Abstract Though biomechanically determined guidelines exist for lifting, existing recommendations for pushing and pulling were developed using a psychophysical approach. The current study aimed to establish objective hand force limits based on the results of a biomechanical assessment of the forces on the lumbar spine during occupational pushing and pulling activities. Sixty-two subjects performed pushing and pulling tasks in a laboratory setting. An electromyography-assisted biomechanical model estimated spinal loads, while hand force and turning torque were measured via hand transducers. Mixed modelling techniques correlated spinal load with hand force or torque throughout a wide range of exposures in order to develop biomechanically determined hand force and torque limits. Exertion type, exertion direction, handle height and their interactions significantly influenced dependent measures of spinal load, hand force and turning torque. The biomechanically determined guidelines presented herein are up to 30% lower than comparable psychophysically derived limits and particularly more protective for straight pushing. Practitioner Summary: This study utilises a biomechanical model to develop objective biomechanically determined push/pull risk limits assessed via hand forces and turning torque. These limits can be up to 30% lower than existing psychophysically determined pushing and pulling recommendations. Practitioners should consider implementing these guidelines in both risk assessment and workplace design moving forward.


Abstract This paper tries to cluster the cities in Guangdong Province, China according to their economic development levels. We intentionally separate a group of indicators for logistics and transportation development levels, therefore, the clustering results can be viewed as in accordance with logisticsoriented economic development levels. Before the clustering, we use principal component analysis to reduce the number of dimensions. The results of the final categories are consistent with what many people perceived about the clusters according to the city's economic development levels, as well as how much the cities' logistics is developed. This findings provide the business and public administration decision makers the references in their decisions on developing the respective city's logistics and transportation.


: In clause the given literatures on structures of carbohydrates of vegetables, fruit, berry and nuts are resulted. The role separate carbohydrates and food fiber in ability organisms in discussion.


We need to develop a target market for elderly women by increasing the ratio of functional apparel. The purpose of this study was to provide basic data for developing a Leisure Sports Jumper and improving the quality of life of clothing for female elderly consumers. This study reviewed the current situation on the production of the functional Leisure Sports Jumper for the elderly women in literature. For the experimental study, we selected Leisure Sports Jumpers from five apparel brands, and evaluated a sensory test on 20 subjects representing the average body shape of the elderly women aged from 65 to 75. After the first sensory test, we manipulated the patterns for samples of the Leisure Sports Jumper. In the second sensory test, visual and cognitive appropriateness of the Leisure sports jumpers were assessed by the elderly women. The results of the study were as follows: the Leisure Sports Jumper of brand 'C' showed the highest appropriateness in terms of neck, armholes, and sleeves among the 5 brands. The Leisure Sports Jumper of brands 'B' and 'D' showed the lowest appropriateness in the width of the armpits among the 5 brands. Except for the length of the Leisure Sports Jumper, the margin, location of the pocket, and armholes had the lowest score in the first test showing over 3.5 points.


The transformation of residential central areas into urban tourist and gastronomic destinations, is part of a larger process which poses important challenges for urban management and social conflict resolution. To be competitive, cities stage urban space as a place where tourists may co-produce travel experiences. Urban tourist destinations represented as safe spaces, open to investment and to product and service innovation. This essay analyzes the emergence of Gastronomy-Tourism Urban Districts (DUGTs) as a common process in large scale cities. It looks at the transformation of two residential areas in the city of Guadalajara, Jalisco, as spaces for conflicts of interests among high income groups, which are similar to those associated with gentrification. The paper identifies challenges for public policy and for negotiation processes aimed at solving controversies associated to the search for a better position for cities in the global economic map.


Organic materials combined with strongly guiding silicon waveguides open the route to highly efficient electro-optical devices. Modulators based on the so-called silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) platform have only recently shown frequency responses up to 100 GHz, high-speed operation beyond 112 Gbit/s with fJ/bit power consumption. In this paper, we review the SOH platform and discuss important devices such as Mach-Zehnder and IQ-modulators based on the linear electro-optic effect. We further show liquid-crystal phase-shifters with a voltage-length product as low as VπL = 0.06 V·mm and sub-μW power consumption as required for slow optical switching or tuning optical filters and devices.


The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and the association with relevant match activities (ecological validity) of an age-adapted field test for intermittent high-intensity endurance known as Yo-Yo intermittent recovery level 1 children test (YYIR1C) in young male soccer players. Twenty-eight young male outfield soccer players (age 11.1±0.9 years, height 142±4.4 cm, body mass 37.0±5.9 kg) with at least 2 years of experience in soccer competitions were tested twice using YYIR1C and an age-adapted competitive small-sided game (i.e., 9v9), 7 days apart in a random order. The YYIR1C performance showed an excellent relative (ICC=0.94) and a good absolute reliability (TEM as %CV=5.1%). Very large and significant associations were found between YYIR1C performance and match high-intensity activity (r=0.53). Large correlations were found between YYIR1C and match sprinting (r=0.42) and high-intensity metabolic power (r=0.46) distances. Match total distance was largely associated with YYIR1C (r=0.30). The results of this study showed that YYIR1C may be considered a valid and reliable field test for assessing intermittent high-intensity endurance in young male soccer players. Due to the relevance of aerobic fitness in youth soccer, future studies testing the sensitiveness of YYIR1C are necessary.


BACKGROUND
The infantile form of primary hyperoxaluria type I (PHI) is the most devastating PH subtype leading to early end-stage renal failure and severe systemic oxalosis. Combined or sequential liver-kidney transplantation (LKTx) is the only curative option but it involves substantial risks, especially in critically ill infants. The procedure also requires resources that are simply not available to many children suffering from PHI worldwide. Less invasive and less complex therapeutic interventions allowing a better timing are clearly needed. Liver cell transplantation (LCT) may expand the narrow spectrum of auxiliary measures to buy time until LKTx for infants can be performed more safely.

METHODS
We performed LCT (male neonate donor) in a 15-month-old female in reduced general condition suffering from systemic oxalosis. Renal replacement therapy, initiated at the age of 3 months, was complicated by continuous haemodialysis access problems. Living donor liver transplantation was not available for this patient. Plasma oxalate (Pox) was used as the primary outcome measure.

RESULTS
Pox decreased from 104.3±8.4 prior to 70.0±15.0 μmol/L from Day 14 to Day 56 after LCT. A significant persistent Pox reduction (P<0.001) comparing mean levels prior to (103.8 μmol/L) and after Day 14 of LCT until LKTx (77.3 μmol/L) was seen, although a secondary increase and wider range of Pox was also observed. In parallel, the patient's clinical situation markedly improved and the girl received a cadaveric LKTx 12 months after LCT. However, biopsy specimens taken from the explanted liver did not show male donor cells by amelogenin polymerase chain reaction.

CONCLUSIONS
With due caution, our pilot data indicate that LCT in infantile oxalosis warrants further investigation. Improvement of protocol and methodology is clearly needed in order to develop a procedure that could assist in the cure of PHI.


Introduction: The impact of comorbidity on overall survival among older women diagnosed with breast cancer has been studied extensively. However, less is known about its impact on overall survival among women diagnosed with breast cancer before age 65 years. Methods: We followed 4516 (1605 black, 2911 white) women ages 35 to 64 years when diagnosed with incident invasive breast cancer between 1994 and 1998. The pre-diagnosis history of 11 comorbid conditions and whether they had been treated were collected shortly after breast cancer diagnosis. Multivariate Cox regression models were used to examine the impact of these comorbidities on overall survival. Results: During a median of 8.2 years follow-up, 1052 (524 black, 528 white) women died. The prevalence of comorbidities diagnosed before breast cancer was higher among black women than among white women (61.3% vs. 44.7%). Compared to women without any comorbidities, women were at increased risk of death if they had any treated comorbidity except when gallbladder disease; peptic, stomach, gastric, or duodenal ulcer; or liver disease was the only comorbidity. The risk of death increased with increasing number of treated comorbidities (P-trend Conclusions: Among women ages 35 to 64 years when diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, having more comorbidities at breast cancer diagnosis has a greater impact on overall survival for women with localized tumors than for women with non-localized tumors. Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2011;4(10 Suppl):B88.


Summary form only given. The exact knowledge of the sea clutter properties is of great importance for a modern maritime surveillance radar because they are directly involved in the optimization of the detection process, mainly through the CFAR processor design. Although sea clutter has been investigated by many authors for many years, a generally accepted model still does not exist.


Abstract Pollen in the surface sediment collected in a transect from sea to land in the Coringa mangrove wetland was analysed to determine the spatial and quantitative composition of the pollen record for palaeoecological interpretation. Autochthonous pollen preservation of the existing mangrove species was predominant in the sediments and serves as a potential indicator of coastal wetlands. The low quantity of allochthonous and parautochthonous pollen in the sediment reflects the regional plant community. Statistical analysis of the palynological data shows a high association between pollen from Avicennia marina and Clerodendrum inerme and their vegetation. Aegiceras corniculatum, Sonneratia, Ceriops decandra, Xylocarpus mekongenesis, Cocos nucifera, Azadirachta indica, Syzygium, Chenopodiaceae, Poaceae and Cyperaceae show overrepresentation. Ordination techniques for individual species using fidelity and dispersibility indices and regression analyses suggest four different floristic groups, of (i) high dispersibility-moderate fidelity taxa; (ii) high dispersibility-low fidelity taxa; (iii) moderate dispersibility-low fidelity taxa; and (iv) low dispersibility-high fidelity taxa. Species with high fidelity and moderate-low dispersibility indices could be used to identify the vegetation types in sedimentary sequences. The presence of discriminatory taxa (Avicennia marina, Sonneratia sp.), even in small quantities, helps in accurate identification of the local vegetation. Results indicate that while mangrove pollen is transported over short distances, non-mangrove pollen and spores are transported from longer distances. Thus, the status of mangrove and non-mangrove pollen in the sediments provides a clue to the (palaeo)coastal ecology and the (palaeo)climatic conditions.


