowed grid positions and the array pattern with the best figure of merit for the given radar tachymeter application was selected. This approach can be successfully employed for sparse antenna array designs where multiple constraints such as aperture size limitations or number and spacing of antenna array elements are given. Distance and angle measurements taken with the implemented optimized array show excellent results. The standard deviations in range and azimuth were 8.6 mm and 0.1°, respectively for a range of several hundred meters.


The low-temperature dynamics of far-infrared (FIR) excited electrons bound to shallow donors has been studied in n-GaAs. In a magnetic field of 3.6 T the electrons are excited from the ground state to the 2p+1 donor state with a short pulse of 118.8 mu m radiation and the photoconductive response is monitored with subnanosecond resolution. The observed response can be described with a simple three-level rate equation model, yielding a minimum value of 5*109 s-1 for the ionization rate of a shallow donor in the 2p+1 bound state.


The lungs are the organs of respiration which are situated on either side of the heart and other mediastinal contents in its pleural cavity. A fresh lung is spongy, can float in water and crepitates when handled. Lungs are important with respect to its blood circulation. The lungs are divided by fissures into lobes which facilitate movements of lobes in relation to one another. The hilum of each lung is its gateway. In the present study, we aim to assess the morphological variations of human cadaveric lungs at Chitwan Medical College (CMC). An observational study was conducted at dissection hall of anatomy department at Chitwan Medical College from September 2019 to October 2020 after taking ethical approval form Institutional Review Committee of CMC. All the intact 70 lungs present in the department were studied. Photographs of the intact lungs were taken from different surface. The lungs were porus, highly elastic and spongy in texture. On keeping lungs to water tank it got floated. We found 34(80.96%) of the studied specimen of right side had horizontal fissure present in it. The remaining 8 (19.04%) specimens did not have horizontal fissures, while 3 (5.88%) specimens had incomplete fissures. The oblique fissure was not present in 2 (2.38%) of the study specimens. The left side of the study specimen has a variance of 1(4.16%). When the hilum right lung was examined, 40 (95.23%) of the structure had the usual organization pattern. In the left lung, the usual pattern of organization was 21(75%). The differences are thought to be present in the lung's fissure and hilum. The current study's findings are therapeutically important. The findings could prove beneficial to cardiovascular and thoracic surgeons. Corresponding author


In the investigation of a patient with choroidal melanoma in one eye and repaired rhegmatogenous retinal detachment in the other, a C.T. scan demonstrated the tumour in the right globe and the encircling silastic sponge around the left globe. These radiologic findings were confirmed on histological examination of the right eye. We believe C.T. scanning may be a valuable technique for investigating bulbar and para-bulbar soft tissue abnormalities.


The paper aims to trace back the environmental discourse on water supply and the risk of scarcity and to learn about media dealing with information about natural resources we cannot live without. Therefore, it presents a theoretical concept to identify the degree of problematization of resource related issues in the media and works out regularities of environmental discourses.

Design: The presented data of a quantitative as well as qualitative media content analysis (Nvivo) of newspaper articles (n = 1745) published in Central Europe (Italy, Slovenia, Austria and Germany) focuses on the arguments and frames used in relation to the issue of water supply. Based on a theoretical model of public debates and discourses on CSR, sustainability and environmental issues (Bourdieu, 1991; May et al., 2007; Weder, 2012a, 2012b; Castello et al., 2013; Weder, 2015a), the underlying assumption is that only a high degree of problematization (variety and counter activeness of arguments) in the media represents a public discourse.

Findings: The results show that the main water supply related sub issues debated in the media are water privatization and management. Media discourses about water as a natural resource are dominated by economic frames, in particular arguments of corporations (particularly in Italy) and political actors (particularly in Austria). Accordingly, the lack of controversy and counterarguments as well as the homogeneity of frames show that the issue of water allocation and the risk of scarcity is not problematized in the media.

Implications: Working with the theoretical assumption of a high degree of problematization as condition for public discourses, the qualitative evaluation shows a non-existence of an environmental discourse on resources and sustainable ways of water allocation and usage. This puts the phenomenon of politicization, when environmental discourses are drawn to and used by another (i.e. the political) field, up for discussion with an "abuse" of environmental claims for specific political and economic interests as worst-case scenario.


The development and application of a procedure for interphase cytogenetics on brain tumor material is described. Nuclei isolated from freshly removed brain tumor tissue were investigated for chromosomal aberrations by nonradioactive in situ hybridization with a panel of chromosome‐specific probes. The panel consisted of nine satellite DMA probes specific for the centromeric regions of chromosomes 1, 6, 7, 10, 11, 17, 18, X, and Y. For each probe, the number of hybridization signals per cell was determined in 200 nuclei. It was inferred from the hybridization results that in 11 gliomas (seven astrocytomas grade II‐IV, three oligodendrogliomas, and one ependymoma) the numerical aberrations were gains of chromosomes 1 (once), 7 (twice), 10 (once), 11 (twice), and X (twice); losses of chromosomes 1 (once), 10 (twice), 17 (twice), and Y (once); and complete tetraploidy (once). Among the 18 investigated meningiomas monosomy 18 and trisomy 17 were observed once and twice, respectively. An additional hybridization with a cosmid probe for the BCR gene on 22q 11 indicated monosomy 22q in 11 meningiomas. These results show the value of interphase cytogenetics for the analysis of solid tumors for which it is relatively difficult to obtain sufficient metaphases of good quality for conventional cytogenetics.


