The article is devoted to the analysis of changes due to the influence of digitalisation in the sphere of employment and socio-labour relations. The author considered various estimates of the size of technological unemployment as a result of automation and robotisation of the production of goods and services. Also, the author presented the strategic development goals of the Russian Federation and developed by the government the national projects in 12 areas. In particular, the author analysed the project "Productivity and employment support", which fully or partially reflect most of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) adopted at the UN General Assembly. The article presents the possible directions of the government's activity and the main actions that will contribute to economic growth. The article emphasises the need to accelerate the adaptation of Russian education to the changes taking place in the economy, the use of new training technologies and best teaching practices, the introduction of new forms of cooperation between the state and business in the field of training and retraining of personnel.


Federated Learning (FL) is a framework which enables distributed model training using a large corpus of decentralized training data. Existing methods aggregate models disregarding their internal representations, which are crucial for training models in vision tasks. System and statistical heterogeneity (e.g., highly imbalanced and non-i.i.d. data) further harm model training. To this end, we introduce a method, called FedProto, which computes client deviations using margins of prototypical representations learned on distributed data, and applies them to drive federated optimization via an attention mechanism. In addition, we propose three methods to analyse statistical properties of feature representations learned in FL, in order to elucidate the relationship between accuracy, margins and feature discrepancy of FL models. In experimental analyses, FedProto demonstrates state-of-the-art accuracy and convergence rate across image classification and semantic segmentation benchmarks by enabling maximum margin training of FL models. Moreover, FedProto reduces uncertainty of predictions of FL models compared to the baseline. To our knowledge, this is the first work evaluating FL models in dense prediction tasks, such as semantic segmentation.


Background: Several acellular dermal matrices (ADMs) can be used to provide soft-tissue support for post- and prepectoral prosthetic breast reconstructions. Yet, several recent meta-analysis suggest that due to a lack of rigorous evaluation in the setting of head-to-head prospective randomized control trials, few reliable conclusions regarding performance outcomes can be drawn. We compare Cortiva 1 mm to AlloDerm RTU in the setting of submuscular reconstruction in one study, and prepectoral in the second. Moreover, we present the findings from the interim analysis in our submuscular study. Methods: Using a single-blinded prospective randomized control trial design, we compare outcomes in 180 patients undergoing submuscular breast reconstruction with 16 × 8 cm ADM support (either Cortiva 1 mm or AlloDerm RTU). A parallel study evaluates 16 × 20 cm sheets of these ADMs in 180 patients undergoing prepectoral reconstructions. Time to drain removal, complications, fill volumes, patient-reported outcomes, and narcotic consumption are prospectively evaluated. Results: Interim analysis of 59 breasts in the submuscular study arm (Cortiva n = 31; AlloDerm n = 28) revealed no statistically significant differences with respect to outcome. At the time of interim analysis, the AlloDerm RTU group contained a higher proportion of never-smokers (P = 0.009), while patients implanted with Cortiva 1 mm received a larger tissue expander (P = 0.02). Conclusion: We present a protocol for a robust randomized control trial to evaluate outcomes in both submuscular and prepectoral prosthetic breast reconstruction assisted by 2 distinct types of ADM. Our interim analysis reveals no evidence of inferiority of outcomes in a comparison of AlloDerm to Cortiva.


We provide a detailed look on the functioning of the OwlSpeak Spoken Dialogue Manager, which is part of the EU-funded project ATRACO. OwlSpeak interprets Spoken Dialogue Ontologies and on this basis generates VoiceXML dialogue snippets. The dialogue snippets can be interpreted by all speech servers that provide VoiceXML support and therefore make the dialogue management independent from the hosting systems providing speech recognition and synthesis. Ontologies are used within the framework of our prototype to represent specific spoken dialogue domains that can dynamically be broadened or tightened during an ongoing dialogue. We provide an exemplary dialogue encoded as OWL model and explain how this model is interpreted by the dialogue manager. The combination of a unified model for dialogue domains and the strict model-view-controller architecture that underlies the dialogue manager lead to an efficient system that allows for a new way of spoken dialogue system development and can be used for further research on adaptive spoken dialogue strategies.


With flavone as a structural template, three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D-QSAR) studies and ab initio calculations were performed on a series of flavonoids. A reasonable pharmacophore model was built through CoMFA, CoMSIA, and HQSAR analyses and electrostatic potential calculations. A plausible binding mode for flavonoids with GABA(A) receptors was rationalized. On the basis of the commonly recognized binding site, the specific S1 and S2 subsites relating to substituent positions were proposed. The different binding affinities could be explained according to the frontier orbitals and electrostatic potential (ESP) maps. The ESP could be used as a novel starting point for designing more selective BZ-binding-site ligands.


The present work investigated the influence of different halides on the excited state dynamics of 6-methoxyflavone (6MF) in an aqueous solution with steady-state and time-resolved techniques. On successive addition of I− and Br− ions, the fluorescence of 6MF quenched significantly, whereas the respective ions do not change the maximum fluorescence band. Fluorescence of 6MF was quenched 66% by I− ions and 34% by Br− ions. In a pure aqueous medium, both the H-bonded: CT and protonated species of 6MF participate in the quenching of fluorescence. The quenching process was categorized by Stern–Volmer (S–V) and Lehrer equations. Quenching parameters such as KSV, KSV-L and kq were higher for I− ions than Br− ions. The decrease in fluorescence intensity and a reduction in fluorescence lifetime suggested the dynamic nature of quenching by I− ions following the electron transfer mechanism. Fluorescence quenching of 6MF has also been observed in the acidic medium in the presence of different halides. Thus, the study reveals that 6MF is responsive towards I− ions in a wide range of pH, specifically in a purely aqueous environment (pH∼7), hence important for sensing/detection applications.


Land surface models (LSMs) use a large cohort of parameters and state variables to simulate the water and energy balance at the soil-atmosphere interface. Many of these model parameters cannot be measured directly in the field, and require calibration against measured fluxes of carbon dioxide, sensible and/or latent heat, and/or observations of the thermal and/or moisture state of the soil. Here, we evaluate the usefulness and applicability of four different data assimilation methods for joint parameter and state estimation of the Variable Infiltration Capacity Model (VIC-3L) and the Community Land Model (CLM) using a 5-month calibration (assimilation) period (March – July, 2012) of areal-averaged SPADE soil moisture measurements at 5, 20 and 50 cm depth in the Rollesbroich experimental test site in the Eifel mountain range in western Germany. We used the EnKF with state augmentation or dual estimation, respectively, and the residual resampling PF with a simple, statistically deficient, or more sophisticated, MCMC-based parameter resampling method. The performance of the "calibrated" LSM models was investigated using SPADE water content measurements of a 5-month evaluation period (August – December, 2012). As expected, all DA methods enhance the ability of the VIC and CLM models to describe spatiotemporal patterns of moisture storage within the vadose zone of the Rollesbroich site, particularly if the maximum baseflow velocity (VIC) or fractions of sand, clay, and organic matter of each layer (CLM) are estimated jointly with the model states of each soil layer. The differences between the soil moisture simulations of VIC-3L and CLM are much larger than the discrepancies among the four data assimilation methods. The EnKF with state augmentation or dual estimation yields the best performance of VIC3L and CLM during the calibration and evaluation period, yet results are in close agreement with the PF using MCMC resampling. Overall, CLM demonstrated the best performance for the Rollesbroich site. The large systematic underestimation of water storage at 50 cm depth by VIC-3L during the first few months of the evaluation period questions, in part, the validity of its fixed water table depth at the bottom of the modelled soil domain.


2D molybdenum disulfide (MoS2 ) gives a new inspiration for the field of nanoelectronics, photovoltaics, and sensorics. However, the most common processing technology, e.g., liquid-phase based scalable exfoliation used for device fabrication, leads to the number of shortcomings that impede their large area production and integration. Major challenges are associated with the small size and low concentration of MoS2 flakes, as well as insufficient control over their physical properties, e.g., internal heterogeneity of the metallic and semiconducting phases. Here it is demonstrated that large semiconducting MoS2 sheets (with dimensions up to 50 µm) can be obtained by a facile cathodic exfoliation approach in nonaqueous electrolyte. The synthetic process avoids surface oxidation thus preserving the MoS2 sheets with intact crystalline structure. It is further demonstrated at the proof-of-concept level, a solution-processed large area (60 × 60 µm) flexible Ebola biosensor, based on a MoS2 thin film (6 µm thickness) fabricated via restacking of the multiple flakes on the polyimide substrate. The experimental results reveal a low detection limit (in femtomolar-picomolar range) of the fabricated sensor devices. The presented exfoliation method opens up new opportunities for fabrication of large arrays of multifunctional biomedical devices based on novel 2D materials.


In the general setting of long‐memory multivariate time series, the long‐memory characteristics are defined by two components. The long‐memory parameters describe the autocorrelation of each time series. And the long‐run covariance measures the coupling between time series, with general phase parameters. It is of interest to estimate the long‐memory, long‐run covariance and general phase parameters of time series generated by this wide class of models although they are not necessarily Gaussian nor stationary. This estimation is thus not directly possible using real wavelets decomposition or Fourier analysis. Our purpose is to define an inference approach based on a representation using quasi‐analytic wavelets. We first show that the covariance of the wavelet coefficients provides an adequate estimator of the covariance structure including the phase term. Consistent estimators based on a local Whittle approximation are then proposed. Simulations highlight a satisfactory behavior of the estimation on finite samples on multivariate fractional Brownian motions. An application on a real neuroscience dataset is presented, where long‐memory and brain connectivity are inferred.


