―Surveillance system using phone line for security and tracking ‖. Based on the above statement, it is targeted that this project will serve as good indication of how important it is to curb car theft in the country. Surveillance is specified to car alarm system and the means of sending the data to the owner of the vehicle using SMS when the alarm is triggered. Due to the inefficient conventional car security system, the possibility of the car can be stolen is high. The main reason is that the alarm is limited to the audible distance. Somehow if there is another way of transmitting the alarm to the car owner ,tracking the vehicle ,knowing the exactly that the car is been stolen at the same time that is not limited to the audible and line of sight, the system can be upgraded. SMS is a good choice of the communication to replace the conventional alarm, because it can be done and does not require much cost. Although most of people know GPS can provide more security for the car but the main reason people does not apply it because the cost. Advance car security system is too expensive. Cost for the gadget is too high. Beside that, people also must pay for the service monthly. Tracking systems were first developed for the shipping industry because they wanted to determine where each vehicle was at any given time. Passive systems were developed in the beginning to fulfill these requirements. For the applications which require real time location information of the vehicle, these systems can't be employed because they save the location information in the internal storage and location information can only be accessed when vehicle is available. To achieve automatic Vehicle Location system that can transmit the location information in real time. Active systems are developed. Real time vehicular tracking system incorporates a hardware device installed in the vehicle (In Vehicle Unit) and a remote Tracking server. The information is transmitted to Tracking server using GSM/GPRS modem on GSM network by using SMS or using direct TCP/IP connection with Tracking server through GPRS. Tracking server also has GSM/GPRS modem that receives vehicle location information via GSM network and stores this information in database. This information is available to authorized users of the system via website over the internet.


A model of a superconducting fault current limiter on a polycrystalline high-temperature superconductor basis is checked in the dc short circuit regime. Protection of load takes place under the conditions described in this paper. The use of ceramic materials with superconducting-normal metal-superconducting Josephson junction network having an S-type current-voltage characteristic (CVC) is shown to be effective for fault current limiter devices.


In this work, a pattern recognition system is investigated for blind automatic classification of digitally modulated communication signals. The proposed technique is able to discriminate the type of modulation scheme which is eventually used for demodulation followed by information extraction. The proposed system is composed of two subsystems namely feature extraction sub-system (FESS) and classifier sub-system (CSS). The FESS consists of continuous wavelet transform (CWT) for feature generation and principal component analysis (PCA) for selection of the feature subset which is rich in discriminatory information. The CSS uses the selected features to accurately classify the modulation class of the received signal. The proposed technique uses probabilistic neural network (PNN) and multilayer perceptron forward neural network (MLPFN) for comparative study of their recognition ability. PNN have been found to perform better in terms of classification accuracy as well as testing and training time than MLPFN. The proposed approach is robust to presence of phase offset and additive Gaussian noise.


Aim. To evaluate the cardioprotective effects of ACE inhibitor, ramipril and angiotensin II receptor antagonist (ARA), valsartan at the cardiovascular continuum (CVC) stages. Material and methods. 577 patients were examined. Patients with arterial hypertension (HT) (n=283; group 1), with metabolic syndrome (n=137; group 2), with HT associated with ischemic heart disease (n=157; group 3) were randomized into treatment subgroups A (ramipril) and B (valsartan). All patients had clinical examination, transthoracic echocardiography with remodeling indexes calculation, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring initially and after 6 months of therapy. Results. Valsartan had priority in prevention of early cardiac remodeling (reduction in left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy and myocardial stress, improvement of functional heart parameters) at early CVC stage (HT, metabolic syndrome). On the other hand ramipril had priority at advanced stage of CVC (reduction in systolic diameter-thickness ratio, LV hypertrophy, myocardial stress and myocardial stiffness). At the advance stage of CVC valsartan treatment also resulted in significant reduction in LV hypertrophy and myocardial stress, improvement in cardiac remodeling functional parameters but had no effect on LV diameter-thickness ratio. Conclusion. The ARA treatment is preferred at early CVC stage for better cardioprotection.


Objective. To study efficacy and safety of Iwo doses of melox (meloxicam) in pts with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA). Material and methods. An open uncontrolled study of melox was performed on 20 pts with chronic rheumatic diseases: 10 with RA and 10 with OA, 18 female and 2 male, mean age respectively 57,5±11,1 and 65,0±7,6 years, mean duration of the disease - 11,1 ±9,9 and 5,6±6,2 years. 90% of RA pis had 2nd activity degree and 1I-IV stage of the disease. 6 pts of OA group had gonarthritis and 4 - coxarthri- tis, 7 pts had 11 and 3 - 111 radiological stage according to Kellgren classification. The drug was administered orally during 4 weeks. Initial dose was 7,5 mg/day. In case of insufficient efficacy it was increased till 15 mg/day in 5 days. Results. All 20 pts completed 4-weeks study. There were no adverse events leading to withdrawal of melox. In 10 pts dose was increased from 7,5 to 15 mg/day - 2 with OA and 8 with RA. According to opinion of pts and investigators efficacy and tolerability were good or fair in 100%. Conclusion. The results of the study confirm that selective COX-2 inhibitors such as melox are effective, have good safety and usually do not cause serious adverse effects.


The primary focus of this thesis is on the physical implementation of the SuperCISC Reconfigurable Hardware Fabric (RHF). The SuperCISC RHF provides a fast time to market solution that approximates the benefits of an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) while retaining the design flow of an embedded software system. The fabric which consists of computational ALU stripes and configurable multiplexer based interconnect stripes has been implemented in the IBM 0.13um CMOS process using Cadence SoC Encounter. As the entire hardware fabric utilizes a combinational flow, glitching power consumption is a potential problem inherent to the fabric. A CMOS thyristor based programmable delay element has been designed in the IBM 0.13um CMOS process, to minimize the glitch power consumed in the hardware fabric. The delay element was characterized for use in the IBM standard cell library to synthesize standard cell ASIC designs requiring this capability such as the SuperCISC fabric. The thesis also introduces a power-gated memory solution, which can be used to increase the size of an EEPROM memory for use in SoC style applications. A macromodel of the EEPROM has been used to model the erase, program and read characteristics of the EEPROM. This memory is designed for use in the fabric for storing encryption keys, etc.


A previous article in this series, "Painful vs Painless Cost Control," 1 discussed the overall relationship between costs and health outcomes. In this article, we examine specific methods for controlling costs. Financial transactions under private or public health insurance have two components 2 : (1) a financing transaction consisting of the flow of dollars (premiums or taxes) from the payers (individuals and employers) to the health insurance plan (private health insurance or government programs), and (2) a reimbursement transaction involving the flow of dollars from insurance plans to physicians, hospitals, and other providers (Figure). Cost-control strategies can be divided into those that target the financing side vs those that impact the reimbursement side of the funding stream (Table). FINANCING CONTROLS Cost controls aimed at the financing of health insurance attempt to limit the flow of funds into health insurance plans, with the expectation that the plans will then be forced to


At the free electron laser FLASH, the electron bunches are compressed using two successive magnetic chicanes. The longitudinal energy chirp needed for this purpose is produced by operating the RF modules in front of the magnetic chicanes (ACC1 and ACC2/3) at off-crest phases. The non-linear time dependence of the RF field results in a time profile of the bunch charge with a very narrow leading spike with peak currents of the order kA which are necessary to drive the SASE process in the undulators. The high charge density in this spike leads to a complicated beam dynamics with strong contributions from collective effects like space charge and emission of coherent synchrotron radiation which critically depends on the details of the bunch compressor operation [5]. To study the longitudinal charge distribution experimentally, several techniques have been implemented at FLASH. Single shot electro-optic experiments are noninvasive but intrinsic properties of the electro-optic crystals limit their resolution to about 50 fs (15 μm) (rms) [1]. The most comprehensive and direct visualization of the bunch profile is achieved with a transverse-deflecting structure (TDS) with a time resolution of 15 20 fs (5-7μm) (rms) depending on machine optics [2]. Spectroscopy of coherent transition radiation (CTR) is an indirect method, not allowing for a direct reconstruction of the longitudinal profile, but has the unique feature of being capable to detect the presence of structures in the bunches down to optical wavelengths.


The paper is devoted to analyzing consistent individual differences in behavior, also known as "personalities," in the context of a vital ant task—the detection and transportation of food. I am trying to elucidate the extent to which collective cognition is individual-based and whether a single individual's actions can suffice to direct the entire colony or colony units. The review analyzes personalities in various insects with different life cycles and provides new insights into the role of individuals in directing group actions in ants. Although it is widely accepted that, in eusocial insects, colony personality emerges from the workers' personalities, there are only a few examples of investigations of personality at the individual level. The central question of the review is how the distribution of behavioral types and cognitive responsibilities within ant colonies depends on a species' foraging style. In the context of how workers' behavioral traits display during foraging, a crucial question is what makes an ant a scout that discovers a new food source and mobilizes its nestmates. In mass recruiting, tandem-running, and even in group-recruiting species displaying leadership, the division of labor between scouts and recruits appears to be ephemeral. There is only little, if any, evidence of ants' careers and behavioral consistency as leaders. Personal traits characterize groups of individuals at the colony level but not performers of functional roles during foraging. The leader-scouting seems to be the only known system that is based on a consistent personal difference between scouting and foraging individuals.


Fars province has long been the land of intellectuals and well known scholars; other talented literates continued their ways in the shadow of their fame. Ancient city of Lar, in Fars province, also has shone in the history of Iran due to its great poets and scholars. Unfortunately, many of them are unknown to the scientific community. In this regard, the present paper aims to investigate and introduce some of the Larestan lesser-known poets in the eleventh and twelfth century AH.


Background: Rheumatic fever (RF) is an inflammatory disease of the heart after a pharyngitis by Group-A beta haemolytic streptococci. The pathogenetic mechanisms highlight a complex interplay of immunological, genetic and environmental factors. Immunity gene polymorphisms, in relation to susceptibility to RF, have been studied by many investigators, and IL-1 α has been the focus of attention.

