In our study, we introduce modifications in hard K-means algorithm such that algorithm can be used for clustering data with categorical attributes. To use the algorithm for categorical data, modifications in distance and prototype calculation are proposed. To use the algorithm on numerical attribute values, mean is calculated to represent centre, and euclidean distance is used to calculate distance. Whereas, to use it on categorical attribute values, proportional representation of all the categorical values (probability) is used to represent center, and proportional weight difference is used as distance measure. For mixed data, we used discretization on numerical attributes to convert these attribute in categorical attribute. And algorithm used for categorical attributes is used. Other modifications use the combined fundamentals from rough set theory, fuzzy sets and possibilistic membership incorporated in k-means algorithm for numeric value only data. Same modifications are applied on the algorithm developed for categorical, and mixed attribute data. Approximation concept from rough set theory deals with uncertainty, vagueness, and incompleteness. Fuzzy membership allows dealing with efficient handling of overlapping clusters. Possibi1istic approach simply uses the membership value of data point in a cluster that represents the typicality of the point in the cluster, or the possibility of the point belonging to the cluster. Noise points or outliers are less typical; hence typicality-based (possibilistic) memberships reduce the effect of noise points and outliers. To verify the performance of algorithms DB index and objective function values are used.


In general, numerical results computed by interval methods tend to grow in diameters as a result of data dependencies and cluster effects which may be traced to error from one source that can affect every other source and thereby drastically lower the efficiency of the interval inclusion methods. We describe in this paper how this can be reduced and an attempt is made to address the above problems subject to tolerable solution sets. Basic computational tools at our disposal are the Oettli-Prager's theorem and Rohn's method which combine floating point operation with an interval method. Keywords : linear interval systems of equations, hull of solution set of linear interval systems, Oettli-Prager theorem, Bauer-Skeel bounds


It is necessary for a person to comply with the expectations of society and the rules of law to which these expectations are secured. Offenders turn back to the community after the penalty was executed by isolating from society and some occupations. An occupational imbalance is seen in the individuals, during this penalty period and afterward, because of limited occupational participation. As an occupational being, this affects their physical, mental and psychological well-being. Imprisonment is an important practice in criminal law to punish criminals. This may be necessary for the protection of society from criminals, but successful integration into a community after exiting the prison is the most important factor in preventing recidivism. Occupational therapy focuses on health and well-being by using meaningful and purposeful occupations. Occupation involves any activity that people perform or participate in, such as giving care to themselves or others, working, learning, playing games, and interacting with others. From this perspective, the role of occupational therapists in forensic settings is to determine the abilities of these individuals to congregate their deprived freedoms and use them to train them for an independent and autonomous life; to provide a professional orientation, career counseling, and self-esteem; to gain some habits for physical, spiritual and moral life and to reinforce.


The variable circinate erythrokeratodermas comprise a rare group of genodermatoses having as their distinctive feature variable erythematous elements which take on bizarre shapes and are markedly influenced by environmental conditions. This is the report of a boy with features of this syndrome and a review of the literature. Erythrokeratoderma variabilis is the most frequently observed form, but other variants have been described which has led to confusion in nomenclature and classification. On present evidence a provisional grouping of these disorders seems indicated despite the fact that a consistent genetic pattern has not yet been observed. As more cases are recognized and pedigrees studied, the exact nosology of these unusual dermatoses may be clarified.


Abstract Purpose: To investigate the distribution of co-activation patterns of the recently identified ventral visual areas FG1 and FG2 of the posterior fusiform gyrus using the novel meta-analytic approach PaMiNI (Pattern Mining in NeuroImaging). Materials and Methods: All neuroimaging experiments reporting activation foci within FG1 or FG2 were retrieved from the BrainMap database. The stereotaxic activation foci in standard reference space were analyzed with PaMiNI. Here, Gaussian mixture modeling was applied to the stereotaxic coordinates of all foci to identify the underlying brain regions of each dataset. Then, association analysis was performed to reveal frequent co-activations across the modeled brain regions. Results: Co-activation patterns of FG1 were mainly found within the visual system, i. e. in early visual areas, and were symmetrically distributed across both hemispheres. FG2 features several extra-visual co-activations, mainly to inferior frontal, premotor and parietal regions. Furthermore, the co-activations of FG2 showed clear lateralization to the left FG2. Conclusion: FG1 shows characteristics of an intermediate visual area between the early ventral visual cortex and the category-specific higher-order areas. Co-activation patterns of FG2 indicate that FG2 is a higher-order visual area that probably corresponds to the posterior fusiform face area and partly the visual word-form area. Key points • Co-activation patterns of areas FG1 and FG2 were analyzed with PaMiNI. • FG1 features mainly symmetric co-activations to areas of the visual system. • FG2 shows several extra-visual co-activations, which are left-lateralized. • FG1 corresponds to a hierarchically intermediate, FG2 to a higher-order visual area. • The PaMiNI approach is extended to seed-specific mapping of co-activation patterns. Citation Format: • Caspers J, Eickhoff SB, Amunts K et al. PaMiNI-Derived Co-Activation Patterns Indicate Differential Hierarchical Levels for Two Ventral Visual Areas of the Fusiform Gyrus. Fortschr Röntgenstr 2015; 187: 892 – 898


Sunghye Cho, University of Pennsylvania There is an ongoing debate about the nature of pitch accents. Even in Tokyo Japanese (TJ), which is the most widely cited pitch-accent language, the pitch accent is analyzed in two distinct ways: an accentual approach and a tonal one ([2, 3, 4, 7], among others). In the accentual approach (1a), an accent marks the position of a pitch drop from High (H) to Low (L), whereas in the tonal approach (1b), tones are directly aligned with morae without the notion of accent. (In (1), accented syllables are marked with an acute diacritic and H tones are represented with capital letters. 'edge-NOM' is accentless due to lack of a pitch drop.)


The work presented here investigates proposed impact angle control guidance laws with terminal acceleration constraints for a stationary or slowly moving target. These laws, called time-to-go polynomial guidance (TPG), assume the guidance command as a polynomial function of time-to-go and determine the coefficients of the guidance command to satisfy the specified terminal constraints. The closed-form trajectory solutions of the guidance command and the target look angle for lag-free systems are derived and their characteristics are investigated. Based on the results we propose a systematic method to find the guidance gains that satisfy practical limits, such as the actuator's command limit and the seeker's field-of-view (FOV) limit. A time-to-go estimation method is also discussed for implementing TPG. Nonlinear and adjoint simulations are performed to investigate the performance of TPG.


Background: Oral hygiene status can be seen from the plaque index contained in the mouth. Children aged 6-12 years are school age, they can be taught about oral health care independently. The research objective was to obtain data about description of the differences in plaque index between normal and autistic children aged 6-12 years in Yayasan Autisme Ourdream, Lembaga Pendidikan Autisme Prananda, and SDN Banjarsari in the Bandung city. Materials and Methods: This study was a descriptive analytic. The population was all the students at SDN Banjarsari and autistic children aged 6-12 years in both the foundation. Samplings were collected by simple random sampling, the number of samples obtained normal and autistic children each were 21 persons. Clinical examinations for plaque index using Patient Hygiene Performance (PHP) index of Podshadley and Halley. The data were analyzed with independent t-test. Results: The results showed an average of plaque index normal and autistic children aged 6-12 years was 2.06 with a standard deviation of 0.573 and 3.23 with a standard deviation of 0.473. C onclusion: The conclusions showed that there were significant differences in plaque index between normal and autistic children, these values are equally moderate category by Patient Hygiene Performance (PHP) index of Podshadley and Halley.


Of the two main political devices of imperialist rule, race was discovered in South Africa and bureaucracy in Algeria, Egypt and India; the former was originally the hardly conscious reaction to tribes of whose humanity European man was ashamed and frightened, whereas the latter was a consequence of that administration by which Europeans had tried to rule foreign peoples whom they felt at the same time to be hopelessly their inferiors and in need of their special protection. Race, in other words, was an escape into an irresponsibility where nothing human could any longer exist and bureaucracy was the result of a responsibility that no man can bear for his fellow man and no people for another people.


This paper proposes a blockchain-based energy trading platform for electric vehicles in smart campus parking lots. Smart parking lots are smart places capable of supporting both parking and charging services for electric vehicles. The electric vehicle owner may want to charge energy at a low price and sell it during peak hours at a higher price. The proposed system architecture consists of two layers: the physical infrastructure layer and the cyber infrastructure layer. The physical infrastructure layer represents all of the physical components located in the campus distribution power system, such as electric vehicles charging stations, transformers, and electric feeders, while the cyber infrastructure layer supports the operation of the physical infrastructure layer and enables selling/buying energy among participants. Blockchain technology is a promising candidate to facilitate auditability and traceability of energy transactions among participants. A real case of a parking lot with a realistic parking pattern in a university campus is considered. The system consists of a university control center and various parking lot local controllers (PLLCs). The PLLC broadcasts the electricity demand and the grid price, and each electric vehicle owner decides whether to charge/discharge based on their benefits. The proposed system is implemented on Hyperledger Fabric. Participants, assets, transactions, and smart contracts are defined and discussed. Two scenarios are considered. The first scenario represents energy trading between electric vehicles as sellers and the PLLC as a buyer, while the second scenario involves energy trading between electric vehicles as buyers and the PLLC as a seller. The proposed platform provides profits for participants, as well as enables balancing for the university load demand locally.


