We present structural parameters and morphological properties of faint 450 μm selected submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) from the JCMT Large Program, STUDIES, in the COSMOS-CANDELS region. Their properties are compared to an 850 μm selected and a matched star-forming samples. We investigate stellar structures of 169 faint 450 μm sources (S450 = 2.8–29.6 mJy; S/N > 4) at z < 3 using HST near-infrared observations. Based on our spectral energy distribution fitting, half of such faint SMGs (LIR = 1011.65±0.98 L⊙) lie above the star formation rate (SFR)/stellar mass plane. The size–mass relation shows that these SMGs are generally similar to less-luminous star-forming galaxies selected by NUV − r versus r − J colors. Because of the intrinsic luminosity of the sample, their rest-frame optical emission is less extended than the 850 μm sources (S850 > 2 mJy) and more extended than the star-forming galaxies in the same redshift range. For the stellar mass and SFR-matched sample at z ≃ 1 and z ≃ 2, the size differences are marginal between faint SMGs and the matched galaxies. Moreover, faint SMGs have similar Sérsic indices and projected axis ratios as star-forming galaxies with the same stellar mass and SFR. Both SMGs and the matched galaxies show high fractions (∼70%) of disturbed features at z ≃ 2, and the fractions depend on the SFRs. These suggest that their star formation activity is related to galaxy merging and the stellar structures of SMGs are similar to those of star-forming galaxies. We show that the depths of submillimeter surveys are approaching the lower luminosity end of star-forming galaxies, allowing us to detect galaxies on the main sequence.


Prognosis and management of COVID-19 severity is a challenge even after months of the pandemic. We employed high resolution mass spectrometry-based deep proteomics and metabolomics based investigation to study a cohort of 186 patients plasma samples to understand the COVID-19 disease severity mechanism. A cohort of patients displayed COVID-19 like symptoms but were negative for the virus while the COVID-19 positive patients were classified as non-severe or severe groups based on the clinical manifestation of the disease. Of the 1200 proteins detected, 27 were differentially regulated in COVID positive group while 38 were found to be differentially expressed between non-severe and severe groups. GO enrichment analysis highlighted the involvement of regulation of peptidase activity, regulated exocytosis, extracellular structure organization, blood coagulation, fibrin clot formation, complement activation, leukocyte activation involved in immune response, and response to glucocorticoid biological processes to be dysregulated in severe SARS-CoV-2 infection. Further, metabolomics identified 15 significant metabolites indicating dysregulation in tryptophan, glycine, serine, threonine, arginine, proline, and porphyrin metabolism pathways. We validated the potential severity biomarkers such as angiotensinogen, apolipoprotein B, SERPINA3, SERPING1, and Fibrinogen gamma chain using targeted proteomics. Moreover, using our proteomics dataset and docking studies we found FDA-approved drugs Selinexor and Ponatinib having potential to be repurposed for the therapeutics intervention of COVID-19.


Catheter associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) is one of the most common hospital acquired infection. Several antiseptic agents as (chlorhexidine, water, and povidone iodine) are available prior the insertion of urinary catheters to reduce infection among critical patients. Aim: compare the effect of different disinfectant solutions on reducing (CAUTI) among critical patients. Design : Quasi experimental was utilized at the cardiology care unit (CCU) and followed up at medical ward of Sohage University Hospital, Egypt. Purposive sample (210) cardiac patients conveniently selected and divided equally to three groups had newly inserted urethral catheter. Group (A) used chlorhexidine 5%, Group (B) used soap and water and Group (C) used 10 % povidone Iodine solution in the perineal and urethral meatus care before insertion. Results: the majority of the studied sample were male aged (38.77 ± 9.95, 36.69 ± 11.1 and 36.77 ± 11.4) years. Majority of three groups had no fever at 1 st observation. Group C had dysuria from the 1 st till the 3 rd time of observation (53, 77 & 81.4 %). High percentage of group C had positive urine culture at the three observations (51.4, 71.4, & 78.5 %). High correlation between used soap and water (group B) and body temperature, dysuria, and low correlation between purulent drainage with chlorhexidine group (A). Conclusion: using chlorhexidine gluconate and soap and water were the best methods that can be used in perineal care before catheter insertion and maintenance care than povidone iodine solution. Keywords: Comparative, Disinfectant, Solutions, Catheter, Infection, Urinary and Critically. DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/73-14 Publication date: April 30 th 2020


Instead of carrying out a detailed technical analysis of the properties of an optimal path of the tax, we fourthly introduce in our base model the aspect that part of energy is wasted due to inefficient use of it. More effort in order to reduce the waste contributes to the conservation of the stock of fossil energy and prolongs the time span the CO2-fill capacity is exhausted. We show how the tax has to be modified to become a first-best instrument which is then in addition also an incentive to raise efforts (e.g. R&D expenditure on energy saving equipment). And fifthly, we take into account that fossil fuel is also the source of another air pollutant, SO2. The impact of SO2 on the environment (e.g. acid rain) can be mitigated by investing in abatement measures. We therefore introduce in addition to the energy tax a SO2 tax to cope with the damage from the accumulation of two stock pollutants. Although one could expect a complicated mix of tax interactions, the tax rules turn out to be very simple.


The yield distribution of a batch of wafers is an indicator of the type and behavior of defect sources in the manufacturing process. In a stable process, defects generated by these sources are evenly and randomly distributed, repetitive from wafer-to-wafer. The yield distribution of wafers manufactured in such an environment follows the binomial distribution. If, on the other hand, wafers contain defects with systematic patterns that repeat from wafer-to-wafer, the yield distribution tends to be narrower than the binomial distribution. For defect sources that generate systematic wafer-to-wafer variations, the yield distribution widens if compared with the binomial distribution. The binomial distribution can be calculated from the mean yield and the number of dice per wafer. Thus, comparing the actual yield distribution with the corresponding binomial distribution (binomial test) gives the yield improvement engineer a simple first-order indicator of the behavior of defect sources. Since wafer yield data is routinely available from functional production tests, the binomial test can be performed with existing data. This paper describes the principle and use of the binomial test using visual analysis on graphical yield plots of simulated and actual production wafers. >


Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of lamotrigine for the treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in children with epilepsy. Methods Pediatric patients newly diagnosed with epilepsy (n=90 [61 boys and 29 girls]; mean age, 9.1±3.4 years) were enrolled. All patients were evaluated with the Korean ADHD rating scale (K-ARS)-IV before treatment with lamotrigine and after doses had been administered. The mean interval of ADHD testing was approximately 12.3 months. The initial dosage of lamotrigine was 1 mg/kg/day (maximum 25 mg/day for the first 2 weeks), and increased by 1 mg/kg every 2 weeks until titrated up to 7 mg/kg/day (or maximum 200 mg/day). Results The mean ADHD test score of the 90 subjects was 17.0±1.8 at baseline. It was slightly reduced to 15.6±1.7 after lamotrigine monotherapy (P >0.01). Prior to treatment, a total of 31 patients (34.4%) met the diagnostic criteria for ADHD according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, Text Revision, Of these 31 patients, 27 (87.1%) had significantly improved ADHD scores with lamotrigine monotherapy (28.0±1.6 reduced to 18.1±2.6, P<0.001). Among these 27 patients, 25 (92.6%) showed normalized electroencephalogram (EEG) and 26 (96.3%) achieved total freedom from seizures within 12 months of the initiation of lamotrigine monotherapy. Conclusion The results from our study show that lamotrigine had a positive effect in pediatric epilepsy patients by reducing ADHD symptoms, preventing seizures, and normalizing EEG. However, further research is required to determine whether lamotrigine is efficacious against ADHD symptoms independent of its effects on epileptic seizures.


DOI: 10.32347/2410-2547.2021.106.54-67 Abstract. Load-bearing elements of buildings and structures of the mining and metallurgical complex in recent decades need to develop new more effective design solutions due to the intensification of technological processes, an increase in temperature loads and aggressiveness of the environment. The main direction of increasing the efficiency of such elements is their design from economically alloyed steel, which allows to increase the resource of structures and prevent accidents with a significant increase in temperature. Due to the fact that alloyed steels have higher mechanical characteristics at elevated temperatures, the question arises of creating lightweight beam structures from such steels, reducing their material consumption while maintaining the stability and fatigue strength of beams, the most promising is the use of welded beams with a perforated wall and composite beams. The creation of the most effective cross-sectional shape of metal beams with a perforated wall and welded beams, as well as crane beams in transverse bending, considering strength, local stability, flat bending stability and fatigue strength is considered. It is shown that an effective shape of beams with a perforated wall is a box-shaped structure made of perforated channels. A calculation was carried out to select a rational design made of an assortment of hot-rolled channel profiles. It is shown that due to the use of the proposed sectional shape, significant savings in the weight of the structure can be achieved. Considering the three-dimensional stress-strain state, the fatigue strength of welded metal crane girders operating in severe conditions is estimated. The efficiency of using a hot-rolled I-beam as the upper chord of such welded beams is shown. The necessity of using a hot-rolled I-beam and to ensure the fatigue strength of the lower chord is demonstrated. The use of the previously proposed combined method for calculating the structures of industrial buildings and structures and the use of economically alloyed steels allows us to create new designs of critical elements that reduce their material consumption and increase their resource. Further research can be carried out for real object designs in order to reduce their cost and increase reliability during operation in the conditions of mining and


Fertility has an important role for demographic transition and total fertility rate (TFR) which is one component measurements of fertility. Absences of complete and reliable data, a large number of indirect techniques have been developed to estimate demographic parameters. Some of these techniques are based on stable population theory and others are regression equations between the dependent variables, the TFR and the independent variables, the socio economic as well as demographic variables. The unwanted or unintended pregnancies can be avoided through the use of contraceptives; it becomes very important to estimate the births averted or pregnancies stopped by use of contraception. Though there is increase in the use of contraception, still many couples do not use contraception in spite of the fact that they require to use contraception. To satisfy this unmet need of contraception is one of the policy targets of national population policy for population stabilization. In this study, 12862 married females between 15-49 years of age, whose marital duration is more than 5 years, have been taken to study the distribution on different background characteristics and their behavior. Firstly, a regression study was done to know the impact on contraceptive use and further multivariate study has been carried out to know the effect of background characteristics and behavior on absence of birth five years jointly at different sub division. This method is based on the relationship between the Total fertility rate (TFR) and contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR).By using this modified estimate of TFR, birth averted for different area. The variables are CPR that about 71.4 percent variation in TFR can be explained by the first regression approach. The second is based on the relationship between total fertility rate (TFR) and Additive combination of CPR and proportion of currently married females having open birth interval (NPV) explained about 82percent of the variation in TFR. The findings revealed that the TFR calculated by the present method are quite close to the observed values of the TFR. Estimates of births averted and the percent change in births in the absence of contraception, based on the two methods are fairly consistent.


