This project investigates how isotope systems respond to changes in continental weathering processes and the consequences for the chemical composition of the oceans. Both experimental and natural data indicate that Li and Mg stable isotope systems preserve information on the mineral reactions controlling water chemistry. Dissolution experiments indicate that primary mineral dissolution has little effect on Li, but does fractionate the isotopes of Mg, whereas secondary mineral formation involves preferential uptake of the lighter isotopes of both Li and Mg. Glacial regions have low chemical weathering rates so their rivers should, in principal, have Li isotope compositions (δ7Li) that are similar to those of the underlying rock. In practise, glacial rivers in Greenland have δ7Li values that differ significantly from the source rock. Subglacial uptake of 6Li by iron oxyhydroxides appears to influence the riverine Li isotope composition. In contrast, the principal control on Mg isotopes in glacial rivers appears to be primary mineral weathering. Carbonate dissolution dominates the chemistry of glacial rivers, and this phase possesses a light Mg isotope composition imparting this signature to the Greenland rivers. Both the Li and Mg isotope compositions of glacial rivers are similar to their respective global riverine averages, suggesting that the impact of glaciation on the Li and Mg composition of seawater may be small. The Re-Os radiogenic isotope system is also a useful tracer of continental weathering, its composition in the oceans being sensitive to changes in the flux and composition of continental weathering. Laterites are widespread in tropical regions and are shown to contain high concentrations of highly unradiogenic Os. Consequently, their subsequent weathering and erosion has potential to significantly affect the Os isotope composition delivered to the oceans.


Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between shift work and work-related injuries in a representative sample of Korean workers. Methods: We used data from the Korean Working Condition Survey of 2006. The participants were 7,075 Korean workers 15 to 64 years of age. Logistic regression was employed to estimate the relationship between shift work and work-related injury using the SAS version 9.2 program. Results: Shift work was significantly related to work-related injuries compared to non-shift workers(OR 2.40, 95% CI=1.65~3.48). When personal and occupational risk factors were accounted for, shift work had a statistically meaningful relationship with work-related injuries compared to non-shift work(OR 1.79, 95% CI=1.20~2.66). Conclusions: In this study, shift workers appear to have a higher risk of work-related injuries compared to non-shift workers. Work-related injuries in shift workers could be attributed to circadian rhythm disorder and sleep problems. Suitable arrangements that ensure flexible working times are needed for shift workers. Further study will be needed to identify and mitigate work-related injuries among shift workers.


Introduction: Several researchers academics have revealed in recent years that cognitive ability alone is insufficient to predict success,and that morals, talent, attitude, and behaviour all play a role. Salovey and Mayer investigated the reasons why many clever people failed in life more than a decade ago. Their research led to the identification of an intelligence subset known as emotional intelligence (EI). EI, as a sort of social intelligence, is more important than cognitive intelligence in terms of success.Objective: The aim of the present study was to determine the correlation of EQ and IQ with Academic performances.Methods: The present cross -sectional study was conducted in Baqai Dental College from July 2021- September 2021 after getting ethical approval from Ethical review board, Baqai Dental College. Dental students from 2nd year, 3rd year and Final year were invited to participate through census sampling technique. The study included all students from each class who were present on the day of data collection whereas those absent from each class were excluded from the study.Results: A total of 165 dental students participated in the study. Majority of the dental students fall in the domain of emotional awareness and management within 25-34 range of effective functioning. Frequency and percentages were also calculated for level of intelligence and 72 (43.6%) of the dental students scored 90-109 which is considered as Normal. Association of students marks from the last examination with IQ score was calculated and 48(39.7%) students with <60% in the last examination fall in the Normal range of IQ. Correlation between EQ, IQ and academic performance was calculated and showed that a negative correlation was found between Academic performance and IQ.Conclusion: The present study concluded that emotional intelligence is positively correlated with academic performance and negatively correlated with IQ.KEYWORDS: Academic performance, Intelligent Quotient, Emotional awareness, Emotional intelligence, Emotional management, Relationship management


Purpose of review Endoscopic eradication therapy is considered a well tolerated and effective alternative to esophagectomy for a select patient population with high-grade Barrett's esophagus and intramucosal adenocarcinoma. This review highlights the available eradication techniques (resection and ablation) with emphasis on factors that influence the choice of therapy. Recent findings Long-term follow-up of patients treated with endoscopic eradication therapies demonstrates high rates of complete remission of dysplasia and intestinal metaplasia with overall survival comparable to patients treated surgically. Cohort studies also report that recurrence following successful ablation occurs in a significant proportion of patients, making careful surveillance an indispensable component following successful endoscopic therapy. Endoscopic eradication therapy is also effective for the treatment of recurrent dysplasia and intestinal metaplasia. Ablative therapies may lead to buried metaplasia in a small proportion of patients. The long-term clinical implications of buried metaplasia are unclear. Summary Patients undergoing endoscopic eradication therapy should be enrolled in a comprehensive surveillance and staging program that offers both resection and ablative techniques. Complete remission of dysplasia and intestinal metaplasia can be achieved in the vast majority of patients undergoing endoscopic therapy. Surveillance should continue after treatment with close monitoring for recurrent dysplasia.


Nondestructive sampling methods, such as removal of feathers for contaminant analysis, are desirable in ecological monitoring programs that seek to minimize the impacts of harvesting organisms. Although many reptiles are declining worldwide, nondestructive sampling techniques seldom have been employed for assessing contaminant exposure in these organisms. In this study, we examined the utility of nondestructive tissue sampling for assessing Se exposure in reptiles. We describe the functional relationships among dietary Se concentrations, target tissue Se concentrations, and Se concentrations in nondestructive tissue samples (blood and tail tissue biopsy) in two species of snakes that had been exposed to Se under very different experimental protocols. Using nonlinear regression, we found strong positive correlations (r2 > 0.92) in all comparisons among Se concentrations in nondestructive tissues, diet, and target tissues. Moreover, equations describing these relationships can be used to estimate concentrations of Se in diet and target organs, from known concentrations of Se in nondestructive tissue samples. Although the current paucity of toxicity data on reptiles precludes tests of our models, we demonstrate how the equations describing these relationships might be used to make predictions about Se accumulation in target organs for risk assessment. Future studies on reptiles that examine these relationships under different Se exposure conditions, and those that document physiological responses of reptiles to various concentrations of Se, will help to refine our models and test their efficacy for predicting health risk.


The importance of the front-end decision-making phase in projects is being increasingly recognized—the need to "do the right project" is on a par with "doing the project right." This area is underrepresented in the literature, but there are a number of key themes that run throughout, identifying key issues or difficulties during this stage. This article looks at some of these themes and includes: the need for alignment between organizational strategy and the project concept; dealing with complexity, in particular the systemicity and interrelatedness within project decisions; consideration of the ambiguity implicit in all major projects; taking into account psychological and political biases within estimation of benefits and costs; consideration of the social geography and politics within decision-making groups; and preparation for the turbulence within the project environment, including the maintenance of strategic alignment.


The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of learning disability (LD) in isolate populations with different inbreeding coefficients (F). Prevalence of LD and F were determined in 10 villages from five Croatian islands: Brac, Hvar, Korcula, Lastovo and Susak. For the purpose of this study, LD was defined as the inability to attend the public school system. As the elementary schools (grade 1-8) in the place of the study are both public and compulsory, the assessment of child's inability to attend the school is performed at the age of six. This is required by all children in the country based on standard set of tests of cognitive performance defined by the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Croatia. The average inbreeding coefficients in each village population (F) were estimated in a random sample of 20-30% adults in each of the 10 villages based on 4 ancestral generations and using Wright's path method. Prevalence of LD ranged from 0.43% to 2.47%, and the inbreeding coefficients ranged from 0.8% to 4.9%. The Pearson's correlation coefficient between F and LD prevalence was 0.80 (p < 0.01). Although the relative risk per 5% inbreeding appeared very high (about 10), the absolute risk only increased from 0.18% to 1.77%. The genetic effect of inbreeding (GEI) was approximately 0.69% and the population-attributable fraction 76.6%. A review of the literature and the results of this study lead to a conclusion that a very large number of predominantly recessive genetic factors might mediate the genetic susceptibility to various forms of LD in these populations.


Abstract On a surreal day in August 2019, smoke clouds rising from the burning Amazon plunged Sa?o Paulo into darkness. Pasture-clearing cattle industries in Brazil, largely responsible for these fires, soon became a matter of global concern. A different sort of crisis took hold half year later—the COVID-19 pandemic, which likely originated in a bat. These two events, though seemingly disconnected, involve consuming animal bodies in ways that have compromised planetary habitability—one through deforestation and greenhouse gases, the other through confinement and a novel coronavirus. This essay argues for the urgency of re-thinking politics from a posthumanist perspective, one that considers the impact of environmental harm caused by the uses of nonhuman animals. Democracy is shaped by such eco-political realities, as demonstrated in the multi-species authoritarianism of Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro's "bancadas de bi?blia, bo?i, e bala" ("senate seats filled with bibles, beef, and bullets"). This essay focuses on Wilson Coutinho's experimental short film Cildo Meireles (1979) as well Meireles art installations that incorporate nonhuman animals. Coutinho and Meireles were prescient in their attention to the role of nonhuman animals within the histories of colonialism/neocolonialism and the immiseration of indigenous communities at the hands of such undemocratic forces as corrupt politicians and ranchers. Their work offers a multi-species analysis of global warming, biodiversity loss, racist food politics, and the incubation of zoonotic illnesses—all of which have led to a withering of democracy within Brazil's borders and beyond.