Sulfur radicals terminally bound to the metal center can be considered as the one-electron reduction products of complexes with terminal sulfido ligands which serve as the reactive sites in enzymes and precursors. However, there is limited information regarding this kind of metal stabilized sulfur radical, which contrasts the more commonly known metal stabilized thiyl radical. In this work, we report the preparation of vanadium, niobium and tantalum radical complexes in the form of M(O)(S)F2 from the reactions of laser-ablated metal atoms and SOF2 in cryogenic matrixes. Combined with the results from infrared spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations, the sulfur ligand in M(O)(S)F2 is characterized to be a terminally bound radical with the unpaired electron located on the sulfur 3p orbital. Besides this radical complex, calculations also predict the existence of MF2(η2-SO) with a side-on SO ligand, but this less stable isomer is not observed as a result of high exothermicity along with its formation from metal atoms and SOF2 that is large enough to overcome the energy barrier towards the occurrence of M(O)(S)F2.


This study analyzes methods of comparing SEA model results with experimental results for key traits. These qualitative traits provide the basis for correlation of model results with experimental results through the development of a comparison index. This paper formulates a comparison index and illustrates the application to SEA models. A customized data structure was designed around the comparison index to store all necessary aspects of the modeling, experiment and comparison results. This data structure was then implemented using relational database software. These new tools; the comparison index and the SEA database, will create a common language and a forum for SEA model results that will aid and stimulate dialog in the SEA modeling community and in tern, advance the science of SEA modeling.


This article describes the disinfection by-product (DBP) characterization portion of a series of experiments designed for comprehensive chemical and toxicological evaluation of two drinking-water concentrates containing highly complex mixtures of DBPs. This project, called the Four Lab Study, involved the participation of scientists from four laboratories and centers of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Research and Development, along with collaborators from the water industry and academia, and addressed toxicologic effects of complex DBP mixtures, with an emphasis on reproductive and developmental effects that are associated with DBP exposures in epidemiologic studies. Complex mixtures of DBPs from two different disinfection schemes (chlorination and ozonation/postchlorination) were concentrated successfully, while maintaining a water matrix suitable for animal studies. An array of chlorinated/brominated/iodinated DBPs was created. The DBPs were relatively stable over the course of the animal experiments, and a significant portion of the halogenated DBPs formed in the drinking water was accounted for through a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative identification approach. DBPs quantified included priority DBPs that are not regulated but have been predicted to produce adverse health effects, as well as those currently regulated in the United States and those targeted during implementation of the Information Collection Rule. New by-products were also reported for the first time. These included previously undetected and unreported bromo- and chloroacids, iodinated compounds, bromo- and iodophenols, and bromoalkyltins.


In this paper, we propose an algorithm to improve the performance of speaker identification systems. A baseline speaker identification system uses a scoring of a test utterance against all speakers' models; this could be termed as an evaluation at the observation level. In the proposed approach, and prior to the standard evaluation phase, an algorithm based on a frame level evaluation is applied. The speaker identification study is conducted using IVIE corpus and a randomly selected 120 speakers from TIMIT. Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC) and Gaussian mixture model (GMM) are the main components in state of the art speaker identification systems and will be adopted in this work. Experimental results based on several systems with different training and testing conditions, showed that our proposed algorithm yielded to relative reduction in error rates of 24.4 and 37.3% over the baseline systems respectively for IVIE and TIMIT. The final performances reached measured by identification error rates are 3.4% and 5.2% for IVIE and TIMIT corp uses.


This report summarizes the main results of a survey completed by every dietitian employed by the National Health Service in Scotland on October 31, 1983. There are currently no norms or standards for dietetic services in the United Kingdom, but these results present an opportunity for comparison among health boards. Staffing is compared with 1977 figures and time spent in different activities is shown.


A 72-year-old woman had experienced palpitation and fatigue during exertion for two months and was referred to our hospital from her nearby hospital. On physical examination, a systolic murmur was heard in the left fourth intercostal space. A chest X-ray film showed cardiac enlargement (CTR 64%). An ECG showed elevated P waves in leads II, III. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed a large oval heterogeneous mass in the right atrium. Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) revealed the right atrial mass clearly, which was attached to the atrial septum with a short wide stalk. This mass prolapsed from the right atrium into the right ventricle in diastole. And there were some cysts in the homogeneous high-echoic lesion. The chest CT and MRI also showed the mass in the right atrium. However, these images were not clear. Surgical excision of the mass was undertaken. A solid mass measuring 75 x 50 x 45 mm was attached to the fossa ovalis with a wide short stalk. There were several cysts in the mass. Pathological examination showed myxomatous tissue. In this case, TEE was the most valuable means for evaluation of the right atrial mass.


TOPIC
This paper provides an overview of occupational therapy in the context of psychiatric rehabilitation and mental health recovery.

PURPOSE
The paper delineates practical aspects of occupational therapy's involvement in the mental health field with a discussion of occupation and the elements of conceptual models that guide the practice of occupational therapy.

SOURCES USED
CINAHL, Psych Info, Medline.

CONCLUSION
Occupational therapy is a key discipline in the field of psychiatric rehabilitation and brings to the field a strong theoretical and knowledge base along with unique procedures and practices. It is important for the psychiatric rehabilitation field to learn from all disciplines, including occupational therapy.


During the past twenty years, cyclodextrins (CDs) have proven to be very effective in aqueous biphasic catalysis. They could act as molecular receptors for numerous organic substrates and favour their conversion at the aqueous/organic interface. Recently, new applications have been found for CDs in aqueous catalysis. CDs can now be defined as polyfunctional entities between the substrate-containing phase and the catalyst-containing phase. In this paper, we highlight the latest breakthroughs in the use of CDs in catalysis through several examples from the literature.


This paper discusses some environmental challenges confronting humanity over the next fifty years by considering conditions that have emerged over the previous fifty years in one of the world's 'megacities'. Problems of homelessness & poor social housing conditions, 'visual pollution' and urban water, are linked through a case study about the City of Sao Paulo. From the combined perspective of philosophy, the arts, design and engineering, the paper seeks to explain how such diverse disciplinary concerns can be unified through urban design and address a situation that is well beyond what has been called 'the critical point'. Some approaches to urban design are recommended that provide typologies of products and processes to address such challenges.


We present publicly available COPAL-ID, a novel Indonesian language common sense reasoning dataset. Unlike the previous Indonesian COPA dataset (XCOPA-ID), COPAL-ID incorporates Indonesian local and cultural nuances, and therefore, provides a more natural portrayal of day-to-day causal reasoning within the Indonesian cultural sphere. Professionally written by natives from scratch, COPAL-ID is more fluent and free from awkward phrases, unlike the translated XCOPA-ID. In addition, we present COPAL-ID in both standard Indonesian and in Jakartan Indonesian--a dialect commonly used in daily conversation. COPAL-ID poses a greater challenge for existing open-sourced and closed state-of-the-art multilingual language models, yet is trivially easy for humans. Our findings suggest that even the current best open-source, multilingual model struggles to perform well, achieving 65.47% accuracy on COPAL-ID, significantly lower than on the culturally-devoid XCOPA-ID (79.40%). Despite GPT-4's impressive score, it suffers the same performance degradation compared to its XCOPA-ID score, and it still falls short of human performance. This shows that these language models are still way behind in comprehending the local nuances of Indonesian.


Trapped-ion systems are among the most promising hardware candidates for large scale quantum computing and quantum simulation. In order to scale up such devices, it is necessary to engineer extreme-high vacuum (XHV) environments to prevent background gas from disrupting the ion crystal. Here we present a new cryogenic ion trapping system designed for long time storage of large ion chains. Our apparatus is based on a segmented-blade ion trap enclosed in a 4 K cryostat, which enables us to routinely trap and hold over 100 171Yb+ ions for hours in a linear configuration, due to low background gas pressure from differential cryo-pumping. We characterize the XHV cryogenic environment measuring pressures below 10 − 11 Torr by recording both inelastic and elastic collisions between the ion chain and the molecular background gas. We also demonstrate coherent one and two-qubit operations and nearly equidistant ion spacing for chains of up to 44 ions using anharmonic axial potentials, in order to enable better detection and single ion addressing in large ion arrays. We anticipate that this reliable production and lifetime enhancement of large linear ion chains will enable quantum simulation of models that are intractable with classical computer modeling.


In recent years there have been numerous reviews and articles describing the distribution of a group of molecules know as the trefoil peptides or trefoil family factors (TFFs). In mammals, the family is represented by three members, pS2/TFF1, hSP/TFF2, and ITF/TFF3.1 They are characterised by possession of the TFF motif, a three looped structure held tightly together by disulphide bonds based on six cysteine residues—one such motif in pS2/TFF1 and ITF/TFF3, and two in hSP/TFF2. These molecules are found in the mammalian gastrointestinal tract in more or less defined sites—for example, pS2/TFF1 is located mainly in the foveolar cells of the gastric mucosa, hSP/TFF2 is seen in mucous neck cells, deep pyloric glands, and Brunner's glands, while ITF/TFF3 is expressed predominately in the goblet cells of the small and large intestine. In abnormal situations, as in the ulcer associated cell lineage (UACL) in Crohn's disease, or in the epithelium seen migrating over the surface of healing peptic ulcers, all three TFFs can be expressed.2 Indeed, there is evidence for coordinated expression of TFFs, at least in transfected cell lines.3

Experiments in polarised epithelial monolayers in vitro show that TFFs promote cell migration and are therefore thought to promote epithelial restitution after damage.4 5 Mice over expressing pS2/TFF1 in the small intestine are more resistant to induced damage6 whereas mice in which ITF/TFF3 has been knocked out by gene targeting show reduced resistance.7 When the pS2/TFF1 gene was deleted, mice showed pronounced gastric and small intestinal mucosal inflammation, with the development of adenomas and occasional intramucosal carcinomas in the antrum.8

