A novel twist-direction-dependent high-order orbital angular momentum (OAM) generator based on an inflated helical photonic crystal fiber (IHPCF) was demonstrated by use of an inflation-assisted hydrogen-oxygen flame heating technique. Compared with the helical photonic crystal fiber, the IHPCF exhibits a perfect transmission dip without distinct splits, thus generating high-quality OAM±6 modes. The helical phase of the generated OAM modes is dependent on the twist direction of the IHPCF and independent of the polarization state of the input light. In addition, the polarization state of the generated OAM modes is the same as that of the input light.


This study investigates the effects of game playing on performance and attitudes of students towards mathematics of Grade VIII. The study was undergone by implementing TGT technique for the experimental group and typical lecture-based approach for the control group. A same achievement test was employed as in both pre-test and post-test, an inventory of attitudes towards mathematics were applied for the pre-test and post-test on TGT experimental and control group, an attitude scale on computer games was employed for the TGT experimental group, a semi-structured interview for teacher and a FGD guideline for students were applied to serving the purpose of research objectives. After three-weeks of intervention, it had been found out that TGT experimental group students had achieved a significant learning outcome than lecture based control group students. Attitude towards mathematics were differed to a certain positive extent on TGT experimental group.


The paper undertakes a comparison of Ragin's fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis with cluster analysis. After describing key features of both methods, it uses a simple invented example to illustrate an important algorithmic difference in the way in which these methods classify cases. It then examines the consequences of this difference via analyses of data previously calibrated as fuzzy sets. The data, taken from the National Child Development Study, concern educational achievement, social class, ability and gender. The classifications produced by fsQCA and fuzzy cluster analysis (FCA) are compared and the reasons for the observed differences between them are discussed. The predictive power of both methods is also compared, employing both correlational and set theoretic comparisons, using highest qualification achieved as the outcome. In the main, using the real data, the two methods are found to produce similar results. A final discussion considers the generalisability or otherwise of this finding.


Background: Until recently, most published research focus more on infectious diseases and malnutrition giving the impression that endocrine disorders are uncommon. Reports on endocrine disorders in children in developing countries are few compared to developed countries reflecting the different level of prevalence in the different geographical locations and or level of awareness and availability of facilities for proper diagnosis. Objective: This study aims at defining the burden of paediatric endocrine disorders in Ibadan. Subjects/Methods: A review of records of children who presented at University College Hospital, Ibadan with paediatric endocrine disorders from 2002 to 2009 was carried out. Results: During the eight-year period, a total of 110 children presented with various endocrine disorders but only 94 had complete data for this study. There were 47(50%) males and 37(39.4%) females, and in 10(10.6%) of them, had genital ambiguity at presentation. Patients' ages ranged from 2 weeks to 15 years with a median of 3 years. Many (35%) patients were malnourished with weight less than 80% of the expected weight for age and only 9% were overweight. Yearly distribution of cases showed a steady increase in number of cases from 2005. Rickets and metabolic disorders constituted 56.4% of patients; Diabetes mellitus was diagnosed in 12.8%, adrenal disoders in 10.6%, pubertal disorders in 5.3% and growth disorders in 4.3% of the patients. Thyroid disorders were present in 6.4%, obesity in 3.2% while the least common disorder was Diabetes insipidus (1%). About 58% of the children had parents in the low socioeconomic status and the management of the cases were severely hampered by lack of funds. About 60.6% of these patients were lost to follow up, during the period. Conclusions: Paediatric endocrine disorders are associated with a high incidence of malnutrition. Most patients presented with rickets which is a preventable condition.


A retrospective record review was performed on all patients with thyriod carcinoma treated at King Khalid University Hospital (KKUH) during the period 1985 to 1993. Eighty one cases were identified of which 10 patients had coexistent Hashimoto's thyroiditis documented histologically. Of these ten patients, nine were females with a mean age of 32.2 years. There was one male aged 55 years. Five patients were treated with near total thyroidectomy while the others had subtotal thyroidectomy. The relationship between thyroid carcinoma and Hashimoto's thyroiditis continues to be a controversial subject. This relationship is discussed including the epidemiological and therapeutic implications of the coexistence of these two pathologies.


A new geochemical estimate of the young (mainly Paleozoic age to present) upper crust of the Japan Arc shows a dacitic composition in contrast to the idea that andesite is predominant in active orogenic arcs. Temporal changes in composition are not significant from the Paleozoic age to the present for the Japan Arc. The major element composition is similar to previous models of old cratonic upper crusts. The coincidence in the major elements between young and old crusts indicates that essential mechanisms during crust formation have not changed from the Archean era to the present. In trace element compositions the average young upper crust of the Japan Arc has higher Sb and As concentrations and lower concentrations of alkaline, light rare earth, and high field strength elements with respect to previous models of continental upper crusts. The large degree of constancy of trace element composition in marine sedimentary rocks is in contrast to the large variety in igneous rocks. However, the averages for both accretionary and nonaccretionary sedimentary rocks are almost identical to the average for the igneous rocks of the Japan Arc, with the exceptions of high Sb and As concentrations in unmetamorphosed sedimentary rocks. The compositional homogeneity among different types of rocks on an arc scale implies that recycling processes mechanically mix the arc‐derived igneous materials to homogenize the chemical composition during erosion, transportation, sedimentation, accretion, and uplifting. Since the contribution of oceanic crust to the composition of arc crust is small, the recycling processes have not changed the bulk upper crustal composition of the active continental margin except increase the Sb and As from sediments. Instead, the influx of differentiated acidic rocks from depth is essential to characterize the orogenic crust formation of the young Japan Arc. The characteristically low incompatible element content of the Japanese upper arc crust appears inherited from parental magmas derived from a mantle source depleted during a long‐term evolution.


At the interface of Indonesia and Malaysia, border-crossing maritime trade appears to elude attempts to conserve marine resources. In Berau district (East Kalimantan) attempts to protect coastal waters from illegal fishing and trade fail to correspond with mobile trade networks. In this article, I describe how a female Bajau trader acts out her (illegal) trade network in practice. The article draws on 18 months of ethnographic research, during which I joined the trader along her travels through the coastal zone of northeastern Kalimantan. Using a performative network approach, I explore the trader's network as a continuously generated effect of practice and movement. Following her trading practices, I show that the performance of her network requires the ceaseless movement of people and things, in travelling (mobility) as well as in the reshaping of relations (fluidity). The trader's network is enmeshed in historically grown relations of kinship, ethnicity, and patron–client associations across the sea. These socially and spatially mobile associations are at odds with conservationists' preoccupation with a spatial fixation of people, places, and borders. By showing how relations of loyalty, debt, and affiliation systematically transgress these borders, I demonstrate the significance of a relational approach to marine conservation that takes into account the mobility and interdependency of maritime networks. Such an approach may help to redress the hegemony of place-based approaches in marine conservation.


Black hole spectroscopy with gravitational waves is an important tool to measure the mass and spin of astrophysical black holes and to test their Kerr nature. Next-generation ground- and space-based detectors will observe binary black hole mergers with large signal-to-noise ratios and perform spectroscopy routinely. It was recently shown that small perturbations due, e.g., to environmental effects (the "flea") to the effective potential governing gravitational-wave generation and propagation in black hole exteriors (the "elephant") can lead to arbitrarily large changes in the black hole's quasinormal spectrum, including the fundamental mode, which is expected to dominate the observed signal. This raises an important question: is the black hole spectroscopy program robust against perturbations? We clarify the physical behavior of time-domain signals under small perturbations in the potential, and we show that changes in the amplitude of the fundamental mode in the prompt ringdown signal are parametrically small. This implies that the fundamental quasinormal mode extracted from the observable time-domain signal is stable against small perturbations. The stability of overtones deserves further investigation.


Nowadays, there are a lot of experiences that show no success in operationalizing knowledge management project in an organization despite using different means, indicating that huge sums have been wasted and sometimes the predicted objectives for organization have faced failure. The success or the failure of incorporating a knowledge management project depends on the specialized aspects as well as the non-specialized aspects which try to provide a comprehensive outlook about organizational, technical and specialized interactions for successfully incorporating knowledge management projects within enterprise. The existence of knowledge architecture (KA) has been always necessary for ensuring the successful operationalization of a knowledge management (KM) project. With regard to the deviations from classical architecting to large-scale architecting from one hand and the lack of an appropriate KA framework within large-scale area from the other hand, the developing of a conceptual framework for conducting KA within large-scale organizations would lead to the main aims of this paper. The initial structure of the framework was established based on the information architectural framework of Zachman. Then, we arrived at the ideal KA framework by adding service abstraction and architecture level dimension besides changing the field of all the cells within Zachman"s framework from information into knowledge. This research is descriptive in method and its validity is confirmed by executing a case study and soliciting the opinions of some KA experts. The results indicate feasibility of applying framework to other knowledge-intensive large-scale firms and the findings of paper may be beneficial for architects in the knowledge area.


