The abnormal expression of tropomyosin receptor kinase (Trk) serves an important role in the promotion of cancer progression. Homeobox C6 (HOXC6) and A disintegrin and metalloproteinase domain‑containing 8 (ADAM8) are associated with the invasiveness of cancer cells. However, the exact relationship between these molecules and their downstream signaling pathways in chemoresistant colon cancer cells are largely unknown. Therefore, the current study investigated the association between TrkB/C with HOXC6 and ADAM8 in the induction of drug‑resistant colon cancer cell metastasis. The results demonstrated that chemoresistant colon cancer cells exhibited upregulated TrkB/C, HOXC6 and ADAM8 expression. Additionally, but also chemoresistant colon cancer cells demonstrated higher migratory activities compared with parent colon cancer cells. The pharmacological inhibition of TrkB/C activity reduced the phosphorylation of mitogen‑activated protein kinase kinase/ERK and subsequently suppressed HOXC6 and ADAM8 expression. In addition, gene silencing of HOXC6 inhibited ADAM8 and MMP activity, and inhibited the migration and invasion of drug‑resistant cancer cells. However, the targeted downregulation of ADAM8 using small interfering RNA failed to suppress TrkB/C‑associated ERK‑mediated HOXC6 signaling activity. Furthermore, pre‑treatment with ADAM10‑ and ADAM17‑specific inhibitors had no effect on attenuating the invasiveness of chemoresistant colon cancer cells. The results indicated that TrkB/C‑mediated ERK activation serves an important role in the metastasis of drug‑resistant colon cancer cells through the regulation of HOXC6/ADAM8 activity.


The reliability and efficiency of a stochastic service system subject to break-downs and slow-downs is investigated. A mathematical model of such a system is a single server queue with Poisson input and exponential service time. However, the server is subject to break-downs and slow-downs, the lengths of which are exponentially distributed. During these periods he serves at varying rates. Analytic expressions are derived for the mean waiting time and the mean queue length.


Background Preeclampsia (PE) is a specific hypertensive disorder in pregnancy. Lead (Pb) is a heavy metal that affects women's reproductive health. However, it is unclear whether lead exposure during can predispose maternal risk of developing preeclampsia. This systematic review and meta-analysis study aimed to explore the association. Methods We searched studies from three databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Embase). Only case-control, cross-sectional, and cohort studies reporting maternal blood lead levels (BLL) and PE were included from database inception to 31st July 2022. Pregnant women with blood lead levels measured were eligible. Those healthy pregnant women who did not develop preeclampsia were assessed as comparators. Letters, comments, case reports, and reviews were excluded. Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) and its adaptive form were applied for assessment. The random-effects method (REM) was applied to calculate the standardized mean difference (SMD) with a 95% confidence interval (CI). Stata 16.0 and RevMan 5.3 were the software used for data extraction and analysis. Results 25 studies out of 1,808 articles made the finalist for systematic reviews, of which 21 underwent further quantity analysis. A total of 1,533 preeclamptic women and 10,998 healthy pregnant controls were included in the meta-analysis. The overall result revealed that maternal lead exposure was significantly higher in women with preeclampsia (SMD: 1.06, 95% CI 0.69, 1.43); (I2 = 96.40%; P = 0.000). Conclusion This study demonstrates that maternal lead exposure is associated with preeclampsia during pregnancy. The association is present even in low blood lead levels. The conclusion should be taken seriously and women should avoid unexpected exposure to a lead-containing environment as much as possible. Systematic review registration https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=347220, identifier: CRD42022347220.


The scaling of free convection heat transfer is investigated. The non-dimensional groups for Boussinesq and fully compressible variable property free convection, driven by isothermal surfaces, are derived using a previously published novel method of dimensional analysis. Both flows are described by a different set of groups. The applicability of each flow description is experimentally investigated for the case of the isothermal horizontal cylinder in an air-filled isothermal enclosure. The approach taken to the boundary conditions differs from that of previous investigations. Here, it is argued that the best definition of the boundary conditions is achieved for heat exchange between the cylinder and the enclosure rather than the cylinder and an arbitrarily chosen fluid region. The enclosure temperature is shown both analytically and experimentally to affect the Nusselt number. The previously published view that the Boussinesq approximation has only a limited range of application is confirmed, and the groups derived for variable property compressible free convection are demonstrated to be correct experimentally. A new correlation for horizontal cylinder Nusselt number prediction is presented.


In this paper we are trying to determine a scheme for the fair allocation of points to the contributors of the collaborative community. The major problem of fair allocation of points among the contributors is that we have to analyze the improvement in the versions of an article. Lets say there is a contribution of major change in content which is relevant vs the contribution of adding a single comma. Every contributor cannot be given the same points in such a case. There are many ways which can be used like number of changes in a new version. That might seem relevant but it becomes irrelevant in terms of correct content contribution and other significant changes. There is no AI system too which can detect such a change and award the points accordingly. So this problem of allocation of points to the contributors is presented by an algorithm with a theoretical proof. It relies on the interactive interaction of the users in the system which is trivial in case of big system design economies.


Early detection of microorganisms is essential for the management of infectious diseases. However, this is challenging, as traditional culture methods are labor-intensive and time-consuming. The 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide-phenazine methosulfate (MTT-PMS) assay has been used to evaluate the metabolic activity in live cells and can thus be used for detecting living microorganisms. With the addition of NaOH and Tris-EDTA, the same approach can be accelerated (within 15 min) and used for the quick detection of common bacterial pathogens. The assay results can be evaluated colorimetrically or semi-quantitatively. Here, the quick detection by MTT-PMS assay was further investigated. The assay had a detection limit of approximately 104 CFU/mL. In clinical evaluations, we used the MTT-PMS assay to detect clinical samples and bacteriuria (>105 CFU/mL). The negative predictive value of the MTT-PMS assay for determining bacteriuria was 79.59% but was 100% when the interference of abnormal blood was excluded. Thus, the MTT-PMS assay might be a potential "rule-out" tool for bacterial detection in clinical samples, at a cost of approximately USD 1 per test. Owing to its low cost, rapid results, and easy-to-use characteristics, the MTT-PMS assay may be a potential tool for microorganism detection.


OBJECTIVES This study examined the contribution of employment status, welfare benefits, alcohol use, and other individual, and contextual factors to physical aggression during marital conflict. METHODS Logistic regression models were used to analyse panel data collected in the National Survey of Families and Households in 1987 and 1992. A total of 4780 married or cohabiting persons re-interviewed in 1992 were included in the analysis. Domestic violence was defined as reporting that both partners were physically violent during arguments. RESULTS It was found that non-employed respondents are not at greater risk of family violence in comparison with employed respondents, after controlling for alcohol misuse, income, education, age, and other factors; however, employed persons receiving welfare benefits are at significantly higher risk. Alcohol misuse, which remains a predictor of violence even after controlling for other factors, increases the risk of family violence while satisfaction with social support from family and friends decreases it. CONCLUSION These results underscore the important effect of alcohol misuse on domestic violence, and the need to monitor the potential impact of welfare reform on domestic violence.


In this paper, the design and the prototype implementation of a power-quality (PQ) measuring and monitoring instrument based on an embedded controller with reconfigurable I/O are described. The instrument performs the calculation of main PQ indexes according to the latest standards, and it can be reconfigured for future standard developments. It is properly implemented to operate in stand-alone mode, and it is interfaced with hardware modules to exchange information and data, locally, with RS-232 connection or, remotely, with Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol communication. The design includes enhancing of transducer performances through the correction of systematic errors with digital filters implemented by a field-programmable gate array module. This instance allows better performance without increasing cost. Finally, the whole accuracy of the proposed measurement system is evaluated by experimental tests that were performed in agreement with the specification of a class-A instrument for some of the main PQ indexes. The tests are performed, including the transducers, although that component is not required by the standard, to evaluate the behavior of compensated transducers. The test results are compared with those obtained by a commercial PQ instrument and show a good agreement.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this retrospective study was to describe the imaging features of stromal fibrosis of the breast and to determine the false-negative rate (number of cancers missed) at percutaneous biopsy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Between January 1997 and October 1999, 1095 imaging-guided core biopsies were performed. Patients were included in our study if stromal fibrosis was the predominant histologic finding. Cores adjacent to previous excisional biopsies or from calcified lesions were excluded.

RESULTS
Stromal fibrosis was diagnosed in 74 (6.8%) of 1095 imaging-guided core needle biopsies in 73 patients. The 10 mammographic lesions were variable in appearance. Most of the sonographic lesions were indeterminate, with 16 (25%) of 64 showing suspicious features. Discordant imaging resulted in three patients having a second core biopsy and nine patients having an excisional biopsy. The two false-negative findings were the result of an infiltrating lobular carcinoma and an infiltrating ductal carcinoma, the latter diagnosis delayed for 6 months.

CONCLUSION
The low incidence (2.7%) of missed cancers in our series suggests that patients diagnosed at core biopsy as having stromal fibrosis can be treated conservatively with a short-term follow-up protocol. However, it would be prudent to continue to recommend either a second core biopsy or an excisional biopsy for imaging features that cannot be reliably differentiated from malignancy.