But there is no general agreement about the mode of action of …


Exposure of endothelial cells to hypoxia-induced angiopoietin-2 (Ang2) expression. The increase in Ang2 mRNA levels occurred by transcriptional regulation and by post-transcriptional increase in mRNA stability. Induction of Ang2 mRNA resulted in an increase of intracellular and secreted Ang2 protein levels. Since the transcriptional regulation of several genes involved in angiogenesis during hypoxia is mediated by hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1), it was conceivable that Ang2 expression might be regulated by the same oxygen-dependent mechanism. However, our data showed that pharmacological HIF inducers, CoCl2 and DFO, did not affect Ang2 expression. Moreover, HIF-1-deficient hepatoma cell (Hepa1 c4) and its wild-type counterpart (Hepa1 c1c4) up-regulates Ang2 during hypoxia. These results indicated that hypoxia-driven Ang2 expression may be independent of the HIF pathway. Using neutralizing VEGF antibody or pharmacological inhibitors of VEGF receptors, we showed that hypoxia-induced VEGF participates but could not account completely for Ang2 expression during hypoxia. In addition, hypoxia elicited an increase of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression and a parallel increase in prostanglandin E2 (PGE2) and prostacyclin (PGI2) production. COX-2 inhibitors decreased the hypoxic induction of Ang2 and the hypoxic induction of PGE2 and PGI2 in a dose-dependent manner. Similarly, COX-2 but not COX-1 antisense treatment decreased hypoxic induction of Ang2 expression, and this effect was reversed by exogenous PGE2. Finally, exogenous PGE2 and PGI2 were able to stimulate Ang2 under normoxic conditions. These findings suggest that COX-2-dependent prostanoids may play an important role in the regulation of hypoxia-induced Ang2 expression.


The article presents the results of investigations referring to self-ignition delay angle determined experimentally and through simulations. It was done using charged agricultural Perkins 1104C-E44T engine powered by pure diesel fuel (ON) and fuel mixtures, such as: diesel fuel with 10% camelina oil ester additive (L10) and diesel fuel with 15% camelina oil ester additive (L15). Camelina oil ester was used to show that it can also be used as an additive plant to diesel fuel (according to the plans of the European Union). Similarly to on a large scale used ester of rapeseed oil. The main aim of the above mentioned research was to show the influence of the fuels on the change of self-ignition delay angle for different rotational velocity conditions of the engine and for maximum volumetric dose of ignited fuel. The research was performed using a dynamometer test stand equipped with measurement system of fast-changeable needle lift of injector and the pressures of working substance. Before starting the investigations, selected physicochemical properties of researched fuels were determined that significantly influence that parameter of the combustion process. At the end of the article the conclusion of experiments and simulations results referring to self-ignition delay angle are analysed.


We seek progress in an area of active learning by framing it as a search problem in alternative spaces. In active learning, samples are added selectively to the training set based on criteria that measure value. This measure is difficult to make explicit but quantifying the effect of a new sample on the search space is a path to achieving such. The direct outcome is quantifying the information content of samples but there is an important secondary outcome—an independent framework for characterizing classification algorithms.
There are two overarching ideas in our approach. First, the set of consistent learners (in terms of samples thus far labeled) can be characterized via isomorphic, i.e., dual spaces—feature space into which the samples are mapped by an algorithm-dependent function and version space, the set of all consistent classifiers. The second idea is that an additional, consistent sample removes a contiguous convex region from either space. Three research tasks are proposed: (i) development of a version space volume estimator, (ii) development of similar metrics directly on the feature space (the dimensions induced by a search algorithm dependent mapping), and (iii) investigate class-dependent transformations of the feature space within which the developed metrics are more effective.
Estimating the version space volume is an intense research issue. Similar ends, i.e., the effect of a new sample on the version space, have been approached by estimating the space centroid. Support vector machines have been engaged for centroid estimation as well as a task-specific method known as the analytic center machine. In contrast to centroid approaches, working both within and between duals of the version space, we explore several methods to estimate the volume of the space bounding all consistent solutions. For instance, while difficult to compute directly, an optimal bounding ellipsoid, we have found, provides a reasonable estimate, if not of the volume then of the impact that each sample has on the volume. For the feature space, we propose to use an existing formulation, support vector data description or SVDD. It is inspired in part by observing that the Bayes optimal classifier for a one class classifier (OCC) has an ellipsoid footprint and in part by the fact that the set of feature values that define consistent SVMs are ellipsoids.


A survey of phytoplankton and littoral epilithic diatom communities was carried out on 16 high mountain lakes in the AdamelloBrenta Regional Park (NE Italy) as part of a wider research project aimed to the limnological characterisation of the seldom-studied lakes in this Alpine Region. The regional study was supplemented by the analysis of seasonal variations in two representative lakes. The principal goals of this paper are 1) to identify the most important environmental variables regulating patterns in the species composition of both phytoplankton and littoral diatoms, 2) to evaluate whether these algal communities can be used to improve trophic classification and 3) whether they can facilitate monitoring of diffuse human impacts (e.g. airborne pollution) on high altitude lakes. The relevance to monitoring is based on the acid sensitivity of all lakes studied, as indicated by the very low average alkalinity values (4-97 µeq l -1 ) recorded during the investigation period. Chlorophyll-a concentrations and phytoplankton biovolume recorded in the lakes were very low, with maxima in the deep-water layers and in late summer. Phytoplankton communities were dominated by flagellated algae (Chrysophyceae and Dinophyceae). Several coccal green algae were present, while planktonic diatoms were almost completely absent. Littoral diatom communities were dominated by alpine and acidophilous taxa (mainly belonging to the genera Achnanthes and Eunotia). Trophic classification based on phytoplankton and littoral diatoms, respectively, ascribed all lakes to the oligotrophic range. In both algal communities species indicative of acidified conditions were found. Multivariate analyses indicated that both the regional distribution and seasonal variation of phytoplankton are mainly driven by nutrient concentration. Diatoms are predominantly affected by geochemical characteristics including pH and mineralization level.


In this study, a new P300 extraction method is investigated by using a form of constrained independent component analysis (cICA) algorithm called one-unit ICA-with-reference (ICA-R) which extracts the P300 signal based on its temporal information. The main advantage of this method compared to the existing ICA-based method is that the desired P300 signal is extracted directly without requiring partial or full signal decomposition and any post-processing on the outcome of the ICA before the P300 signal can be obtained. Since only one IC is extracted, the method is computationally more efficient for real-time P300 BCI applications. In our study, when tested on the BCI competition 2003 dataset IIb, the current state-of-the-art performance is maintained by using the one-unit ICA-R. Besides that, the ability of the method to visualize P300 signals at the single-trial level also suggests it has potential applications in other types of ERP studies.


An Introduction, an Overview, and Some Reminders A Review of the Correlation Coefficient and Its Properties Testing Correlations for Statistical Significance Applications of Pearson Correlation to Measurement Theory Range Restriction 'Simple' Two-Variable Regression Three Applications of Bivariate Regression Utility Analysis, Regression to the Mean, Partial Correlation Multiple (Mostly Trivariate) Regression Expanding the Regression Repertoire Polynomial and Interaction Terms More about Regression, and Beyond


Author(s): Kim, Minjeong | Advisor(s): Weiss, Sandra | Abstract: Statement of the Problem: Korean American adolescents are a population that may be particularly vulnerable to mental health problems because of the potential cultural conflicts they face during an important developmental period. Yet little is known about their mental health problems or their risk and protective factors. The purposes of this study were to examine 1) the prevalence of various mental health problems among Korean American adolescents; 2) the degree to which acculturation, close friendship quality, and personality traits are associated with their mental health problems; and 3) whether personality traits moderate any effect of acculturation and close friendship quality on their problems.Methods and Procedures: This cross-sectional study included 138 Korean American adolescents from community settings in California. A demographic questionnaire, the Stephenson Multigroup Acculturation Scale, the Relationship Quality Questionnaire, the NEO Five-Factor Inventory-3, and the Youth Self Report were completed by adolescents. Descriptive analyses and hierarchical regression analyses were used to examine the aims.Findings: Results indicate that 18% of the Korean American adolescents experienced clinically significant mental health problems. Most problems were of the internalizing type such as anxiety and depression where almost 23% of the youth reached the cutoff for clinical significance. Personality traits of neuroticism (sensitivity/emotional instability) and less agreeableness (difficulty getting along with others) were significant predictors of more mental health problems, whereas acculturation and close friendship quality were not significant predictors. Two personality traits moderated the effects of acculturation and close friendship on mental health. For adolescents who valued new and diverse experience (openness), greater acculturation was a protective factor for their mental health. For adolescents who had difficulty getting along with others (less agreeable), an emotionally supportive friendship reduced the likelihood of mental health problems. Findings indicate the need to examine effects of acculturation and close relationships on specific mental health problems, especially depression, among subgroups of Korean youth with particular personality traits. Results also suggest the need for depression and anxiety screening as part of health care for Korean American youth. In addition, assessment of their personality traits should be considered as important risk factors for mental health problems.


