[1] Relaxed sound speed measurements on 12 liquids in the CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2 (CMAS) system have been performed from 1410 to 1620 C at 1 bar with a frequency sweep acoustic interferometer. In all liquids, the sound speeds either decrease or remain constant with increasing temperature. These data are combined with those in the literature to calibrate models for bT and (@V/@P)T as a function of composition and temperature for CMAS liquids. CaO is the only oxide component that contributes to the temperature dependence of compressibility. The new compressibility models permit the bulk modulus (KT,0) of CaMgSi2O6 (Di), CaAl2Si2O8 (An), and the Di64-An36 eutectic liquid to be directly obtained. These results are used to uniquely constrain values for the pressure dependence of the bulk modulus (K0 0 = dK0/dP) in a third-order Birch-Murnaghan equation of state (EOS) for these three liquids from shock wave data in the literature. The revised K0 0 value is 6.8 (versus 6.9) for CaMgSi2O6 liquid, 4.7 (versus 5.3) for CaAl2Si2O8 liquid, and 5.6 (versus 4.85) for Di64-An36 liquid. Information on both KT,0 and K0 0 allows the density and compressibility for each of these three liquids to be calculated as a function of pressure to 25 GPa. Both the molar volume and isothermal compressibility of CaMgSi2O6-CaAl2Si2O8 liquids mix ideally between 0 and 25 GPa. The dominant mechanism of compression at low pressure (0–5 GPa) for all three liquids (CaMgSi2O6, CaAl2Si2O8, and the Di64-An36 eutectic) is topological, whereas gradual Al/Si coordination change plays an increasingly important role at higher pressure as topological mechanisms of compression are diminished.


Photochemical bleaching of pulp based on singlet oxygen mechanism is a novel environmentally friendly bleaching method. The article investigated mainly photochemical bleaching of pulp based on singlet oxygen mechanism by using self-assembly device for photochemical bleaching. In the experiments,Tinolux-BBS and methylene blue(MB) were used as photosensitizers to activate oxygen into singlet oxygen. According to orthogonal experiment of L_9(34),the influence of primary factors on photochemical bleaching was determined and the optimum bleaching conditions of BBS and MB as photosensitizers were found. Influence on color of pulp by photosensitizers were also discussed.


Background: Advanced heart failure patients with left ventricular assist device (LVAD) have experienced emotional distress and psychological sequelae following implant. However, few studies have examined stress among patients with LVAD. The purpose of this study was to describe physiological and psychological stress response and then to examine relationships between physiological and psychological stress response and outcomes (quality of life (QOL), functional status and healthcare utilization) in patients with LVAD. Design: A descriptive observational study design was used to examine physiological and psychological stress response among LVAD patients. Methods: Data was collected for patients more than 3 months post-LVAD implantation (N = 44). Relationships among indicators of physiological (salivary cortisol, sleep quality) and psychological stress, (perceived stress, depression and fatigue) and outcomes (quality of life, functional status as measured by Six Minute Walk Test (6MWT) and healthcare utilization, using hospitalization rate) were examined using descriptive statistics and logistic regression models. Results: The sample was average age 57.7 years, mostly male (73%), married (70.5%) and racially diverse (white 46%, black 43%, other 11%). Median LVAD support was 18.2 months. Normal cortisol awakening response was seen in most participants (61%). LVAD patients reported moderate levels of psychological stress and sleep quality and enjoy a good quality of life (73 out of 100, SD ± 13.5). At the bivariate level, normal cortisol awakening response was correlated with low depressive symptoms (p 300 meters (R 2 = 0.33, chi 2 = 0.002), but not for QOL and healthcare utilization when controlling for psychological stress. Conclusions: This is the first report of salivary cortisol and perceived stress in outpatients with LVAD. Associations were seen between sleep quality, psychological stress response and QOL. Cortisol and sleep quality were predictive of functional status among patients with LVAD. Future research should explore if those with a higher stress profile (abnormal cortisol awakening response, worse sleep quality, perceived stress, depression, fatigue) would benefit from tailored supportive interventions to lower perceived stress, improve sleep quality and improve QOL.


The German support for renewable energies in the electricity sector is based on the feed-in tariff for investors that grants guaranteed revenues for their renewable energy supply. Corresponding to differences of granted tariffs and respective market values, a surcharge on consumption covers differential costs. While granted tariffs are bound to fall with advances in renewable energy technologies, the market design and the flexibility of the system influence the expected market values of renewables and the necessary surcharge. We apply the European electricity market equilibrium model EMELIE-ESY to investigate this relationship. We find a crucial dependence of market values of renewables on a high system flexibility and the current so-called energy-only market design. Under these conditions, the market values of renewables sequentially recover with increasing market prices by 2024 and 2034. This allows to limit the increase of the core surcharge to below a quarter of its 2013 value by 2024 despite a doubling of renewables, and to introduce substantial surcharge reductions through 2034. However, the introduction of a capacity market would erode market values of renewable energies and induce a pronounced growth of the core surcharge. Under inflexible supply structures and a capacity market, we find an increase of the core surcharge of more than 50 percent by 2024, a respective loss of the market value of wind power of the same magnitude, and an increase of the generation induced part of the consumer prices of more than a quarter.


Video shot boundary detection is an important step in many video applications. Since the rapid development of video editing technology, especially, the extensive use of subwindow in news video, the original method of video segmentation cannot efficiently detect the video shot boundary caused by special video technique. In this paper, previous temporal multi-resolution analysis (TMRA) work was extended by first using SVM (supported vector machines) classify the video frames within a sliding window into normal frames, gradual transition frames and CUT frames, then clustering the classified frames into different shot categories. The experimental result on ground truth, which has about 26 hours (13,344 shots) news video clips, shows that the new framework has relatively good accuracy for the detection of shot boundaries. It basically resolves the difficulties of shot boundaries detection caused by sub-window technique in video. The framework also greatly improves accuracy of gradual transitions of shot


Lignocellulosic biomass from weedy plants represents a potential alternative feedstock for economic production of bioethanol. Large numbers of weedy plant species are growing all over the world. Characteristics such as high dry matter yield, low water and nutrient requirements for growth, and cellulose contents make weedy plants very attractive as feedstock for bioethanol production. However, like other lignocellulosic feedstock, the complex structure presents resistance and recalcitrance to processes of conversion to bioethanol. Several weedy plants have been studied to determine their physical characteristics and suitability for bioethanol production. Different conversion techniques have been employed to increase monomer sugars and hence bioethanol yield. This chapter discusses processes and current research activities in bioconversion of weed biomass to bioethanol.


PURPOSE
The aim of this study was to identify factors that can be used to predict severe neutropenia (grade 3 or higher) in patients with advanced urothelial cancer after cisplatin-based systemic chemotherapy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study examined 79 Korean patients with advanced urothelial cancer who were treated with several cycles of cisplatin-based systemic chemotherapy from May 2006 to May 2015. Risk factors for neutropenia (grade 3 or higher) and for the occurrence of neutropenia (grade 3 or higher) during the first cycle of chemotherapy were examined.

RESULT
Thirty-six out of the 79 patients (45.6%) developed neutropenia at grade 3 or higher during the first cycle of cisplatin-based systemic chemotherapy: 18 (22.7%) of these experienced grade 3 neutropenia and 18 (22.7%) experienced grade 4. Multivariate analysis identified pretreatment neutrophil counts (P = .001) as the only significant factor predictive for severe neutropenia.

CONCLUSION
The pretreatment neutrophil count was found to be the factor that poses a significant and independent risk in development of severe neutropenia induced by applying cisplatin-based systemic chemotherapy to patients with advanced urothelial cancer.


The significance of al-Ghazālī (d. 1111) in Islamic intellectual history cannot be disputed, but his influence on the Sunnī juristic discourse on apostasy may be exaggerated. Ghazālī's contribution to the Sunnī juristic discourse on apostasy includes a trilogy: first, an attack on the philosophers known as Tahāfut al-falāsifa ( The Incoherence of the Philosophers ) in which he accuses them of unbelief if they believe in the eternity of the world or God's ignorance of the particular events of the world or deny bodily resurrection in the world to come. Second is an attack on contemporary Ismāʿīlīs in his Faḍāʾiḥ al-bāṭiniyya (The scandals of the esoteric factions) where he holds their leaders to be infidels in addition to being a source of sedition. Third comes an attempt at providing a conceptual distinction between doctrinal heresy and apostasy while equating the concept of zandaqa with apostasy in his Fayṣal al-tafriqa bayn al-islām wa-l-zandaqa (The distinction between Islam and zandaqa /unbelief). The Sunnī juristic discourse on apostasy was neither influenced by Ghazālī's attempt to provide a decisive conceptual distinction between apostasy and doctrinal heresy nor by his equating of zandaqa and apostasy. Sunnī jurists referred to examples of apostasy that Ghazālī provided but did not seem to agree with his ambition of resolving the question of apostasy and distinguishing it from heresy once and for all, which left deciding who is an apostate in specific cases a matter of judicial discretion.


MBE growth and fabrication process technologies for realizing high performance and high yield HEMT LSI circuits are described. The mobility was as high as 2.4×106cm2/V.s at 4.2K. The high uniform epitaxial layer has been grown on 3"φwafer with low surface defect density. The effect of (DX) center in AlGaAs layer has been reduced by using new heterostructure. Threshold voltage (Vth) has been well controlled and uniform over the wafer and wafer to wafer. Ion implantation technology has been applied for the purpose of the isolation and reduction of series resistance. These high performance technologies make the HEMT very suitable for LSI application.


