In the preface to this book, the editors state: Surgeons recognize that technical or bioengineering advances have been accompanied by striking progress in the development and application of old and new drugs that can be used to protect ocular tissues from trauma. The contributors to this volume wish to convey and consolidate this new knowledge for the ophthalmic surgeon. New information about the relationship of anesthesia, analgesia, antibiotics, and anti-inflammatory drugs to the eye patient as well as to the operating specifics of irrigating solutions, gases, and other useful drugs have been organized and are presented here in an effort to prevent, ameliorate, and treat damage done to the eye in the course of surgery. There are 37 contributors, most of whom are leaders in their field, with a total of 29 chapters. On the whole, these individuals and their contributions meet the goals set by the editors. The book


Drinking, but not alcohol-dependent, 18-29-year-old daughters of alcoholics (n = 38) from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism were compared to 75 family-history-positive (FHP) men from the same families, and 68 family-history-negative (FHN) male controls. Subjects received 0.75 ml/kg of ethanol (for women), 0.9 ml/kg of ethanol (for men), and placebo, each of which was consumed over 8 min on different occasions. The breath-alcohol concentrations (BrAC) and reactions to alcohol [using the Subjective High Assessment Scale (SHAS) and body sway measures] were evaluated over 210 min. The results indicate that, despite slightly higher BrAC values for the FHP men, on the SHAS the FHP women and the FHP men demonstrated significantly lower scores than the FHN male controls, although the values for FHP men and women did not differ. On body sway, the FHP men showed evidence of less alcohol-related increases than FHN men, and there was a trend in the same direction for FHP women, but only early in the session (e.g. at 60 min). Pilot data for 11 FHN women revealed higher scores for both SHAS and body sway at 60 min, compared to FHP women, but, perhaps reflecting the small number of subjects, the family history differences were not significant. Overall, the results in FHP women resemble those for FHP men, and suggest that a low level of response to alcohol might also be a characteristic of daughters of alcoholics.


Speed skates are the most important part of equipment of a speed skater, where weight, rocker and bend are just a few characteristics that are to a high degree individualized. This poses a challenge for any type of research in speed skating where forces have to be measured in a reliable manner. For this purpose, a 5 degrees of freedom (DoF) instrumented speed skate (VU-Skate) has been designed and validated, weighing only 130 gram extra. Skaters use their own blades and shoes, something skaters are very keen on. A calibration tool has been developed to calibrate the 5 DoF. The quality of the data has been validated in 2 ways: 1. With the use of force plates and 2. By comparing the signals to another (also newly developed) Ultra-light Forces sensor. The results are remarkably good. This is the first step in being able to measure power continuously during each stroke.


The radial immunodiffusion(RI), was used to study F. M. D. viruses, type A. It was found that the specific linkage between F. M. D. antigens and antibodies could be demonstrated through RI with the formation of precipitation circles. It was demonstrated that specific reactions were produced when homologus or heterologus antigens and sera of one and the same F. M. D. virus type interacted. The size of the precipitation circles proved inversely proportional to the concentration of antibodies in the homologous systems. It was also established that RI could be made use of in the demonstration of some subtype differences between the F. M. D. antigens of type A. Discussed is the problem of RI sensitivity as well as the possibility of using this technique for the early diagnosis of the F. M. D. infection and the study of the F. M. D. viruses.


Abstract Glaciers are an important element of the environment in the source regions of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers on the Tibetan Plateau. Using Geographical Information System techniques, we have studied changes in the location of glacier margins in two areas: the Geladandong area in the headwaters of the Yangtze, and the A'nyêmaqên Shan mountains in the headwaters of the Yellow River. Marginal positions during the Little Ice Age (LIA) maximum, in 1969 in the Geladandong area, in 1966 in the A'nyêmaqên Shan, and in 2000 in both areas, were determined using aerial photographs, satellite images, topographical maps and digital elevation models. Extrapolating the results to the entire source regions of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers, we estimate that the total glacierized area decreased about 1.7% between 1969 and 2000 in the Geladandong area and about 17% between 1966 and 2000 in the A'nyêmaqên Shan. Glaciers were stable or advanced slightly between 1969 and 1995 in the Geladandong area, and between 1966 and 1981 in the A'nyêmaqên Shan, but have retreated since the mid-1990s in the former and since the 1980s in the latter. Significant increases in summer air temperature and decreases in annual precipitation are the causes of the present retreat. As a consequence of the retreat, water storage, as ice, in the Yangtze and Yellow river drainages is decreasing by 65–70 × 106 m3 a−1.


ABSTRACT In the urban, modern world, most people lack anything they can call 'community', a 'commons', a WE. They are fully individualized. Formatted by the school and all forms of education to accommodate themselves into a competitive, individualistic world, they acutely suffer the consequences of the current collapses, climatic and institutional. Many of them are falling into conditions of extreme misery and deprivation. Even those in better conditions, with a guaranteed income and a good job, are affected by the current plague, as isolation and divisiveness rage violently around them, driven by Global Fear. It is a divisiveness of ancient hatreds converging with modern ones, feeding their capacities for despair. We ask: how to heal from these illnesses exacerbated by COVID-19 times? This essay explores hospitality as the antidote to globalized fear. It explores the art of organizing hope, drawing upon the courageous autonomous efforts of BIPOC around the world. Through acts of radical hospitality, flowering into friendship, ways of embracing radical differences are revealed, warmly and kindly hosting the otherness of the other.


Why study signs? This perennial question of philosophy is answered in the 20th century by the science of semiotics. An animal's cry, poetry, the medical symptom, media messages, language disorders, architecture, marketing, body language - all these, and more, fall within the sphere of semiotics. Introducing Semiotics outlines the development of sign study from its classical precursors to contemporary post-structuralism. Through Paul Cobley's text and Litza Jansz's illustrations, this seminal introduction identifies the key semioticians and their work and explains the simple concepts behind difficult terms. For anybody who wishes to know why signs are crucial to human existence and how we can begin to study systems of signification, this book is the place to start.


We study the stretched membrane of a black hole as consisting of a perfect fluid. We find that the pressure of this fluid is negative and the specific heat is also negative. A surprising result is that if we are to assume the fluid to be composed of some quanta, then the dispersion relation of the fundamental quantum is E = m(2)/k, with m at the scale of the Planck mass. There are two possible interpretations of this dispersion relation. One is the noncommutative spacetime on the stretched membrane and the other is that the fundamental quanta are microscopic black holes.


The Fine-blanking with negative clearance processing is very complicated process because the blanking clearance is negative clearance, for this reason, the state of stress and strain in sheet inside are also more complicated than conventional blanking. In the process of fine-blanking with negative, plastic deformation of the material is fiercer than conventional blanking, and the change of material inner structure and hardness is more intense because of plastic deformation. The deformation principle of fine-blanking deformation with negative clearance is analyzed by means of streamline and metallographic photograph and micro hardness. The impact of fine-blanking with negative clearance on the materials microstructure and hardness is discussed. The research result indicates that the hardening value is 1.8 times than original material itself and the maximum harden depth is 2.2mm for AISI-1045 steel in the process of blanking with negative clearance. Therefore, it could enhance fatigue strength and the working life of workpiece greatly because of the improvement of the material inner structure.


An effective field theory exists describing a very large class of biophysically interesting Coulomb gas systems: the lowest order (mean-field) version of this theory takes the form of a generalized Poisson-Boltzmann theory. Interaction terms depend on details (finite-size effects, multipole properties, etc). Convergence of the loop expansion holds only if mutual interactions of mobile charges are small compared to their interaction with the fixed-charge environment, which is frequently not the case. Problems with the strongly-coupled effective theory can be circumvented with an alternative local lattice formulation, with real positive action. In realistic situations, with variable dielectric, a determinant of the Poisson operator must be inserted to generate correct electrostatics. Methods adopted from unquenched lattice QCD do this very efficiently.


The objective of this work is to assess the effect of noise and parameterisation on the performance of the stochastic time lapse inversion. To do so, a noise-free synthetic dataset created for a feasibility study of an actual CO2 sequestration project (CO2CRC Otway Project) was inverted and used as a baseline. Noise (random and coherent) was added to the seismic data, input parameters changed and the results were compared with the baseline case. The findings for wrong parameterisation cases were very encouraging and consistent with the theory. When random noise was added to the input seismic data the algorithm was able to recover the true model within an acceptable margin of error. However, addition of coherent noise affected the inversion result significantly. Only when the root-mean-square (RMS) amplitude level was comparable to the one in the difference volume the algorithm was able to actually differentiate the noise from the signal. These findings support the idea of a careful processing to avoid coherent noise and a judicious interpretation when it is unavo idable. Finally a new indicator was developed to calculate the improvement in detectability after the input of new data using the stochastic time lapse inversion.


Summary: Restoring function after traumatic defects of the palm is a reconstructive challenge, considering the need for flexible, elastic, and resistant skin. Dermal skin substitutes are biologically engineered materials composed of collagen and glycosaminoglycan, devoid of cellular structures. These biodegradable materials act as artificial dermis and stimulate neovascularization: they have been used for many years, mainly on the dorsal side of the hand and fingers, whereas the palmar side of the hand has been generally addressed by local flaps. In this study, we described our experience with dermal skin substitutes in two cases of palmar defects associated with exposed tendinous structures. Coverage of palmar defects in hand and fingers with dermal substitute and split thickness skin graft was performed on two patients. Both patients presented palmar-only loss of tissue (traumatic palmar amputation in the first patient and degloving-type injury in the second patient). Range of motion, functional outcomes, and satisfaction and aesthetical results were evaluated. The resulting skin showed good quality, thickness, pliability, and Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) score. Additionally, the patients regained full range of motion and reported high satisfaction. The association of split thickness skin graft with dermal substitutes in palmar traumatic hand showed optimal functional and aesthetic outcomes. Although being more adapted to dorsal loss of substance, collagen-based dermal substitutes can also be useful reconstructive tools in palmar defects with exposed structures and could be used to a larger extent in the future.


