In chapter 1, we give an introduction to bifunctional monomers that play an important role in the chemical industry. Briefly, the conventional production processes of α,ω-dicarboxylic acids and α,ω-diols are discussed. Strategies for more sustainable alternatives for production of medium-chain bifunctional monomers are discussed. Monooxygenase-based processes seem promising, if the problem of poor diterminal oxidation capacities of monooxygenases is solved. Esterification could be a tool to solve this problem. In chapter 2 we have investigated the ω-oxidation activities of E. coli expressing AlkBGT or AlkBGTL, with various esters having an alkyl chain >1. These strains were able to ω-oxidize ethyl, propyl and butyl esters of C6-C10 fatty acids. Using esters with a longer alkyl chain enhanced ω-oxidation activities for C6 and C7 fatty acids. The major products were ω-hydroxy fatty acid esters, but over oxidation to the aldehyde and carboxylic acid also occurred. AlkL improved whole-cell ω-oxidation activities for substrates with a logPo/w above 4. Since the major products were ω-hydroxy fatty acid esters in chapter 2, we investigated further conversion of these compounds to mono-esterified dicarboxylic acids in chapter 3. Alcohol dehydrogenase AlkJ and aldehyde dehydrogenase AlkH were functionally expressed in E. coli. AlkJ is functional with 9-hydroxy ethyl nonanoate as substrate, AlkH is functional with 9-oxo methyl nonanoate. Expansion of the AlkBGTL system with AlkJ and AlkH yielded strain E. coli AlkBGTHJL. This strain accumulated mono-ethyl azelate exclusively from ethyl nonanoate. Adding the substrate dissolved in a carrier solvent increased final product titers. Subsequently, we investigated if in vivo esterification could enhance the ω-oxidation of AlkB in chapter 4. E. coli expressing AlkBGTHJL can ω-oxidize octanoate and nonanoate, but not efficiently. When acyl-CoA ligase AlkK and acyltransferase AtfA or Eeb1 were also expressed, ω-oxidation was more efficient. Furthermore, complete oxidation to the carboxylic acid was much more efficient when also in vivo esterification was achieved. Also di-ethyl esters were produced, meaning that esterification occurred twice. Since ω-oxidation of fatty acids was improved with in vivo esterification in chapter 4, we were interested to investigate whether this system could also work with n-alkanes in chapter 5. Mono-esters of dicarboxylic acids were produced from n-alkanes by E. coli expressing AlkBGTHJKL and either AtfA or Eeb1. Starting from n-alkanes would also allow production of alcohols if overoxidation could be prevented. Application of a different alcohol acyltransferase (Atf1), limited the overoxidation by AlkB. ω-Oxidation of the formed ester resulted in the production of ω-alcohols, which were again esterified by Atf1. Chapter 6 is the general discussion of this thesis, which evaluates the combination of esterification and terminal oxidation. Suggestions for improvements of the biocatalytic pathway are provided and critical factors for experiments in bioreactors are identified.


Horns, a form of headgear carried by Bovidae, have ethical and economic implications for ruminant production species such as cattle and goats. Hornless (polled) individuals are preferred. In cattle, four genetic variants (Celtic, Friesian, Mongolian and Guarani) are associated with the polled phenotype, which are clustered in a 300-kb region on chromosome 1. As the variants are intergenic, the functional effect is unknown. The aim of this study was to determine if the POLLED variants affect chromatin structure or disrupt enhancers using publicly available data. Topologically associating domains (TADs) were analyzed using Angus- and Brahman-specific Hi-C reads from lung tissue of an Angus (Celtic allele) cross Brahman (horned) fetus. Predicted bovine enhancers and chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing peaks for histone modifications associated with enhancers (H3K27ac and H3K4me1) were mapped to the POLLED region. TADs analyzed from Angus- and Brahman-specific Hi-C reads were the same, therefore, the Celtic variant does not appear to affect this level of chromatin structure. The Celtic variant is located in a different TAD from the Friesian, Mongolian, and Guarani variants. Predicted enhancers and histone modifications overlapped with the Guarani and Friesian variants but not the Celtic or Mongolian variants. This study provides insight into the mechanisms of the POLLED variants for disrupting horn development. These results should be validated using data produced from the horn bud region of horned and polled bovine fetuses.


Events related to the family especially those involving children are of extreme importance in the study of demographic evolution. A varied typology of families coexist in Colombia in addition to the traditional family based on a married couple. Colombia like many Western countries is undergoing a process of change in the patterns of family composition and structure. In the past 2 decades nonmarital cohabitation has replaced marriage and traditional consensual union as the most accepted form of union among young people. Separation and divorce have led to one-parent families and successive unions with children of different unions living together. Data from the 1995 National Survey of Demography and Health revealed that the proportions of nuclear and compound families have declined while incomplete families headed by women one-parent households and nuclear households of childless couples have increased. The great majority of households still contain related persons. Consensual unions have increased and are predominant among women under age 30. 58% of families were nuclear 30% were extended 5.5% were compound and 6.5% were one-person households. The proportion of households headed by women increased from 20% in 1978 to 25% in 1995. 64% of minors lived with both parents 23% lived with the mother and 2.4% lived with the father. 20% of children born during 1990-95 were conceived outside of a stable union. 58% of minors lived in poverty with 35% living in extreme poverty. Households with minor children were poorer on average than households without minor children.


This paper presents throughput evaluation of a satellite-switched code-division multiple-access (SS/CDMA) system which operates under demand assignment control. SS/CDMA provides both multiple access and switching to a geostationary multibeam satellite. Multiple access is resolved by space, frequency, and code division. Space division is introduced by the multibeam antennas that provide frequency reuse in each beam. The spectrum is then channelized into frequency bands where each band is accessed by code division for both the uplink and downlink. The satellite on-board performs the switching function, which is also based on compatible code-multiplexed switching. The switch may route both circuit calls and data packets which are assigned upon request. The on-board code-division switch operates under the control of a channel assignment algorithm. We provide channel assignment algorithms for optimum, suboptimum, and random switch operation. The system throughput has been evaluated for each case and compared. Performance analysis has been carried out for the case of the optimum switch scheduling. The analysis is based on a discrete-time Markovian model, and provides the call-blocking probabilities and data packet delays. Computer simulations have been used to evaluate the performance of the optimum, suboptimum, and random cases. It is shown that the circuit call-blocking probabilities achieved for these cases are almost the same. The optimum algorithm achieves the minimum data packet delay, while the performance of the suboptimum algorithm is slightly better than the random one. Furthermore, data packets may be routed via the switch with limited delays, even with a heavy load of circuit calls.


BACKGROUND: Diaphyseal fracture of the Humerus is a common fracture in the upper limb. Various treatment modalities like P.O.P, Plate and nail are used in the treatment. Limited Contact Dynamic compression plate has been promoted by some as a better plate than the Dynamic Compression Plate. The aim of our study is to find the difference between the mean duration of union between the DCP and the LCDCP in diaphyseal fractures of the Humerus and to find the difference in the functional outcome as measured by the DASH questionnaire. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From October 2004 and December 2005, thirty patients with Diaphyseal fractures of the humerus were treated with compression plating by compression plating using Dynamic Compression Plate or Limited Contact Dynamic Compression Plate. The time taken for radiological union in the two groups was noted and the difference in the time between the two groups was calculated. After radiological union occurred, the functional outcome was assessed by the Disabilities of Hand, Shoulder and Elbow (DASH) Questionnaire. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference in the two groups with respect to age, sex, mode of injury, side of injury and AO type. The average time taken for union in the DCP group was 16.53 weeks and in the LCDCP group it was 15.86 groups. The average time for union in all the thirty patients was 16.2 weeks. The functional outcome was excellent in 17 patients (8 in the DCP group and 9 in the LCDCP group) and good in 13 patients (7 in the DCP group and 6 in the LCDCP group). CONCLUSION: Since we found no statistically significant difference in the time taken for union and the functional outcome between the two groups, we conclude that the theoretical advantage of the LCDCP does not translate into clinical advantage when used in Diaphyseal fractures of the humerus.


Aim: To describe the development of Traffic Light System-BasicADL (TLSBasicADL), and procedures to establish properties of reliability, validity, clinical utility and patient perspective. TLS-BasicADL measures the patient's ability to perform basic activities of daily living. Methods: Study I describes the development process and testing of interand intra-rater reliability in 30 patients (orthopaedic diagnoses). Study II investigates criterion validity in 50 patients (mixed diagnoses), and responsiveness in 106 patients following hip fracture surgery. Study III, evaluation of a coordinated rehabilitation programme with focus on patient participation, including use of TLS-BasicADL and enhanced occupational therapy and physiotherapy in 126 patients after hip fracture. Study IV, to gain a better understanding of patients' experiences of recovery following hip fracture, including use of TLS-BasciADL. Twenty patients were interviewed and the data was analysed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Study I: High inter-and fair intra-rater reliability was reported. Study II: Strong to excellent correlations were found between TLSBasicADL and modified Functional Independence Measure, and TLSBasicADL and modified Barthel Index. Responsiveness: Significant differences were found between the assessment time points for each item of TLS-BasicADL, except upper hygiene, dressing and eating. Excellent correlation between TLS-BasicADL and Katz Index between pre-fracture – discharge, and moderate to strong from discharge one month. Study III: The intervention group reported higher levels of participation and independence in lower body hygiene, and dressing. No statistically significant differences at discharge and one month post-discharge between groups in functional balance and confidence, performance measures or risk for falls. At one month post-discharge 40-80% of all patients remained at risk for falls. Study IV: Two categories were found: 'Being seen as a person' with subcategories; Interaction affects trust and security; Information is key to understanding; and Encouragement is essential to promote activity. And 'Striving for Independence', with subcategories; Accepting the situation whilst trying to remain positive; The greener the better, but it's up to me; Ask me, I have goals; and Uncertainties concerning future. Conclusions: TLS-BADL provides a simple and practical team instrument for assessing basic ADL in older patients in the acute hospital setting, a visual aid to highlight level of independence and promotes communication between team members and patient. TLS-BasicADL has shown fair to high reliability, strong to excellent concurrent validity and moderate to strong responsiveness. More intensive training and enhanced collaboration with patients following hip fracture leads to increased patient perceived participation and independence in ADL at discharge. At one month post-discharge, patients continue to experience low levels of balance confidence and remain at risk for future falls, highlighting the need for improved discharge planning and rehabilitation services post-discharge. Following hip fracture patients experience a need to be taken seriously and seen as a person by the health care personnel. All patients described personal goals, but these were not always identified by the physiotherapists. TLSBasicADL was described by patients as simple and easy to understand. Monitoring progress through the colour-coding changing was described satisfying and fun to see, as well as stimulating and promoting feelings of increased self-confidence.


