The backlash effect is a well-documented negative reaction toward women who are perceived as counter-stereotypical because they engage in "masculine" behaviors during the performance of their jobs. In four negotiation studies we explore the backlash effect in greater depth than previous studies by identifying key factors that affect the propensity for backlash against female negotiators. In particular, our results suggest that executives, who have salient mental models of assertive, successful women, use those exemplars as referents when evaluating the behavior of others. This exemplar is consistent with expectations that women are assertive, thus we find that executives tend not to backlash against assertive women. On the other hand, students in whom this exemplar is less salient, rely on core gender stereotypes in the evaluation of targets, and thus we find that they tend to backlash against assertive women for behaving counter-stereotypically. We then demonstrate that these schemas can be reversed in both populations. By imposing threat we induce executives to draw upon core gender stereotypes leading them to backlash against assertive behavior in women. By making the successful businesswoman exemplar salient in students we observe them using this exemplar as a referent and subsequently accepting the assertive behavior of women.


Eco-design becomes more and more recognized and well deployed in competitive mass-consumer goods producers (B-to-C). However the situation is not so advanced in B-to-B industries, in particular for complex industrial systems, characterized by a very long and uncertain life cycle, a high number of subsystems and components or strong interactions with their environment. The technological and regulatory constraints associated with these systems may slow down the ability to innovate, as reliable and long-term proven technologies are often favored. Nevertheless the need for eco-innovation is clearly present, however to eco-innovate on complex industrial systems is a hard task. R&D projects in complex systems industries are often driven by technological and not environmental considerations. These project need to be identified really early in the design process, with few information. On the other hand everybody agrees that environmental-oriented R&D projects are necessary, but the product complexity makes the initiation of an eco-innovation approach tricky, and only few R&D decision-makers are trained in eco-design or eco-innovation. That is why a simple and effective eco-innovation method is necessary, with little necessary preliminary environmental knowledge and stimulating the collaboration. Thus we propose in this paper such an intuitive eco-innovation process. It permits to identify at a strategic level and with limited time and resources eco-innovative R&D projects through a multidisciplinary working group.


Japan provides a fascinating case for studying economic development. With her real GNP rising at an annual rate of 4 percent during the period 1878–1942, Japan was the only Asian country that emerged from a backward agrarian society to become a modern industrial power. Her postwar economic performance has been even more phenomenal; the average growth rate of real GNP in 1955–1964 was 10.4 percent—the highest in the world. Her investment rate reached an astonishingly high level of over 40 percent in several years in early nineteen sixties. Believing that there is no miracle in economic affairs, economists began to search the secrets of Japan's extraordinary achievements in economic development. To offer possible explanations, they usually stress the active role played by the Japanese government in economic modernization, the vigor of the country's response to new stimuli, and a strong national consciousness. These factors, while undoubtedly important, do not reveal the whole story. There are in Japan a number of institutional traits which, in my opinion, are highly conducive to economic growth. However, the contribution of these institutions to Japan's economic development has not been fully recognized because, in part, they were not designed for that purpose. Their growth-stimulating effects are accidental and unexpected. As a matter of fact, some of these institutions may even appear as economically irrational or socially unjust. Consequently, when students of the Japanese economy study these institutional factors, attention is usually directed to the negative side.


New strategies to rapidly develop broad-spectrum antiviral therapies are urgently required for emerging and re-emerging viruses. Host-targeting antivirals (HTAs) that target the universal host factors necessary for viral replication are the most promising approach, with broad-spectrum, foresighted function, and low resistance. We and others recently identified that host dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) is one of the universal host factors essential for the replication of many acute-infectious viruses. DHODH is a rate-limiting enzyme catalyzing the fourth step in de novo pyrimidine synthesis. Therefore, it has also been developed as a therapeutic target for many diseases relying on cellular pyrimidine resources, such as cancers, autoimmune diseases, and viral or bacterial infections. Significantly, the successful use of DHODH inhibitors (DHODHi) against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection further supports the application prospects. This review focuses on the advantages of HTAs and the antiviral effects of DHODHi with clinical applications. The multiple functions of DHODHi in inhibiting viral replication, stimulating ISGs expression, and suppressing cytokine storms make DHODHi a potent strategy against viral infection.


— This paper reports the work done at the Osservatorio Astronomico Regionale Parco Antola comune di Fascia (OARPAF), as a part of my master thesis. The paper is divided in three parts: the first part describes the instrumentation at the OARPAF; the second part shows the characterization of the instrumentation, from the pointing model of the telescope to the conception and the realization of the software for data analysis; the third part illustrates the results of the photometric calibration.


This article reviews two approaches to the study of economic restructuring which focus on commodity-specific dynamics of change. The first is the global commodity chain (GCC) approach, which has been developed primarily for the analysis of industrial commodities.The second is the francophone filière tradition, which has been applied mostly to agricultural commodities originating from former French colonies. The article finds that the GCC approach has a more coherent framework than the filière approach, although it is still far from constituting a fully fledged 'theory'. The authors provide a number of suggestions for improving some of its key concepts. They also suggest that the GCC approach can be enriched by some of the insights gained in filière work, especially in terms of improving historical coverage and depth, enlarging the analysis to agricultural commodities, better handling of regulation issues, and including quality convention issues in analysing commodity chain structure and restructuring.


The ovarian surface epithelium (OSE) is known to contribute to postovulatory repair of the ovarian cortex by proliferation and migration over the site of follicular rupture, and by deposition of a basement membrane. We examined the production of other extracellular matrix components in culture by OSE cells of the rat (ROSE), using immunofluorescence microscopy, electron microscopy, and proline incorporation. We compared recently explanted cells in low passage, the immortal line ROSE 239, whose growth pattern resembles low passage cultures, and the immortal line ROSE 199, which forms ridges and papillae. The epithelial nature of all three cell types was confirmed by the presence of keratin and laminin. All three cell types secreted collagen types I and III and at least one (ROSE 199) produced highly polymerized banded fibrils, which are characteristic for stromal or interstitial extracellular matrix. Simultaneous production of collagen types I and III, keratin, and laminin by cloned subpopulations ruled out an origin of the lines in mixed epithelial/fibroblast populations. The results demonstrate that OSE has the capacity to synthesize major components of connective tissue stroma. They suggest that this epithelium, in addition to its postulated proteolytic role, may also express synthetic activity in the remodelling of the ovarian cortical stroma. A capacity of OSE cells to produce stromal components autonomously might be an important factor in the formation of ovarian surface papillae and in neoplastic progression of OSE-derived ovarian carcinomas.


During locomotion over land, vertebrates' limb bones are exposed to loads. Like most biological structures, limb bones have a capacity to withstand greater loads than they usually experience, termed a safety factor (SF). How diverse are limb-bone SFs, and what factors correlate with such variation? We have examined these questions from two perspectives. First, we evaluated locomotor SF for the femur in diverse lineages, including salamanders, frogs, turtles, lizards, crocodilians, and marsupials (opossums). Comparisons with values for hind-limb elements in running birds and eutherian mammals indicate phylogenetic diversity in limb-bone SF. A high SF (∼7) is primitive for tetrapods, but low magnitudes of load and elevated strength of bones contribute to different degrees across lineages; moreover, birds and eutherians appear to have evolved lower SFs independently. Second, we tested the hypothesis that SFs would be similar across limb bones within a taxon by comparing data from the humerus and femur of alligators. Both in bending and in torsion, we found a higher SF for the humerus than for the femur. Such a "mixed chain" of different SFs across elements has been predicted if bones have differing variabilities in load, different costs to maintain, or high SF values in general. Although variability in load is similar for the humerus and femur, a high SF may be less costly for the humerus because it is smaller than the femur. The high SFs of alligators also might facilitate differences in SF among their limb bones. Beyond these specific findings, however, a more general implication of our results is that evaluations of the diversity of limb-bone SFs can provide important perspective to direct future research. In particular, more complete understanding of variation in SF could provide insight into factors that promoted the evolutionary radiation of terrestrial locomotor function in vertebrates.


Bio-signal analysis is one of the most important approaches to biomedical engineering. The health information such as ECG, PCG, EMG and EEG are often recorded in digital format to be analyzed. In this paper, a bio-signal analyzing web service system using Support Vector Machines (SVM) classifier technique is proposed. The bio-signals are recorded in digital format as the input of the system. In addition, based on the concept of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), the system under web services .NET is designed. The system provides features including heterogeneous platform, protocols, as well as applications. The system has been designed with the purpose of seamless integration into the Health Information System.


A printed multi-standard mobile wireless antenna loaded with double-negative metamaterial that achieves an impedance bandwidth of 2.29 GHz (1.66 to 3.95 GHz) and 1.28 GHz (4.45 to 5.73 GHz) is presented. The proposed antenna can operate in the frequency bands of GSM (1800, 1900, 2100), WiMAX (3.2–3.6 GHZ), WLAN, Bluetooth (2.4 GHz) and WLAN (5.47–5.9 GHz). The antenna is assimilated with a semi-circular shape radiating patch, a metamaterial loaded ground plane and a 50 Ω microstrip feed line. The antenna exhibits a planar structure and occupies a very small space of 37 × 47 × 0.8 mm3, making it suitable for mobile wireless applications. The perceptible novelties exhibited in this proposed antenna is reduction of electromagnetic absorption with the metamaterial loaded ground plane. The proposed metamaterial antenna achieved 66.47 and 66.52% of 10 g specific absorption reduction at 1.8 and 2.4 GHz, respectively.


The paper deals with the reformulation of quantum uncertainty relation involving position and momentum of a particle on the basis of the Kerridge measure of inaccuracy and the Fisher information.