Nucleosomes, composed of DNA and histone proteins, represent the fundamental repeating unit of the eukaryotic genome1; posttranslational modifications of these histone proteins influence the activity of the associated genomic regions to regulate cell identity2–4. Traditionally, trimethylation of histone 3-lysine 4 (H3K4me3) is associated with transcriptional initiation5–10, whereas trimethylation of H3K27 (H3K27me3) is considered transcriptionally repressive11–15. The apparent juxtaposition of these opposing marks, termed "bivalent domains"16–18, was proposed to specifically demarcate of small set transcriptionally-poised lineage-commitment genes that resolve to one constituent modification through differentiation, thereby determining transcriptional status19–22. Since then, many thousands of studies have canonized the bivalency model as a chromatin hallmark of development in many cell types. However, these conclusions are largely based on chromatin immunoprecipitations (ChIP) with significant methodological problems hampering their interpretation. Absent direct quantitative measurements, it has been difficult to evaluate the strength of the bivalency model. Here, we present reICeChIP, a calibrated sequential ChIP method to quantitatively measure H3K4me3/H3K27me3 bivalency genome-wide, addressing the limitations of prior measurements. With reICeChIP, we profile bivalency through the differentiation paradigm that first established this model16,18: from naïve mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) into neuronal progenitor cells (NPCs). Our results cast doubt on every aspect of the bivalency model; in this context, we find that bivalency is widespread, does not resolve with differentiation, and is neither sensitive nor specific for identifying poised developmental genes or gene expression status more broadly. Our findings caution against interpreting bivalent domains as specific markers of developmentally poised genes.


We have explored a simplified system without purification for systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) against Vibrio alginolyticus to select single-stranded DNA ligands (aptamers) from a random 82-nt library. The DNA content was quantified by agarose gel electrophoresis and follow-up image analyses with the BandScan 5.0 software. Anti-digoxigenin/HRP system was used to determine the binding activity of aptamers for V. alginolyticus. The results showed that the affinity of aptamers increased gradually with the increase of screening rounds, indicating that the lack of purification did not affect screening results but rather made SELEX screening much more convenient and significantly increased the efficiency.


After the time periodicity is removed from the problem, the spatial distribution of internal waves in a stratified fluid is governed by a hyperbolic equation. With boundary conditions specified all along the perimeter of the domain, information is transmitted in both directions (forward and backward) along every characteristic, and, unlike the typical temporal hyperbolic equation, the internal-wave equation is not amenable to a simple forward integration. The problem is tackled here with a finite-difference, relaxation technique by constructing a time-dependent, dissipative problem, the final steady state of which yields the solution of the original problem. Attempts at solving the problem for arbitrary topography then reveal multiple resonances, each resonance being caused by a ray path closing onto itself after multiple reflections. The finite-difference formulation is found to be a convenient vehicle to discuss resonances and to conclude that their existence renders the problem not only singular but also extremely sensitive to the details of the topography. The problem is easily overcome by the introduction of friction. The finite-difference representation of the problem is instrumental in serving as a guide for the investigation of the resonance problem. Indeed, it keeps the essence of the continuous problem and yet simplifies the analysis enormously. Although straightforward, robust and successful at providing a numerical solution to a first few examples, the relaxation component of the integration technique suffers from lack of efficiency. This is due to the particular nature of the hyperbolic problem, but it remains that numerical analysts could improve or replace the present scheme with a faster algorithm.


A computational application to predict, probe and interpret the activities of a series of congeneric compounds inhibiting extracellular signal‐regulated kinase 2 protein kinase is presented. The study shows that molecular dynamics coupled with molecular mechanics Poisson–Boltzmann solvent accessible surface area free energy estimation is a suitable tool for investigating the experimental binding activities of ligands to protein kinases. Computed and experimental binding activities were found to be significantly correlated. Moreover, the interpretation of the X‐ray co‐crystal structure in conjunction with computational results shows that the hinge region of the protein insure the principal binding site via multiple hydrogen bonding interactions, whereas fine‐modulation of biological activities along the series is accomplished through the combination of weak and strong interactions that compete with water. These are located in the substituent moieties of the ligands interfacing with the DFG motif, the sugar region and the hydrophobic pocket of extracellular signal‐regulated kinase 2. The study suggests that a wider interaction framework that is well beyond the hinge region is required to predict and rationalize at molecular level the experimental biological activities of congeneric compound series.


Background: Legislative backing exists to set up free legal aid clinics in psychiatric hospitals to provide legal assistance to their patients. Aims: This study aimed to assess the utility of a free legal aid clinic running inside a mental health establishment. Methods: In this prospective study, 71 subjects (chosen via convenience sampling) were recruited. Assessments were carried out at baseline and two months after intake. Legal needs and the legal outcomes were assessed. Results: Most of the legal issues were either family-related (50.7%) or civil issues (28.2%). A majority of patients (64.4%) had implemented the advice given at the clinic. Those who had implemented the advice had a better legal outcome, defined as either resolution of the legal issue or that the legal issue was in an active proceeding compared to those who had not implemented the advice (P = 0.007). Conclusion: The provision of free legal aid services in mental health establishments would benefit patients.


Though its abundance may often be taken for granted, iron is so common, so all-pervasive, and so fundamental to humankind across the globe that it literally exists in our blood, as the Fowler Museum at UCLA's recent exhibition, Striking Iron, poetically reminds us. On view from June 3 through December 30, 2018 and then traveling to two other venues, Striking Iron continued the Fowler's tradition of producing intellectually rigorous yet lyrical shows in breathtaking color and style. The exhibition explored the contribution of African blacksmiths, practitioners, and artists to the history and use of iron as they transform this common metal into objects of life-changing empowerment, prestige, utility, and spiritual potency—topics deftly interwoven throughout the exhibition, utilizing effortlessly mixed "high" African arts with objects of daily use. While lacking a contemporary component, objects in the exhibition extended up to the late twentieth century, and the exhibition continued a conversation in the field of African arts that focuses less on binaries, or the policing of genre and border, and more on the fluidity of these constructions. Striking Iron featured more than 225 works of art spanning two centuries and originating from over 100 cultural groups in predominantly West and Central Africa, including currency blades, swords, hoes, anvils, musical instruments, and bodily adornment. The show was curated by a team of heavyweights, led by artist and trained smith Tom Joyce (diverging from the status quo, this places an artist rather than a trained curator at the helm), and accompanied by the intellectual talents of African art historians Allen F. Roberts, Henry J. Drewal, and William J. Dewey, as well as Fowler Museum Shirley and Ralph Shapiro Director Marla C. Berns. Joyce was singularly featured in several talking head videos paired with in-depth object focuses interspersed throughout the exhibition. Joyce thus effectively served as the lead voice of Striking Iron, where visitors may have found a plurality of voices—particularly those of Africans themselves, considered here only through cosmologies and origin stories—to be more compelling. The exhibition began by visually and viscerally birthing the visitor through an immersive metamorphic tunnel of lava and blood (Fig. 1). Created through layering images of sparks from striking red-hot iron, molten iron at the Earth's core, and the flow of smelted iron set to the pulse of heartbeat and hammer, it effectively transported the visitor from the hustle and bustle of the everyday into the focused space of contemplation. One couldn't help but feel a connection to iron as central to humanity—in the earth's soil, human blood, and Africa's history. After emerging from the tunnel, the visitor was greeted by a handful of superlative works that drove home several of the exhibition's eight thematic sections. These zones progressed from the hammer-and-anvil basics to the "bloom" of creativity that represents some of the most politically and intellectually sophisticated works of art in iron. For this reviewer, the most compelling of these works was a Songye nkishi figure with its iron coiffure bristles and numerous medicinal bundles—a power figure so "hot" that it can only be manipulated using the slender iron rods attached by a circlet to its waist, projecting out far below its feet (Fig. 2). Each section was sumptuously complemented by a range of visual and audio materials, including Joyce's commentary, historical photographs, and soundscapes. A large number of subsection spotlights expanded upon thematic focuses, but the cavalcade of words may have felt overwhelming to some. Regardless, the extensive 1 Entryway and title panel of Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths, June 3–December 30, 2018. Photo: Amanda M. Maples


The contemporary poet most closely associated with Emily Dickinson is Susan Howe. In My Emily Dickinson and other writings Howe sees Dickinson as her forebear. The link with Dickinson is the antinomian strain in the New England Protestant imagination, and Howe sees that antinomian spirit as impelling Dickinson's—and her own—experiments in form and diction to express the urgencies of personal vision and spiritual quest in a morally and psychologically fractured world. But Howe's long poems display an essentially historical imagination very different from Dickinson's lyric imagination. In contrast, her sister Fanny Howe has a lyric imagination, and her poems sound and feel more like Dickinson's in their concision, personal voice, verbal density, sidewise metaphorical leaps, and focus on rendering the immediate moment of perception and feeling. The contrast between Susan and Fanny Howe proceeds from their different theologies and religious sensibilities. What is left of God in Susan's antinomianism is language: individual voice and vision in a broken world. The Catholic matrix of Fanny's poems is incarnational and assumes an informing spirit in material existence, an ultimate reality outside language informing the contentions of emotional and spiritual life which language in its indirections seeks to apprehend and express. Thus Dickinson offers a lens through which to distinguish the poetic perspectives and practice of two of the most important contemporary American poets.


A series of full-scale tests was conducted on the E-Defense shaking table facilities in Japan to simulate various levels of realistic seismic damage in a high-rise structural steel building. During the shaking table tests, the specimen experienced damage of the concrete slabs, beam-to-column connections, and nonstructural walls. The densely recorded test data of global and local structural deformation and the extensive acceleration records provide a unique benchmark case for evaluating the effectiveness of vibration-based damage diagnosis methods. Dynamic properties of the specimen were extracted from floor accelerations under the white noise excitations by the frequency response function curve-fitting method and autoregressive with exogenous term method. The natural frequencies of the structure decreased on average 4.1, 5.4, and 11.9% after three levels of seismic excitation, respectively, because of increasing extent of structural and nonstructural damage. The analysis of the vibration data shows that t...