Aims & Objectives: To investigate the association of ILI- α 889C/T, gene polymorphism with clinical outcomes of rheumatic heart disease.

Materials and Methods: A cohort of 157 patients of established rheumatic heart disease and 200 controls (HS) were enrolled. Genotyping was done for all cases and controls regarding IL-1 α gene.

Results: 58.6% of RHD patients had ILI- α 889T allele, as compared to 49.5% for HC and was not statistically significant (P=0.087;OR=1.4[0.9-2.3]). Frequency of ILI- α 889T allele (64.1%) was higher in cases with history of rheumatic fever compared to HC (49.5%), with statistical significance (P=0.028; OR=1.8 [1.03-3.24]). ILI- α 889C/T gene polymorphism did not show statistically significant relationship with either mitral valve lesion (MiVL) (P=0.252; OR=1.3 [0.80-2.15]), mitral valve lesion along with other valve lesion (MiVLa) (P=0.99;OR=1.4[0.91-2.25]), Aortic valve lesion (AoVL) [Fisher exact, P=0.72] or Multiple valve lesion (MVL) (P=0.086; OR=1.8 [0.86-4.17], or AF (P=0.329; OR=0.73 [0.37-1.44]).

Conclusion: ILI- α 889C/T polymorphism of the ILI- α gene is not significantly associated with RHD, development of valve lesions or AF, but is significantly associated with history of RF.


The international variation in road death rates is investigated using cross-sectional data for 19 countries. It is proposed that road fatality rates are influenced by modal substitution between relatively vulnerable trips by foot and bicycle, and motorized journeys which have a smaller exposure to risk of fatal injury. Although available data do not permit a direct test of this hypothesis, regression results suggest that motor vehicle use is inversely associated with death on the roads across OECD countries all else equal.


Levels of Rb2/p130 protein are increased 5–10-fold following all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) treatment of the retinoid-sensitive ovarian adenocarcinoma cell line CAOV3, but not the retinoid-resistant adenocarcinoma cell line SKOV3. We found that this increase in Rb2/p130 protein levels in ATRA-treated CAOV3 cells was the result of an increased protein stability. Moreover, Rb2/p130 exhibited a decreased ubiquitination following ATRA treatment. Because phosphorylation frequently mediates ubiquitination of proteins, we examined the serine/threonine phosphatase activity in our CAOV3 cells following ATRA treatment. A significant increase in Ser/Thr phosphatase activity was found, which correlated with a rise in the level of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) catalytic subunit-α. In addition, co-immunoprecipitation and glutathione S-transferase pull-down studies demonstrated that PP2A and Rb2/p130 associate. We have made use of a battery of Rb2/p130 mutants to determine the sites dephosphorylated in response to ATRA treatment of CAOV3 cells. Obligate CDK4 phosphorylation sites seemed most important to the stability of the protein and are among the candidate sites that are dephosphorylated by PP2A following ATRA treatment. Finally, using both small interfering RNA specific to the catalytic subunit of PP2A and a variant of the SKOV3 cell line that overexpresses PP2A, we have shown that modulation of PP2A protein levels correlates with the ability of ATRA to inhibit growth of ovarian carcinoma cells. Our data suggest that ATRA mediates growth inhibition by stabilizing Rb2/p130 via a mechanism that involves induction of PP2A, an enzyme that can potentially dephosphorylate Rb2/p130, thereby protecting it from degradation by the proteasome.


The development of reliable and repeatable test equipment to be used for the evaluation of a vehicle's side impact performance involves a thorough consideration of a variety of accident conditions and performance factors. Reconstruction and analysis of both vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-fixed object accident configurations have provided a basis for the design of component test procedures. Specific test hardware for body interiors and components has been developed and is described. Where applicable test equipment design and performance criteria are based on available biomechanical information.


Abstract The international community increasingly promotes referendums as it intervenes in self-determination conflicts around the world. However, the ability of self-determination referendums to bring about peace remains uncertain. This paper develops the argument that the conflict resolution potential of self-determination referendums is conditional, depending on whether or not they are held under the mutual agreement of the relevant minority and majority groups. When mutually agreed, self-determination referendums are likely to generate shared perceptions of fair decision-making and thereby increase chances for peace. By contrast, unilateral self-determination referendums are likely to increase ethnic grievances and, therefore, the risk of separatist violence. I find support for this argument in a global statistical analysis, short case studies, and a survey experiment. Overall, this study suggests that self-determination referendums can make a positive contribution to peace, but only if the conditions for a partial compromise on a referendum, including its terms, are ripe.


A quad flat non-lead (QFN) semiconductor package structure comprises a chip provided with a plurality of metal contact points on an active surface thereof and fixedly provided with an indent approximating geometrical patterns on the back surface thereof. The QFN semiconductor package structure is manufactured by the steps of: connecting the plurality of metal contact points on the chip with the first surfaces of a plurality of metal pads by using a plurality of metal wires; and coating the chip, the metal wires, and the first surfaces of the plurality of metal pads with a sealing agent, and exposing the approximate geometrical patterns at the back surface of the chip and the second surfaces of the plurality of metal pads.


Capsule endoscopy is about to become an alternative to traditional colonoscopy. One uses a wireless camera to visualize the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. A 3D model based on image sequences obtained from wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) can be helpful to diagnose or analyse areas of interests. We have therefore investigated the possibility to provide enhanced viewing for gastroenterologists by reconstructing 3D shapes from WCE images. The study is done on virtual graphics-based models of human GI regions. The shape from shading (SFS) method is applied to colon images and the quality of the reconstructed shapes is compared with ground truth models. WCE images suffer from uneven and dim illumination due to point light source. Therefore, we provide a method based on surface normals from reconstructed 3D models to enhance contrast particularity in images capturing larger depths by changing the illumination from point light to directional light. Images of different resolution are also tested to evaluate their effect on the quality of the 3D reconstruction. We have also tested the shape from focus (SFF) method, a possibility for future WCEs, and compared the results with SFS. Finally, enhanced images and 3D shapes recovered with both methods have been evaluated by gastroenterologists through subjective experiments. Objective experiments indicate that both methods are capable of reconstructing the 3D shapes of colon images successfully, but the SFF method is better at retaining details in the reconstructed models than the SFS method. Subjective experiments show that contrast enhanced images are highly preferred over original images. Also, having the reconstructed 3D models in addition to the images during evaluation is found to be very useful by gastroenterologists and sometimes even being preferred over the original image.


Autism is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social communication and social interactions, and repetitive behaviors. The etiology of autism remains unknown and its molecular basis is not yet well understood. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were administered 600 mg/kg of valproic acid (VPA) by intraperitoneal injection on day 12.5 of gestation. Both 11- to 13-week-old male and female rat models of VPA-induced autism showed impaired sociability and impaired preference for social novelty as compared to the corresponding control SD rats. Significantly reduced mRNA expressions of social behavior-related genes, such as those encoding the serotonin receptor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor and neuroligin3, and significantly increased expression levels of proinflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin-1 β and tumor necrosis factor-α, were noted in the hippocampi of both male and female rats exposed to VPA in utero. The hippocampal expression level of gamma amino butyric acid (GABA) enzyme glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) 67 protein was reduced in both male and female VPA-exposed rats as compared to the corresponding control animals. Our results indicate that developmental exposure to VPA affects the social behavior in rats by modulating the expression levels of social behavior-related genes and inflammatory mediators accompanied with changes in GABA enzyme in the hippocampus.


Development of vertebrate limbs and fins requires that tissue growth is directed outwards, away from the body. How such directed growth is achieved is a fascinating biological problem. For limb/fin formation and outgrowth, signaling between mesenchymal cells and the overlying epithelium is essential. In particular, the epithelium at the distal margin of the growing limb/fin bud, termed the apical ectodermal ridge (AER), promotes directed outgrowth of the underlying mesenchyme, e.g., by providing polarization cues for mesenchymal cell migration. Several classical signaling pathways, such as fibroblast growth factor (Fgf), hedgehog, and Wnt signaling, are involved in the regulation of the cellular events that shape the limb/fin bud (Iovine, 2007). In this issue of EMBO Reports, Carney and colleagues surprisingly find that the Slit‐Robo pathway, which is best known for its function in axon guidance, regulates the polarity of developing zebrafish fins (Mahabaleshwar et al, 2007). Intriguingly, they identify an intricate back and forth of signals between the mesenchyme and the AER. Slit ligands derived from mesenchyme act on Robo receptors in the AER to stimulate the production of sphingosine‐1‐phosphate, which then acts back on the mesenchyme to regulate cell polarity and orientation.


The paper introduces the technology of the direct digital frequency synthesis and the structure and functions and features of AD9954 in detail. A SCM, AT89c51, controls the read-in of program words of AD9954 and the SCM is connected to PC by the communication interface RS-232. Accordingly we can get a high precision and low power communication signal source. And the signal working process is controlled by PC. It is commendably applied to the portable responder of the high frequency ground wave radar.


Multi-wavelength analytical ultracentrifugation (MW-AUC) is a recent development made possible by new analytical ultracentrifuge optical systems. MW-AUC is suitable for a wide range of applications and biopolymer systems and is poised to become an essential tool to characterize macromolecular interactions. It adds an orthogonal spectral dimension to the traditional hydrodynamic characterization by exploiting unique chromophores in analyte mixtures that may or may not interact. Here we illustrate the utility of MW-AUC for representative classes of challenging biopolymer systems, including interactions between mixtures of different sized proteins with small molecules, mixtures of loaded and empty viral AAV capsids contaminated with free DNA, and mixtures of different proteins, where some have identical hydrodynamic properties, all of which are difficult to resolve with traditional AUC methods. We explain the improvement in resolution and information content obtained by this technique compared to traditional single- or dual-wavelength approaches. We discuss experimental design considerations and limitations of the method, and address the advantages and disadvantages of the two MW optical systems available today, and the differences in data analysis strategies between the two systems.