Background: On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) a pandemic. Nearly five million individuals have since been diagnosed with this increasingly common and potentially lethal viral infection. Emerging evidence suggests a disproportionate burden of illness and death among minority communities. We aimed to evaluate the effect of ethnicity on outcomes among patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in Northern Nevada. Design: Single-center, retrospective observational study Materials and methods: The electronic health records of 172 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 were obtained from a 946-bed tertiary referral center serving Northern Nevada. Demographic and clinical characteristics were compared by ethnic group (Hispanic versus non-Hispanic). Logistic regression was used to determine predictors of mortality. Results: Among 172 patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19 between March 12th and May 8th, 2020, 87 (50.6%) identified as Hispanic and 81 (47.1%) as non-Hispanic. The mean age was 46.0 among Hispanics and 55.8 among non-Hispanics. Comorbidities linked to increased COVID-19-related mortality - hypertension, obesity, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - were more common among the non-Hispanic population. Hispanic individuals were significantly more likely to be uninsured and to live in low-income communities as compared to their non-Hispanic counterparts (27.6% versus 8.2% and 52.9% versus 30.6%, respectively). Hispanic patients were also less likely than non-Hispanics to have a primary care provider (42.5% versus 61.2%). However, mortality was significantly higher among the non-Hispanic population (15.3% versus 5.8%). Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected Hispanic individuals in Northern Nevada, who account for only 25.7% of the population but over half of the confirmed cases. Hispanic individuals were younger and had fewer comorbidities than their non-Hispanic counterparts; consequently, despite considerable socioeconomic disadvantage, mortality was lower among the Hispanic population. The underlying causes of ethnic disparities in COVID-19 incidence remain to be established, but further investigation may lead to more effective community- and systems-based interventions.


BACKGROUND
The 1994-1996 North American Contact Dermatitis Group (NACDG) patch test results were the first, since the inception of the NACDG in 1970, to include results from a medium-sized metropolitan city in the Midwest.

OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to determine whether the causative allergens of allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) in the Midwest differ from those in other regions of the United States and, if so, whether occupational or other factors account for the observed differences.

METHODS
Retrospective analyses of patch test data collected at the University of Kansas Medical Center (Kansas City, KS) were compared with the data collected by the other NACDG centers.

RESULTS
Patients in Kansas City were statistically more likely to react to potassium dichromate, formaldehyde and its releasers, methylchloroisothiazolinone/methylisothiazolinone (MCI/MI), and glutaraldehyde. Occupational exposures to chromium and formaldehyde were increased significantly among patients from Kansas City, although the percentages of the local population engaged in these occupations did not differ from those in other NACDG cities. Equal percentages of workers in Kansas City and nationally had occupationally related allergy to glutaraldehyde, although the overall rate of glutaraldehyde was higher among patients from Kansas City. Most cases of relevant allergy to MCI/MI were cosmetically induced both in Kansas City and nationally.

CONCLUSIONS
The current findings show significant regional differences in causal allergens. The increased percentages of patients seen with ACD to formaldehyde, formaldehyde-releasing agents, and potassium dichromate in Kansas City were likely caused by the referral of greater numbers of work-related cases. However, occupationally acquired ACD to MCI/MI and glutaraldehyde were not more frequent in Kansas City than nationally, suggesting that other factors might be operative. Although awareness of national trends is important, dermatologists must be cognizant of regional variations in allergen sources within their communities and referral networks.


Abstract I examine the significance of the Stoic theory of pathē (and related topics) for Kant's moral psychology, arguing against the received view that systematic differences block the possibility of Kant's drawing anything more than rhetoric from his Stoic sources. More particularly, I take on the chronically underexamined assumption that Kant is committed to a psychological dualism in the tradition of Plato and Aristotle, positing distinct rational and nonrational elements of human mentality. By contrast, Stoics take the mentality of an adult human being to be rational through and through, while recognising that this rationality is not normally in a state of health or excellence. I show how Kant's account of affections—chiefly the "affects" and "passions" that he identifies as targets of a duty of apathy—draws substantive lessons from his Stoic sources, and how he accepts on his own terms the monistic principles of Stoic moral psychology.


Background: Residents of the northeastern region of Iran experience high mortality rates from esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). One etiologic factor might be exposure to high levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, including benzo(|I±|)pyrene (BI±P). We examined whether food or water are the major sources of BI±P exposure in this population. Materials and Methods: We used a dietary questionnaire to assess the daily intake of staple foods (rice and bread) and water in three groups: 40 ESCC cases living in the high-risk area of northeastern Iran, 40 controls from the same area, and 40 controls from low-risk area of southern Iran. We then measured, by high-performance liquid chromatography combined with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FL), the BI±P concentration of bread, rice, water in 90 samples obtained from these three groups, and derived the daily intake of BI±P by multiplying daily food or water intake by their BI±P concentration. Results: Mean BI±P concentration of staple foods and water was similar and within standard levels in both areas, but the daily intake of BI±P was higher in controls from the high-risk area than in controls from the low-risk one (91.4 vs. 70.6 ng/day, p‹0.01), and remained significant after adjusting for living place (urban, rural) and indoor PAH sources including smoking, opium, heating and cooking fuel. Conclusion: Although B‹P levels in staple food and water were not highly elevated, people who lived in the high-risk area may be more exposed to carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons through their diet.


Recent reports concerning the use of acupuncture as a possible treatment for sensorineural hearing impairment were reviewed and evaluated. It was concluded that acupuncture has no effect upon the hearing ability of individuals with sensorineural losses. Further, it was suggested that subjective feelings of improvement represent a placebo effect resulting from the application of a treatment that patients believe might work and not from acupuncture itself.


nology" companies, such as Uponor, Egeplast, GPS and Wavin, have d eveloped pipes with higher levels toughness and chemical resistance. These are sold at premium prices for appli catio ns such as brown field land developments and trenchless installatio ns. For further information on this study (M045-Pressure pipes), contact Ewan Green at AMI Conml.ting on +44 (0) 117 924 9442 or ema il: firstname.lastname@example.com


The combat process of naval systems is very complex because it is difficult to describe the cooperative interaction of the naval systems engagement. The Multi-Agent (MA) is adopted to describe the naval entities' actions about cooperation and self-organization. Combining the characteristics of the naval system with the MA, the naval combat simulation models based on Multi-Agent are established to describe and analyze the naval systems combat mission. An example on the warship warfare is carried out by the simulation models, and the results show feasible.


Simulation software accounts for the physical properties of cool roofs, in particular, a high short wave solar reflectance (or albedo) and a high long wave emissivity. However, in some instances the observed benefits of cool roofs in practice indicate a level of savings far in excess of what common simulation programs predict. An empirical study to better understand and explain the performance of cool roofs was carried out with the hypothesis that an urban heat island effect occurring at roof and building level was the primary factor leading to the difference between prediction and observation. Simulation results were then adjusted using additional theory to closely approximate the observed results. Suggestions are made of how common simulation packages can be enhanced to better predict the benefits of cool roofs.


【This paper describes the development of pulse code modulation(PCM) data recorder with design, implementation and environmental test. PCM serial data that diverged from telemetry encoder output is used as the input and is reformed to parallel signal through FPGA processing. Controllers construct the packet by the sector and record it into non-volatile memory. Compact flash(CF) memory for data storage media, USB interface for data downloading, and a software for operating status diagnosis and file format conversion are used.】


Mobile service is one of the largest industries in the world. In this market, competition is on the rise through economic opening. The region's use of mobile telephones was promoted by private companies. It's the consumer demand today for telecom networks. Mobile providers must take note of customer opinions and deals on the market. Mobile providers must identify customers ' desires and influence the factors before developing any service or deal. In this context, the research document focuses on the factors which are most relevant to customers when using mobile service providers. Telecom is one of the main infrastructure markets of our country, the government of India said. The study was done in a well-structured schedule. The public telecommunications sector was able to achieve universal service to all the villages protected by global class standards under economic liberalization, privatization and competition politics in India and make the broadcasting of telecommunications open. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the customer satisfaction on different types of mobile service providers and widely used mobile network in cuddalore.


A robustness-based methodology for designing an automated vehicle longitudinal controller is presented. The resulting longitudinal controller, which is intended for point-following operations, is applied to velocity-dependent (slowly varying) automobile dynamics. The results obtained effectively demonstate how robust design methods may be applied to this class of dynamics. Further, similar approaches might be taken to controller designs for vehicles under different operating modes, e.g., under carfollowing operations. The design consists of a cascade compensator, which is selected to achieve small tracking errors, and an observer/controller compensator. Kharitonov-related robustness methods are used to design a fixed (constant coefficient) observer/controller, such that the resulting closed-loop pole-clusters are confined to an acceptable area of the s-plane. The performance of the resulting overall system is evaluated using a large-signal, entry merging command and some small-signal mainline commands. The results are comparable to ones obtained by utilizing more complex controllers, designed to achieve a velocity-invariant response and based on parameter scheduling[1],[2] and nonlinear design methods[3].


: This study examined two critical measurement properties of the Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (OHI-S) and the Patient Hygiene Performance method (PHP). Both scales proved to be sufficiently sensitive to decreases in plaque.


Single-cell approaches are being increasingly used to unravel the many diverse mechanisms underlying biological processes that characterize each cell irrespective of the influx of other cells even within the same tissue. Consequently, the interference of metabolites and nervous stimuli emanating from the circulatory or nervous system in a higher organism like man is avoided. However, while the single-cell approach yields a wealth of data about single-cell metabolism and internal regulatory mechanisms, information about interactions and interrelations among similar or dissimilar cells may remain obscure. Starting from these considerations, here we summarize, without attempting to be exhaustive, some areas in which we think single-cell biological studies could be effective in translational medicine and in other areas of applied sciences. In this short review we describe the facts, challenges and perspectives related to these issues.