Methylmercury (CH3Hg+, or MeHg) is the most poisonous form of mercury (Hg) because it can enter into human bodies through the consumption of Hg-contaminated fish and shellfish. A first step toward bioaccumulation of MeHg in aquatic foods is the methylation of inorganic mercury, a process that is predominantly mediated by anaerobic bacteria, such as sulfate reducing bacteria and iron reducing bacteria. Many researches have confirmed that microbial methylation of mercury is an intracellular reaction. Therefore, MeHg production rates are not only related to the presence and productivity of methylating bacteria and also the biouptake of Hg to these anaerobic bacteria. To understand the pathways of Hg biouptake is indispensable to elucidate the mechanisms of microbial methylation. In this review, we systematically evaluated the current state of knowledge regarding the four pathways of mercury biouptake, Mer-based transport system, passive diffusion, facilitated diffusion and active transport. In the future, facilitated diffusion and active transport of inorganic mercury to the cytoplasm of microbial cells should be emphasized.


The observation of a sharp spectral feature in the gamma-ray sky would be one of the cleanest ways to identify dark matter and pinpoint its properties. Over the years a lot of attention has been paid to two specific features, namely gamma-ray lines and internal bremsstrahlung. Here, we explore a third class of spectral signatures, box-shaped gamma-ray spectra, that naturally arise in dark matter cascade annihilations or decays into intermediate particles that in turn decay into photons. Using Fermi-LAT data, we derive constraints on the dark matter parameter space for both annihilating and decaying dark matter, and show explicitly that our limits are competitive to strategies employing standard spectral features. More importantly, we find robust limits even in the case of non-degenerate dark matter and intermediate particle masses. This result is particularly relevant in constraining dark matter frameworks with gamma-ray data. We conclude by illustrating the power of box-shaped gamma-ray constraints on concrete particle physics scenarios.


Available online at www.macvetrev.mk Canine Transmissible Venereal Tumor (CTVT) is a benign reticuloendothelial (histiocytic) tumor of the dog that mainly affects the external genitalia. This tumor was found in male 2 years old mongrel dog. According the anamnestic data, there was no visible change of its general clinical status, except spontaneous bleeding with blood drops on the praeputium and the presence of blood in the urine. With clinical examination a multilobular mass on radix penis mucosa was found, which actually caused pseudohemorrhagia. The material for cytological diagnostic was taken with the imprint method and 4 cytological fi lms were prepared and strained. The conclusion of the cytological diagnosis was CTVT. The tumor cause only local disturbances, and the differential diagnosis of the other "round cells tumors", histiocytomas, plasmacytomas, lymphoma, some melanomas and especially lymphosarcomas, which could be located on the external genitalia, had a big signifi cance. Although some authors are mentioning spontaneous regression, however, because this is invasive tumor, a complete chirurgical excision was made.


Arvicanthis niloticus is a diurnal murid rodent from sub-Saharan Africa. Here we report on processes associated with mating in this species in an attempt to elucidate how the neural mechanisms governing temporal organization differ in nocturnal and diurnal species. First, we systematically mapped the distribution of GnRH neurons in adult females. Second, we tested the hypothesis that Arvicanthis differ from nocturnal murid rodents with respect to the timing of the LH surge and the associated increase in Fos expression in GnRH-immunoreactive (IR) neurons. We examined these events around a postpartum estrus. When parturition occurred between zeitgeber time (ZT) 2 and 17 (lights on at ZT 0 and off at ZT 12; there are 24 ZT units a day, each equivalent to 1 standard hour), we collected blood and perfused females at ZT 17, 20, 23, or 2. A sharp peak in plasma LH occurred at ZT 20, and a 10-fold increase in the percentage of GnRH-IR neurons that expressed Fos-IR occurred between ZT 17 and 20. By contrast, this rise occurs in nocturnal rodents during the last few hours of the light period. This is the first indication of a difference between nocturnal and diurnal animals with respect to neural mechanisms associated with a precisely timed event of known significance.


Genetic and environmental factors are important in the pathogenesis of clinical and experimental chronic intestinal inflammation. We investigated the influence of normal luminal bacteria and several groups of selected bacterial strains on spontaneous gastrointestinal and systemic inflammation in HLA-B27 transgenic rats. Rats maintained germfree for 3-9 mo were compared with littermates conventionalized with specific pathogen-free bacteria. Subsequently, germfree transgenic rats were colonized with groups of five to eight bacteria that were either facultative or strictly anaerobic. Transgenic germfree rats had no gastroduodenitis, colitis, or arthritis, but developed epididymitis and dermatitis to the same degree as conventionalized rats. Colonic proinflammatory cytokine expression was increased in transgenic conventionalized rats but was undetectable in germfree and nontransgenic rats. Colitis progressively increased over the first 4 wk of bacterial exposure, then plateaued. Only transgenic rats colonized with defined bacterial cocktails which contained Bacteroides spp. had colitis and gastritis. Normal luminal bacteria predictably and uniformly induce chronic colonic, gastric and systemic inflammation in B27 transgenic F344 rats, but all bacterial species do not have equal activities.


The prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in the nonobese population is not low. However, the identification and risk mitigation of MS are not easy in this population. We aimed to develop an MS prediction model using genetic and clinical factors of nonobese Koreans through machine learning methods. A prediction model for MS was designed for a nonobese population using clinical and genetic polymorphism information with five machine learning algorithms, including naïve Bayes classification (NB). The analysis was performed in two stages (training and test sets). Model A was designed with only clinical information (age, sex, body mass index, smoking status, alcohol consumption status, and exercise status), and for model B, genetic information (for 10 polymorphisms) was added to model A. Of the 7,502 nonobese participants, 647 (8.6%) had MS. In the test set analysis, for the maximum sensitivity criterion, NB showed the highest sensitivity: 0.38 for model A and 0.42 for model B. The specificity of NB was 0.79 for model A and 0.80 for model B. In a comparison of the performances of models A and B by NB, model B (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC] = 0.69, clinical and genetic information input) showed better performance than model A (AUC = 0.65, clinical information only input). We designed a prediction model for MS in a nonobese population using clinical and genetic information. With this model, we might convince nonobese MS individuals to undergo health checks and adopt behaviors associated with a preventive lifestyle.


Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) have a higher prevalence in Asia population. OSA have associated with Atrial Fibrillation (AF) from hypoxemia condition even though the association between OSA and AF could be contributed to risk factor AF among OSA patient. AF has four times the higher prevalence in a patient with OSA than without OSA (4.8% vs. 0.9%). Although, the study about factor affecting AF in OSA patient has not been widely practiced, especially in Indonesia. This study aims to determine the factors affecting AF in patients with risk of OSA. The data used in this study is primary data of patients with risk of OSA at RSCM based on interviews with the Berlin questionnaire. The sample size are145 patients with risk of OSA based on the Berlin questionnaire using a technique of non-probability sampling. The number of patients diagnosed AF is 45 patients (31.03%). The decision tree used is CHAID and CART to determine which factors significantly affect AF and classify based on the factor. Dependent variables in this study are AF, while independent variables are age, sex, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), neck circumference (NC), blood pressure (BP), smoking history, history of consuming alcoholic, history of heart failure, history of coronary heart disease (CHD), and history of stroke. The results of this study, which factor significantly affect AF in a patient with risk of OSA using CHAID are age, BP, WC, and NC with the accuracy rate is 71.7%, although using CART are age, BP, WC, BMI, CHD, and smoking with the accuracy rate is 77.2%.


The effect of heavy metals on the adduct of carbaryl and calf thymus DNA in vitro was studied using fluorescence and UV spectrum. The results showed that heavy metals can influence the carbaryl quenching constant and the number of binding sites, and the order of is Pb2+ >Ag2+ >Cu2+ >Ni2+ >Co2+ >Zn2+ >Cd2+ >Cr2+. The UV spectrum study showed that the heavy metal ions can change the double helix structure of ctDNA, and the order of this ability is Pb2+ >Cd2+ >Ag+ >Co2+ Zn2t approximately Cu2+ >Ni2+ >Cr+.