The monophyly of some crustacean groups is generally accepted, but for several groups unclear. Crustaceans are additionally important to enlight the question how land was successfully conquered by arthropods. This is closely linked to the still debated position of crustaceans within arthropods and the supposable sister-group of crustaceans. Most molecular studies of crustaceans rely on single or multigene analyses. However, intensive data quality and alignment assessments prior to phylogenetic reconstructions are not conducted in most studies. Additionally, a complex modeling and the implementation of compositional base heterogeneity along lineages are missing. One methodological aim in the present analyses was to implement new tools to infer data quality, to improve alignment quality and to test the impact of complex modeling of the data. The conclusion is that alignment evaluation and processing improves the resulting inference of the phylogeny. Assessing the quality of the signal or potential conflicts in the dataset is extremely important. Complex models can improve the phylogeny reconstruction additionally.


Pomatomus saltatrix (Pomatomidae) is important to several recreational fisheries around the world, most of which regulate exploitation via legal size limits and quotas. However, the inherent assumption of minimal impacts to released P. saltatrix has only been tested across limited and mostly planned angling scenarios, with variable results. This study contributes to the available information by assessing the fate of conventionally angled-and-released P. saltatrix off New South Wales, Australia. Eighty-five fish (24–54 cm total length, TL) were caught from surf beaches, rocks and boats and released into cages (with 60 controls), where they were monitored for 10 days. The mortality among angled fish was 8%, all of which occurred within 24 hours. The few deaths were attributed to gill hooking and/or excessive hook damage, and most might be mitigated by cutting the line rather than removing hooks. The results support releasing the angled sizes of eastern Australian P. saltatrix and, along with a review of earlier data, facilitate the prediction of impacts to individuals caught and released among unstudied populations.


Elderly is an advanced stage of the life process decreasing the body's ability to adapt to the environment. Degenerative disease is a disease that occurs due to decreased organ function, including hypertension, rhematoid arthritis, stroke, diabetes mellitus. Various strategies are pursued to improve health status and reduce morbidity in the elderly. One of them is through physical activity that is in accordance with the physical condition of the elderly and is carried out regularly. In addition, increasing knowledge through counseling which aims to help the elderly make decisions and determine a healthy lifestyle. The purpose of this activity is to improve the quality of life of the elderly. The method used is by doing elderly exercise with pre and post blood pressure checks so that it can be seen the significance of the benefits of exercise. In addition, counseling was carried out using lecture, discussion and question and answer methods. The target audience for this community service program is the elderly (elderly) in the Poskesdes Village of Benteng who are physically categorized as doing sports / physical activity for the elderly. The results of this activity show that the effectiveness of elderly gymnastics has an effect on reducing blood pressure. And from counseling, the results of the evaluation show that the elderly understand and understand the concept of healthy elderly people related to the pandemic.


Background Interprofessional Education (IPE) aims to improve students' attitudes towards collaboration, teamwork, and leads to improved patient care upon graduation. However, the best time to introduce IPE into the undergraduate curriculum is still under debate. Methods We used a mixed-methods design based on a sequential explanatory model. Medical students from all six years at the University of Bern, Switzerland (n = 683) completed an online survey about attitudes towards interprofessional learning using a scale validated for German speakers (G-IPAS). Thirty-one medical students participated in nine semi-structured interviews focusing on their experience in interprofessional learning and on the possible impact it might have on their professional development. Results Women showed better attitudes in the G-IPAS across all years (p = 0,007). Pre-clinical students showed more positive attitudes towards IPE [Year 1 to Year 3 (p = 0.011)]. Students correctly defined IPE and its core dimensions. They appealed for more organized IPE interventions throughout the curriculum. Students also acknowledged the relevance of IPE for their future professional performance. Conclusions These findings support an early introduction of IPE into the medical curriculum. Although students realise that interprofessional learning is fundamental to high-quality patient care, there are still obstacles and stereotypes to overcome. Trial registration ISRCTN 41715934.


In this study, 468 Listeria strains were checked for the presence of phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC) activity by using a simple assay that consisted of overlaying colonies formed on agar plates with L-alpha-phosphatidylinositol as substrate. In this assay, PI-PLC-active colonies show turbid halos around the colonies as a result of the release of insoluble diacylglycerol from the substrate. This activity was detected only in the pathogenic species Listeria monocytogenes and was not present in any of the 167 strains of Listeria seeligeri, Listeria welshimeri, Listeria innocua, Listeria murrayi, and Listeria grayi tested. Hence, screening for PI-PLC activity permits discrimination between pathogenic and nonpathogenic Listeria species. In particular, the hemolytic but nonpathogenic species L. seeligeri can now be separated from the hemolytic and pathogenic species L. monocytogenes and L. ivanovii. The use of this assay will improve the specific detection and/or isolation of pathogenic Listeria species from clinical samples or food enrichment cultures.


