We studied 33 consecutive patients with tuberculous pulmonary cavities complicated by fungus balls to evaluate their treatment. Nineteen had surgical resection for massive or recurrent bleeding or possibility of tumor. One patient died of postpneumonectomy empyema (30-day surgical mortality, 5 percent). Fourteen had no surgery. No patient died of hemoptysis. Respiratory failure contributed most often to death. Hepatic complications and other problems of alcoholism were also prominent. Good results can be obtained by resection in these severely ill patients if care is taken to preserve functioning pulmonary tissue and to avoid complications of alcoholic hepatic disease. Within these constraints, tuberculous cavities complicated by mycetomas should be resected for massive or recurrent hemoptysis.


As in the traditional production of cheese in lambskin sacks raw cow's or sheep's milk is mostly used, the purpose of this study is to see how the production affects the microbiological quality of the cheese. To do that, we tested 39 samples of raw cow's and sheep's milk, curd, ripened cheese (15, 30 and 45 days) and lambskin sacks for native microbial population. Two-thirds of the milk, curd and cheese samples had higher counts of staphylococci and enterobacteria than permitted by regulations. Not a single sample had Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes, but we did find Escherichia coli in sheep's milk and cheese, and yeast and mould in both types of milk and cheese. Staphylococcus xylosus prevailed in lambskin sacks. Despite the high incidence of S. aureus, even in the final product, staphylococcal enterotoxin was detected in only two sheep's cheese samples. Among the lactic acid bacteria, Lactococcus lactis and Lactobacillus paracasei prevailed in cow's cheese, whereas Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Lactobacillus plantarum prevailed in sheep's cheese. In the lambskin sacks Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Lactobacillus plantarum were predominant. Our findings give an important insight into the fermentation and microbial ecology of the cheese in lambskin sacks.


The relationship between performance on a Piaget-based infant scale and adaptive behavior was assessed for 25 developmentally disabled infants and preschool children. Results indicated a significant relationship between these measures. Canonical analysis suggested the relevance of the Piagetian abilities of object permanence and foresight and the adaptive behavior skills of self-help and social behavior for this relationship. Discussion centered on research implications emerging from these findings.


Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are highly exposed to disaster risk events that frequently overwhelm their capacity to generate and share spatial information to reduce human–economic losses. The Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) has been widely implemented to support information sharing and management in different domains. In this paper, we aim to identify critical factors to enhance SDI performance to facilitate Disaster Risk Management (DRM) in SIDS. We make use of a three-round Delphi survey and Kendall W coefficient to assess consensus among 28 key international experts in SDI, surveying and DRM. Our results illustrate strong experts' consensus on identifying a list of 23 most critical factors. We found that people and policy factors matter the most. The insights reported here would assist decision-makers to design roadmaps to enhance sharing of spatial knowledge to build more resilient SIDS and to support their achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.


To supply cooling air which delivered from turbine stationary parts to the rotational parts, pre-swirl system have been widely used in gas turbines with various shapes and types. The key functions of pre-swirl system is to provide turbine cooling temperature lower than pre-swirl system inlet within required pressure drop target. In modern gas turbine system, pre-swirl system is a key component in the turbine cooling system because first rotor entering flow qualities were defined by pre-swirl system. Especially most of modern blade cooling system were required adequate coolant pressure level to meet film cooling conditions and also need to keep lower level of temperature condition to improve cooling effectiveness in their cooling circuit.
 To meet the design target, cooling system designer should built effective pre-swirl system by increase swirl ratio within required pressure margin. When the design results of pre-swirler system was satisfied initial design requirements, designer should select best pre-swirler system based on its discharge coefficient characteristics. To verify analytic methodologies, to compare main design parameters of this research and former studies which reference data already validated analytically and experimentally.
 To find best pre-swirl nozzles shape, total 15 kinds of airfoil was selected for detail investigation. Best available was selected by pre-swirl performance comparing. Also shape optimization was applied to improve pre-swirl performance within minor geometrical changes within mechanical integration limit.
 To verify inlet duct system effects, the effect of the inlet duct shape was added on to verify desired pre-swirl system. To find the best model, case study was conducted by CFD approaches to increase the discharge coefficient and the adiabatic effectiveness of the pre-swirl system.
 New pre-swirl test rig was construct to verify pre-swirl characteristics and to find best pre-swirl nozzles shape. Discharge coefficients of the tested data was relatively higher than 3-D CFD results due to the pre-swirl inlet conditions was relatively fair in test rig compared with real gas turbine conditions.


The fused filament fabrication (FFF) process is widely used for producing prototypes and functional parts for diverse applications. While FFF is particularly attractive due to its cost-effectiveness, on the other hand, the fabricated parts have limitations in terms of large manufacturing time and reduced mechanical properties. The latter is strongly influenced by the fabrication process parameters, which affect the interlayer bonding and the adhesion between consecutive layers. Several works presented in the literature analysed the correlation between mechanical properties and process parameters. It was demonstrated that an increase in the fabrication feed rate causes slippage between filament and the feeding system, which leads to a decrease in the extruded material flow, and thus in part density. This work aims to investigate how the limitation of the slippage phenomenon affects the mechanical properties of parts fabricated using the FFF process. A prototype machine, equipped with a closed-loop control system on filament transport, was used to fabricate samples for tensile tests and dynamical mechanical analysis. Samples fabricated enabling the filament transport control showed an increase both in ultimate tensile strength and elongation at break for those fabricated with disabled control, whilst a decrease in stiffness was observed. In addition, the results showed that the use of a filament transport control system on a FFF machine increases the possibility of fabricating high value-added parts.


Heterozygous inactivating mutations in the GNAS1 exons (20q13.3) that encode the alpha-subunit of the stimulatory G protein (Gsalpha) are found in patients with pseudohypoparathyroidism type Ia (PHP-Ia) and in patients with pseudo-pseudohypoparathyroidism (pPHP). However, because of paternal imprinting, resistance to parathyroid hormone (PTH)-and, sometimes, to other hormones that require Gsalpha signaling-develops only if the defect is inherited from a female carrier of the disease gene. An identical mode of inheritance is observed in kindreds with pseudohypoparathyroidism type Ib (PHP-Ib), which is most likely caused by mutations in regulatory regions of the maternal GNAS1 gene that are predicted to interfere with the parent-specific methylation of this gene. We report a patient with PTH-resistant hypocalcemia and hyperphosphatemia but without evidence for Albright hereditary osteodystrophy who has paternal uniparental isodisomy of chromosome 20q and lacks the maternal-specific methylation pattern within GNAS1. Since studies in the patient's fibroblasts did not reveal any evidence of impaired Gsalpha protein or activity, it appears that the loss of the maternal GNAS1 gene and the resulting epigenetic changes alone can lead to PTH resistance in the proximal renal tubules and thus lead to impaired regulation of mineral-ion homeostasis.


Abstract In rodents, an adaptation for biting off hard materials, accompanied by extension of the masseter origin anterior to the orbit, might interfere with vision in the anteroventral direction. In arboreal rodents, the anatomy must be modified somewhat to allow for the clear anteroventral vision necessary to safely descend from, or move about on trees. In the present study, we tested this hypothesis by comparing the craniometric data between two Apodemus murids, semiarboreal A. argenteus and terrestrial A. speciosus. Based on the correlation between the index of relative encephalization (IRE; cube root of the brain case volume divided by the basicranial length) and the angle of the foramen magnum, the head in A. argenteus is situated so that the snout is more depressed than in A. speciosus, which has the same IRE value. The head posture of A. argenteus does not seem to be due to the relative brain size, but rather to a semiarboreal adaptation that ensures clear anteroventral vision by lowering the anterior portion of the masseter to a greater degree than the eyeball.


Poly(N-isopropylmethacrylamide) (PiPMA) has one more methyl group at each monomeric unit than poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PiPA). By use of laser light scattering (LLS) and ultrasensitive differential scanning calorimetry (US-DSC) we have investigated the association and dissociation of PiPMA chains in water. LLS studies reveal that PiPMA chains form larger aggregates at a temperature above its lower critical solution temperature (LCST) as the chain molar mass (Mw) decreases. In comparison with PiPA aggregates, PiPMA aggregates show a larger ratio of average radius of gyration to average hydrodynamic radius (/), indicating that PiPMA aggregates are looser. US-DSC studies show PiPMA chains have smaller enthalpy change (DeltaH) and entropy change (DeltaS) than PiPA chains during the phase transition, indicating that PiPMA chains have smaller conformational change. Our experiments demonstrate that the additional methyl groups in PiPMA chains restrain the intrachain collapse and interchain association, leading the phase transition to occur at a higher temperature.


In 2013, DSM-5 urged for further research on non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and defined NSSI disorder (NSSI-D) for the first time separate from borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, research on the comorbidity between NSSI-D and BPD symptoms is still scarce, especially in adolescent populations. The current study selected 347 adolescents who engaged at least once in NSSI (78.4% girls, Mage = 15.05) and investigated prevalence, comorbidity, gender differences, and bridge symptoms of NSSI-D and BPD. Network analysis allowed us to visualize the comorbidity structure of NSSI-D and BPD on a symptom-level and revealed which bridge symptoms connected both disorders. Our results supported NSSI-D as significantly distinct from, yet closely related to, BPD in adolescents. Even though girls were more likely to meet the NSSI-D criteria, our findings suggested that the manner in which NSSI-D and BPD symptoms were interconnected, did not differ between girls and boys. Furthermore, loneliness, impulsivity, separation anxiety, frequent thinking about NSSI, and negative affect prior to NSSI were detected as prominent bridge symptoms between NSSI-D and BPD. These bridge symptoms could provide useful targets for early intervention in and prevention of the development of comorbidity between NSSI-D and BPD. Although the current study was limited by a small male sample, these findings do provide novel insights in the complex comorbidity between NSSI-D and BPD symptoms in adolescence.