Objectives A delayed nephrology consultation (NC) may be associated with a poor prognosis in acute kidney injury (AKI) patients. The aims of this study were to compare the clinical and laboratory characteristics of elderly AKI patients evaluated and not evaluated by nephrologists and to generate a hypothesis regarding the relationship between the timing of the NC and 90-day outcomes. Methods From 2007 to 2015, this study explored associations among the presence and timing of NC with the non-intensive care unit stay and 90-day mortality in elderly AKI patients at the Geriatric Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital. Early NC and delayed NC were defined as NCs performed before and 2 days after the day of AKI diagnosis, respectively. Multivariable logistic regression was used to adjust for confounding and selection bias. Results In total, 623 patients were included for the final analysis, of whom 162 (26%) were evaluated by nephrologists. The 90-day mortality rate was 33.2%, and dialysis was required in 1.4% of patients (9/623). Multivariable analysis showed that a higher prevalence of preexisting chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, AKI diagnosis time, peak serum creatinine level, blood urea nitrogen level, AKI stage, and mortality was associated with the NC. The NC was delayed (>48 h) in 59 patients (36.4%) (median time to consultation, 4 days). The median AKI diagnosis time, presence of oliguria, uric acid level, and a more severe AKI stage were associated with delayed consultation. Moreover, delayed consultation presented a similar 90-day mortality rate to that of an early NC (50.8% vs 44.7%, respectively, P=0.448). Conclusion In very elderly AKI patients, those evaluated by nephrologists have more severe AKI and a higher mortality rate than those not evaluated by nephrologists. An earlier NC may not be associated with improved 90-day survival.


The generalized multifactor model of the interaction of friction surface with unfixed particles of abrasive, developed on the basis of similarity and dimension theory provides the determination of parameters of material wear. The use of the developed analytical dependences of determining the rate of linear wear of materials allowed significant reduction of the amount of basic experimental researches. The dimensionless multifactor criterion of similarity and the criterion equation allow estimating the influence of sliding distance, material hardness, sizes of particles of abrasive and abrasive pressure upon the sample on wear by unfixed abrasive. The correctness of the constructed model of abrasive wear in the unfixed abrasive was experimentally proved. The method of using the developed model for the prediction and evaluation of technical condition of operating supporting nodes of friction of cylindrical machine parts in the interesting point of time was justified.


In this paper, we incorporate clustering techniques into distributed consensus algorithms for faster convergence and better energy efficiency. Together with a simple distributed clustering algorithm, we design cluster-based distributed consensus algorithms in forms of both fixed linear iteration and randomized gossip. The time complexity of the proposed algorithms is presented in terms of metrics of the original and induced graphs, through which the advantage of clustering is revealed. Our cluster-based algorithms are also shown to achieve an Omega(log n) gain in message complexity over the standard ones.


Dental nurses are one of the most important groups within the dental team. They assist the dentist throughout the day and may act as advocates for the patient, as well as being an integral part of the dentist's clinical regime. It would seem that the work of dental nurses is essential for a successful general practice. It seems somewhat curious that when asked about their employment as dental nurses these women admitted to experiencing dissatisfaction with work. Dissatisfaction was related to lack of control, being undervalued by the dentist and feeling stressed. However, what seemed to be central to the nurses' perceptions was a feeling of being taken for granted. The above research findings help in understanding the dental nurses' concerns about their work environment but do they provide reasons for their job dis- satisfaction? Specifically, what is it about being a dental nurse which leads to perceptions of low professional selfesteem, dissatisfaction and so forth? The pilot work presented here attempts to provide answers to these questions. It introduces and uses the qualitative research methodology of grounded theory to dis- cover possible reasons as to why dental nurses, essential dental health professionals, should experience feelings of job dissatisfaction and low professional self-esteem.


An account of the successful use of alternative fuels in a fleet of SuperShuttle passenger vans, which offer shared-rides between Boulder and Denver International Airport.


Biomaterial is played role in development of medical equipments, prosthesis, reparation technique, tissue engineering, drug delivery and diagnostic tools. Biomaterial in mixed forms or called composite is usually used for those applications. Based on matrix characteristic, composite is divided into two groups, absorbable and nonabsorbable. This classification is based on their ability to absorb. This study was aimed to review the use of absorbable composite matrix in dentistry. The absorbable composite matrix was able to improve and replaced bone tissue or craniofacial. Absorbable composite was able to prevent infection and tissue shrinkage, so it can replace the esthetic. Absorbable composite can be used in operative dentistry and prosthodontia as filling materials and denture. It was concluded that absorbable composite matrix could be used widely in dentistry


Enterprise uses ERP systems with considering four rationales namely technology, competitive, business
process, and strategic. Evolution of ERP: 1960's (Inventory Control), 1970's (MRP-Material
Requirement Planning), 1980's (MRP II–Manufacturing Resources Planning), Mid 1990's (ERP–
Enterprise Resource Planning), 2000 onwards (ERP II–Collaborative Commerce). ERP systems is a
software solution that addresses the enterprise needs. It takes the process view of an organization to
meet the organizational goals and tightly integrates all functions in that organization. The frequently
module in ERP used by companies is financial and accounting. ERP solutions could be developed by
using internal resources, buy, and using external resources. Measurement of ERP project considers on
intangible factors, hidden outcomes and the changing nature of information technology.
Keywords : ERP, developing, implementing


: Analysis of 22 genetic-biochemical systems (42 loci) in 18 varieties of domestic soybean (G. max) and in 3 population of wild soybean (G. soja) was carried out. The part of polymorphous loci (P), intraspecies genetic differentiation (genetic distances--DN) were higher in domestic plants in comparison with wild ones (P = 45%, 17%: DN = 0.038-0.269, 0.059-0129). The preferable polymorphism of loci, coding the enzymes of glycolysis and Kreb's cycle was revealed in wild species. Domestic soybean had more polymorphous enzyme loci, which did not participate in glucose metabolism in comparison with wild species. The presence of the specific part of the gene pool in ancestor species, which was involved in soybean domestication and forming of varieties was discussed.


Obesity is a big problem
which is growing. Thus clinicians and surgeons are likely to treat obese
patients more frequently. Obesity can affect medical practice in a number of
ways. In order to protect ourselves from potential litigation, we need to focus
on risk management efforts on creating a safe environment for patients of all
sizes. The aim of our study was to review the risk management strategies of
obese women prior to surgery, perioperatively and following surgery. We then
identified the strategies and have brought them forward in our article.


• Twelve medical faculty members, with the conviction that medical education can be improved, undertook an investigative analysis of fundamental educational principles. In 20 hours of relatively unstructured discussion, using a chairman trained in sociology and anthropology and the dynamics of learning, there resulted a broadened understanding of and change in attitude toward the teaching processes being practiced. A few of the conclusions arrived at revealed that teachers may be major obstacles to student learning; that people learn what they want to learn; and that learning is largely an emotional experience. The student must be helped in wanting to learn rather than just to know. The results of this preliminary study, while giving certain participants a new self-awareness along with a new sensitivity to student needs, have made teaching far more difficult than before but have provided a personal satisfaction not previously known.


Future digital services are envisioned to be supported by non-traditional infrastructures. New physical infrastructures are resource constrained, lack of power supply or fixed communication links and tend to be pervasive. In this context, traditional strategies for service deployment, based on dashboards from where new services are distributed among all components making up the communication networks, are not feasible. New communication networks deployed in smart agriculture, pervasive sensing, smart environments and other similar scenarios are, in fact, based on ad hoc networks which are only related to the global networks and the Internet through data mules. These data mules may be any existing vehicle, but drones are probably the most interesting case, although it is also the most complicated one (as the introduce an additional spatial variable: the height). In these new networks, services are typically embedded into physical components and they are specifically programmed to only perform certain activities, so no new services could be considered without removing the existing hardware nodes. Therefore, in this paper it is proposed a new service deployment mechanism to be integrated into ad hoc networks with constrained resources. Services will be deployed through software agents and a new specific protocol. Besides, this protocol allows to deploy services with different categories, so ad hoc networks could support services with different Quality-of Service. The proposed solution enables the service deployment from drones. Finally, in order to evaluate the proposed mechanism, it is performed an experimental validation based on simulation scenarios.


The development of efficient and stable interface materials is an important part of the research in organic photovoltaics (OPVs), which aims to realize higher efficiency, longer lifetime, lower cost, easier fabrication, and wider applicability. MoO3 exhibits a suitable work function, adjustable electronic structure, favorable ohmic contact with organic materials, remarkable stability in the presence of water and oxygen, and excellent solution processing properties, making it an ideal anode buffer layer (ABL) for OPVs. This review analyzes the photoelectric characteristics of MoO3 based on the crystalline structure and its fundamentals as an ABL in OPVs. To simplify the fabrication procedure, AHM, MoO2(acac)2, and MoO3 powder are used as precursors for solution processing MoO3 buffer layers, and the attempts are still ongoing. Strategies of composite/hybrid formation, modification and doping are utilized to optimize the MoO3 ABL to obtain more efficient and stable OPVs. Combining the optical and electronic properties of MoO3, diverse applications are introduced in inverted, semi-transparent devices and tandem architectures, showing the wide applicability of MoO3 in OPVs. This review draws the outline of the relationships between the composition, structure and processing method of MoO3 and device performance, and further studies to fully understand it at a deeper level are highly needed, which is beneficial to improve the performance of OPVs and the research for solar cells with a similar structure, such as perovskite solar cells.


Every human being born into this world is always different from each other. Both physical form, behavior, traits, and various other habits. No human being has the same physical form, behavior and nature even though the twins. One thing we need to know together is that every human being has a way of absorbing and processing the information it receives in different ways from each other. It really depends on the learning style. Learning styles are the way each person takes in absorbing new and difficult information, how they concentrate, process and store information that enters the brain. Understanding the child's learning styles will support his success. The best way to stimulate learning is to give full support to their interests and provide a variety of educative games to support learning.


