Purpose: A flexible polymer membrane (CivaSheet) has been developed by CivaTech Oncology, Inc. (Research Triangle Park, NC) for permanent brachytherapy. Distributed throughout the array are small plastic disks containing Pd-103 and gold foil shielding on one side to provide a directional dose distribution and facilitate imaging. This study evaluated dosimetry for the CivaSheet. Methods: Manufacturer-provided dimensional and compositional information for the device were compared to physical samples for validation of design information, then entered into the MCNP6 radiation transport code for dosimetry simulations. Three device sizes (6×6, 6×12, or 6×18 disk-arrays) were simulated as the membrane can be custom-sized preceding surgical placement. Dose to water was estimated with 0.01 cm resolution from the surface to 10 cm on both sides of the device. Because this is a novel device with calibration methods under development, results were normalized using DVHs to provide 90% prescription coverage to a plane positioned 0.5 cm from the front surfaces. This same normalization was used for creating isodose distributions. Results: Planar dose distributions of flat CivaSheets were relatively homogeneous with acceptable dose uniformity variations. Differences in the results between the differently sized CivaSheets were not significant. At 0.5 mm, 87% of the target volume was within the therapeutic dose range. Dose hotspots on the CivaSheet forward surfaces were directly above the disks. However, dose hotspots on the rear-facing surfaces were positioned between the disks. Doses in contact with the front surface were similar to those observed for currently available brachytherapy sources. Maximum doses that occurred on the rear surface were approximately 55 times lower than the dose on the front surface. Conclusion: Monte Carlo calculations validated the directional capabilities and advantageous dosimetry of the new Pd-103 brachytherapy device. It appears feasible to re-size the CivaSheet in the operating room with an acceptable variation in prescription dose. Research was supported by CivaTech Oncology, Inc.


Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Management in Finance and Investment Management in the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits Business School at the University of the Witwatersrand


Abstract. Contrary to aerial images, satellite images are often affected by the presence of clouds. Identifying and removing these clouds is one of the primary steps to perform when processing satellite images, as they may alter subsequent procedures such as atmospheric corrections, DSM production or land cover classification. The main goal of this paper is to present the cloud detection approach, developed at the French Mapping agency. Our approach is based on the availability of multi-temporal satellite images (i.e. time series that generally contain between 5 and 10 images) and is based on a region-growing procedure. Seeds (corresponding to clouds) are firstly extracted through a pixel-to-pixel comparison between the images contained in time series (the presence of a cloud is here assumed to be related to a high variation of reflectance between two images). Clouds are then delineated finely using a dedicated region-growing algorithm. The method, originally designed for panchromatic SPOT5-HRS images, is tested in this paper using time series with 9 multi-temporal satellite images. Our preliminary experiments show the good performances of our method. In a near future, the method will be applied to Pleiades images, acquired during the in-flight commissioning phase of the satellite (launched at the end of 2011). In that context, this is a particular goal of this paper to show to which extent and in which way our method can be adapted to this kind of imagery.


Ischemia/reperfusion is one of the emergency cases that frequently occurs in testis. This pathologic event is one of the reasons for infertility in men. Inflammation and oxidative stress induce ischemia/reperfusion injury in testis. Consequently, agents possessing antioxidant activity are applied in the treatment of testicular ischemia/reperfusion. In the present study, the effect of berberine administration in the treatment of testicular ischemia/reperfusion injury is investigated. In this experiment, 24 Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups (n=6): Sham group (receiving normal saline 0.9%), control group (ischemia/reperfusion), treatment I group (ischemia/reperfusion group receiving 50 mg/kg berberine), and treatment II group (ischemia/reperfusion receiving 100 mg/kg berberine). All injections were performed through the intraperitoneal route. Histopathological findings demonstrated that in the Sham group, testis has normal structure and normal spermatogenesis occurs. In the ischemia group, severe hyperemia, coagulative necrosis, and interstitial edema are observed and spermatogenesis has severe damage. In treatment I group (50 mg/kg of berberine), moderate interstitial edema, hyperemia, and coagulative necrosis are observed. Besides, spermatogenesis has moderate damage. In group treated with a high dose of berberine (100 mg/kg), all damages are mild. This experiment reveals that berberine exerts its protective impact in a dose-dependent manner so that the highest protective impact is observed in the group treated with 100 mg/kg of berberine. With respect to the major role of testicular ischemia in infertility and the results of the present study, berberine can be used as a valuable plant extract in the treatment of testicular ischemia and preventing its harmful impacts.


The observed abundance of giant arcs produced by galaxy cluster lenses and the measured Einstein radii have presented a source of tension for Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM), particularly at low redshifts (z ∼ 0.2). Previous cosmological tests for high-redshift clusters (z > 0.5) have suffered from small number statistics in the simulated sample and the implementation of baryonic physics is likely to affect the outcome. We analyse zoomed-in simulations of a fairly large sample of cluster-sized objects, with Mvir > 3 × 1014 h−1 M⊙, identified at z = 0.25 and 0.5, for a concordance ΛCDM cosmology. These simulations have been carried out by incrementally increasing the physics considered. We start with dark-matter-only simulations and then add gas hydrodynamics, with different treatments of baryonic processes: non-radiative cooling, radiative cooling with star formation and galactic winds powered by supernova explosions, and finally including the effect of active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback. Our analysis of strong lensing properties is based on the computation of the cross-section for the formation of giant arcs and of the Einstein radii. We find that the addition of gas in non-radiative simulations does not change the strong lensing predictions significantly, but gas cooling and star formation together significantly increase the number of expected giant arcs and the Einstein radii, particularly for lower redshift clusters and lower source redshifts. Further inclusion of AGN feedback reduces the predicted strong lensing efficiencies such that the lensing probability distributions become closer to those obtained for simulations including only dark matter. Our results indicate that the inclusion of baryonic physics in simulations will not solve the arc-statistics problem at low redshifts, when the physical processes included provide a realistic description of cooling in the central regions of galaxy clusters. As outcomes of our analysis, we encourage the adoption of Einstein radii as a robust measure of strong lensing efficiency, and provide the ΛCDM predictions to be used for future comparisons with high-redshift cluster samples.


This study was designed to explore and describe the relationships between preference for online training and traditional face-to-face training. Included were variables of race, gender, age, education, experience of library employees, training providers, training locations, and institutional professional development policies, etc. in the library context. The author used a bivariate test, KruskalWallis test and Mann-Whitney U test to examine the relationship between preference for online training and related variables.


Our approach to detecting false arrhythmia alarms in the intensive care unit breaks down into several tasks. It involves beat detection on different signals: electrocardiogram, photoplethysmogram and arterial blood pressure. The quality of each channel has to be estimated in order to evaluate the reliability of obtained beat detections. The information about the heart rate from the different channels must be integrated in order to find a final conclusion. Some alarm types require particular detectors as is the case of ventricular fibrillation. To identify false ventricular tachycardia alarms we needed to classify heart beats as normal/ventricular. For that purpose we introduce a new feature, QRS polarity type. This feature was important in order to reduce misclassification of ventricular beats: there was an improvement in the ventricular tachycardia alarm true positive rate from 69% to 81%. However, the true negative rate was reduced from 95% to 69% and our global challenge score (real-time event) dropped from 79.02 to 74.28. Our challenge algorithm achieved the third best score in the 2015 PhysioNet/CinC challenge event 1 (real time).


Honey bees are exposed to various pesticides through pollinating and in-hive Varroa mite control. The most basic method for evaluating pesticide toxicity is the indoor bioassay using worker bees, in which newly emerged adults are matured in incubators for conditioning before use. However, little information is available on the optimum maturation temperature from a toxicological point of view, even though it can affect honey bee responses to pesticides. In this paper, to evaluate the optimal maturation temperature for pesticide toxicity testing, several indices related to the development, gene transcription, and toxicological properties of honey bee adults following maturation at 25, 30, and 35 °C were compared with those of field bees. The body weight and developmental state of hypopharyngeal glands were highest in the bees matured at 30 °C, and the overall transcription profiles of detoxification-related genes in the field bees were closest to those of bees matured at 30 °C, whereas immaturity and features of thermal stress were observed in the 25 °C and 35 °C bee groups, respectively. In the bioassay results, the effects of maturation temperature on the toxic response of honey bees varied significantly depending on the type of pesticide. By considering all the biological and toxicological aspects examined, we confirmed that 30 °C is a recommended maturation temperature for adult honey bee toxicity test.


