Objective: To compare the depth of cure, surface hardness and microleakage applied to primary teeth of three types of bulk-fill resins, so as to provide reference for clinical application. Methods: Composite resin FiltekTM Z350 XT (group A) and giomer Beautifil Ⅱ (group B) were used as controls, high-viscosity bulk-fill resin FiltekTM Bulk Fill (group C), sonic-activated bulk-fill resin SonicFill 2 (group D) and flowable bulk-fill resin SDR® flow+(group E) were studied. The microstructure of each group was observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Specimens of each group were prepared (6 pieces per group), and the Vickers microhardness of the surface layer and different depths of each group were measured, and then the depths of cure were calculated. Twenty-five primary molars dentin were filled by resins of each group (5 teeth per group), sliced, then aged, slices of each group were developed by silver ion staining. SEM was used to observed the distribution of silver ions. Microleakage of each group were analyzed by Jonckheere-Terpstra rank sum test. Results: SEM showed that the filler particles in groups A and C were spherical and evenly distributed. The shape of the fillers in groups B, D and E were polygonal and unevenly distributed. The surface hardness of groups A, B, C, D and E were (84.97±6.30), (65.04±5.95), (57.80±1.18), (60.77±2.34), (33.32±1.83) MPa respectively. Group A had the highest hardness, while group E was the lowest, and the differences between the two groups and other groups was statistically significant (P<0.05). There were no statistically significant differences among groups B, C, and D (P>0.05). The curing depths of groups A, B, C, D and E were 2.6, 3.4, 5.8, 3.8 and 7.8 mm respectively. The largest microleakage was found in group E [2% (1/50) for grade 0, 22% (11/50) for grade 1, 30% (15/50) for grade 2, 24% (12/50) for grade 3, and 22% (11/50)for grade 4], which was statistically different from other groups (P<0.05). No statistically significant differences were found among other 3 groups (P>0.05). Conclusions: Both high-viscosity and sonic-activated bulk-fill resins have the greater depth of cure, the same hardness and microleakage as giomer, which might be an option for restoration in primary teeth.


The thermal conductivity of air treated as a binary mixture has been calculated by way of an unmodified and a modified Wassiljewa equation using recent data on lambda , eta and D for O2 and N2. The two expressions are found to yield results in overall agreement with experimental data in the temperature range 400-1600K. The unmodified expression due to Mason and Saxena (1958) perhaps gives more accurate results and may be thus more suitable for predicting the conductivity of other gas mixtures.


Objective: To investigate the safety and efficacy of voriconazole in the patients with cirrhosis at Child-Pugh C stage complicated by invasive fungal infection(IFI). Methods: A retrospective collection of medical records of 76 patients with cirrhosis at Child-Pugh C stage complicated by IFI who were admitted to our hospital, from August 2014 to August 2017 was carried out. All the 76 patients who used voriconazole to treat IFI were divided into recommended dose group for hepatic insufficiency(56 cases) and routine dose group(20cases). The two groups were observed and compared in terms of the voriconazole's plasma concentrations, the outcomes of IFI and the rate of untoward reactions. The liver functional indicators were also compared between before and after treatment each group. We used Student's t test, Z test, chi-square test, or Fisher's exact test, as appropriate, for statistical analysis. Results: Both groups had good performance and low frequencies of side effects in the treatment of IFI, but there were also significant differences in the plasma concentrations of voriconazole and the incidence of untoward reactions between the two groups(P = 0.008 and P = 0.022). There commended dose group for hepatic insufficiency had lower adverse effect rate. The levels of direct bilirubin, alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase were significantly lower after treatment of IFI in the recommended dose group for hepatic insufficiency(P < 0.05). Conclusion: In our research, it is relatively safe and effective to use voriconazole to treat IFI in the patients with cirrhosis at Child-Pugh C stage if according to the recommended dose regimen for cirrhosis at Child-Pugh A,B stage.


Abstract Objective To characterize current feeding practices and to evaluate the adequacy of energy and nutrient intakes of young children in subsistence farming rural households in North Wollo, Ethiopia. Design A cross-sectional study examining sociodemographic status, anthropometry, breast-feeding and complementary feeding practices using two in-home non-consecutive 24 h recalls. Settings Two rural villages in the highlands and lowlands of Gobalafto district, North Wollo. Subjects Seventy-six young children aged 12–23 months, thirty-nine from the lowlands and thirty-seven from the highlands. Results About 33 % of the children, ∼46 % in the highlands and 24 % in the lowlands (P = 0·05), were stunted. Complementary diets were low in animal products, fruits and vegetables. Cereals and legumes were the major sources of energy, protein, Ca, Fe, Zn and vitamin A. Legumes with potentially toxic components (grass pea, broad beans) and low nutrient-dense beverages such as tea were frequently consumed. Intakes of energy, Ca, Zn, vitamin A and vitamin C from complementary foods were below WHO recommendations assuming average breast-milk intakes. In contrast, Fe and protein intakes and densities met WHO recommendations. Although vitamin C intakes and densities were higher (P < 0·05) for the lowlands, they remained far below WHO recommendations. Conclusions Interventions promoting the WHO guiding principles for complementary feeding practices and behaviours that take the agro-ecological contexts into account are needed here. Furthermore, specific recommendations should be formulated to discourage the consumption of grass pea, broad beans and low nutrient-dense beverages such as tea.


Abstract. Based on the theoretic analysis of the accuracy in large scale photogrammetric mapping, some defects in traditional procedure were discussed. A set of key technologies dedicate to accuracy improvement in low altitude photogrammetry were analyzed in detail, namely the utilization of wide angle camera and low altitude flight, enhancement in image matching, predesigned layout of Ground Control Points (GCPs) in field survey, optimization of adjustment model and improvement in map processing. Besides, a low altitude aerial unmanned airship system was established. Finally, successful implementation in 1:500 topographic mapping project in built-up areas of 30 counties in Shanxi Province proves the practicability and effectiveness of the proposed approaches.


Food waste has emerged as one of the focus areas in sustainability research. At the Ateneo de Manila University, previous studies have found that food waste is composed mainly of rice. This study, therefore, analyzed cafeteria rice systems in the university through a material flow analysis (MFA) to identify key factors for formulating effective rice waste reduction techniques and then applied the results toward developing system dynamics (SD) models as tools for decision-making. The MFA found that the total mass of produced known rice waste was 49.48 kg/d. The largest sources of rice wastes were the upstream processes of the cafeteria rice system involving the cooking and serving of rice. The SD model developed for one cafeteria found that the service stage was the largest source of rice waste. The main factor influencing service waste generation was the surplus of cooked rice. A scenario was simulated in which the amount of rice used in additional batches cooked was minimized, yielding a substantial decrease in the mass of service waste and lost revenue. Not only does this research provide baseline information that enables the university to enhance sustainable consumption and food waste minimization efforts, but it also contributes to the data pool for rice wastage in the Philippine and Southeast Asian contexts. Furthermore, results indicate a need to re-strategize rice waste campaigns that focus on consumption when much can be done in the preparation and service stages. Collaborating with cafeteria management to improve efficiency in the kitchen is key in addressing the overall rice waste problem. Downstream, consumer-focused interventions targeting changes in attitudes and behaviors must be complemented by upstream changes in operations and management approaches to support both a structural and cultural transformation for sustainability.


The aim of the study was to investigate into the possibility of evaluating arctic fox fur basing on the correlation of laboratory measurements of hairs collected from various parts of the coat. The material involved samples of prime fur hairs of 20 two-year-old females of the blue arctic fox, collected at the end of January. The samples were cut by the skin at six places of the body, namely: the head (between the ears), back (in the middle between the tail base and the neck base), the side (below the place of sampling located on the back), belly (mid between the base of the front limbs and the vulva), the tail (in the middle of the dorsal side), as well as the shank. The samples were subjected to macro- and microscopic measurements. The results indicate that fur coat of arctic foxes is more dense, longer, and usually more intensely colored on the back, as compared to the belly. The hairs on the head and the limbs are much shorter and contain more awn hairs. The results reveal a very weak correlation of the morphological fur characteristics between different parts of the body. It has been found that it is impossible to objectively evaluate the basic structural characteristics and the dark tops of hairs in the arctic fox on the basis of a sample of hair from a single part of the body.


ABSTRACT Over the decades, the evolving information systems (IS) research community and its academic output has greatly expanded. This paper offers an integrated analysis of multiple dimensions of network interconnectedness of the growing IS discipline. In line with the social and intellectual dimensions of the underlying theory of science, we synthesise multiple network views on authors, institutions, journal outlets, citations, and themes into a multi-dimensional knowledge network infrastructure analysis of collaborative networks of IS researchers and their academic output. We further introduce two fragmentation types to better address the dynamics of the IS discourse discussed in previous research. Based on a corpus of all 3587 AIS basket of 8 journal articles over 20 years, we use the analytical framework to study whether the fast growth of the IS discipline resulted in a reduced coherence of the overall academic collaboration and the research themes. The analysis reveals that the sampled IS researcher community developed a large core component with influential bridging people who mitigate fragmentation and centralisation. This IS community structure constitutes a valuable asset to cope with fragmentation tendencies in the intellectual dimension (research topics) resulting from many short-term topic bursts and from centralisation of conceptual terms.