Small angle neutron scattering has been used to study phase separation in a quantum alloy, solid {sup 3}He{sub x}-{sup 4}He{sub 1{minus}x}. The onset of phase separation is marked by a dramatic increase in the measured scattering. A simple interpretation of the results suggests that the late-stage phase separation kinetics are dominated by an increase in the concentration of {sup 3}He atoms in preexisting precipitate regions.


The increasing functionality of electronic systems due to the constant evolution of the market requirements makes the non-functional aspects of such systems (e.g., energy consumption, area overhead, or performance) a major concern in the design process. Approximate computing is a promising way to optimize these criteria by trading accuracy within acceptable limits. Since the cost of applying significant structural changes to a given design increases with the stage of development, the optimization solution needs to be incorporated into the design as early as possible. For the early design entry, modeling hardware at the Electronic System Level (ESL) using the SystemC language is nowadays widely used in the industry. To apply approximation techniques to optimize a given SystemC design, designers need to know which parts of the design can be approximated. However, identifying these parts is a crucial and non-trivial starting point of approximate computing, as the incorrect detection of even one critical part as resilient may result in an unacceptable output. This usually requires a significant programming effort by designers, especially when exploring the design space manually. In this article, we present PREASC, a fully automated framework to identify the resilience portions of a given SystemC design. PREASC is based on a combination of static and dynamic analysis methods along with regression analysis techniques (a fast machine learning method providing an accurate function estimation). Once the resilient portions are identified, an approximation degree analysis is performed to determine the maximum error rate that each resilient portion can tolerate. Subsequently, the maximum number of resilient portions that can be approximated at the same time are reported to designers at different granularity levels. The effectiveness of our approach is evaluated using several standard SystemC benchmarks from various domains.


Tubing is the activity of surfing over the river by using a tire in a truck / bus (large tires) that are designed in such a way as to accommodate someone on it. Tubing activities have become a community phenomenon or community tourism activities that are considered as cheap water tourism destinations and can be reached by all levels of society.
The phenomenon of tubing is an interesting scientific study, so the author will write specifically about the legal protection of tubing business management as a water tourism destination in Magelang regency. Identification of issues to be studied includes, regulation of business permit for tubing management in Magelang regency, legal protection for tubular management and users, and ideal arrangement for tubing management effort.
The purpose of this research is to know the regulation of the tubing business permit, to know the legal protection of the manager and the tubing user and to get the ideal arrangement for the business. This study uses legal research methods (legal research) through two approaches namely the approach of law and conceptual approach.
The result of this research is from 22 (twenty two) managers of tubing business only 1 (one) who have business license, while permit obtained has not optimal function of legal protection so that required an ideal form of rule to give protection and certain legal certainty . Ideal arrangements include government and non-government product regulations, namely the establishment of a pool of tubing business managers. Regulation related to the permit that must be fulfilled by the management of tubing business in the form of water utilization permit, river reclamation permit, disturbance permit and place of business, and cooperate with several agencies such as National SAR Agency, local police, and insurance agency.


Vocational and technical (VOTEC) education plays a significant role in knowledge acquisition for national development. However, since the inception of education in Ghana, VOTEC education until recently has not seen any improvement in the areas of curriculum or academic progression of its graduates. This study sought to assess factors limiting academic progression of VOTEC students into tertiary institutions. Information was obtained from 20 out of 30 VOTEC teachers, registrars of the 5 existing public universities and the 10 polytechnics, 50 present and past students, 20 parents, directors of West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) and Technical Examination Unit (TEU) by means of questionnaires and interview. Comprehensive literature review was carried out based on the said objectives. Also, lack of recognition and appreciation of importance of the VOTEC certificate hindered them from entering into tertiary institutions. There was a gap in academic progression of VOTEC graduates, which must be addressed through curriculum improvement by introducing the Core courses that are entry requirements for tertiary institutions. Also, Universities should offer a year pre-university course for VOTEC graduates for admission to enhance their progression.


Many people denied the past of any relevance. In their conception the past cannot serve as a platform to the needed progress and development in the various businesses of life; and it cannot make us better in the present nor guide us to a better future. The task in this article is to argue that the past is fundamentally important to growth and development in philosophy. To do this the article first of all x-rayed some conceptions which relegate the past and denigrate it of any relevance. Then, it presented some conceivable reasons for this denigration. Next, it argued that history as dialectical is an instrument of social change. Furthermore, it attempted to show the consequences arising or that will arise from the neglect of the past. It presented some practical roles which history plays in philosophy. Then, it concluded that the past is relevant to both present and future because it is the prelude to an improved present and future in philosophy. Keywords : History, Neglect of the Past, Philosophy, Dialectical, Significance of the Past, Intellectual Evolution


Direct deposition of graphene on substrates would avoid costly, time consuming and defect inducing transfer techniques. In this paper we used ultrathin films of Ni, with thickness ranging from 5 to 50 nm, as a catalytic surface on glass to seed and promote chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of graphene. Different regimes and dynamics were studied for various parameters including temperature and reaction time. When a critical temperature (700 °C) was reached, Ni films retracted and holes formed that are open to the glass surface, where graphene deposited. After CVD, the residual Ni could be etched away and the glass substrate with graphene regained maximum transparency (>90%). The fact that we could achieve low growth temperatures indicates the potential of the technique to widen the range of substrate materials over which graphene can be directly deposited. We demonstrated this by depositing graphene patterns on ultrathin, 100 μm thick, sheet of glass with low strain point (670 °C), particularly suitable for flexible electronic and optoelectronic devices.


Background Ventral hernias are usually repaired by an open or laparoscopic approach. Quality of life after ventral hernia repair is a very important but often underestimated parameter. This prospective observational study was conducted to assess the quality of life and other related parameters after all types of ventral hernia repair, mainly between open and laparoscopic repairs. Objectives This study aimed to determine the quality of life after ventral hernia repairs. We also analysed and compared various parameters such as outcomes and satisfaction, postoperative pain, and complications between laparoscopic and open ventral hernia repair. Methods This was a hospital-based prospective observational study conducted from January 2020 to December 2021, which included a total of 70 patients with ventral hernias. Thirty-nine patients underwent open repair and 31 patients underwent laparoscopic repair. Demographic data and other data such as postoperative hospital stay, return to activity, postoperative pain, complications, and quality of life were collected and analysed. Results The distribution of different types of hernias observed in our study included 34% incisional hernias, 33% umbilical and paraumbilical hernias, and 33% epigastric hernias. The incidence of complications was significantly less in laparoscopic repair compared to open repair. Also, satisfaction at 1 month was significantly more in the laparoscopic group compared to the open group. However, there is no significant difference in the postoperative pain, postoperative hospital stay, return to activity, satisfaction at discharge, and quality of life at 1 month in both the laparoscopic and open repairs. Conclusion Laparoscopic ventral hernia repairs are associated with lesser complications and higher satisfaction. The use of tackers and trans-fascial sutures can significantly increase postoperative pain in laparoscopic repair and is the major factor affecting the short-term quality of life in laparoscopic repairs. As there is no difference in postoperative pain, hospital stay, and return to activity, laparoscopic repairs should be preferred wherever possible in view of fewer complications and higher satisfaction.


In mobile ad hoc routing protocols, the control overhead and packet delivery delay are two major metrics for protocol performance. Reactive routing reduces control overhead as it finds routes on demand. On the other hand, it also prolongs data packet delivery delay compared to proactive routing protocols. To leverage this problem, route cache techniques are employed to balance control overhead and data packet delivery delay. In this paper, we propose a reactive location-based predictive caching scheme. The essence of this caching scheme lies in the neat integration of reactive location-based link availability prediction and time-based entry removal mechanism. The integration guarantees that the valid cached routes are never removed while stale routes are removed with the minimum cost of network resources. This caching scheme is embedded in the Reactive Zone-based Routing Protocol (RZRP) and evaluated by a simulation study. After accommodating social information from mobile end users, this mechanism can be well utilized in mobile social networks.


The factors which influence the regeneration of broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica) were studied using an orthogonal design. The results showed that the major factor was the explant type, followed by naphthylacetic acid (NAA), benzylaminopurine (BAP), sucrose and AgNO3 in turn. The maximum regeneration was on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium + NAA 0.107 μM + BAP 17.76 μM + 2% sucrose + 0.8% agar. Hypocotyl proved to be the optimum explant source and its regeneration frequency reached 100%.


ABSTRACT Using the 2017 National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) data, this research examines the extent to which social bonds and social learning theory predict adolescent marijuana dependence. Full information maximum likelihood (FIML) for logistic regression analyses were conducted in four models to test the competing theories. The results revealed partial support for both theories, such that adolescents with stronger parental bonds and negative definitions of substance use were less likely to be dependent on marijuana, while adolescents who associated with substance using peers were more likely to be dependent on marijuana. The multi-theoretical model suggested that only the social learning theory concepts of differential association and negative definitions were significant theoretical predictors of adolescent marijuana dependence. Additional analyses revealed that first using marijuana at 14 or 15 years old was also significantly related to adolescent marijuana dependence. Implications for future research and risk prevention programs are discussed.


In the United States, Indiana ranks 43rdfor its infant mortality rate. Twenty-nine (of the 988) Indiana zip codes account for 27% of infant deaths. There is a need to train and mentor community members to lead local maternal and child health (MCH) efforts that address the priorities of community members as related to poor birth outcomes and facilitate the community's solution strategies to this important public health problem. This community-centered approach coupled with local healthcare delivery helps thoroughly address local adverse birth outcomes. A comprehensive grassroots MCH leadership curriculum is needed for this training process. To meet this need we developed and solicited feedback on a curriculum designed to train community members situated in Indiana's high-risk zip codes to be grassroots maternal child health leader (GMCHLs). The curriculum teaches GMCHLs the knowledge and skills to become self-reflective leaders who understand the causes and effects of adverse and inequitable birth outcomes, the negative health effects of chronic stress, and the protective power of the community. These GMCHLs will become skilled in the use of storytelling, Photovoice, policy development/advocacy and EvaluLead to build the capacity of their local community to support positive maternal and child health (MCH) outcomes.