Aerial bulbils are an important propagative organ, playing an important role in population expansion. However, the detailed gene regulatory patterns and molecular mechanism underlying bulbil formation remain unclear. Triploid Lilium lancifolium, which develops many aerial bulbils on the leaf axils of middle-upper stem, is a useful species for investigating bulbil formation. To investigate the mechanism of bulbil formation in triploid L. lancifolium, we performed histological and transcriptomic analyses using samples of leaf axils located in the upper and lower stem of triploid L. lancifolium during bulbil formation. Histological results indicated that the bulbils of triploid L. lancifolium are derived from axillary meristems that initiate de novo from cells on the adaxial side of the petiole base. Transcriptomic analysis generated ~650 million high-quality reads and 11,871 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Functional analysis showed that the DEGs were significantly enriched in starch and sucrose metabolism and plant hormone signal transduction. Starch synthesis and accumulation likely promoted the initiation of upper bulbils in triploid L. lancifolium. Hormone-associated pathways exhibited distinct patterns of change in each sample. Auxin likely promoted the initiation of bulbils and then inhibited further bulbil formation. High biosynthesis and low degradation of cytokinin might have led to bulbil formation in the upper leaf axil. The present study achieved a global transcriptomic analysis focused on gene expression changes and pathways' enrichment during upper bulbil formation in triploid L. lancifolium, laying a solid foundation for future molecular studies on bulbil formation.


BACKGROUND: The evidence regarding perioperative adjuvant chemotherapy and personalized surveillance strategies for upper tract urothelial carcinoma is limited. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether adjuvant gemcitabine containing chemotherapy affects the oncological outcomes of advanced upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). METHODS: The CROES-UTUC registry is an observational, international, multi-center study on patients diagnosed with UTUC. Patient and disease characteristics from 2380 patients with UTUC were collected, and finally 738 patients were included in this analysis. The primary outcome of this study was recurrence-free survival. Propensity score matching was performed. Kaplan-Meier and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed by stratifying patients according to the treatment of adjuvant chemotherapy. RESULTS: A total of 738 patients were included in this analysis, and 59 patients received adjuvant chemotherapy (AC), including 50 patients who received gemcitabine. A propensity score matching was performed, including 50 patients who received gemcitabine containing treatment and 50 patients without adjuvant chemotherapy. Disease recurrence occurred in 34.0% of patients. The recurrence rate in the AC group was 22.0%, which was significantly lower than the non-AC group (46.0%). Kaplan-Meier analyses also showed that AC was associated with a lower likelihood of tumor recurrence (p = 0.047). However, AC was not significantly associated with a higher overall survival (OS) (p = 0.908) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) (p = 0.979). Upon multivariate Cox regression analysis, AC was associated with a lower risk of tumor recurrence (HR = 0.297, p = 0.028). CONCLUSION: The present study confirms that adjuvant gemcitabine containing chemotherapy could decrease the risk of tumor recurrence in patients with locally advanced UTUC following nephroureterectomy. However, more studies are need to draw a clearer image of the value of this treatment method.


Ten cases of "undifferentiated" large-cell tumors were ultrastructurally characterized by cells with abundant filiform cytoplasmic projections without intercellular junctions. These cases were studied by means of the avidinbiotin- peroxidase complex (ABC) technique applied to formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections using antibodies against high- and low-molecular weight keratins (Ker), vimentin (Vi), epithelial membrane antigen (EMA), S-100 protein, leucocyte common antigen (LCA), kappa (K) and lambda (L) light chains, Leu-Ml, lysozyme (Ly), alpha-1 antitrypsin (A1AT) and alpha-1 antichymotrypsin (A1ACT). All 10 cases were negative for Ker and EMA but positive for Vi. S-100 was present only in scattered dendritic cells. LCA was identified in seven cases. In the three LCA-negative cases, two stained for Leu-Ml, and one of these also showed intracytoplasmic L; one was negative for all markers but Vi. None of the tumors showed any significant staining for Ly, A1AT, or A1ACT. Our findings indicate that these tumors are nonepithelial and nonneuroectodermal, and that they are best classified as non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. The possibility that some of the filiform largecell lymphomas may be derived from dendritic reticular cells cannot be excluded


The possibility of profitable cooperation between dairy cattle populations depends on several factors. Among these factors is the similarity of breeding goals, for example, as measured by the correlations between selection indices. Correlations between selection indices less than unity can usually be explained by differences in economic values, trait definitions, national genetic evaluation procedures, and genotype x environment interactions. The objective of this study was to test whether uniform definitions of the female fertility traits would increase the exchange of genes across populations, and to quantify the effect on genetic gain. A second objective was to test whether a more similar relative weighting of the index traits across populations would increase the exchange of genes across populations, and to quantify the effect on genetic gain. This was done in a stochastic simulation study of the Nordic and US Holstein populations. Uniform definitions of the female fertility traits did not increase total genetic gain in the Nordic Holstein population. The standardization did not seem to affect selection across populations either. However, the results were sensitive to the assumptions made in the simulation study, especially the genetic correlations between traits. A more similar relative weighting of the index traits across populations did not change total genetic gain in the Nordic Holstein population. The possibility of exchanging genetic material with the US Holstein population led to significantly higher progress in the aggregate genotype in the Nordic Holstein population compared with a situation in which exchange was not possible. Hence, importation of US Holstein genetics for use in the Nordic Holstein population is recommended. In addition, results indicated that population size is of greater importance than differences in trait definitions and relative weighting of the index traits for the advantage of exchanging genetic material between the Nordic and the US Holstein populations. The possibility of exchanging genetic material with the Nordic Holstein population did not change progress in the aggregate genotype in the US Holstein population compared with a situation in which exchange was not possible, but it tended to result in lower genetic progress in protein yield and greater genetic progress or smaller genetic declines in the functional traits. Thus, importation of genetic material from Nordic Holsteins may slow down the deterioration of animal health and reproduction in US Holsteins.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to inform the preparation of HRD professionals by providing an empirical analysis of the knowledge, skills, and responsibilities employers expect in the workplace.

Design/methodology/approach
This study reports a qualitative content analysis of online HRD job postings.

Findings
Results of this content analysis indicated that the most recent employer expectations for HRD practitioners as reflected in HRD-related job postings for knowledge and responsibilities were instructional design, training delivery, learning management systems, and learning technologies. The outcomes reinforced that employers specifically expect education technology-based knowledge and skills.

Research limitations/implications
The job postings included in the study were all collected from one source, the Association for Talent Development job site.

Practical implications
Educational programs can use these findings to inform curricular decisions related to knowledge and skills to be taught and practiced during the preparation of L&D practitioners and HRD professionals.

Originality/value
This paper analyzes online HRD job postings to understand what knowledge and skills employers expected from L&D practitioners and HRD professionals.


desires and fantasies. Or at least this is just as plausible, and does much less violence to common sense, than imagining, as Gopnik does, that we are all totally blind to the intentional nature of our own mental lives. Of course, none of these objections demonstrates that young persons do use their own first-person experiences as analogical stepping stones toward a more adequate account of the mental lives of others. But neither do the oblique bits of data presented by Gopnik demonstrate that they do not; and it is she, after all, who is suggesting that the emperor has no clothes.


We study operators in four-dimensional gauge theories which are localized on a straight line, create electric and magnetic flux, and in the UV limit break the conformal invariance in the minimal possible way. We call them Wilson-'t Hooft operators, since in the purely electric case they reduce to the well-known Wilson loops, while in general they may carry 't Hooft magnetic flux. We show that to any such operator one can associate a maximally symmetric boundary condition for gauge fields on AdSE2×S2. We show that Wilson-'t Hooft operators are classified by a pair of weights (electric and magnetic) for the gauge group and its magnetic dual, modulo the action of the Weyl group. If the magnetic weight does not belong to the coroot lattice of the gauge group, the corresponding operator is topologically nontrivial (carries nonvanishing 't Hooft magnetic flux). We explain how the spectrum of Wilson-'t Hooft operators transforms under the shift of the θ-angle by 2π. We show that, depending on the gauge group, either SL(2,[openface Z]) or one of its congruence subgroups acts in a natural way on the set of Wilson-'t Hooft operators. This can be regarded as evidence for the S-duality of N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory. We also compute the one-point function of the stress-energy tensor in the presence of a Wilson-'t Hooft operator at weak coupling.


Extensive polymorphism for the cross-compatibility of Phlox pilosa with P. glaberrima occurs within Illinois populations. The polymorphism is genetically determined. Thus, there is an opportunity for selection to enhance existing cross-compatibility barriers in areas of species contact. There is no evidence that selection has favored the reinforcement of such barriers.


Electrochemistry at the interface between two immiscible electrolyte solutions (ITIES) provides a platform for label-free detection of biomolecules. In this study, adsorptive stripping voltammetry (AdSV) was implemented at an array of microscale ITIES for the detection of the antidiabetic hormone insulin. By exploiting the potential-controlled adsorption of insulin at the ITIES, insulin was detected at 10 nM via subsequent voltammetric desorption. This is the lowest detected concentration reported to-date for a protein by electrochemistry at the ITIES. Surface coverage calculations indicate that between 0.1 and 1 monolayer of insulin forms at the interface over the 10-1000 nM concentration range of the hormone. In a step toward assessment of selectivity, the optimum adsorption potentials for insulin and albumin were determined to be 0.900 V and 0.975 V, respectively. When present in an aqueous mixture with albumin, insulin was detected by tuning the adsorption potential to 0.9 V, albeit with reduced sensitivity. This provides the first example of selective detection of one protein in the presence of another by exploiting optimal adsorption potentials. The results presented here provide a route to the improvement of detection limits and achievement of selectivity for protein detection by electrochemistry at the ITIES.


Ceramides are a class of lipid molecules widely distributed in eukaryotic cells in small amount. To investigate the possibility of ceramide production by yeast, a yeast strain Yarrowia lipolitica was grown under different conditions including changing carbon/nitrogen ratio, and serine concentration, dissolved oxygen and presence of ethanol. It was found that increased dissolved oxygen supply increased the ceramide content in the yeast 2.5 fold of its normal control level. Ethanol treatment could also enhance ceramide accumulation by 3.3 fold compared with the control although the cell growth was negatively affected. Cellular redox potential was shown to affect ceramide accumulation by the yeast. This was possibly related to the cellular reactive oxygen species presented in the yeast.


