Reliable estimations of the Annual Energy Production (AEP) achievable with a certain Wave Energy Converter (WEC) are among the fundamental elements for a sound evaluation of the related Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) that plays a crucial role in the investment decision-making process. The lack of reliability in estimates of the device productivity can be a result of the uncertainty in the assessment of the available wave energy resource since the geometry of the device which maximizes the AEP is dependent on the specific wave climate at the foreseen installation site.
The Climate Data Store of the Copernicus Climate Change Service delivers projections of the wave climate along the 20 m bathymetric contours of the whole European coastlines, covering the period 2040-2100, under two Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) [1].
This work addresses the effect of such long-term wave climate changes on the optimal sizing and performances of Oscillating Water Column (OWC) WECs to be installed along the Atlantic European coastline, expanding a previously published work in which the Mediterranean coastline was investigated [2]. The capture width of the OWC WEC under different wave conditions is computed using an empirical model [3] capable of predicting the device performance with acceptable accuracy and limited computational time.
The results show that the optimal geometry of the OWC WEC varies significantly in the different geographical locations, and that the long-term changes in the wave energy resource could cause a slight modification of the optimal geometry in each potential installation site. The AEP of the OWC WEC in the projected wave climate scenario can be significantly different compared to the present one, potentially contributing to reducing the LCOE of this wave energy conversion technology in some geographical locations.
REFERENCES:
[1] Caires, S., Yan, K., 2022. Ocean surface wave time series for the European coast from 1976 to 2100 derived from climate projections. (Accessed on Feb. 2022) DOI: 10.24381/cds.572bf382. Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Climate Data Store (CDS)
[2] Simonetti, I., Cappietti, L., 2023, Mediterranean coastal wave-climate long-term trend in climate change scenarios and effects on the optimal sizing of OWC wave energy converters, Coastal Engineering, 173, 104247.
[3] Simonetti, I., Cappietti, L., Oumeraci, H., 2018. An empirical model as a supporting tool to optimize the main design parameters of a stationary oscillating water column wave energy converter. Appl. Energy 231, 1205–1215.


Catastrophic forest disturbances, such as wildfires, insect outbreaks, and hurricanes, have become more frequent in recent decades. Such disturbances can create supply disruptions in regional timber markets, with potentially significant short-run and long-run price effects. We review the time-series intervention models that have been used to analyze the impacts of forest disturbances. We apply the intervention models to investigate the market effects of the Biscuit Fire that burned nearly 500,000 acres (202,000 hectares) of forest land in southwest Oregon in 2002, thus creating an unexpected supply shock in the regional timber markets. Most of the burned area was located on federal lands. Although almost two billion board feet were available for harvesting by some estimates, the salvage logging on public lands after the Biscuit Fire amounted to 60 million board feet by the end of 2005. We use a univariate and reduced-form model to estimate the effect of the Biscuit Fire on regional Douglas-fir log markets. We find that the fire did not cause immediate price effects; however, we detect positive effects during the salvage logging period in some of the markets, whereas a negative long-run effect has persisted since the salvage logging period was completed.


Aliphatic polyesters are potential sustainable alternatives to PVC for use in medical devices, such as IV bags. Our candidate replacement of PVC-based IV bags use P4MCL, a sustainable polymer with demonstrated uses in mechanically robust materials. The goal of our project was to compare the mechanical and biocompatibility characteristics of P4MCL/PLLA star block copolymer TPEs with commercial PVC-based IV bags. P4MCL/PLLA TPEs were synthesized according to previously reported methods. Uniaxial tensile testing was conducted pre- and post-autoclave. Impact and tear resistance testing was performed on non-autoclaved specimens according to ASTM standards. Cytotoxicity was examined using NIH 3T3 Fibroblasts with an AlamarBlue assay. A student's t-test was used to compare results with statistical significance of P < 0.05. PVC tended to be stiffer but P4MCL/PLLA was more extensible. The tensile properties for the P4MCL-based material did not change after autoclaving. When compared to PVC-based IV bags, the P4MCL/PLLA TPE demonstrated a lower peak force and average force but a greater elongation at break and total absorbed energy (P<0.05). P4MCL/PLLA, unlike PVC-based materials with DEHP plasticizer, was non-cytotoxic. In summary, P4MCL/PLLA has desirable mechanical and biocompatibility advantages compared to PVC making the material a potential sustainable alternative for medical grade plastics.


OBJECTIVE
To determine serum levels of soluble intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (sICAM-1) and transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-alpha) in 51 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma before, during, and after radiation therapy (5-year follow-up period).

RESULTS
The mean +/- SD serum levels of the 2 cytokines were found to be higher in patients before radiotherapy (sICAM-1, 369.6 +/- 123.7 ng/mL; TGF-alpha, 36.6 +/- 24.6 ng/mL) than after radiotherapy (sICAM-1, 225.9 +/- 124.3 ng/mL; TGF-alpha, 20.2 +/- 22.3 ng/mL) (P<.05), and they were significantly higher in patients with recurrence (sICAM-1, 512.5 +/- 271.2 ng/mL; TGF-alpha, 48.2 +/- 23.4 ng/mL) and in those who died (sICAM-1, 542.6 +/- 245.4 ng/mL; TGF-alpha, 50.2 +/- 28.8 ng/mL) than in patients with no recurrence (sICAM-1, 217.9 +/- 116.4 ng/mL; TGF-d, 21.5 +/- 26.8 ng/mL) and in those who survived (sICAM-1, 209.4 +/- 167.2 ng/mL; TGF-alpha, 20.4 +/- 27.3 ng/mL) (P<.05). The increases in serum levels occurred approximately 3 months before relapse.

CONCLUSION
We found that sICAM-1 and TGF-alpha levels are extremely useful markers for predicting illness, recurrence, and survival.


Technology roadmapping (TRM) is a technique for exploring the evolution of markets, products, technologies, and their linkages. During our Hungarian TRM-applications we found important a clear business need; senior level ownership; effective communication; information and knowledge sharing; spending considerable time at the beginning; preferring less frequent but longer workshops than more frequent shorter ones; involving all related functions, active participation of senior managers; having a TRM-champion inside the company; a case-study-based training to teach TRM; and calling TRM a different name at the beginning.


Multiagent systems can use commitments as the core of a general coordination infrastructure, supporting both cooperative and non-cooperative interactions. Agents whose objectives are aligned, and where one agent can help another achieve greater reward by sacrificing some of its own reward, should choose a cooperative commitment to maximize their joint reward. We present a solution to the problem of how cooperative agents can efficiently find an (approximately) optimal commitment by querying about carefully-selected commitment choices. We prove structural properties of the agents' values as functions of the parameters of the commitment specification, and develop a greedy method for composing a query with provable approximation bounds, which we empirically show can find nearly optimal commitments in a fraction of the time methods that lack our insights require.


Chert conglomerates, and associated sediments, of the Bend Conglomerate in Taylor Draw field, Upton Co., Texas, were deposited in a series of fan deltas that prograded into an open-marine system. The distribution of reservoir quality in these deposits is facies controlled. Permeabilities range from near zero to 30,000 md. Low-permeability conglomerates contain either a mud matrix or abundant calcite fossil fragments. The calcite grains serve as nucleation sites for calcite cementation and, through dissolution, as a source of calcite cement. High-permeability, sandy (chert and quartz) conglomerates have no mud matrix or calcite grains. Some of them are cemented with a thin rim of chalcedony, while others have no cement and show strong pressure solution at grain contacts. They are commonly friable and are recovered as loose gravels in the core barrel. The mineralogy of matrix gains is related to the distribution of the depositional facies within the fan delta. The low-permeability conglomerates were deposited in the subaerial to subaqueous distal fan-delta complex where calcareous marine organisms or mud were mixed with the conglomerate. The high-permeability conglomerates were deposited as thick channel-gravels in the subaerial proximal and mid-fan sections of the fan deltas. Depositional facies within the fan-delta complex controlled themore » distribution of calcite grains in the matrix and hence reservoir quality. The fossiliferous conglomerates became tightly cemented with calcite during burial, whereas the nonfossiliferous conglomerates remained permeable. Facies maps of the fan-delta complex therefore can be used to delineate high-permeability conglomeratic reservoirs.« less


One of the primary goals of the U.S. government's entry into health care was to protect soldiers by isolating tribal populations and inoculating them against infectious disease. When tribes signed the legally binding treaties, the United States promised them doctors, nurses, facilities, and basic health care. Yet this promise has never been fully funded by Congress. The Indian Health Service, which includes tribal and nonprofit health agencies, is tasked with defying gravity, and this has led to a regular cycle of heartbreaking stories about a system that fails American Indian and Alaska Native patients. Yet, at the same time, the Indian health system has achieved remarkable innovation and excellence.


The purpose of the experiment was to study the possible penetration of extrinsic tracers with different molecular weights into exposed cementum in vitro and pathway of penetration. 75 human extracted teeth-55 periodontally diseased teeth and 20 embedded 3rd molars-were used. Each tooth was maintained in 0.005% fluorecein isothiocyanate (FITC) solution (M.W. 400), 0.05% FITC conjugated peroxidase solution (M.W. 40,000), or 0.01% FITC conjugated human IgG solution (M.W. 160,000) for 10 days. Morphological observations were made by means of fluorescence microscopy. Other extracted teeth were maintained in 0.05% microperoxidase solution (M.W. 1,900) for 5 days. Observations were then made using the TEM, and micrographs were taken and analyzed with an image analyzer. As a result, solutions of higher molecular weight showed lower penetration, and unexposed cementum showed a tendency toward greater penetration. Furthermore, the penetration of tracers on the surface of the cementum was along collagen fibers, but in the inner cementum, was into cementocyte lacunae and canaliculi.


