Electron-LO-phonon intrasubband scattering rates near a cylindrical cavity are calculated as functions of the axial applied magnetic field and the electric potential of the heterostructure. Confinement of phonon modes by the potential of the heterostructure is neglected and the scattering of electrons is assumed to be via bulk phonon modes. A direct consequence of having a forbidden region for the motion of the electrons leads to the lowest-order electron's energy subbands taking turns at becoming the ground state, following the sequence {m = 0, −1, −2, …, −N} of azimuthal quantum numbers. The intrasubband scattering integrals are found to be characterized by strong quasi-periodic oscillations in their variations with the phonon radial wave number. For moderate to large radius of the cavity, the intrasubband scattering rates also exhibit a strong oscillatory behaviour, nevertheless highly aharmonic, in their variations with the applied magnetic field.


The shaping of functional materials and the control of their texture at all length scales are sine qua non conditions for the improvement of current systems. This PhD project consists in creating complex solid architectures using interdisciplinary methods such as sol-gel chemistry or complex fluids physics. Therefore, it is possible to synthesize Titanium Dioxide macroscopic fibers orfilms which possess a hierarchical porosity. This organization allows the optimization of the matter transport (liquid/gaz) for air depollution application (photocatalysis) or dye-sensitizedsolar cells. In another project, we were able to control the alignment of zinc oxide nanorods within a macroscopic fiber. This alignment provides to the fiber an anisotropic photoluminescence behavior which can be useful for switching devices application. Finally, we synthesized anisotropic particles and nano-sheets of polypyrrole (conducting polymer) in order to obtain smooth thin films presenting interesting electrical properties. The objective was to use them as electrolyte and/or electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells.


Linux clusters of commodity computer systems and interconnects have become the fastest growing choice for building cost-effective high-performance parallel computing systems. The Parallel Virtual File System (PVFS) could potentially fulfill the requirements of large I/O-intensive parallel applications. It provides a high-performance parallel file system by striping file data across multiple cluster nodes, called I/O nodes. Therefore, the choice of storage devices on I/O nodes is crucial to PVFS. We study the impact of software RAIDs and hardware RAIDs on the performance of PVFS when they are used on I/O nodes. We first establish a baseline performance of both RAIDs in a stand-alone configuration. We then present the performance of PVFS for a workload comprising concurrent reads and writes using ROMIO MPI-IO, and for the BTIO benchmark with a noncontiguous access pattern. We found that software RAIDs have a comparable performance to hardware RAIDs, except for write operations that require file synchronization.


This report aims to identify disease categories with the highest economic and social costs and a low level of R&D investment. First, we combine data sets on diseases' medical expenses, patient counts, death rates, and research funding. We then use text mining and machine learning methods to identify gaps between diseases' social and economic costs and research investments in therapeutic areas.

We find that only 25 percent of disease categories causing high economic and social costs received more than 1 percent of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding over 12 years. In addition, rare diseases imposing high medical costs per patient collected 0.3 percent of research investments on average.

A disease's cost and impact on society are challenging to assess. Our results highlight that the different measures may lead to different conclusions if considered separately: A disease can have a very high cost per patient but a low death rate. They also show that merging information across data sets becomes more complicated when the sources do not focus on diseases specifically.

Our analysis reveals that a formalized procedure to define the correspondence between data sets is needed to successfully develop a metric that allows a systematic assessment of diseases' cost, impact on society, and investment level. Furthermore, the simplification of the large dimensional decision space will only be useful to the questions at hand if there is a clear order of priorities. In our case, the first was the costs and then funding. These priorities dictate how to merge the data sets.


Several subtypes of sweat gland carcinoma have been found to demonstrate a propensity to metastasize systemically and to regional lymph nodes. The predictive value and benefit of sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy have been established in numerous other malignancies, but to the authors' knowledge there is little literature published to date regarding the use of SLN biopsy in patients with sweat gland carcinoma. In the current study, the authors demonstrated the utility of SLN biopsy in detecting subclinical metastases of sweat gland carcinoma, which may result in early treatment.


Sheet-like fine-grained metaanorthosite bodies occur in the 3.5–3.2 Ga greenstone belt of Holenarasipur, Karnataka, India. These bodies are associated with metaperidotitic komatiites, serpentinites, and amphibolites. In texture, grain size, major, and trace element composition, including rare-earth elements (REE), they resemble lunar anorthositic basalts and anorthositic microgabbros. On the basis of these resemblances, similar trends of geochemical evolution of the earth and moon during their early history are indicated. It is suggested that after the accretion of the earth, high temperature conditions might have existed to generate magmas enriched in Ca–Al at or near the surface which resulted in the formation of anorthite-rich basaltic and peridotitic lavas. The incomplete cumulation of the anorthite before and during the extrusion of the ultrabasic lava appears to have given rise to sheet-like anorthosite layers between the metaperidotitic and basaltic komatiites.


Sentinel lymph node biopsy in cervical cancer is used to reduce the morbidity of a full lymph node dissection while improving the pickup rate of metastatic lymph nodes. The higher detection rate achieved can be explained by the following: the identification of the sentinel lymph node in an aberrant location which would not be routinely included in a systematic pelvic lymph node dissection, the sentinel lymph node is completely excised, and the routine use of ultrastaging. The higher detection rate achieved through sentinel lymph node biopsy can identify additional patients who could potentially benefit from adjuvant therapy therefore, in our view the gold standard of lymph node assessment in early stage cervical cancer has shifted and sentinel lymph node biopsy has taken the place of a complete lymphadenectomy.


The parameters of Powder Injection Molding (PIM) process were modeled by artificial neural networks (ANNs). The feed-forward multilayer perceptron was utilized and trained by back-propagation algorithm. Particle size, particle morphology, debinding time, and sintering temperature were taken into account and regarded as inputs of the ANN model. The outputs included relative density, wax loss, shrinkage, and hardness. The results obtained using the ANN model were in good agreement with the experimental data. In fact, they displayed an average R-value of 0.95 versus the experimental values. The optimum architecture of ANN was 7-4-1, in which the network was trained with Levenberg–Marquardt training algorithm. Thus, the ANN model can be used to evaluate, calculate, and forecast PIM process parameters.


Background: One of the major environmental issues facing most societies is the management of waste, industrial, medical and hazardous waste. Locating is an activity that analyzes the capabilities of an area in terms of whether the land is suitable for a particular application. The metrics used in location vary by application type, but they are all aligned to select the right location. Choosing the right burial site for waste is the most important step in waste management. Inappropriate burial selection causes contamination of water, soil and air in the area. The ultimate goal is to find the most suitable location that has the least impact on the environment and natural resources around, and is economically the least costly and engineered. Results: In this study, we chose south of Tehran as a case study to implement the FSWARA-GISMAIRCA Hybrid Algorithm. Selecting inappropriate locations for hospital waste disposal site at the southeast of Tehran province is one of the environmental problems of this region causing damage to the environment and pollution of ground waters. Since waste disposal site is the most economic, accepted, and important method in most areas, the present study aimed to locate the hospital waste disposal site at the southeast of Tehran province. Using fuzzy Delphi method, nine criteria (slope, height, soil type, distance from fault, distance from surface water, depth of ground waters, distance from residential areas, distance from hospitals and distance from road) were finally selected as the final criteria. Then, the desired criteria were weighed using the FSWARA and entered the GIS system as information layers to calculate the final maps for the appropriate zones, which eight locations were selected for waste disposal site. Conclusions: Finally, using the MAIRCA method, the selected locations were ranked and finally among these eight locations, the fourth point was selected as the final location for hospital waste disposal site at the southeast of Tehran. According to the desired criteria with 34 degree slope, 1008 meters high, 3.4841 meters distance from fault, 8.4428 meters distance from surface water, 12 meters depth of ground waters, 457 meters distance from residential areas, 6.4749 meters distance from hospitals, and 1598 meters distance from road.


Abstract. Early "ptychoparioid" trilobites are likely to play a crucial role in determining the currently unresolved phylogenetic relationships among the numerous Cambrian libristomate clades. However, such phylogenetic analyses are hindered by the fact that many species and genera of early "ptychoparioids" are known from very limited material and are typically defined only on cranidial features. Herein, we report new "ptychoparioid" assemblages from the Saline Valley Tongue, Harkless Formation at Clayton Ridge, Nevada. These middle to upper Dyeran Stage (Cambrian Series 2, Stage 4) assemblages contain well-preserved early "ptychoparioids" that are represented by articulated exoskeletons as well as isolated cranidia, rostral plates, librigenae, thoracic segments, and pygidia, which together provide morphological details for the complete or nearly complete exoskeleton of three new genera and four new species: Anebocephalus silverpeakensis n. gen. n. sp.; Coenoides scholteni n. gen. n. sp.; Harklessaspis rasettii n. gen. n. sp.; and H. parvigranulosus n. gen. n. sp. Pending a formal phylogenetic analysis, it is deemed preferable to assign these taxa to new genera rather than to shoehorn them in to potentially ill-diagnosed existing genera. These new genera are compared to the Cambrian Series 2 taxa Crassifimbra and Eokochaspis, and the Miaolingian Series taxon Elrathina, which are similar in morphology and known from sclerites other than just cranidia. Also documented in this study are the "ptychoparioids" Crassifimbra walcotti, Cr.? sp. A, Cr. sp. B, and "ptychoparioid" spp. A, B, C, and D from the Saline Valley Tongue and the overlying Mule Spring Limestone and lowermost Emigrant Formation.


standard deviation is strongly influenced by the lower tail of the distribution. The proper way of statistical evaluation is to compare the proportion of deliveries occurring beyond 14 days after the median length of gestation. By doing so, Mongelli et aL2 found a reduction of post-term pregnancies from 11.5 to 3.5% in 34.249 pregnancies and Tun6n et aL3 reduction from 10 to 4% in 15.000 deliveries, both sample sizes much higher than the 'only' study on this topic including 1650 deliveries mentioned by the authors As stated by Backe et ~ 1 , ~ routine ultrasound predicted the day of delivery more accurately than the calendar method. As a consequence the MIDRS leaflet is based on the best available evidence both by randomised and population based studies


Sulfur in hot, high-pressure water exists in an unexpected form, S3−, that changes our understanding of processes as varied as ore formation and volcano degassing. Prized for their deep-blue color, the mineral lazurite and the rock it dominates, lapis lazuli, have been quarried for millennia in a few localities such as the Sar-e-Sang mines in Badakhshan province, Afghanistan. The ultramarine stones have contributed to jewelry boxes and pigment bases from before King Tut's reign to modern times. Their remarkable coloration originates from charge transfer between groups of the trisulfur anion, S3− (1, 2). It is so striking a hue that French postmodernist Yves Klein famously created his own version of this pigment to coat his friends and his sculptures in blue, foreshadowing today's Blue Man Group. On page 1052, Pokrovski and Dubrovinsky (3) provide new evidence that S3− may be far more common than previously realized.