In image processing, images are usually composed of partial views due to the uncertainty of collection and how to efficiently process these images, which is called incomplete multi-view learning, has attracted widespread attention. The incompleteness and diversity of multi-view data enlarges the difficulty of annotation, resulting in the divergence of label distribution between the training and testing data, named as label shift. However, existing incomplete multi-view methods generally assume that the label distribution is consistent and rarely consider the label shift scenario. To address this new but important challenge, we propose a novel framework termed as Incomplete Multi-view Learning under Label Shift (IMLLS). In this framework, we first give the formal definitions of IMLLS and the bidirectional complete representation which describes the intrinsic and common structure. Then, a multilayer perceptron which combines the reconstruction and classification loss is employed to learn the latent representation, whose existence, consistency and universality are proved with the theoretical satisfaction of label shift assumption. After that, to align the label distribution, the learned representation and trained source classifier are used to estimate the importance weight by designing a new estimation scheme which balances the error generated by finite samples in theory. Finally, the trained classifier reweighted by the estimated weight is fine-tuned to reduce the gap between the source and target representations. Extensive experimental results validate the effectiveness of our algorithm over existing state-of-the-arts methods in various aspects, together with its effectiveness in discriminating schizophrenic patients from healthy controls.


Scholars disagree about the size and significance of trade linkage for the success and failure of economic sanctions. In order to find out whether trade is important, I organized the 22 empirical studies published in 1985-2017 that deal with the effect of trade on the success of economic sanction by applying the weighted mixed-effect multilevel model and cluster data analysis of meta regression analysis. I conducted a quantitative review of the international trade estimates reported on the economic sanction success and estimated the genuine effect size and investigated how the findings which are reported in the primary studies are influ-enced by publication bias, the size of genuine effect and the source of heterogeneity.
The meta regression analysis shows that the sample of literature suffers from publication bias and that on average trade linkage has a positive and statistically significant impact on the success of economic sanction with the sample of literature which includes the interaction terms, but it has negatively and statistically significant impact with literature that does not have interaction terms. The genuine effect results of meta significant test, funnel asymmetry and precision effect test and precision effect test considering standard error indicate that the need to investigate the sources of heterogeneity by using multivariate MRA approach. Pub-lication bias, data characteristics and specification characteristics strongly impact on the re-sults of success of economic sanction on the primary studies indicating the need for research-ers to consciously consider in the selection of data, time span and other control variables.


The effects of aging and food restriction on the activities and mRNA levels of antioxidant enzymes in rat livers were examined. Rats were fed ad libitum every day (AL) or ad libitum on every other weekday (FR). At 30 months of age, the catalase and glutathione peroxidase activities were lower, whereas the thiobarbituric acid (TBA) value, an index of lipid peroxidation of the AL rats, was higher than that at younger ages. At 33 months of age, copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD), catalase, and glutathione peroxidase activities increased, and the TBA value of the FR rats remained unchanged as compared with those at younger ages. Until old age, food restriction gave rather decreasing effects on antioxidant enzyme activities. Furthermore, antioxidant enzyme activities and the TBA values of the FR rats were higher at the end of a fasting period than those at the end of a feeding period.


Received Oct 26, 2021 Revised Jul 19, 2022 Accepted Aug 17, 2022 The data generated from social media is very large, while the use of data from social media has not been fully utilized to become new knowledge. One of the things that can become new knowledge is user habits on social media. Searching for user habits on Twitter by using user tweets can be done by using modeling, the use of modeling lies when the data has been preprocessed, and the ranking will then be checked in the dictionary, this is where the role of the model is carried out to get a chance that the words that have been ranked will perform check the word in the dictionary. The benefit of the model in general is to get an understanding of the mechanism in the problem so that it can predict events that will arise from a phenomenon which in this case is user habits. So that with the availability of this model, it can be a model in getting opportunities for user habits on Twitter social media.


This paper presents an Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and Collision Avoidance (CA) system for vehicle autonomous driving. The control scheme is designed to improve drivers' comfort during multi-vehicle driving situations and to completely avoid rear-end collision using severe braking and lane change maneuver. In order to create such an application, the proposed system consists of a longitudinal control strategy for multi-vehicle ACC with severe braking, a lateral control strategy for lane change, and a decision unit for integration of two strategies. The longitudinal control strategy was used to achieve comfort behavior of subject vehicle in normal-driving situations and to achieve safe behavior in sever-braking situations. The lateral control strategy is used to generate a trajectory for lane change and follow the generated trajectory in order to avoid collision. Finally, the decision unit is used to recognize the current driving situation and select a behavior of the subject vehicle. The performance and safety benefits of the proposed control system are investigated via simulations using various driving scenarios. The simulation results show that the proposed control system performs longitudinal and lateral control strategy depending on the driving situations.


The layered oxide material LiNi0.48Co0.18Mn0.3Mg0.02Ti0.02O2 has been synthesized via a co-precipitation assisted solid-phase method, and its crystal structure, morphology and electrochemical properties have been systematically investigated. Rietveld refinement of its X-ray diffraction data indicates a higher degree of the well-ordered crystallographic form, which provides LiNi0.48Co0.18Mn0.3Mg0.02Ti0.02O2 with superior cycle performance and rate capability. The initial discharge capacities of the electrode are 151.5 mA h g−1, 140.1 mA h g−1, 137.1 mA h g−1, 125.2 mA h g−1 and 115.3 mA h g−1 at the current of 0.5C, 1C, 2C, 3C and 5C, respectively. After 100 cycles at the same rates, 94%, 96%, 96%, 94% and 93% of the initial discharge capacity are retained. The improved electrochemical properties are attributed to the decrease in particle size and suppression of cation mixing due to doping with Mg and Ti. The results of this work indicate that LiNi0.48Co0.18Mn0.3Mg0.02Ti0.02O2 is a promising cathode material for Li-ion batteries.


We propose a learning-based method for detecting carried objects that generates candidate image regions from protrusion, color contrast and occlusion boundary cues, and uses a classifier to filter out the regions unlikely to be carried objects. The method achieves higher accuracy than state of the art, which can only detect protrusions from the human shape, and the discriminative model it builds for the silhouette context-based region features generalizes well. To reduce annotation effort, we investigate training the model in a Multiple Instance Learning framework where the only available supervision is "walk" and "carry" labels associated with intervals of human tracks, i.e., the spatial extent of carried objects is not annotated. We present an extension to the miSVM algorithm that uses knowledge of the fraction of positive instances in positive bags and that scales to training sets of hundreds of thousands of instances.


The Russian government has provided little information on military expenditure during the war with Ukraine that started in late February 2022. The Ministry of Finance stopped publishing detailed data on the implementation of the budget in April. However, for a brief period in August and September, the Federal Treasury did issue its usual reports on budget spending during the first half of the year and then to 1 August. The reports are very revealing—and, at first sight, surprising—on actual spending and permit some analysis of the Russian government's commitment of resources to what it has termed a 'special military operation'. Unfortunately, the Federal Treasury removed the reports from its website in mid September and, with the decision on 21 September to adopt a partial mobilization, it is unlikely that the publication of detailed reports on budget spending will be resumed for some time.


We reviewed the literature to determine the importance of invertebrates for moorland-breeding birds and considered our findings with respect to the conservation of such species in the UK. The diets of many moorland birds consist predominantly of invertebrates, with a wide range of taxa recorded in the diets of moorland birds during the breeding season. Relatively few taxa (Arachnida, Coleoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera and Oligochaeta) were widely taken, with Diptera and Coleoptera being the most important. Among these latter two insect orders, Carabidae, Curculionidae, Elateridae and Tipulidae were the most important families. Comparisons of the diets of bird families, treated separately according to whether data were derived from adults or chicks, showed that waders take more interstitial invertebrates than passerines, which themselves take more foliage invertebrates. Although we lack detailed experimental data with which to demonstrate the direct effect of particular moorland management prescriptions on some of these key invertebrate taxa for breeding birds, available data suggest that management regimes that create a mosaic of habitats are likely to be most beneficial. In particular, heterogeneity in vegetation structure and species composition, and the presence of wet flushes associated with the synchronized spring emergence of adults of certain insect species, are likely to increase invertebrate food resources for birds.


The in vitro antimicrobial activity of Cassia didymobotrya and Phlogacanthus thyrsiflorus leaf extracts were studied against selected bacteria and fungi following Agar disc diffusion method. Leaves were extracted using distilled water, methanol and ethyl acetate. Three different concentrations were applied to the disc (100μg, 250μg and 500μg/disc) for each extracts. While the aqueous extracts of the selected plants leaves showed mild to moderately effective, the methanol and ethyl acetate extracts were more efficient compared to the aqueous extract. The inhibition zone diameter was seen to increase with the concentration. The results were compared with results obtained using standard antibiotics Kanamycin and Fluconazole which serve as a reference for inhibition zone diameter.


: From 1987 to 1991, 33 children with sequelae to Duchenne--Erb type obstetrical paralysis of an upper extremity were operated on in the clinic. In 20 patients, the operations were performed on the tendinomuscular apparatus of the humeral articulation, in 13--on the humerus. The technique for performance of detorsive osteotomy of the humerus is described. Indications for the given method of operative rehabilitation are substantiated.


Since local government is the nearest to service users it is expected that it is at the forefront of service delivery. Local government needs to demonstrate that performance is managed, measured and improved on a continuous basis. For this purpose it must develop a comprehensive performance management system. The development of such a system is, however, not without challenges and local government should identify crucial elements which should be incorporated in such a system. The aim of this article is to focus on key considerations and challenges associated with the improvement of local government service delivery through the implementation of performance management systems.


Since the remote drones control is mentally very demanding, supporting the pilot with both, first person view (FPV) and third person view (TPV) of the drone may help the pilot with orientation capability during the mission. Therefore, we present a system that is based on augmented virtuality technology, where real data from the drone are integrated into the virtual 3D environment model (video-stream, 3D structures, location information). In our system, the pilot is mostly piloting the drone using FPV, but can whenever switch to TPV in order to freely look around the situation of poor orientation. The proposed system also enables efficient mission planning, where the pilot can define 3D areas with different potential security risks or set navigation waypoints, which will be used during the mission to navigate in defined zones and visualize the overall situation in the virtual scene augmented by online real data.


