Summary The kinetics of platelet aggregation induced by collagen and by ADP were studied. The maximum aggregation (ΔLTmax) and the ADP and collagen concentrations required to produce half-maximum aggregation (Kd) were determined using platelets obtained from normal individuals, individuals who ingested aspirin and individuals whose platelet-rich plasma (PRP) demonstrated spontaneous aggregation. The Kd and ΔLTmaxfor ADP-induced platelet aggregation were variable and markedly affected by the citrate concentration. Conversely, kinetic parameters of collagen-induced aggregation were more reproducible and less affected by citrate. The Kd for collagen in platelet aggregation was increased following aspirin ingestion and decreased in samples of PRP that demonstrated spontaneous aggregation. These results suggest that kinetic parameters of platelet aggregation may be useful to express the responsiveness of platelets.


The present writer investigated the equilibrium relation of the ternary system Cu-Al-Fe from the Cu-Fe side up to the Al-content of about 20% by weight. The results obtained may be summarized as follows:- (1) In the ternary field herein studied, there exist 3 non-variant reactions, viz., _??_ (2) The mono-variant curve of the peritectic reaction Melt+δ-Fe_??_γ-Fe, originated from the Fe-Cu system, passes along the Fe-Cu side, and reaches the non-variant reaction at 1072°. (3) The eutectoid change γ-Fe_??_δ-Fe+α originates from the Fe-Cu system also reaches above mentioned reaction, rising its reaction temperature with the increase of Al-content. (4) The mono-variant peritectic reaction, originated from the Fe-Cu side at 1094°, passes almost parallel to the Cu-Al side, lowering gradually its reaction temperature with the increase of Al-content. (5) The eutectic reaction Melt_??_α+β of the binary Cu-Al system continues up to the di-peritectic reaction at 1048°. (6) The eutectoid change β_??_α+γ of the binary Cu-Al system together with the ones, β_??_α+δ-Fe and β_??_γ+δ-Fe, makes the ternary eutectoid change at 568°. (7) In the mono-variant curve of the peritectic reaction Melt+δ-Fe_??_β, there is a peak at 1075°, its composition being Al=13.5, Fe=6.5% and Gu bal. by weight. (8) γ-Fe appears as primary crystal in the narrow domain, whereas the primary surface of δ-Fe spreads from Fe-Al side to the Cu-corner. (9) At high temperature, both α and β dissolve some δ-Fe, and precipitate it in the cooling. (10) The globular phase found in the micro-structure of the industrial iron-bearing aluminium bronze is δ-Fe containing Cu and Al as solid solution. In the appendix author discusses the role of iron in the industrial aluminium bronze.


Significance
 The leader of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) earlier this month withdrew his party's support for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, ostensibly depriving him of a governing majority. However, a no-confidence vote will not be on the agenda when MPs reconvene next week.

 Impacts
 Enduring political uncertainty will hamper the effectiveness of efforts to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.
 Wrangling within all of Malaysia's major political parties will intensify in the lead-up to parliament's first full sitting post-emergency.
 The influence of Malaysia's monarchs will continue to grow as further political instability at state level necessitates royal intervention.


Things aren't where we left them when we headed off into the mountains after 9/11.-David KilcullenOn 11 September 2001, the world experienced a cataclysmic event that has since defined U.S. national security policy. While the United States shifted its focus to the increasing threat of transnational terrorism, globalization continued to wield its influence.At the most basic level, globalization is the integration of trade, ideas, services, information, technologies, and communications. A gradual movement toward globalization has existed since the birth of civilizations, but in the past few decades the phenomenon exponentially progressed with advances in communication and transportation technologies.The range of modern globalization's effects is quite significant. At the local level, globalization allows citizens to drink relatively inexpensive coffee from Ethiopia at Starbucks. At the strategic level, globalization is responsible for rapid growth in emerging economies such as China and India.While the effects of globalization are widely contested and not fully understood, what is becoming clear is that globalization is a force that is significantly changing how the world works. Predicting the future of war is a fool's errand, but an examination of global trends provides insightful clues to the security environment that will shape how the United States conducts war in the future.As a result of globalization, the security environment the United States now faces is shifting away from interstate conflict. Therefore, its military strategy must reflect this change by enhancing its capacity to project power in a future dominated by intrastate conflict, transnational terrorism, and urbanization.The following sections will address these global trends and provide recommendations for how we can face the challenges that stem from them despite the fiscal realities at home.Decline of Interstate ConflictThe world has entered the era of permanent great power peace.1-Christopher J. FettweisSince 1945, the number of interstate conflicts has declined precipitously despite the number of states in the international community tripling.2 In comparison to intrastate conflict, interstate conflicts are quite infrequent. In most years, less than three conflicts are ongoing at any time, and from 2004 to 2010, zero interstate conflicts existed.3 This declining trend in interstate conflict is remarkable, and yet the trend is mostly unacknowledged in the U.S. military. Undoubtedly, many variables contribute to this trend, such as the deterrent effect of nuclear weapons or the advance of democracy across the globe. But, a number of studies attribute the decline of interstate conflicts to globalization.4 Kristian Gleditsch and Steve Pickering best describe the pacification effect of globalization: "States with more trade and more extensive economic relations are likely to have higher opportunity costs from escalation to war and may have more opportunities to signal intent and reach resolution by means other than force."5 The interconnectedness of states is, in effect, limiting the benefits of conventional war and promoting other means to achieve political ends.While the decline of interstate conflict is a positive trend, it is important to note two things. First, although the incidence of interstate conflict remains low, the risk of conflict between states still exists, particularly among neighboring nations with increasing populations competing for declining resources. Second, states are increasingly inclined to support proxy wars rather than engage in direct conflict themselves in an effort to achieve political or strategic gains. Russia's material support to the separatists in Crimea and eastern Ukraine highlights such a strategy. While an all-out conventional invasion would be unacceptable to the international community, Russia's strategy of plausible deniability enables it to violate Ukraine's sovereign borders, instigate instability, and seize strategic territory. …


Objective. For automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to be practical for broad public use, responders must be able to use them safely and effectively. This study's objective was to determine whether untrained laypersons could accurately follow the visual and voice prompt instructions of an AED. Methods. Each of four different AED models (AED1, AED2, AED3, and AED4) was randomly assigned to a different group of 16 untrained volunteers in a simulated cardiac arrest. Four usability indicators were observed: 1) number of volunteers able to apply the pads to the manikin skin, 2) appropriate pad positioning, 3) time from room entry to shock delivery, and 4) safety in terms of touching the patient during shock delivery. Results. Some of the 64 volunteers who participated in the study failed to open the pad packaging or remove the lining, or placed the pads on top of clothing. Fifty-percent of AED2 pads and 44% of AED3 pads were not placed directly on the manikin skin compared with 100% of AED1 and AED4 pads. Adjacent pad displacements that potentially could affect defibrillation efficacy were observed in 6% of AED1, 11% of AED2, 0% of AED3, and 56% of AED4 usages. Time to deliver a shock was within 3.5 minutes for all AEDs, although the median times for AED1 and AED4 were the shortest at 1.6 and 1.7 minutes, respectively. No significant volunteer contact with the manikin occurred during shock delivery. Conclusions. This study demonstrated that the AED user interface significantly influences the ability of untrained caregivers to appropriately place pads and quickly deliver a shock. Avoiding grossly inappropriate pad placement and failure to place AED pads directly on skin may be correctable with improvements in the AED instruction user interface.


Audio applications involving environmental sound analysis increasingly use general-purpose audio representations, also known as embeddings, for transfer learning. Recently, Holistic Evaluation of Audio Representations (HEAR) evaluated twenty-nine embedding models on nineteen diverse tasks. However, the evaluation's effectiveness depends on the variation already captured within a given dataset. Therefore, for a given data domain, it is unclear how the representations would be affected by the variations caused by myriad microphones' range and acoustic conditions – commonly known as channel effects. We aim to extend HEAR to evaluate invariance to channel effects in this work. To accomplish this, we imitate channel effects by injecting perturbations to the audio signal and measure the shift in the new (perturbed) embeddings with three distance measures, making the evaluation domain-dependent but not task-dependent. Combined with the downstream performance, it helps us make a more informed prediction of how robust the embeddings are to the channel effects. We evaluate two embeddings – YAMNet, and OpenL3 on monophonic (UrbanSound8K) and polyphonic (SONYC-UST) urban datasets. We show that one distance measure does not suffice in such task-independent evaluation. Although Fréchet Audio Distance (FAD) correlates with the trend of the performance drop in the downstream task most accurately, we show that we need to study FAD in conjunction with the other distances to get a clear understanding of the overall effect of the perturbation. In terms of the embedding performance, we find OpenL3 to be more robust than YAMNet, which aligns with the HEAR evaluation.


Abstract A deep-tier, bow-form burrow with a long apertural neck, and several different types of infill is described from Upper Jurassic shelfal carbonates of Saudi Arabia, Miocene pelagic packstones and wackestones of Malta, and Lower Cretaceous shoreface sands and mudrocks of southern England. The two most commonly observed types of infill are a coarse-grained infill, referred to as Glyphichnus-mode (formed by sediment entering the burrow following breakage of the apertural neck), and a laminated, muddy infill, referred to as Cylindrichnus-mode, which is considered to represent passive, draught filling through a complete burrow. The type of infill and aspects of preservation show that these burrows can be used to assess the style of sedimentation, particularly steady aggradation versus periodic erosion. At present the bow-form burrow is not assigned to a specific ichnotaxon.


Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection results in nearly 20 million new infections, resulting in 70,000 deaths globally each year. Previously thought as a disease limited to developing nations with poor sanitation and hygiene, it is increasingly recognized that even the most developed nations are not spared. A clear dichotomy in epidemiology of HEV is noted between developing and industrialized nations. The HEV genotypes 1 and 2 are common in Asia and Africa and are transmitted mainly by contaminated drinking water. Sporadic as well as large-scale epidemics of acute hepatitis have been noted with HEV genotype 1 infection in developing countries of Asia and Africa. On the contrary, HEV genotypes 3 and 4 are common in industrialized nations and unlike genotypes 1 and 2, they are transmitted by consumption of raw meat products, fruits, and blood transfusion. Large epidemics have not been reported with HEV genotypes 3 and 4 and manifestation is usually indolent, though severe acute hepatitis has been reported. How to cite this article: Shrestha A, Gupta BP, Lama TK. Current Treatment of Acute and Chronic Hepatitis E Virus Infection: Role of Antivirals. Euroasian J Hepato-Gastroenterol 2017;7(1):73-77.


Introduction 726 I. Background: HIV/AIDS, Treatment, and Prevention 728 A. What Is HIV? 728 B. The Demographics of HIV 730 C. HIV Treatment 731 D. PrEP 734 II. Assessing the Current Legal Landscape 740 A. Informed Consent 740 B. Minors' Rights to Consent and the Confidentiality of Medical Treatment in New York 742 1. Minors' Capacity to Consent to Medical Treatment 742 2. Confidentiality of HIV Testing and Treatment 746 a. Testing and Confidentiality: Article 27-f 747 b. Treating HIV As an STI So Minors May Consent Without Parental Involvement 750 c. Governor Andrew Cuomo's 2016 Proposal 751 III. Birth Control 752 A. Background: Minors' Reproductive Rights 754 B. Outcomes of Permitting Teen Access to Birth Control 757 IV. Creating a PrEP Exception in New York State Law 759 A. PrEP Functionally Resemble Birth Control 760 B. Minors Have a Right to Privacy That Covers Access to PrEP 761 C. Why the Arguments Against Expanding Access to PrEP Are Wrong 763 Conclusion 766 INTRODUCTION Reproductive rights should inform the next phase in HIV prevention. Since the 1980s, medicine has made enormous strides in preventing and treating HIV infections. Today, the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") has approved forty different drugs to treat HIV. (1) In the last decade, AIDS-related deaths have fallen by more than thirty percent. (2) Still, new HIV infections predominately impact young people. (3) In particular, thirteen to twenty-four year olds accounted for twenty-two percent of all new HIV-infections in 2014 -- a number that has not significantly declined in the last decade. (4) To address these disparities among young people, the law should afford minors the right to access HIV-prophylactic medication. In 2012, the FDA approved Truvada--otherwise known as Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis ("PrEP")--to prevent HIV infections. (5) PrEP is a once daily pill composed of two antiretroviral drugs that reduce one's risk of HIV infection by ninety-two to ninety-nine percent. (6) The World Health Organization ("WHO"), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC"), and United States Public Health Service have all endorsed PrEP as an effective means to reduce the risk of HIV infection. (7) Expanding access to PrEP among thirteen to twenty-four year olds could significantly reduce the persistent infection rate in this demographic--the demographic most at risk of HIV infection. (8) In New York State, however, a minor (a person under eighteen years old) may consent to medical treatment only in unique circumstances or for specified conditions, such as mental healthcare, substance abuse treatment, or reproductive healthcare. (9) Minors generally do not have the capacity to consent to HIV treatment. (10) PrEP, however, is a prophylactic medication. It functionally resembles birth control in its daily regimen and ability to prevent the long-term health effects of sexual activity: pregnancy for birth control and HIV for PrEP. (11) Under New York law, a minor may pursue reproductive healthcare without parental consent. (12) Reproductive healthcare includes accessing prophylactic medication, such as the birth control pill. (13) New York should treat PrEP as another prophylactic medication vital to reproductive health. …


In this paper we deal with the special class of covering codes consisting of
multiple coverings of the farthest-off points (MCF). In order to measure the quality of an MCF code, we use a natural extension of the notion of density for ordinary covering codes, that is the $\mu$-density for MCF codes; a generalization of the length function for linear covering codes is also introduced. Our main results consist in a number of upper bounds on such a length function, obtained through explicit constructions, especially for the case of covering radius $R=2$. A
key tool is the possibility of computing the $\mu$-length function in terms of Projective Geometry over finite fields. In fact, linear $(R,\mu )$-MCF codes with
parameters $ [n,n-r,d]_{q}R$ have a geometrical counterpart consisting of special subsets of $n$ points in the projective space $PG(n-r-1,q)$. We introduce such objects under the name of $(\rho,\mu)$-saturating sets and we provide a number of example and existence results.
Finally, Almost Perfect MCF (APMCF) codes, that is codes for which each word at distance $R$ from the code belongs to {exactly}
$\mu $ spheres centered in codewords,
 are considered and their connections with
uniformly packed codes, two-weight codes, and subgroups of
Singer groups are pointed out.


A maximum-seeking, algorithm-driven fraction collection method was developed to support high-throughput chromatographic purification, which provides new possibilities for off-line high-performance liquid chromatography mass spectroscopy (HPLC/MS) quality control experiments. The method is based on manipulation of a six-port valve that is installed downstream from the UV detector and equipped with a fraction collector loop. The detector signal is monitored by a programmable microcontroller that controls the state of the fraction collector valve. After detecting a chromatographic peak, the appropriate fraction is stored in the collector loop. The height of the next peak is compared to the previous one (using a maximum-seeking algorithm) and, depending on the result, the collected fraction is or is not exchanged with the new one. At the end of the run, the stored UV main component is pumped into the external fraction vial. This configuration was used for chromatographic purification of large compound libraries (the results of the purification of 5324 compounds are reported here), as well as for high-throughput off-line HPLC quality control experiments, where the collected main component fractions of an analytical-scale separation were subjected to further mass spectrometric molecular weight verification.


Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) are intelligent transport subsystems; vehicles can communicate through a wireless medium in this system. There are many applications of VANETs such as traffic safety and preventing the accident of vehicles. Many attacks affect VANETs communication such as denial of service (DoS) and distributed denial of service (DDoS). In the past few years the number of DoS (denial of service) attacks are increasing, so network security and protection of the communication systems are challenging topics; intrusion detection systems need to be improved to identify these attacks effectively and efficiently. Many researchers are currently interested in enhancing the security of VANETs. Based on intrusion detection systems (IDS), machine learning (ML) techniques were employed to develop high-security capabilities. A massive dataset containing application layer network traffic is deployed for this purpose. Interpretability technique Local interpretable model-agnostic explanations (LIME) technique for better interpretation model functionality and accuracy. Experimental results demonstrate that utilizing a random forest (RF) classifier achieves 100% accuracy, demonstrating its capability to identify intrusion-based threats in a VANET setting. In addition, LIME is applied to the RF machine learning model to explain and interpret the classification, and the performance of machine learning models is evaluated in terms of accuracy, recall, and F1 score.


This work applies model reduction techniques for efficiently approximating the solution of the sin-Gordon equation. The proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) is employed to construct a low dimensional basis that can accurately capture the dynamics of the solution space. This POD basis is used with the Galerkin projection to obtain a reduced-order model that is much smaller than the original discretized system. However, the effective dimension reduction of the POD-Galerkin approach is limited to the linearity of the system. The discrete empirical interpolation method (DEIM) is then applied to further reduce the computational complexity of the nonlinear term. This work investigates the effect of using different amount of snapshots from coarse discretization in constructing the POD basis, as well as demonstrates the applicability of the POD-DEIM approach on predicting solution of the parametrized sine-Gordon equation. The POD-DEIM solutions are shown to be accurate for both numerical tests and can be solved with much less computational time and memory storage when compared to the high-dimensional discretized sine-Gordon equation.


Resveratrol, a natural product, has demonstrated anti-tumor effects in various kinds of tumor types, including colon, breast, and pancreatic cancers. Most research has focused on the inhibitory effects of resveratrol on tumor cells themselves rather than resveratrol's effects on tumor immunology. In this study, we found that resveratrol inhibited the growth of lung adenocarcinoma in a subcutaneous tumor model by using the β-cyclodextrin-resveratrol inclusion complex. After resveratrol treatment, the proportion of M2-like tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) was reduced and tumor-infiltrating CD8T cells showed significantly increased activation. The results of co-culture and antibody neutralization experiments suggested that macrophage-derived IL-18 may be a key cytokine in the resveratrol anti-tumor effect of CD8T cell activation. The results of this study demonstrate a novel view of the mechanisms of resveratrol tumor suppression. This natural product could reprogram TAMs and CD8T effector cells for tumor treatment.


In this letter, we propose a novel quadratic programming model for soft-input soft-output (SISO) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) detection that is compact for QAM constellations and easy to analyze. A semidefinite relaxation for this model is derived that can be solved by the interior-point method. We also give the sufficient conditions and necessary conditions to speed up the interior-point method.