Poverty in rural areas is now reaching an alarming condition, according to the Central Statistics Agency at this time the poor in rural areas dominate the percentage of poverty in Indonesia by 60%. Efforts to improve the welfare of rural communities will not be separated from how people use and maximize their potential, especially in networking relevant to the issue of social capital. Based on the concept of social capital, there is currently a type of social capital linking, which means emphasizing how the community is able to build relationships with parties who have authority, especially in making policy. This is considered to be important to support the development of welfare for the community, especially in the Dago Creative Tourism Village. Based on this, the purpose of this study is how the community initiated the development of social capital linking in the community in Dago Creative Tourism Village. Therefore, based on these objectives, this study uses a qualitative approach with a descriptive type. The data collection is done by observation, study of documentation of relevant documents and interviews. In addition interviews were conducted on 15 informants obtained using purposive sampling technique to determine informants. The results of this study indicate that there are several ways in which people initiate government involvement in developing social capital linking, such as community legalizing organizations, people participating in activities organized by the government, and the community providing government opportunities to participate in every activity organized by the government


Aims: The fragrant flowers of Alstonia scholaris are rich in volatile compounds or essential oils, which comprise terpenes such as 1,8-cineole and linalool. The effects of the oils on the growth of Aspergillus niger were assessed for the first time in the present study. Study Design: Fungal growth assay. Place and Duration of Study: Sample: Department of Botany, St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, between September 2006 and December 2006. Methodology: The volatile compounds of A. scholaris were extracted through steam distillation and hydrodistillation by using a Clevenger apparatus. The effect of the steam distillate (10% v/v) on the number of spores of A. niger was observed over 5 days. Furthermore, three fractions with distinct fragrances and boiling points were collected through hydrodistillation. The effects of each fraction on mycelial growth and sporulation in A. niger were examined. Accordingly, each hydrodistilled fraction was incorporated in growth medium (10% v/v) inoculated with fungal spores. The growth of the fungus was observed over 5 days. Distilled water was used as the control. All experiments were conducted in triplicate. Results: The fungal samples treated with steam distillates showed a significantly lower number of spores than the control after 5 days (165 ± 36 vs. 35 ± 7 spores/mL) at P ≤ .05. Furthermore, the Short Communication Mugdha and Kevin; APRJ, 6(3): 26-32, 2020; Article no.APRJ.61503 27 fungal samples treated with the hydrodistilled fractions exhibited a delayed mycelial growth and sporulation compared with the control over 5 days. Fraction 1 was most effective in delaying mycelial growth (Day 4 vs. Day 1). Notably, on Day 4 none of the treated samples but the control sample exhibited sporulation. Conclusion: The volatile compounds of A. scholaris flowers clearly suppressed and delayed both mycelial growth and sporulation in A. niger but did not inhibit growth entirely. Hence, the floral volatile compounds exhibit fungistatic activity against A. niger.


In this article was showed that complex of mechanical characteristics of steel (5%C+1%Cr+1%Ni) and resistance to thermal weariness can be promoted by the thermo cyclical treatment. Metallographic studies of the thermal weariness cracks has shown that parameters macrostructure and microstructure influence on development and localization of the cracks


Abstract:
 VONDRÁK, J. & MAYRHOFER, H. 2013. Caloplaca anularis and Caloplaca scrobiculata are distinct.— Herzogia 26: 21–29. Caloplaca anularis, described from the Western Alps, and Caloplaca scrobiculata, described from Central Asia, are distinct species. The main differences are the shape of the thallus margin, the anatomy of the thalline cortex, characters of the algal layer and the ascospores. Caloplaca anularis is a widespread lichen known from mountain ranges in Europe (Alps, Carpathians, Balkan Peninsula), Near Asia (continental Turkey and Caucasus) and Central Asia (Altay, Karakorum, Hengduan Shan). The specimens from Central Asia differ slightly from the European specimens in thallus and medulla thickness, but we consider this difference environmentally induced and taxonomically insignificant. Caloplaca scrobiculata is restricted to arid mountain ranges of Central Asia. The Central Asian Caloplaca bohlinii does not differ significantly from C. anularis. The new combination Caloplaca anularis f. ignea is made for specimens of C. anularis with a red thallus.


Carefully constructed urban fieldwork enriches students' geographic education in ways impossible to reconstruct in the classroom. Geographic literature lacks good examples from human geography of how this might be accomplished. This research extends fieldwork application to the urban setting at a level most appropriate for college students, particularly those in an urban institution. The research question explored concerns the relationship of a city and its suburbs. Students conducted tests of the suburban dependency theory in five different communities in metropolitan Atlanta, using a variety of data sets, interviews, surveys, and other field techniques. Critical factors previously overlooked were size of the community and the role of county government.


We investigate the association between controlling shareholders' ownership (CS_Own) and firms' leverage decisions in the Singaporean context. We examine whether the impact of ownership concentration on leverage differs across excess and lower control. We report that shareholders with excess control prefer leverage financing for an optimal capital structure and focus on value maximisation rather using leverage as a tool of minority shareholders' expropriation. Our analysis shows that firms capital structure significantly influences by the coalition of shareholders particularly decisions about leverage financing in addition to the firms' specific characteristics and institutional arrangements. Our empirical evidence shows that controlling shareholders with a lower fraction of equity are more concerned about limited holding thus prefer leverage over equity financing to inflate their equity stake to protect them from the potential takeovers and mergers. We report that capital structure decisions in Singapore are linked with the trade-off between the controlling shareholders' target of mitigating firm risk and their non-dilution entrenchment needs. Further, we found an inverted U-shaped association between control ownership and leverage financing. In terms of moderating effect of family-controlled ownership, our findings exhibit that leverage financing is less pronounced for family firms in Singapore due to the under-diversified investment portfolio.


Background The End-of-Life Care (EoLC) Strategy 2008 highlighted the importance of early identification of potential for dying and Advanced Care Planning (ACP).1 2 3 Early awareness of poor prognosis helps patients and their relatives to understand their illness and make informed choices about their care; for instance whether to decline aggressive intervention and hospitalisation if it is unlikely to improve their quality of life. Aims and Objectives To prompt early communication within the MDT and with patients and their relatives about ACP for those deemed to be in their last year of life. Method Data from 40 discharged patients, who had been identified as likely being in their last year of life, was collected in each audit cycle. Cycle 1 was a retrospective case notes analysis from one Care-of-the-Eldery (CoE) ward. Five key areas of ACP were reviewed: resuscitation status, prognosis, ceiling of care, readmission plans, patient/family awareness of condition and prognosis. Prior to cycle 2, an ACP Summary proforma was implemented where discussions around the five key areas could be summarised. It was introduced at a CoE department meeting and teaching sessions were held for junior doctors. Results Tables 1 and 2 illustrate our findings. Table 1 Documentation in Medical Notes Target Cycle 1 Cycle 2 Resuscitation Status 100% 82% 97% Prognosis 95% 55% 95% Ceiling of Care 95% 41% 100% Readmission Plans 95% 14% 100% Patient/family awareness 95% 77% 100% Table 2 Discharge Documentation Target Cycle 1 Cycle 2 Resucitation Status 100% 6% 89% Ceiling of Care 100% 56% 100% Readmission Plans 100% 33% 100% Patient/family awareness 100% 59% 100% Cycle 1 Documentation regarding prognosis and ceiling of care (escalation plans) was poor; often it was very difficult to find in the medical notes. On call teams had to make escalations plans for 4 patients. Patients and relatives were not always informed in a timely fashion leading to 3 complaints. Cycle 2 Re-audit results following the implementation of the ACP Summary showed an improvement in all 5 key areas. Conclusion The ACP Summary ensured easily accessible information and prompted early discussions with patients, relatives and within the MDT. It improved communication with GPs on discharge.


Biotechnology is defined as biology-based technology using organisms or their parts to make or modify products or to improve characteristics of plants, animals, and microorganisms for the demands of human beings. Biotechnology profoundly impacts various fields such as agriculture, animal husbandry and veterinary, industry, food science, pharmaceutics and medicine, environment, fine chemistry, biofuels, forensics, and nanotechnology. Nowadays, biotechnology and bioindustries are becoming integral parts of the knowledge-based economy, and therefore, biotechnology has become a powerful and indispensable tool for the development of all countries in the world. As a rule, biotechnology also requires regulatory policies to control genetically modified organisms and derived products to avoid risks to biodiversity, human health, the environment, and ethical issues. This article reviews the current research, challenges, and perspectives of biotechnology as an integration of both life sciences and applied sciences.


The relationship between the hyperbolic automorphisms of the unit 2-torus and their quantum counterparts is studied. An exact and explicit representation of the quantum density of states in terms of the periodic orbits of the classical motion is derived. This is then used to obtain exact formulae for certain statistics of the distribution of the eigenvalues of the quantum propagator. It is shown that these statistics are strongly dependent upon the arithmetical nature of the dimensionless Planck's constant. The authors investigate their semiclassical form and, using results concerning the distribution of the long period orbits, find that they do not correspond to those of any of the universality classes previously studied. Finally, formulae are derived which relate properties of the quantum eigenfunctions to the periodic orbits.


Complex many-core architectures are seen as the solution to tackle the computational workloads of the next years. To find the best trade-off between power and performance, different processor architectures have to be considered and evaluated in a thorough and power-aware design space exploration. This is highly facilitated by electronic system level (ESL) using virtual platforms. However, state-of-the-art methods of estimating power consumption require insight into the models of the platform. Or in case no insight is necessary, they are limited to only RISC architectures. The former requirement is in conflict with widely used proprietary models shipped as binary objects, i.e. black boxes.
 The methodology in this paper deals with both issues by enabling ESL black box power estimation for digital signal processors (DSP) using semi-automatic calibrated power models. Additionally, a case study reveals a high accuracy with a power estimation error of less than 4% for the Black-Fin 609 DSP on the FinBoard.


Fourteen cases of dermatophytosis caused by Microsporum gypseum, representing 6.8% of all dermatophytic infections reported, were diagnosed in Siena, Italy, between 2005 and 2006. There were as follows: six cases of tinea corporis, one case of tinea corporis associated with tinea capitis, one case of tinea corporis associated with tinea barbae, one kerion on the head, one tinea cruris, one tinea faciei, one tinea barbae, two onychomycosis. In the three subjects with tinea corporis, the clinical appearance was impetigo‐like, psoriasis‐like and pityriasis rosea‐like respectively. In another case, the lesion was indicative of tinea imbricata. The diagnosis was based on mycological examination. In six cases, the source of infection was a cat, whereas in the others it was contact with soil.


Insects generally respond to varieties of cues but little is known on the attraction of Simulium damnosum sensu lato to plants. The present study investigates the attraction of Simulium damnosum s.l. to Pterocarpus santalinoides along Osun River in South Western Nigeria. Two consented fly capturers were positioned under Pterocarpus santalinoides and a plant of comparable size at Osun Budepo and Osun Eleja both located along Osun river between October to December, 2008. The number of the flies caught under P. santalinoides was statistically higher than the control at both sites with P. santalinoides accounting for 63.86% and 59.39% of the flies collected at Osun Budepo and Osun Eleja respectively (Osun Budepo, F= 218.4, P 0.05). The results therefore demonstrate that the identification of the compounds possibly responsible for the attraction could be used to develop lures for the trapping and control of S. damnosum.