The paper presents the innovative technology of high-altitude wind power generation, indicated as Kitenergy, which exploits the automatic flight of tethered airfoils (e.g., power kites) to extract energy from wind blowing between 200 and 800 m above the ground. The key points of this technology are described and the design of large scale plants is investigated, in order to show that it has the potential to overcome the limits of the actual wind turbines and to provide large quantities of renewable energy, with competitive cost with respect to fossil sources. Such claims are supported by the results obtained so far in the Kitenergy project, undergoing at Politecnico di Torino, Italy, including numerical simulations, prototype experiments, and wind data analyses.


Summary Without direct evidence that cations favour particular sites in the octahedral layers of phlogopite-biotite micas, it is usually assumed that the cations are distributed randomly. Such a distribution, however, implies appreciable populations of cation combinations that seem electrostatically improbable. A computer program was written that rearranges a random distribution so that the improbable combinations of cations are eliminated by predetermined restrictions. Its use shows that conditions deduced from Pauling's electrostatic valence rule lead to grouping of trivalent cations around vacancies; for some chemical compositions, chains of alternate trivalent cations and vacancies extend through the structure.


A folate conjugated ternary copolymer, FA–PEG–PEI–PCL, of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), poly(ethylene imine) (PEI), and poly(ɛ-caprolactone) (PCL) was synthesized. The copolymer self-assembled into cationic micelles capable of co-delivering siRNA and the anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX). This dual functional nanocarrier demonstrated low cytotoxicity and high performance in drug/siRNA delivery. Upon the codelivery of siRNA, targeting the Bcl-2 gene, and DOX, using the folate-targeted nanocarrier, DOX-induced apoptosis in the skov-3 cells overexpressing folate receptor was significantly enhanced through a mechanism of downregulating the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2, while simultaneously upregulating the proapoptotic protein Bax. This work suggested that the combination of Bcl-2 siRNA and DOX therapies is feasible, based on our dual functional nanocarrier, which set up a good basis for a future in vivo test.


One of the significant aspects of the communication is its nonverbal aspect. In this study there was an attempt to explore this aspect of language teaching qualitatively from the learners' point of view through observation and interview in Iranian context. It was revealed that four main categories of nonverbal communication(NVC) including: hand gesture, eye-contact, facial expression and tone of voice are used from the most frequently used to the least used respectively. Moreover, it was found that a teacher's use of nonverbal communication can help learners to get more benefit from the learning context. Also, the findings indicate how utilizing NVC may contribute to different aspects (vocabulary, grammar, and pronuciation) of language learning. According to the students' comments, six main themes as different roles of the teacher were found including: Teacher as a composer, Teacher as a constructor, Teacher as a mirror, Teacher as a conductor, Teacher as a mentor, and Teacher as a vocalist. Keywords: non-verbal, communication, lanugage learning, qualitative study, perception.


IT HAS LONG been known that the neuroeffector mechanism of denervated autonomic structures becomes sensitive to circulating hormones. This was stated by Cannon in 1939 as a law of denervation. 1 When in a series of efferent neurons a unit is destroyed, an increased irritability to chemical agents develops in the isolated structure or structures, the effect being maximal in the part directly denervated. This phenomenon of sensitization had been observed as far back as 1855, when Budge 2 showed that the sympathetically denervated iris dilates in response to injections of epinephrine so small as to have no effect on the normal iris. Edes, 3 in 1869, corroborated these findings and also showed that the vessels in the denervated ear of the rabbit became intensely constricted when the animal was excited. At that time the reason for this phenomenon was not understood. In 1904, Meltzer and Auer 4 studied the


Ctenus is a genus of wandering spiders abundant in Neotropical and African rainforests and is becoming a model organism to understand the biology of predators in the leaf litter fauna. We compared abundance, sex ratio, seasonality and size dimorphism in populations of four species of medium sized wandering spiders, Ctenus amphora, C. crulsi, C. manauara and C. villasboasi in primary forests, fragments with different areas, their borders and secondary forests near them. This study was conducted between February and July 1999, in a terra-firme (non-flooded) tropical rain forest, in central Amazonia. The spiders were measured and counted in transects of 250x5 m or 500x5 m in three secondary forest sites, four fragments of primary forest of 1 ha, three of 10 ha, two of 100 ha and four reserves of continuous forest (larger than 10.000 ha). There was a significant predominance of females in two species (C. amphora- 74% and C. crulsi- 65%), sexual dimorphism significant in three species (C. amphora, C. crulsi, and C. manauara), and temporal variation of the abundance for the four species. These results corroborate and complement tendencies from previous studies. There were no statistical differences between spider abundance in interior, borders and between reserves of different areas. Effects of border and size of fragments on the Ctenus spider populations are smaller than the previously observed variations among different habitats in the forest interior. There was no difference in spider size captured in small reserves, large reserves, edges, and continuous forests sites. Comparing these results with other study in the same sites, we conclude that the effects of fragmentation in Ctenus spiders decrease with second grown regeneration, resulting in a rapid reply of these species to habitat modifications.


Collaborative management of chronic illness is undermined by neglect of emotional and psychological factors in both the patient and doctor

Chronic diseases are the world's leading cause of death and are projected to increase substantially to become the main cause of disability by 2020.1 In response, a common core of strategies for managing chronic illnesses has been identified that emphasises the importance of collaborative care.2 However, less attention has been given to the effect of managing chronic illness on the doctor and how this manifests in the therapeutic relationship. We draw on our work with patients in a high secure psychiatric hospital to highlight this gap and suggest how it may be addressed in medical education.

Most medical students want to become doctors to heal patients.3 In reality, most will spend much of their time caring for patients for whom no cure is possible. Medicine's success in the pursuit of cure has fundamentally changed the expectations of doctors; medical success has often become equated with cure and medical failure with the absence of effective treatments and resort to palliative care.4 The treatment of chronic disease conflicts so fundamentally with these expectations that it tends to be neglected.

Medical education may contribute to the development of negative attitudes towards people with chronic illness. Studies report medical students' ambivalence towards the management of chronic illnesses, even if these attitudes were absent before medical school, and a trend towards cynical and self protective strategies as training progresses.5 Furthermore, medical students are deterred from choosing specialties that involve managing chronically ill patients.4 This is perhaps unsurprising given that the dominant model of medical education remains disease oriented, hospital based, and intent on cure. This mismatch between the way that medical education is delivered and the reality of medical …


Lagrangian particles with mixing can be used as direct numerical simulations (DNS), large eddy simulations (LES), or filtered density function (FDF) methods depending on conditions of the simulations. We estimate major parameters associated with the DNS, LES, and FDF regimes and demonstrate that, under certain conditions specified in the paper, simulations using different mixing models approach the DNS limit.


I wonder whether Barbara Gomes and Irene Higginson, who wrote the excellent editorial on place of death (September 2004 JRSM1), would consider that a poll of RSM Fellows might provide useful data? I have seen only two formal papers, both from the USA, regarding the medical technology health workers would want for themselves at the end of life. One disclosed that the great majority of doctors in North Carolina would refuse cardiopulmonary resuscitation and tube feeding if terminally ill.2 The other concluded that physicians and nurses who have extensive exposure to hospitals and sick patients are unlikely to wish aggressive treatment if they become terminally ill, demented, or in a persistent vegetative state.3

I suspect that most British health professionals would be similarly reluctant to have much medical technology applied to them at the end of life, and, by what seems an obvious extension, would rather die at home than in hospital.

Personally, if I do not die suddenly, I want to die at home, in very familiar surroundings, with my beloved cat and partner next to me, and with the music of Shirley Bassey as loud as possible.


UNLABELLED
Clostridium perfringens isolated from patients with diarrhea (n=233) were analysed by a duplex PCR assay, in order to determine the prevalence of enterotoxin (cpe) gene and various factors involved in patients with cpe-positive isolates. This duplex PCR uses two sets of primers which amplify in the same reaction two different gene fragments: the phospholipase C (plc, alpha-toxin) and the enterotoxin (cpe) genes in C. perfringens. PCR analysis of 477 colonies of fecal spore isolates, from 159 patients who had a spore count > or = 10(3) cfu/g, gave positive plc gene detection in 436 colonies. The results were consistent with those obtained by using the standard method of C. perfringens species identification. 21 of 436 colonies gave positive results for both plc and cpe genes, indicating a prevalence of 4.8 per cent of C. perfringens that carried the cpe gene in cases of diarrhea. The majority of cases with cpe-positive isolates were women over 50 years of age (71.4%). These patients had diarrhea more than 6 times per day (71.4%) with a duration of 1-3 days (100%). Furthermore, 85.7 per cent of cases developed diarrhea after food consumption, 28.6 per cent had high spore counts of more than 106/g in their feces, and 71.4 per cent were co-infected with other enteric pathogens. The spore count should be interpreted with caution because not all isolates of C. perfringens from diarrhea patients with high fecal spore count carried the cpe gene, which encodes a sporulation-associated enterotoxin.

CONCLUSION
The duplex PCR assay can thus become a tool for C. perfringens species identification together with the detection of enterotoxin gene. This PCR assay is faster, less expensive and more suitable for large-scale use in epidemiological studies than conventional procedures. The authors recommend this assay to screen for enterotoxigenic C. perfringens isolates from primary fecal spore isolation cultures, particularly in elderly patients with food-borne diarrhea and non-food related diarrhea.


