Using data from two recent surveys, we analyze the relationship between Big Five personality traits and political participation. We examine forms of participation that differ in domain (local politics vs. national campaigns) as well as in the amount of conflict involved, whether they are likely to yield instrumental benefits, and whether they are likely to be viewed as a duty—characteristics that may affect the relationships between dispositional personality traits and political activity. We find relationships between personality traits and: (1) both self-reported and actual turnout (measured using administrative records), (2) overreporting of turnout, and (3) a variety of other modes of participation. The effect of personality on political participation is often comparable to the effects of factors that are central in earlier models of turnout, such as education and income. Consistent with our theoretical expectations, these relationships vary depending on personality-relevant characteristics of each par...


Through numerical experiments and analytical analysis, we show that a strong correlation exists between anisotropy in the material structure (i.e., the elongation of inclusions present within rocks in the different directions of space) and anisotropy in seismic attenuation (i.e., the values of the inverse quality factors associated with the anisotropic moduli that control wave propagation). This is especially true for weakly anisotropic materials where a power law is shown to relate the aspect ratios of the inclusions (i.e., the ratios of the lengths of the inclusions in the different spatial directions) to the peak attenuation ratios (i.e., the ratios of the maximum values of the quality factors describing wave attenuation in the different spatial directions). Analytical results show that small deviations from this simple power law relation are to be expected for general anisotropic materials. For axisymmetric spheroidal inclusions, a perfectly bijective analytical relation is obtained between aspect ratios of the inclusions and attenuation ratios. This relation is not a power law in general but may be considered to reduce to one as aspect ratios approach 1 (a perfect sphere).


The field of application of mass spectrometry (MS) has increased considerably due to the development of ionization techniques. Other factors that have stimulated the use of MS are the tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) and sequential mass spectrometry (MSn) techniques. However, the interpretation of the MS/MS and MSn data may lead to speculative conclusions. Thus, various quantum chemical methods have been applied for obtaining high quality thermochemical data in gas phase. In this review, we show some applications of computational quantum chemistry to understand the formation and fragmentation of gaseous ions of organic compounds in a MS analysis.


In this study the polyphenolic composition of lilac flowers and fruits was determined for the first time. For the identification of compounds, accurate molecular masses and formulas, acquired by LC and ESI-TOF-MS and fragmentation pattern given by LC-ESI/MS/MS analyses, were used. Our chromatographic system in conjunction with tandem MS was found to be valuable in the rapid separation and determination of the multiple constituents in methanolic extracts of lilac flowers and fruits. Altogether 34 phenolics, comprising 18 secoiridoids, seven phenylpropanoids, four flavonoids and five low-molecular-weight phenols, were identified. As marker compounds two secoiridoids (oleuropein and nuzhenide), two phenylpropanoids (acteoside and echinacoside) and rutin were quantified by validated methods. As a result of quantitative analysis, it was confirmed that flowers contain significant amounts of phenylpropanoids (acteoside, 2.48%; echinacoside, 0.75%) and oleuropein (0.95%), while in fruits secoiridoid oleuropein (1.09%) and nuzhenide (0.42%) are the major secondary metabolites. The radical scavenging activities of the extracts and the constituents were investigated by DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and ABTS [2,2'-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)] assays. Both extracts show remarkable antioxidant activities. Our results clearly show that lilac flowers and fruits are inexpensive, readily available natural sources of phenolic compounds with pharmacological and cosmetic applications. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In the paper the review of achievements of nanoindustry is carried out: the use of nanosilica as an additive that improves the fire and thermal resistance of cementitious composites; a welding filler reinforced with nanoparticles for aerospace structures; smart, mobile and autonomous station for collecting and accumulating solar and electric energy; materials authentication with the use of nuclear quadrupole resonance spectroscopy, etc. Areas of application, economic effect and social significance of projects developed in different countries are given. For example, researchers and developers at Ben-Gurion University in the Negev, Israel and Ulyanovsk state technical University, Russia have jointly created a device in the field of alternative energy that allows you to collect and store solar and electric energy for later use. The device has a unique smart system of protection against voltage interruptions and overheating due to the controller devices and software. Also, the device has a number of innovative engineering solutions to reduce the temperature of the heated elements of the device, increase protection from dust and moisture. All this together is a unique solution different from the existing solutions capable of generating and storing solar energy for a long time (up to 10 years).


Endothelial nitric oxide (NO) plays important roles in the vascular system. Animal models that show vascular dysfunction demonstrate the protective role of endothelial NO dependent pathways. This review focuses on the role of endothelial NO in the regulation of cerebral blood flow and vascular tone. We will discuss the importance of NO in cerebrovascular function using animal models with altered endothelial NO production under normal, ischemic and reperfusion conditions, as well as in hyperoxia. Pharmacological and genetic manipulations of the endothelial NO system demonstrate the essential roles of endothelial NO synthase in maintenance of vascular tone and cerebral perfusion under normal and pathological conditions.


Although reports of generalized idiopathic diminished root formation have been identified by a few authors, only one such case has been associated with the condition of Stevens-Johnson syndrome. The present clinical report provides additional evidence to implicate the condition of Stevens-Johnson syndrome in a case of generalized abnormal root development.


Aims: Anemia occurs for different reasons. However the Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA) is one of the most prevalent causes of anemia in all human communities. The goal of the present study was to assess the effect of serum Ferritin deficiency on anemia in medical students. Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on students of Kashan University of Medical Sciences in all educational stages in 2011. 323 students were selected randomly. The hemoglobin, hematocrit, MCV, MCH, MCHC, ferritin and RDW indices were measured. The data was analyzed by SPSS 13 statistical software using Chi-square and independent T tests. Findings: The mean of ferritin level in all samples was 46.2±42.8ng/ml, hemoglobin was 13.1±1.4g/dl, hematocrit was 39.2±5.2, MCV was 85.4±6.4fl, MCH was 29.2±6.1, MCHC was 32.9±1.3g/dl and RDW was 13.6±0.5g/dl. 62 of studied individuals (19.2) had minor anemia and 261 (80.8) were normal. 31 of studied individuals (9.6) had ferritin deficiency and 292 (90.4) had normal ferritin. There was a significant difference between anemia according to gender (p=0.001) and educational level (p=0.01). Ferritin deficiency had also significant difference according to gender. According to gender, there were significant differences in ferritin, hemoglobin, hematocrit and RDW levels. According to age, there were significant differences between ferritin and hematocrit and RDW levels. MCHC level had significant difference according to living site of the students. Conclusion: Girl university students are at the risk of anemia caused by lack of ferritin and aging increases the risk of anemia.


The key objective of WP3 is to identify, update and integrate, on an ongoing basis,
requirements for developing the Go-Lab system as highly beneficial and usable platform for
use in science teaching. Methodologically, WP3 adopts a participatory design (PD) approach
grounded in the established User-centred Design (UCD) frameworks, which also underpin
Usability and User Experience (UX) methodologies. In Year 3, WP3 is responsible to collect
data on usability and UX of the Go-Lab design artefacts, ranging from individual scaffolds to
an entire online lab to inform the refinement of the pedagogical specifications (WP1) for such
artefacts and the improvement on their design and development (WP4, WP5).
Specifically, we provide teachers and students with access to prototypes of parts of or the
whole system in increasing levels of fidelity, some iteratively in different levels of refinement,
in order to elicit their feedback on usefulness, enjoyability, learnability, memorability,
effectiveness, and other pragmatic as well as hedonic qualities. Several complementary HCI
approaches have been adopted and adapted for PD data collection and analysis, including:

1) Face-to-face PD workshops with a range of engaging activities that encourage
students or teachers to provide feedback on the artefacts under scrutiny. Different
instruments were deployed, including traditional paper-and-pen and its software-
supported counterpart PDot for capturing feedback, surveys, audience response
system, interviews, and observations;

2) Remote studies involving 21 "Core Group" teachers from nine countries, who are
highly motivated in following the development of Go-Lab and are willing to provide
prompt feedback to specific questions posed to them on a regular basis;

3) Analytical Evaluations conducted by usability researchers without involving end-
users, to investigate a few artefacts; the results have directly been fed to the
development team for improving the prototype before testing it with users.

From November 2014 to October 2015, the work package has designed, conducted,
analysed and reported 46 face-to-face PD events with teachers and/or students (and has
received, analysed and reported on usability data from 7 others), 13 remote events involving
Core Group teachers and 4 analytical studies involving usability specialists. Altogether these
PD activities involved over 550 students and over 450 teachers from 18 countries. The face-
to-face PD events took place at schools, research/training centres, conference venues, and
other venues such as the Go-Lab Summer School. The data are predominantly subjective
self-reports of teachers and students on their experiences and opinions after using specific
Go-Lab artefacts for specified tasks, together with some performance measures such as
timings, number of errors, etc.

Overall, the participating teachers and students are excited, enthused and positive about the
potential benefits of Go-Lab, to a significantly greater extent than in Year 2. However many
possible areas for improvement of usability or user experience have also been reported. The
findings from the many studies have provided a steady flow of information back to the project
leadership and thereby influenced system development direction and priorities. This
document reports the year's findings, particularly areas of possible improvement. For all but
the most recent studies, the findings have been communicated to the development cluster
(WP4 & WP5), and their responses and progress are also documented herein.