The surface water in study area supports a range of uses such as water supply, irrigation and hydropower generation. Therefore, the assessment and analysis of the hydrological drought are important in the planning and management of the water resources. In this paper, hydrological drought was assessed using stream-flow drought index (SDI) based on observed mean monthly stream-flow data collected from three selected gauging stations at Greater Zab River, Lesser Zab River and Khazir River located in the North-Eastern region of Iraq. Trend analysis of the hydrological drought was investigated using Mann-Kendall non-parametric method to evaluate the significance of trends and Sen\\\'s slope method to determine the magnitude of the slope of trends for 47 years during the period 1965-2011. According to the SDI 3, 6 and 12-month time scales, the recorded drought was severe, and M-K method showed that the decreasing trends in the SDI values were statistically significant at α=0.05 mostly in the Greater Zab River and Lesser Zab River basins, increasing trend in SDI values is insignificant. This indicates that the hydrological drought is increasing over time at the study area.


Environmental Education for Sustainable Societies and Global Responsibility (EESS) is aimed at transforming society and its negative impacts on the environment by way of financial and political emancipation, whence ecotourism becomes one of the best options towards environmental sustainability. This study aimed at evaluating social actors' conceptions on Environmental Education and ecotourism, in order to base the development of future marine-ecotourism activities in the Marine Environmental Protection Area of Armação de Búzios (MEPAAB). Sampling involved 73 respondents interested in the implementation of marine ecotourism in the area. Their concepts, as regards ecotourism and EESS, were analyzed according to individual profiles. The sample was mainly composed of Argentine and Brazilian tourists from the cities of Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, when visiting MEPAAB. Since most of the concepts were limited to environmental conservation and public awareness, these were considered entirely or not entirely adequate. The results could not be significantly associated with the age of respondents or any other factor (Kruskal-Wallis, p >0.05). The concept of ecotourism was the better known. Even so, significant differences were observed only among the different classes by income. There were clear indications of the urgent application of EESS in the coastal environment, as a plausible management tool for the littoral municipalities of Rio de Janeiro State.


The reflection of audio sounds generated by a parametric array loudspeaker (PAL) is investigated in this paper. The image source method and the non-paraxial PAL radiation model under the quasilinear approximation are used to calculate the reflected audio sound from an infinitely large surface with an arbitrary incident angle. The effects of the surface absorption in the ultrasound frequency range are studied, and the simulation and experiment results show that the reflection behavior of audio sounds generated by a PAL is different from those generated by traditional audio sources. The reason is that the reflected sound generated by the PAL consists of the reflection of audio sounds generated by incident ultrasounds and the audio sounds generated by the reflected ultrasound, and it is the latter that determines the directivity of the reflected audio sound.


In the traditional iterative design process for composite structures, it is difficult to achieve an optimal solution even though a great effort is made. A genetic optimization system based on grid technology offers an automatic and efficient approach for composite structure redesign and optimization. A genetic algorithm system, which integrates Genetic Algorithm Optimization (GAO) software and a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) based commercial package, has been developed as a tool for composite structure design and analysis. The GAO is capable of tailoring large number of composite design variables and taking the time-consuming FEA results to calculate objective function value and conduct optimization in high accuracy. By operating the system employing the Grid technology and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) method, significant time saving in numerical analysis can be achieved. A user friendly interface has also been built in the system. In the paper, aeroelastic tailoring of a composite wing has been taken as a numerical example to demonstrate the optimization approach. The numerical results show that an optimal design has been achieved to meet the design requirement.


Checkpointing is a very effective technique to tolerate the occurrence of failures in distributed and parallel applications. The existing algorithms in the literature are basically divided into two main classes: coordinated and independent checkpointing. This paper presents an experimental study that compares the performance of these two classes of algorithms. The main conclusion of our study is that coordinated checkpointing is more efficient than independent checkpointing and all the arguments against the performance of coordinated algorithms were not verified in practice.


MLatom is a program package designed for computationally efficient simulations of atomistic systems with machine‐learning (ML) algorithms. It can be used out‐of‐the‐box as a stand‐alone program with a user‐friendly online manual. The use of MLatom does not require extensive knowledge of machine learning, programming, or scripting. The user need only prepare input files and choose appropriate options. The program implements kernel ridge regression and supports Gaussian, Laplacian, and Matérn kernels. It can use arbitrary, user‐provided input vectors and can convert molecular geometries into input vectors corresponding to several types of built‐in molecular descriptors. MLatom saves and re‐uses trained ML models as needed, in addition to estimating the generalization error of ML setups. Various sampling procedures are supported and the gradients of output properties can be calculated. The core part of MLatom is written in Fortran, uses standard libraries for linear algebra, and is optimized for shared‐memory parallel computations. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Online detection of changes in stochastic systems, referred to as sequential change detection or quickest change detection, is an important research topic in statistics, signal processing, and information theory, and has a wide range of applications. This survey starts with the basics of sequential change detection, and then moves on to generalizations and extensions of sequential change detection theory and methods. We also discuss some new dimensions that emerge at the intersection of sequential change detection with other areas, along with a selection of modern applications and remarks on open questions.


The aim of this paper was to describe an aided diagnosis scheme for periodontal bone resorption so that the dentist can make an early diagnosis of the periodontal disease and establish the best treatment plan to increase the success of healing. Three ways of displaying the results are provided: qualitative, simple quantitative and colored-percentage quantitative views. A total of 72 pairs of in vitro radiographic images were used. The main procedure registers the images perspective projection aimed to align them in rotation and translation, and is followed by the application of a contrast correction technique. The results from the subtraction were evaluated firstly by the comparison between the actual and the digital sizes corresponding to the holes made by drills in phantoms. The mean error was 4.2%. The method was also applied to actual tooth radiographic images and could detect clearly the effect of treatment of periodontal diseases. It is dependent on the reproducibility of the process of radiographs acquisition and digitization, but the calculated mean error allows to conclude its better efficacy compared to usual procedures in this field.


Introduction and objectives: Moderate or severe paravalvular leak (PVL) following transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has been associated with worse outcomes. Aortic valve (AV) calcification is a strong predictor of PVL. ACURATE neo (Boston Scientific Corporation, United States) is a self-expanding transcatheter heart valve to treat degenerative aortic stenosis. We evaluated PVL after ACURATE neo and neo2 implantation, and the role of AV calcification. Methods: We analyzed patients referred for TAVI with ACURATE neo and neo2 from a large volume tertiary center. All cardiac computed tomography scans were analyzed using 3Mensio Structural Heart software (Pie Medical Imaging, The Netherlands). The volume of AV calcium was quantified using contrast-enhanced cardiac computed tomography series. The 30-day clinical and echocardiographic data were prospectively recorded. Results: We included 165 patients referred for TAVI with ACURATE (neo = 87; neo2 = 78). Median age was 82 years-old, 65% were women with a median EuroSCORE II of 4.7 [IQR, 2.4-6.1]. Patients in the neo group showed a larger amount of total AV calcium (320 mm 3 vs 200 mm 3 ; P = .0305). We found no significant inter-group differences regarding clinical outcomes both in-hospital or at 30-days. At 30-days, the rate of PVL ≥ mild (61% vs 34%; P < .001) and ≥ moderate (15.9% vs 5.4%; P = .0365) were higher in the neo group. After propensity score matching adjusted by the total amount of AV calcium, neo2 was associated with a lower risk of PVL ≥ mild (OR, 0.35, 95%CI, 0.18-0.69; P = .003), and ≥ moderate (OR, 0.16; 95%CI, 0.03-0.74; P = .019). Conclusions : TAVI with ACURATE neo2 vs neo is associated with a lower risk of any degree of PVL and a reduced risk of PVL ≥ moderate. After adjusting for AV calcium volume, ACURATE neo2 was still associated with a lower risk of PVL.


The goal of environmental education is ultimately to enable a person to strive for and to attain a more ecological way of life. In this article, we begin by distinguishing three forms of environmental knowledge and go on to predict that people's attitude toward nature represents the force that drives their ecological behavioral engagement. Based on data from 1,907 students, we calibrated previously established instruments to measure ecological behavior, environmental knowledge, and attitude toward nature with Rasch-type models. Using path modeling, we corroborated our theoretically anticipated competence structure. While environmental knowledge revealed a modest behavioral effect, attitude toward nature turned out to be, as expected, the stronger determinant of behavior. Overall, we propose a competence model that has the potential to guide us into more evidence-based ways of promoting the overall ecological engagement of individuals.


The properties of three distinct types of hydrogen bonds, namely a weak, a bifurcated, and a strong one, all present in the LiNO3·(HDO)(D2O)2 hydrate lattice unit cell are studied using steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopy. The lifetimes of the OH stretching vibrations for the three individual bonds are 2.2 ps (weak), 1.7 ps (bifurcated), and 1.2 ps (strong). For the first time, the properties of bifurcated H bonds can thus be unambiguously directly compared to those of weak and strong H bonds in the same system. The values of their OH stretching vibration lifetime, anharmonicity, red shift, and bond strength lie between those for the strong and weak H bonds. The experimentally observed inhomogeneous broadening of their spectral signature can be partly attributed to the coupling with a low frequency intermolecular wagging vibration.