In this paper, the optical propagation in the 3-D photonic crystal optical waveguide is simulated numerically using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. Since the division number of the domain increases to indicate the structure of the photonic crystal precisely, huge memory is required, and it takes much time to solve the problem. Furthermore, using the micron-order wavelength need much more division number. Therefore, we apply this problem for parallel processing using a PC cluster not only to speed up but also to gather memories in each node


Bars of YBa2Cu3O7- delta have been sintered by the melt textured growth (MTG) process using Y2Ba1Cu1O5 as a support. The obtained ceramic exhibits a good densification and a high texture. However, one observes an unusual direction of the texture with respect to the temperature gradient. The magnetic properties of the ceramic show that besides the 92 K transition there exists a second one at 50-60 K. These results, and the highly anisotropic magnetic properties of the samples are correlated with electron microscopy observations which show intergrowths near the grain boundaries between '123' and '124' phases. The role of Y2Ba1Cu1O5 as a support is also discussed.


The northwestern part of Mexico, southern Arizona, and southern California witnessed extensive arc magmatism during Late Triassic to Early Cretaceous. Here, we present results from petrography, whole‐rock geochemistry (major and trace including rare‐earth elements), and detrital zircon geochronological studies that were carried out on sandstones and shales of the Mural Limestone exposed in the Rancho Bufalo area. Based on the petrography, sandstones are classified as sublitharenite, litharenite, feldspathic litharenite, and lithic arkose. The sandstones contain higher proportion of monocrystalline quartz than polycrystalline quartz. Sandstones and shales from the various members of the Mural Limestone show large variations in major and trace elements concentrations. The average concentrations of ΣREE (total ΣREE) are lower in sandstones than in shales. The chondrite‐normalized REE patterns of the sandstones and shales are moderately fractionated with light REE (LREE) enrichment relative to heavy REE (HREE) and with flat to slightly depleted HREE patterns. The chemical index of alteration values and A–CN–K relationships of sandstones indicate low to moderate intensity of weathering in the source region; however, shale samples suggesting the source rocks were subjected to moderate intensity of chemical weathering. The chondrite‐normalized REE patterns, Al2O3/TiO2 ratio, elemental ratios like Cr/V, Y/Ni, and Eu‐anomaly (Eu/Eu*), and bivariate plots suggest that the sandstones and shales were derived mainly from felsic source rocks. Detrital zircon U–Pb geochronology of sandstones from Fronteras, Rancho Bufalo, and Cerro La Ceja members of the Mural Limestone show five main groups of detrital zircon age populations: (a) Proterozoic, (b) Palaeozoic, (c) Triassic, (d) Jurassic, and (e) Early Cretaceous. Our study suggests that continental volcanic arcs in northwestern Mexico, southern Arizona, and southern California served as the provenance for the Late Triassic‐Jurassic detritus, whereas the Early Cretaceous zircon grains were derived mainly from the active Alisitos volcanic arc along the northwestern coast of Mexico.


Global foreign direct investment (FDI) flows rose moderately to $1.24 trillion in 2010, but were still 15 per cent below their pre-crisis average. This is in contrast to global industrial output and trade, which were back to pre-crisis levels. UNCTAD estimates that global FDI will recover to its pre-crisis level in 2011, increasing to $1.4–1.6 trillion, and approach its 2007 peak in 2013. This positive scenario holds, barring any unexpected global economic shocks that may arise from a number of risk factors still in play.


Agents must monitor their partners' affective states continuously in order to understand and engage in social interactions. However, methods for evaluating affect recognition do not account for changes in classification performance that may occur during occlusions or transitions between affective states. This paper addresses temporal patterns in affect classification performance in the context of an infant-robot interaction, where infants' affective states contribute to their ability to participate in a therapeutic leg movement activity. To support robustness to facial occlusions in video recordings, we trained infant affect recognition classifiers using both facial and body features. Next, we conducted an in-depth analysis of our best-performing models to evaluate how performance changed over time as the models encountered missing data and changing infant affect. During time windows when features were extracted with high confidence, a unimodal model trained on facial features achieved the same optimal performance as multimodal models trained on both facial and body features. However, multimodal models outperformed unimodal models when evaluated on the entire dataset. Additionally, model performance was weakest when predicting an affective state transition and improved after multiple predictions of the same affective state. These findings emphasize the benefits of incorporating body features in continuous affect recognition for infants. Our work highlights the importance of evaluating variability in model performance both over time and in the presence of missing data when applying affect recognition to social interactions.


The foundation for the research of summarization in the Czech language was laid by the work of Straka et al. (2018). They published the SumeCzech, a large Czech news-based summarization dataset, and proposed several baseline approaches. However, it is clear from the achieved results that there is a large space for improvement. In our work, we focus on the impact of named entities on the summarization of Czech news articles. First, we annotate SumeCzech with named entities. We propose a new metric ROUGE_NE that measures the overlap of named entities between the true and generated summaries, and we show that it is still challenging for summarization systems to reach a high score in it. We propose an extractive summarization approach Named Entity Density that selects a sentence with the highest ratio between a number of entities and the length of the sentence as the summary of the article. The experiments show that the proposed approach reached results close to the solid baseline in the domain of news articles selecting the first sentence. Moreover, we demonstrate that the selected sentence reflects the style of reports concisely identifying to whom, when, where, and what happened. We propose that such a summary is beneficial in combination with the first sentence of an article in voice applications presenting news articles. We propose two abstractive summarization approaches based on Seq2Seq architecture. The first approach uses the tokens of the article. The second approach has access to the named entity annotations. The experiments show that both approaches exceed state-of-the-art results previously reported by Straka et al. (2018), with the latter achieving slightly better results on SumeCzech's out-of-domain testing set.


Reliability of a recently developed adaptive stator windings to ground fault protection scheme based on third-harmonic voltages is compared to an existing non-adaptive scheme. Sensitivity and security analyses are performed to conclude that the proposed scheme offers higher sensitivity and security as compared to the non-adaptive alternative. The operation responses of both schemes are verified using a comprehensive lab scale generating station.


Incised drainage systems can provide a record of the timing, duration and magnitude of ancient vertical crustal motions. The NE Atlantic underwent rapid uplift ∼56 Ma, resulting in widespread incision and the formation of Paleogene unconformities across the Faroe-Shetland Basin. This study uses 3D seismic data to map a newly-identified incised drainage system in the northern Faroe-Shetland Basin that formed during this uplift, and compare it to similar incision surfaces in the region. The ∼30x50 km erosional surface is a composite feature, comprising the Upper Thanetian Unconformity, which was rejuvenated and eroded by the younger Flett Unconformity, and records prolonged regional uplift during the late Thanetian-earliest Ypresian punctuated by a phase of subsidence. The drainage system was influenced by igneous intrusions resulting in diversion of channels around forced fold structures. Several preserved paleoshorelines occur close to the basinward limit of the incision surface, recording progressive backstepping of the shoreline and marine transgression during early Ypresian subsidence. The drainage system may have supplied 'clean' sand, eroded from the North Shetland Platform, to the Flett Sub-basin, with the potential to form high-quality reservoir units. Such sands may have been concentrated along shorelines coeval with the drainage system, but potentially were also delivered further out into the basin.


An experimental and theoretical investigation of the electrostatic wave propagating across the magnetic field at frequencies around the ion-ion hybrid resonance is presented. Firstly, the dispersion relation for the warm electron mode ( omega /k/sub ///<< nu e) is measured in a simple toroidal plasma, which is composed of helium and neon ions, with the ion concentration ratio controlled. The experimental results and the calculations reveal that even a small fraction ( approximately 1%) of the minority concentration leads to an additional cutoff and hybrid resonance near the minority-cyclotron-resonance frequency. Secondly, the ion-ion hybrid resonance cone of the warm electron mode is observed for the first time. The dependence of the resonance cone angle on the frequency and the ion concentration ratio is observed to agree with the theoretical predictions.


Background: In 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a classification system introducing neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) of the female reproductive tract, excluding the ovaries. This study aimed to evaluate whether retrospective adaption of the gastroenteropancreatic (GEP)-NEN classification is feasible for ovarian NENs (O-NENs) and correlates with prognosis. Methods: Sixty-eight patients diagnosed with carcinoid, small cell carcinoma (pulmonary type), paraganglioma, non-small/large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC), mixed NEC, or undifferentiated carcinomas at 20 institutions in Japan were included in this retrospective cross-sectional study. We identified O-NENs through central pathological review using a common slide set, followed by reclassification according to WHO 2010 guidelines for GEP-NENs. A proportional hazards model was used to assess the association of prognostic factors (age, stage, performance status, histology, and residual disease) with overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Results: Of the 68 enrolled patients, 48 were eligible for analysis. All carcinoids (n = 32) were reclassified as NET G1/G2, whereas 14 of 16 carcinomas were reclassified as NEC/mixed adeno-NEC (MANEC) (Fisher's exact test; p < 0.01). The OS/PFS was 49.0/42.5 months and 6.5/3.9 months for NET G1/G2 and NEC/MANEC, respectively. Histology revealed that NEC/MANEC was associated with increased risk of death (HR = 48.0; 95% CI, 3.93–586; p < 0.01) and disease progression (HR = 51.6; 95% CI, 5.54–480; p < 0.01). Conclusion: Retrospective adaption of GEP-NEN classification to O-NENs is feasible and correlates well with the prognosis of O-NENs. This classification could be introduced for ovarian tumors.


A design of real time general purpose signal processor architecture is proposed in this paper. The processor is based upon a binary tree structure utilizing multiprocessing, pipeline and distributed processing techniques. A host computer distributes the individual tasks to each processor to perform parallel operations. The residue number system is used for carry free arithmetic operations stored in RAM's and to achieve smaller packet size, eliminating serial transmission of packets as proposed in other data flow machines. The processor is programmable and capable or performing real time signal processing operations.


