Lighting is not only essential for human functioning but it also creates specific impressions, generates desired patterns of behavior and contributes to visual comfort and feelings of safety. The Human Centric Lighting Solutions program of the Snellius Innovation Partnership aims to develop evidence based 'dynamic lighting' and 'personalized lighting' concepts that effectively support all the aforementioned functions. To develop and optimize evidence based lighting concepts, there is a need for validated and effective methods and techniques to assess to what extent lighting concepts meet their specific objectives, i.e. whether lighting indeed succeeds in manipulating the sensory aspects of the environment in such a way that people are supported and the intended effects are achieved (e.g. increased visual performance, feel comfortable in that environment, exhibit a desired behavior). This report presents an overview of evaluation measures, data collection and analysis methods that may serve to assess different aspects of perceptual lighting quality. Thereto, we identified appropriate methods and techniques to obtain data for several relevant parameters, statistically based data from participants and the external factors that have to be taken into account when studying a lighting concept (indoor or outdoor) in a field test. The perceptual lighting quality measures and evaluation procedures presented in this report may serve as an underlay for the design of experiments to test the effectiveness of new lighting concepts in practice.


Eigenface based recognition is widely used to identify individual faces. This technique is commonly used in human recognition domain. In this research, we are investigating for implementation of a possible solution; which can be used to identify species. The eigenface technique is a novel approach in animal recognition domain [1, 2]. In this application, cats and possums are targeted as species of interest. The main reason for targeting cats and possum is, these introduced species are classified as threat to New Zealand natural environment and native wildlife. The next phase of this research project is to implement a vision based trapping system. This paper explains a novel classifier to use with eigenface techniques to separate different species.


2 Linas Veterinary Clinic, Debreceno St. 5, Klaipėda 94175, Lithuania During the past decade, vector-borne diseases (VBDs) have been continuously spreading in Europe, including Lithuania. VBDs are caused by bacteria, parasites, or viruses transmitted by the bite of hematophagous arthropods (mainly ticks and mosquitoes). Canine vector-borne diseases (CVBDs) are a growing global threat. Since the majority of these diseases have a zoonotic potential, their management requires a multidisciplinary approach. Global warming and simplified rules for travelling with animal companions provide ideal conditions for the circulation and spreading of vector-borne pathogens in non-endemic geographical regions. Information on CVBD agents at the local and regional levels allows veterinarians to better recognize the pathogens that can affect dogs, thus facilitating diagnosis and treatment. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence and co-infection of mosquitoand tick-borne pathogens in domestic dogs using molecular DNA analysis methods. Blood samples were collected from dogs presented at different veterinary clinics in six regions of Lithuania. A total of 100 blood samples from dogs suspected for canine babesiosis were screened for the presence of tick-borne pathogens Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Borrelia spp., Babesia canis and mosquito-borne pathogens Dirofilaria spp. Results of real-time PCR analysis demonstrated the presence of D. repens in 23.0%, A. phagocytophilum in 35.0%, Babesia spp. in 81.0%, and Borrelia spp. in 19.0% of examined dogs. Double, triple, or even quadruple co-infections were detected. The present study is the first investigation of multiple vector-borne pathogens in dogs from Lithuania using molecular detection methods. Our findings demonstrate a high infection rate of vector-borne pathogens in dogs and suggest that co-infections with anaplasmosis, borreliosis, babesiosis, and dirofilariosis in dogs are expected in Lithuania.


Lappeenranta University of Technology LUT School of Technology LUT Institute of Energy Technology, Electrical Engineering Joni Siimesjarvi Energy saving potential in reservoir pumping 2014 Bachelor's Thesis. 34 p. Examiner: D.Sc. Tero Ahonen Pumping systems account for up to 22 % of the energy consumed by electrical motors in European industry. Many studies have shown that there is also a lot of potential for energy savings in these systems with the improvement of devices, flow control or surrounding system. The best method for more energy efficient pumping has to be found for each system separately. This thesis studies how energy saving potential in reservoir pumping system is affected by surrounding variables, such as the static head variation and friction factor. The objective is to create generally applicable graphs to quickly compare methods for reducing pumping system's energy costs. The gained results are several graphs showcasing how the chosen variables affect energy saving potential of the pumping system in one specific case. To judge if these graphs are generally applicable, more testing with different pumps and environments are required.


In this paper, I present research geared toward the identification of metaphors in a corpus of conference calls given by a Brazilian investment bank. These conference calls are presentations held between the bank's board and its investors. The methodology was based on the extensive annotation of all metaphors in the corpus. This annotation was followed by a thorough check via concordances, in order to ensure its consistency. Results show the most frequent metaphors, the vocabulary that realizes them, as well as the source domains from which they originate.


In this paper we develop an economic growth model that includes anthropogenic climate change. We explicitly include a research sector that creates new technologies and simultaneously expands productivities of existing technologies. The environment is affected by R&D activities both negatively, through increase of output from productivity growth, as well as positively, as new technologies are less harmful for the environment. We consider three different versions of the model. In the first version, there are no constraints with respect to research spending, while the R&D sector affects the rest of the economy. In this version, the environmental damages are lower than in the model with simple exogenous technical change. Next, we consider the research dynamics with a constant R&D budget set by the agent. We find that there exist two different steady states of this economy, one with higher productivities and less new technologies being developed, and the other with more technologies being created. In the last version, finally, we allow for dynamic R&D spending. For this version, it is demonstrated that sustained economic growth with preservation of the environment is possible given certain conditions as regards the technology and R&D spending.


