Research in exploring the use of biochar as soil amendment to enhance soil fertility and sequester carbon is upgraded day by day. However, the impacts of different levels of biochar with bioinoculants like Azospirillum on microbial as well as crop growth stimulation are unknown. Hence, a pot culture experiment was conducted to find out the impact of different levels of Acacia wood based biochar with Azospirillum strain AZ204 on the growth of Maize variety PEHM5 under unsterile vertisols. Biochar application at the level of 25 t ha−1 with Azospirillum recorded significantly higher growth parameters like shoot length, root length, girth of stem and total dry weight over other levels of biochar (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 t ha−1) at 30, 60 and 90 days after sowing. Also, the population size of beneficial soil microbes like Azospirillum and total diazotrophs in the rhizosphere registered maximum at the highest level of biochar (25 t ha−1) application with Azospirillum at all the days of sampling. Furthermore, a significant increase of the native mycorrhizal responses to 25 t ha−1 of biochar with Azospirillum application was also observed in terms of root colonization of maize and spore number in the soil. The experimental results indicated that biochar at higher levels of 25 t ha−1 with Azospirillum inoculation was significantly superior in increasing the uptake of nutrients by maize. This treatment combination also proved efficient in increasing the yield of maize by recording 104.08 g plant−1 and 18.62 g of total cob and 100 grain weight. Thus, biochar amendments at the rate of 25 t ha−1 with Azospirillum is indeed capable of improving nutrient availability as well as microbial activity in vertisol resulting in a significant increase (upto 60%) in yield of maize. Thereby, the addition of biochar at the level of 25 t ha−1 to soil with Azospirillum has the potential to bring in a significant plant-microbial responses, ultimately leading to enhanced crop growth and productivity upto 60%.


Rehabilitation of the autopsy as a tool of audit, surveillance, teaching, and research

Despite continued advances in clinical and laboratory medicine and diagnostic imaging, there remains a significant divergence between clinical diagnosis and autopsy findings. Even in the intensive care unit, where some of the most advanced medical technology is to be found, diagnostic error rates of 6–40% are reported, with postmortem examinations regularly identifying previously unrecognised pathological processes.1 Although these published figures may overestimate the current scale of the problem, it is beyond dispute that postmortem examinations sometimes reveal unsuspected pathological processes which may result in a change in death certification. Despite this, autopsy rates continue to fall, prompting concern about their diminished role in disease surveillance and medical audit.2

In this issue, Snowdon et al publish a series of articles in which they survey the attitudes of parents and medical professionals to perinatal autopsy.3–5 Although the articles deal with the specific circumstances of an autopsy in a randomised control trial, the responses provide considerable insight into at least some of the reasons why the autopsy is in decline.

It is clear from a review of the articles that many of the neonatologists quoted are unfavourably disposed towards the autopsy. They find discussion of the procedure distasteful and distressing to relatives. Furthermore, it is apparent that recent recommendations about providing more detailed anatomical information and more explicit consent forms (see below) have added further to their discomfort. Many also feel that the examination is of limited value. With autopsy rates declining and physician attendance at the autopsy increasingly rare, clinical staff have less and less familiarity with the procedure they are describing and "advocating".6,7 As O'Grady6 has succinctly observed, doctors cannot explain the purpose and benefits of the procedure if they do …


Reporting on Vale SA, the Brazilian-based world's second-largest nickel producer which aims to start production soon at its US$4.5 billion Goro refinery project in New Caledonia, represents a good example of the need to dedicate time building contacts on the ground and speaking to a variety of sources. This article examines a Global Mail investigation into an environmental issue that is complex from a scientific and technological point of view, but is further complicated by the multiple social, ethical, and spiritual perspectives linked to it. The mine is deeply embedded in a specific local political, economical and social framework - that of decolonisation and questions over legitimacy of power (Horowitz 2009, p. 249; van Vuuren 2008, p. 74). In terms of sources, a French environmentalist will have a radically different perspective to the environment to that of an indigenous Kanak, for whom land is first and foremost the source of identity and dignity. Views within the Kanak community also diverge.


Mastomys nata/ensis and Rhabdomys pumilio from the moist Natal Midlands, South Africa, were deprived of food in the laboratory. Both species exhibited hypodipsia while fasting and, in terms of a hypothesis proposed by Wright (1976), therefore appear to be primarily mesophilic. R. pumi/io tolerated up to five days without food and M. nata/ensis up to three days. R. pumilio appears adapted to occupy drier microhabitats than M. nata/ensis, and pre-adapted to colonize arid regions. .


So much has been written about Shakespeare since Robert Greene's first dismissive reference to that 'upstart crow' in 1592 that it may seem perverse to deploy the trope of absence or loss to try to make sense of the volume of commentary. Shakespeare's critical reception seems marked by the phenomenon of too much, rather than too little. But Shakespeare studies is littered with much-missed absences: Love's Labours Won (the mysterious play named in Francis Meres' Palladis Tamia of 1598), Shakespeare's private letters or diary, satisfactory drawings of the Globe or of any of Shakespeare's plays in contemporary performance, the records for the grammar school in Stratford for the relevant period, the holograph manuscript of Hamlet or indeed any of the plays or poems, the identity of Mr W. H., the dedicatee of the Sonnets published in 1609, the meaning of 'scamels', Caliban's unglossable word in The Tempest (2.2.17). These literal unknowns mark the critical enterprise with the signs of loss. In the intervening centuries since Shakespeare, the critical tradition has tried to address this loss through literary tactics that closely resemble those of two familiar literary genres: the elegy, through which the lost is mourned and commemorated, and the detective story, by which the lost is reconstructed through the painstaking reading of evidence. Shakespeare studies has toggled between the detective and the elegiac as the most appropriate genres for its retrieval and construction of the lost object.


Reverse-time simulation in combination with straightforward simulation was applied to support the design of an assembly line of a series of complex products. These products had been completely redesigned in order to obtain "kanban" controlled "Just In Time" production and to minimize intermediate stocks. A buffer with universal subassemblies decouples anonymous "production to stock" and client specific "production to order". Simulation models are made of both pre and after decoupling buffer processes to study the dynamics of the assembly processes, to determine the decoupling buffer size and to develop rules for assigning personnel to assembly jobs. Currently new production lines have been installed and are in the initial start up phase.


Ductile cast iron (FCD450) and stainless steels (SUS304, SUS430) were friction-welded. Heat content of each joint was measured by calorimetry and tensile test was made. No defect was observed in joints of cast irons. In the present study, a simplified model has been proposed for calculating the heat input rate in dissimilar joints of friction welding using one dimensional thermal conductivity equation. If the burn-off rate is taken into consideration, a correlation between this heat input rate and tensile property of joints examined appeared to exist. In addition, the values obtained by modeling and measured ones were in good agreement.


A new metamaterial topology, called triangular-shaped single-loop resonator (SLR), is introduced with two distinct μ-negative (MNG) regions and one ε-negative (ENG) region over the S/C frequency bands. Transmission and reflection characteristics of the suggested subwavelength resonator are analyzed using full-wave electromagnetic solvers, Ansoft HFSS and CST Microwave Studio (MWS), to demonstrate the presence of four closely located resonance frequencies within the 3.3-5.1 GHz range. Effective permittivity and permeability parameters of the resulting composite medium are retrieved from simulated complex scattering parameters to verify the existence of fully developed MENG and ENG regions. Dependence of the resonance frequencies on the design parameters of the triangular SLR unit cell and on the presence of its gaps are also investigated in detail.


The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of the metabolic syndrome in patients with chronic lower back pain in Korea and to evaluate the differences in clinical characteristics in chronic lower back pain patients with and without metabolic syndrome. This was a cross-sectional study using data from the fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES IV) 2008. The sample consisted of 1085 participants with chronic lower back pain. The diagnosis of metabolic syndrome was made according to the criteria of the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATP III) and the Korean Society for the Study of Obesity. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome among chronic lower back pain patients was 36.2% (30.2% male, 38.6% female). According to our results, female sex, advanced age, and high BMI were risk factors for metabolic syndrome. These results from a representative sample show that metabolic syndrome is common in chronic lower back pain patients in Korea. Clinicians managing chronic lower back pain should consider the risk factors for metabolic syndrome.


Introduction. One of the most dangerous phenomena of fires in natural ecological systems is the physicochemical and structural changes of soils due to temperature (pyrogenic) factor. Such types of fire, except for the instantaneous destruction of the biocenosis, have a secondary impact on all components of the environment for many years - ecosystem restoration is slow or non-existent, riverbeds change, new ecotopes formed, physicochemical properties of soil change irreversibly. Pyrogenic degradation of edaphotopes leads to their slow recovery. Many scientific works are devoted to this issue in Ukraine and abroad. All of them can be classified into the following groups: pyrogenic degradation ofpeatlands, physicochemical properties of post-pyrogenic soils, pyrogenic succession. Postpyrogenic soils require detailed research depending on specific natural and climatic conditions, which, in addition to temperature, are crucial in the processes of ecological renaturalization of vegetation.Aim and methods. The work aims to establish the relationship between the post-pyrogenic factor and soil salinity overtime for the Ukrainian Roztochya. For measuring the flame temperature used fluke thermal imager. Soil moisture was determined using a moisture meter "MG-44". Soil acidity was determined using a contact device "KS-300V". Modelling the acidity distribution into the genetic horizons was performed using a demo version of Surfer software. Statistical values are processed using MS Excel. In the research used: statistical, chemical, pedologic, phytocenotic methods.Results and discussion. Due to the high salinity of forest fires, we determined the content of chlorides, sulfates, phosphates in the samples. We found that the highest content of chlorides and sulfates is inherent in the investigated area №4, namely: in the horizon of 0-5 cm chloride content is 432.1 mg/kg, in 5-10 cm – chloride content is 267.1 mg/kg, in 10-20 cm – chlorides content is 142.7 mg/kg; in the horizon of 0-5 cm sulfate content is 235.7 mg/kg, in 5-10 cm – sulfate content is 160.3 mg/kg, in 10-20 cm – sulfate content is 131.7 mg/kg. The extremely salt content in the area with the model fire indicates significant salinization due to the ground fire. The level of chlorides and sulfates is much lower than in other areas, depending on the age of ground fires occurrence, which indicates the natural restoration of edaphotopes and alignment of salinity to background values.Conclusions. As a result of a research of the salinity of post-pyrogenic soils of the Ukrainian Roztochya, we found that the restoration of edaphic indicators of the loam depends on the age of the ground fires occurrence. For researching of acidity and salinity of soils accepted the range of occurrence of grassland forest fires four years ago We found that in the investigated areas exposed to fire long ago, the indicators of acidity and salinity correspond to the background values and are much lower than the same values for the model fire area.


