Although small and medium enterprises (SME) make up the majority of businesses in Taiwan, with limited resources and technological capabilities, they have historically devoted far less than the large corporations to the electronic commerce (EC) frenzy. In order to understand the effects of company background and their constitution on SME top managers' perceptions of EC, 600 questionnaires were sent out to a random sample of SME top managers in seven industries in the island. The return rate was 10.33%. The results revealed four types of perceptions of SME top managers: profit-making, differential-pricing, practical and supportive, which match closely to the perception types in Cheng 's study on EC -implemented companies in Taiwan. SME top managers characterized its company constitution as self-satisfied, self-dissatisfied, conservative-industrial and new-industrial. Although company constitution did not show significant effects on SME top managers' perceptions of EC, cross-tabulation showed certain associated relations. One of the future studies may combine Cheng's results on perception types of EC -implemented companies and the perception types of SME top managers for in-depth EC strategic analyses.


Analytic Hierarchy process (AHP) is a powerful method belonging to the full aggregation family of multi-criteria decision-making methods based on pairwise comparisons of objects. Since the information about the problem is usually not complete in real decision-making problems, it is difficult to express precisely the preferences on pairs of compared objects. This problem has been handled in the literature by introducing fuzziness into AHP. However, neither AHP nor its fuzzy extensions can deal with sorting decision-making problems, which form a significant part of decision-making problems. This paper presents the FAHPSort method — a fuzzy extension of the AHPSort method, which is an adaptation of the AHP method for sorting decision-making problems. The FAHPSort method handles the vagueness in the meaning of linguistic terms expressing the intensity of preference of one object over another one. Key properties of the FAHPSort method are described in the paper, and the method is illustrated in a decision-making problem.


Supersonic ejectors are simple mechanical components, which generally perform mixing and/or recompression of two fluid streams. Ejectors have found many applications in engineering. In aerospace engineering, they are used for altitude testing of a propulsion system by reducing the pressure of a test chamber. It is composed of three major sections: a vacuum test chamber, a propulsive nozzle, and a supersonic exhaust diffuser. This paper aims at the improvement of ejector-diffuser performance by focusing attention on reducing exhaust back flow into the test chamber, since alteration of the backflow or recirculation pattern appears as one of the potential means of significantly improving low supersonic ejector-diffuser performance. The simplest backflow-reduction device was an orifice plate at the duct inlet, which would pass the jet and entrained fluid but impede the movement of fluid upstream along the wall. Results clearly showed that the performance of ejector-diffuser system was improved for certain a range of system pressure ratios, whereas the orifice plate was detrimental to the ejector performance for higher pressure ratios. It is also found that there is no change in the performance of diffuser with orifice at its inlet, in terms of its pressure recovery. Hence an appropriately sized orifice system should produce considerable improvement in the ejector-diffuser performance in the intended range of pressure ratios.


A multipole expansion scheme is introduced for a wide class of stationary, asymptotically flat, vacuum solutions of Einstein's equations using the conformal techniques of Geroch and Hansen. An intrinsic choice of the conformal factor and suitable asymptotic flatness conditions enable one to express the rescaled gravitational mass and angular momentum potentials and the rescaled spatial metric as power series in normal coordinates around a point Λ representing the spatial infinity on the conformal manifold. The coefficients of this expansion are certain nonlinear combinations of the Hansen multipole moments. As an example the Schwarzschild metric is discussed in the present framework.


Since it is now recognized that some strains of staphylococci produce a potent exotoxin, it is important to correlate experimental studies of staphylococcus toxin with clinical observations on systemic staphylococcic infections which have been previously reported. The exotoxin is capable of producing several well defined effects on different tissue cells, but it has never been adequately demonstrated whether these effects are due to several different tissue-specific toxins or whether a single toxin affects each tissue differently. Nevertheless, the outstanding results of the action of staphylococcus exotoxin are: hemolysis of red blood cells (hemolysin), destruction of leukocytes (leukocidin), necrosis of skin and subcutaneous tissues on direct injection (dermonecrotoxin), rapid death of laboratory animals on intravenous injection (lethal factor), necrosis of certain other tissues, such as the renal glomeruli and the mucous membranes of the gastrointestinal tract, and irritation of the synovial membrane on injection into joints.1 Effect of Toxin in


Current System-on-a-chip (SoC) designs contain increased levels of functional and structural complexities within a single system. With the integration of multiple designs, various clock domains are introduced. In this paper, we present a solution for finding clock domain crossing glitch using a combination of formal verification and static timing analysis techniques. This paper also talks about leveraging a formal verification tool to do sequential equivalence checking between a buggy design and bug fixed design if CDC glitch is found in late design stages.


Our study provides empirical answer that verifies increase in productivity, if any, through promotion of improved agricultural technologies among smallholder food crop farmers in Africa. We specifically examined Root and Tuber Improvement and Marketing Programme (RTIMP) technology effect on improving the production efficiency of cassava farmers in Ghana. we stratified RTIMP cassava farmers into above average adopters and below average adopters based on their adoption intensity scores and further examined differences in their efficiency levels which we estimated by employing the stochastic frontier production model (SFA). In order to empirically establish if RTIMP technology has actually had effect in improving productivity of the cassava farmers, we estimated an adjusted regression model (average treatment effect and average treatment effect on the treated models). Our results show that the potential outcome mean technical efficiency of about 69% achieved by the above average RTIMP technology adopters is significantly higher than that of the below average technology adopters which was found to be about 64%. Our Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATET) estimates confirm that there has been significant increase in the technical efficiency of cassava farmers attributable to the adoption of the RTIMP cassava technology.


SUMMARY The fuel saving calculated according to defined model for wasted air temperature from 40 and 50 ∞C with applying solar collector and recuperating heat exchanger. In function of burnt gas amount reduction in energy plant at dryer for camomile and mint, pollution of human environment reduction, and at the end environmental air the reduction of fuel consumption was analysed. Results showed that 41-53% energy saving could be obtained for maximum air flow and 56-59% for minimum air flow.


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

BARD1 (BRCA1-associated ring domain 1) was originally identified in a yeast-two-hybrid screen as a binding partner of BRCA1. The functional heterodimer BRCA1/BARD1 is required for several of the cellular and tumor-suppressor functions of BRCA1. Both proteins interact through the N-terminal RING domain to form a heterodimeric E3 ubiquitin ligase that constitutes the major catalytic activity of the BRCA1-BARD1 complex. BARD1 is also associated to p53-mediated apoptosis, in a BRCA1-independent manner. The carboxy terminus of BRCA1 is highly acidic and contains two tandem BRCA1 C-terminal (BRCT) domains, which are characteristic of members of a large superfamily of proteins involved in DNA repair and cell cycle checkpoint control. These domains are protein-protein interacting regions that mediate the association with a number of other proteins with a role in DNA replication, DNA damage repair pathway, transcription, cell cycle control, and ubiquitination. BARD1 also contains two tandem BRCT repeats at its C-terminus, a region shown to bind serine-phosphorylated peptides in vitro. In order to identify putative interaction-proteins with BARD1 C-terminal region we performed a yeast-two-hybrid screening using BARD1 BRCT tandem domain (aa 554-777) to screen a human testis cDNA library. We identified, among other hits, a cDNA coding for galectin 3 C-terminal region, residues 170-250 (OMIM [153619][1]). Galectin 3 is a galactoside binding protein involved in several cellular processes including apoptosis control and RNA splicing. Moreover there are evidences that galectin 3 variants are correlated with tumor development and progression in breast and thyroid cancer. We confirmed galectin 3/BARD1 interaction by conducting co-immuneprecipitation analysis of ectopically expressed BARD1 and galectin-3 in HEK293T cells. The interaction between endogenous galectin 3 and BARD1 were validated in HeLa nuclear extracts. Using the same approach we co-immuneprecipitated BRCA1 and galectin-3, suggesting the presence of BRCA1, BARD1 and galectin-3 in the same complex. Interestingly the galectin 3 observed in this complex corresponds to a mono-ubiquitinated form, corroborating the idea that galectin 3 is a putative natural target of BRCA1-BARD1 heterodimer E3 ubiquitin ligase.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3927. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-3927

 [1]: /lookup/external-ref?link_type=OMIM&access_num=153619&atom=%2Fcanres%2F71%2F8_Supplement%2F3927.atom


The modified sol–gel approach to the synthesis of well-structured magnetic mesoporous silica nanoparticles (M-MSNs) was described, which comprised magnetic nanoparticles resided within the mesoporous nanoparticles. A diversity of surface modification was subjected to systematic investigation using organic silanes, eventually resulting in the decoration with the carboxyl (–COOH), methyl phosphonate (–PO3−), amino (–NH2) and phenyl (–Ph) groups on the surface of M-MSNs. The careful characterizations demonstrated that the modified M-MSNs displayed the specifically charged surfaces and differently porous characters, yet without showing any influence on the shape and size. To exploit their potential in cancer treatment, we extensively studied the drug loading capacity and sustained release behaviour of the modified M-MSNs for representative drugs. The hydrophilically modified M-MSNs with –COOH and –PO3− were beneficial for loading the water-soluble doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) through electrostatic attraction. The results demonstrated that M-MSNs-PO3− achieved a higher loading content and M-MSNs-COOH presented a distinct pH-responsible release behavior. On the other hand, M-MSNs-Ph displayed a controlled release rate in a short term via the weakened hydrogen bonding interaction. The cytotoxicity of modified M-MSNs to normal cells and macrophage uptake indicated that the modified M-MSNs were suitable as drug carriers. These mesoporous nanoparticles were non-toxicity to HeLa cells, while the drug-loaded nanoparticles apparently led to the unambiguous cytotoxicity as a result of the sustained release of drugs. These results have an important implication that the modified M-MSNs are promising as platforms for storing the hydrophilic or hydrophobic anticancer drugs for tumour therapy.