The financial systems in Ghana tend to evolve around the banking system. The banking sector is experiencing increased competitions in the new deregulated market. Competition in the banking sector matters for a number of reasons. Operating in the competitive banking environment is very challenging. Formulating a consistent strategy is an intricacy for many management teams, making that strategy work is even more complex. The aim of this study is to examine the role of strategy in competitive business environment. A case study research design was adopted for easy assessment of the role of strategy in a competitive environment. Ecobank Ghana Limited, the Pan African bank was adopted for the case study area. Both primary and secondary source data was used with a sample size of 320 respondents. Convenient sampling technique was used to collect data from Management of Ecobank.  The study therefore found that the competitive strategies of Ecobank Ghana are effective and that the strategies have contributed to high financial performance of the bank. The impact of competitive strategies on the performance of the bank are increasing sales volume; profit efficiency, increase productivity, increase in ROE, businesses and sustainable growth increased market share, enhanced customer service and increased of customer waiver of charges. The study recommends that the bank should work hard to build and sustain its competitive advantage and be prepared for the next wave of market reforms and restructuring by applying new methods of information technology and upgrading the skills of staff and management. Key w ords: Strategy, Competive Business Environment


We describe the planning, processing, and uncertainty analysis for a marine CSEM survey of the Scarborough gas field off the northwest coast of Australia, consisting of 20 transmitter tow lines and 144 deployments positioned along a dense 2D profile and a complex 3D grid. The purpose of this survey was to collect a high-quality data set over a known hydrocarbon prospect and use it to further the development of CSEM as a hydrocarbon mapping tool. Recent improvements in navigation and processing techniques yielded high-quality frequency domain data. Data pseudosections exhibit a significant anomaly that is laterally confined within the known reservoir location. Perturbation analysis of the uncertainties in the transmitter parameters yielded predicted uncertainties in amplitude and phase of just a few percent at close ranges. These uncertainties may, however, be underestimated. We introduce a method for more accurately deriving uncertainties using a line of receivers towed twice in opposite directions. Comparing the residuals for each line yields a Gaussian distribution directly related to the aggregate uncertainty of the transmitter parameters. Constraints on systematic error in the transmitter antenna dip and inline range can be calculated by perturbation analysis. Uncertainties are not equal in amplitude and phase, suggesting that inversion of these data would be better suited in these components rather than in real and imaginary components. One-dimensional inversion showed that the reservoir and a confounding resistive layer above it cannot be separately resolved even when the roughness constraint is modified to allow for jumps in resistivity and prejudices are provided, indicating that this level of detail is beyond the single-site CSEM data. Further, when range-dependent error bars are used, the resolution decreases at a shallower depth than when a fixed-error level is used.


PURPOSE
To investigate the efficacy of autologous dentin particles combined with platelet-rich fibrin membrane (PRF) in the treatment of root bifurcation lesions of mandibular first molar.

METHODS
Ninety-three patients (93 teeth) with mandibular first molar root bifurcation lesions were selected from our department from February 2016 to October 2017. They were randomly divided into 2 groups. Forty-six patients with 46 teeth in the experimental group underwent autologous dentin particles combined with platelet-rich fibrin membrane, while patents in the control group (47 patients with 47 teeth) were treated with Bio-Oss implanted in the bone defect area covered with collagen membrane. The patients were revisted at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after operation. The success rate of the operation group, the depth of periodontal pocket (PD), the loss of attachment (AL), the depth of penetration of the root bifurcation (HPD), and the bone density of the root bifurcation area before and after treatment. The data were recorded and compared with SPSS25.0 software package.

RESULTS
The success rate was 97.83%(45/46) in the experimental group, 85.11%(40/47) in the control group, the difference between the two groups was significant(P<0.05). After treatment, PD, AL and HPD decreased significantly (P<0.05), and MGVs increased gradually. There was no significant difference in MGVs before treatment and 1 month after treatment in the experimental group (P>0.05). MGVs at other time points were significantly higher than those of the control group (P<0.05). PD, AL and HPD of the experimental group were lower significantly than the control group at each time point after treatment (P<0.05), and MGVs value was significantly higher than the control group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of complications(4.35% vs 6.38%, χ2=0.189, P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
Autologous dentin particles combined with platelet-rich fibrin membrane is effective for the treatment of root bifurcation lesions of mandibular first molar, which is worthy of wide application.


The technique of decomposition of samples with a hardly soluble complex matrix (sintering with soda) for subsequent determination of trace element composition by high-resolution mass spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma is improved and tested. Analytical and methodological problems arising in the process of preparation of the samples under analysis for analysis are described, directions for their solution are indicated. The correctness of the developed sample preparation procedure has been verified by means of a comparative analysis of various methods applied to international certified standard rock samples.


A spate of safety breaches in its laboratories that handle deadly pathogens has prompted the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to halt work in two laboratories and launch an organization-wide review of its biosafety practices, the CDC director, Tom Frieden, announced on 11 July.

"These events should never have happened," Frieden said in a teleconference with reporters. "I'm disappointed by what happened, and frankly, I'm angry about it."

In one incident, 67 CDC staff were potentially exposed to Bacillus anthracis , the bacterium that causes anthrax, when a protein extract from an anthrax sample was transferred from the CDC's Bioterrorism Rapid Response and Advanced Technology biosafety level (BSL) 3 laboratory to a BSL 2 laboratory without assuring that the extract did not contain viable cells and spores. The method for sterilizing the material before transfer was sufficient to inactivate vegetative cells but not the hardier anthrax spores, the CDC said.

A review of the incident also released on 11 July determined that it was "not impossible" but "extremely unlikely" that staff had been exposed, the CDC said, and so far none had become …


In a ten year period we selected at random 235 patients, who underwent a vaginal or abdominal hysterectomy or a radical operation (Latzko-Meigs) and evaluated their postoperative morbidity with special regard to urinary tract infections. In the period of 1971 to 1979 we observed a significant increase of urinary tract infections following vaginal hysterectomy, especially after additional colporrhaphia, as well as a significant increase of febrile postoperative phases after radical hysterectomy. Also a shift towards so called "nosocomial bacteria" (Klebsiella, Aerobacter and Pseudomonas) was observed. We therefore changed our perioperative management of Latzko-Meigs operation (closed urine catheter system, perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis). The comparison of the groups before and after this change show a significant decrease of all signs of postoperative morbidity observed.