This paper presents the characteristics of the energy absorption in an expansion tube type impact absorber that is applied to a high weight drop tester and the use of a response surface methodology to predict the impact energy absorption. In order to identify the characteristics of the energy absorption, a set of finite element analysis was conducted with Abaqus Explicit. Moreover, the ISCD-II sampling method and a first order polynomial were used to build a response surface. As a result, we demonstrated that the impact energy could be controlled by four main design variables, namely an expansion pipe's thickness, inner radius, pressing die's expansion angle and expansion ratio. Additionally, we observed the relationship between the four main design variables and the impact energy absorbing time, displacement, and maximum impact force.


Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between mothers' sense of coherence (SOC) and oral health status in a representative sample of 5-year-old preschool children. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Belo Horizonte (Brazil) on a sample of 546 mothers and their 5-year-old children, randomly selected from preschools. Data were collected through questionnaires (mothers), the short version of Antonovsky's SOC scale (SOC-13) and clinical dental examinations (children). Simple and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed on the data. The following 8 outcome variables were selected: dental caries, filled and missing teeth, dental pulp exposure due to caries, dental root fragment, visible plaque, gingivitis and supragingival calculus. The examination was carried out by 2 trained, calibrated examiners. Results: Mothers with a lower SOC were more likely to have children with decayed teeth (OR = 1.59, 95% CI = 1.01–2.29), dental pulp exposure (OR = 1.99, 95% CI = 1.06–3.77) or filled teeth (OR = 1.85, 95% CI = 1.12–3.06) regardless of the child's social class and gender. Conclusion: The data indicate that mothers' SOC is an important psychosocial determinant of the oral health status among preschool children.


The significant advances achieved in the care of children with cancer have been the result of carefully conducted clinical trials in international cooperative group settings. Specialized biological testing of tumour specimens is now an essential component of risk and treatment assignment for many childhood cancers. Thus, the appropriate collection and handling of tumour specimens is crucial to maintaining and further advancing the excellent outcomes that we have achieved. We recommend that all children with a strongly suspected malignancy, or cases in which the situation is unclear, be discussed with a paediatric oncologist before obtaining a tumour specimen. When a tumour is discovered incidentally at surgery, we recommend that the tumour be placed in a saline-soaked gauze and a paediatric pathologist or oncologist contacted immediately. Further progress in understanding and treating childhood cancer is intimately linked to basic studies of biology, translational research and determining the role of biological markers in risk stratification. Early and careful collaboration between front-line physicians and tertiary care oncology specialists is essential to the continuing success of treatment of children with cancer.


Emerging from a legitimate contest regulated by a set of rules, professional wrestling is today a fictional product, where no actual competition takes place. Those same rules serve as a setting for a particular kind of narration: the kayfabe, the fictional framework for all professional wrestling's narrative, a fictional world with the characteristic of having a 1:1 ratio between real time and fictional time. Professional wrestling and videogames deal in different contexts with the same elements: rules and fiction (Juul 2005) [13]. By combining aspects of narrative theory and game studies research, this paper will analyze the narrative of professional wrestling utilizing the tools commonly used or specifically developed for videogames. An understanding of professional wrestling elements is necessary to explain and criticize the different approaches that videogame designer have used when creating wrestling videogames, a popular sub-genre that present specific peculiarities. The first chapter will provide a background to the history and the evolution of professional wrestling tracing the transformation from wrestling as a legitimate contest to a constructed media spectacle. The on-going constructed nature of contemporary wrestling will be addressed using Chatman's concept of narrative. We will then use the theory of scripted narrative and alterbiography (Calleja 2009) [4] to explain how the pre-designed elements in a staged match are only partially scripted. This will be the ground for three subsequent passages, each one enlarging the view on the object of study: what happens in the ring, what happens just outside of the ring, and what happens in the fictional world of professional wrestling. By considering the transmediality (Jenkins 2003, 2004) [11, 12] of professional wrestling, we will analyze those conclusions and see how they are used by professional wrestling videogames: the territory where real rules have to be fleshed out in order to simulate the "fake rules" of professional wrestling. The paper concludes that theoretical frameworks developed within game studies have produced useful tools that can be deployed in different contexts, in this case to understand the constructed story that so deeply informs the agonistic (Caillois, 1962) [5] aspects of professional wrestling. The concept of scripted narrative and alterbiography clarifies how the narrative is enacted in and outside of the ring, integrating previous studies about wrestler fan behaviour (Ford 2007) [8], and claryfing the role of the wrestler as both a storyteller and an actor. By considering wrestling as a serialized fictional product, it is possible to analyze the kayfabe as a unique narrative frame, capable of keeping narrative coherence operating with a 1:1 ratio between real time and fictional time. The concept of transmediality, also discussed in game studies, proves to be deeply affected by the kayfabe. Wrestling has strong transmedial narrative elements: it is sufficient to feature few elements of the wrestling enviroment to project the contents of the kayfabe. With that said, making a game out of the mixture of dramatization, physical performance, and symbolical meaning of professional wrestling is no easy task. A theoretical framework can be useful to approach design issues: wrestling fictional elements appears in videogames thanks to its deep rooted transmediality, but the subtleties of professional wrestling's narrative are still understated in wrestling videogames.


Intracardiac imaging catheters represent unique instruments to diagnose and treat a diseased heart. While there are imminent advances in medical innovation, many of the commercially available imaging catheters are outdated. Some of them have been designed more than 20 years and therefore they lack novel sensor technology, multi-functionality, and often require manual assembly process. Introduction chapter of this thesis discusses clinical needs and introduces new technological concepts that are needed to progress the functionality and clinical value of the intracardiac catheters along with efficient and simple designs to make the catheters affordable for the patients. The following chapters are grouped into two parts that explore complementary transducer technology and a novel optical fiber-link solution for catheter-based intracardiac imaging.
_Part I_ focuses on developing a new intracardiac catheter that has an advanced functionality, which provides clinician with high penetration or close-up high resolution ultrasound imaging in a single device. This agile ultrasound visualization is enabled by a capacitive-micromachined ultrasound transducer (CMUT), operated in collapse-mode, of which the operating frequency can be tuned. Acoustic performance of a fabricated CMUT is modelled and measured. Imaging performance of the CMUT array is quantified on a tissue-mimicking phantom and demonstrated both ex vivo and in vivo experiments. It is found that the combination of the forward-looking design, frequency-tuning and agile deflectability of the catheter allow for visualizing intracardiac structures of various sizes at different distances relative to the catheter tip, providing both wide overviews and detailed close-ups.
_Part II_ is devoted to a novel optical technology for transmitting signals and transferring power inside catheters. A novel concept of an all-optical fiber link is introduced. A key insight obtained is that a blue light-emitting diode (LED) may be used as a photo-voltaic converter. Used in reverse under illumination with violet light, it converts significant amount of photonic energy to electricity and at the same time it may emit blue light back, which makes it a unique miniature power and communication channel for catheters. A pressure-sensing catheter prototype is built to demonstrate the concept of transmitting signals and delivering power using a single optical fiber and an LED. The potential of the power and signal fiber link solution is exploited further for ultrasound imaging. A bench-top demonstrator scalable to catheter dimensions is built, in which electrical wires for ultrasound-sensor signal and power transfer are replaced by optical fibers.

The presented technologies allow for slender devices with high level of integration and simple assembly, which may make these smart disposable devices more affordable.


Nearly everybody has heard of "circadian rhythms" and is aware of the implications of temporal stress, seasonal affective disorder, and monthly and yearly rhythms in hormonal production. Numerous popular books and articles on "our body clock" and the large scientific literature on biological rhythms now call for systematic academic historical study. This conference aims to encourage research in this area by bringing together historians, philosophers, and chronobiologists who are interested in reflecting on biological rhythm studies in a multidisciplinary historical framework.


This paper examines the changes that have taken place in the People's Republic of China since the reforms approved by the  Communist Party of this country in December 1978 which, among other  things, involved abolishing state planning in order to let the  market regulate the economy. This led to considerable economic  growth together with an increase in China's role in world trade and as  the receiver of direct foreign investment. Despite the rise in per capita  income and the reduction of poverty, however, the country has seen an  increase in the inequality between regions and in the distribution of  income, together with the exacerbation of certain problems such as unemployment, migration from the countryside to the city and  corruption. China has begun to question the validity of socialism,  despite defining its economy as a socialist market economy.