A new open system Monte Carlo procedure designed to overcome difficulties with insertion and deletion of molecules is introduced. The method utilizes gradual insertions and deletions of molecules through the use of a continuous coupling parameter and an adaptive bias potential. The method draws upon concepts from previous open system molecular dynamics and expanded ensemble Monte Carlo techniques and is applied to both the grand canonical and osmotic ensembles. It is shown to yield correct results for the volumetric properties of the Lennard-Jones fluid and water as well as the phase behavior of the CO2-ethanol binary system.


A miniaturized residue method was developed for the analysis of the fungicide zoxamide and its metabolites in dried ginseng root. The zoxamide metabolites, 3,5-dichloro-1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid (DCBC) and 3,5-dichloro-4-hydroxymethylbenzoic acid (DCHB), are small acid molecules that have not been previously extracted from the ginseng matrix with common multiresidue methods. The presented extraction method effectively and rapidly recovers both the zoxamide parent compound and its acid metabolites from fortified ginseng root. The metabolites are extracted with an alkaline glycine buffer and the aqueous ginseng mixture is partitioned with ethyl acetate. In addition, this method avoids the use of derivatization of the small acid molecules by using UPLC-MS/MS instrumental analysis. In a quantitative validation of the analytical method at three levels for zoxamide (0.007 (LOD), 0.02 (LOQ), and 0.2 mg/kg) and four levels (0.07 (LOD), 0.2 (LOQ), and 0.6 and 6 mg/kg) for both metabolites, acceptable method performances were achieved with recoveries ranging from 86 to 107% (at levels of LOQ and 3×, 10×, and 30× the LOQ) with <20% RSD for the three analytes in accordance with international guidelines.1.


We propose a mobile food recognition system the poses of which are estimating calorie and nutritious of foods and recording a user's eating habits. Since all the processes on image recognition performed on a smart-phone, the system does not need to send images to a server and runs on an ordinary smartphone in a real-time way. To recognize food items, a user draws bounding boxes by touching the screen first, and then the system starts food item recognition within the indicated bounding boxes. To recognize them more accurately, we segment each food item region by GrubCut, extract a color histogram and SURF-based bag-of-features, and finally classify it into one of the fifty food categories with linear SVM and fast 2 kernel. In addition, the system estimates the direction of food regions where the higher SVM output score is expected to be obtained, show it as an arrow on the screen in order to ask a user to move a smartphone camera. This recognition process is performed repeatedly about once a second. We implemented this system as an Android smartphone application so as to use multiple CPU cores effectively for real-time recognition. In the experiments, we have achieved the 81.55% classification rate for the top 5 category candidates when the ground-truth bounding boxes are given. In addition, we obtained positive evaluation by user study compared to the food recording system without object recognition.


This study compares statements by Russian Pentecostal and Orthodox leaders about demons, curses and exorcism, and their attempts at allaying people's fears. In both denominations there are widely differing views about how great a threat demons are and on how one is to be set free from them. The study suggests that two competing metaphors have been used when speaking of freeing people from evil spirits, the medical and the military metaphors. The medical metaphor associates evil spirits and diseases, and connects deliverance from evil spirits with healing in general, while in the military metaphor evil spirits are seen as agents of Satan. Members of the top leadership in both the Russian Orthodox Church and in Russia's leading Pentecostal denomination (the Russian Church of Christians of the Evangelical Faith) tend toward the medical model of exorcism. They see their exorcistic ministries more as a healing ministry. While they warn their followers about engaging in the occult, they try to downplay the dualism inherent in spiritual warfare language, as it encourages division within the church and may lead to increased fear on the part of the parishioners.


Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy's (AAC) high quality and timely publication of groundbreaking scientific research critically depend on the outstanding efforts of the many ad hoc reviewers who generously contribute their time, wisdom, and talents to our journal. The editors of AAC acknowledge the ad hoc referees who have contributed reviews in the past year, and we express our deep appreciation for their contributions to maintaining the journal's scientific rigor, relevance of research, and high clinical impact.


Objective: We sought to evaluate new-onset abnormal LV patterns and their correlates over a 10-year period in members of the general population enrolled in the PAMELA study. Design and method: The study included 817 subjects with normal LV geometry at baseline evaluation having a readable echocardiogram at the end of follow-up. Cut-points for abnormal LV geometric patterns were derived from reference values of the healthy fraction of the PAMELA population. Results: Over a 10-year period 39% of participants progressed to abnormal LV geometric patterns as follows: LV concentric remodelling (15.2 %), eccentric dilated LVH (8.4%), concentric LVH (7.9%), eccentric non-dilated LVH (6.8%), and concentric dilated LVH (0.7%). Age (OR: 1.051; 95% CI 1.037–1.066, p < 0.0001), LV mass index (OR : 1.039; 95% CI 1.026–1.052, p < 0.0001), night-time SBP (OR : 1.031; 95% CI 1.014–1.052, p = 0.0003) and BMI (OR : 1.082; 95% CI 1.032–1.135, p = 0.0001) emerged as key correlates of new-onset abnormal LV geometry. Age and LV mass index turned out to be strong determinants of all sub-types of LVH; whereas BP, BMI and sex exhibited a different predictive value across the various LV geometric patterns. Conclusions: Our study provides the first evidence that long-term changes from normal cardiac morphology towards to abnormal LV geometry represent a clinically relevant phenomenon at the community level. From a practical perspective this finding reinforces the concept that life-style changes and pharmacologic treatment aimed to reduce over-weight/obesity and optimize BP are of paramount importance for prevention of subclinical cardiac damage.


Machine learning techniques are widely used nowadays in the healthcare domain for the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of diseases. These techniques have applications in the field of hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT), which is a potentially curative therapy for hematological malignancies. Herein, a systematic review of the application of machine learning (ML) techniques in the HCT setting was conducted. We examined the type of data streams included, specific ML techniques used, and type of clinical outcomes measured. A systematic review of English articles using PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and IEEE Xplore databases was performed. Search terms included "hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT)," "autologous HCT," "allogeneic HCT," "machine learning," and "artificial intelligence." Only full-text studies reported between January 2015 and July 2020 were included. Data were extracted by two authors using predefined data fields. Following PRISMA guidelines, a total of 242 studies were identified, of which 27 studies met the inclusion criteria. These studies were sub-categorized into three broad topics and the type of ML techniques used included ensemble learning (63%), regression (44%), Bayesian learning (30%), and support vector machine (30%). The majority of studies examined models to predict HCT outcomes (e.g., survival, relapse, graft-versus-host disease). Clinical and genetic data were the most commonly used predictors in the modeling process. Overall, this review provided a systematic review of ML techniques applied in the context of HCT. The evidence is not sufficiently robust to determine the optimal ML technique to use in the HCT setting and/or what minimal data variables are required.


Oral fluid (OF) tests aid in identifying drivers under the influence of drugs. In this study, 17 heavy cannabis users consumed alcohol to achieve steady blood alcohol concentrations of 0 to 0.7 g/L and smoked cannabis 3 h afterward. OF samples were obtained before and up to 4 h after smoking and on-site tests were performed (Dräger DrugTest 5000 and Securetec DrugWipe 5+). Maximum concentrations of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) immediately after smoking (up to 44,412 ng/g) were below 4,300 (median 377) ng/g 1 h after smoking and less than 312 (median 88) ng/g 3 h later with 5 of 49 samples negative, suggesting that recent cannabis use might occasionally not be detectable. An influence of alcohol was not observed. Drinking 300 mL variably influenced THC concentrations (median only -29.6%), which suggests that drinking does not markedly affect on-site test performance. Many (92%) Dräger tests performed 4 h after smoking were still positive, indicating sufficient sensitivity for recent cannabis use. Differences in the results of a roadside study with DrugTest 5000 (sensitivity 84.8%, specificity 96.0%, accuracy 84.3%) could be explained by a higher number of true negatives, differences between OF and serum and differences between occasional and chronic users.


With each policy, benefits are payable to your named beneficiariesBeneficiary (ies) A person or an organization you name to receive death benefits. A beneficiary does not need to be a legal dependent. [3] in the event of your death. Benefits may also be payable to you (the covered member) for losses other than life including loss of hand, foot, sight, speech, hearing, paralysis or certain other losses caused by an accident.