ISODATA algorithm is capable of splitting and merging categories automatically. However, this kind of hard clustering fails to take into consideration the characteristics of image itself and human visual features. So its effect is generally not as good as that of fuzzy clustering algorithm. For most fuzzy recognition methods, if they are to be applied, the number of categories must be set beforehand. Besides, there is inherent defect in traditional Fuzzy algorithms. By contrast, intuitionistic fuzzy is a kind of improvement to make up the deficiencies of traditional fuzzy theory. Based on the advantages of ISODATA algorithm and intuitionistic fuzzy, with those critical functions which are related to membership and non-membership functions used as the measurement for clustering, this thesis is to propose a kind of ISODATA algorithm that is based on intuitionistic fuzzy, and to introduce membership function that has been improved for practical purposes. This kind of function takes region as the sample to be classified. Finally, this thesis is to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm by applying it to Image Segmentation.


The paper describes a rare case of intramedullary spinal cord abscess in an infant after dermal sinus. In discussion with literature review the contemporary approach to patients with this pathology is highlighted.


Elevated oxidative stress has been characterized in numerous disorders including systemic hypertension, arterial stiffness, left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and heart failure. The peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) ameliorates oxidative stress and LVH. To test the hypothesis that PPARγ decreased LVH and cardiac fibrosis in chronic pressure overload, in part, by increasing SOD, eNOS and elastin and decreasing NOX4, MMP and collagen synthesis and degradation, chronic pressure overload analogous to systemic hypertension was created in C57BL/6J mice by occluding the abdominal aorta above the kidneys (aortic stenosis-AS). The sham surgery was used as controls. Ciglitazone (CZ, a PPARγ agonist, 4 µg/ml) was administered in drinking water. LV function was measured by M-Mode Echocardiography. We found that PPARγ protein levels were increased by CZ. NOX-4 expression was increased by pressure-overload and such an increase was attenuated by CZ. SOD expression was not affected by CZ. Expression of iNOS was induced by pressure-overload, and such an increase was inhibited by CZ. Protein levels for MMP2, MMP-9, MMP-13 were induced and TIMP levels were decreased by pressure-overload. The CZ mitigated these levels. Collagen synthesis was increased and elastin levels were decreased by pressure-overload and CZ ameliorated these changes. Histochemistry showed that CZ inhibited interstitial and perivascular fibrosis. Echocardiography showed that CZ attenuated the systolic and diastolic LV dysfunction induced by pressure-overload. These observations suggested that CZ inhibited pressure-overlaod-induced cardiac remodeling, and inhibition of an induction of NOX4, iNOS, MMP-2/MMP-13 expression and collagen synthesis/degradation may play a role in pressure-overload induced cardiac remodeling.


This study aims to examine the effect of internal and external corporate governance mechanisms that are proxied by the size of the independent commissioners, the audit committee's educational background, the proportion of institutional ownership, audit quality, and company size factors towards acceptance of qualified audit opinion. The population in this study is the infrastructure, utilities and transportation sectors listed in the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2013-2017. Based on the purposive sampling method, it obtained 120 analytical units from the sample data. The analysis used in this study is logistic regression analysis. The results of this study found that if the size of the company which calculated based on total assets had a negative influence on the acceptance of qualified audit opinion. On the other hand, the element of Good Corporate Governance in the form of independent commissioners, audit committee, institutional ownership, and audit quality has no effect on the acceptance of qualified audit opinion. The conclusion of this study is the presence of the company's internal support body are not able to influence the company's accounting for the better.
Keywords: good corporate governance, qualified audit opinion, firm size


The fast, visual discrimination of β2-agonist drugs is needed for the on-site screening of various types of β2-agonists in blood and urine samples. We developed a simple, rapid, one-step colorimetric method to detect phenolic β2-agonists by use of a tyrosinase catalytic reaction, which involved the oxidation of the phenol group on the benzene rings of β2-agonists. The enzymatic oxidation products of β2-agonists with phenolic groups exhibited different color transitions based on the different substituent groups on the aromatic ring, whereas β2-agonists with the aniline group or the resorcinol group remained colorless. This visual color discrepancy has been used to intuitively and conveniently differentiate the phenolic group β2-agonists, such as ractopamine, isoxsuprine, ritodrine, and fenoterol. The oxidation products of these compounds have been identified using mass spectrometry, and the possible reaction mechanisms between β2-agonists and tyrosinase have been deduced. The parameters that govern the analytical performance of the reaction product, including the pH of the buffer solution, the concentration of tyrosinase, and the incubation time, have been studied and optimized using ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy and electrochemical methods. Under the optimal experimental conditions, the absorbance intensity and electrochemical signal were found to increase proportionally to the concentrations of the phenolic group β2-agonists, which gave a quantitative description of the β2-agonists in solution.


Silicon's chemical stability, high natural abundance (as the second most common element in the earth's crust), mechanical stiffness, and semiconducting behavior have made it the subject of extensive scientific investigation and the material of choice for both the microelectronics and microelectromechanical device industries. The success of Moore's Law that demands continual size reduction has directed it to a central place in emerging nanoscience and nanotechnology as well. Crystalline nanowires (NWs) are one nanostructured form that silicon may take that has sparked significant interest as they can exhibit considerable confinement effects and high surface-to-volume ratios, but may be interfaced simply along one direction for the determination of material properties and implementation into new technologies. The expense and difficulty involved in the creation of semiconductor nanowires using the top down fabrication techniques of the microelectronics industry has promoted an explosion of chemical synthetic bottom up techniques to produce high quality crystalline nanowires in large quanitities. Nevertheless, bottom up synthesized Si NWs retain a new set of challenges for their successful integration into reliable, high-performance devices, which is hindered by an incomplete understanding of the factors controlling their material properties. The first chapter of this dissertation introduces the motivation for studying semiconductor NWs and the benefits of limiting the scope to silicon alone. A brief survey of the current understanding of thermal conductivity in silicon nanowires provides prime examples of how confinement effects and surface morphology may dramatically alter nanowire properties from their bulk crystal counterparts. The particular challenges to bottom up silicon nanowire device integration and characterization are noted, especially related to Si nanowires that are grown epitaxially on crystal silicon substrates, and Raman spectroscopy is introduced as a promising optical characterization and metrology tool for semiconductor nanowire based devices.Chapter two describes the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism for the synthesis of very high quality, single-crystal silicon nanowires using Au and Pt catalyst nanoparticles. A new technique is presented for the simplified synthesis of branched silicon nanowires based on the migration of Au catalyst during an hydrogen anneal intermediate between growth stages, and the faceting behavior at synthetic stages is revealed by the analysis of electron microscope images. Synthesis of solid and porous Si nanowires based on Ag mediated electrochemical silicon etching is described as well.The third chapter specifies new processing techniques developed with future device integration of epitaxially VLS-grown Si nanowires in mind. Epitaxially bridging nanowires are shown to provide an excellent platform for single-wire electrical and mechanical property measurements. Galvanic displacement through block copolymer micelle/homopolymer surface templates is demonstrated as a means to deposit catalyst nanoparticles with controlled sizes and areal densities in a variety of geometries and with registration to photolithographic patterns. Ex situ boron doping by the direct hydrogen reduction of boron tribromide is shown to achieve active concentrations exceeding 10 19 cm −3 with high axial uniformity, while avoiding the adverse impact on nanowire morphology that is often observed with in situ boron doping of silicon nanowires.Chapter four describes the characteristics of Raman spectroscopy that are relevant to studying individual semiconductor nanowires. Careful spectral measurements show that the anharmonic dependence of Raman spectra on temperature for individual Si nanowires remains unchanged from the bulk crystal for diameters down to 30 nm, regardless of surface morphology. Using this result, a new technique for measuring the thermal conductivity of individual semiconductor nanowires is then outlined based on Raman thermal mapping of individual cantilevered nanowires.Finally, the dissertation is concluded with suggestions for possible future experiments. One avenue is to probe more deeply the morphology of faceted silicon nanowires and nanotrees and its impact on their transport physics. Another possible route for further study would be to explore new characterization and metrological applications of Raman spectrocopy for semiconductor nanowires.


The invention provides a hydraulic circuit for actuating an undercarriage comprising a supply line (10) in fluid and a return line (11), at least one door switch (114) connected to the supply lines (110) and return (111) which feeds the gates of service lines, one line opening of doors (121) and a closure line (122) of the doors (3a, 3b), at least one selector landing gear (115) connected to the supply lines (110) and return (111) which supplies undercarriage service lines including a deployment line (125) and a lifting line (126) of undercarriage (1), a line decrochetage doors (123) and a decrochetage line of the undercarriage (127). According to the invention, the decrochetage line doors (123) is connected to at least one service line (125, 126) while the undercarriage decrochetage line of the undercarriage is connected to at least one service line ( 121, 122) for doors, the circuit further comprising means for connecting the gates of service lines therebetween at a phase of opening doors, and means for connecting the undercarriage service lines together during a deployment phase of the undercarriage


Abstract:Platelet-rich plasma (PRP), the concentrate of platelets in plasma contains various. Growth factors that enhanceosseous regeneration. This prospective study was conducted, to compare the role of Platelet rich plasma in healing afterimpacted mandibular 3rd molar surgery. The study was performed by a single operator, all the patients underwent bilateral removal of mandibular 3rd molars and PRP that was prepared prior to start of the surgical procedure was placed into one of the extraction socket randomly selected by the author and the other side used as control. Clinical parameters like hypersensitivity reactions, pain, swelling, soft tissue healing, and dry socket were assessed. The bone fill and radiographic bone density were evaluated simultaneously. All the patients were followed up after the 1stday, 2ndday, 1week, 3-week, 2 months, 4months and after 6 months post operatively. Soft tissue healing differed significantly between PRP and NON-PRP sites. On radiographic evaluation significant differences were observed in the mean scores of radiographic density between PRP and NON-PRP sites on Photo Stimulating Phosphor (PSP) images and IOPA Radiographs. It was concluded that PRP contributed to better healing of soft tissues and bone and is a visible means of growth factory delivery. However, further studies are needed to substantiate our findings. It is the need of the hour for more controlled and scientific models, to assess the ultimate efficacy of PRP.