Melanoma is a treatment-resistant cancer of melanocytes. There is a serious unmet need for chemopreventive agents that can inhibit their evolution from preexisting dysplastic nevi. Low-dose aspirin and NSAIDs are potential chemopreventive candidates because they inhibit the enzyme COX-2 which has a number of procarcinogenic effects. Unfortunately, the clinical trial reported by Okwundu and colleagues in this issue of Cancer Prevention Research did not show an effect of aspirin on biomarkers associated with progression of premalignant dysplastic nevi to melanomas. Further clinical trials with other aspirin or NSAID biomarkers or clinical trials with other potential chemopreventive agents offer hope to those who are at increased risk for melanomas. See related article, p. 129


Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous in our environment. Its presence in air, water and soil makes it a serious threat to living organisms. The present study aimed to assess the availability of MPs in air and street dust of a metropolitan city Varanasi, India. Suspended dust samples and street dust samples were collected from various sampling sites. The assessment of MPs was conducted by for physical identification binocular microscopy, fluorescence microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), while elemental analysis done by Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis (EDX). and finally, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used for functional group analysis. the presence of MPs in both suspended dust and street dust samples of all selected sampling sites was confirmed by results. MPs of different color with the shape of Fragments, Films, Spherules and Fibers were observed in the study. However, most of the MPs were less than 1mm in size. The MPs identified in our study were majorly polypropylene, polystyrene, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polyester, and polyvinyl chloride. EDX analysis showed presence of trace elements like aluminum, cadmium, magnesium, sodium, and silicon apart from carbon and oxygen, which indicates the presence of additives or adsorption capacity of MPs. Confirmation of MPs in the air of a locality of Varanasi explains the need of deep research in this concerned field to protect our future from negative impacts of breathing MPs.


This presentation considers progress towards establishment of a modern legislative framework for individual employment relations in China. A background of current labour market statistics and trends is provided, together with comment on perceived impacts for China of the global financial crisis since 2008. Recent enactments dealing with employment promotion, labour contracts, and labour dispute resolution are then considered. These are seen as a new phase in regulatory activity for the world of work since the foundation of the People's Republic in 1949. Particular challenges are identified in relation to effective delivery of employment rights, the administrative monitoring of enterprise compliance with labour regulations, and judicial efficiency in dealing with a rising volume of labour disputes throughout China. The influence of international standard-setting bodies upon the new enactments is noted, as are lessons drawn by the Chinese authorities from examination of experiences in other national systems. It is suggested that, without dramatic departure from the framework established by the 'umbrella' Labour Law of 1994, recent Chinese legislation reflects some sophisticated and innovative draughtsmanship, as well as sensitivity to the delicate balance between the economic interests of enterprises and the (generally protective) 'social dimension' of the world of work. Concern is expressed, however, as to whether China's available enforcement and sanctioning mechanisms will suffice to ensure that the new regulatory arrangements become effective in practice. Notably, there is a pressing need for capacity building in order to provide the administrative and judicial institutions necessary to ensure effective labour market regulation within a framework of rule of law. The need for a stable, well-regulated, yet flexible, labour market is seen as crucial to the continued success of the Chinese economy at a time of dramatic global flux. Cautious optimism is expressed as to the prospects of achieving those goals.


We report mirror-image effects of interference and facilitation in the semantic processing of identical sets of abstract and concrete words in a patient F.B.I. with global aphasia following a large left middle cerebral artery stroke. Interference was elicited when the tasks involved comprehending the spoken form of each word, but facilitation was found when the patient read aloud the written forms of the same words. More importantly, irrespective of whether the dynamic effect was one of facilitation or interference, effects of semantic association were observed for abstract words, whilst effects primarily of semantic similarity were observed for concrete words. These results offer further neuropsychological evidence that the more abstract a word, the greater its dependence upon associative information and the smaller its dependence upon similarity-based information. The investigations also contribute to a converging body of evidence that suggests that this theory generalizes across different experimental paradigms, stimuli, and participants and also across different cognitive processes within individual patients. The data support a graded rather than binary or ungraded model of the relationships between concreteness, association, and similarity, and the basis for concrete words' greater dependence upon similarity-based information is discussed in terms of the development of taxonomic structures and categorical thought in young children.


A low-complexity equalizer which uses a combination of space-frequency minimum-mean-square-error-estimation (MMSE) filter and a pre-whitened maximum likelihood detector (MLD) is proposed for discrete Fourier transform precoded orthogonal frequency division multiple accesses (DFT-precoded-OFDMA) systems employing multi-stream spatial multiplexing (SM). We show that this receiver behaves like an optimum MLD in channels with low frequency selectivity (flat fading) and the performance converges to that of MMSE in channels with high frequency selectivity. Further, we analytically characterize the performance of the zero-forcing (ZF) linear equalizer (LE) in an i.i.d. channel with infinite amount of frequency selectivity for the case when the number of receiver antennas Nr is greater than the number of transmitter antennas/streams Nt. The ZF-LE is shown to provide a per-stream post-processing signal-to-noiseratio (SNR) of Nr-Nt/NtN0 for Nr >; Nt. Additionally, simulation is used to compare the bit error rate (BER) performance of ZF and MMSE based receivers.


Two different optimal design models are used to compare pulsed and continuous pumping remediation schemes for mass transfer-limited aquifers. All optimal design models couple a genetic algorithm with a flow and transport simulation model. The static pulsed pumping design model compares pulsed pumping with multiple management periods to continuous pumping for the same total remediation time. Results show that, depending on the initial mass of contaminant mass, it may be possible to cleanup the aquifer with costs similar to those of continuous pumping with less total pumping time. Although higher pumping rates are required for pulsed pumping, the total volume of water extracted decreases and the mass removal efficiency improves. The dynamic pulsed pumping design model compares pulsed and continuous pumping for the same pumping effort defined in terms of pumping days. By adjusting the total remediation time and using flexible management time lengths and pumping rates, considerable savings in both operating and capitals costs are achieved. Despite the longer remediation time, significantly less water is pumped out with increased mass removal efficiency.


Objective This study was designed to explore the factors influencing local recurrence and survival for low rectal cancer with pT1-2NxM0 stage after an abdominoperineal resection (APR). Methods Data of 429 patients confirmed to have pT1-2NxM0 after APR were reviewed. Results The recurrence rate in patients with intraoperative perforation, less than 12 lymph nodes (LNs) harvested, T2 staging, and positive circumferential resection margin (CRM) was 25.1, 19.9, 9.5, and 26.1% compared with 6.9, 7.0, 0, and 5.8% in patients with no perforation, 12 or more LNs harvested, T1, and negative CRM. The 5-year survival rate in patients with age of at least 70, perforation, less than 12 LNs harvested, T2, and positive CRM was 71.1, 60.8, 58.8, 69.9, and 46.0%, but 73.4, 73.5, 73.8, 89.4, and 75.0% in patients with age less than 70, no perforation, 12 or more LNs harvested, T1, and negative CRM. Meanwhile, patients with N0, N1, and N2 had a survival rate of 90.7, 69.9, and 63.9%. Multivariate analysis showed that perforation (P<0.001), number of LNs harvested (P<0.001), T staging (P<0.001), differentiation (P=0.045), and CRM status (P=0.002) were associated with local recurrence, whereas age of the patients (P=0.023), N staging (P<0.001), differentiation (P=0.011), and CRM status (P=0.004) were associated with survival. Conclusion APR was affected by patients' age, operation performer, perforation, number of LNs harvested, T staging, N staging, differentiation, and CRM status. Perforation, number of LNs harvested, T staging, differentiation, and CRM status were independent factors for recurrence; meanwhile, age of the patients, N staging, differentiation, and CRM status were independent factors influencing survival.


Dietary fibers have positive effects on the product structure thanks to their technological features. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of dietary fibers obtained from purple and orange sweet potato varieties on heat-treated sucuks. For this purpose, dietary fibers were produced from sweet potato varieties and their characterizations were determined. Then, sweet potato fibers were added to the sucuks in the amount included in their formulation and the effects of dietary fiber change were examined in terms of physicochemical, bioactive, textural and sensory. In this context, it was determined that the color change in sweet potatoes affected the color properties of the dietary fibers obtained. In addition, it was observed that the hardness value was the highest (1715.35 g) in sucuks to which orange sweet potato starch, which has high oil and water binding values, and the sweet potato fibers changed the product properties compared to the control group. Total phenolic content of sucuks was determined in the range of 60.57-130.45 mg/ml gallic acid and it was determined that sweet potato fibers increased the phenolic content. As a result of the study, it was determined that sweet potato dietary fibers are an alternative additive for sucuks.


Ferroelectric BaFe0.5Nb0.5O3 (BFN) ceramic is synthesized by the solid-state reaction technique for the first time. The x-ray diffraction of the sample at room temperature shows a monoclinic phase. Dielectric studies of the sample show a frequency dependence of the temperatures at which the dielectric permittivity (real and imaginary) peaks. The temperature variations of the real and imaginary components of the dielectric permittivity show broad maxima. There is evidence for Vogel-Fulcher-type relaxational freezing. The analysis of the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric permittivity with frequency has been performed assuming a distribution of relaxation times as confirmed by Cole-Cole plots as well as the scaling behaviour of the dielectric loss. All these observations clearly suggest that BFN is a relaxor ferroelectric. The Mossbauer spectrum of the sample at room temperature shows a symmetric doublet, with the iron being trivalent.


Abstract Reaction of dimethyl N-cyanodithioiminocarbonate, NCNC(SCH3)2 (L), and SnPh3Cl led to the formation of [ClPh3SnNCNC(SCH3)2] (1) which crystallizes in the monoclinic space group C2/c with Z=8, a=19.152(2) Å, b=12.8659 (16) Å, c=19.063(3) Å, β=108.608(3) and V=4451.6(10) Å3. The structure of 1 consists of a SnPh3 moiety trans-coordinated in apical positions by one L ligand, N-coordinated, and one chlorine atom involving a trigonal bipyramid geometry around the Sn(IV) atom. To our knowledge, this is the first isolation of a discrete triorganotin(IV) complex with a N-cyanodithioiminocarbonate adduct. The structural characterization of 1 was completed by infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and elemental analysis which confirm the X-ray elucidation.