Oral health is a very critical component of individuals' physical and psychological well-being. The present study aimed to investigate the dental health knowledge, attitude, and practice among schoolchildren in Abha. A cross-sectional epidemiological study was conducted. Each student completed a questionnaire regarding oral health. The participants were 800 students: 54.8% were male and 45.2% were female. Knowledge scores showed that -59.1% of the participants have fair knowledge. Statistically significant results were found between the age, school type, and students' educational level with the knowledge of oral health care (p < .05). More than half of the participants had positive attitudes (57.2%) and less than half demonstrated satisfactory oral health habits (45.3%). Students' educational level was significantly associated with attitudes and practices (p < .05). It can be concluded that the average knowledge, attitude, and practice level was 53.9%, which is not a positive indicator and needs to be strengthened.


We have studied dose-dependent effects of alfentanil, fentanyl and morphine on mid-latency auditory evoked potentials (MLAEP). Anaesthesia was induced with alfentanil 100 micrograms kg-1 every 5 min to a total dose of 500 micrograms kg-1 (group I, n = 10), fentanyl 10 micrograms kg-1 every 7 min to a total dose of 50 micrograms kg-1 (group II, n = 10) or morphine 1 mg kg-1 for induction and 0.5 mg kg-1 every 15 min to a total dose of 3 mg kg-1 (group III, n = 10). MLAEP were recorded before and 3-15 min after every opioid dose on vertex (positive) and mastoids on both sides (negative). Latencies of the peaks V, Na, Pa, Nb, P1 (ms) and amplitudes Na/Pa, Pa/Nb and Nb/P1 (microV) were measured. Fast-Fourier transformation was used to calculate power spectra of the AEP. In the awake state, MLAEP had high peak-to-peak amplitudes and a periodic waveform. Power spectra indicated high energy in the 30-40 Hz frequency range. During general anaesthesia with increasing doses of alfentanil, fentanyl and morphine, the brainstem response V was stable. There was a marked increase only in latency and decrease in amplitude of P1. In contrast, for the early cortical potentials Na and Pa, only small increases in latencies and decreases in amplitudes were observed. After the largest doses of alfentanil (500 micrograms kg-1), fentanyl (50 micrograms kg-1) and morphine (3 mg kg-1), Na, Pa and Nb showed a similar pattern as in awake patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


In this work we use a production scheduling model based on Stochastic Dual Dynamic Programming (SDDP) to investigate the effects of coordinating hydro and wind power production in a transmission-constrained area. A case study is performed on an aggregated representation of a region in western Norway for a future situation with a significant integration of wind power. Two strategies for hydro reservoir utilization are developed using the SDDP model, one only considering hydro power and one considering both hydro and wind power. These two strategies are then tested in an out-of-sample simulator with equal conditions so they can be compared properly. Results from the case study show that coordination results in a lower reservoir level which reduces spillage and wind curtailment significantly. Coordination increases the export of energy out of the system by increasing the transmission on intermediate levels. Revenue is moved from storable hydro power to run-of-river hydro and wind power as coordination moves storable hydro power production to less profitable periods to reduce spillage and curtailment.


To the Editor .—The publication of the 1988 report from the Joint National Committee on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure1 presents an updating of a consensus among its members with regard to the treatment of essential hypertension in a concise and comprehensive fashion. However, I believe that a serious error is contained in the report that may affect the treatment of a large number of patients. In particular, I refer to Table 5. Under β-blockers it is stated that "cimetidine may reduce the bioavailability of β-blockers metabolized primarily by the liver by inducing hepatic oxidative enzymes." In fact, the exact opposite of this statement is well accepted by clinical pharmacologists throughout the world. Cimetidine is known to inhibit hepatic oxidative enzymes of the cytochrome P-450 system, thus increasing the bioavailability of hepatically oxidized β-blockers and serum concentrations of these drugs. 2 A pharmacokinetic interaction between cimetidine and


We investigate the importance of interactions between dark matter substructures for the mass loss they suffer whilst orbiting within a sample of high-resolution galaxy cluster mass cold dark matter (CDM) haloes formed in cosmological N-body simulations. We have defined a quantitative measure that gauges the degree to which interactions are responsible for mass loss from substructures. This measure indicates that interactions are more prominent in younger systems when compared to older more relaxed systems. We show that this is due to the increased number of encounters a satellite experiences and a higher mass fraction in satellites. This is in spite of the uniformity in the distributions of relative distances and velocities of encounters between substructures within the different host systems in our sample.

Using a simple model to relate the net force felt by a single satellite to the mass loss it suffers, we show that interactions with other satellites account for ∼30 per cent of the total mass loss experienced over its lifetime. The relation between the age of the host and the importance of interactions increases the scatter about this mean value from ∼25 per cent for the oldest to ∼45 per cent for the youngest system we have studied. We conclude that satellite interactions play a vital role in the evolution of substructure in dark matter haloes and that a significant fraction of the tidally stripped material can be attributed to these interactions.


This paper analyses the relationship between openness to trade and wages at the industry level (15 manufacturing industries) in 25 EU countries over the period from 1995 to 2005. By applying a cross-country and industry-specific approach, it is possible to control for unobserved heterogeneity at both country and industry levels. We also differentiate between intra and inter-industry trade as well as between trade from western and eastern Europe and we try to assess the relative importance of foreign wages versus domestic productivity developments in an open environment. We find that trade is not an important driver of wages, since the wage response to trade is small. Moreover, in line with the Stolper-Samuelson reasoning, imports from the west generally benefit wages in central and eastern Europe, while imports from the east rather tend to harm wages in the west. The overall wage response is still negative in some sectors, particularly in more resource-based industries. Nevertheless, increased trade reinforces the productivity-wage link and weakens the co-movement of wages particularly in the west, while at the industry level there is little evidence of such a wage-disciplining effect of trade. JEL Classification: F14, F15, F16, J31


The eastern North American passive margin was modified by Mesozoic rifting. Seismic data from recent deployment of onshore and offshore stations offer a unique opportunity for studying the signature of syn‐rifting and postrifting in lithospheric structures. Using full‐wave ambient noise tomography, we construct a new seismic velocity model for the lithosphere of the southeastern United States. Our model confirms an oceanic‐continental transitional crust over a ∼70 km wide zone across the coastline. Our model reveals (a) a patch of lower‐than‐average mantle lithospheric velocities underlying this transitional crust and (b) a low‐velocity column in the mantle lithosphere beneath the Virginia volcanoes. We propose that anomaly 1 represents cooled enriched mantle that underplated the thinning crust during the initial stages of rifting around 230 Ma. Anomaly 2 likely has a more recent origin in the Eocene and may result from an asthenospheric upwelling induced by a localized lithospheric delamination.


In order to clarify the mode of action of zearalenone, a uterotrophic mycotoxin of Fusarium species, biochemical alteration of uterine tissue of ovariectomized mice were investigated. Administration of zearalenone to the mice induced an increase in contents of uterine RNA, protein and DNA. In vitro incubation of uterine tissue isolated from zearalenone-pretreated mice demonstrated a temporal elevation of RNA and protein syntheses. Accelerating effect of zearalenone on the cellular permeability to 14C-alpha-aminoisobutyric acid, 14C-(3-O-methyl)-glucose and 3H-uridine was also demonstrated, and this alteration of uterine permeability is presumed to be a primary effect of zearalenone.


It is based on actual working conditions and parameters of the conveyor belt, to reach the purpose of the optimizing rubber by different rubbers mixing technology. Comparison the five kinds rubber and metal of the friction characteristics in dynamic fit, obtained a performance excellent rubber in the specific operating conditions. Then improve the overall service life of the transportation equipment. It is first prepared the same hardness CR and EPDM and blends that is ratio of 2:8, 5:5and8:2 in this article. The pros and cons of the five rubbers are analyzed by friction and wear properties of the above experimental. The test curve of coefficient friction and wear with time has been done under different load at constant low speed, friction and wear and wear mechanism of five rubbers with chrome-plated steel comparatively analyses to determine CR/EPDM = 8:2 blends has the heat resistance and wear resistance are better than CR and EPDM under dry sliding conditions.


Observing the motion of sea ice from space is analogous to observing wind stress over the wet oceans; both provide surface forcing for modeling ocean dynamics. Ice motion also directly provides the advective component of the equations governing the mass balance of the sea ice cover. Thus its routine observation from space would be of great value to understanding ice and ocean behavior. To demonstrate the feasibility of creating a global multidecadal ice motion record from satellite passive microwave imagery and to quantitatively assess the errors in the estimated ice motions, we have tracked ice every 3 days in the Arctic Ocean and daily in the Fram Strait and Baffin Bay during the 8 winter months from October 1992 to May 1993 and daily in the Weddell Sea during the 8 winter months from March to October 1992. The method, which has been well used previously, involves finding the spatial offset that maximizes the cross correlation of the brightness temperature fields over 100-km patches in two images separated in time by from 1 to 3 days. The resulting ice motions are compared with contemporaneous buoyand SAR-derived ice motions. The uncertainties in the displacement vectors, between 5 and 12 km, are better than the spatial resolution of the data. Both 85-GHz data with 12-km spatial resolution and 37-GHz data with 25-km resolution are tracked. These trials with the 37-GHz data are new and show quite surprisingly that the error is only about 1 km larger with these data than with the 12-km 85-GHz data. Errors are typically larger than average in areas of lower ice concentration; in the most dynamic regions, particularly near the ice edge in the Barents and Greenland Seas; and in zones of high shear. These passive microwave ice motions show a large increase in spatial detail over motion fields optimally interpolated from buoy and wind observations, especially where buoy data are virtually absent such as near coasts and in some passages between the Arctic Ocean and its peripheral seas. The feasibility of obtaining ice motion from the 37-GHz data in addition to the 85-GHz data should allow an important record of ice motion to be established for the duration of the scanning multichannel microwave radiometer (SMMR), special sensor microwave/imager (SSM/I), and future microwave sensors, that is, from 1978 into the next millenium.