Background The Spondyloarthritides (SpA) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) share common aetiopathogenetic and clinical manifestations. Vedolizumab, a humanised IgG1 monoclonal antibody to α4β7 integrin, has been approved for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and inhibits α4β7 integrin at the gut level. Vedolizumab therapy for IBD has been associated with mild SpA related features including sacroiliitis and synovitis. Herein, we report the emergence of severe SpA under therapy with Vedolizumab. Objectives We conducted a clinical evaluation of 7 vedolizumab treated patients with IBD that developed severe active SpA and/or enthesopathy with the aim of characterising the vedolizumab associated SpA/entheseal flares. Methods Vedolizumab treated IBD patients with SpA/enthesopathy were identified across four hospitals. We identified clinical, biochemical and imaging characteristics within routine case records as part of a clinical evaluation. Results We identified 6/7 subjects that developed de novo SpA/enthesopathy and 1/7 (subject 1) with a severe flare of pre-existing SpA. There were 3/7 patients hospitalised due to the severity of skeletal disease. The median time from vedolizumab initiation to flare was 10 weeks (table 1 below). Subject 4 developed new-onset SpA with severe spinal vertebral end-plate oedema (T6–12) and inflammatory Romanus lesions (L3–4) (image below). Acute sacroiliitis was identified on MRI in 3 subjects, one of which showed evidence of radiographic bilateral grade 2 sacroiliitis. In at least 4 cases the IBD disease activity was considered to be low or well controlled. Following vedolizumab discontinuation, so far 3 patients have switched to alternative biologic therapies including certolizumab pegol, golimumab, and 1 subject to sulphasalazine. cpd=cigarettes per day, MTX=methotrexate, AZA=azathioprine, OC=oral corticosteroid, Pred=prednisolone, nr=non radiographic, MRI+ve= MRI positive, XR +ve = radiograph positive, NA=not available. Conclusions This case series demonstrates severe vedolizumab associated SpA/enthesopathy that resulted in hospitalised cases. The severity of vedolizumab related SpA flares is relatively severe disease in comparison to the literature. We recognise that vedolizumab is efficacious in IBD, however our observations highlight the need to monitor symptoms to identify patients that develop axial or peripheral SpA several weeks from commencing vedolizumab. Disclosure of Interest None declared


This article reports neurobehavioral tests in rats with C5-C11 isoparaffinic and cycloparaffinic hydrocarbons. Testing, conducted shortly after exposure, evaluated the effects in several domains including clinical effects, motor activity, functional observations, and visual discrimination performance. Isopentane and cyclopentane did not produce any evidence of acute central nervous system (CNS) effects at levels up to 20 000 mg/m3. A C6/C7 mixed cycloparaffinic solvent produced minor, reversible changes in latency to response in visual discrimination testing at 14 000 mg/m3; the no-effect level was 4200 mg/m3. A C8 isoparaffin produced no effects at 14 000 mg/m3, the highest level tested. A C9/C11 isoparaffinic solvent produced minor acute CNS effects at 5000 mg/m3, with 1500 mg/m3 as the no-effect level. A C10 cycloparaffinic solvent did not produce any statistically significant CNS effects at 5000 mg/m3. These studies were designed to provide data that may be useful in setting occupational exposure limits for C5-C11 isoparaffinic and cycloparaffinic hydrocarbons.


The "co-opticon" is a robotic pan, tilt, and zoom streaming video camera controlled by simultaneous frame requests from remote users. Robotic webcameras are commercially available but currently restrict control to only one user at a time. The co-opticon introduces a new interface that allows simultaneous control by many users. We will demonstrate the implemented system using a Java-based interface at the conference linked via the Internet to a camera on the UC Berkeley campus. We will also discuss system architecture and several new algorithms we've developed to compute optimal camera paramters based on user frame requests. The co-opticon can be tested online at: www.tele-actor.net/co-opticon.


Snow leopards live in the mountains of Central Asia, their range stretching from Afghanistan to Lake Baikal and eastern Tibet. They are endangered throughout their range, being hunted as predators of man's livestock and for their skin. Much of the snow leopard's range lies in China, but not enough is known about its status there for effective conservation. As part of a project to assess China's high-altitude wildlife resources the authors conducted a survey in Xinjiang—a vast arid region of deserts and mountains. Although the snow leopard and other wildlife have declined steeply in Xinjiang in recent decades, the cat still persists and one area has the potential to become one of the best refuges for the species in its entire range. Its future in Xinjiang, however, depends on well-protected reserves, enforcement of regulations against killing the animal, and proper management of the prey species.


Marine propeller shafts, like most power transmission shafts, are fatigue-loaded components. Because of the corrosive environment, they operate in, a marine propeller shafts' corrosion fatigue strength may the limiting factor in its design.
 The life of a fatigue-loaded mechanical component is dependent on the tensile stresses it is subjected to in service. If effective tensile stresses acting on a shaft could be reduced. Service life could be extended Shot Peening is a mature, developed procedure that has been proven successful in raising fatigue strength and retarding Stress Corrosion Cracking. A rather simplified approach explaining how and why it works in addressing the very complicated subject of fatigue is presented here.
 Particularly in the aerospace and automotive industries, its successful applications are well documented The practical suggestion on how it could be applied in providing extended service lives for marine propeller shafts is attempted in this paper. Several relevant case studies conducted by other researchers are presented.


A simple and highly accurate method for estimating the retraction of a blood clot (RBC) and spontaneous fibrinolysis is proposed for assessing the final stage of blood clotting. The method helps evaluate the RBC over time. It was used to study the effects of different infusion media on the final stage of blood clotting in more than 300 laboratory experiments and 50 clinical studies. Different effects of infusion media on the formation of a blood clot were revealed, which should be not disregarded in clinical practice.


Categorical resolution of singularities has been constructed in [KL]. It proceeds by alternating two steps of seemingly different nature. We show how to use the formalism of filtered derived categories to combine the two steps into one. This results in a certain rather natural categorical refinement of the usual blowup of an algebraic variety in a closed subscheme.


MDMA (3,4-methylenedioximet amphetamine) is a semisynthetic compound derived from stimulant type amphetamine (ATS) which works by triggering the release of serotonin. Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is one type of drug that has an analgesic-antipyretic effect. MDMA analysis requires a relatively fast method, so the TLC method was chosen. The identification test was carried out using 3 chromatographic systems, namely methanol: ammonia TA (100:1.5 v/v), methanol: butanol TAF (60:40 v/v), and Toluene: acetone: ethanol: ammonia TAEA (45: 45: 7: 3v/v/v/v). The determination test was carried out using the TAEA system and MDMA was used as a standard. The results of the identification test showed that the sample contained MDMA through the Hrfc and spectrum approaches. Qualitative Analysis of Paracetamol Compounds (Acetaminophen) in Urine aims to analyze paracetamol compounds (acetaminophen) in urine qualitatively by using gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Extraction of paracetamol in urine samples was carried out using ethyl acetate, which was then derivatized using BSTFA containing 1% TMCS and analyzed using gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results showed that urine samples at 1, 2, and 3 hours after consuming paracetamol gave positive results for acetaminophen-TMS while at 24, 168, and 720 hours after consumption they were negative.


This cumulative thesis introduces a novel field for service robotics: the inspection of marine vessels using mobile inspection robots. In this thesis, three scientific contributions are provided and experimentally verified in the field of marine inspection, but are not limited to this type of application. The inspection scenario is merely a golden thread to combine the cumulative scientific results presented in this thesis. The first contribution is an adaptive, proprioceptive control approach for hybrid leg-wheel robots, such as the robot ASGUARD described in this thesis. The robot is able to deal with rough terrain and stairs, due to the control concept introduced in this thesis. The proposed system is a suitable platform to move inside the cargo holds of bulk carriers and to deliver visual data from inside the hold. Additionally, the proposed system also has stair climbing abilities, allowing the system to move between different decks. The robot adapts its gait pattern dynamically based on proprioceptive data received from the joint motors and based on the pitch and tilt angle of the robot's body during locomotion. The second major contribution of the thesis is an independent ship inspection system, consisting of a magnetic wall climbing robot for bulkhead inspection, a particle filter based localization method, and a spatial content management system (SCMS) for spatial inspection data representation and organization. The system described in this work was evaluated in several laboratory experiments and field trials on two different marine vessels in close collaboration with ship surveyors. The third scientific contribution of the thesis is a novel approach to structural classification using semantic perception approaches. By these methods, a structured environment can be semantically annotated, based on the spatial relationships between spatial entities and spatial features. This method was verified in the domain of indoor perception (logistics and household environment), for soil sample classification, and for the classification of the structural parts of a marine vessel. The proposed method allows the description of the structural parts of a cargo hold in order to localize the inspection robot or any detected damage. The algorithms proposed in this thesis are based on unorganized 3D point clouds, generated by a LIDAR within a ship's cargo hold. Two different semantic perception methods are proposed in this thesis. One approach is based on probabilistic constraint networks; the second approach is based on Fuzzy Description Logic and spatial reasoning using a spatial ontology about the environment. For each of the three mentioned key contributions of the thesis, the corresponding publications are provided in the Appendix.


Thirty-four cases of diaphragmatic paralysis after pediatric cardiac surgery are reviewed. Differences between pediatric and adult pulmonary physiology account for the increased severity of respiratory distress seen in children with this condition. The efficacy of treatment with endotracheal intubation and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is confirmed. No patient over 3 yr of age required intubation for longer than 2 wk. This finding is consistent with the development of sufficient chest wall stability to compensate for paralysis of the hemidiaphragm. Patients under 3 yr of age, without complicating heart failure, who still required intubation and CPAP 3–4 wk after injury to the phrenic nerve should consider operative plication.


Escherichia coli DNA-binding proteins NS1, NS2 and NS (NS1 + NS2) react with the protein-protein bifunctional cross-linking reagents dimethylsuberimidate and dimethyladipimidate to yield oligomers up to hexamers. The former reagent, with the longer arm, is more efficient than the other shorter one. Both one- and two-dimensional gel electrophoreses show that the cross-linked trimers are homogeneous, while the dimers appear heterogeneous, suggesting that at least two types of dimers but geometrically equivalent trimers are formed. In the presence of DNA, the cross-linking reaction with either reagent yields fewer dimers and more of the larger products. The yield of cross-linked products of various sizes was determined for NS1, NS2 and NS as a function of the protein concentration (0.03-3000 microM). From the results obtained in these experiments, we derived a model of quaternary structure in which dimers and tetramers are predominant in very solutions of the proteins. Above a critical concentration (10-50 microM), interactions among tetramers become increasingly important, yielding octamers and perhaps larger products. Our data do not support a recently proposed model in which the DNA is packaged around a protein disc consisting of 8-10 NS dimers.


