Introduction We evaluated the relationship between adipokine plasma concentrations and body fat distribution and the metabolic syndrome. Methods In a cohort of 1215 patients with clinically manifest vascular disease the relation between subcutaneous adipose tissue, visceral adipose tissue, waist circumference, body mass index and plasma concentrations of adipsin, chemerin, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, migration inhibitory factor, nerve growth factor, resistin, plasma amyloid A1, adiponectin, leptin, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 and hepatic growth factor were cross-sectionally assessed with linear regression and adjusted for age and gender. The relation between adipokines and the metabolic syndrome was cross-sectionally evaluated using logistic regression. An adipokine profile was developed to measure the effect of combined rather than single adipokines. Results Adiposity was related to higher nerve growth factor, hepatic growth factor, migration inhibitory factor, leptin and adipsin and with lower chemerin, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, resistin, plasma amyloid A1 and adiponectin. The strongest positive relations were between body mass index and adipsin (β 0.247; 95% CI 0.137–0.356) and leptin (β 0.266; 95% CI 0.207–0.324); the strongest negative relations were between body mass index and plasma amyloid A1 (β –0.266; 95% CI –0.386 to –0.146) and visceral adipose tissue and adiponectin (β –0.168; 95% CI –0.226 to –0.111). There was no relation between subcutaneous adipose tissue and adipokines. Odds for the metabolic syndrome were higher with each 1 SD higher hepatic growth factor (OR 1.21; 95% CI 1.06–1.38) and leptin (OR 1.26; 95% CI 1.10–1.45) and lower with each 1 SD higher adiponectin (OR 0.73; 95% CI 0.64–0.83) and resistin (OR 0.85; 95% CI 0.74–0.97). The adipokine profile was related to the metabolic syndrome (OR 1.03; 95% CI 1.00–1.06). Conclusion Plasma concentrations of adipokines are related to obesity and body fat distribution. The relation between adipokine concentrations and the metabolic syndrome is independent of visceral adipose tissue.


T H E LEGAL STIPULATIONS in Leviticus 18-20 have historically presented a conundrum to interpreters The particular combina tion of statutes in these chapters has eluded a holistic explanation Carmi chael takes a fresh approach to the problem He does not try to discern a generating principle that can provide a unifying interpretive framework for the mixture of rules in the individual chap ter or for chapters 18-20 Instead, he develops an intriguing theory for this en tire sequence of laws that explains their apparent heterogeneity He suggests that this arrangement was inspired by earlier narratives in Genesis, Exodus, and even Kings The priestly lawgiver would let his imagination range freely through the narratives about Israel's ancestors, then he would compose laws as corrective commentary on the ancestors' actions For instance, the prohibition against in tercourse with a half-sister m Lev 18 9 was motivated by the revelation of Abram's and Sarai's marriage in Gen 12 10-20 The lawgiver followed the gen eral sequence of the narratives, except when he was reminded of a similar of fense in a later generation


This study aims to document first-year undergraduate students' information literacy (IL) skills at a typical university college in Norway. This research is the first of its kind in Norway as previous studies on new students have focused mainly on the literature search. Prior to library instruction a selection of these students completed a survey with questions on the critical evaluation of sources, on plagiarism and on citing sources. Survey questions were designed to reflect the content of the library course in IL. Although most students were confident that they could avoid plagiarism when writing, many had large gaps in their knowledge, and lacked essential skills. Results also show that new students are better at evaluating sources than they are at citing them. Ethical aspects of plagiarism are discussed and comparisons drawn between students coming directly from upper secondary school and those who have some previous higher education.


The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced all dimensions of human living, including, exponentially, the road transport situation in large cities. The factors of influence are subjective or objective, and have an multidirectional impact on the degree of traffic congestion, travel time to the destination and the situation of the environment. The characterization of the cumulative influence of these factors involves the use of statistical, analytical methods and models to parallel the situation "before" and "after," as well as predict its development in the future.
Predicated on the information of traffic congestion, it was exposed how the quarantine severity influenced the traffic intensity, particularly the largest cities in Ukraine: Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipro. The influence of the time factor on the road situation is analyzed, and an assessment is made of how traffic flows are redistributed in accordance with the new conditions.
The directions for improving transport accessibility and urban mobility in the context of the epidemic are proven: digital transformation, spreading the network of bike paths, organization of convenient pedestrian paths, nano-districts and micro-districts where everything needed is nearby.


Cluster computing has become a widely employed parallel computing paradigm. It is cost effective and scalable; however, high performance cluster computing is often difficult to achieve. This paper presents a cluster computing performance model which gives the major performance factors and indicates that the performance improvement is a multiple parameter optimization problem. The performance sensitive factors and the key methods on how to improve the performance of cluster computing are discussed in detail. Finally, a high performance cluster system THNPSC-1, which integrates a self-developed Gigabit-per-second high speed system area network, SMP computing nodes, HPF compiler, performance tool and MPI/PVM parallel systems into a high performance computing application platform, is introduced and most of the techniques discussed in this paper are implemented in the system.


Blood concentrations of glycerol and free fatty acids were measured in healthy and sick 5-day-old infants during and after cold exposure. In apparently similar infants in similar circumstances, the blood concentrations varied widely. Although the concentrations of both glycerol and free fatty acids tended to be higher during cold exposure, it is not possible to use either as an index of cold exposure in individual infants.


Propagating flames in vortex rings of hydrogen/air mixtures have been experimentally investigated. The flame speed has been measured by a high speed video camera, and the maximum tangential velocity in the vortex ring has been estimated from the hot-wire measurements on the cold-air vortex rings. Observations show very complex ignition processes, and the obtained relations between the flame speed and the maximum tangential velocity elucidate the validity of the recently developed theory, though only for very lean mixtures. With an increase in equivalence ratio, their relation approaches the one predicted by the classical vortex bursting theory. A requirement for precise measurement on the maximum tangential velocity is especially noted for further specifying the mechanism (s) of the flame propagation.


Purpose of review The association between endocrine and neuropsychiatric disorders was established long ago, with solid evidence. According to a multidimensional model of mental disorders, one can conceptualize sex and gender-related endocrinological dysfunctions as a cluster of risk factors included in the biological determinants of those disorders. Recent findings Gender and sexual dimorphism in brain functions and pathways may have a main impact and synergistic effects on health differences in both men and women. To explain these differences, hormonal reactivity to stress, sex hormones and gene–environment interactions are among the most researched mechanisms. Summary In this paper, we review updated data on sex and gender differences in stress reactivity, concerning the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, endocrinological dysfunction and vulnerability to major psychiatric disorders, in a stress-diathesis approach. Mainly schizophrenia and affective disorders are discussed, according to recent investigation, in terms of early determinants of stress reactivity, the interplay of genetic expression and gender role, their responsibility in biological modulation and their hypothetical contribution to explain gender differences in prevalence and clinical aspects of mental disorders.


The application of electron-spin resonance to the study of haemoglobin derivatives is outlined in this paper and the particular advantages of this method are considered. It is shown that detailed information can be obtained concerning the central iron atom and its immediate surroundings. This information can be divided into two kinds, first that concerned with the electronic state of the iron atom and the type of chemical binding to its nearest neighbours, and, secondly, that concerned with the symmetry of the iron atom's surroundings and thus the orientation of the haem planes. It is therefore possible, by studying the angular variation of the spectra in detail, to determine the orientation of the haem planes with respect to each other and the crystal axes. Such measurements for myoglobin and haemoglobin crystals are then summarized, the latter being of particular interest as they show that the four haem groups per molecule are not parallel but that some have their normals along the direction of nearest approach to the neighbouring molecules.


The ovary of the salp Pegea socia (Bosc, 1802) is located at the end of an atrial diverticulum. The ovary consists of a single oocyte encased in a layer of follicle cells and is connected to the atrial epithelium by an oviduct. Transmission electron microscopy shows that the oocyte lacks a vitelline layer, cortical granules, and yolk granules and that the oviduct lacks a continuous lumen. What previous authors thought was a lumen is a line of dense intercellular junctions running down the center of the oviduct. The sperm nucleus in this species, as in other salps, is elongate. The tubular mitochondrion spirals about the sperm nucleus giving it a corkscrew‐shape appearance. Sperm reach the ovary when the oocyte is still at the germinal vesicle stage. Many sperm swim up the atrial diverticulum and burrow through the cells of the atrial epithelium, oviduct, and follicular epithelium. Thus oviduct shortening, which occurs when the oocyte is in the meiotic divisions, is evidently unrelated to sperm moving up the oviduct. All previous authors, who argued either that a continuous lumen is necessary for sperm to move up the oviduct or that sperm bypass the oviduct, were incorrect. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Enhanced interactions of light with graphene on the surface of a lossless dielectric magnetic mirror (DMM) are studied theoretically and experimentally in the visible range, where the DMM is composed of truncated dielectric photonic crystals (PCs). The absorption of graphene on the DMM was enhanced by about 4-fold for the spectral range within the forbidden gap of PCs over a wide range of incidence angles for both transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarizations compared with that of free-standing graphene. Moreover, the enhanced local electric field on the DMM surface led to much better detection efficiencies of the photocurrent, Raman spectroscopy and enhanced third-harmonic generation of graphene. These results offer a new way to achieve an enhanced interaction of light with graphene and develop new compact graphene-based devices.