Changes in renal function induced by protein intake are thought to reflect evolutionary adaptation of the kidney. Excess dietary proteins over long periods may increase normal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate, requiring the continuous use of outer cortex's reserve glomeruli. According to the hyperfiltration theory, pressures and flows in outer cortical glomeruli contribute to continuous intrarenal capillary hypertension and predispose healthy people to progressive glomerular sclerosis and deterioration of renal function. Pressures and flows associated with the response to renal disease in turn may accelerate the development of sclerosis, leading to even more rapid loss of renal function. Restriction of dietary protein (less than or equal to 0.6 g/kg per day) and/or phosphorus seems to slow the rate of loss of renal function in patients with chronic renal insufficiency. Evidence for the role of lipids in the progression of renal disease is not clear. All of these dietary factors possibly play a role in the progression of renal disease; the relative importance of each factor varies, depending on the pathogenesis, stage, and mechanism of progression of the disease. Findings indicate that nutrition therapy can decrease rate of deterioration of renal function in patients with chronic renal diseases.


An experiment was carried out in five different sampling sites viz. Kalia, Miripathar, Bordubi, Holokhbari and Surkey area of Saikhowa range of Dibru-Saikhowa Biosphere Reserve (DSBR) Forest of Assam, India in respect of seasonal and depth wise variations in bacterial and fungal populations. The Biosphere Reserve Forest is situated in flood plain area of the mighty Brahmaputra and the Dibang rivers. Bacterial and fungal population was highest during spring season in all sites respectively. The highest microbial counts were recorded in the top soil (0-10 cm) layer except during the summer season when the population was greater in the subsurface (10-20 cm) layer. Altogether, 26 soil micro-fungal forms were recorded from five sites. Aspergillus and Penicillium were the abundant genera in all sites. Over all, soil was sandy loam and slightly alkaline in all sites. Soil organic C, total N and available P decreased with increasing soil depth. Parameters viz. water holding capacity, soil moisture content, pH, organic C, total N and available P had correlated with the microbial colony forming units (cfu). Available P revealed a significant positive correlations with bacterial and fungal cfu as well as inverse correlations with water holding capacity, organic C and organic matter.


DCT/IDCT based source coding and decoding techniques are widely accepted in HDTV systems and other MPEG based applications. We propose a new direct 2-D IDCT algorithm based on the parallel divide-and-conquer approach. The algorithm distributes computation by considering one transformed coefficient at a time and doing partial computation and updating as every coefficient arrives. A novel parallel and fully pipelined architecture with an effective processing time of one cycle per pixel for an N/spl times/N size block is designed to implement the algorithm. An unique feature of the architecture is that it integrates inverse-shuffling, inverse-quantization, inverse-source-coding and motion-compensation into a single compact data-path. The entire block of pixel values are sampled in a single cycle for post processing after decompression. We use only (N/2(N/2+1))/2 multipliers and N/sup 2/ adders. The configuration of the adders is such that motion compensation is realized in a single cycle following decompression. >


Users' attributes, such as home location, are necessary for various applications, such as news recommendations and event detections. However, most real user attributes (e.g., home location) are not open to the public. Therefore, their attributes are estimated by relationships between users. A social graph constructed from relationships between users can help estimate home locations, but it is difficult to collect many relationships, such as followers' relationships. We focus on users whose home locations are difficult to estimate, so that we can select users whose locations can be accurately estimated before collecting relationships. In this paper, we use their profiles which can be collected before collecting relationships. Then, we analyze difficult users with their profiles. As a result, we found that users whose home locations incorrectly estimated had a longer duration since the date their account was created, longer name, and longer description. In addition, the results indicated that the users whose home locations were incorrectly estimated differed from those whose home locations could not be estimated.


Kashmir dispute is an extremely complicated phenomenon offering obviously an unmanageable challenge to contemporary conflict resolution methods and techniques. The research article attempts to investigate the relationship between the Hurriyat and unrest in Kashmir and in addition to this, it tries to examine the role of separatists powers in regulating the Kashmir unrest. The study is based on an argument that how the separatist parties are striking extremist politics on Kashmir issue and how they are preserving the power of separatism. The paper will examine the major reasons that are responsible for the growth of separatist forces, insurgency, unrest and how it gained momentum only after 1989. Finally, the paper will explore some of the contemporary trends prevailing in the Kashmir conflict.


Hot-carrier injection is observed increasingly to degrade the subthreshold characteristics with the scaling of LDD PMOSFETs. A physical subthreshold current model is applied to the fresh and hot-carrier-stressed submicrometre channel length devices. The channel length reduction is subsequently extracted. An empirical relationship is developed to characterize the degradation parameters as a function of stress time and channel length. With the use of this relationship, we can determine the device lifetime or predict the minimum allowable channel length (for a certain percentage of degradation and lifetime) that is applicable for a specific technology. The degradation of the PMOSFET subthreshold current, which imposes a major limit on device reliability for deep-submicron technology and low-power applications, is fully described by a physical analytical model.


Black lead, Ti-Ru and Ti-PbO2 were used as anode and stainless steel was used as cathode The electrolytic process of producing hypophosphorous acid with four-compartment electrodialytic cell was studied. The comparison of some factors, such as anodic voltage, product concentration and current efficiency, of black lead, Ti-Ru, and Ti-PbO2 electrodes was conducted. As a result, theTi-PbO2 electrode is the optimal anode material used, it can be in electrolytic process for producing hypophosphorous acid.


Because it is vulnerable to lightning for 110 kV six-circuit transmission lines on the same tower (SCTLST) and the existing lightning protection measures are not effective in reducing the back flashover trip-out rate, new measures to improve the back-stroking lightning withstanding level of transmission lines are researched. Firstly, based on the calculation method of critical parameters that characterize the back-stroking lightning withstanding level of transmission lines, the back-stroking lightning withstanding level simulation model of 110 kV SCTLST is established. Then, different modes, namely no lightning protection, installing coupling ground wires and lightning arresters, installing both coupling ground wires and lighting arresters, were respectively simulated and analyzed. The results showed that, considering the cost of maintenance and economic, the combination measures of the lightning back-striking protection-equipped with lightning arresters on the top and coupling ground wire can greatly improve the back-stroking lightning withstanding level and reduce the back flashover trip-out rate. It is significant for lightning protection engineering design of multi-circuit transmission lines on the same tower.


Etienne Gilson spoke of medieval theology as an attempt to build great "cathedrals of the mind," mental constructions meant to bring glory to God and to inspire worship as soaring stone cathedrals across Europe have since the same time period. Like any architectural achievement, these mental cathedrals brought together the many pieces of Christian doctrine into coherent and often beautiful structures of thought, building idea upon idea until great theological and philosophical systems emerged from scriptural foundations. This architectural analogy implies something important—it is rarely possible to shift the ground floor of a building without the entirety of the construct tumbling down. Only with great caution and preparation, whereby new supports are carefully constructed before the old are removed, can such a change go smoothly. Unfortunately, evangelical theology finds itself today in a situation where a great shift in a foundational doctrine of Christian theology has occurred—in the doctrine of the Trinity. This shift threatens several important Christian teachings and compromises the basic orientation of Christian ethics. As complementarian theologians increasingly speak of the eternal functional subordination of the Son (hereafter EFS), they move a central pillar of the cathedral of Christian doctrine, unaware that such a change could bring down the entire edifice of Christian theology. With this situation in mind, this article will not focus on direct reasons why EFS is a destructive articulation of the doctrine of the Trinity, though I believe it certainly is, nor will it primarily explain why the Trinity is a poor analogy for human or gender relationships, though again I believe that it is. Rather, I will seek to explain how moving the foundational doctrine of the Trinity leaves the doctrine of salvation (atonement) without structural integrity—to continue the cathedral metaphor. But the problem does not stop here. When noted complementarians shift the doctrine of the Trinity by teaching the eternal submission of the Son, they foster a basic ethical orientation that is contrary to the biblical perspective and potentially harmful to Christian women. To put the matter as clearly as I know how, EFS eliminates the theological understanding preserved in traditional understandings of salvation (specifically what I will call transactional atonement theory), and it undermines the moral perspective within which such traditional theories are properly rooted in the goodness of God as revealed in the Bible.


Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) causes death mainly by disseminated metastasis progression from the organ being confined. Different metastatic stages are closely related to cellular metabolic profiles. Normal hepatocyte and HepG2 cell line from low metastatic HCC were studied by NMR‐based metabolomic techniques. Multivariate and univariate statistical analyses were utilized to identify characteristic metabolites from cells and cultured media. Elevated levels of acetate, creatine, isoleucine, leucine, and phenylalanine were observed in HepG2 cells, suggesting more active in gathering nutrient components along with altered amino acid metabolisms and enhanced lipid metabolism. High glucose consumption was significantly different in low metastatic cells. A series of characteristic metabolites were identified and served as biomarkers. Relative metabolic pathway analysis shows that low metastatic HepG2 cell line exhibits active behaviors in metabolisms and biosynthesis of specific amino acids and energy metabolism. Moreover, characteristic metabolites‐based classification models executed by support vector machines algorithm perform robustly to classify normal hepatocyte and HepG2 cell line. It is concluded that NMR‐based metabolomic analyses of cell lines can provide a powerful approach to understand metastasis‐related biological alterations. The present study also provides a basis for metabolic markers determination of hepatic carcinoma in the future clinical study.