In this study 450 patients presented with symptomatic cholelithiasis, under went Laproscopic cholecystectomy from 1-1-2003 to 30-6-2004.Sex ratio showed that 92% were female and 8% male patients. Most of the cases 44% are in the age group 40-49 years. About 74% patients had chronic cholecystitis while 15% had acute cholecystitis. Mucocoele was present in 6%and empyema in 5% of cases. Conversion from laproscopic to open cholecystsectomy was done in 14 patients i.e 3.11%. The reason for conversion among these patients was acute cholecystitsis in 1.33% and anatomy was not clear. Heamorrhage occurred in 0.88%, empyema gall bladder with thickened, odematous gall bladder in 0.66% cases. Hypotention occurred in one patient.


Creosote, a mixture of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), was and is a wood impregnate of widespread use. Over the years the accumulation of creosote PAHs in soils and freshwaters has increased, causing a threat to ecosystems. The combined ozonation-biodegradation process is proposed to improve the slow and inefficient biodegradation of creosote hydrocarbons. The impact of different ozonation methods on the biodegradation of model wastewater was evaluated. The biodegradation rate, the changes in chemical oxygen demand, and the total organic carbon concentration were measured in order to provide insight into the process. Moreover, the bacteria consortium activity was monitored during the biodegradation step of the process. The collected data confirmed the research hypothesis, which was that the hybrid method can improve biodegradation. The pre-ozonation followed by inoculation with a bacteria consortium resulted in a significant increase in the biodegradation rate. It allows for the shortening of the time required for the consortium to reach maximum degradation effectiveness and cell activity. Hence, the study gives an important and useful perspective for the decontamination of creosote-polluted ecosystems.


The adrenal glands of the rat do not appear to be necessary for the development of experimental renal hypertension by kidney encapsulation. Male and female rats became hypertensive when both kidneys were encapsulated with latex envelopes whether they were adrenalectomized two weeks prior to or at the time of kidney encapsulation. The type of hypertension produced in adrenalectomized rats did not differ from that of rats with intact adrenals with regard to time course of development of the elevated blood pressure (6–8 weeks), maximal elevation attained (190–220 mm Hg), polydipsia and hypertrophied hearts.


FK506, a newly developed immunosuppressive agent, has recently been used for human liver and kidney transplantation. The present study was carried out to assess the functional and morphological changes by acute or chronic administration of FK506 in heminephrectomized rats. FK506 was given intravenously at the dose of 0.384 mg/kg/hr for 90 min in acute experiment. FK506 was administered by gastric gavage at doses of 1, 2.5, 5 mg/kg for 21 days. Blood and urinary biochemistry were monitored every week. Inulin and PAH clearance studies were conducted during the infusion of FK506 for acute study, and at day 21 for chronic study. Some of the rats were treated with diltiazem (Dilt), captopril or prazosine for 21 days to prevent FK506 nephrotoxicity. Acute infusion of FK506 did not change renal and systemic hemodynamics. Creatinine clearance showed a dose dependent decrease by 10-20% in the rats with chronic administration of FK506. Inulin/PAH clearance indicated a decrease in glomerular filtration rate and renal plasma flow with an increase in renal vascular resistance. The renal histology showed vacuolization in proximal tubuli and media of smooth muscle cells of arterioles. The administration of Dilt functionally and morphologically improved renal impairment induced by FK506. In conclusion, FK506 induces a dose dependent decrease in renal function with significant histological changes in tubuli and arterioles in rat kidney. Intracellular calcium deregulation seems to be involved in FK506-induced nephrotoxicity.


Important advancements have been made in the identification of reinforcers over the past decade. The use of preference assessments has become a systematic way to identify preferred events that may function as reinforcers for an individual's behavior. Typically, preference assessments require participants to select stimuli through verbal surveys or engagement with stimuli as preferred or non-preferred. Not all studies go on to directly test the effects of the preferred stimuli, and even fewer studies directly test for the effects of the non- preferred stimuli. The present study systematically identified preferred and non-preferred stimuli in adult human subjects by verbal report and then proceeded to test the effects of both verbally reported preferred and non preferred events on single and concurrent schedules of reinforcement. The results are discussed in terms of contemporary concerns regarding preference and reinforcer assessments.


In this review we described the properties of reticulated platelets (RP) and showed how variations of their content might influence platelet activity, efficacy of antiplatelet drugs and the rate of thrombotic events in patients with cardiovascular diseases. RP represent a minor platelet fraction containing residual RNA from megakaryocytes. Platelets have no nucleus and do not synthesize RNA de novo, and RNA of megakaryocytic origin is destroyed during their circulation. That is why only recently produced "young" platelets contain RNA. In healthy donors RP are identified by staining with the RNA specific fluorescent dyes by flow cytofluorimetry or using standard protocols in modern flow haematological analyzers. RP content in blood reflects the level of thrombocytopoesis in the bone marrow. RP on average amounted from 3 to 10% of all platelets in the circulation depending on the method applied for their determination. RP absolute amount and/or their percentage is changed in haematological diseases associated with the alterations of megakaryocyte productive properties. RT measurements in patients with cardiovascular diseases have shown that their content is increased in acute coronary syndrome patients. RP are larger and functionally more active in comparison with not reticulated forms. They more frequently incorporate into the platelet aggregates and contain more intracellular granules. Increase of RT content in the circulation correlates with the increase of the average size and functional activity in the whole platelet population. High RP content in patients with cardiovascular diseases reduces antiaggregative effects of aspirin and P2Y12 APD receptor antagonists and increases the risk of atherothrombotic events.


Voltage profiles throughout the electric power system network have to be kept at acceptable levels to ensure network reliability among other issues. Capacitor banks are commonly installed in various parts of the electric grid to maintain voltage levels within proper limits. In general, feeders in distribution systems include the majority of shunt capacitors installations to boost up voltage levels. In this paper, a novel approach is proposed to optimally solve the problem of determining the location and size of shunt capacitors in distribution systems. Traditionally, the problem is usually solved in two steps; first by determining the location of the "needed" bus and then selecting the proper size. The proposed method solves the problems of finding the optimal capacitor size and location simultaneously. Throughout the optimization process, both the capacitor injected reactive power and its location are being treated as discrete variables. The objective function considered in this paper is to minimize the total feeder losses. The proposed algorithm was tested on a standard test system. Results signify the robustness of the proposed algorithm in solving this difficult integer programming problem.


Ascomycin derivatives represent a novel class of anti-inflammatory macrolactams currently under development for the treatment of skin diseases. The main biological effect of ascomycins is an inhibition of the synthesis of both Th1 and Th2-type cytokines in target cells. Several compounds are being developed with SDZ ASM 981 being at the most advanced stage. It has high anti-inflammatory activity in animal models of skin inflammation and does not induce skin atrophy. Topical application of SDZ ASM 981 was shown to be effective in atopic dermatitis (AD), allergic contact dermatitis and also in psoriasis under semi-occlusive conditions. In patients with AD, SDZ ASM 981 cream led to consistently low systemic exposure even when applied on large areas of skin. SDZ ASM 981 overcomes the drawbacks of current topical therapies of inflammatory skin diseases as its safety profile is better than that of topical corticosteroids. Studies continue to investigate its efficacy and safety in the treatment of inflammatory skin diseases.


Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a pruritic inflammatory skin disease. Because IL-18 directly stimulates T cells and mast cells to release AD-associated molecules, Th2 cytokines, and histamine, we investigated the capacity of IL-18 to induce AD-like inflammatory skin disease by analyzing KIL-18Tg and KCASP1Tg, which skin-specifically overexpress IL-18 and caspase-1, respectively. They spontaneously developed relapsing dermatitis with mastocytosis and Th2 cytokine accumulation accompanied by systemic elevation of IgE and histamine. Stat6-deficient KCASP1Tg displayed undetectable levels of IgE but manifested the same degree of cutaneous changes, whereas IL-18-deficient KCASP1Tg evaded the dermatitis, suggesting that IL-18 causes the skin changes in the absence of IgE/stat6. KIL-18Tg and IL-1-deficient KCASP1Tg took longer to display the lesion than KCASP1Tg. Thus, AD-like inflammation is initiated by overrelease of IL-18 and accelerated by IL-1. Our present study might provide insight into understanding the pathogenesis of and establishing therapeutics for chronic inflammatory skin diseases including AD.


Pharmacological suppression of the renin angiotensin system (RAS) by inhibiting angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), both as monotherapy and in conjunction with other conventional agents, has been proven to be an effective therapeutic approach to the treatment of hypertension and congestive heart failure. Renin is the enzyme that catalyzes the first and rate limiting step, preceding the involvement of ACE, in the production of the potent pressor hormone angiotensin II (Ang II). Unlike ACE, which has multiple substrates, renin is selective for a single naturally occurring substrate, angiotensinogen. Interruption of the generation of ANG II by renin inhibitors at the highly specific, initial step of the cascade may have therapeutic advantages over ACE inhibitors and other antihypertensive agents with less precise mechanisms of action, by producing fewer clinical side effects. Exciting advances in the discovery of renin inhibitors have led to the synthesis of potent, dipeptide inhibitors of renin, which have been shown in the laboratory to be efficacious hypotensive agents when administered intravenously. Although there are recently reported compounds that demonstrate some degree of oral activity, efforts to enhance bioavailability are presently underway in order to develop orally active therapeutic agents. The development of renin inhibitors will provide target-specific agents for the treatment of various cardiovascular disorders, and will serve as invaluable tools to study the role of the RAS in regulating blood pressure and fluid volume. An overview of the progress in the discovery and development of renin inhibitors is presented.