The Office of Security Evaluations (OSE) of the Department of Energy (DOE) is charged with evaluating the effectiveness of DOE safeguards and security programs and policies. This responsibility has been met by performing inspections on a fixed frequency at intervals established in 1984 by precedent. In the face of limited resources, and considering the major improvements in safeguards and security throughout the complex, one must now establish inspection frequencies on a more analytical basis. To satisfy this need a methodology has been developed for scheduling inspections at variable frequencies. Here inspection frequency of a facility is determined by (a) the facility's relative ranking based on risk management considerations, and (2) the resources available for inspection. A facility's relative rank in an inspection priority list of DOE facilities is based on a parameter which is a function of threat, vulnerability, and consequences (TVC). In addition to prioritizing facilities, inspection topics for a given facility can be established using the methodology.


Monthly mean-sea levels for a period of five years computed from the automatic tide-gauge records were analysed. A seasonal trend in the mean-sea level with low values during the south-west monsoon and high values in the fair weather period were observed. An assessment of the factors responsible for these variations was made through an application of hydrodynamic equations. The predominant factors controlling the seasonal variation in the mean-sea level appeared to be coastal currents and water density. The direct effect of the wind appeared to be relatively insignificant from the analysis


High angular resolution observations play a decisive role for our understanding of high mass star formation processes, both within our Galaxy and in extragalactic starburst regions. We take the Galactic starburst template NGC 3603 as paradigm and report here on high angular resolution JHKsL' observations of the enigmatic, highly reddened sources IRS 9A—C in the NGC 3603 region, which were performed with NACO at ESO's Very Large Telescope Yepun. These broad-band imaging data strongly support the classification of IRS 9A-C as high mass protostellar candidates. We also confirm unambiguously the membership of IRS 9A-C with the NGC 3603 region as gas and dust is seen to be stripped off from their circumstellar envelopes by strong stellar winds, originating from the high mass main sequence stars of the nearby OB cluster. The orientation of these gas and dust streamers coincides with that of a very faint, only marginally detected mini-pillar protruding from the adjacent molecular clump NGC 3603 MM 2. The L' data show extended envelopes around IRS 9A-C and reveal sub-structures therein which are indicative for non-spherically distributed material. It seems obvious that protostellar mass outflows are at work to clear cavities along the polar axes of the central protostar, and / or that circumstellar disks are taking shape.


The Australian brushtail possum is a pest in New Zealand, as it has caused the decline of a number of native bird species and has become the greatest barrier to the eradication of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) from livestock. As such, possum populations are reduced (i.e., controlled) at a cost of millions of dollars every year. Yet, control is still timely, costly, and not always 100% effective. Behavioral changes in possums have the potential to substantially affect the ability to control possum populations. For example, it is currently unknown whether possums change their behavior, such as den-site use, following control. How possums use dens is an important consideration in controlling bTB, as dens are a potential infection reservoir for both possums and livestock. Knowledge of any changes in den-site use may allow the design of more targeted and efficient control operations that identify potential increases in transmission risk. To investigate changes in den use due to control, possums were fitted with VHF devices, and were tracked to their den sites before and after a control operation that killed approximately 54% of the adult population. The total number of dens they used and the number of times they changed dens were recorded. Density reduction resulted in an increase in the number of times possums changed dens. However, den use was more strongly influenced by the sex of an individual, with males changing their dens more often than females. Density reduction did not appear to result in a change in the number of dens used. Instead, this behaviour was also largely driven by the sex of an individual, with males using more dens than females. This potential increase in transmission risk does not mean that control strategies should not be undertaken, but that managers should keep in mind the likely responses of possums to control and adapt their strategies accordingly. For example, control measures may need to be targeted towards those individuals that use more dens, such as males. This research also further highlights the need for efficient control that reduces populations to very low densities, to negate this potential increase in


Background Ultrasonography (US) is useful method in visualizing of salivary glands abnormalities in patients (pts) with primary Sjogren's syndrome (pSS). According to previous studies, parenchymal inhomogeneity in salivary glands is the most relevant sonographic sign in pSS (1-3). However, assesment of inter-observer agreement is needed. Objectives To evaluate the inter-observer agreement between 5 observers (3 experienced, 2 unexperienced) in US assessment of inhomogeneity of salivary glands in pts with suspected pSS and healthy subjects Methods Twenty-four pts with suspected pSS (all female, mean age 50.2±11.2, range 22 to 74) and eight healthy subjects (all female, mean age 48.6±10.4, range 23 to 62) were recruited from clinic patients and medical staff of Institute of Rheumatology, Belgrade, Serbia. Informed consent was obtained from all the subjects and the study was approved by the ethics committee. Esaote My Lab 70 ultrasound machine with a 4-13 MHz linear array transducer was used for the US examination of salivary glands. In each subjects, 2 parotid and 2 submandibular glands were examined independently by 5 ultrasound investigators blinded for clinical findings. Homogeneity of salivary glands were evaluated in accordance with 4-grade system: Grade 0– homogenious punctiform pattern isoechogenic to normal thyroid gland; Grade 1–mild inhomogeinety without focal hypo/anechoic rounded areas; Grade 2–moderate inhomogeinety with or without small focal hypo/anechoic rounded areas; Grade 3–severe inhomogeinety without or with focal hypo/anechoic rounded areas occupaing whole crossection of a gland. Grade 2 and 3 were considered pathological. Data were analysed using SPSS version 16.0. Interobserver agreement was calculated by the weighted kappa (κ)-statistics. A κ-value of <0.20 was considered poor agreement, 0.21-0.40 fair, 0.41–0.60 moderate, 0.61–0.80 good and 0.81–1.00 excellent (4). Results A total of 128 salivary glands (64 parotid glands and 64 submandibular glands in 32 subjects) were examined by each of 5 observers. Multirater kappa agreement with 95% CI for right parotid glands was good 0.79 (0.68-0.87, p=0.000). The percentage of agreement observed for right parotid glands were in range from 59.3% to 84.3%. The weighted kappa for left parotid glands was excellent 0.810 (0.71-0.89, p=0.000). The percentage of agreement observed for left parotid glands was in range from 56.2% to 87.5%. Similar to right parotid glands, multirater kappa agreement for right and left submandibular glands were good, 0.71 (0.57-0.82, p=0.000) and 0.73 (0.60-0.84, p=0.000) respectively. The percentage of agreement observed for right and left submandibular glands was in range from 37.52 to 78.1% and 40.6 to 84.3% respectively. Conclusions Our 4-grade system of US assessment of parenchymal inhomogeneity of salivary glands showed good to excellent inter-observer agreement in pts with suspected pSS. Thus, US is a reliable method for objective evaluation of salivary glands. References Cornec D, Jousse – Joulin S, Pers et al. Arthritis Rheum. 2013; 65 (1): 216-25. Salaffi F, Carotti M, Iagnocco A, et al. Rheumatology 2008;47:1244-49. Milic VD, Petrovic PP, Boricic IV, et al. Scand J Rheumatol 2010;39:160-6. Landis JR, Koch GG. Biometrics 1977;33:159-74. Disclosure of Interest None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.3679


Background: Drug addiction is a major public health and socioeconomic problems worldwide that annoy the Egyptian government, as it deals with younth within the age of productivity. Aim of the Work: To assess drug abuse among Zagazig University students, also to identify the most common abused drug among them. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted on 750 students in Zagazig University during the period from the beginning of November 2015 to the end of November 2016,after taken consent . Data of the students were taken from the questionnaire filled by students and the results of screening urine samples. Results: The prevalence of smoking among all studied students was 16.81% and strongly related to gender as in total males 26.1% were current smokers while in total females only 1.4%; while, the prevalence of abusing alcohols was 6% of all studied students and all of them were males. The prevalence of drug abuse was 7.41% among all studied students. The most abused drug was tetrahydrocannabinol (3.9%) followed by tramadol (1.9%) then benzodiazepines (0.67%), while, opium and barbiturates each one of them (0.47%). Polydrug users were about 18% which were only males .The tramadol was the commonest drug to use in polydrug users. Conclusion: Drug abuse in Zagazig university students is very serious problem damaging the youth and the community. Recommendation: Future longitudinal studies should be conducted to investigate the risk factors of drug abuse and suggest the use of urine analysis for drugs of abuse for all students before joining the university.


[reaction: see text] Both unsaturated proline derivatives and optically active tryptophan analogues have been obtained via Pd-catalyzed cyclization of aniline-containing acetylenic amino acids. The side chain length of the cyclization precursor determines which one of the two possible products will be formed.


This paper presents an approach to motion planning for left-invariant kinematic systems defined on the six-dimensional frame bundles of symmetric spaces of constant cross-sectional curvature. A covering map is used to convert the original differential equation into two coupled equations each evolving on a three-dimensional Lie group. These lower dimensional systems lend themselves to a minimal global representation that avoids singularities associated with the use of exponential coordinates. Open-loop and closed-loop kinematic control problems are addressed to demonstrate the use of this mapping for analytical and numerical motion planning methods. The approach is applied to a spacecraft docking problem using two different types of actuation: 1) a fully actuated continuous low-thrust propulsion system; and 2) an underactuated single impulsive thruster and reaction wheel system.