Table of Contents

1.) An Introduction to Ethical Materialities
Silke Panse (UCA)

Materializing Ethicalities: Art and Artists in Relation
2.) For Innocence, Against Purity
Silke Panse (UCA)

3.) The Power of Being Affected
Mikhail Lylov (Artist, Filmmaker and Curator)

4.) Why I find it Unethical to Write about Myself as an Artist
Mike Marshall (Artist, UCA)

5.) Ideal Work Conditions: Revisiting Felix Gonzalez-Torres' Politics of Care
Lauren van Haaften-Schick (Cornell University)

Painting and Moving Images Beyond the Frame
6.) Ethical Issues with Small Abstract Paintings
Joan Key (Painter)

7.) Cezanne's Cardplayers, Empathy and Ethics: A Game that Must be Lost Jon Kear (Emeritus University of Kent)

8.) Off-Screen Guilt and Material Complicity
Erin Espelie (Filmmaker, University of Colorado)

9.) Earth Ethics: Radiation Infrastructures
Felicity Colman (Kingston University)

Symbiosis, Symmetry and Interspecies Co-production
10.) Natural Transgression
Rachel Moore (Goldsmiths College)

11.) Zones of Indiscernibility
Elke Marhofer (Artist, Gothenburg University)

12.) Fearful Symmetry
Phillipp Warnell (Filmmaker, Kingston University and Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University)

13.) Interspecies Art with Ants: An Experiential Exploration of the Ethics of Co-production Fiona MacDonald (Artist and PhD candidate UCA)


Nowadays, more and more scientific experiments need to handle massive amounts of data. Their data processing consists of multiple computational steps and dependencies within them. A data-intensive scientific workflow is an appropriate tool for modeling such process. Since the execution of data-intensive scientific workflows requires large-scale computing and storage resources, a cloud environment, which provides virtually infinite resources is appealing. However, because of the general geographical distribution of scientific groups collaborating in the experiments, multisite management of data-intensive scientific workflows in the cloud is becoming an important problem. This paper presents a general study of the current state of the art of data-intensive scientific workflow execution in the cloud and corresponding multisite management techniques.


A diethyl ether extraction method is described for the determination, utilising ultraviolet spectrophotometry, of phthalic acid impurity in samples of potassium hydrogen phthalate intended for the preparation of pH standard buffer. The identity or otherwise of samples can be readily shown by a simple e.m.f. technique, as a useful complementary method, thereby obviating the need for certification studies by cells without a liquid junction.


Discrepancies among reports from different geographical regions worldwide on the association between the presence of cagA and peptic ulcer disease prompted this study on the predictive value of the cagA gene in Helicobacter pylori-associated gastroduodenal diseases in the Singapore population. H. pylori strains were obtained from 169 patients with a peptic ulcer, 83 with non-ulcer dyspepsia, and nine with gastric cancer. The presence of the cagA gene was evaluated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The expected 400 bp PCR product coding for the cagA gene was present in 232/261 (89%) H. pylori isolates. Of these, 151/169 (89%) strains from patients with peptic ulcer, 73/83 (88%) strains from patients with non-ulcer dyspepsia and 8/9 (89%) strains from cancer patients were positive for the cagA gene. There was no statistically significant difference between the prevalence of cagA-positive strains from patients with distinct clinical outcomes (p > 0.05). The prevalence of cagA-positive strains in the Singapore population is high regardless of clinical disease status. The results suggest that the cagA gene is not a universal virulence marker of H. pylori.


The aggregation hierarchy is one o f the most significant data abstraction mechanisms that emerged as a result to semantic extensions to traditional systems analysis and design methods. The way inheritance works in this hierarchy is studied in this thesis. Special emphasis is placed on the behaviour of objects which are related via an aggregation hierarchy. A framework is introduced for capturing the behaviour of a system from the respective behaviour(s) of its components. This framework is based on a 3-level behaviour modelling hierarchy. One of the most significant contributions of this framework is the ability to apply inter-object interactions when building a behaviour model of a system. These interactions are significant in that they can yield totally distinct models of the systems functionality. Some of the notions that are supported by the behaviour modelling framework include unreachable and transient states, transition chains (cascades) and concurrency. The framework also enables the creation of behaviour model (semantic) hierarchies, wherein certain facets o f the systems behaviour or functionality can be hidden (abstracted out) in a gradual fashion that suits the requirements of the problem domain. This creates what is effectively, distinct views of the behaviour or functionality of the system. The notions and concepts that are introduced here are verified and presented in a comprehensive case study that shows what can be achieved using these ideas. Suggestions are also made for future work which can help overcome some of the limitations introduced throughout this research


This paper proposes an adaptive dynamic matrix control (DMC) using fuzzy inference and its application to boiler-turbine system. In a conventional DMC, object system is described as a step response model (SRM). However, a nonlinear system is not effectively described as a single SRM. In this paper, nine SRMs at various operating points are represented as fuzzy inference rules. On-line fuzzy inference is performed at every sampling step to find the suitable SRM. Therefore, the proposed adaptive DMC can consider the nonlinearity of boiler-turbine system. The simulation results show satisfactory result with wide range operation of boiler-turbine system.


Glucose tolerance deteriorates in normal human pregnancy but 99% of all pregnant women retain normal glucose tolerance whereas the remaining 1% develop abnormal glucose tolerance and are designated gestational diabetics. The possibility that glucose tolerance deteriorates in pregnancy because of diabetes-like changes in the secretory function of the endocrine pancreas has been investigated in gestational diabetics and healthy controls. Even though the insulin responses to oral glucose and mixed meals are equally large in gestational diabetics and normal pregnant women, the insulin responses of the gestational diabetics differ in two pertinent ways from those of the normals. First, a delayed insulin response is frequently seen, and second, the insulin response per unit of glycaemic stimulus (the 'insulinogenic index') is normally significantly lower than that of the normal pregnant women. Diabetes-like changes in the secretion of glucagon are not seen in neither group. Insulin degradation is unaffected by pregnancy and the proinsulin share of the total plasma insulin immunoreactivity does not increase in pregnancy. It is therefore likely that the main reason for the diabetogenicity of pregnancy is insulin resistance. Most pregnant women are able to increase their insulin secretion and thus overcome the resistance. Some pregnant women do, however, seem to have a more limited insulin secretory capacity which eventually may lead to the development of gestational diabetes.


We conduct minimal-channel direct numerical simulations of turbulent flow over two-dimensional rectangular bars aligned in the spanwise direction. This roughness has often been described as $d$ -type, as the roughness function $\unicode[STIX]{x0394}U^{+}$ is thought to depend only on the outer-layer length scale (pipe diameter, channel half-height or boundary layer thickness). This is in contrast to conventional engineering rough surfaces, named $k$ -type, for which $\unicode[STIX]{x0394}U^{+}$ depends on the roughness height, $k$ . The minimal-span rough-wall channel is used to circumvent the high cost of simulating high Reynolds number flows, enabling a range of bars with varying aspect ratios to be investigated. The present results show that increasing the trough-to-crest height, $k$ , of the roughness while keeping the width between roughness bars, ${\mathcal{W}}$ , fixed in viscous units, results in non- $k$ -type behaviour although this does not necessarily indicate $d$ -type behaviour. Instead, for deep surfaces with $k/{\mathcal{W}}\gtrsim 3$ , the roughness function appears to depend only on ${\mathcal{W}}$ in viscous units. In these situations, the flow no longer has any information about how deep the roughness is and instead can only 'see' the width of the fluid gap between the bars.


This article provides an overview of this thematic issue. We discuss four issues about the role of justice claims in international relations (ir) scholarship: the discrepancy between the historical centrality of justice themes in political thought and empirical research in ir; challenges to the assumption of utility-maximizing motives; justice in the context of rules or norms of negotiation, and the rise of empirical research on justice in ir. We conclude with themes suggested by the contributing authors in this issue and suggest priorities for further research on justice in international negotiation.


The primary ionization coefficient α of spectroscopically pure neon has been evaluated from measurements of the spatial dependence of small ionization currents between plane-parallel gold electrodes for the range 8<E/p0<70 V cm−1 torr−1 and 4<p0<105 torr where E is the applied electric field and p0 is the gas pressure (corrected to 273°K). Within the limits of experimental error the coefficient α/p0 was found to be a function of E/p0 only. The secondary ionization coefficient ω/α was also evaluated for the same range of E/p0.


Semantic segmentation is a key problem for many computer vision tasks. While approaches based on convolutional neural networks constantly break new records on different benchmarks, generalizing well to diverse testing environments remains a major challenge. In numerous real-world applications, there is indeed a large gap between data distributions in train and test domains, which results in severe performance loss at run-time. In this work, we address the task of unsupervised domain adaptation in semantic segmentation with losses based on the entropy of the pixel-wise predictions. To this end, we propose two novel, complementary methods using (i) entropy loss and (ii) adversarial loss respectively. We demonstrate state-of-the-art performance in semantic segmentation on two challenging "synthetic-2-real" set-ups and show that the approach can also be used for detection.