Christian tradition speaks mainly of two possible post-mortem human destinies. It holds that those human beings who, in their earthly lives, acted according to God's will and accepted God's love will be reconciled to Him in heaven; whereas those who have acted against God's will and refused His love will be consigned to the everlasting torments of hell. The notion that hell is everlasting and also a place of unending suffering inevitably gives rise to the following question for theists: how could an omnipotent, all-good and allloving God allow anyone to suffer the torments of hell for eternity? The problem of hell is arguably the most severe form of the problem of evil because the evil found in hell is eternal with no possibility for redemption. Thus, the doctrine of hell gives rise to a specific moral problem caused by the apparent incompatibility between God's goodness and love
and everlasting torment in hell. There have been several attempts to shore up the doctrine of hell in the face of this problem. 'Particularists' argue that the doctrine is morally defensible and that some people will experience eternal torment in hell as a result of their rejection of God. Others try to evade the problem by claiming that a doctrine of hell is not in fact taught in the scriptures (at least in its traditional form), and that Christians are
therefore able to reject particularism and affirm that all human beings will be saved in the end. Those who make this optimistic eschatological observation are known as 'universalists'.

My thesis focuses on 'universalists' and, in particular, on three contemporary Christian philosophers who defend universal salvation, namely: John Hick, Thomas Talbott and Marilyn McCord Adams. All three maintain that God's love for His human creatures is inconsistent with the claim that God does not desire to bring about their salvation. Their accounts share common roots: they are founded on an understanding of God's nature as omnipotent love, and on an understanding of human freedom, as well as on an account of curative post-mortem punishment for sinners. All three philosophers hold that God will eventually succeed in reconciling all human beings to Himself and so no one will be damned in hell.

In this thesis, I argue that Hick, Talbott and Adams fail in their attempts to make a plausible case for universalism. One of the main criticisms I consider is that there is significant tension between their universalist accounts and the value of human freedom. The necessary correlation that they assume between God's love and the outcome of this love does not recognize the capacity for each person freely to reject the offer of salvation. Another criticism I consider is that their accounts of post-mortem punishment do not guarantee either that salvation and reconciliation with God will be the outcome of a free choice made out of love, or that all sinners will eventually be saved. In bringing these three universalist accounts into question, I examine the notions of freedom of choice and punishment as well as the relation between free choice and rationality.


MELZER, C., et al.: Transient Exit Block of a DDD Pacemaker with Unipolar Leads in Subcutaneous Emphysema Following Pneumothorax. This case report describes a transient pacemaker exit block due to subcutaneous emphysema following pneumothorax. Pneumothorax after pacemaker implantation is rare, but development of subcutaneous emphysema under such circumstances is even more uncommon. Exit block develops only with the use of unipolar leads; with implantation of bipolar leads, this complication cannot occur.


Three damaging inland earthquakes have occurred in the northern Miyagi Prefecture of the Tohoku District in Japan since 1900. Magnitudes M of the 1962 and the 2003 events were assigned to be 6.5 and 6.4, respectively, from local seismic records observed by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). That of the 1900 event was 7.0, which was determined mainly from the seismic intensity data, while the rank of damage was very lower than other M=7 class inland shallow earthquakes in Japan. In the present study, damage rate data, seismic intensity data, and old seismograms were re-examined to evaluate the magnitude and the location of the focal region of the 1900 event. Re-evaluated magnitude of this event is almost the same as those of the 1962 and 2003 events. The seismic gap between the 1962 and 2003 events is filled with the focal region of the 1900 event obtained. The possibility of a big shallow earthquake occurrence must be very low in near future in the seismic zone of the northern Miyagi Prefecture.


Functional food and beverage companies are touting the presence of antioxidants in their products in response to consumer interest in the potential health benefits of antioxidants in the diet. Labisia pumila (LPva) or "Kacip Fatimah" is a popular supplement in the Malaysian functional food and beverage market. Today, information on its bioactive compounds remains scarce. A comparative evaluation of total phenolics and free radical scavenging activity of the aqueous extract of LPva were studied using Folin – Ciocalteu assay, aluminum chloride assay, ferric ion reducing power assay and DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) scavenging assay. The results of total phenolics showed that LP from Tilu MountainBogor (LPvaT) contained the highest average of total phenolics. The ratio of total flavonoids/total phenolics (TFC/TPC) of LP from Halimun-Salak Mountain, Bogor (LPvaB) with is 0.27 and contained the highest average of total flavonoids. Antioxidant activity by FRAP assay shows that LPvaT contained the highest average of ability to reduce the ferric ion-TPTZ complex. DPPH assay showed that EC50 of LPvaT (78.79 μg/mL) was lowest. Based on these values, LPvaT is found to have the highest antioxidant activity. KeywordsFree radical scavenging activity, total phenolics, aqueous extract, Labisia pumila var. alata


This study reports preliminary results of a controlled, multicenter trial on the quality of ulcer healing induced by lansoprazole (LPZ) or roxatidine (R) in gastric ulcer (GU) or duodenal ulcer (DU) patients. Group A received LPZ 30 mg q.d. and group B received R 75 mg b.i.d. All drugs were given for 8 weeks in GU and for 6 weeks in DU. Endoscopy and gastric biopsy were performed to detect Helicobacter pylori before and on completion of treatment. The healing rates of groups A and B were 100 and 69.2%, respectively, in GU and 100 and 70.0%, respectively, in DU. This difference (p < 0.01) was significant between the two groups in GU. There was no significant difference between the two groups in the S2 stage shift rate in GU and DU. The H. pylori clearance rates of groups A and B were 33.3 and 20.0%, respectively, in GU and 62.5 and 33.3%, respectively, in DU. The differences in treatment response (healing rates and S2 shift rates) between the LPZ group and the R group may be related to the differences in suppression of acid secretion and in bactericidal effects on H. pylori.