Recently, the group of coincidence isometries of the root lattice A4 has been determined providing a classification of these isometries with respect to their coincidence indices. A more difficult task is the classification of all CSLs, since different coincidence isometries may generate the same CSL. In contrast to the typical examples in dimensions d ≤ 3, where coincidence isometries generating the same CSL can only differ by a symmetry operation, the situation is more involved in 4 dimensions. Here, we find coincidence isometries that are not related by a symmetry operation but nevertheless give rise to the same CSL. We indicate how the classification of CSLs can be obtained by making use of the icosian ring and provide explicit criteria for two isometries to generate the same CSL. Moreover, we determine the number of CSLs of a given index and encapsulate the result in a Dirichlet series generating function.


Abstract The past decade has witnessed an exponential growth in studies that have attempted to identify the genetic polymporphisms that moderate the influence of environmental risks on mental disorders. What tends to be neglected in these Gene × Environment (G × E) interaction studies has been a focus on resilience, which refers to a dynamic pattern of positive adaptation despite the experience of a significant trauma or adversity. In this article, we argue that one step toward advancing the field of developmental psychopathology would be for G × E research to consider resilience instead of focusing almost exclusively on mental disorders. After providing an up-to-date summary on the expanding definitions and models of resilience, and the available evidence regarding measured G × E studies of childhood maltreatment, we discuss why resilience would be a worthwhile phenotype for studies of measured G × E. First, although G × E hypotheses require that there be an environmental risk (e-risk) involved in a causal process that leads to psychopathology, e-risks are typically not included in the diagnostic criteria for most psychiatric disorders. In contrast, resilience by definition includes an e-risk. Second, G × E hypotheses require that there is evidence of variability in response to an environmental stressor, and resilience often represents the positive end on this continuum of adaptation. Third, both resilience and G × E are best understood from a developmental perspective. Fourth, although resilient outcomes are not public health concerns, the types of adversities (e.g., childhood maltreatment, poverty, or exposure to natural disasters) that are often investigated in studies of resilience certainly are. Understanding how some individuals, perhaps because of their genetic makeup, are able to withstand such adversities can inform prevention and intervention efforts to improve mental health.


This Special Issue deals with emotions in social life and social policy. Over several decades, a wide body of social scientific literature has shown that everyday social roles and institutions are defined and organised not only through rational action, but through human emotions as well. It is now well recognised that emotions have a central role in the maintenance of gender and other social structures, whether at work, in family and community life, or in shaping the dynamics of social movements and politics (Goffman 1963; Hochschild 1983; Kemper 1990; Holmes 2004; Flam and King 2005; Barbalet 2006; Clarke et al. 2006; Hoggett 2009). To bring together contemporary Australian scholarship across this broad and burgeoning field, and to expand our knowledge of emotions as they operate in specific social contexts, researchers from the Universities of Sydney and New South Wales convened a workshop in October 2011 titled 'Emotions in social life and social policy: new advances in sociological and policy research'.


The paper examines the conceptual space of a concept "art" to explicit mental representation of the language personality of the author. The art is shown to be the "artificial" language, and a work of art is the "text" in which the author conveys the coded meaning. The concept "art" is noted to be a constant of the culture and significant cross-cultural unit possessing high esthetic informational content. It is inferred that the concept "art" occupies one of the key places in J. Fowles's creativity since all his works put the questions of art and its need for human existence.


Previous work on state-dependent adaptive importance sampling techniques for the simulation of rare events in Markovian queueing models used either no smoothing or a parametric smoothing technique, which was known to be non-optimal. In this paper, we introduce the use of kernel smoothing in this context. We derive expressions for the smoothed transition probabilities, compare several variations of the technique, and explore the choice of kernel width. We provide some examples, demonstrating that the technique significantly improves convergence and estimator variance.


Abstract Introduction. Numerous studies suggest that total cholesterol content of erythrocyte membranes (CEM) might play a critical role in atherosclerotic plaque progression and instability. However, the exact role of CEM in atherosclerosis remains obscure. Our study was designed to investigate the association between CEM and the severity of coronary artery disease (CAD), and to assess the effect of rosuvastatin on CEM levels. Methods. CEM levels were assessed in 136 participants, including acute coronary syndrome (ACS) (non-ST-segment elevation ACS (NSTEACS) and ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI)), stable angina pectoris (SAP), and controls. The Gensini score was used to estimate the severity of CAD. Additionally, 54 patients with CAD were medicated with rosuvastatin, 5 or 10 mg once daily, and then checked at 6 months. Results. The highest level of CEM was found in the STEMI group, followed by the NSTEACS, the SAP, and the control groups. Gensini score in group IV (CEM > 141.6 μg/mg) was markedly higher compared with group I (CEM ≤77.6 μg/mg). Gensini scores in group II (77.6 < CEM ≤111.1 μg/mg) and group III (111.1 < CEM ≤141.6 μg/mg) were also higher than in group I (all P < 0.001). Furthermore, a positive correlation was found between CEM levels and Gensini score (r = 0.714, P < 0.001). CEM levels were dose-dependently reduced by rosuvastatin therapy. Conclusions. CEM levels are positively associated with the severity of CAD, meaning that CEM might contribute to the development of CAD. Importantly, rosuvastatin could decrease CEM levels in patients with CAD and might effectively help to attenuate the progression of CAD.


In recent years, the promotion of quality education and the development of curriculum and teaching materials reform have put forward higher goals and requirements for professional skills in physical education. However, there are still many shortcomings in the nuclear assessment of physical education professional skills, such as lack of clarity in evaluation objectives, lack of scientific in evaluation indexes, lack of systematization in evaluation contents, lack of diversity in evaluation methods, lack of authority in evaluation results, and lack of timely prediction and analysis of students' mastery of classroom teaching skills, thus not giving good play to all the functions that the nuclear assessment should have, thus to a certain extent fettering the further enhancement of physical education. With the development of information technology, artificial intelligence, as a new technology, can guide the improvement of the assessment and judging mode of physical education professional skills courses, and is also an important guiding idea for physical education majors to meet the development demands of information-based society. Based on the analysis of the connotation and characteristics of deep learning, this paper points out the insufficiency of the assessment and evaluation of traditional physical education professional skills courses and proposes a method of assessment and evaluation of physical education professional skills courses based on convolutional neural networks and small sample learning. In the case of a small amount of data in the course assessment, we use a small number of samples to learn, and only need a small number of samples to learn quickly. Using the improvement measures under the teaching concept of deep learning, physical education personnel are required to truly change in terms of professional skills mastery and evaluation. We effectively implement improvement measures, promote the improvement of physical education professional skills, and realize the migration and innovation of sports knowledge and skills.


Recent technical advances enable the regulation of neuronal circuit activity with high spatial and temporal resolution through genetic delivery of molecular activation or inactivation systems.Among them, the allatostatin receptor (AlstR)/ligand system has been developed for selective and quickly reversible silencing of mammalian neurons. However, targeted AlstR-mediated inactivation of specific neuronal types, particularly diverse types of inhibitory interneurons, remains to be established. In the present study, we achieved Cre-directed expression of AlstRs to excitatory and inhibitory cell-types in the cortex, and found that the AlstR-mediated inactivation was specific and robust at single-cell and neuronal population levels. Bath application of the allatostatin peptide markedly reduced spiking activity of AlstR-expressing excitatory and inhibitory neurons in response to intrasomatic current injections and laser photostimulation via glutamate uncaging, but control neurons without AlstR expression were not affected. As for the cortical network activity, the peptide application constrained photostimulation-evoked excitatory activity propagation detected by fast voltage-sensitive dye (VSD) imaging of the slices expressing AlstRs selectively in excitatory neurons, while it augmented excitatory activity in those slices with inhibitory neurons expressing AlstRs. In addition, AlstR-mediated inactivation effectively suppressed pharmacologically induced seizure activity in the slices targeting AlstRs to excitatory neurons. Taken together, our work demonstrated that the genetic delivery of AlstRs can be used for regulation of cortical excitability in a cell-type specific manner, and suggested that the AlstR system can be potentially used for fast seizure control.


ABSTRACT Several recent papers have noted gender differences in support for democracy in Africa, but the causes of this difference remain unclear. This article investigates whether the observed gender gap is due to the related gender inequality in social institutions, which affects women's daily life and deprives them of social and economic empowerment inside and outside the home. Using Afrobarometer survey data (rounds 2 [2002–3], 3 [2004–5], and 4 [2008–9]), the study finds that the gender difference in support for democracy is no longer significant once gender discrimination is controlled for in the family code, physical integrity, or civil liberties components of the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI). Interaction terms show that women's support for democracy is only lower in places where gender inequality in these social institutions is particularly large. This study thus provides evidence that women who live in countries with favorable institutions toward women are more supportive of democracy than women who do not.


It is easy to agree with Wagner & Sternberg that it is premature to worry about defining exactly what executive processes are. Far from a consensus, this volume presents variety. It includes chapters that follow the traditional themes of comprehension and knowledge activation as well as the relatively novel topics of the processing effects arising from typography and electronic journals. Several of the contributions invoke schema-based theories. In other words, the usual restaurant with the usual long script listing what we may do there. Fortunately, there is a clear recognition in this volume that it is time to move out of the restaurant, away from menus offering only rigid and stereotyped forms of representation. So, for example, Spiro and his colleagues show that it is possible to construct "schemas" which are situationsensitive from knowledge fragments. These bear the stamp of realism because they can cope with "ill-structured'' information. Outside schema approaches, Schumacher's examination of studying also highlights the need for more naturalistic research. Another form of representation is suggested by Masson in which the sensory, perceptual, and reflective components of knowledge acquired during reading are stored together. This allows him to show that, contrary to popular opinion, the surface characteristics as well as the deeper meaning of a text may be remembered by readers. All in all, this volume is a good example of how not to throw the baby out with the bath water. The dynamic flow of information that schema theories can provide is maintained, along with a new flexibility and realism.