Computational fluid dynamics simulations are performed to study the desalination process in forward osmosis modules. Concentration polarization phenomenon is responsible for lowering the water flux permeation through the membrane. It is desired to mitigate the external concentrative and dilutive concentration polarizations by proper mixing of both the feed and the draw solutions. Chevron-type of corrugation with a single triangular shape is used for membrane corrugation. The peak of the corrugation is oriented toward the feed channel. This type of corrugations produces dips in the membrane in the draw side. The dips will not mix the draw solution properly. Net-type spacers of 45° will be placed in the middle of the draw channel. The spacers will work as mixing promoters and add extra support for the membrane. All configurations will have the same Reynold number of 1500 in both channels. k–ω SST turbulence model is used with modules containing mixing promoters, and the laminar model is used with the module without corrugation and spacers. The results indicate that a 14% increase in the water flux is attained with the presence of spacers and membrane corrugation compared with a flat membrane and no spacers. Also, the dilutive concentration polarization has been mitigated significantly compared with the empty case.


The analysis and synthesis of conformal printed antennas on conical surfaces are investigated. The theoretical model is based on the cavity model and the concept of dynamic permittivity to take into account the thickness and the fringing field effects. The originality comes from the use of a computer algebra system to generate the polynomial expression of the zeros of characteristic equations, and the analytical relation between the half-angle of the cone and the order of the associated Legendre functions. Fast and accurate expressions for the resonance frequency are given for a rectangular radiating element operating in TM10 and TM01 modes. This model is easily included in a CAD package. Very good agreement is observed between numerical results and experiments.


The objectives of this article are threefold. First, it seeks to review and elucidate Prototype section 402(B). It is an exceptionally powerful provision. Careful parsing of its language is important to understand the default rule against which contrary private ordering may be agreed as well as the limitations/requirements imposed by its statutory formula. Second, it reviews Patmon v. Hobbs as an example of how an LLC loyalty case can go easily astray in absence of careful attention to the governing statute. Third, it reviews more generalized lessons from Patmon v. Hobbs concerning analytic protocol and LLC act interpretation.


The severe shortage in nursing and significant decline in enrollments in schools of nursing present unique challenges. One way the University of Minnesota School of Nursing responded to this challenge was by initiating an honors program. The development and implementation throughout the first year are described. Funding, admission and graduation requirements, faculty work load, and the difficulties of introducing flexibility into typically highly structured undergraduate professional degree programs are addressed. Implications for the future are presented.


Chinese cherry (Cerasus pseudocerasus Lindl.) is one of the most economically domestic fruit trees in China. The rich variation of wild Chinese cherry is the most important breeding resource for existing cultivars. In order to reveal the levels and distribution of genetic variation within wild Chinese cherry of Sichuan Province, China, where is rich in wild Chinese cherry, the sequence variation of chloroplast DNA trnQ-rps16 intergenic spacer was analyzed in 145 individuals of all nine existing populations (seven from Sichuan, two from Shanxi and Guizhou provinces) of China. The results showed that trnQ-rps16 sequence were aligned with 13 polymorphic sites (1.87%), including 3 substitutions and 10 indels in 145 individuals, which revealed a low level of genetic diversity (h= 0.562, π= 0.00184). Compared to other regions (h= 0.733, π= 0.00243), a rather lower genetic diversity (h= 0.544, π= 0.00203) was found in the populations from Sichuan, and a large scale of genetic diversity among the seven populations was detected (h= 0-0.708; π= 0-0.00298), ranging from EM (h=0.000, π=0.000) to TL (h=0.708, π=0.00298). The low genetic diversity of populations may be strongly affected by founder effect and bottleneck effect because of the marginal nature, recent reduction, and consequent genetic drift of these populations. In addition, a fairly low genetic differentiation (FST= 0.21573) was found among the studied populations. This suggest that gene flow seems to originate from pronounced seed dispersal abilities of the species and it may play a significant role in shaping such a genetic structure. The long generation cycle of the species may also contribute to this structure. Based on these findings, a conservational plan for sampling or preserving fewer populations but more individuals from each population for the species was proposed.


Complex coacervate microdroplets are membraneless compartments that selectively sequester biological molecules from their surroundings and enhance bioreactions. Yet, their use as protocell models and bioreactors has been limited owing to a lack of feasible strategies to prevent their uncontrolled coalescence. Herein, we introduce an approach to mitigate coalescence of complex coacervate microdroplets using comb polyelectrolytes as stabilizers while retaining the membraneless coacervate-water interfaces, creating membraneless coacervate emulsions with months-long stabilities. Tunability of microdroplet size and stability is achieved by regulation of comb polyelectrolyte concentration and molecular weight. Importantly, the comb polyelectrolyte-stabilized coacervate microdroplets spontaneously sequester and retain proteins over extended periods. Moreover, enhanced catalytic activity of proteins and significant (up to 10-fold) acceleration of bioreactions is achieved in stabilized complex coacervate dispersions, even when stored for up to 48 hours. Our findings are expected to expand the utility of complex coacervate microdroplets as artificial protocells, encapsulants, and bioreactors, and also facilitate their use in pharmaceutical, agricultural, food, and cosmetics formulations.


In this paper a two-step face detection technique is proposed. The first step uses a conventional skin detection method to extract regions of potential faces from the image database. This skin detection step is based on a Gaussian mixture model in the YCbCr colour space. In the second step faces are detected among the candidate regions by filtering out false positives from the skin colour detection module. The selection process is achieved by applying a learning approach using multiple additional features and a suitable metric in multi-feature space. The metric is derived by learning the underlying parameters using a small set of representative face samples. In this process the parameters are optimized by a multiple objective optimization method based on the Pareto archived evolution strategy. The learned metric in multi-feature space is then applied to a conventional classifier to filter out non faces from the first processing step. Support vector machines and k-nearest neighbours classifiers are used to test the performance of the optimized metric in multi-feature space.


Laparoscopic graspers require a high pinch force to generate sufficient friction force (grip) for tissue manipulation. Excessive or insufficient pinch forces distributed along the small contact area of laparoscopic graspers can cause damage and are one of the reasons why the risk of intraoperative complications during Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) procedures in the abdomen is 2-4 % higher compared to open surgery. The goal of this research was to develop and evaluate an 5 mm laparoscopic grasper, which has the same functionality (generated friction force, grasping time) as a conventional grasper for use on the intestine but which requires lower pinch force due to the use of adhesives. To lower the pinch force the adhesive component of the friction force was enlarged by introducing a muco-adhesive between tissue and grasper. To lower (local) high pressures a flat surface was used. Two experiments were conducted to find out in which direction the friction force generated by the adhesive film was the largest and to find the minimum required area of adhesive film to generate a force of 5 N. Next, a design for the tip and a design for the adhesive film feed mechanism was made. To evaluate the design a prototype was created, which was used to investigate whether the proposed tip design was able to generate a friction force of 5 N using a pinch force lower than 3 N. The prototype of the adhesive grasper was able to generate a friction force of 3.12 ± 0.58 N, while using a pinch force of 2.5 N. The generated friction force did not meet the goal of 5 N, but the concept of lowering the pinch force by introducing an adhesive layer is promising; the pinch force needed by the proposed tip is lower compared to existing graspers and the friction force was independent of the generated pinch force. The friction force can be increased further by developing a new adhesive film or by increasing the contact area.


Microscopic bristles (setae) present on digital pads permit the adhesion and climbing of geckos. Keratins of setae of the lizard Gekko gecko (Tokay gecko) were analyzed by the isolation of expressed mRNAs and by the generation of an EST library. Of the 510 sequences determined, 268 (52.9%) were unique. Of these, 14 appeared to encode alpha- and 111 beta-keratins. Within the beta-keratins, we identified five groups based on nucleotide sequence comparisons. Of these, one contained the bulk of beta-keratins, with 103 EST members. The mRNAs within this major group, together with two singlets, encoded cysteine-proline-serine-rich proteins of 10-14 kDa (Ge-cprp). One of the smaller groups of transcripts encoded slightly larger glycine-proline-serine-rich proteins, of 14-19 kDa (Ge-gprp). The remaining group consisted of smaller (9 kDa) serine-tyrosine-rich beta-keratins (Ge-strp). Thus three classes could be distinguished by amino acid sequence alignment. Exact matches for some of the peptide sequences obtained from setal proteins by ms/ms sequencing occur within several of these clones. Most of the beta-keratins were basic and contained a core-box region of two beta-strand sequences, with high homology to core-boxes present in avian scale and feather beta-keratins. Core-boxes are beta-folded regions that are likely responsible for polymerization into the beta-keratin filaments. The two deduced alpha-keratins of 52.7 kDa are both acidic, and contain the typical central rod region with some homology to mammalian and avian alpha-keratins, with variable N- and C-terminal regions. Basic beta-keratins and acidic alpha-keratins may interact electrostatically to form the resistant corneous material of setae.


Conventional approaches to the study of neurotoxicants focus exclusively on the direct action of neurotoxicants on the nervous system. In fact, pharmacokinetic and metabolic factors can greatly modify the effect of neurotoxicants. This thesis presents the investigations of the pharmacokinetic and metabolic factors in chemical-induced neurotoxicities, p-Bromophenylacetylurea (BPAU) and m-dinitrobenzene (m-DNB) were selected as model neurotoxicants. Wistar (LACP) and F344 rats, and the analytical techniques of HPLC, MS and NMR were used in the present studies.