Mitochondrial glycerol phosphate dehydrogenase (mGPD) is the rate-limiting enzyme of the glycerol phosphate redox shuttle. It was recently claimed that metformin, a first-line drug used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, inhibits liver mGPD 30–50%, suppressing gluconeogenesis through a redox mechanism. Various factors cast doubt on this idea. Total-body knockout of mGPD in mice has adverse effects in several tissues where the mGPD level is high but has little or no effect in liver, where the mGPD level is the lowest of 10 tissues. Metformin has beneficial effects in humans in tissues with high levels of mGPD, such as pancreatic β-cells, where the mGPD level is much higher than that in liver. Insulin secretion in mGPD knockout mouse β-cells is normal because, like liver, β-cells possess the malate aspartate redox shuttle whose redox action is redundant to the glycerol phosphate shuttle. For these and other reasons, we used four different enzyme assays to reassess whether metformin inhibited mGPD. Metformin did not inhibit mGPD in homogenates or mitochondria from insulin cells or liver cells. If metformin actually inhibited mGPD, adverse effects in tissues where the level of mGPD is much higher than that in the liver could prevent the use of metformin as a diabetes medicine.


Whey is recognized as a valuable source of high quality protein and, when processed as protein concentrate, may be used in the production of biodegradable films. The objective of the study was to develop films of whey protein concentrate 80% (WPC) at concentrations of 6, 8, 10 and 12% and evaluate the influence of this factor in the barrier,  mechanical and optical properties of the films. Treatments showed moisture content with a mean value of 22.10% ± 0.76and high solubility values between 56.67 to 62.42%. Thus, there is little or no influence of varying the concentration of WPC in these properties and high hydrophilicity of the films. With increasing concentration of WPC, increases the water vapor permeability of the films (7.42 x 10 -13 to 3.49 x 10 -12 g.m -1 .s -1 .Pa -1 ). The treatment at the concentration of 6% of WPC showed a higher modulus of elasticity (287.90 ± 41.79 MPa). Thegreater rigidity in films with higher concentrations is possibly due to the greater number of bonds between molecules of the polymeric matrix. The films have the same puncture resistance. The increased  concentration of WPC promotes resistance to the action of a localized force. In general, films of whey protein concentrate in the tested concentrations exhibited slightly yellowish color and transparency, and can be used in food packaging that requiring intermediate permeability to water vapor, to keep moisture and texture desired.


Regulatory guidelines for drug development suggest a strong control of the familywise error rate, when multiple hypotheses are simultaneously tested in confirmatory clinical trials. Accordingly, a variety of multiple test procedures exist for pharmaceutical trial applications, which are typically defined on a single structured family of null hypotheses. For some confirmatory clinical trials with multiple objectives, however, it is advantageous to address the arising multiplicity problems via grouped families of hypotheses. Graphical test procedures have been developed to construct, visualize, and perform multiple test procedures that are tailored to either a single or multiple families of structured hypotheses of interest. This note complements the existing literature by introducing a general algorithm to calculate adjusted p‐values for any sequentially rejective graphical test procedure where the test procedures within the individual families of hypotheses are not necessarily graphical. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Here was written about the effective teaching vocabulary in English lessons for ESP classes, importance of structural method to teach vocabulary.


Bathy phytochrome Agp2 from Agrobacterium fabrum exhibits an unusually low pKa =7.6 in the Pr state in contrast to a pKa >11 in the Pfr state, indicating a pH-dependent charge distribution and H-bond network in the Pr chromophore binding pocket around neutral pH. Here, we report on ultrafast UV/Vis absorption spectroscopy of the primary Pr photoisomerization of Agp2 at pH 6 and pH 9 and upon H2 O/D2 O buffer exchange. The triexponential Pr kinetics slows down at increased pH and pronounced pH-dependent kinetic isotope effects are observed. The results on the Pr photoreaction suggest: 1) component-wise hindered dynamics on the chromophore excited-state potential energy surface at high pH and 2) proton translocation processes either via single-proton transfer or via significant reorganization of H-bond networks. Both effects reflect the interplay between the pH-dependent charge distribution in the Pr chromophore binding pocket on the one hand and chromophore excitation and its Z→E isomerization on the other hand.


Abstract Purpose: Non-ambulatory persons with cerebral palsy are prone to low bone mineral density. In ambulatory persons with cerebral palsy, bone mineral density deficits are expected to be small or absent, but a consensus conclusion is lacking. In this systematic review bone mineral density in ambulatory persons with cerebral palsy (Gross Motor Function Classification Scales I–III) was studied. Materials and methods: Medline, Embase, and Web of Science were searched. According to international guidelines, low bone mineral density was defined as Z-score ≤ −2.0. In addition, we focused on Z-score ≤ −1.0 because this may indicate a tendency towards low bone mineral density. Results: We included 16 studies, comprising 465 patients aged 1–65 years. Moderate and conflicting evidence for low bone mineral density (Z-score ≤ −2.0) was found for several body parts (total proximal femur, total body, distal femur, lumbar spine) in children with Gross Motor Function Classification Scales II and III. We found no evidence for low bone mineral density in children with Gross Motor Function Classification Scale I or adults, although there was a tendency towards low bone mineral density (Z-score ≤ −1.0) for several body parts. Conclusions: Although more high-quality research is needed, results indicate that deficits in bone mineral density are not restricted to non-ambulatory people with cerebral palsy. Implications for Rehabilitation Although more high-quality research is needed, including adults and fracture risk assessment, the current study indicates that deficits in bone mineral density are not restricted to non-ambulatory people with CP. Health care professionals should be aware that optimal nutrition, supplements on indication, and an active lifestyle, preferably with weight-bearing activities, are important in ambulatory people with CP, also from a bone quality point-of-view. If indicated, medication and fall prevention training should be prescribed.


Coupled-wire constructions have proven to be useful tools to characterize Abelian and non-Abelian topological states of matter in two spatial dimensions. In many cases, their success has been complemented by the vast arsenal of other theoretical tools available to study such systems. In three dimensions, however, much less is known about topological phases. Since the theoretical arsenal in this case is smaller, it stands to reason that wire constructions, which are based on one-dimensional physics, could play a useful role in developing a greater microscopic understanding of three-dimensional topological phases. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive strategy, based on the geometric arrangement of commuting projectors in the toric code, to generate and characterize coupled-wire realizations of strongly-interacting three-dimensional topological phases. We show how this method can be used to construct pointlike and linelike excitations, and to determine the topological degeneracy. We also point out how, with minor modifications, the machinery already developed in two dimensions can be naturally applied to study the surface states of these systems, a fact that has implications for the study of surface topological order. Finally, we show that the strategy developed for the construction of three-dimensional topological phases generalizes readily to arbitrary dimensions, vastly expanding the existing landscape of coupled-wire theories. Throughout the paper, we discuss $\mathbb{Z}^{\,}_m$ topological order in three and four dimensions as a concrete example of this approach, but the approach itself is not limited to this type of topological order.


Bisphenol A (BPA) is used in the production of high-volume polycarbonate and epoxy resin compounds found in a number of consumer products, including plastic bottles and the linings of canned goods. As a result of such applications, very small amounts of BPA can migrate into food and drink. In light of reports suggesting that low doses of BPA cause estrogenic effects in laboratory animals, concerns were raised about the safety of these consumer products, particularly plastic bottles used for feeding milk to babies. To evaluate the risk, if any, from BPA, investigations were undertaken to more precisely determine human exposure levels and more carefully study the validity of the low-dose effects reported. On the basis of the most realistic studies of BPA levels in food and drink, as well as in human urine, it has been estimated that human exposures, including those of children, are very low and range from about .001 to .1 mcg/kg body weight (bw)/day. The results of the additional toxicology studies indicated that the low-dose effects could not be consistently replicated. In light of this, a number of governments and agencies brought together independent expert panels to carefully evaluate the toxicologic studies and provide regulatory guidance. These panels came to a similar conclusion, namely, that low-dose effects have not been demonstrated. They also supported the acceptable daily intake levels previously calculated on the basis of high-dose effects shown in laboratory animals. Comparing these acceptable intakes with the best exposure estimates reveals that human doses of BPA from migration of the compound into food and drink are orders of magnitude lower than acceptable daily intakes. Thus, it is very unlikely that humans, including infants and young children, are at risk from the presence of BPA in consumer products.