Load frequency control is always a crucial aspect in delivering quality power in integrated power system. This paper proposes an optimally tuned Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller to remove frequency errors caused by unexpected load fluctuations while ensuring tie-line power exchange. Moreover, the threearea power system with non-linearities such as Generation Rate Constraint and Governor Dead Band has been investigated. For tuning the parameters of PID controller Improved Grey Wolf Optimization (IGWO) has been used. The dynamic response of optimized PID controller have been compared with the result obtained from Genetic Algorithm (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), and Sine Cosine Algorithm (SCA).


The rise of social media platforms makes it a valuable information source of recent events and users' perspective towards them. Twitter has been one of the most important communication platforms in recent years. Event detection, one of the information extraction aspects, involves identifying specified types of events in the text. Detecting events from tweets can help to predict real-world events precisely. A serious challenge that faces Arabic event detection is the lack of Arabic datasets that can be exploited in detecting events. This paper will describe FloDusTA, which is a dataset of tweets that we have built for the purpose of developing an event detection system. The dataset contains tweets written in both Modern Standard Arabic and Saudi dialect. The process of building the dataset starting from tweets collection to annotation by human annotators will be present. The tweets are labeled with four labels: flood, dust storm, traffic accident, and non-event. The dataset was tested for classification and the result was strongly encouraging.


Longitudinal Chromatic Aberration (LCA) influences the optical quality of the eye. However, the reported LCA varies across studies, likely associated to differences in the measurement techniques. We present LCA measured in subjects using wavefront sensing, double-pass retinal images, and psychophysical methods with a custom-developed polychromatic Adaptive Optics system in a wide spectral range (450-950 nm), with control of subjects' natural aberrations. LCA measured psychophysically was significantly higher than that from reflectometric techniques (1.51 D vs 1.00 D in the 488-700 nm range). Ours results indicate that the presence of natural aberrations is not the cause for the discrepancies across techniques.


Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction (ASiR) on half-dose coronary artery calcium scoring (CACS) acquisition protocol. Materials and Methods: Between September 2016 and October 2017, 89 patients (54 male patients, mean age 64.6±10.7 y) with a clinically indicated coronary computed tomography angiography were prospectively enrolled. On a 64-row computed tomography scanner, patients underwent a standard CACS protocol (120 kVp, 170 mAs) reconstructed by filtered-back projection, and a half-dose CACS protocol (120 kVp, 85 mAs) reconstructed by ASiR at different percentages, from 10% to 100%, in 10% increments. CACS determinants (Agatston score, number of plaques, volume, and mass), signal-to-noise ratio, contrast-to-noise ratio, and radiation dose of both protocols were calculated. Patient risk categories based on CACS were determined for each protocol, and analysis of risk reclassification of half-dose protocol was performed. Depending on their body mass index (BMI), patients were divided into nonobese (BMI<30 kg/m2) and obese (BMI≥30 kg/m2) groups to investigate the influence of BMI on CACS determinants and risk reclassification. Results: Half-dose protocol reconstructed with ASiR 70% showed no significant differences in any CACS determinant compared with the standard protocol for both nonobese and obese patients (all P≥0.070 and ≥0.066, respectively) and reclassified 1 (1.7%) and 6 (20.0%) patients, respectively, with excellent (&kgr;=0.91) and good (&kgr;=0.74) agreement with standard protocol, respectively. ASiR 70% also resulted in a higher signal-to-noise ratio (1.88±0.78) and contrast-to-noise ratio (7.10±2.73) compared with standard protocol (all P⩽0.001). Half-dose protocol provided 52% less radiation dose than standard acquisition (0.31±0.06 vs. 0.64±0.10 mSv; P<0.001). Conclusions: ASIR 70% coupled with reduction of tube current by 50% allowed for significant dose reduction and no detrimental effects on image quality, with minimal patient reclassification in nonobese patients. In obese patients, excessive noise may lead to a clinically significant reclassification rate.


Carbon steel is thermodynamically unstable in water with dissolved CO2 and the only reason that carbon steel is so attractive and can be so widely used in oil and gas production is that the steel surface becomes covered by a protective layer of corrosion products, oil, mineral scale or inhibitors. It is relatively easy to predict and explain the high corrosion rates on bare steel. The real challenge is to reduce the corrosion and that requires knowledge about the performance of the protective layers, means to predict the breakdown of the layers and methods and techniques to ensure that robust layers form on the surface. The paper discusses how CO2 affects the water chemistry, the electrochemical reactions on the bare steel surface, and the initiation and growth of protective corrosion product films. As many sweet systems contain organic acids that affect the solution chemistry and the formation and stability of the FeCO3 corrosion product films, organic acids need also to be considered when the effect of CO2 is discussed.


Background: Pregnancy can make it difficult to cope with demands at work and may affect women's well-being. We investigated if a manager-targeted educational intervention reduced demanding occupational exposures and improved the psychosocial work environment and well-being among pregnant employees. Methods: Data came from a cluster randomised trial in Danish hospitals and day-care institutions. Work units were assigned randomly and were non-blinded to the intervention, where managers were either invited to participate in a three-hour seminar addressing job adjustment in pregnancy or assigned to a control group undertaking their usual practice. Self-reported outcomes by pregnant employees at the work units were the proportion of pregnant employees with demanding occupational exposures, good psychosocial work environment and good well-being. Mixed logistic regression was applied in the population of responders and in intention-to-treat analyses using multiple imputations. Results: We included 915 pregnant employees: 451 in the intervention group and 464 in the control group. Of 216 invited managers, 103 (48%) participated in the seminar. A total of 339 (37%) pregnant employees answered the questionnaire. The proportion of pregnant employees who had demanding occupational exposures, good psychosocial work environment and good well-being in the intervention versus the control group were 36% versus 39% (odds ratio (OR)=0.90, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.57–1.44), 56% versus 59% (OR=1.01, 95% CI 0.60–1.71) and 77% versus 73% (OR=1.13, 95% CI 0.68–1.87), respectively. Conclusions: This manager-targeted educational intervention did not reduce demanding occupational exposures and did not improve the psychosocial work environment or the well-being among pregnant employees in hospital and day-care settings. Comprehensive and participatory interventions may be considered in future studies.


In a group of 130 patients carriers of cellulite, that were subjected to a general clinic treatment and local treatment of laser-therapy, the authors, previous to the therapeutics, made an anatomopathologic study of the skin and the adipose tissue. The biopsies were done on patients of the feminine sex, confirming that all these cases presented the histopathologic and histochemical features of cellulite in their dermo-hypodermic tissue. A full study of intolerance to carbohydrates; lipidic, proteic and hormonal metabolism was also performed in all patients. Comparing the different parameters, the authors emphasize the multiple pathogenic varieties of the illness, and the possibility of future risk of macroangiopathy and coronariopathy.


Information technology services have been widely used in various agencies. This is done because information technology services help many business processes in an agency. Government agencies, companies, and education are examples of agencies that utilize information technology services to support their business processes. One educational institution that uses IT services to support its business processes is the UKDW library. The UKDW Library utilizes IT services for borrowing, returning, searching for books and journals, checking for plagiarism, and more. To further improve the quality of IT services, evaluating and developing them is necessary to better respond to business needs. In this study, researchers measured the maturity level of an IT service in the UKDW library. Researchers use the ITIL V3 framework in measuring maturity levels. This research focuses on the service operation domain and its five sub-domains (problem management, event management, incident management, access management, and request fulfillment). The final results of the study show that IT services in the UKDW library are at the managed level, which means that information technology services in the UKDW library have been planned and carried out routinely. There are standards for documentation, and process performance measurement has been implemented.


A simulation-based study of Kramers' escape problem in the bistable well of a ferroelectric capacitor is presented. This problem deals with the escape of a particle undergoing Brownian motion over an energy barrier. Using this framework under the assumption of homogeneous polarisation switching according to the Landau-Ginzburg-Devonshire (LGD) theory, two prospective device applications based on a ferroelectric capacitor are also outlined, namely true random number generation (TRNG) and stochastic resonance (SR). Our simulation results for the former demonstrate that by adding white noise and an appropriately tuned voltage pulse to the material system, it is possible to facilitate controlled, probabilistic switching between its two stable polarisation states. We predict that this could provide the theoretical framework for practical implementations of TRNGs. In addition, we also develop a theory for stochastic resonance in a ferroelectric using linear response theory. We show, analytically and via numerical simulations that the addition of an optimal amount of noise to a weak periodic signal given as an input to a non-linear system can enhance its detection.


The thermal properties of most clothing products are still not designed according to engineering science due to the lack of simple and acceptable measuring equipment and methods; the type of thermal insulation material, the number of layers of clothing and their thickness are thus chosen empirically. The novelty of this study was the development of a new measuring device and method for simultaneous measurements in the determination of the thermal resistance in one or more textile material layers, such as in multilayer composite clothing. Temperature gradients of textile material layers are presented, as well as the theoretical principles of operation and practical results. Four materials for the production of protective jackets were selected, from which different combinations of composite clothing were constructed and the thermal parameters were measured with a new method and a new device, both individually for the built-in materials and for the composites. Subsequently, five test jackets with the same arrangement of textile material layers as the previously tested composites were produced, and measurements of important thermal parameters were recorded with a thermal mannequin. The determined temperature gradients and measurement results are presented, and based on these it was determined that the total thermal resistance was not equal to the algebraic sum of the resistances of the individual textile material layers in the horizontal position; it was, however, higher, increasing from 30% to 94% due to small air layers caused by crimping and protruding fibres of yarn in the textile fabrics. The same textile material layers built into clothing in the vertical position allowed the formation of significantly wider air layers that increased the thermal resistance by between 2.5 and 9 times.