Widespread coral reef decline has included the decline of reef fish populations, and the subsistence and artisanal fisheries that depend on them. Overfishing and destructive fishing have been identified as the greatest local threats to coral reefs, but the greatest future threats are acidification and increases in mass coral bleaching caused by global warming. Some reefs have shifted from dominance by corals to macroalgae, in what are called "phase shifts". Depletion of herbivores including fishes has been identified as a contributor to such phase shifts, though nutrients are also involved in complex interactions with herbivory and competition. The depletion of herbivorous fishes implies a reduction of the resilience of coral reefs to the looming threat of mass coral mortality from bleaching, since mass coral deaths are likely to be followed by mass macroalgal blooms on the newly exposed dead substrates. Conventional stock assessment of each fish species would be the preferred option for understanding the status of the reef fishes, but this is far too expensive to be practical because of the high diversity of the fishery and poverty where most reefs are located. In addition, stock assessment models and fisheries in general assume density dependent populations, but a key prediction that stocks recover from fishing is not always confirmed. Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE) has far too many weaknesses to be a useful method. The ratio of catch to stock and the proportion of catch that is mature depend on fish catch data, and are heavily biased toward stocks that are in good condition and incapable of finding species that are in the worst condition. Near-pristine reefs give us a reality check about just how much we have lost. Common fisheries management tools that control effort or catch are often prohibitively difficult to enforce for most coral reefs except in developed countries. Ecosystem-based management requires management of impacts of fishing on the ecosystem, but also vice versa. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have been a favorite management tool, since they require little information. MPAs are excellent conservation and precautionary tools, but address only fishing threats, and may be modest fisheries management tools, which are often chosen because they appear to be the only feasible alternative. "Dataless management" is based on qualitative information from traditional ecological knowledge and/or science, is sufficient for successful reef fisheries management, and is very inexpensive and practical, but requires either customary marine tenure or strong governmental leadership. Customary marine tenure has high social acceptance and compliance and may work fairly well for fisheries management and conservation where it is still strong.


Abstract. Ziane L, Djellouli M, Berghioua A. 2021. Short Communication: Chemical composition, antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of Fagonia longispina (Zygophyllaceae) of Algerian. Biodiversitas 22: 3448-3453. The study's aim is to discover the antioxidant, antibacterial efficacy and identifying the main constituents of the essential oil of Fagonia longispina from southwest of Algeria. The essential oil from the aerial parts of the endemic plant Fagonia longispina collected from the region of Sahara southwest of Algeria was isolated by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.  Our work was designed then, to evaluate the antioxidant activity of the essential oil of Fagonia longispina by DPPH free radical scavenging and HPTLC techniques. Antibacterial potency of essential oil from this plant has been tested against Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 29213), Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), and Bacillus cereus (ATCC11778) by disk diffusion assay. We found that the chemical profile of the essential oil revealed the presence of 14 compounds: Trans–Pinocarveol (3.14 %), Panisaldehyd (4.24 %), Trans geraniol (3.05 %), carvacrol 18.72 %), Elemicin (22.85 %), (Z,E) Farnesol (15.69 %), Caryophyllene oxide (2.68 %), Alpha-curcumene (1.75 %), Germacrene D (4.22 %), longipinane (2.89 %) and ?-Terpinine (2.74 %). The antioxidant assay showed that the essential oil could scavenge DPPH (IC50 values of 2.1959 mg/mL free radical. The essential oil exhibits very effective antimicrobial activity using disk diffusion assay method with minimum inhibitory concentration ranging from 0.75 ?L/mL to 1.9714 ?L/mL. These results showed that this native plant may be a good candidate for further biological and pharmacological investigations.


There is a growing international effort to improve the rate of engagement with young people needing early treatment for psychosis. In this article I describe how a sample of 30 young people, who successfully engaged in treatment for a first episode of psychosis, experienced the process of engagement during the initial stages of care. Using a grounded theory approach and purposive sampling, I found that the nature of relationships among young patients and care providers is a factor that influences engagement. I also found that the transition between initial treatment and community care is a critical time for engagement. The success of this transition is marked by contact with client-centered-care providers and a supportive peer group culture.


This paper compares the acquisition of Japanese morphology of two bilingual children who had different types of exposure to Japanese language in Australia: a simultaneous bilingual child who had exposure to both Japanese and English from birth, and a successive bilingual child who did not have regular exposure to Japanese until he was six years and three months old.  The comparison is carried out using Processability Theory (PT) (Pienemann 1998, 2005) as a common framework, and the corpus for this study consists of the naturally spoken production of these two Australian children. The results show that both children went through the same developmental path in their acquisition of the Japanese morphological structures, indicating that the same processing mechanisms are at work for both types of language acquisition. However, the results indicate that there are some differences between the two children, including the rate of acquisition, and the kinds of verbal morphemes acquired. The results of this study add further insight to an ongoing debate in the field of bilingual language acquisition: whether simultaneous bilingual children develop their language like a first language or like a second language.


BACKGROUND
Antiseptic mouthwashes are useful adjuncts to daily brushing and flossing for the control of dental plaque and gingivitis. The objective of the present study was to compare the effect of three mouthwashes: chlorhexidine, essential oils and cetylpyridinium chloride on oral health-related quality of life, gingival health, tongue coating and also to compare their potential side effects after 2-week consumption.

METHODS
Sixty participants were enrolled in this study and were divided into four groups (three mouthwash groups plus no mouthwash group). At the beginning, scaling and cleaning were performed and the following parameters were recorded: oral health impact profile (OHIP-5) questionnaire, tongue coating index, modified gingival index, calculus surface index, modified Lobene stain index and a questionnaire for side effects. Each group has followed up in 2 weeks. Data were analysed using paired t-test, ANOVA, Fisher's exact test and Pearson chi-square.

RESULTS
At the end of second week, all three mouthwashes significantly improved OHIP-5 score and reduced modified gingival index whereas essential oils and cetylpyridinium chloride significantly reduced tongue coating index when compared to control group (p < 0.05). The differences between four groups were significant for calculus formation, dental staining and reported burning sensation and changes of taste sensation and perception (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION
The use of all three mouthwashes has been effective in controlling and reducing gingivitis and tongue coating; however, it appeared that essential oils has the minimum and Chlorhexidine has the maximum side effects. Moreover, the use of all three mouthwashes has been examined to improve the quality of life. Overall, essential oils mouthwash has the best performance among these three mouthwashes.


Archaeocyathids from the lower few metres of the Leithsville Formation in New Jersey correlate with faunas of the Forteau Formation of early Bonnia-Olenellus zone age [ Lenian (=Botomian) or early Elankian ] in Labrador and Newfoundland. The absence of younger Lower Cambrian regressive clastics known throughout most of the Appalachian region strongly suggests the existence of a previously unsuspected major unconformity within the Leithsville and equivalent carbonates of the thin Lower Cambrian sequences from eastern Pennsylvania to northern Massachusetts.


The article examines a short composition by Russian composer Vitaly Khodosh for mixed chorus a cappella set to a poem by Valery Bryusov. The author analyzes the poetical source and shows the means of its transformation by the composer. Each musical strophe is characterized in the aspect of the correlation of the verbal and musical intonation, the poetical and the musical rhythm; the connection of the texts is revealed on the syntactic and compositional levels. The musical and poetic texts find themselves in a complex interweaving, while the mechanism of interaction between the poetry and the music presents itself as being directed in opposite sides from each other. The musical text overcomes the constructive inertia, provoking motion coming from the opposite direction. The inner vibration endows a special type of expressivity to the genre of the short choral composition. Keywords: Vitaly Khodosh, Valery Bryusov, the a cappella chorus, the musical strophe, the poetical word and music


This study aims to formulate a family-based early intervention program for parents who have children with Multiple disabilities based on Family Outscomes.  The background of this study is the lack of family information related to the identification of children with multiple disabilities, family confusion in handling children who experience multiple disabilities, and the absence of family confidence in the situation of their children in the social environment. The subjects in this study were parents who had Children with Multiple Disabilitiesin this case were children with Cerebral Palsy who experienced obstacles in motor, cognitive, social & emotional, and language aspects and intellectual barriers.  This research approach is a qualitative approach with three stages of research, namely assessment, validation, and implementation. The result of this study is an increase in family understanding of the child's condition, the occurrence of stimulation carried out by the family to the child, the family has begun to want to socialize their children in the surrounding social environment. The results and discussion of further research are discussed in this study.


Increasingly science is providing evidence linking the disease burden of people with exposure to air pollution. Epidemiological studies have shown a significant increase in the hospital admission rates and mortality in patients with chronic respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in relation to moderate increases in atmospheric pollution. We performed a systematic review of literature published between January 2000 and June 2010 that focused on the short and long-term effects of outdoor air pollution, in particular, particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) and ozone, on respiratory and cardiovascular health outcomes, as well as systematic review of statistical methods used in epidemiological studies on health effects and air pollution.


The diurnal urinary oxalate excretion has been determined in 11 patients with urolithiasis and in 7 normal subjects. Increased excretion following meals was observed. The variation from hour to hour was most pronounced in the stone patient group. The relation between oxalate concentration and urinary volume was found to follow a biphasic exponential course. Pyridoxine administration increased oxalate excretion in 9 out of 12 subjects and decreased the excretion in 3 subjects. Ascorbate administration increased oxalate excretion in all 7 subjects studied.