Purpose: Integrins are expressed by numerous tumor types including breast cancer, in which they play a crucial role in tumor growth and metastasis. In this study, we evaluated the ability of ATN-161 (Ac-PHSCN-NH2), a 5-mer capped peptide derived from the synergy region of fibronectin that binds to α5β1 and αvβ3 in vitro, to block breast cancer growth and metastasis. Experimental design: MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells were inoculated s.c. in the right flank, or cells transfected with green fluorescent protein (MDA-MB-231-GFP) were inoculated into the left ventricle of female BALB/c nu/nu mice, resulting in the development of skeletal metastasis. Animals were treated with vehicle alone or by i.v. infusion with ATN-161 (0.05–1 mg/kg thrice a week) for 10 weeks. Tumor volume was determined at weekly intervals and tumor metastasis was evaluated by X-ray, microcomputed tomography, and histology. Tumors were harvested for histologic evaluation. Result: Treatment with ATN-161 caused a significant dose-dependent decrease in tumor volume and either completely blocked or caused a marked decrease in the incidence and number of skeletal as well as soft tissue metastases. This was confirmed histologically as well as radiographically using X-ray and microcomputed tomography. Treatment with ATN-161 resulted in a significant decrease in the expression of phosphorylated mitogen-activated protein kinase, microvessel density, and cell proliferation in tumors grown in vivo. Conclusion: These studies show that ATN-161 can block breast cancer growth and metastasis, and provides a rationale for the clinical development of ATN-161 for the treatment of breast cancer. [Mol Cancer Ther 2006;5(9):2271–80]


In order to improve the assessment of the hydrostatic collapse of deepwater pipelines a new method named, RCA (Renewed Classical Approach) method, was developed. The development of this method, which is a modified version of the DNV method, was based on the results of several nonlinear Finite Element (FE) analyses.In this paper the development of the RCA method is presented. Initially an overview of the classical approach is presented. Then two assessment methods are presented (the DNV method and the RCA method) and the FE modeling is described. Finally the collapse pressures predicted by the assessment methods are compared with those predicted by the FE models.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


The microwave noise of Si/SiGe HBTs was characterized wid modeled using a highfrequency T-ecluivillent noise circuit model. A 6 finger 2x15 pn2 HBT showed a minimum noise riigu1.e of 2.2GdB with an associated gain of 12.7d8, measured at 8 GHz under Ic=14mA and Vc,,=3V bias condition. Bias, frequency and H3T geometry dependent noise measurements were also perrormcd. It was found that the 6 fingcr 2x15 binz HBT has thc bcst noisc performance among the characterized devices. Moreover, it was rcvcalcd [hilt minimum noise figure reaches a minimum at R medium collcctor currcnt. Finally, a s implc all physical h igh-frequenc y T-equivalent noise model was extracted from the measured Sparameters aiid noise data and was used for the study of noise dependence on different HBT equivalent circuit parameters.


A logical-timing instruction-level simulator is described for a hypothetical multiprocessor consisting of CRAY-1's connected to a common memory. It is useful for gaining insight into the design of multiprocessor algorithms and for developing high performance algorithms for CRAY processors with instruction sets similar to the CRAY-1.


Water washing of cottonseed meal is more cost-efficient and environmentally friendly than protein isolation by means of alkaline extraction and acidic precipitation. Thus, water-washed cottonseed meal (WCSM) is more promising as biobased wood adhesives. In this work, we examined the effects of the particle size on the morphology and adhesive performance of WCSM. Pilot-scale produced and dried WCSM was treated by three grinding methods: (1) ground by a hammer mill and passed through a 0.5-mm screen, (2) further ground by a cyclone mill and passed through a 0.5-mm screen, or (3) further ground by a ball mill and passed through a 0.18-mm screen. Micro-morphological examination revealed two types of particles. The filament-like particles were mainly fibrous materials from residual linters. Chunk-like particles were more like aggregates or accumulations of small particles, with proteins as the major component. Further grinding of the 0.5-mm Hammer product with the Cyclone and Ball mill led to more fine (smaller) particles in the WCSM products. The impact of further grinding on the dry and soaked adhesive strengths was minimal. However, the decrease of the hot and wet strengths of WCSM products by the additional grinding was significant (p ≤ 0.05). Data presented in this work is useful in developing the industrial standards of WCSM products used in wood bonding.


Moulting southern elephant seals, Mirounga konina (L.), were counted in 17 discrete wallows at Walker Bay on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands between 2 January and 16 February 1994. Daily weather conditions were also recorded. It was also found that, although there were no overall correlations between wind scale, air temperature, sunshine, precipitation, sea roughness and cloud cover with seal numbers, there were conditions on specific days that affected the movements of seals between wallows. Most notably, it was found that numbers of seals decreased when they were exposed to winds, and that they often sought out more sheltered sites nearby.


ABSTRACT:This paper deals with narratives that report events of great personal concern to the narrator, especially the unexpected death of a near member of the family. It is common for the expression of such uncontrollable grief to involve silence, or the assertion that language is not adequate to convey what needs to be said. This retreat from linguistic engagement is a challenge to the general adequacy of human language as a means of communication. When we examine several such narratives in detail, we find reports of physical violence in place of linguistic expression. But we also find the development of elaborate syntax as a means of keeping emotional expression at a distance.


The Problem The number of Thai women entrepreneurs has increased to nearly half of all Thai entrepreneurs over the past years with 80% of them reported to have entered into opportunity-driven entrepreneurship. This growing social phenomenon, however, remains underexplored by limited numbers of academic studies on Thai women entrepreneurship. Extending the understanding of opportunity-driven women entrepreneurs in the changing Thai context is therefore significant for developing national human resources. The Solution This study highlights the opportunity-driven category of women entrepreneurs defined by Cromie and Hayes as Innovators. Taking the phenomenological approach as a research method, in-depth interviews from 13 innovative women business owners in Thailand were analyzed to understand their motivations, challenges, and success factors, as well as the contemporary worldview of the Thai culture and values concerning gender roles and social norms. The Stakeholders National policymakers, educators, human resource development professionals, and parents can craft policies and practices that align with key learnings from the lived experiences of women entrepreneurs. Aspiring women entrepreneurs can also vicariously learn from the study participants who serve as role models.


Combined photodynamic/photothermal therapy (PDT/PTT) has emerged as a promising cancer treatment modality due to its potential synergistic effects and identical treatment procedures. However, its clinical application is hindered by long treatment times and complicated treatment operations when separate illumination sources are required. Here, we present the development of a new nanohybrid comprising thiolated chitosan-coated gold nanostars (AuNS-TCS) as the photothermal agent and riboflavin-conjugated N,S-doped graphene quantum dot (Rf-N,S-GQD) as the two-photon photosensitizer (TP-PS). The nanohybrid demonstrated combined TP-PDT/PTT when a low-power, single-pulsed laser irradiation was applied, and the localized surface plasmon resonance of AuNS was in resonance with the TP-absorption wavelength of Rf-N,S-GQD. The TCS coating significantly enhanced the colloidal stability of AuNSs while providing a suitable substrate to electrostatically anchor negatively charged Rf-N,S-GQDs. The plasmon-enhanced singlet oxygen (1O2) generation effect led to boosted 1O2 production both extracellularly and intracellularly. Notably, the combined TP-PDT/PTT exhibited significantly improved phototherapeutic outcomes compared to individual strategies against 2D monolayer cells and 3D multicellular tumor spheroids. Overall, this study reveals a successful single-laser-triggered, synergistic combined TP-PDT/PTT based on a plasmonic metal/QD hybrid, with potential for future investigation in clinical settings.


Abstract Objective: To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on daily living, mental well-being, and experiences of racial discrimination among college students from communities of color. Participants: Sample comprised 193 ethnically diverse college students, aged 18 to 25 years (M = 20.5 years), who were participating in virtual internships due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional 16-item survey was developed as a partnership between two nonprofit organizations. The survey included both close-ended and open-ended questions assessing the impact of COVID-19. Results: The students of color reported disruptive changes in finances (54%), living situation (35%), academic performance (46%), educational plans (49%), and career goals (36%). Primary mental health challenges included stress (41%), anxiety (33%), and depression (18%). Students also noted challenges managing racial injustice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions: Higher education institutions will benefit from financially and emotionally supporting students of color during the COVID-19 pandemic and growing visibility of systemic racism.


Previous studies have demonstrated that microRNAs (miRNAs) are frequently dysregulated in tumors and are associated with the initiation and progression of various types of cancer. miR-153 has been previously shown to have an anti-tumor effect in the majority of cancer types. However, to date, the expression status and function of miR-153 in cervical cancer (CC) remains unclear. In the present study, the expression of miR-153 in CC tissues and cell lines was examined, revealing that the expression of miR-153 was markedly downregulated in the CC tissues and cell lines investigated, when compared with matched noncancerous tissues and normal cervical epithelial cell line. Furthermore, ectopic expression of miR-153 by miR-153 mimic inhibited cell proliferation; however, transfection with the miR-153 inhibitor promoted the cell proliferation in CC cell lines. Finally, the results showed that the downregulation of miR-153 was associated with poor 5-year over survival in CC patients and it could be regarded as an independent biomarker to predict the prognosis of CC patients. Collectively, these results indicated that miR-153 may function as a tumor suppressor in CC, and it may be a potential novel therapeutic target for CC.