This study has demonstrated that metabolism and pharmacokinetic behaviour of BPAU and m-DNB significantly modified their neurotoxicity. Three metabolites of BPAU, 3-hydroxy-5-(4-bromophenyl)-1,3 -diazapentane-2,4-dione (M1), 4-4-bromo-phenyl)-3-oxapyrrolidine-2,5-dione (M2) and 3-methyl-5-(4-bromophenyl)-1,3-diaza- pentane-2,4-dione (M3), were identified and characterised in this study. Phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride (PMSF) which can intensify BPAU-induced neuropathy signiflcandy delayed BPAU elimination, increased M1 levels in tissues and decreased M2 concentration in serum This metabolic interaction and neurotoxic synergy between the two compounds represent a distinct model in the mechanistic studies of the promotion of delayed neuropathy. The present study also showed that 1-year old rats which are more susceptible to BPAU-induced neuropathy produced more M1 and less M2 than 6-week old rats.

In vivo and in vitro studies in this thesis also demonstrated that m-DNB can be metabolised in brain. The major metabolite was 3-nitroaniline (3-NA). An activated intermediate, 3-nitrosonitrobenzene (3-NNB) was detected in the cultured astrocytes and endothelial cells. This suggests that metabolic activation may play an important role in m-DNB-induced neurotoxicity. The infusion-lesion model revealed that once a concentration threshold for m-DNB is exceeded, the time which m-DNB is maintained above that threshold is a more important factor in producing brain lesions than a higher transient concentration.

This study has demonstrated that pharmacokinetic approaches have a great potential in understanding chemical-induced neurotoxicity.


Objective:This article reviews the current understanding of transient receptor potential ion channels (TRP channels) in health and disease. Background:Transient receptor potential ion channels are a group of 27 channels that are expressed in all tissues. These channels play important roles in surgically important problems, such as chronic pain, susceptibility to infection, hypothermia, and some cancers. Methods:A literature search was performed. This review focuses on the role of TRP channels in a few surgically important disease processes, such as pain, inflammation, airway diseases, and malignant melanomas. In addition, we discuss some of the structural properties that are important for the activation of TRP channels. Results:TRPA1 and TRPV1 are expressed on pain fibers and play an important role in the development of chronic pain, such as chemotherapy-related neuropathic pain. Deletion of TRPA1 and TRPV1 suppresses the development of chronic pain, and blockers of TRPA1 and TRPV1 show promise as a new class of painkillers. Furthermore, several TRP channels are expressed on immune cells. Macrophages express at least 3 different TRP channels, and the properly balanced activation of all these channels together allows normal macrophage function. Deletion of any of these channels results in impaired macrophage function and increased susceptibility to infection. Because several of these TRP channels on macrophages are temperature sensitive, they may comprise the link for hypothermia-related infectious complications in trauma, and to a lesser degree, in elective surgical patients. Conclusions:Transient receptor potential ion channels are involved in several surgically important disease processes. Activation or blockade of these channels offers new therapeutic opportunities. Pharmacologic activation or blockade of TRP channels may offer new treatment options in surgical patients for the management of pain and infections.


The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway plays a pivotal role in cell proliferation and survival that underlies the biology of many cancers including CLL. Of the eight distinct mammalian isoforms of PI3K, it is the class IA PI3Ks (p110α, p110β and p110δ) that are responsible for Akt activation and cellular transformation. The p110α and p110β isoforms both have a ubiquitous tissue distribution in adults, whereas p110δ expression is restricted to cells of hematopoietic origin. Recent studies have established a dominant role of p110δ isoform in B-cell responses. Deletion or inactivation of p110δ ablates B-cell antigen receptor (BCR)-induced phosphorylation of Akt and impairs cell cycle progression. Furthermore, CD40-ligand (CD40L) dependent survival is compromised in the absence of p110δ activity. Considering the role of p110δ-mediated BCR and CD40L-CD40 signaling to the enhanced survival in normal B cells, we hypothesized that inhibition of this kinase will induce cytotoxicity in B-CLL cells. We first examined the protein expression of p110δ in primary tumor CD19 + B cells from CLL patients and show that 24/24 CLL consistently overexpressed p110δ. The expression levels of p110α and p110β however, varied more widely, and were often undetectable. Treatment of primary tumor cells with CAL-101, a novel selective p110δ inhibitor, at concentrations of 0.1–10μM resulted in significant cell killing (linear mixed model; p=0.0004). As an example, 5μM CAL-101 resulted in a median of 59.6% viable cells (n=18 CLL patient samples). CAL-101 induced cytotoxicity was accompanied by PARP and caspase 3 cleavage. Previous published studies have demonstrated that CD40L-CD40 signaling promotes activation of CLL cells (as measured by up-regulation of CD40 and CD86) and also protection from spontaneous apoptosis ex vivo. Treatment of CLL cells in the presence of CAL-101 diminished the activation markers CD40 and CD86 induced by CD40L. In addition, an increase in CLL cell viability induced by CD40L was reversed by CAL-101 treatment. Contrasting with this, diminishment of apoptosis with IL-4 was not observed. Given the common finding of innate and cellular immune effects induced by therapies utilized in CLL, we next assessed the effect of CAL-101 on normal NK cells and T cells. Treatment of NK cells and T cells in vitro from healthy volunteers had no effect on cell viability. The lack of cytotoxic effect on normal NK cells and T cells was also assessed in vivo from a completed phase I trial of healthy volunteers that serves as a forerunner to the phase 1 clinical trial in CLL and related lymphoproliferative diseases currently ongoing. Here, treatment of normal human volunteers with CAL-101 for seven days achieved peak plasma concentrations up to 5μM without changes in general hematology or subpopulations of NK cells and T cells. Overall, our results identify the p110δ isoform as a potential therapeutic target in CLL where selective cytotoxicity is observed as compared to normal immune effector cells and the very important CD40-CD40L survival pathway is disrupted. Together, these in vitro and in vivo data provide sound validation for the ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of patients with CLL and related lymphoid malignancies.


Abstract Parastomal hernia is a common clinical problem that is difficult to manage. Although surgical repair is recommended for the majority of other incisional hernias to prevent the complications of incarceration, obstruction, or strangulation, most authors recommend nonoperative management of parastomal hernias. Surgical management is usually reserved for those patients whose parastomal hernia results in intractable difficulty maintaining an effective stoma appliance or who develop a severe complication. This article reviews the nonoperative and operative management of parastomal hernias by fascial repair and stomal relocation. Unfortunately, no randomized trials exist to guide the surgeon in the choice between the accepted nonoperative and surgical management options. Fascial repair without a prosthetic should probably be used only in the rarest of circumstances. If stoma relocation is selected, the stoma should be relocated to the opposite side of the abdominal wall and reconstructed using techniques associated with the lowest risk of stoma-related complications and parastomal hernia. However, the best outcomes may require the use of a prosthetic either to either repair or prevent a parastomal hernia.


. The research was aimed to analyze the possibility of using fruit and berry powders to produce health-improving, therapeutic and prophylactic agents, and their application in practical medicine. The methodology included a comprehensive analysis and generalization of the available practical, scientific, and applied material and making corresponding conclusions and proposals. The following methods of scientific knowledge were used: the dialectical method, the systemic-structural method, the terminological method, the systemic-functional method, the historical method, the legal-dogmatic method, the method of generalization. The health-improving, therapeutic and prophylactic properties of fruit and berry powders (concentrates) produced according to modern, innovative, universal, zero waste technologies developed by the researchers of the King Danylo University in collaboration with the researchers of the Ivano-Frankivsk National Medical University and successfully implemented at the agricultural enterprise of health-improving products "Agrotechnologies" in Olesha territorial community of Ivano-Frankivsk region, Ukraine, were highlighted. Technologies allow for turning all types of fruit, berry and vegetable raw materials and mushrooms into high-quality semi-finished powders (concentrates) and a wide range of dry foods. Infrared drying process, which takes place at low temperatures, is aimed at removing water from the product, while completely preserving the structure of the plant cell, vitamins, and trace minerals. The main technological processes are as follows: inspecting, washing, cutting, if necessary, drying, crushing, sifting, fractionating, packing. Fruit, berry and vegetable raw materials and mushrooms are harvested in forestry enterprises of western Ukraine and cultivated in sufficient quantities on eco clean soils of the Dniester canyon. Powders (concentrates) obtained from eco clean raw materials are the versatile and effective raw material for manufacturing a wide range of health-improving, therapeutic and prophylactic nutritional products, medications, and biologically active additives. They can serve as effective fillers for bakery, pasta and confectionery products, soft drinks, ice-creams, yoghurts, jellies, food concentrates; they can be blended, when producing various beverages and condiments. Conclusions. The authors structured and summarized the therapeutic and prophylactic properties of fruit and berry powders (concentrates), provided examples of their application in practical medicine, as well as when manufacturing certain types of health-improving products. The advantage of fruit and berry and vegetable powders over other semi-finished products (extracts, syrups, purees, concentrated juices) and raw materials is that they are well preserved, easy to transport, contain more nutrients per unit weight. The obtained results can be used by food companies, research and manufacturing research laboratories for developing new formulations for products of higher biological value and organizing their production, as well as creating new highly effective medicines and food additives.


Within the framework of this paper, the author's entropy method of road safety management in large-sized systems is considered. The road safety management system in the Russian Federation, the largest country in the world, was selected for this case study. The purpose of the article is to present the opportunities and methodology of the use of quantitative assessments of the orderliness of the road accident rate formation process in regional transport systems for road safety management. Orderliness, in other words, systemic anti-chaos, can be quantified using the C. Shannon informational entropy H. The article consists of the results of the issue's state analysis; methodology of assessment of the orderliness of the road accident rate formation process based on the using of the cause-and-effect chain; entropic method of the road safety management in large-scale systems, in particular, the algorithm of management of regional road safety in Russia taking into account the level of its entropic orderliness; and examples of the quantitative evaluation of the orderliness of regional road safety provision systems in Russia. The key results of the research are spatio-temporal patterns of the change of the orderliness of the road safety provision systems in the Russian Federation in 2004–2020. Based on the results, conclusions and recommendations about the practical application of the entropic method of road safety management in large federal states with complex administrative structures were formulated. These results give an idea of the possibilities of the usage of entropic approaches in road safety management to assess the orderliness of the regional transport systems and the advantages of the entropic method over other managerial methods.