Paul C. Light examines and evaluates the 100 most significant investigations of policy failures, bureaucratic mistakes, and personal misconduct undertaken by the U.S. federal government between 1945 and 2012. Launched by Congress or the president, sometimes by both at the same time, the investigations at the core of this book were driven by the search for answers about significant breakdowns in government performance. Light reveals which investigations were most effective, and why.


The present study aimed to develop two nomograms in order to predict cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS) of patients with anal carcinoma receiving definitive chemoradiotherapy. Data from studies including patients with anal carcinoma, who were determined to be positive histologically and diagnosed between 2004 and 2010, were obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. Significant prognostic factors for CSS and OS of patients were screened to develop nomograms through univariate and multivariate analyses. Nomograms were validated using internal and external data. The predictive abilities of the generated models were evaluated by concordance index (C-index) and calibration curves. Risk stratification was performed for patients with the same TNM stage. A total of 1,473 patients and six independent prognostic factors for CSS and OS, namely age, sex, ethnicity, marital status at diagnosis, T stage and N stage, were included in the nomogram calculations. Calibration curves demonstrated that nomogram prediction was in high accordance with actual observation. The C-indices of nomograms were greater than those of models based on the sixth edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer TNM staging system for CSS prediction (training cohort, 0.72 vs. 0.70; validation cohort, 0.68 vs. 0.62) and OS (training cohort, 0.70 vs. 0.66; validation cohort, 0.68 vs. 0.62). Survival curves demonstrated significant survival differences among the different risk groups. Nomograms were more accurate than the conventional TNM staging system in prognosis prediction. In addition, survival performances of patients with the same TNM stage could be further distinguished by risk stratification, which provided individualized prediction for patients. These survival prediction methods may aid clinicians in patient counseling and in selecting more individualized therapeutic strategies.


Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health problems in primary care. The PARADIES (Patient Activation foR Anxiety DIsordErS) intervention combined elements of cognitive behavioural therapy with case management and has demonstrated efficacy. Our aim was to explore patient characteristics, which may influence the course of anxiety symptoms over a 12 months period. Multiple linear regression was used to quantify associations of baseline characteristics (demographics, clinical parameters, medication use) with changes in anxiety symptoms as measured by the Beck anxiety inventory. Treatment modalities (e.g. adherence to appointment schedules) were considered as confounders. We examined univariate associations between dependent and independent variables before considering all independent variables in a multivariate final model. To find the best model to explain BAI score changes, we performed step-wise selection of independent variables based on Akaike information criteria. We tested for interaction terms between treatment allocation (intervention vs control) and independent variables using the multivariate model. We repeated these analyses in control vs intervention groups separately. From the original trial (N = 419), 236 patients (56.3%) were included. In the multivariate model, receiving the intervention (p<0.001), higher anxiety symptom severity (p<0.001) and longer illness duration at baseline (p = 0.033) were significantly associated with changes in anxiety symptom severity to the better while depression severity at baseline (p<0.001) was significantly associated with changes in anxiety symptoms to the worse. In stratified analyses, the control group showed significant associations between depression symptom severity and illness duration with anxiety symptom changes while baseline severity of anxiety symptoms remained significantly associated with anxiety symptom changes in both groups. A brief primary-care-based exposure training combined with case management is effective in a broad range of patients with panic disorder with/without agoraphobia, including those with longer illness duration and co-existing symptoms of depression at baseline.


We propose SpeakerNet - a new neural architecture for speaker recognition and speaker verification tasks. It is composed of residual blocks with 1D depth-wise separable convolutions, batch-normalization, and ReLU layers. This architecture uses x-vector based statistics pooling layer to map variable-length utterances to a fixed-length embedding (q-vector). SpeakerNet-M is a simple lightweight model with just 5M parameters. It doesn't use voice activity detection (VAD) and achieves close to state-of-the-art performance scoring an Equal Error Rate (EER) of 2.10% on the VoxCeleb1 cleaned and 2.29% on the VoxCeleb1 trial files.


Mandibular resection and reconstruction was done with rib graft on right side for a boy suffering from cemento-ossifying fibroma. The defect secondary to surgical ablation of mandible have far reaching consequences like speech, respiration, mastication, deglutition and cosmetics and growth disturbances. Restoring these functions is a challenging task. However, fairly regular crop of complications do occur during these surgical reconstructions. This article reports a rare case of an 11years old boy diagnosed as cement ossifying fibroma who underwent mandibular reconstruction with rib graft and the details of the follow up of the case for 6 months.


Since the early days of Software Engineering, researchers and practitioners have sought to improve the software development process. The lack of reuse or the low productivity rates are recurring concerns. The research community and industry members have been studying the Software Product Lines paradigm as a mean to industrialize the software development process. This paper takes that premise, materializing the paradigm with applicable technologies and analyses its true potential.


A system for discrimination of stop consonants has been designed on the basis of studies of auditory physiology and psychophysics. The system consists of a one-third octave filter bank as an approximation to auditory tuning curves, a bank of high speed, wide dynamic range envelope detectors, a logarithmic amplifier, and a digital computer for analysis and display. Features, chosen on the basis of psychophysical experiments, are then abstracted, and fed to a discriminant analysis program which decides on the most probable phomene. Discrimination accuracy of about 77% for stop consonants in initial position has been achieved, with a 15-speaker data set.


Despite the most recent period of calm on the financial markets, the long-term resilience of the European financial system is not yet assured, even several years after the financial crisis began. However, the stability of the financial system playsa crucial role for real economic development and consequently for growth and prosperity. The financial crisis has shown that stricter regulation is required to improve the stability and resilience of the banking system. Further, it has become evident in recent years that banking supervision requires better international coordination in this age of globalization. The present report first analyzes current developments with regard to the European banking system: what regulatory and institutional changes have been introduced since the crisis? How have market structures and the stability of the banking system developed? Second, the report proposes recommendations to further promote the stability of the banking system: the European banking sector has not been fully consolidated and this should be driven forward as a matter of urgency. The transparency of the new regulatory and institutional structure should be increased. The close ties between banks and governments must also be loosened further. Beyond the adjustments planned to date, policy makers should promote alternative financing sources for small and medium-size firms, e.g. the direct access to capital markets.


BackgroundWork motivation and job satisfaction are linked with the performance and retention of health workforce. Primary health facilities, mostly comprising mid-level health workers, serve the majority of the population in Nepal. The aim of the study was to assess the determinants of job satisfaction in relation to socio-demographics, job characteristics and work motivation status among health workers working in primary health facilities. MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in Jhapa district in Eastern Nepal covering 40 primary health facilities. The data collection involved 151 self-administered questionnaire interviews and 16 in-depth interviews with health workers. Mean differences in work motivation among those satisfied and unsatisfied with their job was examined using t tests. Logistic regression with 95% confidence interval at p<0.05 was used for identifying associated factors with job satisfaction. Thematic analysis was done to analyze qualitative data. ResultsAmong the study participants, 78.2% were either auxiliary health workers or auxiliary nurse midwives. The median employment period of health workers was 174 months. On the 5-point Likert scale, the mean score of work motivation was highest for team work (3.99) and lowest for financial motivation (2.21). Higher age of health workers and satisfaction with career development, and financial motivation were significantly associated with job satisfaction. The qualitative findings also revealed that the majority of the health workers were not satisfied with the existing career development opportunities, availability of resources in health facility, or financial motivation. ConclusionSatisfaction with career development and financial motivation significantly increased job satisfaction among health workers. Resource availability in health facility, recognition of work and management support affected work motivation and job satisfaction of health workers. A focus on improving work environment through increased financial motivation and career development opportunities as well as investing in primary health facilities with increased resource support is recommended to improve job satisfaction.


Basic research for prevention and treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), continues worldwide. In particular, multiple newly reported cases of autoimmune-related diseases after COVID-19 require further research on coronavirus-related immune injury. However, owing to the strong infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 and the high mortality rate, it is difficult to perform relevant research in humans. Here, we reviewed animal models, specifically mice with coronavirus-related immune disorders and immune damage, considering aspects of coronavirus replacement, viral modification, spike protein, and gene fragments. The evaluation of mouse models of coronavirus-related immune injury may help establish a standardised animal model that could be employed in various areas of research, such as disease occurrence and development processes, vaccine effectiveness assessment, and treatments for coronavirus-related immune disorders. COVID-19 is a complex disease and animal models cannot comprehensively summarise the disease process. The application of genetic technology may change this status.