Significant progress has been made in the treatment of patients with advanced renal cancer. In addition to immunotherapy, there are several potentially distinct therapeutic approaches for targeting molecular pathways. The murine models detailed in this unit are useful for testing rational combination strategies. Moreover, animal models contribute immensely to the understanding of the genetic, epigenetic, and biological aspects of human disease. Compared to humans, rodent models are relatively short‐lived and allow for the facile study of clinically relevant pathologies. Animal models for the study of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) are particularly useful for the development of new drugs for kidney cancer. Included in this unit are several in vivo models that are currently used to evaluate therapeutic approaches to renal cancer therapy and to investigate the pathophysiology of this condition. Included are both murine (RENCA) and renal cell carcinomas in subcutaneous and orthotopic models using tumor cell lines and human tumor tissue. Curr. Protoc. Pharmacol. 47:14.13.1‐14.13.19. © 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


In the downlink of a synchronous direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) system utilising orthogonal codes, intersymbol interference (ISI) arises due to multi-path propagation, which destroys the code orthogonality and in turn, gives rise to multiple access interference (MAI). Therefore if the ISI can be mitigated through channel equalisation, the MAI can be effectively reduced. However, existing channel equalisers are plagued with different performance and complexity issues. A sub-band adaptive chip equalising (SACE) receiver is proposed as an effective solution for performance enhancement over time-dispersive DS-CDMA downlinks. The SACE receiver exploits the pre-whitening effect of the filter banks to reduce the eigenvalue spread of the input signal covariance matrix. Results based on the popular COST-207 channel models for bad urban and hilly terrain areas are presented with varying loaded conditions. It is observed that in highly dispersive channels, the proposed SACE receiver significantly outperforms the correlation receiver and the full-band equaliser while retaining the desirable attribute of graceful degradation in CDMA networks.


Acute Inversion of the Uterus SIR,-I unfortunately overlooked the Journal of Sept. 15. When I read Dr. O'Sullivan's paper (Sept. 1, p. 282) I looked upon it as an interesting clinical record, but when I found from the correspondence on Sept. 15 (p. 366) that it has stimulated an advocacy to scrap the basic principle of the treatment of the complication which has proved successful for the past fifty wars, or the substitution therefor of a kind of Chinese tortur-e, I feel it incumbent to intervene. The basic principle of the past fifty years is pointed out by Dr. Batty where he says, " Far more emphasis should be placed on the immediate reinversion-i.e., replacement-of the uterus whatever the condition of the patient," and " Surely the treatment of any case of shock is to treat the cause first if this is known." Dr. O'Sullivan suggests a method of doing this which may be an improvement on the method by manual taxis, and Dr. Batty observes, " If this simple method were used as the first treatment to combat the shock, few other measures would be required." But Dr. O'Sullivan only advocates this " before shock develops," and says the treatment is to be deferred until the shock is controlled. -Again Dr. Batty gets to the core with, "But will it not usually be found that the shock appears at the same time as the inversion develops ? " and he confirms Dr. O'Sullivan's observation that the degree of shock is out of all proportion to the amount of blood lost. Further, as seen from the six cases recorded, the shock is not easily or speedily combated, and, as in Dr. Batty's third case, may even cause death within a couple of hours. It is with full recognition of these facts that the basic treatment by deep anaesthesia and immediate replacement has been evolved in the past fifty years. Munro Kerr (1916) collected 21 cases; 6 of the patients died; but he wrote: " The reduction was usually accomplished without much difficulty. In two it failed and in two it was difficult." We haven't the details of his cases, but conditions for midwifery at this time were very different from the present day; a great deal was domiciliary and conducted by very unobservant persons; therefore one is justified in assuming that there was much greater delay than in the six cases just reported, four of which occurred in modern institutions in the hands of skilled attendants. The other two patients were admitted to such an institution about two hours after collapsing. Munro Kerr discussed the methods of treatment, essentially condemning radical surgery suggested at the time. He shows his preference for immediate replacement, while endorsing the fact that spontaneous reduction did sometimes occur, and stated, '"In such cases undoubtedly deep anaesthesia and especially chloroform is of great advantage." Others with experience of the complication endorsed these views. I, from a study of the cases in the Rotunda Maternity since 1896 and my own experience of two cases, did the same. Solomons had two cases and found the treatment easy and the speedy recovery dramatic. No case of complete inversion has occurred in the Rotunda since 1915. In my book (1923) I said: "The fundus must be replaced at once. . Complete anaesthesia will help to relax the cervix. . . Ergotinine and pituitrin should never be given before reduction." I saw no reason to alter the paragraph in my second book (1937). It is worth considering the nature of the complication. There are two stages rather than types-partial and complete; they follow fairly rapidly on each other. It is not necessary for the uterus to be atonic; it may be actively contracting but going extremely flabby between contractions. The placenta may be wholly adherent in situ, and in that case the inversion is started by pressure from above, so-called Crede's method, or traction on. the cord. More often the placenta is partially detached, and probably has some area of abnormal adhesion which drags down the fundus as the placenta is being extruded even by the uterine action, but most often aided by efforts to express it, as it is in these cases that there is some degree of third-stage haemorrhage. It is difficult to conceive how the development of the partial stage can be overlooked during the management of the third stage of labour by anyone competent to conduct even a normal case. Two partial cases occurred in the Rotunda during my mastership, were recognized at once by abdominal palpation, the placenta was removed manually, and the mere introduction of the hand replaced the fundus. There was no shock. The reason for this is perfectly shown by Fairbairn (1924) in his illustration of a specimen of partial inversion: the fundus is down to the cervix but the ovaries are still on the brim of the inversion funnel. When the inversion becomes complete the ovaries are drawn within powerful muscle walls and subjected to severe and continued, even if intermittent, pressure. Intense shock immediately appears and, persists because the cause is persisting. The condition is exactly comparable to a not uncommon sight on the football field from a blow on the testicle, or a foul blow in boxing, and the appearance of the victims very alike-pallor, sweating, agony. I think there has been a death from a foul blow in boxing, but as a rule the symptoms rapidly subside because the cause is not continuing and the footballer resumes the game. In the case of inversion the cause persists and will be removed rapidly only by replacement. If this is not effected the patient remains critically ill for several days until ovarian sensation is lost. From this it seems obvious to me that the first essential is deep anaesthesia, irrespective of the state of the patient, sufficient to eliminate all sensation, and then immediate replacement, which will be found to be remarkably easy and the manipulations for which will not precipitate further shock if the anaesthesia is complete. When the patient returns to consciousness she will be completely free from signs of shock. Dr. O'Sullivan has suggested a remarkably interesting substitute for manual taxis, but the dslay in preparing the douche may discount any advantage; to me the hydrostatic distribution appears an ideal method of applying the pressure necessary to replace the uterus, but that is all; it does not justify his and others' suggestions that the essential treatment should be deferred while shock is treated. He is also to be congratulated on his photographic enterprise, for he has produced the most perfect illustration of the condition, which I hope will take the place of the deplorable post-mortem travesty reproduced from Bumm, which is given in several old, and repeated in some new, textbooks. To complete the subject I would like to refer to one point which was not settled definitely thirty years ago. If the placenta is partially detached, as it is in most cases, it should be removed before replacement; but if it is wholly adherent it is utterly impossible to locate the demarcation between its edge and the uterine wall, -the replacement should be effected with the placenta, and when in place the edge of the placenta becomes normally evident. If this practice is adopted it will probably avoid the further complication met by Dr. O'Sullivan of a ruptured uterus.-I am, etc.,


Measurement of femtoscopic correlations in heavy-ion collisions can provide information about spatial and temporal parameters of the particle emission region at kinetic freeze-out. In this work we present the measurement of two-pion and two-kaon femtoscopic correlations in 200 GeV Au+Au collisions at RHIC. The collision centrality and transverse momentum dependence of the three-dimensional radii, $R_{out}$, $R_{side}$ and $R_{long}$ is discussed.


Singapore is believed to be located in an aseismic region. However, tremors caused by distant Sumatra earthquakes have reportedly been felt in Singapore for many years. Based on previous studies for Singapore, the maximum credible earthquakes (MCEs) from Sumatra have been hypothesized to be a subduction earthquake (Mw = 9.0) and a strike-slip earthquake (Mw = 7.5). Response at a soft soil site in Singapore to the synthetic bedrock motions corresponding to these maximum credible earthquakes are simulated using a one-dimensional wave propagation method based on the equivalent-linear technique. A typical high-rise residential building in Singapore is analyzed to study its responses subjected to the MCE ground motions at both the rock site and the soft soil site. The results show that the base shear force ratios would exceed the local code requirement on the notional horizontal load for buildings. Because of the large aspect ratio of the floor plan of the typical building, the effects of flexible diaphragms are also included in the seismic response analyses.


Power theft in partitioned commercial apartments, especially in the form of unpaid bills due to disputes, is a major challenge to revenue recovery in the power sector. This paper presents a multi-channel power distribution metering solution that serves to resolve disputes among users in partitioned apartments, and between the power distribution company and the end users of electricity. Partitioned apartments in commercial buildings particularly in congested environments shares energy supply meters among several users. This often leads to disputes and results to power theft in the form of unpaid bills and meter tampering. This paper described how power from a single supply meter can be adequately shared among a number of users with dispute arbitration. Each user's channel is fed, monitored and controlled from a central unit which calculate and display energy usage, per unit cost and amount in cash consumed per channel. Compliant/non-compliant channel are connected/disconnected through a remote wireless access. It is envisaged that the use of this method for electricity distribution in commercial apartments, will greatly reduce power theft and increase revenue generation for the power industry. It will also eliminate disputes and possible litigations for the power industry and among users. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v34i4.25