Revision of a shoulder arthroplasty often requires removal of a well fixed humeral component. Revision of this component can be quite easy in the case of a non-infected platform stem or be very difficult when removal of a well cemented or on-growth stem with distal texturing is required. The purpose of this paper is to provide a series of techniques designed for revision of the humeral component in shoulder arthroplasty. Revision of the stem can be easy with a non-infected platform stem only requiring exchange of the epiphyseal component. Some stems, usually uncemented, can readily be removed from a proximal only approach. Stems with excellent cement mantles may require a longitudinal only split in the humerus done with minimal stripping of the brachialis. If complete cement removal is needed for infection or there is distal stem on growth, then a vascularized door technique is indicated. These techniques are explained in detail in this manuscript.


Pressure Acoustic Transfer Functions or Vectors (PATVs) relate the surface velocity of a structure to the sound pressure level at a field point in the surrounding fluid. These functions depend only on the structure geometry, properties of the fluid medium (sound speed and characteristic
 density), the excitation frequency and the location of the field point, but are independent of the surface velocity values themselves. Once the pressure acoustic transfer function is computed between a structure and a specified field point, we can compute pressure at this point for any boundary
 velocity distribution by simply multiplying the forcing function (surface velocity) with the acoustic transfer function. These PATVs are usually computed by application of the Reciprocity Principle, and their computation is well understood. In this work, we present a novel way to compute the
 Velocity Acoustic Transfer Vector (VATV) which is a relation between the surface velocity of the structure and fluid particle velocity at a field point. To our knowledge, the computation of the VATV is completely new and has not been published in earlier works. By combining the PATVs and VATVs
 at a number of field points surrounding the structure, we obtain the Quadratic Power Transfer Vector (QPTV) that allows us to compute the sound power radiated by a structure for ANY surface velocity distribution. This allows rapid computation of the sound power for an arbitrary surface velocity
 distributions and is useful in designing quiet structures by minimizing the sound power radiated.


The interplay between classical and quantum mechanical evolution in the optical centrifuge (OC) is discussed. The analysis is based on the quantum mechanical formalism starting from either the ground state or a thermal ensemble. Two resonant mechanisms are identified, i.e. the classical autoresonance and the quantum mechanical ladder-climbing, yielding different dynamics and rotational excitation efficiencies. The rotating wave approximation is used to analyze the two resonant regimes in the associated dimensionless two-parameter space and calculate the OC excitation efficiency. The results show good agreement between numerical simulations and theory and are relevant to existing experimental setups.


Background: N6-methyladenosine (m6A) and immune microenvironment infiltration have been widely reported to play important roles in various cancers. However, in diffuse large cell lymphoma (DLBCL), the clinical significance of m6A regulators and their relationship with immune microenvironment infiltration have not been illuminated.Methods: The expression of m6A regulators in DLBCL was investigated using The Cancer Genome Atlas and Genotype-Tissue Expression databases. The capacity of m6A regulators in dividing molecular clusters of DLBCL was determined using Consensus Clustering algorithm and validated via principal component analysis. The clinical traits and prognosis difference in m6A-sorted clusters were revealed. The m6A prognostic signature was established and validated based on Gene Expression Omnibus dataset using univariate Cox and LASSO regression analysis. The immune cell infiltration and the expression of immune checkpoint genes in m6A low/high-risk DLBCL were studied. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was adopted to unveil the underlying molecular mechanism in m6A low/high-risk DLBCL.Results: Differentially expressed m6A regulators were able to molecularly discriminate DLBCL as two clusters based on consensus clustering and principal component analysis. A six m6A regulators-based risk prediction signature was established and validated as an independent predictor, which separated patients into m6A low- and high-risk groups. High-risk m6A indicates worse survival, for which the predictive AUC at 1-, 2-, and 5-year achieved 0.605, 0.640, and 0.652, respectively. Immune cell infiltration analysis revealed the B cells naïve and T cells gamma delta were the top increased and decreased immune cells in high-risk m6A patients. Up-regulated (PDCD1 and KIR3DL1) and down-regulated (TIGIT, DO1, and BTLA) immune checkpoint genes in high-risk m6A patients were identified. GSEA analysis unveiled high-risk m6A related to tumor proliferation associated process, while low-risk m6A related to defense response associated process. Conclusions: This study provided a comprehensive analysis for the clinical significance of m6A regulators and their association with immune microenvironment infiltration. An m6A regulators-based risk signature may be applied for the risk stratification of DLBCL patients, thus may facilitate the clinical management of DLBCL. Immune microenvironment was found to be closely related to m6A risk, which may be part of the mechanism of m6A regulators in DLBCL.


The Bunyaviridae comprise a large family of RNA viruses with worldwide distribution and includes the pathogenic New World hantavirus, Andes virus (ANDV). Host factors needed for hantavirus entry remain largely enigmatic and therapeutics are unavailable. To identify cellular requirements for ANDV infection, we performed two parallel genetic screens. Analysis of a large library of insertionally mutagenized human haploid cells and a siRNA genomic screen converged on components (SREBP-2, SCAP, S1P and S2P) of the sterol regulatory pathway as critically important for infection by ANDV. The significance of this pathway was confirmed using functionally deficient cells, TALEN-mediated gene disruption, RNA interference and pharmacologic inhibition. Disruption of sterol regulatory complex function impaired ANDV internalization without affecting virus binding. Pharmacologic manipulation of cholesterol levels demonstrated that ANDV entry is sensitive to changes in cellular cholesterol and raises the possibility that clinically approved regulators of sterol synthesis may prove useful for combating ANDV infection.


An offset-free controller is one that drives controlled outputs to their set-point values at the steady state. In the literature, conditions for offset-free linear model predictive control are given for combined estimator (for both the artificial disturbance and system state), steady-state target calculation, and dynamic controller. In the presence of steady-state target calculation, the framework for MPC is called the double-layered MPC. Usually, the offset-free property of the double-layered MPC is obtained under the assumption that the system is asymptotically stable. This paper discusses on the dynamic stability property which has been rarely considered in the literature of double-layered MPC.


Low-speed and heavy-load slewing bearings are applied broadly for major mechanical equipment. Compared with ordinary bearings, large slewing bearings have complex structures and work in variable environments. In order to increase productivity, reduce maintenance costs, and ensure the safety of people and equipment, it is of great importance to monitor and diagnose faults in real time. This paper aims at providing a state-of-the-art review on methods for condition monitoring and fault diagnosis of low-speed and heavy-load slewing bearings, including methods based on vibration analysis, acoustic emission technique, oil condition and temperature variation. Additionally, this paper discusses advantages and disadvantages of different methods. Finally, the current needs and challenges are presented to provide a reference for future research.


The interactive support system interactively supports the worker by presenting the working process with head mounted display (HMD). It is expected that an unskilled worker can do advanced work using this technology. We work on applying this technology in the plate bending by line heating. In this paper, a method of presenting computer graphics (CG) with sufficient accuracy using a HMD and a camera is examined. Furthermore, a prototype of image capture / display system is examined and constructed, and the evaluation experiments are reported.


This article develops and tests a set of hypotheses examining how contracting out of public services affects intra-organizational communication in public agencies (i.e., the principal organization). We draw from two competing perspectives: contracting scholarship argues that outsourcing reduces an organization's structural complexity and enhances intra-organizational communication, while organizational communication studies suggest that outsourcing might lead to fragmented communication pathways and a loss of information. In order to reconcile these perspectives, we examine how different characteristics of an organization's contracting network affect both the internal gathering and dissemination of information. Using survey and contractual relationship data from approximately 200 US transit agencies, we find that contracting out a large portion of services improves intra-organizational communication but this positive effect decreases as the number of contractors grows. Long and stable relationships with contractors negatively affect intra-organizational communication, especially when occurring with private—as compared to public—contractors. Our results suggest the need to further investigate intra-organizational communication in contracting networks and better understand how it may affect organizational performance and contract management.


Facial eczema is a disease caused by the ingestion of fungal spores on pasture grass, causing irreversible liver damage. The disease causes significant decreases in production (i.e. meat, milk and reproduction) for affected animals and primarily affects ruminants. As ruminants contribute enormously to New Zealand's primary industries, facial eczema is an economically relevant disease. Anthropogenic changes in New Zealand's climate are likely to increase the fungi's prevalence in our pastures, driving a need for innovations in treatment and prevention of facial eczema.
A key area for improvement is the current facial eczema test, which measures the liver enzyme gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) to assess the degree of liver damage. This is normally employed in a small selection of the wider herd due to logistical constraints, as blood samples must be taken from each animal and returned to a veterinary laboratory. This greatly limits the number of animals in a herd that can be tested, forcing treatment to be non-specific and herd-wide. If facial eczema is detected, then herd-wide treatment measures are implemented at significant cost and with substantial side effects for the animals being treated. An alternative method could utilise aptamers in a diagnostic test that could be performed farmside at a reduced cost, and studying this possibility in greater detail formed the core of this research project.
Aptamers are single-stranded oligonucleotide sequences developed using systematic evolution of ligands via exponential enrichment (SELEX), an iterative process of selection acting upon an oligonucleotide library against a target of choice. Their properties enable them to form unique secondary structure conformations that bind the specific target molecule they are generated to. As the GGT family has four major isozymes with significant structural variation, it was necessary to develop an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using GGT isozyme-specific antibodies to identify the isozyme that is elevated during facial eczema infection.
In this study, these ELISAs were developed and used to test a wide range of serum samples collected from sheep that were known to be positive or negative for facial eczema. It was determined that GGT1 was the best candidate isozyme for a facial eczema biomarker. Due to time constraints, the target molecule used for SELEX was a combination of a crude GGT preparation, and serum that was positive for facial eczema. A counter-SELEX step using serum that was negative for facial eczema was successful in removing substantial oligonucleotide sequences that exhibited non-specific binding. The enriched oligonucleotide library was then sequenced producing 21 unique aptamer candidates.
In summary, this study identified the GGT isozyme most likely to be an accurate biomarker of facial eczema, and generated 21 potential aptamer candidates that may be used in future studies to develop a novel, cheap and easy on-farm detection test for facial eczema.