Eutrophication and climate change will affect habitats of species and more generally, the structure and functioning of ecosystems. We used a three‐dimensional, coupled hydrodynamic‐biogeochemical model to investigate potential future changes in size and location of potential habitats of marine species during the 21st century in a large, eutrophicated brackish sea (the Baltic Sea, northern Europe). We conducted scenario projections under the combined impact of nutrient load and climate change. Possible future changes of the eutrophication state of this sea were also assessed through two policy‐relevant indicators. The results imply a physiologically more stressful environment for marine species by the end of the 21st century: volumes of higher salinity water become more hypoxic/anoxic and the volumes of low salinity, oxic water increase. For example, these results impact and reduce cod reproductive habitats. The decrease is mainly climate change induced in the Baltic basins less directly influenced by inflows of saline, oxic water to the Baltic Sea (E Gotland and Gdansk Basins). In basins more directly influenced by such inflows (Arkona and Bornholm Basins), the combined effect from climate change and nutrient loads is of importance. The results for the eutrophication state indicators clearly indicate a more eutrophic sea than at present without a rigorous nutrient reduction policy, that is, the necessity to implement the Baltic Sea Action Plan. The multidisciplinary, multiscenario assessment strategy presented here provides a useful concept for the evaluation of impacts from cumulative stresses of changing climate and socioeconomic pressures on future eutrophication indicators and habitats of marine species.


Focusing on fails to track with standard particle filters when object and background have similar color and object is occluded, a new algorithm of immune particle filter object tracking based on histograms of color and oriented gradient is proposed. Color histogram is the global description of targets in color image, histogram of oriented gradient contains some construction information. The gradient feature is added, the poor performance of only one feature is improved when the environment changes. In addition, the proposed immune optimization algorithm improved the diversity of particles, especially the decline of the impact of sample impoverishment when occlusion occurs. Experimental results show that the proposed method is able to track the object stably, when one of the features loses discrimination ability for tracking. It is simple and suitable to be applied to deal with tracking problems in complex scene.


Magnetization reversal in two-dimensional hexagonal arrays of cobalt hollow spheres occurs by mixed coherent and curling-vortex modes. Micromagnetic analysis was based on values of exchange, demagnetizing, and anisotropy energy. Arrays of 20 nm and 30 nm radius spheres were modeled, with sphere separations of 0, 2, and 4 nm, which controlled the dipolar interactions. The results demonstrate that solutions for magnetization reversal of single hollow spheres cannot be applied to arrays of hollow spheres.


Cooperation, participation, trust: Restorative Circles in governing common goods. In order to avoid the so-called tragedy of commons, Ostrom proposed an alternative approach to the classical state control vs. privatization dichotomy in governing common goods; it is based on the idea that appropriators can co-operate and safeguard common goods without the control of an external institution. In this perspective, understanding which are the conditions that promote cooperation instead of individualistic behaviors is necessary. Among other variables, trust in other group members is very important in cooperative strategies; when referring to groups involved in decision-making processes, the swift trust is often mentioned: it is a form of trust occurring in temporary structures, which is mostly based on cognitive components and stereotypical expectations, it is very quick but also very fragile. In this paper, the method of Restorative Circles is presented; it is a method of group facilitating, used in USA restorative justice and in neighborhood decision-making groups. It is proposed to use Restorative Circles in the governance of common goods, in order to promote a form of trust quicker than ordinary trust, but stronger than swift trust, because it is based on a deeper knowing of other group members. Restorative Circles could be effective in promoting participation, trust among participants and between participants and local institutions, rendering commons' governance easier and more efficient


We show that the dynamics for a particle confined in a one-dimensional potential well with two mobile boundaries where wavefunctions vanish can be converted to the case as if the boundary was time-independent at the expense of an appropriate time-dependent Hamiltonian. The squeezing-displacement operator can be derived, and the corresponding Hamiltonian is determined by the situation of mobile boundaries.


We study the starting resources of start-ups, which develop and market new products or services based upon a proprietary technology or skill. We define these companies as research-based start-ups (RBSUs). We look at how technological, financial and human resources at founding cluster together to form different starting resource configurations. Using a unique hand-collected dataset of RBSUs in Belgium, we find four different types of starting configurations: "Venture Capital-backed start-ups," "Prospectors," "Product start-ups" and "Transitional start-ups". This study shows that these different types of starting resource configurations are not only empirically distinct but can also be conceptually explained by internal factors such as the entrepreneurial orientation at start-up and external factors such as the origin of the firm and the characteristics of the industry in which the firm competes.


A B S T R A C TLinear Programming as a practical technique for solving optimization problems with linear objective functions and linear constraint plays an essential role in mathematical programming. Most of the real-world problems are included in inconsistent and astute uncertainty. That's why the optimal solution can't be found easily. The Neutrosophic theory, as an extension of fuzzy set theory, is a powerful instrument to handle inconsistent, indeterminate, and incomplete information. This paper presents an applied approach for solving Interval Neutrosophic Integer Programming problems. By using the proposed approach, we can handle both incomplete and indeterminate data. In this respect, using a ranking function, we present a technique to convert the Interval Neutrosophic Integer Programming problem into a crisp model and then solve it by standard methods.


High speed satellite communication networks are emerging as part of the future global wireless communication systems. However, existing transmission control protocols for satellite networks do not provide satisfactory performance over high speed satellite links due to their inefficient congestion avoidance algorithms. This paper identifies the reason for low throughput of a widely used protocol Space Communications Protocol Specification (SCPS) in such networks and proposes a new Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) congestion avoidance algorithm to overcome the drawback of the congestion avoidance algorithm used in the SCPS protocol. Numerical results through simulations demonstrate that the proposed new algorithm can achieve significant throughput improvement over links with variable error rates, compared with its legacy counterpart.


We present a new class of integrated optical devices, fabricated by femtosecond laser micromachining, that allows for mechanical probing, fluorescence detection and sorting of single cells by means of optical forces inside a microfluidic chip.


Introduction: Elevated bile acid (BA) concentrations have been suggested to partly drive metabolic improvements after bariatric surgery but the mechanisms remain poorly understood. We assessed flow of bile and foods using scintigraphy after Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB) and Sleeve Gastrectomy (SG). Materials and Methods: 15 RYGB, 10 SG and 15 gender, age and BMI matched controls (C) underwent a combined cholescintigraphy and fatty test-meal with frequent blood sampling, for concomitant visualization of radiolabeled bile and food markers in the GI tract. BA retention was estimated 7 days after ingestion of a radiolabeled taurine-conjugated BA analogue (75Se-HCAT). Results: Prior to meal intake, gallbladder filling was lower (mean ± SEM: RYGB 23% ± 4, SG 39 ± 4, C 36 ± 5, RYGB vs. C p = 0.04) and more bile marker had passed passively into the small intestine in RYGB but not SG (RYGB 48% ± 6, SG 21 ± 5, C 20 ± 6, RYGB vs. C p Conclusion: After RYGB, enteric BA appearance is altered (more hepatic less gallbladder derived) and food is instantly mixed with bile due to negligible retention of foods in the gastric pouch. BA retention is increased. In contrast, BA appearance and retention remains normal after SG, although gastric emptying is accelerated. The metabolic impact of the changes in BA circulation after RYGB needs further evaluation. Disclosure A. Eiken: None. S. Fuglsang: None. M.L. Eiken: None. M.S. Svane: None. J.J. Holst: Advisory Panel; Self; Novo Nordisk A/S. Board Member; Self; Zealand Pharma A/S. Speaker9s Bureau; Self; Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., AstraZeneca. Research Support; Self; Danish Diabetes Academy, Novo Nordisk Foundation. Other Relationship; Self; Antag Therapeutics. Other Relationship; Spouse/Partner; Antag Therapeutics. K.N. Bojsen-Moller: None. S. Madsbad: Advisory Panel; Self; AstraZeneca. Speaker9s Bureau; Self; AstraZeneca. Research Support; Self; Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.. Advisory Panel; Self; Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.. Speaker9s Bureau; Self; Eli Lilly and Company, Eli Lilly and Company. Advisory Panel; Self; Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., Sanofi-Aventis, Novo Nordisk A/S. Speaker9s Bureau; Self; Novo Nordisk A/S. Research Support; Self; Novo Nordisk A/S. J.L. Madsen: None. C. Dirksen: None.


ODP Leg 199 was designated to collect sediments along a latitudinal transect in the Pacific Ocean to better understand Paleogene sedimentation patterns and the system of equatorial currents. At ODP Sites 1218 through 1220, the magnetic record of the Paleogene Equatorial sediments extends back to Polarity Chron C20r (Middle Eocene), providing an unprecedented record of Paleogene magnetostratigraphy in Equatorial Pacific sediments. Paleomagnetic data were acquired on the JOIDES-Resolution pass-through cryogenic magnetometer from archive halves of core sections. Ongoing analysis on u-channels corroborates the polarity pattern obtained on the shipboard magnetometer. Natural Remanent Magnetization was measured at 5-cm intervals for each core section, and was followed by four to five steps of alternating field demagnetization up to a maximum of 15 or 20 mT. In addition, shipboard and shore-based measurements of discrete samples were also carried out, including alternating field and thermal demagnetization. All measured lithologies, including an upper red clay, radiolarian ooze and nannofossil ooze/chalk yield reproducible results and have a moderate magnetization intensity, well above the noise level of the cryogenic magnetometer. Stepwise demagnetization of discrete samples indicates that the Characteristic Remanent Magnetization (ChRM) is stable and well defined for the most part of the sedimentary record. The obtained high-resolution magnetic stratigraphy allows to cross-calibrate magnetic reversal stratigraphy with biostratigraphy, including the placement of the Eocene-Oligocene and Oligocene-Miocene boundaries. Overall, results from Leg 199 provide the first complete magnetobiostratigraphic record for the Middle Eocene through the Pliocene in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean. A particularly important aspect of Leg 199 was to establish the latitudinal plate motion of the Equatorial Pacific, based on paleomagnetic data. ChRM directions for the demagnetized discrete samples are used to construct the paleolatitudinal evolution of Leg 199 sites. A progressive northward displacement of the Pacific Plate in the Paleogene, which places the equatorial mound of biogenic sediment in northern latitudes and moves sediments out of the high sediment flux area, is established from the analysis of paleomagnetic inclinations.


