Empirical research examining the proposed privatisation of the NSW electricity transmission and distribution businesses has found the asset recycling strategy is likely to negatively impact the state's credit rating over the medium to long term. The analysis also examined the relative efficiency of public and private networks, finding that once the physical span of each network was considered — essentially the number of kilometres covered — publicly owned electricity networks currently operate more efficiently that privately owned assets in other states. Written by Market Economics managing director Stephen Koukoulas, who has more than 25 years experience as an economist in government and banking, the report found there was no logical case for privatisation, with many arguments based on questionable assumptions and generalisations. The report also highlights that the electricity transmission and distribution businesses currently provide a relatively stable and low-risk cash flow to the budget. The report made a number of key findings, including: • Privatising NSW's transmission and distribution assets is likely to drive up prices due to higher overheads in comparable privatised businesses; • The physical span of different networks is the single largest factor behind variations in both operational and capital expenditure; • NSW's publicly owned networks outperforms privately owned peers on operating expenses; • Publicly owned networks appear more willing to engage in long-term planning when undertaking capital expenditure; and • Privatising NSW's electricity network assets offers little short term budgetary gain and could well be detrimental over the medium to long term.


The EphA4 receptor tyrosine kinase is well-known for its pivotal role in development, cancer progression, and neurological disorders. However, how EphA4 kinase activity is regulated in time and space still remains unclear. To visualize EphA4 activity in different membrane microdomains, we developed a sensitive EphA4 biosensor based on Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), and targeted it in or outside raft-like microdomains in the plasma membrane. We showed that our biosensor can produce a robust and specific FRET response upon EphA4 activation, both in vitro and in live cells. Interestingly, we observed stronger FRET responses for the non-raft targeting biosensor than for the raft targeting biosensor, suggesting that stronger EphA4 activation may occur in non-raft regions. Further investigations revealed the importance of the actin cytoskeleton in suppressing EphA4 activity in raft-like microdomains. Therefore, our FRET-based EphA4 biosensor could serve as a powerful tool to visualize and investigate EphA4 activation and signaling in specific subcellular compartments of single live cells.


OBJECTIVE
In recent years, studies have shown that lncRNA plays an essential regulatory role in biological life activities. In disease and cancer research, the function of lncRNA is closely related to inflammatory response, tumor formation and cellular metabolism. Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in women. The research on the pathogenesis of breast cancer is the focus of current research. Although the regulatory mechanisms of some lncRNAs have been proven, the complexity of cancer regulation has led to incomplete research.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The expression of LOXL1-AS1 and miR-143-3p was measured using qRT-PCR. Western blot was used to detect CDK, Cyclin D1, MMP-2, MMP-9, Bcl-2, Bax and Cleaved caspase-3 protein expression. MTT assay and transwell assay were applied to analyze cell proliferation, migration and invasion, respectively. Cell apoptosis rate of transfected cells was measured with flow cytometry. Luciferase reporter assay was applied to verify the relationship between LOXL1-AS1 and miR-143-3p.

RESULTS
In this study, we found that LOXL1-AS1 expression was induced while miR-142-3p expression was decreased in breast cancer tissues and cells, implying that LOXL1-AS1 and miR-143-3p play an important role in cell progression of breast cancer. Further investigation showed that silencing LOXL1-AS1 inhibited proliferation, promoted cell apoptosis and decreased the capacity of cell migrated and invasive in breast cancer cells. The analysis of luciferase reporter assay determined that LOXL1-AS1 directly targeted miR-143-3p in breast cancer cells. The rescue experiments further proved that miR-143-3p reversed the inhibited effects of si- LOXL1-AS1 on breast cancer cells.

CONCLUSIONS
In this study, we verified that LncRNA LOXL1-AS1 inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasion as well as induced apoptosis in breast cancer via regulating miR-143-3p, providing a novel therapeutic target and improving understanding of the regulatory mechanism of cell progression in breast cancer.


The (ultra-)dense deployment of small-cell base stations (SBSs) endowed with cloud-like computing functionalities paves the way for pervasive mobile edge computing, enabling ultra-low latency and location-awareness for a variety of emerging mobile applications and the Internet of Things. To handle spatially uneven computation workloads in the network, cooperation among SBSs via workload peer offloading is essential to avoid large computation latency at overloaded SBSs and provide high quality of service to end users. However, performing effective peer offloading faces many unique challenges due to limited energy resources committed by self-interested SBS owners, uncertainties in the system dynamics, and co-provisioning of radio access and computing services. This paper develops a novel online SBS peer offloading framework, called online peer offloading (OPEN), by leveraging the Lyapunov technique, in order to maximize the long-term system performance while keeping the energy consumption of SBSs below individual long-term constraints. OPEN works online without requiring information about future system dynamics, yet provides provably near-optimal performance compared with the oracle solution that has the complete future information. In addition, this paper formulates a peer offloading game among SBSs and analyzes its equilibrium and efficiency loss in terms of the price of anarchy to thoroughly understand SBSs' strategic behaviors, thereby enabling decentralized and autonomous peer offloading decision making. Extensive simulations are carried out and show that peer offloading among SBSs dramatically improves the edge computing performance.


Many organizations in Kenya and around the world have been in many ways affected by recruitment practices of employees in achieving their set objectives. There has been a need for organizations to understand the role of recruitment in getting the most suitable candidates with the best qualifications and abilities to obtain high performance. The study examined the effect of recruitment practices on employee performance in the Cooperative Sector in Kenya; using Kenya Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (KUSCCO) Limited as a case. The study was guided by three research objectives namely determining the extent recruitment sources, recruitment policies and recruitment message affect employee performance in the Cooperative Movement Sector in Kenya. The study adopted a case study research design. The study targeted 177 employees of KUSCCO, from which a sample of 89 respondents was drawn for the study. The sample was selected through stratified sampling technique. Primary data was collected through the use of questionnaires, whereas secondary was obtained through existing literature related to the current research topic under study. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistical tool namely frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation while inferential statistical tools such as correlation and regression were used to determine and explain variable relationship. The study established that all the three independent variables (recruitment sources, recruitment policies, recruitment message) had positive relationship with the dependent variable (employee performance) though weaker. From the regression summary, the Adjusted R is 0.662 which shows that employee performance was affected by (r) recruitment sources, recruitment policies and recruitment message. This implies that, there was a variation of 66.2% on employee performance with recruitment sources, recruitment policies and recruitment message. The 33.8% remaining implies that there are other factors not studied in this research that affected employee performance. However, taking all recruitment constructs (sources, recruitment policies and recruitment message) constant at zero, employee performance was 1.704. The findings also show that taking all other independent variables at zero, a unit increase in recruitment sources leads to a 0.911 increase in the employee performance; a unitincrease in recruitment policies leads to a 0.478 increase in the employee performance; and a unitincrease in recruitment message leads to a 0.721 increase in the employee performance. Therefore, recruitment sources contribute more to the employee performance.Following thereof, there need to recruit more female employee so as to balance gender equality, diversify their external human capital recruitment sources, use realistic job preview as part of recruitment massage during advertisement, recruit employees based on their competence to improve their work performance.


H. D. James: I was connected for five years with a large elevator company and wish to state that this company had very good information on the efficiency of its machines. This was based on several hundred tests showing the torque required to start the elevator and the power required to operate same. Undoubtedly Mr. Lincoln is referring to smaller companies that have not accumulated much of this information. Mr. Lincoln states in his conclusions — "If the standard series relay type of controller is used on the wound-rotor motor the maximum torque must be exerted on the first step for sometimes the maximum load has to be lifted." The torque referred to is the torque at the circumference of the hoisting drum and the amount of torque exerted by the motor will depend upon the gear ratio between the motor and the drum. An elevator is sold to lift a specified number of pounds at a specified speed. Let us assume that the load is 3000 lbs. and it is to be lifted at the rate of 100 ft. per min. The motor must be geared to the drum to give this speed of car with the load specified. In selecting the gearing the synchronous speed of the motor can not be used as an induction motor runs at a speed less than synchronism, depending upon its full load slip. If we assume that a cage motor is used having 30 per cent full load slip and compare it with a slip ring motor having 4 per cent slip, it is readily seen that there is a gear ratio in favor of the slip ring motor of approximately 40 per cent. The slip ring motor will be required to exert 40 per cent less torque than the squirrel cage motor to start the same load. The current taken in starting on the first notch of the controller is the current corresponding to the torque required to start this load. It is not the current corresponding to the same torque at the motor shaft. Mr. Lincoln points out that the squirrel cage motor can be designed to exert a given torque with less amperes input than the slip ring motor. This is true as the squirrel cage motor has a better interlinking of induction between the primary and secondary than the slip ring motor. This comparison, however, is not a true one. It has been shown above that the slip ring motor runs at a higher speed than the squirrel cage motor and, therefore, has a different gear ratio which favors the slip ring motor at starting. In order to compare the two motors the torque required to start a given load should be determined for each type of motor and the current input at this torque compared. An analysis of this kind will show that the secondary resistance of a squirrel cage motor can be increased with profit up to a certain point, beyond which the advantages of increased resistance are more than counterbalanced by the increased slip of the motor. The gear ratio to give full speed will increase the torque required from the motor faster than the resistance will improve this torque. Where the slip ring motor and the squirrel cage motor are both proportioned to give the best results when referred to the speed of the car, it will be found that the amperes input to start the load will not differ materially in the two designs.


Various works have been carried out on both the physical and mechanical properties of rubberized concrete in previous research. But the chemical composition of rubberized concrete has not been fully investigated. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive x-ray spectrum (EDX) analysis were used to determine the element composition and the peak intensity of chemical elements in the waste rubber concrete. The SEM and EDX analysis results showed that, ferrous iron, oxygen, calcium, and silicon were the dominant elements, and these elements reduced as more waste rubber were added to the concrete. Carbon and sulphur elements increased as rubber crumbs were added to the rubberized concrete. The work concluded that the presence of rubber crumb in the concrete samples contributed to both mechanical and chemical changes in the property of rubberized concrete.