Abstract To evaluate the impacts of the urban heat island (UHI) effect on precipitation over a complex geographic environment in northern Taiwan, the next-generation mesoscale model, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, coupled with the Noah land surface model and urban canopy model (UCM), was used to study this issue. Based on a better land use classification derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite data (the MODIS case), it has significantly improved simulation results for the accumulation rainfall pattern as compared with the original U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 25-category land use classification (the USGS case). The precipitation system was found to develop later but stronger in the urban (MODIS) case than in the nonurban (USGS) case. In comparison with the observation by radar, simulation results predicted reasonably well; not only was the rainfall system enhanced downwind of the city over the mountainous area, but it also occurred at the upwind pla...


British intellectual life between the wars stood at the heart of modernity. The combination of a liberal, uncensored society and a large educated audience for new ideas made Britain a laboratory for novel ways to understand the world. "The Morbid Age" opens a window onto this creative but anxious era, the golden age of the public intellectual and scientist: Arnold Toynbee, Aldous and Julian Huxley, H. G. Wells, Marie Stopes and a host of others. Yet, as Richard Overy argues, a striking characteristic of so many of the ideas that emerged from this new age - from eugenics to Freud's unconscious, to modern ideas of pacifism and world government - was the fear that the West was facing a possibly terminal crisis of civilization. The modern era promised progress of a kind, but it was overshadowed by a growing fear of decay and death, an end to the civilized world and the arrival of a new Dark Age - even though the country had suffered no occupation, no civil war and none of the bitter ideological rivalries of inter-war Europe, and had an economy that survived better than most. "The Morbid Age" explores how this strange paradox came about. Ultimately, Overy shows, the coming of war was almost welcomed as a way to resolve the contradictions and anxieties of this period, a war in which it was believed civilization would be either saved or utterly destroyed.


Abstract We propose the Liu estimator and the Liu predictor via the penalized log-likelihood approach in linear mixed models when multicollinearity is present. The necessary and sufficient conditions for the superiority of the Liu predictor over the best linear unbiased predictor and the ridge predictor of linear combinations of fixed and random effects in the sense of matrix and scalar mean square errors are examined. Furthermore, the selection of the Liu biasing parameter is given and the findings are illustrated with both a real data set and a simulation study. The study show that the Liu estimator and predictor outperform the ridge estimator and predictor and the blue and blup in the sense of mean square error for large degree of correlation and the degree of supremacy of the Liu estimator and predictor over the ridge estimator and predictor and the blue and blup increase as the Liu biasing parameter decreases.


As mid IR fiber optic systems are rapidly approaching a reality, so is the feasibility of fiber optic laser heterodyne systems. Laser heterodyne spectroscopy for high resolution monitoring of atmospheric gaseous pollutants is necessarily in the mid IR, the region in which the absorption signature of gaseous species is most prominent. It so happens that the lowest theoretical loss due to Rayleigh-Brillouin scattering also lies in the mid IR. Prospects of highly efficient laser heterodyne systems are thus very good. Such fibers are now beginning to be commercially available, and a test program is being conducted for such fibers with ambient temperature ranging from cryogenic to above room, and stringest mechanical flexibility requirements. Preliminary results are encouraging. A program is being started to explore the possibility of mid IR fiber optic device applications, by taking advantage of this phonon rich region. The potential long interaction length in fibers coupled with predicted extremely low losses point to stimulated Brillouin scattering based devices in the mW range. The generation of backscattered sBs at low laser powers is significant not only as an ultimate power limiting factor for laser transmission in fibers in the mid IR, but also the presence of frequency-shifted multiple order sBs Stokes and antiStokes lines will certainly have severe effect on the laser beats crucial in high resolution heterodyne spectroscopy.


ABSTRACT Objectives: To explore the discursive construction and social actions achieved by accounts given by men following a birth in which the mother developed life-threatening complications. Background: Existing qualitative research employing interpretative thematic analysis of men's accounts of births in which the mother developed life-threatening complications highlights men's expressions of distress and marginalisation. This paper extends this, adopting different epistemological and analytic approaches to those accounts. Methods: Audio recordings and transcripts of semi-structured interviews collected by Hinton et al. were re-analysed using an approach informed by narrative analysis, discursive psychology and the discursive action model. Participants were four white British men whose partners experienced a maternal 'near-miss' event. Results: This analysis illustrates how men in this study draw on cultural narratives of 'normal' birth to construct experiences. Narrative constructions highlight separation of health professionals from laymen. These men use a discourse of self-reliance within families to construct their path to recovery. Conclusion: The strength of available narratives of birth and limited accessibility of alternative ones may impact how men tell their experience. Men in this study discursively attend to issues of power, agency and male identity, re-establishing entitlement to speak about their experience, but construct emotional support as unavailable to them.


In Bangladesh, every year a huge amount of vegetables are being lost after harvesting from the field due to inadequate storage facilities at farmers' level. Considering this a low cost storage chamber, windchill was designed and fabricated that consumes low power to operate by a 12V duct fan. The average temperature inside the chamber at no load condition was found 24.7◦C with a relative humidity of 77.2% while the outside temperature and relative humidity were 28.9◦C and 54%, respectively. Performance of the chamber was tested keeping vegetables inside the chamber for four and five days during pre-test and bulk load test, respectively. During bulk load test the temperature and relative humidity inside the chamber were 24.7◦C and 77.1%, respectively while outside the chamber, these were 28.8◦C and 52.8%, respectively. After four days weight loss percentage inside the chamber at pre-test condition were 1.76% (tomato), 3.53% (brinjal), 5.2% (greenchili) and 18.16% (red amaranth) while weight loss outside the chamber were 4.18% (tomato), 9.52% (brinjal), 14.44% (greenchili) and 49.44% (red amaranth). Weight loss percentage at bulk load condition inside the chamber was 1.46% while outside the chamber was 15.15% at 5th day. Physical appearance of vegetables kept inside the chamber was also much better than those kept outside the chamber. The panel test result for evaluating physical appearance was found satisfactory based on their acceptance level after preservation. The initial construction cost of the full unit was Tk. 6010 which was found cost effective for farmers to store their vegetables for several days after harvesting.
Progressive Agriculture 30 (2): 209-218, 2019


Abstract : The terminal phase of the encounter between a radar guide missile and a highly maneuverable aircraft, which can employ also electronic counter measures, is formulated as an imperfect information zero-sum pursuit-evasion game played between the missile designer and the pilot of the target aircraft. For this scenario a new method of guidance law synthesis, based on the concept of optimal mixed strategies is developed and implemented. The 'mixed' guidance law design approach is based on a rigorous mathematical framework and leads to feasible solutions which guarantee that the signal shot kill probability (SSKP) of the missile is higher than the value achievable by any other presently used guidance law.


The paper studies the optimal use of energy in wireless networking, the feasibility region of tasks that share a multi-access channel, and efficient algorithms for determining if a given set of tasks and resources falls within the feasibility region.


One compelling aspect of computer RPGs is the promise of player agency: the ability to make significant and desired choices in a large, complex, and story-rich environment. Giving players meaningful choice has traditionally required the creation of tremendous amounts of hand-authored story content. This authoring paradigm tends to introduce both structural and workload problems for RPG designers. Our hypothesis is that reducing authorial burden and increasing agency are two sides of the same coin, both requiring advancement in three distinct areas: (1) dynamic story management architecture that allows story elements to be selected and re-ordered in response to player choices; (2) dynamic dialogue generation which takes history and relationships into account; and (3) an authoring interface that lets writers focus on quests and characters. This paper describes SpyFeet, a playable prototype of a storytelling system designed to test this hypothesis.


This paper describe about the process of studying nahwu and the problem faced by college student of Arabic language education with distance learning system. The purpose of this study is knowing the process of studying nahwu and the problems are face by college student with distance learning system at Arabic language education. The study method has been used by researcher is descriptive qualitative method. Data were collected by deep interview and documentation. The data analysis process was held by four phases are data collection, data reduction, data presentation and deduction. The results of this study are studying nahwu with distance learning system has been used google classroom and google meet as a learning media, then the learning  methods used for is a discourse method, discussion method and assignment method. The problem faced by college students are difficulties to understand the material and also difficulties to attended assignment and afraid to giving question and couldn't focus to the subject and the last one is internet networking problem.


'hs paper derives the Neyman-Pemn discrete-time detector for phaselamplitude coded radar signals in the presence of spatially-white distributed Rayleigh clutter. We consider processing of data records which are long relative to the pulse duration. A measure of the optimum detector's performance gain oker that of a standard correlator is derived and calculated for several waveforms of practical interest. It is also shown that for the clutter-limited case that the detection performance in spatiallydistributed Rayleigh clutter is virtually independent of waveform coding. This last result allows one to use this detector with a non-ded pulse radar and achieve similar detection performance to that of a pulse coded radar when all other parameters are held constant provided as the clutter dominates the noise.


A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the requiremants for the award of the degree of Master of Science in ICT Policy and Regulation of Jomo Kenyatta Univaersity of Agriculture and Technology. 2014


PURPOSE
To investigate if part of the progressive reduction of intraocular pressure (IOP), seen when physostigmine is applied on alternate hours, is due to a reduced aqueous flow.

METHODS
In a randomized, open study, one drop of physostigmine salicylate, 8 mg/ml, was instilled at 7 AM in one randomly assigned eye in each of twenty healthy volunteers. Instillations were repeated on alternate hours throughout the day. Each subject's untreated eye served as control. Fluorophotometry of the anterior segment was performed hourly between 7 Am and 8 PM and aqueous flow was calculated. Subsequently, the subjects underwent tomography and tonometry. The change in anterior chamber depth and volume induced by physostigmine was assessed separately.