Objective To explore the relationship between ankle-brachial index (ABI) and atherosclerosis in patients with non-dialysis chronic kidney disease (CKD). Method As a cross-sectional study, 118 patients with diagnosis of non-dialysis CKD (stage 1–5) were selected in our hospital from October 2008 to October 2009. Clinical data were recorded, including sex, age, height, weight, smoking status, blood pressure (BP), fasting glucose, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and renal function. eGFR was calculated by modification of diet in renal disease study equation. ABI values were determined with a Doppler prober. ANOVA, bivariate correlation analysis and multiple linear regression were used for statistical analysis. Results According to eGFR, all patients were divided into five groups as CKD stage 1 group to CKD stage 5 group. There were significant differences in ABI value between five groups (F=28.123, p<0.01). Compared with CKD stage 1 group, ABI values were significantly decreased in CKD stage 3 group, stage 4 group and stage 5 group (all p<0.01). There was no difference between CKD stage 1 group and stage 2 group (p>0.05). ABI value was significantly decreased with gradual decline of eGFR level (p<0.01). Multiple regression analysis showed that age (p<0.01), diabetes (p<0.01), hypertension (p<0.01) and CKD stage (p<0.01) were risk factors for the ABI value. Conclusion Renal dysfunction is an independent risk factor for atherosclerosis. Decline of eGFR was closely related with the degree of atherosclerotic lesions. ABI can be used as important clinical indicators of atherosclerosis in patients with CKD.


Floating wind turbines are becoming an important part of renewable offshore power generation, offering an opportunity to deliver green energy. The floating nature of the substructures permits wind turbine placement in deep water locations, probably out of sight of land. This paper presents the tow out design method requirements for the installation of floating offshore wind turbines.
 Most existing floating offshore wind turbines substructures are barge, semi submersible, TLP and Spar types and their installation methods have been developed from those used on offshore oil and gas structures. Whilst the turbines are derived from those used on fixed bottom offshore wind turbines. The paper summarises the weather window limitations for the various substructure types and installations phases, including the transportation to and from the offshore site and during the connection of mooring lines and electrical cables. The choice of construction materials i.e. steel or concrete, influence the draft of the substructure at the fit-out quay and hence during the tow offshore.
 Semi submersible and barge types are of shallow draft and can be fitted out alongside a quay. Spar types typically require deep water for construction in sheltered inshore waters. The Tension Leg Platform (TLP) floating wind turbine has minimum water plane area and hence has low intact stability during ocean tow and thus TLPs may require modified crane vessels for offshore installation.
 The paper will present recent advances in the tow out requirements of floating offshore wind turbines. Data will be provided on intact stability, damage stability, tow forces and motions during tow from fit out port to the offshore location.


Background There is increasing evidence to suggest that pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) improves exercise capacity, health status and dyspnoea in non-COPD chronic respiratory disease patients. However it is not clear how to assess the education component of PR on these patients. The Lung Information Needs Questionnaire (LINQ) is a self-complete tool, which assesses, from the patient's perspective, the information they need to adequately understand their lung disease and to maximise their self-management skills. This has been validated in COPD patients (Hyland et al, Resp Med 2006), and improves significantly with PR in COPD (Jones et al, Resp Med 2008). We hypothesised that the LINQ would also be sensitive to change with PR in non-COPD patients. Methods In 77 non-COPD patients referred to the Harefield Pulmonary Rehabilitation programme, the LINQ and other measures (incremental shuttle walk, Hospital Anxiety Depression scale and Chronic Respiratory Disease Questionnaire) were measured pre- and post-PR. A group of 128 COPD patients completing PR at the same time acted as controls. Within group pre- to post- PR changes in mean LINQ score were compared using paired t tests. Between group changes were compared using unpaired t tests. Results The composition of the non-COPD group comprised 31 interstitial lung disease, 15 asthma, 16 bronchiectasis, 7 post-lung cancer surgery, and 8 extra-thoracic restriction patients. PR improved mean (SD) LINQ score from 10.34 (3.71) to 5.53 (2.91) (95% CI −4.01 to −5.60; p<0.001) in the non-COPD group with large effect size (t=12.07, df=75, r=0.81). Pre- to post-PR changes in LINQ were not significantly different between non-COPD and COPD patients (95% CI −1.45 to 0.70; p=0.49). ISW, HAD-A, HAD-D and CRDQ all significantly improved with PR in the non-COPD group. Conclusion The LINQ is sensitive to change after PR in non-COPD patients, and may be a useful tool to assess the educational needs of non-COPD patients.


The purpose of this study was to examine Physical Activity levels (PA), Body Mass Index (BMI) and aerobic capacity of 117 young soccer athletes, aged 10-14 years (M age: 11.63 ± 1.25 years), who participated voluntarily in the 1 st measure of the European PAPA project (www.papaproject.org) in Greece and came from 13 soccer clubs of the wider region of Thessaly. Participants' PA levels were assessed with an accelerometer, which wore on them for at least 3 days of 8 hours per day. Measurements of their body mass and height with a scale and a stadiometer were conducted in order to calculate BMI, while their aerobic capacity was evaluated with the 20m shuttle run test. Results showed that participants performed an average of 121.29 ± 32.03 minutes per day in moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) with the vast majority of players (98.3%) meeting the criterion of 60 minutes per day in MVPA, while only 1.7% of participants did not meet this criterion. The younger football players spent less time in sedentary activities and more minutes in moderate PA (MPA), vigorous PA (VPA) and MVPA compared with older soccer players. No differences were found in objectively measured PA between weekdays and weekends. In contrast, significant differences were found in MVPA between days that athletes took part in soccer training and days that athletes did not participated in soccer training. Regarding BMI, the vast majority of young soccer players had normal BMI (80.3%), while only 19.7% of the sample was overweight and obese. As to the aerobic capacity (VO2max), participants had an average of 48.39 ± 4.35 ml kg-1 min-1, with older athletes having greater VO2max compared with younger athletes. Finally, differences were found in VO2max due to the soccer position referred by youth athletes, with players in the center having a greater aerobic capacity compared with offensive players, defensive players and goalkeepers, while no differences were found in PA and BMI z scores due to the soccer position referred by them. These results provide a basis for the promotion of children's PA through soccer.


The Aflatoxins are fungal toxins and products of Aspergillus flavus and A. niger. They include B aflatoxins (B1, the most potent hepatocarcinogen known, and B2) which are produced by both species and aflatoxins G (G1 and G2) that are produced by A. niger and aflatoxin M1 and Q1 metabolites of B1 and aflatoxin M2 metabolite of Aflatoxin B2. Since the discovery of aflatoxins in 1960, after an outbreak of a disease of unknown etiology of turkey in England, the scientific approach towards these toxins concentrated on the protective measures and control of the incidence of these carcinogens either.
Objective: This study aimed at coming out with a remedy and curing for elimination of aflatoxin B1 in peanut paste. The importance of this stemmed from the fact that aflatoxin occurrence is rather inevitable considering all the advancements in the protective measures.
Methods: However, since the incidence of these toxins is rather unavoidable countable attempts were done on the treatment of these toxins in food and feed stuffs. Accordingly this fact persuaded testing some easy and familiar culinary approaches to mitigate and/ or perhaps diminish the presence of aflatoxin B1 (AFLB1) in the commonly consumed peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) paste. Lime juice, in two doses (12.5 and 25 ml/ g), was applied to 25 g peanut paste contained AFLB1 (7.53 ppb) and stored for 1, 3 and 7 days. The test material was then analyzed for AFLB1 using aflatest® HPLC column of Vicam® of Waters corporation and HPLC Shimatzu® brand. Results: The collected data of the test samples reflected a reduction in AFLB1, due to the doses of 12.5 and 25 ml lime juice, of 11% and 31%, respectively (for one day storage), 54% and 66%, respectively (for 3 days storage), and 74% and 92% (for 7 days storage). Conclusions: These results are encouraging for use of lime juice as a treatment for aflatoxin B1 wherever applicable.


A time-resolved immunofluorometric assay (TR-IFMA) was developed for the determination of haptoglobin (Hp) in canine serum. Haptoglobin was purified from canine acute phase serum by ammonium sulphate precipitation followed by gel filtration. This isolated dog Hp was used as the standard to calibrate the assay. Intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation of the assay were, respectively, 5.7% and 16.6% at 0.51 mg/mL, 2.4% and 10.6% at 2.1 mg/mL and 10.5% and 11.9% at 32.5 mg/mL. The dilution of serum samples with high Hp concentrations resulted in linear regression equations with R2 of 0.99 and 0.97. A high correlation was found in serum Hp measurements by TR-IFMA and a commercial assay based on peroxidase activity of haemoglobin bound to haptoglobin (R2 = 0.96). The limit of detection for the TR-IFMA method was 0.002 microg/mL. The addition of fresh haemolysate to serum samples did not affect the haptoglobin concentration (P = 0.694). Statistical differences (P < 0.003) were found between healthy dogs and dogs with different pathological processes. In whole blood, Hp concentrations were much lower than in serum but closely related (R2 = 0.84) whereas saliva Hp concentrations were poorly related with serum concentrations (R2 = 0.53). However, the concentration of Hp in saliva was significantly (P < 0.039) higher in dogs with pathological processes compared to healthy dogs. The assay sensitivity was adequate to also be applied to whole blood and saliva specimens.


