ABSTRACT Weight-length data were obtained for 45 muskellunge (Esox masquinongy) populations (N=4,343) from 16 states to develop a standard weight (Ws) equation that would allow calculation of relative weight (Wr) values. We developed a 75-percentile equation using the regression-line-percentile method. The proposed equation, based on all fish combined, is log10 Ws(g) = −6.066 + 3.325 log10TL(mm). The English equivalent for this equation is log10Ws(lb) = −4.052 + 3.325 log10TL(in). This equation is useful for 38 cm and longer muskellunge, and there was no evidence of consistent trends in increasing or decreasing Wr with increasing fish length. Because muskellunge can be sexed based on external characteristics, we also developed separate Ws equations for male and female muskellunge. However, Wr values calculated with the combined equation were quite similar (Wr values within 1–2) to those for values calculated from the female-only Ws equation. Values calculated with the male-only Ws equation were slightly m...


A clinician's standard primary role is to treat and monitor their patients' health and to be their ally. Clinicians with obligations to patients and to organizations, however, must also assess patients for nontherapeutic purposes (eg, readiness to resume work). These 2 obligations can conflict, and, when they do, clinicians must balance their duties to patients and to society. We propose criteria clinicians should consider when determining a patient's readiness to return to work and offer recommendations for interpreting factors that influence this decision.


A method for estimation of ability using pseudocounts in dichotomous item response models is given when associated item parameters are known or estimated by a separate calibration sample of examinees with the size of an appropriate order. The pseudocount minimizing the asymptotic mean square error is algebraically obtained. Though the pseudocount depends on unknown ability, a fixed lower bound for the pseudocount is derived under the logistic model with equivalent items. The lower bound is numerically shown to be reasonable under the 3-parameter logistic model with and without model misspecification.


BACKGROUND: The objective of rehabilitation therapists is to increase the functional abilities and quality of life in people with disability. Hence, cooperation becomes a basis for enhanced quality of care. The current study aims to investigate the experience of faculty members at the School of Rehabilitation Sciences, regarding teamwork education for rehabilitation students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a descriptive-exploratory qualitative study. Maximum variation purposive sampling was used, where in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 faculty members working at four departments of the School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, in the year 2015–2016. Each interview was transcribed word-by-word and went under analysis through MAXQDA 10. Finally, after reviewing the transcripts several times, the primary codes, subthemes, and themes were formed. RESULTS: Data analysis resulted in the formation of 469 open codes. Three themes emerged, including the experienced challenges to interprofessional education (IPE), experienced facilitators of team collaboration, and optimization of IPE. The subthemes of the first theme included personal challenges, academic context, and sociocultural atmosphere. The subthemes of second theme-included experience with various forms of interprofessional (IP) collaboration, IPE in certain clinical areas, and scarcity of role models for IPE. The subthemes related to the third theme involved the development of macro policies to facilitate IPE increased interpersonal collaboration and reduced expectation of competition, and management and development of educational capability in professors. CONCLUSIONS: It seems that faculty staffs do not provide the same definition of teamwork education and often do not prioritize it in their clinical teaching. Furthermore, barriers, facilitators and some solutions were discussed by them.


While state-of-the-art vision transformer models achieve promising results for image classification, they are computationally very expensive and require many GFLOPs. Although the GFLOPs of a vision transformer can be de-creased by reducing the number of tokens in the network, there is no setting that is optimal for all input images. In this work, we therefore introduce a differentiable parameter-free Adaptive Token Sampling (ATS) module, which can be plugged into any existing vision transformer architecture. ATS empowers vision transformers by scoring and adaptively sampling significant tokens. As a result, the number of tokens is not anymore static but it varies for each input image. By integrating ATS as an additional layer within current transformer blocks, we can convert them into much more efficient vision transformers with an adaptive number of tokens. Since ATS is a parameter-free module, it can be added to off-the-shelf pretrained vision transformers as a plug and play module, thus reducing their GFLOPs without any additional training. However, due to its differentiable design, one can also train a vision transformer equipped with ATS. We evaluate our module on the ImageNet dataset by adding it to multiple state-of-the-art vision transformers. Our evaluations show that the proposed module improves the state-of-the-art by reducing the computational cost (GFLOPs) by 37% while preserving the accuracy.


Background Allergen immunotherapy (IT) is an effective treatment of respiratory allergy, but requires strict rules of performance. This makes compliance particularly relevant, but thus far only a few studies have investigated this issue. Methods We reviewed all the available articles on compliance and adherence with IT in its different forms of administration, ie, subcutaneous (SCIT), sublingual (SLIT), and local nasal (LNIT). Results Early studies, when only SCIT was available, reported a low compliance, ranging from 45% to 60%, but the demanding schedules used, with very frequent injections, accounted for this outcome, as shown by patients' recognition of inconvenience as the major cause of noncompliance. The most recent studies reported a good compliance, estimated in 75% to 90%, to both SCIT and SLIT, inconvenience remaining the major cause of noncompliance, followed by cost of the treatment. The only study addressing LNIT found a very poor compliance (27%), the major cause being the side effects, with repeated nasal reactions to the allergen extract. Conclusions Adequate education of patients and optimization of administration schedules, with fine balancing between dose effectiveness and cost, are the factors most likely to achieve further improvement of compliance with IT.


The present article discuss the problem of the cross infection that reach the pressure ulcers (PU) in the Intensive-care Unit, causing sepsis and possibly taking the patient to death. Its main objectives was to identify the national and international scientific productions in the nursing area that puts in evidence the possible ways of the PU infection, providing a differentiated glance to the nursing professionals on the bed of the PU, which can prevent its contamination. This study is a systematic revision of a computerized literature, with qualitative approach and descriptive character. The principal way of driving the cross infection for the bed of the UP was identified as the contaminated hands of the professionals who touch the patient. It was also noticed that, how much more knowledge and updating the nurse acquires about the studied subject, better will be his presence and, besides it, he will be able to offer continued formation for his team. This study tries to offer a reflection about the association of some basic principles, like the washing of the hands and the recognition of the particular characteristics of a PU, as well as the beginning of an infection in this wound.


Mutual-help arrangements are quite essential for rural households in developing economies but empirical evidences show different success stories. This paper discusses the existence of variability among Afar pastoralists in regards to participation in mutual-help arrangements and identifies factors contributing to those variations. The analysis is based on the data collected through a household survey constituting interviews of 180 randomly selected pastoral households and several focused group discussions. The results show that those households with better social ties are in a better position to participate in mutual-help arrangements. Moreover, mutual-help arrangements are influenced by livelihood conditions at household and community levels.


Liver slice tissue culture was used to compare human and rat liver metabolism of 2,6-dinitrotoluene (2,6-DNT). Oxidative metabolism of the 2,6-DNT side-chain methyl moiety produced 2,6-dinitrobenzylalcohol and the glucuronide conjugate of 2,6-dinitrobenzylalcohol, and reductive metabolism of the 2,6-DNT nitro groups produced 2-amino-6-nitrotoluene. Metabolites derived from side-chain oxidation accounted for 90-95% of the 2,6-DNT metabolites produced by rat liver slices under ambient oxygen concentrations of 25-100%; however, under 0% oxygen (100% nitrogen) atmospheres 2-amino-6-nitrotoluene accounted for 96% of the total metabolites. An increase in slice thickness from 0.3 to 0.8 mm decreased the ratio of oxidized to reduced 2,6-DNT metabolites produced by rat liver from 9:1 to 1:1. Under 100% oxygen and in liver slices approximately 0.3 mm thick, average rates of 2,6-DNT oxidative metabolism by human (five subjects) and rat liver were 1.0 and 2.1 nmol/min/g liver, respectively. K(m) and V(max) for the oxidative metabolism of 2,6-DNT by rat liver slices were 0.38 mm and 12 nmol/min/g liver, respectively. The average K(m) and V(max) for the oxidative metabolism of 2,6-DNT by two human subjects were 0.019 mm and 0.91 nmol/min/g liver, respectively.


Using $471 \times 10^6 ~B \bar B$ decays recorded with the \babar\ detector at the PEP-II $e^+ e^-$ storage ring, we present the time-dependent \CP\ asymmetry measurement in the radiative penguin decay mode $B^0 \rightarrow K^0_S \rho(770)^0 \gamma$, yielding $S_{K^0_S \rho^0 \gamma} =-0.17\pm 0.32^{+0.07}_{-0.06}$. Since the result is extracted from the time-dependent \CP~asymmetry parameters $S_{K^0_S \pi^+ \pi^- \gamma} =0.14\pm 0.25^{+0.04}_{-0.03}$ and $C _{K^0_S \pi^+ \pi^- \gamma} =-0.39\pm $ measured in the neutral decay $B^0 \rightarrow K^0_S \pi^+ \pi^- \gamma$, we need to correct for the dilution of $K^*(892) \pi \gamma$ in $K \rho \gamma$. The dilution factor $ D_{K^0_S \rho \gamma} =-0.79^{+0.18}_{-0.17}$ is determined from a study of the charged mode $B^+ \rightarrow K^+ \pi^+\pi^-\gamma$, which produces more signal events and is related to the neutral mode by isospin. We need detailed knowledge of the resonance structure in the $K^+ \pi^+ \pi^-$ mass spectrum and measure branching fractions of different resonances to $K \pi$ and $\pi \pi$ final states. We also measure the branching fractions ${\cal B} (B^+ \rightarrow K^+ \pi^+ \pi^- \gamma)= (27.2\pm 1.0 \pm 1.2) \times 10^{-6}$ and ${\cal B} (B^0 \rightarrow K^0_S \pi^+ \pi^- \gamma)= (24.0\pm 2.4^{+1.7}_{-1.8}) \times 10^{-6}$.