Background: Tocopherols, as the major source of vitamin E in diet in China and US, include four isoforms (α, β, γ, and δ) differentiated by the number and position of methyl groups on the chromanol ring. Tocopherols may inhibit carcinogenesis through inhibition of cell proliferation, induction of apoptosis, inhibition of angiogenesis, and enhancement of immune function. Results of past prospective studies and randomized controlled trials that evaluated the association between tocopherols intake and female lung cancer risk have been inconsistent and did not take into consideration lung cancer histology. Methods: We prospectively evaluated the association between tocopherol isoforms from diet, vitamin E supplement use, and lung cancer risk in 72,829 Chinese female nonsmokers aged 40-70 years and participating in the Shanghai Women9s Health Study (SWHS). Tocopherol exposure from dietary and supplements sources were assessed through a validated food-frequency questionnaire at baseline and reassessed during follow-up. Cox proportional hazards models with time-dependent analysis were used to calculate multivariate-adjusted Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence interval (CIs) for lung cancer. All statistical tests were two sided. Results: Between January 1997 and December 2010, 481 study participants were diagnosed with lung cancer after study enrollment. Total dietary tocopherol was inversely associated with lung cancer risk among women complying with suggested dietary guidelines for adequate intake (AI) of tocopherol (14 mg/day or more: HR: 0.73; 95% CI = 0.54-0.99; compared to the lowest category) with a significant dose-response trend (P trend=0.045). Furthermore, borderline significant inverse associations were observed for combined dietary combined β and γ tocopherol (HR: 0.79; 95% CI = 0.59-1.06), and δ-tocopherols intake (HR: 0.78; 95% CI = 0.59-1.04). Additionally, there was a significant interaction effect between vitamin E or multivitamin supplements use and total dietary tocopherol intake in analysis using AI of tocopherol (P interaction = 0.018). In contrast, vitamin E supplement use was associated with a significant increase in lung cancer risk (HR: 1.39; 95% CI = 1.07-1.82). Analyses of lung cancer histology found that vitamin E supplement use was associated with increased risk of adenocarcinoma (HR: 1.79; 95% CI = 1.23-2.60). Exclusion of 45 cases diagnosed within two years of follow-up did not change the HR estimations appreciably. Conclusion: Total dietary tocopherol may be associated with lower lung cancer risk among female non-smokers, while tocopherol from vitamin supplements use was significantly associated with increased lung adenocarcinoma risk. Our results require confirmation in other prospective studies. Citation Format: Qi-Jun Wu, Yong-Bing Xiang, Gong Yang, Hong-Lan Li, Qing Lan, Yu-Tang Gao, Wei Zheng, Xiao-Ou Shu, Jay Fowke. Vitamin E intake and the lung cancer risk among female nonsmokers: A report from the Shanghai Women9s Health Study. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2013 Oct 27-30; National Harbor, MD. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Can Prev Res 2013;6(11 Suppl): Abstract nr A46.


In the last two decades genetic research achieved very significant results. In 2015, only few years since the completion of the Human Genome Project, scientists launched new experimental studies to genetically modify the DNA sequence of human embryos. These scientific advances have raised several ethical concerns, promoting issues that involve both natural and human science– including legal studies. Law and ethics frequently have to address the issues originated from these innovations and finding a common toolset often proves to be an arduous task. Genetics has a transnational dimension, experiences a continuous and rapid evolution and spreads new unfamiliar concepts, which ask to be integrated in social and legal culture.  Analyzing the path that conducted the US Congress to approve the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, this essay assesses the most common problems in genetic information management in the legal field. In recent studies, the first issue concerns the qualification of genetic data, considering their legal value to identify possible suitable models of protection. With regard to this, U.S. genetic legislation originally presented two different complementary options — antidiscrimination and privacy laws. With the clear intent to foster genetic research and scientific investments, the Federal legislator decided to endorse the protection against discriminations — the most evident effects of the distort use of genetic information — moving privacy to the background. Nevertheless, the limited scope of the Act — health insurance and employment — and the rapid diffusion of genetic tests for extremely varied purposes stressed the loopholes of GINA, suggesting the need to address some issues through the different legal lens of data protection. For such reasons, the Congress, in 2016, introduced a new bill to handle the problem, considering, in particular, privacy in genetic research. Covering the misuses of genetic information safeguarding a lawful employment of data seems a possible way to encourage an aware usage of genetic tests and scientific techniques, taking advantage of their silver linings without harming fundamental rights.


The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive has it made mandatory to include an energy performance certificate (EPC) on real estate advertisements so as to promote efficient properties. Previous research has found a positive correlation between residential prices and EPC's energy ranks; nonetheless, the analysis of the evolution of such impact for the same market is still pending. This paper tries to shed light on this issue by analyzing the evolution of prices of the second largest urban agglomeration in Spain. In doing so, a pooled hedonic model is carried out departing from selling listing prices of apartments and a set of locative control variables. Results suggest that in a short period the energy premium for multifamily houses has positively evolved. As a result, a sharped market differentiation arises between inefficient and energy saving dwellings. Such findings have significant implications for the construction and real estate industry, since higher selling prices may compensate for higher building costs coming from energy efficient technologies.


Deep-sea sediments can reveal much about the last 200 million years of Earth history, including the history of ocean life and climate. Microbial diversity in Afanasy Nikitin seamount located at Equatorial East Indian Ocean (EEIO) was investigated. Deep sea sediment collected at 150 cm depth (∼67 ky BP) exhibited a dominance of clones clustering in the phylum Firmicutes (63%), followed by γ-Proteobacteria (37%). The bacterial diversity within sediment at 200 cm depth (∼84 ky BP) was dominated by γ-Proteobacteria (66%) followed by β- Proteobacteria (34%), whereas no Firmicutes clones were retrieved. Notably, 29% clones from 150 cm and 18% of clones from 200 cm sediment showed high identity to sequences previously reported from mining sites, while 21% of clones from 150 cm depth and 10% from 200 cm sediments showed identity to sequences previously reported from volcanic areas. Further, many of the sequences were from uncultured clones. Overall, these data may help elucidate the nature of microorganisms inhabiting these sites and unravel the molecular diversity of the deep sea from an evolutionary perspective.


Question: What is the relative importance of seed mass and abiotic factors in species-specific seedling growth and morphology during the first and the second growing season? How do oak species respond along gradients of these factors? Location: Mediterranean oak forest in southern Spain. Methods: We analysed seedling growth components and morphology of three co-occurring Quercus species (two deciduous and one evergreen). Oak seeds with a wide variety of sizes were sown along broad gradients of abiotic conditions. Intra- and inter-specific differences were evaluated by calibrating maximum likelihood estimators of seedling growth during the first two years of life. Results: We found multiple resources and conditions affecting seedling morphology and biomass allocation. However, the integrative variables of seedling growth – total aboveground biomass and relative growth rate (RGR) – were affected by two main factors: seed mass and light conditions. The relative contribution of these two factors depended strongly on seedling age. Seed mass explained most of the growth and morphological variables during the first year, while light conditions were the best predictor in the second growing season. In contrast, soil factors did not play an important role in seedling growth. We found some evidence of regeneration niche partitioning between oak species along the light gradient, a reflection of their distribution patterns as adults at the study site. Conclusions: We conclude that inter-specific differences in seedling growth, arising from seed size variability and microsite heterogeneity, could be of paramount importance in oak species niche segregation, driving stand dynamics and composition along environmental gradients.