Viewshed analysis is a long established function of many geographical information systems to determine the visible cells of an input raster from one or more observers. It can be extended into large scale or higher resolution which requires the parallel implementation for time-tolerance. In this paper, we describe a GPU parallelization of viewshed analysis using CUDA. The implementation includes two layered components, matrix traversal and ray traversal, which can be implemented in parallel by CUDA or sequentially in iteration. Under the combined four scenarios, the experimental results show that parallel matrix traversal and sequential ray traversal (PMSR) achieves the best performance which is several orders of magnitude more efficient than the completely sequential version. This is because PMSR reaches a trade-off between the acceleration by multiple threads and their brought workloads on GPU.


UV cure on robust low-k with sub-nm pore and high carbon content (R-ELK=Robust ELK) was studied to enhance the modulus of the film. UV cure helps to create Si-CH2-Si bridging bond, which plays a role to enhance the modulus. UV cure does not affect the advantage of low PID (plasma-induced damage) and it was confirmed by Cint (interconnect capacitance) measurement for 80 nm pitch interconnect. Besides, UV cured R-ELK demonstrated high TDDB and EM reliability, with lifetime similar to the mature ULK baseline. High TDDB reliability with further dimensional scaling was also confirmed for the test structure with 20 nm spacing.


Across the West: Human Population Movement and the Expansion of the Numa . David B. Madsen and David Rhode, eds. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1994, xi + 255 pp., 37 figs., 15 tables, 18 maps, $51.95 (paper).


Aim: In the UK, there are limited data sources for evaluating real-world research questions related to oncology therapy. We conducted a pilot study to investigate the feasibility of extracting data directly from a chemotherapy prescription platform (ChemoCare®) utilized in standard care. Patients & methods: Concordance was compared with data extracted manually for patients with advanced melanoma as part of a concurrent chart review (gold-standard) using Cohen's kappa and the intraclass correlation coefficient. Results: There was high concordance between data automatically extracted from the prescription platform and chart review data. Conclusion: This pilot can be used as a framework for future studies using direct, automated extraction from prescription platforms.


An integral approach to the problem of high-level synthesis of digital architectures as implemented in the FIDIAS synthesis system is described. The synthesis task is split into different subtasks, the interrelation between them is no longer ignored as happens in most systems. One of the system's outstanding features is the control of global system behaviour performed by an expert system that deals with such interrelations and aims it towards the required goals. The most important subtasks are explained in detail. Among these subtasks, cycle-time estimation, operation scheduling, allocation search algorithm and area estimation are found. Heuristics for intelligent bounding of the design space during allocation are shown. Also presented is one of the most novel features of FIDIAS, which is the use of heuristics to guide the search performed by the allocation algorithm through the accessible design space.


By using nonstandard analysis, we prove embeddability properties of difference sets $A-B$ of sets of integers. (A set $A$ is "embeddable" into $B$ if every finite configuration of $A$ has shifted copies in $B$.) As corollaries of our main theorem, we obtain improvements of results by I.Z. Ruzsa about intersections of difference sets, and of Jin's theorem (as refined by V. Bergelson, H. F\"urstenberg and B. Weiss), where a precise bound is given on the number of shifts of $A-B$ which are needed to cover arbitrarily large intervals.


The Wiki is often overlooked as an educational/research tool due to the indifference or uncertainty of potential users. Google docs offers an uncomplicated introduction to the world of Wiki's. Designed to facilitate collaborations, it allows students, educators and researchers to take immediate advantage of the benefits offered by Wiki technology without the hassle.

Join in a discussion on the benefits and pitfalls with using these types of tools and the varied ways in which they can be utilisedin teaching and learning as well as research collaborations.


An examination of 39 patients with heart diseases was performed before and after operations by the method of geometrical analysis of the nonlinear chaos (fractal) variability of the cardiac rhythm on the basis of the apparatus-programmed complex "Poly-spectrum". Five-minute-long registrations of ECG were carried on. On the basis of the data of examination of 195 healthy volunteers the reference norm of this method parameters was determined. Reliably lower parameters were found in patients with the acquired valvular disease. A dynamic investigation of the geometrical nonlinear structure of the cardiac rhythm has shown the possibility to make a prognosis of early complications after prosthetics of the heart valves.


This paper presents a new harmonic filtering technique to lower the phase noise of CMOS LC voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) based on loaded-Q improvement approach. A single resistor was used at the drain node of the bias transistor instead of extra inductors and capacitors. The wide-band nature of resistance can suppress the second harmonic as well as other even harmonics leaking from the LC tank across the full period of oscillation, thus preserve the loaded quality factor of the LC tank. As a proof of concept, a completely integrated 5.3GHz all PMOS LC VCO was implemented in a 0.18mum BiCMOS process. The simulation result shows the achieved phase noise of -129.5 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset and -110 dBc/Hz at 100-KHz offset and -86 dBc/Hz at 10-KHz while the VCO core draws 5mA from a 1.8V supply. The circuit is being fabricated with Jazz semiconductor


Introduction: Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) is a group of neurologic manifestation caused by wide range of microbes, chemicals and toxins. Japanese Encephalitis Virus (JEV) is the major cause of AES in India. Isolation of aetiological agent in AES cases presents a fundamental challenge to prevention and management. Lack of study on AES in the paediatric population of Tripura prompted the authors to take up this study. Aim: To determine the clinical profile and short term outcome of children with AES from Tripura, India. Materials and Methods: This hospital-based cross-sectional observational study was conducted from November 2017 to April 2019 in the Department of Paediatrics at Agartala Government Medical College (AGMC), Tripura, India. Total 100 children, from 1 month to 12 years of age, fulfilling definition of AES were enrolled in the study. All the cases were managed as per institutional treatment protocol and were followed-up at 1 and 3 months following discharge. Case record, patient profile records and reports of investigations were the study tools. Chi-square test and Fisher's-exact test were used as per applicability to test the significance of difference of proportions using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 15.0. The difference was considered significant for a p-value <0.05. Results: Out of total, 30 patients (30%) were in 9-12 years age group, with slight male preponderance (1.1:1). Total 72 cases (72%) were from rural area. Common clinical features were fever, altered sensorium, seizures, irritability, abnormal movement, pallor, papilloedema, and lethargy. Abnormal laboratory parameters included leucocytosis (62%), anaemia (27%), hyponatremia (35%), and hypoglycaemia (16%) and elevated liver enzymes (15%). IgM serology was positive for JEV (19%), scrub typhus (6%), herpes simplex virus (2%), dengue (2%), measles (1%), and enterovirus (1%). Magnetic resonance imaging brain was normal in 37% of the cases. About 54% of the cases recovered completely, 20% of the cases died and remaining 26% survived with sequelae. Conclusion: AES is common among older male children from the rural area. Serologically JEV is most common cause. Total 54% cases recovered completely. Proportion of death and residual sequelae were higher in the JEV category. The observations of the study indicate need of extensive studies and scaling up of JE vaccination.


BACKGROUND
Little research has been done on services and programs for children with chronic conditions and their families from the perspective of family caregivers from diverse cultural backgrounds.

OBJECTIVE
To identify recommendations that urban caregiving families from 3 major ethnocultural backgrounds have for improving the care of children with chronic conditions (ie, chronic illnesses and disabilities involving physical health impairments).

DESIGN
Qualitative, community-based study.

SETTING
General community.

PARTICIPANTS
The volunteer convenience sample included 21 African American, 20 Hispanic, and 22 European American families from 2 midwestern cities who care for school-aged children with chronic conditions.

METHODS
In-home semistructured interviews were conducted with each child's family caregivers. Content analytic techniques were used to identify and classify 275 recommendations from 63 families.

RESULTS
Families focused on the following 4 topics: (1) improving the quality of health care services; (2) decreasing barriers to services and programs; (3) improving the training that health care professionals, families, and the public receive about chronic conditions and their management; and (4) improving the quality and availability of community-based services. Families from all 3 ethnic groups had similar recommendations for improving services and programs; however, several African American and Hispanic families also suggested making information more culturally relevant and resources more accessible to families from diverse cultural backgrounds.

CONCLUSIONS
The findings indicate that further work needs to be done to deliver care that is, indeed, family centered and culturally sensitive. Families' recommendations provide information that health care professionals and policymakers can use to transform rhetoric about family-centered care into action.


Introduction: The analgesic comparison of perineural with intravenous dexamethasone on interscalene block for pain management of shoulder arthroscopy remains controversial. We conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to explore the influence of perineural with intravenous dexamethasone on interscalene block on the postoperative pain intensity of shoulder arthroscopy.Methods: We have searched PubMed, EMbase, Web of science, EBSCO, and Cochrane library databases through April 2021 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the effect of perineural with intravenous dexamethasone on interscalene block for pain control of shoulder arthroscopy. This meta-analysis is performed using the random-effect model.Results: Five RCTs are included in the meta-analysis. Overall, compared with intravenous dexamethasone for shoulder arthroscopy, perineural dexamethasone leads to similar block duration (SMD=0.12; 95% CI=-0.12 to 0.35; P=0.33), pain scores at 12 h (SMD=-0.67; 95% CI=-1.48 to 0.15; P=0.11), pain scores at 24 h (SMD=-0.33; 95% CI=-0.79 to 0.14; P=0.17), opioid consumption (SMD=0.01; 95% CI=-0.18 to 0.19; P=0.95) and nausea/vomiting (OR=0.74; 95% CI=0.38 to 1.44; P=0.38).Conclusions: Perineural and intravenous dexamethasone demonstrated comparable pain control after shoulder arthroscopy when supplemented to interscalene block.