The problem of scattering and radiation in the presence of a material half-space is solved using the transmission line matrix (TLM) method. The TLM method is a general numerical method for obtaining an approximate solution to the time-dependent form of Maxwell's equations in the presence of complex environments. The method requires the discretization of the entire spatial domain of the problem and provides the transient response as well as (through discrete Fourier transform) the frequency domain response. The three-dimensional symmetric-condensed TLM node is applied. A total/scattered field formulation is applied to excite the space. The source used is an electrically short electric dipole and is described analytically in the time-domain. The method is used to calculate near field distributions (in both the time and frequency domain) and the change in source input impedance of a dipole radiator in the presence of a half-space. Numerical simulations relevant to the detection of buried objects are provided. >


Single-root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) has become the de facto standard of network virtualization in cloud infrastructure. Owing to the high interrupt frequency and heavy cost per interrupt in high-speed network virtualization, the performance of network virtualization is closely correlated to the computing resource allocation policy in Virtual Machine Manager (VMM). Therefore, more sophisticated methods are needed to process irregularity and the high frequency of network interrupts in high-speed network virtualization environment. However, the I/O-intensive and CPU-intensive applications in virtual machines are treated in the same manner since application attributes are transparent to the scheduler in hypervisor, and this unawareness of workload makes virtual systems unable to take full advantage of high performance networks. In this paper, we discuss the SR-IOV networking solution and show by experiment that the current credit scheduler in Xen does not utilize high performance networks efficiently. Hence we propose a novel workload-aware scheduling model with two optimizations to eliminate the bottleneck caused by scheduler. In this model, guest domains are divided into I/O-intensive domains and CPU-intensive domains according to their monitored behaviour. I/O-intensive domains can obtain extra credits that CPU-intensive domains are willing to share. In addition, the total number of credits available is adjusted to accelerate the I/O responsiveness. Our experimental evaluations show that the new scheduling models improve bandwidth and reduce response time, by keeping the fairness between I/O-intensive and CPU-intensive domains. This enables virtualization infrastructure to provide cloud computing services more efficiently and predictably.


At the January 1987 Southern Section Meeting of the Triological Society in Santa Fe, NM, Nathan E. Nachlas, MD, and colleagues described their technique and reported the results using an anterior extraoral approach to the atlas and axis in five patients. The work was performed in the Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore. In comparison with transoral approaches, this technique allows adequate exposure for bone grafting of the cervical spine but avoids salivary contamination. The technique involves excision of the submaxillary gland, division of the digastric tendon, identification and tracing of the hypoglossal nerve from the skull base to the tongue, identification of the superior laryngeal nerve, and retropharyngeal dissection. Also, this approach can be used in biopsies of tumors that invade the atlas or axis and are of unknown origin. Postoperatively, none of the patients had wound infections or cranial nerve palsies, and


Recent ab initio folding simulations for a limited number of small proteins have corroborated a previous suggestion that atomic burial information obtainable from sequence could be sufficient for tertiary structure determination when combined to sequence‐independent geometrical constraints. Here, we use simulations parameterized by native burials to investigate the required amount of information in a diverse set of globular proteins comprising different structural classes and a wide size range. Burial information is provided by a potential term pushing each atom towards one among a small number L of equiprobable concentric layers. An upper bound for the required information is provided by the minimal number of layers Lmin still compatible with correct folding behavior. We obtain Lmin between 3 and 5 for seven small to medium proteins with 50 ≤ Nr ≤ 110 residues while for a larger protein with Nr = 141 we find that L ≥ 6 is required to maintain native stability. We additionally estimate the usable redundancy for a given L ≥ Lmin from the burial entropy associated to the largest folding‐compatible fraction of "superfluous" atoms, for which the burial term can be turned off or target layers can be chosen randomly. The estimated redundancy for small proteins with L = 4 is close to 0.8. Our results are consistent with the above‐average quality of burial predictions used in previous simulations and indicate that the fraction of approachable proteins could increase significantly with even a mild, plausible, improvement on sequence‐dependent burial prediction or on sequence‐independent constraints that augment the detectable redundancy during simulations. Proteins 2016; 84:515–531. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


We evaluated the functional activity of Haemophilus influenzae B (Hib) antibodies elicited in a group of infants immunized with the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine combined with an Hib vaccine produced totally in Brazil after technological transfer of Hib vaccine production from Glaxo SmithKline, Belgium. Blood samples from immunized infants (N = 985) were collected for the determination of Hib antibodies. Total Ig and IgM and IgG subclasses of antibodies against polyribosyl ribitol phosphate (PRP) were analyzed by ELISA. Almost all vaccinees (97.56%, 961/985) developed a strong anti-PRP IgG antibody response (>or=1.0 microg/mL), while an anti-PRP IgM response was observed in 64.24% (634/985) of them (>or=0.15 microg/mL). Only 18.88% (186/985) of the infants in the group with high PRP antibody IgG concentrations (>or=1.0 microg/mL) developed a high IgM antibody response. Anti-PRP IgG antibody levels were significantly higher than anti-PRP IgM. These results demonstrate the predominance of IgG antibodies over IgM antibodies in response to PRP, with a ratio of 17:1. IgG antibodies were predominantly of the IgG1 subclass. An increase in IgG avidity was also observed during the course of immunization.


This paper presents an adaptive approach based on probabilistic Bayesian inference to estimate the parameters of an atmospheric pollution source term. After introducing the problem and assessing the computational framework, we present an Importance Sampling based algorithm called Adaptive Multiple Importance Sampling (AMIS). It performs an efficient calculation of the source parameter posterior distribution by iteratively upgrading the proposal's parameters and recycling all generations of weighted samples, thus allowing a faster convergence and reducing the number of necessary iterations. We highlight the results of the AMIS by comparing it to a MCMC estimation in a simple example.


The authors discuss a large series of biopsy and necropsy findings in patients with giant cell arteritis (Buerger's thromboangiitis, Horton and Takayasu's diseases), and then in patients with other forms of arteritis with an inconstant plasmodial factor, such as the Chürg and Strauss syndrome, Wegener's disease, the pseudo-sarcoidosis form of lymphomatoid granulomatosis. The histology, correlated when necessary with ain immunofluorescent study, was completed by a topographical and evolutional study of the lesions in all cases. The pathogenesis of these different forms of arteritis is discussed in the light of the ultrastructural data concerning the formation of the various types of giant cell and the methods of identification of the vascular walls.


Breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Moreover, standard treatments are limited, so new alternative treatments are required. Thai traditional formulary medicine (TTFM) utilizes certain herbs to treat different diseases due to their dominant properties including anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, antigenotoxic, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer actions. However, very little is known about the anti-cancer properties of TTFM against breast cancer cells and the underlying molecular mechanism has not been elucidated. Therefore, the present study, evaluated the metabolite profiles of TTFM extracts, the anti-cancer activities of TTFM extracts, their effects on the apoptosis pathway and associated gene expression profiles. Liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectroscopy analysis identified a total of 226 compounds within the TTFM extracts. Several of these compounds have been previously shown to have an anti-cancer effect in certain cancer types. The MTT results demonstrated that the TTFM extracts significantly reduced the cell viability of the breast cancer 4T1 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines. Moreover, an apoptosis assay, demonstrated that the TTFM extracts significantly increased the proportion of apoptotic cells. Furthermore, the RNA-sequencing results demonstrated that 25 known genes were affected by TTFM treatment in 4T1 cells. TTFM treatment significantly up-regulated Slc5a8 and Arhgap9 expression compared with untreated cells. Moreover, Cybb, and Bach2os were significantly downregulated after TTFM treatment compared with untreated cells. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR demonstrated that TTFM extract treatment significantly increased Slc5a8 and Arhgap9 mRNA expression levels and significantly decreased Cybb mRNA expression levels. Moreover, the mRNA expression levels of Bax and Casp9 were significantly increased after TTFM treatment in 4T1 cells compared with EpH4-Ev cells. These findings indicated anti-breast cancer activity via induction of the apoptotic process. However, further experiments are required to elucidate how TTFM specifically regulates genes and proteins. This study supports the potential usage of TTFM extracts for the development of anti-cancer drugs.


In the development of the network field, the necessity for hiding the information is more important for protecting the information from the third party in an open network. In order to overcome this video Steganography technique is used. It is the profession of hiding the information which helps to conceal the sensitive data than other medium. In Steganography different cover objects are used for video, it can be separate into images and audio and accommodate massive amount of secret information. In this proposed work, introduce the new method for hiding the secret data into a video file using video Steganography technique. In this technique, IWT and Enhanced Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm to get a Stego video. And obtain extraction procedure is similar to embedding procedure vice versa. So that this proposed method is convenient and extracting data easily from stego video.


The coexistence of human type communications (HTC) with an ever-increasing number of machine type communications (MTC) is a challenge that the forthcoming Fifth Generation (5G) network is claimed to tackle. Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC) are among the most demanding services that 5G network will support. Also referred to as mission-critical services, URLLC often requires group communications. The evolved Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Services (eMBMS) architecture, currently specified by 3GPP to support group-based services in cellular networks, needs a revision to deliver future mission-critical services. In this paper, we analyze the performance of different machine-type multicast service (MtMS) scenarios and we compare three subgroup based approaches for multicast data delivery to MTC devices with limited channel bandwidth. Achieved simulation results provide useful guidelines for the design of multicasting schemes able to support delay-sensitive applications in 5G networks.


Healthcare is the diagnosis,treatment,and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans.Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain (as in "good health" or "healthy").The World Health Organization (WHO) defined health in its broader sense in 1946 as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." Healthcare is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers.Rural India contains over 68 percent of India's total population with half of it living below poverty line, struggling for better and easy access to health care and services. Health issues confronted by rural people are diverse and many – from severe malaria to uncontrolled diabetes, from a badly infected wound to cancer.It refers to the work done in providing primary care, secondary care and tertiary care, as well as in public health.


The addition of NaBH4 to Pd(OAc)2 in water containing nanomicelles leads to the generation of H2 and Pd nanoparticles. Subsequent reduction of disubstituted alkynes affords Z-alkenes in high yields. These reactions are general, take place in water at ambient temperatures, and offer recycling of the aqueous reaction mixture along with low overall E Factors.