The use of customer call centres has increased exponentially in the modern business world and is the heart of marketing in the customer services industry. Previous studies have shown that the quality of services that customers receive from the call centres paint a picture of how they view the company. Reliance on the use of suggestion boxes to crowdsource customer views on call centre services is not adequate and at times, may not give a correct record about the services in question. Therefore, speech emotion recognition has been applied in customer call centres as a tool for evaluating customer service perception, emotion, and sentiment. This approach presents several advantages, for instance, the performance of call centre agents can adequately be scrutinised because their emotions can be automatically classified based on machine learning methods for emotion recognition. In recent times, various techniques and methods have been used to develop robust speech emotion recognition systems for customer call centres, but the primary problem associated with these novel applications is that most of them do not perform well in multilingual environments. In addition, most of the proposed models do not properly recognise the fear archetype of emotion. The effectiveness of a speech emotion recognition system depends largely on the strength of the features used. Consequently, the purpose of this research was to discover the most efficacious features in recognising speech emotion in call centre conversations. Therefore, this thesis reports on the development of hybrid acoustic features based on spectral and prosodic descriptors. The set of hybrid features proposed in this study comprises the logarithm of energy, fundamental frequency, zero-crossing rate, spectral roll- off point, spectral flux, spectral centroid, spectral compactness, spectral variability, fast Fourier transform, Mel frequency cepstral coefficients, and linear prediction cepstral coefficients. Furthermore, this thesis reports on the development of a novel stacked ensemble machine learning algorithm based on a combination of inducers and ensemble classifiers. The discovery of effective speech emotion features and the development of an efficient machine learning algorithm are essential stages of effective speech emotion recognition in call centre conversations. The verification and validation of the proposed speech emotion recognition methods based on feature extraction and feature classification for applications in call centre conversions were done using a series of experiments. This was accomplished by testing the crafted hybrid acoustic features on five distinct speech emotion databases. The acoustic features were evaluated against deep learning auto-generated features and a hybrid of popular acoustic features. In addition, a set of four ensemble algorithms were evaluated against the newly invented stacked ensemble algorithm. The performance of the developed stacked ensemble algorithm in this study was analysed based on the widely used statistical evaluation metrics of accuracy, precision, F-score, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and computation time. The results have indeed demonstrated that the newly developed stacked ensemble algorithm coupled with the crafted hybrid acoustic features have consistently performed better than many other state-of-the-art algorithms and speech features across various standard speech corpora.


Background. Acute neuropathic pain can be one of the post-surgical pain components, which is often under-recognized and complicated to treat. The prevalence of pain with neuropathic characteristics in general population is about 6 – 8%. Moreover, it might to progress and become as a persistent pain and cause a disability. This type of study has never been performed in Lithuania. Methods. Investigators conducted a survey, which consisted of the following visual and verbal analogue and Dolour Neuropathique 4 scales to identify pain intensity and neuropathic pain after surgery. Risk factors of neuropathic pain were evaluated with Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale, demographic characteristics and data, which represents possible risk factors. Results. The survey included 170 participants: 68 males (40%) and 102 females (60%). Average age of patients was 59.66 years (SD 15.9). During the first day after surgery 7.1% patients felt neuropathic pain, on the second day – 8.2%, and the third postoperative day – 7.6% of patients. A prevalence of neuropathic pain depends on gender and anxiety before surgery. Conclusion. A prevalence of acute neuropathic pain after surgery in Hospital of Lithuanian University of Health Sciences is 7 – 8%. The risk factors of neuropathic pain development are patient's gender and anxiety before surgical procedure.


Maternal age is a neglected variable, with obvious implications for aetiology, in psychiatric research. In samples of schizophrenic patients, the distributions by month of birth and maternal age at birth show remarkable anomalies. These phenomena may be connected, because the seasonal distribution of births varies with maternal age, probably as a result of the age-dependent changes of fertility. Preliminary attempts to describe the seasonal effect in schizophrenia as a function of the shift in mean maternal age are not wholly successful at the quantitative level. Southern-hemisphere findings do not seem to fit the predicted pattern. Examples from other areas of research are discussed (sudden unexpected death in infants, congenital dislocation of the hip, and handedness) in which the seasonal distributions of births, and the findings on maternal age, conform to different varieties of the expected relationship.


The effect of additive on the high- superconducting materials of the Bi-Pb-Sr-Ca-Cu-O system (2223 phase) has been studied for samples prepared by the sintering reaction technique under , ambient and Ar-7.7% atmospheres. The d.c. electrical resistivity and critical current density and the a.c. magnetic susceptibility were measured by means of the standard four-point probe technique and the inductance method, respectively. It was found that the addition of a small amount of enhances slightly both the critical transition temperature and the current density and decreases the magnetic shielding effect.


The oxygen and carbon isotope systematics of ankerite, siderite, calcite, quartz, and graphite from the Bogosu and Prestea mining districts of the Ashanti gold belt, Ghana are used to speculate on the processes leading to hydrothermal alteration and gold deposition. The geologic environment of this turbidite- and graywacke-hosted gold system was a sediment-dominated accretionary complex. The gold ores are localized within the Ashanti structural belt which we suggest became a conduit for deep-seated fluids during uplift and dilatancy.Ankerite and siderite in mineralized sedimentary rocks are broadly similar in oxygen and carbon isotope compositions to corresponding minerals in the metasedimentary country-rocks. Evidence of alteration that preceded gold mineralization is best preserved in spatially associated altered mafic dikes. The compositions of fluids responsible for the gold mineralization and associated alteration have been reconstructed using temperatures from carbonate-mineral geothermometry.Alteration of country rocks occurred under rock-dominant, greenschist facies conditions. The isotopic composition of the least altered mafic dikes was influenced by interaction with fluids generated from Birimian greenschist facies metasedimentary rocks. Later, extensive carbonate alteration of mafic dikes adjacent to the structural conduit occurred during slow upward migration of fluids. Lateral diffusion of hydrogen into the structural conduit permitted partial conversion of CO 2 to methane, resulting in 13 C enrichment of both the residual CO 2 and the deposited carbonate minerals.Rapid, even explosive, expulsion of deep-seated fluids and CO 2 -H 2 O phase separation occurred episodically throughout the evolution of the hydrothermal system. This caused precipitation of sulfides, arsenides, and gold at relatively high crustal levels and low ambient pressure and temperature. During mineralization, fluid ascent was too rapid for isotopic and chemical reequilibration between the deep-seated ore fluid and adjacent country rocks. The ore fluid had chemical and isotopic compositions consistent with deep-seated metamorphic fluids that were subsequently modified by preferential partitioning of 18 O and 13 C into a gas phase. The composition of the deep-seated metamorphic fluid determined using chemical equilibria (CO 2 -H 2 O rich; 7-25 mole % CO 2 ) is in approximate agreement with that required to produce the isotopic depletion of the residual fluid via phase separation.


These strategies are mainly based on a learning environment made up of an instructor teacher, who shares the academic material and the apprentices participate by listening and taking notes. Despite this, new technologies have made a difference with the emergence of platforms and tools that allow real-time communication and understanding of the academic subjects of the curricula. On the other hand, SENA has a significant number of students enrolled, with heterogeneous characteristics, which makes it necessary to establish different pedagogical strategies. This study is of mixed type because qualitative and quantitative instruments will be used. The post-conflict processes have led to a situation in which public policies have had to be structured, specifically in the education sector, as CONPES 2015 puts it, with regard to early childhood education, however, in technical and higher education has achieved that those who are in the process of social reintegration, (vulnerable population) can access educational institutions without inconvenience and with benefits to grant such a right.


The objective of this study was to explore the effect of a forward sloping seat on posture and muscular activity of the trunk and lower limbs. To this aim, twelve asymptomatic participants were tested in six conditions varying seat slope (0°, 15° forward) and height (high, medium, low). Angular position of head, trunk and pelvis was assessed with an inertial orientation system, and muscular activity of 11 superficial postural muscles located in the trunk and lower limbs was estimated using normalized EMG. Results showed that a forward sloping seat, compared to a flat seat, induced a greater activity of the soleus (p<0.01), vastus lateralis (p<0.05) and vastus medialis (p<0.05), as well a lower hip flexion (p<0.01). In contrast, no significant variation of head, trunk and pelvis angular position was observed according to seat slope. It was concluded that forward sloping seats increase the load sustained by the lower limbs, without a systematic improvement of body posture.


Background and Purpose— Creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) increases in some patients with stroke, with no clear evidence of an acute coronary syndrome. Its elevations have been suggested to represent a biological marker for stroke-related myocardial injury. Troponin T has superior sensitivity and specificity to CK-MB in revealing minor myocardial injury. Therefore, we studied troponin T levels after stroke to determine whether troponin T increases in parallel to CK-MB. Methods— We made daily measurements of CK-MB, myoglobin, total creatine kinase (total CK), and troponin T levels up to day 5 in 32 patients with large hemispheric infarction and with no history of coronary heart disease. The daily enzyme levels were compared with those of a control group of 22 patients with neurological diseases other than stroke. Results— Serum CK-MB, myoglobin, and total CK levels were elevated above the cutoff value in 11, 26, and 20 patients with stroke, respectively. These enzyme levels gradually increased within the first 3 days and declined afterward. Troponin T did not exceed the reference range in any patients. One patient had elevated myoglobin and 3 had elevated total CK in the control group. The difference between groups was significant for CK-MB, myoglobin, and total CK at various time points. Conclusions— Troponin T, a more specific biochemical marker of myocardial injury, does not increase after stroke. Normal troponin T along with elevated CK-MB signifies that CK-MB is not the biological marker for myocytolysis. CK-MB elevations in stroke patients are likely to be noncardiac in origin.


During the past year several very important cases have brought out the most widely divergent expert testimony, clearly showing the need of new study of this subject. Disputed cases of inebriety are increasing every year. Not the petty contests of police and criminal courts, where the questions raised are technical for partisan purposes, but facts of great interest and profound questions of science on which large issues turn. In one case, the final disposition of over a million dollars turned on the question of the normal condition of the mind of a testator who used spirits to excess. In another case a forgery which implicated many persons, depended on the judgment of experts relating to the motives of an inebriate. Several murder and homicidal cases have been disposed of on the testimony of medical experts. The final issue of all these cases has been the subject of divergent views in


The principal data in the literature regarding apathic hyperthyroidism are summarised and commented on 3 personal cases are then reported. The nosography of these forms is discussed and emphasis laid on pathogenetic hypotheses and diagnostic and therapeutic aspects. Diagnosis should be precise and early so as to prevent the extremely serious course which is a characteristic of this rare, but not exceptional variant of hyperthyroidism.