The dust size distribution in molecular clouds can be strongly affected by ice-mantle formation and (subsequent) grain coagulation. Following previous work where the dust size distribution has been calculated from a state-of-the art collision model for dust aggregates that involves both coagulation and fragmentation (Paper I), the corresponding opacities are presented in this study. The opacities are calculated by applying the effective medium theory assuming that the dust aggregates are a mix of 0.1 μm silicate and graphite grains and vacuum. In particular, we explore how the coagulation affects the near-IR opacities and the opacity in the 9.7 μm silicate feature. We find that as dust aggregates grow to μm-sizes both the near-IR color excess and the opacity in the 9.7 μm feature increases. Despite their coagulation, porous aggregates help to prolong the presence of the 9.7 μm feature. We find that the ratio between the opacity in the silicate feature and the near-IR color excess becomes lower with respect to the ISM, in accordance with many observations of dark clouds. However, this trend is primarily a result of ice mantle formation and the mixed material composition of the aggregates, rather than being driven by coagulation. With stronger growth, when most of the dust mass resides in particles of size ∼10 μm or larger, both the near-IR color excess and the 9.7 μm silicate feature significantly diminish. Observations at additional wavelengths, in particular in the sub-mm range, are essential to provide quantitative constraints on the dust size distribution within dense cores. Our results indicate that the sub-mm index β will increase appreciably, if aggregates grow to ∼100 μm in size.


BACKGROUND
Dietary habits have been suggested as a factor related to the increase of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) incidence in western populations, but the role of individual nutrients is still unclear.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
A hospital-based case-control study was conducted in Italy, 1999-2002.

CASES
190 incident, histologically-confirmed NHL cases aged 18-84 years.

CONTROLS
484 subjects admitted to hospital for acute, non-neoplastic diseases unrelated to diet. Dietary habits were assessed by a validated food-frequency questionnaire; nutrient intakes were computed using the Italian food composition database. Odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) for tertiles of intake of nutrient were computed using the energy-adjusted residual models.

RESULTS
Inverse association emerged for polyunsaturated fatty acids (OR=0.6; 95% CI: 0.4-0.9), linoleic acid (OR=0.6; 95% CI: 0.4-0.9), and vitamin D (OR=0.6; 95% CI: 0.4-0.9). The protective effect for linoleic acid (OR=0.3; 95% CI: 0.2-0.7) and vitamin D (OR=0.4; 95% CI: 0.2-0.9) was stronger in women; no differences emerged according to age. Linoleic acid was inversely related to follicular and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma; the protective effect of vitamin D emerged most clearly for follicular subtypes.

CONCLUSIONS
Our study suggests that a diet rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamin D is associated with a reduced risk of NHL.


Ugandan strains of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) were isolated by cocultivation of peripheral blood lymphocytes from infected individuals with cord blood lymphocytes. Sequences from the V3 region of the env gene were amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from chromosomal DNA obtained from low passage virus cultures. The PCR products from 13 Ugandan isolates were cloned into a phagemid vector and sequenced. Many isolates contained divergent V3 loop sequences and adjacent regions: diversity was associated with codon deletions or duplications and with nucleotide substitutions, especially G----A transitions. Proviruses from some of the cultures showed extensive diversity within the V3 loop sequences but others were more homogeneous. The V3 loop apices were conserved in 6 of the Ugandan proviruses and these were very similar to the equivalent regions of several Zairean proviruses. The V3 loop apices of African isolates of HIV-1 are divergent from those of North American isolates. The possible biological consequences of this divergence are discussed.


Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of Patient Controlled Analgesia (PCA) on the postoperative patient's pain management and recovery of bowel movement with gastrointestinal cancer. Method: The participants were 249 patients diagnosed with gastrointestinal disease and scheduled for elective surgery, who were recruited to either the postoperative patient-controlled analgesia group or epidural analgesia group. Participants aged 20 and above were recruited from P, K, D, and I university hospitals in B city. Pain visual analogue scale, and recovery of bowel movement according to PCA-related characteristics were measured using structured questionnaires from April 2005 through December 2005. Descriptive statistics t-test and F-test were used to analyze the data. SPSS WIN 10.0 program was used. Results: Mean score for pain was 62.31. Scores for pain on the visual analogue scale were significantly lower in the epidural-PCA than in the intravenous PCA, and also significantly lower in the absence of side effect of PCA than in the presence of side effect. Recovery time for bowel movement was significantly faster in the absence of side effect of PCA than in the presence of side effect. Conclusion: Based on the findings, there is a significant difference in pain and no difference in first passage of flatus according to PCA infusion route in patients who are post-operative for gastrointestinal cancer.


This research was done because code-switching was a phenomenon that exists in teaching-learning English as a foreign language, where the teachers used more than one language to communicate including in the teaching-learning processes of English as the foreign language at SMAN 2 Bukittinggi. The design of this research was descriptive qualitative research. The instruments of this research were interview for analyzing the functions of teacher's code-switching and the observation for analyzing the types and the frequencies of teacher's code-switching. The population of the research was all the English teaches.  The sample was one of the English teacher eleventh's grade at SMAN 2 Bukittinggi taken by randomly technique where the teacher was no-native of English speaker. The result of the research showed that in the three types of teacher'scode-switching they were 139 times inter sentential switching, 256 times intra sentential switching, 79 times tag switching. Besides, in the functions of code-switching were in 115 times of total frequencies by different modified of the functions were in classroom management (24,35%), inserting humor (2,60%), clarification of information (47,83%), increasing students' comprehension (18,26%), and interpreting the lesson (6,96%). Then, distributions of teachers' languages were 474 times or frequencies, the languages distribution were Pure English (44, 30%), Indonesian (29, 96%), and local language (25, 74%). Thus, this research found about three factors of teacher's code switching that were the types of codeswitching, the functions of code switching, and the frequencies of teacher's code-switching.


Recently, I drove out the Tyler Street Extension in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to view the ongoing demolition of Building 9 in the former General Electric Company (GE) plant. Building 9 once had been a world-renowned center of high-voltage and lightning research. It was named the GE High Voltage Laboratory and was commonly referred to as ?The Lab.?


Various chemical reactions and physical processes (such as stabilizer consumption, migration and evaporation of nitroglycerine, decomposition of nitroglycerine and nitrocellulose, etc.) take place in double based rocket propellants grains over the time, even under ambient storage conditions. The overall effect of these reactions and processes are changes of physical, chemical, thermal, ballistic and mechanical properties of rocket propellants with storage time, i.e. the reduction of the propellants performances and safe service life. The aim of this work was to evaluate the mechanical changes of rocket propellants – sustainers, built in in-service antitank guided missiles systems, induced by natural ageing at ambient conditions during up to 35 years of storage. The mechanical and viscoelastic properties were tested using a  dynamic mechanical analyser, an uniaxial tensile and compression tester, and a  notch toughness tester. The results have shown that the changes of the studied mechanical and viscoelastic properties are evident, although the results of the tests are rather scattered (as a  consequence of measuring uncertainty, different ageing histories of propellants, etc.) or changes of some properties are not too pronounced. For example, after 15 years of storage at ambient conditions the glass transition temperature increases for about 5 °C, the tan δ in the glass transition region decreases for about 5%, the storage and loss modulus at 25 °C increase for about 15%, Young modulus at 23 °C increases up to 30%, the notch toughness at -30 °C decreases up to 15%, etc. Along with these tests, the stabilizer content determination and proving ground ballistic tests were also done.


Abstract Purpose - This article aims to investigate how country location, as a source of country-specific advantage (CSA), and product innovation, as a source of firm-specific advantage (FSA), influence the international expansion of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their growth to become multinational enterprises (MNEs). It also aims to confirm internalization theory by testing the applicability of an extant concept, the FSA/CSA framework for the international expansion of SMEs. Developed and empirically validated largely in the context of the MNE, this paper seeks to show how the framework can be applied in the context of SMEs that develop into MNEs. Design/methodology/approach - A qualitative approach is employed within a single industry setting using multiple cases. Propositions are formulated to explain the theorized relationships between innovation and the growth of SMEs in a sector which depends heavily on specific CSAs. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and archival data, and are analyzed in data displays, tables and matrices. Findings - The article finds that location of the industry cases as a source of CSAs, and product innovation as a source of FSAs, are highly relevant for growing New Zealand SMEs into MNEs. The study applies internalization theory to the growth strategies of SMEs. Originality/value - This research combines extant theory and a specific context in order to analyze phenomena through a distinct conceptual lens. It confirms the CSA/FSA framework by applying it in a new empirical context. It can inform decision-makers in growing SMEs on the strategic and international implications of firm and location advantages. Keywords Firm-specific advantage, Country-specific advantage, Internalization theory, New Zealand, Small and medium-sized enterprises, International expansion, Product innovation


Protein kinases are involved in almost all biological activities. The activities of different kinases reflect the normal or abnormal status of the human body. Therefore, detecting the activities of different kinases is important for disease diagnosis and drug discovery. Fluorescent probes offer opportunities for studying kinase behaviors at different times and spatial locations. In this review, we summarize different kinds of fluorescent chemosensors that have been used to detect the activities of many different kinases.


The aim of the study was to identify goals of imposing non-tariff measures such as SPS and TBT in agri-food trade in association with the concept of sustainable agriculture. The relationships between agri-food trade and the environment and food safety were described. In quantitative analysis the data from the WTO-TIP Goods database for the years 1996, 2006 and 2016 were used. The study confirmed that the imposing SPS and TBT measures are determined by characteristics of sustainable agriculture and can be treated as premises for non-tariff protectionism.