Fibronectin plays an important role in gastric cancer progression. However, little is known about the microenvironmental factors modulating integrin‐dependent interactions between gastric cancer cells and fibronectin. We therefore studied the regulation by fibroblasts of the integrin‐dependent adhesion and migration of the gastric cancer cell line HGT‐1 onto fibronectin. We first determined, by immunofluorescence, immunoblotting and flow cytometry, that HGT‐1 cells expressed α3, α5, α6, αV and β1 integrin chains, and the αVβ3 and αVβ5 dimers. We verified that HGT‐1 cells xenografted to the immunosuppressed newborn rat retained the integrin repertoire detected in vitro and were able to induce the formation of tumors rich in fibronectin. By using an in vitro assay in the presence of neutralizing antibodies, we verified that HGT‐1 adhesion and migration onto fibronectin involved β1, αV and α5 integrin chains; we verified, by using an in situ adhesion test to rat gastric wall frozen sections, that in situ HGT‐1 adhesion to fibronectin was integrin dependent. In coculture experiments, we showed that organ‐specific fibroblasts from stomach, lung and dermis were able to induce, in a site‐specific manner, the expression of β1, α5 and αV integrin chains in HGT‐1 cells, their integrin‐dependent adhesion and migration on fibronectin and their capacity to secrete oncofetal fibronectin. In conclusion, our results show the capacity for tissue‐derived fibroblasts to modulate the integrin‐dependent interactions between the gastric cell line HGT‐1 and fibronectin. They strongly suggest that, in gastric cancer, stromal fibroblasts contribute to promote fibronectin‐mediated local invasion by tumor cells. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


ABSTRACT Ding, D.; Gao, Q., and Wang, Z.C., 2020. Research on collaborative innovation path and strategy of China's marine industry chain. In: Bai, X. and Zhou, H. (eds.), Advances in Water Resources, Environmental Protection, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 115, pp. 229-231. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. With the continuous development of economic globalization and the continuous progress of science and technology, industrial competition and market competition are becoming more and more fierce. Technological innovation has become an important force to promote national industrial development and economic progress. Faced with the rapid population growth and the increasing shortage of various land resources, making full use of marine resources has become an inevitable choice for China's economic development. The ocean is one of the most important ecosystems in the earth's biosphere and the birthplace of human civilization. In order to ensure the smooth implementation of the established industrial chain development mechanism, we must take corresponding countermeasures to solve various problems that may occur in the implementation process. The eco-environmental cost of marine development activities cannot be effectively compensated, which leads to a series of marine eco-environmental problems. Under the contradiction between economic development and the shortage of energy, space and other resources, human beings gradually turn the focus of economic development strategy to the ocean, which puts forward higher requirements for the development and utilization of marine industry chain.


Alkyl chains of β-hydroxyesters synthesized by the capping of terminal epoxy groups of diglycidylether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) with palmitic (C16), stearic (C18), or behenic (C22) fatty acids self-assemble forming a crystalline phase. Above a particular concentration solutions of these esters in a variety of solvents led to supramolecular (physical) gels below the crystallization temperature of alkyl chains. A form-stable phase change material (FS-PCM) was obtained by blending the ester derived from behenic acid with eicosane. A blend containing 20 wt % ester was stable as a gel up to 53 °C and exhibited a heat storage capacity of 161 J/g, absorbed during the melting of eicosane at 37 °C. Thermally reversible light scattering (TRLS) films were obtained by visible-light photopolymerization of poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate-ester blends (50 wt %) in the gel state at room temperature. The reaction was very fast and not inhibited by oxygen. TRLS films consisted of a cross-linked methacrylic network interpenetrated by the supramolecular network formed by the esters. Above the melting temperature of crystallites formed by alkyl chains, the film was transparent due to the matching between refractive indices of the methacrylic network and the amorphous ester. Below the crystallization temperature, the film was opaque because of light dispersion produced by the organic crystallites uniformly dispersed in the material. Of high significance for application was the fact that the contrast ratio did not depend on heating and cooling rates.


Background This case-control study used data from Chandigarh, North India to investigate the association between antecedent fever and acute brief psychosis. Aims To assess whether antecedent fever may be a biological correlate of acute brief psychosis, and contribute to the nosology of acute brief psychosis. Method The study was based in an incidence cohort from two catchment areas, an urban and a rural site, that were part of the World Hearth Organization Determinants of Outcome study. The cases (n=17) met criteria for acute brief psychosis; controls (n=40) were patients with other acute and subacute psychoses. The Life Events Schedule was used to determine the presence of antecedent fever. Results The crude odds ratio for fever as a risk factor for acute brief psychosis was 6.2 (P=0.004). The odds ratio in a logistic regression analysis – adjusted for site, gender and CATEGO classification – was 11.2 (P=0.003). Conclusions Antecedent fever may be a biological correlate of acute brief psychosis. This finding supports the validity of this entity, and has implications for its aetiology and diagnosis.


An overview of the information extraction is given, whose methods and techniques are indispensable in the information search and information management. Information extraction uses and combines techniques and methods from mathematics and computer science, such as natural language processing, formal language theory, probability and statistics. Taking into account all specifics of requests for information and textual resources from which it is extracted, we developed and present a new method for the information extraction called a two-stage method based on the transducers. An architecture of a system that implements this method is presented, along with an example of application. This method has the special significance in
situations in which there is a lack of already annotated text corpora, that are necessary for the application of existing methods, especially those based on probability and statistics.


BACKGROUND Supracondylar humerus fracture is the most serious paediatric skeletal injury of elbow in children. Supracondylar fracture of humerus leads to many complications due to the intrinsic fracture instability, close proximity of the brachial artery, three main upper extremity nerves, poor radiographs, contradictory perception of reduction and reduction management modalities and, lastly, patient compliance with care. The aim of this research is to determine the short-term outcomes of closed and open reduction and Kirschner wire fixation in childhood Gartland type III supracondylar humerus fracture. METHODS It is a comparative case series of 2 years duration conducted among 30 patients with supracondylar humerus fracture who were admitted and treated at the Department of Orthopaedics. Closed reduction was handled in 15 out of 30 patients, with the remaining 15 patients being treated by open reduction. The outcomes are calculated on the basis of the Flynn scale, which is based on change in the carrying angle and loss of motion after treatment. RESULTS Males (56.66 %) were more affected than females; left side (66.67 %) was more affected than the right side; fractures of type III were more common. 26 patients stayed in a sufficient range of motion, 4 patients had insufficient motion with a loss of more than 100, of which 3 were treated with a closed reduction and 1 with an open reduction. Twenty-six (86.66 %) of the 30 patients showed good to excellent results and four (13.33 %) showed mediocre to poor results. Of the four cases, one was handled with a closed reduction and three were handled with an open reduction. CONCLUSIONS We conclude that open reduction and K-wire fastening without triceps is a treatment option for displaced supracondylar humerus fractures. KEYWORDS Supracondylar Fracture, Humerus Fracture


Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules play a pivotal role in antigen presentation and CD4+ T cell response. Accurate prediction of the immunogenicity of MHC class II-associated antigens is critical for vaccine design and cancer immunotherapies. However, current computational methods are limited by insufficient training data and algorithmic constraints, and the rules that govern which peptides are truly recognized by existing T cell receptors remain poorly understood. Here, we build a transfer learning-based, long short-term memory model named 'TLimmuno2' to predict whether epitope-MHC class II complex can elicit T cell response. Through leveraging binding affinity data, TLimmuno2 shows superior performance compared with existing models on independent validation datasets. TLimmuno2 can find real immunogenic neoantigen in real-world cancer immunotherapy data. The identification of significant MHC class II neoantigen-mediated immunoediting signal in the cancer genome atlas pan-cancer dataset further suggests the robustness of TLimmuno2 in identifying really immunogenic neoantigens that are undergoing negative selection during cancer evolution. Overall, TLimmuno2 is a powerful tool for the immunogenicity prediction of MHC class II presented epitopes and could promote the development of personalized immunotherapies.


Soon after its emergence in Wuhan, China in late December, the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) spread rapidly to the other parts of the world and acquired a pandemic status. Pakistan reported its first case of SARS-CoV-2 on February 26, 2020, in Karachi. Since then, a higher prevalence of COVID-19 was reported from almost all major cities of Pakistan. Owing to the high rate of COVID-19, Pakistan enforced a lockdown across the whole country on March 24, 2020. This lockdown controlled the SARS-CoV-2 successfully; however, severe economic losses were observed in the lockdown Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) guidelines. We, therefore, proposed an alternative plan termed as "regulated reverse lockdown" which will help decrease the burden of COVID-19 without having a negative effect on the economy. The present editorial will address the potential flaws in the already imposed lockdown and will propose an alternative plan to make the lockdown more effective in terms of COVID-19 prevalence and economic growth of Pakistan.


Given the challenges in data acquisition and spatial modelling at the detailed exploration stage, it is difficult to develop a prospectivity model, particularly for disseminated ore deposits. Recently, the weights of evidence (WofE) method has demonstrated a high efficiency for modelling such deposits. In this study, we propose a framework for creating a three-dimensional (3D) WofE-based prospectivity model of the Nochoun porphyry Cu deposit in SE Iran. The input data include qualitative geological and quantitative geochemical information obtained from boreholes and field observations. We combine ordinary and fuzzy weights of evidence for integrating qualitative and quantitative exploration criteria in a 3D space constrained by a metallogenic model of the study area for identifying a deep-seated ore body. Ordinary weights of evidence are determined for geological data, including lithology, alteration, rock type and structure. Moreover, we determine the fuzzy weight of evidence for each class of the continuous geochemical models created based on the factors analysis of Fe, Mo and Zn concentration values derived from boreholes. We integrate the input evidential models using WofE and create the posterior probability model. We also determine anomalous voxels in the probability model using a concentration–volume fractal model and validate them using a prediction–volume plot and test boreholes. The modelling results indicate the efficiency of the posterior probability model in identifying the anomalous voxels representing copper mineralized rock volumes. We provide open source software for the proposed framework which can be used for exploring deep-seated ore bodies in other regions. Supplementary data: Python scripts for implementing the proposed framework and supplementary files including more details on the evidential models are available at https://github.com/intelligent-exploration/3D_WofE.