This report presents the incidence and prevalence of diagnosed female infertility among active component service women. During 2013-2018, 8,744 active component women of childbearing potential were diagnosed with infertility for the first time, resulting in an overall incidence of 79.3 cases per 10,000 person-years (p-yrs). Compared to their respective counterparts, women in their 30s, non-Hispanic blacks, those in healthcare and pilot/air crew occupations, Army personnel, and those who were married had the highest incidence rates. The incidence of diagnosed female infertility decreased from 85.1 per 10,000 p-yrs in 2013 to 63.6 per 10,000 p-yrs in 2018 despite a concurrent increase in the rate of fertility testing. During the surveillance period, the average annual prevalence of diagnosed female infertility was 1.6%. Of the service women who were diagnosed with infertility for the first time during the surveillance period, 1,808 (20.7%) delivered a live birth within 2 years after the incident infertility diagnosis. Current findings indicate that the prevalence of diagnosed female infertility among active component service women is lower than estimates of self-reported infertility from surveys of U.S. civilians and service women.


A variety of therapeutic strategies are currently under investigation to inhibit factors that promote tumor invasion, as metastasis is the most common cause of mortality for cancer patients. Notably, considerable emphasis has been placed on studying metastasis as a dynamic process that is highly dependent on the tumor microenvironment. In regards to breast cancer, chemokine C-C motif ligand 5 (CCL5), which is produced by tumor-associated stromal cells, has been established as an important contributor to metastatic disease. This review summarizes recent discoveries uncovering the role of this chemokine in breast cancer metastasis, including conditions that increase the generation of CCL5 and effects induced by this signaling pathway. In particular, CCL-5-mediated cancer cell migration and invasion are discussed in the context of intertwined feedback loops between breast cancer cells and stromal cells. Moreover, the potential use of CCL5 and its receptor chemokine C-C motif receptor 5 (CCR5) as targets for preventing breast cancer metastasis is also reviewed.


Glaciers are awesome in size and move at a majestic pace, and they frequently occupy spectacular mountainous terrain. Naturally, many Earth scientists are attracted to glaciers. Some of us are even fortunate enough to make a career of studying glacier flow. Many others work on the large, flat polar ice sheets where there is no scenery. As a leader of one of the foremost research projects now studying the flow of mountain glaciers (Storglaciaren, Norway), Roger Hooke is well qualified to describe the principles of glacier mechanics. Principles of Glacier Mechanics is written for upper-level undergraduate students and graduate students with an interest in glaciers and the landforms that glaciers produce. While most of the examples in the text are drawn from valley glacier studies, much of the material is also relevant to "glacier flatland" on the polar ice sheets.


Considering the significant contribution of livestock sector to the economy of Himachal Pradesh, the present paper has examined the provisions of animal health and veterinary services, especially with respect to manpower, in the state using the secondary data. The findings have revealed that there has been a perceptible growth in production of various livestock products. The breed improvement programme has yielded good results as one-third of the cattle and one–fifth of the sheep are now crossbred/exotic. There has been infrastructure build-up in terms of veterinary institutions, but the manpower is becoming more acute in the animal husbandry department. These trends will have implications for the delivery of quality animal health and veterinary services in the long-run. The study has suggested that measures should be undertaken to strengthen animal health care and veterinary services for developing a strong livestock economy in the state.


Obesity is a public health issue that affects more than 600 million adults worldwide. The disease is characterized by fat accumulation, mainly in the abdominal area. The human body is mainly composed of two types of adipose tissue: white adipose tissue (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT); however, the browning process generates a different type of brown fat-like adipocyte in WAT, which similar to BAT has thermogenic capacity by activating UCP-1. The hypothalamic arcuate nucleus plays an important role in WAT browning via POMC neurons, which are influenced by synergistic insulin and leptin signaling. On the other hand, stimulation of AgRP neurons suppresses WAT browning. The hypothalamic inflammatory process that occurs in obesity impairs insulin and leptin signaling in this tissue and, consequently, can decrease WAT browning. In addition, practicing physical exercise may be a great strategy for triggering the browning process since it reduces hypothalamic inflammation and increases POMC neurons gene expression. Moreover, physical exercise stimulates irisin gene expression, which has an important impact on thermogenesis, which in turn culminates in increased gene expression of proteins such as UCP-1 and Cidea, which are related to WAT browning. Furthermore, thermogenetic activation of WAT leads to increased energy expenditure, favoring obesity treatment. Therefore, this mini-review aimed to highlight the most recent studies that link the control of hypothalamic activity with the browning metabolism of adipose tissue in response to physical exercise.


BACKGROUND
Technical advancement in imaging has helped to stage and plan treatment modality for carcinoma rectum with still some objectives controversial.

AIMS
The aim of our study was to evaluate the accuracy of multidetector row computed tomography (MDCT) with multiplanar reformations in the pre-operative staging of rectal carcinoma and correlation with intraoperative and histopathologic staging of retrieved specimen with respect to the depth of tumor invasion (T-staging), lymph node metastasis (N-staging) and mesorectal fascia (MRF) involvement.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study was a prospective one and consisted of 52 patients with biopsy proved rectal carcinoma. MDCT studies were performed on a 64-slice computed tomography system. Images were reconstructed in axial, coronal and sagittal planes. MDCT findings were compared with intraoperative and pathologic (reference standard) findings. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy were assessed.

RESULTS
The diagnostic accuracy of MDCT for T1/T2, T3 and T4 lesions was 77%, 86.5% and 100%, respectively. For perirectal lymph node metastasis (N+), the diagnostic accuracy of MDCT was 84.1%. The diagnostic accuracy of MDCT for MRF involvement was 91%.

CONCLUSION
MDCT is a reliable radiological tool for local staging of rectal cancer with excellent accuracy rates for T and N-staging of rectal cancer.


Current estimates of Arctic water vapour, obtained using reanalysis, numerical weather predictions and satellite products may be biased due to the concentration of moisture in the lowest levels, below 2–3 km. Here we investigate the water vapour content of the atmosphere during 2 weeks in May 2016, as estimated with (a) the ECMWF/Integrated Forecast System reanalyses; (b) Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) simulations at high resolution; and (c) satellite retrievals from AIRS/Aqua and IASI/MetOp. We compare such estimates to a unique dataset of uninterrupted Raman lidar observations obtained at Hammerfest, Norway (70°N, 24°E), within the framework of the Pollution in the ARCtic System (PARCS) project. Ground‐based lidar profiles were acquired between 150 and 4,000 m altitude, with a vertical and temporal resolution of 15–200 m and 30 min, respectively. A strong variability of the water vapour field was observed in the lower troposphere in this period, ranging 0.43–6.35 g/kg. Dry air intrusions from the polar vortex, alternating with wet air intrusions associated with lows over the ocean have been revealed, creating strong gradients of water vapour, of the order of 2 g/kg per hour and per km. The satellite retrievals showed a good correlation with the measurements, despite a relatively large dispersion and a slight dry bias of the IASI level 2 product (standard deviation up to 1.5 g/kg). The ECMWF/IFS reanalysis and WRF both showed a wet bias below 1 km altitude (+0.4 g/kg), coherent with previous comparisons that made use of radiosondes.


£24.95 The theme of this book is the application of selfdevelopment to organisational processes and practices It is a collection of contributions of experience and ideas on different aspects, introduced by Mike Pedler with an overview of management selfdevelopment what it is, the background to the idea and current problems and dilemmas The book's 17 chapters have been grouped into four parts 1 The conceptof managmg one's own learning This concentrates on the pnnciples of learnmg to learn, the design principles for developing in-house programmes, and clarifying and linking 'open and distance learnmg'to the principles underlying selfdevelopment 2 Differences at work This collection of papers uses differences at work as a sprngboard to selfdevelopment Sadly, n my opinion, they focused only on gender issues, despite the statement that issues such as gender, race, age and disablement share both the potential for creating discrimination as well as the motivation needed for self-development Two of the four papers reported solely on women's development, the third recorded a


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

Introduction: First generation reversible, ATP competitive inhibitors, gefitinib and erlotinib are effective treatments for a subset of non-small cell lung cancers, in particular specific EGFR-activating mutations. However their initial efficacy is limited by the development of drug resistance mutations, including the gatekeeper T790M mutation. Second-generation irreversible EGFR inhibitors that were designed to overcome the drug resistance by T790M mutation have thus far had limited success. Our goal was then to develop a dual kinase EGFR inhibitor effective against gefitinib sensitive and resistant (T790M) mutations. Herein, we describe the biological and pharmacokinetic properties of a representative molecule, KL-ON113 from a series of novel and small molecule EGFR inhibitors as a clinical development for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Experimental Procedures: Based on structure activity relationship (SAR) studies, we identified a novel dual kinase EGFR inhibitor, KL-ON113 effective against gefitinib sensitive and resistant (T790M) mutations. EGFR tyrosine kinase activity of KL-ON113 was determined using HTRF® KinEASE™ assay kit (CisBio, Bedford, MA) with modifications. EGF induced cell proliferation assay (XTT) was conducted to determine the growth inhibitory effect of KL-ON113 in EGFR expressing WT and mutant cell lines. Inhibition of EGF induced EGFR phosphorylation (Y1173) in A431 cells was measured by PathScan® Phospho-EGF Receptor (Tyr1173) Sandwich ELISA Kit (Cell Signaling Technology, Beverly, MA). Metabolic stability of the KL-ON113 was evaluated in microsomes obtained from mouse, rat, monkey, and human. Pharmacokinetic behavior of KL-ON113 in plasma after single dose oral administration or IV injection was determined in female Balb/c mice.