Mushroom polysaccharides are edible polymers that have numerous reported biological functions; the most common effects are attributed to β-glucans. In recent years, it became apparent that the less abundant α-glucans also possess potent effects in various health conditions. Here we explore several Pleurotus species for their total, β and α-glucan content. Pleurotus eryngii was found to have the highest total glucan concentrations and the highest α-glucans proportion. We also found that the stalks (stipe) of the fruit body contained higher glucan content then the caps (pileus). Since mushrooms respond markedly to changes in environmental and growth conditions, we developed cultivation methods aiming to increase the levels of α and β-glucans. Using olive mill solid waste (OMSW) from three-phase olive mills in the cultivation substrate. We were able to enrich the levels mainly of α-glucans. Maximal total glucan concentrations were enhanced up to twice when the growth substrate contained 80% of OMSW compared to no OMSW. Taking together this study demonstrate that Pleurotus eryngii can serve as a potential rich source of glucans for nutritional and medicinal applications and that glucan content in mushroom fruiting bodies can be further enriched by applying OMSW into the cultivation substrate.


Many software developers know the feeling of desperately debugging a program only to discover after a sleepless night that the error stemmed from copy-pasted code segments that had become inconsistent in subsequent editing. The problems arising from copied code are not new, and many researchers have investigated how to automatically find copied code segments. Given the extensive use of copy-paste operations and their tendency to cause inconsistencies, there is clearly a pressing need to rethink current editor programs. One solution is to replace cut, copy, and paste with operations that correspond directly to the intended semantics behind their use. With these operations, the user can specify semantic relationships among copied objects, and the editor program can use that information to help in the long-term support of those relationships. It would thus avoid the inconsistencies that currently arise from the use of cut, copy, and paste


The development of a more reliable method of measuring the wind field upstream of a turbine (light detection and ranging) has enabled the implementation of feedforward-related control strategies to enhance the control performance of wind turbines. By incorporating wind speed measurements, the controller is able to anticipate upon future events and thereby improve structural load mitigation and power regulation of the wind turbine. This work aims to experimentally verify the benefits of using predictive and feedforward-based control strategies over industry standard control solutions. To achieve this, both a feedforward and a model predictive control strategy are presented, which have been validated on an experimental wind turbine in a wind tunnel. Both the model predictive controller and feedforward algorithm have shown superior performance over a baseline controller in terms of rotor speed regulation under wind speed disturbances. The experiment confirmed that a phase advantage in the control input of the predictive controller led to this performance increase. It has also been found that knowledge of just the current wind speed can already significantly increase the control performance. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Introduction: Severe preeclampsia is one of the most serious pathologies during pregnancy, with heavy morbidity and maternal-fetal mortality. The aim of our study was to help improve the management of severe preeclampsia.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analytical study from 1st September 2015 to 30th August 2016, at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of the Hopital communautaire of Bangui. The study population was pregnant and parturient patients with severe pre-eclampsia.
Results: Out of 4021 registered cases, 41 met the inclusion criteria, with a prevalence of 1.0%. The primiparous were the most represented (48.8%). Magnesium sulfate was the most used as an anticonvulsant (70.7%) and dihydralazine was the most used for the High Blood Pressure (HBP). The main complications of pre-eclampsia were eclampsia (29.3%) and acute renal failure (19.5%). Overall, maternal mortality was 9.8% and perinatal mortality was 31.7%.
Conclusion: The complications of severe preeclampsia are common in our study. The maternal and fetal prognosis remains a concern. Hence, we suggest early screening of pre-eclampsia symptoms during prenatal consultations to improve pregnancy outcome.


Meet the Wilcoxes, Marvin and Pamela. Marvin and Pamela were investors in a Ponzi scheme1 operated by Marsha Schubert, who defrauded investors out of more than $9 million. Instead of investing participants' money legitimately, Schubert would use the money to pay out "profits" to other participants. These "prof its" were solely the product of the Ponzi scheme—there were no legitimate profitable investments. The Wilcoxes benefited from the scheme, in the form of purported profits, to the tune of $500,000.2 The Oklahoma Department of Securities brought a state court action against the Wilcoxes and others who had ben efited from the Ponzi scheme, alleging that they were liable for unjust enrichment and arguing that they should be required to disgorge any profits they received from the scheme. The state court ruled in favor of the Department of Securities and ordered the Wilcoxes to repay those funds.3 After the state court ruled in favor of the Department of Securities, the Wilcoxes filed a


Studies indicate that rapid sequential movements are preprogrammed and that preprogramming increases with complexity, but more complex sequences that require on-line programming have seldom been studied. The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether on-line programming occurs in a 7-target sequence in which there is a unique target constraint and if so, to determine how different task constraints affect the distribution of additional programming. Subjects contacted seven targets with a hand-held stylus as quickly as possible while maintaining a 90% hit rate. Initiation- and execution-timing patterns and movement kinematics were measured to determine when the additional programming took place. Results indicated that additional programming occurred before initiation and during movement to the first target when the constraint required more spatial accuracy (small target). A different type of unique target (a triple hit of one target) caused the additional programming to occur on-line one or two segments before its execution. Different positions of the unique target also affected timing patterns. Results were discussed in terms of: (1) capacity of processing; (2) control of movement variance; and (3) mean velocity as a programmed parameter in sequential aiming movements.


The dose constraint during prostate intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) optimization should be patient-specific for better rectum sparing. The aims of this study are to suggest a novel method for automatically generating a patient-specific dose constraint by using an experience-based dose volume histogram (DVH) of the rectum and to evaluate the potential of such a dose constraint qualitatively. The normal tissue complication probabilities (NTCPs) of the rectum with respect to V%ratio in our study were divided into three groups, where V%ratio was defined as the percent ratio of the rectal volume overlapping the planning target volume (PTV) to the rectal volume: (1) the rectal NTCPs in the previous study (clinical data), (2) those statistically generated by using the standard normal distribution (calculated data), and (3) those generated by combining the calculated data and the clinical data (mixed data). In the calculated data, a random number whose mean value was on the fitted curve described in the clinical data and whose standard deviation was 1% was generated by using the 'randn' function in the MATLAB program and was used. For each group, we validated whether the probability density function (PDF) of the rectal NTCP could be automatically generated with the density estimation method by using a Gaussian kernel. The results revealed that the rectal NTCP probability increased in proportion to V%ratio, that the predictive rectal NTCP was patient-specific, and that the starting point of IMRT optimization for the given patient might be different. The PDF of the rectal NTCP was obtained automatically for each group except that the smoothness of the probability distribution increased with increasing number of data and with increasing window width. We showed that during the prostate IMRT optimization, the patient-specific dose constraints could be automatically generated and that our method could reduce the IMRT optimization time as well as maintain the IMRT plan quality.


accompanying sketch showing the faults of other syringes. rn this illustration the gonorrhceal matter should be observed pushed back down the urethra by the imperforate bulb, and the injection fluid flying in the opposite direction, retiring as it were before the enemy, leaving the gonococci masters of the situation. In the first illustration the gonorrheeal matter should be observed in front of the bulb; in the second, the new syringe in action sluicing out the urethra. The length of the pipe allows the nozzle to get well beyond the seat of the disease, and the size of the reservoir allows of a good douche. Also, there is no forcing of the injection into the urethra accompanied by painful compression of the glans with the finger as with the old glass instrument.


The conductances of two typical metallic graphene nanoribbons with one and two defects are studied using the tight binding model with the surface Green's function method. The weak scattering impurities, U ∼ 1 eV, induce a dip in the conductance near the Fermi energy for the narrow zigzag graphene nanoribbons. As the impurity scattering strength increases, the conductance behavior at the Fermi energy becomes more complicated and depends on the impurity location, the AA and AB sites. The impurity effect then becomes weak and vanishes with the increase in the width of the zigzag graphene nanoribbons (150 nm). For the narrow armchair graphene nanoribbons, the conductance at the Fermi energy is suppressed by the impurities and becomes zero with the increase in impurity scattering strength, U > 100 eV, for two impurities at the AA sites, but becomes constant for the two impurities at the AB sites. As the width of the graphene nanoribbons increases, the impurity effect on the conductance at the Fermi energy depends sensitively on the vacancy location at the AA or AB sites.


Coagulation factors are known to play a role in wound healing by stimulating fibroblasts and might be associated with tissue fibrosis, however, only limited data exist. Protease-activated receptor 1 (PAR1), activated by thrombin or factor (F) Xa, and PAR2, activated by FXa, have recently been reported to play roles not only in the coagulation system, but also in cardiac fibrosis. Furthermore, a previous report found that FX deficiency in mice led to the development of cardiac fibrosis. Therefore, in the present study, we evaluated cellular biological function under conditions of overexpressed thrombin and FXa in fibroblasts.Cell migration and proliferation with FXa (1U/mL) and thrombin (1U/mL) stimulation were evaluated. Cells incubated without FXa or thrombin were used as control. H2O2 and TGF-β1 production were measured using ELISA. Signal pathways were evaluated using a signal pathway reporter assay.Cell migration and proliferation were increased in FXa-stimulated cells (4.1-fold increase for migration, 1.3-fold for proliferation compared with control, respectively) and thrombin (4.1-fold increase for migration, 1.3-fold for proliferation as compared to control, respectively). H2O2 production was higher in FXa-stimulated cells compared to thrombin (1.3-fold increase) and control cells (1.4-fold increased). TGF-β1 production was up-regulated after FXa addition (12.6-fold increase compared with thrombin, 1.8-fold increase compared with control, respectively). In FXa-stimulated cells, AP-1 and NF-kB were increased compared to control (P < 0.05).These data suggest that FXa and thrombin play important roles in the fibrotic process that could also lead to cardiac fibrosis, and that at least some of these signalings are more accelerated with FXa compared to thrombin.