Abstract The aim of this study was to use finite element analysis (FEA) to assess the influence of microthread design at the implant neck on stress distribution in the surrounding bone. A commercially available implant with 3.5 mm diameter and 10.5 mm length was selected and used as a model. For the purpose of designing the microthread implant model, microthreads were added to the implant neck in a computerized model. A force measuring 100 N was then applied to the entire surface of the abutment in the vertical direction. The results showed that in both models, stress was mainly concentrated at the cortical bone adjacent to the neck of the implant. Maximum stress values in the cortical bone surrounding the implant surface periphery were 12 and 6.25 MPa for the microthread and conventional models, respectively. In this study, we conclude that adding a microthread design at the implant neck decreased stress values in the adjacent bone.


Emission rates of CH4 were measured in microcosms of submerged soil which were planted with rice. Drainage of the rice microcosms for 48 h resulted in drastically decreased CH4 emission rates which only slowly recovered to the rates of the undrained controls. Drainage also resulted in drastically increased sulphate concentrations which only slowly decreased to nearly zero background values after the microcosms were submerged again. The mechanisms responsible for the decrease of CH4 production by aeration were investigated in slurries of a loamy and a sandy Italian rice soil. Incubation of the soil slurries under anoxic conditions resulted first in the reduction of nitrate, sulphate and ferric iron before CH4 production started. Incubation of the soil slurries for 48 h under air resulted in immediate and complete inhibition of CH4 production. Although the soil slurries were then again incubated under anoxic conditions (N2 atmosphere), the inhibition of CH4 production persisted for more than 30 days. The redox potential of the soil increased after the aeration but returned within 15 days to the low values typical for CH4 production. However, the concentrations of sulphate and of ferric iron increased dramatically after the aeration and stayed at elevated levels for the period during which CH4 production was inhibited. These observations show that even brief exposure of the soil to O2 allowed the production of sulphate and ferric iron from their reduced precursors. Elevated sulphate and ferric iron concentrations allowed sulphate‐reducing and ferric iron‐reducing bacteria to outcompete methanogenic bacteria on H2 as common substrate. Indeed, concentrations of H2 were decreased as long as sulphate and ferric iron were high so that the Gibbs free energy of CH4 production from H2/CO2 was also increased (less exergonic). On the other hand, concentrations of acetate, the more important precursor for CH4, were not much affected by the short aeration of the soil slurries, and the Gibbs free energy of CH4 production from acetate was highly exergonic suggesting that acetotrophic methanogens were not outcompeted but were otherwise inhibited. Aeration also resulted in increased rates of CO2 production and in a short‐term increase of N2O production. However, these increases were < 10% of the decreased production of CH4 and did not represent a trade‐off in terms of CO2 equivalents. Hence, short‐term drainage and aeration of submerged paddy fields may be a useful mitigation option for decreasing the emission of greenhouse gases.


Background Lowering the dose for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging reduces patients' radiation burden but decreases the image quality by increasing noise and reducing imaging detail and quantifications. This paper introduces a method for acquiring high-quality PET images from an ultra-low-dose state to achieve both high-quality images and a low radiation burden. Methods We developed a two-task-based end-to-end generative adversarial network, named bi-c-GAN, that incorporated the advantages of PET and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) modalities to synthesize high-quality PET images from an ultra-low-dose input. Moreover, a combined loss, including the mean absolute error, structural loss, and bias loss, was created to improve the trained model's performance. Real integrated PET/MRI data from 67 patients' axial heads (each with 161 slices) were used for training and validation purposes. Synthesized images were quantified by the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), normalized mean square error (NMSE), structural similarity (SSIM), and contrast noise ratio (CNR). The improvement ratios of these four selected quantitative metrics were used to compare the images produced by bi-c-GAN with other methods. Results In the four-fold cross-validation, the proposed bi-c-GAN outperformed the other three selected methods (U-net, c-GAN, and multiple input c-GAN). With the bi-c-GAN, in a 5% low-dose PET, the image quality was higher than that of the other three methods by at least 6.7% in the PSNR, 0.6% in the SSIM, 1.3% in the NMSE, and 8% in the CNR. In the hold-out validation, bi-c-GAN improved the image quality compared to U-net and c-GAN in both 2.5% and 10% low-dose PET. For example, the PSNR using bi-C-GAN was at least 4.46% in the 2.5% low-dose PET and at most 14.88% in the 10% low-dose PET. Visual examples also showed a higher quality of images generated from the proposed method, demonstrating the denoising and improving ability of bi-c-GAN. Conclusions By taking advantage of integrated PET/MR images and multitask deep learning (MDL), the proposed bi-c-GAN can efficiently improve the image quality of ultra-low-dose PET and reduce radiation exposure.


With the rapid development of internet, explosive growth of social network creates large-scale social network data. In order to discover the potential value of the social network data, many analysis methods have been developed. However, using prior knowledge about the subgraph structure of a given network, it is possible to identify a target node or infer some useful information. In this paper, we mainly consider how to prevent such subgraph attack, and propose a practical method to battle it. We use iterative hash to detect the isomorphic subgraph structures and try to greedily match the anonymous subgraphs. Empirical queries on anonymized social network shows both the security and utility advantage of our algorithm.


Today George Peabody College is a part of Vanderbilt University, as it has been since its merger in 1979. Its prior history was rich and complex. In this book, Paul Conkin, author of the award-winning history of Vanderbilt, Gone with the Ivy, tells the story of Peabody's many lives, of its successes and failures, and of its many colorful leaders and professors. It all began as a small frontier academy in 1785. The institution that would become Peabody experienced its first reinvention two decades later as it became Cumberland College, and then, in 1826, the University of Nashville. The University maintained an elite undergraduate college until 1850, and, despite the success of its medical school and a military institute, it failed in three subsequent efforts to restart its undergraduate program. In 1875 the University offered its campus and degree-granting authority to the first normal school in the state of Tennessee, a school funded by the Peabody Education Fund. The Peabody Normal College was the best in the South, and, as such, exerted an enormous influence on education in the region. A new era began in 1909. The trustees of the Peabody Fund, at its liquidation, provided an eventual 1.5 million dollars to establish a graduate-level George Peabody College for Teachers. It opened for classes in 1914, on its present campus, where it quickly became the premier teachers' college in the South. As was the case with many private, independent institutions, Peabody faced intermittent financial struggles, which finally ended with its union with Vanderbilt. Today Peabody is, by almost any criteria, one of the five or six strongest colleges of education in the United States.