Manual "The Source Study" is published by historians of the High School of Economics. It has been adjusted compared with the previous edition RSUS 1998. Its structure has been upgraded. It highlights issues of source study theory, describes the body of sources on Russian history, gives for the first time an analysis of the historiographical sources and features of source research. Particular attention is paid to the history of source study and the establishment of a scientific concept of the source study. The authors emphasize the benefits that a source study is playing an integral role in the system of humanitarian scientific knowledge. a number of controversial issues of modern source study is raised in the manual.


There are some quite striking similarities between the moral psychology Maimonides presents in 'Eight Chapters' and Aristotle's moral psychology. They both deny that individuals have the virtues and vices by nature; they put a great deal of weight on habituation as a formative factor with respect to character; and they both characterize virtues in terms of lying in a mean between excess and defect. These are fundamentals of moral psychology that they share. But there are some very significant differences as well, and these are brought out quite clearly by a consideration of Maimonides' 'Laws of Repentance'. It is worth looking at these differences not just for the sake of seeing how some Aristotelian claims are modified by the Jewish tradition, but also in order to see how moral psychology and the interpretation of the scope of human volition are altered by certain types of theistic commitments.


The current condition of knowledge about social world as reflected in political sciences, economics, management sciences, sociology, psychology, and their many derivatives is in deep disarray. It can be observed in the poor representation of the obtained results of scientific findings in practical issues as well as in the internal problems and inconsistencies within the respective branches of science. The exponentially growing volume of information in these areas is supplemented with less than linear growth of real knowledge, and even this one cannot be considered "hard knowledge" for many reasons. This phenomenon is not new, but the alarming gap between two flows of symbolic realm on the one hand, and between these flows as a whole and real practices on the other hand, is growing faster with every year. Further scientific specialization seems just to widen this gap. A need for some unifying principles overcoming narrow boundaries of particular sciences and even their composites (like behavioral economics or social psychology) becomes more and more clear. The attempts to solve universal problems using such grand concepts as general theory of systems, cybernetics, sociophysics, statistics have yielded many brilliant results, but haven't proven to become the sought-after unifying frame in many aspects. One of the reasons for that was their orientation to specific types of models, which, applied to social reality, do not work as expected. In this article, I'll try to introduce some principles of a new science, sociosystemics, which will hopefully help to transform over the cross a time the enormous volume of social information into meaningful knowledge to be used for analysis, prediction, finding innovative solutions, and decision making.


This study aims at revealling the effect of instructional models and students thinking styles on the students learning outcomes of the educational philosophy course at the IAIN Palu. The research method used in this research was quasi experiment with a 2 x 2 factorial design, data were analyzed statistically using ANAVA. The result of research shows that 1) the students learning outcomes who learned through deep learning model is higher than the students who learned through surface learning; 2) there is an interaction effect between instructional model with thinking style on the learning outcomes of educational philosophy course; 3) student learning outcomes using deep learning model and have divergent thinking style is higher than student learning outcomes that have convergent thinking style; 4) student learning outcomes using surface learning model and have the convergent thinking style is higher than student learning outcomes that have divergent thinking style.


Di¤erential protection schemes for busbars, generators or transformers connect multiple current transformers in parallel across a common burden. This paper describes the techniques used to simulate such an arrangement in real time.


The quality of images produced by generative adversarial networks (GAN) is commonly a trade-off between the model size, its training data needs, and the generation resolution. This trad-off is clear when applying GANs to issues like generating face morphing attacks, where the latent vector used by the generator is manipulated. In this paper, we propose an image enhancement solution designed to increase the quality and resolution of GAN-generated images. The solution is designed to require limited training data and be extendable to higher resolutions. We successfully apply our solution on GAN-based face morphing attacks. Beside the face recognition vulnerability and attack detectability analysis, we prove that the images enhanced by our solution are of higher visual and quantitative quality in comparison to unprocessed attacks and attack images enhanced by state-of-the-art super-resolution approaches.


The issues of the impact of cross-border cooperation on the small and medium enterprise development in border regions are considered in the paper. The main objective of the paper is to show the need for development of cross-border relations between enterprises in border territories to develop the business sector and region in particular, to assess the impact of introducing advanced technologies by small and medium enterprises on the transformation of economies in the border territories. The features of introducing advanced technologies by the business sector in the West Ukrainian border are analyzed. The typing of innovative small and medium enterprises in the Ukrainian border territories is investigated. The conducted research allows realistic assessment of benefits from the introduction of advanced technologies within the border territories for the development of regions and business sectors. The obtained results can be used in making up and implementation of programs for the innovative economy sector development in the West Ukrainian border regions.


Starting from a 3D electrothermal field problem discretized by the Finite Integration Technique, the equivalence to a circuit description is shown by exploiting the analogy to the Modified Nodal Analysis approach. Using this analogy, an algorithm for the automatic generation of a monolithic SPICE netlist is presented. Joule losses from the electrical circuit are included as heat sources in the thermal circuit. The thermal simulation yields nodal temperatures that influence the electrical conductivity. Apart from the used field discretization, this approach applies no further simplifications. An example 3D chip package is used to validate the algorithm.


The concept of programmable logic controller (PLC) originated over the last century that has revolutionised the industrial sector. In the last few decades PLC in the form of DDC has been commonly used in Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS). The contribution of this work is to analyse PLC/DDC role in the ongoing BEMS advancements in the building sector. Currently DDC are not understood by building design and simulation engineers who assess the controllability of the building in practice. This paper would enhance the understanding of integrating DDC in buildings and influence creation of better modelling and simulation tools for assessing their impact on energy performance in practice.


Arsenic, a toxic metalloid, provokes many detrimental consequences to human health. It is prevalent in earth's crust and poses a major threat to humans globally. Inorganic arsenic exposure occurs mainly via drinking water or food and is metabolized in mammals to form organic metabolites/ end products. Chronic exposure to arsenic causes lung, skin and urinary bladder cancers and increases the risks of liver, kidney and prostate cancers. Arsenic-induced ROS generation, disturbances in several signaling pathways, DNA repair inhibition, chromosomal aberrations, and epigenetic changes including alterations in DNA methylation, histone modifications and differential miRNA expression profiles are involved in cancer progression, and malignant transformation. However, details of arsenic-induced carcinogenesis and molecular mechanisms involved are still remaining obscure. MicroRNAs are post-transcriptional gene expression regulators and themselves may act as oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. Differential miRNA expression is implicated in several human cancers. This review covers general mechanistic basis of arsenic-induced carcinogenesis, explores recent in-vitro, in-vivo and cohort studies on differential miRNA expression profiles and shares associated molecular mechanistic data on miRNA dysregulation and their functional consequences leading to arsenic induced tumorigenesis, metastasis and cancer, also discusses the future directions.


Understanding major drivers of tree species distribution and tropical forest composition is imperative for biodiversity conservation. This study aimed to assessing the floristic diversity and structure of Lesio-louna forest in southern Republic of Congo and its implications for sustainable development. The measurements were made in six plots: three plots located in the Iboubikro forest and three in Blue Lake Forest (circular plots of 1,256 m 2 or 40 m of plot diameter). 85 trees of DBH ≥ 10 cm, divided into 25 species and 14 families have been recorded. Biomass data was collected using the tree-ring or floristic inventory method and data analyzed using SPSS v.18.0 statistical software. The results showed that, the Fabaceae had significant trees (17 species), with a relative diversity index of 20% followed by the Mimosaceae with 14 species and a relative diversity index of 16%. Millettia laurentii, Pentaclethra eetveldeana, Eriocoelum macrocarpum, Millettia pinnata and Sorindeia juglandifolia were listed as most important species in the area based on their relative frequency. Further study has been done to identify and determine the trees taxon for Lesio-louna tropical forest and their phytogeographical distribution. Flora of Lesio-louna protected area has a remarkable diversity and the floristic richness is very considerable in its specific composition.


This study deals with the macroscopic and microfacies characterisation of Roman stone artefacts excavated in 2006 from a Roman villa rustica near Mošnje (NW Slovenia) with the aim of defining their provenance. A total of 28 representative finds (querns, mortars, whetstones, tooled and rounded stones, a fragment of stone slab, mosaic tesserae and two architectural elements one with a relief) made of clastic and carbonate sedimentary rocks were examined. Comparison was made with rock samples taken from quarries and gravel bars close to the archaeological site, as well as from larger distance to the site. The majority of artefact sampled is composed of Upper Palaeozoic quartz sandstones, which are found as pebbles in gravel bars close to the archaeological site; while 2 samples were from Quaternary coarse grained clastic rocks which can be found in local glacio-fluvial sediments. Other finds were made of four different Mesozoic shallow-water limestones which outcrop in different areas of Central and SW Slovenia. The nearest Lower Jurassic biopelmicritic limestones are found at the western periphery of Ljubljana in Podutik. Cretaceous miliolid limestones and biocalcarenitic limestones with rudists are common in the successions of the Dinaric Carbonate Platform in SW Slovenia (for example, on the Trieste-Komen Plateau), NE Italy and SW Croatia. This indicates that the limestones for architectural elements, stone mortars and tesserae were brought to Mošnje from distant locations. Smaller stone tools are likely to have been made at the location of the archaeological site from material gathered locally, mostly pebbles from clastic rocks, which were accessible and suitable for tooling.