A simple and reliable colorimetric method for determination of phthalates is developed utilizing uridine-5'-triphosphate (UTP)-modified gold nanoparticles as a color indicator and Cu(2+) as a cross-linker. The method demonstrates superior sensitivity with a detection limit of phthalates of ca. 0.5 ppm.


Lockdown measures to control disease transmission were implemented at the start of the COVID-19 era, worsening the already existing sedentary lifestyle. Reduced physical activity (PA) and unhealthy eating habits have a negative impact on mental health in chronically ill patients, including diabetes patients. Mental illness, on the other hand, encourages a sedentary lifestyle, exacerbating all components of metabolic syndrome. While well-controlled diabetic patients with an HbA1c of less than 7% had a less severe clinical presentation and COVID-19 mortality rates, the favorable effect of PA on immunomodulation and immunoregulation should not be neglected. Given recent data indicating that a sedentary lifestyle is the third independent risk factor for COVID-19 complications and death (after advanced age and organ transplant), including regular PA has never been more vital. Since PA has a major impact on both glycemic control and mental health, implementing structured home-based activity programs could improve glycemic control and psychological well-being, hence positively impacting COVID-19 outcomes.


ABSTRACT: We examine the impact of SFAS 133, Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities, on the reporting behavior of commercial banks and the informativeness of their financial statements. We argue that, because mandatory recognition of hedge ineffectiveness under SFAS 133 reduced banks' ability to smooth income through derivatives, banks that are more affected by SFAS 133 rely more on loan loss provisions to smooth income. We find evidence consistent with this argument. We also find that the increased reliance on loan loss provisions for smoothing income has impaired the informativeness of loan loss provisions for future loan defaults and bank stock returns. Data Availability: The data are available from public sources.


It is important to incorporate the concept of manufacturability and testability into the engineering curriculum. Incorporating state-of-the-art computer-controlled test and measurement equipment in the curriculum requires an efficient and cost-effective solution to deal with access to this level of equipment. The concept of simulated testing as an innovative solution to this problem is presented.<<ETX>>


Word embeddings have found their way into a wide range of natural language processing tasks including those in the biomedical domain. While these vector representations successfully capture semantic and syntactic word relations, hidden patterns and trends in the data, they fail to offer interpretability. Interpretability is a key means to justification which is an integral part when it comes to biomedical applications. We present an inclusive study on interpretability of word embeddings in the medical domain, focusing on the role of sparse methods. Qualitative and quantitative measurements and metrics for interpretability of word vector representations are provided. For the quantitative evaluation, we introduce an extensive categorized dataset that can be used to quantify interpretability based on category theory. Intrinsic and extrinsic evaluation of the studied methods are also presented. As for the latter, we propose datasets which can be utilized for effective extrinsic evaluation of word vectors in the biomedical domain. Based on our experiments, it is seen that sparse word vectors show far more interpretability while preserving the performance of their original vectors in downstream tasks.


The interpretation of complexity in isothermal calorimetric data is demanding. The observed power signal is a composite of the powers arising from each of the individual events occurring (which can involve physical, as well as chemical, change). The challenge, therefore, lies in deconvoluting the observed data into their component parts. Here, we discuss the potential use of chemometric analysis, because it offers the significant advantage of being model-free, using principal component analysis to deconvolute data. Using model data, we discovered that the software required a minimum trivariate data matrix to be constructed. Two variables, power and time, were available from the raw data. Selection of a third variable was more problematic, but it was found that by running multiple experiments the small variation in the number of moles of compound in each experiment was sufficient to allow a successful analysis. In general we noted that it required a minimum 2n + 2 repeat experiments to allow analysis (where n is the number of reaction processes). The data outputted from the chemometric software were of the form intensity (arbitrary units) versus time, reflecting the fact that the software was written for analysis of spectroscopic data. We provide a mathematical treatment of the data that allows recovery of both reaction enthalpy and rate constants. The study demonstrates that chemometric analysis is a promising approach for the interpretation of complex calorimetric data.


The present study was conducted in 2010. For this purpose, seven districts from the central region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Charsadda, Hangu, Kohat, Mardan, Nowshera, Peshawar and Swabi were selected. Data were collected on various aspects of individual contact methods in diffusion of agricultural technologies from 280 randomly selected farmer respondents. Researchers collected the data with the help of a pretested and validated interview schedule using survey technique. The results show that majority of the farmer respondents is aware of the farm visits (66.43%), demonstrations being conducted (62.50%) and home visits made by the extension staff (60.71%) as extension methods for dissemination of agricultural technologies among the farming community, whereas only 31.78% and 22.85% of the farmer respondents are aware of the office call and telephone calls, respectively, for diffusion of information regarding latest agricultural technologies. However, awareness regarding personal letters as an extension method among the farming community was proved as the lowest (18.93%) entity in the study area. The extent of the use of individual contact methods namely farm visits, demonstrations, home visits and office call bearing mean st nd rd values 2.85, 2.81, 2.79 and 2.68 , respectively were ranked as 1 , 2 , 3 and th 4 , respectively. Similarly, the mean values of the extent of the use of telephone calls and personal letters being used for diffusion of agricultural technologies among the farming community were 2.49 and 2.45 and th th ranked as 5 and 6 in order of precedence, respectively. It is therefore, suggested that farm visits, demonstrations and home visits may be used for diffusion of the latest agricultural technologies among the farming community to increase production of crops and thus improve living standard of the people.


We present a multigrid one-shot algorithm, and a smoothing analysis, for the numerical solution of optimal control problems which are governed by an elliptic PDE. The analysis provides a simple tool to determine a smoothing minimization process which is essential for multigrid application. Numerical results include optimal control of boundary data using different discretization schemes and an optimal shape design problem in 2D with Dirichlet boundary conditions.


Psychological experts have been used increasingly to testify in child sexual abuse cases, yet little research has investigated what specific factors make experts effective. This study examined the potential effects that credentials, evidence strength and coherence may have on juror decision making. Sixty-four mock jurors read cases of child sexual abuse, followed by experts' testimony and rated guilt of the defendant, effectiveness of the expert testimony and credibility of the victim. Evidence strength and coherence of the testimony affected all dependent variables, and the interaction was significant. Guilt ratings of the defendant were lower and the victim was rated as less credible when both evidence strength and coherence were low. The credentials of the expert, however, had negligible impact. These findings indicate that experts can be effective and impact jurors when testimony is either high in coherence or high in evidence. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Purpose Metformin may be associated with a decreased risk of breast cancer. We performed a meta-analysis to assess the effect of metformin intake on breast cancer risk and mortality. Methods We performed a PubMed and EMbase search for all available studies that described the risk of breast cancer and all-cause mortality in relation to the use of metformin among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Pooled relative risks (RRs) were determined using a random effects model to assess the strength of association between metformin and the risk of breast cancer. Results Fifteen articles from PubMed satisfied the inclusion criteria, including a total of 838,333 participants. Compared with the control group, metformin use was not related to a reduced incidence of breast cancer (RR, 0.964; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.761-1.221; p=0.761). However, metformin therapy was associated with decreased all-cause mortality (RR, 0.652; 95% CI, 0.488-0.873; p=0.004). No obvious publication bias was detected (incidence: pBegg=0.755, pEgger=0.008; mortality: pBegg=0.072, pEgger=0.185). Conclusion The present study suggested that metformin therapy may decrease the all-cause mortality of patients affected by breast cancer. However, this finding should be considered carefully and confirmed with further studies.


The lime leaf miner, Phyllonorycter issikii, is a moth species native to East Asia, which recently invaded considerable part of Europe. A study on the natural enemies of this invasive species was conducted in Bulgaria. Tilia cordata leaves infested with the lime leaf miner were collected in 2015 and 2016 in two public parks in Sofia. A total of eleven eulophid parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) belonging to three subfamilies - Entedoninae, Eulophinae and Tetrastichinae, and one braconid species (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) were recorded. In addition, one unidentified ichneumonid species was reared. Minotetrastichus platanellus was the most abundant species in the samples comprising 76.88% of the parasitoids reared from collected immature and pupal stages of Ph. issikii. It is followed by Sympiesis gordius (6.53%) and S. sericeicornis (6.03%). Three new host-parasitoid associations were established. The entomopathogenic fungi Beuveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae (Hypocreales) were isolated for the first time from cadavers of Ph. issikii larvae and pupae. Based on the presented observation we hypothesized that the lime leaf miner can produce three generations in Bulgaria.


The GlideScope® video laryngoscope (VL) provides direct visualization of the larynx in patients with a potentially difficult airway. A specialized rigid stylet or tracheal introducer should be used to guide the tip of the endotracheal tube (ETT) into the glottis while using the GlideScope® devices. Several studies showed the success of the GlideScope® VL. However, there have been reports of problems, complications, including failure to intubate patients successfully. Laryngeal exposure is generally the simple part of the procedure, and conversely, tube delivery to the glottic opening and advancement into the trachea is sometimes not straightforward. Alekberli-Yarmush technique: Our novel technique for improving the GlideScope® intubation's success requires preparation of the stylet and ETT before the intubation. Requirements are the following: any brand and model shapable ETT stylet, ETT, and lubricant. Firstly, lubricate the stylet with a lubricant, insert the stylet into ETT, and bend the stylet into a unique shape. Firstly bend the ETT into the two-dimensional circular C shape, then bend the tip again two-dimensionally, approximately 100–110° against the circular angle. For the final step, bend the tip toward the 3rd dimension medially, proximally 45°. Endotracheal tube insertion is usually performed in our method, as the manufacturer recommends a four-step insertion technique when using the GlideScope®. However, holding the tube with two fingers, palm up, 2/3 of the way down the tube toward the tip, is different from the traditional technique. To intubate using our novel technique, first, the GlideScope® should be introduced into the oropharynx's midline with the left hand. When the epiglottis is identified on the screen, the scope should be manipulated, and the tip of the blade should be put in vollecula and elevate the epiglottis to obtain the best view of the glottis. The ETT should then be guided into position under direct vision. The ETT should be hugging the undersurface of the tongue. When the distal tip of the ETT disappears from the direct view, it should be viewed on the monitor. In this time, rotation and angulation maneuvers are not required in our technique different than the traditional technique to direct the ETT through the glottis. After visualizing the successful intubation, a stylet should be pulled out to remove easily from the ETT. The unique shape of the novel technique described here can improve the GlideScope® intubation by decreasing the manipulation, rotation, and angulation maneuvers. Due to the medially 45° shaped tip of the ETT, the intubation may be smoother and more comfortable. The ETT's C type circular shape allows it to hug the tongue's undersurface and slide quickly and smoothly to the laryngeal space. Studies with larger patient populations are needed to determine if the new technique improves the GlideScope® intubation, better understand the mechanisms and the clinical significance, and ascertain whether this technique evolves into a useful technique.