Miniature all-fiber phase modulators with a radially symmetrical piezoelectric ZnO jacket have been characterized over a wide frequency range up to 1 GHz. Multiple radial resonances with phase shift values as high as 0.82 rad were observed in the frequency region between 20-400 MHz. A linear dependence of the phase shift on the square root of the driving power is observed up to 125 mW with a phase shift efficiency of 0.21 and 0.175 rad//spl radic/mW per centimeter fiber length at 196.5 and 399.5 MHz, respectively. The dependence of the phase shift efficiency on the modulation length is demonstrated.


Background The COVID-19 pandemic is requesting highly effective protective personnel equipment, mainly for healthcare professionals. However, the current demand has exceeded the supply chain and, consequently, shortage of essential medical materials, such as surgical masks. Due to these alarming limitations, it is crucial to develop effective means of disinfection, reusing, and thereby applying antimicrobial shielding protection to the clinical supplies. Purpose Therefore, in this work, we developed a novel, economical, and straightforward approach to promote antimicrobial activity to surgical masks by impregnating silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). Methods Our strategy consisted of fabricating a new alcohol disinfectant formulation combining special surfactants and AgNPs, which is demonstrated to be extensively effective against a broad number of microbial surrogates of SARS-CoV-2. Results The present nano-formula reported a superior microbial reduction of 99.999% against a wide number of microorganisms. Furthermore, the enveloped H5N1 virus was wholly inactivated after 15 min of disinfection. Far more attractive, the current method for reusing surgical masks did not show outcomes of detrimental amendments, suggesting that the protocol does not alter the filtration effectiveness. Conclusion The nano-disinfectant provides a valuable strategy for effective decontamination, reuse, and even antimicrobial promotion to surgical masks for frontline clinical personnel.


Background The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet improves blood pressure in nonpregnant populations. We hypothesized that adherence to the DASH diet during pregnancy improves hemodynamic adaptations, leading to a lower risk of gestational hypertensive disorders. Methods and Results We examined whether the DASH diet score was associated with blood pressure, placental hemodynamics, and gestational hypertensive disorders in a population‐based cohort study among 3414 Dutch women. We assessed DASH score using food‐frequency questionnaires. We measured blood pressure in early‐, mid‐, and late pregnancy (medians, 95% range: 12.9 [9.8–17.9], 20.4 [16.6–23.2], 30.2 [28.6–32.6] weeks gestation, respectively), and placental hemodynamics in mid‐ and late pregnancy (medians, 95% range: 20.5 [18.7–23.1], 30.4 [28.5–32.8] weeks gestation, respectively). Information on gestational hypertensive disorders was obtained from medical records. Lower DASH score quartiles were associated with a higher mid pregnancy diastolic blood pressure, compared with the highest quartile (P<0.05). No associations were present for early‐ and late pregnancy diastolic blood pressure and systolic blood pressure throughout pregnancy. Compared with the highest DASH score quartile, the lower DASH score quartiles were associated with a higher mid‐ and late pregnancy umbilical artery pulsatility index (P≤0.05) but not with uterine artery resistance index. No associations with gestational hypertensive disorders were present. Conclusions A higher DASH diet score is associated with lower mid pregnancy diastolic blood pressure and mid‐ and late pregnancy fetoplacental vascular function but not with uteroplacental vascular function or gestational hypertensive disorders within a low‐risk population. Further studies need to assess whether the effects of the DASH diet on gestational hemodynamic adaptations are more pronounced among higher‐risk populations.


There is currently a global-scale transition from fossil fuel energy technologies toward increasing use of electrically driven energy technologies, especially transportation and heat, fueled by renewable energy sources, which is making fire safety in electrically powered systems increasingly important. The work presented here provides a coherent understanding of flame spread parametric trends and associated fire safety issues in electrical systems for structural, transportation, and space applications. This understanding was obtained through the use of an artificial neural network (ANN) that was trained to predict the flame spread rate along "laboratory" wires of different sizes and compositions (copper, nichrome, iron, and stainless-steel tube cores and HDPE, LDPE, and ETFE insulation sheaths) and exposed to different ambient conditions (varying flows, pressure, oxygen concentration, orientation, and gravitational strength). For these predictions, a comprehensive database of 1200 data points was created by incorporating flame spread rate results from both in-house experiments (400 data points) and external experiments from other sources (800 data points). The predictions from the ANN show that it is possible to merge various data sets, including results from horizontal, inclined, vertical, and microgravity experiments, and obtain unified predictive results. While these initial results are very encouraging with an overall average error rate of 14%, they also show that future improvements to the ANN could still be made to increase prediction accuracy.


A 3-dimensional deterministic dynamic basin model is constructed and applied to several sedimentary basins to determine the quantitative mass and energy transport in sedimentary sequences of a basin as a function of the geologic history. Input data consist of sedimentation rate and type, paleobathymetric estimates, initial physical (density, porosity, and permeability), and thermal (thermal conductivity and specific heat) properties of sediments, and heat flow. All the available data and know-how from geology, geophysics, geochemistry, strength of materials, hydrodynamics, and geothermics are combined in an integral form using the general physical, physicochemical, and chemical concepts as mathematical expressions. The results of the model are: geologic history and quanti ative stratigraphy, pressure history, thermal history, subsidence history, compaction history, porosity distribution, and organic matter maturation history. The model results are then compared with the measured sediment thicknesses, pressures, temperatures, porosities, vitrinite reflectance values, and other geochemical maturity indicators. The model is calibrated, using a special iterative method based on sensitivity analysis. This method enables us not only to optimize the parameters of the system, but also to check the system for possible errors in the assumptions or in our understanding of the basin (conceptual model). Thus, each basin is analyzed as being a unique system. Application of the model to several sedimentary basins has shown that high sedimentation rates increase pressures (mainly in shales) and temperatures, erosion decreases pressures (approach to hydrostatic) and temperatures, and thrusting generally decreases geothermal gradient. We have also found that generation of hydrocarbons can only be determined from heating rates using a kinetic model and not from simple generation vs. maturity trends (generation curve concept). End_of_Article - Last_Page 799------------


Objective: To explore the demographic data, risk factors and patterns of stroke patients in a Malaysia district hospital.
Methodology: This observational study was conducted in a district hospital of Johor, Malaysia from July 2014 to December 2014. Risk factors, clinical characteristics, and details of the acute stroke were analysed.
Results: 143 patients were recruited with a mean age of 62±14 years old. 61.5% were male and 70.6% with the education level of primary school and below. The top three risk factors for stroke were hypertension (76.2%), diabetes (51.0%) and dyslipidemia (18.2%). CT brain showed infarction in 69 (48.3%) patients, 23 (16.1%) had haemorrhage, and normal in 50 (35%) patients. The median hospital arrival time was 13.6 hours (IQR: 13.5 hours) with 43 (30.1%) patients arrived hospital less than 4.5 hours. The median time of the door to CT scannin was 95 minutes (IQR: 132 minutes). The mean NIHSS score was 8.7. According to TOAST classification 82 (52.7%) patients had small-vessel occlusion disease while 28 (19.6%) patients were large artery disease.
Conclusion: With one-third of the patients arriving the hospital within 4.5 hours, the option of thrombolysis as the mainstay of treatment in acute ischemic stroke needs to be explored in a district hospital. Public awareness of signs and symptoms of stroke is important to promote the eligibility of thrombolysis therapy. Furthermore, optimisation of risk factors will play a role in reducing the incidence of stroke.


Abstract. Waters released from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) represent a relevant
source of pharmaceuticals and personal care products to the aquatic
environment, since many of them are not effectively removed by the treatment
systems. The consumption of these products increased in the last decades and
concerns have consequently risen about their possible adverse effects on the
freshwater ecosystem. In this study, we present a simple, yet effective,
analytical model of transport of contaminants released in surface waters by
WWTPs. Transport of dissolved species is modeled by solving the advection
dispersion reaction equation (ADRE) along the river network by using a
Lagrangian approach. We applied this model to concentration data of five
pharmaceuticals, diclofenac, ketoprofen, clarithromycin, sulfamethoxazole,
and irbesartan, collected during two field campaigns, conducted in February
and July 2015 in the Adige River, northeastern Italy. The model showed a good
agreement with measurements and the successive application at the monthly
timescale highlighted significant variations of the load due to the interplay
between streamflow seasonality and variation of the anthropogenic pressure,
chiefly due to the variability of touristic fluxes. Since the data required
by the model are widely available, our model is suitable for large-scale
applications.


We study the statistical properties of a discrete representation of quasiperiodic motions in an integrable twist map of the 2-torus. The coordinates are discretized uniformly. We investigate the growth of the number of periodic orbits near the golden mean rotation number , given by local averages of the greatest common divisor function. In the limit of small discretization, we find that the growth rate does not depend on . However, the asymptotic regime is approached by slowly decaying transients, with singular behaviour at . The transient structure is described by a function with self-similar properties, which we study via Mobius transformations.