Studies along the South Atlantic coastline show that the geomorphology of tidal flats and salt marshes is commonly altered or controlled by the development of Crassostrea virginica oyster mounds. Two major mechanisms for geomorphic control have been recognized. (1) The oyster mound is a long sinuous bar encompassing large parts of the tidal-flat fringe. This bar acts as a barrier, slowing and in some areas completely impeding drainage of the flat during the receding tide. The impoundment of sediment-laden water increases the rate of deposition over the flat, eventually raising the surface topography and accelerating the progradation of the fringing salt marsh. (2) An oyster mound grows perpendicular across a small tidal channel, effectively damming the channel, causing in reased rates of sedimentation. Sometimes the tidal prism of the channel has been sufficiently altered so that an initiation of lateral tidal-creek migration occurs. Migration rates up to 1 m/year have been measured. In other cases, the channel fills with a fine-grained plug. Coring of two marsh systems in South Carolina shows that oyster mounds can play an important role in the depositional history of the marsh. In areas where lateral tidal creek migration occurs, much of the stratigraphic record is dominated by channel-fill point-bar sequences. Combining modern process data with subsurface cross sections derived from over 20 cores, a three-dimensional model showing the effects of oyster mounds on the back barrier environment has been developed. End_of_Article - Last_Page 1661------------


The U.S. Congress has a long history of attending to insurance coverage for children's oral health services while being relatively silent about adult dental care. Yet many adults, made vulnerable by their disabilities and illnesses, are dependent upon governmental programs. This paper contrasts the robust history of federal legislative action in support of children's oral health with the lack of attention to adults' oral health to identify approaches that advocates may consider when engaging Congress in improving oral health for disabled and older adults. It provides a historical context of Congressional action on dental coverage from Medicaid and Medicare in the 1960s through passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 and explicates the misconception that Congress has demonstrated about the importance of oral health for adults' well-being and general health. Drivers and strategies for policy change are described and recommendations are made to expand coverage for vulnerable adults.


Most methods proposed to uncover communities in complex networks rely on combinatorial graph properties. Usually an edge-counting quality function, such as modularity, is optimized over all partitions of the graph compared against a null random graph model. Here we introduce a systematic dynamical framework to design and analyze a wide variety of quality functions for community detection. The quality of a partition is measured by its Markov Stability, a time-parametrized function defined in terms of the statistical properties of a Markov process taking place on the graph. The Markov process provides a dynamical sweeping across all scales in the graph, and the time scale is an intrinsic parameter that uncovers communities at different resolutions. This dynamic-based community detection leads to a compound optimization, which favours communities of comparable centrality (as defined by the stationary distribution), and provides a unifying framework for spectral algorithms, as well as different heuristics for community detection, including versions of modularity and Potts model. Our dynamic framework creates a systematic link between different stochastic dynamics and their corresponding notions of optimal communities under distinct (node and edge) centralities. We show that the Markov Stability can be computed efficiently to find multi-scale community structure in large networks.


In this research, we report an efficient method to prepare highly active chitosan-coated magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles by implementing co-precipitation technique which is used for waste water treatment applications. Chitosan-coated magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles were synthesized and characterized using TEM, XRD, and XPS. A comparative study has been made between chitosan powder and chitosan coated with magnetic nanoparticles with respect to the rate of adsorption of copper from aqueous solution. It was also experimentally verified that chitosancoated magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles are much more effective in adsorption of heavy metals than chitosan powder and it takes just few minutes instead of hours. Moreover, the super paramagnetic behavior of the chitosan coated with iron oxide nanoparticles enabled the easy removal through applying an external magnetic field and hence leaving the solution free from copper.


Contact force (CF) sensing technology allows real-time monitoring during catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF). However, the effect of CF sensing technology on procedural parameters and clinical outcomes still needs clarification. Because of the inconsistent results thus far in this area, we performed a meta-analysis to determine whether CF sensing technology can improve procedural parameters and clinical outcomes for the treatment of AF. Studies examining the benefits of CF sensing technology were identified in English-language articles by searching the MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases (inception to May 2015). Ten randomized, controlled trials involving 1834 patients (1263 males, 571 females) were included in the meta-analysis (681 in the CF group, 1153 in the control group). Overall, the ablation time was significantly decreased by 7.34 min (95%CI=-12.21 to -2.46; P=0.003, Z test) in the CF group compared with the control group. CF sensing technology was associated with significantly improved freedom from AF after 12 months (OR=1.55, 95%CI=1.20 to 1.99; P=0.0007) and complications were significantly lower in the CF group than in the control group (OR=0.50, 95%CI=0.29 to 0.87; P=0.01). However, fluoroscopy time analysis showed no significantly decreased trend associated with CF-guided catheter ablation (weighted mean difference: -2.59; 95%CI=-9.06 to 3.88; P=0.43). The present meta-analysis shows improvement in ablation time and freedom from AF after 12 months in AF patients treated with CF-guided catheter ablation. However, CF-guided catheter ablation does not decrease fluoroscopy time.


This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of undergraduate students about their experience with online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. A questionnaire using Google Forms was distributed to 130 students and118 questionnaires were returned. The results showed that the most frequently mentioned advantages of the online learning experience were the ability to stay at home (27%), a smaller budget for studying (18%), time flexibility (17%), and access to online materials (16%), while the most frequently mentioned disadvantages were technical problems like internet access (22%), lack in understanding the subject (17%), lack of interactions with friends (15%), reduced interaction with the teacher (14%), poor learning conditions at home (13%) and lack of discipline (13%). This study also revealed that the preferred class format was a combination of meeting in a classroom setting and online (54%). The use of university portals and WhatsApp were the least preferred. A well-thought-out strategy and a more active approach are required for successful integration of online learning into the curriculum.
Keywords: student's perception, advantages, disadvantages online learning, COVID-19


The vehicle route scheduling problem is concerned with the determination of routes and schedules for a fleet of vehicles to satisfy the demands of a set of customers. The goal of vehicle routing is to schedule multiple suppliers from various places. Vehicle routing has existed since the advent of the Industrial age, when large-scale production became possible. As the complexity and scale of the manufacturing world increased, the task of optimizing vehicle routing grew. The vehicle routing problem is a combinatorial optimization and integer programming problem seeking to service a number of customers with a fleet of vehicles. Often the context is that of delivering goods located at a central depot to customers who have placed orders for such goods or vice-versa. Implicit is the goal of minimizing the cost of distributing the goods. Many methods have been developed for searching for good solutions to the problem, however even for the smallest problems, finding global minimum for the cost function is computationally complex. The paper presents an optimization algorithm using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) for the vehicle routing that would enable the logistic manager of a latex industry to minimize the transportation cost and maximize the collection using minimum number of vehicles.


A method for the simultaneous determination of polar pharmaceutical compounds in water is presented. Samples from 27 rivers and ponds were investigated for contents of Gemfibrocil, a lipid blood regulating compound, Clofibric acid, a metabolite of lipid regulating compounds (Clofibrat, Etofibrat, Etofyllinclofibrat), antirheumatics (Diclofenac, Ibuprofen, Ketoprofen, Indomethacin, Fenoprofen) and Sarkosin-N-(phenylsulfonyl) (SPS), a metabolite of a corrosion inhibiting agent. In addition water samples were investigated for some main metabolites of Ibuprofen, 2-[4-(2-hydroxy-2-methylpropyl)phenyl]propionic acid (hydroxy-ibuprofen) and 2-[4-(2-carboxypropyl)phenyl]propionic acid (carboxy-ibuprofen), which are excreted after oral intake. For gas chromatographic analysis the drugs were converted into their methyl-derivatives by "on column" reaction with TMSH, TMAH and "pre column" with diazomethane. The detection limits with TMSH were in the same range or lower than those with diazomethane or TMAH. The compound most frequently found was SPS which was only absent in waters with natural surroundings. Diclofenac could be detected in 10 out of 27 water samples in concentrations of up to 15 micrograms/l. In contrast, none of the pharmaceuticals investigated were present in 8 drinking water samples from Cologne and surroundings. Though concentrations measured were far below pharmacological doses, the data suggest a steady flux of these drugs into the environment.


Summary Previous experimental and theoretical studies on the hemodynamics of saccular intracranial aneurysms have provided evidence that aneurysms tend to grow, thrombose and rupture when (1) wall shear stress and mural tension are increased compared to normal values, and (2) flow deviates from a laminar unidirectional pattern (for example flow recirculation). Aneurysm wall shear stress, however, is the only hemodynamic factor which has received special attention in terms of estimation. Additional flow-related parameters exist which could potentially bring increased insight into mechanisms for cerebral aneurysm behavior; they could also help categorize the severity of such malformations and design effective intravascular treatment techniques. The purpose of this paper is thus to present an overview of such hemodynamic factors that could assist in determining the geometries which present the greatest risks to patients. These parameters include (1) hemodynamic shear stress, (2) pressure and related stresses, (3) impingement force on the aneurysm wall, (4) inflow rate into the aneurysm, and (5) residence time of blood within the aneurysmal sac. In addition, these factors can also be currently estimated in an in vitro setting.


ABSTRACT The bacterial pathogen Vibrio cholerae can occupy both the human gut and aquatic reservoirs, where it may colonize chitinous surfaces that induce the expression of factors for three phenotypes: chitin utilization, DNA uptake by natural transformation, and contact-dependent bacterial killing via a type VI secretion system (T6SS). In this study, we surveyed a diverse set of 53 isolates from different geographic locales collected over the past century from human clinical and environmental specimens for each phenotype outlined above. The set included pandemic isolates of serogroup O1, as well as several serogroup O139 and non-O1/non-O139 strains. We found that while chitin utilization was common, only 22.6% of the isolates tested were proficient at chitin-induced natural transformation, suggesting that transformation is expendable. Constitutive contact-dependent killing of Escherichia coli prey, which is indicative of a functional T6SS, was rare among clinical isolates (only 4 of 29) but common among environmental isolates (22 of 24). These results bolster the pathoadaptive model in which tight regulation of T6SS-mediated bacterial killing is beneficial in a human host, whereas constitutive killing by environmental isolates may give a competitive advantage in natural settings. Future sequence analysis of this set of diverse isolates may identify previously unknown regulators and structural components for both natural transformation and T6SS.