Gunnars, Buss suggests, "may feel it necessary to name her personal memoir of a twentieth-century citizen's life a 'novel,' to protect it and herself from all the baggage the word 'autobiography' carries in traditional definitions." As Buss asserts elsewhere on the same page, "one of the reasons given in the past for women's exclusion from mainstream generic contracts has been that they write too autobiographically" (197). The point, I think, is found in a question Buss asks when she introduces her third part—"Finding a Counter-Discourse"—"How does a writer tell the whole truth?" (183); then, by way of autobiographical illustration, she goes on to focus on a point of "disremembering"—that is, attributing a memory mentioned earlier to her mother, not her grandmother, as she had said before. Indeed. The absence of generic definition in Mapping Our Selves is troubling— however preferable openness may be—exactly because it is impossible for any writer to "tell the whole truth." And the putative dividing lines between autobiography, fiction, and biography—lurking throughout Buss's analysis—need to be dealt with. In contrast, and as I have argued elsewhere, some of Alice Munro's fictions are as autobiographical as autobiographies—including those examined here—are fictional. Timothy Dow Adams speaks of "telling lies" in autobiography (Buss 20); Munro once proposed True Lies as a title for a work of "fiction." Genre matters, however difficult its distinctions, and it deserves more attention here than it gets. What I hope these last few paragraphs suggest about Mapping Our Selves is that it both excites in its wide-ranging and precisely thoughtful analysis and, probably far more importantly, it demands both response and debate. What Buss has to say about autobiography, autobiographical texts by women, theoretical contexts, individual cruxes, and just the ways women's writing works is both demanding and compelling. This is a book which should be read by anyone interested in autobiography and, despite its gaps, the autobiographical in fiction. By mapping the self— and mapping herself—Helen M. Buss makes an important contribution to the analysis of autobiography and to Canadian literary studies. Robert Thacker St. Lawrence University


There are many factors that affect the level of requirements volatility a system experiences over its lifecycle. Improper requirements generation, undocumented user expectations, conflicting design decisions, and anticipated / unanticipated world states are representative of these volatility factors. Combined, these volatility factors adversely affect successful system development. This paper proposes that a Bayesian Network can be used to support reasonable judgments concerning the most likely sources and types of requirements volatility a developing system will experience prior to starting development; and by doing so it is possible to predict the level of requirements volatility the system will experience over its lifecycle. This assessment offers valuable insight to the system's developers, particularly by providing a starting point for risk mitigation planning and execution.


Prevention of denervation atrophy in skeletal muscle by nerve implantation to a muscle belly was studied in a rat model. In the animals' legs, the tibial nerve branch innervating the lateral head of the gastrocnemius muscle was transected, and subsequently repaired by either simple nerve suture(n = 20) or interpositional nerve grafting (n = 20). The tibial nerve branch innervating the medial head was dissected out. The peroneal nerve was transected and implanted directly to the lateral head of the gastrocnemius muscle on one side and, as a control, the nerve on the other side was cut. After 6 months, isometric tension of the gastrocnemius muscle was greater on the implantation side than on the control side in the nerve-suture group ( p < 0.05), but no tension difference between the two sides was observed in the nerve-graft group. The effects of neurotization by an implanted nerve may compete with those by a repaired nerve, when neurotization of the latter is delayed. Only when the time interval between neurotization by an implanted nerve and reinnervation by a repaired original nerve is short, does nerve implantation attenuate denervation atrophy.


This thesis, an exercise in cultural history, puts forwards two main lines of argument. Firstly, I explore the way in which scandal was used by early nineteenth century reformers to argue for the inclusion of a wider range of individuals in political debate. I contrast the approaches of Rousseau and Bentham to publicity, exploring the manner in which the latter became especially useful to radicals after the 1790s, as the former became associated with dangerous Jacobinism. Chapters three and four discuss the interplay between these two ways of thinking about scandal in the Mary Ann Clarke affair (1809) and the Queen Caroline affair (1820-1). I show that while scandal allowed the case for reform to be dramatized in an especially vivid way, encouraging ordinary people to get involved in politics, its attention to particular details could also damage the radical cause by distracting attention away from abstract arguments for reform. The second strand of argument deals with the relationship between publicity and feminism. Scandal did not just entrench the sexual double standard rather, debates about publicity provided a way for early feminists to demand recognition of woman's legal and political identity. However, attitudes amongst women towards the balance to be struck between individual self-determination and social convention varied widely. Germaine de Stael and Geraldine Jewsbury reworked the ideas of Rousseau to argue that a woman's ability to follow her feelings rather than moral conventions signalled her suitability for citizenship, and in the Caroline affair, many ordinary women claimed a right to engage in political debate on the grounds of their feelings of sympathy for the Queen. On the other hand, Maria Edgeworth argued for a rapprochement between reason and social duty, while Rosina Bulwer-Lytton used scandal against her husband in order to press for recognition of woman's separate legal identity.


Part-based approaches in image analysis aim at exploiting the considerable discriminative power embedded in relations among image parts. Nonetheless, learning structural information is not always possible without the availability of a training set of classified parts, and taking into account this additional information can even degrade the performance of the system. In this paper, a discriminative graphical model for object detection is introduced and used in order to analyse and report results on the role of structural information in image classification tasks.


This research discussed the ideas of Amin al-Khuli in the teaching of Arabic literature or Balaghah. The name Amin al-Khuli is popular as the reformer of Balaghah. This research was a qualitative research. This research used two books of Amin al-Khuli, i.e., Manahij Tajdid and Fannul Qaul. The result of this research concluded that Amin al-Khuli emphasized two important goals of teaching Balaghah, i.e., the practical and artistic goals. He did not consider the importance of religious goals of Balaghah to understand the Qur'an. In terms of contents, he denied the classification of Balaghah into Ma'ani, Bayan, and Badi'; instead, he changed it into kalimat (words), jumal (sentences), fiqrah (paragraph), and shuwar ta'biriyyah (kinds of expressions). The research emphasized the importance of conducting further research to create a better textbook of Balaghah based on Amin Khuli's ideas.


Intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) of the breast is an innovative treatment option for early breast cancer and has rapidly entered clinical practice in the last years. There are several indications using a breast IORT. Generally accepted because of excellent long-term results is the intraoperative tumorbed boost followed by an external whole breast irradiation (WBI) (1,2). Considering that most in-breast tumor recurrences are seen in or near to the initial tumor site (3-7) partial breast irradiation (PBI) as the sole radiotherapy treatment modality is of large interest. Different PBI techniques, such as an IORT with electrons or 50 kV X-rays (Intrabeam © ), the interstitial multicatheter or balloncatheter (Mammosite © ) brachytherapy or also the 3D conformal external beam radiotherapy are in clinical use [overview in (8,9)], whereby no superiority could be shown for one of them.


DEFORMITIES IN DEVELOPMENT Generalised Osteochondrodystrophy. —In an attempt to secure a better classification of chondrodystrophies and osteochondrodystrophies, Hirsch 1 quotes the classification suggested by Jaffe. The latter coins a new term, "eccentrochondroplasia," since the epiphysis in this condition develops not from a central nucleus but from multiple eccentric centers of ossification, as shown in roentgenograms. There are three stages in this disease: a latent stage, a florid stage and a stage of healing with its aftermath of deformity. Though the condition is not generally recognized until the child begins to walk, roentgenographic signs become apparent with the onset of ossification of the epiphysial cartilages. The visible signs of this condition are: thoracic kyphosis with prominence of the sternum, forward tipping of the pelvis, genu valgum and flat and everted feet. The roentgenographic signs are chiefly epiphysial changes associated with a malacia which produces a deformity in the size and shape


Uranium-lead dating of zircon has been used extensively in geochronological studies based on the widespread occurrence of zircon and its resistance to chemical and physical weathering. Previous research has shown that despite their apparent robustness, many zircons contain evidence for recrystallisation, such as the replacement of the primary oscillatory zoning by unzoned zircon. This replacement is characterised by rims, patches and embayments of unzoned zircon which can either completely replace the primary zoning or preserve faint remnants within the unzoned zircon.  In some samples, the unzoned zircon contains lower U and Pb concentrations, implying that the zircon U-Pb age may be reset during the replacement (Pidgeon, 1992). Interestingly, zircons have also been found in which there is no apparent difference in U-Pb age between the zoned and unzoned zircon (Schaltegger et al., 1999). To better understand the replacement of zoned by unzoned zircon, it is important to study the microstructures present within recrystallised zircon to understand possible mechanisms causing recrystallisation. Multiple mechanisms may explain the trace element distribution within (partially) recrystallised zircon: annealing of radiation damaged (metamict) zircon, annealing of lattice strain imposed by alternating U concentrations in oscillatory zoning, enhanced diffusion along fast-diffusivity pathways (such as low-angle subgrain boundaries or fractures) and coupled dissolution-reprecipitation.  The mechanism(s) by which zircons recrystallise remain poorly understood, as well as the effect of the formation of different microstructures on corresponding zircon U-Pb dates. Understanding these phenomena is therefore of vital importance for correctly interpreting U-Pb ages in zircon.

This work focusses on investigating the microstructures that are present within recrystallised zircons from both metamorphic and igneous environments from the Jack Hills, Australia (Pidgeon, 1992) and the island of Lewis and Harris, Scotland (Van  Breemen  et  al.   1971). Suites of zircons from these areas have been imaged with cathodoluminescence, which is a powerful tool for obtaining high resolution images of the internal structures of zircons. Within these suites, zircons are present which show complex zoning patterns and (partial) recrystallisation; these will be studied in greater detail using EDS, EBSD and SHRIMP. Preliminary results of EDS on the inclusions show that inclusions are composed of feldspars, thorite, quartz and apatite, which were most likely included during the primary crystallisation of the zircon. EBSD measurements will provide additional data on the crystallographic orientation of recrystallized zones and the state of metamictization of the zircons, and may show if zircon has deformed crystal-plastically forming subgrain boundaries.

References

Pidgeon, R. T. (1992). Recrystallisation of oscillatory zoned zircon: some geochronological and petrological implications. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 110(4), 463-472.

Schaltegger, U., Fanning, C. M., Günther, D., Maurin, J. C., Schulmann, K., & Gebauer, D. (1999). Growth, annealing and recrystallization of zircon and preservation of monazite in high-grade metamorphism: conventional and in-situ U-Pb isotope, cathodoluminescence and microchemical evidence. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 134(2-3), 186-201.