Adverse changes in the microcirculation are currently considered as the most likely common pathway of organ failure, dramatically manifest in the multiple organ failure syndrome. We have investigated 28 patients presenting with gross cardiovascular instability due to septic shock or haemorrhage, using standard invasive methods of monitoring (Physiological Profile). We combined this study with a computer assisted mercury-in-rubber strain gauge plethysmography (MSG) measurement, for a parallel (non-invasive) assessment of peripheral microcirculatory function. We started the investigation on patient arrival in ICU and continued it during their resuscitation regime, which essentially consisted of fluid loading together with inotropic support, where necessary. We found highly significant changes in isovolumetric venous pressure (Pvi), determined by the MSG technique, when we compared survivors (27.29 +/- 1.65 mmHg, mean +/- s.e.m.) with non-survivors (39.5 +/- 2.97 mmHg, P less than 0.001). To investigate the role of dobutamine in patient improvement we compared the Pvi values obtained from the MSG studies and demonstrated a significant decrease from the initial value (38.2 +/- 2.4 mmHg) to the final one (25.4 +/- 2.4 mmHg), obtained after weaning the patients off dobutamine. Marked cyclic changes in limb circumference (vasomotion) were also observed and their appearance correlated well with accepted parameters of cardiovascular instability. We propose that changes in both Pvi and Vm are useful indices of microvascular hypoperfusion which is probably the underlying cause of pathology in both patient groups.


Theories of species coexistence often describe a trade-off between colonising and competitive abilities. In sessile marine invertebrates, this trade-off can manifest as trends in species distributions relative to the size of isolated patches of substrate. Based on their abilities to find available substrate and competitively exclude neighbours, good colonisers tend to dominate smaller patches, whereas better competitors tend to monopolise larger patches. In theory, species with equivalent colonising and competitive abilities should display similar distributions across patch sizes. We used patch size to observe this manifestation of the competition-colonisation trade-off over 20° of latitude. The trade-off was more readily observed at lower latitudes and was proportional to the 'ecological age' of communities (i.e. the degree of resource acquisition and likelihood of species interactions). Results suggest that ecological age may mediate the prominence of stochastic or deterministic coexistence mechanisms and will depend on the rate of ecological processes.


FCS8892/FY1143 Raising Healthy Children: Family Fitness
FCS8892, a 3-page illustrated fact sheet by Lisa D. Chan and Karla P. Shelnutt, addresses the obesity epidemic, the benefits of physical activity for children and adults and how to work physical activity into family lifestyle. Published by the UF Department of Family Youth and Community Sciences, January 2010.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fy1143


In this paper, a formulation for calculating the effective permittivity of a piezoelectric layered SAW structure is given, and the exact frequency response of ZnO/diamond/Si-layered SAW is calculated. The effective permittivity and phase velocity dispersion of a ZnO/diamond/Si-layered half space are calculated and discussed. The frequency response of an unapodized SAW transducer is calculated, and the center frequency shift caused by the velocity dispersion is explained. In addition, the electromechanical coupling coefficients of the ZnO/diamond/Si-layered half space based on two different formulas are calculated and discussed. Finally, based on the results of the study, we propose an exact analysis for modeling the layered SAW device. The advantage of using the effective permittivity method is that, not only the null frequency bandwidth, but also the center frequency shift and insertion loss can be evaluated.


Cooperative robotics has considered tasks that are executed frequently, maintaining the shape and orientation of robotic systems when they fulfill a common objective, without taking advantage of the redundancy that the robotic group could present. This paper presents a proposal for controlling a group of terrestrial robots with heterogeneous characteristics, considering primary and secondary tasks thus that the group complies with the following of a path while modifying its shape and orientation at any time. The development of the proposal is achieved through the use of controllers based on linear algebra, propounding a low computational cost and high scalability algorithm. Likewise, the stability of the controller is analyzed to know the required features that have to be met by the control constants, that is, the correct values. Finally, experimental results are shown with different configurations and heterogeneous robots, where the graphics corroborate the expected operation of the proposal.


Background: Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) has proven effective in treatment of COPD patients. The effectivity of PR in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis remains unclear and therefore there is a need for further research. Aim: To evaluate the effect of PR on breathing pattern and health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis. Methods: There were 10 patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis recruited to the 6-week PR programme. The assessment included lung function tests, maximal inspiratory (MIP) and expiratory (MEP) mouth pressures, chest expansion (CE), 6-minute walking test (6MWT) and HRQL by Sarcoidosis Health Questionnaire (SHQ). The evaluation was performed at baseline and after six weeks. The PR programme consisted of respiratory physiotherapy, soft tissue techniques and regular physical activity. Results: The mean age of patients was 45.9±14.1 years with stages I, II and III of the disease (2, 7 and 1 patient respectively). Six patients were undergoing PR programme simultaneously with corticotherapy. Lung function tests showed normal values in all patients at baseline and after PR. Conclusion: Patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis can benefit from a PR programme, as it improves chest expansion and strength of breathing muscles, which plays an important role in the physical fitness level and is further reflected in an improved HRQL of the patients. Supported by Palacky University, FTK_2010_004.


Shoulder injuries are a common problem among wheelchair basketball players (WB). The purpose of this study was to detect the influence of shoulder pain (SP) in WB sport skills. Fifty-one WB players aged from 15 to 42 (21 females, 23, 86±1, 38 years and 30 males, 23, 90±1, 46 years) were evaluated. Shoulder Pain Index for Wheelchair Basketball (SPI-WB) was used to determine SP in relation to specific WB skills. Gender and age were compared using T-test and One Factor ANOVA, respectively. The level of significance was set at p≤0, 05. 27, 5% of the sample reported actual SP. Statistical analysis revealed a main effect for gender regarding SP during shooting skills, especially for females. There were no significant differences according to rebounding/one-handed long passes and other sport situations. In conclusion, SP could affect the specific activities of WB according to gender, especially during shooting in females, so ways to promote shoulder health must be develop.


Clay roof tiles are widely used as roofing materials because of their good mechanical and esthetical properties. The exposure to atmospheric agents and, most of all, to pollutants and smog affects negatively the solar reflectance of a tile surface. The aim of this study is to analyze the influence of aging on the solar reflectance of clay roof tiles. We studied samples provided by manufacturer in Greece and USA. Samples were coated with either organic or inorganic coatings. Natural aging processes were used for samples with inorganic coating, and artificial aging simulation was performed on all samples. Samples were naturally aged in a test farm in Arizona, with an exposure time of three years. In artificial aging processes, the surface of the tiles was subjected to the application of two different mixtures simulating exposure to (i) Arizona weathering agents such as clay, salts and soot and (ii) Arizona, Florida and Ohio weathering agents through an average mixture made by clay, salts, particulate organic matter and soot. The amount of soiling mixture deposited on the surface of the samples was aimed at reproducing a three-year exposure. Soiled samples were subjected to air blowing and rinsing under running water to simulate the wind and rain effects, respectively. The effects of both natural aging and artificial soiling on the surface reflectivity of the clay roof tiles were assessed in the ultraviolet–visible–near infrared range (range from 300 to 2500 nm). The two different soiling conditions were found to affect significantly the solar reflectance of the samples, in particular the samples soiled with the average mixture present a decrease up to 0.20, while Arizona weathering condition affects the solar reflectance up to 0.05, and neither air blowing nor rinsing seem to permit a significant recovery of the surface properties. All solar reflectance measurements were computed by averaging the spectral reflectivity weighted by the air-mass 1 global horizontal solar spectral irradiance.


The number of patients who survive, after severe head injuries, is becoming more and more consistent due to the remarkable progress made in intensive care and rehabilitation units. The aim of this study is to identify, in addition to direct structural damage, medical and neurological problems and describe their frequency within a group of patients with severe head injuries. Neurologic, metabolic, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, respiratory, cardiovascular, cutaneous and endocrinologic problems were more frequently found. All these problems, which were identified during the first month after head injury, are discussed regarding their clinical significance, therapeutic approach, and morbidity.


We have treated two patients with extramammary Paget's disease/carcinoma (EMPD/C), a 62‐year‐old woman and a 78‐year‐old man. In both patients, lymph nodes in the areas of the bilateral inguinal, external iliac arteries, and abdominal aorta were affected. After surgery, they underwent 5 courses of systemic combination chemotherapy at 4‐week intervals to residual or recurrent lymph node metastasis. Each course consisted of 3.5 mg mitomycin C and 50 mg epirubicin (day 1), 0.6 mg vincristine (days 1 and 7), 30 mg cisplatin (days 1, 2, and 3), and 350 mg 5‐fluorouracil (days 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7). The affected lymph nodes in both patients subsided in response to the chemotherapy. Positron emission tomography (PET) scans confirmed the complete remission of lymph node metastasis in Case 1. In Case 2, they were reduced by more than 90% on computed tomography (CT) scans. Adverse effects included leukocytopenia, vomiting, hypesthesia, and constipation, all of which disappeared after the completion of chemotherapy. While surgery with wide local excision is the treatment of choice in patients with EMPD/C, there is currently no standardized treatment for advanced cases with metastasis. We describe two patients with EMPD/C whose metastatic lesions responded well to this combination of chemotherapy.