A monoclinic LaPO4 photocatalyst with surface oxygen vacancies (v-LaPO4) was prepared using hydrothermal and vacuum heat treatment methods. The photocatalytic activity reached a maximum 350 °C with vacuum heat treatment for 3 h and the photocatalytic activity and photocurrent of v-LaPO4 were almost 1.6 and 2.3 times higher than that of pure LaPO4, respectively. The improvement of the photocatalytic activity is attributed to the high separation efficiency of photogeneration electron–hole pairs. The main oxidative species are hydroxyl radicals. The photocatalytic activity of v-LaPO4 for the degradation of MB does not decrease after four cycles, indicating that the v-LaPO4 photocatalyst has good stability.


Studies on the disinfection of fodder and bedding for laboratory animals by means of a super-high frequency electromagnetic field have been carried out. This treatment has been shown to yield a reliable sterilizing effect while not affecting the chemical composition of fodder.


Through exact numerical solutions we show Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) for the onedimensional (1D) bosons with repulsive short-range interactions at zero temperature by taking a particular large size limit. Following the Penrose-Onsager criterion of BEC, we define condensate fraction by the fraction of the largest eigenvalue of the one-particle reduced density matrix. We show the finite-size scaling behavior such that condensate fraction is given by a scaling function of one-variable: interaction parameter multiplied by a power of particle number. Condensate fraction is nonzero and constant for any large value of particle number or system size, if the interaction parameter is proportional to the negative power of particle number. Here the interaction parameter is defined by the coupling constant of the delta-function potentials devided by the density. With the scaling behavior we derive various themodynamic limits where condensate fraction is constant for any large system size; for instance, it is the case even in the system of a finite particle number.


With recent trends in Big Data and advancements in Information and Communication Technologies, the healthcare industry is at the stage of its transition from clinician oriented to technology oriented. Many people around the world die of cancer because the diagnosis of disease was not done at an early stage. Nowadays, the computational methods in the form of Machine Learning (ML) are used to develop automated decision support systems that can diagnose cancer with high confidence in a timely manner. This paper aims to carry out the comparative evaluation of a selected set of ML classifiers on two existing datasets: breast cancer and cervical cancer. The ML classifiers compared in this study are Decision Tree (DT), Support Vector Machine (SVM), k-Nearest Neighbor (k-NN), Logistic Regression, Ensemble (Bagged Tree) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). The evaluation is carried out based on standard evaluation metrics Precision (P), Recall (R), F1-score and Accuracy. The experimental results based on the evaluation metrics show that ANN showed the highest-level accuracy (99.4%) when tested with breast cancer dataset. On the other hand, when these ML classifiers are tested with the cervical cancer dataset, Ensemble (Bagged Tree) technique gave better accuracy (93.1%) in comparison to other classifiers. Keywords—Artificial neural networks, breast cancer, cancer dataset, classifiers, cervical cancer, F-score, logistic regression, machine learning, precision, recall, support vector machine.


In 2006 the United Nations underwent its greatest reform since its foundation in 1945, showing a renewed commitment to human rights protection. The replacement of the Commission on Human Rights with the Human Rights Council signifies the growing strength of the international human rights regime. However, this change has not been without criticism. In particular it has been alleged that the Council suffers from various political biases to the detriment of its effectiveness: for example, disproportionately focusing on the Occupied Palestinian Territories while failing to swiftly respond to abuses in Darfur. Further, the Council is arguably undermined by both its failure to implement effective mechanisms to prevent its own membership consisting to include acknowledged human rights violator and its continuing inability to harness US support. This paper analyses such criticisms. Original in English.


BACKGROUND
Inflammation is a biological rejoinder of vascular tissues against destructive agents e.g. irritants, damaged cell or pathogens. During inflammation, respiratory burst occurs by activated phagocytes which help to destroy invading pathogens. Phagocytic cells such as neutrophils and macrophages are one of the major sources of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO). Normally, the redox environment is maintained by various antioxidant defense systems, however, these reactive oxygen species may be destructive and can lead to various pathological conditions.

METHODS
Benzophenone esters and sulfonates (1-18) were synthesized through one pot synthesis by reacting 4-hydroxy benzophenone either different benzoyl chloride or sulfonyl chloride. These synthetic compounds were evaluated for their in vitro immunosuppressive potential on two parameters of innate immune response including inhibition of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO). ROS were induced in polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) isolated from human whole blood by serum opsonized zymosan stimulation, whereas NO were produced in J774.2 cells by lipopolysachharides (LPS) stimulation. Moreover, cytotoxicity of compounds was also determined using NIH-3T3 fibroblast cells (ATCC, Manassas, USA) was evaluated by using the standard MTT colorimetric assay.

RESULTS
All compounds inhibited the production of ROS at various extent among which compounds 2, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13 and 16 were found to be the potent inhibitors of ROS with IC50 values ranging between (1.0 - 2.2 µg/mL) as compared to ibuprofen (IC50 = 2.5 ± 0.6 µg/mL) as the standard drug. Compounds 2, 7, 11, 13, 14 and 18 showed good inhibition of NO production with % inhibition values ranging between (63.6% - 76.7%) at concentration of 25 µg/mL as compared to NG-monomethyl-Larginine (L-NMMA 65.6 ± 1.1 µg/mL) as the standard. All other derivatives showed moderate to low level of inhibition on both tested parameters. Cytotoxicity activity also showed nontoxicity of synthetic compounds. Structures of all the synthetic compounds were confirmed through 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, EI-MS and HREI-MS spectroscopic techniques.

CONCLUSION
Compounds 2 and 13 were found to be good dual antiinflammatory (ROS and NO) agent. However, compounds 5, 6, 8, 10 and 16 were found to be selectively active for ROS inhibitory studies. Compounds 7, 11, 14 and 18 were discriminatory active at NO inhibition assay. These initial findings of antiinflammatory activity concluded that these compounds might have the potential to develop a novel non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), non-acidic antiinflammatory agent. Most active compounds 2, 5-8, 10, 13, 14 and 16 showed nontoxicity of synthetic compounds.


Background: Skills assessment forms an integral part of the exit examination in neurosurgical training programs. The established method of evaluating trainees for their clinical knowledge and surgical proficiency in the operating room is not feasible in the current time of SARS-COV19 pandemic. Objective: The feasibility of conducting such an assessment using case modules on an online meeting platform is discussed. Methods: Six candidates were evaluated on two consecutive days with two internal examiners located at the examination site and two external examiners situated at their own institutions elsewhere in the country. Clinical details, including images and videos of patients managed at our institute were recorded and provided to the candidates as case modules. Four sessions were conducted in the form of long and short cases, operative neurosurgery, neuroradiology, and neuropathology and a general viva-voce using "Zoom" (Zoom-Video-Communications, Inc. USA) platform. Feedback from the examinee and the examiners were obtained for any modification in the current format. Result: The online platform worked well without any interruption except for slight lag in the audio-visual system and occasional difficulty in using microphone and screen simultaneously. Trainees were able to interpret the clinical details and rated this format close to actual clinical evaluation. The examiners uniformly agreed that the online format for assessment was satisfactory and made some suggestions for improvement. Conclusion: Clinical and surgical skill evaluation is feasible using case modules and online meeting platforms. Use of original patient's data, images, videos demonstrating clinical signs, and operative procedures makes this assessment more objective.


"Oooh, I loooove RubiStar!" What is it about this teacher tool that has inspired such an ardent following of devotees? The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to document the process that had been used in developing successful teacher tools, explore why this tool had become so popular, and to identify key characteristics of the tool from a teacher's perspective. A Theoretical Framework for Interactions (TFI) was articulated that guided the researcher to consider who was involved, what were their goals and motivations, what did they do, what was the social, cultural, and physical context for their interactions, and, most importantly, how were the individuals changed over time. The research was conducted in three phases: historical research on the development process of the tool, a phenomenological study with users of the tool, and an online survey with current and past users.
RubiStar emerged out of a university-based, grant-funded organization that had experienced previous successes and failures developing teacher tools for the Internet. The development team had a singular focus on giving teachers what they needed, and the "caring concern" of the designers was instrumental in the design and ongoing success of the application. Interviews with 17 participants and survey results from 451 respondents led the researcher to conclude that what the respondents valued was what the tool could do for them--the results of using the tool--and not the specific attributes or features of the tool. Significant positive correlations were found between beliefs about RubiStar and feelings about RubiStar that ranged from .36 to .57, p < .0005. Additional analysis showed that as individuals gain more experience using rubrics, they tend to use rubrics more, and in broader, more varied ways. For thirteen behaviors surveyed, significant positive correlations were found between the reported frequency of the behavior and years of experience using rubrics that ranged from .17 to .27, p < .0005. Often mentioned as being important were these key characteristics: (1) it's easy to use; (2) it's flexible; (3) it's free; (4) it's available on the Web; and (5) it saves the user time and effort.