ABSTRACT When the alternative and separatist media site Rummet (The Room) was launched in 2014, it had immediate echo in Swedish mainstream media. The platform's founders declared that it was for and by 'racialized feminists and anti-racists', and that only non-whites were welcome to participate. Criticism from the elite media focused on the separatist stance and accused the founders of being racists themselves. My discussion in this case study concerns the racialized intersections of body, space, and identity. The data consist of texts posted on Rummet's website during January 2014, and articles in the Swedish mainstream media published during the first three months of 2014. The founders of Rummet made use of the media space to reverse the white gaze, reframe themselves and their bodies, and re-imagine place-making mediascapes and identities. The polemical debate framed the site's separatism as a threat to social cohesion and evaded the question of white privilege.


Hypervolume contribution is an important concept in evolutionary multi-objective optimization (EMO). It involves in hypervolume-based EMO algorithms and hypervolume subset selection algorithms. Its main drawback is that it is computationally expensive in high-dimensional spaces, which limits its applicability to many-objective optimization. Recently, an R2 indicator variant (i.e., $R_2^{\text{HVC}}$ indicator) is proposed to approximate the hypervolume contribution. The $R_2^{\text{HVC}}$ indicator uses line segments along a number of direction vectors for hypervolume contribution approximation. It has been shown that different direction vector sets lead to different approximation quality. In this paper, we propose \textit{Learning to Approximate (LtA)}, a direction vector set generation method for the $R_2^{\text{HVC}}$ indicator. The direction vector set is automatically learned from training data. The learned direction vector set can then be used in the $R_2^{\text{HVC}}$ indicator to improve its approximation quality. The usefulness of the proposed LtA method is examined by comparing it with other commonly-used direction vector set generation methods for the $R_2^{\text{HVC}}$ indicator. Experimental results suggest the superiority of LtA over the other methods for generating high quality direction vector sets.


A series of copper(II) complexes of 2-alkyl-1-phenyl-1,3-butanedione (2-R-BzacH) and their 2,2′-bipyridine (bipy) and 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) adducts have been synthesized and characterized by microanalysis, conductance, magnetic and spectral measurements. The conductivity measurements in nitromethane indicate that the complexes are non-electrolytes while the adducts are 1:1 electrolytes except Cu(n-Pr-bzac)2bipy, Cu(n-Pr-bzac)2phen, Cu(i-Prbzac) 2bipy and Cu(i-Pr-bzac)2phen that are non-electrolytes. The room temperature magnetic moments suggest that they are magnetically dilute compounds while the visible absorption spectra of the compounds showed the influence of variation of solvents and suggest plausible 4- and 5- coordinate geometries (Square planar and square pyramidal) which have been proposed, respectively.


The inability of the Russian state to enforce property rights and protect private entrepreneurs has been a major obstacle to economic growth. As the state became weak and lost its grip on justice and enforcement, alternative agencies emerged and took over these functions. But the competition between various criminal, private, and quasi-state agencies that offer protection and enforcement services has proven economically inefficient. Nor has it improved internal security and stability. However, several important shifts that have occurred in this realm over the last three years or so have made it possible to achieve a major reconfiguration. Analyzing these shifts, this memo suggests that improvement of state law enforcement capacity should now become the main priority.


The author reports on relevant aspects of pediculosis humanus, citing the lice species implicated, their location in the zones affected by lice infestations on human bodies and in their clothing; furthermore, he describes the most frequent lesions produced by lice, the adequate handling of lice infestations and their treatment. Lice are not a recent phenomenon; probably the lice which we encounter today acting as a parasite on humans is very similar to lice which infested humans centuries ago.


Blockchain technology has prompted new ways of governance and coordination. Such forms receive the name of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs). DAOs typically implement decision-making systems to make possible for the community to reach agreements. As a result of the agreements the DAO automatically operates (e.g., hire people, payments, invest in financial products, etc.) by executing code on the blockchain. In the last few years, several platforms such as Aragon, DAOstack and DAOhaus, have emerged to facilitate the creation of DAOs. As a result, hundreds of this new organizations have appeared and are interacting in the blockchain. However, little is known about them. In this paper, we want to shed light on them. We will review the three main platforms (Aragon, DAOstack, DAOhaus) that make possible to create and manage a DAO. We introduce the main differences between these platforms, and we finally compare them numerically. For the comparison we retrieve data from both the main Ethereum network (mainnet) and a parallel Ethereum network (xDai). We analyze data from 72,320 users from 2,353 DAO communities to study the three ecosystems along four dimensions: growth, activity, voting system and funds. Our results show that there are notable differences among the DAO platforms in terms of growth and activity, but also interms of voting results. Still we consider that our work is only a first step and that further research is needed to better understand these communities and to help them to accomplish their aim of decentralized governance.


Abstract Notched connections are extensively used in timber–concrete (TC) composite beams and floors due to their typically high shear strength and stiffness. Several variables can affect their overall structural performance and failure mechanism, and their structural optimisation still represents an open issue. This paper presents an exploratory finite element (FE) numerical investigation carried out through advanced three-dimensional (3D) models, where a key role is assigned to several mechanical features. The typical non-linear behaviour of each component (the reinforced concrete topping, the steel coach screw, the timber beam) is implemented. Shear or crushing failure mechanisms in the concrete and possible yielding of the coach screw as well as failure mechanisms in the timber beam due to longitudinal shear or tension perpendicular to the grain can be taken into account via cohesive elements, material damage and surface-to-surface contact interactions. Based on a parametric study of TC connections with different geometrical properties, the FE results are compared with past short-term push-out experimental data taken from literature as well as with predictions of simplified analytical models available in literature. It is shown that the FE model is capable of capturing the behaviour of the notched connections, including the collapse load and the failure mechanisms.


The near-horizon noncommutative geometry of black holes, given by AdS 2 θ × S 2 N , is discussed and the phase structure of the corresponding Yang-Mills matrix models is presented. The dominant phase transition as the system cools down, i.e. as the gauge coupling constant is decreased is an emergent geometry transition between a geometric noncommutative AdS 2 θ × S 2 N phase (discrete spectrum) and a Yang-Mills matrix phase (continuous spectrum) with no background geometrical structure. We also find a possibility for topology change transitions in which space or time directions grow or decay as the temperature is varied. Indeed, the noncommutative near-horizon geometry AdS 2 θ × S 2 N can evaporate only partially to a fuzzy sphere S 2 N (emergence of time) or to a noncommutative anti-de Sitter spacetime AdS 2 θ (topology change).


The goal of surgical treatment of metastatic spinal tumors is to maintain neurologic functioning without pain for the duration of the life expectancy. Of 28 patients in this series, 25 who had metastasis in the vertebral body underwent direct decompression by removal of the tumor, followed by vertebral reconstruction. A combined anterior or posterior instrumentation provided rigid spinal stability immediately after surgery. Three patients with involvement of the posterior part of the vertebra were treated by laminectomy for removal of the tumor, followed by posterior instrumentation. As a result, of nine patients who are alive with improved neurologic functions, seven have been ambulatory for an average duration of 13 months. Of 19 patients who have already died, recurrence of neurologic deficits was observed in five (26%), and 14 had no neurologic deterioration until they succumbed to the malignancy. Removal of the tumor and reconstructive surgery may be expected to produce satisfactory results


SUMMARY: Seven mutants which have low activities of vegetative (phosphate-repressible) alkaline phosphatase have been mapped by transduction crosses. These mutations do not affect the production of the alkaline phosphatase associated with sporulation. All the evidence available suggests that the activities produced in phosphate-starvation and during sporulation are attributable to the same protein and derive, presumably, from a common structural gene. It thus appears that alkaline phosphatase has distinct sporulation and vegetative controls and that all the mutations so far examined have been of the regulator type. The position on the chromosome of the structural gene is still in doubt.


The cuisine culture is a vital element of food-beverage experience in gastronomy tourism. In this sense, foods and beverages have constituted a major part of the culture in which they belong to and become a tool in acquiring knowledge and experience about the cuisine culture of a given location. The purpose of this study is to determine the interest of the local people in Hatay and Gaziantep, which safeguard their diverse cuisine culture in traditional ways and maintain their authenticity as UNESCO's Cities of Gastronomy, in gastronomy tourism and the extent of their food neophobia. As a part of this study, the questionnaires were applied by the researchers in Gaziantep and Hatay in 2019. Total of 565 questionnaires were evaluated. The data analysis was performed based on descriptive statistics such as arithmetic mean and standard deviation, as well as factor analysis, t-test and one-way analysis of variance. The results revealed that the people in both cities are highly interested in gastronomy tourism. It was found out that the food neophobia is highly neutral for the people of both Gaziantep (56.9%) and Hatay (63.0%). It was also revealed that some respondents (Gaziantep 36.4%, Hatay 32.7%) had food neophobia to a certain extent. On the other hand, the food neophobia turned out to be more common among male respondents than female respondents. In another finding, although the food neophobia level of the participants with high education level in Hatay was low, it was found that the food neophobia levels of the participants with high education level in Gaziantep were high. The results of the the respondents from Hatay corroborate the results of past studies. However, the results of the respondents from Gaziantep suggest the contrary compared to the past studies, and indicate that the less educated respondents are, the less food neophobia they tend to have. This shows that the effect of educational background on food neophobia has yet to be evident.