The aim of this review was to explore existing evidence from studies conducted on humans and summarize the mechanisms of action of dietary polyphenols on vascular health, blood pressure and hypertension. There is evidence that some polyphenol-rich foods, including berry fruits rich in anthocyanins, cocoa and green tea rich in flavan-3-ols, almonds and pistachios rich in hydroxycinnamic acids, and soy products rich in isoflavones, are able to improve blood pressure levels. A variety of mechanisms can elucidate the observed effects. Some limitations of the evidence, including variability of polyphenol content in plant-derived foods and human absorption, difficulty disentangling the effects of polyphenols from other dietary compounds, and discrepancy of doses between animal and human studies should be taken into account. While no single food counteracts hypertension, adopting a plant-based dietary pattern including a variety of polyphenol-rich foods is an advisable practice to improve blood pressure.


At a time of a crucial decision making to their future many young people choose to step back from it and travel, explore the world, volunteering, learning about other cultures, postponing those decisions. In the moment between finish high school and enter higher education, they choose to take a Gap Year. Give the dimension of this experience and the moment in life it is made, maybe one's can assume that the Gap Year boosts significantly the development of young people. This is the phenomenon that we intend to understand with this paper.


A model experiment for teaching in order to obtain an equation of state for a two-dimensional system of hard particles is presented. The simulation has been performed using a developed molecular dynamics method. The virial equation of state is calculated and compared with the statistical equation of state obtained by the partition function. The behaviour of the model in different density ranges is discussed. Experimental results are compared with kinetic theory results in the low density approximation.


The paper describes the work of an assessment unit setup to provide a service for frail elderly patients admitted to general medical units at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh during the period of April 1989 to March 1990. Patients were selected on the basis of diagnosis, mental and physical function, age and social background and transferred to the assessment ward within 24 hours of admission to a medical ward. Most of the 376 patients admitted to the ward had a high level of multiple pathology and physical incapacity and a third had an acute confusional state. The mean length of stay was 19.4 days. There was a 13% mortality with 71% of survivors returning to their own homes. Review of mobility and self care capacity of the group revealed a striking increase in function during their stay in the ward. Factors increasing the likelihood of discharge included having a spouse, receiving support at home, having a low initial dependence rating. Adverse factors included having cerebrovascular disease, having dementia and initial maintenance of urine and faeces.


Substituting the iron ions in LiFePO4 is reportedly difficult. However, by using a novel aqueous solution method, we substituted the irons as follows: LiFe1xMxPO4 (M=Ca, Zn or Mg). In spite of substituting the iron ions with the isovalent ions, the electronic conductivity is increased by a factor of approximately 10. The rate capability is also largely increased in the iron doped LiFePO4. In this work, we will discuss the reasons of this phenomenon.


For some time the anti-ovulatory activity of certain estrogen/progestagen preparations was the main approach in fertility control. Up to date a drastic dosage reduction of both steroid hormones has been accomplished ameliorating the side effects on the one hand, and being active compounds as contraceptives, in the other. Currently, there are a wide variety of oral contraceptives available with a variety of estrogen doses combined with different progestagens. The estrogen content is a high as 80 micrograms and as low as 20 micrograms, moreover, such formulations are prescribed beginning the 1st or the 5th day of the menstrual cycle. By studying plasma and endometrial samples simultaneously obtained from chronic oral contraceptive users taking either 30 micrograms or 50 in such pills; a 17-beta-estradiol pattern was attained as that seen during follicular maturation in the ovulatory cycle only women under the lower dose of synthetic estrogen. However, in the endometrium such a cyclicity did not take place; in parallel circulating progesterone in both groups never reach levels greater than 5.0 ng/ml. Results offer to find a local critical period during the ovulatory menstrual cycle to achieve with much lower hormonal dosages a different approach in future methods of contraception.


3D coverage path planning for UAVs is a crucial problem in diverse practical applications. However, existing methods have shown unsatisfactory system simplicity, computation efficiency, and path quality in large and complex scenes. To address these challenges, we propose FC-Planner, a skeleton-guided planning framework that can achieve fast aerial coverage of complex 3D scenes without pre-processing. We decompose the scene into several simple subspaces by a skeleton-based space decomposition (SSD). Additionally, the skeleton guides us to effortlessly determine free space. We utilize the skeleton to efficiently generate a minimal set of specialized and informative viewpoints for complete coverage. Based on SSD, a hierarchical planner effectively divides the large planning problem into independent sub-problems, enabling parallel planning for each subspace. The carefully designed global and local planning strategies are then incorporated to guarantee both high quality and efficiency in path generation. We conduct extensive benchmark and real-world tests, where FC-Planner computes over 10 times faster compared to state-of-the-art methods with shorter path and more complete coverage. The source code will be open at https://github.com/HKUST-Aerial-Robotics/FC-Planner.


The contents of articles on food safety and policy in the Donga and Chosun Ilbo from January 1960 to June 1996 were analyzed for the evaluation of subjects and trends in mass media. Among the total of 490 articles, those on cereals were most frequently appeared (20.0%), followed by the articles on sea foods (10.6%) and meats (10.0%). Articles on fats and oils were the least (2.0%) in frequencies. The proportions of articles classified based on the 10-year interval were 28.0% in the 60`s, 28.0% in the 70`s, 20.6% in the 80`s, and 23.4% in the 90`s. Major contents of articles were the safety of imported foods, food contaminations by agricultural chemicals, heavy metals and harmful additives.


OBJECTIVE
There is considerable evidence supporting a genetic component in the etiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Because stimulant medications act primarily on the dopaminergic system, dopamine system genes are prime candidates for genetic susceptibility factors for ADHD. Previous studies by several groups have observed a significant association of ADHD and an allele with 7 copies of the 48 base pair repeat in the third exon of the dopamine D4 receptor.

METHOD
The authors sought to replicate these previous findings by collecting an independent sample of families from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and confirming this finding in an expanded sample of ADHD families collected from Irvine, California. Using the transmission disequilibrium test (TDT), the authors tested for biased transmission of the 7-repeat allele at the exon III polymorphism of the dopamine D4 receptor locus in these samples of ADHD subjects.

RESULTS
Biased transmission of the 7-repeat allele from parents to ADHD probands and their affected siblings was observed in the 2 new samples of families collected in Toronto and Irvine (TDT chi2 = 2.711, 1 df, one-sided p value = .050) and for these samples combined with the 52 families previously reported from Irvine (TDT chi2 = 6.426, 1 df, one-sided p value = .006).

CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study further support the possibility of a role of the dopamine D4 receptor locus in ADHD.


Overview of the recent progress in the research of brassinosteroids, a new class of phytohormones, is described. This article covers 1) the chemical synthesis of natural C28 brassinosteroids and their deuterio-labeled compounds and precursor sterols, 2) related brassinosteroid analogs and their biological activity, 3) the role of synthetic organic chemistry in the clarification of brassinolide biosynthesis, and 4) its role in the analysis of brassinosteroid dwarf mutants.


Vector NTI is a well-balanced desktop application integrated for molecular sequence analysis and biological data management. It has a centralised database and five application modules: Vector NTI, AlignX, BioAnnotator, ContigExpress and GenomBench. In this review, the features and functions available in this software are examined. These include database management, primer design, virtual cloning, alignments, sequence assembly, 3D molecular viewer and internet tools. Some problems encountered when using this software are also discussed. It is hoped that this review will introduce this software to more molecular biologists so they can make better-informed decisions when choosing computational tools to facilitate their everyday laboratory work. This tool can save time and enhance analysis but it requires some learning on the user's part and there are some issues that need to be addressed by the developer.


This paper analyses changes in the calculated values of the specific runoff of unconfined and confined groundwaters to the rivers Pivdennyi Buh (Khmilnyk town) and Zhar (a tributary of the Pivdennyi Buh; Vinnytsia and Khmelnytsky regions) by seasons and long-term stages, for a total of 38 years (1980-2017). Regularities of seasonal changes in groundwater runoff in areas with different relief and average long-term groundwater levels (0.5-1.5; 0.8-2.5 and 2.7-4.5 m) are revealed. These changes have been shown to be closely related to abnormal air temperature fluctuations. There are four stages of successive changes in the regime of groundwater and in the volume of their runoff to rivers: I. 1980-1989 (1990) — traditionally minimal winter and autumn underground runoff, moderate summer and predominant spring runoff, dominance of runoff from the area with high GWT; ІІ. 1990-1998 — growth and advantages of groundwater runoff from the area with low GWT, reduction to the long-term minimum of groundwater runoff in the area with high GWT (0.8-2.5 m); III. From 1999 to 2014 — the predominant dominance of winter runoff over spring, slow growth of groundwater runoff in a limited area of the catchment with levels of 0.8-2.5 m; high-amplitude fluctuations of runoff and GWT with the achievement of long-term maximums in the area with GWT = 2.5-4.0 m; IV. 2015-2019 — the most intense reduction of GWT, and in the upper reaches of small rivers — of underground runoff to rivers.There is a progressive decrease in the specific flow of groundwater to rivers, and consequently of their resources — primarily for the aquifers in the upper reaches of rivers with GWT 0.5-1.5 m with no pressure recharge. Aquifers of ground water fed by confined aquifers (mainly within floodplains and the first low terraces of rivers) in the studied area of the Ukrainian massif of fracture waters have greater stability of the level regime on the background of rising temperatures and decreasing precipitation (recorded by 2020) than shallow water (0.5-2.0 m) without signs of such recharge.


Deviations from no-arbitrage relations should be related to market liquidity, because liquidity facilitates arbitrage. At the same time, a wide futures-cash basis may trigger arbitrage trades and, in turn, affect liquidity. We test these ideas by studying the dynamic relation between stock market liquidity and the index futures basis. There is evidence of two-way Granger causality between the short-term absolute basis and liquidity, and liquidity Granger-causes longer-term absolute bases. Shocks to the absolute basis predict future stock market liquidity. The evidence suggests that liquidity enhances the efficiency of the futures-cash pricing system. Copyright 2007 by The American Finance Association.