Food cold chain is systematic project of a county's economic development which plays a vital role. This paper analyzed the composition conditions and characteristics of food cold chain logistics system, discussed the present situation for development and management of China's food cold chain logistics system. Finally we raised effective measures and recommendations for problems and future development trend of the domestic food cold chain logistics management system.


Considering Share Risk Link Group (SRLG) constraints , a algorithm called SRLG with Conditional Failure probability (SCFP) is proposed in order to provide differentiated services in WDM mesh network. SCFP can differentiate the requirement on service reliability based on analysis of Conditional Failure Probability (CFP). In this algorithm, the concept of CFP is provided from reliability probability that user requires. Then a pair of routes satisfying CFP is computed, and also the routing trap is solved. Simulation results show that SCFP effectively reduces the Blocking probability and keeps in a high resource utilization rate.


Semen characteristics were studied in 6 wild-born chimpanzees with dental ages ranging approximately from 6 to 12 years. The animals formed 2 groups, early pubertal (EP, N = 3, 6-9 years) and late pubertal (LP, N = 3, 11-12 years). Mean body weight, testicular volume and serum androgen concentration were significantly lower in Group EP (32.2 +/- 1.6 kg, 34.0 +/- 7.7 cm3, 2.1 +/- 0.1 ng/ml) than in Group LP (55.7 +/- 5.7 kg, P less than 0.01; 100.5 +/- 11.9 cm3, P less than 0.01; 3.6 +/- 0.7 ng/ml, P less than 0.05). Ejaculates were obtained by masturbation in all subjects. The mean ejaculate volume was lower in Group EP (0.56 +/- 0.20 ml) than in Group LP (3.77 +/- 0.73 ml, P less than 0.01). In Group EP, 2 animals were azoospermic while the third produced semen with means of 57.1 x 10(6) spermatozoa per ml, 20% motility and 40% vitality. These values were low when compared with the mean values of Group LP (376 x 10(6) spermatozoa per ml, 67% motility and 78% vitality). Mean total sperm count was correlated with testicular volume (r = 0.84) and serum androgen concentration (r = 0.96). The mean concentrations of L-carnitine, fructose, citrate and acid phosphatase for the two groups were not significantly different; but, related to the differences in ejaculate volumes, their total amounts in total ejaculate were lower in Group EP than in Group LP. These results suggest that, in chimpanzees, mechanisms of seminal plasma production and ejaculation are functional early in the reproductive life and that the emission of spermatozoa occurs later.


Background Liver steatosis is often observed in chronic HCV infection and associated to genotype or comorbidities. NAFLD is an important risk factor for end-stage liver disease. We aimed to analyse the course of NAFLD as a concomitant disease in a cohort of HCV patients. Methods The German Hepatitis C-Registry is a national multicenter real-world cohort. In the current analysis, 8789 HCV patients were included and separated based on the presence of steatosis on ultrasound and/or histology. Fibrosis progression was assessed by transient elastography (TE), ultrasound or non-invasive surrogate scores. Results At the time of study inclusion 12.3% (n = 962) of HCV patients presented with steatosis (+S) (higher rate in GT-3). Diabetes mellitus was more frequent in GT-1 patients. HCV patients without steatosis (-S) had a slightly higher rate of fibrosis progression (FP) over time (30.3%) in contrast to HCV patients +S (26%). This effect was mainly observed in GT-3 patients (34.4% vs. 20.6%). A larger decrease of ALT, AST and GGT from baseline to FU-1 (4–24 weeks after EOT) was found in HCV patients (without FP) +S compared to -S. HCV patients -S and with FP presented more often metabolic comorbidities with a significantly higher BMI (+0.58kg/m2) compared to patients -S without FP. This was particularly pronounced in patients with abnormal ALT. Conclusion Clinically diagnosed steatosis in HCV patients does not seem to contribute to significant FP in this unique cohort. The low prevalence of steatosis could reflect a lower awareness of fatty liver in HCV patients, as patients -S and with FP presented more metabolic risk factors.


ABSTRACT This research investigates impacts of an extreme flood on recruitment and transport of large wood (LW) in sub-basins of the North Fork River, Missouri. Data collection took place two months after a >500 year flood to characterize LW conditions before natural recovery processes could obscure impacts. We used sites from previous LW studies in the region as reference to help identify flood impacts. Results showed 1) LW load volumes were no different than reference sites, but individual LW pieces comprised a greater percentage of the total load, 2) a high proportion of pieces at flood-impacted sites contained root wads, 3) transport capacity of the flood-impacted sites was high compared to reference sites, and 4) LW recruitment increased exponentially with flood magnitude. These results suggest that extreme floods have a significant impact on the composition of the LW load, and that geomorphic impacts of such floods may result in enhanced transport capacities. Based on these findings, we present two possible post-flood LW response/recovery scenarios; one in which elevated transport capacity serves to speed system recovery to the pre-flood LW regime, and one in which the enhanced LW piece composition results in a new post-flood LW regime with an enhanced load.


CD38 is expected to be one of the most useful molecular targets on the surface of malignant B-cells. T cell-mediated immunotherapy with a chimeric receptor could provide a powerful tool for treating cancer. However, since CD38 is also expressed on effector cells such as activated T cells, NK cells, and monocytes, these cells with the chimeric receptor could be eliminated by autologous cytotoxicity through the interaction with the antigen. In this study, we developed a novel methodology for enhancing the survival and clonal expansion of T lymphocytes expressing an anti-CD38 chimeric receptor. Hut78 T cells, which express very little CD38, retrovirally transduced with the anti-CD38 chimeric receptor showed powerful cytotoxic activity against B cell lines expressing CD38, such as HT (lymphoma), RPMI8226 (myeloma), 380 (ALL-Ph1−) and OP-1 (ALL-Ph1+) cells (mean specific cytotoxicity was 97.94% ± 0.31% after four days of culture in vitro). However, in activated human T cells and Jurkat cells constitutively expressing CD38, the recovery rate of cells transduced with the chimeric receptor was extremely low, because the cells eradicated each other and/or themselves by inducing apoptosis. To block the interaction of the anti-CD38 chimeric receptor with CD38 antigen, we incubated activated T cells and Jurkat cells in medium supplemented with an anti-CD38 antibody before the transduction. The number of viable cells harvested after the transduction was dramatically increased by the antibody in a dose-dependent manner. Using this method, we prepared human peripheral T cells bearing the chimeric receptor and injected them into NOD/SCID mice, which were transplanted with HT cells labeled with luciferase. Lucuferase activity was not detectable in 13 days in five of six mice with T cells transduced with the chimeric receptor. In contrast, the activity had a rapid and steady increase in all of the mice injected with vector-transduced T cells. These results clearly showed that even though human peripheral T cells express any molecule on their surface, an antibody could protect T cells transduced with a chimeric receptor-containing vector from cytolysis, and apoptosis. These findings may provide us with a powerful tool for improving T cell-mediated targeting therapy.


Hypothyroidism is a chronic condition with an underactive thyroid gland. The thyroid gland produces thyroid hormones mainly, thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). Women are more at risk of hypothyroidism than men. The symptoms of hypothyroidism are not specific. A blood test to measure thyroid hormones should be needed for the diagnosis of hypothyroidism. The mild cognitive symptoms associated with hypothyroidism are difficult to detect in the early stages in adults. But in elderly patients, it can be easily detected. Memory is the most common cognitive domain affected in elderly hypothyroid patients. In elderly patients, the hypothyroid-impaired cognitive impairment can progress into dementia or other related complications if left untreated. Thyroid hormones have an important role in regulating metabolism. Metabolic disorders were common in hypothyroidism. Thyroid hormone supplementation with levothyroxine is the standard therapy for hypothyroidism. Levothyroxine should be taken on an empty stomach preferably in the early morning. Levothyroxine has several drug interactions. It can interact with proton pump inhibitors, calcium supplements, etc., and reduce levothyroxine's oral absorption. Patients' attitudes and knowledge toward the therapy have an important role in improving their clinical outcomes and quality of life.


This paper discusses the design of and material for klystron output windows to be used on the Stanford 20-GeV linear accelerator. Alternative window geometries are considered in view of the requirements of the SLAC application. Criteria for choice of window material are presented along with physical properties of several dielectric materials, and results of experimental evaluations of various window materials are described. The necessity for, and effectiveness of, techniques for reducing multipactor are discussed. Reasons are given for the choice of the present SLAC klystron window.


Researchers and clinicians have recommended that sign language be taught to typically developing children during their first 2 years of life; however, existing research does not provide adequate information regarding appropriate methods of sign training. We used delayed physical prompting and reinforcement to teach manual signs to 3 children between the ages of 6 and 13 months. Data were collected on the occurrence of prompted and independent signs as well as crying. Sign training was successful in producing independent signing in all 3 children in under 4 hr of training per child.


Military medical units must be flexible and mobile to keep up with maneuver units on the modern battlefield. The requirements for unit mobility and maneuverability preclude bulky advanced radiologic imaging support, such as computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging systems. Portable sonography is rapid, reliable, efficient, and user-friendly; it markedly expanded the diagnostic capability of our forward-deployed combat support hospital during Operation Iraqi Freedom. More than 400 ultrasound studies were performed during the first 6 months of hospital operations in Iraq. The use of this technology on the battlefield improved our ability to provide definitive, quality, medical care far forward and to preserve the fighting strength of supported units.


Purpose: To evaluate the clinical characteristics and prognosis of orbital invasive aspergillosis, a major cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. Methods: Review of the medical records of Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, from 1995 to 2007 revealed 15 patients with orbital invasive aspergillosis. A retrospective cohort study was conducted to evaluate the clinical characteristics, radiologic findings, associated underlying diseases, and prognosis. Risk factors for mortality were analyzed. Results: A total of 15 cases of orbital invasive aspergillosis were included in this study. The mean age for all patients was 61.9 years. The most common underlying disease was diabetes mellitus and all patients had paranasal sinus infections. The most common ocular symptoms were visual disturbance, periorbital swelling, and periorbital pain. The mortality rate associated with invasive aspergillosis was 40%. According to univariate analysis, variables significantly associated with invasive aspergillosis-related mortality included fever and incorrect initial diagnosis. Conclusions: Fever and incorrect initial diagnosis were found to be associated with high mortality rates in patients with orbital invasive aspergillosis. Further study is necessary to determine optimal strategies for early diagnosis and appropriate treatment.