Which came first, the disciplines or the departments? Science is a dynamic, organized, and massively parallel human endeavor to discover, explain, and predict the nature of the physical world. In science, researchers build new ideas upon old ideas as ideas flow from researcher to researcher. Since the pattern of interactions between scientists affects this flow, networks affect the constant change scientific research undergoes as fields grow and shrink, merge and split, and ultimately change the architecture of universities. Or is it the other way around?


Objectives:This article examines the use of assistive devices as a part of the long-term care arrangements of community-dwelling older Americans. It examines the potential for assistive devices to substitute for and supplement personal care assistance. Methods:Data from the Phase 2 Disability Supplements to the 1994-1995 National Health Interview Surveys are used to compare the use of personal care and equipment among persons reporting difficulty with a given activity of daily living. Results:The capacity of equipment to substitute for or supplement personal care is highly task-specific and depends on the characteristics of the devices and the personal care providers. In general, those using simple devices are less likely to use informal care, whereas those using complex devices are more likely to use formal care services. Discussion:Technology has the potential to confer quality of life enhancements for older persons and their caregivers and cost savings for payers.


This report is the first of four volumes that identify and assess the environmental, health, and safety issues involved in using sodium-sulfur (Na/S) battery technology as the energy source in electric and hybrid vehicles that may affect the commercialization of Na/S batteries. This and the other reports on recycling, shipping, and vehicle safety are intended to help the Electric and Hybrid Propulsion Division of the Office of Transportation Technologies in the US Department of Energy (DOE/EHP) determine the direction of its research, development, and demonstration (RD D) program for Na/S battery technology. The reports review the status of Na/S battery RD D and identify potential hazards and risks that may require additional research or that may affect the design and use of Na/S batteries. This volume covers cell design and engineering as the basis of safety for Na/S batteries and describes and assesses the potential chemical, electrical, and thermal hazards and risks of Na/S cells and batteries as well as the RD D performed, under way, or to address these hazards and risks. The report is based on a review of the literature and on discussions with experts at DOE, national laboratories and agencies, universities, and private industry. Subsequent volumesmore » will address environmental, health, and safety issues involved in shipping cells and batteries, using batteries to propel electric vehicles, and recycling and disposing of spent batteries. The remainder of this volume is divided into two major sections on safety at the cell and battery levels. The section on Na/S cells describes major component and potential failure modes, design, life testing and failure testing, thermal cycling, and the safety status of Na/S cells. The section on batteries describes battery design, testing, and safety status. Additional EH S information on Na/S batteries is provided in the appendices.« less


The temperature-dependent electronic structures of heavy fermion compound CeB$_{6}$ are investigated thoroughly by means of the combination of density functional theory and single-site dynamical mean-field theory. The band structure, density of states, and 4$f$ valence state fluctuation of CeB$_{6}$ are calculated in a broad temperature range of 10 $\sim$ 120 K. Overall, the 4$f$ electrons remain incoherent, approximately irrespective of the temperature. However, we find that these observables exhibit some unusual features near 20 K. In addition, the evolution of 4$f$ orbital occupancy, total angular momentum, and total energy with respect to temperature shows apparent singularity around 20 K. We believe that these tantalizing characteristics are probably related to a "hidden" electronic transition.


Effective home rehabilitation is important for recovery of hand grip ability in post-stroke individuals. This paper presents BIGHand, a bilateral, integrated, and gamified handgrip stroke rehabilitation system for independent at-home exercise. BIGHand consists of affordable sensor-integrated hardware (Vernier hand dynamometers, Arduino Uno, interface shield) used to obtain real-time grip force data, and a set of exergames designed as parts of an interactive structural rehabilitation program. This program pairs targeted difficulty progression with user-ability scaled controls to create an adaptive, challenging, and enticing rehabilitation environment. This training prepares users for the many activities of daily living (ADLs) by targeting strength, bilateral coordination, hand-eye coordination, speed, endurance, precision, and dynamic grip force adjustment. Multiple measures are taken to engage, motivate, and guide users through the at-home rehabilitation process, including "smart" post-game feedback and in-game goals. A demo video is available at https://youtu.be/zrLVkZZ4Ukc.


Abstract
The ubiquity of digitally intermediated interactions is changing the ways in which social interaction creates the cognitive and institutional underpinnings of new markets. Logics that define markets used to be localized, but they now emerge from crowds that span – and persist – across time and space. This article builds a theory of how crowds emerge and evolve in a way that influences the emergence of shared logics and helps explain why some markets are viable while others are not. What is revealed is that a crowd has a hidden niche structure that determines the fate of a new market.


In January 2015, UN published the final report of the International Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the Central African Republic (CAR). The report is significant on a number of levels. The report documents the wrongful killing of thousands and furthers the discussion on whether the crime of genocide should be expanded to include cultural genocide based on ethnic cleansing. Without understanding the nature and history of the armed conflict(s) in CAR one cannot understand the difficulties the COI faced in conducting their investigation and the resulting limitations on their report. To that end the report includes helpful annexes on the ethnic groups in CAR and their zones of influence as well as the conflict's impact on causing the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians, both within CAR and to nearby countries. The report presents a snapshot of CAR and the international community's efforts. Peacekeeping missions in CAR have surely prevented a bad situation from devolving to something much worse. Yet CAR remains at a tipping point. As one of the experts on the COI noted, it is not that genocide definitely has not occurred in CAR, it may have. And genocide may still (or continue to) occur if we do not pay attention. 2015 will provide significant indicators on which direction CAR is headed. Sadly there are a number of factors suggesting that the goal of viable domestic criminal justice accountability mechanisms in CAR ending impunity will remain elusive.


In vitro assays have demonstrated that peptides derived from the recently–identified proSAAS precursor inhibit prohormone convertase 1 (PC1) suggesting that this novel peptide may function as an endogenous inhibitor of PC1. To further understand the role of proSAAS in vivo, we have investigated the expression of proSAAS mRNA and processing of proSAAS during pre‐ and early postnatal rodent development. In situ hybridization showed that, by embryonic day 12.5 (e12.5) in the rat, proSAAS mRNA was present in essentially all differentiating neurons in the mantle layer of the myelencephalon, metencephalon, diencephalon, spinal cord and several sympathetic ganglia. During later stages of prenatal development, widespread proSAAS expression continues in post‐mitotic neurons of both the CNS and PNS and begins in endocrine cells of the anterior and intermediate pituitary. Although proSAAS expression overlaps with PC1 in several regions, its overall expression pattern is significantly more extensive, suggesting that proSAAS may be multifunctional during development. Processed forms of proSAAS are present by at least mid‐gestation with marked accumulation of two C‐terminal forms, comprising the PC1 inhibitory fragment of proSAAS.


Sulfite oxidizing activities are known since years in animals, microorganisms, and also plants. Among plants, the only enzyme well characterized on molecular and biochemical level is the molybdoenzyme sulfite oxidase (SO). It oxidizes sulfite using molecular oxygen as electron acceptor, leading to the production of sulfate and hydrogen peroxide. The latter reaction product seems to be the reason why plant SO is localized in peroxisomes, because peroxisomal catalase is able to decompose hydrogen peroxide. On the other hand, we have indications for an additional reaction taking place in peroxisomes: sulfite can be nonenzymatically oxidized by hydrogen peroxide. This will promote the detoxification of hydrogen peroxide especially in the case of high amounts of sulfite. Hence we assume that SO could possibly serve as "safety valve" for detoxifying excess amounts of sulfite and protecting the cell from sulfitolysis. Supportive evidence for this assumption comes from experiments where we fumigated transgenic poplar plants overexpressing ARABIDOPSIS SO with SO(2) gas. In this paper, we try to explain sulfite oxidation in its co-regulation with sulfate assimilation and summarize other sulfite oxidizing activities described in plants. Finally we discuss the importance of sulfite detoxification in plants.


It is known proved that amiodarone, in chronic therapy, can cause side effects in several organs. The drug, because of its molecular structure and because of its iodine content, interferes with thyroid function and may produce ipo and hyperthyroidism. This should be related to the functional situation and to the autoregulatory mechanisms of the gland and to the iodine amount in the environment. Concerning the pathogenesis of these alterations, a controversy arose about autoimmune mechanisms and the significance which can be ascribed to the presence of circulatory antithyroid antibodies in amiodarone treated patients. In the present work the amount of antithyroid antibodies in a number of amiodarone treated patients has been related to the functional situation of the gland and to the period of treatment. The authors have studied 51 patients under short and long term therapy in comparison with a control group of 36 subjects. All the subjects under consideration live in Northwest Tuscany, an area where iodine intake is moderately low, therefore dysthyroidism and endemic goitre are rather frequent. No significant differences have been found about the amount of circulating antithyroid antibodies in the three groups under consideration.


Formal finance involves the costly acquisition of information about distant entrepreneurs, while relationship-based finance allows financiers to fund a narrow circle of close entrepreneurs without acquiring costly information. In developing economies with low capital endowments, relationship-based finance is optimal because only high-quality entrepreneurs receive funding. However, formal finance may emerge in equilibrium, and it has the only effect of shifting rents from entrepreneurs to financiers. In more-developed economies with higher capital endowments, formal finance becomes necessary to prevent funding of low-quality entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, relationship-based financing may persist in equilibrium, and low-quality close entrepreneurs are funded even when there are high-quality distant entrepreneurs.


Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate second-year medical students' understanding of quality of life associated with childhood inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Methods: A cross-sectional study in a major teaching institution in San Francisco was carried out. A questionnaire was administered following an hour-long gastroenterology lecture, which featured 2 young patients with pediatric-onset IBD who addressed everyday life with the disease. Analyses of numerate responses to the questionnaire were paired with a content and thematic analysis of audiotape recordings of the patients' commentaries. Results: Medical students' responses to the patient interviews were extremely positive. Medical students gained a new awareness of the psychosocial complexities associated with living with a pediatric chronic illness and a new way of thinking about the meaning of "healthy." Despite listening to 2 healthy young patients, however, the medical students still conceptualized pediatric IBD in mostly, although not exclusively, negative terms. Conclusions: Medical students' perceptions of pediatric IBD improved as a result of listening to the patient interviews. Although this teaching modality effectively introduced students to a complex condition, it did not overcome their unfavorable impression of the effect of IBD on children's lives. The symptoms associated with IBD have stigma attached to them, and these stereotypes influence how medical students perceive those living with this chronic illness. More research and training in this area is necessary.


Objectives This study aimed to determine whether words used in medical school admissions essays can predict physician empathy. Methods A computational form of linguistic analysis was used for the content analysis of medical school admissions essays. Words in medical school admissions essays were computationally grouped into 20 'topics' which were then correlated with scores on the Jefferson Scale of Empathy. The study sample included 1,805 matriculants (between 2008-2015) at a single medical college in the North East of the United States who wrote an admissions essay and completed the Jefferson Scale of Empathy at matriculation. Results After correcting for multiple comparisons and controlling for gender, the Jefferson Scale of Empathy scores significantly correlated with a linguistic topic (r = .074, p< .05). This topic was comprised of specific words used in essays such as "understanding," "compassion," "empathy," "feeling," and "trust." These words are related to themes emphasized in both theoretical writing and empirical studies on physician empathy. Conclusions This study demonstrates that physician empathy can be predicted from medical school admission essays. The implications of this methodological capability, i.e. to quantitatively associate linguistic features or words with psychometric outcomes, bears on the future of medical education research and admissions. In particular, these findings suggest that those responsible for medical school admissions could identify more empathetic applicants based on the language of their application essays.


From this review, it is apparent that the effects of respiratory viral infection on airway reactivity are multiple. Although virus-associated changes are many, we have at present no evidence to show that respiratory viruses cause intrinsic abnormalities in airway smooth muscle function. Rather, respiratory viruses influence bronchial smooth muscle function through a variety of other means: epithelial injury, PMN-dependent inflammation, and greater mediator release. These observations suggest that a common pathway to development of airway hyperreactivity during respiratory viral illnesses is to enhance those factors which participate in the inflammatory response. When the target of this enhanced inflammatory response becomes the airway, greater bronchial reactivity and obstruction result. Although many questions remain to be answered, we feel that future studies to evaluate the biology of respiratory virus effects on mechanisms of airway responsiveness will lead to a greater understanding of asthma pathogenesis.


Abstract Nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) has important but complex functions in the photoaging of the human skin. This protein complex is activated upon UV irradiation and plays a key role in the signalling pathway of the inflammatory cascade. NF-κB induces the expression of various proinflammatory cytokines, such as tumour necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin-1 (IL-1). These proinflammatory cytokines can in turn stimulate the activation of NF-κB, forming a vicious cycle. These processes cause chronic inflammation and contribute to skin ageing. In addition, the activation of NF-κB upregulates the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and leads to the degradation of structural proteins in the dermis. NF-κB disrupts the barrier function of the skin under prolonged and repeated UV stimulations in these ways. Such activity causes chronic skin damage, followed by the formation of wrinkles, dryness, roughness, laxity, and other photoaging manifestations. This study on the NF-κB signalling pathway and effector molecules provides a new perspective to understand and prevent photoaging.


Improved life quality and life expectancy show an increase in elderly population. A special care must be taken in the management of this age group. As estimated elderly patients with major burn have high mortality and morbidity rates. Predisposing factors such as decreased cardiopulmonary reserve, malnutrition with protein/energy deficiency, and aging of skin increase are the main causes of high mortality and morbidity rates. In this study, our experience on elderly burn patients followed between 2002-2008 in Prof. Dr. M. M. Guler Burn Unit in Gulhane Military Medical Academy Haydarpasa Training Hospital is presented; and the basic principles on this special group are evaluated. oZET + +


This paper considers physical systems described by hidden states and indirectly observed through repeated measurements corrupted by unmodeled nuisance parameters. A network-based representation learns to disentangle the coherent information (relative to the state) from the incoherent nuisance information (relative to the sensing). Instead of physical models, the representation uses symmetry and stochastic regularization to inform an autoencoder architecture called SymAE. It enables redatuming, i.e., creating virtual data instances where the nuisances are uniformized across measurements.


Numerous outer membrane components of Neisseria meningitidis and N. gonorrhoeae exhibit phase variable expression (the rapid, reversible on/off switching of phenotypic expression). Many of the genes encoding these outer membrane components contain simple repetitive DNA motifs (mononucleotides, dinucleotides, tetranucleotides and other repeats) which mediate this variation. One such repeat motif, the tetranucleotide 5;-(GCAA)n-3;, is associated with phase-variable LPS biosynthetic genes in the pathogen Haemophilus influenzae. We have previously shown that N. meningitidis strain MC58 contains this repeat motif in at least three distinct genetic loci. In this study all three of these loci were investigated: two were cloned and identified as novel loci and designated nmrep1 and nmrep2. The third locus was assigned to a previously cloned gene and here is designated nmrep3. The distribution of these loci, and the number of repeat units at each locus was investigated in a range of strains. This analysis revealed that the nmrep1 and nmrep2 loci are present in all 45 strains examined, with 41/45 containing nmrep3. Sequences associated with nmrep1 showed no homology with reported proteins, but amino acid sequences of open reading frames of nmrep2 and nmrep3 exhibited sequence homology to the adhesins Aida of Escherichia coli and Prn of Bordetella sppand IcsA of Shigella flexneri which is involved in intracellular spread.


Background and Objectives: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a disorder characterized by presence
of air flow obstruction that is generally progressive, may be accompanied by airway hyperactivity and
maybe partially reversible. COPD comprises major pathological changes. Conventional airway clearance
techniques form the main stay of the routine Pulmonary Rehabilitation of subjects with chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease. The procedure of Active Cycle of Breathing Technique causes an increase in lung volume
which allows air to flow via collateral channels and may assist in mobilizing the secretions which but
incorporating newer techniques that are effective, comfortable and can be independently performed by the
subject without assistance help motivate the subjects to participate actively in their own health care. A device
is proposed to have good efficacy, reliability and provides relief of the symptoms in a better way than the
manual therapy in a way by excluding the bias and thus can be used as an alternative to it, so proves efficient
to it. This study incorporates a device called 'THE FLUTTER DEVICE' which aids in mucus clearance in
subjects with COPD effectively. Materials and Methodology: The Study participants were thirty subjects
aged 35 to 45yrs with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. After two weeks of ACBT and Flutter therapy
with routine Physiotherapy each patient was told to record their VAS score for breathlessness on Visual
Analogue Scale for breathlessness, the patient's peak expiratory flow rate was then checked with the peak
flow meter and FEV1 /FVC percentage was also obtained from the patient's Pulmonary Function Test reports.
Results: Data was analyzed by statistical means, standard deviation and students t- test and the results
showed significant changes in terms of the VAS score for breathlessness, PEFR, FEV1 /FVC percentage of
PFT. Conclusion: It can be concluded that application of flutter therapy for airway clearance to patients
with Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease decreased the breathlessness drastically and increased the peak
expiratory flow rate and FEV1 /FVC percentage than the application of ACBT.


The aim of this book is to develop "from the ground up" many of the major, exciting, pre- and post-millenium developments in the general area of study known as quantum Shannon theory. As such, we spend a significant amount of time on quantum mechanics for quantum information theory (Part II), we give a careful study of the important unit protocols of teleportation, super-dense coding, and entanglement distribution (Part III), and we develop many of the tools necessary for understanding information transmission or compression (Part IV). Parts V and VI are the culmination of this book, where all of the tools developed come into play for understanding many of the important results in quantum Shannon theory.


A numerical code was developed for modeling phase change micro heat exchangers. The model covers evaporating and condensing annular flows as well as slug/elongated bubble flows. The model was validated against a set of experimental results from different laboratories and depicted good agreement with the data. The model takes puts a particular emphasis at optimizing the geometry and operating conditions of micro heat exchagers in a fast and reliable manner.


More than 652 000 people in the US died from firearm injuries between 1999 and 2018.1 Given that firearms are embedded within US culture (in 2018, 21.9% of individuals owned a firearm and 35.2% lived in households with firearms2) evidence-based public health measures and policies that enhance firearm safety are needed. Firearm injuries are multifaceted; for example, there are nearly twice as many nonfatal firearm injuries as deaths, and assaults comprise a majority of nonfatal injuries while suicides comprise a majority of deaths.3 In this Viewpoint, we narrowed the scope to firearm mortality trends from 1999 to 2018 and current regional/demographic trends available from US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention WISQARS/WONDER.1,4


Many applications of cross-modal music retrieval are related to connecting sheet music images to audio recordings. A typical and recent approach to this is to learn, via deep neural networks, a joint embedding space that correlates short fixed-size snippets of audio and sheet music by means of an appropriate similarity structure. However, two challenges that arise out of this strategy are the requirement of strongly aligned data to train the networks, and the inherent discrepancies of musical content between audio and sheet music snippets caused by local and global tempo differences. In this paper, we address these two shortcomings by designing a cross-modal recurrent network that learns joint embeddings that can summarize longer passages of corresponding audio and sheet music. The benefits of our method are that it only requires weakly aligned audio-sheet music pairs, as well as that the recurrent network handles the non-linearities caused by tempo variations between audio and sheet music. We conduct a number of experiments on synthetic and real piano data and scores, showing that our proposed recurrent method leads to more accurate retrieval in all possible configurations.