In hematophagous insects, blood intake triggers a prompt response mediated by neuropeptides, which regulates a variety of physiological processes. Here we report a quantitative proteomic analysis of the postfeeding response in the central nervous system of Rhodnius prolixus, a vector of Chagas disease. The concentration of neuropeptides NVP-like, ITG-like, kinin-precursor peptide, and neuropeptide-like precursor 1 (NPLP1) significantly changes in response to blood intake. We also performed a neuropeptidomic analysis of other feeding-related organs, namely salivary glands and gut. We identified NPLP1 in salivary glands and myosuppressin in midgut. This is the first report suggesting a role for NPLP1, involving the peptides processed from this precursor in the hormonal control of the production and/or release of saliva. Our results contribute to the understanding of the postprandial neuroendocrine response in hematophagous and provide important information for physiological and pharmacological studies aimed to the design of next-generation insecticides such as peptidomimetics.


Economic development and socioeconomic cohesion have always been an object of scientific research. In particular, this issue had become a focus of attention after EU enlargement in 2004 and Great Recession in 2007–2009. The above changes have given way to a certain slowdown in economic growth in most EU countries along with triggering a range of divergence processes between EU countries and regions. As a response to situation, the EU offered a Europe 2020 strategy, in which smart growth was mentioned as one of critical instruments to deal with increasing menaces. The objective of the study is to evaluate the progress of the main smart growth indicators (investment in research and development (R&D), employment rate and share of population obtaining tertiary education) in the EU over the period 2001–2017 within the framework of the economic cohesion concept. The paper seeks to explore the EU from different perspectives. First, the EU new member states (EU-10) and the old ones (EU-14) were compared. Second, the EU countries were divided by economic development level (calculated by GDP per capita in PPP): highly developed (H-7), medium developed (M-7) and less developed (L-7) countries. Finally, aggregate cohesion indices of all three smart growth indicators were calculated for the entire EU (EU-28). The research findings have revealed some interesting trends. First, each smart growth indicator's progress depends on countries' economic development level. Aggregate values for more developed countries (EU-14, H-7 and G-3) are always higher than the EU average (EU-28) and aggregate values for less developed economies are basically lower. Second, cohesion progress of smart growth indicators was influenced by economic recession in 2007–2009. It is argued that cohesion is evident in times of economic growth, but its progress ceases or divergence might occur in case of economic hazards. However, despite the expanding cohesion between the new and the old member states, a gap between certain groups of countries is even growing. This is clearly evident when the EU member states are divided into groups subject to the level of their economic development.


A study categorized self-perceptions of subjects regarding their feelings about initial communication interaction. Using Q-Technique, a total of 138 subjects, mostly students at a midsized, midwestern, urban university enrolled in interpersonal communication courses, were studied through the use of two structured Q-sorts containing statements about nonverbal communication, verbal communication, physical setting, social setting, and decisionmaking. The development of the measure was used as a means of teaching students about interaction and context in the initial stage of relational development. Results indicated there were six communicator styles: (1) the "tentative communicator" who is rhetorically sensitive; (2) the "deliberate communicator" who thinks he or she makes definitive judgments about first impressions; (3) the "searching communicator" who is apprehensive; (4) the "open communicator" who is nonjudgmental; (5) the "particular communicator" who is critically judgmental; and (6) the "awkward communicator" who is caring but lacks skills. (Two tables of data are included; 51 references are attached.) (Author/TD) ******************************************x**************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ***********************************************************************


Martina Droth, Jason Edwards and Michael Hatt (eds), Sculpture Victorious. Art in an Age of Invention, 1837-1901 (exh. cat.), Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 11 September- 30 November 2014, and Tate Britain, London, 25 February- 25 May 2015. New Haven, CT, Yale University Press, 2014, 448pp, c. 380 b&w and colour illustrations, £50. ISBN 978-0-300-20803-0.The vaunting title of this exhibition may have drawn down on it some of the press battering that it received. Overcoming forebodings, and after a brief perusal of the accompanying volume, I went twice and enjoyed it, as did several acquaintances. The curators were as interested, it seemed, in showmanship in the present day as in the period under scrutiny, and furthermore their choice of exhibits had that same attractively heteroclite quality that had characterized the international and colonial exhibitions of the nineteenth century. Now that the dust has settled it seems appropriate to review the volume, which not only served as a catalogue to the two shows in New Haven and London, but represents the critical apparatus behind them, and features quite a few things that were not present in either. The first impression, which further inspection does not entirely dispel, is of an incoherent assemblage of objects, thoughts and opinions. Pursuit of red herrings and littoral drift among the entries, are scarcely held in check by the drogue or drag-anchor of the introductory essay and the groynes of the interspersed thematic essays. It hardly helps that the main essay is the work of a trio, whose individual members are inclined to soar off on improvised cadenzas. So, what hope that such a miscellany would secure us, as the directors claim it does, 'a thorough account of Victorian sculpture'?As has been pointed out, the chances of this were limited by the almost perverse omission of most of the major figures of the high Victorian period: Weekes, Foley, Munro, Woolner, Lough, MacDowell, Noble, Durham, Theed, W. C. Marshall and others. It seemed to be left to John Gibson and John Bell to represent the main current of 'ideal' sculpture, and, of these two, one was a determined Roman outsider, and the other, a maverick with a side-line in the industrial arts. How to explain this, as the authors do not? Do they suffer in the presence of marble figures that sensory deprivation that modern audiences experience when confronted by black and white films? If so, their aversion is certainly prejudicial to the thoroughness of their account. In the almost complete absence of such things, different lines of development are proposed, which, though they do not tell the full story, do open new avenues of inquiry and, refreshingly perhaps, dispense with some old cliches. This version of the story privileges general social and historical phenomena, particularly colonialism and industrial progress, over such artistic cliques as Pre-Raphaelites and New Sculptors.First, then, industrial production. The argument here is that, in the case of large amounts of sculpture shown at international exhibitions and exploited commercially, the mode of production was as much the message as any poetic, moral or political content. In addition, in the so-called 'industrial arts' artisanal input combined with mechanical process to create objects whose production values were every bit as interesting as those of the fine art turned out in studios, where division of labour was increasingly in evidence. In this area, a particular emphasis is put on electroplating, pioneered by the Birmingham firm of Elkington and Mason, partly because this was also a process exploited by some of the supposedly more hands-on sculptors associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement at the end of the century. This line of argument does corroborate the directors' claim that Sculpture Victorious has investigated 'the overlooked ground that lies between the classical nude of the 1840s and the so-called New Sculpture'. However, it is only in this one area of process that the continuity is established. …


Dissociation of water molecules after soft X-ray absorption can yield neutral fragments in high-Rydberg (HR) states. We have studied the production of such fragments by field ionization and ion time-of-flight (TOF) spectrometry. Neutral HR fragments are created at all resonances below the O 1s ionization potential (IP) and particularly within 1 eV above the O 1s IP. The latter effect is due to the recapture of the O 1s photoelectrons into HR orbitals of the molecular water ion after the emission of a fast Auger electron. H2O+(HR) fragments subsequently dissociate, yielding neutral H(HR) and O(HR) fragments, as were found by measuring the TOF spectra by pulsed field ionization. Such measurements were carried out at the O 1s → 4a1 and 2b2 resonances as well as just above the O 1s IP. The TOF spectra also reveal two series of oscillatory structures that are attributed to quantum beats involving Lyman emission in one of the series and field ionization of H(HR) fragments in the other series.


This paper reports several properties of heuristic best-first search strategies whose scoring functions ƒ depend on all the information available from each candidate path, not merely on the current cost g and the estimated completion cost h. It is shown that several known properties of A* retain their form (with the minmax of f playing the role of the optimal cost), which helps establish general tests of admissibility and general conditions for node expansion for these strategies. On the basis of this framework the computational optimality of A*, in the sense of never expanding a node that can be skipped by some other algorithm having access to the same heuristic information that A* uses, is examined. A hierarchy of four optimality types is defined and three classes of algorithms and four domains of problem instances are considered. Computational performances relative to these algorithms and domains are appraised. For each class-domain combination, we then identify the strongest type of optimality that exists and the algorithm for achieving it. The main results of this paper relate to the class of algorithms that, like A*, return optimal solutions (i.e., admissible) when all cost estimates are optimistic (i.e., h ≤ h*). On this class, A* is shown to be not optimal and it is also shown that no optimal algorithm exists, but if the performance tests are confirmed to cases in which the estimates are also consistent, then A* is indeed optimal. Additionally, A* is also shown to be optimal over a subset of the latter class containing all best-first algorithms that are guided by path-dependent evaluation functions.


Abstract Background Antistaphylococcal penicillins including oxacillin and nafcillin are among the drugs of choice for severe and invasive MSSA infections. While alternative agents such as cefazolin are associated with improved safety compared with antistaphylococcal penicillins, comparative safety data between individual antistaphylococcal penicillins is limited and has shown possible improved safety with oxacillin among adults. The objective of this study was to determine the relative adverse events (AEs) reporting for these agents among the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) database. Methods We reviewed adverse events reports from the FAERS database from Q4/2003-Q1/2018 and performed a disproportionality analysis of safety events for nafcillin and oxacillin including ADEs related to acute kidney injury (AKI), rash, hypokalemia, and hepatotoxicity. Measures of association evaluated included reporting odds ratio (ROR) and proportion reporting ratio (PRR). Results Reports of AKI were substantially more common with nafcillin (PRR 23.2, 95% CI 18.4––29.3) than oxacillin (PRR 10.9, 95% CI 7.6––15.5). Rash was slightly higher with nafcillin than oxacillin (PRR 3.7, 95% CI 2.8––5.1 vs. 2.6, 95% CI 1.8––3.8). Hypokalemia was substantially more common with nafcillin than oxacillin (PRR 11.8, 95% CI 7.1––19.4 vs. 1.6, 95% CI 0.4––6.4). Hepatotoxcitiy was slightly higher reported among nafcillin than oxacillin (PRR 25.3, 95% CI 14.5––44.3 vs. 12.9, 95% CI 5.8––28.6). Similar observations were seen with RORs (Figure 1).Figure 1. Reporting Odds Ratios of AEs with Nafcillin and Oxacillin Conclusion Oxacillin may be associated with overall improved safety compared with nafcillin based on reporting signals from FAERS. Our results support previous limited observational data. With the likely equal efficacy of these agents, clinicians may want to consider prescribing oxacillin over nafcillin if an antistaphylococcal penicillin is indicated for an invasive MSSA infection. However, given the limitations of reporting systems, further evaluation is warranted. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.