Van Breemen, O., Aftalion, M., & Pidgeon, R. (1971). The age of the granitic injection complex of harris,outer hebrides.Scottish Journal of Geology,7(2), 139–152.


The incidence of hypotension occurring in women undergoing Caesarean section with epidural analgesia was investigated in 60 patients receiving an intravenous preload of two litres Hartmann's solution. Hypotension occurred in only 6.7% of patients. Central venous pressure measurements in 20 patients confirmed the safety of the technique. A comparison is made with other preloading techniques.


Phase control of the spatial asymmetry of the dissociative ionization channel, , of molecular hydrogen has been achieved by superposing interferometrically sub-100 fs, Ti:sapphire laser pulses at the fundamental and second harmonic frequency. The counterintuitive asymmetry previously observed with longer, less intense Nd:YLF laser pulses and HD molecules has been reproduced. However, phase modulation of total ionization and dissociation rates was not discernible. In order to further understand the process, a comprehensive study of appearance intensities, kinetic energy releases and angular distributions has been undertaken at each frequency.


Most environments inhabited by living beings have dust. Much of that dust comes from the continuous flaking of our own skin and atmosphere borne particles of submicron size. Dust mites seem to play an important role in integrating fine scale dust, which they consume to grow, resulting in larger length scale dust. Dust continues to agglomerate and grow. Air filters are designed to remove dust and control dust agglomeration. We report a simple scaling law, based on kinematic simulations of dust filtration through a one dimensional idealized filter. The results reveal insights regarding how filters may clog in time. Our results may be of use to someone interested in designing customized air filters for optimum dust removal in an environment with a known dust distribution.


A biographical exploration into the spiritual lives of some of the greatest writers in the English language this century The twentieth century has been marked both by belief and unbelief. While attendance at church has declined dramatically, the lives of many of the greatest leaders have been influenced and inspired by Christianity. In LITERARY CONVERTS Joseph Pearce explores the world of some of the finest writers in the English language who have believed. Most of those included converted to Roman Catholicism and some to Anglicanism. The list is like a 'Who's Who' of the last one hundred years: Oscar Wilde, Evelyn Waugh, C S Lewis, Malcolm Muggeridge, Graham Greene, George Bernard Shaw, H G Wells, Hilaire Belloc, G K Chesterton, Dorothy Sayers, T S Eliot and J R R Tolkien.


Computational color constancy is a preprocessing step used in many camera systems. The main aim is to discount the effect of the illumination on the colors in the scene and restore the original colors of the objects. Recently, several deep learning-based approaches have been proposed to solve this problem and they often led to state-of-the-art performance in terms of average errors. However, for extreme samples, these methods fail and lead to high errors. In this paper, we address this limitation by proposing to aggregate different deep learning methods according to their output uncertainty. We estimate the relative uncertainty of each approach using Monte Carlo dropout and the final illumination estimate is obtained as the sum of the different model estimates weighted by the log-inverse of their corresponding uncertainties. The proposed framework leads to state-of-the-art performance on INTEL-TAU dataset.


Australia's foundational moment was steeped in democratic and civic optimism. At the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia, there existed a widely-held belief that this was 'the peoples' federation'. The people who had ignited the federation process after it stalled in the hands of the politicians would naturally become the custodians and protectors of the Constitution they had endorsed at referendum. They would simultaneously safeguard its democratic principles and amend the Constitution as necessary to ensure its suitability for the unforeseeable exigencies of the future. The high hopes of the 'founding fathers' about the civic engagement of the people have not been realised. Australians appear apathetic about and ignorant of their federal system. Yet, there is little knowledge beyond these broad impressions about Australians' attitudes, and the reasons for their civic indolence. This article argues that a cultural history of attachment to the Australian federation since 1901 can provide evidence of why federation reform has proved so difficult and suggest means of overcoming citizens' reluctance to amend the Constitution. Most significantly, it promises important insights about the relationship between civic engagement and the effective function of democratic government.


Western society has stereotypical expectations of how men and women should behave, think, and act. Women are expected to be gentle, sensitive, emotional, and talkative; men to be competitive, independent, unemotional, and objective (Fiebert & Meyer, 1997). Women who violate these cultural norms may be punished or threatened with psychological isolation, economic hardship, and social ostracism (Unger & Crawford, 1996). In the sporting context however such violations are encouraged and deemed necessary for athletic success to be achieved. For example to be a successful female athlete it is necessary to possess the same traits, characteristics, and behaviours as male athletes (Anshel, 1994; Cote & Salmela, 1996). Hence what is considered appropriate outside of sport may not be considered appropriate within sport, and vice-a-versa. Researchers of gender issues within sport psychology have assumed the existence of stereotypical notions of sex and gender in sport without first establishing if these stereotypical notions are context specific. They have not investigated the particular construction of sex, gender, and gender identity within sport. By not investigating the existence of stereotypical constructs, researchers risk propagating old myths in a new context. This paper addresses the questions of what is male and female, masculine and feminine in sport? How are these notions constructed? Furthermore how do these influence sporting performance? This paper critically explores sex, gender, and gender identity in sport. It examines sport in Australia as a separate and unique social context that may produce and reproduce engendered behaviour.


The introduction of laparoscopic fundoplication has dramatically changed the face of antireflux surgery. Central to the success of laparoscopic fundoplication is careful preoperative patient evaluation and attention to surgical technique. Emerging evidence has questioned the long-term durability of laparoscopic partial fundoplications underscoring the place of laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication as the procedure of choice for most patients. The technique of laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication should incorporate crural closure, complete fundic mobilization by short gastric vessel division, and the creation of a short, loose fundoplication by enveloping the anterior and posterior fundic walls around the esophagus. Relief of typical reflux symptoms can be anticipated in over 90% of patients. The outcome of atypical reflux symptoms is less predictable, on average two thirds of patients benefiting. The cost of laparoscopic fundoplication compares favorably to long-term medical therapy and open fundoplication. Current trends indicate that laparoscopic fundoplication is being used increasingly as an alternative to long-term medical therapy. Copyright © 1999 by W B. Saunders Company


OBJECTIVES
Retinal Müller glial cell loss is almost involved in all retinal diseases, especially diabetic retinopathy (DR). Oxidative stress significantly contributes to the development of Müller glial cell loss. Ginkgo biloba extracts (GBE) have been reported to possess antioxidant property, beneficial in treating human retinal diseases. However, little is known about its role in Müller glial cells. This study investigated the protective effect of GBE (prepared from ginkgo biloba dropping pills) in human Müller glial cells against tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BHP)-induced oxidative stress and its underlying molecular mechanism.

METHODS
MIO-M1 cells were pretreated with or without GBE prior to the exposure to t-BHP-induced oxidative stress. Cell viability, cell death profile and lipid peroxidation were subsequently assessed. Protein expression of the key anti-oxidative signalling factors were investigated.

KEY FINDINGS
We showed that GBE can effectively protect human MIO-M1 cells from t-BHP-induced oxidative injury by improving cell viability, reducing intracellular ROS accumulation and suppressing lipid peroxidation, which effect is likely mediated through activating AMPK-Nrf2-NQO-1 antioxidant respondent axis.

CONCLUSIONS
Our study is the first to reveal the great potentials of GBE in protecting human retinal Müller glial cell loss against oxidative stress. GBE might be used to prevent human retinal diseases particularly DR.


In recent issues of the SA Horseman, a series of articles was published on coping with the African Horse Sickness (AHS) crisis, discussing possible treatments for the AHS-virus. The articles elicited many negative and even aggressive responses, and rightly so. Before commenting on some of the approaches to treatment published in the series, I want to make some general remarks.


Through the translations of William Jones and Ezra Pound et al, She King or Poems, has become a supermeme in English and American literatures. However, their translations only make an imperfect reflex of the Chinese art due to their neglect of proper form and content. This paper, based on the analysis of their translations, argues what makes a poem a poem is not semantic content alone. Form and content make an inseparable dyad, and form itself is a sign, signifying the entity of poetry. Sir John Denham's dictum: "Not Language into Language but Poesie into Poesie" is a basic requirement for verse translation. However, an analysis of their rhymed versions shows that translation of "poesie into poesie" is not yet enough. A translation should be faithful in style as well, so "style into style" is another criterion. Still, we have to consider the real value of a classic, hence the criterion of "classic into classic". So besides the consideration of semantic content, poesie into poesie, style into style, and classic into classic are necessary, if not sufficient, conditions for a holistic translation. In verse translation, there are no fixed principles but a very flexible maxim, that is, rendering the original as it is into a foreign language text, that is, a translation should be as close as is possible to the original with the consideration of the above criteria, a guarantee of the proposed holistic approach.


This thesis sets out to analyse empirically the impact of: i) short selling on stock returns; ii) the UK Financial Services Authority's (FSA) short selling ban on stock prices, market quality as well as contagion, and iii) short selling on Exchange Traded Fund's (ETF) returns. A distinction is made between two types of shorts: valuation and dividend arbitrage shorts. Employing an event-study methodology, the empirical results indicate that, whilst large increases in short interest in valuation shorts are associated with significant negative abnormal returns, large increases in dividend arbitrage shorts are less informative. This may imply that these two different types of shorts are executed by two different sets of traders, who are scrutinizing two different sets of information. With respect to dividend arbitrage shorts, however, the informational content of short interest is dependent on the state of the economy. Regarding the impact of the FSA's short-selling ban on stock prices and market quality, the current study finds no evidence that the FSA's objective of protecting market quality was achieved through its prohibition of the short selling of financial stocks. Nevertheless, with regard to the FSA's concerns over cross-sectoral contagion, there is evidence that the short-selling ban may have been successful in preventing contagion, thereby protecting capital market stability. In relation to the informational content of ETF short interest, the present study finds that high increases in short interest are followed by positive abnormal returns, while low increases in short interest are followed by negative abnormal returns. The results indicate that ETF's short interest does not carry informational content similar to that contained in the short interest on individual stocks and different types of players are involved in the ETF market, namely, the hedgers and speculators.