Schistosomiasis remains one of the most prevalent parasitic infections and has significant
 economic and public health losses in many developing countries. Understanding the
 host/parasite interactions is important, since questions arise concerning the susceptibility of
 snails to infection by respective trematodes and their specificity and suitability as hosts for
 continued parasite development. Thus the aim of this research is to extend our knowledge about
 the biological basis of the snail/parasite relationship with the hope of finding novel ways to
 disrupt the transmission of this disease. In the current research the compatibility/incompatibility
 of two types of snails,Biomphalaria alexandrina and Bulinus truncatus with their target and nontarget
 miracidia (Schistosoma mansoni and Schistosoma haematobium) was investigated
 histopathologically and also by identifying some host defense mechanisms against the invading
 parasite by biochemical analyses through the measurement of lipid peroxides, and the
 antioxidant enzymes glutathione reductase, superoxide dismutase and catalase in these snails.
 The results showed that the parasites invading the incompatible snail species were immediately
 recognized by the host hemocytes and encapsulated at an early stage of snail penetration , while
 those infecting the compatibile snails were well developed as mother sporocysts. The obtained
 data also demonstrated that lipid peroxides were increased in snails exposed to the noncompatible
 parasite while the antioxidant enzyme levels were elevated in snails exposed to the
 compatible parasite indicating the capability of the respective parasites to overcome the defense
 mechanisms generated by its host. The infection rate between each type of snail and its
 compatible parasite was higher than with the non-compatible parasite. Results of these
 experiments strongly support the hypothesis that endogenous expression and regulation of larval
 antioxidant enzymes serve a direct role in protection against external oxidative stress, including
 immune-mediated cytotoxic reactions. This may open new areas for investigating new immuno or
 chemotherapies or vaccines against the enzymes or products that the parasite releases or needs
 to survive within its host.


Granites of the Osmania University area, Hyderabad, have been studied in detail in order to understand their geological setting and magnetic anomalies. An area comprising nearly 8 sq. miles has been mapped for structural elements and the distribution of pink and grey granites in the field have been marked out. The area has been divided into a square grid of 200 meters interval and vertical intensity of magnetic field has been measured at nearly 600 stations and a magnetic anomaly map has been prepared. It is interesting to note that the magnetic anomaly map follows the distribution of various types of granites and the location of dykes in the field. A few magnetic highs have been noted and these are generally correlatable to the grey granite massifs.


In recent years, transnational education (TNE) has seen a surge in numbers across the world and especially in Asian countries. Although student participation is underlined in TNE universities, it can be difficult to achieve due to local students' lack of confidence in English speaking and other locally socio-cultural reasons. Reflecting on the author's teaching practice in a TNE university based in China for two years, this paper discusses the use and value of combining online forum discussion (ODF) with gamification to engage English-as-second-language (ESL) students in a BA-level social sciences module. Combining qualitative in-depth interviews, longitudinal observation and quantitative data analysis, the research explores students' motivations for ODF participation, the contribution of ODF to classroom discussion, as well as the correlation between class participation (including ODF participation) and academic performance. It argues that instructors' facilitation, involvement and the establishment of a learning community are pre-conditions for an active discussion forum to take place, which in turn improves ESL students' class participation and strengthens a sense of connection particularly valuable in the current context of Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, gamification mechanism such as badges and rewards can help to maintain students' engagement and meet their desire for recognition. In addition, ODF participation is found positively correlated with a student's academic performance on a statistically significant level.


Submodular functions have been studied extensively in machine learning and data mining. In particular, the optimization of submodular functions over the integer lattice (integer submodular functions) has recently attracted much interest, because this domain relates naturally to many practical problem settings, such as multilabel graph cut, budget allocation and revenue maximization with discrete assignments. In contrast, the use of these functions for probabilistic modeling has received surprisingly little attention so far. In this work, we firstly propose the Generalized Multilinear Extension, a continuous DR-submodular extension for integer submodular functions. We study central properties of this extension and formulate a new probabilistic model which is defined through integer submodular functions. Then, we introduce a block-coordinate ascent algorithm to perform approximate inference for those class of models. Finally, we demonstrate its effectiveness and viability on several real-world social connection graph datasets with integer submodular objectives.


This paper consists of results of a state survey and case studies of Minnesota and Massachusetts, two states with recent histories in implementing tuition formulas. Both case studies are discussed within the context of state fiscal conditions and appropriations. The survey revealed that 16 states are attempting to establish an enduring rationale for their tuition levels by utilizing a pre-set number to serve as a yardstick for setting tuitions. The report attempts to assess, among other things: (1) Whether tuition formula systems succeed in bringing policy rationales and predictability to the state financing structure; (2) Whether tuition formulas also may cause consequences that are not positive in terms of access and quality; and (3) Whether there are ways to maximize positive consequences and minimize the negative. Among the study's conclusions are that: percent-of-cost formulas may bring a sense of predictability to the institutional funding process without leading to higher than average tuition hikes; that such formulas do not result in an overall decline in access nor confer advantages on private institutions; that such formulas, however, do not appear to lead to more stable support for public institutions and students; and that student aid benefits may not keep pace with formula generated tuition increases. Four major recommendations propose: (1) an interlocking formula for appropriating funds to public institutions; (2) an interconnecting state policy for setting financial aid benefits; (3) protections against steep tuition increases; and (4) provision for a follow-up assessment of enrollment trends. The appendix provides a summary of the results of questionnaires and phone interviews used to collect data in the other 14 "tuition formula" states. A bibliography of 12 references is attached. (GLR) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ***********************************************************************


As everyday musical experiences move further into
software platforms, an interest among musicians in taking fuller
advantage of computational media produces a strand of interactive,
software-based musical works I call open mediational music. This
phenomenon stands apart from other types of creative work centered
on music and interaction by valorizing the listener's
responsibility for instantiating musical works. It also advances an
agenda of openness with respect to interactivity as a principle of
new media. I center four case studies on a set of interactive
musical works that exemplify this phenomenon: Reflective by Reiko
Yamada, Thicket by Morgan Packard and Joshue Ott, Jazz. Computer by
Yotam Mann and Sarah Rothberg, and Baggage Allowance by Pamela Z.
Each of these works takes shape out of unique motivations and in
different forms and settings. Collectively, they advance a notion
of platforms as objects of critical awareness and propose listening
as a model for mindful participation in algorithmic environments.
Illuminating the distinct claims that sound and software hold on
one another as creative domains, open mediational music invites
listeners to rehearse a conscientious engagement with the sites and
conditions of computationally mediated cultural
encounter.


Lake Brownwood is a 7,300-acre reservoir located in the center of Texas, created by a dam on the Pecan Bayou, a tributary of the Colorado River. The shoreline of the lake and its three islands consists of approximately 90 miles of recreational waterfront property with nearly 1,000 floating dock structures. The dock structures at Lake Brownwood are similar in construction to those found at many lakes throughout the United States. This paper will discuss structural forensic investigations of twenty-two floating dock structures damaged by straight-line winds that occurred on May 8, 2009. Over half of the recreational dock structures on Lake Brownwood were damaged during this severe weather event. The primary focus of the case study will be the anchorage systems employed by the dock structures and an evaluation of their effectiveness in resisting dynamic wind and wave conditions associated with open-water exposure of large lakes. This paper will address common deficiencies of the observed anchorage systems, propose reinforcement of existing systems, and present a new paradigm for anchorage systems to improve the performance of future floating dock structures.


Objective: To examine the potential benefits and risks associated with weight-bearing after intramedullary (IM) nailing of unstable tibial shaft fractures. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Setting: Two New York State level 1 trauma centers, one level 2 trauma center, and 1 tertiary care orthopaedic hospital in a large urban center in New York City. Patients/Participants: Eighty-eight patients with 90 tibial shaft fractures were enrolled. The following were used as inclusion criteria: (1) skeletally mature adult patients 18 years of age or older, (2) displaced fractures of tibial diaphysis (OTA type 42) treated with operative intervention, and (3) radiographs, including injury, operative, and completion of follow-up. Sixty-eight patients with 70 tibial shaft fractures completed follow-up. Intervention: All patients were treated with locked IM nailing. Patients were randomized to 1 of 2 groups: immediate weight-bearing-as-tolerated (WBAT) or non–weight-bearing for the first 6 postoperative weeks (NWB). Main Outcome Measures: Fracture union or treatment failure/revision surgery. Results: There was no statistical difference in the observed time to union between groups (WBAT = 22.1 ± 11.7 weeks vs. NWB = 21.3 ± 9.9 weeks; P = 0.76). Rates of complications did not statistically differ between groups. No fracture loss of reduction leading to malunion was encountered. Short Musculoskeletal Function Assessment scores for all domains did not statistically differ between groups. Conclusions: Immediate weight-bearing after IM nailing of tibial shaft fractures is safe and is not associated with an increase in adverse events or complications. Patients should be allowed to bear weight as tolerated after IM nailing of OTA subtype 42-A and 42-B tibial shaft fractures. Level of Evidence: Therapeutic Level I. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.


Case Completion investigates cases for complex problem solving tasks using Case-Based Reasoning. Such tasks consist of several steps, and related cases should support each intermediate decision. Related cases are of a constraint like style and need the handling of partial matching for retrieval. Related similarity measures are investigated, and the implementation by Case Retrieval Nets is proposed.