Abstract : Family Support, Level Of Anxiety, Chronic Renal Failure, And Hemodialysis . Chronic kidney disease is a threat for human because the prevalency increase every years. Patient of chronic kidney disease with teraphy hemodialysis can cause psychological pressure pasca hemodialysis. One example of psychological pressure is anxiety. For decrease anxiety of patient with terapy hemodialysis need family support. Objectives To identity the relationship  among family support with level of anxiety chronic renal failure of patients with therapy hemodialisis in Dr.Soehadi Prijonegoro Hospital. Methods Design of the research used descriptive analytic with cross sectional approach. The sampling method is total sampling. Instrument that used for measure level anxiety and family support is a questionnaire. Analysis for data used Kendall Tau. Ressearch result The majority of family support level is good with amount 38 (70,4%). The majority of level anxiety  is not anxiety with amount 38 (70,4%).The result of kendall tau is α : 0,000,  τ : 0,865.Conclusion There is relationship between family support with level of anxiety chronic renal failure of patients with therapy hemodialysis. Keywords : Family Support, Level Of Anxiety, Chronic Renal Failure, And Hemodialysis Link OJS 3 artikel HUBUNGAN DUKUNGAN KELUARGA DENGAN TINGKAT KECEMASAN PADA PASIEN GAGAL GINJAL KRONIS YANG MENJALANI HEMODIALISIS DI RSUD Dr. SOEHADI PRIJONEGORO SRAGEN


DeMiguel et al. (2009a) show that estimation errors lead to mean-variance portfolios that underperform naive diversication (1 =N). In response to this nding, new studies have developed more ecient sample-based portfolio strategies that oer higher risk-adjusted returns than 1 =N. In this paper, I show that the latter portfolio may still be superior in the presence of transaction costs. This is because sample-based strategies tend to be unstable over time. Instability leads to high transaction costs that signicantly reduce portfolio returns. I resolve this issue by introducing a stability penalty to the standard mean-variance objective that controls the deviation from the investor's portfolio before rebalancing. In contrast to other techniques in the literature that account for transaction costs, the stability penalty oers intuitive analytical solutions to the portfolio choice problem. As such, it allows to treat estimation errors and transactions costs in a joint manner and it can be directly applied to any portfolio strategy. I evaluate the stability approach by applying it to nine sample-based strategies from the literature and study their performance in ve data sets of monthly returns. The results conrm that it leads to stable and ecient portfolios that oer higher Sharpe ratio than 1 =N and equal or lower turnover.


Field-programmable gate arrays are well-suited to DSP and digital communications applications. SRAM-based FPGAs, however, are susceptible to radiation-induced single-event upsets (SEUs) when deployed in space environments. These effects are often handled with the area and power-intensive TMR mitigation technique. This paper evaluates the effects of SEUs in the FPGA configuration memory as noise in a digital filter, showing that many SEUs in a digital communications system cause effects that could be considered noise rather than circuit failure. Since DSP and digital communications applications are designed to withstand certain types of noise, SEU mitigation techniques that are less costly than TMR may be applicable. This could result in large savings in area and power when implementing a reliable system. Our experiments show that, of the SEUs that affected the digital filter with a 20 dB SNR input signal, less than 14% caused an SNR loss of more than 1 dB at the output.


Aim. To draw the attention of physicians to the need for careful analysis of electrocardiograms, especially those obtained by using an automatic analyzer, with the obligatory account of the clinical picture of the disease. Methods. Normal electrocardiography, electrocardiography with the usage of a diagnostic system «Valenta», echocardiography, clinical examination of a patient with fibrosing alveolitis. Results. In the patient with fibrosing alveolitis the automatic analyzer of electrocardiograms «Valenta» misinterpreted the 3S-type of the electrocardiogram as a left anterior fascicular bundle branch block, and the doctor-functionalist did not notice the error. Taking into account the clinical picture of disease and monitoring of the dynamics of electrocardiogram the misinterpretation error was corrected. Presented were the arguments for understanding the pathogenesis of changes in the electrocardiogram in a patient with progressive Hamman-Rich disease. Conclusion. Diagnostic algorithms for automated interpretation of the electrocardiogram have limitations in terms of universal recognition of heart disease; the electrocardiogram report, even in the presence of the auto-interpretation, must be a formulated by a physician taking into account both the clinical picture of the disease as well as other diagnostic methods of patient examination.


A small car packaging study investigated the effects of the wheel to pedal relationship on driver selected seat position. The horizontal seat positions of sixty subjects stratified by stature and sex to represent the general driving population were recorded in package configurations with three pedal to wheel distances and three pedal-wheel relationships to the interior surface of the vehicle (windshield header, pillar, glass and instrument panel surface). Subjects utilized comparable amounts of seat travel in all configurations. Pedal to wheel distance and pedal-wheel relationship to the interior surface of the vehicle affected seat position independently. When the heel point location was held constant and horizontal wheel location was moved forward in 45mm increments, the seat position distributions shifted forward 5 to 10mm. Likewise, when the heel to wheel relationship was held constant but moved forward in 45mm increments in relation to the interior surface of the vehicle, the seat position distribution shifted forward 13 to 16mm. All distributions reasonably approximated normality. Shifts of such magnitude were found to be statistically different but in reality represented less than one seat detent of travel (22mm in GM vehicles). In addition, it appeared that in packages with tight heel to wheel distance, subjects gave greater priority to comfortable leg rather than arm reach when positioning their seats.


This paper presents a monolithic low-IF' Bluetooth receiver. The highlights of the receiver include a low-power active complex filter with a non-conventional tuning scheme and a high performance mixed-mode GFSK demodulator. The chip was fabricated on a 6.25 mm' die using TSMC 0.35pm standard CMOS process. -82 dBm sensitivity at le3 BER, -10 dBm IIP3 and 15 dB noise figure were achieved in the measurements.


Based on the experimental achievements described in the previous chapters, many roles are expected to the RF Heating systems in ITER project. In addition to the main heating to realize D-T burning plasma of fusion energy gain Q ≥ 10, a driver of H-mode transition, start up, steady-state current drive, current profile control, burn control and MHD suppression are required functions. Total heating power of 73 MW will be prepared from the early phase of the ITER operation. The specifications required in the ITER RF heating systems were quite challenging, and included realization of an 1 MW-170 GHz RF source for ECH. Most of them, however, have been satisfied or practically satisfied. The preparations for the construction of the ITER heating systems are completed.


There is little cell replacement following neurological injury, limiting the regenerative response of the CNS. Progress in understanding the biology of neural stem cells has raised interest in using stem cells for replacing neurons lost to injury or to disease. Stem cell therapy may also have a role in rebuilding deficient neural circuitry underlying mood disorders, epilepsy, and pain modulation among other roles. In vitro expansion of stem cells with directed differentiation prior to transplantation is one approach to stem cell therapy. Emerging evidence suggests that it may be possible to convert in vivo endogenous neural cells to a neuronal fate directly, providing an alternative strategy for stem cell therapy to the CNS. This review assesses the evidence for engineering a subtype‐specific neuronal fate of endogenous neural cells in the cerebral cortex as a function of initial cell lineage, reactive response to injury, conversion factors, and environmental context. We conclude with a discussion of some of the challenges that must be overcome to move this alternative in vivo engineered conversion process toward becoming a viable therapeutic option. J. Comp. Neurol. 522:2857–2876, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


A light emitting system (1) comprising a radiation source (2) capable of emitting a first light of at least a first wavelength spectrum; a first fluorescent material (4) capable of absorbing at least partially the first light and emitting second light having a second wavelength spectrum; a second fluorescent material (8) capable of absorbing at least partially the first light and emitting a third light having a third wavelength spectrum; wherein one, the first (4) or the second fluorescent material (8) is a polycrystalline ceramic with a density of more than 97 percent of the density of a monocrystalline material and the respective other fluorescent material is a phosphor powder with a median particle size 100 nm < d50%< 50 mum.


Abstract Background Continuous androgen deprivation therapy ± first-generation non-steroidal antiandrogen was previously the standard-of-care for patients with metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (mCSPC). Treatment intensification with novel hormonal therapy (NHT) or taxane chemotherapy is now approved and guideline-recommended for these patients. Methods Physician-reported data on adult patients with mCSPC from the Adelphi Prostate Cancer Disease Specific Programme were analyzed descriptively. We evaluated real-world treatment trends for patients with mCSPC in 5 European countries (United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy) and the United States (US), looking at differences between patients initiating treatment in 2016-2018 and in 2019-2020. We also investigated treatment trends by ethnicity and insurance status in the US. Results This study found that most patients with mCSPC do not receive treatment intensification. However, greater use of treatment intensification with NHT and taxane chemotherapy was observed in 2019-2020 than in 2016-2018 across 5 European countries. In the US, greater use of treatment intensification with NHT in 2019-2020 than in 2016-2018 was observed for all ethnicity groups and those with Medicare and commercial insurance status. Conclusions As the number of patients with mCSPC who receive treatment intensification increases, more patients who progress to metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) will have been exposed to intensified treatments. Treatment options for patients with mCSPC and mCRPC overlap, suggesting that an unmet need will emerge for new therapies. Further studies are needed to understand optimal treatment sequencing in mCSPC and mCRPC.


Background: Proper Nursing documentation covers all aspects of health care such as assessment standards, proper diagnosis, and identification of problems, planning and implementation of interventions. Aim: To assess the Nurses' Knowledge and Perceptions regarding Electronic Documentation. Study Design: Descriptive cross sectional study. Methodology: The study was conducted at Institute of Nursing University of Health Sciences Lahore Pakistan whereas the data was collected at four tertiary care Hospitals of Lahore. A Non-probability convenient sampling was used. A sample of n=310 nurses was recruited for this study. A self-administered questionnaire was filled by each participant in about 30minutes. The questionnaire included three parts such as demographic data, Knowledge questions and Perception questions. The collected data was analyzed by using SPSS version 26. Chi square ware applied with P-value< 0.05 as significant. Results: It was found that 26.45% of the study participants had poor knowledge regarding the electronic documentations who scored less than 50% of the correct responses. 32.58% of the nurses have average knowledge and they answered 50 to 65% correct questions. 37.74% participants' nurses answered 65-80% correct and have good knowledge regarding the electronic documentation. It was also found that 78.71% of the nurses had positive perceptions regarding electronic documentation. Conclusion: It was concluded that there was lack of proper knowledge level but the perceptions toward the electronic documentation was positive among the participant nurses. Keywords: Knowledge, Perception, Electronic Documentation and Nurses.


Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a buzzword in present era. It is gaining importance from both academician as well as business fraternity continually which depicts its importance. CSR is viewed as the most important and concerned topic for the coming years. Though there is a section of people who consider CSR just as a fashion and a marketing gimmick. There is a group of people who have started to take interest in CSR. The aim of the study is to check customers' awareness regarding CSR and its impact on customer buying behaviour in the Ahmedabad city of Gujarat in the FMCG industry. Furthermore, the aim is also to study customers' preference towards different CSR (dimensions) activities and how customers purchasing behaviour is influenced by these CSR activities. The study combines Carroll's CSR pyramid theory as a base. To study the impact of CSR awareness on consumers' buying decision it refers to customers as one important stakeholder and the word customer and consumer is used interchangeably. A quantitative method will be used in the study. Primary data of consumers' awareness of CSR and consumers' purchasing behaviour will be collected through questionnaire. The results of the questionnaire will be analysed and interpreted.


The amorphous NdCoxOy nanowire arrays have been successfully fabricated using anodic aluminium oxide (AAO) membrane templates by suction filtration at subatmospheric pressure (SFSP). The morphology and chemical composition of NdCoxOy nanowires were characterised by a scanning electron microscope, a transmission electron microscope, selected area electron diffraction, X-ray diffraction and energy dispersive spectra, respectively. The results reveal that there are plenty of NdCoxOy nanowires in the nanopores of the AAO template, and the NdCoxOy nanowires are all uniform in diameter. The concentration of reactants, the subatmospheric pressure and the co-precipitation time played an important role in the formation of NdCoxOy nanowires. The NdCoxOy nanowires with different diameters were fabricated with AAO of different nanopore sizes, the luminescence spectrum of NdCoxOy nanowires were doped with different Eu3+ concentrations and different morphological luminescence intensities of NdCoxOy:Eu3+ indicate that the method of SFSP is a feasible and controllable approach. The hysteresis loops of the Nd2O3, NdCoxOy and NdLaxOy nanowire arrays were carried out by a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM); the magnetic behaviour of rare earth oxide can be modulated by doping the magnetic cobalt (Co) and non-magnetic Lanthanum (La) elements.


The power density of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) depends on several parameters. The contact resistance between the bipolar plate (BPP) and the gas diffusion layer (GDL) and the porosity of the GDL are two main parameters involved in the performance of the PEMFC. The purpose of this work is to develop a numerical model to describe the contact behavior (contact zone, contact force) on the interfaces between the different layers in order to propose an optimal structure for the high performance of PEM fuel cells. Numerical results can help to increase the knowledge of fuel cell's performance and to determine the optimal structure which can be used in the design of fuel cells.


Lost circulation events during drilling operations are known for their abruptness and are difficult to control. Traditional diagnostic methods rely on qualitative indicators, such as mud pit volume changes or anomalous logging curve patterns. However, these methods are subjective and rely heavily on empirical knowledge, resulting in delayed or inaccurate predictions. To address this problem, there is an urgent need to develop efficient methods for a timely and accurate lost circulation prediction. In this study, a novel approach is proposed by combining principal component analysis (PCA) and empirical analysis to reduce the dimensionality of the model data. This dimensionality reduction helps to streamline the analysis process and improve prediction accuracy. The predictive model also incorporates an improved fruit fly optimization algorithm (IFOA) in conjunction with support vector machine (SVM) techniques. The actual instances of lost circulation serve as the evaluation criteria for this integrated method. To overcome the challenges associated with irregular population distribution within randomly generated individuals, a tent map strategy is introduced to ensure a more balanced and representative sample. In addition, the model addresses issues such as premature convergence and slow optimization rates by employing a sine–cosine search strategy. This strategy helps to achieve optimal results and speeds up the prediction process. The improved prediction model demonstrates exceptional performance, achieving accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 scores of 96.8, 97, 96, and 96%, respectively. These results indicate that the IFOA-SVM approach achieves the highest accuracy with a reduced number of iterations, proving to be an efficient and fast method for predicting the lost circulation events. Implementation of this methodology in drilling operations can lead to improved efficiency, reliability, and overall performance.


A seismic refraction-shooting survey has been carried out along four bearings from a hydrophone laid on the sea bed near Perranporth, Comwall. The structure and acoustic properties of the sea bed have been deduced, and the attenuation of ground-waves with range has been measured both at this site and with a hydrophone suspended in a well nearby. The results obtained suggest that the sea bed in this area consists of three layers; a sand or sediment layer 80-100 ft thick with velocity 4950-5500 ft/s, a high velocity rock layer 1300 ft thick with velocity 14 250 ft/s, and a very thick high velocity layer with velocity 18 500 ft/s. The 14 ooo ft/s layer is correlated in velocity with schists obtained from quarries near Perranporth, which suggests that this layer is a northerly extension of the Palaeozoic rocks of Devon and Cornwall. The attenuation of the ground-waves was found to be approximately 12 dB per double distance. A comparison of the results with the existing theories of the propagation of explosive sounds over elastic and fluid sea beds is made, and some recommendations for further research proposed.


Dynamic time-frequency domain packet scheduling algorithms in the shared channel of downlink Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems have been shown to achieve high multi-user diversity scheduling gains. However, the flexibility is obtained at the cost of additional control signaling for which the availability of resources is limited. This article addresses the effects of control signaling resources limitation as well as the effects of terminal control signaling decoding errors on the performance OFDMA packet scheduling algorithms.


The development of new electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) at physiological pH is critical for several fields, including fuel cells and biological applications. Herein, the assembly of an electrode based on carboxyl-functionalised hydrophilic multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) filled with Fe phases and their excellent performance as electrocatalysts for ORR and HER at physiological pH are reported. The encapsulated Fe dramatically enhances the catalytic activity, and the graphitic shells play a double role of efficiently mediating the electron transfer to O2 and H2 O reactants and providing a cocoon that prevents uncontrolled Fe oxidation or leaching.


ABSTRACT The role of a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) TmkA in inducing systemic resistance in cucumber against the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. lacrymans was investigated by using tmkA loss-of-function mutants of Trichoderma virens. In an assay where Trichoderma spores were germinated in proximity to cucumber roots, the mutants were able to colonize the plant roots as effectively as the wild-type strain but failed to induce full systemic resistance against the leaf pathogen. Interactions with the plant roots enhanced the level of tmkA transcript in T. virens and its homologue in Trichoderma asperellum. At the protein level, we could detect the activation of two forms reacting to the phospho-p44/42 MAPK antibody. Biocontrol experiments demonstrated that the tmkA mutants retain their biocontrol potential against Rhizoctonia solani in soil but are not effective against Sclerotium rolfsii in reducing disease incidence. Our results show that, unlike in many plant-pathogen interactions, Trichoderma TmkA MAPK is not involved in limited root colonization. Trichoderma, however, needs MAPK signaling in order to induce full systemic resistance in the plant.


Author(s): Chen, Pengfei | Advisor(s): Norman, Michael | Abstract: The Lyman Alpha Forest (LAF) has been extensively studied observationally and by simulations. Good agreement between data and simulations has been reached in some statistics describing the LAF. However, there are still significant discrepancies in the magnitude of the flux power spectrum (FPS) and the shape of the flux probability distribution function (FPDF). Here we explore a possible resolution by adding new physical ingredients into the standard LAF simulations.Firstly, we repeat the standard simulation. Here the intergalactic medium (IGM) is assumed to be photoionized and photoheated by a homogeneous ultraviolet background. Simulations with various box sizes and He II photoheating rates all confirm the mismatch.Then we introduce simulations that treat quasars as point sources, and calculate the radiation transfer using multigroup flux-limited diffusion. Our simulations here fall into two categories. Simulations with larger volumes (126 Mpc/h)3 sample the more luminous quasars and exhibit a more reliable thermal and ionization history. Due to the finite time it takes He III bubbles to expand, our simulations reionize later (z~2.76) than standard simulations, and show better agreement with observations. Simulations with higher spatial resolutions (80 Mpc/h)3 are used to generate synthetic spectra. Our mean H I effective optical depths and rescaled b 's agree with data well, but the discrepancies in FPS and FPDF still exist. We therefore conclude that the inhomogeneous heating due to He II reionization is not the missing physics needed to reconcile simulations with data. We also generate He II LAF spectra and successfully reproduce the large scatter in the He II effective optical depth before He II reionization completes. We also calculate its FPS and FPDF, which could be used to compare with future observations.On a related topic, we conduct simulations of the hydrogen reionization to examine the effect of the smallest galaxies. We find that reionization begins substantially earlier when galaxies in the mass range 10^7


Faking in applications was found to be an important issue in which social desirability plays a relevant role. The present study brings Social Desirability Responding, Honesty-Humility, and different stakes of situations into relation. Social Desirability Responding, i.e. Communion Management and Self-Deceptive Enhancement, operationalized by the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR) and Honesty-Humility (HEXACO-60) are analysed regarding their relationships and differences in and between high-stake, low-stake, and high-stake-lowframed situations. Relationships between Honesty-Humility and Communion Management were significantly positive, while no relationship between Honesty-Humility and SelfDeceptive Enhancement was found. There were also no significant differences in the constructs across situations. It was further investigated whether individuals scoring low in HonestyHumility show different responding behaviour dependent on situational frames compared to individuals scoring high in Honesty-Humility. No significant differences were found. Results imply that Social Desirable Responding scales do not measure what they intent to, hence further research is needed. The tested high-stake-low-framed situational instruction did not significantly reduce faking. However, exploring the option of framing application situations is recommended for organizations. Further, the problematic nature of measuring Social Desirability Responding is considered.


