The epidemiological monitoring and clinical studies as well as the results of experimental research are revealing that the amount of patients diagnosed with head and neck cancer are increasing in all-over the world. The survival rate of head and neck cancer is one of the poorest between basic cancer survival rates and in average is reaching only 5 years. The aim of the study was to analyze nursing problems in the head and neck cancer patients. Anonymous survey with originally composed questionnaire was accomplished by 48 nurses (mean age 43.5±8.7 yrs.) randomly selected from four departments dealing with head and neck cancer patients. Questionnaire included information about main troubles of cancer patients and nursing problems of such patients. More than two thirds of nurses indicated that the main troubles of head and neck cancer patients are difficulties in speech, voice and swallowing also psychoemotional distress in connection with cancer diagnosis, prognosis and tumour location. More than a half of study nurses indicated that the main nursing problems for oncological patients care are painful ulcerations in the head and neck area, large purulent wounds and communication difficulties. Around 90 percent of nurses were experiencing negative emotions associated with the oncological patients care. Irritation and sadness of nurses increased with the nurses' age and experience of oncological work.


The numbers of animal tests being conducted are on a sharp incline.  Much of this increase is directly due to our ability to generate transgenic models and knock-outs, thereby increasing the validity of the animal model but not necessarily correlating directly with any translational medical benefits to the human counterpart.  In spite of our best efforts, there still exist species differences that prevent the application directly from animal to human, and in some examples having a completely different and adverse effect from that seen in the animal model. There are several ways in which we can improve the opportunity for a positive test outcome and at the same time reduce the animal usage which is associated with our current animal testing practices. The benefit of the 3R's is that they encourage us not only to avoid wastage of life but that they require us to provide considerable foresight and extrapolated thought before directly engaging in the preclinical testing phase.


We have applied a virtual crystal approximation to the linear combination of atomic orbitals method to calculate critical point energies of unstrained Si 12x2yGexCy alloys spanning the composition parameter space. Additionally, we have calculated the band structure across the Brillouin zone for a series of alloy compositions. We found the band energies had significant bowing departures from linearity throughout the system. In some cases, the energy band gap was not monotonically dependent on composition. Our theoretical results are compared with recent experimental results, and good agreement was found overall. © 1997 American Institute of Physics. @S0021-8979 ~97!05010-X#


Bukovskyite is a relatively rare secondary ferric
arsenate-sulfate. At the type locality near the municipality of
Kutna Hora (Czech Republic), it is the main secondary mineral
in the medieval dumps, where it occurs in enormous amounts and
forms nodules of prodigious dimensions. We investigated the
mineral bukovskyite and the type locality in detail to
understand the abundance of the mineral at this locality. The
crystal structure of bukovskyite was solved for bukovskyite
crystals from Grossvoigtsberg (Germany) and found to be of the
space group P (I) over bar with a final R factor of 5.08% from
2403 reflections. The lattice parameters at room temperature
are a = 7.549(1) angstrom, b = 10.305(1) angstrom, c =
10.914(2) angstrom, alpha = 115.136(3)degrees, beta =
99.798(3)degrees, and gamma = 92.864(3)degrees. The structure
consists of octahedral-tetrahedral Fe-arsenate chains. Sulfate
tetrahedra are bonded to the chains and free H2O molecules via
a complicated network of hydrogen bonds. Calorimetric
measurements (acid-solution calorimetry at T = 298.15 K and
relaxation calorimetry yielded heat capacities from T = 0.4 K
to 300 K) gave an enthalpy of formation of -4742.4 +/- 3.8
kJ.mol(-1) and standard entropy of 615.2 +/- 6.9 J.mol(-l).K-1.
A combination of these values gives a Gibbs free energy of
formation of -3968.9 +/- 4.3 kJ.mol(-1) and aqueous solubility
product (log K) of -30.627. Bukovskyite is metastable with
respect to scorodite; if scorodite is not considered in the
thermodynamic calculations, a stability field of bukovskyite
appears at low pH and high sulfate and arsenate activity. Field
observations showed that bukovskyite occurs in dumps where the
space between the rock fragments is filled by clays.
Bukovskyite crystallizes from Fe-As-S-rich gels that replace
Si-Al gels. The exact mechanisms that control the entire
process are not clear but will be the subject of further
studies.


Abstract A population of shepherd's-purse suspected to be resistant to the triazinone herbicide hexazinone, a photosystem II (PS II) inhibitor, was collected from an alfalfa field in 2007 in Oregon. A whole-plant, dose–response assay confirmed that the putative-resistant population was highly resistant to hexazinone. The resistant population was 22-fold more resistant to hexazinone than the susceptible population. However, the hexazinone-resistant population was susceptible to other PS II-inhibiting herbicides, including atrazine, diuron, and terbacil. DNA sequence analysis of the chloroplast psbA gene encoding the D1 protein of PS II, the target site of PS II inhibitors, identified a point mutation from Phe to Ile at position 255 in the hexazinone-resistant population. Single- and double-point mutations at position 255, which is located in the QB binding niche of the D1 protein, were previously reported in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, Synechococcus species, and Synechocystis species after site-directed mutagenesis and were associated with decreased binding of PS II inhibitors. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a mutation of the psbA gene at Phe255 in a field-selected, herbicide-resistant plant. Nomenclature: Atrazine; diuron; hexazinone; metribuzin; terbacil; alfalfa, Medicago sativa L. MEDSA; shepherd's-purse, Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medik CAPBP.


The design of tightly packed spiral erbium-doped waveguide amplifiers (EDWAs) under two constrains is considered. First is the minimization of the area required to obtain a predetermined gain; second is the maximization of gain obtained from an available area. The design is based on a numerical model specially developed for EDWAs containing bends in the waveguide configuration. The model uses rate-propagation equations and takes into account bend-induced losses. It is shown that high gain from small area is feasible, and the optimal design parameters are obtained.


A case of cholesterol granuloma (CG) in a thyroglossal duct cyst is presented. The main pathogenic theories of this entity are described. It is suggested that chronic or recurrent infection and inflammation may play the major part in the pathogenesis of CG.


Climate impacts all biological systems. Human culture and health have been related to climatological variable s . Terrestrial biological populations are regulated by both intrinsic (e.g. genetics, physiology, behavior) and extrinsic (e.g. climate, predators, competitors, parasites, food, shelter) agents. Climate appears to be a major extrinsic regulatory agent for some organisms, most notably the more r-selected ones. Random meteorological events are reflected in environmental and population variability and instability. In some cases, it may be that regularly recurrent climatic patterns generate cyclic biological fluctuations. The variability associated with marine populations in the California Current system is largely due to climatic fluctuation. The interplay of short (upwelling) and longer term (water mass influx) changes in the physical environment have been shown to regulate diatom blooms. In most cases, however, the mechanisms involved in climatic-biological interaction are not yet clear.


After being treated for venous insufficiency and malleolus ulceration, this patient woke up covered in itchy, painful plaques. What was the connection between the 2?


AI has been extensively used to help Site Reliability Engineers (SREs) to resolve faults in cloud services and applications. It helps to accelerate resolution time by navigating through the vast amount of heterogeneous data (logs, metrics, alerts, etc) related to a fault. A good ITOps system should help SREs by giving precise and meaningful insights for a quick understanding of the data at hand. In this paper, we design a framework to summarize the context or insight present in the heterogeneous data related to a fault. The proposed framework constructs queries/prompts, specific to the ITOps domain, which helps us to generate more insightful abstractive summaries using state-of-the-art text generator models. Initial study on simulated faults shows promising results, which can be expanded to accommodate other datatype, providing summaries for real-world cases.


Objective: The Internet and other electronic media may provide one part of a solution for reducing disparities in the availability of medical services. From a patient-centred perspective, an individual with a chronic, degenerative condition may ask what information is available that I can use to manage changes in my functional capacity over time, and how effective is this? The purpose of this study was to assess the availability and quality of a sample of online self-help videos which address common functional problems ubiquitous among individuals living with one such condition: Parkinson's disease. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Setting: Internet. Method: An Internet search was conducted to identify self-help videos offering instruction on how to manage changes in function, and each video was assessed using 17 factors relevant to instructional quality. Results: Of 295 videos, 14 (4.7%) provided self-help instruction for three chosen skills. The quality of instructional presentation averaged 2.75 on a 5-point scale, where 1 was poor and 5 was excellent. Conclusion: The identified self-help videos that addressed maintaining functional outcomes for individuals living with Parkinson's disease varied significantly in quality, and few met accepted standards of instructional design. Future research into effective presentation modes and patient functional capacity needs might usefully develop a patient-centred curriculum that can be delivered utilising multiple platforms. This area of research is critical in rehabilitation and other health settings to enhance assistance for individuals living with chronic health conditions and their families and caregivers.


The responses of serum glucose, insulin, and lipids to a glucose load were compared in two groups of college-age women fed two different carbohydrate diets. One group of women took oral contraceptives (OC) and the other group had never taken OC. Two experimental diets supplied approximately 13% of the calories from protein, 36% from fat, and 51% from carbohydrate. Of the carbohydrate, 84% was either sucrose or wheat starch. Each diet was fed for 4 weeks in a cross-over design. The subjects were given a glucose load dose, 1 g/kg of body weight, before and after each dietary period. Serum glucose, insulin, and lipids were measured before and 30, 60, 120, and 180 minutes after the load dose. Serum insulin was significantly affected by the type of carbohydrate in the diet (p less than .01). The sucrose diet generally gave lower insulin levels in response to the glucose load. Serum triglyceride levels were significantly higher (p less than .01) in users than nonusers of OC. Serum free fatty acids and total lipids were not significantly affected by OC use. There was no effect of different carbohydrates on any of the serum lipid parameters. Significant responses from fasting levels were observed for serum glucose, insulin, and triglyceride levels (p less than .01).