We present numerical computations that reproduce the time-reversal experiments of Draeger et al (Draeger C, Cassereau D and Fink M 1998 Appl. Phys. Lett. 72 1567–9), where ultrasound elastic waves are time-reversed back to their source with a time-reversal mirror in a fluid adjacent to the solid. We also show numerically that multipathing caused by random inhomogeneities improves the focusing of the back-propagated elastic waves beyond the diffraction limit seen previously in acoustic wave propagation (Dowling D R and Jackson D R 1990 J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 89 171–81, Dowling D R and Jackson D R 1992 J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 91 3257–77, Fink M 1999 Sci. Am. 91–7, Kuperman W A, Hodgkiss W S, Song H C, Akal T, Ferla C and Jackson D R 1997 J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 103 25–40, Derode A, Roux P and Fink M 1995 Phys. Rev. Lett. 75 4206–9), which is called super-resolution. A theoretical explanation of the robustness of super-resolution is given, along with several numerical computations that support this explanation (Blomgren P, Papanicolaou G and Zhao H 2002 J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 111 238–48). Time reversal with super-resolution can be used in non-destructive testing and, in a different way, in imaging with active arrays (Borcea L, Papanicolaou G, Tsogka C and Berryman J 2002 Inverse Problems 18 1247–79).


An approximate sparse recovery system in ℓ1 norm consists of parameters k, ε, N; an m-by-N measurement Φ; and a recovery algorithm R. Given a vector, x, the system approximates x by xˆ = R(Φ x), which must satisfy ‖ xˆ-x‖1 ≤ (1+ε)‖ x - xk‖1. We consider the "for all" model, in which a single matrix Φ, possibly "constructed" non-explicitly using the probabilistic method, is used for all signals x. The best existing sublinear algorithm by Porat and Strauss [2012] uses O(ε−3klog (N/k)) measurements and runs in time O(k1 − αNα) for any constant α > 0. In this article, we improve the number of measurements to O(ε − 2klog (N/k)), matching the best existing upper bound (attained by super-linear algorithms), and the runtime to O(k1+βpoly(log N,1/ε)), with a modest restriction that k ⩽ N1 − α and ε ⩽ (log k/log N)γ for any constants α, β, γ > 0. When k ⩽ log cN for some c > 0, the runtime is reduced to O(kpoly(N,1/ε)). With no restrictions on ε, we have an approximation recovery system with m = O(k/εlog (N/k)((log N/log k)γ + 1/ε)) measurements. The overall architecture of this algorithm is similar to that of Porat and Strauss [2012] in that we repeatedly use a weak recovery system (with varying parameters) to obtain a top-level recovery algorithm. The weak recovery system consists of a two-layer hashing procedure (or with two unbalanced expanders for a deterministic algorithm). The algorithmic innovation is a novel encoding procedure that is reminiscent of network coding and that reflects the structure of the hashing stages. The idea is to encode the signal position index i by associating it with a unique message mi, which will be encoded to a longer message m′i (in contrast to Porat and Strauss [2012] in which the encoding is simply the identity). Portions of the message m′i correspond to repetitions of the hashing, and we use a regular expander graph to encode the linkages among these portions. The decoding or recovery algorithm consists of recovering the portions of the longer messages m′i and then decoding to the original messages mi, all the while ensuring that corruptions can be detected and/or corrected. The recovery algorithm is similar to list recovery introduced in Indyk et al. [2010] and used in Gilbert et al. [2013]. In our algorithm, the messages {mi} are independent of the hashing, which enables us to obtain a better result.


During the crisis caused by the expansion of the Covid-19, its impact has been measured by different sciences and perspectives. In this reflective commentary, it is noted that from Philosophy, one can also identify significant repercussions for a post-pandemic world, especially in the area of Ethics and Critical Phenomenology. In order to develop those ideas, the text is divided into two sections. In the first part, it will be addressed briefly and from different perspectives what to understand as death and social death. And in the second part, we will advance what ethical turn is and why it is more necessary today.


SUMMARY Viruses within the Coronaviridae family show variations within their genome sequences, especially within the major structural protein, the Spike (S) glycoprotein gene. Therefore, many different antigenic forms, serotypes, or variant strains of avian coronaviruses (AvCoV) exist worldwide. Only a few of them, the so called protectotypes, cross protect against different serotypes. New serotypes arise by recombination or spontaneous mutations. From time to time, antigenic virus variants appear which differ significantly from known serotypes. The result of this variability is an inconsistent nomenclature and classification of virus strains. Furthermore, there are currently no standard classification methods defined. Within the framework of the COST Action FA1207 "Towards control of avian coronaviruses: strategies for diagnosis, surveillance, and vaccination" (working groups "Molecular virology" and "Epidemiology"), we aimed at defining and developing a unified and internationally standardized nomenclature and classification of AvCoVs. We recommend the use of "CoV Genus/AvCov/host/country/specimen id/year" to refer to AvCoV strains.


1. Introduction
The continuation of ancient Iran's political culture and thought during the era of Islamic Iran has attracted significant attention. A large number of studies have been conducted on Andarznama (Epistles) and Siyar al-muluk (the Lives of Kings), especially Nizam al-Mulk's Siyasatnama (Book of Politics). Tahir's letter to his son, Abdullah, is one of the first epistles written in early centuries of the Islamic rule. The contents of this epistle compared to the epistles of Sassanid Kings in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh is a subject that is overlooked to date. This study is conducted using the intertextuality method with the purpose of analyzing and comparing Iranians' political culture in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh and Tahir's letter to Abdullah. There are many constructs in Iranians' political culture that suggest the presence of an intertextual relation between Tahir's letter and Sassanid Kings' epistles in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh; constructs such as protecting ancient houses, paying attention to race and origins, the divinity of kingship, the tradition of covenants, moderation, condemnation of mistrust and lies, consultation with the wise, the tradition of Kings' meeting with the public, the tradition of 'the King's eye and ear', and instructing one to make use of advice.
By referring to ancient references, particularly Ferdowsi's Shahnameh and Tabari's History, this study seeks to provide answers to the following question: Which constructs of Iranians' political culture can be compared between Tahir's letter and Ferdowsi's Shahnameh?

 Methodology

The present study is conducted using the descriptive-analytical approach by referring to library sources.

 Discussion

Tahir bin Abdullah was an Iranian commander in chief under al-Ma'mun, the Abbasid Caliph, who founded the Tahirid Dynasty in Khorasan. Many sources include information on Iranism or lack of attention to the Iranian culture of the Tahirids. Certain scholars assert the lack of attention paid to the Iranian culture of Tahirid people (see Azartash, 2017, p. 104); meanwhile, some have spoken of their focus and familiarity with the Iranian culture (Zamani, 2018, p. 97; Allahyari, Foroughi Abri, & Morsalpour, 2010, p. 16). However, by referring to Ferdowsi's Shahnameh and using the intertextuality method, this study will reveal numerous similarities between the epistles of Sassanid Kings and Tahir's letter. A similarity that clearly suggests the Tahirids' profound knowledge of the Iranian culture.
Scholars are aware of the common grounds between many cultural components among various nations and ethnicities; and Tahir's letter is no exception. Since Tahir was brought up amidst the Islamic Iran's culture, it would be natural for him to have been influenced by both cultures. Nevertheless, certain advices from Tahir are completely incompatible with the Islamic culture and are deeply rooted in ancient Iranians' political culture. For instance, the tradition of respecting and protecting ancient houses and paying attention to race and origins entirely stem from Iranians' political culture which is examined in the present paper. Furthermore, in this study, the following aspects are placed under comparison with the advices of Sassanid Kings based on Ferdowsi's Shahnameh: the divinity of kingship, condemnation of mistrust and lies, moderation, whitewashing, the tradition of covenants, renouncing gossip, supporting orphaned women and children, the tradition of Kings' meeting with the public, the tradition of 'the King's eye and ear', and instructing one to make use of advice. The present evidence suggests a conscious or unconscious relation between the contents of Tahir's letter and Sassanid Kings' advices in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh. Since the entire political components present in Tahir's letter which are also a mixture of both Iran's and Islam's cultures cannot be addressed here, this study focuses on the Iranian dimension of said letter and comparing it with the Iranians' political culture in Shahnameh. Accordingly, similarities were indeed found between certain components examined in this research with Islam and other religions.

 Conclusion

The continuation of Iranians' political culture and thought has attracted scholars and historians' attention. The present study is a different look at such continuity. Accordingly, eighteen advices from Tahir to Abdullah were analyzed and compared with ancient Iranians' political culture in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh based on the intertextuality method. Results showed that as one of the first Iranian dynasties following Islam, Tahirid people were influenced by ancient Iranians' political culture due to being born and brought up within the Iranian culture, esp. Khorasan which used to be the origin of collecting, maintaining and transferring Iranians' political culture. Such an influence is clearly reflected in Tahir's letter to Abdullah. Though Tahir's letter can be regarded as a mixture of both Iranian and Islamic cultures, the letter points out components that are completely incompatible with Islamic culture. These components include: paying attention to race and origins, maintaining blood and adhering to boundaries between classes, respecting ancient houses, the divinity of kingship, the tradition of 'the King's eye and ear', and the tradition of Kings' meeting with the public.
In addition to the above aspects, certain other components are mentioned in Tahir's letter which are mutual between the Iranian and Islamic cultures. Yet since Tahirid people were brought up in the Great Khorasan amidst the Iranian culture, it would be more likely for them to be influenced by the Iranian culture. Particularly, evidence suggest their pride in Iranian myth and regarded themselves as decedents of Rostam; they would also reward the people of Shu'ubiyya. The following are certain components that ancient Iranians took pride in: moderation, benevolence, truthfulness, condemnation of lying, refraining from malice, condoning faults, adherence to covenants, consultation with wise, renouncing gossipers, non-compliance with the ungrateful, supporting orphans and making use of advice. These components were emphasized in both Sassanid Kings' epistles and Tahir's letter.