Social sustainability focuses on the type of development that promotes social interaction and inclusion. It gives emphasis to inclusive community, social cohesions, quality of life, social equity and diversity. Segregated landuse has single land use and creates social impacts like social inequalities, exclusion, increased crime rate and physical and psychological problems. Mixed landuse development has multiple compatible land uses like residential, commercial, leisure, etc. within a closed proximity. These diverse uses tend to encourages walking thus enhancing visual and verbal interaction. This paper studies the significance of understanding the notion of mixed land use to achieve social sustainability. Various social parameters like accessibility, diversity, vitality, community cohesion, natural surveillance, safety, quality of life, sense of belonging and (anti)social behaviour has been studied in the context of mixed and segregated landuse areas. Supporting the literature review the study is further extended in six neighbourhoods with varying mix of residential, mix, commercial and other (open area/garden/institutional) land use for the city Nagpur, India. Accessibility, availability and quality of the amenities in the closed proximity and the age of the neighbourhood are the major decisive parameter that affects the social sustainability.


DNA methylation is an important epigenetic modification in vertebrate and is essential for epigenetic gene regulation in skeletal muscle development. We showed the genome-wide DNA methylation profile in skeletal muscle tissue of larval 7dph (JP1), juvenile 90dph (JP2), adult female 24 months (JP3) and adult male 24 months (JP4) Japanese flounder. The distribution and levels of methylated DNA within genomic features (1stexons, gene body, introns, TSS200, TSS1500 and intergenic) show different developmental landscapes. We also successfully identified differentially methylated regions (DMRs) and different methylated genes (DMGs) through a comparative analysis, indicating that DMR in gene body, intron and intergenic regions were more compared to other regions of all DNA elements. A gene ontology analysis indicated that the DMGs were mainly related to regulation of skeletal muscle fiber development process, Axon guidance, Adherens junction, and some ATPase activity. Methylome and transcriptome clearly revealed a exhibit a negative correlation. And integration analysis revealed a total of 425, 398 and 429 negatively correlated genes with methylation in the JP2_VS_JP1, JP3_VS_JP1 and JP4_VS_JP1 comparison groups, respectively. And these genes were functionally associated with pathways including Adherens junction, Axon guidance, Focal adhesion, cell junctions, Actin cytoskeleton and Wnt signaling pathways. In addition, we validated the MethylRAD results by bisulfite sequencing PCR (BSP) in some of the differentially methylated skeletal muscle growth-related genes (Myod1, Six1 and Ctnnb1). In this study, we have generated the genome-wide profile of methylome and transcriptome in Japanese flounder for the first time, and our results bring new insights into the epigenetic regulation of developmental processes in Japanese flounder. This study contributes to the knowledge on epigenetics in vertebrates. Author summary Epigenetic mechanisms like DNA methylation have recently reported as vital regulators of some species skeletal muscle development through the control of genes related to growth. To date, although genome-wide DNA methylation profiles of many organisms have been reported and the Japanese flounder reference genome and whole transcriptome data are publically available, the methylation pattern of Japanese flounder skeletal muscle tissue remains minimally studied and the global DNA methylation data are yet to be known. Here we investigated the genome-wide DNA methylation patterns in Japanese flounder, throughout its development. These findings help to enrich research in molecular and developmental biology in vertebrates.


This paper explores the interplay between Jewish Lurianic Kabbalah and Gestalt Therapy, focusing on enmeshment of emotions of the client. The paper proposes a method to unmesh enmeshed emotions using principles of Lurianic Kabbalah applied to Gestalt Therapy. The study delves into the history and concepts of Lurianic Kabbalah, emphasising the significance of its key elements: tzimtzum (God's self-limitation), shevirah (breaking of vessels), and tikkun (mending of flaws), highlighting the roots of Gestalt Therapy in Jewish thinkers and its compatibility with mythic and mystical traditions. Through a proposed therapeutic model, the paper illustrates the application of Lurianic Kabbalah in Gestalt Therapy sessions. The model comprises five stages of withdrawal, destruction, repair, gratitude, and celebration. By applying Kabbalah's transformative principles mirroring creation, destruction, and repair, clients gained fresh perspectives and identities. A quantitative study involving 49 non-clinical participants was conducted to study four variables, depression, anxiety, stress, and hopelessness, using DASS-21 and BHS. Results from pre-and-post testing, by employing Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test at p value of <0.01, revealed significant emotional state reductions of all variables with 0.000 significance values, endorsing the effectiveness of the approach in facilitating well-being and psychological healing. The study underscores the potential of this integration, contributing to the crossroads of mysticism and psychotherapy. Further research is needed to explore its broader applicability.


The gel electrophoresis mobility shift assay is widely used for qualitative and quantitative characterization of protein complexes with nucleic acids. Often it is found that complexes that are short-lived in free solution (t1/2 of the order of minutes) persist for hours under the conditions of gel electrophoresis. We have investigated the influence of polyacrylamide gels on the pseudo first-order dissociation kinetics of complexes containing the E.coli cyclic AMP receptor protein (CAP) and lactose promoter DNA. Within the gel matrix, kdiss decreased with increasing [polyacrylamide] and the order of the reaction was changed. In free solution, kdiss was proportional to [DNA]2, while in 5% gels, kdiss was proportional to [DNA]0.3. In gels of [polyacrylamide] > or = 10%, kdiss was nearly independent of [DNA] until fragment concentrations exceeded 0.1 microM. Even in the absence of competing DNA, kdiss(gel) < kdiss(solution). These results suggest that the lifetime of CAP-DNA complexes in free solution is limited by their encounter frequency with molecules of DNA or with protein-DNA complexes; some or all of the stabilization observed in gels may be due to a reduction in this frequency.


P Power Parity is a very important equilibrium concept in macroeconomics. Although the concept of purchasing power parity equilibrium is widely used in the academic, public and business sector, the actual existence of purchasing power equilibrium between countries is widely debated. The continuous development of methods to analyse the properties of time series data has contributed to this debate. In this paper, the purchasing power parity equilibrium between South Africa and its major trading partners is tested with some of the recent methods to analyse whether time series data converges towards equilibrium. The conclusion that is reached is that a purchasing power parity equilibrium do exist in the long run, but that this equilibrium breaks down over the short run.


Background: Oncolytic virotherapy with H-1PV represents a new therapeutic option for malignant brain tumors currently under clinical investigation in a phase I/IIa H-1PV trial on primary progressive or recurrent glioblastoma. Brain tumor-initiating cells such as glioblastoma "stem-like" cells or medulloblastoma-initiating cells are known to be relatively resistant to conventional anti-neoplastic agents and are thought to give rise to clinical tumor recurrence after standard treatment. This prompted us to address the question whether H-1PV is able to eliminate brain tumor-initiating cells in vitro. Methods and Results: The expression of stem cell markers was confirmed in neurosphere cultures of glioblastoma "stem-like" cells (n=4) and medulloblastoma cell lines (n=3). Neurosphere cultures were infected with H-1PV at a low (1p. f. u. per cell) or high (50p f. u. per cell) multiplicity of infection. All seven neurosphere cultures underwent productive infection with H-1PV as demonstrated by viral protein expression, viral DNA replication and infectious virus multiplication (increase in H-1PV titers up to 10,000 fold). Virus infection was accompanied by significant cytostatic and cytotoxic effects as quantified by counting living and dead cells, and confirmed by WST-1 assay. Conclusion: H-1PV is able to infect and lyse brain tumor-initiating cells in vitro without the need to adapt the virus tropism by genetic engineering.


Abstract This article offers an interpretation of British philosopher William Godwin's theory of property ownership, as outlined in his Enquiry Concerning Political Justice. Godwin's work can be read as presenting an incoherent account of property rights, which, on the one hand, justifies its existence on seemingly utilitarian grounds while, on the other, impugns its legitimacy on egalitarian grounds. But the contradiction apparent in Godwin's position is actually illusory and can in fact be plausibly interpreted as comprising a coherent two-level understanding of political morality, wherein the right to own private property is best comprehended as a "right to do wrong."


We report on the discovery of SPLUS J210428.01−004934.2, an ultra metal-poor (UMP) star first identified from the narrowband photometry of the Southern Photometric Local Universe Survey (S-PLUS) Data Release 1, in the SDSS Stripe 82 region. Follow-up medium- and high-resolution spectroscopy (with Gemini South and Magellan-Clay, respectively) confirmed the effectiveness of the search for low-metallicity stars using the S-PLUS narrowband photometry. At [Fe/H] = −4.03, SPLUS J2104−0049 has the lowest detected carbon abundance, A(C) = +4.34, when compared to the 34 previously known UMP stars in the literature, which is an important constraint on its stellar progenitor and also on stellar evolution models at the lowest metallicities. Based on its chemical abundance pattern, we speculate that SPLUS J2104−0049 could be a bona fide second-generation star, formed from a gas cloud polluted by a single metal-free ∼ 30M ⊙ star. This discovery opens the possibility of finding additional UMP stars directly from narrowband photometric surveys, a potentially powerful method to help complete the inventory of such peculiar objects in our Galaxy.