ABSTRACT This contribution addresses the growing global trend to promote 'natural capital accounting' (NCA) in support of environmental conservation. NCA seeks to harness the economic value of conserved nature to incentivize local resource users to forgo the opportunity costs of extractive activities. We suggest that this represents a form of neoliberal biopower/biopolitics seeking to defend life by demonstrating its 'profitability' and hence right to exist. While little finance actually reaches communities through this strategy, substantial funding still flows into the idea of 'natural capital' as the basis of improving rural livelihoods. Drawing on two cases in Southeast Asia, we show that NCA initiatives may compel some local people to value ecosystem services in financial terms, yet in most cases this perspective remains partial and fragmented in communities where such initiatives produce a range of unintended outcomes. When the envisioned environmental markets fail to develop and benefits remain largely intangible, NCA fails to meet the growing material aspirations of farmers while also offering little if any bulwark against their using forests more intensively and/or enrolling in lucrative extractive enterprise. We thus conclude that NCA in practice may become the antithesis of conservation by actually encouraging the resource extraction it intends to combat.


BACKGROUND
The aim of the study was to evaluate whether there is any association between myocardial ischemia, common risk factors and carotid artery ultrasound parameters in asymptomatic type 2 diabetic (DMT2) patients.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
60 asymptomatic DMT2 patients (pts) without known coronary artery disease (CAD) underwent one day rest Dypiridamole stress Tc-99m sestamibi single photon emission computed tomography myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS). We used 17 segment models for perfusion analysis with the assessment of perfusion scores. Patients were studied for age, sex, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, hs-CRP, smoking, obesity and family history of cardiac disease. Color Ultrasound examination of carotid arteries was performed in all patients.

RESULTS
51 patients (pts) had hypertension, 48 pts had hyperlipidemia, 15 were smokers, 6 pts had BMI > 30 kg/m2 and 26 patients had positive family history for CAD. 18 (31%) patients had myocardial ischemia. Mild ischemia was found in 6 pts, moderate in 7 patients and severe ischemia in 5 patients. Carotid IMT was increased in 34 pts and 15 pts had carotid plaques. Mean c-IMT value in patients with normal MPS results was 0.7 ± 0.1; in moderate ischemia 0.9 ± 0.1 and in pts severe ischemia 1.0 ± 0.2. Multivariate analysis showed obesity, low HDL and increased diastolic blood pressure predictors of increased c-IMT. Increased pulse pressure (PP), age and non-HDL cholesterol were predictors for presence of carotid plaques. Multivariable analysis for prediction of stress induced ischemia showed OR 2.9 (95% CI 2.1-5.1) for male gender, OR 3.1 for systolic blood pressure (95% CI 1.9-3.8) and OR 2.8 for LDL cholesterol (95% CI 1.7-3.6).

CONCLUSIONS
Our study has shown high prevalence of traditional risk factors and silent myocardial ischemia in type 2 diabetic patients, with the importance of SPECT imaging in selected diabetes type 2 patients. The study highlights the importance of screening for carotid atherosclerosis, which may be useful to identify diabetic patients at higher risk for coronary artery disease..


ABSTRACT In public discourse, lay cognitive precepts are invoked at every turn. People regularly speak of believing, thinking, knowing, and so forth, ascribing those states to themselves and others alike. This essay identifies the cognitive vernacular as a discernible dimension of public discourse, one that includes such regularly deployed lay precepts as well as popularized psychological and neuroscientific ideas. The cognitive vernacular may find expression in focal texts (e.g., a self-help book on positive thinking), but also pervasively, and somewhat elusively, takes shape in discussions that are otherwise overtly concerned. This essay takes the public discussion regarding the discovery of a teenage heroin ring in Centreville, Virginia, in 2008, a single episode within the large-scale and enduring American opioid crisis, as a focal site to investigate the cognitive vernacular. In doing so, it discerns how lay precepts concerning choice and knowledge are wielded as rhetorical resources to both cast and mitigate blame.


Can neural networks learn to compare graphs without feature engineering? In this paper, we show that it is possible to learn representations for graph similarity with neither domain knowledge nor supervision (i.e. feature engineering or labeled graphs). We propose Deep Divergence Graph Kernels, an unsupervised method for learning representations over graphs that encodes a relaxed notion of graph isomorphism. Our method consists of three parts. First, we learn an encoder for each anchor graph to capture its structure. Second, for each pair of graphs, we train a cross-graph attention network which uses the node representations of an anchor graph to reconstruct another graph. This approach, which we call isomorphism attention, captures how well the representations of one graph can encode another. We use the attention-augmented encoder's predictions to define a divergence score for each pair of graphs. Finally, we construct an embedding space for all graphs using these pair-wise divergence scores. Unlike previous work, much of which relies on 1) supervision, 2) domain specific knowledge (e.g. a reliance on Weisfeiler-Lehman kernels), and 3) known node alignment, our unsupervised method jointly learns node representations, graph representations, and an attention-based alignment between graphs. Our experimental results show that Deep Divergence Graph Kernels can learn an unsupervised alignment between graphs, and that the learned representations achieve competitive results when used as features on a number of challenging graph classification tasks. Furthermore, we illustrate how the learned attention allows insight into the the alignment of sub-structures across graphs.


A mild and efficient method for the construction of robust organic-inorganic hybrid microcapsules was developed by merging of covalent cross-linking and biomimetic mineralization into a layer-by-layer (LBL) self-assembly process. The diatom cell-inspired microcapsule structure had a biocompatible inner organic layer which could create a suitable microenvironment for biologically active substances inside the microcapsules and an inorganic layer which could function as a supporting membrane to maintain the intact morphology of the microcapsules. When in 40% PSS solution, only 5% of the hybrid microcapsules were deformed indicating that the hybrid microcapsule had a higher mechanical stability. The combination of the advantages of both the organic layer and the inorganic layer was applied for the immobilization of catalase (CAT). After being reused 7 times, the CAT in the hybrid microcapsules retained 78% of its initial activity. A buffering effect was created by the capsule wall and the immobilized CAT had a higher pH stability than the free CAT. After storing for 45 days, the CAT in the hybrid microcapsules retained 78% of its initial activity. It is envisaged that the as-prepared hybrid microcapsules can be extended to many applications such as biocatalysis, drug/gene delivery and biosensor fields.


INTRODUCTION
Experiencing oneself as the author of an action defines the sense of agency, which is a component of the self. A deficit affecting this process is thought to cause the principle symptoms characterizing schizophrenia - e.g. delusions of control and auditive hallucinations would exist because patients do not experience themselves as the author of their own actions.

LITERATURE FINDINGS
To explore this specific problem of the sense of agency in schizophrenia, Frith et al. collected a serie of experimental data that lead them to propose that the sense of agency relied on the automatic motor system, processes that enable the predictive adjustment of action. An impairment in these processes (called <<internal models>> in the literature) would lead to the problem of dissociation between our own actions and those performed by others. More specifically, the problem would lay in the comparison between the predicted state and the desired state (figure 1). Jeannerod et al. from Lyon used attribution judgements that suggested that the sense of agency would not depend uniquely on the motor mechanisms but would also involve conscious processes. Recently, Frith et al. have published new data that integrates both preceding models. According to this theory, the sense of agency would depend on the processes involved in the predictive control of action but at a conscious level: the attenuation of the sensory feedback, specific of our own actions. This attenuation would depend on the accuracy of comparison between the predicted state and the actual state. Moreover, the sense of agency would also imply the management of social frame, which normally gives the means to cope with human interaction.

DISCUSSION
The conception of the sense of agency has greatly evolved over the years, mainly because of the various experimental methods employed. The consequences of this are the various theoretical interpretations given to the characteristics of the sense of agency. They can be explained in two main points: a non-unified definition of the sense of agency and an absence of experimental data testing alternative interpretations. First, protocols using attribution judgements have proven to be useful to gain better understanding of the attribution mechanism in schizophrenia. However, findings obtained with these judgments have often been used to conclude on deficits of the sense of agency in schizophrenia, whereas the sense of agency is only a sub component of these judgements.

CONCLUSION
More work must be conducted in order to show that generalization from judgements to self-agency is possible. Secondly, data have not been collected in order to go against the accepted proposition that the sense of agency (1) implies conscious processes, comes (2) secondary to action execution because based on sensory attenuation and (3) has subjective consequences only. Further studies would be useful to explore these points, so as to improve our understanding of the physiopathologyogy of schizophrenia.


ABSTRACT This paper explores how Turkish journalists and newspapers constructed discoursive practices in their newspapers in response to the influx of Syrian immigrants. Distinct from other research on Turkish discoursive practices about Syrian immigrants, this paper selects an important time period in recent Turkish history, with the army's intervention into Syria and the ballooning number of refugees, and analyzes the discourses regarding representations of those immigrants in the three highest circulation mainstream newspapers, representative of a heterodox of ideological perspectives. Through an application of critical discourse analysis to news items, the study finds various discoursive structures that are employed to otherize the Syrian immigrants, that is to view and treat Syrian immigrants as intrinsically different from Turks.


Background: The lack of sun plays a major role in vitamin D deficiency, particularly among vulnerable groups, including migrants
and women. Vitamin D and calcium are crucial nutrients for optimal bone health, heart function and muscle contraction. Recent
studies suggest that the two micronutrients alone do not appear to be as beneficial as when their intake is coupled with vitamin K.
Therefore, it is necessary to prevent their deficiencies. To this date, we observe a deficit of culturally sensitive methods for assessing
dietary intake. The aim of this study was to estimate the dietary vitamin D, vitamin K and calcium intake among Portuguese women
of childbearing age living in Switzerland.
Methodology: A food frequency questionnaire was developed and administrated. A comparative method, a 24-hour dietary recall,
was applied twice, over two non-consecutive days. The same methodology was applied to and compared with two control groups:
Portuguese women living in Portugal and Swiss women living in Switzerland. Data were analysed using Microsoft Excel® version
15.0, 2013, Nutritional. Software® version 1.32.44, 2012 and IBM SPSS®, version 24.0, 2016 for windows.
Results: Portuguese in Switzerland had the lowest vitamin D intake (6.04 µg /day) from food. When dietary supplements were
considered, significant differences were found between the Swiss (11.1 µg) and Portuguese groups (7.04 µg) (p = 0.004). Regarding
vitamin K, the focus group had the lowest intake (102.20 µg/day). Concerning calcium, the Swiss group was the only one achieving
the daily recommendations (1355.14 mg) and significant differences were found between the Swiss and the Portuguese groups
(p < 0.001).
Conclusion: In the present study the three participant groups had a deficient intake of vitamin D and only the Swiss group had
an adequate calcium intake. Vitamin K intake did not seem to be a concern in terms of dietary deficiencies for all the groups of
participants.