The Internet has evolved into a ubiquitous communication medium for information exchanges, services requests, and commodity purchasing. This paper proposes the concept, architecture, and the customer incentives for implementing a new demand-side management system called Online Purchase Electricity Now (OPEN). The new system allows customers to directly order the electricity via the Internet as if purchasing a book online. Utility companies, after consolidating the customers' orders, decide an optimal generation and distribution scheme to satisfy customers' demands. The time epoch between the customers' order and the actual generation acts as the lead time during which virtual energy will be scheduled for production. Such a virtual energy provisioning system can improve the reliability and stability of the electric grid which is increasingly integrated with distributed energy resources. Bayesian theory, hypothesis testing, and dynamic pricing are employed to justify the feasibility and applicability of the OPEN system.


Preface. 1. Introduction. I. NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE SPECTROSCOPY. 2. Introduction and Experimental Methods. 3. The Chemical Shift. 4. The Coupling Constant. 5. Further Topics in One-Dimensional NMR. 6. Two-Dimensional NMR. II. VIBRATIONAL SPECTROSCOPY. 7. Introduction and Experimental Methods. 8. Group Frequencies: Infrared and Raman. 9. Structure Analysis. III. ELECTRONIC ABSORPTION AND CHIROPTICAL SPECTROSCOPY. 10. Introduction and Experimental Methods. 11. UV-Vis, CD, and ORD. 12. Structure Analysis. IV. MASS SPECTROMETRY. 13. Ionization and Mass Analysis. 14.Fragmentation and Ion Chemistry. 15. Chemical Analysis. Appendix to Part IV. V. INTEGRATED PROBLEMS. 16. Integrated Problems. 15. Index.


INTRODUCTION Human parechovirus (HPeV) belongs to the Picornaviridae family and has been described in viral meningoencephalitis and sepsis like illness in infants. Until now, 16 genotypes have been recognized, the most common are HPEV 1, 2 and 3; type 3 is most severe. AIMS To estimate the frequency of HPEV etiology in viral meningoencephalitis and sepsis in infants and characterize clinical and molecular aspects of infection. METHODS Between October 2013 and March 2015 we collected CSF samples, plasma, nasopharyngeal swabs and/or stools of patients younger than two years with suspected sepsis and/or viral meningitis. Samples were obtained from laboratory storage sites and from hospitalized patients. HPeV was diagnosed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay against the 5'UTR region. Positive samples were genotyped by sequencing a 304pb segment in VP3/VP1 overlapping region obtained with a nested PCR. RESULTS Overall HPeV detection rate was 18,6% (11/59 patients), distributed in 8.7% (4/46) laboratory's samples and 53.8% (7/13) of samples from hospitalized patients; mean age was 49 days (18 days-6 months). Most common clinical signs (11/11 patients) were irritability, inappetence, and fever (magnitude 38-38.8°C). All six samples genotyped were HPeV 3 [CORRECTED]. CONCLUSIONS HPeV should be considered as a relatively significant etiologic agent of viral meningoencephalitis and sepsis in infants.


To the Editor: We read with great interest the article recently published in Liver International by Alkhouri et al. (1), presenting that the neutrophil/lymphocyte (N/L) ratio is higher in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and advanced fibrosis. They mentioned that N/L integrates information on the inflammatory milieu and physiological stress. They found higher N/L ratio in NASH patients compared with controls. Also they implicated that this ratio is correlated with the individual histological features of NASH, especially inflammation and fibrosis. We want to add some points which may take into consideration. In a recent study, diet and physical exercise intervention significantly reduces the N/L ratio in a population of overweight, male adolescents (2). They also conclude that weight loss was associated with a significant decrease of pro-inflammatory cytokine levels. Although various medical treatment strategies are under evaluation, we know that the current management of NAFLD relies on weight loss and exercise (3). The N/L ratio a novel noninvasive, inexpensive and simple accessible marker can be used to predict advanced disease. Also according to our opinion, the N/L ratio can be used for following patients and also can be used for evaluating the affectivity of novel treatment strategies in NASH.


Social commerce is a new phenomenon of e-commerce that utilizes social medial platforms and applications to conduct e-commerce activities. Uncertainty and high level of risk are the main characteristics of online environment. Trust is always a critical issue influencing people's adoption of e-commerce environment. Most studies focused on trust in e-commerce, but there are a limited number of works on the topic of social commerce. In this paper, we reviewed the literature to investigate the antecedents of trust in s-commerce. The Eleven factors were extracted from the literature that are related to the adoption process: Social presence of web, perception of others, interaction with sellers, emotional social support, informational support, positive reviews, word of mouth, affective influence, brand influence, advertising value, and viral reach prospects. A proposed framework is depicted at the end for future testing.


In 718 Swedish patients, equally divided into four age groups (19-25, 26-45, 46-60, greater than 60 yr), salivary levels of mutans streptococci and lactobacilli, saliva secretion rate, and DMFS were registered. No significant differences were found between the various age groups either in salivary factors or in caries (D). Number of missing (M) and filled (F) surfaces increased with age. Prevalence of root caries, which increased with age, was significantly correlated to number of exposed root surfaces independent of age. Of the total study group, 50% had greater than or equal to 10(6) mutans streptococci and 40% had greater than or equal to 10(5) lactobacilli per mL saliva. Three percent had a saliva secretion rate of less than or equal to 0.5 mL/min. Correlation analyses showed that both mutans streptococci and lactobacilli significantly correlated to the caries prevalence but the r-value never exceeded 0.34.


In vivo studies have revealed that aortic grafts augment heart load and alter blood pressure and flow waveforms [1]. A one-dimensional model of the arterial tree was developed in order to analyze the different mechanisms by which proximal and distal aortic grafts affect hemodynamics. Graft compliance and properties were based on in vitro tests. Predicted pressures at the aortic root were compared for the control, proximal and distal graft case. Pulse pressure increased by 21% and 10% in presence of a proximal and distal graft, respectively. The distal graft resulted in a wave reflection coefficient of 0.62 while for the proximal graft the wave reflection coefficient was 0.46. The physiological mechanism behind the rise of pressure is dual and it is critically affected by the graft's compliance and position. In case of a proximal graft, the primary reason for aortic pressure increase is the augmentation of aortic characteristic impedance, which augments the forward running pressure wave, while for the distal graft the wave reflections are major contributors to the total pressure wave. Overall, the proximal graft altered hemodynamics to a greater extent than a distal aortic graft.Copyright © 2011 by ASME


Due to the development of the renewable energy installations, the development of equipment for these systems has known substantial progress. Such equipment must meet a number of conditions both on power safety, as well as on the quality of energy supplied. As is know from the literature, the power quality is given by frequency, voltage, harmonic pollution, source-consumer, interdependence, interdependence-source system (smart grid). Inverter DC / AC is an equipment reference in a renewable energy system, the power electronics equipment, allowing these to be increasingly complex. The paper contains a comparative study of modeling, simulation and testing regarding the powering of consumers with voltage with different waveform, supplied by an inverter DC/AC in renewable energy systems.


We prove that MDS linear poset-codes satisfy Gilbert-Varshamov bound for their Hamming weights asymptotically. We also construct MDS linear poset-codes on arbitrary poset-metric spaces by using the Dilworth's chain decomposition theorem and results about the Hermite interpolation problem over a finite field. We prove that there exist linear poset-codes with large weights for both poset-metrics and Hamming metrics, as well.


As the scarcity of natural resources has become apparent, the recycling industry has emerged as a promising one for its growth potential. Yet, the recycling industry still remains undeveloped and inefficient for various reasons. In this study, we focus on firms' recycling processes to understand the current status of recycling firms' value creation activities. With respect to the adopted recycling processes, we empirically investigate the differences in firm characteristics and firm performance. We use the data from Keco (Korea Environment Cooperation) which annually conducts a survey of recycling firms in Korea. We exclusively consider the whole group of plastic recycling industry in order to control for a possible bias in firm performance, stemming from the heterogeneity in processing and recycling of materials other than plastics. We review the descriptive statistics from the sample firms and conduct a series of hierarchical regression analyses. The results show that most of the firms in this industry adopt physical transformation processes with a low-level technology. These firms with physical transformation processes are smaller in size and produce entry level items which do not secure higher margins. The results indicate that the recycling industry largely comprises low value added firms which lack economies of scale and resources for R&D. For the stable growth of the industry, recycling firms must create sustainable values through implementation of technology-driven processes and improvement in product quality. In addition, the government should help build a reliable reverse logistic network, lower the entry barriers, and provide necessary funding for the SMEs in the recycling industry.


Background: This study aims to investigate the relationship between serum uric acid levels, the left ventricular mass index (LVMI), and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) in primary hypertension patients.
Material and Method: A total of 139 primary hypertension patients, including 45 (32.4%) men and 94 (67.6%) women were involved in the study. The laboratory and clinical demographic findings, as well as the LVMI and CIMT levels of the patients, were collected from patient files.
Results: 37% of the study population were found to have hyperuricemia. LVMI (99.75}13.4 vs 86.17±17.6; p=0.010) and CIMT (0.88±0.26 vs 0.75±0.17; p=0.023) levels were found to be higher in the hyperuricemia versus the non-hyperuricemia group. According to the correlation analysis, there was a positive correlation between uric acid and LVMI (r=0.282, p=0.032)
and CIMT (r=0.285, p=0.002) levels. Robust regression analysis showed that uric acid was an independent risk factor for both the LVMI (β±SE: 1.615±1.03, p<0.05) and CIMT (β±SE: 0.251±0.09, p<0.05).
Conclusion: We found serum uric acid levels to be closely related to the target organ damage associated with primary hypertension, and even related with target organ damage independent from blood pressure.