The article deal the general patterns and main trends in the formation and development of the genre of diary as a self-sufficient form in the national literature in the XVIII century, in the coverage of anti-imperial ideas on the example of memoirs "Home Protocol" (1717-1767) of General Treasurer Yakov Markovich, "Diary or Journal" (1722) and "Diary" (1727 - 1752) of General Cornet Nikolai Khanenko. Analyzes the special approach of J. Markovych and M. Khanenko to the creation of the diary genre. It is proved that the memoirs are characterized by a special manner of narration, reminiscent of a clerical reporting document. The authors described events from their own lives, intertwining them with national ones. Fixing the moments with inherent factual accuracy helped to create a holistic canvas of our history during the period of the development of imperial colonial policy in Ukraine. An important feature of the diary narrative is the conciseness and introversion of the narrative, which is explained by the concealment of independent comprehension and assessment of events by diaries. The social level of everyday poetics emphasized the colonial position of Cossack Ukraine in the eighteenth century. A systematic analysis of the genre features of the diaries "Home Protocol" by J. Markovych, "Diary or Journal" and "Diary" by M. Khanenko genre-wise and problematically interconnected with the Cossack chronicle, suggests that the superficial content of notes on historical events in Ukraine and abroad its boundaries, conciseness and introversion of the story, fixation of moments with factual accuracy, the intertwining of personal life events with national ones contributed to the establishment of anti-imperial themes in national literature, that influenced trends in national literature.


A common practice amongst endurance athletes is to purposefully train in hot environments during a 'heat stress camp'. However, combined exercise-heat stress poses threats to athlete wellbeing, and therefore heat stress training has the potential to induce maladaptation. This case study describes the monitoring strategies used in a successful three-week heat stress camp undertaken by two elite Ironman triathletes, namely resting heart rate variability, self-report wellbeing, and careful prescription of training based on previously collected physiological data. Despite the added heat stress, training volume very likely increased in both athletes, and training load very likely increased in one of the athletes, whilst resting HRV and self-report wellbeing were maintained. There was also some evidence of favourable metabolic changes during routine laboratory testing following the camp. We therefore recommend that practitioners working with endurance athletes embarking on a heat stress training camp consider using the simple strategies employed in the present case study to reduce the risk of maladaptation and non-functional overreaching.


The accuracy of robot models critically impacts their performance. With the advent of collaborative, social, or soft robots, the stiffness of the materials and the precision of the manufactured parts drops and CAD models provide a less accurate basis for the models. On the other hand, the machines often come with a rich set of powerful yet inexpensive sensors, which opens up the possibility for self-contained calibration approaches that can be performed autonomously and repeatedly by the robot. In this work, we extend the theory dealing with robot kinematic calibration by incorporating new sensory modalities (e.g., cameras on the robot, whole-body tactile sensors), calibration types, and their combinations. We provide a unified formulation that makes it possible to combine traditional approaches (external laser tracker, constraints from contact with the external environment) with self-contained calibration available to humanoid robots (self-observation, self-contact) in a single framework and single cost function. Second, we present an open source toolbox for Matlab that provides this functionality, along with additional tools for preprocessing (e.g., dataset visualization) and evaluation (e.g., observability/identifiability). We illustrate some of the possibilities of this tool through calibration of two humanoid robots (iCub, Nao) and one industrial manipulator (dual-arm setup with Yaskawa-Motoman MA1400).


This essay examines the ways in which racism and sexism have energized the use of American Indian imagery in sport. Specifically, it concentrates on the development and defence of Native American sports mascots, detailing the importance of crises within hegemonic formulations of masculinity and their relationships with the valuation of women, the reinscription of racial privilege and the maintenance of tradition. It begins with a discussion of the history and significance of Native American sports mascots, before considering the importance of gender to their emergence and elaboration. On this foundation, it offers a critical reading of one strand of neo-conservative thought intent on retaining stereotypical renderings of indigenous peoples in association with sports. In particular, it interprets writings of Dave Shiflett, Richard Poe and David Yeagley as emblematic of the uses of racial and gender differences in the unfolding mascot controversy at the start of the twenty-first century. In conclusion, it outlines the implications of placing gender and its articulation with race at discussion of American Indian imagery in sport.


This paper deals with crowdfunding for sustainable ventures. It uses an empirical dataset gained from the two largest sustainability-oriented crowdfunding platforms in Germany. In a first step, common characteristics of sustainable crowdfunding projects are identified and categorised based on an established framework for classifying sustainable entrepreneurship. In a second step, linear and logistic regression models are used to analyse the drivers of financial and marketing success of sustainable crowdfunding projects. The analysis reveals that only few ecopreneurial, growth-oriented ventures can be found among sustainable crowdfunding projects and shows that those projects which do not aim at high levels of market impact and growth are more likely to reach their funding targets. Based on the results, recommendations for sustainable entrepreneurs who intend to make use of crowdfunding are formulated and the potential contribution of crowdfunding to sustainability transitions is discussed.


The purpose of this study is to reveal whether social skill levels of preschool teachers have a predictor effect on the internet addiction or not. The sample group of the study consists of 150 teachers rendering service in kindergarten classes at primary schools of Denizli Provincial Directorate for National Education, as well as independent kindergartens and practice kindergartens. In the study, Social Skills Inventory (SSI) was used to measure the social skill levels of teachers and Internet Addiction Scale (IAS) was used to measure their internet addiction. According to results, there is a significant relationship between the internet addiction levels of teachers and all the subscale levels of social skills. According to this result, as level of one of the subscales of social skills increases, the internet addiction decreases and as the social skill level decreases, the internet addiction level increases. In addition, the internet addictions of preschool teachers are predicted by the social sensitivity skills, which are among the social skills, at most. They are followed by social control, emotional control and emotional expressivity.


Religion is a major facet of society and an integral component of many people's lives. Not surprisingly, religion affects jurors and judges throughout the trial process. This article reviews the use of religion in each stage of trial (e.g., jury selection, testimony, deliberations), discusses relevant social science research, and offers theoretical analyses to explain how religion impacts jury and judicial decision-making. These effects are important because the jury acts as the voice of society and the judicial system communicates societal norms. Thus, the use of religion by legal actors affects verdicts and sends messages about the religious beliefs and behaviors that are valued within society. For instance, a defendant who conforms to Christianity may be shown mercy, whereas a defendant who belongs to a deviant religion will not. The ultimate question to be answered by this article is whether (and under what specific conditions) religion affects each stage of the trial process. We ultimately conclude that religion is so ingrained in our society and way of life that it would be impossible to fully expunge it from the judicial system.


Abstract : This report details a research study plan for measuring unit readiness within the U.S. Army Reserve. A review is undertaken of the current measures of operational readiness which can be categorized as assets reporting (SORTS reporting), unit modeling (Monte Carlo simulations), and functional tests (field exercises). Four key issues in Reserve readiness are identified: personnel turbulence and unit cohesion, quality of leadership, quality of training, and Reserve unit location with respect to high potential markets. A conceptual model of reserve readiness is presented for studying these issues which addresses resources, indicators of readiness, and readiness metrics according to Beus' classification of mobilization, structural, and operational readiness. In concert with this conceptual model, an evolutionary simulation approach is proposed which relies upon genetic algorithms to generate dynamic, emergent measures of readiness rather than relying upon the subjective, static measures derived from SORTS data. Two research strategies are proposed: one for operational readiness and one for structural readiness. The first strategy has three steps: developing critical path MOS profiles for Army Reserve CFP units, determining the attrition/turnover by unit for the critical success MOS profiles, and then building a genetic simulation for generating emergent measures of unit readiness. The structural readiness research plan requires use of a geographic information system (GIS) for visual exploration of market supportability data which will lead to an analytical model for determining Reserve unit locations in high potential supportable markets.


The authors of this article describe the surgical procedure for fixation of spondylolisthesis using transpedicular fixation, and offer a comparative evaluation of the DERO, CD, C-CD, SOCON, and STRYKER systems. The evaluation involved 36 patients operated in the Rehabilitation Clinic at the Lublin Academy of Medicine during the period 1994-2000. In 11 cases the DERO fixation system was used; in 5 cases, fixation with CD or C-CD instrumentation; in 15 cases, using the SOCON system; and in 5 cases with the STRYKER instrumentation. Indications for surgery included pain and symptoms of nerve root irritation with sciatic neuralgia. The concomitant neurological symptoms resulted from the displacement into the vertebral canal of fragments of the nucleus pulposus, or from bone-related stenosis of the vertebral canal and intervertebral foramina. Surgical treatment involved decompression of the nerve elements and internal fixation. In all the cases reported here posterior and postero-lateral spondylodesis was performed, while in 20 cases interbody spondylodesis was additionally performed, in 14 cases using interbody plugs. The authors analyze the reasons for complications, such implants working loose and fatigue fractures.


CDI while admitted to Yale-New Haven Hospital in 2013 and 2014. Data collected included demographics, diagnostics and non-CDI ABX during and/or 30 days after completing CDI treatment. Patients were grouped into those who didn't receive concomitant ABX (CDITx-cABX), those receiving ABX for other indications than CDI at the same time as treatment of CDI (CDITx1cABX) and those receiving ABX for other indications within 30-days of completion of CDI therapy regardless of any use during treatment (CDITx1cABX30). Our primary outcome was recurrence within 14-90 days; other outcomes included ICU stay, 30-day colectomy, and readmission. We performed logistic regression to calculate the odds of recurrence depending on the timing of exposure. Results: 418 patients had CDI (mean age: 65.7 years, 52.6% female). 260 (62.2%) were exposed to non-CDI ABX. 37.8% were CDITx-cABX, 36.6% were CDITx1cABX while 25.6% were CDITx1 cABX30. Recurrence rates were 4.4%, 7.1% and 16.8%, for CDITx-cABX, CDITx1cABX and CDITx1cABX30, respectively. There was no significant increased risk of rCDI with CDITx1cABX but there was with CDITx1cABX30 [OR 5.18 (1.7-15.65), P5 0.004]. Patients with CDITx1cABX30 were at greater risk of 90-day rCDI (p, 0.05), ICU at diagnosis (p, 0.05), ICU within 30-days (p, 0.05), 30(p, 0.001) and 90-day readmission (p, 0.001) compared with no concomitant ABX exposure. Conclusion: Our study found a high rate of utilization of non-CDI ABX during or shortly after completing CDI treatment. Non-CDI ABX use within 30 days following the treatment of CDI is associated with a 5.18-fold increase in the odds of developing rCDI within 90 days. Concomitant ABX within the "window of vulnerability" likely further worsens dysbiosis leading to remarkable increases in recurrence. Careful consideration should be made for ABX indication, type and duration in patients being treated for CDI or shortly after treatment.