The human major histocompatibility complex includes the DP, DQ, and DR subregions, each of which contains at least one alpha chain gene and two beta chain genes. The products of the alpha chain gene and a beta chain gene from a given subregion combine to form a heterodimer which is found predominantly on the surface of immunocompetent cells, and is essential for effective cell-cell interactions and the generation of an immune response. The beta chain of the DR molecule is highly polymorphic, and it is this polymorphism which is thought to be ultimately responsible for the specific immune responsiveness and disease predisposition conferred by different DR molecules. While the sequences of DR beta chains of the homozygous DR1 cells, homozygous DR2, homozygous DR4, DR3/w6 cells and DR4/w6 genotypes have been partially or completely characterized, no sequence is yet available for the DR beta chain from a homozygous DR5 cell. A cDNA library was therefore constructed from the Swei cell line homozygous for the DR5 haplotype. A beta chain clone was isolated, characterized, and sequenced. Comparison with previously published DR beta chain restriction endonuclease maps and nucleotide sequences demonstrated that this clone was a DR beta chain clone. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequence with other DR beta chain amino acid sequences shows three regions of variability in the first external domain, corresponding to amino acid residues 9-13, 26-38, and 67-74. The sequence of each of these variable regions in the beta chain from DR5 cells was identical or nearly identical to the sequences of variable regions found in the beta chains of other DR haplotypes, supporting the notion of gene conversion as an evolutionary mechanism generating polymorphism. The second external domain, and transmembrane and intracytoplasmic regions show a high degree of sequence conservation.


This study evaluated the effect of dietary gossypol from whole cottonseed (WCS) and cottonseed cake (CSC) on testicular morphology of Yankasa rams. Fifteen (15) Yankasa rams weighing an average of 20 2 Kg were randomly distributed into three groups (A, B and C) of five rams each and were fed diets containing 48 % WCS, 48 % CSC and control diet (gossypol-free), respectively for 14 weeks. . An ultrasonographic examination of the testes of each ram was done every month for 3 months. At the end of the feeding period, the rams were castrated and histopathogical examination of the testicular tissues (n = 6). Histopathological changes observed in the testes of the rams in the experimental group were depletion of spermatogenic cell layers and arrest of spermatogenesis at the spermatocyte and spermatids levels and an exfoliation of the spermatogonia. There was vacuolation of the germ layers in the seminiferous tubules. These changes were more severe in group B (CSC) than A (WCS) and were indicative of testicular degeneration. Ultrasonograms of the testis of rams from experimental groups showed loss of homogeneity and an increased hyperechoic appearance which were also indicative of testicular degeneration. It was concluded that gossypol from whole cottonseed and cottonseed cake has detrimental effects on testicular histology and the effect on testicular histology was more severe in rams that were fed cottonseed cake.


A national random sample of industrial salespeople was surveyed to examine the effects of salespeople's perceptions of top management long-term orientation, top management emphasis, and top management risk aversion on customer-oriented selling behaviors. The results indicated that perceived top management long-term orientation had a significantly positive effect on perceived top management emphasis and a significantly negative effect on perceived top management risk aversion. In turn, perceived top management emphasis positively affected customer-oriented selling, whereas perceived top management risk aversion did not affect customer-oriented selling. The study underscores the importance of salespeople's perceptions of top management factors for implementing the marketing concept. The managerial implications of these findings are discussed and several directions for future research are proposed.


Boarding schools are the common 'out-of-home' placements for adolescents, due to various historical, religiously orthodox, and traditional reasons and due to dysfunction within families. The purpose of the current study is to examine the relationship between a free versus an enforced decision to enroll in a boarding school in terms of personal well-being among emancipated graduates. Ninety alumni graduates (aged range 20-41) of out-ofhome boarding schools in Israel were recruited during 2019. Participants were administered a self-report anonymous questionnaire consisting of the following measures: Free versus enforced decision to enroll in a boarding school, retrospective satisfaction with the boarding school, personal well-being and traumatic events. Results indicated that a free decision to enroll in an out-of-home boarding school was associated with current satisfaction with social relationships but not with quality of life. Additionally, the longer the period spent in a boarding school, the higher was the satisfaction from the period at school. Older graduates reported less satisfaction from school retrospectively. It was concluded that involving the adolescent in life changing decisions such as leaving home to a boarding school is likely to influence the person's well-being during and after emancipation.


Glycerol pretreatment is a promising method for the environmentally-friendly transformation of lignocellulosic materials into sustainable cellulose-rich raw materials (i.e., biopolymer) to fabricate biocomposites. Here, a comparison of aqueous acidified glycerol (AAG) pretreatment of wheat straw (WS) with alkaline, hot water, and dilute acid pretreatments on the thermal and mechanical characteristics of their fabricated composite board is presented. A comparison of total energy expenditure during WS pretreatment with AAG and other solutions was estimated and a comparative influence of AAG processing on lignocellulosic constituents and thermal stability of WS fiber was studied. Results imply that AAG pretreatment was superior in generating cellulose-rich fiber (CRF) as compared to other pretreatments and enhanced the cellulose contents by 90% compared to raw WS fiber. Flexural strength of acidic (40.50 MPa) and hot water treated WS composite (38.71 MPa) was higher compared to the value of 33.57 MPa for untreated composite, but AAG-treated composites exhibited lower values of flexural strength (22.22 MPa) compared to untreated composite samples. Conversely, AAG pretreatment consumed about 56% lesser energy for each kg of WS processed as compared to other pretreatments. These findings recognize that glycerol pretreatment could be a clean and new pretreatment strategy to convert agricultural waste into high-quality CRF as a sustainable raw material source for engineered biocomposite panels.


Apoptosis is essential for normal growth and development of multicellular organisms, including metazoans and higher plants. Although cell death processes have been reported in unicellular organisms, key elements of apoptotic pathways have not been identified. Here, we show that when placed in darkness, the unicellular chlorophyte alga Dunaliella tertiolecta undergoes a form of cell death reminiscent of apoptosis in metazoans. Many morphological criteria of apoptotic cell death were met, including an increase in chromatin margination, degradation of the nucleus, and DNA fragmentation. Biochemical assays of the activities of cell death-associated proteases, caspases, measured using highly specific fluorogenic substrates, increased with time in darkness and paralleled the morphological changes. The caspase-like activities were inhibited by caspase-specific inhibitors. Antibodies raised against mammalian caspases cross-reacted with specific proteins in the alga. The pattern of expression of these immunologically reactive proteins was correlated with the onset of cell death. The occurrence of key components of apoptosis, and particularly a caspase-mediated cell death cascade in a relatively ancient linage of eukaryotic photoautotrophs, argues against current theories that cell death evolved in multicellular organisms. We hypothesize that key elements of cell death pathways were transferred to the nuclear genome of early eukaryotes through ancient viral infections in the Precambrian Ocean before the evolution of multicellular organisms and were subsequently appropriated in both metazoan and higher plant lineages.


Numerous skill deficits interfere with the social functioning of children with intellectual (ID) and learning disabilities (LD). Due to the limited effectiveness of social skill interventions for this population, it is necessary to explore additional opportunities for social skill acquisition. Research suggests that extracurricular activity participation positively influences adolescent development; however, little is known about the benefits of activity participation for children with ID and LD. This study investigated the impact of frequency and type of extracurricular activity on the social competence of 7-12 year old children with ID (n=42) and LD (n=53), in comparison to their typically developing peers (TD; n=24). More time involved in unstructured activities was related to higher ratings of social competence. Greater participation in unstructured extracurricular activities was particularly beneficial for children with ID. Future research on the quality of involvement is necessary to further understand what specific aspects of activities facilitate social development.


In order to establish a new pulping process of hardwood and annual plants, a HBS pulping process with aqueous solvent of high boiling point was investigated using birch, beech and eucalyptus wood chips for hardwood and oil-palm wastes (empty fruit bunch and frond), agricultural wastes (baggase, rice straw and wheat straw) and kenaf stalk as annual plants. All of the materials were pulped with 80% aqueous HBS containing 0-10% AcOH at 190-200°C for 2-3h. The strength properties of HBS pulp were inferior to those of corresponding kraft pulp, but comparable to those of organosolv pulps. Waste liquor and washings were divided into water insoluble HBS lignin and water solubles. RHBS, which was obtained by evaporating of the water fraction from the latter, consisted of HBS, sugars, and low-molecular lignin and sugar-modified products. A 80% Aqueous RHBS was able to use at least 5 times as a pulping solvent indicating that the HBS method is the pulping process of wood and annual plants with saving-energy, saving-resources and non-polution.


Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs) were developed as a tool for capturing and modelling the behaviour of qualitative system dynamics. However, several drawbacks have been identified that limit FCMs ability in simulating the behaviour of qualitative system. This paper addresses the limitations of FCMs in modelling complex qualitative system dynamics and proposes a generalised Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping (FCM) approach that is able to overcome those limitations. This approach uses fuzzy rules to represent the dynamics of concepts and relations, including time dynamics of relations and introduces a multistep simulation approach that can use several single layer perceptrons to simulate the dynamics of concepts and relations overtime. This approach also incorporates the fuzziness and ambiguity widely associated with expert knowledge when representing and simulating the dynamics of concepts and relations. In this paper, the design of the proposed generalised FCM approach is explained and demonstrated for a real-world case of the consequences of high intensity rainfall in Kampala City, Uganda. This generalised FCM approach creates a new perspective and an alternative approach to model the behaviour of complex qualitative system dynamics using FCMs. © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).