Measuring the Quality of Experience (QoE) undergone by cellular network users has become paramount for cellular ISPs. Given its overwhelming dominance and ever-growing popularity, this paper focuses on the analysis of QoE for YouTube in mobile networks. Using a large-scale dataset of crowdsourced YouTube QoE measurements collected in smartphones with YoMoApp, we analyze the evolution of multiple relevant QoErelated metrics over time for YouTube mobile users. The dataset includes measurements from more than 360 users worldwide, spanning over the last five years. Our data-driven analysis shows a systematic performance and QoE improvement of YouTube in mobile devices over time, accompanied by an improvement of cellular network performance and by an optimization of the YouTube streaming behavior for smartphones.


Purpose Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia in intensive care units (ICU) and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Magnesium prophylaxis has been shown to reduce incidence of AF in cardiac surgery patients, however, evidence outside this population is limited. The objective of this study is to summarize studies examining magnesium versus placebo in the prevention of NOAF outside the setting of cardiac surgery. Source We performed a comprehensive search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library (CENTRAL) from inception until January 3rd, 2023. We included all interventional research studies that compared magnesium to placebo and excluded case reports and post cardiac surgery patients. We conducted meta-analysis using the inverse variance method with random effects modelling. Principal findings Of the 1493 studies imported for screening, 87 full texts were assessed for eligibility and six citations, representing five randomized controlled trials (n = 4713), were included in the review, with four studies (n = 4654) included in the pooled analysis. Administration of magnesium did not significantly reduce the incidence of NOAF compared to placebo (OR 0.72, [95% CI 0.48 to 1.09]). Conclusion Use of magnesium did not reduce the incidence of NOAF, however these studies represent diverse groups and are hindered by significant bias. Further studies are necessary to determine if there is benefit to magnesium prophylaxis for NOAF in non-cardiac surgery patients.


Glioblastomas are the most common and aggressive form of adult primary brain tumors and are associated with a dismal prognosis. Accumulating evidences suggest that a subset of therapy-resistant cancer stem cells are responsible for recurrence in tumors targeting which may help in gliomas. We identified a significant overexpression of Brachyury (T-box transcription factor) in correlation with glioma histological grade when compared to non-tumor brain controls, with the highest expression being in grade IV gliomas. We also observed increased expression of Brachyury in several glioma cell lines and stem cells (GSCs) when compared to normal human astrocytes. Serum-induced differentiation of GSCs resulted in loss of Brachyury expression along with decreased stem-cell marker levels in these cells, which prompted us to study the potential role of Brachyury in glioma stemness and to delineate the underlying signaling mechanisms. Specific shRNA-mediated knockdown of Brachyury significantly decreased proliferation, migration and invasion in glioma cell lines. Brachyury suppression led to inhibition of sphere formation of GSCs and decreased stem cells marker expression including CD133, nestin and Nanog. Brachyury knockdown also inhibited the activation of sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling and decreased Gli1 levels in these cells. On the other hand, stable overexpression of Brachyury resulted in the activation of Shh pathway and elevated stem cell marker expression in GSCs. Based on these in vitro findings, our future studies will be focused on determining the role of Brachyury in orthotopic tumor growth in vivo. In summary, our data reveals a novel role for Brachyury in the regulation of tumor invasiveness and stemness, and indicates a potential for therapeutic targeting of Brachyury in patients with gliomas. Citation Format: Divya Kesanakurti, Alessandro Canella, Jihong Xu, Vinay K. Puduvalli. A novel role for brachyury as a key regulator of sonic hedgehog signaling (Shh) and maintenance of stemness in gliomas. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 2519.


Decolonizing social work requires becoming genuine, returning to one's cultural roots for direction. Decolonization entails resistance to social work's 'West to the Rest' movement, which seeks to 'internationalize' and 'standardize' the profession. For social work to be useful in Africa, reorientation of its methods toward facilitating holistic and indigenous intervention is mandatory. This conceptual article analyzes literature on decolonization, indigenous methodology, and social work in Africa, stressing that decolonization of social work requires challenging dominant models of practice and research, while integrating traditional values and practices that have withstood centuries of oppression into culturally consonant forms of service and inquiry.


This thesis consists of three chapters on the
economic and health consequences of lead paint abatement
regulations. The first chapter studies the effect of state-level
lead paint abatement regulations on housing markets, focusing on
house prices, rents and the allocation of households across houses
with different health risks. State lead abatement mandates require
owners of old houses to mitigate lead hazards in the presence of
small children. I estimate the effects of these mandates on the
housing market using a triple differences strategy that exploits
differences by state, year, and housing vintage. The estimates
suggest a large fraction of the abatement costs fall on property
owners, with house prices for multi-family properties declining by
6.4% and single-family homes declining 4.3%. These effects persist
for at least a decade, consistent with low abatement rates.
Families with small children bear part of the mandates' costs, too:
after a mandate, these families are 17% less likely to live in old
houses, and they pay higher rents for safer homes. These results
suggest that the mandates have important real distributional
consequences despite evidence of low abatement rates. The second
chapter analyzes the impact of state-level lead paint abatement
regulations on children's health and educational outcomes in a
difference-in-differences framework.. Lead poisoning has
long-lasting consequences on children's health, as well as on their
cognitive and non-cognitive abilities. Abatement mandates reduce
the rate of elevated blood lead levels by 29%. Moreover, the
mandates decrease the rate of enrollment in special education in
exposed cohorts by 8.1%, indicating a reduction in the number of
children with disabilities. A back of the envelope calculation
suggests that this decrease in the rate of enrollment in special
education induces savings between $17.5 and $111 million per
state-cohort on average, while the increased lifetime earnings from
the reduction in blood lead levels could lead to increased tax
revenues in the order of $2.8 million per state-cohort on average.
However, the reduction in special education enrollment does not
appear to be reflected in improvements in educational outcomes, as
I find no evidence that average fourth-grade test scores and
disciplinary actions change with the mandates. The third chapter
analyzes both the selection of houses into compliance and
individuals' valuation of lead-safe housing using address-level
housing, environmental and health data. Lead paint in old homes is
the major source of lead poisoning for US children despite federal
and local regulations concerning the mitigation of lead hazards and
the disclosure of lead status of a house whenever known. By
leveraging detailed information on property owners, I find that
small landlords are more likely to have non-compliant properties.
Distressed landlords as indicated either by high loan to value
ratios or by distressed sales have similar bad outcomes. By
leveraging sales data, I estimate that the finding of a lead hazard…


Rapid embryogenesis, together with genetic similarities with mammals, and the desire to reduce mammalian testing, are major incentives for using the zebrafish model in chemical screening and testing. Transgenic zebrafish, engineered for identifying target gene expression through expression of fluorophores, have considerable potential for both high-content and high-throughput testing of chemicals for endocrine activity. Here we generated an estrogen responsive transgenic zebrafish model in a pigment-free "Casper" phenotype, facilitating identification of target tissues and quantification of these responses in whole intact fish. Using the ERE-GFP-Casper model we show chemical type and concentration dependence for green fluorescent protein (GFP) induction and both spatial and temporal responses for different environmental estrogens tested. We also developed a semiautomated (ArrayScan) imaging and image analysis system that we applied to quantify whole body fluorescence responses for a range of different estrogenic chemicals in the new transgenic zebrafish model. The zebrafish model developed provides a sensitive and highly integrative system for identifying estrogenic chemicals, their target tissues and effect concentrations for exposures in real time and across different life stages. It thus has application for chemical screening to better direct health effects analysis of environmental estrogens and for investigating the functional roles of estrogens in vertebrates.


Abstract. Currently, atmospheric chemistry and transport models (ACTMs) used to assess impacts of air quality, applied at a European scale, lack the spatial resolution necessary to simulate fine-scale spatial variability. This spatial variability is especially important for assessing the impacts to human health or ecosystems of short-lived pollutants, such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2) or ammonia (NH3). In order to simulate this spatial variability, the Air Quality Re-gridder (AQR) model has been developed to estimate the spatial distributions (at a spatial resolution of 1  ×  1 km2) of annual mean atmospheric concentrations within the grid squares of an ACTM (in this case with a spatial resolution of 50  ×  50 km2). This is done as a post-processing step by combining the coarse-resolution ACTM concentrations with high-spatial-resolution emission data and simple parameterisations of atmospheric dispersion. The AQR model was tested for two European sub-domains (the Netherlands and central Scotland) and evaluated using NO2 and NH3 concentration data from monitoring networks within each domain. A statistical comparison of the performance of the two models shows that AQR gives a substantial improvement on the predictions of the ACTM, reducing both mean model error (from 61 to 41 % for NO2 and from 42 to 27 % for NH3) and increasing the spatial correlation (r) with the measured concentrations (from 0.0 to 0.39 for NO2 and from 0.74 to 0.84 for NH3). This improvement was greatest for monitoring locations close to pollutant sources. Although the model ideally requires high-spatial-resolution emission data, which are not available for the whole of Europe, the use of a Europe-wide emission dataset with a lower spatial resolution also gave an improvement on the ACTM predictions for the two test domains. The AQR model provides an easy-to-use and robust method to estimate sub-grid variability that can potentially be extended to different timescales and pollutants.


This is a sequel to our earlier paper presenting a supersymmetric Nambu–Jona–Lasinio (NJL)-type model for a real superfield composite. The model in the simplest version has only a chiral superfield (multiplet), with a strong four-superfield interaction in the Kähler potential that induces a real two-superfield composite with vacuum condensate. The latter can have supersymmetry breaking parts, which we have shown to bear nontrivial solutions under a standard nonperturbative analysis for a Nambu–Jona–Lasinio-type model on a superfield setting. In this article, we generalize our earlier analysis by allowing a supersymmetric mass term for the chiral superfield, as well as possible θ2 components for the soft supersymmetry breaking part of the condensate. We present admissible nontrivial vacuum solutions and an analysis of the resulted low energy effective theory with components of the composite becoming dynamical. The determinant of the fermionic modes is shown to be zero, illustrating the presence of the expected Goldstino.