Phytohormones, auxins in particular, play an important role in plant development and productivity. Earlier data showed positive impact of exogenous auxin on potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) tuberization. The aim of this study was to generate potato plants with increased auxin level predominantly in tubers. To this end, a pBinB33-tms1 vector was constructed harboring the Agrobacterium auxin biosynthesis gene tms1 fused to tuber-specific promoter of the class I patatin gene (B33-promoter) of potato. Among numerous independently generated B33:tms1 lines, those without visible differences from control were selected for detailed studies. In the majority of transgenic lines, tms1 gene transcription was detected, mostly in tubers rather than in shoots. Indoleacetic acid (IAA) content in tubers and the auxin tuber-to-shoot ratio were increased in tms1-expressing transformants. The organ-specific increase in auxin synthesis in B33:tms1-transformants accelerated and intensified the process of tuber formation, reduced the dose of carbohydrate supply required for in vitro tuberization, and decreased the photoperiodic dependence of tuber initiation. Overall, a positive correlation was observed between tms1 expression, IAA content in tubers, and stimulation of tuber formation. The revealed properties of B33:tms1 transformants imply an important role for auxin in potato tuberization and offer prospects to magnify potato productivity by a moderate organ-specific enhancement of auxin content.


Learning organisations face new challenges in the 21st century. Increased flow of trade in commodities, manufactured goods and information as well as mobility of people have led to increased global interdependence, interconnectedness and cultural diversity. People and teams within learning organisations have become globally distributed with the aid of improved communication technologies. As a result, more sophisticated approaches to developing a global mindset, understanding multiple perspectives and improving intercultural communication are needed for successful collaboration between teams and team members. A tool that has proved beneficial in educational learning environments – the Cage Painting Simulator (CPS) – can be used to improve: intercultural communication, perspective taking and development of a global mindset. In this article, we integrate the CPS-framework for intercultural communication competence and global mindset development into the Senge's theoretical framework for learning organisations, focusing on the context of globally distributed teams and team members.


Rationale: Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy may be a novel approach to improve interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS), an intractable disease characterized by severe pelvic pain and urinary frequency. Unfortunately, the properties of transplanted stem cells have not been directly analyzed in vivo, which hampers elucidation of the therapeutic mechanisms of these cells and optimization of transplantation protocols. Here, we monitored the behaviors of multipotent stem cells (M-MSCs) derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) in real time using a novel combination of in vivo confocal endoscopic and microscopic imaging and demonstrated their improved therapeutic potency in a chronic IC/BPS animal model. Methods: Ten-week-old female Sprague-Dawley rats were instilled with 10 mg of protamine sulfate followed by 750 μg of lipopolysaccharide weekly for 5 weeks. The sham group was instilled with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). Thereafter, the indicated dose (0.1, 0.25, 0.5, and 1×106 cells) of M-MSCs or PBS was injected once into the outer layer of the bladder. The distribution, perivascular integration, and therapeutic effects of M-MSCs were monitored by in vivo endoscopic and confocal microscopic imaging, awake cystometry, and histological and gene expression analyses. Results: A novel combination of longitudinal intravital confocal fluorescence imaging and microcystoscopy in living animals, together with immunofluorescence analysis of bladder tissues, demonstrated that transplanted M-MSCs engrafted following differentiation into multiple cell types and gradually integrated into a perivascular-like structure until 30 days after transplantation. The beneficial effects of transplanted M-MSCs on bladder voiding function and the pathological characteristics of the bladder were efficient and long-lasting due to the stable engraftment of these cells. Conclusion: This longitudinal bioimaging study of transplanted hESC-derived M-MSCs in living animals reveals their long-term functional integration, which underlies the improved therapeutic effects of these cells on IC/BPS.


Waste rock dump reclamation includes re-grading the banks to flatten the overall slope followed by re-vegetation. These measures are required to reduce surface erosion, provide physical stability, and meet future use goals. In some cases, the presence of trees can cause localized shear zones in a waste rock dump by the load of the tree mass and the action of wind, the presence of roots in the soil and the death of some species. In geotechnical assessment, however, the influence of trees on slope stability of waste rock dumps is only qualitative. This article assesses the effects of trees on slope stability of a reclaimed waste rock dump of an iron ore mine. Historic data of construction, laboratory tests, and stability analysis were evaluated. Slope stability assessments were performed after an extensive geotechnical and forest campaign, considering two scenarios the final waste rock dump without the vegetational cover and the final waste rock with vegetational cover. Tree vegetation in slopes produces both positive and negative effects on slope stability. For scenario 1, the lowest factor of safety occurs for a potential failure surface near the bottom of the waste dump, passing by a layer 6 m depth from the surface. In scenario 2 the factor of safety is increased by 10%. For deeper failure surface, the smallest factor of safety occurs 30 m deep. However, very tall trees at the top of the waste dump are subject to wind action, which has a negative impact on slope stability.


A 4‐year (1996–2000) survey of rotavirus infection involving 2,218 diarrheal fecal specimens of children collected from five regions of Japan was conducted. A total of 642 (28.9%) specimens were found to be rotavirus positive. A changed prevalence pattern of rotavirus G serotype was found with an increase of G9 and G2 and a decrease of G1, although G1 remained the prevailing serotype. Serotype G9 was unexpectedly determined to be the prevailing serotype in Sapporo (62.5%) and Tokyo (52.9%) in 1998–1999, and in Saga (78.4%) in 1999–2000. G9 strains isolated from 1998–1999 belonged to the P[8]‐NSP4‐Wa‐group with long RNA pattern, while, G9 strains isolated from 1999–2000 belonged to three groups, the P[8]‐NSP4‐Wa‐group with long RNA pattern, the P[4]‐NSP4‐KUN‐group with short RNA pattern and a mixed‐type group (P[4]/P[8]‐NSP4‐KUN/Wa‐group with long RNA pattern). Both sequence and immunological analysis of VP7 revealed that the G9 strains from 1999–2000 were much more closely related to the G9 strains isolated worldwide in the 1990s, including G9 strains found in Thailand in 1997. However, the G9 strains from 1998–1999 were distinct from these and more closely related to the G9 prototype strains F45, AU32 and WI61 discovered in Japan and the US in the 1980s. Thus the G9 strains isolated in 1998–1999 had progenitors common to the G9 prototype strains, while the strains isolated in 1999–2000 did not directly evolve from them but were related to global G9 strains that have emerged in recent years. These data supported our previous report that G9 rotavirus might exist as two or more subtypes with diverse RNA patterns, P‐genotype and NSP4 genogroup combinations (Y.M. Zhou et al., J. Med. Virol. 65: 619–628, 2001) and suggested that G9 rotavirus prevalent in Japan during two successive years belonged to different subtypes. The nucleotide sequences presented in this paper were submitted to DDBJ, EMBL and GenBank nucleotide sequence databases. The accession numbers are: 00‐Ad2863VP7 (AB091746), 00‐OS2986VP7 (AB091747), 00‐SG2509VP7 (AB091748), 00‐SG2518VP7 (AB091749), 00‐SG2541 (AB091750), 00‐SG2864 (AB091751), 00‐SP2737VP7 (AB091752), 99‐SP1542VP7 (AB091753), 99‐SP1904VP7 (AB091754), 99‐TK2082VP7 (AB091755) and 99‐TK2091VP7 (AB091756).


There has been extensive research since the 1980s to understand the effects of the physical environmental
on the health and wellbeing of people in hospital settings. However, there is scarce investigations focusing
on the whole building perspective. The purpose of this study is to discuss the importance of evidence based
healthcare design from a holistic point of view, aiming to contribute to providing a positive impact on occupants.
The methods adopted include: (1) analysing the recent research that focus on the links between
the built environment and health outcomes on hospital settings; (2) from the literature review, identifying the
building characteristics that relate to people's wellbeing; and (3) proposing a holistic framework to explore
future research. The framework developed will provide the means by which better understanding and actionable knowledge can be generated for future hospital design. The implication of this research is, from the
design point of view, the study takes an integrated approach of the built environment (hospital) within which
staff, patients, visitors live, seeking to explain the impacts of the environment on human well being and
performance; from the end- user point of view, the research looks at design strategies with an intention to
maximize the occupants' beneits and minimize buildings' maintenance and management. The identiication
of the impact of the built environment factors on staff and patient will be a new inding for healthcare buildings'
research, highlighting the importance of the design challenge for policy makers, designers and users.


This paper studies the model compression problem of vision transformers. Benefit from the self-attention module, transformer architectures have shown extraordinary performance on many computer vision tasks. Although the network performance is boosted, transformers are often required more computational resources includ-ing memory usage and the inference complexity. Compared with the existing knowledge distillation approaches, we propose to excavate useful information from the teacher transformer through the relationship between images and the divided patches. We then explore an efficient fine-grained manifold distillation approach that simultaneously calculates cross-images, cross-patch, and random-selected manifolds in teacher and student models. Experimental results conducted on several benchmarks demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm for distilling portable transformer models with higher performance. For example, our approach achieves 75.06% Top-1 accuracy on the ImageNet-1k dataset for training a DeiT-Tiny model, which outperforms other ViT distillation methods.