Results: KL-ON113 demonstrated remarkable potency against the purified EGFR/HER2 including EGFR (wt), EGFR (L858R), EGFR (delE746_A750), EGFR (T790M), EGFR (L858R/T790M) and HER2 with IC50 of 12nM, 1.3nM, 0.9nM, 49nM, 325nM and 14nM, respectively with 100-fold more active against gefitinib/erlotinib resistant L858R/T790M EGFR mutant. Additionally, KL-ON113 caused a significant reduction in viability & EGFR phosphorylation (Y1173) in A431 cells, while no effect observed in normal WI-38 lung fibroblast cells confirming its selectivity. Pharmacokinetic studies in female Balb/c mice indicated good oral bioavailability of 80% for KL-ON113. Further, KL-ON113 was metabolically stable across the species studied.

Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that KL-ON113 as a potent dual kinase EGFR inhibitor effective against gefitinib sensitive and resistant (T790M) mutations with a favorable pharmacokinetic profile. KL-ON113 is also being tested for its in-vivo efficacy in NSCLC xenograft models harboring EGFR WT and EGFR L858R/T790M besides selectivity against other receptor tyrosine kinases.

Citation Format: Vijaybaskar Lakshmikanthan, Venkateswarlu Sommepalli, Ramamohan Lekkala, Kondababu Rasamsetti, Rama Raju Gokaraju, Kiran Bhupathiraju, Sudhakar Kasina. KL-ON113, a novel orally available dual EGFR kinase inhibitor targeting EGFR-activating and T790M mutants. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 1729. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-1729


Our laboratory has been conducting a global survey of extremely low frequency (ELF) and very low frequency (VLF) radio noise since February 1985. Eight measurement stations around the world record the instantaneous noise amplitude in each of sixteen narrow-frequency bands in the 10-Hz to 32-kHz frequency range, and we have calculated the monthly averages of these amplitudes for the four stations with the longest times of operation. The period, amplitude, and phase of temporal variations in the averages are important indicators of the sources and propagation characteristics of the noise in the various frequency bands. Furthermore, since the principal source of ELF/VLF radio noise is lightning, long-term variations of the noise must relate to changes in global thunderstorm activity. We find that the noise amplitudes vary seasonally by up to a factor of 4 in some of the sixteen frequency bands; in addition, many of the variations correlate quite well with global lightning flash rates.


In the current cost-constrained oil field environment, operators must complete their wells while minimizing capital expenditure. Operators respond to these challenges by utilizing customized diagnostic services and specialized tools in a single run to save on rig costs. Coiled Tubing (CT) deployed fiber- optics assist in taking Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) during acid stimulations to estimate fluid volume distribution in the horizontal openhole with a specialized jetting tool to create wormholes and complex microfractures.
 This paper discusses an acid stimulation process using dynamic fluid energy to divert flow into a specific sweet spot in the well to initiate and accurately pinpoint acid stimulation. The treatment efficiency was monitored and visualized in Real Time (RT) with CT-conveyed fiber-optic DTS. This acid stimulation process, named Integrated Dynamic Diversion (IDD), often uses two independent fluid streams: the acid phase down the treating string and other liquids or foamed fluid down the annulus. Two different fluids mix downhole with high energy to form a homogenous mixture.
 Pre-job DTS injection profile diagnostics identified a non-permeable zone, and the stimulation pumping schedule was adjusted accordingly. Using the IDD process, this was done in RT by changing the depths and increasing the number of stages across the non-permeable zone. Post-job injection profile DTS diagnostics confirmed an increase in injectivity across the non-permeable zone with a uniform injection across the entire openhole. This proved the value of combining RT CT with IDD using a dual pumping process and the specialized jetting tool. Post-job production results also indicate a sustainable production with an oil gain of +500 BOPD.
 Applying the IDD methodology with DTS services is the most appropriate solution to address the unique challenges of openhole operations, formation technical difficulties, high-stakes economics, and untapped high potential from intermittent reservoirs. This paper presents post-job results obtained from stimulating multiple zones along the lateral and describes the lessons learned in implementing this methodology, which can now be considered best practice for applications with similar challenges in other fields.


Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic disrupted the working lives of Macau residents, possibly leading to mental health issues such as depression. The pandemic served as the context for this investigation of the network structure of depressive symptoms in a community sample. This study aimed to identify the backbone symptoms of depression and to propose an intervention target. Methods This study recruited a convenience sample of 975 Macao residents between 20th August and 9th November 2020. In an electronic survey, depressive symptoms were assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Symptom relationships and centrality indices were identified using directed and undirected network estimation methods. The undirected network was constructed using the extended Bayesian information criterion (EBIC) model, and the directed network was constructed using the Triangulated Maximally Filtered Graph (TMFG) method. The stability of the centrality indices was evaluated by a case-dropping bootstrap procedure. Wilcoxon signed rank tests of the centrality indices were used to assess whether the network structure was invariant between age and gender groups. Results Loss of energy, psychomotor problems, and guilt feelings were the symptoms with the highest centrality indices, indicating that these three symptoms were backbone symptoms of depression. The directed graph showed that loss of energy had the highest number of outward projections to other symptoms. The network structure remained stable after randomly dropping 50% of the study sample, and the network structure was invariant by age and gender groups. Conclusion Loss of energy, psychomotor problems and guilt feelings constituted the three backbone symptoms during the pandemic. Based on centrality and relative influence, loss of energy could be targeted by increasing opportunities for physical activity.


The decay heat values calculated with ORIGEN2 code, which is widely used for the evaluation of radioactivity and the decay heat analysis of spent fuel, are not consistent with the "recommended decay heat values" by the Atomic Energy Society of Japan, the adoption of which to the safety assessment has been authorized by Japanese Atomic Energy Safety Commission. The discrepancy between them has caused perplexity in the use of ORIGEN2 code. In order to diminish the discrepancy, fission product decay data and fission yield data of ORIGEN2 code are replaced with the data contained in the JNDC Nuclear Data Library of Fission Products that was used for making the "recommended decay heat values". The decay heat calculation with ORIGEN2 code using the replaced data is able to obtain the decay heat values agreeing with the "recommended values" within nearly 1% for most of the cooling time region except for a limited region where the maximum discrepancy of 3% exists in the case of 1s irradiation. In the case of longer irradiation time (1 yr), the discrepancy is diminished to nearly 0.5% for whole range of the cooling time.


In this paper, we study wave interaction with an emerged porous media. The governing equation is shallow water equations with a friction term of the linearized Dupuit-Forcheimer's formula. From the continuity of surface and horizontal flux, we derived the wave reflection and transmission coefficient formulas. They are similar with the corresponding formulas of the submerged solid bar breakwater. We solve the equations numerically using finite volume method on a staggered grid. The numerical wave reduction in the porous media confirms the analytical wave transmission curve. AMS subject classifications: 76S05, 81U30, 35L02


We introduce twisted permutation-equivariant GW-invariants, and compute them in terms of untwisted ones. The computation is based on Grothendieck-like RR formula corresponding to Adams' operations from K-theory to itself, and the result can be understood as a "quantum" version of such Adams-RR. As in the case of cohomological quantum RR theorem [3], the result is applied to express the invariants of bundle and super-bundle spaces in terms of those of the base. The bonus feature of permutation-equivariant K-theory is that the twisting classes can be understood as the simpler kappa-classes of Kabanov--Kimura [9].


Artificial Intelligence search algorithms search discrete systems. To apply such algorithms to continuous systems, such systems must first be discretized, i.e. approximated as discrete systems. Action-based discretization requires that both action parameters and action timing be discretized. We focus on the problem of action timing discretization.After describing an ε-admissible variant of Korf's recursive best-first search (ε-RBFS), we introduce iterative-refinement ε-admissible recursive best-first search (IR ε-RBFS) which offers significantly better performance for initial time delays between search states over several orders of magnitude. Lack of knowledge of a good time discretization is compensated for by knowledge of a suitable solution cost upper bound.


Aim: To evaluate the utility of susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) sequence in stroke imaging and assess supplemental information provided by SWI in an acute stroke scenario. Materials and methods: In this study, the appearance of cerebrovascular stroke on the SWI images were analyzed in 50 patients who presented with acute-onset neurological symptoms. Results: Brain MRI with SWI was performed on 50 patients presenting with acute neurological symptoms. The majority were males, 32/50 (64%) and 18/50 (36%) were females. Most of the patients were in the age group > 60 years (36%), followed by 50-60 years (22%). Most of the patients had bilateral pathology, 20 (40%). The majority of patients had supratentorial lesions 34 (68%). Among 50 patients, the majority of patients had arterial stroke 20 (40%) and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) 20 (40%) followed by amyloid angiopathy five (10%), and five (10%) had hypertensive microhemorrhage. Among the 20 patients with arterial stroke, the majority had middle cerebral artery (MCA) thrombosis 10 (50%) and among the 20 patients with venous thrombosis, eight (40%) patients had hemorrhagic infarcts. SWI was better as compared to computed tomography (CT) (P<0.05) in the detection of hemorrhagic transformation of arterial infarct, cerebral hemorrhagic venous sinus thrombosis, hemorrhagic venous infarct, hypertensive microhemorrhage, and cerebral amyloid angiopathy. Conclusion: SWI is a useful imaging sequence that provides additional information on stroke patients. SWI requires only an additional three-four minutes to perform and can be easily incorporated into standard stroke protocol. SWI can identify various features such as hemorrhage, intraarterial thrombus, or concomitant microbleeds that are of prognostic value and affect therapeutic decisions.


A modified method of preparing crown functionalized linear polysiloxane has been described.4'-allylbenzo-15-crown-5 was subjected to hydrosilylation with methyldichlorosilane,followed bypolycondensation with silanol-terminated polydimethylsiloxane to give the title crownfunctionalized linear polysiloxane. It was found that the polysiloxane could be coordinated withplatinum salt to form platinum complex, which could catalyze the hydrosilylation of olefins withtriethoxysilane efficiently.