Based on the configuration of coherent optical system composed of a holographic mask and two Fourier transform lenses, an approach of performing a 2-dimensional (2-D) linear transform is suggested. The 2-D Walsh-Hadamard transform of order 32 is tested, and the experimental results are given.


It is important to note that the negative development on the Gulf States' labour market cannot be attributed to differences in the size of the working age population or the participation rates among working age people. Hence, it would be wrong to argue that labour supply has risen so much in the Gulf, no wonder that labour demand could not expand by an equivalent amount. An extreme version of this thinking is reflected in the folly notion of a lump sum of labour which argues that unemployment can only be solved by dividing more equally among workers a given pie of labour demand. This paper aims at contributing to a better understanding of indigenous problems and their impact on aggregate equilibrium unemployment and social welfare. The paper seeks to diagnose the problem in the six GCC states and suggests some method somewhat connected with a scheme for enhancing social welfare whereby to rectify the current situation with policy implications deemed appropriate for the current situation.


Most Multi-Agent System designers use several notions -- like "agent", "artifact", "object", etc. -- to classify the entities involved in simulations. These notions require different methodologies, data structures and algorithms. In this paper, we show that the representation of entities can be favorably unified. As a consequence, the design and implementation process are made easier, since the designer has no longer to assign a fixed type to each entity during model construction. The implementation handles entities through an unified data structure and algorithm, and is therefore lightweight and more maintainable. Such an unification is performed without efficiency loss in a concrete simulation methodology called Ioda. According to common sense, we propose to call such an unified entity simply "agent"!


The Albigensian Crusade was an internal campaign against the Albigensian/Cathar heretics in the south of France through the alliance of the Papacy and French Monarchy between 1209 and 1229. The Albigensians posed a great threat to the institutional Church with their unorthodox beliefs such as the rejection of baptism and church hierarchy. The reasons for the Albigensian Crusade are still a source of debate among the historians though there are many studies on the subject. This paper will try to contextualise the Albigensian Crusade by examining multifaceted factors that resulted in the mass persecution of the heretics. It will be argued that it is crucial to discuss the interaction of various factors such as the rising power of the Papacy, Crusading ideology, medieval heresy and socio-economic and political conditions in the region to understand fully the Albigensian Crusade.


Introduction: Death caused by myocardial infarction (MI) usually occurs during the first hours after the onset of symptoms. Therefore, to manage, treat and decrease the mortality rate of these patients, early hospital admission is important. Objectives: We aimed to investigate the impact of the influential factors on mortality of patients with MI. Patients and Methods: In this case-control study, MI patients who were referred to the Ardabil Alavi Hospital, Ardabil university of medical sciences, Ardabil, Iran between April 2017 and April 2018 were included. The patients that had died due to MI were considered as the case group (n=27) and 27 matched patients that had died due to other causes were selected as the control group. Linear logistic regression was employed to analyze the data. Results: The mean age of the patients in the case group was significantly higher than in the control group (75.1±11.7 versus 63.;1±11.6, P=0.001). The history of non-cardiac diseases in the case group (44.4%) was significantly higher than in the control group (7.4%; P=0.002). The number of PCIs (percutaneous coronary interventions) that were conducted in the case group (40.7%) was significantly lower than in the control group (74.1%; p=0.013). The time distance between hospital admission and PCI performance in the case group (110.9 minutes) was significantly higher than in the control group (56 minutes; P=0.001). However, the mean of delay time from the onset of symptoms to hospital admission (the patient delay) and from hospital admission to receiving treatment (the health system delay) was similar between the two groups. Conclusion: This study showed that the number of performed PCIs, history of non-cardiac disorders and the interval between the onset of symptoms and PCI performance are significantly associated with the morality of MI patients.


A method of complex orthogonal decomposition is summarized for the time-domain, and then formulated and justified for application in the frequency-domain. The method is then applied to the extraction of modes from simulation data of sampled multi-modal traveling waves for estimating wave parameters in one-dimensional continua. The decomposition is first performed on a transient nondispersive pulse. Complex wave modes are then extracted from a two-harmonic simulation of a dispersive medium. The wave frequencies and wave numbers are obtained by looking at the whirl of the complex modal coordinate, and the complex modal function, respectively, in the complex plane. From the frequencies and wave numbers, the wave speeds are then estimated, as well as the group velocity associated with the two waves. The decomposition is finally applied to a simulation of the traveling waves produced by a Gaussian initial displacement profile in an Euler-Bernoulli beam. While such a disturbance produces a continuous spectrum of wave components, the sampling conditions limit the range of modal components (i.e. mode shapes and modal coordinates) to be extracted. Within this working range, the wave numbers and frequencies are obtained from the extraction, and compared to theory. Modal signal energies are also quantified. The results are robust to random noise.


267 patients admitted to a psychiatric hospital, who were taking part in PMR treatment from 10/98 to 9/00, were questioned about their experiences. Analysis of the data reveals a division into three groups: 1(st) patients with positive effects 69 %, 2(nd) patients with negative effects showing a deterioration of symptoms 15 %, 3(rd) patients with nonspecific reactions 16 %. Marked difficulties are found in patients with major depressive disorder, especially those with a distinctive feeling of emptiness and disturbance of body sense. Difficulties are also found in patients with personality disorders, who respond with depersonalization and/or dissociative phenomena. Alternative therapeutic methods (body movement therapy, self-awareness training) or PMR in a modified way (single setting) should be employed for those patients.


BACKGROUND/PURPOSE
Disturbances in calcium homeostasis are common at initiation of extracorporeal life support (ECLS). At the authors' institution many neonates undergoing ECLS have developed hypercalcemia. To determine the frequency of hypercalcemia in neonates during ECLS we performed retrospective chart review of neonates that required ECLS at our neonatal intensive care unit.

METHODS
The authors identified 76 consecutive neonates who underwent ECLS before 10 days of age at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center from July 1, 1991 to June 30, 1996. The hospital charts and ELSO forms were reviewed. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory data for each of the patients were reviewed, both before initiation and during ECLS. Hypercalcemia was defined as total serum calcium concentration of greater than 11 mg/dL (2.74 mmol/L) on at least one occasion beyond the first 24 hours of ECLS.

RESULTS
The hospital charts and ELSO forms from 70 patients were available for review. One patient was excluded because he was only on ECLS for 33 hours, and there were no calcium levels obtained after 24 hours of ECLS and until death. Twenty-five (36%) neonates undergoing ECLS had hypercalcemia (serum Ca > 11 mg/dL [2.74 mmol/L]). Hypercalcemia was associated with longer duration of ECLS (hypercalcemia group, 243 +/- 115 hours and normocalcemia group, 139 +/- 64 hours) and greater requirements for platelet transfusions (hypercalcemia group, 538 +/- 282 mL and normocalcemia group, 372 +/- 233 mL). This could not be explained by differences in primary diagnosis, amounts of calcium administered, and acid-base status.

CONCLUSIONS
Hypercalcemia was found to be common in neonates that require ECLS and is associated with longer duration of ECLS support. Conservative calcium administration for neonates while on ECLS may be warranted.


Amorphous matrix composites (AMC) were developed and fabricated using Tungsten and carbon reinforcements. Emphasis was placed on achieving high loading fractions of the reinforcing materials. A process to commercially manufacture AMC`s was studied and mapped. The feasibility of the process was also determined. Rods of AMC were fabricated using this process. The samples were fully dense and the amorphous nature of the binding matrix was confirmed. The results from this study will provide valuable process data for the future development of AMC products.


Efficient multihop traffic management is a need for successful Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) deployment. Using an analogy with fluid mechanism, we classify a flow as laminar if the packets flow smoothly from the Wired Access Point (WAP) over the mesh network, and as turbulent otherwise. We identify a particular but frequent collision scenario, which sets the flow to be turbulent, resulting in a strongly reduced downlink end-to-end throughput. We show that the exponential backoff mechanism in an 802.11 WMN is responsible for this problem and suggest a modification of the current exponential backoff policy of 802.11 for WMNs. We support these findings both with simulations and real measurements on a testbed infrastructure.


Most haematologists will recognize the name Fanconi as that given to the rare form of aplastic anaemia frequently associated with other constitutional abnormalities. When questioned, most would suggest that he was Italian born. The name Glanzmann should kindle memories of that equally rare congenital platelet function disorder and most would guess that he was of Austro-German extraction. In fact, both of these names arose from Switzerland and were paediatricians foremost and, to a lesser extent, haematologists. They represent the early pioneers of paediatric haematology both nationally and internationally but also had a wide range of other clinical interests (Wagner, 1994). The history of paediatrics in Europe is linked with the development of hospital establishments. Before 1850, 25 children's hospitals already existed, the oldest being the Hôpital des Enfants Malades in Paris (1802), followed by the Paediatric Pavillion of the Charite of Berlin (1830) and those of St. Petersburg (1834), Vienna and Breslau (1837). From 1850 to 1879, a further 67 paediatric hospitals opened in Europe, although many of these were paediatric departments integrated into general hospitals (Ballabriga, 1991). In Britain, Charles West created the Hospital for Sick Children in Great Ormond Street, London, in 1852, after founding the National Children's Hospital in Dublin 25 years before (Higgins, 1952).


This paper describes and interprets joint and segmental power patterns as functional characteristics of the leg movement in terms of generation, absorption, and transfer of power during the recovery phase of the sprinting stride. In addition, a comparison of the power patterns between advanced and intermediate sprinters was undertaken. Two advanced and two intermediate sprinters, each executing six trials of a 100-m dash, served as subjects. The results revealed that the power patterns for both the advanced and intermediate sprinters were similar in shape, depicting the same number of power phases. The hip joint musculature acted primarily as a power generator in comparison to the knee muscles, which acted mainly as absorbers (controllers) during the recovery phase of the sprinting stride. Differences between ability levels were identified using peak power values, with the advanced sprinters producing higher peak powers earlier in the recovery phase.