ABSTRACT The black prochilodus (Prochilodus nigricans) is one of the most landed scaled fish species of the middle and upper parts of the Putumayo River, in the tri-national area between Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Despite its importance, biological information about this species is too scant to guide fisheries management in this portion of the Colombian Amazon. In this study, 10884 individuals were sampled in the fish markets of Puerto Leguízamo between 2009 and 2017. This sampling was used to document reproductive patterns, but also growth and mortality parameters from length frequency distributions. The size at which all fish were mature was 22 cm Ls, which should be the established as the minimum size of capture to ensure that all fish have had a chance to reproduce before being caught. Growth and mortality parameters indicated a slower growth in the Putumayo than in other Amazonian rivers and a relatively high exploitation rate.


Along with the growth of child participatory research an increased focus on its complexity, specifically unaddressed power inequities in the research relationship and unreflexive use of methods, has developed. This article discusses a participatory research project with children in Ireland and reflects on attempts to achieve deeper participation through the use of children and youth advisory groups, mixed visual and discursive group methods. It argues that overly paternalistic frameworks adopted by ethical review bodies can hamper participatory research with children.


Eastern gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides (L.) L.) is a perennial warm-season bunchgrass that starts growth earlier in the spring than most other warm-season grasses. This suggests that combining eastern gamagrass with other warm-season grasses in a sequence grazing system could lengthen the period of rapid livestock gain. We studied sequence grazing systems consisting of eastern gamagrass and Old World bluestem (Bothriochloa ischaemum L.) (EG-OWB) as compared to native mixed prairie and Old World bluestem (Native-OWB) from 1993 to 1997. Crossbred beef steers averaging 239 kg grazed eastern gamagrass or native pasture from early May to early June and again from late July through August. Old World bluestem was grazed in mid season. We measured forage yield and nutritive value and steer gain. Standing forage of eastern gamagrass above a 15-cm stubble height averaged 895 kg ha-1 at the start of the first grazing period and 2,430 kg ha-1 at the start of the second grazing period. Dry, cold winter and spring weather reduced this amount to 80 kg ha-1 in May 1996 and precluded grazing the eastern gamagrass that season. Crude protein content of eastern gamagrass was greater than 14% and in vitro dry matter disappearance (IVDMD) was greater than 65% in May. By August, crude protein content had dropped to 5-8% and IVDMD was 45-50%. Peak standing crop of Old World bluestem averaged 4,580 kg ha-1 over years. Steer gain over the entire grazing season, 103 days, did not differ between forage systems, averaging 1.02 kg head-1 day-1 in both systems. Steer gain was higher on native pasture than eastern gamagrass in the late grazing season (0.91 versus 0.60 kg head-1 d-1, p=0.02). As a result of higher stocking rates, steer gain was 257 kg ha-1 for the EG-OWB system and 103 kg ha-1 for the Native-OWB system (p<0.01).


Posterior-stabilized total knee prostheses have been widely used in orthopedic clinical treatment of knee osteoarthritis, but the patients and surgeons are still troubled by the complications, for example severe wear and fracture of the post, as well as prosthetic loosening. Understanding the in vivo biomechanics of knee prostheses will aid in the decrease of postoperative prosthetic revision and patient dissatisfaction. Therefore, six different designs of posterior-stabilized total knee prostheses were used to establish the musculoskeletal multibody dynamics models of total knee arthroplasty respectively, and the biomechanical differences of six posterior-stabilized total knee prostheses were investigated under three simulated physiological activities: walking, right turn and squatting. The results showed that the post contact forces of PFC Sigma and Scorpio NGR prostheses were larger during walking, turning right, and squatting, which may increase the risk of the fracture and wear as well as the early loosening. The post design of Gemini SL prosthesis was more conductive to the knee internal-external rotation and avoided the edge contact and wear. The lower conformity design in sagittal plane and the later post-cam engagement resulted in the larger anterior-posterior translation. This study provides a theoretical support for guiding surgeon selection, improving posterior-stabilized prosthetic design and reducing the prosthetic failure.