In urban road traffic system, an important issue with the expansion of the network, resulting in the increasing complexity of the network, in-depth analysis of complex network operating mechanism is to further optimize and control network traffic and maximize network efficiency is what we are facing, urban traffic network congestion problem is a typical complex network optimization and control problems. In this paper, optimization and model-ing of complex transportation network will transport net-work abstraction for the network nodes and the intersec-tion of the road, the vehicle network communication ab-stract packets, control timing Intersections, namely switching control network nodes , proposed a distributed message mechanism adaptive optimization method based on network traffic and through mathematical modeling and simulation, to verify its validity.


The judgment in Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa sheds light on the legal effects of soft law instruments that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) will recognise, while distinguishing between their legally binding force and their legal or practical effects. European soft law is now often relied on in national courts, and can have an important impact on the rights and obligations of individuals. However, some of the goals of the Commission are only partly attainable due to the specific legal status of soft law instruments, and the current languages policy of the European Union. Given that soft law was not found to expressly impose obligations on individuals, the Court held that there was no requirement to publish it in all the official languages of the European Union. This has a negative impact on transparency and legal certainty, diminishing the role of soft law instruments in promoting such goals.


The Commission's soft post‐legislative rulemaking by way of communications, notices, codes and similar instruments has become an increasingly important tool for the adequate functioning of the system of shared administration in the EU. However, the development of its legal framework has not kept pace with this, as the Treaty on the EU nor the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) recognise this regulatory phenomenon. As a result, its current procedural control is of a very ad hoc nature. Given the risks this rulemaking involves for the legitimacy of the EU, its practical and legal importance for legal practice and the way in which the Treaty of Lisbon has sought to condition and control the behaviour of the Union institutions, it is argued that the time is ripe for a more stringent and consistent procedural control of soft post‐legislative rulemaking. Some options to realise this are presented for further research.


In a Michelson interferometer, the contrast of the interference pattern fades away due to incoherence of light when the mirrors are not in equidistant positions. We propose an experiment where the distance between the interference fringes can be determined, even when the difference in length of the interferometer arms is far beyond the coherence length of the light, i.e. when the interference pattern disappears completely for the naked eye. We used a semiconductor laser with two photodiodes as sensors, which enabled us to follow the fluctuations of the light intensity on the screen. The distance between invisible interference fringes was determined from periodic changes of the summed fluctuating signal, obtained by changing the distance between the two sensors.


Since Margaret Thatcher's government in Great Britain, educational policies based on a business oriented style of management of education have been imposed in many countries all over the world. This article focuses on two key aspects of this process. First, it makes some considerations on the foundations on which these policies rest, as well as on the effects that they are having in the functioning of the educational system. Second, by studying the particular case of Andalusia, which pioneered the application of many of these new formulas, this articles discusses how these policies have been introduced in Spain.


In this note I explore how a non-constant rate of time preference on the part of policymakers affects economic growth. In a simple dynamic general equilibrium model I show that if the incumbent government has a rate of time preference in the form of a quasi-hyperbolic discounting function tax rates can be substantially higher and economic growth considerably lower than the standard case of exponential discounting.


The Ras superfamily of proteins consists of five branches: Ras, Rho, Arf, Rab and Ran subfamilies. These proteins are involved in a plethora of biological functions spanning cytoskeletal organization, cell proliferation, transcription and intracellular trafficking. Ras-Binding Domains (RBDs) have classically been identified as autonomous ubiquitin-like folded regions that bind certain activated Ras GTPases of the Ras subfamily. In general, RBDs in many proteins have been tagged with membrane-targeting functions as in the case of the well-characterized c-Raf-RBD/Ras interaction. However, it is becoming apparent that the definition and functions of RBDs need to be revamped in order to reflect the new discoveries associated with this domain. Here, we discuss in more detail the recent advances associated with these RBDs. We highlight research identifying RBDs in formins, ELMOs and the RhoGEF, Syx and discuss the emerging role for RBDs in controlling autoinhibition relief and the newly recognized versatility of RBDs to interact with Rho and Arf family GTPases. In addition, these recent findings raise the exciting hypothesis that functional RBDs remain hidden in the proteome and are ready to be uncovered.


Histological examination of the wall of the stomach and esophagus in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma associated with cirrhosis demonstrated intravariceal tumor thrombi in 13 (23.6%) of 55 cases studied. There were distant hematogenous metastases in 31 of them, of whom 12 (38.7%) had variceal tumor thrombi. Tumor thrombi were of varying sizes, and tumor cells appeared either intact, degenerated or necrotic. In seven cases, there was a firm adhesion of thrombi onto the vascular wall suggesting possible mural infiltration, but no extravascular metastases were noted grossly. These findings suggest a possibility of metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma to the stomach and esophagus via the portal vein. It is also suggested that the degree of varices is not increased by tumor thrombus formation per se, and that both varices and tumor thrombi are due to extensive hepatofugal collateral circulation. Considering that 12 of 13 cases of intravariceal tumor thrombi had lung metastases, a portal vein—varices—lung route is possible for lung metastasis beside the established route through the hepatic vein in hepatocellular carcinoma.