21 patients with unresectable or previously treated squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck were treated with combination chemotherapy using cis-platinum, bleomycin and methotrexate. On day one of treatment, patients were given bleomycin (15 mg/M2) and methotrexate (20 mg/M2). On day two, a high dose of cis-platinum (120 mg/M2) was given. Up to five courses of therapy were given, with at least three weeks used as intervals between treatment. This therapy was tolerated by all patients, inclusive of the elderly and debilitated. Toxicity associated with this regimen was found to be more acceptable, and the tumor response considerably better than with the use of bleomycin-methotrexate alone. The temporary tumor response rate was found to be 85%, with patient survival varying to 16 months. Our experiences with cis-platinum confirm those results previously reported from tumor clinics in the United States during the past several years.


Abstract : This paper describes a transformational, high-level language approach to High Performance Embedded Computing on the SRC-6 machine and its MAP reconfigurable hardware. A program is initially written in pure C and compiled by the MAP C Compiler. Then, using feedback from the MAP C compiler, the program is successively transformed manually to achieve better performance. These transformations avoid certain inefficiencies, such as re-reading values from memory, loop slowdown caused by loop carried dependencies, and underutilizing memory bandwidth. We discuss the transformations in the context of the Wavelet Versatility Benchmark and the Gauss-Seidel iterative linear equation solver. FPGAs use a large number of pins to connect to memories. They do not have caches, but they have on-chip block RAM, allowing the programmer to decide what data stays on chip. Also, fine grain operation level parallelism combined with pipelining makes it possible for FPGAs to execute an inner loop body in one clock cycle. These characteristics provide a simple, deterministic performance model, allowing the programmer to work towards a well-defined goal: store hot data structures on chip either in block RAM or in registers, create inner loop bodies that execute in one clock cycle, and use the full memory bandwidth of the machine by loop unrolling.


Block copolymer vesicles can be prepared in solution from a variety of different amphiphilic systems. Polystyrene-block-poly(acrylic acid), polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene oxide), and many other block copolymer systems can produce vesicles of a wide range of sizes; those in the range of 100–1000 nm have been explored extensively. Different factors, such as the absolute and relative block lengths, the presence of additives (ions, homopolymers, and surfactants), the water content in the solvent mixture, the nature and composition of the solvent, the temperature, and the polydispersity of the hydrophilic block, provide control over the types of vesicles produced. Their high stability, resistance to many external stimuli, and ability to package both hydrophilic and hydrophobic compounds make them excellent candidates for use in the medical, pharmaceutical, and environmental fields. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 923–938, 2004


In an effort to determine the internal spatial characteristics of solute transport in naturally heterogeneous soils, recent applications of electrical resistance tomography to soil core tracing are reported. Using a high-speed, biomedical type data acquisition system, migration of an electrolytic tracer in an undisturbed soil column was monitored. Quantitative images produced from the collected data display an interesting sequence of patterns of internal tracer breakthrough at cross sections of the soil column. Analysis of pixel breakthrough behavior reveals spatial variation of transport characteristics throughout the soil column.


In this paper, an efficient feature selection method based on a combination of DCT pyramid for image decomposition and the concept of the set partitioning in hierarchal trees (SPIHT) for structuring of information for face recognition is presented. In the proposed method, the DCT pyramid decomposes each face image into an approximation subband and a set of reversed L-shape blocks containing the high frequency coefficients. The generalized parent-child relationships of SPIHT algorithm are then established among the DCT pyramids. This leads to efficient selection of the most important coefficients among the layers of the DCT pyramid. Experimental results on the standard ORL and FERET databases show that the proposed method achieves more accurate face recognition than the wavelet-based SPIHT feature selection. Moreover, it outperforms the other well-known methods such as the Eigenfaces and the block-based DCT with the zigzag scanning structure in terms of both accuracy and memory requirement.


Meet Tommy Akhtar, cricket aficionado, devoted son, some time private investigator and some time idol to West London's thug-lites. It's multi-tasking, serious (Little Book of Tommy #38). He's just woken up with another hangover and combed a parting in the pelt on his tongue when his next case comes through the door. Exoticmelody is searching for her fellow hooker, sexyrussian.co.uk, last seen meeting a client in a Mayfair dive. It looks like a join the dots kind of job. But as the search for sexyrussian hots up, Tommy's case takes a turn for the sinister. He's drawn into a murder investigation and the dark side of both the establishment and those who plan to overthrow it. But Tommy reckons it's the opportunists you've got to watch out for. Neate brilliantly explores the underbelly of the cultural mix that makes up London - The City of Tiny Lights - and questions just what it really means to be British right now...


In this study, we used the institutional corruption framework to analyze the evolution of labor unions in Kazakhstan. As a research method, we conducted a case study by combining document analysis with survey data covering (n)1,200 respondents across all 14 regions of the country. Our findings suggest that external and internal influences weakened labor unions and diverted from fulfilling their primary purpose of promoting interests of their members. External influences, represented by restrictive regulatory framework and state intervention, create conditions of limited independence of labor unions leaving them extremely narrow scope to operate in. Internal influences are represented by disagreements and conflicts between national-level labor unions. This article stipulates that dysfunctional and institutionally corrupt labor unions in Kazakhstan serve as an indicator of state fragility. The findings confirmed that institutional corruption of labor unions has an adverse impact on public trust, while a frequent occurrence of labor conflicts might impact political risk factors, contributing to increased state fragility.


Compact, low-loss, tunable filters are needed for overload protection in the front end of many microwave-frequency systems. We have demonstrated magnetically tunable superconducting resonators and filters comprising microwave circuits coupled to ferrite substrates in monolithic structures using niobium at 4 K and hybrid resonator structures using YBCO at 77 K. A three-pole 1% bandwidth filter with 10-GHz center frequency and 1-dB insertion loss is described. In these devices the tunability results from changes in the magnetization of the ferrite rather than changes in the ferrimagnetic resonance frequency as in conventional YIG filters. Tunability data plotted us a function of magnetic field are fitted to the hysteresis theory developed previously and indicate that a tuning range of 13% is achievable. We have demonstrated switching times of less than one microsecond in structures incorporating closed magnetic paths in the form of a circular toroid.


Francesca R. Jensenius). Lastly, chapter 8 (by Belén Fernández M. and Candelaria Garay) analyzes how subnational actors can influence rule-writing processes to produce yet another type of enforcement: nonpunitive enforcement. Chapters 10 and 11—by Andrew Schrank and Tulia G. Falleti, respectively—discuss unlikely strong institutions. They show how even institutions designed to be ignored (i.e., window-dressing institutions) or that are initially ill equipped to succeed can grow stronger if external monitoring, invested bureaucracies, and politically incorporated social actors raise the costs of violation or change. Institutions are one of the most theoretically and conceptually elusive topics in political science. They are endogenous, hard to define, and hard to operationalize. This book tackles all of these problems with theoretical depth and empirical breadth. Although plenty of literature discusses institutional weakness (e.g., see Scott Mainwaring, Party Systems in Latin America, 2018; Javier Corrales, Fixing Democracy, 2018; or Yanilda González, "The Social Origins of Institutional Weakness and Change," World Politics, 71(1), 2019) and we have a good idea of how it looks, this is the first attempt to conceptualize it in a way that accounts not only for ambition and survival (often misleading indicators of strength) but also the extent to which it actually changes behavior. With this innovative framework of what institutional weakness is, how it manifests itself, and under what circumstances it does so, this book sets a research agenda that had been, until now, present but silent in most works on Latin American politics. Although conceptualizing institutional weakness is the most important contribution of the book, it is not the only one. This volume is also empirically comprehensive. Even though five chapters draw extensively from previous published work (chapters 3, 4, 5, 8, and 11), the editors and contributors do an excellent job connecting these somewhat disparate sets of research around a common theoretical background. Unlike other edited volumes where contributions merely illustrate a theory or concept, the chapters in this book connect and build on each other, enriching and shaping the framework proposed at the outset of the volume. Because of its theoretical richness, The Politics of Institutional Weakness in Latin America also raises important and exciting questions. Parts of the conceptualization invite refinement. Institutional cost, for example, is defined as equal but also as affecting institutional strength (p. 24), muddling the excellent conceptualization of institutional weakness put forward in the book, as well as the expectations of how it emerges. If the institutional outcome is the result of different levels of significance, instability, or compliance, how can that same outcome be the parameter that actors use to decide whether to obey or change the institution in the first place? Future scholars should look more closely at these different terms and perhaps discuss in more detail the relation between expected and de facto institutional outcomes, as well as their impact on actors' calculations. The different types of institutional weakness invite more research as well. The book spent very little time discussing insignificant institutions, which have gained relevance in light of the new processes of institutional weakening discussed in the conclusion. As the editors point out, originally strong institutions can become insignificant as social norms adjust to them. Can the opposite happen as well? Can formerly insignificant institutions acquire relevance if social norms change? Institutional weakening has entailed the erosion of informal institutions. Until recently, for example, rules pertaining to the transition between incoming and outgoing administrations in the United States were insignificant. Will they become more relevant in the face of challenges to informal norms that dictated concession and turnover? And if so, are actors likely to comply, fail to comply, or change them? Does that mean we should think of institutional strength less linearly and more dynamically? These questions show the promise of The Politics of Institutional Weakness in Latin America. It is an agendasetting book, with important theoretical and empirical contributions that are key to better understand politics in the region and elsewhere.