ObjectivesThis research sought to identify the extent to which the likelihood of young people in England progressing into Higher Education (HE) is affected by their gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic background, area of residence, school attainment and the intersection of these characteristics.
MethodsData from the Department for Education's National Pupil Database concerning the entire cohort of young people in English state schools who turned 16 between September 2014 and August 2015 was accessed. Data concerned pupils' attainment, personal characteristics and postcode of residence. This data was matched with records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency to identify whether pupils had progressed to HE by the age of 19. Raw differences in progression rates by pupil characteristic were established and binary logistic regression was used to explore how individual factors influenced the likelihood of progression once attainment and other characteristics were controlled for.
ResultsFemales were more likely than males to progress to HE, however this could be explained predominantly by their higher average attainment in school examinations. Pupils in receipt of free school meals were substantially less likely to progress to HE, though this trend reversed once attainment was controlled for.
Pupils residing in London were considerably more likely to progress to HE than pupils in all other regions of England, though this can be explained almost entirely by the higher average attainment of pupils in London as well as average demographic differences between London and other English regions.
There are large disparities in progression to HE by pupil ethnicity and these disparities persist even once prior attainment and other characteristics are controlled for.
ConclusionThe results overall suggest that some disparities in access to HE (such as by gender and FSM status) might be eliminated if corresponding disparities in school attainment were eliminated. The relationship between attainment disparities and HE progression disparities is less straightforward with respect to other characteristics such as pupil ethnicity.


ABSTRACT Serous ovarian cancer (SOC) is a main histological subtype of ovarian cancer, in which cancer stem cells (CSC) are responsible for its chemoresistance. However, the underlying modulation mechanisms of chemoresistance led by cancer stemness are still undefined. We aimed to investigate potential drug-response indicators among stemness-associated biomarkers in advanced SOC samples. The mRNA expression-based stemness index (mRNAsi) of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) was evaluated and corrected by tumor purity. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was utilized to explore the gene modules and key genes involved in stemness characteristics. We found that mRNAsi and corrected mRNAsi scores were both greater in tumors of Grade 3 and 4 than that of Grade 1 and 2. Forty-two key genes were obtained from the most significant mRNAsi-related gene module. Functional annotation revealed that these key genes were mainly involved in the mitotic division. Thirteen potential platinum-response indicators were selected from the genes enriched to platinum-response associated pathways. Among them, we identified 11 genes with prognostic value of progression-free survival (PFS) in advanced SOC patients treated with platinum and 7 prognostic genes in patients treated with a combination of platinum and taxol. The expressions of the 13 key genes were also validated between platinum-resistant and -sensitive SOC samples of advanced stages in two Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets. The results revealed that CDC20 was a potential platinum-sensitivity indicator in advanced SOC. These findings may provide a new insight for chemotherapies in advanced SOC patients clinically. Graphical abstract


To understand the structural requirements of HIV-1 integrase inhibitors and to design new ligands against human HIV-1 integrase with enhanced inhibitory potency, a 3D QSAR (quantitative structure-activity relationship) study with comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) and comparative molecular similarity indices analysis (CoMSIA) for a dataset of 35 bicyclic pyrimidinones which are inhibitors of human HIV-1 integrase was performed. QSAR models were computed with Sybyl. The 3D QSAR model showed very good statistical result, namely q2, r2 and r2pred values were high for both CoMFA and CoMSIA. Based on the high values for q2 and r2 we are confident that the 3D QSAR model gives good predictions that may be used to design better HIV-1 integrase inhibitors. The CoMFA and CoMSIA models reveal that steric and electrostatic fields contribute significantly with biological activities of the studied compounds.


We present the characteristics of 2 mm selected sources from the largest Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) blank-field contiguous survey conducted to date, the Mapping Obscuration to Reionization with ALMA (MORA) survey covering 184 arcmin2 at 2 mm. Twelve of 13 detections above 5σ are attributed to emission from galaxies, 11 of which are dominated by cold dust emission. These sources have a median redshift of 〈z2mm〉=3.6−0.3+0.4 primarily based on optical/near-infrared photometric redshifts with some spectroscopic redshifts, with 77% ± 11% of sources at z > 3 and 38% ± 12% of sources at z > 4. This implies that 2 mm selection is an efficient method for identifying the highest-redshift dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs). Lower-redshift DSFGs (z < 3) are far more numerous than those at z > 3 yet are likely to drop out at 2 mm. MORA shows that DSFGs with star formation rates in excess of 300 M ⊙ yr−1 and a relative rarity of ∼10−5 Mpc−3 contribute ∼30% to the integrated star formation rate density at 3 < z < 6. The volume density of 2 mm selected DSFGs is consistent with predictions from some cosmological simulations and is similar to the volume density of their hypothesized descendants: massive, quiescent galaxies at z > 2. Analysis of MORA sources' spectral energy distributions hint at steeper empirically measured dust emissivity indices than reported in typical literature studies, with 〈β〉=2.2−0.4+0.5 . The MORA survey represents an important step in taking census of obscured star formation in the universe's first few billion years, but larger area 2 mm surveys are needed to more fully characterize this rare population and push to the detection of the universe's first dusty galaxies.


Abstract: While analyzing the problem we thought about the importance with respect to data security. Since everything is getting digitalized, security is the key point in this digital era. So, when it comes to data security or data integrity, there are serval ways through which we can achieve this. So, we started finding loop holes in digitize donation system. As this way we came on the conclusion that there are loop holes in the charity system. Hence, we have decided to use the most spectacular data security related technology i.e., "blockchain". We are implemented blockchain technology in this proposed system, so that whatever transaction / donation done between donor and beneficiary will be transparent and open to world. which will ultimately reduce chances of corruptions usually happen in the donation system.