We investigate domain competition occurring during aggregate growth under ballistic deposition on a one-dimensional substrate by kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. In order to capture adsorbate molecules being deposited vertically, domains grow tall by extending their branches laterally and suppress the growth of neighboring short domains. When molecules are deposited on a flat substrate and frozen at the deposition site, the population density of domains, ρ, decreases by a power law as ρ ∼ h(-2/3) at height h. In contrast, if the effect of surface diffusion is taken into account, the domain density decreases rapidly as ρ ∼ 1/h. On a substrate patterned with an array of nanopillars, domains growing from pillar tops tend to envelop those growing from gaps between pillars. To completely suppress the growth of domains in gaps, pillar periodicity λ should be smaller than a critical value λ(c). We estimate this value approximately using the slope angle and the aspect ratio of a single isolated domain.


Leprosy is a communicable disease which can cause hideous deformities to the afflicted and social stigmatization to them and their families. The continued high endemicity of leprosy in pockets of Sub-Saharan Africa is a source of bafflement to researchers. In this paper, we investigate non-compliant behavior by patients on treatment and possible inadequacy of the prescribed treatments as the reason for the persistence of the disease in the region. We construct theoretical, deterministic mathematical models of the transmission dynamics of leprosy. These models are modified to encapsulate non-compliance and inadequate treatment. The models are then analyzed to gain insight into the qualitative features of the equilibrium states, which enable us to determine the basic reproduction number. We also employ analytical and numerical techniques to investigate the impact of non-compliance and inadequate treatment on the transmission dynamics of the disease. Our results show that, as long as there is treatment, leprosy will eventually be eliminated from the region and that the disposition under investigation only serves to slow the rate at which the disease is eradicated.


Measurements at these wavelengths are likely to give more information than those carried out at longer wavelengths since appreciable changes in the brightness temperature are found, not only throughout a lunation, but also during eclipse. The lunation measurements give 0·36 ± 0·05 for the ratio of thermal to electromagnetic attenuation coefficients at 1·5 mm wavelength. During total eclipse a drop of 30% in the mean disk brightness temperature at this wavelength has been measured. The two results taken together are not consistent with models of the lunar surface which suppose a thin dust layer of lower thermal conductivity but otherwise the same physical properties as the underlying rock. Polarization and isothermal mapping measurements have been made with telescopes capable of resolving areas small compared with the total lunar disk. From these measurements an effective dielectric constant of about 2 has been deduced. These results together with measurements made at other wavelengths will be interpreted in terms of a rough model for the lunar surface. At present, in order to get more detailed information, there is a need for a greater wavelength and angular resolution. The use of etalons and large optical telescopes will be indicated.


The stochastic network calculus is an evolving new methodology for backlog and delay analysis of networks that can account for statistical multiplexing gain. This paper advances the stochastic network calculus by deriving a network service curve, which expresses the service given to a flow by the network as a whole in terms of a probabilistic bound. The presented network service curve permits the calculation of statistical end-to-end delay and backlog bounds for broad classes of arrival and service distributions. The benefits of the derived service curve are illustrated for the exponentially bounded burstiness (EBB) traffic model. It is shown that end-to-end performance measures computed with a network service curve are bounded by O(Hlog H), where H is the number of nodes traversed by a flow. Using currently available techniques that compute end-to-end bounds by adding single node results, the corresponding performance measures are bounded by O(H3).


Many essential processes occur at soft interfaces, from chemical reactions on aqueous aerosols in the atmosphere to biochemical recognition and binding at the surface of cell membranes. The spatial arrangement of molecules specifically at these interfaces is crucial for many of such processes. The accurate determination of the interfacial molecular orientation has been challenging due to the low number of molecules at interfaces and the ambiguity of their orientational distribution. Here, we combine phase- and polarization-resolved sum-frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy to obtain the molecular orientation at the interface. We extend an exponentially decaying orientational distribution to multiple dimensions, which, in conjunction with multiple SFG datasets obtained from the different vibrational modes, allows us to determine the molecular orientation. We apply this new approach to formic acid molecules at the air-water interface. The inferred orientation of formic acid agrees very well with ab initio molecular dynamics data. The phase-resolved SFG multimode analysis scheme using the multidimensional orientational distribution thus provides a universal approach for obtaining the interfacial molecular orientation.


In this randomized retrospective study, 2 different endoscopic approaches were used to treat intractable plantar fasciitis with the aim to reduce complications and improve therapeutic effects. The lateral double incisions group included 23 feet in 22 patients, and the medial and lateral incisions group included 21 feet in 19 patients. Both groups were treated with endoscopy through the suprafascial approach. Patients were evaluated using the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society ankle-hindfoot scale (AOFAS-AHS) and visual analog scale (VAS) preoperatively and 3, 6, 12, and 24 months postoperatively. At the final follow-up, the Roles-Maudsley (R-M) score was used to determine patient satisfaction. The AOFAS-AHS scores of the lateral double incisions group were 54.54 ± 7.02 preoperatively and 97.71 ± 3.67 postoperatively. Similarly, AOFAS-AHS scores in the medial and lateral incisions group were 55.52 ± 6.41 preoperatively and 96.64 ± 3.18 postoperatively. There was no significant difference in AOFAS-AHS scores between groups before and after surgery. The time to full weightbearing after surgery and the time to return to full athletic activities in the 2 groups showed no significant difference. The postoperative VAS scores were significantly lower than the preoperative values for both groups. However, no differences were noted in VAS scores or R-M scores postoperatively between the 2 groups. In the medial and lateral incisions group, 3 cases of injury of the first branch of the lateral plantar nerve occurred postoperatively. In conclusion, both endoscopic approaches are effective in the treatment of intractable plantar fasciitis. The lateral double incisions approach showed a lower incidence of nerve injury.


A theoretical investigation was conducted of the amplitude and phase changes in high-gain ultrashort pulse dye laser amplifiers for cases when the beam area is rather small and the pulse spectral center is not located at the amplifier gain peak. Due to high energy densities as well as high intensities, both slow (saturation-induced) and fast (Kerr-type) self-phase modulation can take place. Under certain conditions, these effects can together produce a considerable amount of mostly linear carrier chirp, resulting in compressible bandwidth enhancement. Compression of the amplified pulses is also calculated using quadratic and quadratic-plus-cubic phase compensation. >


Abstract Supporting the wide range of readers in secondary disciplinary classrooms can involve a number of helpful scaffolds and instructional routines, and the role of reading purpose may be particularly important. Research suggests that reading purposes impact reading processes and outcomes, and also that disciplinary experts have discipline-specific purposes for reading. In this qualitative-dominant, mixed-methods study, five high school classrooms were studied to explore what kind of purposes teachers establish for reading in the disciplines and how students perceive those reading purposes. Teachers' (n = 7) reading purposes and related instruction were explored via observations and interviews, and high school students' (n = 135) perceptions of reading purposes for discipline-specific readings in English, Social Studies, and Science were studied via survey. Each classroom was one case in this collective case study with subsequent quantitative analyses to explore differences in students' perceptions of reading purposes based on their reading levels. Results suggest that teachers created reading purposes aligned with three main goals: fostering general comprehension, building disciplinary topic knowledge, and enacting disciplinary expert habits of reading. Findings also suggest that students articulated purposes for reading generally, but with few connections to the reading practices of disciplinary experts. Chi Square analyses of the student level data showed no significant differences between students' perceptions of reading purposes based on their reading levels. Implications, particularly related to the distinction between reading for authentic disciplinary purposes and reading for "school" purposes, are explored.


T cell-based immunotherapies have brought great progress for cancer patients, but many questions still remain open with regard to mechanisms of action and immune regulation in the tumor microenvironment. Methods: We setup a well-controlled co-culture system to study the dynamic T cell - cancer cell interplay. Low passage MelanA-expressing melanoma cell lines were cultured with MelanA-specific CD8+ T cells and characterized using differential gene expression analysis and flow cytometry. Results: As expected, significant fractions of melanoma cells died in presence of melanoma-specific CD8+ T cells. However, still some melanoma cells persisted during up to three days of co-culture. Characterization of the surviving melanoma cells revealed increased mRNA levels of genes associated with antigen processing and presentation: HLA Class I-encoding genes ( HLA-A and HLA-B ), HLA Class 2-encoding genes ( HLA-DRA and HLA-DRB ) and CD74 , the invariant chain that stabilizes the complex of HLA Class II α and β chains until it is loaded with a peptide, were strongly increased after co-culture, as well as TAP1 and TAP2 (encoding transporter associated with antigen presentation), responsible for peptide transfer from the cytosol to the endoplasmic reticulum (Neefjes et al., 2011). HLA-Class I and HLA-DR expression was also strongly increased at the protein level as assessed at 48h of co-culture. These gene and protein expression changes were dependent on antigen-specific interaction of CTLs with melanoma cells and were mediated by IFNγ and TNFα, two cytokines secreted by CTLs upon antigen recognition. Discussion: So far, mainly immunosuppressive mechanisms of cancer cells upon exposure to CTLs were described, such as increased expression of IDO1 and the inhibitory receptor ligand PDL1 (Spranger et al., 2013). Here we show that further to these immunosuppressive mechanisms, melanoma cells respond to melanoma-specific CTLs with an IFNγ-driven upregulation of genes involved in antigen presentation. Increased antigen-presentation likely increases target cell recognition of CTLs. These findings may play a role in successful immunotherapy, and might explain why IFNγ blockade in situations of anti-tumor immune attack not only blocks the immunosuppressive response of melanoma cells but also the anti-tumor T cell response (McGray et al., 2013). References : McGray, A.J.R., Hallett, R., Bernard, D., Swift, S.L., Zhu, Z., Teoderascu, F., VanSeggelen, H., Hassell, J.A., Hurwitz, A.A., Wan, Y., et al. (2013). Immunotherapy-induced CD8+ T Cells Instigate Immune Suppression in the Tumor. Mol Ther 22, 206-218. Neefjes, J., Jongsma, M.L.M., Paul, P., and Bakke, O. (2011). Towards a systems understanding of MHC class I and MHC class II antigen presentation. Nat Rev Immunol 11, 823-836. Spranger, S., Spaapen, R.M., Zha, Y., Williams, J., Meng, Y., Ha, T.T., and Gajewski, T.F. (2013). Up-Regulation of PD-L1, IDO, and Tregs in the Melanoma Tumor Microenvironment Is Driven by CD8+ T Cells. Sci Transl Med 5, 200ra116-200ra116. Citation Format: Natalie J. Neubert, Laure Tille, David Barras, Charlotte Soneson, Petra Baumgaertner, Donata Rimoldi, Mauro Delorenzi, Silvia A. Fuertes Marraco, Daniel E. Speiser. Melanoma cells respond to CD8+ T cell attack by upregulation of genes associated with antigen processing and presentation. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy; 2016 Oct 20-23; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2017;5(3 Suppl):Abstract nr B34.