RESULTS
The mean aqueous flow during the day was 25-28% higher in the physostigmine-treated eye than in the control eye. The difference was statistically significant from 9 AM (p < 0.05-p < 0.001). Each dose caused a further increase. The mean outflow facility increased by 0.14 microliters/min/mm Hg with 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.09-0.18. Although the increase in outflow facility was small, there was a marked reduction of IOP with a mean difference between treated and untreated eye of 3.2 mm Hg (95% CI: 2.3-4.0).

CONCLUSIONS
Repeated administrations of physostigmine increase the aqueous flow and outflow facility. The combined effect is a marked reduction of IOP.


BACKGROUND
Noonan syndrome is a very rare disorder; its prevalence is 1/1,000-2,500 births. The special facial features, short stature, eventual cardiac anomalies and familiar history are the most important characteristics of the diagnosis.

CASE
A Noonan syndrome patient delivered a healthy infant after a complicated delivery. The delivery followed 3 unsuccessful pregnancies. The previous pregnancies were terminated before the 24th gestational week because of general fetal hydrops as well as other malformations.

CONCLUSION
In the prenatal care of a patient with Noonan syndrome the genetic and obstetric aspects are equally important. In establishing the diagnosis, ultrasonography is of utmost importance. As in our case, complications after cesarean section highlight the higher risk of delivery in women with Noonan syndrome.


Repeated urinary calculi developed in a patient who was treated with methazolamide for glaucoma. Previously, he had developed calculi while receiving acetazolamide. The factors involved in urinary calculus formation with carbonic anhydra,~e inhibitor therapy are reviewed. It appears that the incidence of calculus formation is less with methazolamide than with acetazolamide, and patients may be free of urinary symptoms when switched from acetazolamide to methazolamide therapy. It is suggested that the incidence of calculus formation in patients on any carbonic anhydrase inhibitor therapy may be reduced by increasing urine output, restricting calcium in diet, and by the use of aluminum hydroxide gel, oral sodium and potassium phosphates or hydrochlorothiazide.


This paper illustrates and evaluates a generic adaptive tutoring environment, structural example-based adaptive tutoring system (SEATS), based on the theory of cognitive knowledge acquisition. The system teaches by presenting side-by-side examples and highlighting their common structural components. This technique assists the process of generalization and reduces mapping by surface features, allowing students to apply their newly gained knowledge to different sets of problems. SEATS also implements adaptive presentation based on a straightforward model of student/user performance. SEATS was evaluated with a recursion tutorial used by 117 students in a 1-hour tutorial session. Results indicate that using adaptation in combination with the structural example-based feature produces an effect on rate and extent of learning significantly greater than when the features are used alone, or when both are absent. The study further points out that future evaluations will have to take students' curiosity into account, since many of them are likely to give at least some incorrect answers on purpose, to test the response of the system. The results indicate that building SEATS with simple adaptive mechanisms is an efficient way of teaching electronically.


As technology advances and more and more person-specific data like health information becomes publicly available, much attention is being given to confidentiality and privacy protection. On one hand, increased availability of information can lead to advantageous knowledge discovery; on the other hand, this information belongs to individuals and their identities must not be disclosed without consent. A recently proposed concept called κ-Anonymity addresses this conflict between doctor-patient confidentiality and society-beneficial research. -- Several κ-Anonymity-based problems have been proposed in the literature; however, these problems do not adequately address preserving utility for the researcher and their algorithms are not computationally efficient. This thesis highlights these inadequacies through a comprehensive overview of previous research, where it is shown that previous solutions lack sufficient ability to meet specific researcher needs. To this end, new utility-preserving problems are proposed and their computational complexities are analyzed. Many results for κ-Anonymity-based problems are systematically derived through this analysis, including two of particular interest: (1) the first known polynomial-time solvable κ-Anonymity-based problem and (2) the first known algorithm-independent polynomial-time approximation intractability results for κ-Anonymity-based problems.


Joining mobility and learning environments to provide a great flexibility and reuse are main goals to educational software developers. Those requirements allow the user to deal with a lot of learning objects anytime and anywhere in simple handhelds. The integration provided by Internet and mobile device changes the developer methodologies to the issue of creating new subjects. The question that then arises is no longer "how to produce the software I need", but "where to find it and how to integrate it with the software already used in devices to construct a customized educational environment". Integrations imply modifications in the source code, usually requiring hard work on source code modifications with a high cost. However, those environments are still developed in a monolithic way, out of a development view based on a composition of learning objects, much easier to match. This paper describes a architecture which promotes software integration through the utilization of Web services.


Context. The discovery of the unique source HESS J1507-622 in the very high energy (VHE) range (100 GeV−100 TeV) opened new possibilities to study the parent population of ultra-relativistic particles found in astrophysical sources and underlined the possibility of new scenarios/mechanisms crucial for understanding the underlying astrophysical processes in nonthermal sources.Aims. The follow-up X-ray (0.2−10 keV) observations on HESS J1507-622 are reported, and possibilities regarding the nature of the VHE source and that of the newly discovered X-ray sources are investigated.Methods. We obtained observations with the X-ray satellites XMM-Newton and Chandra. Background corrections were applied to the data to search for extended diffuse emission. Since HESS J1507-622 covers a large part of the field of view of these instruments, blank-sky background fields were used. Results. The discovery of several new X-ray sources and a new, faint, extended X-ray source with a flux of ~ 6 × 10-14ergcm-2s-1 is reported. Interestingly, a new, variable point-like X-ray source with a flux of ~ 8 × 10-14ergcm-2s-1 appeared in the 2011 observation, which was not detected in the previous X-ray observations.Conclusions. The X-ray observations revealed a faint, extended X-ray source that may be a possible counterpart for HESS J1507-622. This source could be an X-ray pulsar wind nebula (PWN) remnant of the larger gamma-ray PWN, which is still bright in IC emission. Several interpretations are proposed to explain the newly detected variable X-ray source.


Metabolic syndrome is a metabolic dysregulation characterized by insülin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, hypertension, obesity, and dyslipidemia. Erectile dysfunction is defined as the persistent inability to achieve and maintain erection to perform successful sexual intercourse. Both erectile dysfunction and metabolic syndrome share common risk factors that cause endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerosis.


Nicastrin is a novel typeⅠ transmembrane glycoprotein, which has been shown to be a critical component of γ-secretase complex. It has been well established that nicastrin is essential for the stability and trafficking of the other γ-secretase components. Furthermore, nicastrin plays an important role in Aβ peptide generation of Alzheimer's disease and Notch signaling pathway.


Many of us mark the beginning of a new year by developing a fresh list of goals that we hope to accomplish. The problem—at least for me—is that I rarely achieve the items on the "old" list and end up feeling overwhelmed by what remains! Editorial Boards feel the same way. Each year PTJ 's Editorial Board develops a strategy to answer such questions as:

Because the crystal ball that will forecast events in 2012 is still coming into focus, I begin by looking back over the past 90 years. The first P.T. Review was published in March 1921, and it was most likely the only physical therapy journal in existence. Isabel H. Noble, the interim editor in chief, remarked, "As the editorial work is new to us we hope to improve as time goes on. This issue therefore is no criterion, as our aim is to make each copy an improvement over its predecessor."1(p1) The only other person listed on the masthead was Elizabeth L. Wells, "business manager and assistant editor."

The first issue consisted of 16 pages, with the bulk dedicated to the American Women's Physical Therapeutic Association Constitution and a directory of members. A review of Mary McMillan's textbook Massage and Therapeutic Exercise concludes that it "should be of great value, not only to the former Reconstruction Aides in Physiotherapy, but also to the physician as a basis for writing proper prescriptions for treatment…."2(p12) By the way, the advertisements for job positions indicate a salary of approximately $100 per month (often with lunch or room and board provided).

Today, the International Society of Physiotherapy Editors (www.ispje.wcpt.org …


Some clonal plants can spread their ramet populations radially, and soil heterogeneity and clonal integration may greatly affect the establishment of these types of populations. We constructed Alternanthera philoxeroides populations with a radial ramet aggregation, allowing old ramets of clonal fragments to concentrate in central pots and younger ramets to root in peripheral pots. The peripheral pots were supplemented either with three different levels (high, medium and low) of soil nutrients to simulate a heterogeneous soil environment, or only one medium level of soil nutrients to simulate a homogeneous environment. Stolon connections between the central older ramets and the peripheral younger ramets were left intact or severed to test the effect of clonal integration. The maintenance of stolon connection could induce the division of labor between different-aged ramets, by increasing the root investment in central ramets and the above-ground growth in peripheral ramets. The maintenance of stolon connection could improve the growth of the central and peripheral ramets, clonal fragments and even the whole population. However, the positive consequence in peripheral ramets and whole fragments was only detected in the high-nutrient patch of heterogeneous treatment. In sum, in the population with the radial ramet aggregation, clonal integration can play a key role in the rapid recruitment of young ramets of A. philoxeroides fragments, as well as the expansion of the whole population. The magnitude of clonal integration also became more obvious in the peripheral young ramets and whole fragments that experienced high-nutrient patches.


IMPORTANCE
It is important to understand the relationship between sleep medication use and injurious falls in nursing home residents.

OBJECTIVE
To conduct a case-crossover study to estimate the association between nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic drug use (zolpidem tartrate, eszopiclone, or zaleplon) and the risk for hip fracture among a nationwide sample of long-stay nursing home residents, overall and stratified by individual and facility-level characteristics.

DESIGN AND SETTING
Case-crossover study performed in an academic research setting.