Currently mired in controversy, the European Court of Human Rights and the Convention itself have come in for stern criticism from a diverse array of stakeholders. Of particular controversy is the Court's utilisation of the Living instrument doctrine, which it first expressly recalled in its 1978 Tyrer v. UK decision. Confusion has continued to surround how this doctrine came about and its potential to allow the Strasbourg Judiciary to cross over the constitutional separation of judiciary and legislature. However, while the substantive idea of the Convention as a living instrument capable of evolving with European Society is legitimate, confusion still exists about how it operates and to what extent it might be used to alter existing Convention Standards. This study sets out that at the heart of this modern legitimacy crisis in the Convention system is a failed dialogical model of the Convention institutions. However, clearer explanations and a better understanding of appropriate roles of the various institutions and improved channels of dialogue may lead to a more accepted Convention system and act to calm some of the conflict surrounding the Convention today. After examination of various aspects of Convention law and practice the eventual argument is that the current crisis is largely one of failed dialogue between Convention stakeholders and is best address through an improved understanding of and discovery of European Consensus.


ABSTRACT Objective: To evaluate the role of renal ultrasound (RUS) and urinary IL-6 in the differentiation between acute pyelonephritis (APN) and lower urinary tract infection (LUTI). Patients and methods: This prospective study was carried out at the Pediatric and urology outpatient and inpatient departments of Cairo University Children's Hospital as well as October 6 University Hospital and it included 155 children between one month and fourteen years old with positive culture UTI. Patients were categorized into APN and LUTI based on their clinical features and laboratory parameters. Thirty healthy children, age and sex matched constituted the control group. Children with positive urine cultures were treated with appropriate antibiotics. Before treatment, urinary IL-6 was measured by enzyme immunoassay technique (ELISA), and renal ultrasound (RUS) was done. CRP (C-reactive protein), IL-6 and RUS were repeated on the 14th day of antibiotic treatment to evaluate the changes in their levels in response to treatment. Results: UIL-6 levels were more significantly higher in patients with APN than in patients with LUTI (24.3±19.3pg/mL for APN vs. 7.3±2.7pg/mL in LUTI (95% CI: 2.6-27.4; p<0.01). Similarly, serum CRP was more significantly higher in patients with APN than in children with LUTI (19.7±9.1μg/mL vs. 5.5±2.3μg/mL (p<0.01). IL-6 levels >20pg/mL and serum CRP >20μg/mL were highly reliable markers of APN. Mean renal volume and mean volume difference between the two kidneys in the APN group were more than that of the LUTI and control groups (P<0.001). Renal volume between 120-130% of normal was the best for differentiating APN from LUTI. Conclusions: RUS and urinary IL-6 levels have a highly dependable role in the differentiation between APN and LUTI especially in places where other investigations are not available and/ or affordable.


Screw piles need to be upscaled for offshore use e.g. being an alternative foundation and anchor form for offshore floating wind turbines, although the high demand of vertical installation forces could prevent its application if conventional pitch-matched installation is used. Recent studies, using numerical and centrifuge physical tests, indicated that the vertical installation force can be reduced by adopting over-flighting which also improved axial uplift capacity of the screw pile. The current study extends the scope to axial cyclic performance with respect to the installation approach. Using quasistatic discrete element method (DEM) simulation it was found that the over-flighted screw pile showed a lower displacement accumulation rate, compared to a pitch-matched installed pile, in terms of loadcontrolled cyclic tests. Sensitivity analysis of the setup of the cyclic loading servo shows the maximum velocity during the tests should be limited to avoid significant exaggeration of the pile displacement accumulation but this may lead to very high run durations.


In this letter, we demonstrate a broadly tunable InGaAs-InP strained multiquantum-well external cavity diode laser, which operates in the spectral range of 1494-1667 nm. A maximum continuous-wave output power in excess of 81 mW and sidemode suppression ratio higher than 50 dB were achieved in the central part of the tuning range. Different pump current and temperature regimes are investigated.


Wireless data communication systems using Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) technique in its transmission system has been well developed to solve many transmission media problems. This study aims to analyse the performance of MIMO 2x2 and MIMO 4x4 using image data. Encoding technique that is used in this study is Space Time Block Coding (STBC) by Alamouti. The result of this study shows that wireless communication system using MIMO technique is able to recover the image data on the receiver side the same as the image data on the transmitter side when SNR = 6.5dB for MIMO 2x2 and SNR = 4.5dB for MIMO 4x4.


This paper portrays reflections of a research that investigated the acceleration of time in contemporary times and how this movement permeates the school. The research is based on a master's research that counted on the participation of two teachers and approximately 50 children, observed throughout the school year of 2017. Thus, this study relied on the theoretical and philosophical basis to understand the current movement of time and its repercussions in the school context. We perceive that this acceleration of time, a characteristic of contemporary society, already falls on children in anticipation of what they are capable of doing. Thus, it is necessary to be attentive to the relationships between children and themselves and adults, which are the basis of an educational system of quality; and it is also essential to slow down, to pay attention to the details and singularities.


Introduction There has been a recent surge in the interest of the role of vitamin D in chronic musculoskeletal pain however there are limited studies that have investigated the link of vitamin D hypovitaminosis with low back pain. The aim of our study was to determine the prevalence of low vitamin D levels in patients who present with low back pain in an outpatient setting in the UK. Methods Data was collected retrospectively from computerised databases of all patients who presented with low back pain from a single spinal consultant9s outpatient clinic and have had serum levels of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol (25-OH vitamin D) requested. Data of these patients were collected from hospital electronic and paper records and analysed against their serum 25-OH vitamin D levels. Results Data on 229 patients was collected over an 18 month period. 19.7% of patients presenting to the spinal outpatient clinics had severe 25-OH vitamin D deficiency (less than 15 nmol/L) compared to 2.6% of 3132 non-spinal outpatient clinic patients (p Conclusion We have found no link between vitamin D deficiency and low back pain in this study. Vitamin D deficiency is a common comorbidity in Leicester.


The COVID-19 pandemic has brought telehealth into the limelight. Telehealth is not a new word but since the pandemic, for many day-to-day users of the healthcare system, this term has become a household term. For IT enthusiasts, it is refreshing to see the uptake in telehealth. In most cases the uptake in telehealth came from the forced necessity of minimizing the spread of the virus. The positive outcomes have taken healthcare by surprise. It is not surprising then to see healthcare service providers transitioning to telehealth at an exponential rate. However, the upcoming COVID-19 normal state will demand more than the transitioning of 'brick and mortar' clinical practices to video or tele consult, making telehealth a natural predecessor of virtual care. This is a position paper presenting the current state of telehealth by outlining its benefits, limitations, looking beyond telehealth to address some of the recurring healthcare pain points and potential solutions to move towards patient-centered care via the adoption of virtual care.


Many scheduling problems can be viewed as allocating rates to jobs, subject to convex packing constraints on the rates. In this paper, we consider the problem of rate allocation when jobs of unknown size arrive online (non-clairvoyant setting), with the goal of minimizing weighted delay or flow time. Though this problem has strong lower bounds on competitive ratio in its full generality, we show positive results for natural and fairly broad sub-classes. More specifically, the subclasses we consider not only generalize several well-studied models such as scheduling with speedup curves and related machine scheduling, but also capture as special cases hitherto unstudied scheduling problems such as routing multi-commodity flows, routing multicast (video-on-demand) trees, and multi-dimensional resource allocation. We establish several first positive results by making connections with two disparate disciplines: Economics and Queueing theory. First, we view the instantaneous allocation of rates as a resource allocation problem. We analyze the natural proportional fairness algorithm from economics. To do this, we extend results from market clearing literature, particularly the Eisenberg-Gale markets and the notions of Walrasian equilibria and Gross Substitutes. This yields the first constant competitive algorithm with constant speed augmentation for single-sink flow routing, routing multicast trees, and multidimensional resource allocation with substitutes resources. Next, we consider the general scheduling problem with packing constraints on rates, but with the restriction that the number of different job types is fixed. We model this problem as a non-stochastic queueing problem. We generalize a natural algorithm from queueing literature and analyze it by extending queueing theoretic ideas. We show that the competitive ratio, for any constant speed, depends polynomially only on the number of job types. Further, such a dependence on the number of job types is unavoidable for non-clairvoyant algorithms. This yields the first algorithm for scheduling multicommodity flows whose competitive ratio depends polynomially on the size of the underlying graph, and not on the number of jobs.


Runoff and solute transport processes contributing to streamflow were determined in a small headwater catchment in the eastern Murray‐Darling Basin of Australia using hydrometric and tracer methods. Streamflow and electrical conductivity were monitored from two gauges draining a portion of the upper catchment area (UCA) and a saline scalded area, respectively. Runoff in the UCA was related to the formation of a seasonally perched aquifer in the near‐surface zone (0–0.4 m). A similar process was responsible for runoff generation in the saline scalded area. However, saturation in the scald area was related to the proximity of groundwater rather than low subsurface hydraulic conductivity. Because of higher antecedent water content, runoff commenced earlier in winter from the scald than did the UCA. Additionally, areal runoff from the scald was far greater than from the UCA. Total runoff from the UCA was higher than the scald (15.7 versus 3.5 mL), but salt export was far lower (0.6 and 5.4 t for the UCA and scald area, respectively) since salinity of the scald runoff was far higher than that from the UCA, indicating the potential impact of saline scalded areas at the catchment scale. End‐member mixing analysis modeling using six solutes indicated that most runoff produced from the scald was "new" (40–71%) despite the proximity of the groundwater surface and the high antecedent moisture levels. This is a reflection of the very low hydraulic conductivity of soils in the study area. Nearly all chloride exported to the stream from the scald emanated from the near‐surface zone (77–87%). Runoff and solute mobilization processes depend upon seasonal saturation occurring in the near‐surface zone during periods of low evaporative demand and generation of saturated overland flow.