Deviant adolescents. psychological intervention in the penal context - In this work the Authors intend to propose some reflections on the clinical intervention acted in a juvenile justice service upon adolescents who committed an offence. In particular, the Authors focus their attention on resources and limits of psychological work in a context that have a double mandate, and that must guarantee, then, both social order and psychological help. This context entails a lot of difficulties like the patient's low motivation and the time planned by the trial iter, which are both problems strictly connected with the Justice system's net of services and the unavoidable penal framework. The double task of this service need an endless connecting work and negotiation with the judicial authority and, in the meantime, the definition of a psychological contract and a modulation of the changing goal with the adolescent and his family. The users of this service are characterized by a lack of mentalization and strong difficulties in the affect regulation, which often find their expression in violent behaviour. In this kind of situation, the emotional distress is inflicted/suffered in the meeting with the victim/persecutor but, at the same time, it's not recognized and thinkable either. In those circumstances, the psychologist's first aim is to create a cooperative relationship in which the adolescent and his family can apply their resources to promote a reflective function. Key Words: Juvenile Justice; Adolescent; Attachment; Dissociation; Trauma; Affect Regulation; Mentalization.


We present photodissociation of ultracold long-range Rydberg molecules as a tool to characterize their electronic properties. We photoassociate 39K2 37P molecules with highly entangled electronic and nuclear spins of the two bound atoms and quantify the entanglement by projection of the molecular state onto non-interacting atoms using radiofrequency photodissociation. By comparison of experimental photodissociation rates with theoretical predictions we further characterize the electronic and nuclear wavefunction of the photoassociated molecules. Based on the complete characterization of the formed long-range Rydberg molecules, we demonstrate a full hyperfine-spin flip of a free ground-state atom through the interaction with a Rydberg atom.


AIM
Mitotane is used in adrenal cancer as adjuvant therapy, monotherapy or combined with other cytotoxic agents in advanced disease, but only 30% of patients respond. The aim of this study was to define the structural requirements for drug activity and to develop analogs with improved adrenalytic action.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Nine analogs of [1-(2-chlorophenyl)-1-(4-chlorophenyl)-2,2dichloroethane] (o,p'-DDD) were tested by measuring suppression of cortisol secretion and the presence of inflammatory changes in the dog adrenal and inhibition of cell proliferation and cortisol production by NCI-H295 human adrenal cancer cells.

RESULTS
In addition to mitotane, o,p'-DDClBr and o,p'-DDBr(2), were active in vitro and in vitro: Their effects were comparable to that of o,p'-DDD when tested at 50 μM concentration, but o,p'DDBr(2) was significantly more active at the lower 20 μM concentration.

CONCLUSION
A dihalogenated methine carbon is required for adrenalytic activity. A change in the aromatic portion of the mitotane molecule causes loss of activity. Because of its greater activity at lower concentrations, o,p'-DDBr(2) has potential application in the treatment of patients with adrenal cancer.


The Global Atmospheric Backscatter Experiment (GLOBE) Mission, using the NASA DC-8 aircraft platform, is designed to provide the magnitude and statistical distribution of atmospheric backscatter cross section at lidar operating wavelengths. This is a fundamental parameter required for the Doppler lidar proposed to be used on a spacecraft platform for global wind field measurements. The prime measurements will be made by a CO2 lidar instrument in the 9 to 10 micron range. These measurements will be complemented with the Goddard YAG Aerosol Lidar (YAL) data in two wavelengths, 0.532 and 1.06 micron, in the visible and near-infrared. The YAL, is being designed to utilize as much existing hardware, as feasible, to minimize cost and reduce implementation time. The laser, energy monitor, telescope and detector package will be mounted on an optical breadboard. The optical breadboard is mounted through isolation mounts between two low boy racks. The detector package will utilize a photomultiplier tube for the 0.532 micron channel and a silicon avalanche photo detector (APD) for the 1.06 micron channel.


Ba(HfxTi1–x)O3 ferroelectric ceramics were prepared by a conventional solid-state reaction process, and the correlation of structure, dielectric, ferroelectric, and electrocaloric properties were studied. The consequences indicated that the TC of Ba(HfxTi1–x)O3 ceramics decreased, while TT–O and TO–R increased with the increase of hafnium content. Large electrocaloric effect values of 1.64 K (117 °C) and 1.21 K (76 °C) were observed for Ba(HfxTi1–x)O3 with x = 0.05 compositions. And, corresponding electrocaloric coefficients respectively were 0.33 and 0.24 K·mm·kV–1. In addition, compared with the second-order phase transition region, larger electrocaloric coefficients (ΔTf /ΔE ≥ 0.19 K·mm·kV–1) were obtained in the first-order phase transition region for all compositions. Meanwhile, the maximum values of electrocaloric coefficients ΔTf /ΔE = 0.38 K·mm·kV–1 was achieved in a smaller electric field for Ba (HfxTi1–x)O3 with x = 0.03 compositions.


The recent, sustained depression in global oil prices has driven a significant reduction in upstream Exploration and Production (EandP) expenditure, particularly in the capital-intensive offshore environment. The high costs traditionally associated with EandP development projects, specifically in subsea developments, have driven a requirement for the adoption of technologies that not only increase the efficiency of the well construction process, but also reduce the total number of wells required, whilst increasing production rates and recoverable reserves.
 Building on recent industry experiences with the varying multilateral systems available, Woodside implemented the use of an alternative innovative multi-lateral system, which has gone through multiple evolutions and marked improvements in system reliability and installation efficiency compared to Woodside's previous multilateral experience. The latest evolution of this system has been implemented during the construction of multi-lateral wells for the Greater Enfield Project (GEP). Within GEP, the Norton over Laverda (NoL) field development comprises three tri-lateral production wells (namely NoL01, NoL02 and NoL03). Norton field is an offset to the Vincent field, which employed an alternative multi-lateral completion design. On average, the Norton multi-lateral well operations were executed 15-30% faster than previous comparable Woodside installations. This has been attributed to the application of operational learnings from the previous Vincent multi-lateral development and the implementation of the new system. These wells were constructed in water depths of > 800 m, the deepest for such a system globally. Of the three wells, NoL01 and NoL02 were constructed well under budget, and ahead of schedule. NoL02 was constructed in a time that benchmarked as the fastest well per 1,000 m versus basin offsets. NoL03 was completed within budget, whilst having faced two major NPT (Non-Productive Time) events (ultimately resolved using world first solutions for the given system). This paper will discuss the successes, challenges experienced, and lessons learned during the installation of the three Norton tri-laterals. This field is a prime example of how new technology and the installation practices for multilateral systems within the operator's assets of the North-West margin of Australia have improved over time.


The Water Framework Directive (WFD) establishes the need to define specific reference conditions for the assessment of river ecosystems. This paper presents a multimetric index for assessment of biological quality in a river ecosystem using benthic macroinvertebrates. The study area corresponds to the headwater of the Cabe River, Northwest Spain, upstream of the irrigation dam at Ribasaltas, a water catchment for irrigation in the Lemos Valley area. Because Lemos Valley is an important irrigation district located in an area with key environmental features, defining the quality objectives that must be used to assess the impact of agriculture becomes essential. In our research, reference stations were chosen on the basis of a number of strict conservation criteria, and the macroinvertebrate community present in those stations was analysed. Following the verification of the homogeneity of environmental features in the study area, we selected the biological indices and metrics that provided the strongest correlations between the condition of the macroinvertebrate community and the overall environmental quality. After the most suitable metrics were selected, the weight of each metric in the final multimetric index was determined on the basis of the greater or lesser ability of each metric to define biological quality. The correlation between biological metrics and quality, and the ability of the selected metrics to define quality were determined on the basis of their performance at a number of control stations with different levels of disturbance. Finally, the quality thresholds for the proposed multimetric index were established such that the quality thresholds of the index matched the quality levels defined in the WFD. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The concept of urban design was defined as a narrow civilian design in North America in the 1950s. Thus, ideal urban movement and civil  design have been the subject of the design of public buildings and related spaces in particular. Public housing and coastal sites, organized parks,  small industrial sites, public buildings, bazaars, squares, intersections, business structures are an important part of the urban design process.  These original capital cities, which will be the subject of design, should be addressed in the design process in terms of the proper assessment of  their potential. In this context, raising design quality in urban design is an important input. Urban design as a planning tool is a spatial policy  that designs and sustains urban life at all scales with a search for a form. In this direction, this intermediate scale needs to be utilized in the  planning of our country. Urban design tools, which play an important role in urban development, must be used correctly in order to obtain  quality in urban design. At the same time, for the creation of quality urban spaces, the concept of urban design should be closely related to  issues such as planning and transportation policies, architectural design, economic development and landscape. Within the scope of this study,  evaluations are made considering all the components in order to live, construct and direct the city in a quality way.


Dear Sir: Without wishing to be unduly pedantic, I feel that the views of Carl lung have been misrepresented in the case study of fire fetishism by Drs. Bourget and Bradford (August, 1987). Since lung's collected works are inde~e?, it is a relatively simple matter to uncover the original reference. A brief discussion of the psychology of incendiarism is to be found in paragraphs 249-250 of vol. 5 of his collected works, "Symbols of Transformation". In the context of a general discussion of the canalization of blocked libido, lung states that incendiarism is a regressive act of fire-making and cites the case of "an imbecile peasant youth" who masturbated while watching the fires he had started. In earlier discussion, he observes that regressive canalizations of libido frequently have a rhythmical expression and he speculates what role this might have had in the original discovery of fire-making. There is no hypothesizing about "a symbolic and primitive outlet for sexual frustrations", and in other contexts he makes it clear that sexual frustration is rarely found in primitive or retarded intellects who on the whole give free expression to their sexual needs. . The volume "Symbols of Transformation" has an historic importance as marking lung's definitive break with the theories of Freud. The break occurred over the very issue of the nature of libido and much of the discussion in the book makes clear lung's view that an exclusively sexual definition of this concept is one-sided and misleading (see paras. 185189 particularly). It is disappointing therefore that the authors of your article have perpetuated an erroneous understanding of lung's theories without consulting the original documents.