Skeleton data carries valuable motion information and is widely explored in human action recognition. However, not only the motion information but also the interaction with the environment provides discriminative cues to recognize the action of persons. In this paper, we propose a joint learning framework for mutually assisted "interacted object localization" and "human action recognition" based on skeleton data. The two tasks are serialized together and collaborate to promote each other, where preliminary action type derived from skeleton alone helps improve interacted object localization, which in turn provides valuable cues for the final human action recognition. Besides, we explore the temporal consistency of interacted object as constraint to better localize the interacted object with the absence of ground-truth labels. Extensive experiments on the datasets of SYSU-3D, NTU60 RGB+D, Northwestern-UCLA and UAV-Human show that our method achieves the best or competitive performance with the state-of-the-art methods for human action recognition. Visualization results show that our method can also provide reasonable interacted object localization results.


Simulations of induction motors for power system studies are often hampered by unavailable and/or inaccurate parameter data. A method for the in situ measurement of the parameters of a machine and load combination is given. This uses an output error estimation technique combined with supply voltage perturbations. The technique yields optimum parameter values with minimum disruption to the machine's normal operation. Verifying tests were conducted on individual motors as well as for a group of machines. The results indicate good correlation between estimated values and values obtained from conventional tests. >


The potential for using public wireless networks technologies for remote control and monitoring within all sectors of the utility industry has been recognized for sometime, however there have always been a number of concerns, both technical and commercial, which have been significant enough to hinder the wide scale adoption of such technologies in this market. The use of telecontrol in the UK electricity industry can be split into two main categories - traditional hierarchical based telecontrol systems and secondary telecontrol and automation systems. It can be seen that, generally each category has different requirements for telecoms. Traditional networks need constant real time communication between RTU (remote terminal unit) master station while the RTUs on the secondary schemes have the possibility to communicate intermittently.


Abstract The article focuses on assessing the effectiveness of a non-statistical approach to bankruptcy modelling in enterprises operating in the logistics sector. In order to describe the issue more comprehensively, the aforementioned prediction of the possible negative results of business operations was carried out for companies functioning in the Polish region of Podkarpacie, and in Slovakia. The bankruptcy predictors selected for the assessment of companies operating in the logistics sector included 28 financial indicators characterizing these enterprises in terms of their financial standing and management effectiveness. The purpose of the study was to identify factors (models) describing the bankruptcy risk in enterprises in the context of their forecasting effectiveness in a one-year and two-year time horizon. In order to assess their practical applicability the models were carefully analysed and validated. The usefulness of the models was assessed in terms of their classification properties, and the capacity to accurately identify enterprises at risk of bankruptcy and healthy companies as well as proper calibration of the models to the data from training sample sets.


Renin‐angiotensin systems are known to act in many tissues, for example, the blood vessel wall or kidney, where a close interaction between angiotensin and dopamine has been demonstrated. Regulatory interactions between the dopaminergic and renin‐angiotensin systems have recently been described in the substantia nigra and striatum. In animal models, dopamine depletion induces compensatory overactivation of the local renin‐angiotensin system, which primes microglial responses and neuron vulnerability by activating NADPH‐oxidase. Hyperactivation of the local renin‐angiotensin system exacerbates the inflammatory microglial response, oxidative stress, and dopaminergic degeneration, all of which are inhibited by angiotensin receptor blockers and inhibitors of angiotensin‐converting enzymes. In this review we provide evidence suggesting that the renin‐angiotensin system may play an important role in dopamine's mediated neuroinflammation and oxidative stress changes in Parkinson's disease. We suggest that manipulating brain angiotensin may constitute an effective neuroprotective strategy for Parkinson's disease. © 2013 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society


Recent discussions in the Economic Geography literature increasingly focus on creative cities and the importance of creativity for achieving economic growth. Considering the increased attention on urban areas it is not surprising that the regional dimension of entrepreneurship is a subject of great interest. We set out a framework encompassing the individual process between entrepreneurial perceptions and entrepreneurial activity and demonstrate how the urban environment can have an impact on this process. We create entrepreneurship indices for 34 world cities exploiting the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Database 2001-2006. We investigate differences between the city-level and country-level for a selection of the indices. These exercises can be seen as initial tests of the 'entrepreneurial advantage of cities.' Based on the literature we expect that most indices will be higher for world cities, although exceptions are also plausible, for instance in world cities where the government resides. Our findings predominantly confirm the entrepreneurial advantage of world cities.


Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the role of urine &agr;1-microglobulin as a marker of hypertension-induced renal damage compared to the gold-standard markers (estimated glomerular filtration rate, eGFR; urine albumin and urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio, ACR). Its response on different BP-lowering drugs was also studied. Design and method: Sixty never-treated hypertensives (65.0% males, 46.9 years, 141.4/94.0 mmHg) were randomized to an angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB)- or non-dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker (CCB)-based regimen. Patients with diabetes, established cardiovascular or renal disease were excluded. Blood samples and 24-hour urine were analyzed at baseline and 6 months after pharmaceutical blood pressure (BP) normalization. Serum creatinine was measured and eGFR was calculated. Urine albumin, creatinine, and &agr;1-microglobulin were measured and ACR was calculated. Results: Minor changes (p = NS) in eGFR were noted during follow-up in both groups (from 111.0 to 108.4 and from 111.3 to 114.0 ml/min/1.73 m2 in the ARB and CCB group, respectively). 24-hour urine indices were all significantly improved (P < 0.01) with ARB (albumin from 19.4 to 8.2 mg/l, ACR from 21.5 to 10.0 mg/g, &agr;1-microglobulin from 5.06 to 3.64 mg/l) but not (P = NS) with CCB treatment (albumin from 15.6 to 13.9 mg/l, ACR from 17.6 to 17.1 mg/g, &agr;1-microglobulin from 4.94 to 4.79 mg/l). These differences between groups remained significant (P < 0.05) after adjusting for office heart rate (HR) and BP. Alpha-1-microglobulin was significantly correlated (P < 0.05) to albumin and ACR both at baseline (r = 0.283 and 0.299, respectively) and at the end of follow-up (r = 0.432 and 0.465, respectively) but not (P = NS) to eGFR. It was also significantly related (P < 0.05) to cardiovascular risk scores (Framingham and HeartScore) both at baseline (r = 0.264 and 0.436, respectively) and at the end of follow-up (r = 0.308 and 0.472, respectively). Conclusions: Urine &agr;1-microglobulin emerges as a potentially valuable marker of hypertension-induced renal impairment. Its kinetics and its response to treatment appears similar to that of albumin. ARBs emerge as superior to non-dihydropyridine CCBs at improving its excretion in urine, independently of HR/BP control.


This paper proposes Kolmogorov-Smirnov type tests for testing whether a covariate has a uniformly positive (or negative) effect on the conditional distribution of a response variable given the covariate and other conditioning variables. This type of analysis is useful in situations where the econometrician or policy maker is interested in knowing whether a variable or policy would improve the distribution of the response outcomes in a stochastic dominance sense. The response variable is assumed to be continuous, while both discrete and continuous covariate cases are considered. I derive the asymptotic distribution of the test statistics and show that they have known simple asymptotic distributions by using and extending conditional empirical process results given by Horvath and Yandell (1988) [16]. Monte Carlo experiments are conducted and the tests are shown to have reasonable small sample behavior. The tests are applied to a study on child gender and parental income.


Low back pain may be of local origin, referred to the spine, or associated with pain in the lower limbs. This review discusses the pathophysiology, clinical presentation, and differential diagnosis of acute low back pain and proposes an algorithmic approach to investigation and management. The proportion of patients with serious underlying causes (e.g., cancer, infection, fracture) increases with age, and clinical assessment is directed at identification of these disorders. Most patients have nonspecific findings, do not require special investigation, and respond well to conservative treatment. Patients with suspicious features on history and physical examination require further investigation and individualized management.


Abstract A simple and cheap oxidative procedure using 30% H2O2 and catalytic SeO2 allows to transform 2-aralkylidenecycloalkanones and hydroxy- or alkoxybenzaldehydes to give, in high yields, enollactones and arylformates, respectively.


INTRODUCTION
Follicle stimulating hormone receptors (FSHR) are well known to be expressed in gonads and in gonadal tumours. Recently,their incidence has also been revealed in endocrine non-gonadal tumours such as adrenal and pituitary tumours. Moreover, FSHR immunostaininghas also been reported in endothelium of intra- and peritumoral blood vessels of a large series of cancers. The presentpaper reports on the incidence of FSHR in both tumoral cells and some intratumoral blood vessels of neuroendocrine tumours (NETs).

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Sixteen NETs samples were taken from 14 patients. The tumour samples were immunostained using the antibodyraised against 1-190 amino acid sequence from the human FSH-R and anti-Ki67 antibody.

RESULTS
In all the samples examined, the majority of tumoral cells were immunostained with anti-FSHR antibody. Positive immunostainingconcerned also the intratumoral blood vessels endothelia in a half of the examined samples. Immunopositive blood vessels were foundmore often in tumours with higher Ki-67 index.

CONCLUSION
FSHR expressed in NETs, if they are functional, may mediate the signals which can enhance further tumour growth.