In this study, a linear stability analysis is performed for different Weakly Compressible Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics (WCSPH) methods on a 1D periodic domain describing an incompressible base flow. The perturbation equation can be vectorized and written as an ordinary differential equation where the coefficients are circulant matrices. The diagonalization of the system is equivalent to apply a spatial discrete Fourier transform. This leads to stability conditions expressed by the discrete Fourier transform of the first and second derivatives of the kernel. Although spurious modes are highlighted, no tensile nor pairing instabilities are found in the present study, suggesting that the perturbations of the stresses are always damped if the base flow is incompressible. The perturbations equation is solved in the Laplace domain, allowing to derive an analytical solution of the transient state. Also, it is demonstrated analytically that a positive background pressure combined with the uncorrected gradient operator leads to a reordering of the particle lattice. It is also shown that above a critical value, the background pressure leads to instabilities. Finally, the dispersion curves for inviscid and viscous flows are plotted for different WCSPH methods and compared to the continuum solution. It is observed that a background pressure equal to $\rho c^2$ gives the best fidelity to predict the propagation of a sound wave. When viscosity effects are taken into account, the damping of pressure fluctuations show the best agreement with the continuum for $p_{back} \sim \rho c^2/2$.


【Blow molding is divided into three categories, injection stretch blow molding, injection blow molding, and extrusion or direct blow molding. Extrusion blow molding has been studied experimentally to characterize the blowing behavior of parison. Blow conditions such as blowing temperature and cooling time were the experimental variables in this blowing experiment. Wall thickness of the lower part of blow molded sample was thicker than that of the upper part because of the sagging of parison during extrusion process. As temperature increases the wall thickness and the weight of blow molded sample decreased. No thickness variations in the blowing sample were observed according to the cooling time. The lower part of the sample showed high degree of crystallinity compare with the upper part of the sample. Thus the lower part of the sample was strong mechanically and structurally. It was recognized that the uniform wall thickness could not be obtained by only controlling the operational conditions. Parison variator should be introduced to get uniform wall thickness of parison and subsequently produce uniform wall thickness of blow molded product.】


This paper proposes a method to resolve Japanese zero pronouns with extrasentential reference which can be realized in a practical machine translation system. This method focuses on semantic and pragmatic constraints such as modal expressions, verbal semantic attributes and conjunctions to determine the extrasentential referents of Japanese zero pronouns. According to a window test, 100% of zero pronouns with extrasentential referents could be resolved correctly with the consistency.


Properties of hardened concrete are very important for load resistance, durability,
stability and aesthetic point of view; its properties in fresh state are also very vital for
good workmanship. In view of this, the self compacting concrete simply called SCC was
initiated. The aim of producing of such was that it should be honey-like viscous material
that contain low amount of water and high range water reducers to modify the viscosity of
concrete. The principal aim of this research study was to develop the optimum mix design
of SCC by addressing the issues highlighted in a number of research papers. Investigation
of the rheology of the fresh concrete was made in order to satisfy the criteria of self
compactibility.
Mechanical properties such as compressive strength, modulus of rupture and the
tensile strength were determined. Durability properties that included total porosity,
oxygen and water permeability and the corrosion potential of the selected mixes were
investigated. Structural performance of the selected mixes was determined by conducting
embedded steel bar pull-out test for bond behavior. Reinforced concrete beams were
tested under monotonic loading for flexural/shear capacity with failure mechanism and
dynamic loading for finding the fatigue endurance. A computer simulation using the
software A TENA was performed in order to compare with respect to the static load test
results ofRC beams.
From the investigation of different results it was found that water-to-binder ratio
(w/b) played a vital role in both fresh and hardened states of concrete. By maintaining the
dosage of superplasticizers at optimum level as 3%; w/b can go as low as 0.25 with 10%
fly ash self compacting concrete (FASCC) whereas it can go as low as 0.35 with I 0%
Microwave Incinerated Rice Husk Ash (MIRHA) self compacting concrete. It is worthy
to note that if more than 80 MPa compressive strength of concrete is required at 28-days;
fly ash based SCC will be the optimized solution. If concrete production at 28 days
strength of 60 MPa and below is required, MIRHA SCC (MSCC) blended cement
concrete would be feasible A water-to-binder ratio between 0.25 to 0.37 and a
superplasticizers of 3% were found as the optimum values for producing high
performance SCC that satisfied the criteria of high strength, assurance of durability,


Recent work on audio-visual navigation targets a single static sound in noise-free audio environments and struggles to generalize to unheard sounds. We introduce the novel dynamic audio-visual navigation benchmark in which an embodied AI agent must catch a moving sound source in an unmapped environment in the presence of distractors and noisy sounds. We propose an end-to-end reinforcement learning approach that relies on a multi-modal architecture that fuses the spatial audio-visual information from a binaural audio signal and spatial occupancy maps to encode the features needed to learn a robust navigation policy for our new complex task settings. We demonstrate that our approach outperforms the current state-of-the-art with better generalization to unheard sounds and better robustness to noisy scenarios on the two challenging 3D scanned real-world datasets Replica and Matterport3D, for the static and dynamic audio-visual navigation benchmarks. Our novel benchmark will be made available at http://dav-nav.cs.uni-freiburg.de.


This paper explores how fincial market prices directly inflnce a firm's cash flows. Feedback from financial market prices to crash flows arises when firms' non-financial stakeholders, e.g., its customers, employees, and suppliers, make decisions that are contingent on the information revealed by the price. When there are complementarities across these stakeholders, such feedback leads to cascades in which relatively small stock price moves trigger substantial changes in asset values. The paper analyzes the relation between such feedback effects and parameters such as the cost of information acquisition, the volume of liquidity trading, the volatility of the value of existing projects, the risk aversion of liquidity suppliers, and the precision of managerial information releases.


A 31-year-old male was diagnosed with osteoblastic osteosarcoma of the talus. Limb-salvage surgery for talar osteosarcoma was performed by replacing the intact talus with a 3D-printed talar prosthesis made from medical-grade titanium. The prosthesis had 3 tunnels for simulating the ligaments around the talus. At the last follow-up, the functional and clinical outcomes were excellent. Our patient achieved 93% restoration of the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society functional score as well as a Toronto Extremity Salvage Score of 93 points, and there was no local recurrence or distant metastasis. A 3D-printed talar prosthesis showed excellent functional and clinical outcomes for a patient with osteosarcoma of the talus. A 3D-printed implant is a feasible option for patients with osteosarcoma of the foot.


It is with gratitude that I dedicate my work to the teacher, Ya.L. Tsivyan, who not only provided a subject for research, but also, on his own example of a person devoted to his work, brought up a generation of scholars for whom life and science are inseparable.The paper presents the results of many years of research on idiopathic scoliosis in the form of a report to the teacher. Several fundamental topics were considered:1) for the first time in world practice, it was established, on the basis of a study of 50 patients with idiopathic scoliosis, that the etiological factor of scoliosis is ectopic localization of neural crest derivatives, which are not genetically determined to chondrogenic differentiation and the growth process, in the vertebral body growth plate;2) a local disturbance of chondrogenesis in the  vertebral body growth plate  is the cause of the growth asymmetry and formation of spinal deformity in idiopathic scoliosis;3) the degree of structural changes in the spine and the prognosis of the deformity progression  depend on the level of disturbance of the morphogenetic processes in the vertebral body growth plate embedded in embryogenesis;4) it is supposed to confirm the proposed hypotheses by inhibition of the PAX3 gene in the chick embryo model of idiopathic scoliosis and to get answers to many more unclear questions concerning scoliotic disease.