Gravity gradient noise generated by seismic displacements constitute a limiting factor for the sensitivity of ground based gravitational wave detectors at frequencies below 10 Hz. We present a finite element framework to calculate the soil response to various excitations. The accompanying gravity gradients as a result of the seismic displacement field can then be evaluated. The framework is first shown to accurately model seismic waves in homogenous media. Calculations of the gravity gradient noise are then shown to be in agreement with previous analytical results. Finally results of gravity gradient noise from a single pulse excitation of a homogenous medium are discussed.


We have studied in vitro the ability of the Siberian cedar crust (SCC) extract (Pinus sibirica Du Tour) and arabinogalactan sulphate (AGS) extracted from wood of Siberiam pine-tree (Larix sibirica Ledeb.) to increase the human blood plasma coagulation time and also to inhibit the amydolytic activity of thrombin (aIIa) and the coagulation factor Xa (aXa). A method has been developed by means of which SCC increases the aXa activity by a factor of 3.7 and the aIIà activity by a factor of 2.5. The AGS preparation increased the blood plasma coagulation time in the test for activated partial thromboplastin time. An effective concentration, at which the time of plasma coagulation was increased by a factor of 2 (in comparison to the control) was 2.94 +/- 0.33 mg/ml. AGS did not exhibit the ability to inhibit the Xa activity.


Rear occupant protection in rear crashes is a complex issue. Structural intrusion has been shown to be a significant factor in the injury mechanism of second-row children. In this study, a new model was developed to help quantify dynamic second-row intrusion, in terms of displacement, velocity, and acceleration, and assess its effect on rear occupant responses as a function of time.
 A mathematical model was developed using crash test data based on two reconstructed field accidents involving two different rear-ended vehicles with second-row children. The model also used the corresponding FMVSS 301R-type rear barrier tests of a similar vehicle.
 The crash test pulse data and videos from FMVSS 301R-type tests were analyzed to determine the timing and magnitude of second-row intrusion. Crash tests that had been conducted to simulate the field accidents were then used to validate the model. These tests included instrumented ATDs (Anthropometric Test Device) seated in the second-row area of the struck vehicles. The biomechanical responses were used to assess the validity of the mathematical model.
 Comparison between the mathematical model and the test data showed good agreement. For example, the model correctly showed that the dynamic second-row intrusion was greater than residual/static intrusion/displacement. The model also predicted accelerations that were in good agreement with the test data.
 Video analysis and head/chest acceleration time histories of the ATD's indicated that intrusion occurred early and was an important factor in the occupant responses. Both the extent and velocity of dynamic intrusion also influenced the biomechanical responses.
 The model predicted head and chest accelerations that were greater than the overall vehicle accelerations due to localized structural intrusion.
 The mathematical model developed in this study is a first to assess the dynamic effect of second-row intrusion on rear occupant responses. Identifying factors that influence injury mechanisms are important when assessing the potential effectiveness of countermeasures.


The article discusses the problem of choosing the optimal compression ratio value in internal combustion engines at their design phase, according to today's development trends toward high economy and ecology of road transportation and the divers' expectations in vehicle use and performance. Because the variable compression ratio technology VCR is not yet developed well enough to be implemented into the mass production of engines in the near future, the choice of compression ratio value is always a serious task for constructors to find a compromise between the functional engine properties, operational characteristics, engine efficiency, the powertrain design complexity, and finally the exhaust emission level. Therefore, the paper examines the impact of the compression ratio on the combustion engine parameters mentioned above and presents some innovative designs, where the settings of the compression ratio value beyond the conventional range is connected with using additional solutions in design structure and control systems, with modifications corresponding to the working process in these engines.


Attributions have been studied extensively in groups, yet little is known about the effects attributions have on group communication and performance. This study examines how attributions for a group failure affect socioemotional communication, procedural changes, effort, and performance on the next task. Three-member computer-mediated groups worked on two decision-making tasks. All groups received bogus failure feedback for the first task and, dependent on the attributional condition, members were led to attribute the failure either to self, other members, the group as a whole, or situational constraints. The results demonstrate that the way group members explain previous performance influences subsequent group processes and performance. Specifically, attribution to situational constraints prompted groups to discuss and change communication procedures. Attributing failure to the self or group yielded the highest effort. Attributions to others increased the ratio of negative to positive socioemotional communication and decreased performance quality.


There are many parts of Compliance in the CPI, including Hazard Hunt, SWA, Monthly Meeting, Weekly Meeting, Near Miss, and BBS. Many parts of compliance, complicating compliance coordinator in carrying out the duties coordinate and monitor employee CPI, for adhering to all parts of the compliance of each month. It required a Compliance Monitoring System Employee Information on Land Team PT. Chevron Pacific Indonesia. This information system is supported by an application. This research will study, analyze, design and implement the Compliance Monitoring Information System, to support the program of Compliance and Environmental Health and Safety (HES) at PT CPI Land Team using PHP and Mysql. Applications developed using HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), which allows the display information in the form of text, chart, and also to connect between each display Web Page (Hyperlink). The end result of this research is produced Webbased application program that will be used in intranet networks that can provide a clear overview of the Compliance Monitoring and Compliance program to support the Environmental Health and Safety (HES) on Land Team PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia.


The next era of communication, fifth generation (5G), substituted the fourth generation (4G) in different aspects. For instance, 5G should support massive machine communications (MMC), which uses very small message signals. The cyclic prefix orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CP-OFDM), which is adopted in 4G systems, requires a huge number of bits as an overhead along with the cyclic prefix.Moreover, the sinc-shape of the subcarriers in the frequency domain makes the rectangular pulse in the time domain have long tails; therefore, it is not conceivable to transmit short message signals, which requires no synchronization, while CP-OFDM requires tight synchronization both in time and frequency domain. Accordingly, a new air-interface has to be introduced to overcome the CP-OFDM shortcomings. Various candidates have been suggested such as the universal filtered multicarrier (UFMC). UFMC divides the allocated band into several sub-bands and filter them individually, rather than filtering completely the band. Thus, enabling low tails, this gives more flexibility for MMC signals. In this paper, a comparison and design parameters have been set up, the simulation results show that the UFMC outperforms the CP-OFDM with respect to power spectral density efficiency and the throughput with different signal-to-noise ratios with low and high user equipment velocities.


Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on everyone, including pregnant women. This pandemic has made pregnant women have limitations for physical activity. The moderate activity recommendation to pregnant women. Physical activity including household, caregiving, occupational, and exercise. Physical activity provides many benefits for pregnant women include physical and mental health. This study aimed to identify the physical activity of pregnant women during a pandemic.Methods: The descriptive study used in this study with cross-sectional design. This research used 78 pregnant women who live with her husband, doesn't have a complication of pregnancy, doesn't have COVID-19. The data collection used the pregnancy physical activity questionnaire (PPAQ) Indonesian version.Result: The result showed that 73% of pregnant women had vigorous activity, 21,8% had moderate activity and 5,1% of pregnant women had light activity. The activity of pregnant women to household/caregiving showed that 66,7% of pregnant women had vigorous activity. More than half of pregnant women in this research had sedentary activity 59% in sports activity, and 66,7% of pregnant women had sedentary activity in a type of occupational.Conclusion: The pregnant mother had vigorous intensity during pregnancy in COVID-19 outbreak. The vigorous activity can affect the immune system.


was to evaluate post-obturation pain on the 1 st , 3 rd , and 7 th days on single-visit endodontic treatment after taking antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs. Methods: Permanent molars were managed with single-visit root canal treatment after pre-medication in 80 patients. Patients were randomly assigned to four groups (n = 20); Group-1; amoxicillin (500 mg) + clavulanic acid (125 mg), Group-2; aceclofenac (100 mg) + paracetamol (325 mg); Group-3; anti-inflammatory and antibiotics; and Group-4; without pre-medication. Medications were administered 1 h before treatment. Patients filled a visual analog scale form to rate their pain at 1 st , 3 rd , and 7 th days. Kruskal–Wallis test was used to obtain mean rank and the level of significance was set at 0.05. Results: The mean rank on the 1 st and 3 rd post-operative days for each group, was; Group-1, 51.78 and 55.70, Group-2, 32.60 and 29.95, Group-3, 17.65 and 19.25, and Group-4, 59.98 and 57.10, respectively. Mean rank value was least in the Group-3, followed by Group-2, Group-1 and Group-4. No statistically significant difference in the mean rank was found on the 7 th day. Conclusion: Pre-medication with antibiotic and anti-inflammatory drugs was the most effective in reducing post-operative pain followed by anti-inflammatory alone and least when antibiotic was given.


Though today millions of investors flock to them, in 1945, mutual funds exuded no widespread appeal. This essay examines how, why, and when mutual funds first began to regain — and, indeed, exceed — the popularity they had only briefly enjoyed in the 1920s. A key focus is on the role of marketers in stimulating popular interest in mutual funds, particularly among small investors. As will be argued, the surge in mutual fund participation, which began in earnest after the Second World War, should be considered neither accidental nor inevitable.