The flight of bark beetles covers a short but important period of their life cycle, during which they are exposed to conditions not encountered during the major portion of their life under the bark. The time of flight and the factors which affect it are important, not only to the dispersal and survival of the insect, but also in the interpretation of experimental data dependent upon the beetle's flight activity. Chapman (1954), Rudinsky and Vité (1956), and Atkins (1959, 1960, 1961) studied the flight of the Douglas-fir beetle under laboratory conditions, but there is scant reference to field studies on the flight of this insect. Chapman and Kinghorn (1958) recorded the number caught in window flight traps near Cowichan Lake, B.C., and unpublished reports describe emergence records obtained from cage studies conducted near Lumby, B.C.


Companies are often susceptible to uncertainties which can disturb the achievement of their objectives. The effect of these uncertainties can be perceived as risk that will be taken. A healthful company have to anticipate undesired events by defining a process for managing risks. Risk management processes are responsible for identifying, analyzing and evaluating risky scenarios and whether they should undergo control in order to satisfy a previously defined risk criteria. Risk specialists have to consider, at the same time, many operational aspects (decision variables) and objectives to decide which and when risk treatments have to be executed. In line with that, most companies select risks to be treated by using expertise of human specialists or simple sorting heuristics based on the believed impact. Companies have limited resources (e.g. human and financial resources) and risk treatments have costs which the selection process has to deal with. Aiming to balancing the competition between risk and resource management this paper proposes a new optimization step within the standard risk management methodology created by the International Organization for Standardization (a.k.a. ISO). To test the resulted methodology, experiments based on the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (more specifically NSGA-II) were performed aiming to manage risk and resources of a simulated company. Results show us that the proposed approach can deal with multiple conflicting objectives reducing the risk exposure time by selecting risks to be treated according their impact and available resources.


In June 1990, congressional investigators issued a startling report. The General Accounting Office revealed that despite a 1986 federal policy to the contrary, women continued to be seriously underrepresented in biomedical research study populations. According to the National Institutes of Health, this practice "has resulted in significant gaps in [our] knowledge" of diseases that affect both men and women. [1] In short, many of the important human health data generated by the modern biomedical research revolution are data about men. The failure to include women in research populations is ubiquitous. An NIH-sponsored study showing that heart attacks were reduced when subjects took one aspirin every other day was conducted on men, and the relationship between low cholesterol diets and cardiovascular disease has been almost exclusively studied in men. Yet coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in women. Similarly, the first twenty years of a major federal study on health and aging included only men. Yet two-thirds of the elderly population are women. The recent announcement that aspirin can help prevent migraine headaches is based on data from males only, even though women suffer from migraines up to three times as often as men. [2] The list goes on: studies on AIDS treatment frequently omit women, the fastest growing infected population. An investigation of the possible relationship between caffeine and heart disease involved 45,589 male research subjects. Most amazing is the pilot project on the impact of obesity on breast and uterine cancer conducted--you guessed it--solely on men. Moreover, the customary research subject not only is male, but is a white male. African-Americans, Latinos, and other racial and ethnic groups have typically been excluded from studies, again in spite of a formal NIH guideline encouraging the inclusion of such groups in study populations. Children and elderly persons also have received short shrift, particularly in the testing of new drugs. And in basic research, even female rats are frequently excluded as research subjects! [3] The physiology of women and men differs in ways that can affect how disease and treatment manifest themselves. Beyond the obviously sex-linked diseases such as uterine and prostate cancer, there is evidence that heart disease, AIDS, depression, and numerous other ostensibly "general-neutral" conditions are expressed differently in women and men. A similar situation exists among different racial and ethnic groups. Lupus, for example, reportedly affects one in 750 women generally, but its incidence is one in 245 among African-American women and one in 500 among Latinas. [4] Such differences make it inappropriate simply to generalize findings based on one gender or racial group to all human beings. As a result of the past over-representation of white men in research populations, physicians now frequently lack adequate evidence on whether women and people of color will be helped, harmed, or not affected at all by numerous therapies now endorsed as promoting "human health." NIH officials have admitted that the agency's policy on expanding study populations was inadequately publicized as well as substantively feeble, simply recommending that investigators proposing studies "consider" the inclusion of women and minority groups. In the four years that elapsed between the policy's announcement and the GAO report, NIH continued to review numerous proposals that either gave no information on the gender of their study populations, or proposed all-male studies without a rationale for doing so. The GAO report also notes that the NIH itself had no policy to ensure the inclusion of women in its intramural research program. Indeed, according to Science correspondent Joseph Palca, Acting Director William Raub said that a small group of NIH staff still had "disdain" for the policy encouraging inclusion. After the GAO report was released, NIH officials did attempt to mend fences. …


Meat and bone meal (MBM) is a by-product of the meat industry and is an important pathway for recycling of N and P. MBM contains about 8% N, 5% P, 1% K and 10% Ca. Field trials compared the effects of MBM and mineral  fertilizer on yield and quality of sugar beet (2008-2009) and carrot (2010-2011) in Finland. MBM fertilisation of sugar beet grown on clay loam and sandy clay soil gave 11.4% (2008) and 19.6% (2009) lower yields than mineral fertilizers. The lower root yield in 2008 was compensated by higher extractable sugar content and lower amino-N, K and Na in root but no such compensation in root quality was detected for 2009. Mixing MBM with mineral NPK fertilizers had similar effects as MBM-alone. MBM (80 kg N ha-1 2010 and 60 kg N ha-1 2011) together with K fertilizer (Patentkali®, 180 kg K ha-1) were applied for carrot to a fine sandy till soil in 2010 and sandy loam in 2011. MBM alone gave 14% lower total and marketable root yield than mineral fertilization. The lower yield was compensated by improved quality, lower NO3- content in the carrot and good storability. Adding extra fertilizer during growth or separating fertilization applications had no effect on root yield or quality. MBM performed in these cases mainly as an organic N fertilizer. The N supply from MBM is not sufficient for achieving same yields as with mineral fertilizers. The relative N efficiency of total N of MBM was 83% that of mineral fertilizers. MBM should be targeted on soils with low P status. We conclude that MBM is a reasonably competitive alternative to mineral fertilizers, and as a recycled fertilizer it is a good option for organic production.


Land subsidence and ground fissure activities have been a serious geo-hazard in internal plain of Iran. The D-InSAR technique has been widely applied and deeply researched in the field of the land deformation monitoring. In this study, we use SAR interferometer study to investigate earth subsidence in the northern Mahyar plain, located in the south of Isfahan, Iran. The results of the survey based on SAR interferometry reveals that subsidence occurs with the uplift in the adjacent hills, simultaneously called duality in geomorphology. In Duality, a phenomenon with another one is dual. Although each of these phenomena are independent in nature, but there is a relationship between them. So, we will analyze the behavior of phenomena in relation to other ones.


�Purpose: This study attempts to determine the effects of water-based exercise performed on stroke patients in their muscle activity of lower extremity and gait ability tests. Methods: The subjects were 20 stroke patients, who were randomly divided into a water-based exercise group and a land-based exercise group, each including 10 patients. Both exercises were performed 3 days per week, for 40 minutes a day, for a period of eight weeks. Results: The water-based exercise group showed a greater increase in muscle activity of lower extremity compared to the land-based exercise group. The water-based exercise group showed a greater increase in gait ability than the land-based group, showing a significant difference and better efficiency of water-based exercise when compared to land-based exercise. Conclusion: From the result of this study, we found that water-based exercises are more effective in improving muscle activity of lower extremity and gait ability. The patient is considered to be used by itself to involve the treatment and the risk of falling from the lowered state into the treatment method for the intensive treatment of stroke patients to be useful in improving the strength and ability to walk.


Slovenian Companies and Circular Economy : Slovenian Entrepreneurship Observatory 2017. In this paper, we first analysed all companies and entrepreneurs in Slovenia for the year 2016, then we compared for the year 2015 or 2014 key data of Slovenia and EU-28 or individual member states in the non-financial business economy (the activities of industry, distributive trades and services). In Slovenia, in 2016 124,058 businesses employed 543,371 people. The majority of businesses (nearly one fifth) operated in the wholesale and retail trade; maintenance and repair of motor vehicles. Likewise, in the EU-28 in 2015 more than a quarter of businesses (26.4% or 6.2 million) was active in the wholesale and retail trade; maintenance and repair of motor vehicles. This activity employed the most people, almost a quarter (33.1 million). In the EU-28 as well as in Slovenia, the majority of value added was created by manufacturing businesses. The average value added per person employed for the aggregated activities of the EU-28 in the year 2015 amounted to 51,086 euros, while in Slovenia 32,694 euros (next to 40% less), the highest was in Ireland (135,200 euros), while the lowest in Bulgaria (12,040 euros).


The total ionization cross sections for positron scattering by hydrogen, sodium, and potassium are calculated by applying an equivalent-local optical potential model from the ionization threshold to 300 eV. The total ionization cross sections are in excellent agreement with the recent measurements of Jones et al. The total ionization cross sections for sodium and potassium are compared with other theoretical calculations.