The e-learning@greenwich/conference 2007, Designing for Learning, was the fifth conference in the series and has developed from its original focus on local institutional issues to a conference that focuses on global themes in e-learning attracting international participation. Our conferences are characterised by being practitioner focused and sector inclusive. Conference evaluations suggest that its intimate and friendly atmosphere, within the grounds of the world heritage site at Greenwich, allows practitioner-delegates to freely mix with delegates of international research repute and have an influence on practice, whether in the classroom or in educational software development.
We felt it was now time to produce a series of publications to share the important work being captured and disseminated at the conferences to a wider public in the form of post-conference reflective proceedings.


Bioethics took off slowly in Sri Lanka, but now there are ethics review committees in many medical schools and national organizations. All medical schools teach some medical ethics but there are not enough trained teachers. There are no national guidelines on research ethics. The Forum for Research and Development was formed with the aim of building a new ethical research culture. The bioethics initiative includes: awareness-raising; education activities and capacity building; advocacy; and the development of policy guidelines. We aim to raise awareness in the scientific community and the general public on ethical, legal and social principles guiding the responsible conduct of research.


ABSTRACT In recent years, researchers of different communities have increased their efforts in formalizing a set of measurements regularly collected for analysing changes in Drivers, States, Impacts and Responses of a given discipline. In some cases, different actors have converged in a minimum set of Essential Variables (EVs), such as for Climate, Biodiversity or Oceans. The definition of such EVs is an ongoing evolution and in extension (e.g. EVs for water) although some communities have not even started (e.g. agriculture and energy). This paper characterizes the Earth Observation (EO) networks and creates a graph representation of their relations. Secondly, this graph is enriched with the EVs produced by each network creating a knowledge base. Finally, an effort has been done to identify links between EVs and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicators in a way that they indirectly connect the EO. An analysis to detect gaps in EO variables due to a lack of observational networks is performed. Several suggestions for improving SDG indicators framework by considering EVs are exposed, as well as proposing new necessary EVs and suggesting new EO based indicators. The complete graph is available in the ENEON website (http://www.eneon.net/graph-ev-sdg/).


The large-scale atmospheric circulation of the North Pacific associated with two types of El Niño—the eastern Pacific (EP) and central Pacific (CP)—is studied in relation to Hawaiian winter (December–February) rainfall and temperature. The eastern and central equatorial Pacific undergo active convective heating during EP El Niño winters. The local Hadley circulation is enhanced and an upper-level westerly jet stream of the North Pacific is elongated eastward. Due to the impact of both phenomena, stronger anomalous descending motion, moisture flux divergence anomalies near Hawaii, and reduction of easterly trade winds, which are characteristic of EP winters, are unfavorable for winter rainfall in Hawaii. As a result of this robust signal, dry conditions prevail in Hawaii and the standard deviation of rainfall during EP winters is smaller than the climatology. For CP winters, the maximum equatorial ocean warming is weaker and shifted westward to near the date line. The subtropical jet stream retreats westward relative to EP winters and the anomalously sinking motion near Hawaii is variable and generally weaker. Although the anomalous moisture flux divergence still exists over the subtropical North Pacific, its magnitude is weaker relative to EP winters. Without strong external forcing, rainfall in the Hawaiian Islands during CP winters is close to the long-term mean. The spread of rainfall from one CP event to another is also larger. The near-surface minimum temperature from three stations in Hawaii reveals cooling during EP winters and slight warming during CP winters.


Polyethylene/TiO2 membranes were fabricated via thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) method. A set of characterization tests including FE-SEM, EDX, XRD, DSC, TGA, DMA, mechanical test and relative pure water flux for characterization of membranes were carried out to investigate the effect of TiO2 nanoparticles on membrane properties. The results of EDX, XRD and TGA analyses confirmed the presence of TiO2 nanoparticles in the polymer matrix. The results of DSC analysis revealed that the melting point as well as the crystallinity of the membranes increased slightly with increasing TiO2 content. However, the glass transition temperature of the membranes was not affected by the presence of particles. Addition of nanoparticles also increased storage modulus, loss modulus and tensile strength at break of the membranes due to the stiffness improvement effect of inorganic TiO2. Finally, it was observed that incorporation of the nanoparticles improved pure water flux of the membranes. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The present study was carried out to clinically classify and assess the different conditions associated with ano-rectal anomalies in neonatal farm animals and to determine the outcome of surgically correction and survival period. Thirty-eight newly born ruminant animals (8 hours to 4 days old) with ano-rectal anomalies were prospectively investigated. These animals were admitted to the clinic of Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Assiut University, Egypt, during October, 2011 to November, 2012 with a history of no defecation, straining and acute to subacute abdominal pain with or without anal opening. The animals were clinically evaluated and classified into: 11 animals suffered from atresia ani, 8 animals had atresia recti, 15 animals had atresia ani et recti, 1 animal had atresia ani with recro-vaginal fistula and 3 animals suffered from atresia ani with hypospedia. Physical examination was performed on all animals. Radiological examination of the caudal abdomen of 20% of admitted cases of neonatal calves was performed. 9 cases with various ano-rectal anomalies had advanced toxemia and ruled out from surgical correction while thirty one cases with variable clinical signs were subjected to surgery. The animals suffered from atresai ani were treated surgically by excision of disc of skin covering the anal opening while those had atresia recti or atresia ani et recti were treated either by laparo-colostomy or typhlostomy. These cases were followed up for six months and the outcome of surgical correction and survival period were recorded. We concluded that the prognosis of these conditions was mainly depending upon the nature of intestinal contents and the integrity of intestinal wall.


The textile industry plays a very important role in the national economy. It is one of the major industries in India. Handloom enjoys exclusive position in our textiles and clothing exports. Over the years, its importance has been increasing despite large-scale mechanization. This book is concerned with household textile units located in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand, in terms of their sustainability and to explore the possibilities of value-addition for Kumaon artisans, involved in making traditional textile products. This book is specially designed to serve as a reliable reference book for students, scholars, researchers, artisans involved in the activity, and as well as planner, for formulation policies and planning programmers to ensure a regular and a dependable supply of different inputs, needed for the improvement of this industry.


Increasing oil prices and emission legislation have forced automotive company to investigate new methods and technologies to reduce the harmful effect produced from the motor vehicle, particularly CO2 (Carbon-Dioxide).A lot of studies and research have been put into in order to achieve a zero emission vehicle with the usage of electricity rather than fossil fuel, but the challenge to cost and environmental effect makes an IC engine is still being the predominant power plant for automobile in this century. One of the popular techniques among engine manufacturers to have a better engine efficiency is cylinder deactivation. Cylinder deactivation is a promising method to reduce the fuel consumption and emission by forced the engine to operate at higher load. However, the higher combustion pressure and extreme temperature at firing cylinders will result in higher NOx composition. This paper will investigate further the engine performance, fuel economy and emission by using one-dimensional (1-D) simulation tool. A standard 1.6 litre naturally aspirated four in-line cylinders, port fuel injection engine is modelled and correlated to the measured test data. The model is then simulated with cylinder deactivation mode by deactivating the intake and exhaust valves at cylinders no 2 and no 3 as well as fuel injection at various engine speeds at part load conditions to show improvements in fuel consumption, CO2 emissions, pumping losses and effects on CO and NOx emission. This correlated model is then used to investigate the application of EGR in order to reduce the emission level. Also, the effects on in-cylinder combustion as well as pumping losses are presented. The study shows that the application of EGR is very significant for engine with CDA mechanism to ensure the overall engine fuel consumption and emissions are reduced simultaneously.


Mental health nurses routinely hand over clinical knowledge at intershift reports. In the present study, field descriptions from prolonged fieldwork and transcripts of audio recordings of handovers were analysed discursively drawing on ethnomethodology and conversation analysis. The analysis identified linguistic and social conventions for handing over clinical knowledge; in particular, differences were identified between non-interactional and interactional handovers. The interactional handovers were relatively more substantial but did also bring forth obvious signs of uncertainty regarding exact clinical situations. Handing over caused a silencing of the least powerful nurses' voices, generated uncertainty, and promoted knowledge about the patients' clinical situation that was not necessarily precise or up-to-date.


Factor analytic studies of the 24-item Personal Attributes Questionnaire (Spence & Helmreich, 1978) have reported inconsistent results, and a previous confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicated inadequate fit for factors corresponding to Masculinity, Femininity, and Masculinity–Femininity scales. In this research, we used CFA in a college sample (N = 382) to evaluate the 3-factor model, and we revised scales by eliminating 6 misspecified items. The revised model fit well in another college sample (N = 230). We renamed the revised scales Agency, Communion, and Emotional Vulnerability. In relation to Five-factor theory, Emotional Vulnerability and Communion correlated well with Neuroticism and Agreeableness, respectively, and Agency had moderate correlations with Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness. Psychometric results in the context of current theory suggest that Agency (Masculinity) may not be a fully adequate measure of the agency construct.