Both cysteinesulfinate-independent and cysteinesulfinate-dependent pathways are involved in the catabolism of cyst(e)ine by freshly isolated rat renal cortical tubules. Sulfate and thiosulfate were shown to be the major sulfur-containing products that accumulated in incubations of renal tubules with 1 mmol/L or 25 mmol/L [35S]cyst(e)ine. Thiosulfate is an intermediate in the oxidation of the sulfide produced by the cysteinesulfinate-independent catabolism of cyst(e)ine by desulfhydration pathway(s), whereas sulfate is formed both by further oxidation of thiosulfate and by oxidation of the sulfite formed by the cysteinesulfinate-transamination pathway. Incubation of renal tubules with propargylglycine inhibited gamma-cystathionase activity by 85%, and this resulted in a 46% decrease in sulfate production and a 68% decrease in thiosulfate production when the treated renal tubules were incubated with 1 mmol/L [35S]cyst(e)ine. Addition of 25 mmol/L unlabeled cysteinesulfinate to create a diluting/trapping pool for [35S]cysteinesulfinate formed from [35S]cysteine resulted in a 53% decrease in [35S]sulfate production in incubations with 1 mmol/L cysteine. Thus, some cyst(e)ine catabolism probably occurred by a cysteinesulfinate-dependent pathway. No production of taurine or hypotaurine was detected in incubations with cyst(e)ine. Thus, cysteinesulfinate formed from cysteine was further catabolized primarily to sulfate instead of to taurine and hypotaurine. Most cyst(e)ine catabolism by the epithelial cells of the renal tubule probably can be accounted for by two pathways: 1) the beta-cleavage of cystine catalyzed by lambda-cystathionase and 2) the formation and transamination of cysteinesulfinate catalyzed by cysteine dioxygenase and aspartate aminotransferase.


Background/Aims: Metabolic diseases are leading health concerns in today's global society. In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), one body type studied is the phlegm-dampness constitution (PC), which predisposes individuals to complex metabolic disorders. Genomic studies have revealed the potential metabolic disorders and the molecular features of PC. The role of epigenetics in the regulation of PC, however, is unknown. Methods: We analyzed a genome-wide DNA methylation in 12 volunteers using Illumina Infinium Human Methylation450 BeadChip on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Eight volunteers had PC and 4 had balanced constitutions. Results: Methylation data indicated a genome-scale hyper-methylation pattern in PC. We located 288 differentially methylated probes (DMPs). A total of 256 genes were mapped, and some of these were metabolic-related. SQSTM1, DLGAP2 and DAB1 indicated diabetes mellitus; HOXC4 and SMPD3, obesity; and GRWD1 and ATP10A, insulin resistance. According to Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA), differentially methylated genes were abundant in multiple metabolic pathways. Conclusion: Our results suggest the potential risk for metabolic disorders in individuals with PC. We also explain the clinical characteristics of PC with DNA methylation features.


This best-selling Japanese language textbook has brought basic fluency in Japanese to thousands in the US and beyond. Basic Japanese is a user-friendly guide for beginners designed for use in a classroom or for self-study. It adopts a very different approach from other Japanese language books teaching you the underlying sentence structures and patterns of Japanese along with key vocabulary and phrases so you can attain basic fluency quickly. The emphasis is on acquiring a working knowledge of simple, everyday Japanese sentences. This new edition has been thoroughly updated and expanded to reflect the way Japanese is actually spoken in Japan today. Manga illustrations have been added for each dialogue along with the latest jargon for Internet, social media, cellphones and IT, and a bidirectional dictionary is included at the back. Each self-contained lesson is designed to ease learners into new material through a simple four-step method: Basic Sentences: Each lesson begins with a few simple sentences. Key vocabulary and phrases are learned within the context of these sentences. Audio recordings by native speakers are in the free CD-ROM in the book. Communication Notes: A detailed discussion of each sentence follows, to assist you in understanding the underlying structure and how to form new sentences based on the same pattern. Everyday Conversations: Authentic dialogues with manga illustrations and native-speaker recordings show you how people communicate naturally in Japan today through simple, everyday interactions. Exercises: Several sets of easy exercises help reinforce your understanding of the key points presented in the lesson and review what you have learned so you can move on to the next lesson. Two accomplished teachers have teamed up to revise this work to make learning Japanese manageable, practical and fun!


This paper addresses the problem of fault estimation and fault-tolerant control for a class of Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy Itô stochastic systems subject to simultaneously sensor and actuator faults. The main difficulty in this study is that sensor faults, actuator faults, and stochastic noise that are governed by Brownian motion are taken into simultaneous consideration in a unified framework, and traditional fault-tolerant approaches are not effective to solve this research issue. A new descriptor fuzzy sliding-mode observer approach is presented in this paper to obtain the simultaneous estimates of system state, sensor fault, and actuator fault vectors. Based on the state estimates, an observer-based fault-tolerant control (FTC) scheme is developed to stabilize the resulting closed-loop system. Finally, a simulation example is provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed fault-tolerant approach.


Ionic liquids have received considerable attention by the chemical industry in recent years, mostly towards the development of environmentally benign processes. In this work, microscopic structure, dynamic and thermodynamic properties of imidazolium-based ionic liquids are calculated using theoretical models that cover a wide range of length and time scales, from ab initio density functional theory (DFT) calculations to atomistic molecular simulation and finally to a macroscopic equation of state based on perturbation theory. Different ionic liquids and polar solvents are examined and calculations are performed over a wide range of conditions. Model calculations are compared against literature experimental data. In all cases, the agreement between experiment and calculations/theory is very good. Thus, it is verified that carefully selected models can be used for reliable estimation of properties, even in the absence of experimental measurements.


A functional layer is crucial in a QCM sensor, to immobilize target molecules. The microstructure of the layer determines the sensitivity of the sensor. On the other hand, the microstructure also affects the loading of the sensor. In this study, impedance analysis was used to investigate the relationship between the microstructure and the viscoelastic properties of a petalous stearic acid (SA) functional layer. The SA layer was deposited using a vacuum thermal evaporation technique. Different petalous pillar structures in the elastic layer were generated by varying the deposition time. Analysis showed that the growth of the embedded pillar structures dramatically reduced the conductance and increased the bandwidth. The energy dissipation during the vibration could be related to the interaction between the pillars and the elastic matrix.


THE OPHTHALMOLOGIST, like the physician in other fields of medicine, has frequently a preconceived idea about the treatment of disease based on his personal experience and the experience of others recorded in the medical journals and textbooks. This is particularly true in the case of glaucoma. These fixed ideas become malleable under the influence of statistical research. It was with the purpose of finding out the results of the present methods of handling glaucoma that we at the Wills Hospital sought to obtain the desired information by a survey, the result of which was published in theArchives.1This study covered a ten year period, from 1926 to 1935, and included the records of 1,876 patients, representing 0.78 per cent of a total of 242,533 patients admitted to the hospital for various reasons during that decade. Statistics from this survey were widely quoted by Duke-Elder in his section on


The duration of the cycle of the seminiferous epithelium was studied in a pest rodent, the bandicoot rat. Fourteen stages of the cycle were identified. The duration of the seminiferous epithelium cycle was determined to be 10.0 days.


A Chinese proverb has it that, "learning colors a man more than the deepest dye," and indeed learning and education is critical. Here, in this paper, the practitioner-academician author examines the various teaching methods and ways of Confucius or Master Kung. Interestingly here, various vital don'ts of teaching, and in fact, several gems of teaching methods, done the Masterly way, are highlighted. The teaching methods, just to mention a few, discussed are to be the role model, to deliver and teach according to the students' needs, learn from others, generate stimulation and exude influence as well as to love all and serve all.


The present work describes the inkjet printing and low temperature sintering of silver nanoparticle inks onto transfer tattoo paper. Our approach results in silver features of excellent resolution and conductivity and, subsequently the first passive UHF RFID transfer tattoo tags functional mounted on human skin of improved performance when compared to screen printed passive UHF RFID transfer tattoo paper tags. Moreover, inkjet printed passive UHF RFID transfer tattoo tags show similar performance to copper etched passive UHF RFID tags on plastic substrates. This study compares the image quality (resolution) and electrical performance of two commercial silver nanoparticle inks inkjet printed on transfer tattoo paper. The optimal printing and sintering parameters to obtain high resolution features of resistivities 20 to 57 times the resistivity of bulk silver (1.59 × 10−6 ohm cm) are described. We demonstrate how, by selectively depositing ink in specific areas of the antenna, read distance of passive UHF RFID tags can be increased from 54 to 68 cm whilst decreasing the amount of ink used by 33%. Furthermore, this approach results in inkjet printed passive UHF RFID tattoo tags with larger read distance than silver screen printed passive UHF RFID tattoo tags, 45 cm, and similar to copper etched passive UHF RFID plastic tags, 75 cm. Moreover, inkjet printed passive UHF RFID tattoo tags in this work are considerably thinner (1–5 μm) than screen and etched passive UHF RFID tags (tens of micrometers) hence, making the former more appealing to the end user. In addition to this, inkjet printing is compatible with large area manufacturing techniques and has the potential to evolve as one of the most promising RFID mass-production techniques. Therefore, this work represents a step towards the commercialization of on-body transfer tattoo paper passive UHF RFID tags.