Menopause is a period of permanent cessation of menstruation which can cause the production of the hormones estrogen, progesterone and testosterone to stop. Quality of life is influenced by several factors including age, education, work and husband's support. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between husband's support and the quality of life of postmenopausal women in RW 11, the target area of the Babakan Sari Public Health Center in Kiaracondong District. A cross sectional study design was used. The sample consisted of 42 women aged 45-59 years with the criteria of normal menopausal women with husbands, recruited using accidental sampling. The WHOQOL-BREF (WHO Quality of Life - BREF) instrument was used to collect data on the quality of life, and husband's support was measured using the Azwar questionnaire. Analyses included univariate analysis using frequency distributions and bivariate analysis using Spearman's rank. 76.2% of respondents received high support from their husbands and 29 respondents (69.0%) had a good quality of life. A significant relationship was found (p = 0.01, with a correlation coefficient of 0.409, indicating a moderate relationship). This study therefore showed that there was a relationship between husband's support and the quality of life of menopausal women in Kiaracondong District. So, it is very important for postmenopausal women to have the support of their husbands to improve and maintain their quality of life.
Keywords: husband's support, quality of life, menopause


The Stapleton Noise Insulation Program (SNIP) was initiated by the city and county of Denver, Colorado, to provide aircraft noise insulation modifications to owner-occupied homes within the 70Ldn (equivalent day-night sound level) contour and to schools and churches within the 65-Ldn contour of Stapleton International Airport. SNIP is not a part of an FAA Part 150 study, and such a study has not been completed on this airport. The project area includes approximately 3,936 homes, 22 churches, and 8 schools. The primary data base for homes in the study area was acquired from assessor's records. A data base program was used to sort and arrange the homes into distinct categories from which representative samples were selected for a detailed engineering survey-a total of 52 homes. Twenty-six of these homes were selected and used for preconstruction sound insulation testing, and 24 were used for preconstruction air infiltration testing. Because the construction funds available for this program limited expenditures to $7,500.00 per home, recommended sound insulation modifications developed from results of the detailed engineering survey were given priority to achieve the maximum sound insulation for the least cost. Two sample homes were completed as a part of the design phase. Before-and-after A-weighted acoustical tests show a 9to 17-dB improvement in exterior-to-interior noise reduction as a result of SNIP modifications.


Distal Chevron osteotomy is a well-established surgical procedure for mild to moderate hallux valgus deformity. Many methods have been described for fixation of osteotomy site; secure fixation, enabling large displacement of the metatarsal head, is one of the essentials of this procedure. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the short-term radiographic outcome of a distal Chevron osteotomy using an intramedullary plate for the correction of hallux valgus deformity. The present study evaluated 37 patients (40 feet) who underwent distal Chevron osteotomy using an intramedullary plate by periodic radiographs obtained preoperatively and at 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months postoperatively. Correction of the hallux valgus angle averaged 17.8°, intermetatarsal angle 7.4°, distal metatarsal articular angle 2.7°, and sesamoid position 1.4 stages at 3 months postoperatively. The average lateral shift of the capital fragment was 6.5 mm. All patients achieved bone union, and there were no cases of dislocation, displacement, or avascular necrosis of the metatarsal head fragment. In conclusion, a distal Chevron osteotomy using an intramedullary plate was a favorable method for the correction of mild to moderate hallux valgus deformity. Levels of Evidence: Level IV: Case series


This paper focuses on a single machine scheduling subject to machine deterioration with rate-modifying activities (RMA). The motivation for this study stems from the automatic-production line problem with one machine. The main question is to find the sequence in which jobs should be scheduled, how many maintenance activity (RMA) to use, if any, and where to insert them in the schedule during the time interval with optimal makespan objective. This problem is known to be NP-hard and we give concise analyses of the problem and provide polynomial time algorithms to solve the makespan problem. We also propose an algorithm which can be applied to some scheduling problems with the actual processing time of job nonlinearly based on its position. This paper focuses on a single machine scheduling subject to machine deterioration with rate-modifying activities (RMA). The motivation for this study stems from the automatic-production line problem with one machine. The main question is to find the sequence in which jobs should be scheduled, how many maintenance activity (RMA) to use, if any, and where to insert them in the schedule during the time interval with optimal makespan objective. This problem is known to be NP-hard and we give concise analyses of the problem and provide polynomial time algorithms to solve the makespan problem. We also propose an algorithm which can be applied to some scheduling problems with the actual processing time of job nonlinearly based on its position.


A convenient and sustainable method is demonstrated for the oxidative coupling of arylboronic acids with aryl carboxylic acids via C–O cross-coupling reaction catalyzed by the unsaturated coordination sites of copper present in the Cu3(BTC)2 MOF. Using air as an environment-friendly oxidant, the as-prepared Cu3(BTC)2 was employed in a MOF-based catalysis reaction with high efficiency and high chemoselectivity without the use of any external oxidants, ligands or additives. The present methodology avoids stoichiometric reagents and special reaction conditions, and shows excellent functional group tolerance with decent to excellent yields of aryl esters. The catalyst was found to exhibit high stability and reusability, without loss in activity even after several cycles, which was evident from the FT-IR, PXRD, and SEM characterizations of the reused catalyst.


The costs and benefits of introducing auto-identification are difficult to evaluate. The Return On Investment (ROI) may be calculated on manufacturing environments but in some service providing systems, like hospitals, it may be very hard and inaccurate to judge the relevance of a new configuration only through financial considerations. New information and communication technologies and devices appear rapidly. This study aims at quantifying the benefits of introducing new devices at different levels in a complex socio-technical system: a biobank (storage, transformation and exchanges of biological samples) using a discrete event dynamic systems simulation model as a quality measurement tool. After introducing the context, we will describe pertinent measurement possibilities adapted to the Supply Chain for Health services, and particularly to biobanks, and the way we implemented the simulation model used to get the results summarized in the last section, before concluding. The originalities of this paper are the process modeling, designed to be easily modified to test many different configurations and scenarios, and the quality indicators that are particularly adapted to health services.


The dynamics of formation of a nonlinear response of a double phase-conjugate (PC) BaTiO3 mirror is calculated. It is shown that because of competition between processes of different types (related to the presence of several PC channels, the local and nonlocal components of the photorefractive nonlinearity), the transient and dynamic lasing regimes for this mirror can be substantially different. It is found that the development of lasing begins with the successive formation and phasing of dynamic holograms of two different types (two PC channels). It is shown that even under optimal conditions, the lasing regime is not stationary due to competition between processes of different types, and the parameters of output fields fluctuate in time in a nontrivial way (due to the presence of the in-phase and out-of-phase components). Several scenarios of transition to the dynamic chaos are described.


In the world of micro-mechanical design of micro-sensors, up to date, there has not been substantial considerations
 given to the actual mechanical or structural aspect of the designs. Hence, most of the currently available designs are
 challenged to linearize the "non-linear" sensor's output by utilization of electronic circuitry. In this research work, a
 micro-pressure diaphragm which possess linear pressure-deflection behaviour is designed via FEM optimization
 techniques. The diaphragm is modelled as a Silicon (111) plane, which possess plane isotropic properties. A circular
 centre boss section is added to the diaphragm and optimization is carried out, to achieve an optimum diaphragm
 geometry that would allow for flat or rigid deflection of this boss section under the applied surface pressure loading.
 The approximate closed−form deflection solutions are developed using the anisotropic thin plate theory and the
 diaphragm deflection behaviour of the FEM optimized design is compared with this thin plate theory model. This
 diaphragm design is proposed to be used as the top electrode plate of a capacitive pressure sensor, where linear
 pressure-capacitance change behaviour would become present. This pressure diaphragm has a pressure range of 0
 to 206843 Pa (30 psi) with a pressure resolution of 689.5 Pa (0.1 psi).


Abstract The purpose of this paper is to investigate how learning style affects the performance of the 'working' customer in one self-service context – retail Self Check-Out Tills (SCOT). For the purposes of this paper, we have adopted the UK term Self Check-Out Tills (SCOT), also known as 'self-service registers' in other countries, to describe this form of self-service in retail stores). The study uses qualitative and quantitative data collected from users of retail SCOT. Initial exploratory factor analysis of 232 SCOT users revealed significant differences in learning styles. Three categories emerged: 'regular reassurance', 'motivated practice' and 'cautious discovery'. Customers adopting different learning styles varied in their perceptions of ability and enjoyment with SCOT, and in their capability of helping other customers with SCOT. The demographic make-up of customers adopting the different learning styles was also shown to vary. Previously, little has been done to identify the specific training needs of working customers. This research begins to address this knowledge gap.


In this talk the inter-limb coordination of elite and sub-elite swimmers are discussed with a view to informing coaches of the similarities and differences between these groups. In the past it has been reported that the inter-limb coordination should show an opposition mode, i.e. a propulsive continuity between the propulsion of one limb and those of the other limb, in order to minimize the intra-cyclic velocity variations. However, the research of our centre of research highlighted the fact that the inter-limb coordination mode adopted by the swimmers corresponds to three types of constraint defined by Newell (1986): organismic, task and environmental constraint. The skill level of the swimmers, the specialty, the gender, the handedness and the breathing laterality act as organismic constraints; the imposed race pace, the stroke frequency, the number of strokes, the breathing frequency and pattern could be consider as task constraints while the active drag and his correspondent velocity relate to the environmental constraints. Inter-limb coordination was found to vary from catch or glide coordination mode to superposition mode, showing that the opposition mode is only the best "theoretical" mode and the glide mode is not a technical mistake. Therefore it is advised for coaches to don't consider an ideal coordination mode in the absolute but to teach the swimmers in different ways when developing coordination. This talk presents new information based on recent scientific research conducted at the CETAPS. The variables of interest were: average swim speed, stroke length, stroke frequency, intra-cyclic velocity variations, breathing laterality, relative duration of arm and leg stroke phases, time gap between propulsive actions assessed by total time gap (TTG) in the simultaneous strokes and by index of coordination (IdC) in the alternate strokes. Interesting findings emerged that have implications for the both elite and sub-elite swimmers should be coached.


In September 2015, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) initiated the era of gravitational wave astronomy, a new window on the universe. In its first 4 months of operation, the Advanced LIGO instrument made the first, two direct detections of gravitational waves (ripples in the fabric of space-time). Each of these events were the result of merger of a pair of black holes into a single larger black hole. The first detected system consisted of two black holes of about 30 solar masses each which merged at a distance of 400 mega-parsecs or 1.4 billion years ago, revealing a new population of black holes. As of October 2017 five black hole mergers have been announced.