The existence of judges has been positioned as a fundamental and influential instrument for law enforcement in Indonesia. The role of judges in examining, adjudicating and even deciding cases actually relies on ethics and morality which have been fully outlined by the Law and other derivative regulations. This study aims to unravel the ethical ideals of judges from a juridical perspective, the reality of ethical problems of judges and strategies to strengthen judges in Indonesia. This type of research uses library research or library research through a review of relevant library materials. The results of the study show that the scope of judge ethics includes personality ethics, ethics in carrying out their duties, ethics for colleagues or fellow judges and ethics towards society or seekers of justice which as a whole are intended as a means of progress and personality formation, as a means of social control, and as a guarantee increase in the morality of judges. Despite the fact, the ethics and morality of judges are faced with problems stemming from the weaknesses in the personality of judges internally and the tension and ineffectiveness of the supervisory system externally. Therefore, the realization of a strong oversight policy by involving the Supreme Court as internal oversight and the Judicial Commission as external oversight is a strategic answer to overcoming the decline in the integrity and morality of judges, and is supported by constructive efforts such as strengthening the essential performance of the Honorary Panel of Judges in examining and deciding alleged violations of the code of ethics, stimulated the performance of the liaison team and judge supervisory assistants, strengthened strict sanctions in line with reward and punishment policies and built responsive legal values and culture.


Four prisoners recently evaluated at a county hospital sustained self-inflicted paper clip stab wounds of the abdomen on 22 occasions. Guidelines for management based on physical examination, abdominal films and wound exploration with paper clip extraction and short-term admission for observation have been successful in avoiding laparotomy in most instances. Evaluation and surgical treatment of penetrating abdominal injuries are controversial. Some authors propose mandatory laparotomy for all stab wounds violating the peritoneum, while others recommend selective management based on physical findings, local exploration of the wound and subsequent peritoneal lavage. Recently, four prisoners have inserted sharpened paper clips into and through the abdominal wall on 22 occasions, raising questions about the appropriate treatment of these injuries. These wounds differ from other stab wounds in several respects: 1) underlying psychiatric disturbances and the self-inflicted nature of the wound increase the difficulty of patient management; 2) attempts are often multiple, precluding repeated peritoneal lavage for evaluation; 3) the foreign body may be completely intraperitoneal; and 4) peritoneal penetration is similar to that incurred during a peritoneal tap with an 18-gauge needle. The differing presentations of these patients are reported, and a plan for management of these injuries is proposed.


In a paper read before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in December, 1898, the author advanced the hypothesis that the injury done by sparking at the brushes of a direct-current dynamo was not due, as was then commonly supposed, to the current jumping across the gap between the segment and the brush, but was done while the brush was in contact with the segment, the copper of the segment being first melted and then volatilized by the concentration of current energy at one or the other of the segment edges. Perfect commutation was also defined as such a change in the current in the coil under commutation that the current density over the contact surface between the brush and the segment would be constant and uniform, and that perfect commutation would result if the coil impedance were negligible as compared with the brush contact resistance. It was also shown that with perfect commutation the total energy developed over the contact surface would be a minimum and that every part of the contact surface would receive an equal amount of energy. On this principle the question of sparking is simply a question of the temperature of the segment while it is under the brush.


Currently, wireless networks are fetching more fashionable and it can be employed in all genuine world applications. So it is required to present a good Quality of Service (QOS) for distributing a video, voice and data. To present diverse varieties of priority to diverse types of applications, QoS will present numerous mechanisms and the examination is chiefly utilized in the fields such as defense, military and so on. MANET, a Wireless Ad hoc network possibly would not be capable to present a good QoS as it has communications less environment. Because the mobility of nodes is self-sufficient, the topology of the network modifies recurrently. Numerous routing protocols are accessible to present the QoS service for MANET, however in all those techniques path link or communication link transparency increases. This tends to decline in the existence of the network. To progress the existence of the network and to diminish the path link failure, here in this work we are going to provide a novel technique which preserves the energy altitude of the network to balance both energy level and mobility rate. The proposed work will provide the finest QoS in MANET in the way of clustering the network based on energy consumption, fault tolerance rate, and mobility rate. The clustering approach judges only the restricted fault tolerant fairly than comprehensive fault tolerant to notice and process the rate of mobility of the nodes in the network. This energy conserved clustering on QoS for MANET will progress the life span of both the nodes and the network. An experimental evaluation is carried out to estimate the performance of the proposed Energy Conserved Fault-tolerant Clusters with QoS Routing in wireless ad-hoc networks [ECFCR] in terms of communication overhead, recovery time, failure rate.


OBJECTIVE
To study the possibility of referring Surinam and Netherlands Antillean drug users from a 'low-threshold' municipal methadone programme to general practice for methadone maintenance treatment. (Methadone maintenance treatment for drug users leads to a more regulated life and makes it possible to implement measures to ameliorate their living conditions.) Fewer Surinam and Netherlands Antillean drug users are referred to general practice than native Dutch drug users.

DESIGN
Descriptive.

SETTING
Municipal Health Service, Department of Mental Health, Unit on Drugs, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

METHOD
141 Surinam and Netherlands Antillean drug users participating in the 'low-threshold' methadone programme were examined on the following items: psychiatric status, drug and alcohol abuse, judicial problems, relationships, personal care, insurance and housing. With these items the level of regulated drug use was assessed and the possible reference to general practice evaluated.

RESULTS
21% of the drugs user group was found to be well regulated. They could have been referred to general practice immediately. Another 18% were also well regulated but they received methadone on a daily basis at the moment of investigation; when they would have proven to manage methadone prescription on a weekly basis, they could also be referred to general practice. 61% could not be referred because they were addicted to benzodiazepines (22%) or alcohol (33%), lived in unsuitable housing (45%), had judicial problems (53%), psychiatric problems (30%) or no insurance (15%), or were very problematic drug users receiving Palfium (dextromoramide) through the 'low-threshold' municipal methadone programme (15%).

CONCLUSION
Of Surinam and Netherlands Antillean drug users from a municipal methadone programme, approximately 20% could have been directly referred to general practice for their methadone maintenance treatment and 20% at a later stage, and 60% could not.


This article presents an ethnographic study of how bilingual teachers and children use their home language, TexMex, to mediate academic content and standard languages. From the premise that TESOL educators can benefit from a fuller understanding of students' linguistic repertoires, the study describes language practices in a second-grade classroom in a transitional bilingual education program in a well-established Mexican American community in San Antonio, Texas. The data suggest that the participants move fluidly between not just Spanish and English, but also the standard and vernacular varieties, a movement that is called translanguaging (O. Garcia, 2009). Translanguaging through TexMex enables the teacher and students to create discursive spaces that allow them to engage with the social meanings in school from their position as bilingual Latinos. The teacher's adoption of a flexible bilingual pedagogy (Creese & Blackledge, 2010) allows for translanguaging in the classroom not only as a way of making sense of content and learning language, but also as a legitimized means of performing desired identities.


Functional foods are becoming increasingly available to consumers worldwide. The health effects of use of functional foods on cardiovascular diseases must be advised. Omega-3 fatty acid can play a role in primary prevention of deaths from coronary heart disease. It has also been reported to be promising treatment for prevention of deaths from cardiovascular diseases particularly in high-risk group. Vitamin E has no primary prevention of cardiovascular disease, but has high possibility of increasing the risk of heart failure and deaths from cardiovascular disease in high-risk group. Vitamin B complex reduces homocysteine, but don't reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Apart from them, gamma linolenic acid, chitosan, soy protein, and red yeast rice may reduce cholesterol levels and the risk of cardiovascular disease, still, further studies are needed. To prevent cardiovascular diseases, it is the most important to main healthy lifestyle habits. Functional foods should only be supplementary.


For the growth of Electroluminescent (EL) device market, the attention of many researchers is centered on improving the properties such as brightness, power consumption, device reliability, etc. The powder EL device is one of solutions for the easy mass production, the simplification of structure, and low cost. Although the powder process is the solution, that has the problem with the poor brightness than the film process. So, we focused on increasing the brightness of powder EL device. The emissive layer was made up the composites adding metal oxide nanopowder such as TiO2 and ZnO to powder phosphors. As the data of previous researcher, the TiO2 and ZnO had the different dominating traps by photovoltage measure, that is, TiO2 show hole traps, ZnO show electron traps [1]. The brightness of powder EL device proportions to the high electricfield formation. The TiO2 or ZnO in the powder phosphor composite can help the emission that may be advantageous to form high electricfield at low voltage. The EL devices with green ZnS phosphor were fabricated using spin coating method. The effect of TiO2 and ZnO on the luminescent property of EL device was investigated. The brightness was obtained as applied driving voltage at 400 Hz and frequency variation at 50 V.


It has been suggested that complex ventricular arrhythmias commonly occur in hypertensive patients with left ventricular hypertrophy. We have previously demonstrated that coronary artery ligation in anesthetized spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and their normotensive controls (WKY) resulted in a significantly increased incidence and duration of ventricular fibrillation in SHR compared with WKY. The object of the present study was to characterize the structural and electrophysiological abnormalities in hypertrophied hearts, associated with the occurrence of arrhythmias. We used a double tissue bath in which a ventricular strip was exposed simultaneously to normal and to altered conditions (low pH, hypoxia and high potassium). Electrical activity recorded using standard micro-electrode techniques showed the occurrence of arrhythmias in all preparations and the development of major alterations in conduction (a conduction block appeared at 11 +/- 1 mn in SHR vs 16 +/- 1 mn in WKY, p less than 0.05), and maximal upstroke velocity (Vmax values before and 3 mn after the beginning of ischemia were 229 +/- 12 to 46 +/- 7 v/s for the SHR and 227 +/- 10 to 106 +/- 12 v/s for the WKY; p less than 0.001). These changes were associated in hypertrophied ventricles with a marked sub-endocardial collagen fibrosis as estimated by the use of automated image analysis (subendocardial collagen density = 4.39 +/- 0.34 p. 100 in SHR vs 1.66 +/- 0.15 p. 100 in WKY; p less than 0.001). Action potential duration measured using conventional glass micro-electrodes in a single chamber tissue bath revealed a highly significant difference (p less than 0.001) in APD 90 p. 100 of papillary muscles between SHR (114.7 +/- 2.8 ms) and WKY (76.9 +/- 1.7 ms). The addition of tetra-ethylammonium to block potassium channels induced triggered activity arising from early afterdepolarizations only in muscles hypertrophied SHR hearts.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Alan Kessel, Legal Adviser, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Ottawa. The extracts from official correspondence contained in this survey have been made available by courtesy of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Some of the correspondence from which the extracts are given was provided for the general guidance of the enquirer in relation to specific facts that are often not described in full in the extracts within this compilation. The statements of law and practice should not necessarily be regarded as definitive. Canadian Practice in International Law / Pratique canadienne en matière de droit international


A synthesis of findings from neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral biology has been recently used to show that several key features of cognition in neuron-based brains of vertebrates are also present in bee-based swarms of honey bees. Here, simulation tests are administered to the honey bee swarm cognition system to study its decision-making performance. First, tests are used to evaluate the ability of the swarm to discriminate between choice options and avoid picking inferior "distractor" options. Second, a "Treisman feature search test" from psychology, and tests of irrationality developed for humans, are administered to show that the swarm possesses some features of human decision-making performance. Evolutionary adaptation of swarm decision making is studied by administering swarm choice tests when there are variations on the parameters of the swarm's decision-making mechanisms. The key result is that in addition to trading off decision-making speed and accuracy, natural selection seems to have settled on parameters that result in individual bee-level assessment noise being effectively filtered out to not adversely affect swarm-level decision-making performance.