In this study, the structure of Y-source converter is improved in order to achieve continuous current at the input side of the Y-source converter. Continuous input current reduces the size and stress of utilised elements. In addition to shoot-through duty cycle, the proposed converter uses coupled transformer to produce the required voltage gain. The obtained gain can be tuned by varying the turns ratio of the coupled transformer. Shared core is used for all windings. Hence, the cost of transformer is almost fixed in comparison with the related structures, but voltage gain is much higher than similar structures. The operating principles and steady-state analyses are presented to express the operational concept. Also, experimental results are given to verify the validity of the proposed converter.


In 67 patients with ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes the authors studied the histamine metabolism in its development correlating the observed changes (in the acute stage of the disease and following medicative therapy). The results demonstrated that in the acute period of the disease the histamine content in the blood increases, while the histaminase activity and the histaminpexic index decreases. It was shown that these changes are more distinct in hemorrhagic strokes. In extensive processes involving the subcortical nodes, the internal capsule and hypothalamus, these parameters show deeper changes and in the future do not normalize. Such studies may be of topico-diagnostic importance as well as of prognostic and therapeutical significance.


Tracking analysis of normalized adaptive algorithms is carried out in the presence of two sources of nonstationarities: carrier frequency offset between transmitter and receiver; random variations in the environment. A unified approach is carried out using a mixed-norm-type error nonlinearity. Close agreement between analytical analysis and simulation results is obtained for the case of the NLMS algorithm. The results show that, unlike the stationary case, the steady-state excess-mean-square error is not a monotonically increasing function of the step-size, while the ability of the adaptive algorithm to track the variations in the environment degrades by increasing the frequency offset.


Abstract Anthrax, caused by the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis, poses a threat to wood bison (Bison bison athabascae) conservation. We used descriptive epidemiology to characterize a large outbreak of anthrax in the Mackenzie bison population in the Northwest Territories, Canada, in 2012 and investigated historical serologic exposure of the bison to the bacterium in nonoutbreak years. Between late June and early August 2012, 451 bison carcasses were detected; mortality peaked from 13–19 July. A substantial number of calves, yearlings, and adult females died in the 2012 outbreak, unlike in two previous anthrax outbreaks in this population that killed mostly mature males. On the basis of the difference in estimates of population size prior to the outbreak (2012) and after the outbreak (2013), it is possible that not all dead bison were found during the outbreak. We assessed serologic history of exposure to B. anthracis by using samples from the Mackenzie wood bison population collected between 1986 and 2009. Overall, 87 of 278 samples were positive (31%). Seroprevalence was lower in females (18%, 10/55) than males (36%, 72/203). The highest proportion of positive submissions (90%) was from 1994, the year following the only anthrax outbreak within the historical data set. Both adult males and females had a higher likelihood of being seropositive than the younger age categories. There was a trend toward declining antibody levels between the 1993 and 2012 outbreak years.


INTRODUCTION
Colonic stent insertion has been shown to be an effective treatment for patients with acute large bowel obstruction, either as a bridge to surgery or as definitive treatment. However, little is known of the role of secondary stent insertion following primary stent failure in patients considered inappropriate or high risk for emergency surgery.

METHODS
Fourteen patients presenting with acute large bowel obstruction who had previously been treated with colonic stent insertion were studied. All underwent attempted placement of a secondary stent.

RESULTS
Technical deployment of the stent was accomplished in 12 patients (86%) but only 9 (64%) achieved clinical decompression. Successful deployment and clinical decompression of a secondary stent was associated with older age (p=0.038). Sex, pathology, site of obstruction, duration of efficacy of initial stent and cause of primary failure were unrelated to outcome. No procedure related morbidity or mortality was noted following repeated intervention.

CONCLUSIONS
Secondary colonic stent insertion appears an effective, safe treatment in the majority of patients presenting with acute large bowel obstruction following failure of a primary stent.


Abstract : For more than a decade, the U.S. government has been grappling with the question of chemical-weapon proliferation along with the associated problems of missile and nuclear-weapon proliferation. The Ceneva Protocol of 1925 banned the first use but not the production, transfer, or storage of chemical weapons. The extensive chemical-weapon arsenal of the former Soviet Union was the primary chemical-weapon threat to the United States fron the start of the Cold War in the early 1950s, and thus drove U.S. chemical-weapon policy. The United States finally ratified the Geneva Protocol in 1975. Iraq's use of chemical weapons in its war with Iran in the 1980s stimulated the United states to improve its export controls of chemicals used to make chemical weapons. With the demise of the Soviet Union as a military threat to the United states and its European allies, and Russia's willingness to honor the 1990 U.S.-Soviet agreement to destroy their respective chemical-weapon stockpiles, U.S. policy focused on the proliferation and use of chemical weapons among third-world rations, particularly in the Middle East. Chemical weapons have occasionally been used in violation of the Ceneva Protocol over the past decades, most extensively by Iraq in its war with Iran. In the past, however, U.S. policies for control of chemical-weapon proliferation had a lower priority than those for control of more threatening nudear weapons and balistic missiles.


Test sequences for acyclic sequential circuits can be generated using a time expansion model. The test sequences have features that: (1) the length of each test sequence for each target fault is uniform, and (2) positions of 'don't cares' (X) of each test sequence for each target fault are independent of any target fault. In this paper, focusing on the features, we present two test sequence compaction methods: static compaction and dynamic compaction. The static test sequence compaction method uses a template. The dynamic test sequence compaction method uses a reverse transformation fault simulation: a fault simulation for a time expansion model with test patterns into which test sequences are reversely transformed after the static compaction. Experimental results for some acyclic sequential circuits show that the compaction methods reduce the number of test patterns by 66% to 81%.


Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is due to progressive obstruction of pulmonary arteries, thus leading to right heart failure and death. Breath volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can discriminate PAH and controls. Thus, a unique breath-print of PAH is detected using an artificial nose. VOCs target olfactory receptors (ORs) in olfaction. Interestingly, ORs are detected in peripheral tissues not related to olfaction and their deregulation is associated to cancer development. PSGR, encoded by the OR51E2 gene, is one of the ORs. Because vascular cells in PAH exhibit properties of cancer cells, we propose the ground-breaking hypothesis that ORs participate to vascular remodeling leading to PAH. Thus we aim to determine whether a deregulated expression and function of the pulmonary vascular PSGR could participate to the pathological phenotype of vascular cells, and its potential use as a novel therapeutic target in PAH. PSGR gene and protein expression were assessed in total lung, distal pulmonary arteries and PASMCs from PAH patients compared to controls using qRT-PCR and western blot. We evaluated proliferation (Ki67) and apoptosis (TMRM) after siRNA-directed silencing of PSGR expression in PASMCs. We demonstrate that PSGR expression is significantly increased (50%) in PASMC, in total lung and isolated pulmonary arteries from PAH patients compared to controls. PSGR silencing in PAH-PASMCs decreased both cell proliferation (20%) and resistance to apoptosis (25%). This deregulated OR expression in PAH PASMCs opens a new avenue in PAH pathophysiology. The whole spectrum of ORs is currently investigated using microarrays and deregulated ORs will be evaluated both in vitro and in vivo .


We analyze the behavior of a suspension of active polar particles under shear. In the absence of external forces, orientationally ordered active particles are known to exhibit a transition to a state of nonuniform polarization and spontaneous flow. Such a transition results from the interplay between elastic stresses, due to the liquid crystallinity of the suspension, and internal active stresses. In the presence of an external shear, we find an extremely rich variety of phenomena, including an effective reduction (increase) in the apparent viscosity depending on the nature of the active stresses and the flow-alignment property of the particles, as well as more exotic behaviors such as a nonmonotonic stress-strain-rate relation and yield stress for large activities.


Thailand is an agricultural country. Therefore, biomass from agricultural waste is the best sources for renewable energy production. In this research, an integrated biomass gasification fuel cell or BGFC system is studied. ASPEN PLUS v.8.6 is used to perform the simulated BGFC system. Seven types of biomass are considered, which are corncob, empty fruit bunch, cassava rhizome, rice straw, rice husk, bagasse and palm shell. The goal is to evaluate power generation and energy efficiency of the BGFC system. There are 5 various parameters that affect to the system as gasifier temperature, air to biomass ratio, steam to biomass ratio, fuel cell temperature and fuel cell pressure. The results showed that total power increase when increasing air to biomass ratio, steam to biomass ratio, fuel cell temperature and fuel cell pressure. Moreover, the system efficiency increases when increasing fuel cell temperature and pressure.


2876 Annexin I (ANXA I) is a calcium and phospholipid binding protein which serves as a substrate for the tyrosine kinase of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). ANXA1 has been implicated in apoptosis, cell differentiation and proliferation. Alterations in ANXA1 expression have been described in several tumor types, including breast cancer. However, the precise role and function of ANXA1 in breast cancer have yet to be established. Our goal was to study ANXA1 function in breast cancer cells using cellular in vitro models with defined levels of ANXA1 expression. To evaluate ANXA1 expression in breast cancer cells, Western blot analysis was performed. Low ANXA1 protein expression was detected in MDA-MB-453 whereas high levels of ANXA1 were found in MCF7 and MDA-MB-231. To study the effects of ANXA1 overexpression, retrovirus was used to infect MDA-MB-453 with an expression vector containing ANXA1 cDNA. Conversely, to evaluate the effects of silencing ANXA1 expression, MCF7 and MDA-MB-231, were stably infected with small inhibitory RNAs (siRNA) specific for ANXA1. The siRNAs resulted in varying levels of attenuation of endogenous ANXA1 protein expression in the three different cell lines as assessed by Western blot analysis. The generated cell lines were used to evaluate the effects of ANXA1 on anchorage independent growth in soft agar. Overexpression of ANXA1 resulted in a 50% reduction of colony growth of MDA-MB-453/cDNA cells. In contrast, suppression of ANXA1 in both MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 resulted in a two-fold increase in anchorage independent growth. We wanted to determine whether ANXA1 interacts with HER2/neu, an important? protein in breast cancer and a member of the EGFR family. ANXA1 protein levels were measured in BT-474 and MDA-MB-435 with silenced HER2/neu. In these cell lines, silenced HER2/neu have been previously shown to decrease proliferation and decrease tumor growth in nude mice (J Biol Chem. 6;279:4339,04). In both BT-474 and MDA-MB-435, silenced of HER2/neu was associated with higher ANXA1 protein expression. In conclusion, our studies indicate that ANXA1 has a potential role in the suppression of breast cancer cell growth. We have successfully developed in vitro models to further study the role and function of ANXA1 in breast cancer and to determine whether the interaction of ANXA1 and HER2/neu can be used as a therapeutic site.