Samples of Drosophila species were collected from some selected sites (viz., Dohar Upazila of Dhaka Division, Hironpoint of the Sundarbans, Satchori of Sylhet Division) of Bangladesh and these were cultured in the laboratory to study developmental stages, external morphological traits and sex comb. They were identified as D. melanogaster, D. ananassae and D. bipectinata. The sex comb teeth number and arrangement were distinct for all three species. D. melanogaster had one row of 10 - 11 teeth in the sex comb. D. ananassae had eight rows of teeth in the sex comb possessing 32 - 33 teeth in total. D. bipectinata had 2 - 3 rows of teeth in the sex comb and total teeth number varied from 11 to 15. Among three species, sex comb teeth number of D. bipectinata varied most. Eleven different patterns (n=20) in sex comb were observed in D. bipectinata indicating significant diversity within species. Variation in pupation sites among three species was also observed in the laboratory condition. D. bipectinata pupated on the food medium, whereas other two species pupated on the vial wall. Thus, diversity among these three species of Drosophila was documented which could be utilized as bioindicator in future.
Dhaka Univ. J. Biol. Sci. 28(2): 167-176, 2019 (July)


A method for detecting scene changes from JPEG 2000 compressed images is presented. Change information and localisation is derived from changes in the local data rate. They can be extracted by analysing the code streams only. The computationally expensive decoding of image data is eliminated.


i Oceanic cycling of rare earth elements and the application of Nd isotopes to assess changes in Mesozoic ocean circulation Xinyuan Zheng Department of Earth Sciences & Exeter College, University of Oxford Michaelmas Term 2013 Thesis submitted to University of Oxford for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy ABSTRACT Rare earth elements (REEs) and their isotopes (such as Nd isotopes) can be potentially used to trace a wide range of oceanic processes in both modern and ancient oceans, but their successful application as tracers requires a comprehensive understanding of REE cycling in the modern ocean. Previous studies of REEs in seawater were largely constrained by analytical difficulties in generating accurate and precise REE data from seawater, which typically contain REE concentrations at a sub-ppt to ppt level. A new, and relatively simple, analytical method for precise and accurate determination of all dissolved REE concentrations in reasonably small (~100 ml) seawater samples is presented in this thesis. With the application of the new method, this thesis reports the first full-depth, zonal ocean section of all dissolved REE concentrations, collected during the CoFeMUG cruise along ~12°S in the South Atlantic. The section approach of this study places the distribution of dissolved REE concentrations in a well-constrained hydrographic context, allowing the first quantitative assessment (by an inverse model) of the relative importance of hydrographic controls resulting from advection/mixing of ocean circulation, together with non-conservative controls resulting from local particle scavenging and remineralization, in controlling the distribution of dissolved REEs in this region. A noteworthy decoupling of Ce and Mn with respect to their cycling in the water column was also observed in this study. The application of Nd isotopes as a tracer to reconstruct changes in ocean circulation in the NW European chalk shelf sea during rapid climatic events, including the mid-Cenomanian Event and oceanic anoxic event 2 (OAE 2), suggests a tight coupling between ocean circulation and transient climatic cooling during the general warm Late Cretaceous. An advected volcanic signal during OAE 2 was registered in the seawater Nd-isotope record from the English Chalk, probably suggesting a period of enhanced ocean ventilation/mixing at this time.Rare earth elements (REEs) and their isotopes (such as Nd isotopes) can be potentially used to trace a wide range of oceanic processes in both modern and ancient oceans, but their successful application as tracers requires a comprehensive understanding of REE cycling in the modern ocean. Previous studies of REEs in seawater were largely constrained by analytical difficulties in generating accurate and precise REE data from seawater, which typically contain REE concentrations at a sub-ppt to ppt level. A new, and relatively simple, analytical method for precise and accurate determination of all dissolved REE concentrations in reasonably small (~100 ml) seawater samples is presented in this thesis. With the application of the new method, this thesis reports the first full-depth, zonal ocean section of all dissolved REE concentrations, collected during the CoFeMUG cruise along ~12°S in the South Atlantic. The section approach of this study places the distribution of dissolved REE concentrations in a well-constrained hydrographic context, allowing the first quantitative assessment (by an inverse model) of the relative importance of hydrographic controls resulting from advection/mixing of ocean circulation, together with non-conservative controls resulting from local particle scavenging and remineralization, in controlling the distribution of dissolved REEs in this region. A noteworthy decoupling of Ce and Mn with respect to their cycling in the water column was also observed in this study. The application of Nd isotopes as a tracer to reconstruct changes in ocean circulation in the NW European chalk shelf sea during rapid climatic events, including the mid-Cenomanian Event and oceanic anoxic event 2 (OAE 2), suggests a tight coupling between ocean circulation and transient climatic cooling during the general warm Late Cretaceous. An advected volcanic signal during OAE 2 was registered in the seawater Nd-isotope record from the English Chalk, probably suggesting a period of enhanced ocean ventilation/mixing at this time.


OBJECTIVE To determine whether the medial amygdalar nucleus (MAN) represents a novel brain glucose-sensing region involved in the detection of hypoglycemia and generation of a counterregulatory hormone response. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Fura-2 calcium imaging was used to assess glucose responsivity in neurons isolated from the MAN and single-cell real-time reverse transcription PCR used to examine gene expression within glucose-responsive neurons. In vivo studies with local MAN perfusion of the glucoprivic agent, 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG), under normal and hypoglycemic conditions and also after MAN lesioning with ibotenic acid, were used to examine the functional role of MAN glucose sensors. In addition, retrograde neuronal tracer studies were used to examine reciprocal pathways between the MAN and the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH). RESULTS The MAN contains a population of glucose-sensing neurons (13.5%), which express glucokinase, and the selective urocortin 3 (UCN3) receptor CRH-R2, but not UCN3 itself. Lesioning the MAN suppressed, whereas 2-DG infusion amplified, the counterregulatory response to hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia in vivo. However, 2-DG infusion to the MAN or VMH under normoglycemic conditions had no systemic effect. The VMH is innervated by UCN3 neurons that arise mainly from the MAN, and ∼1/3 of MAN UCN3 neurons are active during mild hypoglycemia. CONCLUSIONS The MAN represents a novel limbic glucose-sensing region that contains characteristic glucokinase-expressing glucose-sensing neurons that respond directly to manipulations of glucose availability both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, UCN3 neurons may provide feedback inhibitory regulation of the counterregulatory response through actions within the VMH and the MAN.


Fat cells were isolated from sedentary and exercise trained female Sprague-Dawley rats and cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase (cyclic AMP-PDE) activities were determined from crude homogenates of the fat cells in the whole homogenate, P5, P48, and S48 fractions. Exercise training resulted in a significant increase in the mean specific activity of cyclic AMP-PDE (pmol X min-1 X mg-1) from the whole homogenate and S48 fraction at cyclic AMP concentrations of 4, 8, and 16 microM and in the P48 fraction at 8 and 16 microM cyclic AMP. Cyclic AMP-PDE kinetic plots according to Lineweaver-Burk for the calculation of Michaelis constants (Km) and maximum enzyme velocities (Vmax) were nonlinear, indicating both a low and high enzyme form. The Michaelis constants were significantly lower in trained rats than those of its control for the high Km form of cyclic AMP-PDE in the whole and soluble fractions and for the low Km form of the P5 particulate fraction. The Vmax of the high Km form of the P48 particulate fraction from trained animals was also significantly higher than that found in its control. Phosphodiesterase inhibition by methylxanthines in the various fractions was similar in both trained and sedentary animals. These changes in specific activity, Michaelis constants, and Vmax of cyclic AMP-PDE from crude homogenates of isolated fat cells from exercise trained animals may account for the decreased intracellular levels of cyclic AMP following catecholamine stimulation of isolated fat cells from trained rats.


The redundancy in computation for median filtering, mean filtering, and point and line detection in two-dimensional images is considered. Fast algorithms are described for median evaluation with 3×3 and 5×4 window sizes. The algorithms are compared with existing ones, and the test result on a picture is given. Extension of the algorithms for mean filtering and point and line detection is also discussed.


Model predictive control (MPC) has the ability to cope with hard constraints on control and state. It has, therefore, been widely applied in most industries specially, petrochemical industries. Dynamic safety margin (DSM) is a performance index used to measure the distance between a predefined safety boundary, described by a set of inequality constraints, in state space and system trajectory as it evolves. Designing MPC based on DSM is especially important for safety critical system to maintain a predefined margin of safety during transient and steady state. In this work, MPC based on DSM is used in fault tolerant control (FTC) design. The proposed method of FTC is suitable for single and multi-model system according to the fault type and fault information. It can compensate missed information about the fault and uncertainties in the faulty model


The validity of Tc-scaled Arrhenius plots of segmental relaxation times for glass-forming liquids is assessed by comparing the results on polymers differing only in molecular weight. The differences result in identical segmental relaxation dispersions which occur, however, at different times and temperatures. It is verified herein that the Tc-normalization scheme is a self-consistent means to classify and distinguish segmental relaxation behavior of polymers. Contrarily, changes in glass transition temperature effected by hydrostatic pressure alter the segmental dynamics in a manner such that the fragility of the polymer is altered.


Background Nitrogen (N) saturation theory proposes that an ecosystem might switch from N limitation to carbon (C), phosphorus (P), or other nutrient limitations if it receives continuous N input. Yet, after N limitation is removed, which nutrient is the most limited and whether topography modulates such change is rarely tested at a microbial level. Here, we conducted a two-year N addition experiment under two different topography positions (i.e. a slope and a valley) in a N-saturated subtropical forest. Soil enzyme activity was measured, and ecoenzymatic stoichiometry indexes were calculated as indicators of microbial resource limitation. Results In the valley, two-year N addition changed the activity of all studied enzymes to various degrees. As a result, microbial C limitation was aggravated in the valley, and consequently microbial decomposition of soil labile organic C increased, but microbial P limitation was alleviated due to the stoichiometry balance. On the slope, however, N addition did not significantly change the activity of the studied enzymes, and did not alter the status of microbial resource limitation. Conclusions These results indicate that C is a more limited element for microbial growth than P after removing N limitation, but we also highlight that topography can regulate the effect of N deposition on soil microbial resource limitation in subtropical forests. These findings provide useful supplements to the N saturation theory.