This paper reports the overall thermal performance of a cylindrical parabolic 9 concentrating solar water heater (CPCSWH) with inserting nail type twisted tape (NTT) in the 10 copper absorber tube for the nail twist pitch ratios 4.787, 6.914 and 9.042 respectively. The 11 experiments are conducted for a constant volumetric water flow rate and during the time period 12 9:00 h to 15:00 h. The useful heat gain, hourly solar energy collected and hourly solar energy stored 13 of this solar water heater are found higher for nail twist pitch ratio 4.787. The above said 14 parameters are found to be a peak at noon and observed to follow the path of variation of solar 15 intensity. At the starting of the experiment, the value of charging efficiency is observed to be 16 maximum. Whereas the maximum value of instantaneous efficiency and overall thermal efficiency 17 are observed at noon. The key finding is that the nail twist pitch ratio enhances the overall thermal 18 performance of the CPCSWH. 19


Nuclear medicine uses technetium-99m among other things for tumor diagnostics. With over 30 million applications worldwide each year, it is the most widely used radioisotope. The precursor material, molybdenum-99, is mainly produced in research reactors. A study at the Heinz MaierLeibnitz Research Neutron Source (FRM II) at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) now shows options to significantly reduce the radioactive waste produced during processing to a medical product.


Converting the kinetic energy of heavy ion beams into radiation energy at high efficiency is important for heavy ion fusion. High conversion efficiency can be achieved if the radiating material consists mainly of a low Z element, for example, beryllium, mixed with a small amount of high Z element, for example, lead. For stopping incoming beams with a given energy, low Z material has higher stopping power and hence has less total internal energy than a high Z material. A high Z material is used for efficient radiation; the exact amount used is determined by the requirement that the Planck mean free path is approximately equal to the dimension of the radiation converter. Too much high Z material would hence prevent radiation from escaping from the interior region of the radiating material. To reduce the hydrodynamic loss in the radial direction, the radiating material is placed inside a casing made of high Z material. Calculations show that the energy absorbed by the casing is tolerable and that the interface between the casing and the radiating material is almost stationary. Various scaling laws for the converter are developed. Simulations with the LASNEX hydrodynamic code show that carefully designed converters can have conversion efficiencies as high as 70% (80%) for incoming beams with 10 GeV (5 GeV) energy. Because the converters have high efficiency and ion range shortening in beryllium is not substantial, range shortening is not a major issue. Once the diagram for the conversion efficiency versus the converter radius is obtained for various beam ion energies, the trajectory is located on this diagram that gives the upper limit for conversion efficiency (and hence for gain) while satisfying the engineering limit of the quadrupole pole-tip magnetic fields of the final-focusing system for heavy ion beams (for ballistic transport through a hard-vacuum reactor chamber). Finally, converter configurations are presented that can deflect the direction of radiation, thereby eliminating the need for ion beam bending


Contextual bandit algorithms are commonly used in digital health to recommend personalized treatments. However, to ensure the effectiveness of the treatments, patients are often requested to take actions that have no immediate benefit to them, which we refer to as pro-treatment actions. In practice, clinicians have a limited budget to encourage patients to take these actions and collect additional information. We introduce a novel optimization and learning algorithm to address this problem. This algorithm effectively combines the strengths of two algorithmic approaches in a seamless manner, including 1) an online primal-dual algorithm for deciding the optimal timing to reach out to patients, and 2) a contextual bandit learning algorithm to deliver personalized treatment to the patient. We prove that this algorithm admits a sub-linear regret bound. We illustrate the usefulness of this algorithm on both synthetic and real-world data.


An experiment was conducted to characterize the seed vigour of sweet (su) and super sweet (sh2) corn seeds stored at different temperatures and relative humidities (RH). Hybrid seeds of Early Sunglow Golden Cross Bantam 70 (su) and Xtrasweet 82 Fortune (sh2) were stored at different temperatures () and RH(70 and 85%) for 10 months. Results of the experiment show that seed deterioration of super sweet corn was much faster than that of sweet corn under all storage conditions. Germination rate of sweet corn seeds at and emergence rate in cold test showed similar patterns. Emergence rate of super sweet corn in cold test was significantly lower than the germination rate at . Germination rate of both sweet and super sweet corns was positively correlated to the emergence rate in cold test, but the correlation coefficient of super sweet corn was much lower compared to the sweet corn. This implies that the viability of super sweet corn seeds should be tested in the cold test to estimate field emergence rate. Seeds of sweet corn could be stored for 5 months under all storage conditions without significant seed deterioration, while those of super sweet corn should be stored at low temperature and RH. The emergence rate of sweet corn in cold test was not correlated to the leakage of total sugars, electrolytes or activity, while that of super sweet com was positively correlated to the activity, negatively correlated to the leakage of electrolytes, and was not correlated to the leakage of total sugars.


Background: A significant phenotypical variability is observed in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). The variability can not be fully explained by the genetic heterogenity of the disease. We examined the influence of the ACE I/D polymorphism, adducin Trp460Gly polymorphism and the association of both polymorphisms on the progression of ADPKD towards end-stage renal failure (ESRF). Methods: 320 ADPKD patients (pts) were analyzed, 220 pts (113 males, 107 females) with ESRF before 63 years of age, with a subgroup (rapid progressors) of 20 pts (12 males, 8 females) with ESRF before 40 years of age, 52 pts (23 males, 29 females) with ESRF later than 63 years of age (slow progressors), 48 ADPKD pts (18 males, 30 females) with mean age ±50 years with serum creatinine <110 µmol/l (slow progressors) and 200 genetically unrelated healthy Czech subjects. DNA samples from collected blood were genotyped for the ACE I/D polymorphism and the Trp460Gly of α-adducin gene polymorphism. Results: The α-adducin genotypes showed no differences among the groups of slow progressors (74% Gly/Gly, 22.9% Gly/Trp and 3.1% Trp/Trp), pts with ESRF before 63 years of age (67.7% Gly/Gly, 30.5% Gly/Trp and 1.8% Trp/Trp) and rapid progressors (75% Gly/Gly, 25% Gly/Trp). The ACE genotypes did not differ among the groups of slow progressors (27.1% I/I, 44.8% I/D and 28.1% D/D), pts with ESRF before 63 years of age (23.6% I/I, 51.4% I/D and 25% D/D) and rapid progressors (20% I/I, 55% I/D and 25% D/D). The distribution did not differ from the control group. The ages of ESRF according to different genotypes did not significantly differ. We observed a significant tendency to better prognosis in Trp allele carriers for I/I genotype in comparison with Gly/Gly homozygous subjects. Conclusion: The ACE and α-adducin polymorphisms do not play a significant role in the progression of ADPKD to ESRF.


The present study examines the impact of pregnancy on anorexia nervosa and bulimia. A survey of women with an active eating disorder involving anorexia nervosa, bulimia, or mixed symptoms 6 months prior to their first pregnancy was undertaken to gain information on attitudes toward becoming pregnancy, fears and concerns related to the unborn child, the impact on eating disorder behaviors prenatal and postnatal, weight gain and weight gain of the baby as an indicator of its health, and the obstetricians view of the pregnancy and health status of the infant upon delivery. The results indicate that pregnancy had a pronounced beneficial impact on anorexic and bulimic symptoms during pregnancy. However, lasting psychological benefit was limited to a minority of the sample in the first year after childbirth. In contrast to previous research, infants had normal birth weights and deliveries with an absence of congenital defects. The implications of these results and suggestions for future research are discussed.


Osteoporosis is a major public health problem. Oral bisphosphonates are effective for reducing the risk of osteoporotic fractures and are an important treatment option for patients at risk for this condition. Osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) is uncommon among cancer patients who are receiving high-dose intravenous bisphosphonates and rarely is seen among patients who are taking oral bisphosphonates for osteoporosis. Dentists play an important role in discussing the implications of the overall dental and medical treatment plans with both patients and physicians. The low risk of ONJ with oral bisphosphonates should be balanced against the benefits of osteoporosis therapy.


Room-temperature (RT) operation sensors are constantly in increasing demand because of their low power consumption, simple operation, and long lifetime. However, critical challenges such as low sensing performance, vulnerability under highly humid state, and poor recyclability hinder their commercialization. In this work, sub-10 nm hollow, bimetallic Pt-Ag nanoparticles (NPs) were successfully formed by galvanic replacement reaction in bioinspired hollow protein templates and sensitized on the multidimensional SnO2-WO3 heterojunction nanofibers (HNFs). Formation of hollow, bimetallic NPs resulted in the double-side catalytic effect, rendering both surface and inner side chemical reactions. Subsequently, SnO2-WO3 HNFs were synthesized by incorporating 2D WO3 nanosheets (NSs) with 0D SnO2 sphere by c-axis growth inhibition effect and fluid dynamics of liquid Sn during calcination. Hierarchically assembled HNFs effectively modulate surface depletion layer of 2D WO3 NSs by electron transfers from WO3 to SnO2 stemming from creation of heterojunction. Careful combination of bimetallic catalyst NPs with HNFs provided an extreme recyclability under exhaled breath (95 RH%) with outstanding H2S sensitivity. Such sensing platform clearly distinguished between the breath of healthy people and simulated halitosis patients.


This paper investigates the anticipated trademark problems may result from tobacco control regulations, particularly the warning label requirements implemented in WTO members and the stricter regulation of plain packaging promulgated in Australia ("tobacco measures"). Following the adoption of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control ("FCTC") in May 2003 (enforce by February 2005) member countries tend to seek for possibilities to implement and use stricter approach to achieve their public health policy. As the core concept and main goal of WTO is trade liberalization, regardless of types of goods traded among members, whereas the stricter restriction on trademark use means the prohibition of exploiting intellectual property rights of trademark owners, TRIPS is thus unavoidably related and has been brought by tobacco companies to be against the regulations, claiming that this poses unjustifiable trade barriers to business and denying its legitimacy in corresponding to the WTO obligations. To what extent the FCTC instructs or entitles members to pose barriers on trade in tobacco basing on public health purpose? Is there any correlation between the FCTC, a framework adopted under World Health Organization ("WHO"), and the covered agreements under WTO such as TRIPS?