Abstract Background The value of re-resection in recurrent glioblastoma remains controversial as a randomized trial that specifies intentional incomplete resection cannot be justified ethically. Here, we aimed to (1) explore the prognostic role of extent of re-resection using the previously proposed Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology (RANO) classification (based upon residual contrast-enhancing (CE) and non-CE tumor), and to (2) define factors consolidating the surgical effects on outcome. Methods The RANO resect group retrospectively compiled an 8-center cohort of patients with first recurrence from previously resected glioblastomas. The associations of re-resection and other clinical factors with outcome were analyzed. Propensity score-matched analyses were constructed to minimize confounding effects when comparing the different RANO classes. Results We studied 681 patients with first recurrence of Isocitrate Dehydrogenase (IDH) wild-type glioblastomas, including 310 patients who underwent re-resection. Re-resection was associated with prolonged survival even when stratifying for molecular and clinical confounders on multivariate analysis; ≤1 cm3 residual CE tumor was associated with longer survival than non-surgical management. Accordingly, "maximal resection" (class 2) had superior survival compared to "submaximal resection" (class 3). Administration of (radio-)chemotherapy in the absence of postoperative deficits augmented the survival associations of smaller residual CE tumors. Conversely, "supramaximal resection" of non-CE tumor (class 1) was not associated with prolonged survival but was frequently accompanied by postoperative deficits. The prognostic role of residual CE tumor was confirmed in propensity score analyses. Conclusions The RANO resect classification serves to stratify patients with re-resection of glioblastoma. Complete resection according to RANO resect classes 1 and 2 is prognostic.


Filler-filled natural rubber (NR) vulcanizates were prepared by conventional laboratory-sized two roll mills and cured using sulfuric system. The effect of thermal aging on physical properties and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of oil palm ash (OPA) and commercial fillers (i.e., silica vulkasil C and carbon black N330)-filled NR vulcanizates at respective optimum loading and equal loading were studied. Before aging, the OPA-filled vulcanizates showed comparable optimum strength as carbon black-filled vulcanizates. The hardening of aged filler-filled NR vulcanizates happened after aging, thereby tensile strength and elongation at break reduced while the modulus increased. Fifty phr carbon black-filled vulcanizates showed better retention in tensile properties as compared to silica (10 phr) and OPA (1 phr). This was attributed to the addition of different filler loading and this finding was further explained when equal loading of filler-filled vulcanizates was studied. Fourier transform infra-red analysis showed chemical structure had changed and tensile fractured surface exhibited smooth appearance due to the deterioration in tensile properties after aging. TGA also denoted the thermal stability was depending on the amount of filler loading. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 130: 4474–4481, 2013


Innate immune activation via Toll-like Receptors (TLRs) causes dendritic cell maturation and the production of inflammatory mediators. Our data also demonstrate that TLR5 functions as a scavenger receptor for flagellin, enhancing the activation of flagellin-specific CD4 T cells. Flagellin-specific CD4 T cells were found to expand poorly in TLR5-deficient mice immunized with flagellin and this deficiency persisted even when additional TLR agonists were provided. In marked contrast, TLR5-deficient mice generated a robust flagellin-specific T cell response to processed flagellin peptide. The deficiency in flagellin-specific T cell activation was also detected in TLR5-deficient mice that were orally infected with a flagellated pathogen, demonstrating that TLR5 is responsible for directing a dominant CD4 response to flagellin in the context of infectious disease. Together, these data demonstrate that in addition to its function as an initiator of innate inflammation, TLR5 functions as a scavenger receptor allowing optimal presentation of flagellin epitopes to CD4 T cells.


Skin hypersensitivity to streptococcal antigens was demonstrated in 15 New Zealand red rabbits that were sensitized by intracutaneous injections with group A streptococci, and leukocytic hypersensitivity, as determined by in vitro inhibition of leukocyte migration, was demonstrated in 11 of the rabbits. The skin hypersensitivity persisted for at least 8 weeks, whereas the leukocytic hypersensitivity generally waned rather rapidly. The leukocytic hypersensitivity reappeared in the infected rabbits that had developed this hypersensitivity. However, it did not reappear on reimmunization with living streptococci of the type originally employed, whereas it did reappear with living but not heat-killed streptococci of another M type.


The work deals with the problems of forefoot bone lengthening in patients congenital developmental anomalies and posttraumatic defects of the foot. Lengthening was performed using the transosseous osteosynthesis method according to Ilizarov. Different configurations of the fixator optimally appropriated for specific clinical situation were used depending on shortening localization, the number of pathologically changed foot rays and patient's age. The lengthening required was performed in all the patients. The immediate and long-term results of treatment have been analyzed.


In recent years, in line with the competence-based approach in the domestic and foreign science actively is being developed the problem of formation of professional enhancement "as a mandatory competency component of professional training of modern specialist" in different branches of science philosophy, sociology, psychology, pedagogy, cultural studies, economics, ethics. Such a multifaceted study of the phenomenon of "training" is determined by the dynamics of the social life of society, the real needs in the research for modern philosophical orientations is the necessity of its formation in the learning process [1].


This chapter offers five poems that aim to provide an affective and embodied engagement with the question why women stay silent after experiencing sexual violence. It aims to trouble the idea that coming forward as a victim or survivor is a one-time action or 'event'. Instead it seeks to make felt how both staying silent and speaking out need continuous negotiation and effort. The poems provide a personal account of the difficulties inherent in navigating systemic power structures such as misogyny and rape culture that produce victims as shameful, guilty and broken. The writing speaks to both ongoing discussions in organisation studies regarding #MeToo (e.g. Ozkazanc Pan, 2018; Pullen & Vacchani, 2019) and efforts that aim to resist norms of academic writing, grouped under the heading 'writing differently' (e.g. Fotaki, Metcalfe, & Harding, 2014; Gilmore, Harding, Helin, & Pullen 2019; Grey & Sinclair 2006; Meier & Wegener 2017; Phillips, Pullen, & Rhodes 2014). More specifically, it uses poetic inquiry (cf. Prendergast, Leggo, & Sameshima 2009; van Amsterdam & van Eck, 2019) as the starting point of a feminist ethic of care in order to capture affect, embodiment and tacit knowledge, provide resonance and make an impact on the reader that goes beyond rational understanding.


This article reports the design of a versatile multislit-based very small angle neutron scattering (VSANS) instrument working either as a dedicated instrument or as an add-on for any small-angle neutron scattering machine like the proposed SANS instrument, SKADI, at the future European Spallation Source. The use of multiple slits as a VSANS collimator for the time-of-flight techniques has been validated using McStas simulations. Various instrument configurations to achieve different minimum wavevector transfers in scattering experiments are proposed. The flexibility of the multislit VSANS instrument concept is demonstrated by showing the possibility of instrument length scaling for the first time, allowing access to varying minimum wavevector transfers with the same multislit setup. These options can provide smooth access to minimum wavevector transfers lower than ∼4 × 10−5 A−1 and an overlapping of wavevector coverage with normal SANS mode, e.g. with the SKADI wavevector range of 10−3–1.1 A−1. Such an angularly well defined and intense neutron beam will allow faster SANS studies of objects larger than 1 µm. Calculations have also been carried out for a radial collimator as an alternative to the multislit collimator setup. This extends the SANS Q range by an order of magnitude to 1 × 10−4 A−1 with much simpler alignment. The multislit idea has been realized experimentally by building a prototype at Laboratoire Leon Brillouin, Saclay, with cross-talk-free geometry. Feasibility studies were carried out by making VSANS measurements with single- and multislit collimators, and the results are compared with multiple-pinhole geometry using classical SANS analysis tools.


Overprotection and overcontrol from parents or other family members, which are not rare in the Chinese culture, have been suggested to be traumatic experiences for some children. However, research on overprotection/overcontrol is much rarer in China compared with other childhood trauma subtypes. One of the possible reasons for this is the lack of easy and feasible screening tools. In this study, we therefore translated and validated a Chinese version of the 33-item Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-33), which was expanded from the widely-used 28-item CTQ with an additional overprotection/overcontrol subscale. A total of 248 young healthy participants were recruited and completed the Chinese version of CTQ-33, and 50 of them were retested after an interval of two weeks. At baseline, all participants also completed the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale to assess their depression and anxiety, respectively. Our main findings include that: (1) the Chinese version of CTQ-33 showed a good internal consistency (Cronbach's coefficient = 0.733) and an excellent test-retest reliability over a two-week period (ICC = 0.861); (2) the previously reported significant associations between the overprotection/overcontrol and other subtypes of childhood trauma (abuse and neglect), as well as psychopathological conditions such as depression can all be replicated using the Chinese version of CTQ-33. These results suggest that the Chinese version of CTQ-33 would be a promising tool for assessing various subtypes of childhood adversities, especially the overprotection/overcontrol experiences in Chinese populations.


The reinforcement of concrete structures with laminates of carbon fibers CFRP (Carbon
Fibers Reinforced Polymer) began in the 1970's. Laminates of CFRP are precast composite materials made of carbon (fibers) and epoxy (matrix) mixed altogether as a single material. Laminates are bonded to the concrete structure by means of epoxy resins. This technology has several advantages for reparation of structures. Laminates have a good mechanical performance. The manipulation is easy. The strength of the reinforcement depends directly on the proper behavior of the interface laminate-concrete. The safety factor of the reinforcement can be guaranteed if we can predict the behavior at the interface between both materials. In this work we present two experimental
tests to characterize the behavior of the interface between the laminate and the concrete.