Establishing trust and obtaining informed consent with participants is reliant upon on a process whereby unequally positioned agents constantly re-negotiate (mis)trust and consent during ethnographic encounters. All research has been increasingly subject to an intensification in ethical regulation, within a context whereby Eurocentric norms and ethical guidelines arguably diminish individual accountability under the guise of quasi-contractual relationships. This phenomenon has particular implications for ethnography and its management of ethics, given its intimate, longitudinal and receptive nature. Two expert ethnographers working with children and young people draw upon their work to reveal how issues of informed consent and data ownership can shift and be a source of tension and unequal power dynamics. The ethnographer requires autonomy while managing ethics soundly in situ to work within the messiness and unpredictability of participants' everyday lives.


Many young people place alcohol-related posts on social networking sites (SNS) which can result in undesirable effects. Although several recent studies have investigated the occurrence of alcohol-related SNS use, it is neither clear (a) what type of alcohol posts are placed on SNS, (b) the motivations to place alcohol posts, nor (c) which young people are most likely to place alcohol posts. This study addressed these three goals. A large cross-sectional study among young participants (12-30 years; N = 561) assessed the posting of different types of alcohol posts, the motivations to (not) post these posts, and potential differences in posting between subgroups (i.e., in terms of age, gender, and religion). Participants reported that they most often placed moderate, instead of more extreme, alcohol posts, in particular, when alcohol was present in the post "by chance". Furthermore, they indicated to post alcohol-related content mostly for entertainment reasons. Finally, we found differences in self-reported posting and motivations to post according to age, gender, and religion. These findings provide relevant implications for future interventions aiming to decrease alcohol posts, for example, by making participants aware of their posting behavior and by targeting specific at risk groups. Future research should explore the effectiveness of such intervention strategies and should investigate whether alcohol posts lead to an underestimation of alcohol-related risks.


The crow terrace poetry case is both a name of an incident and also a name of a book. The crow terrace poetry case as an incident refers to a sudden arrestment of Su Shi by the Censor for writing poems against the government after he was assigned to Hu-chou(湖州) in the year of 1079. And as a book the crow terrace poetry case consists of government documents such as accusation documents made by the administrators and also the statements by Su Shi about the poem in question which eventually gets published and distributed. The crow terrace poetry case is the first case of ``literary persecution`` and also a rare case in the aspect that the records of the incident gets to be published and distributed. This thesis handles a few questions which was unanswered by the past studies on the crow terrace poetry case. A poem related ``literary persecution`` is inevitable in the history of poems. This incident happened in a few traditional Chinese literature backgrounds. Firstly, a poet had to express his or her political views, position and purpose by their poems. Secondly, it became a common poetry style in the Song dynasty period where as a poem became an everyday life literature and in reality an everyday life relations lead to a creation of a poetry. And lastly, the fact that the publishing market was growing worked as another factor of this incident. The official documents related to this incident finally gets published. This was the result and also the reflection of curiosity of the people on this matter. And while reading this publishment I assume that many poets self eliminated and self censored their own poetries and also watched themselves of what they say and what they do. These outcomes not only limits the incident as Su Shi`s private matter but also had an effect to the creative minds for those who were living at that period.


We hypothesized that selective brain hypothermia (SBHT) decreases production of hydroxyl radicals (*OH) induced by hypoxia-ischemia (H-I) and reperfusion and attenuates neuronal damage in neonatal rat brain. Anesthetized 7-day-old rats were divided into a normothermia (NT) group (n=6) and a SBHT group (n=7) and subjected to 90-min H-I, followed by a 90-min recovery period. Brain temperature (BT) was regulated by a water-cooled metallic plate placed under the head. The BT of the SBHT group was set at 31.0+/-1.0 degrees C during the H-I and recovery period. Microdialysis and the salicylate-trapping method were used to detect *OH in the striatum. Neuronal damage was quantified by counting the surviving neurons at 120 hr after reperfusion. The NT group had significant increases in 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHBA) (223+/-166%) and 2,5-DHBA (321+/-153%) above baseline levels. The increases in 2,3-DHBA (127+/-40%) and 2,5-DHBA (133+/-33%) were significantly lower (p < 0.01) in the SBHT group. The number of surviving neurons was decreased significantly in the NT group but not in the SBHT group. We conclude that SBHT reduces *OH production during H-I and reperfusion and has protective effects against neuronal damage.


BACKGROUND
VP4 protein is as spikes on rotavirus outer capsid shell which is responsible for virus attachment to the host. VP4 induces production of neutralizing antibodies which could be used for serotyping of different isolates.

METHODS
Simian rotavirus SA11 gene 4 cDNA was cloned into a cloning plasmid pDONRTM by recombination reaction using clonase II enzyme mix. The resulting clone was called VP4-entry clone. In the second recombination reaction, cloned gene was inserted into the linear DNA of the Baculovirus Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus (AcNPV) downstream of the strong polyhedrin promoter. The recombinant AcNPV-VP4 DNA was transfected by lipofection into the insect cell line, Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) cells. Expression of VP4 in the Sf9 cells was confirmed by the immunofluorescence test using rabbit polyclonal anti-rotavirus and anti-rabbit FTIC-conjugated antibodies by Western immuno-blotting technique. The antigenicity of the expressed protein was determined by immunizing rabbits and testing the sera by Western-blotting and neutralization method.

RESULTS
The cloned VP4 gene was obtained and expressed in baculovirus system. The specificity of the expressed protein was confirmed by its reactivity with anti-rotavirus antibody. Antibody produced against the expressed protein showed neutralizing activity for rotavirus indicating that the protein was biologically active and could induce natural antibody response.

CONCLUSION
The expressed protein from rotavirus VP4 gene has a potential for development of rotavirus vaccine.


The shape memory performance and various properties of the FeCr-Ni-Mn-Si(-Co) alloys were investigated. Those alloys were concluded to have the good shape memory performance, workability, machinability and corrosion resistance.


The Software-Defined Network (SDN) is a new network paradigm that promises more dynamic and efficiently manageable network architecture for new-generation networks. With its programmable central controller approach, network operators can easily manage and control the whole network. However, at the same time, due to its centralized structure, it is the target of many attack vectors. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are the most effective attack vector to the SDN. The purpose of this study is to classify the SDN traffic as normal or attack traffic using machine learning algorithms equipped with Neighbourhood Component Analysis (NCA). We handle a public "DDoS attack SDN Dataset" including a total of 23 features. The dataset consists of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), and Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) normal and attack traffics. The dataset, including more than 100 thousand recordings, has statistical features such as byte_count, duration_sec, packet rate, and packet per flow, except for features that define source and target machines. We use the NCA algorithm to reveal the most relevant features by feature selection and perform an effective classification. After preprocessing and feature selection stages, the obtained dataset was classified by k-Nearest Neighbor (kNN), Decision Tree (DT), Artificial Neural Network (ANN), and Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithms. The experimental results show that DT has a better accuracy rate than the other algorithms with 100% classification achievement.


I. Dobrakov has initiated a theory of non-additive set functions defined on a ring of sets intended to be a non-additive generalization of the theory of finite non-negative countably additive measures. These set functions are now known as the Dobrakov submeasures. In this paper we extend Dobrakov's considerations to vector-valued submeasures defined on a ring of sets. The extension of such submeasures in the sense of Drewnowski is also given.


Publishers face an existential threat from a variety of news aggregators, such as free aggregators (e.g., Google News, Yahoo News), micropayment-facilitating aggregators (e.g., Blendle), and subscription-charging aggregators (e.g., Apple News+). The authors seek to theoretically examine whether publishers can collaborate and compete with the different types of news aggregators and, if so, what pricing and content-sharing strategies publishers should pursue. In the absence of a news aggregator, publishers sell their content as a composite publication; this intensifies interpublisher price competition and hurts publishers' profits. A free aggregator, however, could help unbundle the articles of a publisher. Moreover, if publishers share articles on the same topic with a free aggregator, they can completely eliminate interpublisher competition and replace it with competition between the aggregator and the publishers, but they only partially eliminate interpublisher competition if they share articles on different topics with it. Yet, the free aggregator needs to bring sufficient additional traffic to the publishers to motivate them to share content and collaborate with it. Conversely, publishers will be willing to collaborate with a micropayment-facilitating aggregator even if it does not bring additional traffic to the publishers. This is because a micropayment-facilitating aggregator helps publishers unbundle their content and price discriminate. Lastly, publishers can be motivated to collaborate even with a subscription-charging aggregator that is powerful enough to dictate the terms of the revenue-sharing arrangement with the publishers. This is because the subscription-charging aggregator improves its profits without hurting the publishers' surplus.


The electrocardiographic response of digoxin‐induced fascicular tachycardia to Fab fragments was evaluated in two patients. In addition, we documented the response of the fascicular tachycardia to spontaneous premature ventricular depolarizations during different tachycardia rates, the response to a nonsustained episode of ventricular tachycardia, and the mode of spontaneous initiation and termination of short‐lived episodes of the tachycardia during the treatment process. The following findings were noted: (1) slowing of the tachycardia in response to Fab administration; (2) change in the morphologic characteristics of the tachycardia from multiform to uniform; (3) resetting of the tachycardia by spontaneous premature ventricular depolarization with the return cycle equal to the observed tachycardia cycle length; (4) acceleration of the tachycardia in response to five beats of a faster nonsustained ventricular tachycardia; and (5) initiation and termination of the tachycardia, both by spontaneously occurring premature ventricular depolarizations and in the absence of premature ventricular depolarizations. Both tachycardias resolved completely within 20 and 40 minutes, respectively, of Fab administration. We conclude that Fab administration can promptly resolve fascicular tachycardias precipitated by digoxin toxicity and that the observed electrocardiographic phenomena strongly suggest triggered activity as the electrophysiologic mechanism of fascicular tachycardia in man.