Background: The lack of treatment options for chemoresistant ovarian cancer, the deadliest gynecologic malignancy, is a central clinical problem. Approximately 50% of high-grade serous ovarian tumors harbor defects in DNA repair pathways including germline BRCA1 and 2 mutations (a BRCAness phenotype), and are sensitive to DNA damaging agents such as cisplatin and poly ADP ribose polymerase inhibitors (PARPi). In contrast, non-BRCAness tumors such as those exhibiting CCNE1 (cyclin E) amplification are chemoresistant, show upregulated DNA repair processes and cell cycle progression via activation of the CDK2/cyclin E/E2F1 axis, and have poor clinical outcomes. Targeting the cyclin E axis with CDK2 inhibitors such as dinaciclib is a promising clinical strategy. However, their efficacy in cyclin E-overexpressing ovarian cancer cells is limited by acquired chemoresistance mediated in part through upregulation of CDK2, cyclin E and E2F1, and toxicity. Therefore, new strategies are needed to improve the efficacy of CDK2-targeting therapy in ovarian cancer. Our group has shown that epigenetic histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) therapy sensitizes ovarian cancer cells to multiple chemotherapeutic drugs. Aims: The objectives of this study were to (i) determine expression patterns of cyclin E axis components in publically available databases of high-grade serous ovarian tumors and established cell lines; and (ii) test an epigenetic drug strategy using HDACi to convert non-BRCAness ovarian cancer cells to a BRCAness phenotype as a means of sensitizing chemoresistant cells to dinaciclib. Methods: RNA-seq V2 RSEM expression levels of cyclin E, CDK2, BRCA1 and E2F1 in 265 ovarian tumors were extracted from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) via cbioportal.org. mRNA expression of these genes in ovarian cancer cell lines was extracted from the Broad-Novartis Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE). Preliminary western blot studies indicated that of the FDA-approved HDACi (vorinostat, romidepsin, panobinostat), panobinostat was most effective at reducing protein expression of cyclin E axis components (cyclin E, BRCA1 and E2F1). We therefore treated cultured cyclin E overexpressing ovarian cancer cells via CCNE1 amplification (OVCAR-3) or high-level gain (OVCAR-4) with panobinostat alone and in combination with the CDK2 inhibitor, dinaciclib. The following endpoints were examined: cell viability in sulforhodamine B (SRB) assays; apoptosis by western blot analysis of cleaved PARP; and protein expression of cyclin E, E2F1 and BRCA1 by western blot. Two-tailed Student9s t tests were used for measuring differences between groups in drug treatment experiments. Results: There was significant correlation (Spearman) between cyclin E expression and that of CDK2, E2F1 and BRCA1 in ovarian tumors and in serous-like ovarian cancer cell lines. These results are consistent with the relationship between cyclin E overexpression and enhanced E2F1-dependent transcription of established E2F1 targets, including cyclin E itself, and DNA repair genes such as BRCA1. In SRB assays, the combination of panobinostat and dinaciclib synergized in both OVCAR-3 and OVCAR-4 cells. When combined, the drugs also induced co-operative effects on expression of apoptosis markers. Enhanced cytotoxicity of the combination was accompanied by panobinostat-induced reduction in expression of cyclin E, E2F1 and BRCA1. Conclusions: The development of a new CDK2 inhibitor combination therapy with panobinostat has immediate prospects for rapid translation to the clinic and great potential for improving clinical outcomes for non-BRCAness, chemoresistant ovarian cancer. Citation Format: Andrew J. Wilson, Jeanette Saskowski, Dineo Khabele. The histone deacetylase inhibitor panobinostat sensitizes cyclin E-amplified ovarian cancer cells to the cyclin-dependent kinase 2 inhibitor dinaciclib. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Advances in Ovarian Cancer Research: Exploiting Vulnerabilities; Oct 17-20, 2015; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2016;22(2 Suppl):Abstract nr B81.


Internal mammary artery grafting to the left anterior descending artery gives higher long-term patency and improved survival as compared with venous grafts. Few data exist on the operative mortality and infarction rate in coronary artery bypass surgery when using this type of graft in high-risk groups, such as patients with left main stenosis. In 19 months, we studied 81 consecutive patients with left main stenosis who received a mammary artery graft to the left anterior descending artery as well as vein grafts to other vessels and found no excessive mortality or infarction rate. We suggest that patients with left main stenosis should be treated with an internal mammary artery graft.


Numerous drugs and chemicals affect the function of human blood platelets. The mechanism of action of some medications is partly understood. Aspirin is the most frequently involved drug. It appears to interfere with the platelet release reaction by acetylation of a platelet membrane protein which may be involved in the synthesis of prostaglandins. Other anti-inflammatory drugs, including indomethacin, phenylbutazone, ibuprophen (Motrin) and clonixin, also interfere with the release reaction but have a shorter acting course than aspirin. Some drugs stimulate adenylcyclase (gliclazide) or block phosphodiesterase, (dipyridamole, caffeine) both of which actions lead to an increase in adenosine cyclic 3':5' monophosphate (cAMP) and decrease aggregation by adenosine diphosphate (ADP). These interactions should be known to clinical scientists since patients using these medicaments may manifest abnormal platelet function tests in the laboratory and mild hemorrhagic syndromes in the clinic.


The article presents the results of experimental research of efficiency of fuel oil combustion in power boilers at TPPs with different layout of burners at different steam loads. Given the values of efficiency of boilers and of emissions of nitrogen oxides when burning fuel oil. The efficiency of using bunk steel counter arrangement of burners.


The presence of atmospheric aerosols along the line of sight of infrared and electro-optical sensors greatly determines the range performance of these devices. On the one hand the aerosol particles scatter background (including sun) radiance into the field of view of the sensor, on the other hand they contribute to the atmospheric contrast reduction of the target. Proper knowledge of aerosol characteristics such as composition, concentration and size distribution is of vital importance for the prediction of their scattering and extinction characteristics. It is however found to be very difficult to collect accurate information on the particle size distribution (PSD) of aerosols. One of the reasons is the variation of the PSD along the path, which is likely to occur in a coastal area such as the San Diego Bay. One way to overcome these problems is the use of a multi-band transmissometer, as was done in previous measurement campaigns in the Baltic Sea [1] and in the Persian Gulf area [2]. The TNO seven-band optical/IR transmissometer system, providing path averaged transmission data for the intervening atmosphere, is operating at wavelengths between 0.4 and 14 μm,. In this spectral band, scattering in light hazy conditions is dominated by particles with a diameter of less than 4 μm. In order to simulate the transmission losses by scattering in various spectral bands a special calculation tool has been developed. This tool, described in this paper, allows detailed investigation of the possibilities of the retrieval of the PSD from multi-band transmission data. The slope in the plots of the transmission versus wavelength is directly related to the slope of the (log-normal) PSD plots (known as Junge exponent). The average transmission in a selected number of spectral bands is directly correlated to the average particle concentration (known as Junge coefficient). The principle of the methodology is illustrated with data collected during a measurement campaign, carried out over the San Diego Bay in August 2005. In this campaign we used six of the seven spectral bands, providing data over a 7.2 km over water path. It is shown that the retrieval method is very successful and the data correspond well with those, simultaneously collected with in-situ Particle Measurement Systems (PMS), located on both sides of the path. In addition to the path averaging, another advantage of the transmissometer PSD's, is the accuracy, being an order of magnitude higher than that of the PMS probes due to the fact that the measurement volume is more than a million times larger. A detailed analysis is given of the transmission data, showing peculiar effects were in the 2.3μm band around 19.00 UTC during most of the days. These effects are especially well illustrated in plots where the transmission in one spectral band is plotted against the transmission in another band for various times of the day.


The scope of the study was to assess food consumption according to the level of processing and the ingestion of nutrients among adolescents in the rural areas of Pelotas-RS. It involved a cross-sectional census-type study with 462 students in grades 6 through 9 of elementary school from 21 municipal schools in the rural area. Food consumption was evaluated by 24-hour dietary recall (24HR), with food products being classified into four groups according to the level of processing in line with the NOVA classification. The average daily energy intake was 1,921 calories, namely 48.2% from in natura or minimally processed food and 31.9% from ultra-processed food. The products that contributed most to the total daily calory intake were rice, meat, legumes, sugar, homemade bread, cookies, candies, soda, and artificial juices. A higher proportion of macro and micronutrients was observed from ingestion of in natura or minimally processed food, although carbohydrates, fat and iron contents derived from ultra-processed food was also high. The results of the study indicate that adolescents in rural areas have a higher energy intake from fresh or minimally processed food, however, it is observed that ultra-processed food is also part of their diet, thereby revealing the nutritional transition.