Abstract. In this study a new extended Kalman filter (EKF) learning algorithm for feed-forward neural networks (FFN) is used. With the EKF approach, the training of the FFN can be seen as state estimation for a non-linear stationary process. The EKF method gives excellent convergence performances provided that there is enough computer core memory and that the machine precision is high. Neural networks are ideally suited to describe the spatial and temporal dependence of tracer-tracer correlations. The neural network performs well even in regions where the correlations are less compact and normally a family of correlation curves would be required. For example, the CH 4 -N 2 O correlation can be well described using a neural network trained with the latitude, pressure, time of year, and CH 4 volume mixing ratio (v.m.r.). The neural network was able to reproduce the CH 4 -N 2 O correlation with a correlation coefficient between simulated and training values of 0.9997. The neural network Fortran code used is available for download.


Abstract : Personality type doesnt sound like a topic with much relevance to program management. Most of my DAU students in the program management (PM) career path dont think a lot about the impact of their personality or management style until they begin to have problems on the job. Then it slowly dawns on them that their personality may be part of the problem as well as the way forward to a solution. Effectiveness in the acquisition workplace requires much more than just knowing what to do. You have to be able to apply your knowledge in a variety of complex situations where by the book solutions often fail. This gives rise to the knowing-doing gap or the inability to translate subject-matter expertise into workplace results. As a manager, your results depend much less on what you know and do, and much more on what your team knows and can do. Therein lies the link between personality and results. Your personality impacts your management style, and your management style impacts how you interact with your team to achieve results.


In December 2008, near Flaming Gorge Reservoir in northeastern Utah, a 2 1⁄2-yearold male Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis canadensis) was reported in poor body condition with bloody lesions covering the muzzle area. The sheep was euthanized, and samples were submitted to the Utah Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in Logan, Utah. The gross and microscopic lesions confi rmed the diagnosis of contagious ecthyma (CE). This is the fi rst documented report of CE in bighorn sheep from Utah.


The changes in public sectors of many western democracies, particularly as applied in public funded universities, have led to an environment where students have been redefined as customers, organisations and their programs have been redefined as fee generating and services have been reconstituted as commercialised competitive activities in the open marketplace. Work in this 'new' Higher Education Sector (HES) environment has been construed as fee generating and cost incurring, subject to financial control and evaluated for its tangible, measured outputs. This paper considers the contemporary attitudes in accounting and management academia to what constitutes research and scholarship, using Australia and the UK as case examples. From this perspective, it is argued that the changing HES environment is transforming and commodifying research into a homogenised, measured and traded commodity. This commodity is then traded in the new academic marketplace in forms such as departmental research rankings, appointability of candidates for professorial positions, departmental and individual academic competitiveness for research grants, and university eligibility for government research funding. In addition, we contend that this commodification is exhibiting a convergent tendency, in that the tradable currency shows signs of reductionism to a common form of measurement, that is, to refereed research journal articles. This paper seeks to further open up discussion and debate on these issues from both academic and general community perspectives and to offer some tentative suggestions about how we, as a community of scholars, might seek to counter this process.


The canopy samples such as trapped leaf litter, trapped sediment (during summer), stemflow and throughfall (during monsoon) from five common riparian tree species ( Artocarpus heterophyllus, Cassia fistula , Ficus recemosa, Syzygium caryophyllatum and Xylia xylocarpa) in Kaiga forest stand of the Western Ghats of southwest India were evaluated for the occurrence of water-borne hyphomycetes. Partially decomposed trapped leaf litter was incubated in bubble chambers followed by filtration to assess conidial output. Sediments accumulated in tree holes or junction of branches were shaken with sterile leaf disks in distilled water followed by incubation of leaf disks in bubble chamber and filtration to find out colonized fungi. Stemflow and throughfall samples were filtered directly to collect free conidia. From five canopy niches, a total of 29 water-borne hyphomycetes were recovered. The species richness was higher in stemflow and throughfall than trapped leaf litter and sediments (14-16 vs. 6-10 species). Although sediments of Syzygium caryophyllatum were acidic (5.1), the conidial output was higher than other tree species. Stemflow and throughfall of Xylea xylocarpa even though alkaline (8.5-8.7) showed higher species richness (6-12 species) as well as conidial load than rest of the tree species. Flagellospora curvula and Triscelophorus acuminatus were common in trapped leaf litter and sediments respectively, while conidia of Anguillospora crassa and A. longissima were frequent in stemflow and throughfall. Diversity of water-borne hyphomycetes was highest in throughfall of Xylea xylocarpa followed by throughfall of Ficus recemosa. Our study reconfirms the occurrence and survival of diverse water-borne hyphomycetes in different niches of riparian tree canopies of the Western Ghats during wet and dry regimes and predicts their possible role in canopy as saprophytes, endophytes and alternation of life cycle between canopy and aquatic habitats.


The consistent performance, energy efficiency, and reliability are important factors for real-time monitoring of a patient's data, especially in a hospital environment. In this paper a routing protocol is proposed by considering the Quality of Service requirements of the body area network data packets. A mechanism for handling delay-sensitive packets is provided by this protocol. Extensive simulations using OMNeT++ based simulator Castalia illustrate that the proposed algorithm provides better performance than other QoS-aware routing protocols in terms of higher successful transmission rates, lower overall network traffic load, and fewer number of packet timeouts in both the mobile and static patient scenarios.


Nuclear receptors initiate transcription, interact with regulatory proteins, and are influenced by hormones, drugs, and pollutants. Herein, we discover ligand-specific mobility patterns of human estrogen receptor-alpha (ER) in living cells using diffusion-time distribution analysis (DDA). This novel method, based on fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS), is especially suited to unraveling multiple protein interactions in vivo at native expression levels. We found that ER forms a limited number of distinct complexes with a varying population by dynamic interaction with other nuclear components. Dose-response curves of different ligands could be obtained for each receptor interaction. The potential to identify interacting proteins was demonstrated by comparing DDA of the ER cofactor SRC-3 attached to yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) with those of YFP-ER. Our findings open up new routes to elucidating transcription regulation and to detecting and distinguishing pharmacologically and toxicologically active compounds in vivo. Moreover, DDA provides a general approach to monitoring biochemical networks in individual living cells.


Facial aesthetics plays a very important role in dentistry. Loss of teeth leads to the resorption of alveolar ridges, loss of support to the facial musculature resulting in diminished facial muscle tone, all of which lead to the slumping of the cheek. Authors here by present a case of a 59-year-old male patient who reported with the complaint of missing upper and lower teeth. Intraoral examination revealed completely edentulous maxillary and mandibular arches. Extraoral examination revealed sunken cheek and wrinkling of the skin. The patient was more concerned about his hollow cheek, so the treatment option advised for him was complete denture with detachable cheek plumpers. The technique used here precisely determines available space for cheek plumpers. But, despite of providing the maxillary cheek plumper, appearance of hollow cheek remained in lower third of face. So, the mandibular cheek plumper was also planned. This case report a novel, simple, straightforward, cost-effective and noninvasive technique of fabricating detachable cheek plumpers for maxillary and mandibular denture using customised ball attachment.


A study was carried out to assess the reproductive performance of crossbred dairy cows under smallholder conditions in Asella town, Oromia regional state, Ethiopia. A total of sixty crossbred dairy cow farmers that owned 3–5 cows were interviewed using a structured questionnaire to collect information on age at first service, age at first calving, days open and calving interval. Simultaneously, reproductive performances of 250 crossbred dairy cows of the selected farmers were studied. The overall estimated mean values for age at first service, age at first calving, calving interval, days open, and number of service per conception were 24.9±3.8 months, 34.8±4 months, 372.8±5.9 days, 85.6±5.6 days and 1.52±0.9, respectively. In this study, 35% of the respondents' come across return rate after the first service in their crossbred dairy cows. In general, the overall observed reproductive performance of crossbred dairy cows was found to be promising considering the management situation and limited supplemental feed utilized in the area. Thus, a sustainable extension service should be established in order to improve animal feed resources management, efficient artificial insemination service and animal health care to bridge the existing gaps.


Abstract Lessons Learned. The findings of this prospective, single‐arm, phase II study showed that neoadjuvant erlotinib was well tolerated and might improve the radical resection rate in patients with stage IIIA‐N2 epidermal growth factor receptor mutation‐positive non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Erlotinib shows promise as a neoadjuvant therapy option in this patient population. Next‐generation sequencing may be useful for predicting outcomes with preoperative tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in patients with NSCLC. Large‐scale randomized controlled trials investigating the role of TKIs in perioperative therapy, combining neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatments to enhance personalized therapy for patients in this precision medicine era, are warranted. Background. Information on epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) as neoadjuvant therapy in non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is scarce. We evaluated whether neoadjuvant erlotinib improves operability and survival in patients with stage IIIA‐N2 EGFR mutation‐positive NSCLC. Methods. We conducted a prospective, single‐arm, phase II study. Patients received erlotinib 150 mg per day for 56 days in the neoadjuvant period. The primary endpoint was the radical resection rate. Results. Nineteen patients were included in the final analysis. After erlotinib treatment, 14 patients underwent surgery. The radical resection rate was 68.4% (13/19) with a 21.1% (4/19) rate of pathological downstaging. The objective response rate was 42.1%; 89.5% (17/19) of patients achieved disease control, with a 10.3‐month median disease‐free survival among patients who underwent surgery. Among all 19 patients who received neoadjuvant therapy, median progression‐free survival (PFS) and overall survival were 11.2 and 51.6 months, respectively. Adverse events (AEs) occurred in 36.8% (7/19) of patients, with the most common AE being rash (26.3%); 15.8% experienced grade 3/4 AEs. Quality of life (QoL) improvements were observed after treatment with erlotinib for almost all QoL assessments. Effects of TP53 mutation on prognosis were evaluated in eight patients with adequate tissue samples. Next‐generation sequencing revealed that most patients had a TP53 gene mutation (7/8) in addition to an EGFR mutation. No TP53 mutation, or very low abundance, was associated with longer PFS (36 and 38 months, respectively), whereas high abundance was associated with short PFS (8 months). Conclusion. Neoadjuvant erlotinib was well tolerated and may improve the radical resection rate in this patient population. Next‐generation sequencing may predict outcomes with preoperative TKIs.