On 19 May 2010, the Spanish Minister for the Interior, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba and the President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, signed the Regulation establishing the European Asylum Support Office. This Regulation allows the creation of a new European regulatory agency into the EU institutional landscape. The Office, a fledgling agency, is one of the active agencies in the home affairs sector: FRONTEX, the Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, EUROPOL, CEPOL and EUROJUST. The founding regulation of the Office is the first legal instrument, adopted as part of legislative proposals recently introduced by the European Commission in the asylum area. This allows an old project to achieve its purpose, by creating a structure primarily designed to support Member States of the European Union in their efforts to bring closer national practices in the field of asylum. If EASO's founding Regulation can meet this first concern of the Member States, it can also in many ways be considered as a breakthrough in European law, from an institutional, as well as from a substantive point of view. This article intends to examine these elements.


Heat exchanger is mainly associated with transfer heat from one fluid to another fluid either in direct contact with each other or separated by wall. The heat exchangers characteristics are concerned with the rate of heat transfer between the fluids with assuming the flow to be uniform throughout the core of the exchanger. But in actual practice it is usually the flow Non-uniformity that occurs and adversely affects the Heat Transfer rate and heat exchange properties of the heat exchanger. The major non-uniform flow is caused due to poor header design or restrictions in flow at microscopic level as a result of manufacturing operations on the surface. The CFD analysis of Heat exchanger is achieved considering the concept of Viscosity induced flow Non-Uniformity through the exchanger tubes. With the application of Computational Fluid Dynamics package FLUENT relative analysis pertaining to Non-uniform flow is carried out. The matter of interest of this paper is to analyze the heat transfer related to two mean temperatures namely cross-sectional and adiabatic mean temperature.


Since 1961, when the first paper to clearly recognize and study family firms was published, the business literature has seen an increasing trend in the number of articles relating to family firms. One reason why interest in this field has grown may be because family-owned firms do not behave as expected by the predominant theoretical framework. Family-ownership has been shown to be unique in its effect on the firm when compared to other firm ownership structures. Such divergent behavior is disconcerting, knowing that, globally, family firms may be the most common firm structure. Governance is one of the largest streams of research within the family business literature. Regrettably, most research on family businesses is focused on Western developed economies suggesting that theory building when it comes to family business governance has been largely driven by the Anglo-Saxon corporate governance model. This is unfortunate because we know that context plays a vital role in governance outcomes and in family firm behavior. One of the important challenges faced by developing countries is governance disclosure, with potentially grave repercussions for their economic futures. The aim of this research is to help understand the motivations behind the decision of a family, non-listed firm, in a developing country context, to disclose governance information on its board members. We propose a larger role for institutional isomorphism at the intersection of the family, governance, disclosure, and developing country literatures. To this end, we identified a family business in the emerging market of Lebanon that has demonstrated this phenomenon. Despite the odds, this firm was able to overcome multiple challenges - family firm structure, secretive culture, no legal requirements, information sensitivity - to ultimately share this information with the public. Our case study helps us suggest a context-specific governance disclosure model based on the institutional theoretical framework.


Carrier lifetime and electron spin relaxation time in (110)-oriented GaAs-AlGaAs quantum-well (QW) micro-posts are investigated by polarization- and time-resolved photoluminescence measurements. The long electron spin relaxation time in QWs on GaAs (110) is found to be preserved even when the sidewall boundaries with fast surface recombination are introduced and the carrier lifetime is drastically shortened. Rate equation analysis shows that spin-controlled vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with such (110)-QW micro-posts will exhibit faster switching of lasing circular polarizations than that we previously demonstrated. In particular, 20-GHz switching is expected with 0.5-μm posts.


. Corporate universities have a vital role in learning, training, and improving the knowledge that directly supports business units' performance. This study aims to observe the influence of Corporate University on an organizational commitment that impacts organizational performance. We tested our model to 100 corporate university employees in West Java, Indonesia. For ensuring the accuracy of our observation, we interviewed the managing officers of related corporate universities for conducting our analysis. Our results indicate that the role of the corporate University in organizational commitment significantly affects organizational performance. Furthermore, this research shows us that corporate university performance has a positive influence towards organizational commitment, and in the end will bring a positive influence to organizational performance. The better a corporate university performs, the employees' commitment will be more conducive and trigger ideal organizational synergy. In the end, we expect this study to contribute to the vast collections of organizational learning literature.


Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris MG1363 is an important starter culture for dairy fermentation. During industrial fermentations, L. lactis is constantly exposed to stresses that affect the growth and performance of the bacterium. Although the response of L. lactis to several stresses has been described, the adaptation mechanisms at the level of in vivo fluxes have seldom been described. To gain insights into cellular metabolism, 13C metabolic flux analysis and gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were used to measure the flux ratios of active pathways in the central metabolism of L. lactis when subjected to three conditions varying in temperature (30°C, 37°C) and agitation (with and without agitation at 150 rpm). Collectively, the concentrations of proteinogenic amino acids (PAAs) and free fatty acids (FAAs) were compared, and Pearson correlation analysis (r) was calculated to measure the pairwise relationship between PAAs. Branched chain and aromatic amino acids, threonine, serine, lysine and histidine were correlated strongly, suggesting changes in flux regulation in glycolysis, the pentose phosphate (PP) pathway, malic enzyme and anaplerotic reaction catalysed by pyruvate carboxylase (pycA). Flux ratio analysis revealed that glucose was mainly converted by glycolysis, highlighting the stability of L. lactis' central carbon metabolism despite different conditions. Higher flux ratios through oxaloacetate (OAA) from pyruvate (PYR) reaction in all conditions suggested the activation of pyruvate carboxylate (pycA) in L. lactis, in response to acid stress during exponential phase. Subsequently, more significant flux ratio differences were seen through the oxidative and non-oxidative pentose phosphate (PP) pathways, malic enzyme, and serine and C1 metabolism, suggesting NADPH requirements in response to environmental stimuli. These reactions could play an important role in optimization strategies for metabolic engineering in L. lactis. Overall, the integration of systematic analysis of amino acids and flux ratio analysis provides a systems-level understanding of how L. lactis regulates central metabolism under various conditions.


Intense laser-beam interactions with preformed plasma, preceding the laser-target interactions, significantly influence both the ion and X-ray generation. It is due to the laser pulse (its total length, the shape of the front edge, its background, the contrast, the radial homogeneity) as well as plasma (density, temperature) properties. Generation of the superfast (FF) ion groups is connected with a presence of non-linear processes. Saturated maximum of the charge states (independently on the laser intensity) is ascribed to the constant limit radius of the self-focused laser beam. Its longitudinal structure is considered as a possible explanation of the course of some experimental dependencies obtained.


Aims and method A cross-sectional, interview survey of the beliefs, knowledge, attitudes and practice towards mental illness of 29 traditional healers in the Pallisa district of Uganda was carried out. Results Many of the healers had experienced emotional problems that had been treated by other healers. Almost all had a family member who was also a traditional healer. They treated a wide range of conditions and all dealt with mental illness. Most believed that mental disorders were caused by supernatural processes. Many recognised the role of environmental agents. Their diagnosis and management of mental illness was eclectic. The healers were either traditional herbalists or spirit diviners or a mixture of both. Almost all referred patients to the district hospitals and were willing to work with government health services. Clinical implications The results of the survey suggest the presence of fertile ground on which to build cooperation between traditional healers and medical services. Such cooperation may harness primary care resources more effectively. Sequential or simultaneous models of collaboration (or combinations of both) may be considered. Further work on specific treatments, their outcomes and the evaluation of collaborative models is needed.


Glioblastoma stem cell (GSC) is the major cause of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) chemotherapy failure. Hypoxia is one of the determinants of GSC. NFκB plays a pivotal link between hypoxia and cancer stem cells (CSCs). Disulfiram (DS), an antialcoholism drug, has very strong NFκB-inhibiting and anti-CSC activity. In this study, the in vitro anti-GSC activity of DS and in vivo anti-GBM efficacy of poly lactic-co-glycolic acid nanoparticle-encapsulated DS (DS-PLGA) were examined. We attempt to elucidate the molecular network between hypoxia and GSCs, and also examined the anti-GSC activity of DS in vitro and in vivo. The influence of GSCs and hypoxia on GBM chemoresistance and invasiveness was studied in hypoxic and spheroid cultures. The molecular regulatory roles of NFκB, HIF1α and HIF2α were investigated using stably transfected U373MG cell lines. The hypoxia in neurospheres determines the cancer stem cell characters of the sphere-cultured GBM cell lines (U87MG, U251MG, U373MG). NFκB is located at a higher hierarchical position than HIF1α/HIF2α in hypoxic regulatory network and plays a key role in hypoxia-induced GSC characters. DS inhibits NFκB activity and targets hypoxia-induced GSCs. It showed selective toxicity to GBM cells, eradicates GSC and blocks migration and invasion at very low concentrations. DS-PLGA efficaciously inhibits orthotopic and subcutaneous U87MG xenograft in mouse models with no toxicity to vital organs.