Introduction: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most common infectious diseases worldwide. Approximately >50% of women at least once in their lifetime have suffered from UTI and received antibiotic treatment. Serious UTIs are difficult to treat as it involves a wide array of Gram-positive as well as Gram-negative bacteria. Escherichia coli (E. coli) is the primary causative agent implicated in >80% of UTI cases. Current approach to treatment: A variety of drugs are indicated for the treatment of various clinical forms of UTI. These include nitrofurantoin, cotrimoxazole,fluoroquinolones, some cephalosporins, piperacillin-tazobactam, meropenem, ertapenem etc. Recently various studies have reported ciprofloxacin resistance among E. coli, the most common uropathogen. Review of literature pertaining to ciprofloxacin resistance: The prevalence, factors contributing to resistance and mechanism thereof have been reviewed.Hence, it is necessary to rationalize the use of ciprofloxacin to control the threat of antibiotic resistance. Conclusion: The incidence of resistance to ciprofloxacin has increased steadily during the past few years. Thus, the empirical use of fluoroquinolones for treatment of UTI should be reconsidered and the drug used only whenthere are clear laboratory tests confirming sensitivity to the drug.


Rough Set is a valid mathematical theory developed in recent years, which has been applied successfully in such fields as machine learning, data mining, intelligent data analyzing and control algorithm acquiring. In this paper, the authors discuss the reduction of knowledge using conditional entropy in rough set theory. First, the changing tendency of the conditional entropy of decision attributes giving condition attributes is studied from the viewpoint of information. Next, a new reduction algorithm based on conditional entropy is developed. Furthermore, our simulation results show that the algorithm can find the minimal reduction in most cases.


High molecular weight tomato nuclear DNA was isolated from uninfected and potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTV)-infected tomato leaves. Restriction digests were fractionated on agarose gels, denatured and transferred to diazobenzyloxymethylpaper, and hybridized to 32P-labeled cloned double-stranded PSTV cDNA. No hybridization to DNA from either uninfected or infected tissue could be detected under conditions that permitted detection of cloned double-stranded PSTV cDNA at a concentration equivalent to one-fifth copy of PSTV-related DNA per haploid tomato genome. Hybridization of tomato DNA to 32P-labeled cloned soybean 18S and 28S ribosomal DNA sequences showed that the restricted nuclear DNA was suitable for hybridization to probes containing homologous sequences. Our results indicate that neither PSTV nor its complementary strand is transcribed from nuclear DNA but do not rule out the possibility of sequence homology between host DNA and a small portion of PSTV or its complement.


In this article, we study the recursive algorithms for a class of separable nonlinear models (SNLMs) in which the parameters can be partitioned into a linear part and a nonlinear part. Such models are very common in machine learning, system identification, and signal processing. Utilizing the special structure of the SNLMs, we propose a recursive variable projection (RVP) algorithm, in which at each recursion, the linear parameters of the model are eliminated, and the nonlinear parameters are updated by the recursive Levenberg–Marquart algorithm. Then, based on the updated nonlinear parameters, the linear parameters are updated by the recursive least-squares algorithm. According to a convergence analysis of the RVP algorithm, the parameter estimation error is mean-square bounded. Numerical examples confirm the satisfactory performance of the proposed algorithm.


The nuclear surface cannot be sharply defined since the nuclear density is a continuous function of radius. By convention, one defines a surface thickness parameter as the width of the region in which the nuclear density falls from 90% to 10% of the central density. This parameter is known to be approximately 2·5 fm for the whole range of spherical nuclei, at least for those nuclei for which a central region of roughly constant density has meaning, that is above, say, A = 40. Experimentally it is an ill-defined parameter and appears to be independent of mass number - again this statement applies only to spherical nuclei. It is a matter of some speculation whether or not the constitution of this surface region is the same as that of the interior. Theoretically a preponderance of neutrons (i.e. a neutron/proton ratio greater than N/Z) is desirable in the surface and the experimental measurements are consistent with a `neutron skin' of perhaps 0·2 to 0·3 fm. Though the size of the nuclear charge distribution has been determined with great precision, the nuclear matter distribution is known with much less certainty and one still cannot rule out the possibility that protons and neutrons have a common distribution. One must also consider the possibility that nucleons in the nucleus are clustered into sub-units such as α-particles. Experiments designed to test this by knocking out these clusters look specifically at the nuclear surface since the mean free path of these sub-units in the central region must be too small to allow them to escape even if struck by a deeply penetrating probe. The results of such experiments seem to indicate that the nuclear matter in the surface region is largely condensed into α-particles. Another class of experiments involving meson-probes indicates a degree of spatial correlation of nucleons in the nuclear surface which is consistent with α-particle clustering. Recently doubt has been thrown on the interpretation of these experiments, so clustering into α-particles cannot be considered to be established.


The study concludes that the HDTV case ironically confirms the misgivings of skeptics and demonstrates the flaws in industrial policy.


We recently developed a deep learning method that can determine the critical peak stress of a material by looking at scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of the material's crystals. However, it has been somewhat unclear what kind of image features the network is keying off of when it makes its prediction. It is common in computer vision to employ an explainable AI saliency map to tell one what parts of an image are important to the network's decision. One can usually deduce the important features by looking at these salient locations. However, SEM images of crystals are more abstract to the human observer than natural image photographs. As a result, it is not easy to tell what features are important at the locations which are most salient. To solve this, we developed a method that helps us map features from important locations in SEM images to non-abstract textures that are easier to interpret.


Poly(N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) (PDMAEMA) can be crosslinked by interfacial polymerization to develop a positively charged dense network structure. According to this mechanism, a positively charged hollow-fiber composite nanofiltration (NF) membrane was prepared by quaternization to achieve a crosslinked PDMAEMA gel layer on the outer surface of polysulfone hollow-fiber ultrafiltration (UF) membranes with a PDMAEMA aqueous solution as a coating solution and p-xylylene dichloride as an agent. The preparation conditions, including the PDMAEMA concentration, content of additive in the coating solution, catalyzer, alkali, crosslinking temperature, and hollow-fiber substrate membrane, were studied. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used to characterize the structure of the membranes. This membrane had a rejection to inorganic salts in aqueous solution. The rejection of MgSO4 (2 g/L aqueous solution at 0.7 MPa and 25°C) was above 98%, and the flux was about 19.5 L m−2 h−1. Moreover, the composite NF membranes showed good stability in the water-phase filtration process. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013


The growing necessity of organizations in using technologies to support to their operations implies that managing IT resources became a mission-critical issue for the health of the primary companies' businesses. Thus, in order to minimize problems in the IT infrastructure, possibly affecting the daily business operations, risks intrinsic to the change process have to be analyzed and assessed. Risk Management is a widely discussed subject in several areas, although for IT Change Management it is quite a new discipline. The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) introduces a set of best practices to conduct the management of IT infrastructures. According to ITIL, risks should be investigated, measured, and mitigated before any change is approved. Even with these guidelines, there is no default automatic method for risk assessment in IT Change Management. In this paper we introduce a risk analysis method based on the execution history of past changes. In addition, we propose a failure representation model to capture the feedback of the execution of changes over IT infrastructures.


A pharmacokinetic model of ocular drug delivery has been developed for describing the elimination and distribution of ocular drugs in the eye. The model, based on Fick's second law of diffusion, assumes a modified cylindrical eye with three pathways for drug transport across the surface of the eye: the anterior aqueous chamber, the posterior aqueous chamber and the retina/choroids/scleral membrane covering the vitreous body. The model parameters such as the diffusion coefficient and the partition coefficient in various eye tissues can be evaluated from the in vitro membrane penetration experiments using a side-by-side diffusion cell system. The diffusion coefficient for a drug is also predicted by taking account of the effect of the molecular weight of model compounds. The present ocular pharmacokinetic model, which can predict the local concentration distribution in the eye, has well described the in vivo concentration profile in the various eye tissues, the lens, the aqueous humor and the vitreous body, following not only topical eye drop instillation but systemic administration as well. The present model also simulates the effects of binding and metabolism in the eye as well as the individual difference in ocular functions and structure such as cataract surgery and vitreous fluidity on the distribution and elimination of drug molecules in the eye.


First carpometacarpal (CMC1) osteoarthritis can be accompanied by the collapse of the first ray, with hyperextension of the first metacarpophalangeal (MCP1) joint. It is suggested that failure to address substantial MCP1 hyperextension during CMC1 arthroplasty may diminish post-operative capability and increase collapse reoccurrence. An arthrodesis is recommended in case of severe MCP1 joint hyperextension (>400). We describe a novel combination of a volar plate advancement and abductor pollicis brevis tenodesis to address MCP1 hyperextension at the time of CMC1 arthroplasty as an alternative to joint fusion. In 6 women, mean MCP1 hyperextension with pinch before surgery was 450 (range 300-850) and improved to 210 (range 150-300) of flexion with pinch six months after surgery. No revision surgery has been necessary to date, and there were no adverse events. Long-term outcome data is needed to establish the longevity of this procedure as an alternative to joint fusion, but early results are promising.