Two monoclonal antibodies (mAb M4d2 and M4d3) specific for the alpha 2-fragment (C4d), and one antibody (mAb M4c3) specific for the gamma-chain of human complement protein C4, have been tested for cross-reactivity against mammalian complement. These mAb have also been found to react with C4 from guinea-pig (mAb M4d2 and M4c3) as well as from cattle, baboon and rhesus monkey (mAb M4d3 and M4c3) in an activation ELISA. Since reactivity of mAb M4d2 and M4c3 included guinea-pig complement, the specific recognition of mammalian C4 could be confirmed with sera from C4-deficient (def') guinea-pigs. mAb M4d2 or M4d3, but not mAb M4c3, stained glomerular deposits within renal tissue sections from pig, cattle and guinea-pig. In the case of mAb M4d2, specificity of that staining could also be demonstrated in kidney specimens from C4-def' guinea-pigs. It can be concluded that, as in humans, the C4d fragment is also present in mammalian glomeruli. Compared with normal guinea-pigs, the C4-def' and C2-def' animals showed markedly increased glomerular deposits of IgM. It appears that glomerular deposition of complement C4d in mammals: (1) indicates activation via the classical pathway; (2) represents a general phenomenon of renal homeostasis; and (3) seems to be involved in the physiological clearance of immune complexes.


Uranium oxide hydrate (UOH) materials, a group of minerals and synthetic phases, have attracted recent attention due to their high structural flexibility and diversity as well as their primary relationship with natural weathering of the mineral uraninite and the alteration of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) in geological disposal. Due to the limited structural and chemical understanding of UOH minerals, synthetic UOH phases provide a unique opportunity to fill existing knowledge gaps through the exploration of further structural diversity and distinctive properties, as well as potential applications. Some of the latest developments of synthetic UOH phases include the incorporation of 3d transition metal and lanthanide ions, the evolution of uranyl oxide hydroxide layers driven by interlayer charge, the structural diversity of uranyl oxide hydrate frameworks, and the intrinsic driving force for the formation of diversified structural types. The purpose of this review is to provide a comprehensive summary of the latest advancements of synthetic UOH phases with 3d transition and lanthanide metal ions, including their syntheses, structural diversities, microstructures, uranium valences, vibration modes, and structural and chemical complexities. It also highlights the subsequent implications of these advancements on uranium geochemistry and SNF alterations, amongst other potential applications. A further discussion on technical challenges and knowledge gaps is included to identify areas for future research.


Controlling health care costs should allow the nation to provide more health services and higher quality care to more people. The authors are concerned, however, that many of the reform efforts will unwittingly undermine the culture of care in their pursuit of savings and access. This article is a plea to maintain the core moral values and the social and institutional commitments that are essential in the delivery of care, so that the health care community is not turned into a health industry. The authors' communitarian approach aims to preserve the balance between individual rights and social responsibilities, the moral integrity of a caring society, and the unique character of mutual trust between patients and health care personnel. They advocate an orientation toward preventing disease and promoting health, an imperative of reforming the violent, reckless, and costly aspects of American society, and a moral justification for cutting administrative waste, defensive medicine, and excessive profits rather than rationing beneficial and humane health services.


Introduction Obesity is a complex, multifactorial chronic disease involving genetic, physiological, metabolic, behavioural, psychological and environmental components. The global epidemic of overweight and obesity—"globesity"—is rapidly becoming a major public health problem. It has reached epidemic proportion in India in the 21st century. Methods The present population based study has been conducted in rural and urban areas of Ludhiana district, Punjab State (India). The study included 1615 Punjabi adults comprising 875 from rural and 740 from urban area. Demographic variables (age, sex, SES, lifestyle) and anthropometric parameters—height, weight, waist circumference and hip circumference were recorded. Biochemical analysis viz. cholesterol, Na and K were also done. Results Out of 1615 subjects, 44% were males and 56% were females. Half of the subjects were in the age group of 20–40 years. Overall prevalence of overweight and obesity has been found be 18.8% and 46.6%, respectively. Prevalence of obesity is slightly higher in rural subjects than the urban. The percentage of obese subjects is 54%, 55.35% and 56.44% in the age groups of ≤30 years, 31–40 years and 41–50 years, respectively. Prevalence of obesity has been computed in relation to sex, SES and lifestyle. Serum cholesterol level was significantly (p=0.007) higher among obese (192.24±41.39) than non obese (179.27±39.57) subjects. No significant difference of Na and K was observed between obese and non obese subjects. Conclusion The prevalence of obesity is alarmingly high in adult population of Punjab.


The article explores the cross-section of gender differences and colonial/imperial differences on the example of the Soviet campaign of emancipation of the minority women in the Volga-Ural region during the 1920s and early 1930s. Drawing from Soviet publications and archival documents on the Commission for the Improvement of Work and Everyday Life of Women, the article shows that in spite of its emancipatory potential, the official campaign censored alternative projects of women's emancipation that had emerged in the region before the Bolshevik revolution. At the same time, the institutionalized campaign for women's equality privileged female activists on ideological rather than ethnic grounds. However, the existing structure of socialization in reality promoted mainly those of Russian and in general, Slavic background, thus reifying the old colonial disposition.


Injury and death from electric current although rare, are not uncommon. In majority of the fatalities, death usually results from accidental contact with a live wire, both in industrial and domestic circumstances. The entry wound is usually in the hand or foot, with the exit wound being in the opposite hand or foot touching the earth (or the ground). Rarely, due to a unique position of the body and circumstances, they may be seen on head, face, neck, mouth, lips, body trunk, etc. However, here we present a unique site of electrocution, the eye, which has probably never been reported before. This case was also accidental in nature.


PURPOSE
To characterize an ionization chamber array technology with high spatial resolution and high charge collection efficiency for external beam radiotherapy.

METHODS
The prototype under test is a linear array of air vented ionization chambers developed by IBA Dosimetry, consisting of 80 pixels with 3.5mm spatial resolution and 4mm3 sensitive volume. The detector was characterized in a plastic phantom with 6 0 Co radiation and MV X-rays from an ELEKTA Agility LINAC (with flattened and unflattened beam qualities). Bias voltage was varied in order to evaluate charge collection efficiency. A commercial array of ionization chambers (MatriXX Evolution, IBA Dosimetry) and an amorphous silicon flat panel in direct conversion configuration were used as references.

RESULTS
Repeatability (0.4%) and stability under continuous gamma irradiation (0.3%) are very good, in spite of low active volume and sensitivity (∼200pC/Gy). Charge collection efficiency is higher than 99% already at 150V with ∼2mGy dose per pulse, leading to a ±1.1% sensitivity change with dose per pulse in the range 0.09-2mGy (covering all flattened and unflattened applications). Measured dose profiles are in agreement with MatriXX for fields larger than 2×2cm2 , in which case the linear array offers a much better characterization of the penumbra region. Down to 1×1cm2 , measured profiles are in very good agreement with the flat panel.

CONCLUSION
The array represents a valuable tool for the characterization of treatment fields in which high spatial resolution is required, together with the dosimetric performance of air vented ionization chambers. Such a technology would be particularly valuable in association with advanced treatment modalities such as rotational radiotherapy, stereotactic treatments (even with unflattened beam qualities) and proton therapy, due to the insensitivity of the chambers on dose per pulse. In the future, a two dimensional prototype based on this technology will be developed and tested. This research project has been supported by a Marie Curie Early Initial Training Network Fellowship of the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme under contract number (PITN-GA-2011-289198.


Microorganisms establish a symbiotic relationship at all stages of growth in man, beginning from birth to adulthood. They are found in every part of the body, and they participate in the immune system against pathogen-mediated immune responses. Their actions are elicited by secreting microorganism associated-molecular proteins (MAMPs) which they use as signalling molecules to activate a cascade of immunological responses within the host cell. They maintain the barrier function of the intestinal wall as well as prevent colonisation of the intestine by pathogens. Using their MAMPs, they bind to specific pattern recognition receptors (PRR) activating immune mediators in response to pro-inflammation by pathogens. These immune mediators are either induced or suppressed (in the case of overproduced immune response). Some of these symbionts elicit their action by anaerobic fermentation of dietary fibres into byproducts of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). These bacterial metabolites functions by binding to G-protein coupled reactions (GPCRs) on colonic macrophages and Dendritic cells (DCs) and contributed to the increased production of interleukin 10 (IL 10) in response to pathogen-mediated immune response. These unique immunological actions of intestinal microbiota, have shown that microorganisms are beneficial to the host as against the widespread belief that they are disease-causing agents.


Nonmyeloablative conditioning regimens followed by allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HSCT) rely on pre and post transplant immunosuppression to overcome host-versus-graft reactions and control graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD). Patients with less than 50% of donor T cells by day 14 after transplant have a higher risk of graft rejection and relapse than those with more than 50% donor chimerism (Blood2004; 104(8):2254). However, with increasing donor T-cell chimerism the risk of acute GVHD increases. Immunosuppression may inhibit the beneficial graft-versus-infection and graft-versus-leukemia effects mediated by mature donor T cells. Genetically modifying T cells with a drug resistance gene is one way to confer protection from the effects of the immunosuppressive agents, retain donor T cell function, and increase donor T cell chimerism by day 14. Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) has been used in the post transplant setting to decrease the severity of GVHD and reduce the risk of host vs. graft reaction leading to graft failure. The active metabolite of MMF, mycophenolic acid (MPA), inhibits the enzyme inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH). The type II isoform of IMPDH is the rate-limiting enzyme in de novo guanosine synthesis and is preferentially expressed in activated T and B cells which lack the salvage pathway for guanosine synthesis. A number of investigators have identified IMPDH II mutants that have altered MPA binding capacity and normal guanosine synthetic activity ex vivo (BBA2002;1594:27, JBC.1997;272:961, BBA.1994;1217:156). We have generated six mutants of IMPDH II based on in vitro data and x-ray crystallography of the MPA binding site and transduced them into a human T cell line (Jurkat), a canine large granular lymphocyte cell line (CLGL-90) and a fibroblast cell line (NIH3T3) using oncoretroviral transduction. The mutants include: S276A (A mut ), S276F (F mut ), T333I + S351Y (IY mut ), L30F + Q277R (FR mut ), Q277R + A462T (RT mut ), and S276Y (Y mut ). We generated bicistronic (IRES containing) retroviral vectors that expressed either HA-tagged wild type human IMPDH II (WT) or an HA-tagged IMPDH mutant and EGFP. We show that forced expression of WT will increase the MPA IC 50 3 fold (IC 50 =3uM) compared to non-transduced cells. Forced expression of only the IY mutant in all cell lines tested was able to transfer resistance to MPA in excess of WT (IC 50 >50uM). This is clinically relevant since MPA concentrations measured after transplant in patients on MMF are around 8uM (Blood.2005;106(13):4381). To show that resistance was related to the expression of the mutant enzyme we correlated GFP by FACS with HA-IMPDH II expression by western blot analysis, and correlated this with resistance to MPA in vitro. This was true regardless of selection in MPA or transduction and cell sorting for >90% GFP positive cells. Analysis of IMPDH activity in lysates of transduced cells is currently underway. This is the first report where forced expression only of the IY mutant provides a clear enhanced resistance to MPA in vitro compared to cells over expressing wild type IMPDH II. Currently, we are generating bicistronic maloney based oncoretroviral vectors which carry a suicide gene (CD34-TK) and the IMPDH-HA IY mutant which will allow us to pharmacologically modulate the level of donor T cells after allogeneic stem cell transplantation.