A series of metal salen complexes, original in view of the presence in their structure of a highly flexible and hydrophobic spacer, were prepared on the basis of the reaction of 1,3-bis(3-aminopropyl)tetramethyldisiloxane with 3,5-dichloro-, 3,5-dibromo- and 3-hydroxy-salicylaldehyde and various metal ions (Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+ and Zn2+). The isolated products were completely characterized from the structural point of view by FTIR, NMR, elemental analysis and single crystal X-ray diffraction, and further investigated from the perspective of the behavior induced mainly by the structural peculiarities. Emphasis is placed on self-assembly properties, both in bulk and in solution, depending on temperature, solvent nature and concentration, including thermotropic and lyotropic liquid crystals (LC). LCs that appear in the form of nematic toroidal droplets have been fully demonstrated by polarized optical microscopy (POM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS) and fluorescence anisotropy studies. The fluorescence analysis results revealed the aggregation-induced emission (AIE) phenomenon, where the emission occurs only for liquid crystals, with a few exceptions. Because these complexes can exist in both amorphous and crystalline states, it raised the question of how properties, such as electrical, change when switching from one state to another. These were well highlighted by DSC, BDS, PXRD, FTIR and fluorescence anisotropy.


We study the influence of a continuous measurement in a composite quantum system C on the evolution of the states of its parts. It is shown that the character of the evolution (decoherence or recoherence) depends on the type of measured quantity and on the initial state of the system. A number of conditions under which the states of the subsystems of C decohere during the measuring process are established. We propose a model of the composite system and specify the observable the measurement of which may result in the recoherence of the state of one of the subsystems of C. In the framework of this model we find the optimal regime for the exchange of information between the parts of C during the measurement. The main characteristics of such a process are computed. We propose a scheme of detection of the recoherence under the measurement in a concrete physical experiment.


Organizations studies are used to borrowing concepts, images and theories from some more or less close theoretical fields, frequently from other social and human sciences. This multitude of inspirations are necessary and offer large potentialities but some scholars regret that organization studies do not refer enough to their own works. This choir article discusses potentialities, limits and contributions from some theoretical inspirations or from some processes of inspiration in organization studies.


Oxidative conversion of all-trans-retinol (t-ROH) to all-trans-retinal (t-RAL) is recognized as the rate-limiting step for biosynthesis of all-trans-retinoic acid from t-ROH in mammalian hepatic tissues. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of human cytochrome P-450 (CYP)-dependent monooxygenation in the conversion of t-ROH to t-RAL. Adult human liver microsomes (HLMS) were incubated with t-ROH, and retinoids generated were identified and quantified by liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy, HPLC, and other methods. HLMS-catalyzed generation of t-RAL from t-ROH was primarily NADPH-dependent and was strongly inhibited by carbon monoxide. Rates of reactions increased linearly with time and concentrations of HLMS, and exhibited classical substrate saturation. These observations strongly indicated that the reaction proceeded via CYP-catalyzed monooxygenation. On the basis of responses to selective chemical inhibitors, isoforms from CYP family 1 and the CYP3A subfamily appeared to be very active. Members of the CYP2C subfamily and CYP2D6 exhibited lesser activities and CYP2A6, CYP2B6, and CYP2E1 were virtually inactive. cDNA-expressed human CYP enzymes (CYP SUPERSOMES) also were used to assess the capacity of individual CYP enzymes to catalyze the reaction. Based on responses to selective chemical inhibitors, specific activities, and levels present in adult human hepatic tissues, CYP1A2 and CYP3A4 strongly appeared to be the major CYP enzymes catalyzing hepatic oxidative conversion of t-ROH to t-RAL in the adult human liver. CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 SUPERSOMES both exhibited exceptionally high activities, and in extrahepatic tissues, these isoforms could play important roles in biosynthesis of all-trans-retinoic acid from t-ROH.


A method for simulating an anthropomorphic phantom and radioisotope distribution using a Monte Carlo based code is presented. A voxel-based simulation of a Jaszczak phantom was performed and the results compared to both a previously validated geometric-based simulation and experimental data. The method was then extended to create a voxel-based simulation of an anthropomorphic phantom which was validated using an equivalent data set. Good agreement is observed between the voxel-based and geometric-based Jaszczak phantom simulations, but it is noted that for complete agreement, it is crucial that the source distribution is fully aligned to the phantom geometry. With regards to the anthropomorphic phantom simulation, an excellent agreement is observed, which suggests that the activity distribution has been accurately aligned with the phantom. The method proposed can be extended to any arbitrary geometry, with the condition that the activity distribution has been accurately aligned to the phantom geometry.


A variety of data in data mining can be an open gate to extensive studies of various aspects in business. This research was aimed to analyze the data mining association rules to find ways for improving process efficiency. This would be of great benefits to people involved in commercial transactions in terms of competitive advantages of information data and the inventory development. In this research, we studied using pruning strategy of both positive and negative association rules with only single minimum support. In addition, frequent itemsets and infrequent itemsets in the database were focused. Further study was on the work which multiple levels of minimum supports in relation to the length of itemsets were employed. From the study, the application of a prune strategy, together with minimum supports to the multiple levels had resulted in a new technique which helped reduce the process of the association rules of interest, both positive and negative on the MLMS model.


Based on results by S.K. Roushon (math.KT/0408243 and math.KT/0405211) this thesis summarizes in an axiomatic way when a Meta-Isomorphism-Conjecture in the sense of Lueck and Reich (math.KT/0402405) is true for fundamental groups of 3-dimensional manifolds. In particular we prove that the fibered Farrell-Jones isomorphism conjectures for L-theory and algebraic K-theory are true for this class of groups if they are true for semidirect products of $\mathbb{Z^2}$ with $\mathbb{Z}$.


Butalactin, [2-(4',5'-epoxy-hex-2'(E)-en)oyl-2-hydroxy-3-hydroxymethyl-2, 3-(Z)-butanolide] is a new antibiotic produced by Streptomyces sp. HIL Y-86,36923. Taxonomically, the producing organism most closely resembles Streptomyces corchorusii. The strain also produces cineromycin B. Though butalactin is structurally related to 'signal molecules' such as A-factor, the anthracycline inducing factors and the virginiae butanolides, it does not show inducing activity for antibiotic production or aerial mycelium formation in the indicator strain. Butalactin possesses a weak antibiotic activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.


We have studied olfactory receptor neurones under voltage-clamp conditions using the patch clamp technique. Application of sodium nitroprusside (SNP) activated a cation conductance if the GTP concentration in the pipette was in the millimolar range. With 10 microM GTP, SNP had no effect on the holding current but it abolished the normally occurring wash-out of responses to odorants. This effect could also be obtained by adding 150 nM cGMP to the pipette solution. We conclude that there is a NO/cGMP system in Xenopus' olfactory neurones and that cGMP plays an important role in the transduction process in that it guarantees ongoing responsiveness to odorants.


Background: Hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) is a group of genetic diseases that cause progressive degeneration of the corticospinal tract. Historically, this disease was divided into two types:the classic subtype, with leg weakness and hypertonic bladder, and the complicated subtype, with features such as cerebellar ataxia or optic atrophy.Mutations in SPG7 (encoding paraplegin) leads to complicated HSP causing cerebellar ataxia, progressive external ophthalmoplegia in addition to the classical symptoms. AFG3L2 is a binding partner of paraplegin and mutations in AFG3L2 cause a similar syndrome Methods: From a neurogenetic clinic , we identified 11 patients with late-onset HSP. Sequencing of SPG7 and AFG3L2 was performed using a customised assay, and/or clinical diagnostic sequencing panels.SPG7 transcript level quantification was performed from whole blood RNA on a digital droplet qPCR system. Results: We identified 4 patients with pathogenic variants or variants of unknown significance in SPG7. No AFG3L2 mutations were identified. We provide evidence for pathogenicity for three mutations that were not previously associated with SPG7-related disease, based on their occurrence in context of the correct phenotype, and the reduction of transcript levels measured with RT-qPCR.A curious association of the heterozygous p.Gly349Ser mutation in association with an ALSlike syndrome is reported. Conclusions: SPG7 mutations sequencing has high diagnostic yield in late onset paraparesis


Infections due to Blastomyces dermatitidis are not commonly encountered in children and adolescents. Knowledge of the diagnosis and treatment of this disease is largely based upon experience with adult patients. We recently reviewed our experience with blastomycosis to evaluate the difficulties in diagnosis and treatment of this disease in the pediatric population. Ten patients with blastomycosis were identified during our review, and five had pulmonary disease alone. Of these five patients, four required open-lung biopsy for diagnosis, even though three had previously undergone bronchoalveolar lavage. The response to treatment with the oral azole antifungal agents (ketoconazole, fluconazole, and itraconazole) was limited, and the agent with the greatest success remains amphotericin B. Until more data are available, amphotericin B should be used for complicated and life-threatening cases of blastomycosis. If oral azole agents are used for non-life-threatening cases, patients should be followed closely, and if clinical deterioration occurs or serum levels of medications are not adequate, then amphotericin B should be substituted for the oral azole agent.


The present study examines the fate of a Greek Catholic parish in Szekely Land, more specifically the inhabitants of Kostelek (Cosnea) based on the archival and anthropological field research of the author placing it within the context of the findings of earlier research on the 20 th century identification struggles of Hungarian-speaking Greek Catholics in Hungary. For Greek Catholics of Ruthenian and Romanian origin assimilated to the majority Hungarians, their linguistic-national and religious identities were often incompatible during the 20 th century. The problematic situations resulting from this "collision of identities" were treated by individual communities in a variety of ways, and Hungarian Greek Catholics living within changing state lines chose various identification routes. The case study presented here will demonstrate that all this, beyond the political changes, was closely related to the pastoral activity of the local priesthood and to particular local conditions.


abstract:Technology can translocate traditional art into interactive, immersive experiences. At the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the authors transformed Tibetan Buddhist mandalas into a 3D virtual reality mandala installation. Furthering this project, they externalized an analog of the meditative experience by recording electroencephalograms that dynamically modulated the visual scene. The use of neurofeedback allowed fluctuations in the alpha power to drive the intensity of the fog obscuring the mandala. This aimed to give a sense of clearing the fog with one's mind in a meditation-like state. The collaboration demonstrated how technology intended for scientific use may be adapted to an artistic installation that enriches the visitor experience.