RhoH is a member of the Rho family of small GTP-binding proteins that lacks GTPase activity. Since RhoH is constantly bound by GTP, it is thought to be constitutively active and controlled predominantly by changes in quantitative expression. RhoH is produced specifically in haematopoietic cells and aberrant expression has been linked to various forms of leukaemia. Transcription of the RHOH gene is the first level at which the quantitative levels of the RhoH protein are regulated. Previous studies have demonstrated that RHOH gene transcription is initiated by three distinct promoter regions designated P1, P2 and P3 that define the 5' end of exons 1, 2 and 4 respectively. In the present study we report that the P3 promoter is largely responsible for RHOH gene transcription in the B-lymphocytic cell line Raji. The P3 promoter contains a minimal promoter region and a repressor region extending from -236 to +67 and +68 to +245 respectively, relative to the 5' end of exon 4. Chromatin immunoprecipitation demonstrated that two AP1 (activator protein 1) sites in the minimal promoter region bind JunD. When JUND is overexpressed, the endogenous RHOH gene is repressed; however, when JUND is inhibited, expression of endogenous RHOH is induced both in the Raji cell line and AML (acute myeloid leukaemia) cells. In the HCL (hairy cell leukaemia) cell line JOK-1, induction of RHOH increases expression of the α isoform of protein kinase C. This downstream target of RHOH is also induced in AML cells by JUND inhibition. Collectively, these data indicate that JunD is an inhibitor of RHOH gene expression.


We generate extensions of Q with Galois group SL3(F2) giving rise to three-dimensional mod 2 Galois representations with sufficiently low level to allow the computational testing of a conjecture of Ash, Doud, Pollack, and Sinnott relating such representations to mod 2 arithmetic cohomology. We test the conjecture for these examples and offer a refinement of the conjecture that resolves ambiguities in the predicted weight.


An inversion technique is described for remote estimation of parameters of submerged or buried objects using a ROV-mounted directive acoustic source and a separately located vertical receiver array. The transmitter emits a train of pulses towards the object, and the scattered echoes are recorded at the receivers for subsequent parameter estimation. Parameters of the object are estimated by nonlinear global minimization of the misfit between the experimentally observed and model-predicted time-series. Two global minimization methods, a genetic algorithm (GA) and a differential evolution algorithm (DE), are considered. A fast approximative technique for computing the scattered field, the RK (Ray-Kirchoff) method, is described and used as forward model at the parameter search. The accuracy of the transient scattered field predicted by the RK method is assessed in a model case, using an accurate full-field boundary integral equation (BIE) method as reference. Experimental data are presented from a sea trial within the EU SITAR project in the Stockholm archipelago in September 2003. In the trial, a semi-buried box-shaped object was investigated using a ROV-mounted TOPAS 120 parametric sonar as source. A fitness function suitable for the characteristics of the experimental data and the accuracy properties of the RK method is formulated, and the inversion methods are applied on the data to estimate, in a step-wise manner, seven physical parameters of the object; range, depth, roll, yaw, pitch, density and soundspeed. The estimated parameter values are shown to reduce the model-data misfit significantly compared with those based on prior information only.


The responses of guinea-pig taenia coli to the α-action of adrenaline and noradrenaline, recorded with the double sucrose-gap method, were (a) studied in conditions which inhibit Na-pump activity (exposure to 0 K, 0 Na, ouabain, low temperature) and (b) compared with the effect of Na-pump activation (readmission of K after prolonged exposure to 0 K). When the external K concentration was modified, the alteration of the change in membrane potential produced by the catecholamines was as would be expected from the shift of the K-equilibrium potential. The decrease in the membrane resistance was greater in a high external K concentration and smaller in K-free solution. Readmission of K after prolonged exposure to K-free solution produced a large hyperpolarization, but, in the presence of ouabain (5 × 10-5 M) or in the absence of Na, K readmission produced depolarization. In contrast, the effects of adrenaline and noradrenaline were not essentially modified by ouabain, nor by removal of Na. Reduction of the external K concentration enhanced the hyperpolarization by catecholamines even in the presence of ouabain or in the absence of external Na. During prolonged exposure to adrenaline or noradrenaline (7min) the increase in membrane conductance and the hyperpolarization of the membrane were largely maintained, though there was some spontaneous recovery in the presence of the catecholamines. These long-lasting responses were essentially the same when the temperature was lowered from 37 to 20°C, and also in the presence of ouabain. All the results obtained were unaffected by the presence or absence of propranolol. It was concluded that the hyperpolarization produced by the α-action of catecholamines did not involve an activation of the Na-pump but was mainly caused by an increase in the K conductance of the membrane.


The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae), (medfly) is a polyphagous and cosmopolitan agricultural pest, targeted in many areas for control by the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT). Our objective in the present study was to test the hypothesis that a bacterially enriched diet provided to sterile males will improve their sexual performance in competitive settings that emulate natural conditions. Specifically we determined how feeding on diets enriched with Klebsiella oxytoca affected the ability of sterile males to compete for wild females against wild males, their ability to inhibit female receptivity, and their survival. We found that enriching the sterile male diet with K.oxytoca significantly improved mating competitiveness in the laboratory and in field cages. In addition, bacterially enriched sterile males inhibited female receptivity more efficiently than sugar fed males and survived longer duration of starvation. We conclude that inoculating mass reared sterile flies with bacteria prior to their release is a valid approach to improve the efficacy of SIT.


Halide perovskite colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) have recently emerged as a promising candidate for CQD photovoltaics due to their superior optoelectronic properties to conventional chalcogenides CQDs. However, the low charge separation efficiency due to quantum confinement still remains a critical obstacle toward higher‐performance perovskite CQD photovoltaics. Available strategies employed in the conventional CQD devices to enhance the carrier separation, such as the design of type‐Ⅱ core–shell structure and versatile surface modification to tune the electronic properties, are still not applicable to the perovskite CQD system owing to the difficulty in modulating surface ligands and structural integrity. Herein, a facile strategy that takes advantage of conjugated small molecules that provide an additional driving force for effective charge separation in perovskite CQD solar cells is developed. The resulting perovskite CQD solar cell shows a power conversion efficiency approaching 13% with an open‐circuit voltage of 1.10 V, short‐circuit current density of 15.4 mA cm−2, and fill factor of 74.8%, demonstrating the strong potential of this strategy toward achieving high‐performance perovskite CQD solar cells.


Liverpool English, also known as Scouse, is an easily distinguishable accent, but whether or not it contains enough regionally specific grammar and vocabulary to be considered its own dialect is another matter. This Bachelor's thesis set out to investigate this using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods on data consisting of informal interviews found on the website Youtube with people from Liverpool. These videos were selected based on the assumption that people with discernible accents are most likely to also speak with a dialect. The results of the research showed that discerning whether or not Scouse is a dialect is not as straightforward as it would seem. Depending on the judgment of how many regional features are enough, the conclusion of this project was that the appearance of any items is sufficient to claim that Scouse is indeed a dialect.


We gave 56 patients with newly diagnosed acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) 20 or 125 micrograms/m2 once daily subcutaneously before (for up to 8 days or until GM-CSF-related complications developed) and during, or only during (patients presenting with blast counts greater than 50,000 or other leukemia-related complications) ara-C (1.5 g/m2 daily x 4 by continuous infusion) and daunorubicin (45 mg/m2 daily x 3) chemotherapy. Because results seemed independent of GM-CSF schedule, we compared results in these 56 patients with results in 176 patients with newly diagnosed AML given the same dose and schedule of ara-C without GM-CSF (110 patients ara-C alone, 66 patients ara-C + amsacrine or mitoxantrone). Comparison involved fitting a logistic regression model predicting probability of complete remission (CR) and a Cox regression model to predict survival (most patients in all three studies were dead) with treatment included as a covariate in both analyses. After adjusting for other prognostically significant covariates [presence of an antecedent hematologic disorder, an Inv (16), t(8;21), or abnormalities of chromosomes 5 and/or 7, performance status, age, bilirubin], treatment with ara-C + daunorubicin + GM-CSF was predictive of both a lower CR rate and a lower survival probability. There were no treatment-covariate interactions, suggesting that the negative effect of this GM-CSF treatment regime was not an artifact of some imbalance in patient characteristics. The unadjusted Kaplan-Meier hazard rate of the ara-C + daunorubicin + GM-CSF group was not uniquely high during the initial 4 weeks after start of therapy, but was highest among the three treatment groups throughout weeks 5 to 16, suggesting that the negative effect of this treatment was not caused by acute toxicity. Patients who did not enter CR with this treatment tended to have persistent leukemia rather than prolonged marrow aplasia, suggesting that this treatment and, in particular, GM-CSF may increase resistance of myeloid leukemia cells to chemotherapy. To date, relapse rates are similar in all three groups (P = .43) (as are survival rates once patients are in CR) but much of the remission duration data is heavily censored, unlike the survival data. Our results suggest caution in the use of GM-CSF to sensitize myeloid leukemia cells to daunorubicin + ara-C chemotherapy.