This paper investigates the potential use of genetic programming hyper-heuristics for solution of the real single machine production problem. This approach operates on a search space of heuristics rather than directly on a search space of solutions. Genetic programming hyper-heuristics generate new heuristics from a set of potential heuristic components. Real data from production department of a metal industries are used in the experiments. Experimental results show genetic programming hyper-heuristics outperforms other heuristics including MRT, SPT, LPT, EDD, LDD, dan MON rules with respect to minimum tardiness and minimum flow time objectives. Further results on sensitivity to changes indicate that GPHH designs are robust. Based on experiments, GPHH outperforms six other benchmark heuristics with number of generations 50 and number of populations 50. Human designed heuristics are result of years of work by a number of experts, while GPHH automate the design of the heuristics. As the search process is automated, this would largely reduce the cost of having to create a new set of heuristics.


Purpose: The study sought to examine the relationship between technological factors and UID system's adoption among MDAs in Uganda.
Methodology: A positivist paradigm and cross-section design were adopted with a sample of 97 MDAs generated from a population of 130 government MDAs. MDAs were stratified and randomly selected from each stratum. The heads of department and permanent secretaries/CEOs formed the unit of inquiry that was purposively selected. Self-administered questionnaire with closed-ended questions aided data collection. Pearson correlation and hierarchical multiple regression techniques were used for data analysis.
Findings: It was established that technological factors are positively associated with the adoption of the UID system among MDAs in Uganda. The study recommends MDAs to address all technological factors to enhance the adoption of the UID system.
Contribution to policy and practice: The study significantly contributes to a large body of knowledge in the adoption of information systems in the public sector that has been less investigated in developing countries like Uganda.


Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a delirium prevention intervention for patients in neurology and neurosurgery intensive care units (ICUs). Methods: This study was a quasi-experimental study. Participants were 87 patients. The experimental group was provided with nonpharmacologic and multicomponent delirium prevention interventions, consisting of regular delirium assessment, improvement in orientation, early therapeutic intervention, and environmental interventions. The control group was provided with routine intensive care. Data were analyzed using x test, Fisher's exact test, and t-test. Results: Both groups were homogeneous. The incidence of delirium and length of hospitalization were significantly lower in the experimental group compared to the control group. ICU stay, mortality and unplanned extubation were lower in the experimental group compared to the control group, but there was no significant difference. Conclusion: Findings indicate that the delirium prevention intervention is effective in reducing incidence of delirium and length of hospitalization. Therefore, this intervention should be helpful in preventing delirium in neurology and neurosurgery ICUs and can be used as a guide in the prevention of delirium in neurological diseases's patients.


The main micro-organisms able to interfere with the reproductive function have been considered. In particular, the problems concerning the vaginal environment and its interactions with spermatozoa, immunological aspects and contraception. Lastly, reference has been made to methods of prevention and study in the field of diagnostics and of clinical management.


We fabricated a mesa 10 μm × 10 μm in area and ~ 150 nm in height on a single grain in a 240-nm Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ/MgO thin-film grown by metal-organic decomposition (MOD) with face-to-face annealing. A multi-branch structure peculiar to intrinsic Josephson junctions (IJJs) was observed in the I-V characteristics of the fabricated mesa, and this structure was characterized by approximately 100 quasiparticle branches with critical current densities of 1 kA/cm2 and voltage-jump intervals of 20 mV. Moreover, the temperature dependence of the critical current was in good agreement with a theoretical result based on c-axis Josephson tunneling in d-wave superconductors. These results imply that the thin films grown by MOD have sufficient quality to fabricate IJJs for practical terahertz applications.


Shedding light on the postcolonial Arabic book, this article expands the literary and art historical fields of inquiry by bringing into play the translocal design and visual economy of modern art books. It is focused on the short-lived Silsilat al-Nafa'is (Precious Books series, 1967–70), published in Beirut by Dar an-Nahar and edited by modernist poet Yusuf al-Khal (1917–87). The series engaged prominent Arab artists and foregrounded the aesthetic dimension of the printed Arabic book as a "precious" art object. Situated historically at the threshold of contemporary globalization, this publishing endeavor formed a node connecting transnational modernist art and literary circuits with book publishing and was thus paradigmatic of new forms of visuality of the Arabic book. This materiality was enabled by a network of changes in the visual arts, printing technologies, and the political economy of transnational Arabic publishing in late 1960s Beirut. Relations between these three fields are analyzed through a multifaceted lens, focusing on the book as at once a product of intellectual and artistic practice, a commodity in a capitalist economy of publishing, and a translocal artifact of visual and print culture.


Today's business climate demands a high rate of change with which Information Technology (IT)-minded organizations are required to cope. Organizations face rapidly changing market conditions, new competitive pressures, new regulatory fiats that demand compliance, and new competitive threats. All of these situations and more drive the need for the IT infrastructure of an organization to respond quickly in support of new business models and requirements. This dissertation studies the adaptive development and management of such dynamic business models and requirements. A rule based environment is developed in which the people who develop and manage business collaborations in organizations can do so in a way that is as independent of specific implementation technologies as possible; and where they can take business requirements into consideration, and in which they can respond to changes as effectively as possible.


In this paper, we compare several anisotropic adaptive strategies for RANS simulations: feature-based and goal-oriented approaches. If anisotropic mesh adaptation has proven its reliability for inviscid flows, additional challenges remain to be solved to have the full gain of adaptivity, including early asymptotic (spatial second) order convergence, early capturing of the scales of then physical phenomena, . . . One of the key component in the adaptive process concerns the computation of the error estimate. We describe the standard multi-scale Lp interpolation error estimate, also called feature-based error estimate, and two goal-oriented error estimates: one based on viscosity solutions and a second approach designed for laminar flows. The study focuses on the (simple) Onera M6 wing where the low complexity of the geometry allows us to reach the asymptotic rate of convergence. To assess these results, a non-linear corrector is applied to the CFD solutions to provide point-wise error bounds on the given solution and quantities of interest.


BACKGROUND
Myofibrillar myopathies, often referred to as desmin-related myopathies, are a heterogeneous group of inherited or sporadic distal-onset skeletal myopathies associated with cardiomyopathy. Among the myofibrillar proteins that characteristically accumulate within the muscle fibers of affected patients, the one found most consistently is desmin, a muscle-specific intermediate-filament protein responsible for the structural integrity of the myofibrils. Skeletal and cardiac myopathy develops in mice that lack desmin, suggesting that mutations in the desmin gene may be pathogenic.

METHODS
We examined 22 patients from 8 families with dominantly inherited myofibrillar or desmin-related myopathy and 2 patients with sporadic disease and analyzed the desmin gene for mutations, using complementary DNA (cDNA) amplified from muscle-biopsy specimens and genomic DNA extracted from blood lymphocytes. Restriction-enzyme analysis was used to confirm the mutations. Expression vectors containing normal or mutant desmin cDNA were introduced into cultured cells to determine whether the mutant desmin formed intermediate filaments.

RESULTS
Six missense mutations in the coding region of the desmin gene that cause the substitution of an amino acid were identified in 11 patients (10 members of 4 families and 1 patient with sporadic disease); a splicing defect that resulted in the deletion of exon 3 was identified in the other patient with sporadic disease. Mutations were clustered in the carboxy-terminal part of the rod domain, which is critical for filament assembly. In transfected cells, the mutant desmin was unable to form a filamentous network. Seven of the 12 patients with mutations in the desmin gene had cardiomyopathy.

CONCLUSIONS
Mutations in the desmin gene affecting intermediate filaments cause a distinct myopathy that is often associated with cardiomyopathy and is termed "desmin myopathy." The mutant desmin interferes with the normal assembly of intermediate filaments, resulting in fragility of the myofibrils and severe dysfunction of skeletal and cardiac muscles.


Vignettes of several stages in the evolution of present concepts of overgrowth and related syndromes are presented. The scientific study of this topic did not begin until the 18th century because of its delayed emergence from superstition and fallacy. Examples of early superstitions concerning gigantism are presented, with some historical comments on infant giants. The pioneering contributions of Isodore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire to the scientific analysis of overgrowth are emphasized. Details concerning the early history of the growth syndrome associated with the names of Wiedemann and Beckwith is presented, with emphasis on cases reported prior to ours.