We address here the chemical character and the mobility of hole polarons in BiVO4 (BVO). Two distinct structures for hole polarons in BVO have been reported in the literature so far. 'Standard' hybrid density functional theory (DFT) calculations have predicted hole polarons to be (BiO8) dodecahedron-centered polarons, while Hubbard U-DFT (DFT+U) calculations have predicted single oxygen atom-centered polarons. Resolving the contrasting findings is critical to validate theory in materials research. We investigated the structure of hole polarons in BVO using hybrid DFT with varying fractions (α) of the exact exchange interaction that enters hybrid functionals. For values of the fraction α, from α = 0.25 to α = 0.45, we obtained both structures, the h+(BiO8) hole structure and the h+(O) hole structure. For the smaller values of α, the h+(BiO8) structure is lower in energy, while for the larger values of α, the h+(O) structure is more stable. The piece-wise linearity of DFT energies E(q) with respect to the point defect charge q is maintained satisfactorily in all cases, although the deviation is smallest for hybrid DFT with small exact exchange fraction. For α=0.25, we determined the diffusivity of h+(BiO8) holes from the Marcus/Holstein two-state model. The activation barrier for Bi-to-Bi hops (ΔG ~ 76 meV) and mobility (μ ~ 0.029 cm2V-1s-1) are found to be in close agreement with the published Thz experimental data (ΔG ~ 90 meV and μexp ~ 0.02 cm2V-1 s-1). In h+(BiO8) structures, ~ 20 to 25 % of the hole charge and unpaired spin reside on the Bi atom and the rest is divided among the eight O atoms. The hole is best described as a Bi-centered hole, rather than as a Bi 6s hole. In contrast, in h+(O) structures, ~ 75% of the unpaired spin population resides on the O atom. In conclusion, in order to resolve the theoretical dichotomy, these findings suggest that there remains a need for further experimental characterization of hole polarons in BVO that would be able to identify the oxidation state of Bi and O atoms in operando conditions and help validate theoretical results of structure and transport.


The study investigated variability of selected soil properties of soils derived from different parent materials (that is false bedded sandstone and Imo clay shale) in the humid tropic. Soil samples were collected from horizons based on profile differentiation. Data collected were subjected to statistical analysis using coefficient of variation (CV) and correlation. There were variations in soil properties of the two studied areas. Results showed that soil properties differed in their degree of variation among the parent materials. Sand content had little variation in both soils (CV = 6.56 % and CV = 17.23 %) for false bedded sandstone and Imo clay shale respectively. Clay had moderate variation in both soils (CV =40.17% and 36.50 %) for false bedded sand stone and Imo clay shale respectively. Bulk density and pH had little variation in both soils CV =7.30 % and CV =4.29) in false bedded sandstone while (CV =6.16 % and 4.85 %) in Imo clay shale. Organic matter varied highly in false bedded sandstone (CV =51.32 %) while in Imo clay shale it varied moderately (CV = 42.30 %). Organic matter had positive significant relationship with clay content in both soils (r =0.98, 0.99, P < 0.05) for false bedded sandstone and Imo clay shale respectively. pH had a negative relationship with Available phosphorus in false bedded sandstone (r =- 0.45, P < 0.05) while in Imo clay shale pH had positive significant relationship with Available phosphorus ( r =0.96, P< 0.05). pH had non- significant positive relationship with organic matter in both soils (r = 0.63, 0.06, p < 0.05) for false bedded sandstone and Imo clay shale respectively. A more intensive soil sampling from the study area with the inclusion of more parameters will provide a better and reliable representation of the variability of soil properties even at a regional scale.


BACKGROUND
Pulmonary nodules are common incidental findings on thoracic imaging examinations. This study sought to determine whether antibiotic use is associated with any improvement in nodule appearance and to identify clinical findings and nodule characteristics potentially influencing the decision to prescribe antibiotics.

METHODS
Electronic medical records were reviewed of outpatients referred to a metropolitan cancer center for pulmonary nodules seen on chest CT scans who did not undergo biopsy. The primary end point was the appearance of each nodule on the first follow-up scan. A subset analysis was performed for patients manifesting symptoms or radiographic findings suggesting infection. An analysis was performed to determine what clinical and radiographic findings were associated with the decision to prescribe antibiotics.

RESULTS
Between January 2003 and December 2004, 143 evaluations were performed for 293 nodules. Antibiotics were prescribed to 34 (24%) evaluations. A trend toward improvement was seen with antibiotic use, which was not significant. The percentage of nodules that improved was 33% among those receiving antibiotics and 27% among those who did not (odds ratio 1.33; 95% CI, 0.55-3.27). Among 63 patients with pulmonary symptoms, 41% of nodules improved among those receiving antibiotics and 28% among those who did not (odds ratio 1.78; 95% CI, 0.42-7.78). The decision to prescribe antibiotics was associated only with larger nodule size and bronchiectasis.

CONCLUSIONS
These data do not support antibiotic use for pulmonary nodules. However, the trend toward improved nodule appearance suggests that larger prospective trials are warranted to clarify the role of antibiotics in managing lung nodules.


Partially due to their lack of periodic structure, quasicrystals have inherently low thermal conductivity on the order of 1 - 3 W/m-K. AlPdMn quasicrystals exhibit favorable room temperature values of electrical conductivity, 500–800 (Ω-cm) -1 , and thermopower, 80 μV/K, with respect to thermoelectric applications. In an effort to further increase the thermopower and hopefully minimize the thermal conductivity via phonon scattering, quartenary Al 71 Pd 21 Mn 8-X Re X quasicrystals were grown. X-ray data confirms that the addition of a fourth element does not alter the quasiperiodicity of the sample. Al 71 Pd 21 Mn 8-X Re X quasicrystals of varying Re concentration were synthesized where x had values of 0, 0.08, 0.25, 0.4, 0.8, 2, 5, 6, and 8. Both thermal and electrical transport property measurements have been performed and are reported.


The electronic structure of SWNTs was investigated using the complementary techniques of single molecule photoluminescence spectroscopy and ultrafast optical spectroscopy. We found that photoexcited electrons in SWNTs isolated in surfactant micelles decay through many channels, exhibiting a range of decay times (~200 fs to ~ 120 ps). The magnitude of the longest-lived component in the ultrafast signal specifically depends on resonant excitation, thus suggesting that this lifetime corresponds to the band-edge relaxation time. Fluorescence spectra from single SWNTs are well described by a single, Lorentzian lineshape. However, nanotubes with identical structure fluoresce over a distribution of peak positions and line widths not observed in ensemble studies, caused by localized defects and electrostatic perturbations. Unlike for most other single molecules, for SWNTs the photoluminescence unexpectedly does not show any intensity or spectral fluctuations at 300K. This lack of photoluminescence intensity blinking or bleaching demonstrates that SWNTs have the potential to provide a stable, single molecule infrared photon source, allowing for the exciting possibility of single nanotube integrated photonic devices and biophotonic sensors.


Abstract Action research began as an ambitious epistemological and social intervention. As the concept has become reified, packaged for methodology textbooks and professional development workshops, it has degenerated into a cure that may be worse than the disease. The point is not the trivial one that action research, like any practice, sometimes shows up in cheap or corrupt forms. The very idea that action research already exists as a live option is mystifying, distracting us from the deep challenge that action research ultimately represents. Though Joseph Schwab is sometimes credited as a forerunner of action research, it is likely that he would see the new talk of 'the teacher as researcher' as indicative of the very epitomization of which he warned. Dewey's new conception of knowledge, action, and communication – and the vision of the teacher as learner it entails – requires nothing short of a radical rethinking of teaching and inquiry, schooling and teacher education. This essay recalls the promise of action research, exploring its pitfalls, and attempts to get clear on the ongoing challenge it represents.


This study was carried out to determine acute toxicity of two heavy metals (zinc and copper) to fingerlings Percocypris pingi by static bioassays. The experimental fish were subjected to a range of concentrations of heavy metals. At different exposure periods (24 h, 48 h, 72 h and 96 h), the mortality rate were separately investigated. The median lethal concentration (LC50) was determined with Probit analysis. The LC50 values of zinc for the Percocypris pingi at 24 h, 48 h, 72 h and 96 h were 3.504 mg/L, 2.933 mg/L, 2.852 mg/L and 2.852 mg/L, respectively. But the LC50 values of copper at 24 h, 48 h, 72 h and 96 h were 1.730 mg/L, 1.389 mg/L, 1.340 mg/L and 1.340 mg/L, respectively. The heavy metals were ranked in order of toxicity: copper >zinc. The safe concentration of zinc and copper were 0.2852 mg/L and 0.1340 mg/L, respectively. Physicochemical parameters variables e.g. dissolve oxygen, total hardness, and ammonia nitrogen of aquaria were monitored under different concentrations of zinc (0, 1.60, 2.40, 3.20, 4.00, 4.80, 5.60) mg/L and copper (0, 0.60, 1.00, 1.40, 1.80, 2.20, 2.60) mg/L.


In this paper I use the traditional image of Plato as swan to suggest that interpretingPlato should not be a matter of getting to know what his doctrines are (a doctrinal approach),but rather a of getting to know Plato himself (a knowledge by acquaintance approach). I arguethat the dialogues encourage the knowledge by acquaintance approach and discourage the doctrinalapproach, through the use of Platonic anonymity, Platonic irony and Platonic self-effacement.I point out how the knowledge by acquaintance approach values the rich diversity of historicalopinions about Plato, whereas the doctrinal approach seeks to resolve such diversity once and forall. Even though the doctrinal approach has powerful tools at its disposal—such as the testimonyof Aristotle, the principle that the main speaker in a dialogue is Plato's mouthpiece, and stylometricanalysis—the product of a doctrinal approach is a brand of Platonism that is weak, rigid, andultimately dispensable. The philosophy of Plato is worthy of more respect than that, and it repayssuch respect with wider understanding.


As a novel flying-wing configuration underwater glider, the blended-wing-body underwater glider (BWBUG) has the satisfactory hydrodynamic performance in comparison to the conventional cylindrical autonomous underwater gliders (AUGs). The complicated shape optimization of BWBUG is significant for improving its hydrodynamic efficiency while it has to require huge computation time and efforts. A novel surrogate-based shape optimization (SBSO) framework is proposed to deal with the BWBUG shape optimization problem for improving the optimization efficiency and quality. During the optimization search, the parametric geometric model of the BWBUG is constructed depending on seven specific sectional airfoils, with the planar surface being unaltered. Moreover, an improved ensemble of surrogates based global optimization method using a hierarchical design space reduction strategy (IESGO-HSR) is used for optimizing the chosen sectional airfoils. The optimum shape of BWBUG can be obtained using all sectional airfoils which are successfully optimized. The maximum lift to drag ratio (LDR) of the optimal BWBUG is improved by 24.32% with acceptable computational resources. The optimization results show that the proposed SBSO framework is more superior and efficient in handling the BWBUG shape optimization problem.