Globally, the provision of adequate housing has become a huge challenge for national authorities in most developing countries. More people are becoming homeless, slums and squatter settlements are increasing as the provision of housing is left to the private sector. Urban low income housing provision has not been satisfactorily handled within the formal sector. Although governments have developed housing programmes with the view of addressing urban low income housing in Ghana, the end products have been taken over by the middle to high income groups. Moreover, urban low income housing development in Ghana is not aligned to any housing policy but rather crops up in political manifestoes. They end up being abandoned and urban low income households continue to suffer the most. These households have to depend on individual petty landlords to cater for their housing needs. Urban low income housing is now being 'facilitated' by government for the private sector to provide housing units. This system has not functioned effectively as the shortage of affordable housing in urban centres in Ghana keeps increasing. A qualitative research approach using reports, thesis, and population and housing censuses provided the information for this paper. It is recommended that urban low income housing should be handled proactively by policy makers without much political bias since it is households that suffer. Again, globally, urban low income housing is being considered as a social policy programme which calls for more involvement of the public sector. At best there should be a public-private partnership to efficiently address urban low income housing in Ghana and other developing countries. Innovative housing forms such as multi-habited dwellings should be developed to meet the budget of the low income household instead of the colonial single-family dwellings which are more expensive to own.  email@example.com Irene Appeaning Addo 2


Background: Patient satisfaction is a principal indicator in the evaluation of the stay of pediatric patients in hospitals, since its consequences can emotionally interfere with health treatment. The aim of this study was to obtain a valid scale to assess children's satisfaction with their time spent as a patient in an Andalusian hospital. Method: The Children's Satisfaction with Hospitalization Questionnaire (CSHQ) was applied to 623 pediatric patients hospitalized in Andalusia. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) showed one dimension underlying the children's satisfaction with their hospitalization. After that, we developed a depuration analysis process to achieve a valid and unidimensional scale to assess children's satisfaction. Results: The eleven-item one-dimension solution showed suitable consistency and goodness-of-fit indices. The final scale addresses hosting aspects as the main dimension of a minor's satisfaction in Andalusian hospitals. Conclusion: A unidimensional scale has been determined for the assessment of children's satisfaction with their stay in Andalusian hospitals based on hosting aspects. Nonetheless, other dimensions underlying the satisfaction of patients should also be considered.


The aims of the neuromonitoring during perioperative period are 1) to detect the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerve ischemia immediately and hence prevention from neuronal injury, 2) to measure the depth of anesthesia, especially sedative effect of anesthetics and 3) to evaluate brain death. For the detection of brain and spinal cord ischemia during operation, we have to bear in mind 1) whether we truly monitor the possible ischemic risk sites in the brain and spinal cord; 2) whether we know the false-negative and false-positive ratio of the neuromonitoring with account being taken of the effect of anesthetics, the patient's own pathologies, the body temperature etc. If we detect the abnormal change through neuromonitoring, we should immediately warn the surgeon to improve his subsequent procedures and confirm his decision to prevent neuronal damage. To understand these reviews, we have to know the fundamental basic knowledge such as International 10-20 System on EEG monitoring, the expression of negative wave and positive wave in evoked potential, the meaning of near-field potential and far-field potential, temporal dispersion and so on. In this issue, the recent progress in neuromonitoring is described by the specialists in each fields. I hope the anesthesiologists understand the significance of neuromonitoring and apply these techniques for the patient undergoing the neurological operation during perioperative periods.


Public works programs have been posited as win–win solutions for achieving societal goals for ecological restoration and poverty alleviation. However, little is documented regarding the challenges of implementing such projects. A commonly cited example is South Africa's invasive alien plant control program "Working for Water" (WfW), which aims to create employment via restoring landscapes invaded with alien plants. Recent studies have raised questions over the effectiveness of this program in achieving both its restoration and poverty alleviation goals. This is the first study that we are aware of that synthesizes the knowledge of managers on both the poverty alleviation and environmental outcomes of a public works project. Herein, we sought to understand the challenges and constraints faced by 23 WfW managers in fulfilling the program's environmental and poverty alleviation objectives. We found that the challenges most frequently cited by managers related to the capacity and competence of managers and teams, followed by challenges relating to planning and coordination, specifically the challenges of being flexible and adaptive when constrained by operating procedures. In addition, the current focus on maximizing short‐term employment was perceived by some as limiting the efficiency and long‐term effectiveness of the WfW program in achieving its environmental and social goals. We suggest that improving the conditions and duration of employment could improve the effectiveness of invasive alien plant control and ecological outcomes. We also suggest that WfW measure the impacts of their interventions through an adaptive management approach so that it can learn and adapt to the challenges it faces.


Deploying the Foucauldian concepts of "conduct" and "counter-conduct", this article provides an analysis of "Occupy Sussex"—a two-month-long student occupation launched in opposition to the outsourcing of service staff at the University of Sussex. Situated in the context of a post-Fordist political economy, we argue that the British university constitutes an especial site of conduct formation—a University Factory—wherein individuals are sorted and socialised as immaterial labourers. We argue that Occupy Sussex was a reaction to such conduct formation. As such, counter-conduct is deployed as a concept that can effectively map the tactics and strategies undertaken by Occupy Sussex against the university management. Moreover, counter-conduct is used in order to trace prefigurative attempts to redefine the university within the space of the occupation—away from the University Factory, towards collective self-management, alternative understandings of the "university experience" and an emergent notion of "community". Finally, the use of counter-conduct serves to highlight the dangers of appropriation and co-optation; how university management attempted to co-opt and thus defuse the counter-conduct of Occupy Sussex.


This paper proposes to obtain 3D modeling of object surface and to create a relit image in real-time. The proposed algorithm uses a single camera and synchronized stereo lights to capture the light field images by turning on and off the lights alternatively. The light field images from the controlled lighting approximate the reflectance models on object surfaces. The surface normal directions of object surface are modeled by the dichromatic reflectance model and Phong's shading geometry. The estimated normal map of object surface improves the rendering quality in image based relighting system. The proposed system is efficiently implemented in GPU-based programming, so it operates in real-time including 3D modeling and rendering. The proposed system is expected to be useful for video conference system, where the users can be immersed in video teleconference as if they were in a virtual environment.


The flow field about a delta wing equipped with thrust reverser jets in slow speed flight near the ground has been computed. Results include the prediction of the flow about the delta wing at four fixed heights above the ground, and a simulated landing, in which the delta wing descends towards the ground. Comparison of computed and experimental lift coefficients indicates that the simulations can capture at least the qualitative trends in lift-loss encountered by thrust-vectoring aircraft operating in ground effect.


Several national and local external quality assurance schemes have been developed to improve the plasma fibrinogen assay in Japan over the past 30 years. Now most commercial calibrant plasma may be calibrated against an International Standard preparation, in order to achieve agreement of results obtained by different laboratories. However, we have never achieved satisfactory results, according to an external quality control survey regarding the fibrinogen assay. Therefore, we distributed two kinds of fibrinogen standards to be used as common calibrators, along with three plasma samples, among 183 general laboratories in Japan. The results of this collaborative study showed that the assigned value for the commercially available calibrators remained problematic. Furthermore, it was concluded that the between-laboratory variability could not be improved beyond a certain degree of standardization, even if a common calibrator was used for the Clauss-derived assay carried out by an automatic coagulometer.


The aim of the study is to identify the degree of administrative transparency in the Palestinian higher educational institutions in the Gaza Strip. In the study, the researchers adopted a descriptive and analytical method. The research population consisted of administrative staff, whether academic or administrative, except for those in senior management or the university council. The study population reached 392 employees. A random sample was selected (197). The number of questionnaires recovered was (160) with a recovery rate of (81.2%). The researchers used a questionnaire for the data collection and were treated using SPSS to obtain the results. The results show that there is no significant difference between male responses and female responses due to gender variable. The results also confirm that there is no significant difference between respondents' responses due to the age variable. The results also showed a significant difference between respondents' responses attributed to the university variable. There is a fundamental difference between respondents' responses attributed to the scientifically qualified variable. The results also confirmed a significant difference between respondents' responses attributed to the management level variable. The results also confirmed a significant difference between respondents' responses due to variable years of service. The research reached a number of recommendations, the most important of which is: The necessity of Palestinian universities to adhere to the application of transparency standards in all university activities. The need to benefit from regional and international experience in the application of transparency systems within universities and to examine the possibility of applying these systems in our universities. As well as the need to engage in the program of teaching transparency in universities, as it is confirmed that only five universities participated in this experiment. The importance of raising awareness among the employees of Palestinian universities to clarify the foundations of building transparency and its dimensions to represent the active supporter through workshops and seminars.