Summary Bayes classifiers for functional data pose a challenge. One difficulty is that probability density functions do not exist for functional data, so the classical Bayes classifier using density quotients needs to be modified. We propose to use density ratios of projections onto a sequence of eigenfunctions that are common to the groups to be classified. The density ratios are then factorized into density ratios of individual projection scores, reducing the classification problem to obtaining a series of one‐dimensional nonparametric density estimates. The proposed classifiers can be viewed as an extension to functional data of some of the earliest nonparametric Bayes classifiers that were based on simple density ratios in the one‐dimensional case. By means of the factorization of the density quotients, the curse of dimensionality that would otherwise severely affect Bayes classifiers for functional data can be avoided. We demonstrate that in the case of Gaussian functional data, the proposed functional Bayes classifier reduces to a functional version of the classical quadratic discriminant. A study of the asymptotic behaviour of the proposed classifiers in the large‐sample limit shows that under certain conditions the misclassification rate converges to zero, a phenomenon that has been referred to as perfect classification. The proposed classifiers also perform favourably in finite‐sample settings, as we demonstrate through comparisons with other functional classifiers in simulations and various data applications, including spectral data, functional magnetic resonance imaging data from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder patients, and yeast gene expression data.


Pyrazoline is dihydropyrazole, a five member heterocyclic compound containing two nitrogen atoms in adjacent positions and possessing only one endocyclic double bond. The compound of different Pyrazoline derivatives were synthesized by cyclisation of substituted chalcone derivatives in the presence of 2, 4 dintro phenyl hydrazine hydrate. All synthesized compounds were characterized by spectral analysis. All synthesized compounds screened for their anticancer activities by MTT assay.


Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) diffraction gratings on glass substrates were fabricated by duplication of photoinduced surface-relief-gratings (SRGs) on azo polymer films through soft-lithographic methods. In the process, SRGs were inscribed on solid films of an epoxy-based azo polymer (BP-AZ-CA) by irradiation with interfering Ar+ laser beams, which were used as grating masters. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) stamps with duplicated surface gratings were obtained by replica molding against the masters. Finally, by using the PDMS stamps and RGO dispersions as "inks", the RGO diffraction gratings were fabricated through microcontact printing. The surface profiles and morphology of the as-prepared RGO gratings were characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The periods of replicated RGO gratings were the same as those of the masters. Meanwhile, the amplitudes of the printed RGO gratings were determined by the "ink" concentration and the grating parameters of the PDMS stamps. By adjusting the preparation conditions, a series of RGO gratings with different periods and amplitudes were successfully fabricated. The optical properties of RGO gratings were characterized by diffraction efficiency measurements. The gratings showed typical thin grating characteristics with the diffraction efficiency (DE) of 7% for the green light. This new approach for preparing graphene gratings can provide a feasible way to explore the unique optical characteristics of RGO for developing graphene-based optical devices.


In the last decade, novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs) have emerged as prominent therapeutic options in non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). We analysed the clinical burden and the switching rate between all available NOACs, and their dosage change over a period of 5 years in a representative population of patients with NVAF aged between 70 and 75 years. Methods and Results: This is a retrospective observational study on administrative databases, covering approximately 6.2 million health-assisted individuals by the Italian National Health System (around 11% of the entire Italian residents). Out of 4640 NVAF patients treated with NOACs and aged 70–75 years in 2017, 3772 (81.3%) patients were still in treatment with NOAC up to 2021 and among them, 3389 (73.0%) patients remained in treatment with the same NOAC during 2017–2021. In fact, 10.2% of patients switched NOAC type and 10.3% changed the dose of the same NOAC. Overall, after switching, the dabigatran and rivaroxaban groups lost, respectively, 13.5% and 2.8% of patients, while apixaban and edoxaban resulted in a relative percentage increase of 6.8% and 44.6% of patients, respectively. By a logistic regression analysis, the treatment with rivaroxaban, apixaban, and edoxaban (respect to dabigatran) was associated with a significant risk reduction of switch of 57%, 68%, and 44%, respectively. On the other hand, several features of high risk were associated with dose reduction. Conclusions. In our 5-year analysis of a large administrative database, a switching among NOACs or a change in NOAC dosages occurred in around 20% of elderly patients with NVAF. The type of NOAC was associated with a high switching rate, while several characteristics of high risk resulted as predictors of dose reduction of NOACs. Moreover, a worsening trend of clinical conditions occurred in patients maintaining the same NOAC treatment across 2017–2021.


The influence of morphology of the epoxy/poly(ɛ-caprolactone) (PCL) system and corresponding nanocomposites with organophilized layered silicate on PCL crystallization was studied by differential scanning calorimetry, scanning, and transmission electron microscopy. The results obtained indicate a significant affecting of nonisothermal PCL crystallization by phase morphology brought about by the reaction-induced phase separation (RIPS) influenced either by various nanoclay contents or the epoxy/PCL ratio. Dispersed morphology of PCL matrix with epoxy globules induces crystallization at higher temperatures. The inverse dispersed morphology of epoxy matrix with PCL inclusions causes crystallization at lower temperature. The co-continuous morphology induces crystallization in both steps. Rate of the second crystallization step is substantially higher than that in the first step. No nucleation effect has been found in the nanocomposites with the added nanofiller. Multicomponent samples show retarded crystallization, i.e., lower crystallinities and lower overall crystallization rate compared with neat PCL. The results obtained suggest that it is primarily morphological/interfacial effects that play a decisive role in the crystallization behavior of PCL in the epoxy/PCL/clay system. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 130: 3197–3204, 2013


Contamination of heavy metals (As, Cd, Hg, Pb and Sn) in honeybee products (Apis cerana) from Northern Vietnam is determined. The study was carried out in two main harvesting seasons of beekeeper farms (April and October), over two years (2018-2019). A total of 72 samples from 24 honeybee hives from 8 provinces and one city were collected. The results showed that the quality of three products in nearly all research sites were met the standards in accordance with the national technical regulation on the limits of heavy metal contamination in food of the Vietnamese Health Ministry, except for the pollen and beeswax from HY2 site. The concentration of Pb was most notably value in this study, which was determined at fairly high levels in pollen (3,767 mg/kg) and beeswax (5,840 mg/kg) from HY2 site. This can be a warning for this metal significant contamination in the habitat. Specially, Hg was not detected in most samples or only recorded without significant. For the environmental types, the mean value of As and Sn in all honeybee's product types in semi-rural area were higher than that in rural area. Thus, the detection of the heavy metals proves that honeybee's products could be good indicators to detect the environmental contaminants and monitor the habitat quality of a particular area.


Flash floods frequently hit Southern France and cause heavy damages and fatalities. To better protect persons and goods, official flood forecasting services in France need accurate information and efficient models to optimize their decision and policy. Since heavy rainfalls that cause such floods are very heterogeneous , it becomes a serious challenge for forecasters. Such phenomena are typically nonlinear and more complex than classical floods events. That problem leads to consider complementary alternatives to enhance the management of such situations. For decades, artificial neural networks have been very efficient to model nonlinear phenomena, particularly rainfall-discharge relations in various types of basins. They are applied in this study with two main goals: first modelling flash floods on the Gardon de Mialet basin; second, extract internal information from the model by using the Knowledge eXtraction method to provide new ways to improve models. The first analysis shows that the kind of nonlinear predictor influences strongly the representation of information: e.g. the main in-fluent variable (rainfall) is more important in the recurrent and static models than in the feed-forward one. For understanding flash floods genesis, recurrent and static models appear thus as better candidates, even if their results are better.


BACKGROUND: Postoperative rectourethral fistula after radical prostatectomy is an infrequent but very serious problem. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to describe our experience with transperineal repair and unilateral gracilis muscle interposition in patients with rectourethral fistula after radical prostatectomy in nonradiated prostate cancer. DESIGN: This was a cohort study. SETTINGS: All of the procedures were performed at the same hospital by the same multidisciplinary team made up of a senior colorectal surgeon and a senior urologist. PATIENTS: Patients with postoperative rectourethral fistula after laparoscopic prostatectomy were included. INTERVENTION: Transperineal fistula repair and gracilis muscle interposition were included. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Fistula healing rate was measured. RESULTS: Nine patients with postoperative rectourethral fistula were treated between November 2009 and February 2016. Four of them had received other previous treatments without success, and 5 had previously been treated with this technique. Seven patients had a fecal diverting stoma. After a median follow-up of 54 months (range, 2–72), all of the fistulas had successfully healed, and, to date, the patients remain asymptomatic without urinary diversion. Fecal diversion was closed in all but 1 patient. No intraoperative or infectious complications were detected. With the results of our series, we present specific technical details of our technique and hope to provide additional evidence of the low morbidity profile and excellent healing rate of this treatment. Moreover, we note that, although small, this series corresponds with a homogeneous group of patients with rectourethral fistula after radical prostatectomy in nonradiated prostate cancer. LIMITATIONS: This is a small but very homogeneous group of patients. CONCLUSIONS: Simple repair with perineal gracilis muscle interposition is a safe and effective technique for the treatment of postoperative rectourethral fistulas after nonradiated prostate cancer surgery.