Learning to solve long horizon temporally extended tasks with reinforcement learning has been a challenge for several years now. We believe that it is important to leverage both the hierarchical structure of complex tasks and to use expert supervision whenever possible to solve such tasks. This work introduces an interpretable hierarchical agent framework by combining planning and semantic goal directed reinforcement learning. We assume access to certain spatial and haptic predicates and construct a simple and powerful semantic goal space. These semantic goal representations are more interpretable, making expert supervision and intervention easier. They also eliminate the need to write complex, dense reward functions thereby reducing human engineering effort. We evaluate our framework on a robotic block manipulation task and show that it performs better than other methods, including both sparse and dense reward functions. We also suggest some next steps and discuss how this framework makes interaction and collaboration with humans easier.


We describe a new enzymic colorimetric method in which urea is measured in serum by use of a single reagent mixture. Ammonia produced by urea hydrolysis, catalyzed by urease, reacts with glutamate and ATP in the presence of glutamine synthetase. The ADP so produced is assayed in reactions catalyzed sequentially by pyruvate kinase and pyruvate oxidase in a system that generates hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen peroxide is measured at 500 or 550 nm in a reaction catalyzed by horseradish peroxidase, with phenol/4-aminophenazone as the chromogen. The reaction is complete in 15 min at 37 degrees C. The standard curve is linear up to a urea concentration of 40 mmol/L. Precision is good; CVs ranged from 2.5% to 3.1%. Results by the present method compared well with those by a candidate Reference Method and are not subject to interferences from commonly used drugs and anticoagulants.


This research proposes a colour based image processing technique to recognize the Ribbed Smoked Sheet (RSS) grade so that the RSS sorting process can be faster and more accurate than the traditional one. The RSS sheet image captured by the camera is transformed into grayscale image to simplify the recognition of rust and mould on the RSS sheet. Then the grayscale image is transformed into binary image using threshold value which is obtained from the RSS 1 reference colour. The grade recognition is determined by counting the white pixel percentage. The result shows that the system has 88% of accuracy. Most faults exist on RSS 2 recognition. This is due to the illumination distribution which is not equal over the RSS image.


Abstract The author of this paper presents a statistical analysis of data on realized profits of companies in the tourist sector, whose shares are listed on the Zagreb Stock Exchange and used for active trading. Data on the realized profit for the companies in accounting period 2010 - 2015 is correlated with the prices of shares. Based on the above obtained results about the direction and strength of this correlation the author concludes about the extent to which the market takes into account profit of the companies as a relevant indicator for investments. This information can be extremely significant because, on the one hand, it provides information about the functionality of the market as a comprehensive socio-economic mechanism that anticipates all the available information based on which the prices of the shares are created as a monetary expression of the presumed value of companies. On the other hand, this information tells us about the expectations of active market participants about the future development of the tourism sector, which already accounts for almost 20% of the Croatian GDP. In addition, the author examines what other explanations could be used for the part of variance which is not explained with the correlation between profit and price of shares.


The recent tremendous increase in the volume of waste plastics (WP) will have a harmful environmental impact on the health of living beings. Hundreds of years are required to degrade WP in atmospheric conditions. Hence, in coming years, in addition to traditional recycling services, innovative "upcycling" processes are necessary. This article presents an environmentally benign, solvent-free autogenic process that converts various WP [low density polyethylene (LDPE), high density polyethylene (HDPE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polystyrene (PS), or their mixtures] into carbon microspheres (CMSs), an industrially significant, value-added product. The thermal dissociation of these individual or mixed WP in a closed reactor under autogenic pressure ( approximately 1000 psi) produced dry, pure powder of CMSs. In this paper, the optimization of process parameters such as the effect of mixing of WP with other materials, and the role of reaction temperature and time are reported. Employing advanced analytical techniques, the atomic structure, composition, and morphology of as-obtained CMSs were analyzed. The room-temperature paramagnetism in CMSs prepared from waste LDPE, HDPE, and PS was further studied by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). The conducting and paramagnetic nature of CMSs holds promise for their potential applications in toners, printers, paints, batteries, lubricants, and tires.


The objective of the present study was to evaluate anti-inflammatory effects of betulinic acid on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated BV2 microglial cells. Pretreatment of betulinic acid significantly attenuated LPSinduced NO production and protein expression of iNOS. Betulinic acid also significantly suppressed LPS-induced release and expression of cytokines such as TNF-α and IL-1β. Furthermore, betulinic acid significantly suppressed LPSinduced MMP-9 expression, which has been suggested to play an important role in the migration of activated microglia. In order to understand the possible mechanism by which betulinic acid suppresses LPS-induced cytokine production and migration of microglia, the role of NF-kB, a major proinflammatory transcription factor, was examined. Betulinic acid significantly suppressed LPS-induced degradation of IkB, which retains NF-kB in the cytoplasm. Therefore, nuclear translocation of NF-kB upon LPS stimulation was significantly suppressed bybetulinic acid. Taken together, the present study for the first time demonstrates thatbetulinic acid possesses anti-inflammatory activity and inhibition of microglial migration through the suppression of nuclear translocation of NF-kB in BV2 microglial cells.


Dye-affinity chromatography is a widely used technique in protein purification. It has recently been shown that the efficiency of the chromatography process can be significantly improved by pretreatment of the affinity matrix with certain water soluble polymers such as poly(vinyl pyrrolidone). This technique termed as polymer-shielded, dye-affinity chromatography has been successfully used in packed bed mode at a lab scale for the purification of a number of enzymes. The present work deals with the application of polymer-shielded dye-affinity chromatography in an expanded bed system of Streamline-Cibacron Blue 3GA for the isolation of lactate dehydrogenase from a crude porcine muscle extract. The elution conditions were optimised to obtain an efficient process. A higher recovery of the target enzyme (78%) was obtained from the polymer shielded column as compared to the unshielded column (17%), after low ionic strength elution. The purification factor obtained after chromatography on the polymer shielded column was higher (4.1) than that from unshielded column (1.8).


BACKGROUND: Known disparities exist in patients with TNBC treated using neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) with 30-50% having excellent response to treatment (pCR/RCB-I) and good survival prognosis, while 50-70% demonstrate marked residual disease (RCB-II-III) with significantly worse prognosis. Lack of response early into NACT also indicates a low chance (5%) of achieving pCR. Thus, it is important to develop diagnostic platforms predictive of pCR, in order to direct patients with responsive disease toward standard NACT and non-responsive disease toward experimental therapies within clinical trials. TRIAL DESIGN This study will determine the impact of predicting response to NACT using both molecular and imaging diagnostics and will determine if offering a clinical trial of selected targeted therapy will impact outcomes (as measured by pCR and RCB) in predicted non-responsive disease. An algorithm that incorporates pre-defined genomic signatures will determine predicted sensitivity to chemotherapy (JAMA, 2011; 305:1873-81). All patients will undergo biopsy of the primary tumor for molecular analyses, but will then be randomized 2:1 to know these results (Arm A) versus not (Arm B). All patients will begin anthracycline-based NACT with diagnostic imaging to assess response after 4 cycles. Patients who fit molecular/imaging criteria for non-responsive disease will be offered a clinical trial based upon molecular profiling (Arm A) or based upon physician/patient choice (Arm B). Patients who fit criteria for responsive disease in either arm will continue with taxane based NACT. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA INCLUSION: Candidate for biopsy of the primary tumor site; tumor size > 1.5 cm diameter; TNBC by standard pathologic assays; >18 years of age; LVEF > 50%; adequate organ and bone marrow function EXCLUSION: Stage IV disease; history of invasive cancer within 5 years; excisional biopsy of the primary tumor; biopsy site changes that limit response assessment; medically unfit for chemotherapy; prior anthracycline; >grade II neuropathy; Zubrod performance status of >2; history of serious cardiac event PRIMARY AIM Primary Aim: to prospectively determine the impact of implementation of a research platform that includes molecular (genomic) testing from a primary tumor biopsy to predict response, and diagnostic imaging to assess response to standard NACT in patients with localized invasive TNBC. Secondary Aims: compare rates of clinical trial enrollment between study arms, compare DFS, integrated "prospective-retrospective" biomarker analysis, correlative science studies to identify therapeutic targets for resistant disease STATISTICAL METHODS AND TARGET ACCRUAL Success will be defined as an improvement in the rate of excellent pathologic response (pCR/RCB-I) from 50%-->64% using the triaging platform. A maximum of 360 patients will be randomized 2:1 to the experimental arm vs. the control arm using a group sequential design with one-sided O'Brien-Fleming boundaries, with up to two equally spaced binding interim tests for both futility and superiority and one final test, having an overall Type I error .05 and power .80 to detect a response rate improvement from a null rate of .50 to a target value of .642. Citation Format: Stacy Moulder-Thompson, Wei Yang, Naoto T Ueno, Joe Ensor, Vicente Valero, Ricardo Alvarez, Jennifer Litton, Rashmi Murthy, Nuhad Ibrahim, Banu Arun, Beth Mittendorf, Kelly Hunt, Funda Meric-Bernstam, Helen Piwnica-Worms, Rosalind Candelaria, Debu Tripathy, Fraser Symmans. Improving outcomes in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) using molecular triaging and diagnostic imaging to guide neoadjuvant therapy [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2014 Dec 9-13; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(9 Suppl):Abstract nr OT3-2-05.


This paper proposes a composite index, called the 'AR index', to assess the agility and resilience of automotive companies and their respective supply chains. As a first step, a model to support the AR index is developed. Next, an AR index for the automotive supply chain is suggested using a set of relevant agile and resilient supply chain practices. The Delphi technique was used to obtain a series of weights for those practices. Finally, a case study approach is used to illustrate the application of the AR index. This study represents an original approach that suggests a unique composite indicator for the agile and resilient paradigms in the context of automotive supply chains.


While education stocks (measured as the number of years of schooling attained per person over age 15) have risen significantly in all regions, they have risen the fastest in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This note documents this remarkable regional achievement. This brief shows that all 15 MENA countries for which we have comparable data increased their education stocks over time. As well as trends in population weighted averages for education stock across regions.