Many studies have revealed that training contributes significantly in the growth of enterprises. Training adds to the skills of SMMEs' owners, change their behaviour on how they perceive and conduct business activities and in turn enhance their ability to perform better. This dissertation investigates impact of entrepreneurship skills training and education as one of the factors that will help in both the survival and sustainability of SMMEs serviced by Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP) in South Africa (SA). It highlights problems of the current entrepreneurship skills training and education by delineating the weakness and pitfalls. The relevant literature has been visited and served as a primary data that add value to the dissertation. Collation of the relevant data is followed by a discussion of the impact of entrepreneurship skills training and education as one of the factors that will help in both the survival and sustainability of SMMEs. The relative lack of research on impact of entrepreneurship skills training and education is the primary impetus of this study. The sample was drawn from SMMEs who attended entrepreneurship skills training offered by Gauteng Enterprise Propeller. The majority of the respondents were cooperatives in Johannesburg, South Africa. The study findings indicate that the entrepreneurship skills training have the following five major deficiencies: there is deficiency in entrepreneurship skills training and education; lack of involvement in the training program; lack of quality in training; training not being relevant to organizational needs; and lack of training programs. It is suggested that GEP management should explore opportunities to ensure that the training addresses business needs; involve trainees in training evaluation to improve quality; improve the effectiveness of training and its impact; and ensure that respondents are trained on formulation of training programs and policy to address organisational needs.


Objective: To determine the frequency and antibiotic susceptibility of bacteria isolated in patients with blepharitis.
StudyDesign: Cross-sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: Armed Forces Institute of Ophthalmology, Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Oct 2019 to Oct 2021.
Methdology: 160 cases of blepharitis, during a period of 2 years, who were not using topical or systemic antibiotics were recruited in this cross-sectional study. After detailed history and slit-lamp examination of eyelids and tears film each patient underwent sample collection under aseptic conditions, from the eyelid margin. The samples were inoculated in a culture of blood agar and chocolate agar (Biomeriux) , Then the susceptibility of the identified bacteria to common systemic and topical antibiotics were tested using the disc diffusion method (Rosco Neo-Sensitab).
Results: In 160 patients,118(73.7%) were males and 42(26.3%) were females. According to type of blepharitis, 98(61.3%) had posterior blepharitis and 62(38.7%) had anterior blepharitis.Culture of eyelid sample of 77(48.1%) patients showed growth of coagulase-negative staphylococcus Coagulase-negative staphylococcus (CoNS) show greater resistance towards Penicillin 77(100%), Ciprofloxacin 55(72.5%) and Erythromycin 33(42.8%) however more susceptibility was shown towards Linezolid (CoNS). 71(45%) had Staphylococcus aureus isolated from their culture. 77(100%),Vancomycin 77(100%), Gentamycin 66(85.8%), Chloramphenicol 56(74.5%) and Cotrimoxazole 55(72.5%).Staphylococcus aureus show greater resistance towards Penicillin 72(100%),Ciprofloxacin 41(56.9%) and Tetracyclins 30(41.6%) however more susceptibility was found towards Gentamycin 72(100%), Linezolid 72(100%),Vancomycin 72(100%) and Chloramphenicol 61(84.7%).
Conclusion: Coagulase-negative staphylococcus (CoNS) and Staphylococcus aureus have been the main isolated organisms in blepharitis. These bacteria have been shown to be resistant to Penicillin,


We examined the relationships among entrepreneurial passion, opportunity recognition, and entrepreneurial behaviors. Entrepreneurial passion includes the intense positive feelings originating from engagement in entrepreneurial activities and the centrality of these activities for entrepreneurs' self-identity. The empirical study was conducted using data from 195 entrepreneurs in new Chinese companies. Results showed that entrepreneurial passion had a significant impact on opportunity recognition and entrepreneurial behaviors. Further, opportunity recognition partly mediated the relationship between entrepreneurial passion and entrepreneurial behaviors. Entrepreneurs with entrepreneurial passion are, therefore, more likely than others are to identify opportunities and start new ventures. Theoretical and practical implications for entrepreneurship are discussed.


Over the recent holiday season, the antenna measurement community lost one of its long-standing members. After his medical issues overcame his ability to fight his illness, Doren passed on Christmas eve, 2012. Doren W. Hess was a Senior Staff Engineer with MI Technologies. It was in the Fall of 2000 that Doren became a consultant, and later in October 2001, an employee, of MI Technologies. His work at MI was centered on applications of instrumentation technology to electromagnetic measurement problems.


Effective authorial voice in academic writing helps researchers establish the value of their scholarly contributions. However, constructing an authorial voice is challenging for many novice L2 writers. Through tracking multiple drafts of master's theses written by two Chinese EFL (English as a foreign language) graduate students, this case study investigated changes in their authorial voices and the roles of advisor feedback in this process. We drew on three types of data: analysis of multiple thesis drafts for linguistic and content features of voice; advisor feedback on multiple drafts; and a questionnaire for the student writers' understanding of authorial voice. The results indicate that the linguistic features of voice in their theses have remained largely unchanged, portraying them as unconfident student writers, but the content features have shown significant improvement, conveying authorial voices of novice researchers in the later drafts. Most of the student revisions followed their advisors' feedback. The student participants' questionnaire responses indicate their relative lack of awareness of the importance of language in voice construction. The results suggest that the authorial voice construction of the novice student writers is dynamic, developmental, and interactive with their advisors' feedback over the thesis writing process. Pedagogically, other than feedback on content features of voice, classroom practitioners could also consider providing explicit instruction of and feedback on linguistic features to help students construct authoritative authorial voice in the academic context.


It remains a challenge to efficiently represent spatial-temporal data for 3D action recognition. To solve this problem, this paper presents a new skeleton-based action representation using data visualization and convolutional neural networks, which contains four main stages. First, skeletons from an action sequence are mapped as a set of five dimensional points, containing three dimensions of location, one dimension of time label and one dimension of joint label. Second, these points are encoded as a series of color images, by visualizing points as RGB pixels. Third, convolutional neural networks are adopted to extract deep features from color images. Finally, action class score is calculated by fusing selected deep features. Extensive experiments on three benchmark datasets show that our method achieves state-of-the-art results.


Purpose The purpose of this study was to elucidate the relationship between cytokeratin 19 (CK19) expression and levels of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in preoperative peripheral blood of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and the potential influence of that relationship on prognosis. Patients and Methods CanPatrol™ CTC-enrichment technique and in situ hybridization (ISH) were used to enrich and classify CTCs undergoing the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) from blood samples of 105 HCC patients. CK19 immunohistochemistry staining was performed on HCC tissues and compared with demographic and clinical data. Results In total, 27 of 105 (25.7%) HCC patients were CK19-positive. CK19-positive patients had significantly lower median tumor-free survival (TFS) than CK19-negative patients (5 vs 10 months, P = 0.047). In total, 98 (93.3%) patients showed pre-surgery peripheral blood CTCs (range: 0–76, median: 6), and 57 of 105 (54.3%) patients displayed CTC counts ≥6. Furthermore, CK19-positive patients with CTC count ≥6 showed significantly higher percentage than CK19-negative ones (77.8% vs 46.2%, P = 0.004). CK19-positive patients showed a significantly higher proportion of mesenchymal CTCs among CTCs undergoing EMT than CK19-negative patients (mean rank: 62.28 vs 49.79, P = 0.046). We also found that CK19-positive patients with high CTC count showed significantly shorter median tumor-free survival than CK19-negative patients with low CTC count (5 vs 16 months, P = 0.039). Conclusion High CTC count and high percentage of mesenchymal CTCs are closely related to the expression of CK19, which is associated with poor prognosis in HCC patients.


We present a collaborative algorithm to enable opportunistic spectrum access for cognitive radios in the presence of multiple co-channel transmitters. A spectrum hole detection and estimation technique based on received signal strength observations is developed, which allows the coexistence of both licensed and unlicensed transmitters. We address the issue of how to perform collaborative spectrum sensing in the presence of multiple co-channel transmitters and how to determine the maximum transmit power that can be used for a given frequency channel by a cognitive radio while avoiding harmful interference to the licensed network. We provide some simulation results to validate the feasibility of our approach.


Pseudorandom sequences with good correlation properties are widely used in communications and cryptography. The search of new sequences with two-level autocorrelation has been a very interesting problem for decades. In 2002, Gong and Golomb proposed the iterative decimation-Hadamard transform (DHT) which is an useful tool to study two-level autocorrelation sequences. They showed that for all odd n ≤ 17, using the second-order decimation-Hadamard transform, and starting with a single binary m-sequence, all known two-level autocorrelation sequences of period 2n − 1 which have no subfield factorization can be obtained. In this paper, we present a new class of ternary or quaternary sequences with two-level autocorrelation using the second-order decimation-Hadamard transform. The period of such sequences is 2n − 1.


This study was conducted with the aim of assessing the ability of biomass production and carbon sequestration by plantations of Cedrela odorata and Swietenia macrophylla in a plantation established 12 years ago in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. At Costa de Jalisco Experimental Site of the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agricolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP) and 15 trees of each species were selected and felled and the biomass and carbon in the aerial stratum were determined. Samples were taken from the stem, branches (twigs and firewood) and foliage of each of the selected trees and fresh weight was determined in the field from both species; the samples were dried in a laboratory to obtain the dry weight and estimate the total biomass of each tree using the ratio dry weight: fresh weight of samples. To estimate the biomass and carbon and polynomial regression equations were fit; the independent variables were normal diameter and tree height. To the dry weight of each tree component was applied a carbon sequestration index of 0.4269, thereby determining the potential for atmospheric carbon sequestration. For C. odorata, the total average biomass per tree was 34 kg, 75 % of which belongs to the biomass in the stem, 11 % in the trunk, 9 % in branches (wood) and 5 % in foliage. For S. macrophylla, the total average biomass per tree was 26 kg, which are distributed as 47 % in the stem, 19 % in the trunk, 23 % in branches and 10 % in the foliage.


The indications for osteosynthesis of distal radius fractures with a T-plate have been precisely defined. They include Smith's fractures, Barton's fractures, reversed Barton's fractures and the fracture types A3, C1 and C2 according to the A0 classification. The surgical approach is dorsal for the extension type fractures and palmar for those of the flexion type A. Correct diagnosis and accurate operative technique make it possible to achieve favourable results in the treatment of these often compound fractures. Results are presented for 105 patients who underwent osteosynthesis of distal radius fractures with a T-plate.