In August 2017, after some further improvements and commissioning, the LIGO and VIRGO collaborations announced the first direct detection of gravitational waves associated with a gamma ray burst and the electromagnetic emission (visible, infrared, radio) of the afterglow of a kilonova -- the spectacular collision of two neutron stars at a distance of 40 mega-parsecs. This marks the beginning of multi-messenger astronomy. The discovery was made using the U.S.-based LIGO; the Europe-based Virgo detector; and some 70 ground- and space-based observatories.

The Advanced LIGO gravitational wave detectors are second generation instruments designed and built for the two LIGO observatories in Hanford, WA and Livingston, LA. These two identically designed instruments employ coupled optical cavities in a specialized version of a Michelson interferometer with 4 kilometer long arms. Fabry-Perot cavities are used in the arms to increase the interaction time with a gravitational wave, power recycling is used to increase the effective laser power and signal recycling is used to improve the frequency response. In the most sensitive frequency region around 100 Hz, the displacement sensitivity is 10-22 meters rms, or about 10 million times smaller than a proton. In order to achieve this unsurpassed measurement sensitivity Advanced LIGO employs a wide range of cutting-edge, high performance technologies, including a ultra-high vacuum system; an extremely stable laser source; multiple stages of active vibration isolation; super-polished and ion milled, ultra-low loss, fused silica optics with high performance multi-layer dielectric coatings; wavefront sensing; active thermal compensation; very low noise analog and digital electronics; complex, nonlinear multi-input, multi-output control systems; and a custom, scalable and easily re-configurable data acquisition and state control system.


This paper deals with the problem of on-line identification of a class of single-input single-output time-invariant hybrid plant which can operate under bounded disturbances and/or unmodeled dynamics. An input-output model is first designed involving filtered signals for the hybrid plant from an initial state-space description. Such a model is simultaneously driven by the standard continuous-time input plus an extra signal. The extra input is composed for all time of a signal which involves the contribution of the input and output over a finite number of previous sampling instants plus a signal which involves the contribution of the weighted integral of the continuous-time input on a set of preceding sampling intervals. The above last driving signal is due to the existing couplings between the continuous-time and digital substates of the hybrid plant. A relative adaptation dead zone is used in the parameter estimation scheme whose role is the robust adaptive stabilization under uncertainties and bounded noise. The parametrical identification is asymptotically achieved in the absence of noise and unmodeled dynamics provided that the plant is controllable and exponentially stable and that the input satisfies a standard condition of persistence of excitation.


This paper considers rahn in classical fiqh with various opinions from Islamic schools of jurisprudence (madzhab). Here, one issue becoming debate among Moslem scholars is the use of mortgaged objects. Rahn is adopted by Islamic banking and becomes one of its services offered to the market. In practice, rahn appears as two different products. First, as a complementary product, that is additional transaction (guarantee/collateral) for other products such as ba'i al-murabahah financing. In this case, Islamic banks can detain debt-ors' mortgaged objects because of transaction. Second, as an independent product. In some Moslem countries including Malaysia, rahn has been being used as an alternative for the conventional pawnshop. Differing from that in conventional, in rahn debtors are not charged with interest. Instead, they are obliged to pay entrustment cost, conservancy cost, and custody cost, as well as appraisal cost. The main difference between such rahn costs and interest is, whereas interest can accumulate, costs of rahn can be paid once and speci-fied in advance. People interest toward conventional pawn service is exactly high because they had to get cash. This can be seen from the increase of pawnshop turnover from year to year. Rahn service is thus potential to be implemented and maximized. Logically, charged with high interest people still considering pawnshop as benefactor, much less Islamic banking with rahn service charging no interest. Hence, we are natural to optimistically introduce rahn service. Of course with manners and regulations that are free from the elements of riba.


Tuberculosis is very prevalent in countries like Pakistan. It can be a diagnostic challenge when it has extra pulmonary organ involvement. Variation in clinical signs and symptoms, lack of access to a specialist and limited financial resources often result in delayed diagnosis. This leads to an increase in overall morbidity and mortality. We are presenting a case of disseminated tuberculosis with predominant intestinal symptoms in an eleven years old boy. He remained undiagnosed for several years despite frequent visits to multiple general practitioners. After appropriate investigations and initiation of treatment for tuberculosis, he showed an excellent recovery.


Either of two different isomeric products can be selectively obtained by photochemical [2+2] cycloaddition of 1,4-bis[2-(4-pyridyl)ethenyl]-benzene within a porous coordination polymer (PCP). The cycloaddition product obtained depends on the temperature at which irradiation occurs. A rare temperature-induced phase transition alters the conformation of the photoactive ligand in the PCP, and thereby the positions at which cycloaddition occurs. We show that the multistimulus responsive nature of this particular PCP is due to the flexibility of the ligands employed.


A local version of the topological censorship theorem of Friedman, Schleich and Witt is obtained. The assumption of asymptotic flatness, in the sense of admitting a suitably well behaved null infinity, is replaced by a much milder approximate asymptotic flatness condition along the lines of Ellis' notion of finite infinity.


Objective: To investigate whether nitric oxide synthase (NOS) is expressed in T-cell-dependent liver injury initiated by concanavalin A (ConA) in Kunming mice and study the possible effect of nitric oxide(NO) on liver injury models. Methods: Liver injury in Kunming mice was induced by administration of ConA through tail vein. Expression of NOS in the liver was detected by NADPH diaphorase staining method. The possible effect of NO on liver injury models was obtained by L-NAME injection to suppress synthesis of NO. Results: NOS has a strong expression in hepatocytes after ConA injection, especially in those close to the central vein, while only a weak expression was found in the epithelial cells in control group. Liver injury became more serious when NO synthesis was inhibited by L-NAME, accompanied by great malondialdehyde(MDA) increase in serum and severe intrahepatic vascular thrombosis. Conclusion: NOS markedly expressed in ConAinduced liver injury, which may subsequently promote nitric oxide synthesis. Increasement of nitric oxide has a protective effect on ConA-induced liver injury.


Experience influence on treatment success of renal chronic failure by continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis comparatively to hemodialysis in center is estimated by the probability variation of still being in dialysis techniques. The retrospective study was realized in 276 dialysed patients who were taken over from 1972 to April 1989. In this population, there isn't any significant difference between the probability to stay in ambulatory peritoneal dialysis or in hemodialysis in center. But, if the study is realizing from the 4 years which followed the technique introduction in the center, the success probability at 30 months, remains the same for hemodialysis in center whether the technique has began in 1972 or 1976, whereas for continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis, this probability raises from 52% to 72% if it begins after 1982. Ambulatory peritoneal dialysis treated patients would be maintained more longer in their system than hemodialysis patients. Those results are explaining by prevention of the peritonitis thanks to technological progress and the early prevention of possible complications.


ln the techniques for obtaining impressions of edentulous mouths with zinc oxide - eugenol impression materials it is common procedure to add newly mixed material to the already hardened impression in order to improve or "correct" the impression. It was our purpose to find out about the retentive or "adhesive" qualities of the above mentioned "additions" to the hardened material. To obtain this information weused a tensile strenght test in which the "added" material remained in the geometrical center of the test samples. As a comparison, test samples were also used, without added material. Five of the most widely used zinc-oxide/eugenol impression materials in Brazil were utilized throughout the experiments. The results, presented through Graphs and Tables, were statistically analysed. The addition of newly mixed material to already hardened material caused a reduction in tensile strenght values in all live impression pastes. This reduction, however, was not significant in paste "C"; it was significant (.05) in pasle "A" and highly significant (.01) in pastes,"B", "D"and "E".


In 1929, H.C. Blodgett reported the results of a seminal maze learning experiment using rats. In that experiment, hungry rats ran in a complex maze but were not rewarded on reaching the goal box. Not surprisingly, the performance of the hungry rats did not improve over trials. However, with the introduction of reward, the error scores of the rats suddenly dropped to the level of the control rats that were rewarded from the outset. This finding indicates that the experimental group had learned the maze despite the absence of reward but that the learning was latent rather than manifest. With Blodgett's findings, the distinction between learning and performance became firmly established, if not as widely appreciated as it might be. Blodgett's (1929) early experimental finding of latent learning could well serve as a paradigm for the approach taken here. That is, we have emphasized the principle that a lack of performance does not necessarily indicate a lack of either learning or memory. This principle is much more than an empty admonition: We have shown it can have a firm theoretical basis, one that has been confirmed repeatedly by experiments cited throughout this paper. That is, it has been shown numerous times that a failure to perform either in a Pavlovian or instrumental learning task or to remember in an animal or human memory task under one set of conditions could be alleviated under another set of conditions. Forgetting was viewed here as a failure of performance resulting from the cues at test retrieving a memory other than the target memory or retrieving no memory at all. According to this view, memory involves discrimination learning. Essentially, memories are stored in the presence of an elaborate set of interoceptive and exteroceptive stimuli, a context. Whether at test the target memory is retrieved depends on how well the cues at test discriminate between the target memory and other memories. This approach suggests that forgetting does not occur: There is only a failure to perform because of a difference between the stimulus conditions prevailing at encoding and at test. It was demonstrated that this approach is at least as reasonable as that which suggests that true forgetting occurs, but certainly more useful. At least three advantages adhere to our view that memory is a discrimination problem. First, in almost numberless cases, it has been shown that failure of performance under one set of stimulus conditions can be alleviated under some other set of stimulus conditions. Second, the proposition that altered stimulus conditions are responsible for forgetting is one of wide generality. Thus, the altered stimulus conditions approach can serve as an explanation not only for various human memory findings but also for various animal memory and learning findings. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the present approach provides investigators with a powerful and proven working hypothesis. It tells us not to accept failures of performance as indicating an absence of learning or a loss of memory but rather to seek conditions favorable to improving performance, a strategy that should lead to a better fundamental understanding of memory and learning. This position is obviously a type of optimality theory, of which evolutionary theory is one of the more outstanding examples. In optimality theory, any deviation from some ideal state or condition prompts the investigator to seek the reasons for deviation. This approach may prove as successful when applied to learning and memory as it has to other areas of science.