The article describes the principle of operation of the phase passive radio systems of frequency-temporal synchronization of diversity standards using the algorithm of general inclusion. The simulation provided the relations for estimates of errors and uncertainties of such systems, which are caused by the amplitude and phase distortions of signals, paths of equipment having the instability of the phase delay of signals, the ratio signal/noise. This allows you to assess the potential of the method and improve the accuracy of the frequency-temporal synchronization of geographically distributed time and frequency standards. The article also evaluated the threshold ratio signal/noise of changes described above, and presents the results of modeling of errors of phase passive synchronization systems, which are suitable for the matched filtration and correlation processing of signals in quadrature channels. The results are applicable to the algorithm of general inclusion using the signals of geostationary satellites SBAS, which emit coherent signals.


We analyzed polymorphism of the PCR-amplified 16S-23S rDNA spacer of Aeromonas species. A total of 69 isolates representing 18 DNA hybridization groups were used in this study. The analysis of PCR products of 16S-23S rDNA spacers revealed patterns consisting of two to eight DNA fragments. The fragment sizes ranged from 730 to 1050 bp. DNA patterns revealed a considerable genetic diversity between species and within a species. When a procedure to eliminate heteroduplex formation was performed, the number of bands was reduced to 2-5. Nevertheless the homoduplex ISR (intergenic spacer region) patterns obtained were not useful for species distinguishing.


Current demographic trends indicate that we will live in an increasingly aging society, with all its conditions including changes taking place in daily life. Contemporary civilization promotes the cult of youth, vitality and physical strength. Numerous manifestations of ageism are an expression of fear, fears of the consequences of the natural process of aging and old age. Elder people experience not only health problems, but more and more often loneliness, marginalization, violence, neglect and abuse, both from the closest family and aid institutions. The ongoing demographic changes require special attention to the problem of violence against elder people. The prevention of violence against elder people is particularly important in the event of increasing population aging. The purpose of the article is to present forms of violence towards seniors, a determination of the scale of this phenomenon, motives and methods of counteracting this negative behaviour in the light of the literature on the subject. It is necessary to undertake a wide range of activities to change the image of elder people and the phenomenon of old age and also draw attention to the problem of violence against elder people in the public forum.


Two multivariate committee distributions are shown to belong to Berg's family of factorial series distributions and Kemp's family of generalized hypergeometric factorial moment distributions. Exact moment formulas, upper and lower bounds, and statistical parameter estimators are provided for the classic occupancy and committee distributions. The derived moment equations are used to determine exact formulas for the false-positive rate and efficiency of Bloom filters -- probabilistic data structures used to solve the set membership problem. This study reveals that the conventional Bloom filter analysis overestimates the number of hash functions required to minimize the false-positive rate, and shows that Bloom filter efficiency is monotonic in the number of hash functions.


For a cosmological Randall-Sundrum braneworld with anisotropy, i.e., of Bianchi type, the modified Einstein equations on the brane include components of the five-dimensional Weyl tensor for which there are no evolution equations on the brane. If the bulk field equations are not solved, this Weyl term remains unknown, and many previous studies have simply prescribed it ad hoc. We construct a family of Bianchi braneworlds with anisotropy by solving the five-dimensional field equations in the bulk. We analyze the cosmological dynamics on the brane, including the Weyl term, and shed light on the relation between anisotropy on the brane and Weyl curvature in the bulk. In these models, it is not possible to achieve geometric anisotropy for a perfect fluid or scalar field – the junction conditions require anisotropic stress on the brane. But the solutions can isotropize and approach a Friedmann brane in an anti-de Sitter bulk.


: 1. Many difficult situations can be avoided if the dentist keeps constantly aware of the physiologic, the psychologic, and the artistic factors involved in the construction of dentures, whether they be partial or complete. 2. No one would think of buying an automobile without getting adequate instruction in how to drive; neither should a patient expect to wear artifical restorations without training and practice. 3. The dentist at the try-in should check: a. The bases for fit and extension. b. Thin labial flange at frenum area. c. Posterior palatal seal and length of upper. d. Posterior tooth poisition for height of plane, relation of plane to alatragus line, tongue room, and ridge relation. e. Anterior tooth position for lip support, length, and relation to lower lip. f. Entire setup for vertical dimension of the face, test balance and simultaneous tooth contacts in all desired positions. If discrepancies exist between the articulator and the mouth, make new jaw relation records. g. Check palatal contour and incisor positions in speaking. "F" and "V" sounds to test the upper incisor, sibilant sounds for vertical dimension and lower-to-upper incisal relationships. h. Wax-up for support and proper external form. If tori exist on upper or lower, be sure there is sufficient thickness to allow relief later on. i. Be sure to repeat and continue instruction of the patient in his understanding and handling of the new dentures. Now, in addition to all these checks to dentist makes, he must constantly anticipate the thoughts and attitudes of the patient and interpret them for better rapport and ultimate patient understanding. No stage in complete dentures is anticipated with such mixed emotions as is the try-in. No stage is so significant to the future success or failure of the patient to take dentures in his stride. No stage has so much potential for making the person happy or sinking him into the depths of despair. The return of self-confidence, the pride in appearance, the sparkle and drive that return to a patient when the restorations are enthusiastically accepted are a wonderful reward for dentistry well done.


Two kinds of N-doped multiwalled carbon nanotubes (N-MWCNTs) S1 and S2 are prepared by pyrolysis of nitrogen-rich metal phthalocyanine derivatives, i.e. a mixture of metal tetrapyridinoporphyrazines (MTAPs, M = Fe2+, Ni2+) and tetrapyrazinoporphyrazines (MPTpzs) in a chemical vapour deposition furnace. The N-MWCNTs S1 and S2 have a straight structure and a high N/C atomic ratio. The ratios of N/C in S1 and S2 are 20.01% and 18.50%, respectively. The N atoms in S1 exhibit a uniform distribution, and the majority of N atoms are present in a pyridine type environment, while the N atoms in S2 are concentrated in certain areas, and are mainly in a graphite type environment. The electrocatalytic activities of the N-MWCNTs obtained are measured by the rotating disk electrode technique and cyclic voltammetry in an oxygen-saturated 0.1 M KOH solution. The results show that S1 exhibits a one-step, four-electron pathway for the reduction of oxygen (ORR), whereas S2 exhibits a two-step, two-electron process for ORR, S1 has much higher catalytic activity than S2.


How can we make robots learn how to dance? How do humans learn to dance? An emerging culture of dancing robots is becoming more prominent in the research community with more emphasis on how we can show of our own creativity rather than allowing the robots to develop their own cognitive and psychological behaviours to the music being played. There are many different types of music and indeed, many different robots and many ways, in which they can dance to music however, much of the work carried out in this field concern limiting robots to dance in particular ways to a specific music and no adaptive behaviour implemented in them to be able to respond intuitively to music in general. We propose in this paper, a way in which such a problem can begin to be looked into, by introducing fundamental things that should be learnt that are necessary for dancing. We programmed a virtual robot to learn to dance to the beat as well as recognise the downbeat of any time-signature and tailor its movements to the loudness of music, using the Sarsa and the Sarsa( λ ) algorithms from reinforcement learning as the learning framework. Experimental results show that it is possible to make robots learn to dance to these fundamental rhythmic features of music.


This paper discusses the design and implementation of a one-sided communication interface for the IBM Blue Gene/L supercomputer. This interface facilitates ARMCI and the Global Arrays toolkit and can be used by other one-sided communication libraries. New protocols, interrupt driven communication, and compute node kernel enhancements were required to enable these libraries. Three possible methods for enabling ARMCI on the Blue Gene/L software stack are discussed. A detailed look into the development process shows how the implementation of the one-sided communication interface was completed. This was accomplished on a compressed time scale with the collaboration of various organizations within IBM and open source communities. In addition to enabling the one-sided libraries, bandwidth enhancements were made for communication along a diagonal on the Blue Gene/L torus network. The maximum bandwidth improved by a factor of three. This work will enable a variety of one-sided applications to run on Blue Gene/L


Radiation therapy has made tremendous progress in oncology over the last decades due to advances in engineering and physical sciences in combination with better biochemical, genetic and molecular understanding of this disease. Local delivery of optimal radiation dose to a tumor, while sparing healthy surrounding tissues, remains a great challenge, especially in the proximity of vital organs. Therefore, imaging plays a key role in tumor staging, accurate target volume delineation, assessment of individual radiation resistance and even personalized dose prescription. From this point of view, radiotherapy might be one of the few therapeutic modalities that relies entirely on high-resolution imaging. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with its superior soft-tissue resolution is already used in radiotherapy treatment planning complementing conventional computed tomography (CT). Development of systems integrating MRI and linear accelerators opens possibilities for simultaneous imaging and therapy, which in turn, generates the need for imaging probes with therapeutic components. In this review, we discuss the role of MRI in both external and internal radiotherapy focusing on the most important examples of contrast agents with combined therapeutic potential.


SUMMARY Two new fungi, Ceratocystis alba and C. californica, were found among the Ceratocystis, Graphium, Leptographium, and Chalaropsis species which often colonize freshly injured bark tissues of some deciduous fruit trees. Ceratocystis alba isolated from bark injuries on almond, apricot or walnut trees, is distinguished mainly by its hyaline perithecia, filiform ascospores, conidia size and growth characteristics. C. californica, isolated from a bark injury on a prune tree, is distinguished from a closely related species, C. pluriannulata, by smaller size perithecia, by the tendency of its perithecia to form in dense patches, and by narrower conidia. The new species are not pathogenic on stone fruit trees or walnuts. The association of C. alba with insects such as Carpophilus freemani, Chymomyza procnemoides, and Litargus balteatus is described.


Patients with cochleovestibular disorders of central and peripheral origin were treated with monothreane (produced by Luitpold Werk, FRG). The drug was given to 70 patients (19 men and 51 women) at the age of 28 to 64 years, 28 patients of which had disorders of peripheral origin and 42 patients disorders of mixed origin. The patients were examined by clinical methods and special tests and hypertension was diagnosed in 32 patients. The therapy yielded good effects in 61 patients: complete recovery of vestibular disorders was seen in 28 patients and relief of headaches in 42 subjects. Side effects were observed in nine patients who showed reduction of perception thresholds which disappeared after drug withdrawal. Monothreane had a beneficial effect on the course of the hypertensive disease.