An aqueous solution of enantiomerically pure tryptophan (Trp), namely, D-Trp or L-Trp (100 mg/kg), was administered intraperitoneally to male Sprague-Dawley rats. The time-course profiles of the rat plasma concentrations of D-kynurenine (KYN), L-KYN, and kynurenic acid (KYNA), which are metabolites of D- or L-Trp, were investigated using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) systems that were reported in our previous study. The plasma D-KYN concentration increased after the administration of D-Trp, but this increase was not observed after the administration of L-Trp. The plasma L-KYN concentration increased after the administration of L-Trp, but no significant change was observed after the administration of D-Trp. The plasma KYNA concentration drastically increased in the case of rats administered D-Trp and those administered L-Trp. Additionally, an inhibitor of D-amino acid oxidase (DAAO), 5-methylpyrazole-3-carboxylic acid (MPC) (50 mg/kg), was administrated to the rats 30 min before the administration of D-Trp. The preadministration of MPC remarkably increased the D-KYN concentration and suppressed the production of KYNA. These results suggest that DAAO may contribute to the metabolism of D-KYN to KYNA in vivo.


Abstract In 2020, a government-funded healthy school lunch program was introduced in a quarter of New Zealand schools, selected due to high levels of socio-economic barriers. This study assesses the impact of the introduction of the school lunch program from family (whānau), student and school principal perspectives. Across four schools, we conducted five focus groups (two with secondary students and three with family members) and four school principal interviews. Participating schools represented a range of contexts: primary and secondary, schools with cooks in on-site kitchens and schools receiving meals delivered by external caterers. Thematic analysis was used to develop themes describing the health, wellbeing and nutritional impact of the program. Family participants were 82% Indigenous Māori and self-identified as having 'borderline' (73.5%) or no financial security (8.8%). Seven positive impact themes were identified: improved food security, enhanced equity, increased appreciation of healthy foods for students, enhanced mana (wellbeing) for all, reduced financial hardship/stress for families, opportunities for nutritional learning and recognition that appreciation and uptake happen over time. Four negative impact themes were identified: low uptake that created food waste, perception that healthy food is not palatable for students, lack of knowledge of the program and loss of agency for students. This is the largest intervention in nutrition and food security for children implemented in New Zealand since the 1930's. The first 2 years have offered wellbeing and financial benefits for students and families, particularly when school environments promote uptake. More involvement of students and family members in the program planning is essential.


The impending increase in magnitude and complexity of the air traffic control problem makes it necessary to consider a general formulation which would provide the basis for the analysis and evaluation of newly designed equipments or systems. Comparison of the qualities of pictorial and symbolic models leads to a direct analogy which permits aircraft motion to be considered as communication. Various aspects of the symbolic-communication model are then indicated. These include the application of the extended sampling theorem for airpath definition and the discrete probability distribution for establishing the minimum flight safety criterion as well as a measure for air path tracking efficiency in terms of successful mission accomplishment. The purpose of this paper is to stimulate the development of a general analytic technique which would act as a common language for both operations and laboratory personnel and, in this manner, aid in the future development of safe and efficient systems for Air Traffic Control.


Aim: To report our results of homodigital island flap reconstruction in the distal phalanx finger tip injuries.
Patients and Method: Forty-one homodigital island flaps of 30 male patients with defective injuries in the level of distal phalanx who were presented emergency department of Selcuk University Faculty of Medicine and reconstructed were evaluated retrospectively. Each patient was evaluated in terms of demographic data, flap survival rates, sensory return, the emergence of cold intolerance, range of movement values, return to work period and complications.
Results: Full primary flap survival was observed except for two partial flap necrosis and two superficial epidermolysis. After a six-month follow-up, mean static two-point discrimination value was found to be 10.2 mm (range: 8-12.1 mm) in 41 fingers treated with flap. The mean range of movement angles were determined as 107.40o (range, 90-110o) at proximal interphalangeal joint and 61.95o (range, 0-90o) at distal interphalangeal joint. Cold intolerance was not observed in any patient. The mean time of return to full-time professional activity was 7.2 weeks (range, 6-10 weeks). As for complications, 4 patients developed nail deformity and and 3 patients had a flexion contracture. No donor site complication was observed.
Conclusion: Because of easy implementation in a single session and high patient satisfaction with low donor site complications, homodigital island flap method is an effective surgical option in the treatment of fingertip defects.


Corticothalamic projections from areas 5a, 5b, and 7 of cat parietal cortex were studied with autoradiographic techniques. Each cortical area was identified by its cytoarchitectural characteristics and the patterns of termination were related to the thalamic nuclear groups. Injections of 3H‐leucine in cortical area 5a were associated with terminal labeling primarily in the spinal recipient zone of the ventral lateral nucleus (VLsp) and the medial division of the posterior group (POm). The corticothalamic projections of area 5a are loosely topographically organized; medial parts of 5a project heavily to rostral and lateral parts of VLsp and sparsely to POm, while lateral parts of 5a project to more medial and caudal parts of VLsp and heavily to POm. Cortical area 5b projects primarily to the rostral portions of the lateral posterior nucleus (LP). These projections also appear to be topographically organized. The part of area 5b on the marginal gyrus projects to more ventral parts of rostral LP, while area 5b on the middle suprasylvian gyrus projects to more dorsal and lateral parts of rostral LP. Cortical area 7 projects to LP and the pulvinar (Pul). Rostral parts of area 7 project heavily to dorsal and lateral parts of LP and lightly to Pul; more caudal portions of area 7 project relatively more heavily to Pul. The reticular, central lateral, and paracentral nuclei also receive projections, especially from the suprasylvian gyrus. The results are discussed with regard to putative sensory response characteristics of these cortical areas and to general thalamocortical organization.


Homomeric acid-sensing ion channel 1 (ASIC1) can be activated by extracellular H+ in the physiological pH range and may, therefore, contribute to neurotransmission and peripheral pain perception. ASIC1a and ASIC1b are alternative splice products of the ASIC1 gene. Here we show that both splice variants show steady-state inactivation when exposed to slightly decreased pH, limiting their operational range. Compared with ASIC1a, steady-state inactivation and pH activation of ASIC1b are shifted to more acidic values by 0.25 and 0.7 pH units, respectively, extending the dynamic range of ASIC1. Shifts of inactivation and activation are intimately linked; only two amino acids in the ectodomain, which are exchanged by alternative splicing, control both properties. Moreover, we show that extracellular, divalent cations like Ca2+ and Mg2+ as well as the polyvalent cation spermine shift the steady-state inactivation of ASIC1a and ASIC1b to more acidic values. This leads to a potentiation of the channel response and is due to a stabilization of the resting state. Our results indicate that ASIC1b is an effective sensor of transient H+ signals during slight acidosis and that, in addition to alternative splicing, interaction with di- and polyvalent cations extends the dynamic range of ASIC H+ sensors.


Live attenuated Oka vaccine was subjected to molecular analysis, with the long-term goal of identifying genes in the vaccine strain responsible for its attenuation. Complete genomic sequences for both the Oka parent virus and the Oka vaccine virus were determined and compared. There were differences in only 42 bases between the 2 viruses. More than one-third (15/42) of the nucleotide substitutions in V-Oka were found in open reading frame (ORF) 62. These differences were also observed when sequences of Japanese low-passage clinical isolates of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) were compared with the Oka vaccine strain. The ORF62 gene encodes an immediate early (IE) protein, IE62, that is the major transactivator of VZV and, as such, is critical to initiating the VZV gene expression cascade. Several insertions and deletions were also observed in comparing the 2 sequences, largely in the internal tandem repeat units. Functional differences between the 2 types of Oka virus were also examined. Oka vaccine was found to consist of a mixture of different subpopulations, and the parental Oka virus replicates more efficiently than does the vaccine strain. Development of a bacterial artificial chromosome for VZV expression should lead to the discovery of additional differences in wild and vaccine types and, thus, enhance our understanding of the genetic basis for attenuation of the Oka vaccine strain.


The synthesis of alpha and non-alpha chains of human hemoglobin (Hb) was studied in reticulocytes and in BFUe-derived cell colonies from patients with alpha chain or beta chain deficiencies. The subjects included normal adults (alpha alpha/alpha alpha) with or without a beta chain variant (Hb S, Hb Leslie) or an alpha chain variant (Hb G-Georgia); alpha-thalassemia-2 heterozygotes (alpha 0 alpha/alpha alpha) with an alpha chain variant (G-Georgia or G-Philadelphia); an alpha-thalassemia-1 heterozygote (alpha 0 alpha 0/alpha alpha); alpha-thalassemia-2 homozygotes (alpha 0 alpha 0/alpha 0 alpha) with a beta chain variant (Hb S), an alpha chain variant (G-Philadelphia), a Hb S homozygosity with Hb G-Philadelphia, or a Hb G-Philadelphia homozygosity; and three black beta +-thalassemia homozygotes. Data from reticulocyte in vitro synthesis analysis showed the expected deficiencies. However, similar analyses of the Hb synthesized in cell colonies (even from the black beta-thalassemia homozygotes) gave (nearly) balanced sigma alpha/sigma non-alpha ratios. It is speculated that this balanced synthesis is due to a most effective proteolysis in the immature erythroblast which rapidly removes free alpha or beta chains. The levels of Hb F and Hb A2 were considerably increased in these proerythroblasts; a two- to threefold increase in the synthesis of Hb A2 was observed over that seen in the reticulocytes.