PARTICIPANTS
The study participants included 15,528 long-stay US nursing home residents 50 years or older with a hip fracture documented in Medicare Part A and Part D fee-for-service claims between July 1, 2007, and December 31, 2008.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Odds ratios (ORs) of hip fracture were estimated using conditional logistic regression models by comparing the exposure to nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic drugs during the 0 to 29 days before the hip fracture (hazard period) with the exposure during the 60 to 89 and 120 to 149 days before the hip fracture (control periods). Analyses were stratified by individual and facility-level characteristics.

RESULTS
Among the study participants, 1715 (11.0%) were dispensed a nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic drug before the hip fracture, with 927 exposure-discordant pairs included in the analyses. The mean (SD) age of participants was 81.0 (9.7) years, and 77.6% were female. The risk for hip fracture was elevated among users of a nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic drug (OR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.45-1.90). The association between nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic drug use and hip fracture was somes greater in new users (OR, 2.20; 95% CI, 1.76-2.74) and in residents with mild vs moderate to severe impairment in cognition (OR, 1.86 vs 1.43; P = .06), with moderate vs total or severe functional impairment (OR, 1.71 vs 1.16; P = .11), with limited vs full assistance required with transfers (OR, 2.02 vs 1.43; P = .02), or in a facility with fewer Medicaid beds (OR, 1.90 vs 1.46; P = .05).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
The risk for hip fracture is elevated among nursing home residents using a nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic drug. New users and residents having mild to moderate cognitive impairment or requiring limited assistance with transfers may be most vulnerable to the use of these drugs. Caution should be exercised when prescribing sleep medications to nursing home residents.


A full-color twisted-nematic type liquid crystal display (TN-LCD) of 1.4-in diagonal size driven by organic thin-film transistors (TFTs) has been fabricated. This TN-LCD has 80/spl times/80/spl times/3 (RGB) pixel arrays addressed by pentacene TFTs with a channel width of 50 /spl mu/m. The contact resistance between the pentacene film and the source/drain electrodes has been reduced by selecting the exposure condition of the photoresist in patterning the electrodes. In addition, a solution-processed passivation film with a novel structure, consisting of photosensitive polyvinylalcohol and organosiloxane glass resin, has been developed to protect the TFTs against degradation induced by integration with TN-LCD devices. Consequently, it has been confirmed that the organic-TFT-driven TN-LCD fabricated in this paper is capable of displaying full-color moving images at a resolution of 80 pixels per inch.


We show how the combination of automatic differentiation (AD) and diagrammatic notation can facilitate the development of analytical nuclear derivatives for tensor hyper-contraction based (THC) electronic structure methods. The automatically-derived gradients are guaranteed to have the same scaling in terms of both operation count and memory footprint as the underlying energy calculations, and the computation of a gradient is roughly three times as costly as the underlying energy. The new AD/diagrammatic approach enables the first cubic scaling implementation of nuclear derivatives for THC tensors fitted in molecular orbital basis (MO-THC). Furthermore, application of this new approach to THC-MP2 analytical gradients leads to an implementation which is at least four times faster than the previously reported, manually-derived implementation. Finally, we apply the new approach to the 14 tensor contraction patterns appearing in the supporting subspace formulation of multireference perturbation theory, laying the foundation for future developments of analytical nuclear gradients and nonadiabatic coupling vectors for multi-state CASPT2.


Abstract The main aim is to present recent developments in applications of symbolic computing in probabilistic and stochastic analysis, and this is done using the example of the well-known MAPLE system. The key theoretical methods discussed are (i) analytical derivations, (ii) the classical Monte-Carlo simulation approach, (iii) the stochastic perturbation technique, as well as (iv) some semi-analytical approaches. It is demonstrated in particular how to engage the basic symbolic tools implemented in any system to derive the basic equations for the stochastic perturbation technique and how to make an efficient implementation of the semi-analytical methods using an automatic differentiation and integration provided by the computer algebra program itself. The second important illustration is probabilistic extension of the finite element and finite difference methods coded in MAPLE, showing how to solve boundary value problems with random parameters in the environment of symbolic computing. The response function method belongs to the third group, where interference of classical deterministic software with the non-linear fitting numerical techniques available in various symbolic environments is displayed. We recover in this context the probabilistic structural response in engineering systems and show how to solve partial differential equations including Gaussian randomness in their coefficients.


BACKGROUND
The COVID-19 pandemic has produced unique challenges for persons with hearing loss. There is a unique concern that adults with hearing loss may be more susceptible to isolation than adults with normal hearing.

PURPOSE
This study explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the well-being of older adults with and without hearing loss.

RESEARCH DESIGN
This was a longitudinal study with pre-COVID-19 and six mid-COVID-19 interviews, spanning from March 1, 2020, to October 31, 2020.

STUDY SAMPLE
The study enrolled 12 participants with hearing aids and 12 with cochlear implants aged 55-80 years that were compared to 18 age-matched adults with hearing within normal limits.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Surveys were completed to evaluate the impact of time alone and loneliness, social contact, depression, and the impact of masks on hearing. A mixed-effects statistical model was used to analyze each question.

RESULTS
Participants commonly reported stress and anxiety during monthly video calls. Adults with varying degrees of hearing loss reported decreased social interaction and increased stress during the pandemic, similar to the rates observed by participants with healthy hearing. Face coverings were commonly reported to affect the intelligibility of conversational speech. Participants with hearing loss found satisfactory methods for maintaining social connection during the pandemic that they hope will continue once restrictions ease fully.

CONCLUSIONS
Participants from the hearing loss groups in this study were frustrated by challenges posed by facial masks and were resilient in their ability to cope with COVID-19 and found the use of technology to be helpful. Audiologists are encouraged to use these successful electronic means of connecting with their patients even after restrictions are fully lifted.


Breadfruit was processed into flour and used to supplement wheat flour, in the percentages of 0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25, for biscuit production. The proximate composition, sensory evaluation and microbiological quality, in terms of aerobic plate count, were evaluated. The crude fibre and ash contents (%) increased with increase in the proportion of breadfruit flour (BF) level, with the 25% BF level having the values of 4.98 and 6.78 respectively. Lowest values of 11.54, 24.15, and 40.80 were however observed for the biscuit with 25% BF level in terms of crude protein, ether extract and carbohydrate respectively, showing decrease with corresponding increase in the BF levels. The microbiological analysis indicated that the aerobic plate count (APC, log CFU/g) ranged between 1.00 and 1.75. The sensory evaluation showed that breadfruit supplemented biscuits (BSBs) were not significantly different (p<0.05) from whole wheat biscuits (WWB) with respect to sensory attributes of texture, appearance and general acceptability, at all levels BF supplementation. In terms of crispiness, aroma and taste, significant differences were not observed only up to 20% BF level, at the same level of probability (p<0.05).

 Key words: Breadfruit flour, wheat flour, proximate composition, composite biscuit, sensory evaluation, aerobic plate count.


Detailed large-scale mapping in the Red Creek area 20 miles south-southwest of Colorado Springs shows two significant geologic features, an angular unconformity at the base of the Pennsylvanian Fountain formation, and a high-angle thrust fault. The basal beds of the Fountain formation rest across truncated edges of the older Madison, Harding, and Manitou formations. Although the unconformity is exposed in a limited area, it is significant as the first recorded instance of an angular unconformity between the Fountain and earlier Paleozoic formations. The thrust fault strikes parallel to the mountain front and dips steeply southeast away from the mountains. Overthrusting has been toward the Front Range. To emphasize the thrust direction which is opposite to that on many major thrusts elsewhere along the eastern margin of the Front Range, the Red Creek fault is designated a back thrust.


The effects of shading fruit with opaque paper bag at the late stage of fruit enlargement on the contents of chlorophyll, carotenoid and in "Hongshigan" citrus (C. reticulata x C. sinensis) fruit peel and its color were examined. The results showed that after shading, the chlorophyll content in peel decreased quickly, which resulted in its earlier color shifting. In contrast, the contents of total carotenoids and each carotenoid component did not increase, but decreased significantly. At the stage of fruit riping, both chlorophyll in shaded and unshaded fruit disappeared, and the shaded fruit, owing to its lower level of carotenoids, had a lighter color than the unshaded fruit. The sugar content in peel of shaded fruit did not differ obviously from that of unshaded fruit at the earlier stage, but dropped markedly at the late stage of shading. Removing the enclosing paper bag from shaded fruit at the late stage of shading resulted in the increase of sugar, and correspondingly in the increase of carotenoid, especially of beta-cryptoxanthin accumulation with consequent darkening of fruit color. These results stressed the effect of light on stimulating carotenoid synthesis, especially the accumulation of beta-cryptoxanthin in citrus fruit peel. The light is the enviromental signal essential for carotenoid synthesis in citrus fruit during certain stage of fruit development.


The Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA) attempts to "level the playing field" between equipment and other tangible assets by repealing the investment tax credit that was available only for equipment. This change may not increase economic efficiency, however, if there exist substantial amounts of intangible capital. Advertising along with research and development (R & D) are viewed as investments in goodwill and production expertise. As forms of intangible capital, they receive the significant tax advantage of immediate expensing rather than delayed depreciation deductions. This chapter finds that 1. Effective tax rates are mismeasured when this investment is ignored. 2. The United States in 1983 had about $165 billion of advertising capital and $305 billion of R & D capital, which together make up 11 percent of the total capital stock. 3. The inclusion of this intangible capital with a zero effective tax reduces by one-third the gain in efficiency from prior law obtained by repealing the investment tax credit for equipment. 4. With more of this untaxed intangible capital, repeal of the investment tax credit can actually reduce overall efficiency. 5. The TRA always increases this measure of production efficiency because it lowers the taxation of other tangible assets at the same time that it repeals the investment tax credit.