Enset is a traditional staple food crop in many parts of the densely populated south and south-western highlands of Ethiopia. Doyogena district is one of the major producers of enset in southern Ethiopia. Enset (Ensete Ventricosum) cultivation provides supplementary income for growers in the study area. The purpose of this paper was to study cost and return associated with enset cultivation and identify major constraints faced by enset growers. A total of 154 farm households were selected randomly for the survey. Data were obtained through face to face interview and focus group discussion by using pre-tested questionnaire and checklist respectively. The cost of human labor was the most important cost item within the total cost of enset cultivation (33.64%) followed by cost of planting material which accounted 14.41% in the total cost of enset cultivation. The cost and return analysis shows that enset cultivation is profitable . Land shortage, lack of processing technology, absence of cooperatives, disease and limited government attention are the major constraint faced by farmers in enset production and its products marketing in the study area. Therefore, the government should take  initiation for improving the infrastructural facilities, which is a must for improving the production and marketing of  enset products. Keywords: Constraints, Doyogena, Economics, enset , Southern Ethiopia


The topic of this thesis is the unbalance of the electron spin in currents, a parameter known as spin polarization. Spin polarization is the most important parameter within the field currently known as spintronics, and is responsible for the high magnetic field-sensitivity of modern magnetoresistive devices. In this thesis two different methods are used to measure and study spin polarization. These two methods are point contact Andreev reflection spectroscopy and spin-polarized tunneling. In both methods a superconductor serves as a detector for the spin polarization. When a bias voltage forces electrons to flow from a normal metal (N) into a superconductor (S), the magnitude of the current is dependent on the spin polarization. This offers the opportunity to deduce the degree of spin polarization directly from the measurement of the current, or, more precisely, from the measurement of the conductance. N and S can be in metallic contact, as is the case in point contact Andreev reflection spectroscopy, or they can be separated by an ultra-thin insulator that serves as a tunnel barrier, as is the case in spin-polarized tunneling. Since the electron transport in N/S point contacts and N/barrier/S tunnel junctions have a different nature, different physical mechanisms are responsible for the spin-dependence of the conductance. In point contacts, the spin-dependence originates from the Andreev reflection process. This is a conduction process in which two electrons with opposite spin are paired into a Cooper pair. In tunnel junctions, the spin-dependence is due to the Zeeman splitting of the spin-up and spin-down state energy in the superconductor induced by an externally applied magnetic field. Point contacts Point contact Andreev reflection spectroscopy is the topic of part I of this thesis. The point contacts are obtained at low temperature by pressing a superconducting tip onto a sample of the normal metal. The conductance-voltage relation measured in case of a highly transparent N/S interface and a high polarization of the current, looks very similar to the one measured when the interface has a relatively low transparency. In chapter 3 it is pointed out that this similarity can potentially lead to a misinterpretation of the experimental data. Specifically, the suppression of the zero-bias conductance due to a low interface transparency may be incorrectly interpreted as proof for a highly spin-polarized current. Anomalous conductance minima at finite bias voltage observed for some contacts can be explained by a phase transition of the contact from the N/S state to the N/N state induced by the current-generated field and heating. For a series of contacts it is observed that the bias voltage at which the phase transition occurs, is systematically dependent on the contact resistance. In chapter 5 it is shown that a simple analysis of such a series can give insight in the microscopic contact geometry. It is shown in chapter 6 that the spin polarization measured with point contact Andreev reflection spectroscopy, decays exponentially with the amount of scattering at the N/S interface. This decay is fully explained by a simple model involving spin-flip scattering in an extended interface region. Tunnel junctions The topic of part II of this thesis is the spin polarization of the tunnel current in S/barrier/N tunnel junctions. The polarization is measured by the well-established spinpolarized tunneling technique, also known as superconducting tunneling spectroscopy. The junctions are prepared by a combination of room-temperature sputter-deposition and plasma oxidation. From the results presented in chapter 10, it is apparent that it is relatively difficult to prepare high-quality junctions with aluminum or vanadium superconducting electrodes deposited on top of the barrier. On the other hand, by depositing a magnesium seed prior to the deposition of aluminium, high-quality junctions with a superconducting aluminum bottom electrode are prepared reproducibly with satisfactory large transition temperature and critical field. The topic of chapter 11 is a recently recognized aspect of spin-polarized tunneling transport, namely the dependence of the spin polarization on the insulator used for the tunnel barrier. To study this dependence, Al/barrier/Co(Fe) junctions are prepared with various barrier materials. A significant difference between the tunneling spin polarization in junctions with AlOx and MgO barriers is observed. With cobalt and iron electrodes, a tunneling spin polarization of roughly +40 % is found with an AlOx barrier and one of roughly +30 % with a MgO barrier. Observations support that this difference is intrinsically determined by the barrier material. With HfOx and TaOx barriers, the Zeeman splitting in the conductance-voltage characteristic is quenched. This is caused by the large spin-orbit scattering rate induced by the heavy hafnium and tantalum atoms that are probably located at the Al/barrier interface. Chapter 12 describes a unique investigation of the role of manganese diffusion in the thermal stability of the tunneling spin polarization. Thermal stability is crucial for successful incorporation of tunnel junction devices into existing semiconductor technology. The diffusion of manganese is widely believed to be responsible for the collapse of the magnetoresistance effect of magnetic tunnel junctions observed above 250 ±C. Tunneling spin polarization is the parameter responsible for the magnetoresistance effect. The thermal stability of this parameter is directly investigated using the spin-polarized tunneling technique. To this end Al/AlOx/Co and Al/AlOx/Co90Fe10 junctions are used both with and without an additional FeMn layer deposited on top of the ferromagnetic electrode. The diffusion of Mn atoms from the FeMn layer to the AlOx barrier interface is confirmed independently with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. All the junctions, including their tunneling spin polarization, are found to be intrinsically stable up to 500 ±C, showing that the diffusion of manganese has no observable influence. The tunneling spin polarization, however, is preserved only when annealing is performed under sufficiently clean conditions. Under less clean conditions, it degrades severely above 250 ±C, similar as observed for the tunnel magnetoresistance effect. The degradation of the polarization is attributable to the diffusion of impurities from the environment into the junctions.


Archipelagoes serve as important 'natural laboratories' which facilitate the study of island radiations and contribute to the understanding of evolutionary processes. The white-eye genus Zosterops is a classical example of a 'great speciator', comprising c. 100 species from across the Old World, most of them insular. We achieved an extensive geographic DNA sampling of Zosterops by using historical specimens and recently collected samples. Using over 700 genome-wide loci in conjunction with coalescent species tree methods and gene flow detection approaches, we untangled the reticulated evolutionary history of Zosterops, which comprises three main clades centered in Indo-Africa, Asia, and Australasia, respectively. Genetic introgression between species permeates the Zosterops phylogeny, regardless of how distantly related species are. Crucially, we identified the Indonesian archipelago, and specifically Borneo, as the major center of diversity and the only area where all three main clades overlap, attesting to the evolutionary importance of this region.


The long conflict on the regional border causes loss to a country, especially in terms of economic, and threatens the defense and security of the country. The purpose of this study is to analyze and formulate the legal step that can be taken to resolve the regional border conflict resulting from the regional expansion and to formulate a model for the community participation in resolving the border conflict in their region. The method used in this research is legal normative by analyzing and studying the regulations of law related to the regional expansion and by studying and analyzing the legal materials used by each party conflicting to claim the border in dispute. The result of the research concludes that: First, the legal strategies that can be taken to resolve the border conflict can refer to the Law No. 12 of 2008 on Regional Government and the Regulation of the Minister of Home Affairs No. 76 of 2012 on the Guidelines on the Regional Border Confirmation and the last measure that can be taken is the settlement through the Constitutional Court. Second, the active involvement of the community in the region in dispute must be encouraged in each process of the regional expansion proposition.


Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs) are associated with preferable risk–return characteristics, especially during market dislocations. However, it is still difficult to identify the underlying return sources of the strategy due both to lack of data and to potentially biased available data. After setting up a cleaned universe of CTAs building on data from 1971 to 2016 and accounting for specific biases, the authors empirically analyze their return distributions. In line with existing research, their results show the non-normal distribution of CTA return profiles, in particular statistically significant leptokurtic distributions. The common claim that CTAs exhibit positive skewness, however, cannot be confirmed. Further, they empirically study the two most commonly claimed risk–return properties typically associated with CTAs: improved risk-adjusted returns of traditional portfolios through allocation to CTAs and above-average risk-adjusted returns of CTAs on a stand-alone basis. They confirm the first claim but do not find sufficient evidence supporting the second claim.


This reaction begins with three positive aspects of the article: (a) effects of cultural differences on HRD interventions; (b) shaping and skilling as separate HRD outcomes, and (c) unlearning or deskilling as HRD outcomes. In terms of critique, Wang and Doty emphasize open and closed systems but fail to provide clear definitions. Indeed, some aspects of closed systems appear in Western or more "open" societies. Another issue, reducing usability of this work, involves the mathematical formulations. An HRD practitioner and emerging scholar living in China adds some critique, suggesting that China may be better characterized as a semi-closed system. Further, based on experience, positive outcomes can result from closed shaping and negative skilling-in a closed host institution system (HIS). Nevertheless, the manuscript can hopefully lead to some new explorations in HRD research and theory and potentially practitioner use.


Test errors are much greater than usually thought and their investigation requires good statistical design. Analysis of variance of blind randomized trials is especially valuable. For representative selections of tests currently used in bacterial taxonomy and identification, the discrepancies within one laboratory are usually less than 4%; with care they can be reduced to 2% or less. Between-laboratory variation is much greater; discrepancies of about 8% are usual under routine conditions, and even 15% is common. The effect of errors on identification is due to (a) error in the reference descriptions of taxa, (b) error in the description of the unknown strain to be identified. Simultaneous polythetic methods (e.g., using matching coefficients or analogues of these) are robust to both types of error, and misidentifications are usually minor in degree, i.e., the unknown is allocated to a taxon close to the correct one. The rate of failure is expected to be greatest when the reference descriptions are based on the tightest clusters. Sequential identification methods are especially sensitive to errors because the unknown may then be allocated to a taxon far from the correct one. Monothetic sequential keys are sensitive to errors of type (b), whereas type (a) error is usually screened out during construction of the key.