A study on the robust performance of the previously developed H∞ loop-shaping controller via μ analysis has shown that its tracking performance robustness is not achieved under prescribed perturbations in load. The H∞ loop-shaping design also neglects the effects due to variation in DC input voltage. A μ-synthesis based approach to reduce these drawbacks is proposed. Under the formulation of linear fractional transformation, both the perturbations in input DC voltage and load are considered and expressed as system static and dynamic uncertainties, respectively. By applying the μ-synthesis principle, feedback controllers that simultaneously achieve robust stability and robust tracking performance are obtained. The robust performance of the resulting controller is theoretically confirmed via μ-analysis. Simulation and experimental results are also given, demonstrating improved performance over the H∞ loop-shaping design.


This work reports a Fresnel zone plate in a circularly symmetric hybrid-aligned liquid crystal (LC) film with a photoconductive polymer layer. An ultraviolet-induced electrodelike pattern of polymer layer under a zone plate photomask results in alternating major and minor portions of external voltage dropping on LC layer in conductive and nonconductive regions, respectively. These effects cause the discrepancy in LC reorientation between adjacent zones, generating a Fresnel zone plate. The focusing of the zone plate is electrically controllable and polarization independent. Additionally, the zone plate has advantages of a zero focusing in the voltage-off state and a very small operating dc field range from 0to0.3V∕μm.


In the design process of an (embedded) computer system there are several important attributes the developer has to take care of: first of all, the final product should do the right thing, we then speak of functional correctness. Second, the performance should be adequate, expressed in measures such as throughput, delay or loss probability. Third, when relying on a battery as power source, it becomes increasingly important that the system behaves in an energy- aware manner. We could assess any of the three attributes in isolation, using completely different sets of models and tools. However, since the alteration of one of the attributes most surely also affects the other two, an integrated framework where all aspects can be evaluated and balanced is definitely desirable. We present such an integrated approach, but focus on the evaluation of battery lifetime. The system under consideration is represented by a stochastic workload model which then is combined with a battery model. In doing so, several design alternatives in the behaviour of the system can be compared early in the design process and the optimum with respect to functionality, performance and energy-consumption can be chosen.


The phosphorylation-dephosphorylation cycle is a common motif in cellular signaling networks. Previous work has revealed that, when driven by a noisy input signal, these cycles may exhibit bistable behavior. Here, a recently introduced theorem on network bistability is applied to prove that the existence of bistability is dependent on the stochastic nature of the system. Furthermore, the thermodynamics of simple cycles and cascades is investigated in the stochastic setting. Because these cycles are driven by the ATP hydrolysis potential, they may operate far from equilibrium. It is shown that sufficient high ATP hydrolysis potential is necessary for the existence of a bistable steady state. For the single-cycle system, the ensemble average behavior follows the ultrasensitive response expected from analysis of the corresponding deterministic system, but with significant fluctuations. For the two-cycle cascade, the average behavior begins to deviate from the expected response of the deterministic system. Examination of a two-cycle cascade reveals that the bistable steady state may be either propagated or abolished along a cascade, depending on the parameters chosen. Likewise, the variance in the response can be maximized or minimized by tuning the number of enzymes in the second cycle.


The early adoption of the legume Arachis pintoi was studied in the State of Caquetá, located in Colombia's Amazon region. Data came from 174 farmers randomly surveyed within the area of influence of Nestlé, a multinational milk-processing company. In addition, 52 farmers who had already adopted Arachis were surveyed separated to study their experiences, difficulties, and prospects with the legume. Results indicated that livestock activity is undergoing dynamic intensification. Since 1986, milk production per lactation has increased by 31%, cow fertility by 5%, herd size by 18%, and the area sown to improved pastures by 165%. Current adoption rate of Arachis is about 9.2%, with an estimated 3000 ha already planted. Two-thirds of farmers who had adopted Arachis said they would double, in the next year, the average area sown (9.6 ha/farm). Adopters tended to have larger farms and to have invested twice the capital than did non-adopters. The cost of seed for both grass and legume accounted for 4052% of total establishment costs, making seed quality decisive in guaranteeing success. To promote Arachis, more information on the plant and its management in association with grasses must be disseminated. Mechanisms should also be sought to reduce establishment costs.


We examine whether the legal decision to grant unitary status to the Charlotte–Mecklenburg school district, which led to the end of race-conscious student assignment policies, increased the probability that families with children enrolled in the district would move to neighborhoods with a greater proportion of student residents of the same race as their own children. Motivated by the rich but inconclusive literature on the consequences of educational and residential segregation, we make use of a natural policy experiment—a judicial decision to end court-ordered busing—to estimate the causal impacts of this policy shift on household residential decisions. We find that, for those who moved, the legal decision made White families with children in the Charlotte–Mecklenburg Schools substantially more likely than they were during desegregation to move to a neighborhood with a greater proportion of White residents than their own neighborhood.


. An open question in quantum complexity theory is whether or not the class MIP co , consisting of languages that can be efficiently verified using interacting provers sharing quantum resources according to the quantum commuting model, coincides with the class coRE of languages with recursively enumerable complement. We introduce the notion of a qc-modulus, which encodes approximations to quantum commuting correlations, and show that the exis-tence of a computable qc-modulus gives a negative answer to a natural variant of the aforementioned question.


In this work, solid-liquid wetting factors were determined from liquid holdup and pressure drop measurements according to the model proposed by Pironti et al. for different air-liquid systems: distilled water and CMC solutions at viscosity values of 3, 6, 9, and 12 mPa.s. The experiments were carried out at atmospheric conditions in a column of 10.2 cm internal diameter and 2 m high, packed with a cylindrical material. The superficial mass velocities varied from 0.67 to 18.6 kg/m 2 s for liquid flow and from 0.024 to 0.31 kg/m 2 s for gas flow. Under these operating conditions, regime of continuous gas flow was observed. The wetting factors obtained were in agreement with those reported by other methods, which allow us to confirm that the model used in this work is applicable to fluids of different properties at low gas velocities.


This paper presents the details of a prototype of an intelligent alarm processor called the Advanced Alarm Processor (AAP). The AAP uses model-based reasoning methods to synthesize and suppress power system alarms in the on-line environment. These model-based reasoning and processing methods are a new approach to intelligent alarm processing. The transformer model presented in this paper is a subset of the complete AAP which also processes power system, communications, protection, and substation alarms. The transformer module is used to demonstrate the reasoning and message-handling methods. Finally, the utility of the AAP is demonstrated through tests in which raw energy management system (EMS) input alarms are processed by the prototype to produce higher-level messages.


In order to determine whether imatinib mesylate (Gleevec), a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that binds the CD-117 (c-kit) receptor, may be of value in the treatment of malignant melanoma, an immunohistochemical analysis of 40 cases of primary and metastatic melanoma was undertaken. Thirty-five of the 40 cases showed 1+ or stronger labelling for CD-117 (up to a maximum of 4+). Three patients with neoplasms showing 4+ staining were selected for imatinib therapy. None responded. c-kit (CD-117) expression in melanoma appears to be common; however, the value of imatinib therapy remains to be proven.


Several 1-D analytical models of the potential distribution across the nMOS/GAA device are proposed and compared. The most accurate result is achieved solving the Poisson equation accounting for both the depletion charges and an approximation of the electron density at the surface of the film. The derived analytical expressions of the drain current and the threshold voltage are in good agreement with numerical simulations.


Several species of the well-known saprophytic genus Trichoderma have been identified as the cause of infections in immunosuppressed humans. Because the differentiation and identification of Trichoderma species based on morphological characters only, is very difficult, two molecular approaches were applied for species identification. Six human pathogenic Trichoderma isolates were investigated by PCR-fingerprinting and analysis of ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences and compared with the corresponding data sets established for described species of the genus. Five of these strains were identified as T. longibrachiatum, whereas one single strain turned out to be T. citrinoviride. Both species are very closely related and belong to Trichoderma section Longibrachiatum. These data indicate that the occurrence of pathogenic Trichoderma strains may be restricted to species of section Longibrachiatum.