Abstract. We collected soil solutions by suction lysimeters in a
central European temperate forest with a history of acidification-related
spruce die-back in order to interpret spatial patterns of soil nutrient
partitioning, compare them with stream water chemistry and evaluate these
parameters relative to concurrent loads of anions and cations in
precipitation. Five lysimeter nests were installed in the 33 ha U dvou
loucek (UDL) mountain catchment at different topographic positions
(hilltops, slopes and valley). Following equilibration, monthly soil
solution samples were interrogated over a 2-year period with regard to their
SO42-, NO3-, NH4+, Na+, K+, Ca2+,
Mg2+ and total dissolved Al concentrations, organic carbon (DOC) and
pH. Soil pits were excavated in the vicinity of each lysimeter nest to also
constrain soil chemistry. For an estimation of phosphorus (P) availability,
ammonium oxalate extraction of soil samples was performed. Cation exchange
capacity (CEC ≤58 meq kg−1) and base saturation (BS ≤13 %) were found to be significantly lower at UDL than in other monitored
central European small catchments areas. Spatial trends and seasonality in
soil solution chemistry support belowground inputs from mineral-stabilized
legacy pollutants. Overall, the soil solution data suggest that the
ecosystem was still chemically out of balance relative to the concurrent
loads of anions and cations in precipitation, documenting incomplete
recovery from acidification. Nearly 30 years after peak acidification, UDL
exhibited similar soil solution concentrations of SO42, Ca2+ and Mg2+ as median values at the Pan-European International
Co-operative Program (ICP) Forest sites with similar bedrock lithology and
vegetation cover, yet NO3- concentrations were an order of
magnitude higher. When concentrations of SO42-, NO3- and
base cations in runoff are compared to soil pore waters, higher
concentration in runoff points to lateral surficial leaching of pollutants
and nutrients in excess than from topsoil to subsoil. With P availability
being below the lowest range observed in soil plots from the Czech Republic,
the managed forest ecosystem in UDL probably reflects growing inputs of C
from regenerating vegetation in the N-saturated soil, which leads to P
depletion in the soil. In addition, the observed spatial variability
provides evidence pointing to substrate variability, C and P
bioavailability, and landscape as major controls over base metal leaching
toward the subsoil level in N-saturated catchments.


Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADAS) technologies like Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) are becoming the normality for many users, and many major car manufacturers are introducing SAE level 2 and 3 automation systems into the market. The main advantage of Automated Vehicles (AV) will be the significant decrease in road accidents and casualties. However, a significant shift from conventional to automated vehicles must occur before it can have a positive impact on society. If the behaviour of the vehicle is not perceived as natural, the user will most likely not activate the ADAS features again. During this study a naturalistic dataset is used to investigate the driver behaviour, in the hope of bringing the current ACC logic to a more human-like behaviour that will feel more natural to the driver. The research question summarizes the final objective of this study: How can Naturalistic Driving Study (NDS) datasets be used in target performance setting for ACC systems? This study will answer the research question by studying human behaviour in the scene of following an accelerating vehicle. The main body of this thesis is divided in three chapters, one for each step of the research. First the information about the used datasets are provided together with the methodologies used to extract the relevant time-series data. Secondly driver behaviour models are created in order to mathematically characterize human behaviour. The strength of the created models is their ability to represent the full range of driver behaviour in terms of driving style. The aggressiveness parameter of the model can be easily adjusted to represent different percentiles of driver behaviour. This allows for a quick and effective tuning process: by changing a single parameter the driving style of the model can be fully modified. Finally, the driver behaviour models are implemented into a simulation environment. The models are simulated against an existing ACC logic in order to assess the difference in behaviour. The comparison highlighted two conclusions: first, the ACC logic behaves in a very conservative way compared to driver behaviour, especially when starting from standstill. Secondly, the kept by the ACC logic was not consistent throughout the speed range. This variation of the logic's driving style could result even more bothersome to the customer than its general conservative behaviour. The string stability of the driver behaviour models was also assessed. Although the proposed logic proved more stable than the regular ACC logic, it still cannot reach full string stability. Hopefully, with the method developed in this study, the process of getting accustomed to this new technology will become easier for the customer. Thanks to the driver behaviour models the motion of the vehicle can feel familiar and predictable, with the controller becoming part of the Human Machine Interface (HMI). As the customer gets more familiar with this technology his expectation will also increase and change, especially as the levels of automation start to increase. This will inevitably push automakers to continue to improve the technology to deliver increasingly advanced and safe vehicles.


A fifteen-year-old male patient, known case of chronic pancreatitis diagnosed as obscure gastrointestinal bleed in previous admission, readmitted for melena and upper abdominal pain since 2 days. Blood investigations revealed severe anemia with acute on chronic pancreatitis. Upper Gastro-Intestinal endoscopy revealed altered bood in stomach, adherent blood clot in ampulla. Thorough saline wash removed the clot, and blood stained bile flow was seen. This suspected the presence of hemosuccus pancreaticus, and proceeded with computed tomography abdomen. Computed tomography abdomen revealed presence of pseudoaneurysm in ventral division of inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery. Selective angiography confirmed the finding and coil angioembolization was done. No rebleeding during hospital stay.


The symmetry breaking phenomenon of the parity-time (PT) symmetric solitons in self-defocusing saturable nonlinear Schrödinger equation is studied. As the soliton power increases, branches of asymmetric solitons are separated from antisymmetric solitons, and they coexist with both symmetric and antisymmetric solitons. The anti-symmetric solitons require different power thresholds when they are under different saturable nonlinear strength. The stronger the saturable nonlinearity is, the larger the power threshold is. The saturable nonlinear strength has obvious modulation effect on the symmetry breaking of antisymmetric solitons and the bifurcation of the power curve. However, when the modulation strength of PT- symmetric potential increases, the effect of this modulation effect weakens. The antisymmetric solitons are only stable in the low power region, and the stability of symmetric and asymmetric solitons is less affected by the soliton power. The increase of the saturable nonlinear strength leads to the increase of the critical power of the symmetry breaking. When a beam propagates in a PT-symmetric optical waveguide, the symmetry breaking of antisymmetric solitons can be controlled by changing the saturable nonlinear strength.


This research is a Class Action Research which aims to improve students' mathematics learning outcomes through the Teaching Teaching Learning model in class VIII MTs. Nurul Huda material Triangle. This research was conducted in 2 cycles, namely from each cycle consisting of 5 meetings and the last meeting was used for evaluation. During the implementation of the cycle, the team teaching learning model can be said to be quite successful because it can increase student activity and learning outcomes. An increase in activity and learning outcomes from the implementation of learning cycle I to cycle II is 6.11%.. So it can be concluded that student activities fall into the active category. As for student learning outcomes in the first cycle of 77.27% and 90.9% in cycle II, so that student learning outcomes experienced an increase of 13.63%. This shows that team teaching learning models can improve student activity and student learning outcomes. Based on the analysis of the results of tests I and II, one of the obstacles faced by students at the time of testing was the lack of students' understanding of the count operation on the triangle. Another factor is the inaccuracy of students in doing the tests given