The state of Nebraska has adopted a unique approach to statewide reporting that requires school districts to develop district-level assessments of the state student content standards or district standards comparable in quality and to report the results to the state and public. This system allows districts to base their assessments on what they are teaching and to use creative approaches to assessment to measure outcomes that are not easily captured in paper-and-pencil tests. The state also hopes that districts will be able to use the same assessment results to enhance instruction. The response of the Lincoln Public Schools to the state requirements has included both paper-and-pencil tests and comparable classroom assessments. These comparable classroom assessments allow standardized judgments across classrooms through the use of scoring rubrics and teacher training. Teams of teachers trained in assessment development created district standards and assessments. Preliminary results suggest that judgments are fairly consistent among teachers. Additional studies are planned. Comparable classroom assessments seem to be viable and cost effective for measuring student achievement for the purposes of accountability and enhancement of instruction. (Author/SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Classroom Assessment 1 Classroom Assessment: Possibilities for State Reporting of Student Proficiency Bethany A. Brunsman and Leslie E. Lukin Lincoln Public Schools Paper Presented at the 2001 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association


Technology Focus
 While it is easy to see the local gas bubbles and shortages forming, we always seem surprised when it actually happens. The summer of 2019 has been rife with media reports about negative gas pricing in the Permian and, given the propensity of our industry to pick a favorite horse and then all pile on it at the same time, it is not surprising when we create our own boom and bust cycles. Is it the nature of capitalism or crowd psychology or just human nature that we repeatedly drill ourselves into negative cashflow territory and then wonder how we got there? Meanwhile, politicians and environmental activists in the northeast US have stalled pipeline permits, which has led to blackouts and construction cancellations. Gas meant for those markets has to find another home.
 Surpluses create dynamics like a river overflowing its banks during a flood; old channels are scoured clean and new outlets are created. There is disruption and unwelcome change but also new opportunities. Soon, nearly a billion cubic feet per day of gas will be flared in Texas alone, and innovators are looking for ways to recover value from that excess associated gas.
 Several operators are expanding gas enhanced-oil-recovery projects in the Eagle Ford, while others are testing the same process with less success in the Bakken. Small-scale gas-to-liquid plants can turn a few million cubic feet per day into high-quality diesel for local consumption. That shipping container full of power-hungry computer processors on a remote oil lease is turning associated gas into Bitcoin. The Jones Act was enacted nearly a century ago to protect US shipbuilders, but now it keeps waterborne liquefied natural gas (LNG) originating in Texas from being sold to any other US customer, prompting New Englanders to import Russian LNG instead. On a more commonsense note, LNG transport by rail is a simple way to deliver gas to LNG-powered ships and those affected by pipeline constraints.
 One resource is always consumed to create another, but can we manage the pace of development to avoid overshooting demand or store secondary products for a rainy day? Can we do better next time and not be a victim of our own success? Those who find ways to create value from what others consider a waste product will be respected by both entrepreneurs and environmentalists alike.
 Recommended additional reading at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org.
 SPE 192114 Increasing Coal Seam Gas Field Productivity With Horizontal Well Technology: A Case Study by Xuejun Lin, Sinopec, et al.
 SPE 192853 Boosting Condensate Recoveries of a Mature Retrograde Gas-Condensate Field in Pakistan by Sheraz Ahmed, Pakistan Petroleum, et al.
 URTeC 83 Intrawell Interference in Tight Oil Reservoirs: What Do We Need To Consider? Case Study From the Meramec by Mouin Almasoodi, Devon Energy, et al.
 URTeC 264 A New Method for Production Forecasting: Predictive Analytics vs. Conventional Methods in the Montney by Melanie R. Popp, Geologic Systems, et al.
 URTeC 402 Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Diffusion-Based Huff•'n'•Puff Gas Injection Into Lower Eagle Ford Shale Samples by Qinwen Fu, University of Kansas, et al.


Cationic channels with variable selectivity for Ca2+, K+, and Na+ are ubiquitous in non-excitable tissues as well as contractile cardiac cells and vascular smooth muscle (VSMC). They are involved in multiple cell functions, including contraction and proliferation of VSMC, key to the regulation of vascular tone and blood pressure. A large superfamily includes at least 28 highly conserved heterotetramer homologues of Drosophila TRP (transient receptor potential) channels. Direct evidence exists for TRPC, TRPV, TRPP gating ion entry in vascular cells, as well as in epithelial cells of kidney and intestine, thus controlling homeostasis and external balance of divalent cations. Mice deficient in TRPV5 display phenotypic defects resembling human idiopathic hypercalciuria and impaired bone mineral density. Polycystin 2, encoded by the PKD2 gene, is an epithelial transmembrane TRPP2 protein, whose mutation is associated with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). TRP ion channels may therefore play a role in the pathogenesis of systemic arterial hypertension, pulmonary hypertension, as well as hypertension complicating renal disease via effects on vascular tone and/or on the electrolyte composition of body fluids.


Objective To explore the mechanism of myocardial injury by T 2 toxin with selenium-deficiency and the relationship of Keshan disease.Methods Using rats as animal model of selenium deficiency diet and T 2 toxin attack. The glutathione peroxidase (GSH Px) and apoptosis of the myocardial tissue by biochemistry and TUNEL were observed and the level of selenium and GSH Px were compared with different rat groups.Results The damage of rat heart were found both in T 2 toxion with selenium defficiency group and T 2 toxin without selenium defficiency group; The lowest level of GSH Px activity and most numbers of apoptosis cell were found in T 2 toxion with selenium defficiency group. Conclusions T 2 toxin with selenium defficiency can make rat heart damage easily;Lipid peroxidation and apoptosis involved in injury mechanism of myocardial damage. It can give a trail for study the etiology of Keshan disease.


To facilitate collaboration between computers and people, computers should be able to perceive the world in a manner that correlates well with human perception. A good example of this is face image retrieval. Mathematically-based face indexing methods that are not based primarily on how humans perceive faces can produce retrievals that are disappointing to human users. This raises the question "Can human faces be automatically indexed in a manner that correlates well with human perception of similarity?" Humans use words to describe faces - words such as braided, graybearded, bearded, bespectacled, bald, blondish, blond, freckled, blue eyed, mustached, pale, Caucasian, brown eyed, dark skinned, or black eyed. Such words represent dimensions that span a shared concept space for faces. Therefore they might provide a useful guide to indexing faces in an intuitive manner. This paper describes research that uses descriptive words such as these to index faces. Each word guides the design of one feature detector that produces a scalar coefficient, and those coefficients collectively define a feature vector for each face. Given these feature vectors, it is possible to compute a similarity measure between pairs of faces, and to compare that computed similarity to the similarity, as perceived by humans.


Background and Purpose— Platelet aggregation plays a vital role in the development of in-stent restenosis (ISR) after carotid angioplasty and stenting (CAS). Mean platelet volume (MPV) has been suggested as an index of platelet reactivity. This study aimed to investigate the association between MPV and ISR in CAS patients. Methods— A total of 261 patients with CAS were enrolled. MPV was measured before CAS procedure. Digital subtraction angiography, computed tomographic angiography, or duplex ultrasonography was performed at 6 months and annually after the procedure. ISR was defined as ≥50% stenosis in the treated lesion. Cox regression was used to identify predictors of ISR after CAS. Results— Of the 261 patients with CAS, 46 (17.6%) were determined with ISR during a mean follow-up of 12.1±16.1 months (range, 2.1–120.7). On multivariate analysis, baseline MPV >10.1 fL (hazard ratio, 3.20; 95% confidence interval, 1.28–8.03), lesion length (hazard ratio, 1.05; 95% confidence interval, 1.02–1.08), residual stenosis (hazard ratio, 1.07; 95% confidence interval, 1.05–1.10), and baseline glucose (hazard ratio, 1.01; 95% confidence interval, 1.00–1.02) were associated with ISR. Conclusions— Elevated MPV may be associated with ISR after CAS. Patients with high preprocedural MPV may benefit from an intensified antiplatelet therapy after CAS.


BACKGROUND: Researching the effects of exercise on many health conditions requires the use of biochemistry laboratory techniques such as Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). However, undergraduate Exercise Science programs often do not provide experiences in these kinds of biochemistry laboratory techniques. PURPOSE: This project evaluated undergraduate students' knowledge of, experience with, and confidence in using biochemistry laboratory techniques before and after a laboratory exercise measuring salivary cortisol concentrations via ELISA. METHODS: As part of the laboratory sessions in an undergraduate Exercise Physiology class the students (n=113) provided saliva samples before and after 40 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic or resistance exercise. On another occasion, in groups of 2-4 students, the saliva samples were analyzed for cortisol concentrations using commercially available ELISA kits. Before and after the laboratory experience the students completed a survey regarding their knowledge of, experience with, and confidence in biochemistry laboratory techniques. RESULTS: 58% of the students completed the survey before and after the biochemistry laboratory experience. None of the students indicated any previous experience with or knowledge of what ELISA was, how to perform an ELISA, or what could be measured using ELISA. 62% of the students had never used a precision single or multichannel pipette, and 50% had no confidence, 26% had very low confidence, and 24% had moderate confidence in their ability to do so correctly. After the laboratory experience 100% of the students had used a precision single channel and multichannel pipette, and 30% had moderate confidence and 70% had high confidence in their ability to do so correctly. As part of an open ended question the students indicated that they enjoyed the experience and frequently commented that they "felt like a real scientist" as while performing the ELISA. CONCLUSION: While many exercise science students in an undergraduate exercise physiology class had no prior laboratory experiences using precision pipettes or other biochemistry techniques, a single laboratory exercise enhanced the students' confidence in their ability to correctly use precision pipettes and enhanced their self-identification as exercise scientists.