In this paper, a delayed viral infection model with nonlinear immune response
and general incidence rate is discussed. We prove the existence and uniqueness of the equilibria. We study the effect of three kinds of time delays on the dynamics of the model. By using the Lyapunov functional and LaSalle invariance principle, we obtain the conditions of global stabilities of the infection-free equilibrium, the immune-exhausted equilibrium and the endemic equilibrium. It is shown that an increase of the viral-infection delay and the virus-production delay may stabilize the infection-free equilibrium, but the immune response delay can destabilize the equilibrium, leading to Hopf bifurcations. Numerical simulations are given to verify the analytical results. This can provide a possible interpretation for the viral oscillation observed in chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected patients.


of the original article: Spontaneous tool use and sensorimotor intelligence in Cebus were observed to determine whether tool use is discovered fortuitously and learned by trial-and-error or, rather, whether advanced sensorimotor abilities (experimentation and insight) are critical in its ontogeny and evolution. During 62 hours of observing three captive groups of Cebus monkeys, totaling 12 animals, 38 series and 66 acts of spontaneous tool use were recorded. Nine monkeys (75%) used tools; 14 different kinds of tool use were observed. Of seven captive spider monkeys observed for 21 hours, none used tools. Comparative observations of sensorimotor intelligence were made using Piaget's model. The sensorimotor basis of tool use by the Cehus was also analyzed. Cebus monkeys showed all six levels of sensorimotor intelligence, whereas the spider monkeys showed only the first four stages. Besides these correlations between tool use and advanced sensorimotor ability, 37 of the 38 tool-use series and 65 of 66 individual acts involved Stage 5 and 6 sensorimotor mechanisms (i.e., tertiary circular reactions and insight); only one series involved Stage 3 fortuitous discovery and Stage 4 coordinations. This study and a literature survey suggest that strong tool-using propensity among primates is based on advanced sensorimotor ability rather than fortuitous discovery. theory can contribute itudies dewelopment


This paper aims to investigate the relationship between intercultural training and the organizational performance of multinational corporations. Fifteen multinational corporations operating in China participated in the investigation. In the study, survey and case study were utilized as research instruments, and questionnaire and semi-structured interview were two prime data-collecting techniques. Only a small number of the respondents offered intercultural training to their employees. It was also discovered that cultural differences could give rise to serious management problems and intercultural training could significantly improve the organizational effectiveness by overcoming such differences. Although the paper is based on a piece of qualitative research with no explicit comparative data, the findings seem to suggest that intercultural training can be a high-value contributor to the business success of multinational corporations. Therefore, it would be advantageous for multinational corporations to incorporate systematic intercultural training into their human resources development strategy.


In the present era, world is moving very rapidly with internet for sharing of resources and services. There are many heterogeneous and complex applications to be executed within less time. The complex applications require lot of resources such as processing, storage, etc, for execution but due to the constrained resources available within a system, the applications may not execute perfectly. Grid Computing is the technology used to integrate various heterogeneous systems from different boundaries of the world to execute complex applications. This technology creates a virtual organization where huge set of systems are integrated to solve very complicated and critical problems. There are many people who are not able to set up a real organization with lot of infrastructure and other services for execution of applications. Cloud Computing is the technology which provides lot of services like software, hardware, networking and much more for less cost. This technology supports pay-as-you-go model in which the user will pay the amount only for the used services. The major problem is to trust Grid Service Providers, Grid Users, Cloud Service Providers and Cloud Users for doing the transactions, in their respective environment, as there are many systems from various domains participating in the transactions. This paper proposes a generalized Trust Model for Cloud/Grid Computing Environment (T-CGE) to establish very strong trust among the Cloud/Grid Service Providers and Cloud/Grid Users. This paper also demonstrates the reliability statistics by using Cronbach's Alpha to show the relative consistency of data. ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) is used to show the variations among the service parameters of all service providers, and also variations among the service providers. The T-CGE trust model helps the end users to get better and consistent services from their application developers.


A number of successful multiple reaction monitoring (MRM)-directed MS/MS methods for protein characterization and quantification have been published over the past couple of years. These methods have been created either by the generation of in silico MRM transitions or from taking discovery data generated by automated MS/MS analysis and formulating MRM transitions from this. However, such a workflow, where a vast amount of discovery data needs to be searched for idealized MS/MS to target peptides, is difficult and time consuming. Automation of this would simplify the whole workflow, and allowing methods to be created smarter by utilizing the data of peptides that have been previously identified, provides a better chance of success.

In this poster we highlight one possible workflow for the processing of a number of database search results that were generated during proteomic analysis of a complex sample. Proteins identified as of potential interest in these results were then added to a MRM method-building list, and all MS/MS associated with those proteins were extracted from the general proteomic search results.

These MS/MS are then automatically processed to create instrument methods for MRM-directed MS/MS quantification. After analysis of the sample by these methods, the data are processed, both from a sequence identification and a chromatographic LC-MRM peak signal-to-noise perspective. These data are associated with the original proteomic workflow data, allowing visualization of the results and construction of a method that can then undergo validation.


Crime incidents in Lagos State, particularly in Metropolitan areas, have become worrisome and have resulted in severe loss of lives and property over the years. Unfortunately the Nigerian Police, which is the major constituted security agency, has not lived up to expectations in terms of responding promptly to crime incidents when they occur in the area. This situation calls for urgent attention, especially now that Lagos State is at an inception stage of being one of the Mega Cities in Africa and in the Globe. Thus, this study aimed at exploring the causes of delayed response to crime in Area B Police Command of Lagos Metropolis. Its focus was to analyze the physical and human variables responsible for delayed responses of the men of Nigerian Police. Physical factors such as accessibility and spatial distribution of Police Divisions within the study area were examined. Human induced factors, as they bolder on attitude and motivations of the respondents were also analyzed. The Methodology involved a combination of quantitative, qualitative and location analysis. Primary spatial and non-spatial data were collected on the field by direct readings as well as field observation, interviews and questionnaire administration to both residents and the police. All these were analysed using GIS and Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS). The findings revealed that delayed response to crime incidences in the study area resulted from both human and infrastructural factors. Only three of the Police stations were highly accessible while most others were averagely accessible. However, there was a police division with little or no accessibility. This perhaps accounts for the delayed responses to crime incidents occurring in this division. Analysis of questionnaire revealed that most of the residents did not promptly report crime incidences and when they did, the responses was not speedily conveyed because they had reported the incidence through rather slow means. On the part of the police, inadequate welfare and infrastructural facilities accounted for low motivation which invariably fuels delayed response.


Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have recently emerged as a promising platform for many non-traditional applications, such as wildfire monitoring and battlefield surveillance. Due to bug fixes, feature enhancements and demand changes, the code running on deployed wireless sensors often needs to be updated, which is done through energy-consuming wireless communication. Since the energy supply of battery-powered sensors is limited, the network lifetime is reduced if more energy is consumed for software update, especially at the early stage of a WSNs life when bug fixes and feature enhancements are frequent, or in WSNs that support multiple applications, and frequently demand a subset of sensors to fetch and run different applications.
In this dissertation, I propose an energy-efficient software update management framework for WSNs. The diff-based software update process can be divided into three phases: new binary generation, diff-patch generation, and patch distribution. I identify the energy-saving opportunities in each phase and develop a set of novel schemes to achieve overall energy efficiency.
In the phase of generating new binary after source code changes, I design an update-conscious compilation approach to improve the code similarity between the new and old binaries. In the phase of generating update patch, I adopt simple primitives in the literature and develop a set of advanced primitives. I then study the energy-efficient patch distribution in WSNs and develop a multicast-based code distribution protocol to effectively disseminate the patch to individual sensors.
In summary, this dissertation successfully addresses an important problem in WSNs. Update-conscious compilation is the first work that compiles the code with the goal of improving code similarity, and proves to be effective. The other components in the proposed framework also advance the state of the art. The proposed software update management framework benefits all WSN users, as software update is indispensable in WSNs. The techniques developed in this framework can also be adapted to other platforms such as the smart phone network.


Objective: South Africa is a developing country with inequality and diversity in terms of culture, language and occupations. The high incidence of violence and trauma contributes to upper limb injuries. Patient rated outcome measures, such as the Disability of the Arm Shoulder and Hand Questionnaire (DASH), should be routinely implemented in order to evaluate the end result of intervention. Specific outcomes of interest are aspects of activity and participation according to the nine domains outlined in the International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health (ICF). This paper will review the evidence available on the validity and clinical utility of the DASH as a measure of activity and participation in patients with upper limb injuries in developing country contexts where inequality exists. Methods: A comprehensive search of key electronic databases, including MEDLINE (PubMed), EBSCOHost, CINAHL, Science Direct, Scopus and Web of Science, will be conducted. Grey literature will also be considered as far as possible. Articles meeting the following inclusion criteria will be included in the review: 1) reporting on the use of the DASH as an outcome measure for upper limb injured patients; 2) from countries with a Gini coefficient of 0.50 and above and; 3) that provide evidence on the validity and clinical utility of the instrument. The methodological quality of selected studies will be independently assessed by two researchers using the critical appraisal tool developed by the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) group. Results: Results will be reported by means of a study flow diagram showing the search strategy. Study characteristics will be summarized including psychometric properties assessed and results. Risk of bias will be assessed and reported using the COSMIN criteria. Conclusion: This review will provide a critical analysis of the psychometric properties of validity and clinical utility of the DASH in traumatic hand injuries assessed in developing countries. Recommendations for practice and future research will be made.


Objective
To investigate the effectiveness of double internal fixations of clavicle and scapula and intraoperative reduction of glenopolar angle in the treatment of floating shoulder injuries.