Spectrum sharing is a key solution facilitating availability of the necessary spectrum for 5G wireless networks. This article addresses the problem of flexible spectrum sharing by the application of adaptive licensing among interested stakeholders. In particular, it acts as a proponent of "pluralistic licensing" and verifies it in three simulation scenarios that are of strong interest from the perspective of 5G networks. The concluding analysis offers discussion of the potential benefits offered to spectrum holders and other interested players through the application of the pluralistic licensing concept.


Streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS) caused by Streptococcus pyogenes is a clinical condition with a high mortality rate despite modern intensive care. A key feature of STSS is excessive plasma leakage leading to hypovolemic hypotension, disturbed microcirculation and multiorgan failure. Previous work has identified a virulence mechanism in STSS where M1 protein of S. pyogenes forms complexes with fibrinogen that activate neutrophils to release heparin-binding protein (HBP), an inducer of vascular leakage. Here, we report a marked inter-individual difference in the response to M1 protein–induced HBP release, a difference found to be related to IgG antibodies directed against the central region of the M1 protein. To elicit massive HBP release, such antibodies need to be part of the M1 protein–fibrinogen complexes. The data add a novel aspect to bacterial pathogenesis where antibodies contribute to the severity of disease by promoting a pathologic inflammatory response.


Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are a mainstay of treatment of the inflammatory arthritides. Unfortunately, they are often associated with dyspepsia, and this troublesome side-effect is a limitation to their chronic use by many patients. The use of enteric-coated preparations has improved the ability of this large group of patients to use these drugs. The appearance of suppository preparations has further improved tolerability of these medications. Though dyspepsia is a common adverse effect, there is little correlation between this side-effect and the prevalence of relevant gastrointestinal bleeding in practice. The latter is an uncommon event, but is of particular concern in the elderly. The introduction of concomitant use of a number of gastroenterologic medications has improved the rheumatologist's ability to give non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to these patients. Despite this, no combination has been proven to be absolutely safe. Cytoprotection by a number of gastroenterologic preparations offers a means of avoiding, or decreasing, troublesome gastritis, and reducing the risk of relevant bleeding. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs must be used in this (elderly) population with caution, and prospective studies are needed to confirm the role of potential cytoprotective therapy in clinical practice.


390 senior schoolboys born in the Magadan region in the 1st-3rd generation aged 15-16 y. o. have been examined at rest to study 16 parameters of their heart rate variability. Based on the values of the index of tension (the stress index SI), the variation swing (MxDMn) and the spectrum total power (TP), the examined subjects were divided into three groups with prevalence of vagal, sympathetic or normotonic reactions of their vegetative nervous system. It has been found that the ranges of variability of the heart rate mathematical indices differed significantly depending on activity of the sympathetic or parasympathetic components of the nervous system, what conditioned methodically compulsory differentiation of the examinees according to the types of their vegetative regulation.


Remote direct memory access (RDMA) and point- to-point network fabrics both have their own advantages. MPI middleware implementations typically use one or the other, however, the appearance of the Internet Wide Area RDMA Protocol (iWARP), RDMA over IP, and protocol off-load devices introduces the opportunity to use a hybrid design for MPI middleware that uses both iWARP and a transport protocol directly. We explore the design of a new MPICH2 channel device based on iWARP and the stream control transmission protocol (SCTP) that uses SCTP for all point-to-point MPI routines and iWARP for all remote memory access routines (i.e., one-sided communication). The design extends the Ohio Supercomputer Center software- based iWARP stack and our MPICH2 SCTP-based channel device. The hybrid channel device aligns the semantics of the MPI routine with the underlying protocol that best supports the routine and also allows the MPI API to exploit the potential performance benefits of the underlying hardware more directly. We describe the design and issues related to the progress engine design and connection setup. We demonstrate how to implement iWARP over SCTP rather than TCP and discuss its advantages and disadvantages. We are not aware of any other software implementations of iWARP over SCTP, nor MPI middleware that uses both iWARP verbs and the SCTP API.


Body on a chip could contribute to human health and be an extremely useful application in nano/microengineering. However, in reality, body on a chip is still at the proof-of-concept stage, such as in terms of the placement of multiple tissues within a single device, and much effort is required for its development into a practical and useful technology. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to advance individual technologies such as micro/nanoengineering, tissue engineering, and stem cell manipulations and the integration of these technologies. This means that the development of body on a chip requires interdisciplinary research and, if achieved, it would not only represent a vast advancement in drug discovery but would also increase our understanding of specific disease mechanisms. In particular, in conjunction with hPSCs, which are specified for rare diseases, body on a chip will serve as a new platform to study unsolved and unstudied mechanisms of rare diseases and provide cures for such diseases.


In this article, we analyze the grammatical incorporation of demonstratives in a tactile language, emerging in communities of DeafBlind signers in the US who communicate via reciprocal, tactile channels—a practice known as "protactile." In the first part of the paper, we report on a synchronic analysis of recent data, identifying four types of "taps," which have taken on different functions in protacitle language and communication. In the second part of the paper, we report on a diachronic analysis of data collected over the past 8 years. This analysis reveals the emergence of a new kind of "propriotactic" tap, which has been co-opted by the emerging phonological system of protactile language. We link the emergence of this unit to both demonstrative taps, and backchanneling taps, both of which emerged earlier. We show how these forms are all undergirded by an attention-modulation function, more or less backgrounded, and operating across different semiotic systems. In doing so, we contribute not only to what is known about demonstratives in tactile languages, but also to what is known about the role of demonstratives in the emergence of new languages.


Medical resilience is a dynamic capacity, which has the potential to improve the well-being of physicians and to enhance the quality of the clinical relationship. Strategies to promote resilience are important to achieve a sustainable medical practice and improve patient care. Mindfulness training has demonstrated to be an effective tool to promote resilience in physicians. This paper contextualizes the place of mindfulness in medical practice and describes the ways through which it can contribute to resilience in medicine. The concept of mindfulness, its relationship with health practice is reviewed and the benefits of the practice of mindfulness in the clinical relationship are described. We suggest that the benefits achieved through a mindfulness-based medical practice are mediated by two axes. One is the nonspecific and specific effect of mindfulness-based practices and the other is the integration of explicit and implicit knowledge of clinical practice. We conclude that medical practice that integrates mindfulness can contribute to the challenge of achieving greater levels of individual, staff and institutional resilience. There is a need to have continuing mindfulness training programs for health professionals and to integrate this concept in the curriculum of health care professionals.


Pseudomonas sp. GBS.5 is a newly isolated biosurfactant producing and carbazole degrading bacterium. In the present study, this bacterium was coated with magnetite nanoparticles, synthesized using co-precipitation method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies confirmed the coating of the bacterial surface with these nanoparticles. Degradation activity of the coated cells obtained was 1.4 ppm/min as compared to 0.32 ppm/min for free cells and could be reused for five different cycles. These results indicate that magnetite nanoparticle can be efficiently used for the immobilization of biosurfactant producing bacteria involved in the degradation of polyaromatic compounds.


The newly-discovered human aspartic proteinase, napsin A was not susceptible to protein inhibitors from potato, squash or yeast but was weakly inhibited by the 17 kDa polypeptide from Ascaris lumbricoides and potently by isovaleryl and lactoyl-pepstatins. A series of synthetic inhibitors was also investigated which contained in the P(1)-P(1)' positions the dipeptide analogue statine or its phenylalanine or cyclohexylalanine homologues and in which the residues occupying P(4)-P(3)' were varied systematically. On this basis, the active site of napsin A can be readily distinguished from other human aspartic proteinases.


Summary Thymosin, originally discovered as a thymic hormone regulating maturation of T cells, is found in many hematopoetic and non-hematopoetic tissues including bone marrow, spleen, and lungs. While studying chicken monocyte- and granulocyte- associated peptides by Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization/ T ime-of-Flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry, we found a peptide corresponding to mass/charge ratio (m/z) of 4963. This peptide was prominently associated with monocytes but not with the granulocyte population. Experiments revealed presence of this peptide in chicken macrophage cell lines. W e purified the 4963Da peptide from the macrophages by reverse phase HPLC and identified it as thymosin β4 (Tβ4) by peptide mass fingerprinting. T β4 binds to G- actin, and regulates its polymerization, which is essential for cell motility . Besides, it is also involved in a multitude of other functions regulating immunity and wound healing. This review surveys the physiological significance of Tβ4 in relation to macrophage function.


In this paper, studies are presented that characterize a bulk amorphous Fe61Co10Ti3Y6B20 alloy. Samples were fabricated in two forms: as a rod of 1 mm in diameter and as a tube of 1 mm in the outer diameter. The investigated material was obtained using the injection method, whereby the liquid alloy was injected into a copper mould. Using an X-ray diffractometer, a scanning electron microscope and computer tomography, the microstructures of these rapidly cooled samples were studied. Based on the obtained results, it was found that both the rod and the tube were fully amorphous. The cross-sections of the broken rod and tube were characterized by a mixed rupture consisting of smooth chevron and river patterns. This shows that there are regions of different ductility distributed throughout the volume of a sample. Three-dimensional images of the investigated materials, obtained with computer tomography, allowed the determination of the contribution of the pores (and their size) to the total volumes of the samples. The investigated alloy is a ferromagnetic material exhibiting good soft-magnetic properties such as a high saturation magnetization, a high magnetic permeability and a low value of the coercive field. The technique of injecting the liquid alloy into a copper mould, combined with the suction-casting method, can be used to produce toroidal cores that exhibit highly promising properties for a successful application in the construction of electric motors.