Waste reduction practices are applicable to virtually any construction and demolition project scenario. The goal is to divert materials from landfill disposal to the greatest extent practicable under any circumstances. There are two opinions about whether this is a realistic expectation under real world project conditions. One is that waste reduction processes cost money, and the other is that waste reduction saves money. As with any construction project, planning and project management will ultimately dictate whether the waste reduction is accomplished within the established cost, schedule, and quality parameters. Considering the waste reduction cost to disposal variances, this study is aimed at determining the impact of construction and demolition waste reduction techniques employed in the various projects on construction sites so as to actualizing green building attainment. A well-structured 100 structured questionnaires were constructed and distributed, while a rational number of 78 data were collected. A mean-item score and standard deviation were used to identify the levels of impact and rank each waste reduction techniques accordingly. There are seven-7 categories of indicators of waste reduction or management called the "Zero Waste Hierarchy 7.0" which were developed to carry out an impact analysis. Furthermore, the impact analysis was used to determine how waste reduction practices could impact green building projects in Gauteng, South Africa. In the findings, the categories of waste reduction indicators used to indicate that avoidance of complex design and detailing, developing resilient secondary material recovery, and optimizing the waste management system is one of the greatest waste reduction techniques that have a huge impact on green building projects delivery in Gauteng, South Africa. Thus, an understanding of the waste reduction system implemented, response to waste management policy, and ultimate evaluation of the performance of the construction industry in utilizing waste reduction techniques on-site is discovered. Also, the challenges or obstacles to the utilization of waste reduction techniques are identified. Also, with the knowledge of the waste reduction techniques practiced in Gauteng province, this study makes known the optimality of these waste reduction techniques with potentially huge environmental benefits that could be obtained in using them. This indicates whether the waste reduction techniques are an optimal option and as such highlighted how it can impact green building projects delivery for achieving a balance in the economic, social and environmental impacts of development in South Africa. Moreover, the need for Africa developing countries to shift from the usual culture of landfilling to more sustainable waste reduction techniques is endorsed.


OBJECTIVE
To study clinical diseases associated with pancreaticobiliary maljunction with or without bile-duct dilatation.

DESIGN
A retrospective study over 16 years.

SETTING
A single university surgical service in Japan.

PATIENTS
Thirty-three patients with pancreaticobiliary maljunction.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Gallstones and cancer in patients with and without bile-duct dilatation.

RESULTS
Twenty-five patients had dilatation of the bile duct, 8 did not. Seven (28%) of the 25 patients with bile-duct dilatation had gallstones compared with 1 (12%) of the 8 patients with no dilatation. Seven (88%) of the 8 patients with no dilatation had carcinoma (all of the gallbladder), but only 3 (12%) of the 25 patients with bile-duct dilatation had carcinoma (1 of the gallbladder, 2 of the bile duct).

CONCLUSION
Prophylactic cholecystectomy is recommended for patients with pancreaticobiliary maljunction and no dilatation of the bile duct because of the high incidence of gallbladder cancer.


A series of novel polymerized ionic liquids (PILs) contained imidazolium, poly (2,5-bis{[6-(1-butyl-3′-imidazolium)hexyl] oxy carbonyl}styrene salts) (denoted as P1X−, X−Br−, BF4−, PF6− and TFSI−) were successfully synthesized via radical polymerization. The chemical structures of the monomers and their corresponding PILs were confirmed by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Thermogravimetric analysis results showed that these PILs had excellent thermal stability. The phase transitions and liquid-crystalline (LC) behaviors of these polymers were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry, polarized light microscopy (PLM), and wide-angle X-ray diffraction. The combined experimental results showed that all the PILs could form hexagonal columnar (ϕH) LC ordered structures because of the strong interaction between the anions and cations in the side groups except for P1TFSI−. The conductivities of monomers and PILs were sketchily investigated, and monomers had higher conductivities than those of conprespoding PILs. For comparison, we have synthesized a polymer without counter-anion, but similar to the chemical structure of P1X−, poly (2, 5-bis{[6-(4-butoxy-4′-oxy phenyl) hexyl] oxycarbonyl} styrene) (denoted as P2). In this case, phenyl took place of imidazolium of side chain, and LC ordered structure did not form. The comparison between P1X− and P2 suggested that ion played an important role in the constructing of LC ordered structure. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2013


In this survey, 274 patients were sent a questionnaire concerning satisfaction with psychiatric treatment and the ward 1 month after their discharge from hospital. Fifty‐two percent of the patients responded. Answers to the 56 items of patient satisfaction were analyzed in relation to patient diagnoses and treatment given. Patients who were diagnosed as suffering from affective disorders or from reactive psychoses were more satisfied than patients with schizophrenia or paranoia or with transitory adjustment reactions. Patients who had no personality disorder diagnosis and patients with character neurosis were more satisfied than patients with antisocial or borderline personality disorders. Patients on antidepressant medication were much more satisfied than other patients. The results of the study are discussed with regard to the need of further research in this area and to quality assurance.


SUMMARY The type specimen (WM 851.S, skull and post-cranial skeleton) of Plesiosaurus propinquus Tate & Blake, 1876, from the Toarcian (Upper Lias, Lower Jurassic) of Yorkshire, is re-examined. New observations permit a detailed understanding of the cranial anatomy of this specimen and hence its taxonomic affinity. The few differences between Plesiosaurus propinquus and Rhomaleosaurus zetlandicus cannot be considered diagnostic. Consequently, Plesiosaurus propinquus is here assigned to and considered a junior synonym of Rhomaleosaurus zetlandicus . Currently only three valid species of the genus Rhomaleosaurus are known; a complete revision of the specimens formerly attributed to Rhomaleosaurus must now be carried out.


The hottentot seabream Pachymetopon blochii is a small-sized (maximum 2.67 kg) sparid endemic to southern Africa. It is an important target in South Africa's Western Cape traditional linefishery, particularly in the absence of more valuable pelagic species (such as Thyrsites atun and Seriola lalandi). In 2000, South Africa's linefishery was declared to be in a state of emergency, and commercial fishing effort was consequently reduced by 70%. A subsequent increase in stock biomass and intraspecific competition, coupled with environmental changes, were hypothesised to have thereafter altered the growth rate of hottentot, from 2000 to 2010. This study aimed to revise outdated age–growth models for the hottentot by using modern techniques (sectioned otoliths), and to compare age–growth relationships before and after the declared linefish state of emergency. The maximum age observed was 19 years, with no difference in the growth rate between sexes (p = 0.39–0.43) or time-periods (p = 0.96). Although the growth rate did not change, there is evidence that the age structure of the stock changed between time-periods as a result of changes in fishing pressure between 2000 and 2010. The enhanced recent growth model for hottentot, described as Lt = 418.063 (1 – e−0.104(t – [−4.709])) (pooled sexes; n = 206), indicates a considerably slower growth rate for this species than was proposed previously using whole otoliths and has major implications for effective stock management.


Finger millet ( Eleusine coracana  (L.) Gaertn) is an important cereal widely produced in Ethiopia across diverse agro-ecologies. It is valued by local farmers for its ability to grow in adverse agro-climatic conditions, where other cereals fail. The yield potential of this crop is in the range of 4-5 tonnes/ha, but the current national average grain yield is far below the potential (2.1 tonnes). Lack of improve varieties which are stable, high yielder and stress tolerant is a major limiting factor to production of this crop in Ethiopia. A field experiment was conducted using twelve black seeded finger millet ( Eleusine coracana subsp. coracana ) genotypes, including local and standard checks (Degu) at two locations (Bako and Gute) in Ethiopia for three years (2014 - 2016). The objective of this study was to identify stable and high yielding genotypes for grain yield and other agronomic traits among the black seeded finger millet genotypes of Ethiopia. The additive main effect and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) model analysis of variance revealed highly significant (P<0.01) differences between environments, genotype, and Interaction Principal Component Analysis (IPCA-I), but significant variations (P<0.05) for G x E interactions. This indicates that the genotypes performed differently over environments and that the test environments are highly variable. Only the first IPCA-I showed high significance (P<0.01) and contributed 48.39% of the total genotype by environment interaction (G x E). Genotypes BKFM0020, BKFM0006 and BKFM0010, which had high grain yield, but with IPCA value close to zero, indicated the wide adaptability/stability. Similarly, analysis using Eberhart and Russell model revealed that these genotypes were within the relatively acceptable range of regression coefficients (bi), approaching to one (0.742, 0.8176 and 1.0578), and deviation from regression closer to zero (s2di) (0.0385, -0.0661 and -0.0248), respectively. This implied that pipeline genotypes were stable, widely adaptable and high yielders than the other genotypes. Genotype and genotype by environment (GGE bi-plot) analysis also revealed that these candidate genotypes were stable and high yielder. Besides, these genotypes showed resistance to blast disease, which is a threat to finger millet production in the study areas. Therefore, these genotypes were selected as potential candidates for possible release in western Oromia and similar agro-ecologies of the country. Key words: AMMI, blast, Eleusine coracana


Objective:To investigate the surgical approach for the resection of juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma(JNA) under nasal endoscopy. Methods:The clinical data of 87 patients undergoing endoscopic resection of nasopharyngeal fibroangioma were retrospectively analyzed. We classified JNA according to tumor site, size, invasion scope and anatomic position relationship between tumor and midline of pupil. Three endoscopic surgical approaches were selected according to the classification, and the postoperative symptoms, complications and recurrence were investigated and analyzed. Results:The tumor resection rate of 87 cases by nasal endoscopic surgery was 100%. Thirty-five cases were approached through the middle nasal passage(small tumors located in the nasal sinuses and pterygopalatine fossa), forty-five cases were approached through the lateral wall of the nasal cavity(tumor invaded the pterygopalatine fossa but did not exceed the midline of the pupil) , and seven cases were approached via the lateral wall of nasal cavity + ipsilateral anterior wall of maxillary sinus(tumor invaded the infratemporal fossa beyond the midline of pupil or invaded the cavernous sinus and the middle cranial fossa epidural), Postoperative patients with nasal congestion, nasal bleeding, headache, dizziness, vision loss and other symptoms showed varying degrees of improvement. No surgical death or intracranial infection occurred. The postoperative follow-up was 6-78 months, and the recurrence rate was 3.44%. Conclusion:Endoscopic resection of nasopharyngeal fibroangioma is the main treatment method for JNA. Selecting suitable endoscopic approach to resect JNA, To maximize the advantage of nasal endoscopic equipment according to the inherent anatomical space of the human nasal cavity, In order to achieve the purpose of JNA resection, reduce intraoperative and postoperative complications, reduce the recurrence rate and improve the prognosis.