Methods
Between January 2010 and June 2019, 13 patients with floating shoulder injury were treated with double internal fixation of clavicle and scapula and intraoperative reduction of glenopolar angle. There were 11 males and 2 females with an average age of 48 years (range, 25-65 years). The causes of injury included falling from height in 2 cases, traffic accident injury in 3 cases, heavy object injury in 2 cases, and other injuries in 6 cases. There were 2 cases of Ⅰ-B-3 type, 1 case of Ⅰ-C-2 type, 1 case of Ⅰ-C-3 type, 3 cases of Ⅱ-B-2 type, 1 case of Ⅱ-B-3 type, 1 case of Ⅱ-B-4 type, 2 cases of Ⅱ-C-2 type, 1 case of Ⅱ-C-4 type, and 1 case of Ⅱ-D-3 type according to the classification of floating shoulder injury. All patients had unilateral clavicle fracture with scapular neck fracture, 1-4 superior shoulder suspensory complex (SSSC) injuries. The time from injury to operation was 7-17 days, with an average of 12 days. The glenopolar angle, subacromail space, anteroposterior inclination angle of scapular glenoid, scapular glenoid up and down angle were measured before and after operation; Constant-Murly score and Herscovici score were used to evaluate the recovery of shoulder joint function.

Results
All incisions healed by first intention, and there was no early postoperative complications such as infection. All 13 cases were followed up 12-48 months, with an average of 25.2 months. Both the clavicle and the scapula had bone union, and the average healing time was 6 months and 4 months respectively. There were no complications such as nonunion, shoulder deformity, plate fracture or failure of internal fixation, acromion impingement syndrome, and frozen shoulder. At last follow-up, the glenopolar angle, subacromail space, anteroposterior inclination angle of scapular glenoid, and scapular glenoid up and down angle were all corrected significantly ( P<0.05). The pain, function, activity, muscle strength scores, and total score in Constant-Murly score were significantly improved when compared with preoperative scores ( P<0.05). According to the Herscovici scoring standard, the shoulder joint function was evaluated as excellent in 8 cases, good in 3 cases, and fair in 2 cases. The excellent and good rate was 84.6%.

Conclusion
Double internal fixation of clavicle and scapula to stabilize SSSC and reduct glenopolar angle during operation is an effective method for treating the floating shoulder injury.


It is hard to avoid the suspicion that Sven Olsson has not actually read the Plato whose precepts he so adamantly admonishes me for ignoring. Otherwise, he would surely know that far from being an American invention, as he seems to believe sharpening points for the purpose of debate is one of the characteristic features of Socratic dialogue. The slight hyperbole, the benign rhetorical exaggeration has for centuries been the gambit of debate, the spice of discourse in scholarly communities the world over. As his article testifies, in this case, too, it has been fruitful. The main point of disagreement between us concerns the role of the working class and its political representatives on the Left in determining the particular characteristics of the Nordic welfare state. There are, of course, many different welfare states and to match a veritable Babel of theories that seek to account for the nature and development of modern social policy. That interpretation which bestrides the field of the Scandinavian welfare state most sovereignly, which stakes the best-founded claim to explaining why it was that the nations of the North have been able to evolve the most elaborate, generous and solidaristic social policy, why they have become the embodiments of what is meant by the welfare state, is one which might be called the Social Democratic or laborist theory. Sometimes it is presented as the "power resources theory". I have preferred to call it the social interpretation of the welfare state in order to emphasize the broader methodological context, its location within a larger social explanation of modern European history an explanation of historical change by


ABSTRACT: We investigate the use, determinants, and earnings effects of special purpose vehicles (SPVs). Based on a proxy of SPV activity that can be applied to a broad cross‐section of firms over time, we find a two‐and‐a‐half fold monotonic increase in the percentage of firms using at least one SPV during the eight‐year period from 1997 through 2004. Tobit regressions of the determinants of SPV use show that SPV activity increases with financial reporting incentives and economic and tax motivations, but strong corporate governance tends to mitigate their use. In addition, the evidence is consistent with SPVs arranged for financial reporting purposes being associated with earnings management, whereas the same does not appear to be the case for SPVs set up mainly for economic, tax, and other reasons.


University policies that boost the chances of admission for targeted groups with relatively low standardized test scores are highly controversial. I provide new evidence on the impact of a "top percent" admissions policy called Eligibility in the Local Context (ELC) that was implemented by the University of California (UC) system between 2001 and 2011. ELC guaranteed admission to participating UC campuses for the top 4 percent of graduates from most California high schools. I use comprehensive data covering the 1.7 million UC applicants during the ELC era, including information on the colleges attended by each applicant and their early-career labor market outcomes, and a regression discontinuity research design to evaluate the impacts of the program. I find that ELC eligibility increased barely-eligible applicants' likelihood of enrolling at four selective UC campuses (San Diego, Santa Barbara, Davis, and Irvine) by nearly 6 percentage points. Nearly all of these students would have otherwise enrolled at a less-selective public college or university in California. Overall, barely-eligible ELC participants had higher five-year graduation rates than barely-ineligible students by 22 percentage points, and barely-eligible participants from low-performing high schools had $15,000 higher annual California earnings in their mid-20s compared to their barely-ineligible peers. ELC participants who would have otherwise enrolled at community colleges or California's least-selective public universities benefited the most from UC enrollment under ELC. These results suggest that ELC participants substantially gained from the increase in overall university quality despite having lower average SAT scores than their UC peers by almost 300 points, dispelling concerns about mismatched university 'fit' for the targeted high-GPA low-SAT applicants.


This literature review studies the wireless technologies, their applications, characteristics, design criteria and requirements for process automation applications, focusing especially on wireless sensor networks (WSN). Additionally, implementation of an application example, wireless monitoring of temperature and pressure of a steam boiler, is also presented. The review indicates that the wireless automation systems are often hybrid in nature, combining legacy fieldbus systems and heterogeneous networks. The design criteria and requirements for industrial applications are stricter than compared to some other domains, for example environmental monitoring, home and building automation. According to review, wireless technologies provide potential for industrial applications, but additional research may be required on interoperability, reliability, data processing techniques and energy consumption, the last especially from whole system point-of-view.


Summary

Length-weight relationships (LWRs) of 14 species from 17 populations of salangids, which cover most species in the family Salangidae, were analyzed from 12 regions in China and Japan. A total of 952 specimens were used to estimate the relationship parameters. The allometric factor b values varied from 2.56 in Salanx cuvieri to 3.53 in Neosalanx oligodontis. Additionally, the condition factor a value was calculated setting b = 3 in the remaining six species. Nine maximum-size records and 17 LWRs of salangids are established for the first time, which will fill in some of the empty spaces on rare neotenic species in the Fishbase.


Abstract In response to the Attention to Thoughts (A2T) model, scholars reflected on and raised critical questions about the proposed complex dynamic systems theory, its computational formalization, and its implications for theory and study of internal attention and internally-directed cognition (IDC). We identify and reflect on three major themes that cut across these response papers related to, complexity, temporal dynamics, and internal states as a focus of scientific inquiry. (1) As Simple As Possible, But No Simpler: Necessary Complexity. We delineate the importance of developing formalized and dynamic systems theory to model behavioral complexity in IDC. Specifically, behavioral variations or processes which exhibit a range of trajectories and states of variable levels of temporal stability, that emerge from reciprocal and (often) non-linear interactions between attentional, mnemonic and affective processes, that unfold over time and context. (2) Complex Dynamical Systems Emerge in Time . We reflect on the observation that temporal trajectories, that self-organize into relatively stable patterns, across time-scales, emerge from moment-to-moment interactions within the system over micro time-scales; and that through circular causality that facilitates systemic self-regulation, emergent higher-level structures or macro time-scale trajectories function to constrain these moment-to-moment interactions within the system. In turn, we relate to future developments of A2T to model developmental, learning and plasticity processes in IDC that emerge over macro time-scales. (3) The Elephant in the Lab: Is Robust Scientific Theory and Study of Internal States Possible? We reflect on the conditions wherein external attention is, and is not, likely a meaningful proxy for internal attention, and the implications therein for the study of attention in mental health and related phenomena sub-served by IDC. Finally, we relate to future developments of A2T that could reflect theorized computational heterogeneity in objects competing for internal attentional selection.


IN 1886, Eulenberg 1 described a disease characterized by periodic attacks of myotonia and paralysis, occurring in 26 members (six generations) of one family. 1 The disease was called paramyotonia. The following criteria for its diagnosis were proposed by Drager et al 2 : (1) single autosomal dominant inheritance, (2) stationary (nonprogressive) character, (3) presentation of normal muscle bulk (no atrophy, no hypertrophy), (4) presence of myotonia, particularly in the cold, (5) episodes of flaccid weakness. Since Eulenberg's original account, there have been approximately 38 published communications of similar cases (Table 1). 1-22 This disease was distinguished from familial periodic paralysis (later found to be associated with hypokalemia) and from congenital myotonia (Thomsen's disease). In 1956, Gamstorp 5 presented 139 cases of an unusual variety of periodic paralysis in which the potassium levels in the serum during paresis were elevated, rather than depressed; and in fact, muscular weakness was precipitated


This study examined the information seeking preferences of 936 university faculty, staff, students, and librarians at a doctoral granting institution in the southeastern United States. Participants were asked to identify in what way they would prefer having both factual and research questions answered by the library. Findings suggest participants preferred face-to-face reference interactions over a suite of virtual reference options. In the aggregate, e-mail was the preferred virtual reference service over telephone and online chat with little interest in text messaging or Skype video. Statistically significant differences among users, however, emerged when interactions between type of question, age, race, and gender were considered. Faculty and staff preferred e-mail and telephone while students preferred online chat and, to a lesser extent, text messaging. Implications of the study suggest user preferences appear to be significantly influenced by demographic factors and type of question. Different library reference support strategies may need to be designed and implemented to meet those needs.