Restructured chunked and formed roasts containing 10 or 30% mechanically separated lamb (MSL) were made with meat from ram or wether lambs. Roasts were either frozen immediately after formulation and stored at -30°C before cooking to 71°C, or precooked immediately to 63°C, chilled and reheated to 71°C before storage at 4 and -30°C. Storage periods varied depending upon treatment. Roasts with 10% MSL contained less total fat and less free fatty acids (FFA) than those with 30% MSL. There was little evidence of extensive lipid oxidation as measured by thiobarbituric acid values and peroxide oxygen values in any of the roasts. There was an indication that pre-cooking and curing prior to storage increased glycerolipid hydrolysis because of increased levels of FFA. Apparently increased hydrolysis occurred in triglycerides since levels of phospholipids did not change.


By recombinant DNA methods, the chicken ovalbumin structural gene has been fused to Escherichia coli lac transcriptional and translational control regions. When a plasmid containing the hybrid gene was introduced into E. coli, a protein identified as ovalbumin by immunoreactivity and sodium dodecyl sulfate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was synthesized. The chicken ovalbumin made in bacteria was full length (43,000 daltons) and constituted 1.5% of the cellular protein. In addition, the microbially synthesized ovalbumin was secreted through the cell membrane into the periplasmic space of E. coli. The ability of the E. coli secretory apparatus to recognize chicken ovalbumin, which is normally synthesized and secreted in hen oviducts, suggests that common features exist in the secretion-recognition mechanisms found in these two organisms. The bacterial synthesis of significant amounts of chicken ovalbumin demonstrates that the E. coli cellular machinery may be utilized to synthesize a higher eukaryotic protein which is relatively stable in the bacterial intracellular environment.


This paper describes the analysis and design of an electronic ballast devised to drive both, high pressure sodium vapor (HPS) and high pressure mercury vapor (HPMV) lamps, in dimmed operation with no need of parameter modification. The main objective is to achieve weight and volume reduction of a public lighting components bench test equipment, used to perform basic operational tests in a Brazilian electric utility company. Specifically, the analysis, design and implementation of an electronic ballast, based on a series-parallel loaded resonant inverter, for 70W HPS and 125W HPMV lamps testing is presented. Experimental results from a lab prototype, performing high intensity discharge (HID) lamp tests in dimmed operation and no discharge arc instability, evidences the feasibility of the proposed ballast concerning the intended application.


Commissioning pressure tests are a critical life-of-asset record. Successfully achieving an acceptable pressure test can be challenging both at an execution and documentation perspective. This paper aims to assist in streamlining the approach to pipeline commissioning pressure tests between operators to increase efficiency and drive consistency across the pipeline industry. Key lessons learned from the planning stages through to the quality control turnover are highlighted. Lessons learned, respective to pressure tests, include: road map of Canadian regulations, tabulated equipment requirements, suggested instrumentation setup, template checklist for test plans, outlined company to contractor responsibilities, as well as a proposed internal process to manage and accept completed tests.


The distributed monitoring infrastructure of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) records on a Hadoop infrastructures a broad variety of computing and storage logs. They represent a valuable source of information for system tuning and capacity planning. In this paper we analyze machine learning (ML) techniques on large amount of traces to discover patterns and correlations useful to classify the popularity of experiment-related datasets. We implement a scalable pipeline of Spark components which collect the dataset access logs from heterogeneous monitoring sources and group them into weekly snapshots organized by CMS sites. Predictive models are trained on these snapshots and forecast which dataset will become popular over time. Dataset popularity predictions are then used to experiment a novel strategy of data caching, called Popularity Prediction Caching (PPC). We compare the hit rates of PPC with those produced by well known caching policies. We demonstrate how the performance improvement is as high as 20% in some sites.


With the development of new low frequency satellite radiometers the characterization of the emission of the East Antarctic plateau become important for cal/val purposes. Also, the availability of further data open new horizons in the understanding of the climate processes of the continent. In this work we analyze the spatial homogeneity and the temporal stability of the east Antarctic plateau at C- and L-band by using a the modified absolute distance metric. Finally we were able to detect some promise areas in the Ridge and Dome C region which seems to be spatially homogeneous and temporally stable.


The aim of this study was to determine the nutritional value of three populations of Artemia, one from the Bethioua Sebkha (Oran) and two new biotopes at El Melah (Bechar) and Timimoune (Adrar), by evaluating the cyst and nauplius biometry, hatching parameters and fatty acid profiles. This information is of relevance to aquaculture initiatives, and fills in knowledge gaps from previous research at Algerian sites. The size of nauplii varied from 453.26 ± 0.3 µm and 478.73 ± 0.2 µm. The chorion thickness was between 13.28 µm and 10.50 µm. The highest hatching percentage and hatching efficiency were obtained after decapsulation of Bethioua cysts. The shortest hatching synchrony time was also found for the Bethioua cysts. All cyst samples from the the Bethioua population analysed in this study showed a freshwater-type fatty acid profile, rich in linolenic acid (LNA, 18:3n.3), opposed to a marine-type fatty acid profile rich in presence of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5n-3). The Bethioua population exhibited the best hatching performance and are ideally suited for use in aquaculture.


Antibacterial properties of Ocimum gratissimum was determined and tested against pure cultures of clinical isolates of Escherichia coli, Klebsiella , Shigella and Salmonella species. Water and Ethanol were used for the extraction of the active constituent of the plants. Water extract of Ocimum gratissimum was not as effective as the ethanolic extracts against the tested organisms. The phytochemcial analysis carried out on the plant revealed the presence of alkaloids, tannins, saponin, steroids, cardiacglycoside, flavonoid, terpenoids and phenol. The results of this study suggest the possibility of using the ethanolic extract in treating the diseases caused by the test organisms .


In this study, we summarize the main results of a phone survey conducted in order to assess attitudes towards climate change in Spain and Galicia and preferences for a green elec- tricity program that reduces CO2 emissions, while making electricity more expensive. Overall fin- dings show that Spanish citizens are quite concerned about the climate change process. Results are similar to those obtained in other studies elsewhere, and complement them by showing a strong public support for implementing the green electricity program. Keywords: Awareness / Climate change / Willingness to pay.


We consider an election in which each voter can collect information of different precision. Voters have asymmetric information and preferences that vary both in terms of ideology and intensity. In contrast to all other models of voting with endogenous information, in equilibrium voters collect information of different qualities. We show that information and abstention are not necessarily negatively correlated: some voters are more likely to abstain the more informed they are. We also discuss the manner in which incentives to acquire information are non-monotonic in terms of both ideology and the level of intensity. JEL Classification: D71, D72, D82.


Background and aims: Regular physical activity and exercise represent a corner stone in the treatment of type 1 diabetes (T1D) , however, exercise-induced hypoglycemia remains the major barrier to a physically active lifestyle. Therefore, the ULTRAFLEXI-1 study compared two basal insulin analogues, Glargine 300U/ml (IGlar U300) and Degludec (IDeg) , in two different doses (100% and 75% of the regular dose) when used around spontaneous exercise sessions in adults with T1D.
 Methods: We performed a randomized, single-center, four-period, cross-over trial (EudraCT: 2019-003209-89) and included adults with T1D treated with multiple daily insulin injections and an HbA1c ≤10% (≤86 mmol/mol) . In each of the four 2-weeks-periods, participants attended six spontaneous evening cycling sessions (60 minutes, moderate intensity) . The days of exercising were randomized and announced at 8 A.M. to the participants. The basal insulin used on the exercise days during the four periods were: IGlar U300 100% or 75% of the regular dose or IDeg 100% or 75%, respectively. 100% of the regular basal insulin dose was used at all non-exercise days. CGM was performed using a blinded Dexcom G6 device. The primary outcome was TBR (<70 mg/dl) during the six 24-hour post-exercise periods in the four trial arms. The difference in TBR between 100% IGlar and 100% IDeg or 75% IGlar and 75% IDeg was analyzed in hierarchical order using the repeated measures linear mixed model.
 Results: 25 people were enrolled (14 male) , aged 41.4±11.9 years, with a mean diabetes duration of 16.8±10.4 years and a mean HbA1c of 7.5±0.8%. (59±9 mmol/mol) . Mean TBR during the 24-hour periods following the exercise sessions was 2.71±2.56% for IGlar U300 (100%) and 4.37%±3.43% for IDeg (100%) (p=0.025) as well as 2.28±2.67% for IGlar U300 compared to 2.55 ±2.87% with IDeg when using the 75% dose on exercise days (p=0.720) .
 Conclusion: Time spent in hypoglycemia after spontaneous exercise sessions was significantly lower in people with type 1 diabetes receiving IGlar U300 as compared to IDeg when the 100% dose was used.

 O. Moser: Research Support; Dexcom, Inc., Sanofi, Speaker's Bureau; Medtronic. M. L. Eckstein: None. L. Hönger: None. J. Lenz: None. I. Mursic: None. C. Sternad: None. M. Zanker: None. H. Ziko: None. P. N. Pferschy: None. N. J. Tripolt: None. H. Sourij: Advisory Panel; AstraZeneca, Bayer AG, Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, Daiichi Sankyo, Eli Lilly and Company, Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., Novo Nordisk, Research Support; Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, Sanofi, Speaker's Bureau; Amgen Inc., AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, Eli Lilly and Company, Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., Novartis AG, Novo Nordisk. A. Mueller: None. F. Aberer: Other Relationship; Amgen Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, Sanofi. F. Aziz: None. H. Kojzar: None. C. Sourij: None. A. M. Obermayer: None. F. M. Abbas: None. P. Birnbaumer: None.