Abstract Objective To assess the nutritional quality of prepared foods available to primary-school children. Design Prepared foods available in a public and private school were sampled daily for 4 weeks (a total of forty-five samples) and chemically analysed for protein, fat, carbohydrate, iron, salt and sodium. The results were compared to the nutritional standards for children aged 7–10 years. Setting Alfenas, south-eastern Brazil. Results The concentration of protein, lipid, iron and sodium and the energy values of the foods at the private school were significantly higher than those at the public school. No differences were seen in the carbohydrate and salt values. The range of macronutrients was more balanced at the public school in relation to fat and protein. Foods at the private school were, in general, energy-dense. At both the public and private school, they provided the minimum energy and iron. Salt content was over twice the maximum amount, and that for sodium was over three times the amount, in both the public and private school. Conclusions Overall, foods prepared at the public school were better nutritional quality than those at the private school and those offered in public schools in some developed countries. This finding can probably be explained by the fact that a nutritionist, as required by law, was responsible for planning the menus at the public school. However, corrective action is needed to adjust for the wide variability in energy and nutrient content during weekdays and in the sodium content of prepared foods available in both the public and private school.


Electrowetting displays (EWDs) are one of the most potential electronic papers. However, they have the problem of oil film splitting, which could lead to a low aperture ratio of EWDs. In this paper, a driving waveform was proposed to reduce oil film splitting. The driving waveform was composed of a rising stage and a driving stage. First, the rupture voltage of oil film was analyzed by testing the voltage characteristic curve of EWDs. Then, a quadratic function waveform with an initial voltage was applied at the rising stage to suppress oil film splitting. Finally, a square wave was applied at the driving stage to maintain the aperture ratio of EWDs. The experimental results show that the luminance was increased by 8.78% and the aperture ratio was increased by 4.47% compared with an exponential function driving waveform.


Abstract The oxygen consumption rate in tumors affects tumor oxygenation and response to therapies. A new EPR method was developed to measure tissue oxygen consumption non-invasively. The protocol was based on the measurement of pO2 during a carbogen challenge. The following sequence was used: (1) basal value during air breathing; (2) saturation of tissue with oxygen by carbogen breathing; (3) switch back to air breathing. The assumption was that the kinetics of the return to the basal value after oxygen saturation would be governed mainly by tissue oxygen consumption. This challenge was applied in hyperthyroid mice (generated by chronic treatment with l-thyroxine) and control mice because hyperthyroidism is known to dramatically affect the oxygen consumption rate of tumor and muscle cells. Muscle and tumor cells from the hyperthyroid mice consumed oxygen faster than muscle and tumor cells from the control mice, which is consistent with the results of in vitro studies. Tumor perfusion was not affected by the treatment with l-thyroxine. This method gives an index that may reasonably be ascribed to the local oxygen consumption and has the unique advantage of being adaptable to in vivo studies.


Abstract. A new process-based model TRIPLEX-GHG was developed based on the Integrated Biosphere Simulator (IBIS), coupled with a new methane (CH4) biogeochemistry module (incorporating CH4 production, oxidation, and transportation processes) and a water table module to investigate CH4 emission processes and dynamics that occur in natural wetlands. Sensitivity analysis indicates that the most sensitive parameters to evaluate CH4 emission processes from wetlands are r (defined as the CH4 to CO2 release ratio) and Q10 in the CH4 production process. These two parameters were subsequently calibrated to data obtained from 19 sites collected from approximately 35 studies across different wetlands globally. Being heterogeneously spatially distributed, r ranged from 0.1 to 0.7 with a mean value of 0.23, and the Q10 for CH4 production ranged from 1.6 to 4.5 with a mean value of 2.48. The model performed well when simulating magnitude and capturing temporal patterns in CH4 emissions from natural wetlands. Results suggest that the model is able to be applied to different wetlands under varying conditions and is also applicable for global-scale simulations.


The incidence of tuberculosis coincide with rapid industrialization and consequent urbanisation. A voluminous literature has grown throughout the world regarding the association of many diseases with blood group systems. In the present study an effort is made into the relationship of A-B-O blood groups with sex and age distribution in 710 tuberculotic patients treated in the Clara Swain Hospital, Bareilly District (U.P.) India. The diagnosis of tuberculosis was done by radiological finding that depends on posterior and anterior view of Chest X-Ray, sputum and culture test for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis for Acid Fast bacilli by Ziehl Neelsen method. Distribution of blood groups among 408 (57.467%) male tuberculotic patients was as 'O' 35%>'B' 30% > 'A' 29% > 'AB' 6%. Females having this infections were 302 (42.53%) and it was distributed as 'A' 36% > 'O' 33% > 'B' 26% > 'AB' 5%. Out of 710 cases, 603 (84%) were of granulomatous lymphatitis of which 411 (57.88%) were smear positive and AFB, 299 (42.11%) were both smear and culture positive, 112 (15.77%) cases were smear positive and culture negative where as 2 (0.28%) cases were smear negative and culture positive. All but one culture positive mycobacterium were Mycobacterium tuberculosis confirmed by colony character.


Proceedings: AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010‐‐ Apr 17‐21, 2010; Washington, DC

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare, aggressive tumour which is often detected in advanced stage. Mitotane (o,p'-DDD) is the drug of choice for unresectable, recurrent and metastatic ACC. Intraadrenal metabolic transformation is essential for its therapeutic effects but the metabolite responsible is unknown (o,p'-DDE or o,p'-DDA). Benefit depends on maintenance of adequate plasma drug levels >14μg/ml and toxicity occurs at >20μg/ml. The relationship between dose administered and steady state plasma level is variable, with up to 5-10 fold inter-patient variation. Plasma level monitoring during treatment allows more rapid and consistent attainment of levels between 14-20μg/ml. Measurement of o,p'-DDD and metabolites o,p'-DDE and o,p'-DDA could provide a better understanding of mitotane pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.

We have developed and validated a simple HPLC method to measure plasma mitotane and its two principal metabolites using an internal standard (p,p'-DDD), which involves an isocratic elution and separation through a reversed phase phenyl HPLC column with UV detection (λ 226nm). All these compounds are well separated from each other and from other interfering peaks with a total run time of 21min. The method has been evaluated using 63 plasma samples from 11 patients on mitotane therapy, median age 53 years (range13-73) with start dose of 1-4.5 gm/day. Trough o,p'-DDD levels ranged between 0.9-37.7μg/ml, o,p'-DDE levels 0-4.4μg/ml and o,p'-DDA levels 8.5-90.8μg/ml indicating o,p'-DDA levels in patient plasma are about 1.2-18.1 times higher than the parent compound. 37 samples with o,p'-DDD levels 20μg/ml were recommended to decrease dose. Correlation with clinical data would allow us to confirm a relationship between plasma level of o,p'-DDD, o,p'-DDE and o,p'-DDA and clinical outcome, including tumour response or stablisation and toxicity. We aim to establish a therapeutic drug monitoring facility for assessment of plasma mitotane and metabolite levels in patients in the Asia Pacific region. A result and dosing recommendation could be available within 7 days of receipt of sample.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1671.


The physiology of the emotional response patterns to "stressful" psychosocial stimuli is surveyed. These limbic-hypothalamic patterns are basically designed to protect the individual and species from adverse environmental influences in primitive life. Their expressions always form a triad, with a situation-specific "somatomotor"-behavioural link, a "visceromotor"-autonomic and a hormonal link, the latter two adjusting inner organs, metabolism, water-salt balance, etc., to provide optimal support to the behavioural expression. Because of their uniformity throughout species, animal experiments have greatly contributed to our understanding of how these responses may also importantly contribute to common disorders in modern society, at least when intensely and/or commonly evoked. Thanks to our more advanced neocortex, man differs here from animals mainly in two ways. First, we learn to cope with some environmental stimuli and thus delimit undue emotional engagements; second, when once elicited we can often suppress the behavioural link, when this is socially appropriate. As we cannot suppress the autonomic-hormonal links, however, they then occur more or less "in vain", and such socially enforced dissociations of per se normal response patterns may not in the long run be healthy. Finally, the better known among these differentiated responses are briefly outlined, with particular emphasis on the potentially most important ones, the "defence reaction" and the "defeat reaction".


Graphene-based materials (GBMs) are emerging as attractive materials for biomedical applications. Understanding how these materials are perceived by and interact with the immune system is of fundamental importance. Phagocytosis is a major mechanism deployed by the immune system to remove pathogens, particles, and cellular debris. Here, we discuss recent studies on the interactions of GBMs with different phagocytic cells, including macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells. The importance of assessing GBMs for endotoxin contamination is discussed as this may skew results. We also explore the role of the bio-corona for interactions of GBMs with immune cells. Finally, we highlight recent evidence for direct plasma membrane interactions of GBMs.


The orthogonal subspace projection (OSP) algorithm, which is used to process mixed pixels in hyperspectral images, is discussed frequently in the remote sensing literature. A recent paper discussed ways to derive the OSP and the use of OSP as a target detector or for material abundance estimation. However, a technique called the constrained signal detector (CSD) outperforms the OSP technique. OSP is equivalent to the unconstrained least-squares estimate of the abundance of a particular material in a mixed pixel. CSD is equivalent to the constrained least-squares abundance estimate. It is shown through theory and simulation that the constrained method (CSD) outperforms the unconstrained technique (OSP) for the problems of target detection and material abundance estimation in mixed pixels.


Histone deacetylases are required for transcriptional repression in eukaryotes. Saccharomyces cerevisiae has several histone deacetylases, of which ySir2p is the most conserved throughout evolution. Currently, there is no report on the interacting protein partner of a human Sir2 homolog, SIRT2. Here we show for the first time that SIRT2 interacts with the homeobox transcription factor, HOXA10, which was identified in a two-hybrid screen. Interactions were confirmed by co-immunoprecipitation from in vitro translations as well as in human cell-free extracts. Taken together with mouse knockout studies, our results raise the intriguing possibility that SIRT2 plays a role in mammalian development.