Puttalam Lagoon is one of the productive estuaries in the Northwest coast of Sri Lanka with a surface area of 32,700 ha (see Figure1). The lagoon receives fresh water from two rivers, Kala Oya and Mee Oya whose average discharges were estimated to be about 2.2 m 3 /s and 8.1 m 3 /s respectively. The lagoon is very rich in natural resources such as fish, shellfish, coral reefs, sand dunes, mangroves, sea grass beds, salt marshes and beaches. The main occupations of the people living in the area are fishing, trading fish products and agriculture. Human activities within and outside the system have resulted in the degradation of these valuable resources. Rapid and uncontrolled development of shrimp farming by converting mangrove forests and salt marshes has resulted in severe degradation of the valuable ecological habitats. Use of harmful and unsustainable fishing methods has lead to the reduction of fish varieties in the lagoon and in the degradation of the sea grass beds. This paper presents the results of the study that was carried out to investigate the present degradation levels of coastal resources in Puttalam lagoon and to review the effectiveness of existing management plans. A number of sustainable management options that can be implemented were also identified during the study.


Vehicular Ad hoc Network (VANET) is an advanced system and subcategory of a Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET), it has as the potential to significantly impact road safety and improve traffic by providing critical information to drivers on critical routes. The system can inform the driver of a local anomaly, which is a very short distance from the sensors. Data from this sensors can be passing between vehicles so as to increase awareness of this environment. Intelligent Transport System (ITS) applications will include traffic efficiency, comfort of driving and road safety. The transaction of warning messages exploits a limited capacity because these applications generate little separate messages. Estimating the capacity of the VANET is therefore essential, as it may limit the deployment or usefulness of these applications. Therefore, an estimate must be made in advance for application design with capacity limitations in mind. VANET capacity is limited mainly through spatial reuse.  Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) structures have been suggested to replace the conventional systems. In MIMO systems, a much higher data rate can be achieved than in a VANET environment. The objectives of the paper to study the capacity of the VANET network associated with new promising MIMO technology. Spatial multiplexing (SM),utilizes the spatial dimension to maximizethe capacity of a link without expanding a bandwidth. The SM gain is achieved throughtransmitting signals concurrently on parallel channels spatially with the same frequency. Capacity calculated over VANETs environments with MIMO/SM techniques, using Rayleigh Fading Channel with BPSK modulation. The results of MATLAB simulation package 2017a, indicate the enhancement in the unit of bit per second per Hertz (b/s/Hz). A maximum capacity improvement for MIMO system over Single Input Single Output (SISO) was achieved by using (4 x 4) system, it is about 16.14 b/s/Hz.


We show that if $A \subset [k]^n$, then $A$ is $\epsilon$-close to a junta depending upon at most $\exp(O(|\partial A|/(k^{n-1}\epsilon)))$ coordinates, where $\partial A$ denotes the edge-boundary of $A$ in the $\ell^1$-grid. This is sharp up to the value of the absolute constant in the exponent. This result can be seen as a generalisation of the Junta theorem for the discrete cube, from [E. Friedgut, Boolean functions with low average sensitivity depend on few coordinates, Combinatorica 18 (1998), 27-35], or as a characterization of large subsets of the $\ell^1$-grid whose edge-boundary is small. We use it to prove a result on the structure of Lipschitz functions between two discrete tori; this can be seen as a discrete, quantitative analogue of a recent result of Austin [T. Austin, On the failure of concentration for the $\ell^{\infty}$-ball, preprint]. We also prove a refined version of our junta theorem, which is sharp in a wider range of cases.


Single-cell studies have important implications in biomedicine. An accurate investigation of biochemical behaviour and status requires a biomolecular probe such as vibrational microscopy. Amongst other approaches, synchrotron infrared microspectroscopy is an appropriate analytical tool for single-cell investigation. However, it is important to understand the precise origin of spectral differences as they are directly related to the cell biochemistry. Beside biomolecular changes, physical properties can interfere in the resulting information, and the two effects need separating. Both cells and nuclei induce Mie scattering effects due to their equivalent size with the probe wavelength. This results in a large modification of the spectra, and its precise contribution has to be determined in order to extract the true spectral information. On this basis, we carried out this study in order to evaluate the exact contribution of cell nuclei to Mie scattering. To this purpose, we isolated whole cancer cell nuclei and obtained, for the first time, their FTIR spectra with good signal to noise ratio. The synchrotron-based FTIR (S-FTIR) spectra of nuclei showed changes in lipids, proteins, and DNA absorptions when compared to spectra of whole lung cancer cells. Importantly, we estimated the Mie scattering properties of single cells and single nuclei spectra and were consequently able to separate optical and chemical properties of single cells and nuclei. This is the first study which sheds new light on the identification of the precise spectral biomarkers of a whole cell and those of the cell nucleus.


Abstract The new colonial dendrophylliid coral genus Cairnsipsammia is described from the Lower Cretaceous Schrattenkalk Formation (upper Barremian–lower Aptian) of western Austria (Vorarlberg). The new genus is characterized by plocoid to submeandroid types of polyp integration, compact to porous costosepta, and corallites that are united by their perithecal walls or embedded in a narrow (up to 2 mm wide) porous, reticulate and costate coenosteum with granular surfaces. It represents the oldest colonial genus of the family Dendrophylliidae. The occurrence of Cairnsipsammia in a shallow-water, reefal environment (Schrattenkalk Formation), in combination with both the relatively high degree of corallite integration (submeandroid) and massive growth form points to the hypothesis that Cairnsipsammia may have been zooxanthellate.


THE CRITICAL shortages of medical supplies in many impoverished nations limit the provision of basic health care and may be as demoralizing to physicians and nurses as is their huge workload. 1 Arthur Hartman, former US ambassador to the Soviet Union, writes, "The new commonwealth can produce only 15 to 20 percent of the medical supplies it needs, and it does not have the hard currency to import them... medical workers are forced to reuse syringes and needles." 2 While it may be difficult to anticipate the usefulness of elaborate medical equipment in developing nations, it is clear that the people of such countries desperately need basic supplies. For editorial comment, see p 1462. Although poverty will affect health care in developing nations for decades to come, this does not preclude effective care of the sick and injured. 3-5 "Poverty in material resources is not matched by poverty of intellect


Manuka honey from New Zealand is often considered to be a medicinal product of special value due to its high level of antimicrobial activity. Therefore, the distinct authentication of its botanical origin is of great importance. Aside from the common pollen analysis, it is in this respect particularly the analysis of the phenolic acids, flavonoids, and norisoprenoids that is described as useful. In the present study, numerous manuka honeys were analyzed by UPLC-PDA-MS/MS after solid-phase extraction and compared to other kinds of honey to define marker substances characteristic for manuka honeys. The PDA profiles obtained differed markedly from each other so that the individual honey samples could be assigned to three groups. For the honeys of group 1 the comparably high concentrations of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, dehydrovomifoliol, and benzoic acid proved to be typical, whereas the profiles of group 2 showed high kojic acid and 2-methoxybenzoic acid intensities. The manuka honeys of group 3, on the other hand, yielded high amounts of syringic acid, 4-methoxyphenyllactic acid, and methyl syringate. Furthermore, the comprehensive comparison of manuka honeys to other unifloral honeys revealed that especially kojic acid, 5-methyl-3-furancarboxylic acid, leptosin, unedone, 2-methoxybenzoic acid, 4-methoxyphenyllactic acid, 3-hydroxy-1-(2-methoxyphenyl)penta-1,4-dione, and methyl syringate were useful for distinguishing manuka honeys from the other kinds of investigated honeys. Moreover, kojic acid, unedone, 5-methyl-3-furancarboxylic acid, 3-hydroxy-1-(2-methoxyphenyl)penta-1,4-dione, and lumichrome were identified in manuka honey for the first time.


ABSTRACT Faropenem was tested against 1,188 middle ear fluid pathogens from children in Israel and Costa Rica. Against Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae, faropenem was the most active β-lactam, with activity that was similar to or greater than of the other oral antimicrobial classes studied. Faropenem was also active against Moraxella catarrhalis and Streptococcus pyogenes.


To analyze vertical fire spreadability of aluminum composite panel, real scale test of aluminum composite panel and fire retardant aluminum composite panel was conducted as well as analysis of domestic code, test and domestic reaserch resulted in following conclusion. Fire spread risk assessment of aluminum Composite Panel is impossible with the current regulations (Cone Calorimeter Test). It need to changes of regulatory and combustion expanded risk assessment and regulatory changes in the test methods need to be judged. Also, there is quite a big different between the general aluminum Composite Panel and semi-non combustible of aluminum Composite Panel. However it is also deemed to be danger when present in the sidewall to the top consisting of fire spread. From now on, it is needed the study about interpretation of fire spread and sidewall of vertical fire spread analysis not only experiments for aluminum Composite Panel.


Experiential learning can take many forms and be usedin many ways. In its basic form, it involves moving awayfrom a strict lecture-based model of teaching toward an approach that positions the student as an active participantin his or her own learning and development. Typical useof the approach is in smaller-sized, advanced level classeswhere student involvement is often the expectation. The approach can, however, be used to capture the learning imaginations of students in lecture halls in their early undergraduate years. This paper explores the issues ofadopting an experiential approach in the discipline of Criminology, as well as describing various strategies toalleviate them. Key words: Criminology; Higher education;Experiential learning


This thesis explores the morphology, dynamics and causes of landslides and debris flows in mountainous regions of northern Iceland. The primary objectives are to define the initiation and evolution of Icelandic landslides and debris flows, and to understand the link between ground-ice thaw and rapid mass movements. Slopes are predicted to react more intensely to global warming, so improving our knowledge of rapid mass movements in cold environments, which are even more sensitive to climate change, is crucial, as they could pose at risk local population in Iceland and other mountainous periglacial areas.