 Sanofi-aventis (DCV-2018-12349)


Integrated pest management (IPM) was introduced in the 1960s as a response to increasing pesticide use and has since evolved from being understood mainly as an economic issue to also including environmental and human health considerations. The EU has made IPM mandatory for all farmers through the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive (SUD). Using a mixed-methods approach, this paper examines how Norwegian cereal farmers have responded to this requirement. The qualitative results show that most farmers have an understanding of IPM that goes beyond economic considerations only. The quantitative results display that farmers' intrinsic motivation for IPM changed after introduction of the SUD. There is increased emphasis on using methods other than spraying, producing grain without traces of pesticides, and preventing pesticide resistance. Farmers' self-reported knowledge of IPM increased, and 41% of farmers stated that they use IPM to a greater extent than before the SUD was introduced. These results demonstrate that mandatory IPM requirements have been a successful strategy for increasing farmers use of IPM in Norway. Clearer IPM provisions and increased intrinsic motivation for IPM among farmers will, however, be important to reduce the risks from pesticides further.


The Advanced Oxidation Process pulsed corona discharges have been utilized for the degradation of phenol in aqueous solution. The pulsed positive corona discharges are struck in the ambient gas phase over the solution. Experiments have been performed using both an air and argon atmosphere. Phenol conversion and the production of major oxidation products in the solution have been determined, using ion-exclusion chromatography with UV absorbance and conductivity detectors in series. The corona pulse energy has been measured from voltage and current waveforms using capacitive current correction. Oxidation products are polyhydroxybenzenes and carboxylic acids. Even though phenol conversion efficiencies by pulsed positive corona discharges in air and argon are similar, the degradation pathways are different.


Group sequential design has been widely applied in clinical trials in the past few decades. The sample size estimation is a vital concern of sponsors and investigators. Especially in the survival group sequential trials, it is a thorny question because of its ambiguous distributional form, censored data and different definition of information time. A practical and easy-to-use simulation-based method is proposed for multi-stage two-arm survival group sequential design in the article and its SAS program is available. Besides the exponential distribution, which is usually assumed for survival data, the Weibull distribution is considered here. The incorporation of the probability of discontinuation in the simulation leads to the more accurate estimate. The assessment indexes calculated in the simulation are helpful to the determination of number and timing of the interim analysis. The use of the method in the survival group sequential trials is illustrated and the effects of the varied shape parameter on the sample size under the Weibull distribution are explored by employing an example. According to the simulation results, a method to estimate the shape parameter of the Weibull distribution is proposed based on the median survival time of the test drug and the hazard ratio, which are prespecified by the investigators and other participants. 10+ simulations are recommended to achieve the robust estimate of the sample size. Furthermore, the method is still applicable in adaptive design if the strategy of sample size scheme determination is adopted when designing or the minor modifications on the program are made.


Th e currently ongoing COVID-19 pandemic induced built-up fear and anxiety notably with a non-stop surge information through all media. Understanding of emotional and mental health impact during this state is urgently needed for further intervention. This study aimed to identify the current pattern of depression, anxiety, stress and, emotional disorder presented in the society and the association between Indonesian news-seeking behaviour and their mental health state during the COVID-19 outbreak. A cross-sectional study with 1.508 respondents was carried out with online questionnaire consisted of DASS and SRQ-20 as assessment tools that was distributed through social media platforms from 2 April−8 June 2020. Data was analyzed using Mann Whitney , Kruskal Wallis , Post Hoc with Bonferroni , and Chi-square test (p<0.05). As much as 20.7% of respondents were depressed, 36.9% had anxiety, 25.5% had been stress, and 27.6% had emotional disorder. Most respondents actively searched about COVID-19 especially through television and social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Type of news and level of trust in COVID-19 news were the factors that influenced emotional and mental health state (p=<0.05). Providing mental health support in a timely and appropriate manner through a hotline team, media, or multidisciplinary team, including mental health professional is an important thing that the Indonesian government must do to help the Indonesian people through this pandemic Th e currently ongoing COVID-19 pandemic induced built-up fear and anxiety notably with a non-stop surge information through all media. Understanding of emotional and mental health impact during this state is urgently needed for further intervention. This study aimed to identify the current pattern of depression, anxiety, stress and, emotional disorder presented in the society and the association between Indonesian news-seeking behaviour and their mental health state during the COVID-19 outbreak. A cross-sectional study with 1.508 respondents was carried out with online questionnaire consisted of DASS and SRQ-20 as assessment tools that was distributed through social media platforms from 2 April−8 June 2020. Data was analyzed using Mann Whitney , Kruskal Wallis , Post Hoc with Bonferroni , and Chi-square test (p<0.05). As much as 20.7% of respondents were depressed, 36.9% had anxiety, 25.5% had been stress, and 27.6% had emotional disorder. Most respondents actively searched about COVID-19 especially through television and social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Type of news and level of trust in COVID-19 news were the factors that influenced emotional and mental health state (p=<0.05). Providing mental health support in a timely and appropriate manner through a hotline team, media, or multidisciplinary team, including mental health professional is an important thing that the Indonesian government must do to help the Indonesian people through this pandemic.


Purpose: This descriptive study was carried out to reveal the level of physical activity in patients who receive hemodialysis due to chronic kidney failure and to identify its relationship with the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS). Material and method: The study was conducted with 55 patients at the hemodialysis units of Alanya State Hospital and Private Alanya Anadolu Hospital between 10 and 30 June 2013. The study data were collected using the National Cholesterol Education Program, the Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATP III), a data collection form containing Metabolic Syndrome Diagnosis Criteria, and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). The data were analyzed using arithmetic mean ± standard deviation (SD), number and percentage distributions, independent sample t test, crosstabs, One Way Anova, and Pearson's Correlation Analysis. Results: It was found that 41.8% of the patients were between 50 and 65 years of age, the majority of them were male (58.2%), hemodialysis had been administered to 69.1% of them for at least 36 months, and 50.9% of them met three and more of the MetS criteria. There was no statistically significant relationship between MetS and physical activity levels, but the length of physical activity was longer in those who did not meet the MetS diagnosis criteria (p>0.05). An increase in sedentary time raised the MetS criteria (p<0.05). Conclusion: Nearly 1/2 of the patients were at risk of MetS. Physical activity level being statistically ineffective on MetS can be associated with low physical activity level and longer sedentary time. It can be said that being completely sedentary increases BMI and therefore MetS. The study can be repeated on different samples and the results can be compared.


The modern control systems are composed from the more layer structure. For example, in the 2-layer structure can be the first layer programmable machine in the industry environment connected to the measured and controlled process. And the second layer can be personal computer with visualization and control software. Both phases are connected via the serial or wireless connection. This paper describes programming the visualization applications with the help of DirectX.


Introduction: Thymolipoma is a rare benign neoplasm of the anterior mediastinum accounting for 2%-9% of thymic tumors. It mainly consists of adipose tissue comporting foci of thymic tissue. Neoplastic transformation of the epithelial component is extremely rare with four cases of thymoma and a case of thymic carcinoid previously reported. Aim: To report a case of thymolipoma associated with B3 thymoma. Case presentation: A 59 year-old woman treated for asthma presented with dyspnea. No mysthenia gravis was present. Imaging revealed a huge mediastinal tumor of fat density compressing the right lung. Surgical resection revealed a 2.8 kg and 39 cm tumor of mainly lipomatous aspect comporting a stellar solid focus of 3 cm. Microscopically, the tumor was a thymolipoma, with a focus (3 cm) of a B3 thymoma. No complementary treatment was applied and the patient is disease-free, two months after operation. Conclusion: This is the first case of a B3 thymoma arising inside a giant thymolipoma. Diagnosis of thymolipoma should be suspected in a fat-density tumor of the anterior mediastinum. Malignant transformation despite rare is possible and resection is mandatory.


The arrangement of data in a variable bit rate (VBR) video codec, making it suitable for the transmission over ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) networks, is addressed. Attention is focused on two aspects specifically belonging to the ATM environment: the impairment due to the loss of ATM data cells and the statistical analysis of a real VBR video source. A particular implementation of a hybrid DCT (discrete cosine transform) broadcast video codec, which adheres to the recent specifications proposed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, is addressed. In order to optimize the performance with respect to cell losses, a specific solution based on the concept of organizing data into video packets is explored. The statistical characteristics of the available VBR video source are investigated, using a real-time acquisition system.<<ETX>>


In the context of global agrocommodity supply chains, the sociotechnical imaginary of neoliberal sustainability is characterized by a belief that the impactfulness of market-based solutions like fair trade standards and voluntary certification schemes relies on the transparency and traceability of those supply chains. Achieving transparency and traceability, however, relies on the collection, analysis, and dissemination of data about numerous social, environmental, and economic factors, data that are generated through increasingly intensive regimes of high-tech monitoring and surveillance. For my interlocutors, who work to design and promote these standards, surveillance comes to be seen as not only justified but also expected and necessary, leading to the tacit categorization of certain spaces (and the human and non-human actors who populate them) as surveillable. In the case of sustainability standards specifically, which are imposed almost exclusively on producers in the Global South, the notion of surveillable space raises important questions about race and gender.


The paper introduces characteristics of a near field optical disc (NFOD). It presents electrical and optical waveguide process problems in the corn-shaped optical head of NFOD and gives approximate calculations to first-grade approximately of the corn-shaped optical head of NFOD. The result is an important basis for the NFOD optical head design with an ultra thin active layer and ultra small spot laser.