It is projected that the world population will increase by one-third before the end of this century, primarily in the South. Population projections are based on the demographic transition model which quite accurately explains the changes observed in Asia, Latin America ansd Africa over the last fifty years. Sub-Saharan Africa, the region where transition is least advanced, is also the region where future trends are most difficult to predict. Its population should triple or even quadruple over the coming century, despite the ravages of AIDS. One of the challenges facing the South will be to manage the effects of population ageing, which will occur much more quickly than in the North. Code JEL : J11


Leymus chinensis is a dominant, rhizomatous perennial C3 species in the grasslands of Songnen Plain of Northern China, and its productivity has decreased year by year. To determine how productivity of this species responds to different precipitation regimes, elevated CO2 and their interaction in future, we measured photosynthetic parameters, along with the accumulation and partitioning of biomass. Plants were subjected to combinations of three precipitation gradients (normal precipitation, versus normal ± 40%) and two CO2 levels (380±20 µmol mol-1,760±20 µmol mol-1) in controlled-environment chambers. The net photosynthetic rate, and above-ground and total biomass increased due to both elevated CO2 and increasing precipitation, but not significantly so when precipitation increased from the normal to high level under CO2 enrichment. Water use efficiency and the ratio of root: total biomass increased significantly when precipitation was low, but decreased when it was high under CO2 enrichment. Moreover, high precipitation at the elevated level of CO2 increased the ratio between stem biomass and total biomass. The effect of elevated CO2 on photosynthesis and biomass accumulation was higher at the low level of precipitation than with normal or high precipitation. The results suggest that at ambient CO2 levels, the net photosynthetic rate and biomass of L. chinensis increase with precipitation, but those measures are not further affected by additional precipitation when CO2 is elevated. Furthermore, CO2 may partly compensate for the negative effect of low precipitation on the growth and development of L. chinensis.


Despite the fact that Ghana has been rated a middle income country, poverty and food insecurity are very much pronounced in the Upper West Region, of which Tumu is of no exception. Poor access to institutional financial services has been identified as one of the main factors fueling this situation. Youth Advocacy on Rights and Opportunities (YARO) introduced the Village Savings and Loans microfinance model to women at Tumu after they have been trained by Plan Ghana. This book is an assessment of the scheme on the socio-economic life of the resulting 6 Village Savings and Loans Associations at Tumu facilitated by YARO. The results show a remarkable improvement in access to institutional financial services, organizational skills, enterprise development, financial management, social capital, personal and capital assets, food and nutrition security, financing of children's education, insurance and household decision-making. The women however need to take more interest in local government politics for them to address the institutional constraints of poverty with gender dimension.


Technological advancements in agriculture have contributed enormously in ensuring food security. Accordingly, studies were made to evaluate the chemical composition of groundwater in different rural habitations of Indira Gandhi Nahar Project (IGNP), Bhakra and Gang canal catchment areas in North-West Rajasthan. A total of 300 groundwater samples were analyzed for total dissolved solids (TDS), total hardness (TH), nitrate and a few other parameters. TDS values were found to be higher than the permissible limit (1500 mg/l-WHO) in 29%, 67% and 60% of the water samples from IGNP, Bhakra and Gang canal catchment villages. Total hardness (TH) was higher than its permissible limit (200 mg/l WHO) in 84%, 92% and 95% of the water samples. Nitrate concentration ranged from 3.70 to 82.11 mg/l, 0.34 to 50.70 mg/l and 0.50 to 278.68 mg/l in IGNP, Bhakra and Gang canal catchment area, with respective mean values of 21.54, 13.65 and 13.41 mg/l. Since the area is free from industrial activity, hydro geological features and heavy use of DAP fertilizer are the most likely sources of degraded groundwater quality. Residents of this zone are poor, mostly illiterate farmers, who use the groundwater for irrigation and for domestic consumption without prior treatment.


In this article, we consider the problem of planar graph-based simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) that involves both poses of the autonomous agent and positions of observed landmarks. We present complex (CPL)-SLAM, an efficient and certifiably correct algorithm to solve planar graph-based SLAM using the complex number representation. We formulate and simplify planar graph-based SLAM as the maximum likelihood estimation on the product of unit complex numbers, and relax this nonconvex quadratic complex optimization problem to convex complex semidefinite programming (SDP). Furthermore, we simplify the corresponding complex SDP to Riemannian staircase optimization (RSO) on the complex oblique manifold that can be solved with the Riemannian trust region method. In addition, we prove that the SDP relaxation and RSO simplification are tight as long as the noise magnitude is below a certain threshold. The efficacy of this work is validated through applications of CPL-SLAM and comparisons with existing state-of-the-art methods on planar graph-based SLAM, which indicates that our proposed algorithm is capable of solving planar graph-based SLAM certifiably, and is more efficient in numerical computation and more robust to measurement noise than existing state-of-the-art methods. The C++ code for CPL-SLAM is available at https://github.com/MurpheyLab/CPL-SLAM.


Background In fields such as medicine, psychology, and education, systematic reviews of the literature critically appraise and summarize research to inform policy and practice. We argue that now is an appropriate time in the development of the field of engineering education to both support systematic reviews and benefit from them. More reviews of prior work conducted more systematically would help advance the field by lowering the barrier for both researchers and practitioners to access the literature, enabling more objective critique of past efforts, identifying gaps, and proposing new directions for research. Purpose The purpose of this article is to introduce the methodology of systematic reviews to the field of engineering education and to adapt existing resources on systematic reviews to engineering education and other developing interdisciplinary fields. Scope/Method This article is primarily a narrative review of the literature on conducting systematic reviews. Methods are adapted to engineering education and similar developing interdisciplinary fields. To offer concrete, pertinent examples, we also conducted a systematic review of systematic review articles published on engineering education topics since 1990. Fourteen exemplars are presented in this article and used to illustrate systematic review procedures. Conclusions Systematic reviews can benefit the field of engineering education by synthesizing prior work, by better informing practice, and by identifying important new directions for research. Engineering education researchers should consider including systematic reviews in their repertoire of methodologies.


This paper presents the influence of temperature on optical power spectrum propagated in a tapered optical fiber with twisted nematic liquid crystal cladding (TOF-TNLCC) modulated by an electric field. The measurements were performed for a liquid crystal cell with the twisted orientation of ITO layers, filled with E7 mixture. The induced reorientation of liquid crystal (LC) n-director was measured for visible and near-infrared wavelength range [550-1100 nm] at the electric field range of 0–160 V and temperature range of 20-60 °C. The relation between temperature and the optical power spectrum of the investigated device has been established. Full Text: PDF ReferencesV.J. Tekippe, "Passive fiber optic components made by the fused biconical taper process", Proc. SPIE 1085 (1990). CrossRef T. A. Birks, Y. W. Li, The shape of fiber tapers, Journal of Lightwave Technology 10, 4 (1992). CrossRef J. Korec, K. A. Stasiewicz, O. Strzeżysz, P. Kula, L. R. Jaroszewicz, Electro-Steering Tapered Fiber-Optic Device with Liquid Crystal Cladding, Journal of Sensors 2019: 1-11 (2019) CrossRef Ch. Veilleux, J. Lapierre, J. Bures, Liquid-crystal-clad tapered fibers, Opt. Lett. 11, 733-735 (1986) CrossRef J. F Henninot, D. Louvergneaux, N. Tabiryan, M. Warenghem, Controlled leakage of a tapered optical fiber with liquid crystal cladding, Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals, 282, 297-308. (1996). CrossRef Y. Wang, et.al., Tapered optical fiber waveguide coupling to whispering gallery modes of liquid crystal microdroplet for thermal sensing application, Opt. Express 25, 918-926 (2017) CrossRef J. Korec, K. A. Stasiewicz, O. Strzeżysz, P. Kula, L. R. Jaroszewicz, . E. Moś, Tapered fibre liquid crystal optical device, Proc. SPIE 10681 (2018) CrossRef G. Assanto, A. Picardi, R. Barboza, A. Alberucci, Electro-optic steering of Nematicons, Phot. Lett. Poland 4, 1 (2012). CrossRef A.Ghanadzadeh Gilani, M.S. Beevers, The Electro-optical kerr effect in eutectic nematic mixtures of E7 and E8,J ournal of Molecular Liquids, 92, 3 (2001). CrossRef E. C. Mägi, P. Steinvurzel, and B.J. Eggleton, Tapered photonic crystal fibers, Opt. Express 784, 12, 5 (2004). CrossRef Y. Li and J. Lit, Transmission properties of a multimode optical-fiber taper, J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 2, (1985). CrossRef J. Korec, K. A. Stasiewicz, and L. R. Jaroszewicz, Temperature influence on optical power spectrum of the tapered fiber device with a liquid crystal cladding, Proc. SPIE 11045, 110450I (2019) CrossRef L.M. Blinov, Liquid crystals: physical properties and their possibilities in application, Advances in Liquid Crystal Research and Applications, (1981). CrossRef


The aim of this study was to evaluate the immediate effects of 0.05% brilliant blue on corneal endothelium of horses. Thirty-eight corneas of 19 horses, male or female, of different ages were studied. Corneas were randomly divided into two groups. Group 1: Corneal endothelium was covered with 0.3mL of brilliant blue 0.05% for 60 seconds followed by rinsing with a balanced salt solution. Group 2: Corneal endothelium was covered with BSS for 60 seconds. The corneas were excised with an 8mm trephine and prepared to analyze posterior endothelial surface using a light microscope (24 corneas) and a scanning electron microscope (14 corneas). The equine posterior corneal endothelium surface observed by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy revealed a continuous layer of polygonal cells of uniform size and shape in both the control and treatment groups. Due to non-normal residuals at ANOVA mean comparison, a generalized linear model was utilized at 5% level of significance. The chi-square test stated that treatment and control group were not different statistically. The 0.05% brilliant blue did not cause damage to equine corneal endothelium.