Purpose: The development of tomosynthesisimaging systems benefits significantly from a fundamental understanding of noise and resolution and recent developments point to the importance of statistical reconstruction. However the ability to predict imaging performance has been limited by the lack of a closed‐form reconstruction and object‐dependent spatially‐variant results. This work overcomes such barriers though closed‐form approximation of local imageproperties about the solution to penalized‐likelihood objectives. We incorporate advanced system noise and forward projection models to establish a theoretical basis for predicting imaging performance in tomosynthesis. Methods: Based on previous work general to tomography [Fessier 1996] we derive high‐fidelity approximations of the local impulse response covariance function and noise‐power spectrum (NPS) in x‐ray tomosynthesis. The prediction method does not rely on explicit iterative reconstructions of projection data and includes a general framework for system noise based on cascaded systems analysis of the detection process. Forward models have been developed for both the prediction model and the penalized‐likelihood reconstruction algorithms used to experimentally validate the results. Results: The covariance and NPS in a phantom study included: 1) the approximate prediction approach; and 2) a brute force approach based on iterative reconstruction of ensemble data. Excellent agreement was observed between the two methods. The predictor approach accurately captured the spatially‐variant noise and resolution properties using orders of magnitude less computation time and represents the first application of such a model in tomosynthesis. The results are applied across a broad range of imaging techniques including orbital angle number of projections and dose. Conclusions: Closed‐form predictors of noise and resolution in tomosynthesis by statistical image reconstruction have been developed and validated in comparison to measurement. The approach provides a new theoretical basis for performance characterization in spatially‐variant systems and a tool for optimizing image quality and system design. Research supported by NIH.


Nickel (Ni) contamination hinders plant growth and yield. Nitric oxide (NO) and thiourea (Thi) aid plant recovery from heavy metal damage, but their combined effects on pepper (Capsicum annuum) plant tolerance to Ni stress need more study. Sodium nitroprusside (0.1mM, SNP) and 400mgL-1 Thi, alone and combined, were studied for their impact on pepper growth under Ni toxicity. Ni stress reduces chlorophyll, PSII efficiency and leaf water and sugar content. However, SNP and Thi alleviate these effects by increasing leaf water, proline and sugar content. It also increased the activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, ascorbate peroxidase and peroxidase. Nickel stress lowered nitrogen assimilation enzymes (nitrate reductase, nitrite reductase, glutamine synthetase, glutamate synthase and glutamate dehydrogenase) and protein content, but increased nitrate, ammonium and amino acid content. SNP and Thi enhanced nitrogen assimilation, increased protein content and improved pepper plant growth and physiological functions during Ni stress. The combined treatment reduced Ni accumulation, increased Ni in leaf cell walls and potentially in root vacuoles, and decreased Ni concentration in cell organelles. It effectively mitigated Ni toxicity to vital organelles, surpassing the effects of SNP or Thi use alone. This study provides valuable insights for addressing heavy metal contamination in agricultural soils and offers potential strategies for sustainable and eco-friendly farming practices.


Cardiac Troponin T (cTnT) is one prominent substrate through which protein kinase C (PKC) exerts its effect on cardiomyocyte function. To determine the specific functional effects of the cTnT PKC-dependent phosphorylation sites (Thr197, Ser201, Thr206, and Thr287) we first mutated these residues to glutamate (E) or alanine (A). cTnT was selectively mutated to generate single, double, triple, and quadruple mutants. Bacterially expressed mutants were evaluated in detergent-treated mouse left ventricular papillary muscle fiber bundles where the endogenous troponin was replaced with a recombinant troponin complex containing either cTnT phosphorylated by PKC-α or a mutant cTnT. We simultaneously determined isometric tension development and actomyosin Mg-ATPase activity of the exchanged fiber bundles as a function of Ca2+ concentration. Our systematic analysis of the functional role of the multiple PKC phosphorylation sites on cTnT identified a localized region that controls maximum tension, ATPase activity, and Ca2+ sensitivity of the myofilaments. An important and novel finding of our study was that Thr206 is a functionally critical cTnT PKC phosphorylation residue. Its exclusive phosphorylation by PKC-α or replacement by Glu (mimicking phosphorylation) significantly decreased maximum tension, actomyosin Mg-ATPase activity, myofilament Ca2+ sensitivity, and cooperativity. On the other hand the charge modification of the other three residues together (T197/S201/T287-E) had no functional effect. Fibers bundles containing phosphorylated cTnT-wt (but not the T197/S201/T206/T287-E) exhibited a significant decrease of tension cost as compared with cTnT-wt.


Many mosquito species, including the major malaria vector Anopheles gambiae, naturally undergo multiple reproductive cycles of blood feeding, egg development and egg laying in their lifespan. Such complex mosquito behavior is regularly overlooked when mosquitoes are experimentally infected with malaria parasites, limiting our ability to accurately describe potential effects on transmission. Here, we examine how Plasmodium falciparum development and transmission potential is impacted when infected mosquitoes feed an additional time. We measured P. falciparum oocyst size and performed sporozoite time course analyses to determine the parasite's extrinsic incubation period (EIP), i.e. the time required by parasites to reach infectious sporozoite stages, in An. gambiae females blood fed either once or twice. An additional blood feed at 3 days post infection drastically accelerates oocyst growth rates, causing earlier sporozoite accumulation in the salivary glands, thereby shortening the EIP (reduction of 2.25 ± 0.39 days). Moreover, parasite growth is further accelerated in transgenic mosquitoes with reduced reproductive capacity, which mimic genetic modifications currently proposed in population suppression gene drives. We incorporate our shortened EIP values into a measure of transmission potential, the basic reproduction number R0, and find the average R0 is remarkably higher (range: 10.1%–12.1% increase) across sub-Saharan Africa than when using traditional EIP measurements. These data suggest that malaria elimination may be substantially more challenging and that younger mosquitoes or those with reduced reproductive ability may provide a larger contribution to infection than currently believed. Our findings have profound implications for current and future mosquito control interventions. Significance Statement In natural settings the female Anopheles gambiae mosquito, the major malaria vector, blood feeds multiple times in her lifespan. Here we demonstrate that an additional blood feed accelerates the growth of Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasites in this mosquito. Incorporating these data into a mathematical model across sub-Saharan Africa reveals that malaria transmission potential is likely to be substantially higher than previously thought, making disease elimination more difficult. Additionally, we show that control strategies that manipulate mosquito reproduction with the aim of suppressing Anopheles populations may inadvertently favor malaria transmission. Our data also suggest that parasites can be transmitted by younger mosquitoes, which are less susceptible to insecticide killing, with negative implications for the success of insecticide-based strategies.