The Global Energy and Water Cycle EXchanges (GEWEX) project was created more than thirty years ago within the framework of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). The aim of this initiative was to address major gaps in our understanding of Earth's energy and water cycles given a lack of information about the basic fluxes and associated reservoirs of these cycles. GEWEX sought to acquire and set standards for climatological data on variables essential for quantifying water and energy fluxes and for closing budgets at the regional and global scales. In so doing, GEWEX activities led to a greatly improved understanding of processes and our ability to predict them. Such understanding was viewed then, as it remains today, essential for advancing weather and climate prediction from global to regional scales. GEWEX has also demonstrated over time the importance of a wider engagement of different communities and the necessity of international collaboration for making progress on understanding and on the monitoring of the changes in the energy and water cycles under ever increasing human pressures.
This paper reflects on the first 30 years of evolution and progress that has occurred within GEWEX. This evolution is presented in terms of three main phases of activity. Progress toward the main goals of GEWEX is highlighted by calling out a few achievements from each phase. A vision of the path forward for the coming decade, including the goals of GEWEX for the future, are also described.


Positron emission tomography is a three-dimensional nuclear imaging technique. It is often use in diagnosis of neoplasms, disease of cardiovascular and central nerve system. There are some researches which show role of this method in diagnosis and monitoring some of pulmonary disease. This paper sums up current reports about role of positron emission tomography in diagnosis and monitoring of: occupancy of organs and treatment in sarcoidosis. It shows limited capability to differentiating sarcoidosis from chest malignancy at use 18-fluorodeoxyglucose as radiolabel and result of promising research which show usefulness 18-metyltyrosine in this range. We summarise papers which present benefits of PET in determination of advancing disease especially in multi-systemic and atypical cases. Advantage of PET over present use radiological patechnique in defining of sarcoidosis activity allows using it in monitoring of treatment with standard therapy and help in determination of usefulness of new drugs. Future large randomised studies could help in using this still expensive method in wide range of patient to diagnose and monitoring of sarcoidosis and other nowadays unused recommendation.


A model of apartment heating load in a district heating system could be useful in the management and utilization of energy resources, since it could predict energy usage and so could assist in the efficient use of energy resources. The heating load in a district heating system varies in a highly nonlinear manner and is subject to many different factors, such as heating area, number of people living in that complex, and ambient temperature. Thus there are few published papers with accurate models of heating load, especially in domestic literature. This work is concerned with the modeling of apartment heating load in a district heating system in winter, using the reduced least square support vector machine (LS-SVM), and with the purpose of using the model to predict heating energy usage in domestic city area. We collected 23,856 pieces of data on heating energy usage over a 12-week period in winter, from 12 heat exchangers in five apartments. Half of the collected data were used to construct the heating load model, and the other half were used to test the model`s accuracy. The model was able to predict the heating energy usage pattern rather accurately. It could also estimate the usage of heating energy within of mean absolute percentage error. This implies that the model prediction accuracy needs to be improved further, but it still could be considered as an acceptable model if we consider the nonlinearity and uncertainty of apartment heating energy usage in a district heating system.


This self-contained introduction to machine learning, designed from the start with engineers in mind, will equip students with everything they need to start applying machine learning principles and algorithms to real-world engineering problems. With a consistent emphasis on the connections between estimation, detection, information theory, and optimization, it includes: an accessible overview of the relationships between machine learning and signal processing, providing a solid foundation for further study; clear explanations of the differences between state-of-the-art techniques and more classical methods, equipping students with all the understanding they need to make informed technique choices; demonstration of the links between information-theoretical concepts and their practical engineering relevance; reproducible examples using Matlab, enabling hands-on student experimentation. Assuming only a basic understanding of probability and linear algebra, and accompanied by lecture slides and solutions for instructors, this is the ideal introduction to machine learning for engineering students of all disciplines.


An interatomic potential of the Li−Mn−O ternary system has been developed on the basis of the second-nearest-neighbor modified embedded-atom method (2NN MEAM) formalism combined with a charge equilibration (Qeq) concept. The potential reproduces fundamental physical properties (structural, elastic, thermodynamic and migration properties) of various compounds well, including lithium oxides, manganese oxides, and lithium manganese ternary oxides. Through molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using the developed potential, lithium diffusion properties (activation energy for lithium migration and diffusion coefficient) in spinel Li1−xMn2O4 are also reproduced in good agreement with experiments. We have found that the effect of the lithium vacancy concentration is marginal on the activation energy for lithium diffusion in the Li1−xMn2O4 cathode, but it is significant in the lithium diffusion coefficient. The potential can be further utilized for atomistic simulations of various materials phenomena (phase transitions, defect formation, lithiation/delithiation, etc.) in LIB cathode materials.


Up till now, traditional methods of planning construction projects such as 2D technologies including bar charts, network diagrams and other scheduling tools, which are typical methods for modeling the progress of a project, have been the only methods considered. These planning tools are incapable of acknowledging different aspects of construction projects, that it to say, they ignore the space requirements, in which activities are executed and the impact of weather on construction processes. This leads to drawbacks during the execution of these tasks such as work area overlapping, reduction in productivity, safety hazards, long hauling paths and poor quality of work. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to acknowledge the requirements of spatial aspects and the impact of weather, and to integrate these requirements into one simulation framework model. We propose a constraints-based simulation framework. That is to say, the simulation framework executes only tasks, which satisfy the requirement of the space availability and sensitivity towards weather conditions. The implementation of the multi-layer decision support system for construction operations was carried out in Plant Simulation environment and the Simulation Toolkit Shipbuilding (STS) Tool Box Component. This concept will assist site managers in planning and updating the near-term activities for the exterior construction work of high rise buildings. This is ongoing research; therefore, other aspects such as execution strategies for different tasks will be developed in a future approach. This research contributes a new approach to integrating different construction problems in one simulation model, which have not been much considered in previous work. Keywords-Weather impact; spatial constraints; construction operation; plant simulation.


The lack of consensus among researchers in defi ning the focal construct of rurality has led to contradictory conclusions of whether or not a rural-urban performance gap exists in higher education. Compounding this problem are the changing defi nitions of rural and urban, even among governmental agencies. Thus, this study used two different defi nitional models of rurality to illustrate how different defi nitions can result in contradictory interpretations of any observed performance and attainment gap between students from different backgrounds.


Plastic wrap was investigated as an alternative cover for ultrasound transducers to ensure their sanitization or sterility. The wrap was found to have no gross defects, did not allow the passage of herpes simplex virus across it in vitro and made no difference to the quality of the ultrasound images. It is a simple, cheap, and safe alternative for use as a transducer cover and can be gas sterilized for sterile procedures.


The antisocial personality is one of the main conditions that you will have to place greater emphasis, since it is a personality type more likely to commit violence. It should be pointed arguments Lykken who proposed a theory on the relationship between personality and crime claiming that people who express since childhood elevated levels of a number of related traits called "difficult temperament" are vulnerable to behavior antisocial (LYKKEN, 1995). It should also be noted that between 2007 and 2012 intentional homicides per capita increased by more than 65% while increased kidnappings and extortions 250% in 94% (CIDAC, 2013). The study of antisocial behavior has lived throughout history intense fluctuations between the interest expressed by individual factors and social and external factors as explanatory causes of these behaviors Peña (2010) comments that the information in the most agree that the history of abuse difficult experiences or poor family support network are causes for these individuals are prone to violent behavior which are based on two factors: the educational practices of the parents (who have to monitor the child's behavior and punishing deviant stimulating alternatives) and psychobiological inherited characteristics that facilitate or hinder the process of acquisition of rules. Therefore the aim of this study is to analyze the behaviors that occur as part of antisocial personality disorder from the Gestalt approach with reference to the Cycle of Gestalt and Person Experience sick. The main analysis allow us to emphasize the importance of Gestalt in antisocial behavior analysis as we talk about the importance of seeing the individual as a complete being, where we take into account their physical functioning thoughts emotions culture and behavioral expressions and it's all part of the individual and thus be viewed as a unified being. You can deepen the analysis of antisocial personality through the experience cycle which is focused on good and bad experiences, which largely determine our behavior. The importance lies in emphasizing the need for the person to learn to conclude every one of the issues that arise throughout their existence closing cycles the best way to avoid creating conflicts that eventually may give rise to various emotional disorders including inadequate social behavior. It is therefore necessary to construct the relevant emotional resources to cope with life experiences.


In the present study, Strontium doped Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) were synthesized by standard solid-state reaction technique. The dielectric property of the synthesized samples has been studied in the present work. The dielectric constant and loss have been measured as a function of frequency (100 Hz-1 KHz) and temperature (50°C to 300°C). Strontium doped TiO2 shows interesting optical properties promising a variety of optical applications. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra was obtained at different excitation wavelength. PL emission spectra show that positions of PL peaks gradually shifts towards the violet region with increase of Sr ion dosage from 3% to 5%. The results are discussed in details.