In this study, researchers on storage and quality properties of mushrooms cultivated in the world and Turkey have been investigated. Mushrooms contain some important minerals and vitamins such as iron, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, copper and folate, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B, C, D and also they are a good source of carbohydrate and protein. After harvest, to extend the shelf life of mushrooms, some applications such as pre-cooling, storage in appropriate temperature, use of different types of polyethylene packaging, modified atmosphere packaging, nitric oxide and UV light applications were done on mushrooms. The effects of these applications on physical and chemical features such as like weight loss, firmness, cap opening rate, cap diameter, stem diameter, browning, colour, respiration rate, enzymatic reactions, total phenols, total sugars, aminoacid content were investigated.


Decadal-scale climate variability and change can cause trends in oceanographic conditions that impact demographic rates. Rebuilding scenarios, therefore, developed assuming constant demographic rates may not be realistic. Winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus) is an important commercial and recreational species that has declined in the southern portion of its range despite reduced exploitation. Laboratory and mesocosm studies suggest that stock productivity is reduced under warmer conditions and that rebuilding to historical levels may not be possible. Our goal was to examine the rebuilding potential of winter flounder in the face of regional warming. We integrated winter temperature into a population model to estimate environmentally driven stock–recruitment parameters and projected the stock into the future under different climate and fishing scenarios. The inclusion of winter temperature had minor impacts on the estimates of current abundance, but provided greater understanding of the drivers of recruitment. Projections that included the environment suggest that rebuilding the stock to historical levels is unlikely. The integration of both fishing and the environment has the potential to provide more realistic expectations of future stock status.


ABSTRACT Continued global expansion in the development of energy and its associated infrastructure is expected in the coming decades. Substantial concern exists about the impacts of this energy infrastructure on bird populations. In this special section, Smith and Dwyer (2016) provide a timely review of interactions between birds and renewable energy infrastructure, and several studies address avian interactions with renewable and nonrenewable energy infrastructure. I briefly summarize these studies and place avian interactions with energy infrastructure in the context of the many anthropogenic threats to birds. There is vast variation in the amount of mortality caused by different man-made threats. Comparing threats in the context of energy development is useful for attracting public, scientific, and policy attention, for highlighting major research gaps, for providing scientific evidence to inform resource allocation decisions, and for developing mitigation strategies whereby mortality risk from one threat can be offset by reducing risk from another threat. However, broad comparisons of mortality should not be used on their own to draw conclusions about population-level impacts, to conclude that low mortality or a paucity of information negates biologically significant impacts or obviates a need for action, or to develop mortality mitigation strategies when little information exists to inform the balancing of risks. To move beyond gross mortality estimates toward comparisons of actual population-level impacts, a balance must be struck between conducting research that produces generalizable results and studies that focus on species, locations, and response variables of interest. Additional information about the many direct and indirect effects of energy infrastructure, such as the research described by the articles in this special section, will be crucial to achieving an optimal tradeoff between energy development and wildlife conservation.


Updating legal frameworks to accomodate technological advancement of communications capabilities requires first updating other legal frameworks to accommodate empirically grounded research into what we have built, how it is used, and what it costs to sustain. Unfortunately for - and due to - well-intentioned policymakers, our scientific knowledge about the Internet is weak because researchers are typically not allowed access to any data on operational network infrastructure for privacy reasons. This data access problem was recognized long ago for its detrimental impact on infrastructure protection capabilities; many public and private sector efforts have failed to solve it. Public policy intended to protect individual user privacy places the research community in the absurd situation of not being able to do the most basic network research even on the networks established explicitly to support academic network research. Despite the methodological limitations of Internet science today, the few data points available suggest a dire picture of the future. But while the situation overwhelmingly indicates the need for a closer objective look, the only people with measurement capability on publically accessible network infrastructure today are tasked with inferring as much private information on individual users as possible - whether its to target terrorists or ads. The traditional mode of getting data from public infrastructures to inform policymaking - regulating its collection - is a quixotic path, since the government regulatory agencies have as much reason to be reluctant as providers regarding disclosure of how the Internet is engineered, used, and financed. Less surprising with hindsight, the opaqueness of the infrastructure to empirical analysis has generated many problematic responses from rigidly circumscribed communities trying to get their jobs done. As dismal as it sounds though, the news is not all bad - there is a reason everyone wants to be connected to all the world's knowledge, as well as each other, besides its status as the most powerful complex system ever created by man. The Internet's practical promise for individual freedom, democratic engagement, and economic empowerment, is also unparalleled. Moreover, even in the dim light of the profoundly needed but under attended interdisciplinary research into the network, we can ascertain some concrete constraints on the possible range of policy solutions, which all involve increasing the congruity between what we legislate and what we know.


These essays are the text of the first two lectures given by Prof. Gert Bruggemeier in Pisa within the Lezioni Pisane di Diritto Civile Seminar Series 2014. The Lezioni Pisane di Diritto Civile are held every year at the Scuola Superiore di Studi Universitari e di Perfezionamento Sant' Anna. They are entrusted to prominent Italian and foreign private law scholars on topics freely chosen by them. Their audience is deliberately diverse and consists of experts, scholars, professionals, students and cupida iuris (etiam) iuventus .


Abstract Background:: Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) is advocated as a meaningful outcome measure for parents and clinicians using an Ayres Sensory Integration ® Intervention (ASI) approach. Although used in several treatment effectiveness studies, reliability of therapist goal writing and scoring has not been established in this area. Method:: Ten occupational therapists and 40 parents of children receiving ASI participated across two clinical sites. The interview therapists and inter-rater therapists wrote GAS goals based on the same goal-setting interviews conducted with parents. Follow-up parent interviews were conducted post-ASI intervention, and the GAS goals were rated by both the interview therapists and inter-rater therapists. Results:: Seventy-eight percent of interview therapist and inter-rater therapist-written goals agreed on content. Intra Class Correlation coefficient of agreement between the two sets of raters was .70 for the total score. Control of bias for establishing and rating the projected level of performance and scaled GAS goals was within an acceptable range. Conclusion:: Findings contribute reliability evidence for use of GAS with children with sensory processing and integration challenges. Two therapists, from different clinical sites who were unfamiliar with the child, identified goal areas, wrote similar GAS goals based on the same parent interview, and scored goals post intervention with good inter-rater reliability. The


This article presents a new model for explaining the emergence of the party family of extreme right-wing populist parties in Western Europe. As the old master frame of the extreme right was rendered impotent by the outcome of the World War II, it took the innovation of a new, potent master frame before the extreme right was able to break electoral marginalization. Such a master frame—combining ethno-nationalist xenophobia, based on the doctrine of ethno-pluralism, with anti-political establishment populism—evolved in the 1970s, and was made known as a successful frame in connection with the electoral breakthrough of the French Front National in 1984. This event started a process of cross-national diffusion, where embryonic extreme right-wing groups and networks elsewhere adopted the new frame. Hence, the emergence of similar parties, clustered in time—i.e., the birth of a new party family—had less to do with structural factors influencing different political systems in similar ways, as with cross-national diffusion of frames. The innovation and diffusion of the new master frame was a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the emergence of the ERP parties. In order to complete the model, a short list of different political opportunity structures is added.


Some characteristics of the 6 th and 14 th November 1998 Solar Particles Events, observed at 1 AU with the detector NINA, aboard the Russian satellite Resurs-01 n.4, are presented. NINA is in orbit since July 1998. The data selection involves particles detected during passages over the polar regions (L>6). The helium isotopic abundances and energy spectra between 10 and 50 MeV/n of the 6 th November flare, and the abundant high Z particle acquisition of the 14 th November flare, are presented.


A total of 58 patients with pneumoconiosis and 50 miners without pulmonary pathology were examined. HLA markers of the predisposition and resistance to the disease were revealed. Determination of the HLA antigens DR I and B 13 is most essential for revealing the predisposition to pneumoconiosis that of DR 5, A 9 and B 5 for revealing the disease resistance.


We develop an iterative input–output feedback method for the phasing of surface x-ray diffraction (SXRD) amplitudes that relies on successive operations in real and reciprocal space. We demonstrate its use for the recovery of the real and positive electron density of a surface unit cell from simulated SXRD intensities. We have successfully recovered the entire surface electron density in a case where the two-dimensional surface unit cell is the same as that of the bulk and also in one where the surface unit cell is four times larger than that of the bulk. We show that the exponential modelling algorithm for structure completion derived earlier from maximum entropy theory may be regarded as a special case of an input–output phasing algorithm with a particular form of object-domain operations.


Efforts to heal damaged pulp tissue through tissue engineering have produced positive results in pilot trials. However, the differentiation between real regeneration and mere repair is not possible through clinical measures. Therefore, preclinical study models are still of great importance, both to gain insights into treatment outcomes on tissue and cell levels and to develop further concepts for dental pulp regeneration. This review aims at compiling information about different in vitro and in vivo ectopic, semiorthotopic, and orthotopic models. In this context, the differences between monolayer and three-dimensional cell cultures are discussed, a semiorthotopic transplantation model is introduced as an in vivo model for dental pulp regeneration, and finally, different animal models used for in vivo orthotopic investigations are presented.


To provide quality mathematics education for disadvantaged groups of middle school students and continue to offer quality practicum experience to future teachers during the Covid 19 outbreak, we founded the Online Laboratory School. This school was free and open to public school students: 130 middle school students throughout Turkey attended for a 5-week period. There were 25 pre-service teachers actively involved in teaching, under the close supervision of 7 university supervisors. The entire gamut of planning, teaching and reflection sessions for each virtual class were recorded via an e-learning platform. Additionally, survey data was collected from the participating students, parents, pre-service teachers and supervisors. Our findings indicate that we were able to build a unique and virtual learning community. While pre-service teachers and middle school students benefited the most, university supervisors also reported improving their skills on when and how to give feedback. We describe how the school functioned and the range of opportunities it provided to all participants considering situated-learning perspectives and building online-learning communities. We also discuss how this model can be used in the future as a strong asset for teacher education programs and adaptation of fieldwork practices. © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.