Background and purpose: Multiple drug resistance in Enterobacteriaceae has restricted the available options for treatment of infections caused by these bacteria. The aim of this study was to investigate the pattern of multidrug resistance and cross-resistance in Enterobacteriaceae causing nosocomial infections in intensive care units during 2014-2015 in eighteen governmental hospitals in Mazandaran province, Iran. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was performed in which antibiotic susceptibility test to routinely antibiotics was determined by MIC method and "broth micro-dilution" was done according to CLSI. Results: A total of 35 strains including Klebsiella pneumoniae (24), Escherichia coli (6), and Enterobacter spp (5) were extended-spectrum β-lactamases producer. The prevalence of multidrug resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli and Enterobacter spp were 95.83%, 66.6%, and 80%, respectively. Among the isolates 28.57% exhebited cross-resistance to aminoglycoside antibiotics and 40% were found with cross-resistance to thirdand fourth-generation cephalosporins. Conclusion: Regarding the high prevalence of multidrug resistance and the emergence of crossresistance to different categories of antibiotics among Enterobacteriaceae causing nosocomial infection, more effective measures should be taken including implementation of infection control programs, isolation of patients infected by multidrug resistance bacteria, and antibiotic stewardship in hospitals.


In this paper, we focus on the task of small-footprint keyword spotting under the far-field scenario. Far-field environments are commonly encountered in real-life speech applications, and it causes serve degradation of performance due to room reverberation and various kinds of noises. Our baseline system is built on the convolutional neural network trained with pooled data of both far-field and close-talking speech. To cope with the distortions, we adopt the multi-task learning scheme with alignment loss to reduce the mismatch between the embedding features learned from different domains of data. Experimental results show that our proposed method maintains the performance on close-talking speech and achieves significant improvement on the far-field test set.


We have theoretically shown that the 3D photonic crystal waveguide can be created in the stacked-bar structure by removing one stripe. Crossing waveguides of the adjacent layers can create bending waveguides and T-branch waveguides, and in this way, the guided modes after and before the bend remain the same so that the transmission through the bend is optimized. These results provide very important guidelines for design of the 3D photonic crystal waveguide.


Continuous-wave optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) combine single-frequency output with a huge tuning range. These properties have let them become working horses for spectroscopy in the near and mid infrared over the last decades [1]. However, singly resonant OPOs require high pump powers. Multiply resonant systems operate at much smaller pump powers, but tunability is hindered by high demands to the dielectric coatings of resonator mirrors. Whispering gallery resonators (WGRs) are an elegant solution since resonance in these monolithic spheroids arises from total internal reflection: the OPO process can be triply resonant across broad wavelength ranges, with quality factors limited by material absorption, yielding mW pump thresholds [2].


Dense (1-x)BaTiO3-xBiYbO3 (BBTYb) ceramics were fabricated by the solid state reaction method. According to X-ray diffraction data, the average crystal symmetry of x ≤ 0.04 ceramics is described by the non-centro symmetric tetragonal P4mm space group, whereas the average crystal symmetry of x ≥ 0.06 ceramics is better described by the centrosymmetric cubic Pm3¯m space group. Raman spectroscopy supports a change in the average crystal symmetry at x ≥ 0.06, but also reveals differences in the local crystal structure for x ≤ 0.04. In this compositional range, BBTYb ceramics undergo a so-called ferroelectric-to-relaxor crossover, which is a manifestation of the continuous modification of local structure. Weak-relaxor behavior was observed in x ≥ 0.06 ceramics, for which the local crystal symmetry departs from cubic, as indicated by the presence of Raman spectra.


Purpose: The purpose of study was to determine differences in patient outcomes that exists in terms of Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC) during hospital days of neurosurgical and respiratory patients. Method: Before starting clinical practicum, nursing students were received two hours` lecture on how to apply NOC to patient care plan and they were required to evaluate patient condition using NOC at the beginning and at the end of their clinical practicum. Data were extracted from 62 neurosurgical patients and 66 respiratory patients and analyzed by frequency and paired t-test. Results: The most frequently used NOC were Pain Level (37.1%), Mobility Level (25.8%), and Bowel Elimination (19.4%) in neurosurgical patients and Nutritional Status (37. 9%), Respiratory Status: Ventilation (37.9%) and Pain Level (25.8%) in respiratory patients. The numbers of outcomes used were 75 and 46 neurosurgical and respiratory patients respectively. During the hospital days, the level of patient outcomes increased significantly in all patient groups. Conclusion: The finding clearly suggests that nursing interventions make differences in patient outcomes and make contribution to the patient health achieved. To more effectively use NOC, however, nursing information system should be developed and included standardized nursing languages regarding nursing diagnoses and interventions.


. The article is devoted to the problems of the growing role of artificial intelligence technologies and the need for legal regulation of the processes of interaction between artificial intelligence and humans, in the context of information security. According to the author, without a full and timely regulatory regulation of the development of technological innovations that can make independent deci-sions, society runs the risk of suffering serious losses. Therefore, it is extremely important already now, to develop and implement for information technologies such administrative and legal regulation in which the development of technologies will not lead to risks for the society and will retain control over what is hap-pening to the person. The author suggests that in the future artificial intelligence is deprived of the status of a computer program or technology, and it will become an independent subject of law, citing as an example of acquiring legal capacity by another artificial, abstract entity— the state. The publication examines the existing attempts to form a legal framework for interaction between humans and artificial intelligence, which took place in the European Union, Japan and the PRC. This includes the precedent for recogniz-ing artificial intelligence as an independent creative unit, which has already tak-en place in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, where the court ruled that some articles written using artificial intelligence are protected by copyright. Special attention is devoted to the analysis of domestic studies of the pros-pects for the use of artificial intelligence and its interaction with humans. The author proposes an approach to the regulation of legal relations associated with artificial intelligence, built around the principle — technology for the benefit of a person, to respect his rights and freedoms. The author predicts a shift in priorities in the field of information security from the protection of personal data and the security of their use, to the preven-tion of uncontrolled use of artificial intelligence, in the areas related to the imple-mentation of human rights and freedoms.


Background: Many studies have been conducted on prevention and treatment of substance abuse but focus on recovery phase is still little. Recovery from addiction is a process of reconnecting and taking oneself back; finding their voice. Spirituality, social support, family support, and hobbies have played major role in self-help recovery programs and the treatment of substance use disorders (addictions) for a long time. The previous studies focused on problems associated to the life of substance abusers raised the question on whether these factors could influence their recovery. Set against this background, this study explains the role of non-pharmacological modalities in the recovery of substance abusers.

Aim and Objective: This study aims to study the role of non-pharmacological modalities in recovery of relapse cases of substance abuse.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out at drug deaddiction center attached to Government Medical College, Amritsar, between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2015, involving 400 male relapse cases. The subject who visited drug deaddiction center was visited which was included in the study based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The collected data were entered into Microsoft Excel sheets and analyzed in EPI INFO VERSION 7. Prior approval from the Institutional Ethical Committee was obtained.

Results: Significant association of hobbies and fitness measures with state of mind and degree of satisfaction with life was seen.

Conclusion: The study highlights need of peer recovery support system and family support.


Background . Due to technological development, the average level of physical activity is decreasing among residents of developed countries, which is an important factor in the epidemic of obesity and metabolic syndrome. Results (findings). Although excessive physical exertion disrupts hormonal balance, harms the immune system and somewhat increases the risk of sudden cardiac death, the overwhelming majority of adaptations to regular exercise comprise health benefits. Sensitivity to insulin is increased, metabolism of triglycerides and cholesterol is improved, and the basal tone of the sympathetic nervous system is decreased, which all reduces coronary atherothrombotic events and cardio-vascular mortality. Physical exercise is linked to reduced risk of colon carcinoma, breast cancer and endometrial carcinoma. Regular physical activity prolongs life on average by about two years in comparison with sedentary population, but even more importantly, it preserves endurance and power necessary for independent living well into in advanced age. Physical exercise reduces symptoms of depression and improves the perceived level of satisfaction. Conclusions . In order to achieve the metabolic and psychological benefits of exercise, it is necessary to engage in at least a half hour of moderately intense activity on most days of the week, but daily physical activity is even better.


We present a lightweight, open source Agda framework for manually verifying effectful programs using predicate transformer semantics. We represent the abstract syntax trees (AST) of effectful programs with a generalized algebraic datatype (GADT) AST, whose generality enables even complex operations to be primitive AST nodes. Users can then assign bespoke predicate transformers to such operations to aid the proof effort, for example by automatically decomposing proof obligations for branching code. Our framework codifies and generalizes a proof engineering methodology used by the authors to reason about a prototype implementation of LibraBFT, a Byzantine fault tolerant consensus protocol in which code executed by participants may have effects such as updating state and sending messages. Successful use of our framework in this context demonstrates its practical applicability.