In signal processing, several applications involve the recovery of a function given noisy modulo samples. The setting considered in this paper is that the samples corrupted by an additive Gaussian noise are wrapped due to the modulo operation. Typical examples of this problem arise in phase unwrapping problems or in the context of self-reset analog to digital converters. We consider a fixed design setting where the modulo samples are given on a regular grid. Then, a three stage recovery strategy is proposed to recover the ground truth signal up to a global integer shift. The first stage denoises the modulo samples by using local polynomial estimators. In the second stage, an unwrapping algorithm is applied to the denoised modulo samples on the grid. Finally, a spline based quasi-interpolant operator is used to yield an estimate of the ground truth function up to a global integer shift. For a function in Holder class, uniform error rates are given for recovery performance with high probability. This extends recent results obtained by Fanuel and Tyagi for Lipschitz smooth functions wherein kNN regression was used in the denoising step.


Abstract In this article, I study the extension which, according to Plato, the activity of aisthesis should receive. After a survey of the subject, I argue first that, if human aisthesis is antepredicative, it is nevertheless apparent in doxic judgement. Next, I study what distinguishing objects means for aisthesis, arguing that such a distinction involves the mysterious presence of those "common" somethings mentioned in the Theaetetus. I proceed to make the point that we are unable, in the light of the texts, to determine whether aisthesis can name its objects. Finally, I suggest translating "aesthetic experience" as "perceptual experience."


We introduce a simulator of a quantum internet with the specific goal to support software development. A quantum internet consists of local quantum processors, which are interconnected by quantum communication channels that enable the transmission of qubits between the different processors. While many simulators exist for local quantum processors, there is presently no simulator for a quantum internet tailored towards software development. Quantum internet protocols require both classical as well as quantum information to be exchanged between the network nodes, next to the execution of gates and measurements on a local quantum processor. This requires quantum internet software to integrate classical communication programming practises with novel quantum ones. SimulaQron is built to enable application development and explore software engineering practises for a quantum internet. SimulaQron can be run on one or more classical computers to simulate local quantum processors, which are transparently connected in the background to enable the transmission of qubits or the generation of entanglement between remote processors. Application software can access the simulated local quantum processors to execute local quantum instructions and measurements, but also to transmit qubits to remote nodes in the network. SimulaQron features a modular design that performs a distributed simulation based on any existing simulation of a quantum computer capable of integrating with Python. Programming libraries for Python and C are provided to facilitate application development.


APPROPRIATIONSResearchers at Montana State University studying the geology and biology of Yellowstone National Park, just across the Wyoming border, are expecting a $2 million geyser of federal funding, thanks to the kindness of a U.S. senator. The project joins three other Montana earmarks--unrequested funding targeted to a specific institution--in the Senate's version of the 1999 spending bill for NASA that total $7.5 million, and another project intended to benefit Montana that's included in a different portion of the bill that covers the National Science Foundation.


BACKGROUND
Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) exerts a vital part in accurately diagnosing pulmonary infection. However, the diagnostic value of different samples obtained by virtual bronchoscopic navigation (VBN) combined with mNGS for pathogen detection in infections located in the peripheral lung field (PLF) is still unclear.

METHODS
Patients infected from July 2018 to February of the following year were carefully analyzed and divided into two parts, namely, non-infectious disease group and the infectious disease group. Then bronchial expansion tests were performed for each subject, collected liquid specimens and tissue standards, and conducted regular mNGS and microbiological detection and analysis. The value of mNGS and culture in pathogen detection was compared, at the same time, the performance of tissue mNGS and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) mNGS in the diagnosis process was compared. When discrete variables were processed, Pearson χ2 and Fisher's exact test could be used to perform categorical variables analysis. Continuous variables were analyzed and compared by Mann-Whitney U test.

RESULTS
After mNGS diagnosis, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Rothia mucilaginosa were the bacterial species showing the highest abundances. In addition, mNGS achieved the sensitivities in the detection of pathogens in tissues and BALF of 72.9% and 81.4%, respectively, and it is higher than conventional culture. Bacterial diagnostic sensitivity was significantly different between BALF and tissue using mNGS (95.0% vs. 62.5%, P=0.03). The sensitivity and specificity of BALF in detecting fungal infections were not significantly different from those of mNGS. A consistency test showed that these two methods had some degree of consistency (k=0.673, P=0.000).

CONCLUSIONS
This study showed that the mNGS in BALF samples and the mNGS in tissue samples which could be used to test for pathogens in the lungs. The sensitivity will increase when mNGS is combined with culture. Also, mNGS of BALF and tissues had some degree of consistency to detect fungal infections, whereas mNGS of BALF had better sensitivity to detect bacterial infection than mNGS of tissues.


Purpose of review In this review, we discuss the recent advances in our understanding of the cause, pathogenesis, presentation, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of interstitial lung disease (ILD) in children. Recent findings The classification of ILD syndromes in children greater than 2 years of age is based largely on adult classification schemes. In children less than 2 years of age, classification has been developed and evaluated pathologically. Entities can be categorized into developmental disorders, growth abnormalities, and surfactant dysfunction disorders based on pathologic findings. Two distinctive entities, neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia of infancy and pulmonary interstitial glycogenosis, present early in life with characteristic findings. These two disorders appear to have a favorable prognosis. Diagnosis of ILD syndromes is based on the summation of history and physical findings and both noninvasive and invasive studies. Newer approaches are being evaluated to decrease the need for lung biopsy. Summary Children's interstitial lung diseases are rare diffuse lung diseases resulting from a variety of pathogenic processes that include genetic factors, association with systemic disease processes, and inflammatory or fibrotic responses to stimuli. There are unique causes and presentations seen in infancy. Diagnosis in these disorders is made by the summation of clinical, radiologic, and pathologic findings.


An important contribution concerning the early pathology of cancer of the stomach was made by Vers6 in I908. He reported twelve early gastric carcinomata. All were adeno-carcinomata, 0.5 to 5 cms. diameter, slightly elevated, sometimes ulcerating, infected and infiltrated with leucocytes. In several cases there was a history of alcoholism and general atrophic or hyperplastic gastritis. Adenocarcinoma of the stomach may also develop from multiple foci separated by normal mucous membrane. Ewing calls attention to a group of cases in which the superficial epithelium and the epithelium of the ducts remain intact but the fundi of the tubular glands break up and these malignant epithelial cells infiltrate the mucosa over a wide area. This results in a superficial eroding carcinoma without tumour formation or excavation.


58 patients, whose convulsions and behavioral disorders did not respond to nonsurgical therapy, were treated with stereotactic amygdalotomy between 1963 and 1973. A retrospective study was carried out by a psychiatric research team 1--11 years postoperatively. Using reliable objective methods of assessment they found that 50% operated primarily for seizures, 33% for uncontrolled conduct disorders and 50% with both conditions seemed improved after surgery.


The paper focused on the effect of value- addition on the benefits of women participation in cassava products marketing in Cross River State, Nigeria. Data were collected with the aid of a structured questionnaire from 48 randomly selected respondents. Data were analyzed using both descriptive and marketing margin analysis. The study findings have revealed that more women participate in cassava products marketing than men in the study area. Also, traders involved in garri processing make more gain than those involved in Akpu. The study showed that a total of 26,174 kg of raw cassava was purchased and processed into garri in twenty four months at the total cost of ₦260,988.00. An average of 100kg bag of Akpu was sold for ₦2,398.00. Thus every ₦1.00 invested in garri processing gave a margin of ₦2.39, while every N1.00 invested in Akpu processing gave a margin of ₦1.51. This means that those who trade on garri make about 37% above what the Akpu dealers make in the area within the period under review. The marketing margin for garri against raw cassava purchased from the farmers is 0.62 or 62%, while that of Akpu against raw cassava is 0.22 or 22%. Based on the above findings, the following recommendations were made among others: the traders should be empowered by the different levels of government through grants or loans in order to enhance their capacity. The traders should consider grating their raw cassava before soaking so that the Akpu traders can improve on the realizable quantity of their raw materials after processing.


Partial characterization of the OM‐B antigen associated with mucinous‐type ovarian tumors was conducted. This antigen was defined by OM‐B monoclonal antibody, which was raised against a mucinous‐type ovarian tumor, and was present in all the mucinous‐type tumors tested, but only a fraction of serous‐type tumors. The OM‐B crude antigen preparation fractionated from cystic fluids had a density of 1.40–1.43 g/ml, with a high neutral sugar content. Molecular mass (Mr) estimated by gel filtration was more than 2,000,000. Trypsinization of the antigen preparation under appropriate conditions resulted in two major bands and one minor band with molecular sizes of less than Mr 250,000, as detected by immunoblotting. Immunoaffinity chromatography was then conducted and the amino acid composition of the purified product was determined; the high contents of serine, threonine and proline are characteristic of a mucin. Binding inhibition enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay was developed to measure OM‐B antigen activity in cystic fluids and sera from patients with mucinous‐type tumors. The antigen was easily detected in most cystic fluids, but not in sera, suggesting that improvement in the sensitivity of this assay is necessary before its utilization for serum diagnosis will be feasible.


An explicit analysis conducted on the crack behavior in chirurgical cement (Polymethylmethacrylate – PMMA) used for Total Hip Prosthesis (THP) is of great importance in collecting information about the nature of the phenomenon of loosening of the cement application. The rupture of the orthopedic cement is practically the main cause of this loosening. Understanding different rupture mechanisms give a great value in advancing the durability of the cemented total prosthesis. The purpose of this study is to analyse cracks behavior, initiated in the cement that links the femoral-stem with the bone, using the Finite Element Analysis Method (FEM). The present study brings into focus the variation of the stress intensity factor in modes I, II and III. This rupture criterion is used according to the nature of crack, its orientation and its location in the orthopedic cement. At first, the level and distribution of the equivalent von Mises stress is analysed, which is induced in the medial, proximal and distal parts of the bone cement. Then, the behavior of different geometric forms of an elliptical crack is evaluated which are located and initiated within the body of these three parts.