Voice over IP is emerging as the key technology in the current and future Internet. This paper shares some essential practical experience gathered over a two years period in searching for vulnerabilities in the VoIP space. We will show a terrifying landscape of the most dangerous vulnerabilities capable to lead to a complete compromise of an internal network. All of the described vulnerabilities have been disclosed responsibly by our group and were discovered using our in-house developed fuzzing software KIF. The paper provides also mitigation techniques for all described vulnerabilities.


A theory of monocular depth determination is presented. The effect of finite temporal resolution is incorporated by generalizing the Marr-Hildreth edge detected operator —∇2G(r) where ∇2 is the Laplacian and G(r) is a two dimensional Gaussian. The constraint that the edge detection operator in space-time should produce zero-crossings at the same place in different channels, i. e. at different resolutions of the Gaussian, led to the conclusion that the Marr-Hildreth operator should be replaced by -□2G(r, t) where □2 is the d'Alembertian ∇2 -(1/u2) (∂2/∂t2) and G(r, t) is a Gaussian in space-time. To ensure that the locations of the zerocrossings are independent o the channel width, G(r, t) has to be isotropic in the sense that the velocity u appearing in the defintion of the d'Alembertian must also be used to relate the scales of length and time in G. However, the new operatior -□2G(r, t) produces two types of zero-crossing for each isolated edge feature in the image I(r, t). One of these, termed the 'static edge', corresponds to the position of the image edge at time t as defined by ∇2I(r, t) = 0; the other, called a 'depth zero', depends only on the relative motion of the observer and object and is usually found only in the periphery of the field of view. When an edge feature is itself in the periphery of the visual field and these zeros coincide, there is an additional cross-over effect. It is shown how these zero-crossings may be used to infer the depth of an object when the observer and object are in relative motion. If an edge feature is near the centre of the image (i. e. near the focus of expansion), the spatial and temporal slopes of the zeros crossing at the static edge may be used to infer the depth, but, if the edge feature is in the periphery of the image, the cross-over effect enables the depth to be obtained immediately. While the former utilizes sharp spatial and temporal resolution to give detailed three-dimensional information, the cross-over effect relies on longer integration times to give a direct measure of the time-to-contact. We propose that both mechanisms could be used to extract depth information in computer vision systems and speculate on how our theory could be used to model depth perception in early visual processing in humans where there is evidence of both monocular perception of the environment in depth and of looming detection in the periphery of the field of view. In addition it is shown how a number of previous models are included in our theory, in particular the directional sensor proposed by Marr & Ullman and a method of depth determination proposed by Prazdny.


We have performed the first census of Mpc-scale radio emission to include control fields and quantifiable upper limits for bright X-ray clusters in the range 0.03 < z < 0.3. Through reprocessing radio images from the Westerbork Northern Sky Survey, we detect diffuse emission from ≈30% of the sample. We find a correlation similar to the well-studied relationship between radio halo and X-ray luminosities of the host cluster, but also find that large-scale radio galaxy (RG) detections follow a similar trend to that for radio halos. With this quantitative study, we thus confirm the upper envelope to the radio luminosities for X-ray-selected clusters, and the higher detection rates for diffuse radio emission (including halos, relics, and RGs) at X-ray luminosities above ≈1045 erg s−1. Beyond this, because many of the upper limits are only slightly below the detections, we can neither confirm nor refute the claims for a tight correlation between these radio halos and X-ray luminosities, i.e., whether the halo luminosity function of X-ray clusters is bimodal (having high/on and low/off states), or whether the radio luminosity can take on a wide range of values up to a maximum at each cluster X-ray luminosity. The resolution of this issue, also recently addressed in a Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) survey at 610 MHz, may provide a unique diagnostic for the timescales over which relativistic particles can be accelerated following cluster mergers. We discuss several important selection effects on radio versus X-ray luminosity correlations, including surface brightness thresholds and non-X-ray-selected diffuse radio sources. We also report several new detections of diffuse emission, including an Mpc-scale relic in RXJ1053.7+5450, a possible halo/relic combination in Abell 2061, a serendipitous diffuse X-ray source associated with poor clusters in the Abell 781 field, and confirmation of very weak diffuse emission patches outside Abell 2255.


In this paper a new nonlinear excitation controller design to enhance transient stability of multimachine power systems is presented. Partial feedback linearization is first used to transform the nonlinear power system model into a partially linear system comprising a reduced-order linear part and a nonlinear dynamic autonomous part. Then a linear state feedback stabilizing controller is designed for the reduced-order linear part using optimal control theory to enhance the stability of the whole system. In this way, the performance of the stabilizing controller would be independent of the operating points of the power system and therefore is superior to those designed for completely linearized systems. It is shown that the controller design method ensures the stability of the nonlinear dynamic autonomous part. The design method is applicable to multimachine power systems but tested on a 3-machine 11-bus two-area test system. The performance of the proposed control scheme to large disturbances is evaluated, through computer simulation, and compared with a conventional power system stabilizer and an exact feedback linearizing controller.


A method is outlined for estimating the probability of detection for a pulsed radar, assuming a randomly modulated carrier. For a square law detector closed forms for the moments of the distribution of the envelope are presented in terms of three different choices of the distribution of carrier amplitude, thus leading to an Edgeworth series representation of the desired probability. At least one choice of distribution of the carrier amplitude leads to closed forms for the moments for the case of a linear detector. Curves of probability of detection vs signal‐to‐noise power ratio are constructed and cross checked by a method of numerical integration.


We present a new approach for the recognition of facial expressions from video sequences in the presence of occlusion. Although promising results have been reported in the literature on automatic recognition of facial expressions, most techniques have been assessed using experiments performed in controlled laboratory conditions which do not reflect real-world conditions. The goal of the work presented herein, is to develop recognition techniques that will overcome some limitations of current techniques, such as their sensitivity to partial occlusion of the face. The proposed approach is based on a localised representation of facial features, and on data fusion. The experiments show that the proposed approach is robust to partial occlusion of the face.


Pressure-driven membrane-based technologies represent a valid approach to reduce the environmental pollution of several agro-food by-products. Recently, in relation to the major interest for natural compounds with biological activities, their use has been also addressed to the recovery, separation and fractionation of phenolic compounds from such by-products. In particular, tight ultrafiltration (UF) and nanolfiltration (NF) membranes have been recognized for their capability to recover phenolic compounds from several types of agro-food by-products. The separation capability of these membranes, as well as their productivity, depends on multiple factors such as membrane material, molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) and operating conditions (e.g., pressure, temperature, feed flow rate, volume reduction factor, etc.). This paper aims at providing a critical overview of the influence of these parameters on the recovery of phenolic compounds from agro-food by-products by using tight UF and NF membranes. The literature data are analyzed and discussed in relation to separation processes, molecule properties, membrane characteristics and other phenomena occurring in the process. Current extraction methodologies of phenolic compounds from raw materials are also introduced in order to drive the implementation of integrated systems for the production of actractive phenolic formulations of potential interest as food antioxidants.


Future cockpit and aviation applications require high quality airport databases. Accuracy, resolution, integrity, completeness, traceability, and timeliness [1] are key requirements. For most aviation applications, attributed vector databases are needed. The geometry is based on points, lines, and closed polygons. To document the needs for aviation industry RTCA and EUROCAE developed in a joint committee, the DO-272/ED-99 document. It states industry needs for data features, attributes, coding, and capture rules for Airport Mapping Databases (AMDB). This paper describes the technical approach Jeppesen has taken to generate a world-wide set of three-hundred AMDB airports. All AMDB airports are DO-200A/ED-76 [1] and DO-272/ED-99 [2] compliant. Jeppesen airports have a 5m (CE90) accuracy and an 10-3 integrity. World-wide all AMDB data is delivered in WGS84 coordinates. Jeppesen continually updates the databases.


The electronic absorption spectrum of liquid water was investigated by coupling a one-body energy decomposition scheme to configurations generated by classical and Born-Oppenheimer Molecular Dynamics (BOMD). A Frenkel exciton Hamiltonian formalism was adopted and the excitation energies in the liquid phase were calculated with the equation of motion coupled cluster with single and double excitations method. Molecular dynamics configurations were generated by different approaches. Classical MD were carried out with the TIP4P-Ew and AMOEBA force fields. The BLYP and BLYP-D3 exchange-correlation functionals were used in BOMD. Theoretical and experimental results for the electronic absorption spectrum of liquid water are in good agreement. Emphasis is placed on the relationship between the structure of liquid water predicted by the different models and the electronic absorption spectrum. The theoretical gas to liquid phase blue-shift of the peak positions of the electronic absorption spectrum is in good agreement with experiment. The overall shift is determined by a competition between the O-H stretching of the water monomer in liquid water that leads to a red-shift and polarization effects that induce a blue-shift. The results illustrate the importance of coupling many-body energy decomposition schemes to molecular dynamics configurations to carry out ab initio calculations of the electronic properties in liquid phase.


- The length of study-time is one of the important issues in higher education. The goal of this research was to predict and analyze the length of study-time in the early stage of Computer Science students in X University. The research proposed Mutual Information (MI) as feature selection method and Support Vector Machine (SVM) as a classification method. There were two different sections of the experiments. The first experiment used two class targets that were grouped in 'on time group' and 'late group'. The experiment result shows that the proposed method produces accuracy around 85%. The second experiment used three class targets, 'on time group', 'late group', and 'very late group'. The experiment result of the proposed method produces accuracy around 80%. Mutual Information (MI) does not only successfully raise the accuracy but also uncovers the relationship between subjects and the class targets.