ABSTRACT Equine sarcoids are locally aggressive fibroblastic neoplasms considered to be the most common skin tumors of horses worldwide. Bovine papillomavirus types 1 and 2 have typically been associated with sarcoids in equids. Investigations aiming to identify papillomavirus strains, aside from bovine papillomaviruses 1 and 2, which might be associated with sarcoid lesions, have been lacking. The aim of this article is to report the identification of a third bovine papillomavirus type, bovine papillomavirus 13, associated with equine sarcoids. Six sarcoid lesions were collected from diverse anatomical sites on two horses from southern Brazil. To detect a broad spectrum of papillomavirus strains, eight degenerate primer pairs designed to detect conserved regions on the L1 and E1 genes were tested on the DNA samples. Direct sequencing was then performed on the obtained amplicons, and sequence identities were compared with sequences from all bovine papillomavirus types. The FAP59/FAP64, MY09/MY11, and AR-E1F2/AR-E1R4 sequences generated from the sarcoids were shown to present 99 to 100% identity with bovine papillomavirus 13, a new bovine papillomavirus type previously described in cattle. The results from this study suggest that there is a need to identify bovine papillomavirus type 13 and other papillomavirus strains that might be associated with sarcoids in diverse geographical areas; such investigations might establish the frequency of occurrence of this viral type in these common tumors of equids.


Possible clinical use of a recombinant human granulocyte colony stimulating factor (rG-CSF) and a newly developed monobactam antibiotics (Aztreonam) for the treatment of gram-negative sepsis was investigated. Gram-negative sepsis was induced in male WKA rats by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). Untreated CLP rats all died by septicemia with severe peripheral blood leukocytopenia within 5 days after the operation. When we administered 2.0 micrograms/kg of rG-CSF and/or 20 mg/kg of Aztreonam intravenously just after the operation, the rats survived longer than the untreated CLP rats. These drugs were found to be more effective when used in combination. Since these rats showed an increase in leukocyte counts, we next examined the changes in the functions of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs, mainly neutrophils) after the treatment. PMNs from untreated CLP rats at 24 hr after the operation exhibited enhanced plastic-dish adherence, suppressed chemotaxis, and depressed O2 production when compared with PMNs from control animals. A single injection of rG-CSF restored both the depressed chemotaxis and the O2 production to levels greater than those of controls. Although a single injection of Aztreonam could not improve the suppressed O2 production, it could restore the depressed chemotaxis. Interestingly, simultaneous injection of Aztreonam with rG-CSF significantly enhanced the effect of rG-CSF on the PMN functions. These data suggest that the Aztreonam and rG-CSF may be useful for the treatment of gram-negative sepsis, especially when used in combination.


Along with the focuses of geography changing from static geographic pattern to dynamic geographic process, geographic language is also evolving from maps to GISystem(Geographic Information System) to VGEs(Virtual Geographic Environments). Due to the multiscale characteristic and scale dependence of both geographic processes and study methods, scale adaptability turns out to be an inventible component for the theory and method of VGEs, which aims to solve dynamic geographic problems. This paper discussed the definition of geographic scale by using three parameters, namely dimension, kind and component, and then illustrated the evolution of scale concept along with the evolution of geographic language. In such evolution, from maps to VGEs, the scale concept is becoming much more comprehensive, which makes the study into scale adaptability issues more important and difficult. In regard to the framework of VGEs, four groups of scale adaptability issues are identified and analyzed according to the parameters of scale definition(dimension, kind and component). These four groups reflect different operational levels, which are illustrated in detail to support the implementation of scale adaptability. Meanwhile, the interrelationship among multiple scale adaptability is also illustrated when the VGEs are constructed and applied. Taking a meteorological simulation in Hong Kong as a case study, scale adaptability considering multiscale DEM data and a meteorological model(WRF: Weather Research Forecasting Model) was investigated, which is on the component level within the spatial dimension and observational kind of scale(namely spatial resolution). This case study not only explained the significance and implementation of scale adaptability in geographic process research, but also showed the contribution to the cognition and decomposition of complex scale adaptability issues from the discussion in this paper. In summary, the attention and research into scale adaptability will enrich the theory and methodology of VGEs and improve practical applications of VGEs.


It is often required to estimate the dose rate at a distance from radionuclides that are sources of X rays and gamma rays. Such calculations may be required for planning radiation protection measures in the vicinity of radioactive sources or patients containing radionuclides, calibrations of radiation instruments or for estimating the absorbed dose rate to patients receiving brachytherapy. The factor relating activity and air kerma rate is called air kerma rate constant--gamma(delta). In this paper, the results of recalculation of this quantity for unfiltered point sources of radionuclides in practice used most often are given. The calculations included corrections for internal conversion of X rays and gamma rays and detailed accounting of the generation of the K and L series X rays from internal conversion and electron capture. Particular air kerma rate constants were calculated for each discrete line in the photon spectrum of radionuclide with a yield per decay event >0.01% and the energy >20 keV. Since the energy structure of the photon spectra and accessible discrete numerical values of the mass energy-transfer coefficient for air are not the same, the cubic spline interpolation was used to obtained the coefficient, where the photon spectrum data are available. In the calculation, the latest gamma ray spectral data for all radionuclides and latest data for the mass energy-transfer coefficient for air are used. Air kerma rate constants for the following 35 radionuclides are calculated: 11C, 13N, 15O, 18F, 24Na, 42K, 43K, 51Cr, 52Fe, 59Fe, 57Co, 58Co, 60Co, 67Ga, 68Ga, 75Se, 99Mo, 99mTc, 111In, 113mIn, 123I, 125I, 131I, 127Xe, 133Xe, 137Cs, 152Eu, 154Eu, 170Tm, 182Ta, 192Ir, 197Hg, 198Au, 201Tl and 241Am.


In the article a method of estimation of influence of additive disturbance with various laws of distribution on an input of the receiver of telecommunication system according to combined parameter of identification for signals with modulation by the minimal frequency shift is considered.


The importance of secure human attachments in childhood for healthy psychological development is well-established, yet the well-being implications of child-dog symbiotic relationships are less understood. Children form strong emotional bonds with their pet dogs that meet the prerequisites for an attachment relationship. These bonds can be mutually reinforcing and beneficial and could indicate positive child well-being. However, not all child-dog relationships are positive and here we explore whether harmful and unsafe interactions are associated with poorer emotional and behavioural functioning. The aim of this study was to examine whether the type of child-dog behaviour (positive or negative) mediates the relationship between child-dog attachment and well-being indicators. Data from caregiver reports (N = 117) and child self-reports (N = 77) were collected through an online survey. The results revealed that positive child-dog interactions significantly mediated the relationship between high attachment scores and better child outcomes (higher scores for well-being, positive outlook, happiness, quality of life, higher social satisfaction, and lower loneliness), whereas the reverse was found for negative child-dog interactions, predicting lower attachment scores and worse child outcomes (negative outlook, increased loneliness and social dissatisfaction, lower quality of life). This study has identified important mechanisms through which pet dogs may pose both benefits and risks to children's psychological well-being. These findings will aid the development and evaluation of interventions that promote positive and safe child-dog interactions and subsequent child and dog psychological health and welfare.


Abstract Drawing on recently declassified Chinese sources, this article traces the history of open-source intelligence (OSINT) research in the PRC and discusses its impact on Chinese foreign policymaking during the Cold War. From the time the Fourth Bureau of the Central Investigation Department (CID) was founded, it was headed by veteran intelligence expert Xue Qiao, who collected and analyzed OSINT to produce intelligence estimates for Chinese political leaders. These intelligence estimates covered a host of global and regional topics crucial for Chinese foreign policy, including U.S. politics and foreign policy, decolonization movements in the Third World, and political and economic developments around the world. Available evidence shows that politics and ideology marred the quality of China's OSINT research. When Mao Zedong launched the Great Leap Forward in the late 1950s, the CID's intelligence estimates were distorted to advance his radical political agenda. Later on, China's intelligence research came under attack during Mao's Cultural Revolution. Kang Sheng and other radicals attacked OSINT analysts as traitors, and the CID ceased to function in the late 1960s and 1970s. After Mao's death, the CID was revived, but its intelligence estimates no longer served the new Chinese leader, Deng Xiaoping. Deng's personal tension with CID Director Luo Qingchang, who had criticized him during the Cultural Revolution, hindered the CID's estimates. This political schism in the post-Mao years contributed to the CID's dissolution in 1983.


The counterfeiting and recycling of integrated circuits (ICs) have become major issues in recent years, potentially impacting the security and reliability of electronic systems bound for military, financial, or other critical applications. With identical functionality and packaging, it would be extremely difficult to distinguish recycled ICs from unused ICs. In the existing Ring Oscillator (RO) based sensor with 90nm technology test chip shows the effective detection of recycled ICs. The impact of RO based sensor is that, it is difficult to identify recycled ICs used shorter than one month and it requires more power and area overhead. To provide a solution to the existing system, Clock Anti fuses (CAF) based sensor is implemented to enhance the effective recognition of recycled ICs even if the IC used for a very short period. MAF is implemented in FPGA to verify its effectiveness.