The ambiguity of the word 'nature' is so remarkable that I need not remark upon it. Except perhaps to emphasise that this ambiguity — scarcely less apparent, as Aristotle long ago pointed out, in its Greek near-equivalent physis — is by no means a merely accidental product of etymological confusions or conflations: it faithfully reflects the hesitancies, the doubts and the uncertainties, with which men have confronted the world around them. For my special purposes, it is enough to say, I shall be using the word 'nature' in one of its narrower senses — so as to include only that which, setting aside the supernatural, is human neither in itself nor in its origins. This is the sense in which neither Sir Christopher Wren nor St Paul's Cathedral forms part of 'nature' and it may be hard to decide whether an oddly shaped flint or a landscape where the trees are evenly spaced is or is not 'natural'. The question I am raising, then, is what our attitudes have been, and ought to be, to nature in this narrow sense of the word, in which it excludes both the human and the artificial. And more narrowly still, I shall be devoting most of my attention to our attitudes towards that part of nature which it lies within man's power to modify and, in particular, towards what Karl Barth calls 'the strange life of beasts and plants which lies around us', a life we can by our actions destroy.


Myocardial dilatation and dysfunction in the absence of significant coronary heart disease has been termed "idiopathic" dilated cardiomyopathy (iDCM), which—according to the 1995 task force report on the classification of cardiomyopathies—besides genetic, toxic or infectious causes also includes immune-mediated heart muscle damage in the spectrum of putative DCM etiologies. Incremental research on this topic particularly in the past few years has significantly contributed evidence to the hypothesis that autoimmune reactions against certain myocyte antigens may play a pivotal role in the initiation and/or progression of DCM. Recent transfer experiments in animals (mostly rodents) performed by various groups throughout the world and some preliminary clinical data even indicate that a few of these autoantibodies are indeed "pathogenic", inferring that they can actually cause cardiac dysfunction and heart failure by their own. Dependent on the individual genetic predisposition such harmful autoimmune reactions are supposed to emerge as a consequence of heart muscle damage induced by viral triggers, ischemia or exposure to cardiotoxins leading to myocyte apoptosis (and/or necrosis) and subsequent liberation of a "critical amount" of self-antigens previously hidden to the immune system. The following article will summarize the so far available evidence for an implication of a confined number of harmful autoantibodies directed against specific cardiac antigens in the pathogenesis of DCM.


Dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy (DRPLA) is a hereditary spinocerebellar degeneration caused by expansion of a CAG repeat in the disease protein. Despite the restricted and stable brain lesions, DRPLA patients show a variety of clinical symptoms and the brain exhibits generalized atrophy. In previous studies of DRPLA, we proposed that intranuclear diffuse accumulation of the mutant protein is a significant pathological feature of neurons, and that the variable prevalence of this pathology may be relevant to the variation of symptoms observed in patients with different repeat sizes. In this study, to elucidate the pathogenesis of the brain atrophy in DRPLA, we conducted morphological and statistical analyses of neurons affected by the polyglutamine pathology in DRPLA transgenic (Tg) mice with 129 polyglutamine stretches. Golgi-impregnated pyramidal neurons in cerebral cortical layer V of 15-week-old Tg mice showed significant atrophy of the perikarya and dendrites. Dendritic spines were decreased in number and size, and showed a change in morphology resulting in dominance of stubby spines. Interestingly, dendritic arborization was preserved. Electron microscopy revealed that axons in the pyramis and corpus callosum were also atrophic. The number of axonal microtubules was preserved; however, the inter-microtubule spacing was significantly decreased. In the neuropil of cerebral cortical layers II and III, atrophy of the pre-synaptic areas and lengths of the post-synaptic density was detected, but synaptic vesicle diameter was preserved. These results suggest that neuronal atrophy is an essential feature of the cell pathology in DRPLA and that this is closely related to polyglutamine pathogenesis and development of the clinical phenotype.


Transmutability clothing arises from traditional aesthetic demands and needs of modern life. It coordinated with the development and the concept of environmental protection. It meets the diverse needs of people and personality of consumer psychology. This article analyses the Transmutability clothing causes of the rapid rise, lists of current global fashion market Transmutability clothing phenomenon, and then comes to a conclusion after summarizing its importance: Transmutability clothing is imperative to in-depth research and development, this kind of clothing has immeasurable development trend.


ABSTRACT: The effects of the deacetylation degree (DD) and preparation methods for chitosan on antimicrobial activity were evaluated. Chemically prepared chitin (CH-chitin) and microbiologically prepared chitin (MO-chitin) were obtained from shrimp shells. The CH-chitin and MO-chitin were further chemically deacetylated to obtain various chitosan products of which their DD ranged from low (47–53%) through medium DD (74–76%) to high (95–98%). In addition, MO-chitin was deacetylated also by various proteases. The antimicrobial activities of these products were evaluated in medium with pH 6.0. Neither the CH-chitin, MO-chitin nor protease-deacetylated chitinous products showed any antimicrobial activity. For chitosan, antimicrobial activity increased with increasing DD, and was stronger against bacteria than against fungi. The minimal lethal concentrations (MLC) of chitosan with a high DD against Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shigella dysenteriae, Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio cholerae, and V. parahaemolyticus were all in the range of 50–200 p.p.m., whereas the MLC against Candida albicans and Fusarium oxysporum were 200 p.p.m. and 500 p.p.m., respectively. No antifungal activity was found at 2000 p.p.m. against Aspergillus fumigatus or A. parasiticus. Pretreatment of fish fillets (Oncorhynchus nereka) with 1% chitosan solution (high DD) for 3 h retarded the increase in the volatile basic nitrogen content, as well as the counts for mesophiles, psychrotrophs, coliforms, Aeromonas spp., and Vibrio spp. The shelf life was consequently extended from 5 days to 9 days.


An analytical approach to unconditional and conditional instabilities of a three-port network is presented herein. This approach begins with inequality expressions of the input reflection coefficients Γin and Γout of a three-port network defined at ports 1 and 2 having port 3 terminated with load Γ3. The requirements of the conditional instabilities are derived to show that there is a largest conditional instability region in the Γ3 -plane as ports 1 and 2 are terminated with the matched loads. Then the explicit expressions are derived for the boundary of the conditional instability region and the maximum instability curves in the Γ3-plane to lead one to properly select the Γ3 value or design the terminating network at port 3. For the selected Γ3 value, the conditional instability regions in the Γ1- and Γ2-planes are also given for the design consideration of the loads at ports 1 and 2. In order to fully characterize the instability of a three-port network, the similar procedure can be conducted by treating port 1 or port 2 as the terminating network. The resulting instability expressions not only provide useful design equations but also are implemented in Agilent Advanced Design System software to enhance its computer-aided capability of the instability analysis of a three-port network, especially the microwave oscillator.


The effects of exposure to a simulated altitude of 20,000 feet in a decompression chamber before and after a single intravenous injection of a carbonic anhydrase inhibitor were observed in five trained unanesthetized dogs. The pulmonary ventilation, alveolar gas exchange and composition and pH, gas tensions and CO 2 content of the arterial blood were observed. The drug, in a single dose of 100 mg/kg, produced the following effects when combined with acute hypoxia: a ) hyperventilation greater than that resulting from hypoxia alone, b ) a smaller decrement in the alveolar and arterial Po 2 following ascent to altitude, c ) a subsequent rise in alveolar and arterial Po 2 if administered after attaining altitude, d ) a greater decrement in alveolar Pco 2 following ascent to 20,000 feet, e ) a higher arterial blood H-ion concentration than that associated with hypoxia alone and f ) a greater decrease in plasma CO 2 content during adjustment to acute hypoxia. Theoretical calculations were made which indicated that the pulmonary capillary blood has a higher pH and a lower plasma CO 2 content than the peripheral arterial blood after administration of the inhibitor. Submitted on March 6, 1957


Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is more often diagnosed in women than in men, and symptoms tend to decline with age. Using a large community sample, the authors investigated whether sex and age differences in four main features of BPD, measured with the Personality Assessment Inventory-Borderline Features scale (PAI-BOR; Morey, 1991), are a result of measurement bias or if they represent true differences. The PAI-BOR was completed by four Sex x Age groups (N = 6,838). Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis showed that the PAI-BOR is measurement invariant across sex and age. Compared with men, women reported more borderline characteristics for affective instability, identity problems, and negative relationships but not for self-harm. Younger men had higher scores for identity problems and self-harm than did older men. Younger women had higher scores for identity problems and affective instability than did older women. Results suggest that the PAI-BOR can be used to study the etiology of BPD features in population-based samples and to screen for BPD features in clinical settings in both men and women of varying ages. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).


Heart failure (HF) is a major factor contributing to premature death in patients with established cardiovascular (CV) disease. Current cell therapies of HF based on at least two different approaches, in which stem cell transplantation and extracellular vesicles (EV) received from pre-treated cells, were used. Although in HF restoring cardiac function aimed improve survival is target of cell therapy, it is not yet yielded whether isolated EVs from circulating progenitor cells, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), human embryonic stem cells-derived CV progenitors (hESC-Pg) would be effective translators of reparative signals for cardiac repair. The short communication is depicted the role of different cell strategies in HF. It has emphasized lack of strong evidence of clinical advantages implanted EVs to human cells to iPSCs in HF requires comparison in large clinical trials.