There is few significant attempt to integrate environmental regulation, government financial support, and corporate technological innovation in a methodological framework. Employing the data of the industrial enterprises with an annual turnover of over 20 million yuan from 30 Chinese provinces or municipalities between 2008 and 2016, this paper applies the fixed effect regression model to reveal the relationships between environmental regulation, government financial support, and corporate technological innovation simultaneously. Results show that: (1) there exists a U-shaped relation between environmental regulation intensity and technological innovation of enterprises which declines first and then climbs up, and China is still at the stage of inhibition before the "inflection point". (2) government financial support does not significantly work on technological innovation directly, but environmental regulation drives this effect to be achieved; when the value of lnER is higher than 3.69, government financial support can significantly facilitate corporate technological innovation. (3) the comparison between regional samples reveals that heterogeneity exists in the influence of environmental regulation intensity and government financial support on corporate technological innovation. The threshold value of enabling effects of environmental regulation in eastern region is higher than that of the central and western region. These results remain consistent after we experiment several robustness checks. Theory and policy implications of our work are discussed.


The Holder Formation (Pennsylvanian, Virgilian) of southern New Mexico, USA, consists of limestones interbedded with siliciclastics. It was deposited during times of glacio-eustatic sea-level change and was exposed subaerially during multiple sea-level lowstands. Microcomponents and whole-rock samples of limestones were analysed for δ13C and δ18O values to examine the method of whole-rock isotopic analysis for detecting subaerial exposure events and to determine the diagenetic processes acting during subaerial exposure. Whole-rock isotopic shifts are not consistently present across petrographically identified subaerial exposure surfaces. Apparently, whole-rock isotopic shifts do not result from wholesale replacement of the host sediment during soil formation. However, the isotopic shifts are present in calcareous, soil-precipitated microcomponents, such as rhizoliths, laminated crusts, and soil-precipitated cements. The components are heterogeneous in isotopic composition, but converge on a meteoric calcite line at about δ18O=−5.5‰. These microcomponents are heterogeneous in distribution and may either dominate or be a minor constituent of the whole rock at a single stratigraphic horizon. Without petrographic selection of palaeosol components, the detection of whole-rock isotopic shifts may depend on the selection or chance sampling of a rock containing abundant microcomponents precipitated in a soil environment. Only minor whole-rock isotopic shifts come from those rocks bearing no evidence of exposure and bearing lithological characteristics suggesting subaerial exposure was unlikely.


Developing extensible, robust, and efficient distributed applications is a complex task. In order to help alleviate this complexity, we have developed the ADAPTIVE Service eXecutive (ASX) framework. ASX is an object-oriented framework composed of automated tools and reusable C++ components that simplify the development, configuration, and reconfiguration of distributed applications in a heterogeneous environment. These applications may be configured dynamically to contain multiple network services that execute concurrently in one or more processes or threads. Components in the ASX framework have been ported to UNIX and Windows NT and are currently being used in a number of large-scale production distributed systems. This paper describes our experience gained using the ASX framework to build a highly modular reusable and extensible software architecture for a family of distributed system management applications.


Abstract Solvatochromism and thermochromism of 4-aminophthalimide and 4-amino-N-methylphthalimide were studied by absorption and steady-state and time-resolved emission spectroscopy in solvent mixtures of tolueneethanol and tolueneacetonitrile at different temperatures. Emission spectra shift to the red upon addition of a polar solvent (PS) to toluene. Solvent mixtures show a much greater thermochromic shift to the blue in emission than the neat solvents. This is explained by the decrease in temperature of the exothermic association of the polar solvent to the excited state. Emission spectra are time dependent in solvent mixtures in the ns timescale. The time evolution of this emission is interpreted on the basis of the different solvation of the ground state and the emitting excited state. SternVolmer plots are obtained for the dependence of the spectral-shift characteristic time with [PS].


A key issue for busy education managers is how to design evaluative research to obtain quality and reliable data to enhance fieldwork programme development. This article provides a report of a small study conducted at one university in Australia which aims to explore the satisfaction of field supervisors and students with various aspects of the field education program. The author's main objective was to evaluate the operation of program to improve the day to day experience of the fieldwork program for students and their field supervisors. A secondary aim was to determine if students and field supervisors would engage and participate fully in an online survey approach to the evaluation, for the purposes of eliciting ideas and suggestions for improvement to be implemented by the program co-ordinators. METHOD: Using an online questionnaire built through the Qualtrix software, students and their fieldwork supervisors were asked individually about their experiences of the placement, communication with the University, preparation, and assessment. A low response rate was found, making generalisation across the student and fieldwork educators' cohorts problematic. FINDINGS: The results from participants suggest that the social work field supervisors need more support when supervising a student practicum, due to the changes occurring in their workplaces. Specifically, restructuring in the social services was reported as making it difficult to take on the additional responsibilities encompassed in the fieldwork supervision role. CONCLUSION:  Whilst the feedback from students indicates are they generally pleased with the field supervisors' input, the field supervisors who responded state that they lack the time and resources to provide the requirements of student learning.


In this article, we present the design and realization of an electronically rewritable RF encoding particle (REP) for chipless RFID applications. This (REP) resonator geometry is integrated with two conductive bridging random access memory (CBRAM) based non-volatile RF switches, and could be electronically programmed using DC pulses to any of possible four resonant states to represent two bits of information. Emerging additive manufacturing (AM) technique based thermal transfer printing is utilized for the realization of this resonator on flexible and low cost Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate. At present the size of the REP is such that five such REPs could be arranged on a standard credit card size tag. Also this REP encodes the most number of bits reported among non-volatile electronically rewritable REPs for chipless RFID applications - 2 bits, till date.


There are limited data regarding the correlation of clinical and pathologic parameters with mismatch repair (MMR) protein-deficient subgroups and methylation status. In this study, we analyzed the status of MMR proteins in resection specimens of 198 consecutive endometrial carcinomas and the methylation status in tumors with MLH1 and PMS2 deficiency. We, therefore, assessed the correlation of clinical and pathologic parameters with MMR protein-deficient subgroups. Univariate analysis revealed that deeper myometrial invasion and the presence of tumor-associated lymphocytes were more frequently observed in tumors with MMR protein deficiency (P=0.023 and 0.001, respectively). The multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that only the presence of tumor-associated lymphocytes was significantly associated with MMR protein deficiency (P=0.002, odds ratio=2.674, 95% confidence interval=1.418–5.045). We also compared MLH1 and PMS2 deficiency with other protein deficiency regarding clinical and pathologic parameters. Furthermore, we compared MLH1 methylated tumors with MMR protein-deficient nonmethylated tumors regarding clinical and pathologic parameters. MLH1 was methylated in 51 of 54 tumors with MLH1 and PMS2 deficiency. In univariate analysis, a larger tumor size was significantly associated with MLH1 and PMS2 deficiency and with MLH1 methylation (P=0.004 and 0.005, respectively). The multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that a larger tumor size was significantly associated with MLH1 and PMS2 deficiency and MLH1 methylation (P=0.002, odds ratio=14.222, 95% confidence interval=2.560–79.026, P=0.008, odds ratio=22.222, 95% confidence interval=2.220–222.395, respectively). Our results showed a slightly higher rate of MLH1 and PMS2 deficiency (34.3%) than in previous studies. This may likely be due to ethnic differences in frequency of various mutations.


The cyclization reaction of the photochromic diarylethene derivative 1,2-bis(2,4-dimethyl-5-phenyl-3-thienyl)perfluorocyclopentene was studied in its single crystal phase with femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. The transient absorption measurements were performed with a robust acquisition scheme that explicitly exploits the photoreversibility of the molecular system and monitors the reversibility conditions. The crystalline system demonstrated 3 × 10(4) repeatable cycles before significant degradation was observed. Immediately following photoexcitation, the excited state absorption associated with the open-ring conformation undergoes a large spectral shift with a time constant of approximately 200 fs. Following this evolution on the excited state potential energy surface, the ring closure occurs with a time constant of 5.3 ps, which is significantly slower than previously reported measurements for similar derivatives in the solution phase. Time resolved electron diffraction studies were used to further demonstrate the assignment of the transient absorption dynamics to the ring closing reaction. The mechanistic details of the ring closing are discussed in the context of prior computational work along with a vibrational mode analysis using density functional theory to give some insight into the primary motions involved in the ring closing reaction.


Psalm 35 appears to be one of the scariest Psalms because of the various expressions of hate and the Psalmist invoking wrath and death on his enemies. In the Western context, it is not one of the favourites of the Psalms. However, in a Yoruba context, Psalm 35 is one of the favourites because of its use for purposes of defence, victory, and protection. The purpose of this article is to discuss how Psalm 35 is used in a Yoruba context to meet the peculiar need of Yoruba people against enemies. Although there are similarities and differences between Psalm 35 and Yoruba ofo oro ogede, the similarities actually influence Yoruba Christians and non-Christians to use Psalm 35 like ofo or madarikan, orogede with a firm belief that it contains a more mysterious power from God than the Yoruba ofo, ogede and madarikan. Psalm 35 is, therefore, read, memorized, chanted, sung or inscribed in parchment to express the African faith, and their personal origin from God. Psalm 35 is also read in order to motivate God to perform a miracle as he has done originally with the people of ancient Israel.
https://doi.org/10.17159/2312-3621/2019/v32n3a9