With rapid growth of online social network sites, the issue of health-related online communities and its social and behavioral implications has become increasingly important for public health. Unfortunately, online communities often become vehicles for promotion of pernicious misinformation, in particular, that HIV virus is a myth (AIDS denialism). This study seeks to explore online users' behavior and interactions within AIDS-denialist community to identify and estimate the number of those, who potentially are most susceptible to AIDS-denialist arguments—"the risk group" in terms of becoming AIDS denialists. Social network analysis was used for examining the most numerous AIDS-denialist community (over 15,000 members) in the most popular Russian SNS "VK.com." In addition, content analysis was used for collecting data on attitudes toward AIDS-denialist arguments and participants' self-disclosed HIV status. Two data sets were collected to analyze friendship ties and communication interactions among community members. We have identified the core of online community—cohesive and dedicated AIDS denialists, and the risk group: users who communicate with core members, and, thus, can be more susceptible to the AIDS-denialist propaganda and their health behaviors (e.g., refusing treatment). Analysis allowed to significantly reduce the target audience for possible intervention campaigns and simultaneously increase the accuracy of determining the risk group composition.


The factors contributing to overweight and obesity are multifaceted and include a combination of genetic, sociological, and environmental influences. Children's exposure to food marketing is recognized as one such factor contributing to the obesity-promoting environment.


Among the biometric system approaches, the Vein Pattern Recognition (VPR) is one of the rapidly expanding aspects of medical image enhancement and scanning. Whereas the ideology behind the technique is modest, there are some problems reported throughout the implementation and designing of vein scanning devices, regarding the hardware lighting framework and the real algorithms utilized for the implementation and processing of a number of images. To maintain the scanning issues to minimize measure, the images from the cameras have to be nearly noiseless and the algorithms have to be capable of detecting the patterns of the veins in different actual-life scenarios. Most implementations of the approach have been commercialized which makes it necessary to launch a system which can extract, analyse and detect the precise human vein patterns whereas maintaining the minimal costs and minimizing the computation requirements of image processing algorithms. Based on that this provides a critical survey of pattern recognition for VPR. Moreover, it provides the hardware processing and implementation remedies based on the approach.


Security and efficiency of rekeying are crucial requirements for secure communication in dynamic groups. Aiming at the drawbacks of traditional distributed batch rekeying algorithms, which are a waste of resources and vulnerable to collusions attack, DBRM marking algorithm is designed, which creates a subtree consisting of joining members. Based on DBRM algorithm, a secure batch rekeying algorithm named SDBR is proposed. SDBR is resistant to collusions attack by changing the blinded keys known to the leaving members and it can also avoid a renewed node to be rekeyed more than once. Mathematical models of communication cost and computation cost are presented by theoretical analysis, and the performance of SDBR algorithm is validated by simulation experiment. Analysis results show SDBR is an algorithm suitable for large dynamic collaborative group.


Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is mainly caused by Aspergillus fumigatus and other Aspergillus species. Galactomannan (GM) is a polysaccharide antigen that exists primarily in the cell walls of Aspergillus species. GM may be released into the blood and other body fluids even in the early stages of Aspergillus invasion; therefore, detection of the GM antigen level can be useful in making an early diagnosis of IPA.


4-Pentenoate (4P) is a short-chain fatty acid which causes a complete renal Fanconi syndrome. We have examined the mechanism of 4P toxicity along the nephron after a prolonged (30 min) exposition of isolated renal tubular segments to this agent. In proximal tubules, 4P inhibited the activity of alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase, pyruvate dehydrogenase, and beta-oxidation, but not in thick ascending limb or inner medullary collecting duct tubules in suspension. These proximal effects were accompanied by a marked oxidation of the proximal redox state, with a fall in the tissue respiration and a low content of ATP. The acetyl-CoA content of proximal tubules was simultaneously reduced. Butyrate, acetate, hexanoate or octanoate did not exert these effects. In proximal tubules the metabolism of 4P led to the tissue accumulation of 3-keto-4-pentenoyl-CoA, a known unspecific inhibitor of metabolic oxidation. This metabolite was not detectable in thick ascending limbs which metabolized 4P rapidly. No metabolism of 4P was noted in collecting ducts. We conclude that beta-oxidation probably differs in proximal and thick ascending limb tubules, allowing 4P metabolism to exert a specific toxicity in proximal tubules. A selective proximal defect in energy metabolism probably explains the Fanconi syndrome observed with exposition to 4P.


Pulsatile drug delivery of enalapril maleate is one such system that, by delivering drug at the right time, right place and in right amounts, holds good promises of benefit to the patients suffering from hypertension. The basic design involves the preparation of cross linked hard gelatin capsules using formaldehyde. Then the drug diluent mixtures were prepared and loaded which was separated by using hydrogel plug of polymers of different grades such as HPMC 50 cps, HPMC 100 cps, HPMC K4M, HPMC K15M, HPMC K100M, xanthan gum, carbopol 971 and sodium CMC at different amount (100 and 120 mg). Prepared formulations were subjected to evaluation of various physical parameters and in vitro drug release studies. Dissolution tests were performed using the USP type I basket method at 50 rpm in 6.8 phosphate buffer. From the in vitro dissolution studies it was found that by increasing the amount of polymers, release rate was decreased. Here, 100 mg of HPMC K100M showed 80% drug release in 8 hours whereas 120 mg showed 78.87% drug release in 10 hours. Similar decrease in the release rates were found with the increase of other polymers used in this study. The release data was fitted to various mathematical models such as zero order, first order, Higuchi, Korsmeyer Peppas and Hixson Crowell cube root law. The drug release follows mixed order kinetics and mechanism was found to be non-Fickian diffusion. Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Journal 18 (1): 66-71, 2015


ABSTRACT Driving is a neuropsychologically complex task; this can present challenges for individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) such asautism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention–deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Deficits in theory of mind (ToM) and executive function (EF) are common features of ASD and ADHD, respectively, and may influence driving processes such as hazard perception. No studies have directly examined the neuropsychological contributions to hazard detection among drivers with ASD compared to ADHD.In the current study, 48 participants ages 16-30 years (13 ASD, 17 ADHD, 18 typically developing (TD)) completed a driving simulator task in which they encountered hazards in the driving environment. Hazards varied in whether they were social (contained a human component) or nonsocial (were physical objects) to examine the contribution of ToM and social processing to hazard response. Additionally, participants completed a neuropsychological battery targeting ToM and EF/attention skills (cognitive tasks and self-report measures).Within the ASD group, participants responded relatively slower to social compared to nonsocial hazards; no effect of hazard type was observed in the ADHD or TD groups. Additionally, measures of ToM and EF were correlated with driving performanceamong ASD participants; within the ADHD group, only self-reported behavior regulation was associated with driving performance. Broadly, this suggests that cognitive factors such as ToM and EF impact driving hazard performance in ASD and ADHD. The results of the study have implications for developing driving intervention programs for individuals with NDDs.


Gastroplasty (GP) or gastric bypass with exclusion of 90% of the distal stomach (GBP) have largely replaced small bowel bypass in the surgical management of morbid obesity. Despite the theoretical advantages of GP over GBP, revision rates of up to 20% are reported with GP because of unsatisfactory weight loss resulting from staple line disruption, pouch dilatation, and/or stomal enlargement. This report describes four alternative surgical approaches to failed GP. "Complete" partitioning of the stomach accompanied by gastrogastrostomy or conversion to Roux-en-Y GBP is recommended. Because of intangible advantages associated with exclusion of the stomach and duodenum, conversion to GBP is favored over GP revision in such cases.


The composition, structure and distribution of forest trees in Ankarafa Forest in the Sahamalaza-Iles Radama National Park, Madagascar, were evaluated to determine the influence of their fruiting on the seasonal feeding/foraging ecology of the mainly frugivorous, endemic blue-eyed black lemur (Eulemur flavifrons). Plots were sampled within the forest core and on the forest edges. A total of 848 live trees belonging to 42 species, 39 genera and 28 families were recorded. Ankarafa Forest is dominated by Mangifera indica (an exotic), Garcinia pauciflora, Sorindeia madagascariensis, Grangeria porosa, bamboo spp. and Mascarenhasia arborescens. More than 20% of the stems counted were exotic, long-lived species which has a negative consequence for future forest dynamics. In particular the predominance of the exotic M. indica has negative implications for fruit availability at the end of the dry season and during the wet season. Canopy height was lower than most tropical forests but similar to other Malagasy forests with an average tree height of 10 ± 3.6 m and a mean diameter at breast height of 13.8 ± 11.7 cm. Height and diameter of trees differed significantly between the edge and core of the forest. However, most trees were between 5 and 15 m high, and most of smaller diameter, both at the edge and core, suggesting it is a complex system. Along the forest edge, many trees were burnt by uncontrolled fire. Trees felled by cyclones were recorded both on the edge and in the core of the forest. Fruit availability was similar throughout the forest on a spatial scale, but differed temporally. Being relatively high in tree species diversity, Ankarafa Forest needs to be protected to continue to support its endemic fauna, particularly those with restricted distribution such as the blue-eyed black lemur. In particular, further forest degradation and fragmentation needs to be avoided.


We characterize the LSE approach by its implications for reduced-form modeling and structural interpretations. Much of what has come to be associated with the LSE methodology involves the approach to fitting reduced forms, and can be thought of as a pragmatic solution to problems created by short samples plagued by serial correlation. The policy analysis one might be able to do with an "LSE model," on the other hand, hinges on structural identification arguments which do not meet the classic Cowles Commission standards, and is thus suspect.


We present a high-level methodology for efficient and accurate estimation of energy and performance in SoCs. Differently from the most common approaches, which rely on Transaction-Level Modeling (TLM), we infer energy and performance figures directly from the Functional Untimed Level, by running the algorithmic specification natively on a common host machine. We then validate the proposed method against gate level for accuracy and against TLM-PV for speed. We show that the method is within 17% of gate-level accuracy and in average 28x faster than TLM-PV, for the benchmark applications selected.