Media agencies have become one of the key actors in the contemporary media industry: by channelling marketing budgets to some media and some platforms and not to others, media agencies play an important role in creating the digital media infrastructure and laying the tracks of the public sphere. Yet we know very little about these commercial middlemen between advertisers and audiences, what they do, and how we should understand their role in the digital media ecology. This article discusses the role of media agencies in relation to platformization with a focus on the news media sector. Based on interviews, publicly available material and trade journals, the article depicts an industry deeply engaged in digitizing, tracking and commodifying media audiences, while at the same time aware of ethical challenges of the digital media infrastructure. This leads to a call for more political attention and critical research on the democratic implications of the new value chains between platforms, advertisers, audiences, media agencies and news media as well as the many tech companies providing derived digital services and products.


Aim: The aim of our study was to evaluate the effects of chronic smoking habit on corneal endothelial cells, central corneal thickness, and dry eye tests. Material and Methods: A total of 160 eyes of 160 chronic smokers and 160 eyes of 160 control cases were included in the study. The smokers were grouped into 4 groups according to pack-year smoking as follows: 0-10, 10-20, 20-30, >30. Endothelial cell density (CD), average cell size (AVG), percentage of hexagonal cell (HEX), and coefficient of variation (CV), central corneal thickness (CCT) were measured using a specular microscope. The Tear Break-Up Time (TUBT) and Schirmer tests were performed. Results: In Group 1 and Group 2, there was no significant difference between the smoker and the control groups in terms of CD, AVG, HEX and CV. In Group 3 and Group 4, there was a significant decrease in CD and HEX values, while there was a significant increase in AVG and CV values. CCT values were not significantly different in the Groups 1,2 and 3, whereas there was a significant decrease in the Group 4. TBUT and Schirmer tests were significantly decreased in all groups. Conclusion: It was found that as the number of pack-year increased, CD and HEX values decreased and AVG and CV values increased. Dry eye tests were affected in a shorter period of time, while CCT was affected in a longer period of time than the time required for CD, HEX, AVG and CV parameters to be affected.


The controversy surrounding the removal and attempted restoration of the altar of Victory to the Curia in Rome is one of the most notorious episodes in late Roman history. It has customarily been treated as a defining moment in a longer conflict between paganism and Christianity, symbolized by a dramatic "debate" in 384 CE between the pagan prefect of Rome, Q. Aurelius Symmachus, and bishop Ambrose of Milan. Sourcebooks have contributed to this impression by (understandably) continuing to print the texts of Symmachus and Ambrose together. Only recently have scholars recognized that framing the issue in this way reproduces the perspective imposed on it by Ambrose himself, who purposefully published a copy of Symmachus's Third Relatio in his own collection of letters, "disadvantageously sandwiched" between his rebuttals. Ambrose's misleading presentation of the "debate" was quickly taken up and elaborated by his admirers, notably Prudentius in his poem Against Symmachus and Paulinus of Milan in his biography of Ambrose. In contrast to the focus on the protagonists Symmachus and Ambrose, the role of Damasus in the affair has received much less attention; this, too, reflects Ambrose's presentation of the episode, for he accorded Damasus only a passing mention in his first letter to Valentinian II. A deeper investigation of Damasus's actions in the controversy, however, reveals an inconsistency in the Roman bishop's response to the Senate's attempts to restore the altar to its traditional place in the Curia. This chapter argues that the apparent inconsistency in Damasus's approach should be seen in the context of conflict not between pagans and Christians, but within the Christian community of Rome. While there is ample evidence for intra-Christian conflict during Damasus's episcopate, stemming initially from his contested election as bishop in 366 and subsequently from heated doctrinal debates over marriage and celibacy in the Roman Church, the dispute surrounding the altar has not figured in discussions of intra-Christian conflict at Rome. This chapter proposes to revisit the familiar problem of the altar by situating it in the context of ongoing intra-Christian strife; it argues that Damasus's actions in the affair were conditioned by his need to respond to internal challenges from schismatic rivals who threatened his position as leader of the Roman Church.


Autoxidation of 5-hydroxyprimaquine, a putative metabolite of the antimalarial primaquine, was studied by oxygen consumption and ESR spectroscopy. 5-Hydroxyprimaquine underwent fast autoxidation under mild conditions (pH 7.4-8.5, 25 degrees C, and presence of 1 mM diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid); each mol of the drug consumed 0.75 mol of oxygen and formed 0.5 mol of hydrogen peroxide. Direct-ESR experiments demonstrated that 5-hydroxyprimaquine autoxidation was accompanied by generation of a drug-derived free radical that is oxygen sensitive. Generation of hydroxyl radical was also established by spin-trapping experiments in the presence of 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide. The effect of antioxidant enzymes on hydroxyl radical adduct yield and analysis of autoxidation stoichiometry suggest that the main route for hydroxyl radical generation is the iron-catalyzed reaction between the drug-derived free radical and hydrogen peroxide.


The stator mmf over a segment of the segmental rotor reluctance machine is treated as an infinite array of generators feeding a common busbar, and the magnetic potential of the rotor segment is obtained as the potential of the equivalent busbar. The rotor potential for any airgap profile is readily obtained and it is shown how the method may be extended to axially laminated machines and those of the flux barrier type. This approach is derived from considering the flux due to a single stator conductor carrying current.


Abstract Introduction: Previous data indicated that the loss of SSeCKS/Gravin/AKAP12 ("SSeCKS") or Rb correlates with prostate cancer (CaP) progression and that their deletion results in increased prostatic hyperplasia (1,2). SSeCKS re-expression in MAT-LyLu prostate cancer cells has little effect on the growth potential of primary-site tumors and on the ability of metastatic cells to colonize distal sites, yet it suppresses the growth of macrometastases by suppressing tumor-encoded vascular endothelial growth factor expression and neovascularization of the metastatic niche(3). We demonstrated recently that SSeCKS-null ( Akap12−/− ) mouse embryo fibroblasts (KO-MEF) suffer from an Rb-dependent premature senescence, and that the hyperplastic prostates in KO mice exhibit markers of increased senescence (4). Experimental Procedures: In order to determine whether SSeCKS and Rb act synergistically to promote CaP progression, KO mice were crossed to mice with prostate-specific conditional Rb deletion ( Pb-Cre;Rb fl/fl ). Results: Compared to controls (WT, Akap12−/− or Pb-Cre;Rb fl/fl mice), 100% of Akap12−/−;Pb-Cre;Rb fl/fl male mice showed evidence of low grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (LG-PIN), with a smaller percentage (22%) displaying high grade (HG) PIN by 10 months of age. These lesions were marked by increased levels of cytoplasmic E-cadherin (compared to the cell-cell junctional staining in normal or hyperplastic luminal prostate layers) in LGPIN and by the loss of E-cadherin expression in HG-PIN. Unexpectedly, Akap12−/−;Pb-Cre;Rb fl/fl males showed increased numbers (1.8- to 2.5-fold) of p63-positive basal cells in all four lobes compared with control mouse prostates. Importantly, whereas control mice showed neither primary-site prostate cancer nor lymph node (LN) metastasis, >/80% of the Akap12−/−;Pb-Cre;Rb fl/fl males displayed metastases in pelvic or inguinal LN. These metastases did not stain for E-cadherin, but were positive for both basal (5 and 14) and luminal (8) cytokeratins, and low levels of androgen receptor. Foci within these lesions were positive for the basal marker, p63, and for the mesenchymal marker, vimentin. The LN lesions contained deletions of their floxed Rb loci, as shown by nested PCR assays, corroborating that they derived from the transgenic prostate cells. Conclusions: The combined loss of SSeCKS and Rb leads to early CaP initiation marked by increased basal cell proliferation in all four lobes, as well as the marked increase in LN metastasis of tumor cells with a basal-luminal transitional phenotype. These data strongly suggest that SSeCKS suppresses parameters of CaP initiation and metastasis. Citation Format: Hyun-Kyung Ko, Shin Akakura, Jennifer Peresie, Barbara Foster, Irwin H. Gelman. The combined loss of SSeCKS/Gravin/AKAP12 and Rb in the prostate promotes spontaneous lymph node metastases with basal-luminal transitional phenotypes [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Advances in Prostate Cancer Research; 2012 Feb 6-9; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(4 Suppl):Abstract nr C56.


Abstract We used rendezvous site locations of wolf (Canis lupus) packs recorded during 1996–2006 to build a predictive model of gray wolf rendezvous site habitat in Idaho, USA. Variables in our best model included green leaf biomass (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), surface roughness, and profile curvature, indicating that wolves consistently used wet meadow complexes for rendezvous sites. We then used this predictive model to stratify habitat and guide survey efforts designed to document wolf pack distribution and fecundity in 4 study areas in Idaho. We detected all 15 wolf packs (32 wolf pack-yr) and 20 out of 27 (74%) litters of pups by surveying <11% of the total study area. In addition, we were able to obtain detailed observations on wolf packs (e.g., hair and scat samples) once we located their rendezvous sites. Given an expected decrease in the ability of managers to maintain radiocollar contact with all of the wolf packs in the northern Rocky Mountains, rendezvous sites predicted by our model can be the starting point and foundation for targeted sampling and future wolf population monitoring surveys.


Background: Limited data exists addressing the daily use of anticoagulants for atrial fibrillation (AF) and atrial flutter (AFL) patients before and after electrical cardioversion (ECV) or catheter ablation procedures. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the appropriateness of anticoagulant therapy.

Methods: We evaluated the prescribed dosage of anticoagulant therapy for 257 non-valvular AF and AFL patients scheduled for ECV or catheter ablation and the appropriateness of periprocedural anticoagulation according to European Society of Cardiology (ESC) AF Guidelines. The statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics software (v.26.0).