Motivated by the Fermi gamma-ray space telescope results, in recent years immense efforts were given to understanding the mechanism that leads to the prompt emission observed. The failure of the optically thin emission models (synchrotron and synchrotron self Compton) increased interest in alternative models. Optically thick models, while having several advantages, also face difficulty in capturing several key observables. Theoretical efforts are focused in two main directions: (1) mechanisms that act to broaden the Planck spectrum; and (2) combining the optically thin and optically thick models to a hybrid model that could explain the key observables.


Drawing on a text-oriented action research ethnography of the writing practices of UK-based social workers, this paper focuses on a key but problematic aspect of everyday, professional textual practice – the production of "case notes." Using data drawn from interviews, workshops, texts and observation, the paper locates case notes within social work everyday practice and explores the entextualization of three distinct case notes. The heuristic of imagined, prescribed and actual trajectories is used to track specific instances of entextualization and to illustrate why the production of case notes is a particularly complex activity. A key argument is that in the institutional imaginary, and reflected in the institutionally prescribed trajectory, case notes are construed as a comprehensive record of all actions, events and interactions, prior to and providing warrants for all other documentation. However, they are in actual practice produced as parts of clusters of a range of different text types which, together, provide accounts of, and for, actions and decisions. This finding explains why case notes are often viewed as incomplete and raises fundamental questions about how they should be evaluated. The complexity of case notes as an everyday professional practice is underscored in relation to professional voice, addressivity and textual temporality.


The failure of the international community to act on the legal and moral imperative to stop, punish, and prevent genocide and other mass killings has led to the establishment of genocidal regimes that institutionalize genocide as a tactic of repression and power consolidation. One such repeat offender regime was the New Order government of Indonesia, which committed mass killings of known and alleged communists throughout Indonesia in 1965–1966 and later carried out a genocidal, colonial occupation of East Timor. I demonstrate parallels between the actors, tactics, and discourse of the communist killings and the Timorese Genocide. The failures of domestic resistance and international pressure to punish the New Order after 1966 allowed génocidaires to retain power and reinforced their belief in the acceptability and effectiveness of genocidal tactics. The Indonesian case illustrates the necessity of punishment for genocide to preclude a culture of impunity that encourages both previous and new offenders.


Global climate change is altering the amounts of ice and snow in winter, and this could be a major driver of soil microbial processes. However, it is not known how bacterial and fungal communities will respond to changes in the snow cover. We conducted a snow manipulation experiment to study the effects of snow removal on the diversity and composition of soil bacterial and fungal communities. A snow manipulation experiment was carried out on the meadow steppe in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia, China, during the winter period October 2019–March 2020. Soil samples were collected from the topsoil (0–10 cm) in mid-March 2020 (spring snowmelt period). Snow removal significantly reduced soil moisture and soil ammonium concentration. Lower snow cover also significantly changed the fungal community structure and beta diversity. Snow removal did not affect the bacterial community, indicating that fungal communities are more sensitive to snow exclusion than bacterial communities. The relative importance analysis (using the Lindeman–Merenda–Gold method) showed that available nitrogen (AN), soil water content (SWC), total organic carbon (TOC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC), and microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) together explained 94.59% of the variation in soil fungal beta diversity, where AN was identified as the most important predictor. These finding provide insights into potential impacts of climate warming and associated reduced snow cover on soil microbial communities and processes.


This article looks into the nature and dynamics of Soviet assistance to the Governorate of Sheng Shicai, a military de facto state that existed in Xinjiang between 1933 and 1944. Besides discussing how the various forms of Soviet aid shaped the policies of the Governorate, it also examines how Sheng Shicai used the aid to pursue his desire for inclusive patriotism and social modernization into practice. The article further shows how the USSR actively supported Sheng Shicai's development policies in an urge to securitize its borderlands by abetting ideologically aligned state-building and social transformation there. Although it was done with entirely different actors, methods, and within very different political frameworks, the aid securitization and borderland control logic makes this episode a historical forerunner of the state-building and social development aid in international neo-protectorates today.


This study presented community based framework to assess the risk and the adaptation practice as response to climate change and different disasters. The community's experience suggested risks are shifting along with prolongation of hydro-meteorological events and its irregularity is threatening adaptation capacities as it is affecting the sensitivity and production of the ecosystem of the region. In this study, community identified flash flood, flood, wave erosion; river bank erosion and water pollution were as common hazards and risks of their life as well as community identified and assessed their seasonal calendar and livelihood activities, element at risk, problem matrix ranking/ priority, risk evaluation, causes of risks and their adaptation. In this viewpoint, some recommendations were suggested for community to adaptation, practices and conservation of wetland. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jesnr.v5i2.14807 J. Environ. Sci. & Natural Resources, 5(2): 161-166 2012


Margaret Tait (1918-1999) was a pioneering filmmaker for whom words and images made the world real. In 'documentary', she wrote, real things 'lose their reality ... and there's no poetry in that. In poetry, something else happens.' If film, for Tait, was a poetic medium, her poems are works of craft and observation that are generous and independent in their vision of the world, poems that make seeing happen.

Sarah Neely, Lecturer in Film at the University of Stirling, draws on Tait's three poetry collections, her book of short stories, her magazine articles and unpublished notebooks to make available for the first time a collection of the full range of Tait's writing. Her introduction discusses Tait as filmmaker and writer in the context of mid-twentieth-century Scottish culture, and a comprehensive list of bibliographic and film resources provides an indispensible guide for further exploration.


Premiere: Espace GO, Rien a voir, Montreal, December 14, 2001.

Published: ICMC 2002 CD (LJCD 5232), Goteborg, Sweden: LJ Records, 2002.

Further performances: London Metropolitan University (2006); BEAST, Birmingham (2005); Ciclo Internacional de Conciertos de Musica Electroacustica, Santiago de Chile (2003); MAXISII, Leeds (2003); Electric Spring, Huddersfield (2003); International Computer Music Conference, Goteborg (2002); Unbalanced connexions, University of Florida (2002); Sonoimagenes, Buenos Aires (2002); Sonorities, Belfast (2002); Roadmender, Northampton (2002).

Research summary: This work investigates the sonic properties of the linguistic phenomenon of the 'tongue twister'. Recordings were made of tongue twisters spoken by four native speakers in different languages, in order to make available a broad initial range of sound types. The key structural idea in this work was to extend the innate 'patter' structure of the tongue twister into larger scale rhythmic and gestural musical processes. One key process in realising this was the construction of 'skeletal' versions of the recorded texts, typically by isolating attack transients, which allowed the rhythmic integrity of the texts to be preserved as well as rhythmic frameworks that were cross-fertilised into new sound identities. More extensive transformation processes could then be applied to those materials without the perceptual 'clutter' of persistent source recognition frequently produced when consonant and vowel components of vocal sound are electroacoustically processed. This also made possible the projection of a sense of 'play' around vocal source recognition, hybridisation and abstraction.

A discussion of the techniques and musical processes used in the work are reported in 'Tongue—A compositional Approach to Sound and (Non) sense', MAXIS II, Proceedings of the 2nd International Festival and Symposium of Sound and Experimental Music. Sheffield: Sheffield Hallam University Press, 2003, pp 121-5, and further developed in 'Reflections on sound-image design in electroacoustic music', Organised Sound, 12(1): 25-33, 2007.


Endoscopic biliary stenting is a common procedure, with indications from malignant obstruction to benign stone disease. We discuss a patient who re-presented after endoscopic stenting having been lost to follow up, with a large 'stentolith' requiring open CBD exploration.

 A 56-year-old female presented in 2013 with obstructive jaundice and a 2-week history of abdominal pain. She was a smoker, but otherwise had no past medical, surgical, or relevant family history. After initial workup, ERCP with sphincterotomy and pigtail stent placement was performed with interval laparoscopic cholecystectomy in 2014. Post-operative follow up was not arranged, and the patient subsequently re-presented in 2020 with fatigue. MRCP confirmed a proximal CBD stone and linear artefact. Open exploration facilitated removal of the stone-stent complex.

 Complications of stenting include cholangitis, stent occlusion and migration [2]. Stenting for failed biliary stone extraction is considered a temporary measure, with removal or exchange at three months (1). However, patients may be lost to follow up and return with non-specific symptoms. A rare cause is de novo formation of a gallstone calculus encasing the stent, a phenomenon termed "stentolith" [4]. Proposed pathophysiology is through promotion of bacterial proliferation by the stent, with biofilm formation and calcium bilirubinate precipitation [6]. Variation in formation has been described, with plastic stents developing circumferential stones [12-25], due to potential space between the wall and stent.

 This highlights the importance of robust inter-disciplinary working; careful patient follows up and implementation of a mandatory registry at all hospitals for stented patients.


There is a lack of a systematic, generic, domain independent objectoriented software engineering process for software familes. In such process a system family should be treated as a whole (opposite to multiple products maintained separately) and the reuse should be planned with assets developed for reuse. Particularly important is the embedding the domain engineering methods within object-oriented methods, especially the feature modeling for modeling variability. In the paper the problems associated with developing software familes and handling variability are presented and some aspects of generic development process for software families are introduced.