Heritability analyses were performed with clinical chemistry data collected on 360 twin pairs of white, middle‐aged male veterans during the second examination of the NHLBI Twin Study, a multicenter study of cardiovascular disease risk factors. Significant genetic variability was present for albumin, alkaline phosphatase, blood urea nitrogen, 1‐hr postload glucose, phosphorus, total protein, and uric acid. Calcium and aspartate aminotransferase had significantly different means by zygosity, which precluded further analysis. Total bilirubin and lactate dehydrogenase did not show evidence for genetic variation at this examination. Comparisons are made to results from similar twin studies and the first examination of the NHLBI Twin Study. Heritability estimates for phosphorus and blood urea nitrogen exhibited marked stability across studies, while heritability estimates for total bilirubin, total protein, and uric acid decreased in older study populations. The heritability of 1‐hr postload blood glucose decreased from 0.88 at the first NHLBI examination to 0.52 at the second one. Interpretation of these results requires consideration of possible selection biases, methodologic and demographic issues, and the view that for some clinical chemistries, biological aging along with prolonged environmental exposures may alter the amount of phenotypic variation explained by the additive effect of genes alone.


One ofHealthy Indonesia 2015vision is thatto achieve the percentage coverage of exclusive breastfeedingto 80% .Babies who are not given breast milk have a 17 times greater risk of experiencing diarrhea and 3-4 times more susceptible to ARI compared to breast-fed infants. Indonesia Demographic Health Survey showed that in 2007 there were 32% of babies who were exclusively breastfed, while in 2012 the number rose to 42%. But the number of formula milk-fed infants also increased. In East Java province, the highest coverage of exclusive breastfeeding is in Malang city with 99.93%, and Batu city has the lowest percentage with 24.50% (East Java Provincial Health Profile, 2010). Various attempts have been made to improve the coverage of exclusive breastfeeding but has yet to show the maximum results. One factor causes the problem is because there is no maximum empowerment of communities, so it is necessary to empower the community through breastfeeding support group as an effort to improve exclusivebreast-feeding. This study aims to determine the effect of community empowerment through breastfeeding support group toward the exclusive breastfeeding.This study was an experimental study with pretest-posttest one group design with Batu city residents as the population with a sample of 30 people taken with purposive sampling technique. The data were analyzed using parametric statistical tests correlated samples witht-testTwo tile test. The study showed that53.3% to 80% of breastfeeding empowerment is still in the low category. While the average results of the study in need assessment showed that there were 53.3% to 73.3% supportive predisposing factor, 53.3% to 70% very supportive reinforcing factor and 60% to 73.3% less supportive enabling factor toward the exclusive breastfeeding program. The result of t-testTwo tile testwas tcount (8.67) and t-table 2.060, indicated that community empowerment through breastfeeding support group had an effect on the number of exclusive breastfeeding. Breastfeeding support group is one of community empowerment efforts in mobilizing communities, especially nursing mothers, with ongoing mentoring from pregnancy to post-partum period. The breastfeeding support group should motivate breastfeeding mothers to exclusively breastfeed the babies.Therefore, it is expected that the policy makers and community figures must provide ongoing assistance for breastfeeding communities, so that exclusive breastfeeding coverage may spread wider.


This paper discusses an e-learning system that has the appropriate security which foster trust for the student and promote loyalty in the system. To design secure model it uses UML. The use case diagram explains the functionality of the system using actors and use cases. The sequence diagram is used to describe interactions among objects in terms of an exchange of messages over time. Collaboration diagrams describe both the static structure and the dynamic behavior of the proposed e-learning system.


INTRODUCTION
To evaluate the degree of atherosclerosis in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes and its correlation with risk factors, traditional and other, such as anti-oxidative capacity of circulating blood and level of lipid peroxidation.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Forty children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes with mean age 13.7 years were compared with 20 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects. Association of carotid artery intima-media thickness (cIMT) with different risk factors measured in children with type 1 diabetes was evaluated.

RESULTS
Mean carotid IMT was higher in subjects with diabetes (p 〈 0.01) and was strongly associated with total cholesterol with an odds ratio of 4.08 (p = 0.016), LDL-cholesterol with an odds ratio of 2.78 (p = 0.037), length of disease with an odds ratio of 1.87 (p = 0.007) and positive family history (first- and second-degree relatives) of diabetes and early CVD (heart attack and/or stroke before the age of 60 years) with an odds ratio of 6.8 (p = 0.007).

CONCLUSIONS
We found significantly increased cIMT in the diabetic patients compared to the healthy control subjects. Risk factors for the development of atherosclerosis included higher total and LDL-cholesterol, higher systolic blood pressure, positive family history of diabetes and early CVD and longer diabetes duration. In spite of the documented increased oxidative stress, we failed to establish a correlation between the oxidative stress parameters and cIMT values.


A new eddy viscosity equation was formulated from assumption of turbulence length scale equation and specific dissipation ratio equation. Then, a set of turbulence model equations for the turbulent kinetic energy , the viscosity , and the intermittency factor is proposed by considering the entrainment effect. Closure coefficients are determined by experimental data and resorting to numerical optimization. Present model has been applied to compute four representative cases of free shear flows and successfully compared with experimental data. In particular, the spreading rate, the centreline mean velocity and the profiles of intermittency are calculated with improved accuracy. Also, the proposed model was applied to channel flow by considering the wall effect and the results show good agreements with the Direct Numerical Simulation data.


Arthrodesis of the ankle joint is a well-established treatment for painful, end-stage ankle arthritis. Managing deformity, poor bone quality or bone loss poses greater challenges for the surgeon. As a result, angle-stable devices such as blade plates and nonanatomic locking plates have been studied biomechanically and found to exhibit some mechanical advantages over screws in stabilizing the arthrodesis, thus potentially offering a solution. A new anatomically contoured, fixed angled lateral locking ankle arthrodesis plate was developed and its efficacy was assessed for rate of union in patients with deformity, poor bone quality, and with bone loss. The operative technique for using this plate is presented. Eighty-two consecutive cases were treated using this plate in our institution. The plate was used to treat 3 groups of patients with ankle pain: 70 patients with degenerative ankle arthropathy, 6 cases of nonunion following previous attempts at ankle arthrodesis and 6 cases following failed total ankle replacement. There were 70 primary fusions in the study with 40 cases of <10 degrees deformity and 30 cases of >10 degrees deformity in the coronal plane. A higher rate of fusion (97%) was achieved in the cases with <10 degrees deformity compared with 92% in >10 degrees deformity but there was no significant difference (P=0.35) between these groups [time to union in weeks: <10 degrees deformity mean 18 degrees (range, 6 to 42 vs. <10 degrees), deformity mean 21 degrees (range, 11 to 77 degrees). In those cases of nonunion treated with the plate, union was achieved in 5 of the 6 (83%) procedures with a mean time to union of 25 weeks (range, 12 to 44 wk). In those cases of arthrodesis for salvaging failed total ankle replacement, all cases achieved union of their arthrodesis with a mean time to fusion of 20 weeks (range, 11 to 43 wk). This lateral locking plate system is a suitable fixation device in achieving ankle arthrodesis in the presence of deformity, poor bone quality or bone loss. The study supports the concept of locking plate internal fixation for ankle arthrodesis. Level of Evidence: Diagnostic Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.


The paper explores Gernot Böhme's attempt to transform the concept of atmosphere into an aesthetical concept of the natural environment and follows his effort to outline a phenomenology of the weather based on this aesthetics. Böhme's original project, prompted by a growing environmental concern, was to develop new forms of knowledge of nature to counter what he considered detrimental consequences of a one-sided rationalistic-scientific view of nature. Inspired by Hermann Schmitz's phenomenology of the body and emotional atmospheres, Böhme developed his aesthetics to be a general theory of sensation and a phenomenology of the environment. His weather phenomenology is yet only a sketch, but, in light of imminent climatic changes, it might prove a sketch worth considering.


The TiO2 powder was prepared from the spent titanium chips by applying the sol-gel method. The spent titanium chip was dissolved in HCl solution, and then NH4OH solution was added. The molar concentration of NH4OH solution was 2 M, 4 M, 8 M, and 10 M. Obtained TiO2 powders were calcined at 200 degrees C, 400 degrees C, and 600 degrees C. The prepared TiO2 powder was characterized using a particle size analysis, BET surface area, and XRD analysis. The crystal structure of the TiO2 powder was rutile type and anatase. The highest BET surface area of TiO2 powder was 432.8 m2/g. The photocatalytic property of the TiO2 powder was evaluated as decomposition rate of methylene blue(MB) by using a liquid phase stirred reactor. UV source was a UV-A, and concentration of MB in most experiments was 8 ppm. The concentration of MB was measured by absorbance at 664 nm using UV spectroscopy. Photocatalytic efficiency of prepared TiO2 powder depended highly on concentration of NH4OH solution. The TiO2 powder prepared with 8 M-NH4OH solution showed the highest efficiency, the decomposition efficiency at decomposition time of 2 hr and MB concentration of pH 8 was 98%.


When collected methodically through elicitation experiments, invented examples prompted by a cue word provide evidence for how speakers think about that word. This study explores characteristics of Mandarin chī 'eat' sentences obtained through an elicitation experiment and SMS, newspaper, and fiction corpora. Our findings support the view that invented examples collected methodically represent a valuable data type with its own characteristics worthy of attention and analysis.


In the present era, direct-seeding is a viable alternative of traditional transplanting of rice for farmers due to water and labour shortage. It has the potential to ensure water and labour saving along with higher productivity of water. Study was performed to assess the critical period of weed-crop competition i.e. time period during which weeds cause maximum reduction of yield in dry direct-seeded basmati rice during two consecutive summer seasons of the years 2015 and 2016. This experiment consisted of 6 weed competition periods [0, 2, 3, 4, and 5 weeks after crop emergence (WAE)] and 6 weed-free periods (0, 2, 3, 4, and 5 WAE) by mixed weed flora. The experiment was executed in randomized complete block design having four replications. With the increasing duration of the weed-crop competition, the productive tillers, grains per panicle, and 1000-grain weight were decreased gradually. A whole season competition with mixed weed flora reduced rice grain yield up to 90% and increased N, P, and K uptake by weeds up to 28, 5, and 28 kg ha -1 , respectively. In dry direct-sown rice, the critical time of weed removal as estimated by the three-parameter logistic model was 1.4-6.3 WAE and 2.8-4.8 WAE to save 10 and 20% grain yield, respectively. Hence it is concluded that dry direct-seeded rice crop should be kept weed free during this time period of crop growing season.