Sequestration of carbon has gained increased attention in recent years because of environmental and economic motives. This study examined the economic feasibility of using reduced-tillage (RT) and notillage (NT) rather than conventional-tillage (CT) to sequester soil carbon with the use of either anhydrous ammonia (NH3), ureaammonium nitrate solution (UAN), or urea for a grain sorghum-soybean rotation. The results show that RT with NH3 had the highest net return but not the highest level of carbon sequestration. Carbon credits ranging from $0.00 to $77.23/ton of C/year were needed to entice producers to adopt either RT Urea or NT NH3, the systems that sequestered the highest and second highest amount of carbon per year, depending upon the farming system originally being used.


The results of an ongoing search for nearby galaxies in the state of formation are discussed. The investigation is based on spectroscopy and photometry of blue compact galaxies (BCGs) and blue low surface-brightness galaxies (BLSBGs). Although interesting young-galaxy candidates exist among the BCGs, the dominance of the luminous young stars makes it difficult to make any rapid progress in the understanding of the star formation history of these objects. Stronger constraints on the presence of old stars can be obtained from the study of the BLSBGs. From comparison with models of photometric evolution we find that such galaxies in the sample studied so far have ages in excess of about 2 Gyr. Most of the objects have photometric properties consistent with a high age and a near-constant or slowly increasing star formation rate. The influence of possible selection effects are briefly discussed.


The primary purpose of this study of metal-on-metal (MoM) hip resurfacing was to compare the effect of using a cementless or cemented femoral component on the subsequent bone mineral density (BMD) of the femoral neck. This was a single-centre, prospective, double-blinded control trial which randomised 120 patients (105 men and 15 women) with a mean age of 49.4 years (21 to 68) to receive either a cemented or cementless femoral component. Follow-up was to two years. Outcome measures included total and six-point region-of-interest BMD of the femoral neck, radiological measurements of acetabular inclination, neck-shaft and stem-shaft angles, and functional outcome scores including the Harris hip score, the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index and the University of California at Los Angeles activity scale. In total, 17 patients were lost to follow-up leaving 103 patients at two years. There were no revisions in the cementless group and three revisions (5%) in the cemented group (two because of hip pain and one for pseudotumour). The total BMD was significantly higher in the cementless group at six months (p < 0.001) and one year (p = 0.01) than in the cemented group, although there was a loss of statistical significance in the difference at two years (p = 0.155). All patient outcomes improved significantly: there were no significant differences between the two groups. The results show better preservation of femoral neck BMD with a cementless femoral component after two years of follow-up. Further investigation is needed to establish whether this translates into improved survivorship.


Methods were developed for the determination of urinary phenylmercapturic acid (PMA), a metabolite specific for benzene, benzylmercapturic acid (BMA), a metabolite of toluene and phenylhydroxyethylmercapturic acids (PHEMAs), specific for styrene, in human beings. Methods involved sample clean up followed by deacetylation and derivatization of the compounds with o-phthaldialdehyde and 2-mercaptoethanol. The fluorescent derivatives were separated on reversed-phase columns with gradient runs and detected by a fluorescence detector. The detection limits were 0.5 microgram/l for PMA and BMA, and 7 micrograms/l for PHEMAs. The background levels of PMA were higher in smokers than in nonsmokers, while no difference was found in the levels of BMA and PHEMAs. Coexposure to ethanol enanched the excretion of BMA in subjects experimentally exposed to toluene. Correlations were found between environmental benzene (r = 0.74, log transformed data), toluene (r = 0.74) or styrene (r = 0.56) and specific mercapturic acids in workers. The usefulness of PMA, BMA and PHEMAs as biomarkers is critically evaluated.


Background: The laparoscopic mini-gastric bypass is a newly emerged surgical procedure in recent years. Owe to safe and simple process and effective outcomes, laparoscopic mini-gastric bypass has quickly become one of the most popular procedures in some countries. The safety and effectiveness of laparoscopic mini-gastric bypass versus laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy remain unclear. Methods: A systematic literature search was performed in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane library from inception to May 20, 2017. The methodological quality of Randomized Controlled Trials and non-Randomized Controlled Trials were, respectively, assessed by Cochrane Collaboration's tool for assessing risk of bias and Newcastle–Ottawa scale. The meta-analysis was performed by RevMan 5.3 software. Results: Patients receiving mini-gastric bypass had a lot of advantageous indexes than patients receiving sleeve gastrectomy, such as higher 1-year EWL% (excess weight loss), higher 5-year EWL%, higher T2DM remission rate, higher hypertension remission rate, higher obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) remission rate, lower osteoarthritis remission rate, lower leakage rate, lower overall late complications rate, higher ulcer rate, lower gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) rate, shorter hospital stay and lower revision rate. No significant statistical difference was observed on overall early complications rate, bleed rate, vomiting rate, anemia rate, and operation time between mini-gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy. Conclusion: Mini-gastric bypass is a simpler, safer, and more effective bariatric procedure than laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. Due to the biased data, small sample size and short follow-up time, our results may be unreliable. Large sample and multicenter RCT is needed to compare the effectiveness and safety between mini-gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy. Future study should also focus on bile reflux, remnant gastric cancer, and long term effectiveness of mini-gastric bypass.


Background: This study evaluated the visual function after implantation of a multifocal toric intraocular lenses (IOLs). Materials and Methods: This study involved 10 eyes from eight cataract patients with corneal astigmatism of 1.0 diopter (D) or higher who had received phacoemulsification with implantation of an AcrySof IQ ReSTOR Toric IOL. Six-month evaluations included visual acuity, spherical equivalent (SE), defocus curve, residual astigmatism, IOL rotation, contrast sensitivity (CS), wavefront aberrations, modulation transfer function (MTF), and patient satisfaction assessments. Results: At 6 months postoperatively, uncorrected distance visual acuity (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution) was 0.09 ± 0.04, corrected distance visual acuity was 0.02 ± 0.11, and uncorrected near visual acuity was 0.12 ± 0.07. The mean SE was −0.095 ± 0.394 D (±0.50 D in 90%). Refractive astigmatism at the 6-month follow-up visit was significantly reduced to 0.35 ± 0.32 D from 1.50 ± 0.41 D presurgery (P < 0.05). The mean IOL axis rotation was 3.20 ± 1.55°. Postoperative CS levels were high. Postoperative total order aberrations (TOAs), lower-order aberrations (LOAs), higher-order aberrations (HOAs), and spherical aberrations were decreased compared with preoperative values (P < 0.05). At 3 months postoperatively, TOAs, LOAs, and HOAs with a 3 mm pupil diameter as well as TOAs, LOAs, and astigmatism aberrations with a 5 mm pupil diameter were statistically lower than those at 1-month post surgery, but without subsequent significant changes (P > 0.05). There was an increase in MTF results between preoperative and postoperative evaluations at all spatial frequencies. Conclusions: The diffractive multifocal toric IOL is able to provide a predictable astigmatic correction with apparently outstanding levels of optical quality after implantation.


We examine the impact of being located in areas with higher availability of electricity on manufacturing firm profits in Myanmar. Using a survey of 497 manufacturing firms conducted in 2014 and covering the whole territory of Myanmar, we investigate whether firms belonging to industries that tend to make more intensive use of electricity show better performance if such firms are located in areas with higher availability of electricity. We find that electricity provided by the national power grid tends to have a positive impact on manufacturing firm profits. Results are robust to reducing the sample to firms that could not have chosen their location endogenously, as well as to the use of an instrumental variable.


This article follows consumers from Otavalo, Ecuador through narratives of devilish eating, jokes, and family gatherings in order to focus on a general problem: how a dispersed Andean indigenous people produce themselves as families, neighbors and community. In the episodes of consumption described here, consuming cultivates responsive relationships and using up and ingesting can act as generative moments for communities. However, the folktales and preoccupations of the transnational migrants reveal the risks that consuming entails. Human soulfulness – creativity, feeling, and morality – does not sit neatly within human agents, but rather can be augmented, diminished, or entirely dislodged in the consumption acts that join human and non-human; cultural and material. Even when consumption does augment a generative social agency, it also limits it. To consume is to stop one's movement through the world, converting the potential to matter to the reality of mattering in one place among a certain set of people.


The article discloses the pedagogical conditions of the formation of selfeducational competence of future teachers at credit system of education. Subject of this article is a characteristic of pedagogical conditions among which formation of internal motives of future teacher, formation of self-educational competence, need for continuous self-educational activity; formation of the identity of the student as active subject of activity; improvement of system of formation of self-educational competence of future teacher have been disclosed. Process of training assumes active cognitive activity of the trainee by means of the use of a complex of tutorials which the multimedia and technological complex, electronic manuals belong to. For identification of pedagogical conditions of formation of self-education of future teachers at credit system of training we defined research strategy which personality and activity based and informational approaches act upon.


The bioassay of erythropoietin in polycythemic mice was modified to include a protein-depletion diet and a divided erythropoietin injection schedule. Although less than 0.05 unit of standard erythropoietin was not detected, a more linear dose/response relationship resulted from increasing doses of erythropoietin in the 0.1 to 1.0 unit range. The amount of erythropoietin in concentrated specimens prepared from the 24-hour urinary excretion of 25 normal subjects was measured in comparison with known quantities of standard erythropoietin. A mean daily erythropoietin excretion in men of 2.8 ± 1.3 units, in women of 0.9 ± 0.4 unit and in prepubertal boys of 1.0 unit was calculated. The higher erythropoietin excretion in adult males may be secondary to a greater production of erythropoietin in this sex.