In unanesthetized rats with chronic gastric fistulas the effect of various doses of 5-HT and atropine given intraperitoneally (i.p.) or into the lateral cerebral ventricle (i.c.) on basal gastric secretion was investigated. 5-HT given i.e. reduced HCl secretion more strongly than by the i.p. route. Atropine reduced gastric secretion equally after i.p. or i.e. administration. 5-HT given i.p. or i.c. produced a weaker inhibitory effect on basal gastric acid secretion than atropine. The stronger antisecretory action of 5-HT after i.c. than after i.p. administration indicates that the amine directly depresses the vegetative brain centers responsible for the basal secretory activity of the gastric mucosa.


First-principles electronic structure methods are used to predict the mobility of n-type carrier scattering in strained SiGe. We consider the effects of strain on the electron-phonon deformation potentials and the alloy scattering parameters. We calculate the electron-phonon matrix elements and fit them up to second order in strain. We find, as expected, that the main effect of strain on mobility comes from the breaking of the degeneracy of the six Δ and L valleys, and the choice of transport direction. The non-linear effects on the electron-phonon coupling of the Δ valley due to shear strain are found to reduce the mobility of Si-like SiGe by 50% per % strain. We find increases in mobility between 2 and 11 times that of unstrained SiGe for certain fixed Ge compositions, which should enhance the thermoelectric figure of merit in the same order, and could be important for piezoresistive applications.


BACKGROUND
COVID-19, a pandemic respiratory contagious viral (SARS-CoV-2) disease associated with high morbidity and mortality worldwide. Currently, there areno effective preventive or treatment strategies for COVID-19 and has been declared as a global health emergency by WHO. In silico molecular docking studies can be useful to predict the binding affinity between the phytocompound and the target protein and play a vital role in finding an inhibitor through structure-based drug design.

OBJECTIVE
In this aspect, our objective was to screen essential flavonoids against possible protein targets such as SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein receptor binding domain (RBD-S) and host Angiotensin Converting Enzyme-2 protease domain (PD-ACE-2) using in silico molecular docking studies.

METHODS
Approximately 49 flavonoids were identified, evaluated for their drug likeness based on Lipinski rule, bioactivity scores, antiviral and toxicity profiles using SwissADME, Molinspiration, PASS and GUSAR online tools. The flavonoids that passed Lipinski rule were subjected to in silico analysis through molecular docking on RBD-S and PD-ACE-2 using Molegro Virtual Docker v6.0.

RESULTS
The bioactive flavonoids that showed NIL violations and found in compliance with Lipinski rule were selected for docking studies. In silicoanalysis reported that biochanin A and silymarin bind significantly at the active sites of RBD-Sand PD-ACE-2 with a MolDock score of -78.41and -121.28 kcal/mol respectively. Bioactivity scores, antiviral potential and tox-icity profiles were predicted for the top interacting phytocompounds and substantial relevant data was reported.

CONCLUSION
The current outcomes created a new paradigm in understanding biochanin A and silymarin bioflavonoids as potent inhibitors of RBD-Sand PD-ACE-2 targets respectively, further work can be extended to confirm their therapeutic potential in COVID-19.


The aim of this study was to analyze the feelings of aged people regarding the self-care, accordingly to Nola Pender's Theory. This theory takes in consideration cognitive experiences, beliefs, habits and practices, in order to characterize the group's culture and lifestyle. The subjects were a group of participants from the Third Age Open University Program of Rio de Janeiro State University. The Data was collected through Art techniques and the data production was submitted to Sociopoetics thematic analysis. As results emerged the following categories: Collective face of the aging process - the group members do not see themselves as old, as represented by the cultural and social discrimination; The comprehensiveness of self-care - the image of the nurse attributed only to physical care was deconstructed, thus building the "conffect" (concept/affection) self-care/aging is the quest for another living dimension. To conclude, being old involves adopting positive solutions to face the difficulties regarding the aging process, using people's own human potential. A contribution may be to promote the self-care as a strategy for personal growth and as a start point for substantial changes.


We investigate whether risk seeking or non-concave utility functions can help to explain the cross-sectional pattern of stock returns. For this purpose, we analyze the stochastic dominance efficiency classification of the value-weighted market portfolio relative to benchmark portfolios based on market capitalization, book-to-market equity ratio and momentum. We use various existing and novel stochastic dominance criteria that account for the possibility that investors exhibit local risk seeking behavior. Our results suggest that Markowitz type utility functions, with risk aversion for losses and risk seeking for gains, can capture the cross-sectional pattern of stock returns. The low average yield on big caps, growth stocks and past losers may reflect investors' twin desire for downside protection in bear markets and upside potential in bull markets.


Subjective perception of time. Research Applied on Work Pedagogy The time marked by the clock hands, the so called "objective time", is deeply different from the one perceived by the individual. Starting from this hypothesis, directly connected to the subjective modality of "living" the time and defined as timeframe,  we will try to understand how much it affects the various domains of people's lives, attitudes and experiences. Subsequently, the research investigates on whether all our decisions can be influenced by one or more time perspectives beyond our awareness, i.e. by the process which allows us to organize our lived experiences in time categories. Last, but not least, we will try to understand if some timeframes in specific contexts are more functional and adaptive than others.


Approximations are obtained for the average probability of error in an asynchronous direct-sequence spread-spectrum multiple-access communications system. Both binary and quaternary systems are considered, and the chip waveforms are allowed to be arbitrary time-limited waveforms with time duration equal to the inverse chip rate. The approximation is based on the integration of the characteristic function of the multiple-access interference. The amount of computation required to evaluate this approximation grows only linearly with the product of the number of simultaneous transmitters and the number of chips per bit. The accuracy of the approximation is extremely good in most cases, but it can be improved, if necessary, by an application of a series expansion. Numerical results are presented for specific chip waveforms and signature sequences.


Endothelial dysfunction and inflammation are common pathophysiological characteristics of chronic heart failure (CHF). Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are recognized as useful markers of vascular damage and endothelial repair. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a cardiac rehabilitation program on EPCs and inflammatory profile in CHF patients of different severity. Forty-four patients with stable CHF underwent a 36-session cardiac rehabilitation program. They were separated into two different subgroups each time, according to the median peak VO2, predicted peak VO2, VE/VCO2 slope, and ejection fraction. EPCs, C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin 10 (IL-10), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were measured. Flow cytometry was used for the quantification of EPCs. Mobilization of EPCs increased and the inflammatory profile improved within each severity group (p < 0.05) after the cardiac rehabilitation program, but there were no statistically significant differences between groups (p > 0.05). A 36-session cardiac rehabilitation program has similar beneficial effects on the mobilization of EPCs and on the inflammatory profile in patients with CHF of different severity.


Effective video retrieval is the result of interplay between interactive query selection, advanced visualization of results, and a goal-oriented human user. Traditional interactive video retrieval approaches emphasize paradigms, such as query-by-keyword and query-by-example, to aid the user in the search for relevant footage. However, recent results in automatic indexing indicate that query-by-concept is becoming a viable resource for interactive retrieval also. We propose in this paper a new video retrieval paradigm. The core of the paradigm is formed by first detecting a large lexicon of semantic concepts. From there, we combine query-by-concept, query-by-example, query-by-keyword, and user interaction into the MediaMill semantic video search engine. To measure the impact of increasing lexicon size on interactive video retrieval performance, we performed two experiments against the 2004 and 2005 NIST TRECVID benchmarks, using lexicons containing 32 and 101 concepts, respectively. The results suggest that from all factors that play a role in interactive retrieval, a large lexicon of semantic concepts matters most. Indeed, by exploiting large lexicons, many video search questions are solvable without using query-by-keyword and query-by-example. In addition, we show that the lexicon-driven search engine outperforms all state-of-the-art video retrieval systems in both TRECVID 2004 and 2005


Background The prevalence of overweight and obesity are well known risk factors of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). We aimed to examine the association between body mass index (BMI) and ASCVD over a 23-year follow-up in young adults. We also qualified how much of the effects of obesity on ASCVD were mediated through blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose. Methods Data are from the Korean Life Course Health Study, a cohort study of 226,955 Korean young adults aged 20–39. At baseline, the participants undertook routine health assessments where their BMI was measured in 1992–1994; and the metabolic mediators including systolic blood pressure (SBP), fasting serum glucose (FSG), and total cholesterol (TC) were re-measured in 2002–2004. The main outcomes of the study include incident events of ischemic heart disease (IHD), stroke, and ASCVD between 2005 and 2015. Cox proportional model was used to calculate adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for ASCVD. Results In both men and women, the direct effect of BMI on ASCVD was greater than the indirect effect. The percentage of excess HR of BMI mediated by all of the metabolic mediators, including SBP, FSG, and TC, was 45.7% for stroke and 18.7% for IHD in men and 27.5% for stroke and 17.6% for IHD in women. Conclusion High BMI in young adults increases the risk of metabolic mediators in their middle age, and metabolic mediators explain the adverse effects of high BMI on stroke risk than IHD risk.


One‐dimensional flow experiments on biological clogging were carried out by biostimulating columns packed with glass beads, sterilized, and inoculated with toluene‐utilizing bacteria. Biostimulation consisted of continuously injecting toluene at four concentrations (3.0 ± 0.9, 6.1 ± 0.8, 8.7 ± 1.6, and 11.3 ± 0.8 mg/L). The results of column flow experiments indicated that a threshold concentration of toluene exists below which the total biomass in the column can be kept at a steady‐state level. The column cores were extruded and segmented to determine the biomass distribution throughout the column at clogging. Clogging resulted in a significant buildup of filamentous bacteria close to the inlet end. Based on the nucleotide sequence of 16S rRNA genes, the dominant filamentous bacteria were identified as Nocardia farcinica. A 235‐d column experiment demonstrated that the clogging near injection points can be controlled by keeping the influent concentration of toluene below the threshold.