A hierarchical classifier using a new SVRDM (support vector representation and discrimination machine) is proposed for automatic target recognition. An accuracy and distance-based method is used to design a hierarchical classifier. Our SVRDM hierarchical classifier has the ability to reject unseen non-object classes and clutter inputs. Uses of both iconic and spatial frequency domain features are considered. Initial recognition and rejection test results on infrared (IR) data are excellent.


Starting from the belief that software development is a human activity, this paper tries to conceptualize software development as a knowledge-intensive design and distributed cognitive activity. This conceptualization leads to the argument that providing support for software developers to engage in knowledge collaboration with external knowledge repositories and peers is essential for software development environments. Technical and social challenges in providing such support are identified, and an illustrative system support that we have been developing is briefly described.


McGinness H, Dutt S, Caldwell PHY,, Scott KM The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW Australia Background: Feedback is a cornerstone of learning, with significant effects on subsequent task performance. (1) Student dissatisfaction with feedback is a common problem in medicine and tertiary education more broadly. (2) Feedback was previously conceptualised as a unidirectional transfer of information from teacher to student, (3) however, recent literature has recognised the role of both students and teachers. (4) Teacherfocused interventions to improve feedback have been minimally effective. (5) Student-focused interventions may be an alternative strategy. Aims: To explore student feedback behaviours and beliefs, and to determine whether feedback education for student improves student feedback behaviour and satisfaction. Methods: Focus groups were conducted with three student cohorts undertaking Sydney Medical Program's paediatric term (May-November 2017). Data from the first cohort informed development of a feedback education package, which was piloted with the second cohort (10 students) and fully implemented with the third cohort (all students). The package was evaluated through focus groups and pre/post surveys consisting of Likertscale (rated 1-5: 5=most;1=least) and open-ended questions. Qualitative data was analysed using thematic analysis; quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics. Results: At baseline, the majority of students rarely sought feedback, often believing it should be teacher initiated. The minority who actively sought feedback used strategies such as actively involving themselves in team activities to improve relationships, and creating opportunities for teachers to observe their skills. Analysis of preand post-survey data showed satisfaction with feedback quantity increased during the term, with pre-post means of 2.6-2.9 (no intervention), 2.6-3.3 (pilot cohort intervention) and 2.7-3.2 (full cohort intervention). Satisfaction with feedback quality increased during the term, with pre-post means of 3.1-3.3 (no intervention), 3.1-4.0 (pilot intervention) and 2.9-3.6 (full intervention). The percentage of students seeking feedback weekly or more increased during the term, with pre-post percentages of 64%-70% (no intervention), 64%-100% (pilot intervention) and 50%-82% (full intervention). Discussion: At baseline, most students did not believe they have a significant role to play in obtaining feedback. Feedback seeking and satisfaction increased during the term across all cohorts, and this improvement was more pronounced in the cohorts receiving feedback education. Conclusions: There is a need to improve students' understanding of their potential for self-advocacy in obtaining feedback. The low levels of feedback satisfaction and feedback-seeking by students may be improved by student-targeted feedback education.


Background: To determine the associations of different prenatal factors with the development of non-syndromic cleft lip or/and palate (NSCL/P), as there are still no consensus to the risk factors of NSCL/P.Methods: Nested case-control study based on the gestational period health care record data of all singleton NSCL/P (n=197) and fetuses without birth defects (n=192706) born in-hospital of Zhongshan between 2016 and 2019. Results: Vagina infected (OR 3.43, 95%CI 1.34-7.19), assisted conception (OR 11.57, 95% CI 0.65-54.29), folic acid intake <3 moths during pre- and early pregnancy (OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.10-2.30), incomplete placenta or rough surface placenta (OR 4.65, 95% CI 3.23-6.57), abnormal amniotic fluid (OR 2.74, 95% CI 2.04, 3.67), low birth weight of newborns (OR 5.44, 95% CI 3.41-8.54), preterm delivery (OR 3.29, 95% CI 2.07-5.24), and post-term delivery (OR 5.94, 95% CI 0.97-18.93) were associated with a higher risk of NSCL/P. Conclusions: The status of placenta and fluid were discovered as risk factors with NSCL/P, which strengthens the importance role of interaction between the placental barrier and various environmental factors on the development of NSCL/P.


Cancer cells and immune cells all undergo remarkably metabolic reprogramming during the oncogenesis and tumor immunogenic killing processes. The increased dependency on glycolysis is the most typical trait, profoundly involved in the tumor immune microenvironment and cancer immunity regulation. However, how to best utilize glycolytic targets to boost anti-tumor immunity and improve immunotherapies are not fully illustrated. In this review, we describe the glycolytic remodeling of various immune cells within the tumor microenvironment (TME) and the deleterious effects of limited nutrients and acidification derived from enhanced tumor glycolysis on immunological anti-tumor capacity. Moreover, we elucidate the underlying regulatory mechanisms of glycolytic reprogramming, including the crosstalk between metabolic pathways and immune checkpoint signaling. Importantly, we summarize the potential glycolysis-related targets that are expected to improve immunotherapy benefits. Our understanding of metabolic effects on anti-tumor immunity will be instrumental for future therapeutic regimen development.


Modern control and estimation theory is used to establish a framework for the analysis of manned-vehicle systems. By assuming that the human behaves "optimally" in some sense, subject to his inherent psychophysical limitations, a quantitative model is developed for the response characteristics of the human operator. The resultant model can be used to predict task performance and human control characteristics. The model is described in detail and is used to predict quantities measured experimentally in both simple and reasonably complex manual control tasks. Remarkable agreement between measured and predicted quantities is obtained, demonstrating the value and potential of the optimization approach to manned-vehicle systems analysis.


Activity-based cost management involves lots of data processing and calculation, the management of computerized process is necessary. The coal enterprise Activity-Based cost management information system (C-ABCMIS) and ERP integration programmes are introduced in the paper, which use related methods and theory of documentary research, system analysis and information system integration, and face coal enterprise, combine the features of the coal enterprise and the development of ERP, give the integrated frame model from two angles of the new and existing ERP, and analysis the similarities and differences between the integrated programmes. Finally, a conclusion is drawed that the integration of C - ABCMIS and ERP is necessary and feasible.


This paper discusses the theoretical limits for resolution (number of pixels) and maximum contrast for clipped Gaussian and Uniform profile beams in scanning display systems. The results are applicable to scanning microdisplays (e.g. Virtual Retinal Display™) and scanning projection displays.


A framework called task based design (TBD) to design an optimal robot manipulator for a given task is proposed. Only kinematic parameters are considered. An optimal manipulator is designed. It performs a given task best by using a framework called progressive design that decomposes the complexity of the task into three steps: kinematic design, planning, and kinematic control. As an example problem of TBD, a manipulator for a space shuttle tile servicing task is designed.<<ETX>>


Background: Recent genome wide association studies discovered seven novel loci that influence plasma concentrations of triglycerides, high density lipoprotein (HDL) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in Europeans. To date, large scale replication studies using populations with known differences in genome-wide linkage disequilibrium (LD) pattern have not been undertaken. Methods: To address this issue, we tested associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the seven novel loci and plasma lipid profiles in 21 010 Japanese individuals. Results: Multiple linear regression analyses showed that the rs3812316 in MLXIPL was strongly associated with triglyceride concentrations (p∼3.0×10−11, 7.1 mg/dl decrease per minor C allele) and that rs599839 in CELSR2/PSRC1/SORT1 was strongly associated with LDL cholesterol concentrations (p∼3.1×10−11, 4.7 mg/dl decrease per minor G allele) in the Japanese population. SNPs near ANGPTL3, TRIB1 and GALNT2 showed evidence for associations with triglyceride concentrations (3.6×10−6<p<5.1×10−5). SNP near TRIB1 showed association with LDL cholesterol concentrations (p∼1.2×10−5). On the other hand, SNPs in NCAN/CILP2/PBX4 and MVK/MMAB were not associated with any plasma lipid profiles in the Japanese population. Ethnic differences in LD pattern would explain the lack of association between these two loci and plasma lipid concentrations in the Japanese population. Conclusion: Associations between the novel loci and plasma lipid concentrations were generally conserved in the Japanese population, with the exception of NCAN/CILP2/PBX4 and MVK/MMAB.


Background: This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of using the HIV Self-Test in high-risk Iranian groups (MSM, FSWs, and TG people).Methods: This study was conducted in 2 main steps (the pre and post HIVST intervention and the qualitative method) between 1 October 2020 and 22 June 2021 in Tehran, Iran. The sample size needed for this study generally was 1000 people, including FSWs, MSM, and transgender individuals. The sampling method in this study was convenience sampling, while snowball sampling was used to complete the number of samples.Results: A total of 930 eligible respondents were enrolled in the study, of whom 456 (49%) were female, 49 (5.3%) were transgender (98% of TGs were male to female). The median age was 33.63 ±10.54 SD. The feasibility of the use of HIV self-tests in Iranian high-risk groups was significantly high. The majority of participants (97%) did not have any confidentiality problems while preparing or performing the test. In general, feasibility was assessed based on five questions. The overall feasibility score was 6.33 (0.824 SD). Taking tests, reading HIV test results, finding a safe place to do the test, and accessing HIV self-testing showed a high average. Conclusion: HIV self-testing was highly acceptable and feasible to permit routine HIV testing between high-risk populations efficiently.