Results: The majority of the patients (84%) used nonvitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) for pre-procedural anticoagulation. An intervention was not performed for 12.2% of warfarin users because of insufficient hypocoagulation, while anamnesis of patients' missed doses with a possibility of inadequate hypocoagulation occurred only in 1.9% of patients on NOACs. The odds of having insufficient pre-procedural hypocoagulation were 7.4 times higher for warfarin users compared to the NOACs group (p=0.001, OR=7.4). An incorrect NOAC dose was assigned to 22 (8.6%) patients. Rivaroxaban was the most prescribed NOAC and this group of patients had the highest percentage of incorrect dosage according to the ESC guidelines.

Conclusions: Mistakes of prescribing the dosage of anticoagulant therapy are common. The majority of the patients in the study were prescribed with NOACs before and after ECV or catheter ablation procedures. Warfarin users had higher odds of the intervention not being performed and not reaching sufficient hypocoagulation prior to the procedure compared to NOACs users.


This paper deals with guidance and control design for a rendezvous mission in circular Mars orbit. Generally safety requirements and more specific constraints dictated by the on- board camera sensor have suggested the implementation of tailored guidance and control algorithms, especially for the trajectory control function. These algorithms, based on the travelling ellipse formulation of the relative motion, allow recovering trajectory dispersion while keeping the chaser into an inherently safe path. They have been tested with respect to the expected navigation accuracy and have shown a very robust behaviour. Trade off analysis versus a more classical approach and thorough validation has been performed in a realistic Mars Sample Return scenario. Satisfactory results in terms of fuel consumption, robustness and safety have been obtained. Secondly, attitude and trajectory controllers, synthesised for all the mission phases, are also presented. These controllers take into account sensor noise and the presence of flexible and sloshing modes, as well as the coupling between position and attitude for the final approach before docking..


Author(s): Cici, Blerim | Advisor(s): Markopoulou, Athina | Abstract: Thanks to the pervasiveness of smartphones and their applications there is an abundance of data generated from mobile devices. These data are either actively contributed by the users (e.g., Foursquare check-ins), or can be passively inferred from the mobile phone activity (e.g., user's location during a phone call). Since, smartphones are constantly with their users, mobile data reflect the underlying human activity and they provide rich information about spatio-temporal and social patterns. This can be used to enable a variety of new services. This dissertation is focused on how to mine mobile phone data to improve a variety of Smart City applications. In particular, we focus on Call Description Records (CDRs) that are generated every time a user makes a phone call. Also, users' phone calls reveal social information (e.g., whom they call). The spatio-temporal information in mobile data reflects how users move in the city (i.e., users' trajectories) and in which areas they spend their time during the day. In this dissertation we use their rich and unique combination of insights into human dynamics in order to: (1) understand and improve transportation in a city via ridesharing, (2) characterize various areas of the city, as well as how these areas interact with each other (Urban Ecology), and (3) predict communication between different areas of the city in order to improve provisioning in cellular infrastructure. First, we use CDRs to assess the potential of ridesharing. Our offline analysis based on large CDRs and other data sets from four different cities indicates that ridesharing has a great potential considering spatio-temporal and social constraints the users might have when sharing a ride. Moreover, we design and implement an online ridesharing system (ORS), with emphasis on scalability. Second, we use CDRs to infer features of urban ecology (i.e., social and economic activities, and social interaction). We present a novel approach that consists of time series decomposition of aggregate cell phone activity per unit area using spectral methods, and clustering of areal units with similar activity patterns. We validate our methodology using external ground truth data that we collected from municipal and online sources. Finally, we use CDRs to predict cell-to-cell mobile traffic. Traffic prediction is crucial for provisioning and virtualization of cellular architectures. We build a traffic predictor using state-of-the art machine learning techniques. Our predictor is based on key insights that we got after examining the data and it achieves accuracy of 85% (while the baseline achieves 80%). Also, by giving higher weight to false positives, which is important for network operators, we can achieve a recall of 94%.


This compelling study explores food programs initiated by the British government across two centuries, from the workhouses of the 1830s to the post-war Welfare State. Challenging the assumption that state ideologies and practices were progressive and based primarily on scientific advances in nutrition, Nadja Durbach examines the political, economic, social and cultural circumstances that led the state to feed some of its subjects, but not others. Durbach follows food policies from their conception to their implementation through case studies involving paupers, prisoners, famine victims, POWs, schoolchildren, wartime civilians and pregnant women. She explores what government food meant to those who devised, executed, used, and sometimes refused, these social services. Many Mouths seeks to understand the social, economic, and political theories that influenced these feeding schemes, within their changing historical contexts. It thus offers fresh insights into how both the administrators and the intended recipients of government food programs realized, interpreted, and made meaning out of these exchanges, and the complex relationship between the body, the state and the citizen.


In 1925 Broders 1 presented a method whereby the degree of malignancy of a tumor could be assessed, recorded, and communicated readily to the clinician. Realizing that the percentage of undifferentiated cells determines the malignant potential, he based his system on the ratio of these to the differentiated cells as follows: Grade 1 here, then, represents the least malignant tumors, whereas Grade 4 represents the most malignant tumors. He graded and followed 880 epitheliomas, finding a very close correlation between the tumor grade and the therapeutic result. Subsequently, this excellent system has been applied to carcinoma of the prostate. Here, too, the grade and prognosis are related and vary proportionately. Table 1 shows the percentage of patients with metastases in Kahler's 4 cases and the survivalfigures for Thompson's 7 and Pool and Thompson's 6 series. The increase in metastases and the worsening of prognosis with the increase in grade


Average ligand removal enthalpies of 30 differently coordinated mono-nuclear fourth-row transition metal complexes taken from a database recently considered by Johnson and Becke [Can. J. Chem., 2009, 8, 1369] have been computed in the gas phase using unrestricted pseudo-spectral (LACV3P) and fully analytic (qzvp(-g)) B3LYP including a recently developed empirical dispersion correction. Heats of formation of neutral singlet reactants and neutral, potentially high spin, products have been taken from NIST's Organometallic Thermochemistry Database. Comparison of B3LYP-MM//qzvp(-g) and experimental average ligand removal enthalpies reveals a systematic error in the reported experimental enthalpies for manganese-containing complexes which is verified with high-level, CCSD(T)-F12//family of cc-pVTZ, explicitly correlated coupled-cluster methods. Other B3LYP-MM//qzvp(-g) error patterns give rise to a d-block localized orbital correction (DBLOC) scheme containing six transferable parameters that correct the functional's description of metal-ligand bonding, cation-π, and dispersion interactions as well as metal and/or ligand multi-reference effects. Metal-ligand cation-π and dispersion interactions have been fit to the monopole/induced-dipole, C(4)/R(4), and induced-dipole/induced-dipole, C(6)/R(6), interaction functions, respectively. This DBLOC model has been built upon a previously determined set of metal atom parameters which are necessary to properly describe the free metal atom reaction products. The final DBLOC model brings the mean unsigned error of B3LYP-MM//qzvp(-g) from 3.74 ± 3.51 kcal/mol to 0.94 ± 0.68 kcal/mol and corrects the functional's under binding in nearly every case. Several important connections among DBLOC parameters have been made.


ABSTRACT The purpose of this survey was to evaluate the impact of patients' depth of religious adherence on their outlook toward their disease and treatment. A 15-question survey assessing self-reported level of basic practices of the Christian faith, sense of personal well-being, and attitude toward diabetic treatment was distributed to consecutive patients with diabetes at an ophthalmology clinic in Missouri. Christian patients were chosen because they represent one important end of the spectrum of religious belief in U.S. culture and the majority of patients in the clinic. Of 299 patients, the more adherent a patient was to faith-based activities or demonstrated knowledge of basic dogma, the greater their sense of well-being (p < 0.001), suggesting Christian religion/spirituality may be a positive coping mechanism for diabetic patients.


MULYATI. Screening of Probiotic Bacterium for Controling Streptococcosis in Tilapia Oreochromis niloticus. Under the direction of SUKENDA and WIDANARNI. Streptococcus iniae is a pathogenic bacteria that responsible for streptococcosis disease in tilapia. The used of probiotic bacteria is one of the method in aquaculture that was used to control infectious diseases. The aimed of this research was to find probiotic bacteria from intestine of fresh water fishes and water media potentially inhibit S. iniae infection in tilapia. Eighty six isolates of bacteria that had been isolated from tilapia, common carp, siam catfish, walking catfish and jelawat, as well as from water media, were in vitro and in vivo tested to find out its ability to inhibit S. iniae. Five isolates namely AN3, AL4, WY3 that isolated from tilapia, common carp and catfish intestine respectively, as well as DM1 and KH1 from water media have inhibition activity against S. iniae in vitro and in vivo test. The highest protection of tilapia against S. iniae was showed in fish previously injected with DM1 and AN3. 16SrRNA gene based sequencing of DM1 and AN3 showed that the isolate was Proteus mirabilis and Aeromonas sobria respectively. Key word : Streptococcosis, Streptococcus iniae, tilapia, probiotic


Atherosclerotic plaques preferentially localize at arterial regions exposed to turbulent low-shear flow. Urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) plays a role in vascular remodeling by facilitating smooth muscle cell migration and proliferation in addition to the proteolysis of extracellular matrix, and the expression of uPA is elevated in atherosclerotic lesions. In this study, we analyzed the effects of laminar and turbulent shear stress on uPA expression in cultured human coronary artery endothelial cells. The application of laminar shear stress (1.5 or 15 dyn/cm2) significantly decreased the amount of uPA mRNA as well as the secretion of uPA protein. In contrast, turbulent shear stress (average intensity, 1.5 dyn/cm2) markedly increased uPA gene expression and protein secretion. Laminar shear stress downregulated uPA gene expression transcriptionally and posttranscriptionally; laminar shear stress activated transcription factor GATA6, which binds to a GATA consensus element located between -692 and -687 bp in the uPA promoter, thereby inhibiting uPA gene transcription. Laminar shear stress also accelerated the degradation of uPA mRNA; the half-life of uPA mRNA decreased to about half of the static control's half-life. Although turbulent shear stress had no effect on the transcription of uPA, it significantly increased uPA mRNA stability; the half-life of uPA mRNA increased by about two times the static control's half-life. Our results suggest that endothelial uPA expression is flow sensitive and differentially regulated by laminar and turbulent shear stress in vitro. We speculate that this effect may contribute to the local nature of atherosclerosis.