Significant retreat of glaciers terminating in Hornsund Fjord (Southern Spits− bergen, Svalbard) has been observed during the 20 th century and in the first decade of the 21 st century. The objective of this paper is to present, as complete as possible, a record of front positions changes of 14 tidewater glaciers during this period and to distinguish the main factors influencing their fluctuations. Results are based on a GIS analysis of archival maps, field measurements, and aerial and satellite images. Accuracy was based on an as− sessment of seasonal fluctuations of a glacier's ice cliff position with respect to its mini− mum length in winter (November-December) and its maximum advance position in June or July. Morphometric features and the environmental setting of each glacier are also pre− sented. The total area of the glacier cover in Hornsund Fjord in the period of 1899-2010 diminished approximately 172 km 2 , with an average areal retreat rate of 1.6 km 2 a −1 .T he recession rate increased from ~1 km 2 a −1 in first decades of the 20 th century up to ~3 km 2 a −1 in years 2001-2010. The latest period was more thoroughly studied using optical satellite images acquired almost every year. The importance of glacier morphology and hypso− metry, as well as fjord bathymetry and topography is analyzed. Large glacier systems with low slopes terminating in deeper waters are retreating faster than small steep glaciers ter− minating in shallower water. A relation between mean annual air temperature and aerial retreat rate of tidewater glaciers was found for long time scales. A sudden temperature in− crease, known as the early 20 th century warming in Svalbard, and an increase in tempera− tures during recent decades are well reflected in deglaciation rate. Influence of sea water temperatures on calving and retreat of glaciers was considered and is significant in short−time intervals of the last decade. Surge events are non−climatic factors which com− plicate the record. They are reflected in front advance or fast retreat due to a massive calv− ing depending on the relation between ice thickness and water depth. Despite the influ− ence of many factors, the response of tidewater glaciers to climate change is evident. The average linear retreat rate of all the tidewater glaciers in Hornsund amounted to ~70 ma −1 in 2001-2010 and was higher than the average retreat of other Svalbard tidewater glaciers (~45 ma −1 ). Thus, glaciers of this basin can be considered as more sensitive to climate than glaciers of other regions of the archipelago.


The uncontrolled cellular growth that characterizes tumor formation requires a constant delivery of nutrients. Since the 1970s, researchers have wondered if the supply of nutrients from the diet could impact tumor development. Numerous studies have assessed the impact of dietary components, specifically sugar and fat, to increased cancer risk. For the most part, data from these trials have been inconclusive; however, this does not indicate that dietary factors do not contribute to cancer progression. Rather, the dietary contribution may be dependent on tumor, patient, and context, making it difficult to detect in the setting of large trials. In this review, we combine data from prospective cohort trials with mechanistic studies in mice to argue that fat and sugar can play a role in tumorigenesis and disease progression. We find that certain tumors may respond directly to dietary sugar (colorectal and endometrial cancers) and fat (prostate cancer) or indirectly to the obese state (breast cancer).


For distant stars, as observed by the NASA Kepler satellite, parallax information is currently of fairly low quality and is not complete. This limits the precision with which the absolute sizes of the stars and their potential transiting planets can be determined by traditional methods. Asteroseismology will be used to aid the radius determination of stars observed during NASA's Kepler mission. We report on the recent asteroFLAG hare-and-hounds Exercise#2, where a group of "hares" simulated data of F–K main-sequence stars that a group of "hounds" sought to analyze, aimed at determining the stellar radii. We investigated stars in the range 9 < V < 15, both with and without parallaxes. We further test different uncertainties in Teff, and compare results with and without using asteroseismic constraints. Based on the asteroseismic large frequency spacing, obtained from simulations of 4 yr time series data from the Kepler mission, we demonstrate that the stellar radii can be correctly and precisely determined, when combined with traditional stellar parameters from the Kepler Input Catalogue. The radii found by the various methods used by each independent hound generally agree with the true values of the artificial stars to within 3%, when the large frequency spacing is used. This is 5–10 times better than the results where seismology is not applied. These results give strong confidence that radius estimation can be performed to better than 3% for solar-like stars using automatic pipeline reduction. Even when the stellar distance and luminosity are unknown we can obtain the same level of agreement. Given the uncertainties used for this exercise we find that the input log g and parallax do not help to constrain the radius, and that Teff and metallicity are the only parameters we need in addition to the large frequency spacing. It is the uncertainty in the metallicity that dominates the uncertainty in the radius.


Through historical thinking, history is a science that gives meaning to sources and events and raises historical awareness. Elementary school students' results in historical understanding are very low. The aim of this research was to design a formative assessment strategy to develop and assess the substantive and procedural concepts involved in historical thinking. The strategy was implemented in four teams made up of three students with different levels of knowledge. Feedback was provided using validated rubrics across five time periods, as provided by the history syllabus for the second year of junior high school. The results show a progression of ideas for each procedural concept while using the strategy, and therefore it is concluded that it was a useful tool for achieving the planned objective.


Abstract Coronaviruses disease (COVID-19) has caused major outbreaks. A novel variant, SARS-CoV-2, is responsible for COVID-19 pandemic. Clinical presentations and pathological mechanisms of COVID-19 are broad. The respiratory aspect of the disease has been extensively researched. Emerging studies point out the possibility of the central nervous system (CNS) involvement by COVID-19. Here, we discuss the current evidence for CNS involvement in COVID-19 and highlight that the high pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 might be due to its neuroinvasive potential.


The paper deals with evolution of research-intensive universities based on best practices of leading world countries. It is characterised by a sequence of stages reflecting changes in universities missions, activities and university interaction with business and social and economic institutes. If originally a university represented a public institute intended for accumulation and transfer of knowledge about the world around and human society, then it began to be positioned as the integrator of knowledge and engineering experience, in modern conditions research university is first of all the generator of creative knowledge, unique competences necessary for embodiment in essentially new technologies, products, organization and production management forms, social practices. The distinctive features of research universities connected with shifting attention to carrying out interdisciplinary researches and development, broad involvement of private business, expansion of a range of the implementation startups engaged in a transfer of technological innovations, strengthening of network interaction within strategic partnership and alliances, including international ones are described.


Provably sample-efficient Reinforcement Learning (RL) with rich observations and function approximation has witnessed tremendous recent progress, particularly when the underlying function approximators are linear. In this linear regime, computationally and statistically efficient methods exist where the potentially infinite state and action spaces can be captured through a known feature embedding, with the sample complexity scaling with the (intrinsic) dimension of these features. When the action space is finite, significantly more sophisticated results allow non-linear function approximation under appropriate structural constraints on the underlying RL problem, permitting for instance, the learning of good features instead of assuming access to them. In this work, we present the first result for non-linear function approximation which holds for general action spaces under a linear embeddability condition, which generalizes all linear and finite action settings. We design a novel optimistic posterior sampling strategy, TS^3 for such problems, and show worst case sample complexity guarantees that scale with a rank parameter of the RL problem, the linear embedding dimension introduced in this work and standard measures of the function class complexity.


Two-dimensional materials, such as graphene, boron nitride and transition metal dichalcogenides, have attracted increased interest due to their potential applications in electronics and optoelectronics. Thermal transport in two-dimensional materials could be quite different from three-dimensional bulk materials. This article reviews the progress on experimental measurements and theoretical modeling of phonon transport and thermal conductivity in two-dimensional materials. We focus our review on a few typical two-dimensional materials, including graphene, boron nitride, silicene, transition metal dichalcogenides, and black phosphorus. The effects of different physical factors, such as sample size, strain and defects, on thermal transport in Two-dimensional materials are summarized. We also discuss the environmental effect on the thermal transport of two-dimensional materials, such as substrate and when two-dimensional materials are presented in heterostructures and intercalated with inorganic components or organic molecules.


Electric motor systems are widely used in China to power fans, pumps, blowers, air compressors, refrigeration compressors, conveyers, machinery, and many other types of equipment. Overall, electric motor systems consume more than 600 billion kWh annually, accounting for more than 50 percent of China's electricity use. There are large opportunities to improve the efficiency of motor systems. Electric motors in China are approximately 2-4 percent less efficient on average than motors in the U.S. and Canada. Fans and pumps in China are approximately 3-5 percent less efficient than in developed countries. Even more importantly, motors, fans, pumps, air compressors and other motor-driven equipment are frequently applied with little attention to system efficiency. More optimized design, including appropriate sizing and use of speed control strategies, can reduce energy use by 20 percent or more in many applications. Unfortunately, few Chinese enterprises use or even know about these energy-saving practices. Opportunities for motor system improvements are probably greater in China than in the U.S. In order to begin capturing these savings, China is establishing a China Motor Systems Energy Conservation Program. Elements of this program include work to develop minimum efficiency standards for motors, a voluntary green motor labeling program for high-efficiency motors, efforts to develop and promote motor system management guidelines, and a training, technical assistance and financing program to promote optimization of key motor systems.


Using a case study of push-model Freedom of Information (FOI) regimes in Australia, which require the administrative release of government information unless contrary to the public interest, this paper develops a typology of essential literacy relating to access to information in the digital environment. To achieve this aim, the research: Conducted an online audit of Government websites to gauge website accessibility in qualitative terms. Reviewed relevant national and international literature, from a range of relevant disciplines and formats, including annual reports and government submissions. Analyzed the type of literacies essential to access to government information. Data generated from the online audit were analyzed thematically and used to characterize the types of knowledge and skills (literacies) essential to the effective use of RTI/FoI legislation in a digital environment . The resulting typology of RTI literacies is directed at helping to understand how ICTs can be used more effectively to enhance government transparency and accountability. Thus when evaluating performance of Freedom of Information regimes, the focus shifts from quantitative metrics measuring administrative efficacy to a more qualitative approach aimed at identifying the accessibility and useability of government information.


In this work, a pollution-sensitive Photonic Crystal Fiber (PCF) based on Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) technology is designed and implemented for sensing refractive indices and concentrations of polluted  water . The overall construction of the sensor is achieved by splicing short lengths of PCF (ESM-12) solid core on one side with traditional multimode fiber (MMF) and depositing a gold nanofilm of 50nm thickness on the end of the PCF sensor. The PCF- SPR experiment was carried out with various samples of polluted water including(distilled water, draining water, dirty pond water, chemical water, salty  water and oiled water). The location of the resonant wavelength peaks is seen to move to longer wavelengths (red shift) as the refractive index increases due to the transfer of maximum energy from the reflected power of the light guided through the fiber to the surface plasmons. The experimental results show that the highest sensitivity reached 4202.6nm/RIU for oiled water, the signal to noise ratio was 0.625, the resolution was 2.4*10-5 RIU, and the figure of merit was 22.8. The prepared sensor exhibited excellent performance features, making it an excellent element for detecting water pollutants.