Insights into both the detailed composition of Jupiter's atmosphere and unexpected local meteorological phenomena were revealed by in-situ measurements from the Galileo Probe Neutral Mass Spectrometer taken on December 7, 1995. Measurements of the neutral atmospheric composition from a pressure of 0.5 bar to approximately 21 bar revealed the mixing ratios of the major species helium and hydrogen as well as numerous minor constituents including methane, water, ammonia, ethane, ethylene, propane, hydrogen sulfide, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon. This instrument measured the isotope ratios 3He/4He, D/H, and 13C/12C as well as the isotopes of neon, argon, krypton, and xenon. A summary is given of progress that has been made in refining preliminary estimates of the abundances of condensable volatiles and noble gases as a result of an ongoing laboratory study using a nearly identical engineering unit. The depletion of simple condensable species to depths well below their expected condensation levels is explained by a local downdraft in the region of the probe entry. The mass spectrometer data suggests that different species may recover at different depths and this may be due to lateral mixing of Jovian air.


The poor solubility of drug substances in water and their low dissolution rate in aqueous G.I.T fluid often leads to insufficient bioavailability. As per Biopharmaceutical Classification System (BCS), Olmesartan belongs to the class-II category having poor solubility and high permeability. Since only dissolved drug can pass the gastrointestinal membrane, the proper solubility of the drug is ultimately desired. Its oral bioavailability is 26%. Hence, an attempt was made to enhance its solubility by formulating solid dispersions using different techniques viz., Melting, Kneading, Co-precipitation, Solvent evaporation and Physical mixing etc., Drug and carrier (Urea) in different ratios like 1: 1, 1: 2, 1: 3 and 1:4 were used for formulating solid dispersions. The compatibility of the drug with the carrier was checked by FTIR studies, these results revealed that there was no interaction between them. The angle of repose, bulk density, tapped density; Carr's index and Hausner ratio were calculated for the micrometric characterization of all the solid dispersions. The drug content was found to be high and uniform in all formulations. The prepared Solid dispersion SEM4 (1:4) showed minimal wetting time of 13 seconds compared with the other formulations. In vitro dissolution, release studies in Phosphate buffer pH of 6.8 revealed that the prepared solid dispersions showed faster drug release compared with the pure drug.  The in vitro dissolution profile showed ascendency on increasing the carrier concentration


Seismic advances in generative AI algorithms for imagery, text, and other data types has led to the temptation to use synthetic data to train next-generation models. Repeating this process creates an autophagous (self-consuming) loop whose properties are poorly understood. We conduct a thorough analytical and empirical analysis using state-of-the-art generative image models of three families of autophagous loops that differ in how fixed or fresh real training data is available through the generations of training and in whether the samples from previous generation models have been biased to trade off data quality versus diversity. Our primary conclusion across all scenarios is that without enough fresh real data in each generation of an autophagous loop, future generative models are doomed to have their quality (precision) or diversity (recall) progressively decrease. We term this condition Model Autophagy Disorder (MAD), making analogy to mad cow disease.


The development of a sacrificial bond provided unique inspiration for the design of advanced elastomers with excellent mechanical properties, but it is still a huge challenge to construct a homogenous polar sacrificial network in a nonpolar elastomer. In this effort, we proposed a novel strategy to engineer a multi-ionic network into a covalently cross-linked 1,2-polybutadiene (1,2-PB) facilitated by in-situ intercalated organic montmorillonite (OMMT) without phase separation. XRD, SEM, and TEM analysis were carried out to characterize the microstructure of the resulting polymers. Crosslinking density, dielectric performance, and cyclic tensile tests were used to demonstrate the interaction of zinc methacrylate (ZDMA) and OMMT. The dynamic nature of ionic bonds allowed it to rupture and reform to dissipate energy efficiently. Stretching orientation brought parallelism between polymer chains and OMMT layers which was beneficial for the reconstruction of the ionic network, ultimately resulting in high strength and a low stress relaxation rate. Overall, our work presented the design of a uniform and strong sacrificial network in the nano-clay/elastomer nanocomposite with outstanding mechanical performances under both static and dynamic conditions.


Three-dimensional (3D) printing is an increasingly popular manufacturing technique that allows highly complex objects to be fabricated with no retooling costs. This increasing popularity is partly driven by falling barriers to entry such as system set-up costs and ease of operation. The following protocol presents the design and construction of an Additive Manufacturing Melt Extrusion (ADDME) 3D printer for the fabrication of custom parts and components. ADDME has been designed with a combination of 3D-printed, laser-cut, and online-sourced components. The protocol is arranged into easy-to-follow sections, with detailed diagrams and parts lists under the headings of framing, y-axis and bed, x-axis, extrusion, electronics, and software. The performance of ADDME is evaluated through extrusion testing and 3D printing of complex objects using viscous cream, chocolate, and Pluronic F-127 (a model for bioinks). The results indicate that ADDME is a capable platform for the fabrication of materials and constructs for use in a wide range of industries. The combination of detailed diagrams and video content facilitates access to low-cost, easy-to-operate equipment for individuals interested in 3D printing of complex objects from a wide range of materials.


B‐cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia has a highly variable clinical course with behavior ranging from indolent to aggressive. Identified prognostic markers include IgVH mutational status, and CD38 and ZAP‐70 expression. In several studies, ZAP‐70 expression correlated with IgVH mutational status, and predicted disease progression and overall survival. In addition to its prognostic utility, ZAP‐70 expression was found to be constant over time, and did not vary between peripheral blood, bone marrow or lymph node specimens in individual patients. In contrast to these reports, we present three CLL patients with discordant ZAP‐70 levels. One demonstrated a change in expression with time; the second and third cases had discordant results in blood, lymph node and bone marrow and between blood and bone marrow specimens, respectively, obtained at the same time.


A semianalytical spectral element method (SEM) is proposed for electromagnetic simulations of 3-D layered structures. 2-D spectral elements are employed to discretize the cross section of a layered structure, and the Legendre transformation is then used to cast the semidiscretized problem from the Lagrangian system into the Hamiltonian system. A Riccati equation-based high precision integration method is utilized to perform integration along the longitudinal direction, which is the undiscretized direction, to generate the stiffness matrix of the whole layered structure. The final system of equations by the semianalytical SEM will take the form of a set of linear equations with a block tri-diagonal matrix, which can be solved efficiently by the block Thomas algorithm. Numerical examples demonstrate the high efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method.


The time-next-event (TNE) algorithm relies upon a shortest path algorithm which is independently executed on each processor in order to unblock the logical processes (LPs) in a processor and to increase the parallelism of the simulation. TNE's performance is good, and it is able to produce better lookahead as a consequence of obtaining input from LPs resident on neighboring processors. This paper presents an extension of the TNE algorithm, the objective of which is to increase its parallelism and to break the interprocessor deadlocks inherent with the use of TNE. This semi-global TNE (SGTNE) algorithm is executed over a cluster of processors as opposed to TNE, which is executed over a cluster of processes assigned to a single processor. Because TNE is executed on individual processors, it is susceptible to interprocessor deadlocks. These deadlocks must be detected and broken at some cost. SGTNE helps to break these deadlocks by executing a shortest path algorithm over a snapshot of the LPs in a cluster of processors. We examine two (hierarchical) scheduling algorithms for SGTNE which we refer to as one- and two-level scheduling in the context of a queuing network simulation of a torus. The torus was chosen because its many cycles aid in the formation of deadlock. In two-level scheduling, we execute TNE on each individual processor before calling the global portion of the algorithm. Our experiments indicate that two-level scheduling is superior to one-level scheduling. They also indicate that SGTNE decreases the run time of a TNE simulation by about 15-20% when a large number of processors is used.<<ETX>>


No Abstract Available.

The article about which this alternative interpretation was written appeared in the Bulletin , v. 95, p. 814–828.


Historical background and present status of excimer laser annealing of amorphous silicon for poly-TFTs fabrication are presented. Scanning and single shot systems are compared both on the physical and economical aspects. Process optimization and process control using real time spectroscopic ellipsometry are also presented. Finally, some perspectives in the development of very high power excimer laser are also given.


AIM
To assess an effectiveness of FAST TRACK rehabilitation in patients after laparoscopic repair of hiatal hernia.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
There were 87 patients with hiatal hernia who underwent laparoscopic Nissen-Rossetti procedure with wrapping only anterior wall of the stomach. FAST TRACK approach was applied in 49 patients, standard protocol - in 38 cases. Effectiveness of FAST TRACK rehabilitation was assessed in this report considering early postoperative morbidity, length of hospital-stay, time of postoperative intestinal paresis, complaints by GSRS questionnaire.

CONCLUSION
FAST TRACK rehabilitation is followed by reduced early postoperative morbidity, length of hospital-stay and number of postoperative complaints.


Every year thousands of people lose their life due to road accidents. One of the main reasons for these accidents is driver drowsiness. In driver drowsiness, the driver slept while driving, which causes the road accident, especially on the long routes. Driver fatigue and micro sleep while driving caused the fatal accident and death of human beings. To overcome this problem, we are implementing a technique in which we capture the image of the driver. After capturing the image of the driver, we process driver images to detect driver drowsiness. For the processing of the driver image, we are using two different techniques with each other. In the first technique, we are using the Dlib for image drowsiness detection by detecting that driver's eyes are closed and the driver is yawning. In the second technique, we used CNN for the detection of yawning and the eyes of the driver are closed or not and predict driver drowsiness. After implementing the two techniques we combine the output of both techniques. After combining both techniques we test the system, and it gives us very good results.