The feasibility of using a vertically downward pointing impeller to remove polluted water from a coastal margin was investigated with a pilot experiment in Lake Como, Italy. The vertical jet induced by the impeller entrained surface water downward to depth, where upon reaching neutral buoyancy it intruded horizontally into the lake proper. A three-dimensional numerical hydrodynamic model was validated with results from an intensive (eight-day) field study during which rhodamine WT dye was introduced in the lee of the impeller and then tracked as it was transported into the lake. One of the major sources of pollution to the lake is the Cosia River underflow that drains a catchment adjacent to the City of Como. The numerical model, once validated, was used to show that six impellers, with the correct thrust, could be used to reduce the pollutants adjacent to the City of Como by half within two weeks; this was achieved by injecting the surface water to a depth that would intensify the Cosia River intrusion.


Plum pox virus (PPV) exists as a complex of nine strains adapted to different Prunus hosts. Unusual PPV isolates that do not belong to the known cherry-adapted strains were discovered on sour cherry in Russia. Here, two complete genomes of isolates Tat-2 and Tat-4 were determined by sequencing on the Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform. Both were composed of 9,792 nucleotides, excluding the poly(A) tail, with the organization typical of PPV and had 99.4 and 99.7% identity between each other at the nucleotide and amino acid levels. The sequence identities between Tat-2/Tat-4 and known PPV strains ranged from 77.6 to 83.3% for genomic RNA and from 80.0 to 93.8% for polyprotein. Phylogenetic analysis placed Tat-2 and Tat-4 in a separate clade, distinct from the C and CR strains. Three more Tat-2/Tat-4-like isolates were detected in local cherry plantings using the newly developed, specific RT-PCR assay. Based on the phylogenetic analysis, sequence identities, and environmental distribution, Tat-2, Tat-4, and related isolates represent a new cherry-adapted PPV strain for which the name PPV-CV (Cherry Volga) is proposed.


Since 1990, Margaret E. O'Kane has served as president of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), an independent, not-for-profit organization whose mission is to improve the quality of healthcare everywhere. Under O'Kane's leadership, NCQA has developed broad support among the employer and health plan communities; today many Fortune 100 companies will do business only with NCQA-accredited health plans. About three quarters of the nation's largest employers use Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) data to evaluate the plans that serve their employees. O'Kane was named Health Person of the Year in 1996 by the journal Medicine & Health. She also received a 1997 Founder's Award from the American College of Medical Quality, recognizing NCQA's efforts to improve managed care quality. In 1999, O'Kane was elected a member of the Institute of Medicine. In 2000, she received the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Champion of Prevention award, the agency's highest honor. CDC names a Champion of Prevention infrequently and only when an individual has made a truly notable contribution to advancing preventive healthcare. O'Kane began her career in healthcare as a respiratory therapist and has a master's degree in health administration and planning from Johns Hopkins University.


Satellite data suggest that summertime aerosol optical depth (AOD) over the southeastern USA depends on the air/land surface temperature, but the magnitude of the radiative effects caused by this dependence remains unclear. To quantify these radiative effects, we utilized several remote sensing datasets and ECMWF reanalysis data for the years 2005–2011. In addition, the global aerosol–climate model ECHAM-HAMMOZ was used to identify the possible processes affecting aerosol loads and their dependence on temperature over the studied region. The satellite-based observations suggest that changes in the total summertime AOD in the southeastern USA are mainly governed by changes in anthropogenic emissions. In addition, summertime AOD exhibits a dependence on southerly wind speed and land surface temperature (LST). Transport of sea salt and Saharan dust is the likely reason for the wind speed dependence, whereas the temperature-dependent component is linked to temperature-induced changes in the emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) over forested regions. The remote sensing datasets indicate that the biogenic contribution increases AOD with increasing temperature by approximately (7 ± 6) × 10−3 K−1 over the southeastern USA. In the model simulations, the increase in summertime AOD due to temperature-enhanced BVOC emissions is of a similar magnitude, i.e., (4 ± 1) × 10−3 K−1. The largest source of BVOC emissions in this region is broadleaf trees, thus if the observed temperature dependence of AOD is caused by biogenic emissions the dependence should be the largest in the vicinity of forests. Consequently, the analysis of the remote sensing data shows that over mixed forests the biogenic contribution increases AOD by approximately (27 ± 13) × 10−3 K−1, which is over four times higher than the value for over the whole domain, while over other land cover types in the study region (woody savannas and cropland/natural mosaic) there is no clear temperature dependence. The corresponding clear-sky direct radiative effect (DRE) of the observation-based biogenic AOD is −0.33 ± 0.29 W/m2/K for the whole domain and −1.3 ± 0.7 W/m2/K over mixed forests only. The model estimate of the regional clear-sky DRE for biogenic aerosols is similar to the observational estimate for the whole domain: −0.29 ± 0.09 W/m2/K. Furthermore, the model simulations showed that biogenic emissions have a significant effective radiative forcing (ERF) in this region: −1.0 ± 0.5 W/m2/K.


The White House Budget proposal for 2018, if approved, could lead to a drastic cut in US funding of UN activities in the coming years. Since the US is the largest contributor to the regular budget, peacekeeping operations, agencies and programmes, its decision could have major implications on the organisation's workings. Besides well-founded queries about what the US actually stands to gain by such a move, the scenario highlights the negative effects of the UN's economic dependence on a single state. It also shows the need to transform the UN into a more independent and balanced organisation through the reinvigorated role of other powers, such as the EU. Several EU members, including Spain, are major financial contributors to the UN and have a strong interest in bringing about reform. (Less)


Franz Kafka's short story "Schakale und Araber" (Jackals and Arabs) was published in October 1917 in the monthly journal Der Jude, the intellectual organ of German-speaking Zionism founded and edited by Martin Buber. The narrator, an unidentified and pleasant-mannered European man traveling in the desert, makes a stop at an oasis in an Arab area. The circumstances of his journey and its objectives are unknown. It becomes apparent from his story that the man has come to the Arab desert merely by chance "from the far North," and that he has no intention of remaining in the area for long. All of a sudden, shortly after his "tall [and] white" Arab host has retired to the sleeping area, the narrator finds himself completely surrounded by a pack of jackals. One of them, who introduces himself as "the oldest jackal far and wide," approaches the man and implores him to solve once and for all the long-standing dispute between the jackals and the Arabs, as the traveler alone—a man hailing from those countries in which reason reigns supreme, which is not the case among the Arabs—is capable of doing so. Once the jackal elder has related to the European traveler the story of his tribe's tribulations, and how they have been compelled to reside alongside the "filthy Arabs" from one generation to the next, another jackal produces a pair of scissors, which, according to the jackals' ancient belief, is to serve the long-awaited man of reason "from the North" to rescue them from their abhorrent and hated neighbors. But at that moment, the Arab caravan leader appears, wielding an immense whip. The reader learns that not only was the Arab awake while the jackal elder sought to persuade the European man to undertake the salvation project and listening attentively to the jackal's words, but in fact, he has been well aware of the jackals' intentions for a long time: It's common knowledge; so long as Arabs exist, that pair of scissors goes wandering through the desert and will wander with us to the end of our days. Every European is offered it for the great work; every European is just the man that Fate has chosen for them. They have the most lunatic hopes, these beasts; they're just fools, utter fools.


Oxalate nephropathy represents a frequently overlooked etiology of renal failure, characterized by the deposition of calcium oxalate crystals within the renal parenchyma. This progressive form of kidney disease is marked by a significant increase in serum creatinine (Cr) level accompanied by evidence of oxalate crystal deposition on renal biopsy causing tubular obstruction and tubular injury leading to fibrosis. In all instances of oxalate nephropathy, examination of stones consistently exhibits multiple birefringent calcium oxalate crystals under polarized light. This case report details the clinical course of a patient who initially presented with progressively worsening renal function and ultimately developed end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) as a consequence of idiopathic hyperoxaluria.


Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from guava (Psidium guajava L.) reproductive tissues (flower bud, open flower, petal fall, fruit setting, and fruit growth) were collected in situ during the day by headspace-solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME), and from flower bud and fruit setting by dynamic headspace (DHS). The samples were analyzed by GC-MS to separate and identify VOCs produced by guava, which potentially could attract the guava weevil (Conotrachelus psidii Marshall, Coleoptera: Curculionidae), one of the most important pests of guava plants in Colombia and Brazil. The terpenes β-caryophyllene, limonene, and copaene (tentatively identified) were present in all of the guava reproductive tissues, being the major constituents in flower bud and fruit setting, the two guava stages where C. psidii is commonly found. Additionally, the volatile compounds released by male and female insects were separately collected by HS-SPME, and comparatively analyzed by GC-MS. As result, some of volatile detected in the guava reproductive tissues were also released from insects. The behavioral response of the volatile blends and the above-mentioned compounds was studied in a Y-tube olfactometer bioassay, allowing confirming the presence of host kairomones in the guava reproductive tissues.


Crested gibbons Nomascus spp are the rarest genus of the family Hylobatidae, and the Hainan gibbon Nomascus hainanus is the rarest primate in the world, numbering around 20 individuals. The Eastern black gibbon Nomascus nasutus, also known as Cao Vit gibbon, numbers <110 individuals in their native habitat. Both gibbon species are Critically Endangered and neither of these species is maintained in captivity. Conservation efforts for these species are currently under way. However, there is an urgent need for additional surveys, reforestation programmes, increased educational outreach to people living near the forests' edges and the creation of additional protected areas, in order for these two species to have any chance of long-term survival.


Abstract In spite of a democratic governance model, due to cis-heteronormativity, the rights of incarcerated transgender women in Costa Rica are routinely undermined by pervasive direct, social and structural violence. In effect, their incarceration is often preceded by victimization in the public and private spheres. This paper will use in-depth interviews carried out with incarcerated transgender women to examine the social factors contributing to their vulnerability and the State's responsiveness to their needs. This will be complemented by a socio-legal analysis of the current criminal justice framework. Finally, will examine if there is compliance with international human rights conventions