Blood group serological medical devices produced in Hungary are in the focus of this paper. The first Automatic Coombs Test Analyzer (ACT) was constructed approximately 20 years ago. There is a huge competition between the blood group serological devices applying different types of techniques (e.g. microplate, card or spin tube technique) which can carry out all the applied methods (e.g. direct agglutination, enzyme, antiglobulin or Coombs, or Polybrene method). Therefore, the continuous development of such an instrument is inevitable. Involving users can result in ideas that may have serious impact on the product development process. Within the confines of our research five focus groups including thirty-five participants from three Hungarian laboratories were conducted in order to gain user opinions and expectations regarding the Advanced ACT. As a result the optimal ratio between automation and being able to control the results manually was pointed out to be a crucial factor of the users. A possible solution was shown to eliminate or at least decrease the potential stress mentioned by them.


The paper studies the structure of cast microwires in glass insulation, obtained at the current density, which leads to melting of the metal core. High melting currents values allow us to recommend cast microwires as low-base fuses against current overloads in electric circuits.


In evolutionary multi-objective optimisation (EMOO) using dynamic weighted aggregation (DWA), very interesting dynamic behaviours of the individuals have been observed [7] [8]. In this paper, the dynamics of the individuals on fitness space (FS) during multi-objective optimisation (MOO) using evolution strategies (ES) is studied by investigating the mapping of a normal distribution in the parameter space (PS) onto the FS. It is found that the movement of the individuals on the FS is strongly dependent on the characteristics of the projected distribution. Results on three test functions are given to show the good agreement of dynamics predicted from theoretical calculation with that observed in MOO using DWA.


Prostate cancer (PC) is one of the malignant tumors of the genitourinary system that occurs more often in elderly men. Screening, early diagnosis, and treatment of the PC high risk population are essential to improve the cure rate of PC. The development of the guideline for PC screening and early detection in line with epidemic characteristics of PC in China will greatly promote the homogeneity and quality of PC screening. This guideline was commissioned by the Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention of the National Health Commission. The National Cancer Center of China initiated and convened a working group comprising multidisciplinary experts. This guideline strictly followed the World Health Organization Handbook for Guideline Development and combined the most up-to-date evidence of PC screening, China's national conditions, and practical experience in cancer screening. A total of fifteen detailed evidence-based recommendations were provided with respect to the screening population, technology, procedure management, and quality control in the process of PC screening. This guideline aimed to standardize the practice of PC screening and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of PC prevention and control in China.


We studied the Lab-scale process for the development of DNAM in aspect of safety and overall efficiency. Melamine is used for starting material of process, DNAM was synthesized by oxidation and nitration reaction. In order to optimize the process parameters with the product in higher yield and purity, a systematic study with variation of different parameters like molar ratio of nitrating mixture, conditioning time and order of reactant was carried out. The optimized reaction conditions for the synthesis of DNAM were : conditioning time of 3 ± 3.5 hour and nitrating mixture in 1:1.4 molar ratio. In order to proceed a stable reaction, melamine was added with enough time to relieve reaction heat. From these reaction condition, DNAM could be obtained in a yield of more than 60%.


BACKGROUND
Dysregulation of miRNA expression may be used as a biomarker for specific tumours because it may contribute to development of cancer. Circulating miRNA profiles have been highlighted for their potential as predictive markers in heterogeneous diseases such as breast cancer. In the literature, there is evidence that miR-195 levels are differentially expressed pre- and post-operative periods in breast cancer patients. At the same time, miRNA expression levels may vary because of ethnic origins. This study aimed to determine expression levels and potential roles of miR-195 in Turkish breast cancer patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The expression patterns of miR-195 were initially examined in breast cancer tissues (luminal A and B type) (n=96). Subsequently, blood samples were prospectively collected from preoperative and postoperative Turkish breast cancer patients and disease free controls. Total RNA was isolated, and the expression level of miR-195 was quantified by real-time PCR.

RESULTS
We found that miR-195 level was altered in Turkish breast cancer patients, with down-regulation evident in breast cancer tissues compared to normal adjacent specimens. Furthermore, circulating levels of miR- 195 was significantly decreased in post-operative blood samples compared with pre-operative levels (p=0.01 and <0.05). However, miR-195 was significantly increased in pre-operative blood samples of the luminal B type (p= 0.04 and <0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
This study represents the first report of a miR-195 expression profile in Turkish breast cancer patients. Our data suggests that miR-195 levels might be a clinically useful biomarker in the earliest stage of Turkish breast cancer patients.


Researchers studying discourse after traumatic brain injury (TBI) increasingly recognize the need to take account of variation within the non-brain-damaged (NBD) population in order to validate their findings. This study investigated the use of ratings by professional clinicians trained in speech pathology (P raters) and by peers of TBI individuals (NP raters) as a method of placing TBI individuals' communication in context. Twenty TBI adults and 20 NBD controls matched for age, sex, education and social background retold a 1400 word story presented on audiotape, following which the narratives were transcribed and segmented. Raters used two 5-point scales, representing independent parameters of Content and Clarity, to rate the transcripts. Statistical analysis demonstrated that P raters tended to give higher ratings across the board than NP raters but that P and NP ratings were also highly correlated. In general, the ratings assigned to the two subject groups overlapped and exhibited an even spread across the range of mean ratings. On the evidence of this study clinicians appear to share perceptions regarding discourse performance with peers of the TBI subjects. In addition, many TBI subjects perform as well or better than NBD controls on high-level tasks.


The general aim of the present research is to identify and classify the most frequent lexical translation errors present in Spanish target texts translated from the field of science journalism in English. Also the possible causes of these errors and their solutions are discussed. This research provides empirical support for the teaching and learning of English-Spanish translation in the field of science journalism. This is the first time that the issue of translation error classification is tackled in our Department. Internationally, there has been a lot of research in the area of translation assessment in general but not in the field of science journalism. For this reason, our research may contribute to the field. From a theoretical perspective this paper contributes to the study of translation and to the research on this subject in Cuba. It presents a typology of lexical errors which will help to improve the practice and the teaching of this discipline in our country.


A study was performed to investigate the effects of mizolastine (MKC-431) on nasal symptoms induced by allergen challenge in 12 subjects with a history of Japanese cedar allergic rhinitis. All of the subjects received mizolastine (10mg p. d.) or placebo orally in a random, double-blind and crossover manner for 5 days at 3 week intervals. The subjects were challenged by exposure to cedar extract on the fifth day of administration. Changes in the following measurements were evaluated before and after the antigen challenge: total volume (left+right) of the nasal cavity measured by acoustic rhinometry, symptoms of nasal obstruction judged by subjects, number of eosinophils in nasal washings, and concentrations of chemoattractant in nasal lavage fluid.The following results were obtained.1) The volume of the nasal cavity at 1h after antigen challenge was significantly different between the mizolastine and placebo administration groups (p=0.032).2) The number of eosinophils and the concentration of EPX, IL-16, LTB4, PAF, and the amount of eotaxin mRNA in nasal lavage fluid was not significantly different between the mizolastine and placebo administration groups.3) The total number of sneezes during the 30min period after antigen challenge was 0.58±0.79 (mizolastine) and 4.00±5.06 (placebo), showing a significant difference (p=0.038).4) The symptom score for nasal obstruction at 0.5, 1, 7, 9, 10, 12h after antigen challenge was significantly different between the mizolastine and placebo administration groups.5) Adverse events and abnormal changes in clinical laboratory findings related to the drug were not observed during the treatment period, although elevation of eosinophils was observed in one subject after the treatment period.These results showed the effectiveness of mizolastine in the treatment of sneezing and nasal obstruction induced by antigen challenge during early phase reaction. Though no apparent conclusion was obtained from the volume of the nasal cavity, the symptom score indicated the effective reduction of nasal obstruction during the late phase reaction.


The efficacy of the association of paromomycin sulfate (PA) with recombinant (r) interleukin (IL)-12 was investigated by topical treatment of BALB/c mice infected with Leishmania major that displayed fully developed cutaneous lesions. Although healing was observed in PA-treated groups, lesions recurred in 100% of these animals 70 days after treatment. In contrast, lesions were absent in a high proportion of PA- and rIL-12-treated mice 120 days after treatment. The PA/rIL-12-treated mice had a switch in cytokine response, from high IL-4 and low interferon (IFN)-gamma levels to low IL-4 and high IFN-gamma levels, and reductions in parasite load, dissemination of parasites, and inflammation. Thus, the association of rIL-12 to topical chemotherapy for leishmaniasis may be an important strategy for increasing cure rates and decreasing the incidence of relapse.


The non-mobile phases, carriers and the conditions for gas-chromatographic determining trifluoromethane-sulfofluoride (TFMSF) have been studied. The optimal conditions allowing to develop the procedure of gas-chromatographic measuring the concentrations of TFMSF in the workplace air have been chosen.