Abstract. The spatial and temporal dynamics of melt ponds and sea ice albedo contain information on the current state and the trend of the climate of the Arctic region. This publication presents a study on melt pond fraction (MPF) and sea ice albedo spatial and temporal dynamics obtained with the Melt Pond Detection (MPD) retrieval scheme for the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) satellite data. This study compares sea ice albedo and MPF to surface air temperature reanalysis data, compares MPF retrieved from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and examines albedo and MPF trends. Weekly averages of MPF for 2007 and 2011 showed different MPF dynamics while summer sea ice minimum was similar for both years. The gridded MPF and albedo products compare well to independent reanalysis temperature data and show melt onset when the temperature gets above zero; however MPD shows an offset at low MPFs of about 10 % most probably due to unscreened high clouds. Weekly averaged trends show pronounced dynamics of both, MPF and albedo: a negative MPF trend in the East Siberian Sea and a positive MPF trend around the Queen Elizabeth Islands. The negative MPF trend appears due to a change of the absolute MPF value in its peak, whereas the positive MPF trend is created by the earlier melt onset, with the peak MPF values unchanged. The MPF dynamics in the East Siberian Sea could indicate a temporal change of ice type prevailing in the region, as opposed to the Queen Elizabeth Islands, where MPF dynamics react to an earlier seasonal onset of melt.


Experiments have shown that human and nonhuman subjects are capable of performing new arbitrary stimulus-stimulus relations without error. When subjects that are experienced with matching-to-sample procedures are presented with a novel sample, a novel comparison, and a familiar comparison, most respond by correctly selecting the novel comparison in the presence of the new sample. This exclusion paradigm was expanded with two California sea lions that had previously formed two 10-member equivalence classes in a matching-to-sample procedure. Rather than being presented with a novel sample on a given trial, the sea lions were presented with a randomly selected familiar member of one class as the sample. One of the comparisons was a randomly selected familiar member of the alternative class, and the other was a novel stimulus. When required to choose which comparison matched the sample, the subjects reliably rejected the familiar comparison, and instead selected the unfamiliar one. Next, the sea lions were presented with transfer problems that could not be solved by exclusion; they immediately grouped the new stimuli into the appropriate classes. These findings show that exclusion procedures can rapidly generate new stimulus relations that can be used to expand stimulus classes.


ABSTRACT The 2016 judgment in the 'Timber Creek' compensation case (Griffiths v Northern Territory of Australia (no. 3) (2016) FCA 900) signals an end to an era of extinguishment-related injustice and inequality, representing, as it does, the first litigated Federal Court award of compensation for the loss or impairment of rights and interests, under the 1993 Native Title Act. In this paper, I explore some of the methodological challenges and conceptual issues confronting anthropologists involved in researching compensation claims. In drawing upon my experience in researching two such claims, I discuss how the issues of gender, resource development, environmental transformation, the Stolen Generation, and the history of Indigenous-European relations in remote and rural Australia impact upon investigations into the loss or diminution of traditional attachments to land. In conceptualising this loss of connection, I discuss material relating to the 'anthropology of emotions', and I point to some of the obstacles encountered when talking about emotions cross-culturally. In conclusion, I explore research undertaken into the social and psychological impacts of ecosystem distress, loss of place, and environmental change, and I posit the value of Glenn Albrecht's concept of 'solastalgia' (2005. "Solastalgia, a New Concept in Human Health and Identity." Philosophy Activism Nature 3: 41–44) in framing research into the loss of solace, and in expanding upon the legal notion of this loss as 'inconvenience' and 'injured feelings'.


Ameloblastic fibro‑odontoma (AFO) is a rare benign mixed odontogenic tumor derived from epithelial and ectomesenchymal elements that form the dental tissues. It occurs as an intraosseous lesion mostly, on the mandibular posterior region, generally asymptomatic and occurs more predominantly in children and in young adults with a male predominance. AFO is found on radiographic evaluation of patients with unerupted or impacted teeth in many cases with a circumscribed radiolucency, which contains radiopaque foci of various sizes and shapes. Histological examination reveals a fibrous soft tissue, islands of odontogenic epithelium, and a disordered mixture of dental tissues. Treatment of AFOs usually consists of enucleation or surgical curettage, which is possible due to their benign biological behaviour. Here, we are reporting a case of AFO in a primary school age boy.


To save time and effort in quantifying the newly produced females of Heterodera schachtii (HS), we introduced a simple root box (RB). The RB was composed of two transparent trays, where we examined whether the number of young females on the plant roots in the RB that would be seen from the outside could be used to accurately predict the number of mature females (cysts) in the RB soil. We inoculated 20 to 10 , 000 individuals of the HS second-stage juveniles into Chinese cabbage seedlings that were planted in the RB. After 20 and 58 days of inoculation at 25 ° C, we quantified the number of young females that appeared on the roots and the number of mature females (cysts) that appeared in the RB soil, respectively. We detected a high correlation, in which the total number of the HS females that appeared on the roots in the RB was a relatively reliable predictor of the total number of HS cysts in the RB soil. However, we concluded that controlling the moisture and the type of soil in the RB may influence the reliability of the quantification using the RB. Nematol. Res. 50 ( 2 ), 35 – 38 . ( 2020 )