In recent years, the advances in the development and manufacture techniques have allowed the appearance of small-sized, low-cost and low-power consumption sensors, which are grouped forming wireless sensor networks (WSNs). These networks have application in fields such as military, health or scientific. One critical point in these applications is the time synchronization among the sensors, which helps establishing a time reference for the detection of events. Thus, the network may distinguish the detection of the same event by different sensors or even track the presence of this event as it moves over the geographical region to be covered. However, the use of synchronization protocols will also allow processing different signals distributedly, improving the sensibility and the accuracy of the measurements. This paper describes some experiments performed to evaluate the applicability of this distributed signal processing scheme.


A system for on-line measurement and sorting of ball bearings is presented in this paper. The structures and functions of its automatic testing mechanics and control system are described in detail. The system sorts the tested bearings into four grades by measured values of vibration parameters such as root-mean-square value, peak value, crest factor and kurtosis. Its stability of indication values is between ± 1.0 dB. The mechanism generating abnormal sounds of bearings is also investigated emphatically and the characteristics of abnormal sound signals are described on the basis of vibration model of tested bearing.


ABSTRACT:Cybercrime is a bigger risk now than ever. Illegal activities conducted by cyber fraudsters and criminals using electronic means such as computers, mobiles and other network devices are genus of crimes which are transitional in nature compare to traditional crimes. Cyber criminals use a number of methods depending on their skills set and their goals and objectives. The rapid growth in cybercrimes is the main concern for financial institutions in the 21st century and the need to protect the cyberspace is becoming more critical than ever before. The word 'Cyber Crime' covers a range of crimes that are conducted virtually using any source of internet and electronic device. This includes sending or spreading virus programs, hacking and cracking, spam emails, phishing and obtaining unauthorized access to other computers to steal financial information. This research paper deals with the issues of cybercrimes and discusses how cybercrime activities effects the growth of the business sectors especially in the region of Gulf Countries Council (GCC). The data of the research is collected through survey questionnaire from employees of banking sectors and from general public and discussion is formed on how security measures could be further strengthened to improve the level of online banking security as well as the business growth in GCC. The importance of additional security devices to enhance the levels of security of online banking is also discussed. The research findings shows that cybercrime is one of the important issues that should be properly tackled by the banking and financial industry in GCC as the effects of cybercrimes are more than the financial integrity of financial institutions and other organizations. More security measures should be adopted for the purpose of secure online banking environment and also for the growth of business sectors. For the purpose recommendations are made at the end of the research. Further, for appropriate measurements to be implemented, organizations must understand the effects of cybercrimes. Financial organizations must be aware of online threats and must take into consideration all those measures that can help in improving the awareness of individuals in regard of security and to maintain sustainable financial business environment.


This study describes an experimental realization using digital predistortion (DPD) for a fifth generation (5G) multiband new radio (NR) optical front haul (OFH) based Radio over Fiber (RoF) link. For the performance enhancement and complexity reduction of RoF links, a novel Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based DPD technique is proposed, followed by comparisons with the generalised memory polynomial (GMP) based DPD method. To support enhanced mobile broad band scenario, the experimental testbed uses the 5G NR waveforms at 10 GHz with 20 MHz bandwidth and a flexible-waveform signal at 3 GHz with 20 MHz bandwidth. For 10 km of typical single mode fiber, a Mach Zehnder Modulator with two distinct radio frequency waveforms modulates a 1310 nm optical carrier utilizing distributed feedback laser. The error vector magnitude and number of estimated coefficients, and multiplications are all used to describe the experimental outcomes. The goal of the research is to see if CNN-based DPD improves performance while lowering complexity levels to meet 3GPP Release 17 criteria.


This paper introduces Adaptor library, which transposes traditional model-centric approach composed of pre-training + fine-tuning steps to objective-centric approach, composing the training process by applications of selected objectives.We survey research directions that can benefit from enhanced objective-centric experimentation in multitask training, custom objectives development, dynamic training curricula, or domain adaptation.Adaptor aims to ease reproducibility of these research directions in practice. Finally, we demonstrate the practical applicability of Adaptor in selected unsupervised domain adaptation scenarios.


Between January 1983 and December 1990 in Auckland, New Zealand, 87 patients (28 paucibacillary disease (PBD) and 59 multibacillary disease (MBD)) commenced WHO multidrug therapy (MDT). All were immigrants from the Pacific Islands (65) or Asia (22). A total of 57 patients had already received non-WHO regimens, some continuously, but often intermittently, for many years; 30 patients received WHO MDT only. By December 1990, 50 had completed treatment, with 1 relapse and 1 late reaction, both in patients with PBD treated with WHO MDT only. There have been no relapses in those treated with WHO MDT after prior leprosy treatment. In those with MBD, type II leprosy reactions were less common (16%) in those treated only with WHO MDT than in those treated continuously before 1983 with older regimens (64%). Type I leprosy reactions occurred in about 20% of both these groups. The bacterial index fell faster in those who had had a prolonged prior treatment beginning WHO MDT than in those starting WHO MDT as their initial leprosy chemotherapy. Overall we found WHO MDT was well accepted and the compliance good, but 13 patients (15%) left Auckland before treatment was completed and 6 (7%) during follow up.


A fourth order incremental analog to digital converter (ADC) is proposed which performs 16 bit conversions at a 50 kHz rate on sampled and held data. A new self-calibration scheme is presented which eases the matching requirements of capacitors, and the performance of the operational amplifiers in the ADC by changing coefficients in the digital postprocessing.


This thesis is concerned with the status of the good of 'self-respect' within John Rawls's account of the just society. Self-respect has a central place within Rawls's theory of justice—and yet, as many recognise, Rawls's discussion of this good is both fragmented and opaque. As such, very basic questions remain unanswered. What is the nature of this good? Precisely how does it relate to justice? And what moral implications follow from this for organising the basic structure of a just society? In the first part of this thesis I address these (and other) important questions. I begin by reconstructing a Rawlsian account of self-respect, so as to arbitrate between the multiple uses Rawls ascribes to the term. What emerges, I argue, is an account of self-respect which is not only more coherent than Rawls's exposition may suggest, but one which has an interesting and sophisticated relationship to the account of justice which Rawls develops. I use this account to argue that considerations of self-respect act as a constraint upon the principles of justice Rawls sets out, and I set out what I take to be a covert distributive standard for this good. These findings not only shed light on the status of self-respect within Rawls's work, but also on a number of theoretical debates over the kind of project in which Rawls was engaged. With this exegesis completed, the second part of the thesis asks what the implications are for three contemporary debates over the Rawlsian 'legacy'. I first address G.A. Cohen's 'incentive-based' critique of Rawls, and argue that the good of self-respect serves to deepen the thrust of this challenge. I then address recent accounts of 'Market Democracy' and argue that its proponents are wrong to argue self-respect can act as the bridge between Rawlsian and libertarian thought. Finally, I address the recent work done to expand upon the Rawlsian ideal of a 'property-owning democracy'. I argue that—subject to some minor revisions—this interpretation comes closest to realising thevision that Rawls had for the status of self-respect in the just society.


We carried out a comprehensive study on the B 1s core-level X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) binding energies and formation energies for boron defects in crystalline silicon by first-principles calculation with careful evaluation of the local potential boundary condition for the model system using the supercell corresponding to 1000 Si atoms. It is reconfirmed that the cubo-octahedral B12 cluster in silicon crystal is unstable and exists at the saddle point decaying to the icosahedral and S4 B12 clusters. The electrically active clusters without any postannealing of ion-implanted Si are identified as icosahedral B12 clusters. The experimentally proposed threefold coordinated B is also identified as a ⟨001⟩B-Si defect. For an as-doped sample prepared by plasma doping, the calculated XPS spectra for complexes consisting of vacancies and substitutional B atoms are consistent with the experimental spectra. It is proposed that, assuming that the XPS peak at 187.1 eV is due to substitutional B (Bs), the e...


This work applies Matrix Completion (MC) – a class of machine-learning methods commonly used in the context of recommendation systems – to analyze economic complexity. MC is applied to reconstruct the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) matrix, whose elements express the relative advantage of countries in given classes of products, as evidenced by yearly trade flows. A high-accuracy binary classifier is derived from the MC application, with the aim of discriminating between elements of the RCA matrix that are, respectively, higher/lower than one. We introduce a novel Matrix cOmpletion iNdex of Economic complexitY (MONEY) based on MC, and related to the degree of predictability of the RCA entries of different countries (the lower the predictability, the higher the complexity). Differently from previously-developed economic complexity indices, MONEY takes into account several singular vectors of the matrix reconstructed by MC, whereas other indices are based only on one/two eigenvectors of a suitable symmetric matrix, derived from the RCA matrix. Finally, MC is compared with a state-of-the-art economic complexity index (GENEPY), showing that the false positive rate per country of a binary classifier constructed starting from the average entry-wise output of MC is a proxy of GENEPY.


There is a wide variety of literature regarding chlorhexidine, so we have tried to put together the most recent studies in order to apply them to our clinical reality. Chlorhexidine is an excellent alternative which should be considered as the best chemical collaborator available in the market. In order to obtain the best therapeutic effects, chlorhexidine should always be used within a plaque control program administered by a professional. It's the best way to get the best advantages offered by this medicine.


Viagra and PDE‐5 inhibitors use has mushroomed since its launch over a decade ago. A growing body of evidence indicates significant morbidity associated with the side effect profile of this class of drug. Hearing loss associated with PDE‐5 inhibitor use has recently been reported, but few studies have evaluated the causal link.