This paper is concerned with the relative evaluation of information content in summaries. We study the effect of crossing the summary-question pairs for a comprehension test based summary evaluation. Using the scheme, machine generated and human authored summaries from the broadcast news stories are evaluated. The approach does not use absolute scores. Instead it relies on a relative comparison, effectively alleviating the subjectivity of individual summary authors. The evaluation indicates that less than half (44%) of information is shared between human authored summaries of roughly 15 words. On the other hand, 27% of information in machine generated summaries is shared with human authored summaries.


Abstract Multi-frequency atomic force microscopy (MF-AFM), employing the detection and/or excitation of multiple cantilever frequencies, has shown great promise in increasing the compositional sensitivity, and the spatial and temporal resolution of imaging. The multitude of frequency components generated in MF-AFM encode information about the tip-sample nonlinearity. For quantitative interpretation of the observables in MF-AFM operation, we propose a two-pronged approach combining special-purpose cantilevers and a system-theoretic modeling paradigm. This provides an excellent framework to understand and leverage the nonlinear dynamics of the interaction of a multi-eigenmodal cantilever with the nonlinear force potentials on the sample surface, to develop novel imaging methods. We describe experimental techniques for accurate in-situ identification of the cantilever (sensor/actuator) transfer functions, which are crucial components to understand the generation of MF-AFM observables. The modeling framework is verified with experiments and is shown to be able to predict several key features of MF-AFM operation.


The deformation behavior of thick Al wires and the expansion behavior of the bond area during ultrasonic wedge bonding to AlSi, Si and SiO2 substrates were measured simultaneously in detail with a high-speed measuring system. The deformation of the wire by the application of the bonding force is completed immediately. The deformation restarts by the application of the ultrasonic vibration. The deformation induced by applying the bonding force consists of only elastic component, whereas that by ultrasonic vibration consists of only plastic component. The Al wire is not work-hardened by the plastic deformation during application of ultrasonic vibration. The adhered area expands to the direction perpendicular to the ultrasonic vibration. The evolution of the wire deformation behavior and the expansion of the adhered area show an intimate correlation with each other. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.MD201210]


Outlines how as a result of a chance meeting with Professor Mao Yushi in Toronto, Canada in 1986 I was subsequently invited to visit China to give lectures at Nankai University in Tianjin (which I did in 1989). This visit was extended by my being awarded an Exchange Fellowship Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and the Australian Academy of Humanities in conjunction with the Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS). This enabled me to make further contact with Mao Yushi who was Professor of American Studies at that time. Presentations of papers and academic contacts were made at various centres of learning in Wuhan, Xian and Beijing. One of the results of my visit to China was the publication of my book Economic Development in the Context of China. This was put online in 2011 by Palgrave Macmillan. The nature and genesis of this book is outlined, together with my experiences in China in 1989 and the sequel to my visit. The sequel includes subsequent visits to The University of Queensland of several Chinese economists, including Mao Yushi, my involvement in several research projects focused on China, as well as several articles dealing with Chinese economic and environmental issues. Some biographical information about Mao Yushi and Clem Tisdell is also included in this article.


BACKGROUND
There is a growing interest to perform a left internal mammary artery (LIMA) graft to the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) on a beating heart through a minimally invasive access to the chest cavity.

AIM
To report the experience with minimally invasive coronary artery surgery.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Analysis of 11 patients aged 48 to 79 years old with single vessel disease that, between 1996 and 1997, had a LIMA graft to the LAD performed through a minimally invasive left anterior mediastinotomy, without cardiopulmonary bypass. A 6 to 10 cm left parasternal incision was done. The LIMA to the LAD anastomosis was done after pharmacological heart rate and blood pressure control and a period of ischemic pre conditioning. Graft patency was confirmed intraoperatively by standard Doppler techniques. Patients were followed for a mean of 11.6 months (7-15 months).

RESULTS
All patients were extubated in the operating room and transferred out of the intensive care unit on the next morning. Seven patients were discharged on the third postoperative day. Duplex scanning confirmed graft patency in all patients before discharge; in two patients, it was confirmed additionally by arteriography. There was no hospital mortality, no perioperative myocardial infarction and no bleeding problems. After follow up, ten patients were free of angina, in functional class I and pleased with the surgical and cosmetic results. One patient developed atypical angina on the seventh postoperative month and a selective arteriography confirmed stenosis of the anastomosis. A successful angioplasty of the original LAD lesion was carried out.

CONCLUSIONS
A minimally invasive left anterior mediastinotomy is a good surgical access to perform a successful LIMA to LAD graft without cardiopulmonary bypass, allowing a shorter hospital stay and earlier postoperative recovery. However, a larger experience and a longer follow up is required to define its role in the treatment of coronary artery disease.


To interpolate the missing data existing in RFID data streams, a space-time with weight algorithm is presented in this paper. Combining the ideology of sample interpolating method with mean value interpolating method, the algorithm employs the smoothing window technology and endows sample value and mean value with different weights, respectively. The sum of the two values with weight is adopted to interpolate the missing data. Experiments are carried out. Compared to sample interpolating method and mean value interpolating method, the presented algorithm performs well on data processing rate and interpolating accuracy rate.


This thesis concerns factors controlling the grain morphology in Si3N4 and Al2O3 based ceramics. The microstructures of the ceramics were characterized by scanning electron microscopy in combination with quantitative microscopy and stereologic methods. Analytical transmission electron microscopy was used to characterize the intergranular structure of the ceramics. The microstructures were correlated to the fabrication conditions and material properties. The main part of the thesis is focused on Si3N4 ceramics. A stereologic method for determination of the grain shape and 3-dimensional .beta.-Si3N4 grain size distribution from etched 2-dimensional sections through Si3N4 ceramics is presented. SiC and .beta.-Si3N4 whisker reinforced Si3N4 densified by hot isostatic pressing were studied. These ceramics had been formed without metal oxide sintering additives or with 2.5 wt% Y2O3 and 0.2 wt% Fe2O3. Both metal oxide and whisker additions had a significant influence on the matrix microstructure. The addition of Y2O3 and Fe2O3 promoted the development of a fibrous microstructure. The presence of SiC whiskers suppressed matrix .beta.-Si3N4 grain growth during densification while an addition of .beta.-Si3N4 whiskers resulted in a coarser microstructure. .beta.-Si3N4 grain growth in gas pressure sintered Si3N4 was studied. .beta.-Si3N4 grain growth took place by coalescence and possibly also by Ostwald ripening. Growth ledges on {101¯0 } facets of .beta.-Si3N4 grain facing curved grain boundaries did also indicate grain growth by coalescence. An increased Y2O3/Al2O3 ratio in the starting powder composition resulted in a higher .beta.-Si3N4 aspect ratio, and replacement of Y2O3 by Yb2O3 resulted in a further increased aspect ratio. During densification Al was incorporated into the Si3N4 and a dilute .beta.'-Si3N4 was formed. The Al2O3 based ceramics were reinforced with 15 wt% SiC whiskers. Also here, SiC whiskers limit grain growth. This work shows that grain morphology and the intergranular structure of ceramics can be controlled by the sintering additives, reinforcing agent and the processing parameters, and this will affect the properties.


Abstract #6011 Background: Understanding the natural history of breast cancer is important for effective patient management and treatment. For example, some evidence suggests that preinvasive ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) may be over-treated, since not all will progress to invasive cancer. Unfortunately, due to obligate surgical excision of newly diagnosed breast cancers, the natural history of disease is difficult to study in women. However, mouse models of breast cancer can serve as an alternative; the purpose of this study was to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate the progression of DCIS into invasive cancer in a transgenic model.
 Methods:12 SV40 Tag mice were imaged every 2-3 weeks (wks) starting at 10 wks of age. SV40 mice develop mammary cancer similar to DCIS and IDC, and usually live to 22 wks when they succumb to breast cancer. T1-weighted gradient echo images of inguinal mammary glands were obtained. DCIS lesions and invasive tumors were identified and volumes were measured over time. For each lesion we measured: the time at initial development (TDCIS and Ttumor), the growth rate of DCIS and invasive tumors (calculated from 9V=V0exp(αt)9), and for DCIS lesions that progressed to invasive tumors the progression time Tprog was measured.
 Results:DCIS (n=21) and invasive (n=16) tumors developed, at an average initial age of TDCIS =12.7±2.6 wks and Ttumor =16.3±3.1 wks, and at an initial volume of 0.3±0.2 mm3 and 1.7 mm3, respectively. The average growth rate for DCIS lesions was αDCIS= 0.08±0.23 wk-1, significantly smaller than that of invasive tumors (αtumor= 0.55±0.35 wk-1, p =0.001). 9/21 DCIS lesions progressed to invasive cancers in an average time of Tprog=4.56 ± 1.9 wks(Figure 1a). 11/21 DCIS did not progress within the study window and 5/21 were stable for over 8 wks (Figure 1b).
 The volume of DCIS was not a predictor of progression, but there was a trend for DCIS growth rate to be related to eventual development of invasiveness.
 Discussion:To our knowledge, the results reported here are the first direct measurements of the timescales and characteristics of progression from in situ to invasive carcinoma. Surprisingly, even in transgenic mice that are strongly pre-disposed to develop cancer, some DCIS lesions did not progress to invasive cancer. Interestingly, DCIS volume did not predict future progression to invasive tumors, but growth rate may have been a predictor. The methods and data here provide a foundation for using MRI in pre-clinical studies of early cancer progression, prevention and targeted treatment. Extensions of this pilot study may yield image-based biomarkers of progressing vs. indolent DCIS. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(2 Suppl):Abstract nr 6011.