I first perform a detailed study of debris flows in north-western Iceland, distinguishing through quantitative geomorphological methods the different mechanisms of debris-flow initiation and the associated geomorphic features. The approach of this study is easily applicable to similar settings, and its results could help in anticipating new potentially destructive events. Secondly, I describe and quantify the morphometric characteristics of two landslides in northern Iceland, whose source materials comprised ground ice-cemented deposits. This study reveals different dynamic landslide processes and the crucial role of thawing ground ice in landslide emplacement. I then analyse meteorological and seismic data near these two landslides. I define and distinguish precipitation, seismic activity and permafrost degradation as the preparatory and triggering factors for the failures. Finally, through a geomorphic approach I analyse molards, conical mounds of debris that I found in both landslides deposits. I show conclusive evidence that molards form from thawing of blocks of ice-rich sediments that degrade into cones of debris. I demonstrate that molards are the 'fingerprint" of permafrost degradation, and their different morphology and distribution can reveal different types of landslide processes in periglacial terrains.

This thesis widens our knowledge of the conditions and processes controlling rapid mass movements in cold environments, which is crucial in the perspective of hazard assessment, and opens up new avenues for the study of potentially hazardous geomorphic responses of cold landscapes to changing climate conditions.


Abstract The correlates of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice were examined using 190 studies samples, totaling 64,757 participants. We found the distinction between the three justice types to be merited. While organizational practices and outcomes were related to the three justice types, demographic characteristics of the perceiver were, in large part, unrelated to perceived justice. Job performance and counterproductive work behaviors, considered to be outcomes of perceived justice, were mainly related to procedural justice, whereas organizational citizenship behavior was similarly predicted by distributive and procedural justice. Most satisfaction measures were similarly related to all justice types. Although organizational commitment and trust were mainly related to procedural justice, they were also substantially related to the other types of justice. Findings from laboratory and field studies are not always in agreement. Future research agendas are discussed.


OBJECTIVE
A projected shortage of obstetrician-gynecologists prompted us to query other major national medical and surgical organizations about internal efforts to examine their specialty's physician workforce needs.

STUDY DESIGN
We sought the experience of the top 20 academies, societies or colleges of those medical or surgical specialties. Each organization had approximately 10,000 or more physician members. Those identified as being the most knowledgeable about physician workforce efforts in their specialty were asked to electronically complete a 14-question survey about the existence, structure and function of any workforce office or advisory group in their specialty.

RESULTS
Each organization responded to the survey. A task force, permanent committee or office (in large organizations) was formed to ascertain their specialty's workforce needs and projections. The results prompted the Executive Board of the American Congress of Obstetricians-Gynecologists to approve in July of 2010 the creation of an advisory group to conduct research and inform members about trends that affect the obstetrician-gynecologist workforce nationally and in individual districts.

CONCLUSION
In response to the potential shortage of obstetrician-gynecologists, an advisory group was approved by the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to undertake workforce studies.


Over the last 30 years in Japan, there has been a 10% increase in the number of people suffering from sick house syndrome due to toxic chemicals released from construction materials and wallpaper. This syndrome can develop into the more complex and disabling, chemical sensitivity syndrome, so preventing early exposure to toxins at home is critical in reducing the likelihood of health problems in the community. A qualitative study was undertaken using ethnographic methods to identify the psychosocial aggravating factors of sick house syndrome. As a result, the participants identified three aggravating factors that extended the period of exposure of the participant to toxic chemicals: a lack of knowledge about the disorder; the difficulty in establishing a diagnosis; and the difficulty of taking radical measures to improve the home environment. Public awareness of sick house syndrome and the dangers of toxicity from construction materials is vital to eliminate these aggravating factors and to prevent illness.


On a locally finite point set, a navigation defines a path through the point set from one point to another. The set of paths leading to a given point defines a tree known as the navigation tree . In this article, we analyze the properties of the navigation tree when the point set is a Poisson point process on R d . We examine the local weak convergence of the navigation tree, the asymptotic average of a functional along a path, the shape of the navigation tree and its topological ends. We illustrate our work in the small-world graphs where new results are established.


Objective:To discuss the effect of obesity on the operation of thyroid gland surgery and surgical results.Method:The clinical data of 446 patients who underwent robot thyroid surgery through bilateral axillo-breast approach (BABA) from the General Hospital of Jinan Military region from February 2014 to November 2017 were analyzed retrospectively, and the patients were divided into BMI<25 kg/m²; group, BMI 25-30 kg/m²; group and BMI>30 kg/m²; group according to body mass index (BMI). The operative complications were compared between the three groups of benign and malignant patients, such as operation time, postoperative lead flow, postoperative hospitalization time, tumor size (malignant), lymph node metastasis (malignant), cosmetic satisfaction score, laryngeal nerve injury and parathyroid function decrease. Statistical methods using Variance analysis and χ² test to compare the differences between the two groups of indicators, difference is statistically significant (P<0.05).Result:The difference of operation time, postoperative average hospitalization time and postoperative drainage fluid volume in 3 groups was not statistically significant(P>0.05). ①Intraoperative and postoperative pathological results were benign: BMI<25 kg/m²; group 69 cases, BMI 25-30 kg/m²; group 48 cases, BMI>30 kg/m²; group 8 cases, temporary recurrent laryngeal nerve injury were 1 case, 0 case and 0 case respectively, temporary parathyroid function decrease 3 cases, 2 cases and 1 case. ②Intraoperative and postoperative pathological results were malignant:BMI<25 kg/m²; group 180 cases, BMI 25-30 kg/m²; group 119 cases,BMI>30 kg/m²; group 22 cases, temporary recurrent laryngeal nerve injury were 2 cases,1 case and 0 case respectively, temporary parathyroid dysfunction in 64 cases,29 cases and 5 cases respectively.③1 patient in BMI<25 kg/m²; group had lymphatic leakage after operation, 1 patient in BMI 25-30 kg/m²; group had subcutaneous tunnel hemorrhage, and 1 patient had lymphatic leakage during operation.Conclusion:For overweight or obese patients, the da Vinci robot thyroid operation is reliable, does not increase the risk of surgical complications, but also has a good cosmetic effect.


A large-capacity, multi-plane, multi-stage buffered packet switch, called the TrueWay switch (Chao, 2005), was previously proposed by us. It can achieve hundreds of terabits/sec capacity. A small-scale TrueWay switch was prototyped to demonstrate the concept and feasibility. Three different load balancing schemes were investigated to achieve high throughput and low average delay with a moderate speedup. In this paper, we focus on the study of one of the load balancing schemes, window-based re-sequencing scheme, without a speedup. It is the most promising one among the three in terms of performance. Buffered switch modules are used in different stages to eliminate the need of centralized scheduling. However, packet out-of-subsequence is inventible as packets are distributed to different paths that have various queuing delays. By applying flow control between the input and output ports and limiting the re-sequencing window size (similar to TCP/IP flow control), we are able to keep the implementation cost to an acceptable level while still providing high throughput. Link-level flow control between the switch stages is required to prevent the downstream queues from being overflowed. The interaction between link flow control at switch stages and end-to-end flow control at switch ports is an interesting problem. We show by simulations that the TrueWay switch can be engineered to achieve high throughput without an internal speedup even under bursty non-uniform traffic distributions.


In recent Researchers most, important center of attention to abolish the need of SF6 gas from insulation systems and develop a novel amalgamated surrogate gas with low GWP, premier insulating properties and cost effective. This new-fangled surrogate gas handling and recycling is a complex job. This forecast shall be probable after essential measurements and investigational work. So, it is urgent and imperative need of Safeguard outline for Handling and Recycling the substitute of SF6 gas in electrical power equipment. This procedure establishes safe working practices list to perform elimination, supervision, and demolition of insecure by-products, normal and trouble maintenance work safely on SF6 gas insulated apparatus.


BACKGROUND
The lack of an outright treatment for Parkinson's disease (PD) is a pivotal concern in medicine and has driven the search for novel alternatives for treating the disease. Among the proposed approaches, small interfering RNA (siRNA)-based therapy is attracting significant attention as a potential method for the treatment of PD; however, siRNAs delivery possesses potential drawbacks, such as reduced stability in blood circulation and low capacity for reaching the target site.

OBJECTIVE
This review aims to explore siRNA-based approaches to PD and the latest advances for designing nanoparticles that effectively target siRNAs to the action site and that protect these against degradation in blood circulation.

RESULTS
siRNA-based approaches provide an interesting option for designing new strategies for treating PD through the silencing of genes, whose abnormal expressions contribute to the pathophysiology of the disease; however, siRNA delivery to the brain is a key issue that remains unsolved to date. Current research efforts are focused on designing vectors that effectively transport and protect siRNAs. In this regard, nanoparticles are being developed as carriers for siRNAs with controlled delivery efficiency and low toxicity profiles, and these represent an alternative to common vectors.

CONCLUSION
Identification of putative gene targets for siRNA therapy of PD has set the pace for researching non-viral vectors; however, the technological aspects for tackling the challenge that siRNAs targeting to the brain represents are essentials. In this respect, the formulation of siRNAs in nanoparticles would avoid harmful side effects, such as immunogenic and oncogenic drawbacks.