Sixteen male Djungarian hamsters, serving as their own controls, were individually exposed to RF-EMF (900 MHz, GSM modulation) at 0 (sham), 0.08, 0.4 or 4 W/kg specific absorption rate (SAR) in specially constructed rectangular waveguides. Exposure duration was one week per condition, followed by one week without exposure. Once per day, the temperatures of the hamsters' back fur (a surrogate for skin temperature) and the cornea of the eye (a surrogate for body temperature), were measured by infrared thermography. Oxygen, carbon dioxide and humidity were measured continuously in the ambient and exhaled air. Food and water consumption, as well as body weight were recorded once per week. Only at the highest SAR level were the following effects observed: fur temperatures were elevated by approximately 0.5°C (P < 0.001), while the temperatures of the eyes' surface were not affected; food consumption was lowered (P < 0.05), while water consumption and body weight were not affected; the production of carbon dioxide was lowered during the day (P < 0.01) and unaffected during the night, while oxygen consumption levels remained unaffected and finally the respiratory quotient (carbon dioxide production divided by oxygen consumption) was lower during the day (P < 0.05) and also somewhat lower during the night (not significant). The results demonstrate the usefulness of our methods for experiments dealing with metabolic effects of RF-EMF exposure in rodents. They also confirm the assumption that even though the metabolism is reduced at high SAR levels, the body core temperature is being kept constant by the energy uptake from the RF-EMF exposure which is able to physiologically compensate for the reduced metabolism.


We present a trace-based debugging environment for a lazy functional language. We argue that traces are a natural even inevitable approach to debugging of lazy languages because stop-and-examine techniques run up against the unpredictability of lazy evaluation. We give a formal definition of trace describe how the Centaur system was used to build the environment and show our system being used to debug a small program. The more general goal of this work is to demonstrate a "hypertextual" approach to trace-based debugging. Our argument is that using hypertext techniques overcomes one of the most serious problems traditionally associated with traces : information overload.


The Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (DCMES) grew out of a recognized need for improved resource discovery of web resources. Initial work on the DCMES focused on the requirement of simplicity: "ordinary" users should be able to formulate descriptive records based on a relatively simple schema (fifteen free-text elements). Over the years there has been a movement within the Dublin Core community to use the DCMES for more complex and specialized resource description tasks and, correspondingly, develop mechanisms for incorporating such complexity within the basic element set. This work has generally been called qualified Dublin Core. We examine the notion of accommodating complexity in a simple metadata model and argue that the dual requirements are incompatible. We discuss the role of events and processes in more expressive metadata and how simple resource-centric models, such as DCMES, are not equipped to express these semantics


Autophagy is a cellular process that maintains the homeostasis of the normal cell, but autophagic dysfunction is associated with human diseases, such as cancer. In normal cells, the initial signal to form auto-phagosomes is by the class III phosphatidyl-inositol (PI) 3 kinase complex consisting of sequence genes, Beclin1/Atg6 and class III PI3K (Vps34). This process is negatively regulated by binding of Bcl-2 family members such as Bcl-xL to Beclin1 preventing Beclin1 binding to the PI3K-III complex and thereby reducing autophagy. In cancer, the autophagy can be neutral, tumor-suppressive, or tumor-promoting in different contexts. Genomic analysis of human cancers indicates that the loss or mutation of core autophagy Atg genes, whereas oncogenic events that activate autophagy and lysosomal biogenesis have been identified in malignant diseases. Optimal combination of inductors or inhibitors of autophagy with chemo or radiotherapy in a variety of tumor type, in different phases, can be successful approaches for improve the effect of anticancer therapies.


The results of further soft-tissue release of 79 feet in 60 children with recurrent idiopathic congenital talipes equinovarus were evaluated. The mean age of the children at the time of re-operation was 5.8 years (15 months to 14.5 years). Soft-tissue release was performed in all 79 feet and combined with distal calcaneal excision in 52 feet. The mean follow-up was 12 years (4 to 32). At the latest follow-up the result was excellent or good in 61 feet (77%) according to the Ghanem and Seringe scoring system. The results was considered as fair in 14 feet (18%), all of whom had functional problems and eight had anatomical abnormalities. Four feet (5%) were graded as poor on both functional and anatomical grounds. The results were independent of the age at which revision was undertaken.


The paper advances a thesis that the problem of disability is actively discussed at present not only in medicine, psychology and psychotherapy, but also in philosophy. This is explained by the anthropological turn that the contemporary philosophical thought is taking, and which makes it different from the classical period of development, when it displayed a purely rational and only logical interest in the essence of human being. The philosophical keenness on reason is now complemented with close attention to the problem of corporality, and, therefore, we may speak about including disability into the prerogative of the philosophical research.


Screening for illness should be an evidence-based activity. Screening tests are useful only if they reduce mortality or morbidity. Therefore, healthcare professionals must know how to evaluate research about screening tests to be sure that, in fact, the tests actually accomplish their goals. Tests that generate many false-positive results may cause harm from anxiety and unnecessary procedures. Tests that generate many false-negative results may worsen outcomes by leading to delayed diagnosis and treatment. Characteristics that make a disease amenable to screening include a significant negative impact on health, an identifiable asymptomatic period, and improved outcomes with early intervention. A useful screening test must have sensitivity and specificity for the disease being screened. It also must be cost effective and acceptable to patients. Sensitivity, specificity, and disease prevalence all interact to determine a test's positive predictive value--the likelihood that a positive test result indicates that the disease is present. Several types of test bias can undermine the validity of a screening trial. Screening bias occurs when the sample of patients used in a trial to evaluate a screening test is not representative of the patient population to be screened. Another bias results from the fact that indolent disease is more likely to be detected in a screening program than aggressive disease. The apparent improved outcome that results is called length bias. Finally, lead-time bias occurs when survival of a screened population is measured from the date of screening, whereas survival of an unscreened population is measured from detection of symptomatic disease. In screening for illnesses, the goal must not be merely to do something. It must be to do something useful.


The paper revisits the classical problem of premium rating within a heterogeneous portfolio of insurance risks using a continuous stochastic control framework. The portfolio is divided into several classes where each class interacts with the others. The risks are modelled dynamically by the means of a Brownian motion. This dynamic approach is also transferred to the design of the premium process. The premium is not constant but equals the drift of the Brownian motion plus a controlled percentage of the respective volatility. The optimal controller for the premium is obtained using advanced optimization techniques, and it is finally shown that the respective pricing strategy follows a more balanced development compared with the traditional premium approaches.


DEAR SIR, Reuterwall et al., in their wide and exhausting study on gender and risk of myocardial infarction, found higher relative risk in men than in women, but an inverse pattern in absolute risk [1]. Their thorough evaluation of major risk factors overviews different aspects, including lifestyles and blood lipid profiles. Myocardial infarction, however, as well as other syndromes of unstable ischaemic heart disease, has been related by many authors to novel risk factors and various serologic values have been indicated as markers of instability and prognostic factors of coronary artery disease indicating a poor outcome after the occurrence of an acute event. Elevated levels at discharge of C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, serum amyloid protein, troponin T and positive serology for Chlamydia pnuemoniae or Helicobacter pylori infection are amongst these. All of these variables were found to be present more frequently in male than in female patients [2]. In particular, when adjusting data for socioeconomic status, the presence of an inflammatory status in which a chronic, persistent infection could represent the cause, should have been evaluated. Inclusion of these factors could bring further clues (or raise new questions) to the issue of the differences in risk of myocardial infarction with respect to gender.


Solute concentrations in streams due to instantaneous slug releases are frequently influenced both by decay and by exchange with dead zones, among others. Based on the transient storage equations with first-order decay terms, explicit relationships are given for the computation of the zeroth to third temporal moments. The equations presented were applied within the framework of moment-based similarity functions which yield approximate temporal distributions of concentration. Results thus obtained were subsequently compared to finite difference solutions of the transient storage equations, in order to investigate the relationship between these approaches. Within the previously established ranges of applicability of the two similarity functions employed the comparisons indicated fairly good agreement.


Online harassment and various subcategories of it, like doxing and swatting, have attracted enormous interest for several years now—and particular interest in the world of game studies in the wake of 2014's GamerGate harassment campaign. Such protracted, crowdsourced campaigns remain undertheorized, however. Using contemporary research to modify Georg Simmel's formal sociological method, I provide researchers and the wider public with an easily visualized structure that most harassment campaigns follow: the form of an inverted pyramid bearing down on an individual target, stratified into three orders of harassment, each defined by level of severity and invasiveness. With this form, the public can more clearly visualize online harassment as a structural rather than individual phenomenon. This form makes a significant contribution to social media research by providing an approachable theoretical framework for future studies and can also frame design interventions on harassment.


For 3D seismic data processing, azimuth plays an important role, especially in complex subsurface regions. In such regions, elliptical or anelliptical orthorhombic models are commonly used to describe wave propagation. In these models, the behaviour of the slowness surface needs more detailed analysis. Umbilic points defined by the equal principal curvatures exist in a complex 3D model. In the vicinity of the umbilic points, the traveltime surface has the shifted hyperbola form that needs to be considered in processing operations like velocity analysis. Fractured media characterized by the orthorhombic model are more likely to have umbilic points, and it is important to address their positions. If exists, umbilic points can provide additional constraints in inverting for model parameters. Through a defined condition, we examine the position of the umbilic point and derive their explicit formulas. We analyse umbilic points for elliptical and anelliptical orthorhombic models in the numerical example. For the elliptical orthorhombic model, the formulas for the umbilic point position on different symmetry planes are derived and corresponding conditions are also identified. Further, we numerically examine umbilic point positions for anelliptical orthorhombic models and observe that the umbilic points are located out of two vertical symmetry planes. Moreover, caused by interference from two neighbouring umbilic points, a more significant deviation in traveltime is found in the anelliptical orthorhombic model.