Because sports injuries in men form most of the available statistics, the reportage of injuries in female athletes is sparse. We describe exertion injuries and disorders in 281 women athletes, all of which hampered athletic training or performances. Sixty per cent of the injuries occurred to girls ages between 12-19 years, and about forty-eight per cent were track and field athletes. The most common sites of injury were the ankle, foot, heel and leg. Osteochondritic disorders were the most typical injuries in the series, and the chronic medical tibial syndrome was the injury that needed surgical treatment most frequently. Overuse injuries seem to differ very little from each other in the events included in this survey.


The sprocket is a very vital component in the transmission of power and motion in most motorcycle; there is always a pair (rear and front) in a motorcycle. The front sprocket drives the rear sprocket via chain connection. They exist in various dimensions, teeth number and are made of different materials. This project studies involve the fundamentals of slip-on sprocket design and manufacturing of the product to be slipped onto the most types of the motorcycle rear sprocket which require a novel torque booster through reverse engineering approach. It discusses analysis, dimensioning, drafting and drawing, prototype printing, chemical composition, material selection, choice of manufacturing process, heat treatment, and surface finish as the nine steps that need to be followed sequentially in this reverse engineering approach. In this work, design fro manufacturing (DFM) analysis had proven that 1 mold designation will produce a 10 outer teeth and 9 inner teeth slot per section. The dimensions information had been extracted by using Coordinate Measuring Machine for greater accuracy. This slip-on sprocket product also proven can be assembled into most types of motorcycle sprocket make from the production of the three dimensional (3D) prototype made of ceramic powder. The mold and die preparation methods are used to produce the slip-on sprocket from the blanked medium with the major chemical composition of Fe=86.3%, Al=8.22%, P=2.79%, and Ca=1.15% which analyzed by the X-ray Fluorescence Machine.


Supersound flowmetry revealed that the effect of heat (50 degrees C) involved an increase of the blood flow in skin vessels and its decrease in the vessels of small intestine and skeletal muscles. The blood flow resistance was diminished in skin vessels and increased in the vessels of small intestine and skeletal muscles. These shifts of the regional blood flow are due to the integral interaction of active and passive vascular responses. Specifics of the small intestine and skeletal muscle vessels' constrictory responses to hyperthermia suggest a difference in the mechanisms of their occurrence.


The General Electric Company and Union College profited from an extremely close relationship during the first half of 20th century. For 38 years, from 1903-41, two prominent General Electric engineers headed the Electrical Engineering Department at Union College in Schenectady, New York, USA, headquarters of GE. C.P. Steinmetz, Chief Consulting Engineer for GE, served both the company and Union from 1903 to 1913. E.J. Berg, Steinmetz's protege at GE, headed the department from 1913-41. GE engineers not only controlled the chair of electrical engineering at Union College, but the company helped fund the department and supplied engineers as part-time instructors. A historical review of this 38-year relationship is given. >


Material wastage on construction sites can contribute to cost overruns. Research to provide evidence of the extent of material wastages' contribution to cost overruns on construction sites is based mostly on surveys. Thus, the actual contribution is not yet ascertained. The purpose of this article is to report the results of an objectively investigated study on the contributions of material waste to project-cost overrun. The methodological approach adopted for the study is the quantitative technique that is rooted in the positivist paradigm. The investigation included ongoing building construction projects within Abuja, Nigeria, from which a sample of 31 public and private projects was purposefully selected (project value of ₦1.6 billion Naira and above). The data for this research were sourced from the field investigation (measurement of the volume of material waste) and data from the archival records (drawings, bills of quantities, project-progress reports, and specifications) on material waste and cost overruns. The collected data were analysed using the Pearson moment correlation and the descriptive method. The research results revealed a statistically significant relationship between material waste and cost overrun. This implies that any increase in the volume of material waste would lead to a corresponding increase in the amount of cost overrun. The results showed that the significant percentage contribution of material waste to project-cost overrun ranges from 1.96% to 8.01%, with an average contribution of 4.0% to project-cost overruns. It is recommended that construction professionals be well informed of the consequences of material waste contributions to project-cost overrun at an early stage, in order to enable the professionals to evaluate the extent to which these consequences could be minimised. Keywords : Cost overrun, construction waste, construction industry, material waste, Nigeria


Surface-enhanced resonance Raman scattering (SERRS) provides intense Raman signals that are shown here to be stable in a target and to be detectable at least 10 meters from the spectrometer. The results indicate that SERRS labeling of objects and their detection at a distance with a low-power laser is feasible. Rhodamine and a dye specifically designed to give good surface adhesion, [4(5′-azobenzotriazyl)-3,5-dimethoxyphenylamine] (ABT DMOPA), were adsorbed onto silver particles and the particles dispersed in poly(vinyl acetate) (PVA) and varnish. SERRS from rhodamine was not detected from colloid dispersed either in PVA or varnish, presumably due to displacement of the dye from the silver surface. ABT DMOPA gave good SERRS. Maps of the SERRS intensity of films indicated variability of 10–20% if ultrasound was applied to improve dispersion during mixing. Scattering performance was evaluated using a system with the sample held up to one meter from the probe head. The intensity of the scattering from samples kept in the dark showed little change over a period of up to one year. However, when the samples were left in direct sunlight, the scattering intensity dropped significantly over the same period but could still be determined after eight months. An optical system was designed and constructed to detect scattering at longer distances. It consisted of a probe head based on a telephoto or CCTV lens that was fiber-optically coupled to the spectrometer. Effective detection of SERRS was obtained 10 m from the spectrometer using 3.6 mW of power and a 20 s accumulation time.


The current study draws attention to analyze the right to salary of Civil Servant (PNS) undergoing legal proceedings and to analyze the qualifications of criminal act of corruption within the scope of the State Civil Apparatus. This study was an empirical legal research. The findings showed that the right to salary and benefits of Civil Servant undergoing legal proceedings was regulated in Article 281 of Law No. 11 of 2017 concerning Management of Civil State Apparatus that Civil Servant who were temporary dismissed due to detention of a suspect shall not be entitled to receive salary, but shall receive temporary dismissal pay. The amount of temporary dismissal pay is 50% (fifty percent) of the last salary as civil servant before being temporary dismissed in accordance with the laws and regulations. Temporary dismissal pay shall be received in the following month since the stipulation the temporary dismissal. On this basis, a comprehensive regulation is needed relating to supervisory oversight mechanism who made an omission against her subordinate civil servants who have committed disciplinary violations, especially those who were suspected of committing criminal act.


In this work the finite element method (FEM) was used to analyze the mechanical behavior of the composite materials subjected to the mechanical loading. This behavior is studied in terms of stress intensity factor variation as a function of the applied stress intensity. The residual stresses induced in the composites, during the elaboration of these composites are taken into consideration in this study. The superimposition of these types of stresses (residuals and commissioning) is simulated here by thermomechanical stresses. The results obtained show that in the vicinity very close to the fiber-matrix interface and under the effect of this loading type, the matrix cracks propagate in modes I, II and III, and far from the interface, in mode I. The propagation kinetics is slowed down by the interface-crack interaction.
The effects of the crack size, the orientation and propagation of the crack, commissioning stresses, the elaboration temperature, fiber physical properties, matrix stiffness and thermomechanical stresses have been highlighted in this work.


The following paper is a theoretical research of the Dutch development cooperation and the way world-wide tendency for neoliberalism is manifested in the foreign policy of the Netherlands. The interest for this topic was sparked by the Aid for Trade agenda adopted by the Dutch government, which reveals the tensions between the self-interest and moral motivations of the country. Selection of water as the case is not random – the Dutch are famous for their water governance model and water management skills and expertise. The paper discusses how the instalment of water as a key development spearhead in the Dutch development policy, the heritage of water and the fact that it is perceived as a part of the Dutch national identity is affecting the direction the current development policy is heading. It problematises neoliberalisation of the Dutch development cooperation, which uses market logic in providing global public goods such as water in accordance with the issues posed by climate change.
Adopting a qualitative methodological perspective, the author analyses key documents in the Dutch development and water policies and conducts a series of interviews with government officials, practitioners, consultants and academics in the sphere of Dutch water governance.
The findings reveal that the foreign policy in the Netherlands, in particular in the field of water, is heavily affected by the "deep marketisation", which has had impact on how the country's relationship with the recipient countries is forming and the way the private and public sectors operate. In addition, the findings reveal that water has become something much bigger than just water management for the Dutch, they are using it as a strategic tool to solve issues like economic crisis, immigration and climate change while trying to capitalise on their knowledge at the same time.


Effects of water contained in the sample, the type of sensitizer, and the nature of vinyl monomer on vapor phase photografting on cellulose were investigated at 60°C. The grafting was enhanced by the water contained in the cellulose sample, resulting in an increased percent grafting with increasing the quantity of water. The use of sensitizers such as ferric chloride, ferrous sulfate, ceric ammonium nitrate, hydrogen peroxide, benzophenone, and sodium anthraquinone-2,7-disulfonate led to accelerated graftings. However, the maximum grafting was observed at an optimum quantity of sensitizer for each sensitized system, and the formation of grafted polymer was restricted by the use of sensitizer beyond the quantity. Ferric chloride and hydrogen peroxide exhibited higher activities among the sensitizers. With respect to the nature of monomer, methyl methacrylate, acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, and acrylonitrile were observed to be introduced into cellulose substrate by the vapor phase photografting, though no initiation was recorded for styrene and N-vinylpyrrolidone. However, the latter monomers were introduced by using monomer mixtures with acrylonitrile, affording a maximum percent grafting at a certain monomer composition.