We compared growth and biomass allocation patterns of Lonicera japonica, an invasive vine in the southeastern United States, and its native congener, L. sempervirens, among three herbivory treatments. Growth and biomass variables were calculated at nine harvest dates across 14 mo under no herbivory, insect herbivory, and mammal and insect herbivory. In the absence of herbivory, L. sempervirens accumulated greater biomass and had higher growth rates than L. japonica. Lonicera sempervirens, however, experienced more herbivore damage than L. japonica, particularly due to the combined effects of insect and mammal herbivory. Total biomass accumulation and greater allocation to leaves and stems indicate a compensatory response to herbivory by L. japonica. These attributes in response to herbivory coupled with lower herbivory in its new range compared to L. sempervirens could give L. japonica a substantial advantage over its native congener.


Introduction: Children with trisomy 21 (T21) have a significantly high prevalence of sleep disordered breathing (SDB), specifically obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Children with T21 are also at risk for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). It is unclear if PAH per se confers additional risk for OSA in this population.

Aim: To compare the prevalence of SDB in T21 children with PAH and without PAH and with controls.

Methods: This was a retrospective study where PSG data on all non-obese children at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto with T21 and/or PAH referred over a 5 year period, were reviewed and compared with PSG data in age-matched controls. The main outcome measure was the obstructive apnea-hypopnea index (OAHI).

Results: PSG of 33 children aged 0.2 – 8 years with a BMI < 25kg/m2 were reviewed and compared in 4 groups; 1) controls (n=8), 2) children with PAH (n=9), 3) children with T21 (n=10), and 4) children with both T21 and PAH (n=6). In children with both T21 and PAH, there was a significantly higher OAHI (p=0.01) and a trend for lower oxygen saturations and a higher tcCO2 when compared with the other groups (see figures below).

Conclusions: Children with both T21 and PAH are at increased risk of severe OSA. All children with T21 who are known to have PAH should undergo sleep surveillance with PSG. Future research may be directed towards understanding the interaction of T21 and PAH predisposing to OSA.

![Figure][1] [1]: pending:yes


This article focuses on young unemployed people in Sweden involved in two activation measures. Using the analytical framework of governmentality, it analyses how the participants perceive and value activation measures as government-driven interventions aimed at bringing young people into the labour market based on a neoliberal discourse of the welfare state. The article highlights that the welfare system tries to not only promote behavioural changes, but also change the way people think. At the centre of the study are the people-changing technologies embedded in the Swedish norms of a strong work ethic. The analysis underlines how these technologies are internalised and even become a part of the participant's own free will.


This paper proposes a new synchronous machine model based on the application of Park's transformation to the discretized equations of the phase-domain model. The proposed approach maintains the precision of the phase-domain model and eliminates its computational inefficiencies through a constant admittance matrix. The model includes magnetic saturation. Precision analysis is performed within the accuracy constraints of the surrounding network.


INTRODUCTION
The role of selective internal radioembolization (SIRT) in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is currently unclear.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We investigated 52 patients with nonresectable HCC in cirrhosis who underwent SIRT at the Department of General, Visceral and Vascular Surgery in co-operation with the Department of Nuclear Medicine and the Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology between April 2011 and October 2015.

RESULTS
In five patients, SIRT was employed for bridging to liver transplantation. In patients who had undergone pre-treatment with SIRT, histological examination of the explanted livers showed extensive tumor necrosis in the targeted areas with only minor remnant vital tissue at the margins. Four of the patients who underwent SIRT as local bridging treatment are tumor-free after transplantation. In the 47 palliatively treated patients, a total of 76 radioembolizations were performed. The observed 1‑ and 2‑year survival rates in these patients were 58 and 29 %, respectively, after the first SIRT. In the multivariate analysis of the observed survival, AFP before the first SIRT >30ng/ml, time interval of <12 months between the initial diagnosis and the first SIRT, largest tumor diameter >5 cm and portal vein thrombosis were independent negative prognostic factors. In the multi-variate analysis, the time to progression was independently influenced only by the AFP level before the first SIRT. In addition to standard treatment with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), SIRT is feasible in nonresectable HCC, in particular with portal vein thrombosis, with identical results, less interventions and few side effects.


Predictions from the Rejection Sensitivity (RS) model concerning the social causes and consequences of RS were examined in a longitudinal study of 150 middle school students. Peer nominations of rejection, self-report measures of anxious and angry rejection expectations, and social anxiety, social withdrawal, and loneliness were assessed at two time points. Results indicate that peer rejection at Time 1 predicted an increase in anxious and angry expectations of rejection at Time 2, but only for boys. Being liked by peers, irrespective of level of dislike, predicted a reduction in anxious rejection expectations in both boys and girls. Further, anxious expectations of rejection were uniquely predictive of increased social anxiety and withdrawal. Angry expectations of rejection, an established unique predictor of increased aggression, predicted decreased social anxiety. Both anxious and angry expectations predicted increased loneliness, but neither were unique predictors of loneliness. Implications of viewing anxious and angry expectations of rejection as distinct cognitive–affective vulnerabilities for adolescents are discussed.


This paper argues the case for a tripartite model involving the manager educator and practitioner in the selection of candidates to programmes of continuing professional education (CPE). Nurse educators are said to play a key link in the education practice chain (Pendleton & Myles 1991), yet with the introduction of a market philosophy for education, the educator appears to have little, if any, influence over the selection of CPE candidates. Empirical studies on the value of an effective system for identifying the educational needs of the individual and the locality are unequivocal in specifying the benefits of a collaborative selection process (Larcombe & Maggs 1991). However, there are few studies that offer a model of collaboration and fewer still on how to operationalize such a model. This paper presents the policy and legislative context of CPE leading to the development of a market philosophy. The tension between educational reforms such as life-long learning and diminishing and finite resources are highlighted. These strategic issues provide the backdrop and rationale for considering the process for identifying CPE needs, and the characteristics of an effective system as suggested in the literature. Finally, this paper outlines recommendations for a partnership between the manager practitioner and educationalist in the selection of CPE candidates.


Novel biologic marker parameters are applied to problems of geochemical correlation of crude oils and source rocks in the area of Prudhoe Bay field, northern Alaska. The molecular structures used for fingerprinting the shale extracts, the kerogen pyrolyzates, and the crude oils are steranes, terpanes, and monoaromatized steranes. The major sources of the principal oil accumulations are shown to be the Shublik (Triassic), Kingak (Jurassic), and the deep post-Neocomian shales. In two of the three (Kingak and Shublik), the indigenous nature of the bitumen was proven by pyrolysis and quantitative biomarker data. Possible source rocks based on geologic reasoning and bulk geochemical data include the deep Kayak (Mississippian) shale, the shallow post-Neocomian, the Neocomian, a d the Upper Cretaceous shales. However, all of these are shown by biologic marker techniques not to have generated the petroleum accumulations studied. Of the nine oils investigated, one (Kingak) rises from a single source (Kingak shale). The others have very similar source fingerprints using 10 different molecular and several bulk End_Page 990------------------------------ parameters in combination. These results are achieved by using a new quantitative approach based on concentrations and ratios of specific biomarkers by integration of mass chromatograms. The assessment of all parameters in combination results in a well-documented, internally consistent picture permitting the above conclusions. In addition, these biomarker data permit in hindsight a reasonable interpretation of the wide range of carbon isotope data. All results are consistent with the geologic setting. The approach adds a new dimension in assisting the petroleum explorationist toward paleoreconstruction. End_of_Article - Last_Page 991------------


AIMS
To study the prognostic role of β-catenin and stem cell markers in medulloblastoma (MB).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Sixty cases of MB were retrospectively analyzed to study the expression of β-catenin, CD15, and CD133 by immunohistochemistry. Their expression was correlated with histological subtypes and event-free survival (EFS). Patients were divided into Group 1 and 2 based on non-occurrence and occurrence of events during the follow-up period.

RESULTS
Fifty of the 60 cases were of classic type of MB while nine were of desmoplastic subtype and one case showed chondroid and rhabdomyoblastic differentiation. Immunoreactivity for β-catenin was observed as nuclear and/or cytoplasmic positivity within the tumor cells. Forty-one (68.3%) cases showed cytoplasmic positivity, while nuclear positivity was seen in 21 (35%) cases. There was a significant correlation between nuclear expression of β-catenin and different histological subtypes by Chi-square test (P value<0.05). A statistically significant positive correlation of β-catenin nuclear positivity with EFS was observed. Among 60 cases, 37 cases (67.3%) showed presence of CD15+ tumor cells with percentage of positivity varying between 0.1 to 17.1%. Overall, 42 of 60 (70%) cases showed presence of CD133+ cells. The percentage of positivity varied between 0.1 to 16.5%. A statistically significant negative correlation of CD15 and CD133 positivity with EFS was observed.

CONCLUSIONS
Nucleopositive β-catenin cases were associated with a favorable outcome on univariate analysis. Both CD15 and CD133 positivity were associated with a worse outcome on univariate analysis.