We simulate
ultra-cold interacting bosons in quasi-one-dimensional, incommensurate optical
lattices. In the tight-binding limit, these lattices have pseudo-random on-site
energies and thus can potentially lead to Anderson localization. We use the
Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov formalism in the Bose-Hubbard model to explore the
parameter regimes that lead to exponential localization of the ground state in
a 3-colour optical lattice and investigate the role of repulsive interactions,
harmonic confinement and finite temperature.


AEM is an important addition to ground water modeling technique based on superposition of analytic elements. This method employs superposition of analytic functions to create an approximate solution to the ground-water flow problem. In AEM each of analytic element represents different flow feature of the aquifer. AEM model is applied to calculate groundwater head for homogeneous and heterogeneous steady flow condition for synthetic problems. Results are validated with available analytical solution and finite element method. Sensitivity analysis is carried out by varying parameter of aquifer and amount of discretisation of element. Later AEM model is also applied for unsteady well drawdown problem. The radial collector well comprises of horizontally placed screen pipes or laterals in riverbed aquifer. The complete structure behaves like a well with large effective radius. Radial collector wells offer a feasible and sustainable pumping arrangement to augment induced recharge. The use of radial collector well structures has been growing in various parts of the world. Simulation of a synthetic RC well by FEM is covered in the book.


The most traditional first step after harvesting flowers is to place the cut stems into water or a postharvest solution. Although this step is thought to reduce desiccation, and thereby extend postharvest life, there has been no detailed study of this hypothesis. We harvested rose flowers from commercial farms near Bogota, Colombia and Quito, Ecuador. Flowers were either hydrated as per conventional practice, or not provided with immediate postharvest hydration. They were then processed and transported to Davis, California, following standard commercial practices. Despite substantial loss of water during transport, dry-handled flowers rehydrated fully, and performed at least as well in the vase as flowers handled according to the standard protocol. Our data suggest that the value of immediate hydration of harvested flowers should be carefully examined, not only for roses, but for other important species.


This monograph examines an often overlooked aspect of New Testament constructions of legitimacy, namely the "value" of Christians' withstanding persecution as a means of corroborating their religious identity as Christ's followers. The introductory chapter defines the problem in interaction with sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's concept of "cultural capital." Chapters 2–10 examine the depictions of persecuted Christians in the Pauline letters, First Peter, Hebrews, Revelation, the NT Gospels, and Acts. These exegetical analyses support the conclusion that assertions of standing, authority, and power claimed on the basis of persecution play a significant and heretofore under-appreciated role in much of the NT. It is also argued that depictions of persecution can have both positive and negative implications for constructions of legitimation: they can work positively, confirming the standing of Jesus' faithful followers, as well as negatively, calling into question the standing of those construed as persecutors of the early Jesus movement(s). An epilogue considers later examples of early Christian martyrs and confessors, as well as John Foxe's "Book of Martyrs." The epilogue also addresses the ethical and hermeneutical problem of asserting the withstanding of persecution as a basis of legitimacy in ancient and modern contexts. This problem stems from the observation that, although the NT authors present their construals of withstanding persecution as a basis of legitimation as if they were self-evident, such assertions are actually the culmination of numerous presuppositions and are therefore open to dissenting viewpoints. Yet the NT authors do not acknowledge the possibility of competing interpretations, or that oppressed Christians could someday become oppressors. Accordingly, this exegetical study calls attention to ethical and hermeneutical quandary that the NT bequeaths to the modern interpreter, a quandary inviting input from ethicists and other theologians.


Ground-based remote sensing observatories have a crucial role to play in providing data to improve our understanding of atmospheric processes, to test the performance of atmospheric models, and to develop new methods for future space-borne observations. Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, a French research institute in environmental sciences, created the Site Instrumental de Recherche par Teledetection Atmospherique (SIRTA), an atmospheric observatory with these goals in mind. Today SIRTA, located 20km south of Paris, operates a suite a state-of-the-art active and passive remote sensing instruments dedicated to routine monitoring of cloud and aerosol properties, and key atmospheric parameters. Detailed description of the state of the atmospheric column is progressively archived and made accessible to the scientific community. This paper describes the SIRTA infrastructure and database, and provides an overview of the scientific research associated with the observatory. Researchers using SIRTA data conduct research on atmospheric processes involving complex interactions between clouds, aerosols and radiative and dynamic processes in the atmospheric column. Atmospheric modellers working with SIRTA observations develop new methods to test their models and innovative analyses to improve parametric representations of sub-grid processes that must be accounted for in the model. SIRTA provides the means to develop data interpretation tools for future active remote sensing missions in space (e.g. CloudSat and CALIPSO). SIRTA observation and research activities take place in networks of atmospheric observatories that allow scientists to access consistent data sets from diverse regions on the globe.


Presents results on using a statistical model motivated by the wavelet transform to represent non-stationary signals typically encountered in machinery monitoring applications. The authors propose the use of a frame-based system in which the data in each frame is modeled as a multiscale stochastic process. The parameters of a multiscale model are used as features for each frame, where each frame of features is modeled as a sample of a multivariate, multimodal distribution. Classification of machine states based on monitoring signals is performed by comparing likelihood scores for each machine state. The authors present an example of applying the system to data consisting of a superposition of damped sinusoids, as a way of illustrating system performance for the case of transient monitoring signals. They compare their system to one which is trained using a DFT-based (non-time-frequency-based) representation (in particular, LPC coefficients) and show that their system exhibits both superior performance as well as greater robustness to noise in the signals. They also compare results using multiscale parameters versus LPC coefficients for the case of synthesized autoregressive signals and for the case of actual, measured signals from a weld depth monitoring system.<<ETX>>


Surface engineering is a vital issue in engineering materials design. The enhancement of surface properties extends the materials lifetime and improves the materials performance without changing the bulk properties. Thin film deposition is one of the most commonly applied techniques in this field. In the present study, nickel silicides (Ni-Si), binary component materials mostly used in microelectronics, are chosen as protective layers on widely used AISI 304L austenitic stainless steel, which can suffer from localised corrosion attack in aggressive environment.
A series of Ni-Si films of different compositions (Ni, Ni0.66Si0.33, Ni0.40Si0.60, Ni0.20Si0.80 and Si) is fabricated on the 304L steel plates by means of ion-beam sputter (IBS) deposition. The surface compositions of the thin films are determined by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). High resolution core level spectra of Ni 2p3/2 and Si 2p are curve-fitted to characterise the silicides formed. The fitted results agree with the evaluation of the thermodynamic Pretorius' effective heat of formation (EHF) model.
Potentiodynamic polarisation measurements of the as-deposited thin films are conducted in a three-electrode electrochemical cell. Electrochemistry parameters such as corrosion potential (Ecorr), corrosion current density (icorr) and polarisation resistance (Rp) are determined. The chemical compositions of corroded specimens and the chemical states of each element after polarisation tests are then characterised by means of XPS. The comparative studies among the Ni-Si films show that the Ni0.40Si0.60 film has the best corrosion resistance while the Ni0.66Si0.33 film has the worst. Nonetheless, the corrosion resistivity of the Ni0.66Si0.33 film can be improved simply by heat treatment at 200°C in air. For all corrosion resisting specimens, the development of the SiO2 layer at the top is crucial to inhibit the materials deterioration underneath. Morphological examination by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) shows that minor pitting corrosions occur on all non-heated specimens. The amount and size of pits reduce as the Si content increases. Meanwhile, the heat-treated Ni-rich specimen shows no pits. In all cases, the Ni-Si thin films show improved corrosion resistance compared to the 304L stainless steel in the hydrochloric acid (HCl) solution of pH 1.3.


The wide angle X-ray diffraction on W0~sMos_xTaxSe2 (0<x<0-35) compounds have been used for calculation of the crystallite size by method of variance and Fourier technique and for microstructural parameters purposes. The crystaHite size showed the decreasing trend with increasing composition up to x=0.15 and after that it increased sharply. On the contrary, mean fractional change in interlayer spacing, fractions of the planes affected by defects, dislocation density, and root mean square strain showed the opposite trend. The crystallite size anisotropy and stacking fault probability showed 1 : 1 correspondence in their variation with composition. The radial distribution analysis have also been employed to find out the information about the inter atomic distances, coupling constants and mean square displacements for different pairs of atoms. These results have been interpreted in terms of difference in packing of layers in these compounds.