The bacterium Escherichia coli is not only an important gut commensal, but also a common pathogen involved in both diarrheic and extra-intestinal diseases. To characterize the genetic determinants of extra-intestinal virulence we carried out an unbiased genome-wide association study (GWAS) on 234 commensal and extra-intestinal pathogenic strains representative of the species phylogenetic diversity, tested in a mouse model of sepsis. We found that the high-pathogenicity island (HPI), a ~35 kbp gene island encoding the yersiniabactin siderophore, is highly associated with death in mice, surpassing all other genetic factors by far. We validated the association in vivo by deleting key components of the HPI in strains in two phylogenetic backgrounds, and found that virulence is correlated with growth in the presence of various compounds including several antimicrobials, which hints at collateral sensitivities associated with intrinsic pathogenicity. This study points at the power of unbiased genetic approaches to uncover virulence determinants and the use of phenotypic data to generate new hypothesis on pathogenicity and phenotypic characteristics associated with it.


This paper validates a linear histogram BIST scheme f o r ADC testing. This scheme uses a time decomposition technique in order to minimize the required hardware circuitry. A practical implementation is described and the structure together with the operating mode of the different modules are detailed. Through this practical implementation. the per$ormances and limitations of the proposed scheme are evaluated both in terms of additional circuitry and test time.


A novel filtering magic-T (FMT) with a compact size, a broad bandwidth, and a wide stopband rejection based on the dielectric-covered L-shaped groove (DCLSG) half-mode substrate integrated waveguide and the spoof surface plasmon polariton (HMSIW-SSPP) structure is proposed for the first time. A HMSIW magic-T (HMT) based on dual-layer substrates is first designed. Then, we construct the proposed FMT by periodically etching the subwavelength DCLSG SSPP structure into the HMT. The proposed FMT achieves a bandpass filtering response and a nearly 50% reduction of longitudinal dimension attributed to the bandpass characteristics and strong slow-wave property of the DCLSG HMSIW-SSPP structure. In addition, beneficial from the regulable cut-off frequencies of the DCLSG HMSIW-SSPP structure, the proposed FMT provides a wide impedance bandwidth and independently adjustable lower and upper cut-off frequencies of the passband. Finally, a prototype of the proposed FMT is fabricated to validate this design idea. The measured results illustrate that the FMT has a 3-dB fractional bandwidth of 40.23% and a 20-dB stopband rejection up to 2.12 f0 (f0: center frequency of the passband).


Cultural heritage preserves its place on the agenda as a very comprehensive and open-ended concept that deals with the values of the
future for its products from all aspects and parts of life throughout the
history of civilization. It is also possible that we can benefit from the
accumulation of these products or production, in terms of perceiving
and interpreting the past accurately. Where coverage is the common
history of mankind, cultural heritage products represent a civilization
to which they belong on one hand, while they carry universal value as
complementary parts of the common accumulation of humanity on
the other hand. Manuscripts are the products of the original genre of
the cultural heritage, in fact a background of knowledge, corpus and
consignation of ancestry that best introduces us to our past codes. These resources, which we have to assume responsibility for introducing to
the new generation and ensuring their conveyance to future, deserve
to have special or extraordinary value with their knowledge / content
and artistic characteristics as well as their value due to being a rare
or unique copy. To be able to identify and publicise these important
resources of cultural heritage at international standards requires more
exhausting scientific study which should be carried out in cooperation compared to printed sources. It is for this reason that manuscript
librarianship should also be seen as a separate area of expertise. In the
study where the discussion point is the strategic role of manuscript
librarianship in introduction and conveyance to future of cultural heritage products, namely manuscripts and rare pieces of art, ongoing false
perceptions and applications will also be emphasized.


To determine the hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes circulating in Morocco, virus isolates from 105 chronically infected and 19 hemodialysis patients were examined using the line probe assay. Genotypes 1 and 2 only were found among Moroccan patients. Subtypes 1b (47.6%) and 2a/2c (37.1%) were the most common, whereas subtype 1a (2.8%) was less common. Among the hemodialysis patients, only genotype 1 was found with a prevalence of 68.4% for subtype 1b and 15.8% for the subtype 1a. It was also shown that the HCV genotypes distribution varies with age in both studied populations. Subtype 1b was most prevalent among older patients, whereas subtype 2a/2c was mainly found among younger ones. Although Morocco belongs to the African continent, the circulating HCV strains are similar to those observed in some American and European 1997 countries. J. Med. Virol. 52:396–398, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


In view of various explanations regarding the pH response of the nanocomposite of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) modified with polyacrylic acid (PAA) molecules in reported literature, in this work, AuNPs with a size of 20 nm saturatedly loaded with PAA molecules (AuNPs-PAAs) were used to investigate the following aspects of this issue. We investigated the effects of pH on the stability of AuNPs-PAAs in the presence of salt, CTAB, poly (sodium styrenesulfonate) (PSS), ethanol, and free PAA, respectively. Common techniques were undertaken to evaluate the stability, including UV-Vis spectroscopy, Zeta potential analysis, and TEM. The results show that AuNPs-PAAs could respond to pH variations, having a reversible aggregation-to-disaggregation, accompanying their Zeta potential change. The proposed corresponding mechanism was that this reversible change was attributes to the net charge variation of AuNPs-PAAs induced by a reversible protonation-to-deprotonation of PAA rather than the conformational change. It was found that salt, CTAB, PSS, and free PAA could strengthen the dispersity of AuNPs-PAAs, even though their absolute Zeta potential values were decreased to small values or dropped to nearly zero. This abnormal phenomenon was explained by solvation. It was also found that AuNPs-PAAs have an opposite pH response in aqueous and ethanol solutions, justifying the solvation effect. All these results revealed the conformational stability of PAAs immobilized on AuNPs. The methods and the findings of this investigation give some new insights to understand the pH-response of AuNPs-PAAs composites and the design of AuNPs-PAAs-based functional sensors.