Introduction:  Dental caries is a multifactorial disease that affects people of all ages due to a complex interplay between genetic and environmental variables. The significance of genetics in an individual's vulnerability to caries has recently been explored in scientific literature. One such inherited genetic characteristic is blood group. The relationship between blood type, lifestyle, and dental caries may shed light on the above idea.
Aim:  To explore into blood type as a possible risk factor for the development of dental caries.
Material   And   Methods:  Blood samples from 39 people of the index ages (5, 12, 15, 35-44, and 60-74 years) were taken, and blood grouping was done before oral screening to determine the DMFT index. A self-administered questionnaire was used to conduct a complete diet analysis. SPSS software was used to do statistical analysis on the data.
Results:   In different age groups, there was a strong link between different blood types, DMFT index, and diet.
Conclusion:  The current study's results demonstrate that genetic and epigenetic variables play a significant influence in the development of dental caries. As a result, blood groups can be utilised to detect if a certain diet is associated with the development of dental caries.
Keywords: Dental caries, ABO antigens, Blood group, DMFT index, risk predictors


Objective: The study was designed to evaluate the effect of follicular fluid from patients with endometriosis, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP-15) on the proliferation and progesterone secretion of human luteinized granular cells in vitro. Methods: Cumulus granulosa cells were collected from the patients who underwent in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) ovulation due to tubal or male factor infertility on the day of the retrieval. The cells in the control group were cultured with complete medium of DMEM/F-12, an extra of FSH at a dose of 12 μg/L was added in the FSH group, an extra of BMP-15 at a dose of 6 μg/L was added to the BMP-15 group, an extra of 5% of the follicular fluid from the patients with tubal or male factor infertility was added to the tubal group, an extra of 5% of the follicular fluid from the patients with endometriosis infertility was added to the endometriosis group, an extra of 5% of the follicular fluid from the patients with endometriosis infertility plus FSH at a dose of 12 μg/L were added to the endometriosis plus FSH group, and an extra of 5% of the follicular fluid from the patients with endometriosis infertility plus BMP-15 at a dose of 6 μg/L were added to the endometriosis plus BMP-15 group. Hemacytometer counting method was used to observe the growth of cells after 48 hours, and chemiluminescence method was utilized to measure the level of progesterone in culture supernatant. Results: The cell proliferation was enhanced in the FSH group, while the proliferation was inhibited in the endometriosis group and the endometriosis plus BMP-15 group, compared to the control group, both of which, were statistically significant. Compared to the control group, the progesterone levels from the culture supernatant of granular cells were significantly elevated in the FSH group, tubal group and endometriosis group. The secretion of progesterone in the endometriosis group was lower than that in the tubal group. After addition of FSH into the endometriosis group (the endometriosis plus FSH group), the secretion level of progesterone was significantly increased, compared to the control group and the endometriosis group. After adding BMP-15 into the endometriosis group (the endometriosis plus BMP-15 group), the secretion level of progesterone was increased, compared to the control group. Conclusions: FSH, but not BMP-15, was able to enhance the proliferation and progesterone secretion of granular cells. The proliferation of granular cells and secretion of progesterone were inhibited by the follicular fluid from patients with endometriosis, which was reversed by FSH. However, BMP-15 had no effect on the outcome of follicular fluid from patients with endometriosis.


We investigate low-lying singlet and triplet excitations and the magnetization process of quasi-one-dimensional spin systems composed of tetrahedral spin clusters. For a class of such models, we found various exact low-lying excitations; some of them are responsible for the first-order transition between two different ground states formed by local singlets. Moreover, we find that there are two different kinds of magnetization plateaus which are separated by a first-order transition.


The role of economic and social influences on water intake in humans was explored in two experiments. In the first experiment, the effect of water cost (as defined as the amount of effort required to acquire water) on prandial drinking was studied by manipulating water position during an ad libitum meal: water was available either on the dining table, about 20 feet from the table, or approximately 40 feet away. Subjects drank significantly more when the water was on the table than in the other conditions; but a linear relationship between cost (distance) and intake was not observed. In the second experiment, the effects of water cost and a social model on drinking were assessed in a similar paradigm. Increasing effort required to obtain water significantly reduced prandial water intake, and the presence of a social model increased water intake. Although some interesting trends emerged, no significant interactions between social and economic factors were found. These experiments demonstrate that environmental factors can significantly affect facultative drinking in humans.


Purpose of review Rapid and effective airway management is priority for trauma patients. Trauma patients are often at an increased risk of experiencing hypoxia, and thus at increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Apneic oxygenation has been widely debated but has been reported to provide benefit in terms of increased peri-intubation oxygen saturation and decreased rates of desaturation. This review aims to evaluate the current literature on the efficacy of apneic oxygenation in the setting of rapid sequence intubation (RSI) in trauma patients. Recent findings Two prospective studies published this year, demonstrated that apneic oxygenation was effective in reducing hypoxic events and hypoxic duration during RSI. Summary The use of apneic oxygenation can play an important role in preventing hypoxic events in trauma patients undergoing RSI. The use of apneic oxygenation is cheap, and should be considered to reduce hypoxemic events. Additional studies are required to see the effects of apneic oxygenation on outcomes in trauma patients undergoing RSI, specifically desaturation and hypoxemic events and duration, and early onset mortality.


Properties of the free-energy landscape in phase space of a dense hard-sphere system characterized by a discretized free-energy functional of the Ramakrishnan-Yussouff form are investigated numerically. A considerable number of glassy local minima of the free energy are located and the distribution of an appropriately defined `overlap' between minima is calculated. The process of transition from the basin of attraction of a minimum to that of another one is studied using a new `microcanonical' Monte Carlo procedure, leading to a determination of the effective height of free-energy barriers that separate different glassy minima. The general appearance of the free-energy landscape resembles that of a putting green: deep minima separated by a fairly flat structure. The growth of the effective free-energy barriers with increasing density is consistent with the Vogel-Fulcher law, and this growth is primarily driven by an entropic mechanism.


Baba-Nyonyas have been expressing their concern regarding maintaining the continuity of their cultural identity which is an important part of the Malaysian heritage today. They commonly express that their younger generation does not seem to be practicing the Baba-Nyonya cultural way of life. This study is to provide empirical evidence of the changing levels of demonstration of Baba-Nyonya way of life as manifested in the practice of Baba-Nyonya lifestyle, illustrated by the extent of material culture of this community as seen in their homes and possession of artifacts, and the quest of members of this community to identify themselves and taking pride in their being a Baba-Nyonya. A survey which returned 314 completed and usable questionnaires provided input from a spectrum of respondents representing generations of Baba-Nyonyas born from the 1920s through the 1990s, a span of seventy years. Respondents are delegates at the 21st Annual Baba-Nyonya Annual Convention held from 5th to 7th December 2008 in Melaka. Delegates are members of Penang, Melaka, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur local chapters of Baba-Nyonya associations who congregated annually, as they have been doing so for the past 21 years without interruption at their annual convention. Membership to local Baba-Nyonya associations require strict fulfillment of Baba-Nyonya bloodline and heritage. The demonstration of Baba-Nyonya cultural identity as represented by the three mentioned dimensions provided indication of how much the respondents desire to maintain and continue their heritage. This is manifested by their efforts and desire to invite, persuade, even compel their offspring to participate and "live up" to the Baba-Nyonya way of life i.e. communicating and transmitting cultural identity (enculturation). "Desire" to transmit their culture apply to respondents who during the data collection process do not have children at that point but extrapolated what they will do in the event they do have children. Pearson correlation indicated moderately positive and significant relationship between the demonstration of Baba-Nyonya cultural identity and the transmission of that culture. Multiple regression analysis indicated that the three dimensions of demonstration of Baba-Nyonya way of life contributed to 51 percent variance of enculturation efforts. The findings also indicated general decline in the demonstration of Baba-Nyonya cultural identity and efforts to transmit the culture but with a slight turnaround among respondents born in the 1990s. These can be explained by the broad and specific socio-economic and political scenarios surrounding these eras


Abstract The isotopic compositions of oxygen (δ18O) and hydrogen (δ2H) are widely used to locate the geographical origin of biological remains or manufactured products. In this paper, we analyse the distributions of δ18O and δ2H in tap waters sampled across France, and in precipitation interpolated with the Online Isotopes in Precipitation Calculator and modelled with the isotope-enabled ECHAM6-wiso model. Our aim is to provide isoscapes usable in archaeology and forensics and evaluate whether the modelled data could be surrogates for measured ones. The δ18O and δ2H in the 396 tap waters sampled varied spatially within a range of 10‰ and 77‰, respectively. Their consistent distributions followed rules summarized by the effects of altitude and distance from the coast. Their variations along the year were small. Therefore, the database provides a solid reference for δ18O and δ2H of the water supply system at the regional scale. The areas with the most uncommon oxygen and hydrogen isotopic compositions (Atlantic coast south of Brittany and the highest elevations in the Alps) are the most accurately traceable areas in provenancing studies. The isotopic compositions of modelled precipitation have the same spatial distributions but different absolute values from those of tap waters. Therefore, our results favour the use of statistical isoscapes rather than general circulation model-based isoscapes in provenancing studies.


Analyses have been made of the inorganic constituents of the juices expressed from the leaves of Rheum, Rumex, and Oxalis. It has been shown that in all cases there is a large excess of inorganic cations over anions in the sap, the average ratio of cations to anions being 3.8 (Part 1, p. 239). The ash analyses of plant tissues (chiefly leaves) reported in the literature have been examined critically, and it has been shown that the preponderance of inorganic cations over inorganic anions in the ash and in the sap is general. It has been concluded that the excess of inorganic cations is consistent with the view that cations pass into the protoplasm chiefly in the form of hydroxides, and are accumulated either in the form of organic salts (such as the oxalates) or in non-polar linkage. It has been concluded that practically all the potassium and sodium found in plant ash must have been present originally in the form of soluble ionogenic compounds, but that a considerable part of the calcium and magnesium may have been present originally in the form of insoluble salts or as components of non-polar compounds. The methods whereby the cations, particularly potassium, may have been accumulated have been discussed, and it has been concluded that as it does not seem very probable that they enter chiefly as nitrates or bicarbonates we may suppose that they go in to a large extent as hydrates: this is highly probable in the case which has been most carefully investigated (Valonia).