Contact tracing is an integrated part on tuberculosis management and is conducted by the medical officer in collaboration with the local chest clinics. The principle of contact tracing is to begin with the household contacts and expanding to more peripheral contacts depending of the number of persons with latent of active tuberculosis identified. Persons identified with latent TB infection should be offered isoniazid preventive treatment for six months.


Abstract Vascular anomalies, both tumors and malformations, can occur anywhere in the body, including the airway, often without any external manifestations. However, vascular anomalies involving the airway deserve special consideration as proper recognition and management can be lifesaving. In this article, the authors discuss vascular anomalies as they pertains to the airway, focusing on proper diagnosis, diagnostic modalities, and therapeutic options.


Public universities are widely regarded not only as teaching establishments but also as organizations that create new knowledge and support social communities. Under great competition in higher education level, numbers of universities have implemented strategies and tools that improve quality of students and research results and provide several community services for building their competitiveness. ICT based knowledge management is usually recommended as one of important roles to improve efficiency and effectiveness in university mandates and provide many benefits to university. Kasetsart University (KU), one of Thailand's largest and most progressive public universities, has applied KM in its strategies in order to overcome resource scarcity and enhance its competitive advantages. It has developed several KM practices and projects using ICT in several activities which relate to mandates. The initial findings indicate that (1) ICT based KM system significantly enhances the university's competitiveness in term of quality and quantity of student, research results and innovative community services. (2) The specific KM practices and projects support different aspects of university mandates. This ICT based KM system has been implemented and proved to be practical. This system is suitable for the university full of educational mission, innovative research, latest body of knowledge, academic services offered to society and community as well as the Thai culture preservation, a standard mission for Thai higher education institution. This model could be the best practice for further improvement and be customized to fit other universities in other developing countries


Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been increasingly utilized in mice. Due to the non-negligible effects of anesthetics on mouse fMRI, it is becoming more common to perform fMRI in the awake mice. However, high stress level and head motion in awake mouse fMRI remain to be fully addressed, which limits its practical applications. Therefore, here we presented a systematically optimized awake mouse fMRI paradigm as a practical and open-source solution. First, we designed a soundproof habituation chamber in which multiple mice can be habituated simultaneously and independently. Then, combining corticosterone, body weight and behavioral measurements, we systematically evaluated the potential factors that may contribute to animals' stress level for awake imaging. Among many factors, we found that the restraining setup allowing forelimbs freely moving and head tilted at 30-degree was optimal for minimizing stress level. Importantly, we implemented multiband simultaneous multi-slice imaging to enable ultrafast fMRI acquisition in awake mice. Compared to conventional single-band EPI, faster acquisition enabled by multiband imaging were more robust to head motion and yielded higher statistical power. Thus, more robust resting-state functional connectivity was detected using multiband acquisition in awake mouse fMRI, compared to conventional single-band acquisition. In conclusion, we presented an awake mouse fMRI paradigm that is highly optimized in both awake mice habituation and fMRI acquisition, and such paradigm minimized animals' stress level and provided more resistance to head motion and higher statistical power.


In the title salt, [Ag(C7H8N2S)(C18H15P)2]NO3, the coordination geometry about the AgI atom is shallow trigonal pyramidal, with the metal atom displaced by 0.372 (1) Å from the plane of the P and S atoms. In the crystal, the cations are linked to the anions by N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, generating tetramers (two cations and two anions), which feature R 2 2(8) and R 4 4(8) loops. The cations are linked by weak C—H⋯π interactions, generating a three-dimensional network.


In this study, we investigated the change in the removal rate of boric acid relative to the saturation rate (=dissolved amount/saturated amount) for gypsum in solution and its pH dependence, as well as the composition of the compounds found in the precipitate after the reaction. The results showed that almost 100% of boric acid in solution is removed by the addition of gypsum at a saturation rate of >0.75 in the pH range of 10.5–13, which is probably due to the increase of the amount of ettringite formed in the precipitate. This makes it possible to thoroughly process boric acid-containing wastewater using the same amount of coagulants as in the conventional method.


Our understanding of planet formation has been rapidly evolving in recent years. The classical planet formation theory, developed when the only known planetary system was our own Solar System, has been revised to account for the observed diversity of the exoplanetary systems. At the same time, the increasing observational capabilities of the young stars and their surrounding disks bring new constraints on the planet formation process. In this chapter, we summarize the new information derived from the exoplanets population and the circumstellar disks observations. We present the new developments in planet formation theory, from dust evolution to the growth of planetary cores by accretion of planetesimals, pebbles, and gas. We review the state-of-the-art models for the formation of diverse planetary systems, including the population synthesis approach which is necessary to compare theoretical model outcomes to the exoplanet population. We emphasize that the planet formation process may not be spatially uniform in the disk and there are preferential locations for the formation of planetesimals and planets. Outside of these locations, a significant fraction of solids is not growing past the pebble-sizes. The reservoir of pebbles plays an important role in the growth of planetary cores in the pebble accretion process. The timescale of the emergence of massive planetary cores is an important aspect of the present models and it is likely that the cores within one disk form at different times. In addition, there is growing evidence that the first planetary cores start forming early, during the circumstellar disk buildup process.


Global digitization forces modern enterprises to respond to the rapid changes in the external environment and adapt to it. As a result, existing business models are being transformed in the areas of production, promotion, communication, calculations, interaction with partners and consumers. In this context, there is growing scientific interest in exploring theoretical and practical aspects of the economy digitization and its impact on the peculiarities of the economic entities functioning. Features of functioning of classical and digital economic entities on the basis of criterion approach have been investigated, using the following criteria: factors of production, form of business organization, location of workplace, production outcome, economic processes, connection with on-demand economy, methods of payment, relations with other enterprises, professions enhancing the image of the enterprise, communication method between employees, saving and processing of information, company promotion tools and consumer communication. The main statistical indicators of the digitalization impact on the activity of enterprises in the world and in Ukraine in 2018 have been analyzed. The feasibility of using digital economy tools has been outlined. Advantages and disadvantages of the impact of digital transformation space on the enterprise have been identified.


Abstract Participatory approaches to humanitarianism, peacebuilding, and international development promise to listen to the voices of local aid beneficiaries. However, aid workers often listen to these voices through reductive narratives of aid beneficiaries, ventriloquizing their voice and inhibiting meaningful participation. Why do aid workers – despite humane intentions – continue to rely on reductive narratives? This paper inquires how the everyday emotional lives of aid workers make reductive narratives persist. Based on 65 semi-structured interviews in Singapore, Jakarta, and Aceh, and 40 aid worker books and blogs, I show how aid workers regularly experience emotional anxieties that question their complicity in the suffering of others and their powerlessness to do anything about it. Reductive narratives resonate and persist because they allow aid workers to cope with these anxieties. I illustrate the emotional resonance of three reductive narratives – civilizing; romanticized; and impersonal narratives – in three common practices of local participation in aid work: professionalized standards; visiting the field; and hiring locals. Given the emotional origins of reductive narratives, rational critique is insufficient for reforming or decolonizing aid work. Rather, change must also involve engaging the underlying emotions of aid workers.


Background: Individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) have an increased risk of developing urological complications. Therefore, long-term routine urological surveillance is recommended. Objective: To describe urological surveillance in individuals with long-term SCI and to determine factors associated with urologic ultrasonography (UU) outcome. Methods: Wheelchair-dependent individuals with an SCI for 10 years or more were included. A medical assessment was done in 8 participating rehabilitation centers. The International Lower Urinary Tract Function Basic SCI Data Set was used to assess bladder-emptying methods and previous surgical procedures on the urinary tract. We studied urological surveillance: whether participants had routine urological checkups (including UU) and when latest urodynamic study was performed. Latest UU (performed <1 year ago) was retrieved or, when lacking, UU was performed as part of our study. Results: Median time since injury (TSI) was 22.0 years. Overall, 39% of the 282 participants did not have routine urological checkups and 33% never had a urodynamic study performed. UU data (N = 243) revealed dilatation of the upper urinary tract (UUT) in 4.5% of the participants and urinary stones in 5.7%. Abnormal UU outcome was associated with increasing TSI, nontraumatic SCI, and previous surgical bladder or UUT stone removal. UU outcome was not associated with routine urological checkups or type of bladder-emptying method. Conclusions: Over one-third of Dutch individuals with long-term SCI did not receive routine urological surveillance. UU outcome was not associated with routine urological checkups or type of bladder-emptying method. Further research on the indication and frequency of urological surveillance is recommended.


Activity recognition problems such as human activity recognition and smartphone location recognition can improve the accuracy of different navigation or healthcare tasks, which rely solely on inertial sensors. Current learning-based approaches for activity recognition from inertial data employ convolutional neural networks or long short term memory architectures. Recently, Transformers were shown to outperform these architectures for sequence analysis tasks. This work presents an activity recognition model based on Transformers which offers an improved and general framework for learning activity recognition tasks. For evaluation purposes, several datasets, with more than 27 hours of inertial data recordings collected by 91 users, are employed. Those datasets represent different user activity scenarios with varying difficulty. The proposed approach consistently achieves better accuracy and generalizes better across all examined datasets and scenarios. A codebase implementing the described framework is available at: https://github.com/yolish/har-with-imu-transformer.


Left ventricular angiograms of six children were reviewed, and it was found that those obtained in axial (long axial oblique and hepatoclavicular) projections enhanced precision in the diagnosis of subvalvular aortic stenosis. The methods for obtaining these views are described, and the results presented. Axial views are never inferior to standard (posteroanterior, lateral, and right anterior oblique) projections, and are usually superior to them, especially when there are associated lesions, such as ventricular septal defects, left-sided obstructive lesions, and patent ductus arteriosus.