Recently, the oil and gas industry started to experience a major evolution that could impact the geophysical community for decades. The effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will lead to more renewable energy and less fossil fuel consumption. In parallel, the carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) business is expected to develop rapidly. However, reliably injecting massive amounts of CO2 underground is more challenging than producing hydrocarbons from a known reservoir. Site integrity monitoring and CO2 leak detection are among the biggest challenges. Capabilities to address these challenges will be requested by regulators and the public for acceptance. This surveillance requires technologies such as microseismic monitoring either from the surface or borehole. Each CCUS project will need a preinjection feasibility study in order to design the best sensor network architecture and to set performance expectancies. Acquisition will be performed over long periods of time. Data harvesting and processing will be performed permanently in automated workflows. For these objectives, site operators must demonstrate their expertise through permanent benchmarks based on a common modeling and simulating platform. Microseismic monitoring is not fully mature and presents additional unsolved challenges for large-scale projects such as CCUS. Using a common and public geologic model to generate synthetic data is a solution to gain more credibility. Limitations can be mitigated after analyzing and quantifying gaps such as localization uncertainties. The model is complex due to the nature of CO2 injection and will evolve over time. A public consortium, such as the SEG Advanced Modeling (SEAM) Corporation, that gathers expertise to generate a common model and synthetic data sets will give the credibility and openness necessary to progress in scientific knowledge. It will also provide the necessary transparency for regulatory approval and public acceptance. A new common CCUS modeling platform offers opportunities to work more efficiently within different disciplines.


Abstract : The current status of undergraduate software engineering education in United States universities is summarized, including descriptions of programs at eleven schools. Possible scenarios for the further evolution of undergraduate software engineering programs are described, based on observations of the evolution of computer science and computer engineering programs. Recent and ongoing activities of the Computer Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) regarding the establishment of the profession of software engineering are described, including the expected implications for undergraduate software engineering education.


This paper examines whether a one-time, extensive, but temporary shock to cash supply can affect the adoption of digital payments. We exploit the 2016 demonetization episode in India, which overnight discontinued 86% of cash in circulation. Using novel administrative data from retail debit card transactions, we identify a 12% increase in digital payments in areas adversely affected by the cash shortage, which persisted well after the restoration of cash supply. Examining mechanisms, we find a limited role for social networks and stronger support for learning by doing. Further, information frictions hinder the immediate adoption of digital payments.


Several important key problems and issues remain to be addressed about the numerical analysis of friction stir welding. The main feature of the thermal numerical approach is to accurately compute the thermal distribution produced by the friction between the plate and the tool. It is well known that the downward force applied from the tool creates a distributed pressure between the shoulder and the workpiece. Based on this, a new expression to represent the heat generation in FSW is proposed. Results of thermal cycles, thermal histories, and shapes of the weld and HAZ obtained with the proposed expression in SAE-AISI 1524 carbon steel are presented. Results demonstrate that the energy input is strongly dependent on the tool advance speed, rotational speed, and the axial pressure necessary to produce yielding. For instance, at a constant increase in axial pressure, lower peak temperature increments are produced when higher tool advance speeds are chosen. The mathematical modeling has been investigated with a view to generate numerical data to provide values for further assessment and experimental comparison.


A design technique for a low noise low power LC-VCO is presented. By considering the thermal noise generated by the switching transistors, the resonator and the biasing circuit, we derived a complete phase noise expression for the 1/f2 region. We observed that this expression is compatible with a geometric programing formulation of the VCO. Thus, an optimal device geometry for the VCO-core and its polarization circuit is simultaneously obtained for minimum power consumption under several different design specifications, including phase noise, oscillation frequency, tuning range, oscillation amplitude, loop gain and inductor geometry. Additionally, through the generation of optimal trade-off curves, some remarkable considerations about the impact of design specifications on the power consumption are reviewed. As a design example, a low power LC-VCO for the 2.45GHz ISM band, with phase noise of −130 dBc/Hz@3MHz and FOM of 180dB, was designed in a standard 0.35µm CMOS technology. A prototype has been fabricated by the Silicon Foundry AMS - Austria Micro Systems.


The dynamic equations of a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), namely Qball-X4, are analyzed and built, trajectory tracking control design based on an inner/outer loop control structure is proposed in this paper. The method of analytic geometry is used in dead-reckoning, discrete Kalman filter has been applied to trajectory tracking for improving the accuracy of estimated location. Integrated online waypoints pre-planning and trajectory tracking control have been carried out. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


This paper discussed the new improved and modified internet pricing scheme in multiservice networks [1]. This new improved scheme is created to set up the base price, quality premium and Quality of service (QoS). This scheme has the purposes to help Internet Service Provider (ISP) in maximizing the revenue and contribute better quality of service to the users. The objective function will be formed to set up the base price and quality premium as a variable or a constant. The models used are in nonlinear forms and solved by using LINGO 11.0 to get the optimal solution. The results show that for each cases of improved scheme, ISP gets better optimal solutions by varying or fixing the base price and quality


Peptidylarginine deiminases (PADIs, or PADs) are emerging as key regulators of human physiology and pathophysiology. The nuclear deiminase PADI4 regulates embryonic stem cell pluripotency, however its role in adult stem cells is unknown. PADI4 is expressed most highly in the bone marrow (BM), where it is found as part of a self-renewal-associated gene signature and shown to modulate the function of critical transcriptional regulators such as Tal1 and c-Myc, suggesting that it regulates haematopoietic development or regeneration. We investigated the functional significance of PADI4 in haematopoietic stem cell (HSC) biology and normal haematopoiesis. We employed two conditional mouse models of tissue-specific Padi4 ablation, where Padi4 was completely deleted either after the emergence of HSCs, or acutely in the BM of adult mice. We found that loss of PADI4 does not significantly affect HSC self-renewal or differentiation potential upon injury or serial transplantation, nor does it lead to exhaustion or premature ageing of HSCs. Thus, surprisingly, PADI4 is dispensable for cell-autonomous HSC maintenance, differentiation and haematopoietic regeneration. This work has important implications for the clinical use of PADI4 inhibitors as therapeutic agents in autoimmunity and cancer. Key Points PADI4 is dispensable for steady-state and post-transplantation haematopoiesis HSCs do not require intrinsic PADI4 activity to respond to haematopoietic injury PADI4 deficiency does not lead to premature HSC ageing or exhaustion


Nowadays, a remarkable development in the automation field is happenning worldwide,
in order to allow to have the most heavy works done by machines. In this topic, it is
starting to be seen the implementation of dual arm robots, able to perform the translation
of heavier and bigger pieces in a most ergonomic way and with better precision, even
giving in many situations the capability to easily pick the most heavy components.
While there is a wide variety of planning tools with a simple and effective interface for
pick and place actions with one arm, the dual arm manipulation is still being seen, currently,
as a very specific and not normalized topic of development, where great part of the
existing tools requires a huge development in order to be apply them effectively, needing
a waste of useless resources (time and capital) to adapt these tools to a new specific robot
or a new environment.
The goal of this project is to create an effective framework in ROS, with a clear and
simple structure (not only for the user, but also for a programmer) which allows to apply
a manipulation, with one or two arms with a wide range of possible configurations.
In order to improve the internal security and usability, this performance will be done enabling
sensors able to understand the environment while a dynamic avoidance of collisions
will be performed.
Great part of this code will be done using the capabilities of the moveit library, in order
to work with a clear and powerful basis, the one will be improved to achieve the already
defined goals.


The Personal Distributed Environment, or PDE, represents a new concept of a computer network that takes a user-centric view of personal devices to create a purely virtual personal network. A PDE integrates all devices that are relevant to a user, regardless of their location, current role, or their specific capabilities. In this paper we present an overview of the PDE concept and describe how such an environment may be constructed. Since the user's devices may be located in several different security domains, our focus is on the secure initialisation of the PDE and to that end, we introduce a step-bystep procedure describing how user's devices will join the network in a secure manner.


The work presented in this paper focuses on platonning navigation control (train of vehicles) according to different trajectories. As a first step we based our study on two vehicles. an kinematic model of the two vehicles is described followed by a PID multi-controller control approach based on conventional PID, PID optimized by Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) technique and fuzzy controller applied to the longitudinal and lateral control of each vehicle. Controller parameters optimization is based on a fitness function time weight square error (ITSE). The communication between the two vehicles is ensured with the exchange of information, the speed and orientation angle, respecting the safety distance between the vehicles. To approve our approach we have use different reference trajectory in different simulations in matlab-simulink environment and v-rep 3D simulation. The simulation obtained results illustrate the efficiency of our control design and open the perspectives for future work.


Dopaminergic neurons in the ventral mesencephalon (the ventral mesencephalic dopaminergic complex) are known for their role in a multitude of behaviors, including cognition, reward, addiction and voluntary movement. Dysfunctions of these neurons are the underlying cause of various neuropsychiatric disorders, such as depression, addiction and schizophrenia. In addition, Parkinson's disease (PD), which is the second most common degenerative disease in developed countries, is characterized by the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons, leading to the core motor symptoms of the disease. However, only a subset of dopaminergic neurons in the ventral mesencephalon is highly vulnerable to the disease process. Indeed, research over several decades revealed that the neurons in the ventral mesencephalic dopaminergic complex do not form a homogeneous group with respect to anatomy, physiology, function, molecular identity or vulnerability/dysfunction in different diseases. Here, we review how the concept of dopaminergic neuron diversity, assisted by the advent and application of new technologies, evolved and was refined over time and how it shaped our understanding of PD pathogenesis. Understanding this diversity of neurons in the ventral mesencephalic dopaminergic complex at all levels is imperative for the development of new and more selective drugs for both PD and various other neuropsychiatric diseases.