The aim of this review is to shed light on a research area that concerns the studies of psychological responses to combined exposures of noise and whole-body vibration (WBV). Vehicle drivers are a group of workers that are often exposed to multiple stressors like noise, WBV and mental loads. Degraded performance because of environmental stressors may lead to injury or accidents. Standards that govern health risk assessment do not take into consideration the complexities of these multiple exposure environments (ISO 1997a, ISO 1999). Some studies have shown that the effect of one factor may be different than the effect of two factors presented together. For example, negative combined effects have been found in tracking tasks (Sommer and Harris, 1973), in arithmetic tasks (Harris and Schoenberger, 1980), as well as in subjective ratings (Ljungberg, Neely, Lundstrom, 2004), although in many of the studies the noise and WBV stimuli have been very unlike those that can be found in real workmg environments. Applying methods from the "irrelevant sound" paradigm (e.g. Jones, 1990) by using short-term memory tasks with a serial component as well as focus on frequencies rather than level has been revealed to tap the resources both objectively and subjectively more in both noise and WBV studies (e.g. Banbury et al. 2001; Kjellberg, 1990) Still, most experiments that have been conducted have focused on rather short exposure times in controlled laboratory settings. Using longer exposure times might also reveal other results since longer exposure times may be negatively related to sensitivity to noise and WBV (Abbate et al. 2004; Neely, Lundstrom, and Bjorkvist, 2002, Weinstein, 1978)


Flows of solid particles and air in a model blast furnace have been simulated using Distinct Element Method (DEM) for the particles and Finite Difference Method for the numerical analysis of Navier–Stokes equations with the interaction terms between the air and the particles. The flow of solid particles, the air flow, the raceway and the packing fraction distribution are presented. The raceway depth, the diameter of particle inflow area and the raceway height which quantitatively represent a raceway are also presented and compared with the experimental data (CAMP-ISIJ, 16 (2003)). The fairly good agreement obtained by the comparison indicates that our simulation results are sound and the simulation results would represent the flow mechanisms of the solid particles and the air in the model blast furnace, and the simulation method that the Lagrangian motion of particles and the Eulerian motion of the air are simultaneously solved is a useful tool for predicting the flow fields of particles and the gas in a blast furnace. Unsteady state solutions of these flows suggest that dynamical characteristics in the model blast furnace are unstable and fluctuate, and that an unusual phenomenon would happen under some conditions even in the small scale model blast furnace.


Kalle Päätalo through the eyes of researchers The Finnish novelist Kaarlo (Kalle) Alvar Päätalo's (1919–2000) main work, the Iijoki series, consists of 26 novels (comprising ca. 17 000 pages) and was written in 1971–1998. In this book the text corpus in Kielipankki concerning Päätalo's works is introduced to the readers, as well as the possibilities of digital text mining. This book includes scientific articles concerning the works of Kalle Päätalo. It also gives ideas for the research that can be carried out in the future. The authors of this book are researchers in the fields of history, linguistics and literature, respectively. The research results presented in this book speak for the fact that the Iijoki series is a significant source material for future research, for example from the point of view of oral history, language variation, metalanguage, swearing and the reader's reception. The possibilities for future research seem to be quite plentiful.


Elective surgery patients receive surgery in the operating room (upstream), and then recover in one or more subsequent (downstream) recovery units for several consecutive hours or days after surgery. Indeed, upstream scheduling or a scheduling approach that fails to account for the inherent uncertainty in surgery durations and postoperative downstream recovery times yield sub-optimal or infeasible schedules and, consequently, higher cost and reduced quality of care. Modeling such uncertainties at multiple levels is, however, challenging, especially with limited reliable data on the random parameters in the models. Moreover, sequencing of surgical and recovery activities, and the multiple conflicting objectives of all parties involved (including management, clinicians, patients), lead to a class of complex combinatorial and multi-criteria stochastic optimization problems. In this paper, we focus on stochastic optimization (SO) approaches for elective surgery scheduling and downstream capacity planning. We describe the art of formulating and solving such a class of stochastic resource-constrained scheduling problems, provide an analysis of existing SO approaches and their challenges, and highlight areas of opportunity for developing tractable, implementable, and data-driven approaches that might be applicable within and outside healthcare operations, particularly where multiple entities/jobs share the same downstream limited resources.


Abstract : The supported graduate student, John Dobelman has begun extensive work on his disseration to find stochastic models to explain the mechanisms whereby electricity prices spike. Three books and six papers were authored or co-authored by Thompson during this grant period. The common thread is the development of models supported by intensive computer simulation to help explain and understand real world processes. Among these investigations are included models for statistical process control in situations new to SPC. Almost all SPC treatises deal with situations in which the paradigm is of mature usage. Thompson shows how difficult such implementations are to achieve in practice and gives means for jumpstarting SPC in such systems as the International Space Station. The first world AIDS epidemic has received substantial attention by Thompson. Most recently he has given a model based argument that there is no standalone AIDS epidemic in Europe: it only exists by contacts with American infectives. In stochastic process based economic modeling, Thompson and his co-authors have shown how effective simulation models of relative simplicity and parametric parsimony may be achieved by aggregation from the micro to the macro. The simugram is Thompson's discovery that we can forecast the future multivariate stochastic process of even a large portfolio by the use of simulation. The risk neutral formula of Black-Scholes-Merton is shown to be seriously deficient as a practical tool. Similarly, the artificiality of the portfolio paradigm of Markowitz is replaced by other, conceptually simple, but requiring extensive computer simulation, techniques. Work is done which shows how data analysis in high dimensions needs to be carried out with techniques very different from those used in low dimensions.


Despite benefits Enterprise Architecture (EA) has brought, EA has also been challenged due to its complexity, heavy workload demands, and poor user acceptance. Researchers and practitioners proposed to use EA in an agile and "business outcome-driven" way. This means that EA should not primarily be developed and used according to a pre-defined framework. Instead, EA should be developed and used for specific business purposes and by means of concrete deliverables. By doing so, a more effective and efficient way of EA application could be enabled. However, there is no common agreement on what types of business goals can be expected to be achieved by using EA (The What) and how to achieve these goals through EA solutions (The How). To address these issues, we analysed the information provided by leading EA tool vendors available on their websites to get inspiration. The results showed that Use Cases (UCs) are used generally to motivate potential EA users by focusing on specific business issues. Then, EA solutions to address such business requirements or challenges are scoped and derived accordingly. We expect relevant findings could bring inspiration to agile EA engineering, change the EA "heavy-weight" reputation, and improve the application of EA even among its sceptics.


Facial muscles are known to have a variable anatomy. Such anatomical variations can affect facial expressions. A natural smile is produced by contracting several muscles of facial expression, including the muscles invested in the superficial musculoaponeurotic system. Change in the width of the mouth on smiling is a known iatrogenic complication affecting the risorius muscle when using Botulinum Neurotoxin as a non-invasive treatment for masseteric hypertrophy. Also damage to the risorius muscle, with consequent clinical deficits, is a common surgical complication in facial aesthetic, oncolo g and other head and neck procedures such as parotidectomy and rhytidectomy. Hence, a thorough knowledge of muscle anatomy, particularly its potential variations, is critical in reducing the associated operative morbidity. Accordingly, we report an un usu l variation of the transversus nuchal muscle fused with the risorius muscle noted in an 83-year-old female body cadaver.


The hypothesis was tested that dietary lactose v. glucose stimulates Mg absorption in rats because lactose lowers pH of the ileal lumen, which improves Mg solubility which in turn enhances Mg availability for transport across the ileal epithelium. For comparison, the effects of lactulose were studied because it shares with lactose the characteristic of being poorly digestible. Replacement of glucose by lactose (100 g/Kg) significantly stimulated apparent absorption of Mg. Apart from Mg absorption, lactulose also significantly enhanced absorption of Ca and phosphate. Lactose v. glucose lowered the pH of the ileal lumen from 7·5 to 7·2, whereas lactulose significantly reduced it to 7·0. In in vitro incubations a decrease in pH within the range of fluctuation in vivo was found to cause an improved solubility of Mg, and to a lesser extent also of Ca and phosphate. The smaller fall of ileal pH induced by feeding lactose instead of lactulose may explain why lactose improved Mg absorption only. For all individual rats combined there were negative relationships between ileal pH and apparent absorption of minerals, the relationship being strongest for Mg. Neither lactose nor lactulose was found to raise ileal solubility of minerals, which could relate to the possibility that the time of sampling was not appropriate. It is suggested that lactose-induced stimulation of Mg absorption in rats is caused by a lowering of ileal pH.


Understanding trends in vegetation phenology and growing season productivity at a regional scale is important for global change studies, particularly as linkages can be made between climate shifts and the vegetation's potential to sequester or release carbon into the atmosphere. Trends and geographic patterns of change in vegetation growth and phenology from the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite data sets were analyzed for the state of Alaska over the period 2000 to 2018. Phenology metrics derived from the MODIS Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time-series at 250 m resolution tracked changes in the total integrated greenness cover (TIN), maximum annual NDVI (MAXN), and start of the season timing (SOST) date over the past two decades. SOST trends showed significantly earlier seasonal vegetation greening (at more than one day per year) across the northeastern Brooks Range Mountains, on the Yukon-Kuskokwim coastal plain, and in the southern coastal areas of Alaska. TIN and MAXN have increased significantly across the western Arctic Coastal Plain and within the perimeters of most large wildfires of the Interior boreal region that burned since the year 2000, whereas TIN and MAXN have decreased notably in watersheds of Bristol Bay and in the Cook Inlet lowlands of southwestern Alaska, in the same regions where earlier-trending SOST was also detected. Mapping results from this MODIS time-series analysis have identified a new database of localized study locations across Alaska where vegetation phenology has recently shifted notably, and where land cover types and ecosystem processes could be changing rapidly.


Secretin causes the bile duct cells to secrete HCO3-. To examine whether the transformation of duct cell ultrastructure that follows secretin stimulation depends on microtubules and is important for ductular HCO3- secretion, we examined the effect of colchicine on ductular HCO3- secretion and on the morphology of cells lining bile ductules of anaesthetized pigs. Colchicine blocked secretin-dependent cytoplasmic clearance of tubulovesicles and prevented expansion of the basolateral plasma membrane in duct cells and reduced the ductular HCO3- secretory response from 132 +/- 25 mumol min-1 to 97 +/- 14 mumol min-1. In contrast, lumicolchicine did not affect secretin-dependent tubulovesicle clearance or plasma membrane geometry or ductular HCO3- secretion. Accordingly, secretin-dependent cytoplasmic clearance of tubulovesicles in bile duct cells appears to depend on microtubules and to be important for ductular HCO3- secretion.