ABSTRACT Health regulations to constrain the progress of the pandemic such as lockdowns, curfews, and quarantines made radical alterations in every aspect of individuals' lives, causing significant impact on their mental health and well-being. The current study aimed to examine whether there are significant differences in participants' sociodemographic variables in reported cases of depression, anxiety, and stress among women who lived in Kuwait during the curfew and lockdown caused by COVID-19 pandemic. This study used a cross-sectional method. A nonrandom sample of 596 participants was recruited. The current study found that women at higher risk of reporting more incidents of depression, anxiety, and stress during the lockdown and curfew were from the older age group above 50 years old, hold higher educational certificates, and own private businesses. High rates of reported depression and anxiety were detected significantly among Kuwaiti women. The findings of this study reveal the significant impact of an uncomfortable and distressful environment during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may negatively affected individuals' mental health and generated diverse forms of psychosocial illness.


Background : Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are components of the innate immune system that recognize pathogen-associated molecular patterns present on bacterial, fungal, or viral pathogens. Glucopyranosyl lipid A (GLA) is a synthetic TLR4 agonist that activates dendritic cells (DC) and enhances antigen-specific Th1 cell responses.

Scientific question : Can an oil-in-water emulsion of GLA (G100) induce an anti-tumor effect due to modulation of the tumor microenvironment?

Results : In our A20 murine lymphoma tumor model, intratumoral (i.t) administration of G100 resulted in tumor regression in approximately 50% of the mice in a dose dependent manner with an optimal dose of 10-20 μg/mouse. Surviving mice remained tumor-free at three months post G100 treatment and were resistant to a secondary tumor challenge with A20 cells, but not with CT26 colon cancer cells or 4T1 breast cancer cells. The effect was CD8+ T cell mediated as CD8+ depletion resulted in a significant loss of the effect. To examine the potential systemic effect of G100 i.t. treatment, Balb/c mice were implanted bilaterally with A20 tumors. Injection of G100 into the ipsilateral tumor three times a week resulted in an abscopal effect on the contralaterally implanted, untreated tumor, as evidenced by reduced tumor growth. Furthermore, the potential synergy between G100 and immunomodulatory antibodies was investigated: mice with bilateral A20 tumors received intratumoral G100 alone, systemic anti-PD-1 mAb alone, or a combination of both agents. Mice receiving combination therapy showed best overall survival, as measured by regression or reduced growth of both treated and untreated tumors. In addition, injection of low doses of anti-CTLA4 and anti-OX40 mAbs together with G100, directly into the tumor, was able to cure mice with established disease.

Significance : Immunomodulatory antibodies are currently under clinical development for cancer treatment. We show here that combining these antibodies with a TLR4 agonist is sufficient to trigger a systemic anti-tumor response able to eradicate tumor at a distant site. This anti-tumor immune response was long lasting, specific and required CD8+ T cells as the effect was lost in CD8+ T cell depleted mice.

Impact : We recently published positive results of intra-tumoral CpG (TLR9 agonist) in combination with immunomodulatory antibodies (Marabelle, Levy, et al. JCI, 2013). Both anti-CTLA4 and anti-PD1 antibodies have been FDA approved, and anti-PD-L1 and anti-OX40 antibodies are currently in advanced clinical trials. Our results suggest that G100 alone or in combination with immunomodulatory mAbs may be a promising new treatment for patients with injectable sites of lymphoma. Clinical studies investigating intratumoral G100 are underway.

Disclosures Off Label Use: G100- a TLR4 agonist. Lu: Immune Design: Employment. Hewitt: Immune Design: Employment. Hsu: Immune Design: Employment. Meulen: Immune Design: Employment. Levy: Immune Design: Research Funding; Dynavax: Research Funding.


Herbal medicines have been integral to India's traditional health care systems, especially Ayurveda, for centuries. In recent years, there has been a significant resurgence of interest in herbal medicine both domestically and globally, driven by the growing demand for natural and alternative healthcare solutions. In this study, we are trying to analyse the current market trends and opportunities in India's herbal medicine field. This study aims to have a preliminary understanding of the Indian herbal medicine market, market size, growth prospects, key players, and regulatory framework and also highlights the significant efforts of government ministries towards promoting the Herbal medicine market in India and Abroad. By analysing market trends and consumer preferences, this study offers valuable insights for entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers looking to tap into the potential of herbal medicine in India.


A battery charger for telecommunications is presented. This converter operates at a rectified three phase 400 V mains which supplies the DC-DC converter with 750 V DC. The paper describes the switching loss reduction when high voltage IGBTs operate in this promising DC-DC converter topology. There are measurements on a transistor in a chopper circuit to investigate the turn-off characteristic with a capacitor in parallel with the transistor. This test was done on a Toshiba IGBT-module. The selected capacitor was then used for the measurements on the DC-DC converter. The measurements on the DC-DC converter were done with both Toshiba and Siemens IGBT modules. The stresses on the components are decreased both compared to hard-switched and resonant types of converter.


A new approach is proposed for relaxing the computational complexity of the user equilibrium discrete network design problem (UE-DNDP), under deterministic traffic conditions, with a solution search procedure based on the selectorecombinative genetic algorithm (SGA). The SGA uses only selection and recombination operators rather than mutation. The UE-DNDP approach proposed in this study has a bilevel structure: the upper-level problem relates to the strategy of the network design authority, and the lower-level problem deals with network user behaviors. To solve the upper-level problem, the SGA is first used to create feasible network design solutions to the UE-DNDP by accounting for a budget constraint. Then the design authority selects the best network design strategy with minimum total system travel time (TSTT). Extensive experimental design and testing on GA operators and parameters are conducted to select the useful GA operators and parameters. For the lower-level problem, the best K-value concept is introduced to reduce the computational effort by allowing only a few best K-design solutions with best fitness values among the feasible network design solutions to the UE network evaluation model. The study uses statistical analysis to validate whether the proposed SGA-based UE-DNDP model is working well. The results of numerical analysis have shown that the proposed solution search procedure could significantly improve computational efficiency without loss of solution quality in terms of TSTT.


The objective of this study is to analyse further the governance–performance relationship while improving on two methodological issues: control for endogeneity and firm performance measurement. To mitigate the endogeneity problem, we first focus on subsamples of firms for which we ex ante expect better corporate governance to cause better performance. Second, we use generalized least squares regressions for panel data. To control for potential measurement bias, we measure firm performance using data envelopment analysis (DEA). The research is conducted in Canada over a five-year period from 2001 to 2005. Corporate governance is measured based on the Report on Business corporate governance index published by the Globe and Mail. Overall, the results show that better governed firms are more efficient. This study is in line with a growing number of recent studies that propose alternative measures of firm performance. By using DEA, this study brings together the corporate finance and productivity literature.


Benign prostatic hyperplasia, a non-cancerous condition of unknown cause, is the most common prostate disease in men globally. The present study investigated the possible ameliorative effects of methanolic extract of Trichosanthes cucumerina seeds (METCS) on experimentally-induced prostatic hyperplasia in Wistar rats.Twenty adult, male Wistar rats weighing 150-250 g were randomly divided into four groups of five animals each. Group I, normal control, was given corn oil only; Group II, hormone-treated control (HTC), Groups III and IV, hormone- and extract-treated, received continuous doses of 300 μg and 80 μg of testosterone and estradiol, respectively, on alternate days for three weeks subcutaneously in the inguinal region; while the extract-treated rats received additional 400 mg/kg b.w. (low dose) and 800 mg/kg b.w. (high dose) of METCS orally for another three weeks. Immediately after induction of benign prostatic hypertrophy, some animals were randomly selected and sacrificed for gross inspection of prostate enlargement, prostate specific antigen analysis (PSA) and sperm count evaluation. These procedures were repeated again after three weeks of extract treatment. The prostates were harvested and processed routinely for paraffin embedding, and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E).Results obtained showed significant (P<0.05) reduction in PSA levels following high doses of METCS and also a reversal of histological hyperplasic changes.


Purpose: To investigate the influence of allelic frequencies of PON1 Q192R, CYP2C19*2 and CYP2C19*17 genetic polymorphisms on the response to clopidogrel among Jordanian patients. Methods: Polymorphisms in CYP2C19 were assessed among 148 patients using PCR-RFLP assay. Results: The CYP2C19*2, CYP2C19*17, and PON1 Q192R allele frequencies were 9.8, 28.72 and 28.7 %, respectively. On the genotyping side, the frequencies of CYP2C19*1/1* and CYP2C19*1/2* were 80.4 and 19.6 %, respectively, but none of the patients had CYP2C19*2/2* genotype. The genotype frequencies CYP2C19*17 were 47.97, 46.62 and 5.41 % for wild-type C-C, heterozygote C-T, and the mutant T-T, respectively. PON1 genotype was 42.7 % for QQ, and 57.8 % for QR. None of the patients had RR genotype. Conclusion: Relative to other populations, the observed allelic frequencies are consistent with the values reported for Caucasian and Middle Eastern populations.