Abstract This paper offers a theoretical exploration of the impact of diversity in schools on attitudes to inequality in students' later life. Reflecting on recent changes on the school system in England, and building on work on how values are formed and how inequalities between groups may be either perpetuated or changed, it seeks to investigate the development of values and agency goals relating to the reduction of poverty and inequalities, particularly between groups. School education has the potential to foster civic participation and moral values, and formal schooling can be seen as a unique site for the development of such values at a formative period of individual development, through processes such as collective reasoning and encounters with difference and inequality. While these issues have been explored with regard to educational content, most notably through citizenship education, it is equally important to consider the social context within which formal learning takes place, particularly the diversity of the school body itself, and how this is managed. This paper draws on existing literature on education, values and school diversity to examine how the capability approach can provide insights into the development of social justice values through education.


Protein delivery to plants offers many opportunities for plant bioengineering via gene editing and through direction of protein-protein interactions. However, the delivery of proteins to plants presents both practical and analytical challenges. We present a GFP bimolecular fluorescence complementation-based tool, delivered complementation in planta (DCIP), which allows for unambiguous and quantitative measurement of protein delivery in leaves. Using DCIP, we demonstrate cell-penetrating peptide mediated cytosolic delivery of peptides and recombinant proteins in Nicotiana benthamiana. We show that DCIP enables quantitative measurement of delivery efficiency and enables functional screening of cell penetrating peptide sequences. We also use DCIP to evidence an endocytosis independent mechanism of nona-arginine cell penetrating peptide delivery. In addition to the importance cell penetrating peptide sequence, we show that cargo stability may play an important role in delivery effectiveness. Finally, we demonstrate that DCIP detects cell penetrating peptide mediated delivery of recombinantly expressed proteins into intact leaves. As a proof of concept, we also show that ectopic protein-protein interactions can be formed using delivered recombinant proteins. By using a cell penetrating peptide to deliver the actin binding peptide, Lifeact,


Translocated in extraskeletal chondrosarcoma (TEC) is an orphan nuclear receptor involved in the control of cell proliferation and apoptosis and is expressed mainly in the mammalian central nervous system. To help understand the regulation of its expression, we have characterized the mouse genomic locus encoding TEC and analyzed its expression pattern in various tissues. The gene spans approximately 40 kb and contains 8 exons, of which the first two are noncoding. The promoter region does not contain any identifiable TATA box or CCAAT box elements; however, several binding sites for the transcription factors cyclic AMP-responsive element binding (CREB) protein and Spl are present. Two types of transcripts generated by alternative splicing were characterized by RT-PCR: one encodes the full-length receptor of 627 amino acids; the other encodes a truncated receptor of 429 amino acids lacking the entire carboxyl-terminal domain. Northern blots and RT-PCR analyses showed that mRNAs encoding both isoforms are expressed in all mouse tissues examined, with the highest levels being found in the brain. This expression pattern suggests that TEC may perform some basic housekeeping cellular function in addition to its role in cell proliferation.


Consumers are the nerve centre of the modern marketing, understanding this behaviour is quite essential for efficient and effective marketing management. Customers may state their needs, wants but act otherwise. They may not be in touch with their deeper motivations. India's consumer market is riding the crest of the country's economic boom. Driven by a young population with access to disposable incomes and easy finance options, the consumer market has been throwing up staggering figures. Marketing problem enhancing from the consumers' behaviour has a greater degree of similarity behavioural problems relating to the consumer durables. Hence, the present study has been chosen to identify and ascertain the extent of problems of consumer behaviour have an impact on the marketing of consumer durables in the fast growing Bijapur District (Karnataka State). The consumer behaviour in relating to consumer durables is strongly affected by some economic, social, cultural and psychological factors; the present research has been selected for an intensive empirical survey of the various factors influencing the buyer's behaviour on consumer durables in Bijapur District (Karnataka State).


Introduction —During a winter's residence in Rome, including journeys to and from that city by the Maremma, Siena, and Viterbo on the west, and by Perugia on the east, together with excursions, including one to Naples, in the spring, the abundant "earlier volcanic" products of that region were necessarily brought under my notice. For, although my chief object in visiting the peninsula was to ascertain the order of succession from its secondary to its tertiary strata, the very existence of those formations, particularly of the latter, was so intimately connected with contemporaneous or subsequent eruptions of volcanic matter, that it was impossible for any geologist not to be alive to the importance of observations which tended to throw light on the conditions under which such igneous operations took place. I had moreover a strong additional motive to enter into this branch of our subject, from habitual intercourse with my friend, the accomplished mineralogist. Count L. Medici Spada, and his zoological coadjutor Professor Ponzi. Although all the materials prepared by these authors will, I trust, at no distant day be published†, still as they will even then appear in a foreign language, and will imbody local phænomena not requisite for the clear comprehension of the subject, I venture to offer the present sketch, which, although in part derived from the labours of my above-mentioned friends, contains a modification of their views concerning the Latian Hills, which I consider to be of some importance‡. Not entering fully into the details of the literature


Conventional approaches to microscale actuation, such as electrostatic, have difficulty in achieving large motion at moderate voltages. Recently, actuators relying on the active control of capillary pressure have been demonstrated, with the pressure change caused by electrowetting on a pair of opposing surfaces. In this work, experimental results are presented from five prototype devices in which only a single active surface is used. The results demonstrate that pressure changes induced in a liquid bridge in this manner can produce large deflections (15 μm) of a flexible membrane. Voltages employed in the tests were moderate (≤25 V). The influence of several design variables, such as membrane diameter and thickness, on the membrane deflection are examined. Theoretical predictions are also presented and generally follow the experimental values. Potential sources for the discrepancies between theory and experimental results are discussed. While deflections obtained using a single active surface are not as large as those obtained with two active surfaces, single-active-surface configurations offer a simple route to achieving adequate deflections for lab-on-a-chip microsystems.


This research was conducted to estimate the effect of sonication and reducing agent addition on soil washing of heavy metals-contaminated soil. Sonication trained in soil washing did not significantly increased extraction efficiency of heavy metal compared to soil washing only. The extraction efficiency of sonication trained in soil washing was 12% increased for Pb in 0.01M EDTA leaching solution. Pb and Cd showed higher extraction efficiency in case of reducing agent treatment with mechanical shaking than that with sonication. However, the extraction efficiency of Cu and Zn in case of reducing agent treatment with sonication was over 2 times higher than that in with soil washing. Therefore, application of reducing agent addition with sonication or mechanical shaking should be decided differently for pretreatment of soil washing, according to the kind of heavy metal. It was estimated that sonication after adding reducing agent could increase removal efficiency of Zn or Cu-contaminated soil and shorten the treatment time.


A simple quartz furnace for Mössbauer measurements is described. The construction allows long time operation at temperatures up to 1500 K.


Abstract — The determination of fuel injection parameters is very important in studying diesel engines.  Knowing what happens to the fuel as it is being injected onto the engine cylinders may help in understanding the outcome of different engine operations.  Fuel injector behavior affects what happens inside the engine cylinders and may help explain fuel consumption, torque and power produced, emission characteristics, and other engine performance metrics.  Much attention is given to the operation of diesel engines nowadays brought about by the interest in alternative fuel sources.  This study describes a method of estimating actual main injection (excluding pilot injection) parameters: start, end, and duration of injection for a Common-Rail Direct Injection (CRDI) engine based on the information given by the fuel supply line pressure sensor mounted on the tubing that connects the fuel injector to the common rail.   The timing of the fuel supply line pressure signal was compared to that of the associated Electronic Control Unit (ECU) injection command signal to validate a sensible phase relationship. Distinct shape characteristics of the line pressure signal were identified and considered as start and end of actual main fuel injection. The estimation method was used to determine fuel injection behavior of a CRDI engine running at full load from 800 to 4000 rpm.  The study also showed that increasing RPM increases the injection duration, average line pressure and advances the injection timing. Keywords— CRDI, line pressure, solenoid signal, injection duration


This exploratory study compared Spence and Robbins' self-reported workaholism components in two samples. Data were collected in two studies from Australian psychologists and Canadian managers and professionals holding MBA degrees. As few MBA graduates and male psychologists were working part time, the results should be treated with caution. Spence and Robbins' workaholism components (work involvement, feeling driven to work, joy in work) were appropriate to part-time employees. Full-time employees tended to score higher on feeling driven to work.


The study concentrates on the genetic after-effects of the Chernobyl accident in some districts of Kaluga Province. The frequencies and range of congenital malformations, prematurely death-rate in the radionuclear polluted districts were compared with the control districts. Prematurely death-rate in compared regions is the same. The increase of the congenital malformation frequency is revealed in one the polluted districts (256/10,000) as compared with the control one (27/10,000). We assume that the observed effect is mainly connected with the professional activity of the population.


In this paper, we address the problem of video transmission over unreliable networks, such as the Internet, where packet losses occur. The most recent literature indicates multiple description (MD) as a promising coding approach to handle this issue. Moreover, it has been shown also how important the use of motion compensation prediction is in an MD-coding scheme. This paper proposes two architectures for multiple description video coding, both of them are based on the motion compensation prediction loop. The common characteristic of the two architectures is the use of a polyphase down-sampling technique to create the MDs and to introduce cross-redundancy among the descriptions. The first scheme, that we call drift-compensation multiple description video coder (DC-MDVC) appears very robust when used in an error-prone environment, but it can provide only two descriptions. The second architecture, called independent flow multiple description video coder (IF-MDVC), generates multiple sets of data before the motion compensation loop; in this case, there are no severe limitations in the selection of the number of descriptions used by the coder.