Currently, Beauty Qualifications Job Category assessment methods that are applicable to the current qualification system has been consistently pointed to the gap for the generation of practical skills and practical skills and qualifications required in the field. Recently, several New qualifications are being considered in order to overcome this simply mismatch job requirements and qualifications of the biggest problems of the industry considered as part of the specification of the current qualification system certification. In this study, industry, education and training, and qualifications are each separately have been evaluated with respect to Beauty Qualifications Job Category order to solve this problem, the introduction of new qualification system inevitable. So, in the Human Resources Development Service of Korea, which is currently implemented and qualifications systems and to compare and analyze the newly introduced and qualifications will be carried forward to exploring linkages between education and training, qualifications framework and the industry. At the same time we want to present a positive direction Utilization and development of government and industry for people to acquire the basic infrastructure and the need to build new qualification for the efficient operation of the new qualification system. So, we settled an important parameter to serve national technical qualifications of the development plan and with far our NCS developed in the future for capacity oriented society implements a non-academic background in introducing the society model and the associated system of NQF built to work, education & training, and it shall endeavor to secure the link between qualification.


Following a large body of literature on cross-market crisis linkages, this thesis investigates the potential effects of "flight-to-safety" phenomena in two strands of financial modelling: volatility forecasting and bond pricing. In particular, we consider the switching from equity to safe haven assets for modelling the dynamics of financial market volatility and US Treasury prices. Chapter 2 examines the relationship between the occurrence of flight-to-safety (FTS) episodes and subsequent equity return volatility. We assign to each day in the sample the status of flight-to-safety based on either stock-bond or stock-gold return comovements. The link between flight-to-safety and future equity return volatility is assessed by including the lag of the FTS conditioning variable in a model for the daily realised variance of the S&P 500 index returns. The results are consistent with our expectations: there is a positive, statistically significant interaction between FTS and the next-day volatility of the stock market. Out-of-sample, we find that the one-day ahead volatility forecasts based on FTS information outperform those of some of the most common models proposed in the literature. Chapter 3 extends the research scope by examining how flight-to-safety can improve the modelling of both equity and safe haven return volatility in a multi-period setting. To this end, we propose a new proxy for FTS based on the realised semi-covariance computed from negative intraday equity returns and positive intraday safe haven returns. We use the FTS proxy to model directly the conditional variance of equity returns, but we also allow for an effect on the safe haven by means of a volatility spillover from the stock market. The incremental value of employing flight-to-safety for volatility forecasting is not only statistically but also economically significant. When comparing with a benchmark, we find that the predictions of our approach are more accurate, and their application to asset allocation leads to better portfolio performance for an investor implementing volatility-timing strategies over horizons as long as one month. Chapter 4 turns the attention to the role of equity jump tail risk in pricing government bonds. We estimate a term structure model for US interest rates where bond prices are determined also by an equity left tail factor that reflects investors' fear of abrupt negative return shocks to the international stock market. The model shows that equity tail risk is priced in the US term structure. Consistent with the theory of flight-to-safety, we find that the response of Treasury bond yields and future excess returns to a shock to the equity tail factor is negative and opposite to what happens in the stock market. The evidence of flight-to-safety is stronger at the short end of the US yield curve where equity tail risk has significant explanatory power for Treasury risk premia and is responsible for large term premium drops since the recent financial crisis. Overall, the findings of this thesis contribute to the literature on flight-to-safety by showing that the switching from equity to safe haven assets in times of stress has important implications for volatility forecasting. Specifically, accounting for flight-to-safety allows for improved predictions of return volatility and better performance of a volatility-timing strategy. Furthermore, this thesis provides guidance on how the safety attribute of Treasuries varies with the maturity of the bonds. Lastly, this study sheds light on the existence of a common predictor between equity and bond markets, whose existence can be justified by the safe haven potential of US Treasuries.


The authors investigate the finite element implementation of a numerical boundary condition which, like the MEI (measured equation of invariance) boundary condition, depends on the location of the boundary node, the geometry of the scatterer, and the polarization of the incident field, and is derived by considering the fields that would be radiated by current sources in the vicinity of the scatterer. This boundary condition can be used for either homogeneous or inhomogeneous scatterers. This method of mesh truncation works well for both propagating and evanescent harmonics, even when the mesh boundary is quite close to the scatterer. Furthermore, it can be enforced on a mesh boundary of arbitrary shape; there is no requirement of a circular or spherical geometry. Numerical results obtained using this technique are presented.<<ETX>>