The paper describes a suitability of Virtual Crack Extension (VCE) method for numerical simulation of crack propagation under mixed mode loading. The suitability of VCE method was determined using The Compact-Tension-Shear (CTS), which is subjected to fracture Mode I, Mode II or mixed mode (Mode I + Mode II) loading. In mixed mode the crack kinks when fracture crack growth occurs. Kink angle is determined with VCE method, which is an energy method, maximum tangential stress (MTS) criterion, strain energy density (SED) criterion and experimental results. Determination of crack propagation angle using MTS and SED criterion is based in regard to the stress intensity factors KI and KII. Stress intensity factors are determined using the maximum energy release rate theory using complex J integral, crack opening displacement method and method of stresses extrapolation. Bigger is the rate between KII and KI, crack path, determined with VCE method, propagates more slowly to the kink angle, determined with experiment. The computational results show that the VCE method is suitable for crack propagation, when KI around the crack tip is dominant. In case where KII is dominant, crack does not kink immediately as in other two criteria. When KII dominates around a crack tip, MTS criterion is the most appropriate for determination of kink angle.


In this paper the problems associated with the minimal realization of synchronous sequential machines by unate cellular cascades have been studied. Given the sequential machine in the form of a flow table, a systematic procedure is followed to generate all the selectable sets. Compatible sets consisting of these selectable sets are next determined and the different secondary variables are assigned. The nested functional forms of the next-state expressions for these variables are finally established. The proposed method is very systematic and perfectly suited for machine processing.


The Norumbega Fault system is traced from southern New England to Prince Edward Island, and its major strike-slip history is pre-Carboniferous. Carboniferous and later movements are less well constrained. Along the Fredericton Fault in western New Brunswick, offsets affect outcrops of Carboniferous strata in several ways. Revision of Carboniferous stratigraphy in this area using new miospore data and mapping of new exposures augmented by LiDAR imagery permits refinement of some of the post-Devonian movement history. The oldest post-Silurian unit recognized, the Longs Creek Formation, is fault-dissected and tightly folded, with faults and folds overlapped by the unconformity at the base of the upper Visean Shin Formation. The age of the Longs Creek Formation is uncertain and may be late Devonian to early Visean. Faults affecting the Shin Formation and Royal Road basalts are truncated by the unconformity at the base of the Bolsovian Minto Formation. Beneath this unconformity the presence of fault-bounded panels of vertical Langsettian strata (Boss Point and Deerwood formations) along the Fredericton Fault demonstrate late Visean to Serpukhovian, and post-Langsettian, pre-Bolsovian (Duckmantian) movements. At least three phases of movement can be seen affecting the Minto Formation. All the movement phases along the Fredericton Fault appear to be right-lateral strike-slip, except for one phase of post-Bolsovian left-lateral displacement.


BACKGROUND There is much debate about the safety of liposuction as well as the efficacy and risk:benefit ratio of newer devices used in this procedure. OBJECTIVE To determine if there are any benefits in terms of safety and efficacy of power reciprocating cannulas compared to traditional manual liposuction cannulas. METHODS Patients served as their own controls in a paired comparison analysis of power liposuction cannulas and traditional liposuction cannulas. RESULTS Power cannulas significantly reduced procedure times, intraoperative pain, and surgeon fatigue, and increased the amount of fat aspirated per minute. Power cannulas also decreased postoperative pain, ecchymoses, and edema, as well as resulting in higher patient satisfaction scores. CONCLUSION Power liposuction cannulas produce significantly faster recovery times for patients, allow faster procedure times, and reduce surgeon fatigue, resulting in safer and more precise surgery. A lower incidence of touch-up procedures is likely due to these benefits.


Such is Nature-description as referring to a class, an action, a quality, and an individual substance. It is this very [descriptionl that rules supreme in scientific treatises; and in poetry too the same [type of description] is required. -Kavyadarsa of Dandin 6th century. Not only are poetry and science both theories of the world, they are also worlds in and of themselves, from the world of Herbert's Mr. Cogito to Winograd's Blocks World of early AI. And in so much as genres themselves supply us with meaning even before we get to the actual information, what do we do with the fact that, on a linguistic level, poetry and science are exactly the same thing? Much has been made of humanists' abuse of and misunderstandings about certain scientific ideas that result in the portrait of science as a cold-eyed discourse. But then what to do with, to borrow a phrase from Lyn Hejinian, the cold of poetry? Both science and poetry wrestle with the "out there" using propositions composed of language. Maybe it's not a question of how attentive a scientist should be to poetry or vice versa, but rather a question of that fact that they are possibly the same thing, the same genre, the same iterations of epistemology and ontology and biology. To use the Linnean binomial "musca domestica," whether in an article in Nature or as the title of a book (as poet Christine Hume recently has), involves the same register of abstraction, though possibly with different ends in mind. But it's the means--subject matter subjected to language--that we're interested in. Was Goethe's pursuit to find the intermaxillary bone in humans a scientific one or a poetical one? Both. It's in the language that he used. It's in the primacy of observation--the center of all good science and poetry and poetic science and scientific poetry. Science written as poetry uses the same raw materials as science written as science. "The world," as Aldous Huxley says, "is poetical intrinsically and what it means is simply itself." A poem, in some sense, is an 'organic unity' that does not point beyond itself--a poem is ruined if its form is changed. What it says cannot be conveyed by any other means than in poetry. "No phenomenon explains itself of itself," says Goethe. It must be supplied with, among other things, a literariness through which the phenomena will come to light. The poetic language is an aspect of Goethe's scientific methodology, and, in some respects, the science cannot be lifted out of Goethe's language without doing harm to the ideas. Style and scientific purpose are fused, in tur n giving weight to the science and emphasizing the style. In Goethe ambiguity is a viable intellectual and scientific tool. Certain investigations stop at the moment of apercu, and without fully establishing the link between observation and thought, an observation is held in a moment of poetic suspension that awaits another reader's perceptions to give it closure. The non-instrumentality of language does not preclude an efficacious science since, as Goethe observed, "perception is itself a thinking." Language proceeding perception need not be an account or message but merely suggest or act in the manner of perception itself. There was no Golden Age when poetry and science were considered the same thing--but in order to begin again to speak of the relationship between these two efforts at describing the world and creating new worlds, we must forget about C. P. Snow's "two cultures." Unfortunately, The Measured Word: On Poetry and Science, a collection of essays edited by Kurt Brown (Univ. …


By applying the equivalence principle to the propagation of scalar waves in a curved spacetime, the value 1/6 for the coupling constant between the field and the Ricci scalar is derived. No coupling to higher-order scalars constructed from the Riemann tensor is allowed.


Abstract : The committee on Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine (CWSEM) advocates and promotes actions to increase the participation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Even when a large number of women enter STEM professions, data show that women do not advance professionally at the same rate as men. Reasons for this are attributed to that fact that many women in academic, industry, and government STEM sectors end up in low-tier and/or part-time/shared positions to accommodate family and family-related social demands. To mitigate this trend, it is critical to initiate mentoring and role model networking relationships for young women interested in STEM careers early-on. Thus, we have developed the Young Women in Science and Engineering (YWISE) annual workshop for high school girls interested in pursuing STEM careers. The mentoring program provides girls unprecedented access to successful women who have thrived in STEM disciplines, facilitating candid interactive discussions on trends, professional and personal life balance, and obstacles and opportunities for women in STEM fields. This report discusses YWISE and its mission to connect these future female scientists and engineers with successful women in STEM fields not only to inspire them to pursue STEM but also mentor them at an early age on how to thrive in STEM careers.


Offshore drilling programs on complex reservoirs carry inherent risks. Subsurface uncertainty can lead to costly mistakes being made, and, therefore, being able to gain information during the course of a sequential drilling program, and use it effectively, can have sizeable capital importance. Based only on predicted drilling costs and production rates, wells closest to the platform would commonly be drilled before longer offset wells by virtue of their cheaper drilling costs. However, there is potential during the drilling program for learning to occur between the drilling of two wells that would either provide encouragement to go ahead and drill the second well, change it in some way, or, indeed, remove it from the program altogether. Analyzing the predicted value of this learning, before drilling commences, can reveal the conditions under which the longer offset well could be drilled first because of its potential to impact decisions regarding the second well. The various scenarios and their sensitivities are analyzed using a value of information (VoI) approach, providing an example of how VoI can be used proactively in the construction of learning drilling strategies. The same approach can be extended to most other data acquisition situations.


Acute hypocalcaemia which is seen in critically ill patients or which is caused by certain medications usually does not require specific treatment. But chronic hypocalcaemia which is caused by hypoparathyroidism is usually a symptomatic and requires treatment. A 50-years-old female presented in status epilepticus. She had muscle spasms, carpopedal spasms, facial grimacing and papillo-oedema. Her serum calcium and PTH levels were markedly decreased and her serum magnesium levels were normal. The CT scan of her head revealed calcifications in the brainstem, cerebellum, basal ganglia and the corona radiata and her ECG showed a prolonged QT interval. A diagnosis of chronic hypocalcaemia with hypoparathyroidism was made. The patient gradually responded to calcium infusions, anti-convulsants and supportive treatment. She was discharged in a satisfactory condition after 20 days on oral calcium supplementations and anti-convulsants. This case highlights the importance of the parathyroid hormone and calcium measurements in patients who present in status epilepticus.


Archives of questions and answers are a valuable information source. However, little research has been done to exploit them. We propose a new type of information retrieval system that answers users' questions by searching question and answer archives. The proposed system has many advantages over current web search engines. In this system, natural language questions are used instead of keyword queries, and the system directly returns answers instead of lists of documents. Two most important challenges in the implementation of the system are finding semantically similar questions to the user question and estimating the quality of answers. We propose using a translation-based retrieval model to overcome the word mismatch problem between questions. Our model combines the advantages of the IBM machine translation model and the query likelihood language model and shows significantly improved retrieval performance over the state of the art retrieval models. We also show that collections of question and answer pairs are good linguistic resources for learning reliable word-to-word translation relationships. To avoid returning bad answers to users, we build an answer quality predictor based on statistical machine learning techniques. By combining the quality predictor with the translation-based retrieval model, our system successfully returns relevant and high quality answers to the user.