The fabrication of solution-processed nontoxic mesoporous Bi2S3 structures is demonstrated and the suitability of these structures for use in hybrid solar cells investigated. Mesoporous Bi2S3 electrodes are prepared via thermal decomposition of a thin film composed of a bismuth xanthate single source precursor. The resultant Bi2S3 films are made up of regular needles with approximate dimensions of 50×500 nm, as confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The crystallinity of the Bi2S3 is found to be dependent on the annealing temperature, as determined by X-ray diffraction. The porous Bi2S3 films are infiltrated with the hole conductor P3HT to generate novel hybrid films, and laser-based transient absorption spectroscopy is used to interrogate the charge-separation reaction at the resulting Bi2S3/P3HT heterojunction. Specifically, optical excitation of the hybrid films results in efficient and long-lived charge separation (microsecond to millisecond timescale), thereby rendering such films suitable for the development of novel low-cost solar-energy conversion devices.


A novel vital-sign sensor with a self-injection-locked oscillator and a frequency demodulator to reduce system complexity and improve sensitivity is proposed. The theory provides a delta-sigma model to account for the excellent signal-to-noise spectral density ratio in a parametric study of the sensitivity performance. Then, the experiments verify the sensing principle and the predicted performance. Accordingly, a prototype sensor with high sensitivity is realized for noncontact cardiopulmonary monitoring, achieving a long sensing distance without the need for a low-noise amplifier. The sensing distance can grow four times longer by doubling the operating frequency. Furthermore, the sensor using a swept frequency can eliminate the null detection points and the external radio interference. As an experimental result, the sensor, which is placed 4 m away from the subject, can reliably detect the heartbeat signal an the operating frequency of 3.6 GHz and an output power level of 0 dBm.


A novel method to tune surface wettability rapidly and reversibly has been developed by ion exchange of the counterions at the surface of a multilayer film assembled via electrostatic interaction.


Aim- The aim of this study is to find the correlation between insulin resistance as a sensory neuropathy predictor in prediabetes. Methodology- In this study level of fast serum insulin was measured and insulin homeostatic assessment model was calculated for all the patients.The study was conducted in Bahawlpur Victoria hospital From January 2018_ January 2019. During the determination of vibration perception threshold VPT by using Biothesiometer, comparison was done of sensory neuropathy in prediabetic patients which those who did have sensory neuropathy. Moreover, between VPT and insulin resistance direct relation was analyzed. Results- For this study total 60 patients were selected having prediabetic cases. The age of selected patients was between 35 to 60 years and the mean age was 48.68 years. In selected subject males were 65% whereas the females were 35%. The minimum level of fasting insulin serum was 3.5 mIU/L whereas the maximum level of fasting serum insulin was 21.8 mIU/L and the mean value was 10.61 ± 4.99 mIU/L. The minimum HOMA-IR was 0.986 and the maximum of it was 6.4 whereas the mean value of it was 2.81 ± 1.37. Using digital Biothrsiometer, according to VPT measured around 43.3% patients had neuropathy. In patients with neuropathy as compared to the patients without neuropathy HOMA-IR (P=0.032) and serum insulin level (P=0.026) was significantly higher. There was significant positive relation found of VPT with HOMA-IR IR (Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.299 [R], 0.281 [L]; P = 0.02 [R], 0.03 [L]) and fasting insulin serum level levels (Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.317 [R], 0.296 [L]; P = 0.013 [R], 0.022 [L]). Conclusion- HOMO-IR, quantified with the help of index and insulin resistance are correlated with the development of sensory neuropathy.


Mixed Reality (MR) is one of the newest technologies explored in education. It promises the potential to promote teaching and learning and making learners' experience more "engaging". However, there still lack of research on designing a virtual learning environment using MR technology. In this paper, we describe the Mixed Reality technology, the characteristics of situated learning as instructional design for virtual environment using mixed reality technology. We also explain a case study that implemented those design and also the system overview. Keywords—authentic activity. authentic context, mixed reality, situated learning


The right to self-determination is found in multiple international treaties and conventions, and has 'crystallised into a rule of customary international law, applicable to and binding on all states'. In simple terms, self-determination denotes the legal right of a people to decide their own destiny in the international order. What this actually means in practice continues to be a contentious issue amongst international lawyers. This article will explore how lack of a consistent interpretation of the right to self-determination by states has led to confusion about its application within the realm of international law. Referenda held in the Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk in March and May 2014 are the latest instances where self-determination has been controversially invoked. This article will discuss the notion of self-determination, its history, and how it has been applied and interpreted over the years by states and the international community. It will then examine the events in Eastern Ukraine and assess what impact they have had on the law of self-determination. It will then conclude by stating that the current law of self-determination needs a clearer and more consistent approach in order to avoid posing a serious threat to the stability of the existing state system


Efficient spectrum allocation in Open Spectrum Management is a challenging problem. In this paper, we propose a novel scheme to promote the spectrum utilization by decomposing the second users into non-overlapping clusters. To accomplish the partitioning, we employ a technique from algebraic graph theory known as Spectral Graph Partitioning (SGP). Based on this iterative method, the secondary users can be divided with the balanced radio resource. Then, the spectrum allocation algorithm can be performed distributively. Experiment result shows that our method effectively improves the performance of spectrum allocation.


ABSTRACT Social media addiction became a serious concern that has received more attention from the public health sector due to its addictive features and its correlated psychological consequences. Thus, this study aimed to analyze the direct effect of SMA on academic performance, and the indirect effects on psychological reactions among university students in Jordan. A random survey in two universities was conducted in a sample of 510 university students; 31.4% were males and 68.6% were females. Their average age was 21.38 years (SD = 2.12). To test and validate the research model, advanced data analysis (Structural Equation Modelling-Partial Least Squares [SEM-PLS]) was applied in this research. Findings revealed that social media addiction had an indirect effect on academic performance, however; it has a direct impact on students' stress and anxiety levels. The stress could influence anxiety levels, which could directly affect students' academic performance. Further, students' stress levels had a direct effect on anxiety, which could result in depression. Given the importance of social media addiction and its potentially substantive effects on students' psychological reactions and impact of these reactions on academic performance, similar studies are recommended in other universities various fields to obtain a more conclusive result.


Background CD19+CD24highCD38high B cells have been described to have a regulatory capacity and their frequency is altered in the peripheral blood of patients with various autoimmune diseases. Objectives To determine the frequency of circulating CD19+CD24highCD38high B cells in patients with RA, and establish a correlation with clinical parameters. Methods Peripheral blood was drawn from RA patients treated with non-biological DMARDs (n=48), RA patients treated with anti-TNFalpha drugs (n=15) and healthy controls (n=63) that were matched with patients for age and gender. After isolation by Ficoll-Hypaque gradient, PBMCs were stained with antibodies to CD3, CD4, CD19, CD24, and CD38, and examined by flow cytometry. Results A decreased frequency of CD19+CD24highCD38high B cells was apparent in in ACPA+ but not ACPA- RA patients, and this was observed not only in patients treated with non-biological DMARDs but also in patients receiving anti-TNFalpha drugs. In addition, the frequency of CD19+CD24highCD38high B cells showed a significant negative correlation with ACPA titers (r = -0.43, p=0.023). In contrast, no correlation was found between the frequency of circulating CD19+CD24highCD38high B cells and either rheumatoid factor titres or disease activity as determined by the DAS28 score. Conclusions A decreased frequency of CD19+CD24highCD38high B cells is observed in ACPA+ but not ACPA- RA patients treated with either nonbiological DMARDs or anti-TNFalpha drugs, that is related with ACPA titres but not with rheumatoid factor titres or disease activity. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), is a chronic, progressive, immune-mediated disease of adults and children that has no cure. IBD can cause significant morbidity and lead to complications such as strictures, fistulas, infections, and cancer. In children, IBD can also result in growth impairment and pubertal delays. IBD is highly heterogenous, with severity ranging from mild to severe and symptoms ranging from mild to debilitating. Delay in IBD diagnosis, especially in CD, is common and associated with adverse outcomes. Early diagnosis and prompt institution of treatment are the cornerstones for improving outcomes and maximizing health. Early diagnosis requires a low threshold of suspicion and red flags to guide early specialist referral at the primary provider level. While the armamentarium of IBD medications is growing, many patients will not respond to treatment and the selection of first line therapy is critical. Risk stratification of disease severity, based on clinical, demographic and serological markers, can help guide selection of first-line therapy. Clinical decision support tools, genomics and other biomarkers of response to therapy and risk of adverse events are the future of personalized medicine. After starting appropriate therapy, it is important to confirm remission using objective end-points (treat-to-target) with continued control of inflammation with adjustment of therapy using surrogate biomarkers (tight control). Last, IBD therapy extends far beyond medications, and other aspects of the overall health and well-being of the patient are critical. These include preventive health, nutrition, psycho-behavioral support, addressing patients' concerns around complementary therapy and medication adherence, prevention of disability, and ensuring open communication.


OBJECTIVE
N-acetylcysteine (NAC), is one of the cheapest, safest and widely used over-the-counter-drugs in Thailand. Here the authors examine the antimetastatic potential of NAC on the metastasis of human prostate cancer cells.

MATERIAL AND METHOD
Cytotoxicity of NAC to human prostate cancer cells, DU145 and PC3, were determined by proliferation assay using the 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol, 2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) reagent. Cell migration and invasion were assessed by using a chemotaxis chamber containing membrane pre-coated with collagen IV and Matrigel, respectively. Cell attachment onto the surface of the membrane coated with collagen IV was tested for its adhesion potentiality.

RESULTS
NAC could inhibit the growth of DU145 and PC3 cells. Suppression of migration and invasion of both human prostrate cancer cells were observed. Cell attachment to the collagen IV-coated surface was obviously reduced. All inhibitions occurred in a dose-dependent fashion in both cell lines.