We report on a novel method of charge particle transport. It is based on the application of a moving electrostatic potential and an oscillating friction force to the particle which occur due to acoustic waves travelling in a piezoelectric medium. ZnS grains placed onto the surface of a Y-cut, Z-propagating LiNbO3 plate experience a sequence of jumps in the forward and in the backward directions with respect to the phase velocity of the plate wave. The jump probability appears to change with the Lamb mode supported by the plate and the sign of the grain charge. We present computed spatial profiles of the piezoelectric potential and the displacement components on the surface of the plate for the two lowest resonant modes of Lamb waves. The occurrence of the grain motions is then explained by the presence of the electrical and friction forces, and good qualitative correspondence of the theory and experiment is found.


Abstract: The role of glucocorticoids in the modulation of central α2‐receptor mechanisms was investigated by in vitro receptor binding studies. [3H]Clonidine and [3H]idazoxan were used as radioligands. The α2‐receptor subtypes and guanine nucleotide sensitivity were studied in homologue and heterologue displacement experiments following hydrocortisone treatment (25 mg/kg s.c.) for 10 days. High and low agonist affinity states of the α2‐receptor could be identified in 3H‐antagonist‐agonist and 3H‐agonist‐antagonist displacement experiments, which may correspond to different regulatory protein‐nucleotide associated forms of the receptor. In the presence of 10 μM GTP, the high‐affinity binding was depressed. Following hydrocortisone treatment, there was no detectable change either in the affinity or the binding site concentration of clonidine in homologue displacement ("cold saturation") experiments. The affinity of idazoxan, however, was depressed. The effect of GTP was similar to the controls in this experimental arrangement. In contrast, in heterologue binding studies the high‐affinity binding site was not demonstrable and the amount of low‐affinity binding increased following the hydrocortisone treatment. The high‐affinity site reappeared in the presence of GTP. The change in GTP sensitivity suggests that the nucleotide regulatory system may be involved in the action of adrenal steroids on central α2‐receptoral mechanisms.


These article headlines and advertising slogans from a recent issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education are clear evidence of the climate in which all discussions of national information systems for archives and manuscripts must be placed, a climate in which the educated user population will be increasingly familiar with and, consequently, dependent upon, computer applications as a fact of daily life. l Already, software packages are available that can teach us everything from how to speak French to how to prepare for a bar mitzvah. Computer summer camps are all the rage, and George Washington University has even developed a service enabling individuals, simply by dialing a phone number, to receive instruction in programming in BASIC. The temptation in such times is to become very agitated and to succumb to the technological hype that demands automation for everything as rapidly as possible. This tendency is certainly more of a reality now than in the late 1960s, when the initial SPINDEX programs first beckoned archivists toward the lure of automated archival description and administrative control. Yet the successful implementation of national information systems for archives and manuscripts requires much more than the existence of an appropriate technology. For several years the Society of American Archivists' National Information Systems Task Force (NISTF) played an important role in the movement toward automation by identifying and defining data elements and format requirements for archival information systems and information exchange. NISTF's approach - developing generally applicable standards, rather than promoting the devel


Aims: The aim of this study were to estimate the percentage of general and oral complications among patients receiving chemotherapeutic agents and correlate the oral complications with the age of the patients and with the drugs either used singly or in combination with the other chemotherapeutic agent and the effect of xylitol chewing gum on oral dental hygiene in patients having malignant diseases. Materials and Method: In this clinical trial, 70 patients with ages ranging between 7–65 years treated with different cancer chemotherapy for a duration from 3 months to 3 years. The patients were selected from those who treated in Hazim Al–Hafith center for treatment cancer in Mosul City. General and oral complications of chemotherapeutic agents were recorded and the agent recorded either used singly or in combination with the other chemotherapeutic agent. Twenty patients from those who had oral complications were examined and the plague and gingival indices were measured according to Silness and Loe (1963) at the base line. Then those patients were instructed to take xylitol chewing gum (4 grams/day); four times immediately after eating. The plague and gingival indices were measured again after 3 weeks of using the chewing gum. Results: The results of this study revealed that approximately half of the patients have general and oral complications while the others either had only general complications or had no complications (48.57%, 27.14%, 24.29% respectively). The incidence of oral complications correlated with the increasing in patients' age (P<0.01). The distribution of general and oral complications were correlated with the agent used either singly or in combination, where 100% of patients medicated with single therapy had general and oral complications while the patients medicated with multiple therapy 70.69% of them had general and oral complications and 29.13% had no significant complications. The patients who had taken xylitol chewing gum had a significant reduction in plague index while there is no significant reduction in gingival index (p<0.01). Conclusions: the study concluded that the general and oral complications arising in cancer patients can be attributed to the various modalities of cancer chemotherapy. Routine oral hygiene and elimination of preexisting dental disease and sources of mucosal irritation with a giving of salivary substitutes like xylitol reduce the incidence and severity of a number of oral complications of chemotherapy.


Since Paul Grice published 'Logic and conversation' in 1975, there have been a number of attempts to develop his programmatic remarks on conversational and conventional implicatures further (see Gazdar, 1979; Atlas & Levinson, 1981; Horn, 1985; Sperber & Wilson, 1986; and especially Levinson, 1983, and the references cited therein). The result has been a growing understanding of the relationship between semantics and pragmatics, and more generally of human reasoning in everyday language use. Many aspects of natural language understanding that were previously thought to be part of the conventional meaning of a given expression can now be shown to be the result of conversational inference. And with cancellability as the diagnostic test, a number of traditional problems in the study of meaning are yielding to more satisfactory analyses. Even more ambitiously, implicatures are penetrating into core areas of the syntax, as pragmatic theories of increasing subtlety are proposed for 'grammatical' phenomena such as Chomsky's (1981, 1982) binding principles (see Reinhart, 1983, and Levinson, 1987a, b, 1991).


The fact that glutathione (GSH) plays many roles in biological protective mechanisms and critical physiological functions has been recognized for decades. Conjugates, disulfides, and other glutathione-derived products also have been studied as biomarkers of the chemical natures or specific identities of key metabolites of toxic agents and such studies have been crucial in the delineation of the nature of the interactions of proximal toxicants with target biomolecules. Despite the extensive evidence implicating the depletion and/or oxidation of glutathione in a wide variety of human and experimental toxicities, critical examination of such studies frequently reveals that injury is not simply related to glutathione status. GSH is compartmentalized at several levels and this compartmentation appears to exert considerable influence on the relationships between glutathione depletion or oxidation and the onset of injury. Although compartmentation is usually viewed from the perspective of different intracellular pools, the significance of extracellular glutathione in functionally important pools is gaining recognition. As the factors affecting the interactions of intracellular pools with extracellular pools are delineated, studies in humans can be designed and interpreted with greater precision and utility.


How to cite this article: Pachisia AV, Govil D. Ultrasound-guided Bedside Percutaneous Transhepatic Biliary Drainage in Critically Ill: A Friend Indeed. Indian J Crit Care Med 2023;27(1):4–5.


A whole-protein tandem mass spectrometry approach for protein identification based on precursor ion charge state concentration via ion/ion reactions, ion-trap collisional activation, ion/ion proton-transfer reactions involving the product ions, and mass analysis over a narrow m/z range (up to m/z 2000) is described and evaluated. The experiments were carried out with a commercially available electrospray ion-trap instrument that has been modified to allow for ion/ion reactions. Reaction conditions and the approach to searching protein databases were developed with the assumption that the resolving power of the mass analyzer is insufficient to distinguish charge states on the basis of the isotope spacings. Ions derived from several charge states of cytochrome c, myoglobin, ribonuclease A, and ubiquitin were used to evaluate the approach for protein identification and to develop a two-step procedure to database searching to optimize specificity. The approach developed with the model proteins was then applied to whole cell lysate fractions of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The results are illustrated with examples of assignments made for three a priori unknown proteins, each selected randomly from a lysate fraction. Two of the three proteins were assigned to species present in the database, whereas one did not match well any database entry. The combination of the mass measurement and the product ion masses suggested the possibility for the oxidation of two methionine residues of a protein in the database. The examples show that this limited whole-protein characterization approach can provide insights that might otherwise be lacking with approaches based on complete enzymatic digestion.


Glioblastoma (GBM) is an incurable primary brain tumor with a poor prognosis. Resection, radiation therapy, and temozolomide (TMZ) are insufficient to increase survival, making the treatment limited. Thus, the search for more effective and specific treatments is essential, making plants a promising source for elucidating new anti-glioblastoma compounds. Accordingly, this study investigated the effects of four fractions of hexane and ethyl acetate extract of Annona coriacea Mart., enriched with acetogenins, against GBM cell lines. All four fractions were selectively cytotoxic to GBM cells when compared to TMZ. Moreover, A. coriacea fractions delayed cell migration; reduced cytoplasmic projections, the metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) activity; and induced morphological changes characteristic of necroptosis, possibly correlated with the increase in receptor-interacting protein kinase 1 and 3 (RIP-1 and RIP-3), apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF), and the non-activation of cleaved caspase 8. The present findings reinforce that fractions of A. coriacea Mart. should be considered for more studies focusing treatment of GBM.


From 23.09.2007 to 28.09.2007, the Dagstuhl Seminar 07391 Probabilistic Methods in the Design and Analysis of Algorithms was held in the International Conference and Research Center (IBFI), Schloss Dagstuhl. The seminar brought together leading researchers in probabilistic methods to strengthen and foster collaborations among various areas of Theoretical Computer Science. The interaction between researchers using randomization in algorithm design and researchers studying known algorithms and heuristics in probabilistic models enhanced the research of both groups in developing new complexity frameworks and in obtaining new algorithmic results. During the seminar, several participants presented their current research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar as well as abstracts of seminar results and ideas are put together in this paper. The rst section describes the seminar topics and goals in general. Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available.