By means of Monte Carlo simulations we show the feasibility of asymmetric nonlinear planar GaN nanodiodes for the development of Gunn oscillations. For channel lengths about 1 μm, oscillation frequencies around 400 GHz are predicted, reaching more than 600 GHz for 0.5 μm. The DC to AC conversion efficiency is found to be higher than 1% for the fundamental and second harmonic frequencies in GaN diodes. By simulating two diodes in parallel, we analyze the possible loss of efficiency due to the technological dispersion in channel lengths.


Rechargeable lithium-based batteries built with high-energy anode materials (e.g., silicon-based and silicon-derivative materials) are considered a feasible solution to satisfy the stringent requirements imposed by emerging markets, including electric vehicles and grid storage, due to their higher energy density compared to contemporary lithium-ion batteries. The robustness of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer on high-energy anodes is critical to achieve long-term and stable cycling performances of the batteries. Herein, we propose a new type of designer cathode additive (DCA), i.e., an ultrathin coating layer of elemental sulfur on the cathode, for the in situ formation of a thin and robust SEI layer on various types of high-energy anodes. The DCA elemental sulfur undergoes simultaneous oxidation and reduction paths, forming lithium alkyl sulfate (R-OSO2OLi) and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-like polymers on the anode surface. The as-formed R-OSO2OLi/PEO-modified SEI layer has good lithium cation (Li+) permeability to facilitate fast ion transportation across the interphases and superior elasticity to adapt to large volume changes, which is particularly effective for improving the cycling efficiency of high-energy anodes (e.g., ca. 14-35% increase in capacity retention for the silicon-carbon composite (SiC) or silicon-tin alloy (Si-Sn)||LiFePO4 cells). The present work opens a new avenue toward the practical deployment of high-energy rechargeable lithium-based batteries.


The work reported in this thesis concerns the design and fabrication of tapered waveguide lasers to allow efficient, high-power diode-pumping and produce diffraction-limited, near-symmetrical output, whilst maintaining a monolithic design compatible with integrated optical circuits. The design rules required for efficient operation of a tapered waveguide are derived, and applied to the fabrication of tapered waveguides by thermal ion exchange (TIE) in Nd-doped borosilicate glass. Ti:sapphire pumped laser operation of these waveguides indicates efficient (40%) and low-loss (0.2dBcm-1) operation, comparable to that of a channel waveguide fabricated within the same substrate. Parabolic and linear taper shapes are compared, and the linear shape is found to provide superior operation at wide taper expansions (up to 250µm, over a length of ~ 22mm), and hence is more suited to end-pumping with multi-watt broad-stripe-diodes. Broad-stripe-diode end-pumping is also investigated, and the laser performance is characterised, indicating a need to control the refractive index profile to maximise the overlap of the multimode-pump and single-mode laser. Field-assisted ion exchange is therefore investigated to improve the overlap of the diode-pump and laser modes in a tapered waveguide. Waveguides produced by this technique are shown to exhibit the desired step-like index profile, but require further optimisation to improve the laser performance. Low-loss (0.1dBcm-1) operation of a tapered waveguide laser is reported in a hybrid Nd-doped/undoped borosilicate glass. The hybrid glass is proposed as a useful substrate for reducing the quasi-3-level reabsorption loss of Yb3+-doped lasers. As an initial step towards this goal, channel waveguides are fabricated in standard Yb3+-doped phosphate glass, which exhibit efficient (50-75%) and moderate-loss (0.6dBcm-1) laser operation. The design requirements for a power scalable diode-side-pumped tapered waveguide laser are also investigated, and YVO4 is proposed as a suitable substrate material due to its high absorption coefficient. The indiffusion of Nd, Gd and Ti is characterised for the first time, and the fabrication of the first Nd-indiffused waveguide in YVO4 is reported.


An analysis is made of a variant of a system for spatial—temporal transformation of spatially one-dimensional information for its transfer along a single-mode fibre waveguide. Information is coupled into a fibre by a waveguide hologram. This hologram forms a light-beam structure which matches the fibre-guided mode. A report is given of the use of ion-exchange planar glass waveguides as waveguide holograms. An amorphous chalcogenide semiconductor film or a photoresist was deposited by evaporation on such a planar waveguide. Reconstruction of the waveguide hologram made it possible to achieve a high read rate, up to 1011 pixels per second, when a short radiation pulse was used. Multisectioned injection semiconductor lasers, operating under Q-switching conditions, were used as the radiation sources.


We compare various radiative feedbacks over the Arctic (60–90°N) estimated from short‐term climate variations occurring in reanalysis, satellite, and global climate model data sets using the combined Kernel‐Gregory approach. The lapse rate and surface albedo feedbacks are positive, and their magnitudes are comparable. Relative to the tropics (30°S–30°N), the lapse rate feedback is the largest contributor to Arctic amplification among all feedbacks, followed by surface albedo feedback and Planck feedback deviation from its global mean. Both shortwave and longwave water vapor feedbacks are positive, leading to a significant positive net water vapor feedback over the Arctic. The net cloud feedback has large uncertainties including its sign, which strongly depends on the data used for all‐sky and clear‐sky radiative fluxes at the top of the atmosphere, the time periods considered, and the methods used to estimate the cloud feedback.


This paper takes a novel perspective on the selection of leaders in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) by focusing on career tracks of high-level CCP officials. Career tracks are defined as clusters of similar career trajectories with respect to both vertical and horizontal movements. We measure career tracks of full and alternate CCP Central Committee members from 1982 to 2017 using machine learning techniques and investigate their role in political selection. We find that the career tracks corresponding to high starting positions and frequent rotations are associated with significantly higher probabilities of obtaining top leadership positions in the CCP despite the influence of patronage networks. Moreover, when comparing the relative importance of career tracks and personal connections over time, we find suggestive evidence that the Chinese political system has become more personalistic in the past few years.


Purpose: to determine the effectiveness of restoring the state of women health with post-COVID-19 syndrome who underwent cesarean section, based on the dynamics of parameters of the autonomic nervous system.
Methods. 44 women were examined at the beginning of the late postpartum period. The control group consisted of 15 women who gave birth vaginally and did not suffer from COVID-19 during pregnancy and observation. The comparison group consisted of 15 women after cesarean section who suffered from COVID-19 during pregnancy, recovered during pregnancy and the postpartum period according to general recommendations for the rehabilitation of patients with coronavirus infection. The main group consisted of 14 women after caesarean section, suffered from COVID-19 during pregnancy, performed a proven program of physical therapy for 2 months using breathing therapeutic exercises, therapeutic exercises with elements of yoga for the muscles of the back, abdomen, upper and lower limbs, taking into account movement limitations due to a scar of the anterior abdominal wall; massage of the chest, back, abdomen; aromatherapy sessions; autogenic training sessions. They tried to restore the state of women through a balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic departments due to the normalizing effect of the applied agents on the hormonal background and psycho-emotional state, reducing the feeling of bodily discomfort, general strengthening of the body, accelerating the recovery of the organs of the abdominal cavity and pelvis, accelerating adaptation to changes in habitual activity due to a violation daily routine and childcare needs. The condition of the women was assessed by the results of the test with isometric load, the Kerdo index, the dynamics of 24-hour heart rate variability monitoring (power in the range of low LF frequencies and high HF frequencies, LF/HF ratio, Baevsky tension index).
Research results. During the first examination, an imbalance between the activity of the sympathetic and parasympathetic links of the autonomic nervous system towards sympathicotonia was detected in all women, which was most pronounced in women with post-COVID-19 syndrome in all parameters. During re-examination, the best result in terms of all studied parameters was found by women of the control group, who demonstrated the dynamics of the normal course of the postpartum period after vaginal delivery and increased activity of the parasympathetic department against the background of suppression of the sympathetic department. The results of the women of the main group according to the Kerdo index, tests with isometric tension, the results of daily blood pressure monitoring, which were determined, were statistically significantly better than those of the women of the comparison group, testifying to the reduction of the imbalance of the links of the autonomic nervous system and the advantages of the rehabilitation program for the correction of the autonomic signs of post-COVID-19 syndrome, which was created taking into account the physical and psychoemotional state of women after cesarean section, in comparison with the general rehabilitation program.
Conclusions. The use of physical therapy, taking into account the imbalance of the links of the autonomic nervous system (sympatheticotonia), is pathogenetically and practically justified in the process of physical therapy of women with post-COVID-19 syndrome in the postpartum period after abdominal delivery.


Recent studies have indicated a central role for LonP1 in mitochondrial function. Its physiological functions include proteolysis, acting as a molecular chaperone, binding mitochondrial DNA, and being involved in cellular respiration, cellular metabolism, and oxidative stress. Given its vital role in energy metabolism, LonP1 has been suggested to be associated with multi-system neoplasms and developmental disorders. In this study, we investigated the roles, possible mechanisms of action, and therapeutic roles of LonP1 in oral and maxillofacial tumor development. LonP1 was highly expressed in oral-maxillofacial cancers and regulated their development through a sig-naling network. LonP1 may therefore be a promising anticancer therapy target. Mutations in LONP1 have been found to be involved in the etiology of cerebral, ocular, dental, auricular, and skeletal syndrome (CODAS). Only patients carrying specific LONP1 mutations have certain dental abnormalities (delayed eruption and abnormal morphology). LonP1 is therefore a novel factor in the development of oral and maxillofacial tumors. Greater research should therefore be conducted on the diagnosis and therapy of LonP1-related diseases to further define LonP1-associated oral phenotypes and their underlying molecular mechanisms.


Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) algorithms have achieved great success on many challenging benchmarks (e.g., Computer Go). However, they generally require a large number of rollouts, making their applications costly. Furthermore, it is also extremely challenging to parallelize MCTS due to its inherent sequential nature: each rollout heavily relies on the statistics (e.g., node visitation counts) estimated from previous simulations to achieve an effective exploration-exploitation tradeoff. In spite of these difficulties, we develop an algorithm, WU-UCT, to effectively parallelize MCTS, which achieves linear speedup and exhibits only limited performance loss with an increasing number of workers. The key idea in WU-UCT is a set of statistics that we introduce to track the number of on-going yet incomplete simulation queries (named as unobserved samples). These statistics are used to modify the UCT tree policy in the selection steps in a principled manner to retain effective exploration-exploitation tradeoff when we parallelize the most time-consuming expansion and simulation steps. Experiments on a proprietary benchmark and the Atari Game benchmark demonstrate the linear speedup and the superior performance of WU-UCT comparing to existing techniques.


ABSTRACT The in vitro activity of a novel oxazolidinone, linezolid, was studied by comparing the activity of linezolid with those of amikacin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid against 25 strains of Nocardia brasiliensis isolated from patients with mycetoma. All N. brasiliensis strains tested were sensitive to linezolid (MIC at which 90% of strains are inhibited [MIC90], 2 μg/ml; MIC50, 1 μg/ml). This antimicrobial might constitute a good alternative for treatment of actinomycetoma.


Thirty-nine children with Fanconi aplastic anemia (FAA) have been followed up in our center between January 2008 and November 2010. Eight of these children (20%) with a transfusional iron overload had been undergoing deferasirox treatment during the study period. In the English literature, transfusional iron overload and the use of an iron chelator in children with FAA has not yet been evaluated. Here, we have presented the effectivity and tolerability of deferasirox in children with FAA and a transfusional iron overload. Before the deferasirox treatment, the mean serum ferritin level was 3377±2200 ng/mL. After a mean 13.6-month treatment duration, the mean ferritin level decreased to 2274±1300 ng/mL (P<0.05). In our series, 3 patients had renal and 3 had hepatic toxicity during the treatment. Two patients had peliosis hepatis and 2 had congenital renal abnormalities before the treatment. There may be differences in the side-effect profiles of deferasirox treatment in patients with FAA. In our series, despite the low number of cases, nephrotoxicity and hepatotoxicity were common side effects instead of gastrointestinal disturbances reported in other studies. Deferasirox is an oral, easily applicable, and effective iron chelator; baseline hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity may increase the development of toxic side effects in children with FAA. Patients with FAA receiving deferasirox treatment should be followed up closely for these side effects.


Background: In asthma and allergic rhinitis, beliefs about what triggers allergic reactions often do not match objective allergy tests. This may be due to insensitivity for expectancy violations as a result of holding trigger beliefs based on conceptual relationships among triggers. In this laboratory experiment, we aimed to investigate how pre-existing beliefs and conceptual relationships among triggers interact with actual experience when learning differential symptom expectations. Methods: Healthy participants (N = 48) received information that allergic reactions were a result of specific sensitivities versus general allergic vulnerability. Next, they performed a trigger learning task using a differential conditioning paradigm: brief inhalation of CO2 enriched air was used to induce symptoms, while participants were led to believe that the symptoms came about as a result of inhaled allergens (conditioned stimuli, CS's; CS+ followed by symptoms, CS- not followed by symptoms). CS+ and CS- stimuli either shared (e.g., birds-mammals) or did not share (e.g. birds-fungi) category membership. During Acquisition, participants reported symptom expectancy and symptom intensity for all triggers. During a Test 1 day later, participants rated symptom expectancies for old CS+/CS- triggers, for novel triggers within categories, and for exemplars of novel trigger categories. Data were analyzed using multilevel models. Findings: Only a subgroup of participants (n = 22) showed differences between CO2 and room air symptoms. In this group of responders, analysis of symptom expectancies during acquisition did not result in significant differential symptom CS+/CS- acquisition. A retention test 1 day later showed differential CS+/CS- symptom expectancies: When CS categories did not share category membership, specific sensitivity beliefs improved retention of CS+/CS- differentiation. However, when CS categories shared category membership, general vulnerability beliefs improved retention of CS+/CS- differentiation. Furthermore, participants showed some selectivity in generalization of symptom expectancies to novel categories, as symptom expectancies did not generalize to novel categories that were unrelated to CS+ or CS- categories. Generalization to novel categories was not affected by information about general vulnerability or specific sensitivities. Discussion: Pre-existing vulnerability beliefs and conceptual relationships between trigger categories influence differential symptom expectancies to allergic triggers.


Deep learning enables the development of efficient end-to-end speech processing applications while bypassing the need for expert linguistic and signal processing features. Yet, recent studies show that good quality speech resources and phonetic transcription of the training data can enhance the results of these applications. In this paper, the RECOApy tool is introduced. RECOApy streamlines the steps of data recording and pre-processing required in end-to-end speech-based applications. The tool implements an easy-to-use interface for prompted speech recording, spectrogram and waveform analysis, utterance-level normalisation and silence trimming, as well grapheme-to-phoneme conversion of the prompts in eight languages: Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Romanian and Spanish.
The grapheme-to-phoneme (G2P) converters are deep neural network (DNN) based architectures trained on lexicons extracted from the Wiktionary online collaborative resource. With the different degree of orthographic transparency, as well as the varying amount of phonetic entries across the languages, the DNN's hyperparameters are optimised with an evolution strategy. The phoneme and word error rates of the resulting G2P converters are presented and discussed. The tool, the processed phonetic lexicons and trained G2P models are made freely available.


This paper aims at showing the function of syntactic argumentative linking and how it deals with grammatical rules as they recurred in Ibn ul-Anbari's book Al-Insafu fi Masa'il il-Khilaf. Parts of a sentence should combine verbally and sensically to give a comprehensible meaning based on certain relations among them. This is called rabt (linking). Linking is a contextual relation achieved in the text via a verbal means which assists reaching at the general objective of the context.
    The paper opens with an introductory section about rawabit (links) as a term in ancient and modern Arabic and Western cultures. The paper sheds light on the syntactic argumentative links including contrastive, co-coordinative, and conjunctive links.


The damages on the crops by the wild animals such as wild boars and water deer are serious in rural areas these days. In this paper, a low-cost and adaptive system based on open source for sensing and repelling farm pest animals is proposed. The system contains the server which is Arduino Due connected with the wireless communication modules such as RF, Zigbee, and WiFi module, speaker, and so on. It also has the sensing modules and LED blinkers which communicates with the server by wireless modules. Once a detecting signal is transmitted to the server. The server is waked up from sleep mode and the repelling subsystems such as loud speaker and LED blinker(s) are activated to scare the unwanted animal away. The total system is managed by Android smartphone easily.


Muon tomography consists in using cosmic muons to probe structures in a neither invasive nor destructive way. Following the first muography of a water tower using a muon telescope based on Micro-Pattern Gaseous Detectors and developed at Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA) Saclay in 2015, the gaseous detectors and electronics have been developed to be more robust to high variations of temperature, allowing to operate for example in Egypt for the ScanPyramids mission since 2016. More recently, simulations showed that muon telescopes based on multiplexed Micromegas detectors could also be used to detect cavities for geology studies or dismantling of nuclear facility leading to several partnerships with industrials. However, most of the muon telescopes used nowadays are based on the hodoscope approach, requiring several detectorsto operate and reconstruct muontracks with a limited angularacceptance and compacity. To expand the spectrum of applications, CEA is developing a highly pixelated and 2D-multiplexed compact Time Projection Chamber (TPC) that would allow a full track reconstruction with a quasi-isotropical angular acceptance. In addition, this detector is meant to be as compact as possible and has been designed to fit into existing boreholes. Such detectors could be installed in a network to both detect and localise structures in the underground [1]. In this work we present the design of this new detector as well as the first prototypes developments and reconstruction algorithm.


By assuming that the chromo-magnetic interaction plays the main role for the mass splittings of the positive and negative parity pentaquarks, we predict the mass difference between the lowest Y = 2, I = 0 and I = 1 states in good agreement with the present experimental evidence. The SU(6)CS transformation properties of these states imply approximate selection rules for the decay of these particles.


Timber supply analyses are used to estimate the possible harvest level of timber volume over the long term. Site index is one of the inputs of these analyses. When site index is underestimated, as is often the case for older stands, it will lead to underestimated yields. This creates a significant negative effect on harvest levels in the timber supply analyses. Better site index information is obtainable by using ecologically based site indices; however, an efficient way of applying the site index estimates is needed. The purpose of this project was to develop a technique for incorporating better site index estimates into timber supply analyses. We used simple random sampling to determine the proportion of each site series in a management unit. Site index estimates were available for these site series. To link the site index information to timber supply analysis units, we initially created analysis units using inventory information. The site series proportions were then used to form new ecologically based analysis units, and yield tables were generated from the associated site index information. After an area was harvested in the timber supply model from an inventory-based analysis unit, it was allocated to an ecologically based analysis unit in proportion to the area that the site series occupied in the timber harvesting land base. Once an area was placed into a new analysis unit, it remained there for the duration of the timber supply analysis. We tested this method in the Bulkley Timber Supply Area, where it resulted in a 26% increase in the long-term sustainable harvest level.


Molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe2), a representative transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMDC), is a promising material for optical and electrical device applications due to its unique layered two-dimensional structure and the phase change properties. MoTe2 can crystallize in three different phases, i.e. 2H, IT', and Td phases [1], The 2H-MoTe2 is a semiconductor while the 1T'-MoTee is metallic, and hence the control of the phase transition is of paramount importance for transistors and optical applications.