In peer-to-peer networks, it is desirable that the logical topology of connections between the constituting nodes make a well-connected graph, i.e., a graph with low diameter and high expansion. At the same time, this graph should evolve only through local modifications. These requirements prompt the following question: are there local graph dynamics that i) create a well-connected graph in equilibrium, and ii) converge rapidly to this equilibrium? In this paper we provide an affirmative answer by exhibiting a local graph dynamic that mixes provably fast. Specifically, for a graph on N nodes, mixing has occurred after each node has performed O(polylog(N)) operations. This is in contrast with previous results, which required at least Ω(N polylog(N)) operations per node before the graph had properly mixed. 1998 ACM Subject Classification E.1 Graphs and Networks


Rubber trees (Hevea brasiliensis) are the main source of natural rubber, extracted from latex, which exudes from the trunk after tapping. Tapped trees require large amounts of carbon (C) to regenerate the latex after its collection. Knowing the contribution of C sources involved in latex biosynthesis will help in understanding how rubber trees face this additional C demand. Whole crown 13CO2 pulse labelling was performed on 4-year-old rubber trees in June, when latex production was low, and in October, when it was high. 13C content was quantified in the foliage, phloem sap, wood, and latex. In both labelling periods, 13C was recovered in latex just after labelling, indicating that part of the carbohydrate was directly allocated to latex. However, significant amounts of 13C were still recovered in latex after 100 d and the peak was reached significantly later than in phloem sap, demonstrating the contribution of a reserve pool as a source of latex C. The contribution of new photosynthates to latex regeneration was faster and higher when latex metabolism was well established, in October, than in June. An improved understanding of C dynamics and the source-sink relationship in rubber tree is crucial to adapt tapping system practices and ensure sustainable latex production.


In this study, the effective elastic properties are numerically calculated for laminated plain weave textile composites with various orientation angles. A single-field macroelement with modified subdomain integration is used in the analysis to reduce computer resource requirement while efficiently accounting for the internal microstructure. A calculation procedure based on the Monte Carlo method is employed to consider the random tow arrangement due to the shift between the layers. Results show that significant deviation from average values occur when the orientation angles are near 0 for the extensional modulus and Poisson's ratio and 45 for the shear modulus. It is also found that the average properties calculated for the two-layer specimen have large differences as compared to the CLT results, which indicate that caution must be used when analyzing thin plain weave composite structures.


ABSTRACT When exposed to 254-nm UV, spores of Encephalitozoon intestinalis, Encephalitozoon cuniculi, and Encephalitozoon hellem exhibited 3.2-log reductions in viability at UV fluences of 60, 140, and 190 J/m2, respectively, and demonstrated UV inactivation kinetics similar to those observed for endospores of DNA repair-defective mutant Bacillus subtilis strains used as biodosimetry surrogates. The results indicate that spores of Encephalitozoon spp. are readily inactivated at low UV fluences and that spores of UV-sensitive B. subtilis strains can be useful surrogates in evaluating UV reactor performance.


AIM
The number of very elderly patients with cancer is growing and requires particular attention. The role of organ-sparing irradiation in patients with bladder cancer aged ≥80 years was investigated.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
In 29 very elderly (≥80 years) patients irradiated for bladder cancer, 12 characteristics were analysed for survival: indication, gender, age, Karnofsky performance score (KPS), T-/N-category, tumour grade, pack years, smoking during irradiation, radiation dose, interruption of irradiation >5 days and concurrent chemotherapy.

RESULTS
On univariate analysis, primary treatment (p=0.001), KPS >70 (p=0.026) and not smoking during radiotherapy (p<0.001) were associated with better survival. A strong trend for such association was observed for female gender (p=0.054), <40 pack years (p=0.064) and concurrent chemotherapy (p=0.061), and a trend for no interruption of irradiation (p=0.09). On multivariate analysis, primary treatment (p=0.006) and not smoking during radiotherapy (p=0.038) maintained significance.

CONCLUSION
Very elderly patients irradiated for bladder cancer may benefit from concurrent chemotherapy. Smoking during irradiation and interruptions of irradiation should be avoided.


KVK, Ghantasala has conducted sixty front line demonstrations on direct sown paddy with seed drill in farmer's fields of different villages in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. Over the last three seasons starting from 2012-13 to 2014-15 this DSP method showed an increase in yield in comparison to TPP. In case of DSP, the growth parameters plant height (88.2cm), effective tillers/hill (16.6 nos.), panicle length (22.9 cm) and No. of grains/panicle (125 nos.) were significantly higher as compared to TPP method. Comparative economics of DSP and TPP method of paddy cultivation revealed that there is a difference in cost of cultivation which is nearly Rs.9000 to 10,000/ ha. The benefit cost ratio of 3.00 was also much higher than the TPP (2.20). The lower net returns of Rs.57, 600 and low benefit cost ratio of 2.20 indicated non-profitability of paddy cultivation under TPP method in Krishna district. Hence it could be recommended that wherever labour is scarce, costlier and for easy intercultural operations, direct seeding through seed drill may be advantageous for increasing the productivity and profitability of direct seeded rice.


With the advancement of globalization, the rate of migration of people from one nations to another nations is getting higher. This might result in causing the problems for those migratingpeople in the destination countries. Most of these problems related to the violation of the destination's state immigration rules, for example, illegal entry, forged passport, and so forth. Providing protection to its citizens who are coping with problems abroad is one of the state's obligations. Fulfilling this specific obligation is not a simple task for states. Therefore, all states would put high priority to this duty. In dealing with this matter, most states refer to the existing international convention, such as the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, as well as the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. However, some states need more than these international conventions to solve the problem. Some states would have a bilateral arrangement to provide protection to their own citizens. These arrangements could touch upon very specific matters to ease the potential problems. This article would describe the protection programs in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines. In providing protection for their citizens, each country stipulates their basic policy uniquely, based on their political, economic and socio-cultural interests.


Guidelines have been developed to support control room and display design for fossil power plant digital control system upgrade projects. Emphasis is placed on display design. The approach to guidelines development and the results to date are summarized. An overview of the human-computer interface section of the guidelines is provided. Areas for which new guidelines were adapted or developed are discussed such as interframe navigation, windows, alarms, soft controls, and large displays. Future plans, including demonstration projects, cost-benefit analysis, of guideline applications, technology transfer activities, and consideration of new technology applications are described.<<ETX>>


The proposal of this essay is to reflect on the use of concepts of the human and social sciences as approach and analysis methods in accounting research, especially in management accounting. It starts presenting dialogues between accounting studies and the institutional theory, as the approach of the Old Economic Institutionalism (OEI) which encompasses the so called state of the art or mainstream of the studies in the accounting area, mainly in Brazil. Moreover, it is discussed the scope and usefulness of the institutional theory in explaining the sociological and political perspectives on accountability, addressing possible limits and inconsistencies in the studies conducted so far. Furthermore, it is also shown the perspectives of studies in accounting by understanding the institutional phenomenon in organizational decision made with sociological theoretical contributions. Finally, it is concluded that national and international research aiming to contribute to the accounting theory, mainly on the organizational dynamics of change and use of management accounting practices, try to understand the institutionalization of the accounting tools. However, inappropriate theoretical background, as the approach of the OEI, is used, promoting no fully understanding of the institutionalization of management accounting practices by organizations. Therefore, there is a need for a research agenda to relate the institutionalization of accounting practices in the light of both economic and organizational sociologies. Key words: management accounting, accounting theory, institutional theory, institutionalism, critical accounting.


The object of the present paper is to study conformally flat almost pseudo Ricci symmetric manifolds. The existence of a conformally flat almost pseudo Ricci symmetric manifold with non-zero and non-constant scalar curvature is shown by a non-trivial example. We also show the existence of an n-dimensional non-conformally flat almost pseudo Ricci symmetric manifold with vanishing scalar curvature.


This study examined the influence of personality traits, and work commitment on Job performance of public secondary school teachers in Oyo South Senatorial District of Oyo State, Nigeria. It also assessed the level of job performance of public secondary school teachers and investigated the combined influence of personality traits and work commitment on Job performance of these teachers with a view to improving their job performance level in the senatorial district and Oyo State in general. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The sample for this study consisted of 15 principals, 75 HODs, and 300 class teachers in the senatorial district. Five local government councils were selected from nine local government councils in Oyo South senatorial district using simple random sampling technique. Frequency counts, simple percentages, chi-square, and one-way ANOVA statistics were employed to analyze the data. The hypotheses were tested at the 0.05 level of significance. The results revealed that 15.7%, 67.9% and 16.4% of public secondary school teachers in the senatorial district demonstrated low, moderate, and high levels of job performance respectively. Also, 72.1% of the teachers had a moderate level of work commitment, 1.7% had a high level while 11.7% had a low level of work commitment. The results further showed that there was no significant influence of personality traits on teacher's job performance (X2 = 6.730, df = 8, p = 566). It was established that there was significant influence of personality traits on the job performance of teachers (X2 = 49.942, df = 4, p = .00). Moreover, the result showed that the combination of personality traits and work commitment will significantly influence the job performance of the teachers (F = 541.158, P > 0.05). The study concluded that work commitment had the greater influence on the job performance than personality traits.


The design consist of a central "Airbag control unit"(ACU) controls a number of related sensors within the vehicle like accelerometers, impact sensors, wheel speed sensors, gyroscopes, brake pressure sensors, and seat occupancy sensors. When the requisite 'threshold' has been reached or exceeded, the airbag control unit will trigger the ignition of a gas generator propellant to rapidly inflate a nylon fabric bag. The inflated airbag reduces the deceleration experienced by the passenger during the crash through the process of venting gas out of small vent holes in a controlled manner absorbing the energy of the occupant impacting the bag. CAN is a serial communication protocol. The CAN bus may be used in vehicles to connect engine control unit and transmission , or (on a different bus) to connect the door locks , climate control , seat control.


EGF, known to sustain CNS neuronal progenitors, also promotes a neurotypic response in the thymic neural-crest-derived TC-1S cell line. We report here the use of TC-1S cells as a model to identify the genetic programs regulated during the neurotypic response induced by EGF and to isolate 23 EGF-responsive genes. Among them 5 represent novel cDNAs, while 18 are known genes, whose regulation by EGF is associated with the mitogenic or differentiating effects of the growth factor. The repression of smooth muscle alpha-actin and SM22alpha genes by EGF and their increase by TGFbeta suggest that the TC-1S line includes neural crest multipotent cells whose smooth muscle differentiation is repressed upon EGF treatment and stimulated by TGFbeta. Therefore, we identified a complex pattern of EGF-target genes and propose EGF as a novel signal able to recruit postmigratory neural-crest-derived cells along proliferation and cell lineage choice pathways.