Working for the Crown: German Migrants and Britain's Commercial Success in the Early Eighteenth-century American Colonies Relaxation in the movement of foreigners into Britain and the origins of the Foreign Protestants Naturalization Act of 1708 (7 Ann c 5) have been seen to lie in the arrival of religious refugees in England and the unsuitability of existing legislation to accommodate large numbers of foreigners. This paper proposes that trade and commercial interests in the American colonies promoted the cause of naturalisation by inciting German migration, causing Parliament to relax access to the domestic labour market and crucially allow German labour to be trafficked to the colonies. Reform was dictated by the needs of commerce and colonial enterprise, not just by politicians, courtiers and bureaucrats in London. The passing of the Naturalization Act (1708) and the subsequent General Naturalization Act (1709) both took advantage of European warfare and economic destruction, and were a direct response to the colonial needs to source continental labour. The Acts owed much to colonial Americans like Carolina Governor John Archdale who, like his co-religionist neighbour William Penn, acted in the interest of commerce and the colonial classes, broadening the base of non-Anglican access to the colonies. Opportunities afforded to German migrants in the American colonies, in particular, grew from this signal legislative change.


A financial analyst who can give accurate return predictions is highly valued. This study uses a unique data set comparing CNBC's Fast Money's 'March Madness' stock picks as a proxy for analysts' stock return predictions. With this data, set up as a tournament, the analysts pick both a winner and a loser. With the tournament structure, I find that these analysts have no superior ability to pick the winning stock in terms of frequency. However, I do find that taking a long/short portfolio of their picks yields an abnormal return.


Two parties that conduct a business transaction through the internet do not see each other face-to-face nor do they exchange any document or currency hand-to-hand. Electronic payment is a way by which the two parties transfer the money through internet. Offering electronic payment can also help businesses improve and customer retention. When electronic money is transferred from a buyer to a seller over telecommunication networks, accuracy and security is critical. Several systems have been developed to satisfy the basic requirement of E payment. Despite all these the integrity of payment and order information of online purchase is an important concern. With the online purchase the customer and merchant can not be assumed to be completely honest or they can act to change the either payment information or the order information. In this paper mathematical model is proposed which can be used to verify the integrity of payment and order information of online purchase. The model is based on third party verification which accepts two different messages from customer and merchant and verifies their integrity. The model is also analyzed on the two points when customer and merchant are not honest.


The issue of organized crime has different dimensions in criminal law because of the dangers it presents to society, the commitment of those involved to engage in criminal conduct, and the complexity and transnational character of the criminal organizations. To put it differently, the cases linked to criminal organizations must be handled differently than crimes not committed by a criminal organization. On one hand, fighting against organized crime has to be conducted in an effective way to protect public order and individuals and, on the other hand, the fundamental principles of law have to be ensured. To that point, it is important for the lawmaker to decide between politics and criminal law. First, the study will focus on what should be considered an illicit act punishable by criminal law and what the range of punishment should be. Next, whether or not the lawmaker may deviate from the prerequisites of criminal procedure by arguing that they fail to adequately deal with organized crime will be discussed. Last, the study will consider other issues such as, do we need a specific execution system. This study aims to show an outlook of legislation related to organized crime in Turkish criminal law by presenting the key statutes through the core analyses


Pursuit of the lowest size-limit of wireless sensor nodes may not only reduce power consumption and production cost, but also enables its layout-free ubiquitous applications, i.e., in our green sensor networks to compress energy consumption through visibility and optimization. In this paper, we engaged in developing the world smallest wireless sensor node with ultralow power consumption from both electrical block integration and physical interconnection points-of-view. A customized IC for signal processing and data transmission, which has universal interface to sensors and power management capability, was designed and then fabricated by using 0.18 μm 1.8 V/3.3 V 1P6M logic process. By introducing buried bump interconnection technology, we have successfully obtained one of the world's smallest wireless sensor nodes, as small as 3.9 mm × 3.9 mm × 3.5 mm, for humidity and temperature monitoring. The sensor node also features an general purpose interface, available for analog and digital sensors, and the ultrasmall footprint of above sensor node enables its layout-free distribution or integration inside other remote sensing systems. Although the adopted antenna size was 2 cm × 5 cm, its flexibility enables free attach to any curved surfaces. Experimental results demonstrated that besides preferred ultralow power consumption and data transmission distance, configuration of above sensor nodes enables its easy assembly with stand-alone power source and flexible antenna for wide variety of applications.


Several ways to embed q-deformed versions of the Heisenberg algebra into the classical algebra itself are presented. By combination of those embeddings it becomes possible to transform between q-phase-space and q-oscillator realizations of the q-Heisenberg algebra. Using these embeddings the corresponding Schrödinger equation can be expressed by various difference equations. The solutions for two physically relevant cases are found and expressed as Stieltjes Wigert polynomials.


A behavioural modelling framework with a dynamic travel strategy path choice approach is presented for unreliable multiservice transit networks. The modelling framework is especially suitable for dynamic run-oriented simulation models that use subjective strategy-based path choice models. After an analysis of the travel strategy approach in unreliable transit networks with the related hyperpaths, the search for the optimal strategy as a Markov decision problem solution is considered. The new modelling framework is then presented and applied to a real network. The paper concludes with an overview of the benefits of the new behavioural framework and outlines scope for further research.


The second in this series of articles looks at the problems of diagnosis in periodontology. This is an area that is often neglected in the routine examination of patients, but with the introduction of systems like CPITN the examination of patients with periodontal disease is becoming easier.


Common model selection criteria, such as $AIC$ and its variants, are based on in-sample prediction error estimators. However, in many applications involving predicting at interpolation and extrapolation points, in-sample error cannot be used for estimating the prediction error. In this paper new prediction error estimators, $tAI$ and $Loss(w_{t})$ are introduced. These estimators generalize previous error estimators, however are also applicable for assessing prediction error in cases involving interpolation and extrapolation. Based on the prediction error estimators, two model selection criteria with the same spirit as $AIC$ are suggested. The advantages of our suggested methods are demonstrated in simulation and real data analysis of studies involving interpolation and extrapolation in a Linear Mixed Model framework.


India is so vast that each of its regions is a land in its own right, with its own particular language, customs, religion and cultural traditions. Yet shared social systems, firmly grounded in religious beliefs, provide the cohesive force that unites over a billion people of different backgrounds. This volume takes the main religion of India and provides an insight into all aspects of Hindu life, both past and present. Some thousand entries act as a key to topics including the history of Hinduism, its mythology, art, architecture, religion, laws and folklore. Based on scholarly research, the development of Hinduism is presented from its ancient manifestations in local cults and epic poems to modern-day festivals and customs worldwide. The complex relationship between the multitude of gods, goddesses and semi-divine beings is brought to light in the articles on religion and mythology, while its rich imagery is revealed in the entries on architecture, sculpture, painting, dance and theatre. Food and etiquette, the caste system, Ayrvedic medicine, love and marriage and contemporary practices are a few of the topics explored. The maps and entries on the principal cities and places of pilgrimage in India contained in this volume, as well as the concise chronology and list of principal dynasties, allow the reader to gain a clear overview of the geography, history, languages and continuing vibrant religious and cultural traditions of the Hindu heritage.


MONITORING OF RURAL water supply systems in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, showed average unaccounted-for water (UAW) levels, sometimes loosely called water losses, of 60%, which were having financially detrimental effects on these, and other, projects. Despite a regulatory requirement for the Water Services Authorities (WSAs) to manage UAW, there was little guidance on rural UAW management. What follows is an outline of the developed UAW management programme procedure, from an MSc research project that comprised four months' work with two rural communities in KwaZulu Natal; Montebello and Emayelisweni. These communities had fully metered yard tap water supply systems managed through local water committees with support from Partners in Development, a local development engineering consultancy, Umgeni Water, the regional water utility and project Implementing Agent, and the Ilembe District Municipality (the WSA). Table 1 shows the UAW levels within the four month period of the research. UAW levels will vary month by month and an accurate assessment is only valid with at least 12 months' data. High percentages are due to low consumption levels, and highlight the sensitivity of rural projects to relatively low volumes of UAW. Volume/tap/day can be understood at a community level and translating these figures into financial equivalents helps to motivate UAW management. The South African Code of Practice (SABS, 1999) prefers the term specific loss, Qsl, in l/km/hr. This term will be useful to Water Service Authorities (WSAs) when comparing different systems but is unlikely to be understood at rural community levels. The management systems developed used litre/tap/day. It can be seen that the community level staff have taken ownership of the UAW programme at Emayelisweni, with UAW stable at low levels. The viability of the neighbouring Montebello scheme, however, is much less affected by water losses, and this may partly explain why there has been little if any improvement in UAW there. Montebello has also been adversely affected by several staff changes, and so retraining in UAW management is now required.