The scraping production of thirteen sugarcane genotypes was evaluated at the South of Tocantins State. The research was carried out at the Santa Tereza settlement, located at the municipality of Duere, Tocantins State. The experiment was carried out in a completely randomized blocks design with three replicates. The sugarcane genotypes evaluated were SP80-1816, SP81-3250, RB56-5230, RB92-8064, SP80-1842, SP85-3877, RB86-7515, RB83-5486, SP84-5210, IAC86-2480, SP86-155, RB85-5536 and Nativa-25. The evaluated characters were plant height, mass of industrial stalk, mass of pointers, soluble solids, yielding of sugarcane juice, scraping productivity, ration industrial stalk/ sugarcane juice, ratio of sugarcane juice/scraping, ratio of industrial stalk/ scraping and blossom percentage. According to the results obtained, the genotype Nativa-25 is not recommended to scraping production, while the genotype RB92-8064 can be recommended to scraping production and it showed the highest potential to be used as animal food.


While there is clear evidence of the negative effects of Australian policy with respect to people seeking asylum on our shores, there is little research regarding the experiences of their advocates. In the present study, two main aims were investigated. First, we examined the stress levels of advocates and their coping strategies. Second, we examined changes in personal relationships and positive experiences as outcomes of the involvement with refugees. Eighty four refugee movement advocates completed an on-line questionnaire. Results indicated that they experienced moderate to high levels of stress in their refugee advocacy. While they used emotional support significantly more than other coping strategies, they found emotional support and instrumental support the most effective. Regardless of the high costs involved in such advocacy (e.g., financial, emotional, and interpersonal), participants noted a number of positive outcomes such as new friendships and personal growth. The findings are discussed in terms of long-term implications in relation to immigration policy and community support.


For risk and needs assessments to have an impact on justice processes and outcomes, assessment information must be used to improve decisions and practice. "Structured decision-making" is a method for doing this consistently and effectively to reduce risk. This method requires articulating what should be different for people at different risk levels or with different needs, and developing tools like matrices or other decision aids and accompanying processes to guide individual decisions in that direction. For example, how intensively should probation officers supervise someone given their level of risk to reoffend? Or, which goals should be prioritized in a reentry case plan based on the criminogenic needs identified in the assessment?


This paper deals with thermal characteristic analysis of induction motors for machine tool spindle for motion error prediction. Firstly, the inverse design of general induction motors for machine tool spindle has been performed by design principles. Characteristics considering VVVF inverter of induction motors were analyzed. Secondary, power loss and thermal characteristics of induction motors analyzed by equivalent thermal resistance model from Motor-CAD S/W. To develop a second-order fitted power-loss distribution model for the constant-torque operating range of the induction motor, we employed the design of experiment and response surface methodology techniques. Finally, the analysis results were experimentally verified, and the validity of the proposed analysis method was confirmed.


Background Stripping of the membranes is a relatively quick and noninvasive procedure performed by many obstetricians and midwives on at-term pregnancies and is thought to promote onset of labor and the avoidance of post-term pregnancy with its corresponding complications and risks. Its efficacy is intensely debated with conflicting results in the current literature. Study Design and Methods Our randomized controlled trial study investigates whether the practice of stripping of the membranes at term is an effective and safe procedure associated with a reduction of time until labor onset and a reduction in the occurrence of post-term pregnancies in at-term, nulliparous Latina women in a community health care setting. From 38 weeks until delivery, the control group receives weekly pelvic exams with no stripping of the membranes while the study group receives weekly pelvic exams and stripping of the membranes when possible. The primary outcome measured is the proportion of patients who will deliver within 3 weeks of the first examination, and secondary measurements include bishop scores among patients who do not deliver by 41 weeks, number of days from the first examination to delivery, incidence of post-term pregnancy, maternal and fetal complications, and patient discomfort. Study Timeline and Progress This is an ongoing study at Sea Mar Community Health Center in South Seattle. We project that the data for approximately 15 to 20 patients will be available for a preliminary analysis by January 2006. The study will continue at Sea Mar past January 2006 to capture a larger study group.


Objective: The goal of this study was to determine what students need to know about biochemistry in order to practice pharmacy.

Methods: With reference to a list of learning objectives, educators interviewed students during their advanced clinical rotations, asking if they had used each item in practice. Each item was then rated according to the number and strength of affirmative responses. The ratings were used to identify the elements of biochemistry most strongly recognised as relevant to clinical practice.

Results: All of the learning objectives received affirmative responses, indicating that each was recalled or used by some respondent(s). The most highly rated objectives indicate aspects of biochemistry most closely related to clinical practice.

Conclusion: The results provide guidance to educators for designing biochemistry courses, highlighting recognisable connections between biochemistry and clinical practice, and areas where relevance may need to be made clearer or re-evaluated.


Diverse applications in photonics and microwave engineering require a means of measurement of the instantaneous frequency of a signal. A photonic implementation typically applies an interferometer equipped with three or more output ports to measure the frequency dependent phase shift provided by an optical delay line. The components constituting the interferometer are prone to impairments which results in erroneous measurements. It is shown that the information to be retrieved is encoded by a three-component vector that lies on a circular cone within a three-dimensional Cartesian object space. The measured data belongs to the image of the object space under a linear map that describes the action of the interferometer. Assisted by a learning algorithm, an inverse map from the image space into the object space is constructed. The inverse map compensates for a variety of impairments while being robust to noise. Simulation results demonstrate that, to the extent the interferometer model captures all significant impairments, a precision limited only by the level of random noise is attainable. A wavelength meter architecture is fabricated on Si3N4 photonic integration platform to prove the method experimentally. Applied to the measured data, greater than an order of magnitude improvement in precision is achieved by the proposed method compared to the conventional method.


This study aims to assess the social efficiency of microfinance institutions (MFIs) —regulated and non-regulated— in Peru. Social efficiency is referred to the capacity of MFIs to produce more social outputs —number of poor clients and women served— without using more resources. The Data Envelopment Analysis methodology is used to carry on efficiency analysis. Additionally, we analyze the potential determinants of social efficiency of MFIs through a Tobit regression analysis in the context of panel data, in order to investigate whether differences related to the institutional nature of MFIs explain differences in social efficiency achieved by them. The study period covers the years from 2007 to 2011. The results show that non-regulated MFIs are socially more efficient. On the contrary, those MFIs which are within regulatory scheme, shown in most cases, distant positions to the efficient frontier. Regression analysis shows that being a regulated MFI negatively affects social efficiency levels, a greater presence in rural area positively affect social efficiency levels. Although there is evidence that financial returns could relate positively to social efficiency, this result does not seem to be as robust. At the other extreme, the lending technology does not seem to be relevant to explain social efficiency.


The eutectic Sn-9Zn (in wt%) solder alloy has been regarded as a possible substitute for eutectic Sn-37Pb (in wt%) alloy because its eutectic temperature (199/spl deg/C) is very close to that of the eutectic Sn-37Pb (183/spl deg/C). Also, the eutectic Sn-0.7Cu (in wt%) solder alloy is cheap and possesses good solderability, strength and creep properties. To demonstrate their feasibility to be used as ball grid array (BGA) solder balls, Sn-9Zn and Sn-0.7Cu solder balls were attached on Au/Ni/Cu BGA metallization pad to study the interfacial microstructure evolution at 150/spl deg/C. In the as-reflowed Sn-9Zn solder ball, its bulk microstructure mainly contained the /spl beta/-Sn matrix, with randomly distributed Zn-rich and AuSn/sub 4/ compounds. The Au-Zn intermetallic compounds (IMCs) were found near the interface, at which a Ni-Zn-Sn ternary intermetallic layer (IML) of about 1 /spl mu/m thick was detected. Upon aging, the NiZn/sub 3/ /spl gamma/-phase and Au-Zn IMCs were formed quite close to the Ni-Zn-Sn IML. Further aging provided a NiZn/sub 3/ layer on top of the original Ni-Zn-Sn IML. The Zn content in the Ni-Zn-Sn ternary layer increased with aging time. In the as-reflowed Sn-0.7Cu solder ball, the bulk microstructure had Cu/sub 6/Sn/sub 5/ and AuSn/sub 4/ segregated along the /spl beta/-Sn boundary. At the interface, the Cu-Sn-Ni ternary IML was formed and was found to be (Cu,Ni)/sub 6/Sn/sub 5/. After aging, the AuSn/sub 4/, IMCs were coarsened. The Cu-Sn-Au phase was detected in the bulk solder after thermal aging for 500 hr. The (Cu,Ni)/sub 6/Sn/sub 5/ layer at the interface was thickened due to aging. Both Pb-free systems showed good resistance to thermal aging with a ball shear strength maintained at about 1.5 to 1.6 kgf, which is higher than that of the Pb-bearing solder alloys.


Summary. The bilateral and simultaneous rupture of Achilles tendon is an excepcional situation. The production of this injury in a young person, without history pathological or administration of certain drugs is even more exceptional. The surgical treatment and a proper process of following-up and rehabilitation help to a good recovery and prognosis in young and active people with Achilles tendon ruptures.


ABSTRACT: Maintenance of straw on the soil surface in sugarcane production areas can influence weed occurrence and herbicide dynamics. After application, considerable losses of clomazone can occur as a result of its physicochemical characteristics. For this reason, novel formulations have been developed. In addition to the conventional formulation, microencapsulated formulations are currently available. Thus, the aim of this study was to observe and compare the effect of clomazone formulations under different application conditions. For this purpose, the experiment was carried with 12 treatments in a completely randomized design, with four replications, using clomazone formulations (1,200 g a.i. ha-1), on soils with different moisture levels, in the presence and absence of sugarcane straw, followed or not by rainfall simulation. The treatments were compared by observation of number of emerged plants and phytotoxicity at 7 and 14 DAA, as well shoot dry matter at 14 DAA for Ipomoea nil, Urochloa decumbens and Panicum maximum. In general, the microencapsulated formulation presented a better performance under the less suitable application conditions when compared to the conventional one. However, for the other conditions, both formulations had a similar performance.