Several novel configurations of mobile oceanic renewable energy systems are presented with emphasis on advantages over existing planned offshore development. This paper discloses optimized configuration, maintenance and operation, and navigation of modular mobile buoyant structures utilizing wind, hydrokinetic energy, solar heat, and electrical co-generation to produce energy-intensive commodities or environmental remediation reagents including hydrogen fuel, and anhydrous ammonia. Through integrated control based on geographic information, weather data, and path cost analysis the mobile structures eliminate, mitigate, or circumvent existing risks and costs associated with resource intermittency, storage feedstock scarcity, regulatory delays, aesthetic objections, and land-use restrictions. Consideration of certain historic weather and levelized cost of energy data indicates profitable operation for various configurations presented.


In this paper the authors analyse the functional behaviour of an electrohydrodynamic vibratory equipment, that could be used to vibro-driving the piles into the powerless soils, to drive a demolition hammer, a.s.o. Virtual prototyping is a relative new technique for modelate and analyse the products or systems, before and without realize and put it them into the practice. This technique suppose the existence both of the physical, mathematical and numerical model, and of the software packages specialised for different analysis, like a stress analysis, dynamic behaviour analysis, kinematic analysis, evaluating the technological performances, a.s.o. In this work, it is presented only the first "tool" from the entire set of virtual prototyping technique, namely mathematical model formulation.


Ants positively impact agricultural systems by rapidly consuming large numbers of pest insects, disturbing pests during feeding and oviposition, and increasing soil quality and nutrients. The ability of ants to control pest species has been recognized since the year 300 A.D. and farmers continue to conserve and promote ant populations in agricultural systems worldwide. Naturally occurring ant species in milpas, mango, citrus, coconut, cashews, and cotton control many pest insects. Through judicious insecticide application and changes in management practices such as tillage, and other manipulations of vegetation and crop structure, beneficial ant populations are conserved in a variety of agroecosystems. The first recorded example of biological control was the manipulation of ants throughout citrus orchards in Asia. Augmentation continues in citrus, and methods of ant introduction have been developed in Malaysian and Indonesian cocoa plantations, as well as to control sweet potato and banana weevils in Cuba. Ant species have been formally incorporated into other integrated pest management programs for cashew in Australia, cocoa in Papua New Guinea, and mango in Australia and Vietnam. With efforts to reduce chemical pesticide input in agricultural systems, research evaluating the ability of generalist ant species to control pest insects must continue.


The ability to finely control hand grip forces can be compromised by neuromuscular or musculoskeletal disorders. Therefore, it is recommended to include the training and assessment of grip force control in rehabilitation therapy. The benefits of robot-mediated therapy have been widely reported in the literature, and its combination with virtual reality and biofeedback can improve rehabilitation outcomes. However, the existing systems for hand rehabilitation do not allow both monitoring/training forces exerted by single fingers and providing biofeedback. This paper describes the development of a system for the assessment and recovery of grip force control. An exoskeleton for hand rehabilitation was instrumented to sense grip forces at the fingertips, and two operation modalities are proposed: (i) an active-assisted training to assist the user in reaching target force values and (ii) virtual reality games, in the form of tracking tasks, to train and assess the user's grip force control. For the active-assisted modality, the control of the exoskeleton motors allowed generating additional grip force at the fingertips, confirming the feasibility of this modality. The developed virtual reality games were positively accepted by the volunteers and allowed evaluating the performance of healthy and pathological users.


The field of wireless communications has experienced huge growth in the last decades. Various new user applications have been developed, and the demand for efficient utilization of resources has increased considerably. Opportunistic scheduling schemes can provide higher throughput and increased quality-of-service (QoS) in wireless networks by giving priority to the users with favorable channel conditions. In this dissertation, one of the main goals is to exploit the channel variations of the user channels to design the scheduling algorithms for improved throughput guarantees. Optimization problems are formulated with an aim at finding optimal scheduling algorithms for maximizing throughput guarantees in a wireless network. We show how the solution to such problems can be obtained both when the throughput guarantees are (i) identical and (ii) different for all the mobile users. We also develop the corresponding adaptive scheduling algorithms, both for the scenarios where single user is scheduled per time-slot and where multiple users are selected in each time-slot (e.g. in MIMO systems). The real-world systems based on MobileWiMAX, HSDPA, WINNER I and LTE are considered to analyze the proposed scheduling schemes. Results from simulations show that these algorithms can improve the throughput guarantees in modern cellular networks compared to other well-known scheduling algorithms. Another goal is to analyze the performance loss of such scheduling schemes in the case of imperfect channel information at the base station. We also suggest a rate back-off mechanism to reduce the outage probability in that case. Furthermore, we also propose an approximate expression for the throughput guarantee violation probability to analyze the performance of opportunistic scheduling algorithms without conducting experimental investigations. Such an expression can be very useful for the network providers. Most of the research in joint bandwidth and power allocation for wireless multi-user networks has focused on continuous rate, power, and bandwidth allocations in the presence of perfect channel knowledge. However, this is not the case with practical systems. In this dissertation, we therefore also consider the issue of discrete power and bandwidth allocation for discrete-rate multi-user link adaptation with imperfect channel state information. To be more specific, we discuss how the system can be designed in such a scenario for (i) sum rate maximization and (ii) average power minimization in a multi-user setting. The results show that with only a few codes, we can approach the performance of systems that employ continuous (infinitely many) rates. We have also found that the correlation between predicted and actual values of the fading envelope affects the system in the sense that the sum rate is reduced and average power consumption is increased as the correlation is reduced.


This paper reports on the selection of insulating material types in a developed atmospheric-pressure non-thermal plasma jet (ANPJ-II) device which was operated previously in our laboratory based on the minimum erosion area of the insulator's nozzle. Three identical insulator groups used in our experiment include; Teflon insulator material with different thicknesses of 1.5 mm and 2 mm respectively, and Ceramic insulating material with thickness of 2 mm. ANPJ-II device is operated with each of the three insulator groups. These insulators are operated and analyzed with different operation times for compressed Air or Nitrogen gas with a flow rate of 12 L/min and input voltage of 6 kV.  The erosion area of these insulator materials is measured as a function of the operation time. The Ceramic insulator was found to have the minimum erosion area. Also, the temperature of both the cathode and the insulating material (Teflon or Ceramic) are measured to study the effect of operation time and the gas type on the device components.


Primary hepatocytes were cultured at oxygen tensions similar to those reported to be present in periportal (13% O2) and pericentral (4% O2) regions of the liver lobules. Cellular DNA and protein content of individual hepatocytes were determined simultaneously by two‐parameter (DNA/protein) flow cytometry after 1, 4, and 7 days in culture. PO2 tensions monitored on line in conventional plastic culture dishes revealed that the depletion of the PO2 in the culture medium depended on the number of hepatocytes plated. When cultured as monolayer after 4–7 days at periportal (13% O2) and more pronounced at pericentral oxygen concentration (4% O2), up to 90% of the hepatocytes showed degenerated nuclei but normal protein content. By using culture dishes with teflon membrane bottoms the oxygen tension in the culture medium was accurately maintained by the incubator atmosphere. At pericentral oxygen tension the fraction of 2N cells increased by about 20%. That of the 4N cell was not affected, and the contribution of 8N hepatocytes dropped to 70% compared to cultures at periportal oxygen tension. Concomitantly, in the 4% O2 hepatocyte cultures the protein content of the 2N and the 4N cells was better preserved and increased by up to 10%. These results suggest that in vitro at pericentral oxygen conditions (4% O2) ageing of hepatocytes is delayed, regenerating processes are better maintained, and, furthermore, freshly isolated 4N hepatocytes have the potency to adapt their metabolism in vitro to periportal as well as to perivenous oxygen tensions.


The present work describes the fabrication of Ni–graphene composite coatings on carbon steel at different deposition temperatures (15 °C, 30 °C, 45 °C and 60 °C, respectively) by an electrochemical codeposition method. The surface morphology, compositions, roughness and phase structures were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD), respectively. The polarization test and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were used to study the electrochemical properties of composite coatings. The results showed that the Ni–graphene composite coatings deposited at 45 °C exhibit coarser surface morphology with increased carbon content, refined grain sizes, high micro hardness and better corrosion resistance performance. At lower temperature relatively flat Ni–graphene composite coatings were obtained and the same characteristics of the coatings were investigated at higher than the peak value of the bath temperature. Thickness increased with the increasing of deposition temperature. The linear changes in composition and surface morphology of the Ni–graphene composite coatings were observed when the deposition temperature reached up to 45 °C.


The cloud computing paradigm provides remote computing resources to the cloud service consumers and businesses. When combined with Internet of Things (IoT), both technologies open up a wide range of new possibilities for more agile and flexible applications. However, guaranteed quality of service is essential in provisioning of cloud services, which makes Service Level Agreements (SLAs) a focal point in the cloud computing and IoT ecosystem. The SLA definition and modeling phase is crucial in establishing SLAs between service providers and consumers. This paper identifies that the research on definition and modeling of SLAs for cloud services in IoT is widely dispersed and there is a lack of a systematic and comprehensive literature review. Thus, in this paper we build on top of a previously conducted systematic mapping study on management of SLAs for cloud computing and IoT to perform a comprehensive systematic review and discuss sub-categorization of the definition and modeling aspects of SLAs for cloud services in IoT. Furthermore we analyze the extracted relevant literature, present commonalities in the studies, identify gaps and discuss opportunities for further research in the area.