CONCLUSION
NAC could have a high potential in attenuating the migration of the human prostate cancer cells from their primary site and their adhesion and invasion to the remote locations. Hence, NAC might suppress the growth of the primary and the secondary tumors. Our findings suggest that NAC had a high possibility to become an antimetastatic agent for testing in clinical trials. Then, NAC might be used clinically as an optional adjuvant therapeutic drug in addition to the conventional standard treatment of human prostate cancer, obtaining a better outcome with the least toxic and affordable substance.


Many organisms continue to grow their skeletons throughout ontogeny. In the shells of molluscs, protists, and brachiopods and in bovid horns, accretionary spiral growth provides a detailed and continuous growth history. Although a shell may be described as a single static form, the overall morphology is a summation of the ongoing accretionary process. For this reason, an explicitly ontogenetic characterization of form provides insight into the final form achieved. Analysis of landmark transformations offers direct access to major components of morphological variation, both among adult individuals and through an individual's ontogeny. Parameters of preconceived, abstract geometric models can also be used to characterize morphological variation, but there is no guarantee that these parameters will coincide with the major features of shape variation. In order to locate landmarks at equivalent ontogenetic stages, features that indicate ontogenetic stage of coiled forms must be identified (e.g., growth increments, age, size, whorls). The gastropod Epitonium (Nitidiscala) tinctum exhibits prominent varices that provide landmark locations throughout ontogeny. Recent specimens of this species were obtained from three localities in Baja, Mexico. The morphological variation among individuals, treated as whole shells and within individual ontogenies, was analyzed using shape coordinates of landmark configurations. Deformation of shape is expressed in the uniform and nonuniform shape subspaces. The empirical components of shape variation found are similar to those generated by two parameters of an equiangular spiral: θ, the angle between consecutive varices, and W, the whorl expansion rate. The distribution of individuals is examined within morphospaces constructed from these shape features. Three scales of analysis are necessary to characterize adequately the shape variation within and among specimens. The smallest scale is equivalent to increment-by-increment changes in θ and W. The middle scale comprises variation equivalent to whorls resulting from systematic changes in θ and W during an individual's ontogeny. Finally, there is the overall ontogenetic trajectory. Mean shape must be a function of initial shape and ontogenetic trajectory in shape. Mean forms that are found to have similar shapes at the same arbitrary growth increment may achieve that shape in different ways.


In this article we demonstrate why mathematical models of the World System evolution are so important for the world-systems research, in general, and for the issue of systemic boundaries in particular. The point is that those mathematical models demonstrate in a rather convincing way that in order that a certain set of human societies would demonstrate systemic qualities (and – thus – could be described with a single mathematical model), it is sufficient that just one condition is observed – it is necessary that the technological innovations made in one society of a system could diffuse within a millennium throughout all the other societies of the system. As soon as this condition is satisfied, the respective set of human societies can be treated as a single system (and – what is important – can be described with a single mathematical model), and we do not know any better designation for such a system than the 'world-system'. This, of course suggests rather specific criteria for the world-systemic boundaries.


The development of e-commerce has greatly facilitated the practice that suppliers encroach upon the retail realm of downstream retailers through direct channels (e.g., online stores). The literature in this area has investigated profit-maximizing firms, but the role of other organizational structures is not well understood. This paper studies supplier encroachment in which the retailer is a dual-purpose corporation that pursues his own profit as well as consumer surplus. We find that the retailer's pursuit of consumer surplus can not only intensify market competition and thus reducing the margin of direct selling, but also motivate the encroaching supplier to set a higher wholesale price compared with the case of no encroachment, which is a contrast to the case of a for-profit retailer where encroachment lowers the wholesale price. The presence of a dual-purpose retailer reduces the effectiveness of using the wholesale price as a lever by the supplier. Therefore, encroaching upon a dual-purpose retailer can hurt the supplier. We examine whether a retailer can benefit from being a dual-purpose corporation and how the retailer's dual objectives affect consumer surplus. We find that a dual-purpose retailer can earn a higher profit than a for-profit retailer as the dual-purpose structure helps deter encroachment. Counterintuitively, we find that consumer surplus in the case of a dual-purpose retailer can be lower than that with a for-profit retailer. This is because the commitment to be a dual-purpose retailer reduces supplier encroachment and thus reduces the total quantity sold to consumers.


Context: High school career educators educate and counsel senior students on choice of career. The pursuit of a career in physiotherapy depends largely on the information available to the students. Aims: The aim of the study is to investigate the level of awareness and perception of the physiotherapy profession among secondary school career educators. Settings and Design: The cross-sectional study recruited 49 secondary school career educators in both public and private secondary schools in Owo local government area of Ondo-state, South-western Nigeria. Subjects and Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was used to obtain information on the level of awareness and knowledge about physiotherapy. Statistical Analysis Used: Data were summarized using mean, standard deviation, frequency, and percentiles. Results: About 95.5% of school career educators are aware of physiotherapy. 77.6% are aware that physiotherapy can be studied in university, while others believe that it can be studied in polytechnic (4.1%), college of education (2.0%), and technical schools (6.1%). 51.0% knew about adequate subject combination for gaining admission to study physiotherapy, while 49.0% did not know about the adequate subject combination. The overall knowledge score of <48.0% among school career educators indicated inadequate knowledge about physiotherapy practice, treatment modalities, and specialties. Conclusions: Secondary school career educators in this study demonstrated a high level of awareness about physiotherapy. However, their knowledge about the practice of physiotherapy, treatment modalities, specialties, and employability in institutions other than government own health facilities remains inadequate. The professional body of physiotherapy should organize programs aimed at improving the knowledge of secondary school career educators about the practice of physiotherapy.


We present 7 patients with lymphomatous involvement of the adrenal glands detected by computed tomography (CT). In all patients the adrenal glands were diffusely enlarged resulting in oval, round, or triangular shaped glands. In 6 of the 7 patients retroperitoneal adenopathy was present. Adrenal involvement previously ocuclt using conventional radiography should be detected more frequently using CT.


Summary Autophagy is a major and conserved pathway for delivering and recycling unwanted proteins or damaged organelles to be degraded in the vacuoles. AuTophaGy‐related (ATG) protein 18a has been established as one of the essential components for autophagy occurrence in Arabidopsis thaliana. We previously cloned the ATG18a homolog from Malus domestica (MdATG18a) and monitored its responsiveness to various abiotic stresses at the transcriptional level. However, it is still unclear what its function is under abiotic stress in apple. Here, we found that heterologous expression of MdATG18a in tomato plants markedly enhanced their tolerance to drought. Overexpression (OE) of that gene in apple plants improved their drought tolerance as well. Under drought conditions, the photosynthesis rate and antioxidant capacity were significantly elevated in OE lines when compared with the untransformed wild type (WT). Transcript levels of other important apple ATG genes were more strongly up‐regulated in transgenic MdATG18a OE lines than in the WT. The percentage of insoluble protein in proportion to total protein was lower and less oxidized protein accumulated in the OE lines than in the WT under drought stress. This was probably due to more autophagosomes being formed in the former. These results demonstrate that overexpression of MdATG18a in apple plants enhances their tolerance to drought stress, probably because of greater autophagosome production and a higher frequency of autophagy. Those processes help degrade protein aggregation and limit the oxidation damage, thereby suggesting that autophagy plays important roles in the drought response.


Mass communication and mass media that bring new dimensions to communication among people affect the individual?s accordingly the masses level of knowledge, manner and attitude. According to Mills, mass media is the mirror of modern life of society. Mass media guides the society?s potential of motivation by selling image and data; with the data they disseminate mass media can give information about other societies and cultures? standard of living, relations of individuals and consumption areas of them (Quotation by Aziz, 1982, p. 48-50).While making sense of external reality, human beings starts out from his existing life and as the means of justification he uses his own popular culture icons (like actors, pop singers and etc.). But still he can?t change the external reality and it makes the icons meaningful unconsciously. This show the differences between mass culture and popular culture (Aydogan,2004, p.37).Popular culture is a consumption culture. While creating something popular, the existing popularity is used. Popular sport, sportsman, singers, ideas, manners, magazine heroes?something popular is covered and packed and consumers take part in the process making something popular by taking it (Erdogan, 1999, p.3). A material is sold directly. There is an indirect marketing through media.Stars can be called popular as they present sustainability, permanency. Stars are related with cultural industry with their trends, looks and novelty.Scanning model is a research method which aims to describe the situation existing in the past and today as it is (Karasar, 1995, p.77). This research is sample of scanning model. The research contains popular culture, connection of the stars, function of stars at creating and dissembling the popular culture and analyzing Ajda Pekkan who is the superstar of Turkey.During the research, related publishing ?n Turkish and English about image, icon, consumption, popular culture, development of star system are scanned. Super star Ajda Pekkan?s life is analyzed to discover the relation between popular culture and star system. Ajda Pekkan joined a contest to become the cover girl of ?Ses Magazine? in 1963 and chosen the first, then she started her professional career. So for this research all the news about her are scanned at this magazine to see the duration of her becoming a star.?Popular culture? and ?star? terms give essential clues about the cultural, economic, social features of society so the results of this research may be illuminating for this field.


1. Atomic movements in solids - phenomenological equations 2. Imperfections in solids 3. Statistical thermodynamics of crystals containing point defects 4. Non-equilibrium thermodynamics of atomic transport processes in solids 5. Some applications of non-equilibrium thermodynamics to solids 6. Microscopic theories - the master equation 7. Kinetic theory of relaxation processes 8. Kinetic theory of isothermal diffusion processes 9. The theory of random walks 10. Random walk theories of atomic diffusion 11. Transport coefficients of dilute solid solutions - results and applications 12. The evaluation of nuclear magnetic relaxation rates 13. Theories of concentrated and highly defective systems Epilogue References.