In the context of development of multi-family housing projects – blocks of flats/apartments – acoustical privacy is of substantial importance to all involved, namely the developer, the architect and the residents, while becoming increasingly difficult to achieve because of innovations in home sound reproduction systems which require control of low-frequency sound transmission through party walls. The current sound transmission classification (STC) rating system alone is inadequate for controlling low frequency sound transmission between units. A simple supplemental music/ mechanical transmission classification (MTC) rating is described and its use if recommended to specifically address the transmission of low frequency sounds. This paper describes a program for achieving high performance STC and MTC ratings using "thin" drywall construction aided by an innovative preconstruction full scale mockup test facility. The test facility was designed and constructed to duplicate project room sizes with real room-to-room sound transmission paths including those through the concrete floor and ceiling slabs. The critical importance of sound flanking paths is illustrated with comparative test results from the facility. Recommended minimum STC and MTC ratings are suggested to achieve acoustical privacy between dwelling units. George F. Hessler, Jr., Hessler Associates Inc., 3682 Clifton Manor Place, Haymarket, VA 20169, U.S.A. Noise Control Engineering Journal, 1999, Nov–Dec, 218–226.


in November 1998, a multidisciplinary European expert panel convened in Lausanne, Switzerland, to discuss and develop criteria for the appropriate use of gastrointestinal endoscopy, a widely-used procedure, regarded as highly ac curate and safe. The R A N D appropriateness method was chosen for this purpose, because it al lows the development of appropriateness criteria based on publ ished evidence and supplemented by explicit expert opinion. A detailed de scription of the R A N D appropriateness method, including the literature search process [1], and of the whole process , as well as the global results of the panel [2], are published as separate articles in this issue of the Journal . The litera ture review was based on a systematic search of Medl ine , Embase and the Cochrane Library conducted up to the end of 1997 and completed with some key articles publ ished in 1998. Updating and revision of the literature review is cur rently ongoing.


The objective of our research project is to learn from an identified real life business case in the form of a running inter-organisational collaboration. The aim of the research task is to facilitate cross-organisational business processes (CBPs) under consideration of aspects of ergonomics in order to provide adequate work procedures for employees in SMEs. The chosen approach addresses technical and human aspects, respectively. The latter are to cause severe tensions between entrepreneurs and employees working in inter-organisational settings e.g by intransparency of the whole value chain process and lack of shared vision and knowledge. Therefore, the goal is to design a holistic and interdisciplinary framework for research and to identify some leverage points for collaborational work. Starting point is the analysis of the business scenario at hand. The paper intends to present the chosen approach and wants to discuss hitherto existing lessons learned.


Introduction: Depressive disorders can be defined as episodes of depressed mood or loss of interest and pleasure in nearly all activities. Depression is considered a major mental disorder in the elderly, and may be related to quality of sleep and living habits as well as being influenced by sociodemographic factors. Objective: To determine the prevalence of depression among the elderly in the north-east of Brazil, and the relationship between the condition and socio-demographic profile, quality of sleep and living habits. Method: An epidemiological cross-sectional study was performed of the elderly population of the urban area of Campina Grande, Paraiba. The dependent variable presence of depression and the independent variables sociodemographic aspects, sleep quality, and living habits were investigated. Estimates of the prevalence of the variables were obtained and association measured using Poisson Regression. A 5% significance level was adopted for the estimates. Results: The study included 168 elderly patients with a mean age of 72.3 (±7.8) years, most of whom, 122 (72.6%), were women. Depression was identified in 72 elderly persons (42.9%). Elderly women were twice as associated with depression (PR=2.26) as men. A subjective quality of sleep of very good (PR=0.34), medium/high risk of sleep disturbance (PR = 4.08), taking sleeping medications once or twice (PR=5.21) and three times or more (PR=8.69) a week, daytime dysfunction once or twice (PR=14.40) and three times or more (PR=27) a week and poor quality of sleep on the Pittsburgh index were associated with depression in bivariate analysis, although there was no relationship following multivariable adjustment. Conclusion: The prevalence of depression was high in the studied population, being noticeably more frequent among elderly woman. However, it was not possible to detect an association between depression and living habits and sleep quality.


Fresh-peeled garlic is an increasingly important product for foodservice and retail markets. Two storage tests were conducted using garlic cloves ('California Late') that were peeled and packaged commercially. In Test #1 (MAP bags of 454 g), O2 concentrations averaged 15, 10 and 5% at 0, 5 and 10°C, respectively; the corresponding CO2 concentrations averaged 8, 15 and 23%. In Test #2 with small vacuum packed bags (30 g) inside larger master packages (170 g), atmospheres in the former averaged 1.5-3% O2 and 20-30% CO2 at all storage temperatures (0, 2.5, 5 and 7.5°C), while the master bags averaged 20-21% O2 and 0.5-0.8% CO2. In both tests, discoloration occurred in areas damaged during mechanical peeling, and was associated with lower L* and increased chroma values. In Test #1, decay was a significant contributor to loss of quality. In Test #1 excellent visual quality was maintained during 21 and 16 d at 0 and 5°C, respectively, and acceptable quality was maintained for about 10 d at 10°C. In Test #2, very good visual quality was maintained up to 28 d at 0 and 2.5°C, and acceptable quality was maintained for 21 d at 5 and 7.5°C. No important changes in texture were observed due to temperature or storage time. Pungency (thiosulfinate and pyruvate concentrations) decreased with time and the decrease was greater at higher storage temperatures. A reasonable expected storage-life of commercially peeled and modified atmosphere packaged garlic is 3-4 weeks at 0°C, 2-3 weeks at 5°C and 1-2 weeks at 10°C.


AIMS
We investigated whether rapid cooling instituted by total liquid ventilation (TLV) improves cardiac and mitochondrial function in rabbits submitted to ischaemia-reperfusion.

METHODS AND RESULTS
Rabbits were chronically instrumented with a coronary artery occluder and myocardial ultrasonic crystals for assessment of segment length-shortening. Two weeks later they were re-anaesthetized and underwent either a normothermic 30-min coronary artery occlusion (CAO) (Control group, n = 7) or a comparable CAO with cooling initiated by a 10-min hypothermic TLV and maintained by a cold blanket placed on the skin. Cooling was initiated after 5 or 15 min of CAO (Hypo-TLV and Hypo-TLV(15') groups, n = 6 and 5, respectively). A last group underwent normothermic TLV during CAO (Normo-TLV group, n = 6). Wall motion was measured in the conscious state over three days of reperfusion before infarct size evaluation and histology. Additional experiments were done for myocardial sampling in anaesthetized rabbits for mitochondrial studies. The Hypo-TLV procedure induced a rapid decrease in myocardial temperature to 32-34 degrees C. Throughout reperfusion, segment length-shortening was significantly increased in Hypo-TLV and Hypo-TLV(15') vs. Control and Normo-TLV (15.1 +/- 3.3%, 16.4 +/- 2.3%, 1.8 +/- 0.6%, and 1.1 +/- 0.8% at 72 h, respectively). Infarct sizes were also considerably attenuated in Hypo-TLV and Hypo-TLV(15') vs. Control and Normo-TLV (4 +/- 1%, 11 +/- 5%, 39 +/- 2%, and 42 +/- 5% infarction of risk zones, respectively). Mitochondrial function in myocardial samples obtained at the end of ischaemia or after 10 min of reperfusion was improved by Hypo-TLV with respect to ADP-stimulated respiration and calcium-induced opening of mitochondrial permeability transition pores (mPTP). Calcium concentration opening mPTP was, e.g., increased at the end of ischaemia in the risk zone in Hypo-TLV vs. Control (157 +/- 12 vs. 86 +/- 12 microM). Histology and electron microscopy also revealed better preservation of lungs and of cardiomyocyte ultrastructure in Hypo-TLV when compared with Control.

CONCLUSION
Institution of rapid cooling by TLV during ischaemia reduces infarct size as well as other sequelae of ischaemia, such as post-ischaemic contractile and mitochondrial dysfunction.


Firms can accrue large benefits by fostering worker initiative, but standardized work rules are still widely used. We present a model of relational incentives where the use of rules fluctuates over time as the firm faces shocks to its credibility. Worker initiative in adapting to local information can ensure production efficiency but also requires strong incentives. As shocks weaken relational incentives, the firm may adopt rules that yield satisfactory (though suboptimal) performance. Rules help the relationship survive the shocks, but the relationship becomes less efficient in the future. While the relationship may recover, its ability to weather future shocks deteriorates.


Due to their increasing complexity, today's
computer systems are studied using multiple models and formalisms.
Thus, it is necessary to develop theories that unify different
approaches in order to limit the risks of errors when moving from
one formalism to another. It is in this context that monoids,
semirings and Kleene algebras with domain were born about a decade
ago. The idea is to define a domain operator on classical algebraic
structures, in order to unify algebra and the classical logics of
programs. The question of completeness for these algebras is still
open. It constitutes the object of this thesis. We define tree
structures called trees with a top and represented in matrix form.
After having given fundamental properties of these trees, we define
relations that make it possible to compare them. Then, we show
that, modulo a certain equivalence relation, the set of trees with
a top is provided with a monoid with domain structure. This result
makes it possible to define a model for semirings with domain and
prove its completeness. We also define a model for -continuous
Kleene algebras with domain as well and prove its completeness
modulo a new axiom.