In this work we present numerical simulations of 105 sub-Kolmogorov deformable bubbles dispersed in Taylor-Couette flow (a wall-bounded shear system) with rotating inner cylinder and outer cylinder at rest. We study the effect of deformability of the bubbles on the overall drag induced by the carrier fluid in the two-phase system. We find that an increase in deformability of the bubbles results in enhanced drag reduction due to a more pronounced accumulation of the deformed bubbles near the driving inner wall. This preferential accumulation is induced by an increase in the resistance to the motion of the bubbles in the wall-normal direction. The increased resistance is linked to the strong deformation of the bubbles near the wall which makes them prolate (stretched along one axis) and orient along the streamwise direction. A larger concentration of the bubbles near the driving wall implies that they are more effective in weakening the plume ejections which results in stronger drag reduction effects. These simulations which are practically impossible with fully resolved techniques are made possible by coupling a subgrid deformation model with two-way coupled Euler-Lagrangian tracking of sub-Kolmogorov bubbles dispersed in a turbulent flow field which is solved through direct numerical simulations. The bubbles are considered to be ellipsoidal in shape and their deformation is governed by an evolution equation which depends on the local flow conditions and their surface tension.


Staphylococcus epidermidis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are the two most commonly detected bacteria. Pseudomonas aeruginosa exerts significant impacts on pathogenesis through quorum-sensing regulation, while S. epidermidis role has always remained a matter of interest due to its frequent presence in most of the hospitalized samples and even inside the body during operation procedures. In this study, the effect of S. epidermidis cells on P. aeruginosa pathogenesis was analyzed. The effect of S. epidermidis cells on P. aeruginosa growth was analyzed by using microtiter plate assay, Colony forming unit (CFU), and microscopy. The effect of virulence factors including protease, rhamnolipid, and swarming motility was also investigated. Escherichia coli pJN105LpSC11, a bioreporter strain, was used to analyze the effect of S. epidermidis on P. aeruginosa quorum-sensing. The growth of P. aeruginosa did not affect S. epidermidis cells of 5.5x109, 6x109, 7x109, 8.5x109, and 1.5x1010 CFU/ml, and microscopy results are consistent with the findings. P. aeruginosaassociated virulence factors show that with increasing S. epidermidis counts, P. aeruginosa-associated virulence factors were reduced. No effect of S. epidermidis on P. aeruginosa quorum-sensing was observed. The outcomes suggest that S. epidermidis can be used as an alternative to reduce Pseudomonas aeruginosaassociated virulence factors and its pathogenesis.


Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus constitutes part of the growing health problem associated with chemotherapy because they are more difficult to treat and could transfer drug resistance to other bacteria. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) among Microbiology students in federal university Birnin Kebbi (FUBK). A cross-sectional study of the prevalence of MRSA among microbiology students of FUBK was conducted. A total of 50 nasals and 50 skin swabs were collected from the participants. The samples were inoculated directly on to mannitol salt agar and incubated for 24 hours at 37C. The positive plates were sub cultured on nutrient agar. The bacterial species were identified using staining techniques and biochemical tests. Staphylococcus aureus isolates were screened for methicillin resistance using 5μg/ml Oxacillin disc on Mueller Hinton agar plate. Out of the 100 swab samples analyzed, 56 (56%) Staphylococci were recovered from the culture, 16 of which (16%) were identified by biochemical tests and gram stain to be Staphylococcus aureus. However, the remaining 45 (45%) were coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS). Out of 16 S. aureus isolates, 15 (94%) strains of MRSA were identified using sensitivity tests, 14 (93%) were recovered from anterior nares, and only 1 (7%) from skin. Among the S. aureus strains, 14 strains (87.5%) were sensitive to Ciprofloxacin and Ofloxacin, 12 strains (75%) to Nitrofurantoin and 3 strains (19%) to Gentamicin. The isolated MRSA strains showed multidrug resistance. They were all resistant to Ceftazidime, Cefuroxime, Augmentin and Cefoxime. The result of this study shows the prevalence of MRSA . Ciprofloxacin, Ofloxacin and Nitrofurantoin were the most sensitive antibiotics. This study suggests that indiscriminate use of antibiotics is among the predisposing factors to these multi-drug resistant bacteria.


The effects of dietary restriction (DR) on the activities of liver superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (Cat), and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and the level of lipid peroxidation (LP) in developing mice were investigated in this study. Male and female Kunmin mice were fed a standard rodent diet ad libitum (AL), 80% of AL food intake (20% DR), or 65% of AL food intake (35% DR) for 12 or 24 wk. Both 12 and 24 wk of DR resulted in retarded body weight gain in male and female mice. The activities of SOD, Cat, and GPX and the content of LP in DR male and female mice were not different (P > 0.05) from those in controls after 12 wk of DR. However, the SOD activity was increased at 24 wk in 20% DR (P < 0.05) and 35% DR (P < 0.01) male, but not in DR female, mice. The Cat activity was elevated at 24 wk in both DR male (P < 0.05 for 20% DR, P < 0.01 for 35% DR) and female (P < 0.01) mice with a greater increase in DR female (P < 0.05) than in DR male animals. GPX activity was also increased at 24 wk in DR male (P < 0.01) and female (P < 0.01) mice with a greater elevation in DR females (P < 0.05) than in DR males. Furthermore, LP was decreased at 24 wk in both DR male (P < 0.01) and female (P < 0.01) animals with a greater reduction in DR females (P < 0.01) compared with DR males. These findings indicated that 24 wk, but not 12 wk, of DR led to differential effects on liver SOD, Cat, and GPX activities and LP content in male and female mice during development, suggesting sex-associated modulations of DR on antioxidant systems in developing animals.


Raynaud's phenomenon has been described more than 140 years ago, its prevalence in the general population is high, and yet the underlying pathological mechanisms are only partly understood. In children, female preponderance has been reported, as it is also the case in adults, and the disease usually starts after the age of 10. Diagnosis and differential diagnosis, in particular with erythromelalgia, are usually made through patient's or parent's interrogatory. It is important to distinguish primary Raynaud's phenomenon, which is usually benign, from Raynaud's phenomenon secondary to connective tissue disease. To this regard, nailfold capillaroscopy is of great help, as may be more recently introduced techniques such as thermography and digital blood pressure response to cooling. Primary Raynaud's phenomenon usually only requires simple physical measures (avoidance of exposure to coldness, gloves in winter, ...) plus sometimes oral calcium blockers. By contrast, Raynaud's phenomenon secondary to connective tissue disease requires systemic investigations, assessment and treatment of the underlying disease and, in some cases, more aggressive treatments such as intravenous carboprostacyclin (Iloprost).


: Small- and medium-sized family farms are places to live and sources of income for about half of the population. The aim of this analysis was to determine the relationship between eco-efficiency and human capital efficiency on small- and medium-sized family farms. The analysis was carried out using an economic measure (value of agricultural production per work hour calculated per hectare) and two synthetic measures (human capital and environmental measures). The synthetic measures were determined using the TOPSIS-CRITIC method by defining weights for variables used in the measures. The analysis covered five countries: Lithuania (960 farms), Moldavia (532 farms), Poland (696 farms), Romania (872 farms) and Serbia (524 farms). All of these countries are characterised by a high fragmentation of agricultural holdings. The analysis allowed us to formulate the following conclusions: eco-efficiency and human capital efficiency indices increased with area for small- and medium-sized family farms. An increase in the eco-efficiency index with an increase in farm area suggests that the smaller the farm area, the more extensive the agricultural production that was carried out. In addition, an increase in human capital efficiency with an increase in farm area indicates that there was inefficiency in the utilisation of human capital resources on the agricultural farms studied.


. We present evolutionary models of primary stars with initial masses in the range of 30 to 40 M (cid:2) , evolving in massive binary systems, possible progenitors of gravitational wave sources. The binary systems have an initial mass ratio of 0.9, an initial orbital period of 3 days and an accretion efficiency of 10%. The evolution of the primary stars in those systems is followed from the main sequence to the formation of the carbon-oxygen core. In addition, the evolution of two primaries with the lowest initial masses is calculated to the iron core formation. The masses of the helium and carbon-oxygen cores formed in primary stars are compared with the masses of cores formed in single stars with the same initial masses. The initial mass limit for the black hole formation for this selected type of massive binaries is established between 32 and 34 M (cid:2) . All models are calculated with the MESA (Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics) numerical code.


We review recent developments in experimental techniques that simultaneously combine measurements of the interaction forces or energies between two extended surfaces immersed in electrolyte solutions-primarily aqueous-with simultaneous monitoring of their (electro)chemical reactions and controlling the electrochemical surface potential of at least one of the surfaces. Combination of these complementary techniques allows for simultaneous real time monitoring of angstrom level changes in surface thickness and roughness, surface-surface interaction energies, and charge and mass transferred via electrochemical reactions, dissolution, and adsorption, and/or charging of electric double layers. These techniques employ the surface forces apparatus (SFA) combined with various "electrochemical attachments" for in situ measurements of various physical and (electro)chemical properties (e.g., cyclic voltammetry), optical imaging, and electric potentials and currents generated naturally during an interaction, as well as when electric fields (potential differences) are applied between the surfaces and/or solution-in some cases allowing for the chemical reaction equation to be unambiguously determined. We discuss how the physical interactions between two different surfaces when brought close to each other (<10 nm) can affect their chemistry, and suggest further extensions of these techniques to biological systems and simultaneous in situ spectroscopic measurements for chemical analysis.