Because energy balance is important for survival, a system is required to monitor energy status and to make appropriate adjustments in energy intake and energy expenditure. In higher animals, a centrally located system has evolved to accomplish this task. When caloric intake exceeds expenditure, the surplus is channeled into energy storage pathways, primarily the synthesis of fatty acids, which are converted into fat and stored in adipose tissue. Thus, metabolic flux through the pathway of fatty acid synthesis, located in the lipogenic tissues, reflects the "energy status" of the animal. The enzymatic machinery of this pathway is also expressed in the brain, notably the hypothalamus. In the hypothalamus, intermediates in this pathway appear to serve as energy sensors that signal higher brain centers to produce appropriate responses, e.g., altered food intake and energy expenditure.


Purpose: To study the correlations in the diagnosis of patients with advanced stages of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) using data from electroretinography and optical coherence tomography (OCT) of the retina.Methods. The study was performed in two clinical subgroups of patients (35 people, 55 eyes) with stages II and III POAG and the age-matched control group (28 healthy people, 32 eyes). The thickness of the ganglion cell complex (GCC), including the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), the retinal ganglion cell layer (RGC), and the inner plexiform layer (INL) in the macular region, was assessed in nine segments. Correlation analysis of morphometric parameters of GCC in advanced POAG was performed with data from previously performed electroretinography: the transient pattern-ERG (T-PERG), stationary pattern-ERG (S-PERG), and photopic negative response (PhNR).Results. Statistically significant (p < 0.01) thinning of all layers of the GCC was revealed in all studied sectors. Significant (p < 0.05) differences in all morphometric characteristics were recorded between the two subgroups. In patients of the 1st subgroup, the greatest differences in morphological parameters from the control group's values were noted in the lower, upper parafoveal sectors of the RGC layer, as well as in the temporal perifoveolar quadrant. In the 2nd subgroup, significant changes in the thickness of the inner retina layers were recorded for the upper and lower peripheral sectors of the RNFL and the temporal para- and peripheral quadrants of the RGC layer. In the study of morphological-functional relationships, the most significant correlations were revealed for the parameters of S-PERG. The amplitude of S-PERG directly correlated with the thickness of RNFL in the nasal sector of the perifovea (r = 0.86; p < 0.01) in the 1st subgroup of patients and the thickness of the RGC in the nasal sector of the perifovea in the 2nd subgroup (r = 0.84; p < 0.01). Moderate relationships were revealed between the N95/P50 T-PERG index and the RNFL thickness in the upper sector of the perifovea (r = 0.46; p < 0.05), the peak N95 T-PERG latency, and the RNFL thickness in the upper sector of the perifovea (r = –0.43; p < 0.05) in patients of the 1st subgroup. In patients of the 2nd subgroup, there was a correlation between the amplitude of N95 T-PERG and the thickness of the RGC in the lower sector of the perifovea (r = –0.42; p < 0.01), the peak latency of N95, and the thickness of the RNFL in the upper sector of the parafovea (r = –0.31; p < 0.05). A direct correlation was established between the PhNR amplitude from the baseline and the thickness of the RGC layer in the perifovea's temporal sector (r = 0.72; p < 0.01) in patients with stage II POAG. The PhNR amplitude from the b-wave peak in patients with stage III POAG correlated with the RNFL thickness in the perifovea's nasal sector (r = 0.51; p < 0.01).Conclusion. Specific patterns of morphological-functional changes in the parameters of the retina's inner layers in patients with advanced POAG are presented, which can be used as clinical markers in determining an individual therapeutic strategy.


This article is focused on the Limited Liability Company (LLC), the most popular form of company in Slovakia, as a legal form for small and medium enterprises. The article analyses selected topics that are important for comparison and for establishing a better understanding of the Slovak regulation; these are mainly capital requirements and capital protection, bans on the return of investment contributions, management responsibility, the responsibility of the single or majority member, and rules on minority protection. The article also describes the current problems regarding the LLC regulation in Slovakia (restrictions on the company formation, transfer of business shares, piercing the corporate veil, de facto statutory body/ director.


A substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) bandpass filter based on negative order resonance is designed, fabricated and tested. Composite right/left hand (CRLH) functionality is generated by incorporating series interdigital slots on the surface of the SIW. The slot acts as series capacitor and shunt inductor, and the resonance generated is below the waveguide cut-off frequency. The bandpass filter presented in this paper is designed by applying the Kaiser distribution on the interdigital fingers. This resulted in shifting the resonance frequency to a higher frequency. The simulations are performed by Agilent ADS Momentum and EMPro FEM. The measurement results show a low insertion loss of 0.8dB at 7.19GHz. The 3-dB bandwidth is 645MHz with a return loss is greater than 15 dB.


This paper deals with the examination of high school and college students' preferences for choosing the university who were born in the period of mid 1990s. The goal of the paper is to conduct more detailed analysis of the most common means of communication from the perspective of potential and existing customers (in this case, students). We approach how members of this generation make decisions when they choose a university to study and what content of the information affects their final decisions. Research conducted for this article include at most 900 respondents from among high school students and first year university students. It is evident that students are affected more by information concerning their future than those that make life in the study. A big influence on the decisions of the university have information that students gained from their friends or family who the studied similar schools in the past. We found that within a generation Z the older generation does not have such an influence on their decisions. Our findings also show a degree of decision-making dynamics of two students subgroups comparison students who doesn ́t study the university and those who already are studying. The valuable information for business sphere about the way how examined groups of student gather information is presented in the paper. This information can significantly help to understand and better targeting that groups. The document can be downloaded at http://hdl.handle.net/10195/67927.


Using first-principles techniques, we investigate the (001) surfaces of cubic PbHfO3 (PHO) and BaHfO3 (BHO) terminated with both AO (A = Pb and Ba) and HfO2. Surface structure, partial density of states, band structure, and surface energy are obtained. The BaO surface is found to be similar to its counterpart in BHO. For the HfO2-terminated surface of cubic PHO, the largest relaxation appears on the second-layer atoms but not on the first-layer ones. The analysis of the structure relaxation parameters reveals that the rumpling of the (001) surface for PHO is stronger than that for BHO. The surface thermodynamic stability is explored, and it is found that both the PbO- and the BaO-terminated surfaces are more stable than the HfO2-terminated surfaces for PHO and BHO, respectively. The surface energy calculations show that the (001) surface of PHO is more easily constructed than that of BHO.


Methamphetamine has become the drug of choice for a growing number of women in their childbearing years. Methamphetamine reduces inhibitions and increases libido, such that high-risk behaviors are conducted in association with methamphetamine use. Women who become pregnant while using methamphetamine are likely to be younger than the general population of pregnant mothers. They have more comorbid conditions and they delay entry into prenatal care services. The number of methamphetamine-involved births has increased as methamphetamine has become more available and affordable in urban settings. This dissertation investigated prepregnancy and pregnancy experiences in a sample of 17 women, ten pregnant women and seven postpartum mothers who used meth during a portion of a recent pregnancy. Constructivist Grounded Theory fueled by Symbolic Interactionism was used for data collection and analysis of semi-structured interviews, observations, and field notes. The dissertation is comprised of three manuscripts that describe consecutive events in a transition that surrounded the participants' unintended pregnancies. The findings highlight their lives before pregnancy, learning they were pregnant, and becoming involved in the pregnancy. Three processes, Progressing to a meth-centered lifestyle, Reconciling Pregnancy, and Engaging in Pregnancy, depict the commonalities, variations, and conditions of the women's experiences. Within the process of Progressing to a meth-centered lifestyle, initiation to methamphetamine occurred and progressed to regular, chronic use. The women's age and social development were linked in the women's recollections of their initial use of methamphetamine. Reconciling Pregnancy describes two intertwining events, pregnancy and being drug-free after arrest or entry into substance abuse treatment. This combination of occurrences established a foundation for the women to begin modifying their perceptions about being pregnant and about pursuing sobriety. The third process, Engaging in Pregnancy, conveys the women's participation in their pregnancy transition by taking care of themselves for the sake of the pregnancy and bonding with their unborn child. It describes the influences that assisted the women to strengthen their involvement in their pregnancies while preparing for a sober life as mothers. The qualitative findings expand our understanding of women living a methamphetamine-centered lifestyle. Through their rich descriptions of events surrounding unintended pregnancy, we learned about the women's neglect of self and poor health-seeking practices. Their stories uncover needs for intervention in each of the three processes.


In this paper, a rate estimation technique using the transform coefficient variance is proposed in the rate-distortion cost function for intra mode decision. The experiment shows that the rate estimation using the absolute transform coefficient variance can predict rates more accurate than the one using rho-domain model. The new cost function brings out an average speed-up factor of 13.8 when compared with the RDO mode decision, but with considerable degradation in the rate-distortion performance. To improve the coding performance, we propose a SATD-based mode decision algorithm, which incorporates both SATD and the variance information into the RDO mode decision method. The results show that the SATD-based mode decision scheme can achieve a significant improvement in computation with negligible PSNR loss.


M-Learning is a learning model that blends wireless technology and mobile computing to educate the world. It is convenient in that it is accessible from virtually anywhere. However, it faces the challenges such as the high cost and lack of sufficient education resources. This paper presents a new M-learning architecture that is enhanced by cloud computing. Relying on this architecture, we can reach the huge number of students over diverse terrains in a timely and cost effective manner, by using the mobile technology as a supplement to the existing learning technologies. A new learning framework for Bangladesh is also described that makes use of mobile phones combined with cloud computing to achieve cost-effectiveness.