Power reduction is a critical requirement in modern VLSI design due to increasing operating frequencies and circuit densities, and the emergence of portable applications. Decreasing the supply voltage, V/sub DD/, is the easiest way to reduce power consumption in CMOS circuits because switching power is proportional to V/sub DD//sup 2/ for rail-to-rail logic swing. However, reducing V/sub DD/ degrades circuit speed due to the super-linear reduction of transistor current. Lowering transistor threshold voltage, V/sub th/, helps to recover this speed degradation; however sub-threshold leakage current increases exponentially with decreasing V/sub th/, resulting in battery-draining quiescent power consumption with V/sub th/ less than about 300 mV. Circuit techniques are needed to achieve lower power consumption without speed degradation. The low-power CMOS SOI circuit configuration reported here, low-swing charge recycling (LSCR), uses differential pass-transistor logic, a low voltage swing, and charge recycling to save power.


Abstract Higher education institutions face conflicting challenges; they must equip students with up-to-date knowledge in fields in which knowledge is constantly being renewed, while they also need to guide students to examine reality through broad-based observation and consider different scientific disciplines. They operate within different constrictions such as: learning program boundaries, budgetary constrictions, and lack of accessibility to experts in different areas, and the range of courses offered to students is limited. To cope with these constrictions, Ort Braude Academic College of Engineering opened an experimental program. As part of this program, students were allowed to study MOOC courses under the college's supervision, and were eligible for accreditation if they completed the courses successfully. Only 15 out of the 600 students offered the program, registered for these courses. Only seven were accepted for the program. This paper describes the background for the college's decision, the registration process and supervision of students, detailing students' challenges and achievements in the MOOC courses. Students who completed the MOOC courses reported that they enjoyed meaningful learning, requiring serious efforts in comparison to the courses that the MOOC courses replaced. Given this positive feedback by the students, it was decided to continue with the experiment.


This paper presents a low power and area efficient 'phase accumulator' (PACC) with 32-bits frequency resolution and 10-bits phase resolution. The PACC is derived based on primitive phase accumulator architecture, using a novel "hybrid carry propagate adder" (HCPA). The HCPA consists 8 "full adder" (FA) cells in its carry propagate chain. Out of 8 FA cells, the "most significant bit (MSB)-FA" (MFA) cell uses 28-transistors and each of the remaining 7 "least significant bit (LSB)-FA" (LFA) cells uses 16-transistors. This hybrid combination of MFA with LFA cells provide both low transistor count as well as low power dissipation benefits. The proposed PACC has a maximum frequency of operation (fmax) =410 MHz, consumes an average power dissipation of 80.56 µWatts at supply (Vdd) =1.2 V and has a total "transistor count" (TC)=2096. All the circuit simulations are carried out using Cadence's Spectre simulator based on 90 nm technology node.


The paper presents a complete (animation, simulation and internet based measurement) multimedia educational program of DC servo system for distant learning. The animation program describes the basic operation of a DC motor, derives the torque-speed characteristics and explains the basic steps of control design. The animation program includes screens for teaching in class and for individual study as well. With the guidance of this animation program the students can simulate the control of a given servo system. The final and most important step in any kind of education in the field engineering is the measurement. This is the most challenging step in distant learning. The students should enter to a web page to access the experimental set up. The experimental set up includes a DC servo motor with 4 quadrant drive. The drive can be switch on and off via internet. The students can write a simple PI or sliding mode controller program which is inserted into the communication frame program to operate the servo motor. The measurement result is generated in such form which is compatible to the simulation results the students can compare their simulation and measurement results.


In China, awareness about hypertension, the treatment rate and the control rate are low compared to developed countries, even though China's aging population has grown, especially in those areas with a high degree of urbanization. However, limited epidemiological studies have attempted to describe the spatial variation of the geo-referenced data on hypertension disease over an urban area of China. In this study, we applied hierarchical Bayesian models to explore the spatial heterogeneity of the relative risk for hypertension admissions throughout Shenzhen in 2011. The final model specification includes an intercept and spatial components (structured and unstructured). Although the road density could be used as a covariate in modeling, it is an indirect factor on the relative risk. In addition, spatial scan statistics and spatial analysis were utilized to identify the spatial pattern and to map the clusters. The results showed that the relative risk for hospital admission for hypertension has high-value clusters in the south and southeastern Shenzhen. This study aimed to identify some specific regions with high relative risk, and this information is useful for the health administrators. Further research should address more-detailed data collection and an explanation of the spatial patterns.


The vibrant debate on randomized experiments within international development has been slow to accept a role for qualitative methods within research designs. Whilst there are examples of how "field visits? or descriptive analyses of context can play a complementary, but secondary, role to quantitative methods, little attention has been paid to the possibility of randomized experiments that allow a primary role to qualitative methods. This paper assesses whether a range of qualitative methods compromise the internal and external validity criteria of randomized experiments. It suggests that life history interviews have advantages over other qualitative methods, and offers one alternative to the conventional survey tool.


Visual question answering is the task of returning the answer to a question about an image. A challenge is that different people often provide different answers to the same visual question. To our knowledge, this is the first work that aims to understand why. We propose a taxonomy of nine plausible reasons, and create two labelled datasets consisting of ∼45,000 visual questions indicating which reasons led to answer differences. We then propose a novel problem of predicting directly from a visual question which reasons will cause answer differences as well as a novel algorithm for this purpose. Experiments demonstrate the advantage of our approach over several related baselines on two diverse datasets. We publicly share the datasets and code at https://vizwiz.org.


Semi-supervised learning method is a new interesting direction of machine learning approach. It gives the computer a learning ability and makes good use of the obtained knowledge in the application. Semi-supervised learning performs the process of data analysis and mining effectively with the help of few exemplars or little pre-known information. A new Non-Euclidean Space similarity measurement contains the structure information, which is proposed in the Tri-Set computation method. The new similarity measurement not only attentions on the Euclidean Space constraint, but also gives the basic information about the text files. This method is named as Kernel Affinity Propagation (KAP). The method is applied to the benchmark data set Reuters-21578. Further the result is compared with the k-means algorithm and original Affinity Propagation algorithm. The comparison result shows that KAP improves the clustering execution time and provides the better clustering output.


In order to optimize the geometric parameters of cutting edge for finishing machining of 30Cr2Ni4MoV (30Cr) alloy steel, a 2D finite element (FE) model of orthogonal cutting has been built with FE software AdvantEdge. The optimized methodology of cutting edge geometric parameters has been proposed based on simulated results. Then, the geometric parameters of cutting edge have been optimized based on a comprehensive criterion combining chip deformation coefficient and tool stress. The chip deformation coefficient indirectly determines the surface roughness and tool stress determines tool wear, which affect the dimensional precision of parts. The range of rake angle is selected from 12° to 20° and the range of cutting edge radius is selected from 12μm to 20μm in the optimization process. The optimal rake angle for finishing machining 30Cr alloy steel is 16° and the optimal cutting edge radius is 14μm with given relief angle of 7°.


We present a rapid and reliable method for determining the sizes and size distributions of <5 nm-sized iron oxide nanocrystals (NCs) using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS). MS data were readily converted to size information using a simple equation. The size distribution obtained from the mass spectrum is well-matched with the data from transmission electron microscopy, which requires long and tedious analysis work. The size distribution obtained from the mass spectrum is highly resolved and can detect size differences of only a few angstroms. We used this MS-based technique to investigate the formation of iron oxide NCs, which is not easy to monitor with other methods. From ex situ measurements, we observed the transition from molecular precursors to clusters and then finally to NCs.


The dependence of static light scattering upon the compositions of solutions including hen egg white ovalbumin, hen egg white ovomucoid, ribonuclease A, and binary mixtures of these proteins at total concentrations of up to about 40 g/L were measured at different values of the pH and ionic strength. At the pH values of measurement, ovalbumin and ovomucoid have a net negative charge and ribonuclease A has a net positive charge. The observed dependence of scattering intensity upon solution composition may be accounted for by an extension of previously formulated equivalent hard particle models that allows for the presence of both repulsive interactions between like species and attractive interactions between unlike species in mixtures of positively and negatively charged proteins.


With the recent advances in the fifth-generation cellular system (5G), enabling vehicular communications has become a demand. The vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) is a promising paradigm that enables the communication and interaction between vehicles and other surrounding devices, e.g., vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications. However, enabling such networks faces many challenges due to the mobility of vehicles. One of these challenges is the design of handover schemes that manage the communications at the intersection of coverage regions. To this end, this work considers developing a novel seamless and efficient handover scheme for V2X-based networks. The developed scheme manages the handover process while vehicles move between two neighboring roadside units (RSU). The developed mechanism is introduced for multilane bidirectional roads. The developed scheme is implemented by multiple-access edge computing (MEC) units connected to the RSUs to improve the implementation time and make the handover process faster. The considered MEC platform deploys an MEC controller that implements a control scheme of the software-defined networking (SDN) controller that manages the network. The SDN paradigm is introduced to make the handover process seamless; however, implementing such a controlling scheme by the introduction of an MEC controller achieves the process faster than going through the core network. The developed handover scheme was evaluated over the reliable platform of NS-3, and the results validated the developed scheme. The results obtained are presented and discussed.