Many fishes produce adhesive eggs that confer protection from currents and predators in the wild, but that are more difficult to disinfect and aerate under aquaculture conditions. Removing egg adhesiveness ('degumming') has proved beneficial in the culture of many fish, and a recent gap analysis identified this as a potential way of increasing hatching success and minimize the risk of infectious diseases in the culture of lumpfish (Cyclopteurs lumpus), a novel species to aquaculture. We tested the efficacy of the enzyme alcalase (0.02%, 0.2%, 2%) as a degumming agent for lumpfish eggs, and examined its effects on hatching success, survival, and larvae size under laboratory and commercial conditions. A five-minute exposure to 0.2% and 2% alcalase decreased chorion thickness by 14% and resulted in 61-75% degumming rates, without any negative effects on hatching rate, larval survival, or incidence of embryo malformations. Degummed eggs hatched earlier than controls and resulted in larger larvae, which may confer some benefits under aquaculture conditions. A cost-benefit analysis indicates that the benefits of egg degumming compensate the costs of chemical treatment under most conditions, and that the optimal alcalase concentration is around 0.2%. We therefore recommend egg degumming as a way of making the lumpfish industry more efficient and sustainable. Statement of relevance Improving the commercial production of lumpfish


In this paper we present analysis of ordinal response data, from a clinical trial, with two nested levels of clustering using the generalized linear mixed model approach. We present a generalization of the continuation ratio model with two nested random effects. The model was fitted using maximum marginal likelihood estimation, assuming the nested random effects are independent and normally distributed. The clinical trial recruited high risk patients coming for unilateral lower limb surgeries. All patients were given unilateral spinal anaesthesia that intends to anesthetize only the leg that has to be operated; motor level was the ordinal response in the trial, measured repeatedly over time for both legs. The objective of the analysis was to evaluate the difference in the severity of motor level paralysis between the operated and the non-operated leg, and also to assess the effect of time on progression of motor level to higher degrees of paralysis. There was a significant interaction between the covariates time and leg; at baseline progression rate to higher degrees of paralysis was more rapid for the operated relative to the nonoperated leg. The progression rate levelled off by the end of the study, at 30 minutes, more prominently for the non-operated leg. The continuation ratio method, that makes a series of comparison of all lower categories on a scale to the next succeeding one, intricately models the progression of motor level paralysis with time to higher degrees, and gives insight into the mechanism of progression.


Extensive work on Search-Based Software Testing for Software Product Lines has been published in the last few years. Salient among them is the use of similarity as a surrogate metric for t-wise coverage whenever higher strengths are needed or whenever the size of the test suites is infeasible because of technological or budget limitations. Though promising, this metric has not been assessed with real fault data. In this paper, we address this limitation by using Drupal, a widely used open source web content management system, as an industry-strength case study for which both variability information and fault data have been recently made available. Our preliminary assessment corroborates some of the previous findings but also raises issues on some assumptions and claims made. We hope our work encourages further empirical evaluations of Combinatorial Interaction Testing approaches for Software Product Lines.


Abstract Evidence for the efficacy of extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) in supraspinatus tendinopathy without calcification is sparse, and therefore this treatment option is often controversial. Patients of a randomized placebo-controlled study to analyze the effects of ESWT on function and pain were revisited 10 years after the initial consultation. The former verum group received 6000 impulses (energy flux density, 0.11 mJ/mm2) in three sessions after local anesthesia between 1999 and 2000. The placebo group had 6000 impulses of a sham ESWT after local anesthesia in the same period. Re-evaluation of the patients included a relative Constant score as well as pain measurements (visual analogue scale) during activity and at rest. No significant changes (p>0.05) in relative Constant scores, pain at rest, or pain during activity could be found after a 10-year follow-up between the placebo and verum groups after ESWT. The treatment of non-calcific supraspinatus tendinopathy with ESWT does not seem to have an effect on function or pain improvement in the long run. The results of the present study cannot advise the use of ESWT in cases of non-calcific supraspinatus tendinopathy.


A study of HHV8 seropositivity was conducted among commercial sex workers in Jos aimed at determining the prevalence in relation to history of STD, duration of prostitution, age and number of sexual partners per day. Antibodies to HHV8 were detected by enzyme linked - immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (Advanced biotechnologies Inc USA) in serum samples of 90 commercial sex workers, 41 (45%) of cases were positive for HHV8, 15 (17%) of the women were HIV Seropositive. Furthermore eight (8) among the HHV8 seropositive women were HIV seropositive given a co-infection rate of 20%. Of the risk factors evaluated, HIV seropositivity and history of sexually transmitted diseases were found to be significantly associated with HHV8 infection using chi's square.( P 0.05.) we expect that this important seroepidemiologic baseline data will become a powerful tool for evaluating interventions and control measures.


Heterologous expression of bacterial virulence factors in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a feasible approach to study their molecular function. The authors have previously reported that the Salmonella typhimurium SigD protein, a phosphatidylinositol phosphatase involved in invasion of the host cell, inhibits yeast growth, presumably by depleting an essential pool of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate, and also that a catalytically inactive version, SigD(R468A), was able to arrest growth by a different mechanism that involved disruption of the actin cytoskeleton. This paper describes marked differences between the phenotypes elicited by expression of SigD and SigD(R468A) in yeast. First, expression of SigD(R468A) caused accumulation of large unbudded cells and loss of septin organization, while SigD expression caused none of these effects. Second, growth inhibition by SigD(R468A) was mediated by a cell cycle arrest in G2 dependent on the Swe1 morphogenetic checkpoint, but SigD-induced growth inhibition was cell cycle independent. And third, SigD caused strong activation of the yeast MAP kinase Slt2, whereas SigD(R468A) rather inactivated another MAP kinase, Kss1. In a screen for suppressors of SigD(R468A)-induced growth arrest by overexpression of a yeast cDNA library, the Cdc42 GTPase was isolated. Furthermore, SigD(R468A) was co-purified with Cdc42 from yeast lysates. It is concluded that the Salmonella SigD protein deprived of its phosphatase activity is able to disrupt yeast morphogenesis by interfering with Cdc42 function, opening the possibility that the SigD N-terminal region might directly modulate small GTPases from the host during infection.


The following study attempts to demonstrate that traditional classifications of OECD countries according to the health condition of their citizens, based on classifications of life expectancy and infant mortality, can lead to substantial normative errors if we assume that economic agents are rational. In particular, classifications of life expectancy and infant mortality can cause a great deal of information loss, and do not allow a precise idea of typical inequalities in certain countries. This study begins with Meyer's method of classification--which allows us to organise different distributions on the basis of risk aversion of agents. This means that countries can be classified as offering a distribution superior to others in regards to the life duration they offer their citizens.


The dynamics of the exploited population of Macrobrachium macrobrachion in the Cross River estuary, Nigeria, were studied based on monthly length-frequency data collected from January 1997 to June 1998 (18 months), from the landings of the artisanal Macrobrachium fishery. Sexual dimorphism was indicated in the growth and mortality parameters. For the males, the von Bertalanffy growth parameters were estimated as L∞ = 141.35 mm, K = 1.21 year -1 , C = 1.0 and WP = 0.15. For the females, they were L∞ = 117.55 mm, K = 1.60 year -1 , C = 0.81 and WP = 0.51. The instantaneous rate of total mortality (Z) was estimated as 9.53 year-1 (males) and 9.14 year-1 (females). The instantaneous rate of natural mortality (M) was estimated as 2.44 year -1 (males) and 3.09 year -1 (females), while the instantaneous rate of fishing mortality (F) was estimated as 7.09 year -1 (males) and 6.05 year -1 (females). The exploitation rate (E) obtained was 0.74 for the males and 0.66 for the females, suggesting that the prawn population was over-fished for both sexes. It is necessary to analyse the catch and effort data for the last 10 years and to apply other methods of stock assessment in order to estimate the long term trends in the fishery.


Here we present the case of a patient affected by rectal squamous cell carcinoma in which we demonstrated the presence of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) by a variety of techniques. Collectively, the virus was detected not only in the tumor but also in some regional lymph nodes and in non-neoplastic mucosa of the upper tract of large bowel. By contrast, it was not identifiable in its common sites of entry, namely oral and ano-genital region. We also found HPV DNA in the plasma-derived exosome. Next, by in vitro studies, we confirmed the capability of HPV DNA-positive exosomes, isolated from the supernatant of a HPV DNA positive cell line (CaSki), to transfer its DNA to human colon cancer and normal cell lines. In the stroma nearby the tumor mass we were able to demonstrate the presence of virus DNA in the stromal compartment, supporting its potential to be transferred from epithelial cells to the stromal ones. Thus, this case report favors the notion that human papillomavirus DNA can be vehiculated by exosomes in the blood of neoplastic patients and that it can be transferred, at least in vitro, to normal and neoplastic cells. Furthermore, we showed the presence of viral DNA and RNA in pluripotent stem cells of non-tumor tissue, suggesting that after viral integration (as demonstrated by p16 and RNA in situ hybridization positivity), stem cells might have been activated into cancer stem cells inducing neoplastic transformation of normal tissue through the inactivation of p53, p21, and Rb. It is conceivable that the virus has elicited its oncogenic effect in this specific site and not elsewhere, despite its wide anatomical distribution in the patient, for a local condition of immune suppression, as demonstrated by the increase of T-regulatory (CD4/CD25/FOXP3 positive) and T-exhausted (CD8/PD-1positive) lymphocytes and the M2 polarization (high CD163/CD68 ratio) of macrophages in the neoplastic microenvironment. It is noteworthy that our findings depicted a static picture of a long-lasting dynamic process that might evolve in the development of tumors in other anatomical sites.


The measurement of a non-zero electric dipole moment (EDM) aligned along the spin of sub-atomic particles would probe new physics beyond the standard model. It has been proposed to search for the EDM of charged particles using a storage ring and a longitudinally polarized beam. The EDM signal would be a rotation of the polarization from the horizontal plane toward the vertical direction as a consequence of the radial electric field always present in the particle frame. This experiment requires ring conditions that can ensure a lifetime of the in-plane polarization (spin coherence time, SCT) up to 1000 s. A study has begun at the COoler SYnchrotron (COSY) located at the Forschungszentrum Jülich to examine the effects of emittance and momentum spread on the SCT of a polarized deuteron beam at 0.97 GeV c−1. A special Data AcQuisition has been developed in order to provide a direct measurement of a rapidly rotating horizontal polarization as a function of time. The set of data presented here shows how second-order effects from emittance and momentum spread of the beam affect the lifetime of the horizontal polarization of a bunched beam. It has been demonstrated that sextupole fields can be used to correct for these depolarizing sources and increase the SCT up to hundreds of seconds.