SUMMARY The dynamics of influenza A viral load in respiratory samples collected from adult A(H1N1)pdm09 influenza patients were investigated. Three respiratory specimens were obtained every 2–4 days and clinical findings were recorded at the time each specimen was collected. A total of 105 serial specimens were collected from 35 patients. Viral clearance was more rapid in patients aged 15–29 years than patients aged 30–49 years (P < 0·01) or ⩾50 years (P < 0·01). Hospitalized patients showed slow viral clearance compared to outpatients (P < 0·01). Resolution of cough and headache was correlated with viral load reduction in respiratory specimens. Viral shedding was found in 17 patients (48·6%) 5 days after symptom onset. Time to hospital visit after symptom onset was significantly correlated with prolonged viral shedding (odds ratio 9·0, 95% confidence interval 1·56–51·87, P = 0·01). These findings will contribute to infection control aspects with respect to managing patients with influenza virus infections.


Information systems are being used for more and more applications are becoming more complicated and expensive, while at the same hand todays software systems demand increasing tremendously for sophisticated software engineering processes. However, there are a multitude of different development processes and techniques that each have various advantages and disadvantages, some of which relate to the problem domain or the development context. Computer software development processes have to pass from many faces to complete the development. There are many ways to solve a single problem in software development. Sometimes, in Structural engineering, developer is not able to decide which process will suit to that particular problem or in other words we can sa y that selecting a good process is a big issue in Structural Process Software engineering. The solution of such kind of problem can be found in the work to be done, and the task to be performed by the Operational process rather than structure of a process. This paper introduc es the notion of process operationality and proposes method architecture to represent this operationality. Thus, Structural Proce ss Engineering (SPE) becomes Operational Process Engineering (OPE).


In present dynamic environment with the rapid advancement of technology the life cycle of products has been shrunk especially high-tech products like mobile phones, laptops etc. To save on capital expenditure most of the companies have their warehouses with limited capacity and they take other warehouses on rent to absorb any fluctuations in demand. The model is framed considering that the product is perishable product and demand will fall drastically after some specific time. Another assumption is that the holding cost of the rented warehouse is more than their own warehouse. Numerical Illustration has been used to check the validity of the model.


Laser post treatment is a well known procedure in order to homogenize the geometry, the microstructure and aspect of the surface of thermal sprayed coatings. Furthermore the properties of coatings, as for example corrosion resistance can be improved, as a sealing layer is induced by remelting. High power laser sources as CO2-, Nd:YAG as well as diode laser are used for this aim. They allow a very deep remelting zone in a depth-range between 0,2-2 mm. Contemporarily the hard phases as well carbides in the coating degenerate due to the very high heat input and the wear resistance of the coating decreases. Short-pulse laser are very advantageous for processing surfaces in a very narrow band (under 50 µm). Applications are nowadays developed for the surface treatment of aluminium cylinder running surfaces and of titanium implants. The short-pulse laser post processing can be a very profitable methods to improve the behaviour of coatings without damaging hard phases. Investigations on remelting of PTA- and thermal sprayed coatings with a Nd:YAG-short-puls laser and with an excimer laser are reported in this paper. Surface quality as for example roughness of PTA-coatings with tungsten carbides (NiCrBSi+60%WSC) could be improved and a slight surface sealing layer was induced. Depending on the adopted laser system, different surface roughness profiles can be reached. In further investigations the suitability of the method was proven for thermally sprayed coatings of NiCrBSi


Background: The tumour suppressive functions of the p53 transcription factor are inactivated through mutations or suppressed through non-mutational mechanisms in almost all cancer cells. This work focusses on identifying mechanisms through which, tumours retaining wild-type p53 evade apoptosis in response to chemotherapies and p53 agonists such as Nutlin-3A. Methods: A panel of matched p53 wild-type and deficient colorectal cancer cell line models were studied, using Nutlin-3A and oxaliplatin as direct and indirect p53 activating agents. A number of molecular (Western blots, RT-PCR), phenotypic (cell death) and genomic analyses were used to investigate the importance of p53 and its downstream transcriptional programs. Results: We demonstrate the importance of p53 in priming cancer cell sensitivity to apoptotic cell death following treatment with Nutlin-3A or oxaliplatin through activation of pro-apoptotic p53 targets, such as TRAIL-R2, Fas/CD95, PUMA and NOXA. Surprisingly, our analysis further reveals that this priming is accompanied by a parallel early p53-dependent pro-survival response that imposes a critical dependence on the caspase-8 inhibitor FLIP. Preventing FLIP up-regulation with siRNA resulted in synergistic increases in apoptosis in response to Nutlin-3A and oxaliplatin in p53 wild-type, but not p53 null cells. p53-mediated FLIP up-regulation was blocked by pharmacological inhibition of HDACs1-3 using Entinostat, which caused hyper-acetylation of the p53 C-terminus and altered transactivation of a number of other p53 apoptotic target genes. Notably, the synergy between Nutlin-3A or oxaliplatin and Entinostat was abrogated in cells over-expressing FLIP trans-genes or in cells in which caspase-8 was depleted using RNAi. Conclusion: These results uncover a p53-regulated apoptosis priming event, in which a number of key pro-apoptotic genes are upregulated in response to direct p53 agonism (Nutlin-3A) or indirect activation downstream of DNA damage (oxaliplatin). However, immediate commitment to apoptosis is prevented by the concomitant p53-mediated up-regulation of FLIP. This may be a mechanism that has evolved to allow DNA damage repair time to take place, while priming the cell to undergo apoptosis if the damage is irreparable. From a cancer therapeutics point-of-view, this work identifies FLIP upregulation in p53 wild-type cancers as a key target for overcoming resistance to direct and indirect p53 activating therapies. Citation Format: Alexander McIntyre, Fiammetta Falcone, Patrick G. Johnston, Daniel B. Longley, Simon S. McDade. Nutlin and oxaliplatin induce p53-dependent addiction to FLIP. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-016.


The highlight of this issue and most certainly one that affects businesses across the entire industry at this time is the launch of King III. In an article entitled A new corporate playing field, Mervyn King, chairman of the King Committee on Corporate Governance in South Africa, provides an overview of this significant event in South Africa's corporate landscape.


In developing countries like India, micronutrient deficiency especially of iron is most prevalent among children. Besides culminating into anemia, the consequences of iron deficiency are grave and affect the health and quality of life of the people and the nation as a whole. The objectives of this study were to assess the effect of using leaf concentrate (LC), a novel food prepared from the extract of Lucerne grass for supplementation as micronutrient fortifier in the hot meals of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Anganwadi Centres and to assess the impact on hemoglobin levels and morbidity profile of the children, aged 3 to 6 years attending ICDS Anganwadi Centres of Jaipur City. A total of sixty four children of either sex, aged 3 to 6 years were selected from the two Anganwadi Centres (AWC) of Jaipur City. Two AWC were selected randomly from the seven AWC running in a slum area of Jaipur, known as Jawahar Nagar slum. One Anganwadi Centre served as control group and another as experimental group. At each center, 32 children were enrolled. The supplementary feed provided to the two AWC was the same, the only difference was that 3% LC was incorporated in the supplementary nutrition of the experimental centre. Supplementation with LC was continued for a period of 24 months. At baseline blood hemoglobin (Hb), weight, height and morbidity profile were assessed. The hemoglobin levels and the morbidity profile of the children were assessed in every six months, while the weights (kg) and heights (cm) were recorded every third month. The results showed a significant increase in the Hb levels of the experimental group while it decreased in the control group. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p<0.01). Morbidity profile of the experimental group improved while it remained unchanged in the control group. The anthropometric measurements did not show a significant difference in the two groups.

 Key words: Micronutrient, leaf concentrate, integrated child development services (ICDS), morbidity profile.


The potential of wireless power transfer (WPT) has attracted considerable interest for various research and commercial applications for home and industry. Two important topics including transfer efficiency and electromotive force (EMF) leakage are concerned with modern WPT systems. This work presents the defected metasurface for localized WPT to prevent the transfer efficiency degraded by tuning the resonance of only one-unit cell at the certain metasurface (MTS). Localization cavities on the metasurface can be formed in a defected metasurface, thus fields can be confined to the region around a small receiver, which enhances the transfer efficiency and reduces leakage of electromagnetic fields. To create a cavity in MTS, a defected unit cell at the receiving coils' positions for enhancing the efficiency will be designed, aiming to confine the magnetic field. Results show that the peak efficiency of 1.9% for the case of the free space is improved to 60% when the proposed defected metasurface is applied, which corresponds to 31.2 times enhancements. Therefore, the defected MTS can control the wave propagation in two-dimensional of WPT system.


Herpes simplex virus (HSV) esophagitis is a rare infection in the immunocompromised host making it an even more rare condition in the immunocompetent population. Herpes esophagitis usually presents with the constellation of symptoms of odynophagia, dysphagia, fever and retrosternal chest pain. When immunocompetent patients present with odynophagia, the most common etiologies include pill induced esophagitis, toxic ingestion or severe reflux esophagitis. Rarely is infectious esophagitis from HSV, cytomegalovirus or candida considered. HSV is the most common cause of esophagitis typically from a reactivation of prior infection. In very rare cases does it present as a primary infection in the esophagus. We describe a case of HSV esophagitis in an 18-year-old immunocompetent host with no significant past medical history. He presented to his primary care physician with complaints of odynophagia and was prescribed a course of amoxicillin and prednisone syrup. He presented 4 days later to the emergency room with worsening odynophagia, retrosternal chest pain and anorexia. He was evaluated by the gastroenterology team and was taken for esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD), which revealed diffuse, bleeding, superficial ulcerations along the entirety of his esophagus. Biopsies were taken and subsequently found to be HSV positive. The patient was treated with intravenous acyclovir, a proton pump inhibitor and sucralfate suspension. HIV was tested and was found to be negative. No other causes of immunosuppression were found. We believe the patients' initial presentation was in fact a primary infection of HSV esophagitis, which was exacerbated by his oral prednisone use. The purpose of this report was to highlight the rare occurrence of infectious esophagitis with HSV possibly worsened by oral prednisone use in an otherwise healthy, young individual. Also, this report should raise awareness of clinicians to diagnose HSV esophagitis and begin prompt treatment on such patients. EGD with biopsy is the gold standard diagnostic modality for HSV esophagitis and should always be considered in young patients who present with odynophagia even in the absence of other alarm features. There is often a typical mucosal appearance with superficial, well-demarcated, small ulcerations along the mid to distal esophagus. The treatment of choice for HSV esophagitis is acyclovir 5 mg/kg every 8 hours for 7 - 14 days. Symptoms for most immunocompetent patients resolve spontaneously in about 1 - 2 weeks. In confirmed cases of HSV esophagitis, it is important to reassess the patient for any underlying immunodeficiencies. Although rare, HSV esophagitis should be entertained especially given the correct constellation of history and symptoms. J Med Cases. 2015;6(4):173-175 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jmc2100w


Despite broad agreement that forgiveness involves overcoming resentment, the small philosophical literature on this topic has made little progress in determining which of the many ways of overcoming resentment is forgiveness. In a recent paper, however, Pamela Hieronymi proposed a way forward by requiring that accounts of forgiveness be "articulate" and "uncompromising." I argue for these requirements, but also claim that Hieronymi's proposed articulate and uncompromising account must be rejected because it cannot accommodate the fact that only some agents have the standing to forgive. I end by sketching an alternative account which, I claim, explains the phenomenon of standing.