The paper presents the vascular morphopathological lesions in diabetic retinopathy. We have initiated a comparative study between normal eye and ocular globes preserved from patients with diabetic retinopathy in different stages of evolution that were fixed and stained by classic histological techniques. We have focus on the histopathological examinations on arterial and venous morphology, in different retinal areas (central and peripheral). The vascular lesions were demonstrated at all types of vessels, capillaries, arterioles, venues and they were correlated with the evolutive stage of the disease. In principal they consisted in thickness of the basal membrane, the degeneration of pericytes, the proliferation of the endothelial cells, microaneurysms, neovessels and vascular hyalinization. The diabetes has increased the death of capillary cells and retinal neurons by a very near apoptosis process.


The aim of the cohort retrospective study was to analyze and evaluate the influence of certain factors (age, profession, smoking) on the characteristics and the incidence rate of the upper respiratory tract diseases (URTDs) in the occupational contact with ammonium. Subjects were 180 men, divided into 3 professional groups. The average shift concentrations of ammonium were measured in the permanent work places and individually by personal passive dosemeters. The URTDs were classified into 15 groups according to localization and the stage of the inflammatory process. The relationships "time-response" and "dose (concentration)-response" were determined. The factor "cumulative exposure" was used in order to evaluate the actual noxious effect of NH3 on the mucose of the upper respiratory tract (URT). There was a statistically reliable difference found in the incidence rate of atrophic rhinitis, hypertrophic pharyngitis and laryngitis, and neoplasms of the URT in the workers with the highest cumulative exposure. For this group relative risk was 4.00, 2.22, 3.20 and 4.00, respectively, with 95% Cl. The "cumulative exposure" factor gives the best proofs for the toxic effect of ammonium and a possibility for assessment of the relative risk.


It is advised that all nursing education programs conduct program evaluations to address accountability requirements and information for planning and guiding the delivery of the programs. Stufflebeam's CIPP Model, supported by triangulation of multiple modes of data collection provides such a theoretical framework for evaluations. This article proposes a total CIPP evaluation framework for nursing education programs. While this evaluation framework is applicable to any nursing evaluation program, it is practically useful for collaborative nursing programs as it allows a full assessment of each partner in its context. Under the direction of this author, the York-Seneca-Georgian-Durham collaborative BScN Program Evaluation Committee in Ontario developed and utilized a CIPP process evaluation.


Purpose
Speech sound disorders (SSDs) can have a negative impact on literacy development, social-emotional well-being, and participation across the life span. Despite this, many public schools do not provide appropriate or timely services to this population of children. In large part, this is a result of variation in how state and local agencies interpret "educational performance" as outlined within the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. The purpose of this study was to explore which educational performance factors speech-language pathologists (SLPs) consider when determining eligibility for children with SSDs.

Method
This study surveyed public school SLPs to investigate how educational performance is interpreted for children with SSDs. Data from 575 SLPs across the United States are included.

Results
Results supported variability in interpretation of educational performance within a nationwide sample of SLPs. Specifically, SLPs appear to consider educational performance as multidimensional. We also found within-state and between-states variability, indicating ambiguity in interpreting federal mandates. Finally, caseload size and number of years of experience were significantly related to which educational performance factors SLPs chose.

Conclusion
There is significant variability across the United States with respect to factors considered part of educational performance for children with SSD. This variability reflects the general quality and specificity of guidelines and/or special education code published by individual states. Clinical and legislative recommendations are included.


Corruption has fierce impacts on economic and societal development and is subject to a vast range of institutional, jurisdictional, societal, and economic conditions. It is this paper's aim to provide a reassessment and a comprehensive state†of†the†art survey of existing literature on corruption and its causes and effects. A particularly strong focus is put on presenting and discussing insights resulting from empirical research and contrasting recent with older findings.


Transfusion-associated malaria is often severe or even fatal, because diagnosis is frequently delayed and it complicates an already serious underlying disorder. Detection of infected donors is difficult in endemic areas due to the lack of a suitable donor screening test. Blood smear staining techniques show poor results due to the low parasite concentration in many infected persons, and the antibody detection test is not helpful due to the universal presence of antibody in healthy donors in these areas. For comparative evaluation of various screening tests, 9131 blood smears from voluntary donors and a group of patients were screened by Giemsa staining. Ten (0.10%) subjects showed parasitaemia, whereas Acridine Orange fluorescence staining showed 13 (0.14%) parasitaemia in almost the same number of smears screened on the same samples. Significantly high levels of malarial antibody were detected in 12.6% and 19.86% of subjects by indirect fluorescent antibody and enzyme-linked immunoassay tests, respectively. Malarial antigen detection by monoclonal antibody showed positive results in 9.48% of subjects, demonstrating excellent results and showing direct evidence of infection. We recommend that this should be adopted as a screening technique by transfusion services in endemic areas in order to prevent post transfusion malaria.


As chipmakers design different types of chips to enable Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications, the adoption of AI chips has increased recently. To support applications based on deep learning, AI chips have inbuilt AI acceleration and are created with a specialized architecture. One of the key drivers boosting the market's expansion is the increasing integration of AI processors in data centers. The major significance of using AI chips when compared with traditional ICs are fast computational integration and large bandwidth. This study summarizes the need of the AI chips and its functionalities and how the AI chips varies from the general ICs. Finally, a discussion on the potential AI chip initiatives are provided.


The term composite is a combination of two materials with different physical and chemical properties. When combined, they create a specialised material to do a certain job, for instance, to become stronger, lighter or resistant to electricity. They can also improve strength and stiffness. Metal matrix composites have much improved properties, including high tensile strength, toughness, hardness, low density and good wear resistance compared to alloys or any other metal. Aluminium alloys are becoming important today, especially in the automobile, space and electrical industries. Unfortunately, due to poor wear resistance, aluminium alloy can deteriorate quickly. So the present investigation aims at developing Aluminium 356 alloy (AA356) composites reinforced with 5 wt.% Zirconium Silicate (ZrSiO4) with better wear resistance. The composites have been fabricated using the 'stir-casting' method in which the particles were added to molten metal during the stirring process at a rotating speed of 700 rpm. A wear test has been performed on a pin on the disc apparatus. Three process parameters have been considered: normal load, sliding velocity, and sliding distance at three different levels. An experimental plan has been made using Taguchi's L9 orthogonal array table. The output responses such as wear rate and coefficient of friction have been considered for the investigation. Regression models have been generated for each output response. Using the generated regression models, one can predict the value of the output parameters even without actually performing the experimentation within the range of input factor combinations.


In this study, we analysed the factors explaining the distribution and betadiversity of mesozooplankton species in shelf and coastal areas in the Bay of Biscay. Nonparametric multiplicative regression models showed that for 35% of the 26 species analysed, the geographical position was the main factor explaining distribution. The variation partitioning results of the betadiversity analysis indicate that niche adaptation (12 – 25%) and dispersal limitation (14– 15%) influence the distribution of mesozooplankton species equally. Therefore, most of the variance (57– 66%) remains unexplained suggesting there are other explaining factors not controlled or that a part of the variability is purely stochastic. A log-normal distribution fitted the species rank-abundance better than Hubbell's neutral model, which also indicates that the mesozooplankton distribution is not the result of pure neutral communities colonizing randomly from a large species pool. Overall, the combination of results suggests that mesozooplankton species have distribution centres that are often associated with geographical features, and from which they disperse randomly.


: Introduction: Pulmonary complications of diabetes mellitus (DM) have been poorly characterized. Some authors have reported normal pulmonary functions and even concluded that spirometry is not at all necessary in diabetic patients. Objective: the main objective of the study was to analyse the comparison of pulmonary function test in controlled and uncontrolled type 2 diabetes mellitus. Data Collection: this cross-sectional study was conducted in Allied hospital, Faisalabad during January 2019 to July 2019. All patients and controls who fulfil selection criteria were enrolled in the study. Informed consent was obtained from each patient. Demographic profile (name, age, sex, contact no.) was also be taken. Only those patients whose fasting blood sugar were >126 mg/dl or random blood sugar >200 mg/dl were selected. The HbA1c was also estimated in order to differentiate between controlled (<7) and uncontrolled diabetes (>7). Results: In this study no statistically significant difference was seen between mean ranks for FVC [Group-A:86.91, Group-B: 74.00 & Group-C: 83.59], FEV1 [Group-A:88.44, Group-B: 80.56 & Group-C: 75.50] and FEF(25-75) [Group-A:87.53, Group-B: 80.73 & Group-C:76.23] among the study group. However, for FEV/FVC significantly differ across the groups. i.e. [Group-A:98.18, Group-B: 109.41 & Group-C: 36.91]. Multiple comparison test showed that not statistically difference was seen for FEV/FVC between Group-A and in Group-B patients. However, between Group-A and Group-C and Group-B and Group-C statistically significant difference was seen. Conclusion: Results of this study showed that uncontrolled diabetes adversely effects pulmonary function and causes significant lung function impairment.


This paper reviews the claim that there has been an audit explosion in recent years and seeks to refine the argument in terms of its institutional and behavioral effects and its underlying causes and consequences. A framework for greater comparative sensitivity is suggested, both in cross-national and cross-sectoral terms, which focuses on variation in the knowledge base, formal organization, and operational dimensions of auditing. Finally, a preliminary framework for evaluating the design of auditing practices is developed that could inform a post-Enron critical discussion of the problems and the potential for auditing in the future.