The murine vaginal epithelium was investigated as a site for the presence of leukocytes, using monoclonal antibodies to various cell surface antigens in conjunction with multiparameter flow cytometry. Two types of CD45+ leukocytes were found with distinct expression of Mac-1 and CD3. The Mac-1+ cells are neutrophils, as evidenced by their multilobed nuclei. Previously, we have shown that alpha beta T cells, gamma delta T cells, and a novel population of Thy-1+CD3- cells are associated with the vaginal epithelium. In addition, a small number of MHC class II+ cells were detected. B cells, macrophages, and natural killer cells were not detected and do not contribute to the cellular immunity of the vagina. It is known that the lumen of the murine vagina is lined with stratified squamous epithelium, which undergoes marked changes during the estrous cycle. The cellular number and composition of dissociated epithelial associated Mac-1+ cells, alpha beta T cells, gamma delta T cells, and Thy-1+CD3- cells did not change significantly during the estrous cycle or under the influence of the ovarian hormones 17 beta-estradiol and progesterone. In summary, this study characterizes the leukocytes involved in mucosal immunity of the murine vagina.


Many studies have reported lower breast cancer risk in women who develop hypertension in pregnancy with a meta-analysis reporting hazard ratios of 0.86 for preeclampsia and 0.83 for gestational hypertension. Our prior work in the Marin Women9s Study (MWS) demonstrated both a lower breast density and a lower risk of breast cancer in women with pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) if they possess the TT genotype of IGF1R SNP rs2016347. The current study was designed to validate and expand upon these findings in the larger California Teachers Study (CTS) which consists of >130,000 female educators. From original participants a case-control study was established in 2012 consisting of all non-Hispanic white women with DNA samples that became cases since entry into the study (N = 2030) and controls without invasive or in situ breast cancer (N = 1552). The current study nests within this case control study. All participants with a self-reported history of preeclampsia were selected (81 cases/56 controls). IGF1R SNP rs2016347 was assessed by Taqman assay. Results: Women with the TT genotype had an odds ratio (OR) of 0.38 when compared to the GG genotype after adjusting for potential confounders. Stratification by HR+/HR- cases and by age of first birth (AFB) resulted in statistically significant adjusted OR9s of 0.26 for HR+ positive cases and 0.15 for women with AFB Overall in the CTS, the adjusted hazard ratio for women with vs without preeclampsia was 0.94 (0.81, 1.08). Conclusions: These results suggest significant breast cancer protection in women with preeclampsia that possess the TT genotype, specifically in those women with AFB Recent studies have associated the rs2016347 T allele with lower normal tissue expression of IGF1R mRNA, better survival in HR+ breast cancer, and improved pathological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The protective T allele creates a new microRNA (miR-432) binding site within the IGF1R 39UTR, offering a potential functional explanation for reduced mammary gland expression of this cancer-associated growth factor. This may interact with alterations of growth and metabolic factors characteristic of preeclampsia to imprint the immature gland with a lasting protective effect from later life breast tumorigenesis. If mechanistically substantiated, these findings could lead to a novel breast cancer prevention strategy. Citation Format: Powell M, Von Behren J, Neuhausen S, Reynolds P, Benz C. Functional IGF1R variant predicts preeclampsia protection from invasive breast cancer: Novel California teachers study findings [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2016 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-09-09.


Problem statement: Traditional image retrieval systems are content based image retrieval systems which rely on low-level features for indexing and retrieval of images. CBIR systems fail to meet user expectations because of the gap between the low level features used by such systems and the high level perception of images by humans. To meet the requirement as a preprocessing step Graph based segmentation is used in Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR). Approach: Graph based segmentation is has the ability to preserve detail in low-variability image regions while ignoring detail in high-variability regions. After segmentation the features are extracted for the segmented images, texture features using wavelet transform and color features using histogram model and the segmented query image features are compared with the features of segmented data base images. The similarity measure used for texture features is Euclidean distance measure and for color features Quadratic distance approach. Results: The experimental results demonstrate about 12% improvement in the performance for color feature with segmentation. Conclusions/Recommendations: Along with this improvement Neural network learning can be embedded in this system to reduce the semantic gap.


ESIM is a simulation tool that integrates logic fault and design error simulation for logic circuits. It targets several design error and fault models, and uses a novel mix of simulation algorithms based on parallel-pattern evaluation, multiple error activation, single fault propagation, and critical path tracing. Several experiments are discussed to demonstrate the power of ESIM.


In virtually all societies, crime is an ever-present problem. Although families are often envisioned as a 'safe haven,' criminologists and family researchers have found the familial context to be at the core of many forms of crime and violence. Family members often find themselves as victims of crime and violence, often perpetrated by yet another family member. The unique nature of family relationships, such as those between children and parents, sometimes lead to intergenerational patterns of violence within families. Understandably, societies often struggle to address crime and violence within families; as such behaviors are often unreported and even concealed. Even beyond the family, crime and criminal behavior can often directly impact familial relationships, such as with the incarceration of a spouse or parent. This multidisciplinary volume of CPFR will address topics such as: child abuse and neglect, spousal violence, incarceration and parenting, community crime and family well-being, family life and delinquency, intrafamily violence, and policy-related issues pertaining to family violence.


Large-scale volcanic eruptions are inherently hazardous events, hence cannot be described by detailed and accurate in situ measurements. As a result, volcanic explosive phenomenology is poorly understood in terms of its physics and inadequately constrained in terms of initial, boundary, and inflow conditions. Consequently, little to no real-time data exist to validate computer codes developed to model these geophysical events as a whole. However, code validation remains a necessary step, particularly when volcanologists use numerical data for assessment and mitigation of volcanic hazards as more often performed nowadays. We suggest performing the validation task in volcanology in two steps as followed. First, numerical geo-modelers should perform the validation task against simple and well-constrained analog (small-scale) experiments targeting the key physics controlling volcanic cloud phenomenology. This first step would be a validation analysis as classically performed in engineering and in CFD sciences. In this case, geo-modelers emphasize on validating against analog experiments that unambiguously represent the key-driving physics. The second "geo-validation" step is to compare numerical results against geophysical-geological (large-scale) events which are described ―as thoroughly as possible― in terms of boundary, initial, or flow conditions. Although this last step can only be a qualitative comparison against a non-fully closed system event —hence it is not per se a validation analysis—, it nevertheless attempts to rationally use numerical geo-models for large-scale volcanic phenomenology. This last step, named "field validation or geo-validation", is as important in order to convince policy maker of the adequacy of numerical tools for modeling large-scale explosive volcanism phenomenology. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61520-651-3.ch013


The East and Horn of Africa is one of the hottest conflict zones in the world. Measured over time, the extent of violent conflict in the Horn of Africa is greater than in any other African region and has occurred at every level within and between states, at the center and in the periphery with disproportionate effects on the lives of women.Often as targets of extreme forms of violence, women in this region experience the full impact of armed conflict as civilians and combatants, as well as the additional gender-based crimes of sexual abuse and being used as war weapons, but they still remain on the margins of conflict and post conflict decision-making processes that have fundamental gender dimensions and implications.In addition, priority is rarely given to developing women's individual and collective capacity to address these conflicts and to build stable, peaceful, and democratic institutions even though they continue to demonstrate their ability, both individually and collectively, to resolve conflicts on a local level as mediators. Women represent a crucial resource for peace and stability, therefore issues of peace building cannot be separated from those of women's political and economic empowerment and sustainable development.Much as many international and regional instruments have been ratified in this region including the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, for the empowerment of women as peace builders in conflict and post conflict settings, most of their commitments have not been implemented.The East and Horn of Africa is a region that has provided a platform for women to incorporate as leaders amid conflict. Women have risen as true beacons of peace, whose personal talent, striving and unique sense of vision have earned them a place in the annals of the history of East and Horn of Africa. The article below provides profiles of such women whose indomitable spirit and desire to excel changed the course of nature in regard to peace and security in the region.


Animals often exhibit conspicuous, and sometimes curious, courtship traits, such as nestling-like courtship display in birds, though modern studies of nestling-like courtship display (and calls) are virtually lacking. An exception is previous experiments on the barn swallow Hirundo rustica, demonstrating that females are equally attracted to playback of two structurally similar calls, nestling-like male courtship calls and nestling food-begging calls. The experiments support the sensory trap hypothesis, i.e., that male signals mimic nestling stimuli to exploit female parental care for nestlings. However, female attraction might not be the sole function of nestling-like traits, and males might also have a sensory bias toward nestling-like traits, in which males would be less aggressive toward characteristics typical of immature individuals. Here, I conducted playback experiments to study the function of nestling-like male courtship calls in the context of male–male interactions. Playback of male courtship songs induced frequent approaches by neighbouring males, while nestling-like male courtship calls or nestling food-begging calls induced fewer approaches, though male responses to the latter two vocalisations increased when approaching the nestling period. The observed pattern indicates that, by mimicking immature individuals, males attract intended signal receivers (i.e., females) while avoiding interference from eavesdroppers (i.e., neighbouring males). This unique function can explain why species with parental care exhibit immature-like behaviour.


Information on the products of ozonolysis of labdane and ent-labdane diterpenoids is correlated. The effects of the ozonolysis conditions, the procedure for treating the products and the location of double bonds and other functional groups on the character of the resulting ozonolysis products are considered. The bibliography includes 91 references.


This paper presents an analytical approach to study sustained inter-area power system oscillations as a nonlinear phenomenon. It is based on the spectral Galerkin method coupled with conditions that consider the nature of these oscillations. The approach enables the online computation of the amplitude and frequency of oscillations, and the determination of conditions for out-of-step operation.