Summary:  Valproic acid (VPA) is an antiepileptic drug (AED) with a broad spectrum of actions. The mechanisms that underlie VPA effects are not clearly elucidated, but may include enhancement of γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA)‐mediated inhibition by increasing cerebral GABA levels. Transient extrapyramidal symptoms like parkinsonism have been reported with VPA treatment ( 1 ). The precise mechanism of these complications is not clear, although perturbations in basal ganglia neurotransmitters have been suggested. We experienced one case of spasmodic dysphonia in the course of treatment with VPA, which has not been described previously.


This letter concerns the achievable distortion of a Gaussian source over a two-hop network with the aid of a relay, where the relay is subject to an average power constraint and employs the decode and forward strategy. It is assumed that the Gaussian source is hierarchically encoded through the use of a scalable source coding approach and is sent to the relay using a multi-layer channel code. Then, the relay encodes the retrieved information through the use of a single-layer code and transmit the encoded information to the destination. Accordingly, the optimal power allocation strategy is derived, showing the proposed method outperforms existing works addressed in the literature when the relay is subject to an average power constraint and the objective is to minimize the mean square distortion at the destination.


Sonicated mixtures of dimethyldioctadecylammonium chloride (DODAC), egg phosphatidylcholine (PC), dimyristoyl phosphatidylcholine (DMPC), and dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) were used to analyze vesicle effects on the rate of decarboxylation of 6-nitrobenzisoxazol-3-carboxylic acid (Nboc). Electron microscopic images of the vesicles were obtained with trehalose, a know cryoprotector. Phase diagrams and phase transitions temperatures of the vesicle bilayers were determined. Nboc decarboxylation rates increased in the presence of vesicles prepared with both phospholipids and DODAC/phospholipid mixtures. Quantitative analysis of vesicular effects was done using pseudophase models. Phospholipids catalyzed up to 140-fold while the maximum catalysis by DODAC/lipid vesicles reached 800-fold. Acceleration depends on alkyl chain length, fatty acid insaturation of the lipids, and the DODAC/phospholipid molar ratio. Catalysis is not related to the liquid crystalline-gel state of the bilayer and may be related...


Proponents say network computers offer lower costs and easier maintenance. But skeptics are not yet convinced these benefits are real.


The present paper deals with the reduction of rejection due to casting defects in a foundry industry. The industry is making cast iron castings of submersible pumps components such as Upper housing, Motor Pulley, Mini Chaff cutter wheel in large scale and having rejection in the form of slag inclusions. The three important part of industry were chosen for complete analysis. The improvement in these defects can be done by the application of DMAIC approach. The study was done at HARYANA(India) on application of Six Sigma methodology and Selection of tools and techniques for problem solving, because of its high rejection rate.


Contents: Preface. Part I: Theoretical and Conceptual Perspectives. T.J. Reynolds, S.J. Westberg, J.C. Olson, A Strategic Framework for Developing and Assessing Political, Social Issue, and Corporate Image Advertising. B.G. Englis, M.R. Solomon, Where Perception Meets Reality: The Social Constructions of Lifestyles. J.P. Murry, Jr., J.L. Lastovicka, J.R. Austin, The Value of Understanding Trait Motivations on Consumption Beliefs. D. Prensky, C. Wright-Isak, Advertising, Values, and the Consumption Community. G. Fennell, Value and Values: What Is the Relevance for Advertisers? L.R. Kahle, P.M. Homer, R.M. O'Brien, D.M. Boush, Maslow's Hierarchy and Social Adaption as Alternative Accounts of Value Structures. Part II: Methodological Approaches. L.J. Shrum, J.A. McCarty, Issues Involving the Relationship Between Personal Values and Consumer Behavior: Theory, Methodology, and Application. S.C. Grunert-Beckmann, S. Askegaard, "Seeing With the Mind's Eye": On the Use of Pictorial Stimuli in Values and Lifestyle Research. B. Wansink, Developing Useful and Accurate Customer Profiles. P. Valette-Florence, A Causal Analysis of Means-End Hierarchies: Implications in Advertising Strategies. S.J. Gould, The Use of Psychographics by Advertising Agencies: An Issue of Value and Knowledge. I.J. O'Connor, Using Attitudinal Segmentation to Target the Consumer. Part III: Social Trends. P. Cafferata, M.I. Horn, W.D. Wells, Gender Role Changes in the United States. L. Chiagouris, L.E. Mitchell, The New Materialists. B. MacEvoy, Change Leaders and the New Media. T.E. Muller, The Benevolent Society: Value and Lifestyle Changes Among Middle-Aged Baby Boomers. L.R. Lepisto, The Adult Longitudinal Panel: A Research Program to Study the Aging Process and Its Effect on Consumers Across the Life Span. Part IV: International Applications. K.G. Grunert, K. Brunso, S. Bisp, Food-Related Lifestyle: Development of a Cross-Culturally Valid Instrument for Market Surveillance. D. Weber, B. Dubois, The Edge of Dream: Managing Brand Equity in the European Luxury Market. A.H. Zins, Transferability of the Concept of Environmental Awareness Within the EUROSTYLES System Into Tourism Marketing. G.M. Rose, Cross-Cultural Values Research: Implications for International Advertising.


Abstract Motivation Genomic variant detection from next-generation sequencing has become established as an extremely important component of research and clinical diagnoses in both cancer and Mendelian disorders. Insertions and deletions (indels) are a common source of variation and can frequently impact functionality, thus making their detection vitally important. While substantial effort has gone into detecting indels from DNA, there is still opportunity for improvement. Further, detection of indels from RNA-Seq data has largely been an afterthought and offers another critical area for variant detection. Results We present here ABRA2, a redesign of the original ABRA implementation that offers support for realignment of both RNA and DNA short reads. The process results in improved accuracy and scalability including support for human whole genomes. Results demonstrate substantial improvement in indel detection for a variety of data types, including those that were not previously supported by ABRA. Further, ABRA2 results in broad improvements to variant calling accuracy across a wide range of post-processing workflows including whole genomes, targeted exomes and transcriptome sequencing. Availability and implementation ABRA2 is implemented in a combination of Java and C/C++ and is freely available to all from: https://github.com/mozack/abra2. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


The classic question regarding Lyman-alpha forest clouds is whether they are confined by the pressure of a hot, diffuse surrounding medium, or by the gravity of dark matter mini-halos. This paper reviews these basic models for forest clouds, considering spherical and slab geometries. At high redshift, the clouds are still likely to be in the process of formation, and it seems essential to consider them as dynamic structures in a cosmological context. At low redshift, observations of large cloud sizes (indicated by their covering of both lines of sight toward quasar pairs) have recently reshaped our view of the forest. Galaxy-like disks/slabs, which would be gravity confined near the center, but pressure confined in their outer regions (extending out to hundreds of kpcs), may be responsible for the low z forest. The ultimate view of the identity of the forest clouds and their relationship to galaxies is likely to involve a synthesis of many of the models discussed here.


Large-scale efforts have been persistently undertaken for medical prophylaxis and treatment of COVID-19 disasters worldwide. A variety of novel viral spike protein-targeted vaccine preparations have recently been clinically distributed based on accelerated approval. We revisited the early but inconclusive clinical interest in the combination of azithromycin and zinc sulfate repurposing with safety advantages. In vitro proof of concept was provided for rapid and synergistic suppression of ACE2 expression following treatments in human airway cells, Calu-3 and H322M. The two representative ACE2-expressing human airway cells indicate the upper and lower respiratory tracts. Prophylactic and early therapeutic roles of azithromycin combined with zinc are proposed for virus cellular entry prevention potential bridging to effective antibody production.


The objective of this study is to reveal the sufficiency of neural networks (NN) as a securer, quicker, more robust and reliable method to be used in seismic assessment of existing reinforced concrete buildings. The NN based approach is applied as an alternative method to determine the seismic performance of each existing RC buildings, in terms of damage level. In the application of the NN, a multilayer perceptron (MLP) with a back-propagation (BP) algorithm is employed using a scaled conjugate gradient. NN based model wasd eveloped, trained and tested through a based MATLAB program. The database of this model was developed by using a statistical procedure called P25 method. The NN based model was also proved by verification set constituting of real existing RC buildings exposed to 2003 Bingol earthquake. It is demonstrated that the NN based approach is highly successful and can be used as an alternative method to determine the seismic performance of each existing RC buildings.