The performances of position controllers for a throttle valve used with internal combustion engines of heavy goods vehicles is investigated using different control techniques.
The throttle valve is modelled including the hard stops and static friction (stick-slip friction), which are nonlinear components. This includes a new simple approach to the modelling of static friction. This nonlinear model was validated in the time domain using experimental results, parameterised by experimental data using a Matlab based parameter estimation tool. The resulting state space model was linearised for the purpose of designing various linear model based controllers. This linearised model was validated using experimental data in the frequency domain.
The correct design of each model based controller is first confirmed by simulation using the linear throttle valve model, the specified step response being expected. Then the robustness is assessed in the frequency domain using the Matlab® Control System Design Toolbox and in the time domain by simulation using Monte Carlo based plant parameter mismatching between the simulated real plant and its model used for the control system design. Once satisfactory performance of a specific controller is predicted by simulation using the linear model, this is replaced by the nonlinear model to ascertain any deterioration in performance. Controllers exhibiting satisfactory performance in simulation with the nonlinear plant model are then investigated experimentally.
The set of controllers investigated in this work includes types that are not currently employed commercially, as well as traditional ones, consisting of the IPD, PID, DPI controllers and the linear state feedback controller with and without an integrated observer. The other controllers are the sliding mode
iii
controller, observer based robust controller (OBRC) and the polynomial controller. The traditional controllers are designed using partial pole placement with the derived linear plant model. The other controllers have structures permitting full pole placement, of which robust pole placement is an important option. In the pole placement design, the locations of the closed loop poles are determined using the settling time formula.
Despite the use of robust pole placement, the static friction caused a limit cycle, which led to the use of an anti-friction measure known as dither.
The 14 different controllers were investigated for their ability to control the throttle valve position with nonlinear friction, parameter variations and external disturbances. This information was gathered, together with qualitative information regarding ease of design and practicability to form a performance comparison table.
The original contributions emanating from the research programme are as follows:
 The successful application of new control techniques for throttle valves subject to significant static friction
 The first time investigation of partial and robust pole placement for throttle valve servo systems.
 A simplified static friction model which can be used for other applications.


In this study, the traditional industrial waste residue and some alkaline activators were mixed to prepare a new composite alkali-activated materials (CAAMs), which was used to stabilize gold mine tailings (GMTs). Due to emissions of greenhouse gases and solid dust, alkali-activated materials have been widely used to replace Portland cement to solidify geotechnical materials to enhance their mechanical properties. Different admixture of CAAMs (i.e., 0, 3, 5, 8% ) and gold mine tailings were prepared, and the samples were cured in saturated water and under no air conditions. In order to investigate the mechanical characteristics of CAAMs-stabilized GMTs, laboratory direct shear tests were carried out on samples after curing them for 3, 7, 14 and 28 days, respectively. The test results showed that as the curing periods increased, the brittleness of the samples increased, and the stress-displacement curves for all the cured specimens changed from plateau-type to peak-type curves. The curing periods and the content of CAAMs are both beneficial for enhancing the shear strength of CAAMs-stabilized GMTs samples, but the increase rate decreased as the vertical confining pressure increased. Furthermore, the influence of CAAMs content on shear strength increment was larger than that of curing periods. An exponential growth model could be well used to describe the change of shear strength with the curing periods at different vertical stresses.


Context: Post Tubercular Obstructive Airways Diseases (Post-TB OAD) is a sequela of Pulmonary TB but diseases progression may not same like Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD). Aim: To compare the frequency and severity of exacerbations, change of FEV1, frequency of hospitalization and mortality among COPD and post TB OAD patients. Setting and Design: Hospital-based prospective cohort study. Methods and Material: COPD cohort was diagnosed based on symptoms, history of exposure to risk factors and post bronchodilator FEV1/FVC ratio <70%. Post TB OAD cohort was diagnosed like COPD along with past history of Pulmonary TB. Both cohorts were followed up every 3-monthly intervals for up to 12 months. Statistical Analysis: Comparison of categorical variable was done by Chi-square test and continuous variable by unpaired t test. Longitudinal data of FEV1% were analyzed by repeated measure ANOVA test. Results: Totally, 68 patients with Post TB OAD and 66 COPD patients were taken into this study. The frequency of exacerbation (3.52 ± 1.84 verses 2.70 ± 1.37), number of severe exacerbation (56 verses 24) and frequency of hospitalization (1.37 ± 0.81 verses 0.97 ± 0.94) more seen in post-TB OAD cohort in compared to COPD cohort which is statistically significant. Mortality more seen in post-TB OAD group (14 verses 6). Rate of decline FEV1 per year more seen in Post-TB OAD (0.27 ± 0.28 lit verses 0.17 ± 0.26 liter) as compared to COPD. There was overall decreasing trend of FEV1% over period of 12 month but without any difference among two cohort. Conclusion: There was more in frequency of exacerbations, number of severe exacerbations, frequency of hospitalization and number of mortalities among post TB OAD compared to COPD.


Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of ultrasound for diagnosis and exclusion of pyloric Stenosis in the infants with nonbilious vomiting. Methodology: In a cross-sectional study, 444 consecutive infants with clinical suspicion of pyloric Stenosis were evaluated by ultrasound (US) and categorized as pyloric Stenosis or not according measuring parameters as muscle thickness, muscle width and canal length of pylorus. Positive findings were confirmed at surgery; Negative findings were confirmed by means of follow up. Sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were calculated. Results: Sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of ultrasound were 100% if pyloric muscle thickness of >3mm was chosen as diagnostic. When muscle thickness more than 4mm was used, sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 96%, 100% and 99.32% respectively. Conclusions: Ultrasound is highly sensitive and specific if pyloric muscle thickness 3 mm is used as cut off point. By virtue of direct visualization of the pyloric muscle, ultrasound is method of choice for both the diagnosis and exclusion of pyloric Stenosis in infants.


Plenoptic images are one type of light field contents produced by using a combination of a conventional camera and an additional optical component in the form of microlens arrays, which are positioned in front of the image sensor surface. This camera setup can capture a sub-sampling of the light field with high spatial fidelity over a small range, and with a more coarsely sampled angle range. The earliest applications that leverage on the plenoptic image content is image refocusing, non-linear distribution of out-of-focus areas, SNR vs. resolution trade-offs, and 3D-image creation. All functionalities are provided by using post-processing methods. In this work, we evaluate a compression method that we previously proposed for a different type of plenoptic image (focused or plenoptic camera 2.0 contents) than the unfocused or plenoptic camera 1.0 that is used in this Grand Challenge. The method is an extension of the state-of-the-art video compression standard HEVC where we have brought the capability of bi-directional inter-frame prediction into the spatial prediction. The method is evaluated according to the scheme set out by the Grand Challenge, and the results show a high compression efficiency compared with JPEG, i.e., up to 6 dB improvements for the tested images.


Travelers to developing countries may be exposed to several infectious pathogens sometimes leading to complications after a long latency period. Screening of asymptomatic returning travelers is only justified in case of specific risks during travel or after a long tropical stay (> 3 months). Based mainly on the history taking of risk patterns, some occult infections have to be looked for: tuberculosis, sexual transmitted infections and some parasitic conditions (schistosomiasis, amebiasis, strongyloidosis,...). Post-travel screening is most effective about 3 months after return, and may be even more beneficial if associated with screening of major western morbidities and preventive counseling for future travels.


After a review of the causes and classification of distribution network outage,the paper devises the working process of outage. Employing the GIS technology,the paper elaborates on the process of devising and managing the subsystem for distribution network outage. Through integrating and applying real-time information,the subsystem makes possible quicker service restoration,more accurate report of outage information,thereby reducing the huge outage losses and achieving a highly automatic management of distribution network.


Nursing students internalise the art of nursing through clinical practice. The study was exploratory-descriptive and sought to answer the question, "what are the clinical practice experiences and coping strategies of first year general nursing students" ?. The objectives of the study were to: identify the students' conceptualisation of their clinical role; explore their clinical experiences; determine issues affecting clinical teaching and identify the coping strategies used. A pilot study preceded the main study . data were collected through audio-taped face-to-face individual and focus group interviews which were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide. Two research assistants were utilised. The sample was purposive, with 22 nursing students of both sexes. Informed consent was obtained verbally. The data were analysed utilising the method of Giorgi, Fischer and Murray (1975). Research rigour was achieved through trustworthiness The findings indicated that nursing students conceptualised themselves as learners; had challenging clinical experiences as manifested by among others, unconducive ward environment, negative inter/intrapersonal relationships, inadequately structured clinical activities, and shortage of human and material resources. Maladaptive mental mechanisms were mostly utilised to cope. Furthermore, the findings suggested that clinical practice was predominantly 'patient-centred' and not 'learner-centred'. These findings have implications for nursing education, practice, administration and research. UNISWA Research Journal of Agriculture, Science and Technology Vol. 4 (2) 2000: pp 171- 180


The Egan report in 1998 highlighted problems in construction supply chains and proposed theintegration of construction processes and products in the quest to deliver enhanced value toconstruction clients. Since then there has been much interest in supply chain management in theconstruction industry of UK, with many organisations claiming to be involved in integratedsupply chains. Hence a need arises for the industry to measure the degree of integration of supplychains.The aim of this paper is to propose a classification model for integration of construction supplychains. In order to fulfil the aim of research, firstly a critical review of literature on existingmodels proposed for various industries to measure performance of supply chains was conducted.Secondly these models were examined in terms of their applicability to the construction industry.The findings allow practitioners of the construction industry to gauge the degree of integration ofthe supply chains they are involved in and to understand how to move to higher degrees ofintegration. The paper gives recommendations for further research to find the correlation betweenconstruction organisational performance and the degree of integration of supply chains.