Biochar has recently been explored as an alternate construction material. While it has been deployed as road construction, there is an emerging trend of using biochar as concrete admixture and other non-structural building elements. This study explores the use of biochar as a component in wall plaster and pellets that are used to fill cavities for interior non-structural wall panels. Biochar was incorporated in plastering material and the carbon dioxide adsorption capability of this material mix was compared to that of control samples (made up of pure plaster). It was found that biochar increased the net carbon dioxide adsorption capability by more than four times. However, contrary to claims in the literature, we found no evidence that the biochar in this mixture can significantly remove total volatile organic compounds from the indoor air. In a separate study, biochar was used to coat pellets that were used to fill cavities in cavity wall. The biochar was found to increase the net carbon dioxide adsorption capability by about six times (compared to control samples, which were plaster pellets without biochar coating). There was also no significant adsorption of total volatile organic compounds. These results indicated clearly that biochar can be effective as a regulating agent for indoor carbon dioxide level, which is one of the main determinant factors for the infamous Sick Building Syndrome.


Program heads are key players in governmental budgeting because they are involved both in formulating their program's budget and ensuring the program's activities comply with the budget. This paper synthesizes past research pertaining to two aspects of a government's budgeting system-formal budgetary procedures fairness and budgetary procedures implementation fairness-that influence program heads' attitudes and behaviors. Criteria are identified for each of the two forms of budgetary procedures fairness, as are specific types of attitudinal and behavioral reactions on the part of program heads. Reasons that program heads value fair budgetary procedures are also discussed. The paper concludes by presenting implications the research has for people involved in designing and implementing governmental budgeting systems and for governmental budgeting researchers.


The airway smooth muscle (ASM) layer within the airway wall modulates airway diameter and distensibility. Even in the relaxed state, the ASM layer possesses finite stiffness and limits the extent of airway distension by the radial force generated by parenchymal tethers and transmural pressure. Airway stiffness has often been attributed to passive elements, such as the extracellular matrix in the lamina reticularis, adventitia, and the smooth muscle layer that cannot be rapidly modulated by drug intervention such as ASM relaxation by β-agonists. In this study, we describe a calcium-sensitive component of ASM stiffness mediated through the Rho-kinase signaling pathway. The stiffness of ovine tracheal smooth muscle was assessed in the relaxed state under the following conditions: 1) in physiological saline solution (Krebs solution) with normal calcium concentration; 2) in calcium-free Krebs with 2 mM EGTA; 3) in Krebs with calcium entry blocker (SKF-96365); 4) in Krebs with myosin light chain kinase inhibitor (ML-7); and 5) in Krebs with Rho-kinase inhibitor (Y-27632). It was found that a substantial portion of the passive stiffness could be abolished when intracellular calcium was removed; this calcium-sensitive stiffness appeared to stem from intracellular source and was not sensitive to ML-7 inhibition of myosin light chain phosphorylation, but was sensitive to Y-27632 inhibition of Rho kinase. The results suggest that airway stiffness can be readily modulated by targeting the calcium-sensitive component of the passive stiffness within the muscle layer.


PurposeWhile the COVID-19 outbreak affects all aspects of life in the world, there is also a global impact in the field of education. Within the scope of the measures to control the epidemic, distance education was started shortly after the starting of the spring semester in all primary and secondary schools and universities. In this process, architectural design courses, which are one of the most fundamental courses of architectural education, started to be held in online studios. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the evaluations of architecture students about the online design studio courses carried out during the COVID-19 outbreak.Design/methodology/approachThis research used a qualitative approach to evaluate the ideas of first, second, third and fourth grade students of architectural design studios in the host university. A questionnaire was directed to students in order to see their opinions about the online design studio education.FindingsResults shows that students think the most prominent benefit of online studios appears in the use of digital tools. Another important result is that if they are equipped with the necessary tools and given the chance to realize themselves, students can work efficiently even in the distance education process.Originality/valueThis study is important in terms of learning the expectations of students from the online process and to identify important issues that should be considered for the next semesters. In addition, this study will serve as a basis for comparative evaluation of architectural education during and after the epidemic. In this context, the study will shed light on future academic research.


Worldwide, anaphylaxis remains an important cause of sudden death. The crux of the management is immediate administration of adrenaline as part of competently administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The many pitfalls in identifying and avoiding the triggers and in managing the anaphylactic reactions increase the likelihood of mistakes, which place the patients' lives in danger and at the same time expose medical practitioners to the risk of malpractice litigation and even to criminal investigations in certain circumstances.
There are reports that indicate and predict a steep increase in the number of professional insurance claims in South Africa. Therefore, knowledge of the most important legal principles applicable in medical negligence cases empowers practitioners and allows them to formulate, predict and prevent the risks of a certain conduct.
It is important to be aware that civil liability may be incurred when practitioners fail to perform their duties at a reasonable standard of care in the given circumstances. The reasonableness of the standard of care when managing anaphylaxis is established through objective criteria provided by evidence-based research.
Anaphylaxis-related deaths following diagnostic or therapeutic procedures are deemed unnatural and will be investigated by a magistrate in inquest proceedings. If the inquest findings point to the practitioner's negligence, charges of culpable homicide may be brought against him or her. When things go wrong, it is important to express regrets for the suffering and loss, but apologies must be submitted only after seeking advice from the risk managers, insurers or legal representatives.


In this paper, we are interested in pricing options (European and Quanto) by a model in which the asset prices follow a jump-diffusion model with a stochastic volatility in n dimensions. The stochastic volatility also follows the jump-diffusion in d dimensions. We've already stated the existence and uniqueness of the solution of the partial integro-differential equation in the multidimensional case, in a previous study (Aboulaich, Baghery and Jraifi, 2013). The infinitesimal operator associated with the stochastic volatility didn't contain the jumps term. And the numerical approximation was made for the bidimensional case only. The present paper aims to numerically simulate the model when the dimension is greater or equal to 2. At first, we use the Monte Carlo method to compare the numerical results with those of (Xu, Wu and Li, 2011) for four dimensions. Then, we show how the convergence speed of the Monte Carlo method can be improved using a Quasi Monte Carlo Method based on the Halton sequences. For a small dimension (two-dimensional) we use the finite element method. In order to compare the numerical results, we consider the data and parameters used by (Broadie and Kaya, 2006).


Introduction A near-infrared spectrum (12000 – 4000 cm-1) is composed of combination and overtone bands that are related to absorption frequencies in the mid-infrared region. These combination and overtone bands correspond to the frequencies of vibrations between the bonds of the atoms making up the material. Because each different material is a unique combination of atoms, no two compounds produce the exact same near-infrared spectrum. Therefore, near-infrared spectroscopy can result in a positive identification (qualitative analysis) of each different material. In addition, the size of the peaks in the spectrum is a direct indication of the amount of material present. With modern software algorithms and statistical treatments, NIR spectroscopy is an excellent tool for quantitative analysis, offering a practical alternative to time-consuming wetchemical methods and liquid chromatographic techniques. NIR has become a versatile technique with no sample preparation, decreased costs and analysis time, and the ability to sample through glass and packaging materials. Fourier transform near-infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy was developed in order to overcome the limitations encountered with dispersive NIR instrumentation. Using a prism or moving grating, the dispersive instrument separates the individual frequencies emitted from the nearinfrared source. A detector then measures the amount of energy at each frequency that has passed through the sample. To reduce the analysis time per sample, a method was needed to measure all of the infrared frequencies simultaneously, rather than individually. The FT-NIR spectrometer produces a unique type of signal called an interferogram that has all of the infrared frequencies "encoded" into it. The signal can be measured very quickly, with the collection of multiple scans per second. This increased speed of measurement is known as the Felgett Advantage. Via a well-known mathematical technique called Fourier transformation, the interferogram is transformed or "decoded" into a spectrum of frequency verses intensity. Analysis Process


Abstract—Skin detection is an important task for computer vision systems. A good method of skin detection means a good and successful result of the system. The colour is a good descriptor for image segmentation and classification; it allows detecting skin colour in the images. The lighting changes and the objects that have a colour similar than skin colour make the operation of skin detection difficult. In this paper, we proposed a method using the YCbCr colour space for skin detection and lighting effects elimination, then we use the information of texture to eliminate the false regions detected by the YCbCr skin model.


Abstract Purpose: Currently, little is known regarding use of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) in health education applications. Therefore, this review sought to examine the scope of work that has been conducted regarding the application of the ICF in health education. Methods: A review of the current literature related to use of the ICF in health education programs was conducted. Twelve electronic databases were searched in accordance with a search protocol developed by a health sciences librarian. In total, 17 878 records were reviewed, and 18 articles met the criteria for inclusion in this review. Results: Current evidence regarding use of the ICF in healthcare education revealed that program and participant properties can be essential facilitators or barriers to successful education programs. In addition, gaps in comprehensive outcome measurement were revealed as areas for future attention. Educational applications of the ICF are very much a work in progress as might be expected given the ICF's existence for only a little over a decade. Conclusions: To advance use of the ICF in education, it is important to incorporate the measurement of both knowledge acquisition and behavior change related to ICF-based programs. Ultimately, widespread implementation of the ICF represents not only a substantial opportunity but also poses a significant challenge. Implications for Rehabilitation ICF integration in health education is a relatively new, but growing phenomenon that is primarily limited to developed educational and healthcare systems. When incorporating the ICF into health education initiatives, special consideration should be paid to both the intended audience and the method of delivery.