I have been reading sections of Ciceley Saunder's Selected Writings 1958–2004 (Saunders, 2006). It is a remarkable collection about her life and her belief in the inherent worth of helping and supporting those facing death. Its main focus, naturally, is on the emerging role of the hospice approach to palliative care and the need for individual suffering to be at the heart of interactions with patients and families. Saunder's returns again and again to an encounter with one patient dying from cancer in 1948 that seemed to be the catalyst for her life's work. She emphasises the need to provide the physical and emotional space to allow people to come to terms with the inevitability of their death.


Oncology is undergoing a sea change. Because of sophisticated cancer screening, combined with increasingly effective treatments, the majority of cancer patients are surviving beyond the period of active treatment. As a consequence, cancer care teams are striving to confront the new—and very welcome—challenge of caring for long-term cancer survivors.


This report evaluates 20 years (1972-1992) of asbestos fiber count reporting for the Proficiency Analytical Testing (PAT) program, which is operated by the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) in cooperation with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Estimates were obtained for total, intracounter, and intercounter variability. Results show that total variability of counting chrysotile asbestos fibers improved by approximately 35% in recent years when compared with the variability found during 1975-1977, at the lowest filter fiber densities used in the PAT program. Total, intercounter, and intracounter variability for counting amosite and chrysotile asbestos fibers also were compared over a six-year period starting in 1986. PAT program laboratories achieved about one-quarter lower intracounter variability and about one-third lower total and intercounter variability when counting amosite fibers versus chrysotile fibers. In addition, amosite intercounter variability improved by about one-third, with large improvements occurring in the first year that amosite was included in the program. Factors affecting performance, such as changes in phase contrast microscope fiber counting methods, PAT participation, the AIHA Laboratory Accreditation Program, and PAT sample production, are discussed as possible factors affecting variability.


We present a novel fault detection method for application in component-based robotic systems. In contrast to existing work, our method specifically addresses faults in the software system of the robot using a data-driven methodology which exploits the inter-process communication of the system. This enables an application of the approach without expert knowledge or availability of complex software models. We specifically focus on performance bugs, which slowly degrade the performance of the system and are thereby harder to detect but also most valuable for automatic recovery. Using a data set recorded on a RoboCup@Home platform we demonstrate the performance and applicability of our method and analyze the types of faults that can be detected by the method.


The state of the art in Monte Carlo simulations of scanning electron microscope (SEM) signals is reviewed. Two Monte Carlo computer codes were written to simulate the transmitted-, backscattered-, and secondaryelectron signals from targets in a scanning electron microscope . The first, MONSEL-11, is applied to semiinfinite lines produced lithographically on multi-layer substrates. The second, MONSEL-111, is an extension to fully three-dimensional targets. Results for a 1 μm step, etched in a silicon substrate are compared with experimental data. The comparisons show that it is possible to obtain edge locations to an uncertainty of less than 10 nm. Simulations were performed for photoresist lines on a silicon substrate coated with a layer of photoresist. Techniques were derived for simulating signals for finite beam diameter from those for zero beam diameter, and for extracting signals approximating zero beam diameter from those with finite beam diameter . Approaches were formulated for efficient use of the Monte Carlo codes .


Purpose of review Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) offers advanced mechanical support to patients with severe acute respiratory and/or cardiac failure. Ensuring an adequate therapeutic approach as well as prevention of ECMO-associated complications, by means of timely liberation, forms an essential part of standard ECMO care and is only achievable through continuous monitoring and evaluation. This review focus on the cardiorespiratory monitoring tools that can be used to assess and titrate adequacy of ECMO therapy; as well as methods to assess readiness to wean and/or discontinue ECMO support. Recent findings Surrogates of tissue perfusion and near infrared spectroscopy are not standards of care but may provide useful information in select patients. Echocardiography allows to determine cannulas position, evaluate cardiac structures, and function, and diagnose complications. Respiratory monitoring is mandatory to achieve lung protective ventilation and identify early lung recovery, surrogate measurements of respiratory effort and ECMO derived parameters are invaluable in optimally managing ECMO patients. Summary Novel applications of existing monitoring modalities alongside evolving technological advances enable the advanced monitoring required for safe delivery of ECMO. Liberation trials are necessary to minimize time sensitive ECMO related complications; however, these have yet to be standardized.


BACKGROUND
There is extensive evidence of the efficacy of anti-microbial drugs in preventing infections from surgical efforts. Our objective was to describe the results obtained in our annual surgical antibiotic prophylaxis (SAP) audit in the years 2013-2017.

METHODS
This was a retrospective observational study of SAP in surgical procedures carried out between 2013 and 2017 in a tertiary-level hospital. We examined the results from the services of general surgery, vascular surgery, neurosurgery, the breast unit, otolaryngology, maxillofacial surgery, traumatology, urology, pediatric surgery, gynecology, and plastic surgery.

RESULTS
Establishment of six process quality indicators and their evaluation in the annual audit were carried out by the pharmacy service for approximately 500 operations. The indicators that had a high percentage of compliance were indication for SAP, choice of anti-microbial agent, dose and route of administration, and administration of an intra-operative dose when this was appropriate. In contrast, time of administration of the first dose and duration of prophylaxis had a worse percentage of compliance.

CONCLUSIONS
Compliance with the SAP protocols in our hospital is high. We consider that these better results are attributable to the establishment of quality indicators of SAP and to the annual audit that evaluates said indicators. Communication of the results obtained in the audit to the surgical services, which have as part of their objectives included in their management contracts compliance with said SAP protocols, encourages improvement. The use of prophylaxis kits is an improvement strategy that facilitates the correct choice of anti-microbial agent and prevents SAP from being prolonged inappropriately.


AIM
To describe Australian registered nurses' awareness, and implementation of reasonable adjustments within their practice when caring for people with intellectual disability and/or autism. Additionally, the association between key demographic, workforce, and respondent variables and familiarity of the term and regularity of use was explored.

DESIGN
Cross-sectional survey.

METHODS
Survey data were collected between August and October 2020 using an online survey tool. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

RESULTS
Familiarity of the concept of reasonable adjustments was relatively low, compared to respondents who report applying adjustments when caring for people with intellectual disability and/or autism. Higher levels of confidence, comfort, and knowledge when caring for this cohort were associated with greater awareness and application of reasonable adjustments.

CONCLUSION
A higher volume, and diversity in type of, nursing education related to care for people with intellectual disability and/or autism is indicated.


1,3,5-Trinitrobenzene and 1,3,5-triethynylbenzene cocrystallise to form a solid state structure in which the two components
 assemble to form segregated hydrogen-bonded tapes. This behaviour is rationalised, through the use of the
 Cambridge Structural Database and ab initio electronic structure calculations, in terms of the fundamental recognition
 properties of the nitro group. The recognition behaviour of the nitro group is a function of both the intrinsic
 electronic properties of the nitro group itself and the nature of the hydrogen bond donor with which it interacts.


With a coastline of more than 3,000 km and its location in the monsoonal climate zone, Vietnam is expected to have good potential for wind energy resource. In the recent years, several preliminary studies on assessment of potential of wind energy resource in Vietnam have been carried out. The objective of this paper is to draw an updated overall picture on wind energy potential and the current application as well as development of wind energy in Vietnam on the basis of data collected from various sources. The reviewing results showed that Vietnam has better wind energy resource than many other Asian countries. The highest potential areas of wind resource in Vietnam are the south central coast, central highlands, and south coast. However, the development of wind energy is just in the early stage and the application of wind energy is still negligible at present. This paper also identifies the major challenges need to be addressed for the future development of wind energy in Vietnam including those related to lack of the wind measurement and assessment of wind resource, lack of human resource, lack of comprehensive wind energy development planning, and lack of financial supportive mechanism. In order to promote the development and application of wind energy, much more effort need to be put forward in the coming years to overcome these existing challenges.


Comprehensive computer simulations are currently the most efficient and cheap methods in designing and optimisation of semiconductor device structures. Seemingly they should be as exact as possible, but in practice it is well known that the most exact approaches are also the most involved and the most time-consuming ones and need powerful computers. In some cases, cheaper somewhat simplified modelling simulations are sufficiently accurate. Therefore, an appropriate modelling approach should be chosen taking into account a compromise between our needs and our possibilities.Modelling of operation and designing of structures of vertical-cavity surface-emitting diode lasers (VCSELs) requires appropriate mathematical description of physical processes crucial for devices operation, i.e., various optical, electrical, thermal, recombination and sometimes also mechanical phenomena taking place within their volumes. Equally important are mutual interactions between above individual processes, usually strongly non-linear and creating a real network of various inter-relations.Chain is as strong as its weakest link. Analogously, model is as exact as its less exact part. Therefore it is useless to improve exactness of its more accurate parts and not to care about less exact ones. All model parts should exhibit similar accuracy. In any individual case, a reasonable compromise should be reached between high modelling fidelity and its practical convenience depending on a main modelling goal, importance and urgency of expected results, available equipment and also financial possibilities. In the present paper, some simplifications used in VCSEL modelling are discussed and their impact on exactness of VCSEL designing is analysed.


Dynamic CT was performed in five normal Holstein calves to investigate the effect of saline chasers on intravascular contrast enhancement when administered at three different rates. The five calves were imaged using dynamic CT in a crossover study design. Group A was administered only contrast medium (600 mg iodine/kg, 4 ml/s), while groups B, C and D were administered contrast medium at 30 per cent reduction followed by saline chasers injected at 2, 4 and 8 ml/s, respectively. Attenuation values were obtained from the right and left maxillary arteries and dorsal sagittal sinus. Maximum enhancement value and mean value of the enhancement plateau obtained from the maxillary arteries were significantly lower in group B than in the other groups. The duration of the enhancement plateau was longer in group C than in groups B and D (P<0.05).