In recent years, GPUs have emerged as an extremely cost-effective means for achieving high performance. While languages like CUDA and OpenCL have eased GPU programming for nongraphical applications, they are still explicitly parallel languages. All parallel programmers, particularly the novices, need tools that can help ensuring the correctness of their programs. Like any multithreaded environment, data races on GPUs can severely affect the program reliability. In this paper, we propose GMRace, a new mechanism for detecting races in GPU programs. GMRace combines static analysis with a carefully designed dynamic checker for logging and analyzing information at runtime. Our design utilizes GPUs memory hierarchy to log runtime data accesses efficiently. To improve the performance, GMRace leverages static analysis to reduce the number of statements that need to be instrumented. Additionally, by exploiting the knowledge of thread scheduling and the execution model in the underlying GPUs, GMRace can accurately detect data races with no false positives reported. Our experimental results show that comparing to previous approaches, GMRace is more effective in detecting races in the evaluated cases, and incurs much less runtime and space overhead.


The internet has enabled new forms of sharing and collaboration which arguably have been pioneered by early open source communities (Coleman 2013). The availability and modifiability of the underlying technologies and infrastructures combined with the technological affordances of the internet has allowed open source advocates to use technology as a form of expression: they not only act with available technology, but through it by creating technical infrastructures that express ideas and concepts about "how economy and society should be ordered collectively" (Kelty, 2008, p. 28). Kelty (2008) described open source as an experimental system made up of five key practices: sharing source code, defining openness, writing copyright licenses, coordinating collaborations, and forming a movement. These practices can be adopted and appropriated by actors in almost every area of social life, from encyclopedic knowledge (Wikipedia) to activism (Beyer, 2014) or creativity online (Creative Commons). While there have been critical voices for some time, these practices have been regularly seen by the broader public, as well as by academia, as promoting democratic values like participation and knowledge empowerment in the digital mediascape. Much less attention has been paid to the broader consequences of this "reorientation of knowledge and power" (Kelty, 2008, p. 7), i.e. to the actual social structures expressed and promoted through such practices. Tkacz (2012) has shown that promoting openness and transparency introduces new forms of closure which are often overlooked. Drawing from Stuart Hall (1997, p. 230), we suggest that what is at stake in these developments is not a dual choice between 'open' and 'closed' forms of social organization, but a more complex transition between different modes of regulation and valuations of technologies which need to be examined carefully.

This panel brings together early-career scholars that aim to shed light on how different actors in different domains of social life are acting through technology and what values and forms of social organization they promote through such practices. The first paper (A) will explore the internal social structures among producers who are radically committed to openness through sharing technology and content online. It foregrounds that in these practices, openness and sharing are not only about creating open knowledge, public digital culture and technologies, but also trigger practices of self-control, discipline, and contestation over what is to be made public and how. The author argues that the ways in which these are negotiated have implications for the broader domain of cultural production online. The next two papers each look at the social structures promoted through open source practices by exploring how actors committed to them are trying to affect institutional politics. The second paper (B) explores hacking as a politically motivated practice by showing how one of the world's largest hacker organizations – the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) – thematizes, problematizes and ultimately politicizes technology. It demonstrates that by acting on the structural features of contemporary political constellations, the CCC is able to bring its political endeavor of politicizing technology to life. The third paper (C) explores the relatively new phenomenon of civic tech, which is about developing tools to solve civic problems by improving government services or by empowering citizens. It shows that civic tech applications do not merely describe, but aim to shape the relationship between citizens in their governments in particular ways through structures encoded in the data they utilize and collect. The final paper (D) introduces another perspective by exploring how established institutions are adapting practices and values from open source cultures, thereby expanding their existing structures and practices. It analyzes an investigative journalism story run by The Guardian that combined open data, crowdsourcing and game mechanics with the purpose of engaging readers. The case shows how news organizations are acting through technology to shift media agency by inviting the readers to take an active role in the investigation, and how such practices can reconfigure civic engagement.

As acting through technology becomes more widespread, this panel emphasizes the importance of empirical and cross-disciplinary research by showing how similar practices and values from open source cultures can be used to support different modes of regulations in different areas of social life.

References

Beyer, J. L. (2014). The Emergence of a Freedom of Information Movement: Anonymous, WikiLeaks, the Pirate Party, and Iceland. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 19(2), 141–154.

Coleman, G. (2013). Coding Freedom: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Hacking. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Hall, S. (1997). The Centrality of Culture: Notes on the Cultural Revolutions of our Time. In K. A. Thompson (Ed.), Media and Cultural Regulation (1 edition, pp. 207–238). SAGE Publications Ltd.

Kelty, C. M. (2008). Two Bits: The Cultural Significance of Free Software. Durham: Duke University Press.

Tkacz, N. (2012). From open source to open government: A critique of open politics. Ephemera: Theory and Politics in Organization, 12(4), 386–405.


Introduction and Objectives: The present work involves development and validation of HPTLC method for simultaneous estimation of Cilnidipine and Metoprolol Succinate in their combined tablet dosage form. Method: In HPTLC method, Silica Gel G60 F254 TLC plate as the stationary phase and a mobile phase of Toluene: Chloroform: Methanol: Glacial acetic acid (45: 25: 25: 5 v/v/v/v) was used to resolve CIL and METO. CIL and METO were quantified at 231 nm. The proposed method weas validated according to International Conference on Harmonization. Result and Discussion: Two well-separated and sharp peak for CIL and METO were obtained at Rf values of 0.70 ± 0.01 and 0.34 ± 0.005 respectively. The linearity range obtained for HPTLC method were 100-500 ng/spot and 500-2500 ng/spot for CIL and METO respectively. Conclusion: Method validation was found to be accurate, specific and precise.The developed method was successfully applied for estimation of CIL and METO in combined tablet formulation. Key words: Cilnidipine, Metoprolol succinate, HPTLC, Tablets, Simultaneous estimation, Method validation.


Abstract. Arctic landfast sea ice has undergone substantial changes in recent decades affecting ice stability with potential impacts on ice travel by coastal populations and industry ice roads. The role of landfast ice as an important habitat has also evolved. We present a novel approach to evaluate sea ice stability on a pan-Arctic scale using Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR). Using Sentinel-1 images from spring 2017, the approach discriminates between bottomfast, with critical relevance for subsea permafrost, as well as stabilized and non-stabilized floating landfast ice over the main marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean (Beaufort, Chukchi, East Siberian, Laptev and Kara Seas). The analysis draws on evaluation of small-scale lateral motion derived from relative changes in interferometric fringe patterns. This first comprehensive assessment of Arctic bottomfast sea ice extent revealed that by area most of the bottomfast sea ice is situated around river mouths and coastal shallows in the Laptev and East Siberian Seas, covering roughly 4.1 and 5.5 thousand km2 respectively. The fraction between non-stabilized and stabilized ice is lowest in the Beaufort at almost unity, and highest in the adjacent Chukchi Sea. Beyond the simple delineation of landfast ice zones, this work provides a new understanding of how stability regimes may vary between regions and over time. InSAR-derived stability data may serve as a strategic planning and tactical decision-support tool for different uses of coastal ice. Such information may also inform assessments of important sea ice habitats. In a case study, we examined an ice arch situated in Nares Strait demonstrating that interferograms may reveal early-warning signals for the break-up of stationary sea ice.


Background: To date, the impact of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine on invasive cervical cancers in the United States has not been documented due, in part, to the time needed for cancer to develop and to recent changes to cervical cancer screening guidelines and recommendations, which complicate data interpretation. Methods: We examined incidence rates of cervical squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma (AC) among women aged 15–29 years diagnosed during 1999–2017 using population-based cancer registry data covering 97.8% of the U.S. population. Trends were stratified by age and histology. The annual percent change in cervical cancer incidence per year was calculated using joinpoint regression. Results: During 1999–2017, SCC rates decreased 12.7% per year among women aged 15–20 years, 5.5% among women aged 21–24 years, and 2.3% among women aged 25–29 years. The declines in SCC rates were largest among women aged 15–20 years during 2010–2017, with a decrease of 22.5% per year. Overall, AC rates decreased 4.1% per year among women aged 15–20 years, 3.6% per year among women aged 21–24 years, and 1.6% per year among women aged 25–29 years. AC rates declined the most among women aged 15–20 years during 2006–2017, decreasing 9.4% per year. Conclusions: Since HPV vaccine introduction, both SCC and AC incidence rates declined among women aged 15–20 years, a group not typically screened for cervical cancer, which may suggest HPV vaccine impact. Impact: Timely vaccination and improved screening and follow-up among recommended age groups could result in further reductions in invasive cervical cancer.


Two things are the leitmotif of this essay: my personal way of experiencing the history of the Korean Studies of Ancient Western History on the one hand, and the present perspective of the field facing complex challenges on the other. Naturally, mention of individual researchers and their works has to be reduced to a minimum. The first section shows how and why the field fared well since the liberation from the Japanese colonization for about a generation until the late 1980's, despite the imaginably various handicaps. The historical conditions conducive for the comparatively smooth journey (thus the section was entitled itinera ) were, to name a few, legacy of Japanese colonialism, aspiration for speedy modernization or westernization. The second section under the subtitle of aspera analyses two lines of challenges, rising both from the outside and inside the field, which seem to be gathering strength to the extent of endangering its sustenance. In the third section, as the subtitle implies, I advise the younger colleagues in the field to give a thought seriously to finding alternatives (or techniques of survival) by crossing over the frontiers of the field, namely to venturing in the ocean of universal history, while conceding that the future for the ifeld as it has stood so far is fated to withering (hence the subtitlef ata).


Electrospray ionization of aqueous solutions of magnesium(II) acetate leads to microhydrated magnesium acetate cations of the type [(CH(3)COO)(2m-1)Mg(m)(H(2)O)(n)](+) with m = 1-4 and n = 0-4, which are characterized by mass spectrometry and, for the cluster with three water molecules, also by infrared multiphoton dissociation spectroscopy. Density functional theory is used to determine the energies of microhydration for the mononuclear species [(CH(3)COO)Mg(H(2)O)(n)](+) with n = 0-6 and the associated changes in molecular structure. While bidentate coordination of the acetato ligand is generally preferred, at higher values of n, a switch to a monodentate coordination becomes energetically competitive.