Concerns regarding the safety of cumulative exposure to parabens have been raised as a consequence of their estrogenic and endocrine effects. These antibacterial agents are commonly used in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. Preliminary data from animal models has indicated potential links between paraben exposure and various conditions ranging from skin disorders to autism. Oral consumption of parabens is not a cause for concern because they are readily metabolised by the liver and excreted rapidly by the kidney. The presence of parabens in adipose tissue is thought to be due to dermal absorption of parabens where they are incompletely metabolised. Various studies have been performed on paraben absorption; however transdermal permeation of parabens from an emulsion has not been studied to date. In this preliminary study dermal permeation and metabolism across human skin were evaluated for methyl paraben (MP) and butyl paraben (BP) from an emulsion, using Franz Diffusion cell system with analysis by q-ToF (quadrupole time of flight) mass spectrometry. MP was observed to have lower permeation and lower extent of metabolism than BP.


Abstract : This thesis analyzes the training continuum for Navy recruiters coming from the fleet. Specifically, the study examines the current training pipeline and the theories of how people learn, why they learn, and how they retain information. The study focuses on the uniqueness of recruiting assignments, recruiter training requirements, the 2011 recruiting environment, the Navy Recruiting Command organization, and the influence of incentives on recruiting performance. The training cycle for the main selling tool, Professional Selling Skills, is analyzed based on elements of learning, forgetting, and motivation. The purpose is to strengthen the training continuum and help mitigate potential recruiting difficulties in the years ahead. The primary sources of information are Navy Recruiting Command Instructions and basic learning and motivational theories. This study suggests ways to support the training continuum by ensuring that recruiters are provided with standardized and comprehensive training throughout their recruiting tour. Periodic refresher training would ultimately boost individual recruiter productivity as well as strengthen on-the-job training. In addition to reinforced training, new motivational factors and incentives can augment the training continuum. Recommendations are provided to improve the current training continuum with recruiting simulators and enhanced incentives.


Objectives: This study investigated the effect of endurance exercise on blood pressure, angiogenesis and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in skeletal muscle of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Methods: SHR and WKY of 5 weeks ages were randomly divided into 3 groups; Wistar-Kyoto rat (WKY, n = 9), SHR control (SHR-C, n = 9), and SHR endurance exercise training (SHR-E, n = 9). Endurance exercise training was performed on treadmill (12–20 m/min, 0% grade, 60 min/day, 5 days/week, 16 weeks). Systolic blood pressure was monitored with tail-cuff method, expression of VEGF protein and capillary density were used with western blotting and H&E staining in the soleus muscle, respectively. Results: Systolic blood pressure was reduced by endurance exercise in SHR (p < .05). Capillary density of skeletal muscle in SHR-C was lower than WKY (p < .05), but it was recovered by endurance exercise training (SHR-E) compare to SHR-C (p < .05) and VEGF protein also was increased by endurance exercise training compare to SHR-C (p < .05). Conclusion: These data suggest that enhancement of capillary density via increase of VEGF expression in skeletal muscle by endurance exercise training could be important factor to inhibit elevation of blood pressure of SHR.


Abstract Objectives: Long-term lower motor neuron denervation of skeletal muscle is known to result in degeneration of muscle with replacement by adipose and fibrotic tissues. However, long-term survival of a subset of skeletal myofibers also occurs. Methods: We performed transverse and longitudinal studies of patients with spinal cord injury (SCI), patients specifically complete Conus and Cauda Equina Syndrome and also of active and sedentary seniors which included analyses of muscle biopsies from the quadriceps m. Results: Surprisingly, we discovered that human denervated myofibers survive years of denervation after full and irreversible disconnection from their motor neurons. We found that atrophic myofibers could be rescued by home-based Functional Electrical Stimulation (h-bFES), using purpose developed stimulators and electrodes. Although denervated myofibers quickly lose the ability to sustain high-frequency contractions, they respond to very long impulses that are able to allow for re-emergence of tetanic contractions. A description of the early muscle changes in humans are hampered by a paucity of patients suffering complete Conus and Cauda Equina Syndrome, but the cohort enrolled in the EU RISE Project has shown that even five years after SCI, severe atrophic myofibers with a peculiar cluster reorganization of myonuclei are present in human muscles and respond to h-bFES. Conclusions: Human myofibers survive permanent denervation longer than generally accepted and they respond to h-bFES beyond the stage of simple atrophy. Furthermore, long-term denervation/reinnervation events occur in elderly people and are part of the mechanisms responsible for muscle aging and again h-bFES was beneficial in delaying aging decay.


This paper is a try to investigate the attitudes of English language university teachers in Kerman (Iran) toward computer technology and find the hidden factors that make university teachers avoid using technology in English language teaching. 30 university teachers participated in this study. A questionnaire and semi-structured interview were used in order to collect the data. Both descriptive and inferential statistics as well as content analysis were conducted to analyze the data. The findings of the study revealed that a great majority of university teachers attribute positive remarks for integrating technology in language teaching. However, they get difficulty in integrating technology into their instruction effectively.


Celebrate Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month--this site highlights National Register resources that deal directly with the Asian and Pacific peoples who have played a vital role in the development of the United States and made lasting contributions in all elements of American society.


Background: Pituitary adenoma (PA) is a common primary brain tumor with invasive properties. Despite that long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) small nucleolar RNA host gene 6 (SNHG6) exerts oncogenic function in cancer cells and that miR-944 inhibits epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) of cancer cells are well documented, few studies have explored the function and mechanism of SNHG6 and miR-944 in invasive pituitary adenoma (IPA). Materials and Methods: Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expressions of SNHG6 and miR-944 in PA samples. Human PA cell line HP75 was used as a cell model. The biological effects of SNHG6 and miR-944 on HP75 cells were investigated with cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, Transwell assay, and scratch healing assay in vitro, respectively. Markers of EMT, including E-cadherin and vimentin, were detected by Western blot. Interactions between SNHG6 and miR-944, miR-944 and RAB11A were determined by bioinformatics analysis, qRT-PCR, and dual luciferase reporter assay. Results: SNHG6 was significantly upregulated in IPA samples, whereas miR-944 was downregulated. SNHG6 markedly promoted viability, migration, invasion, and EMT of PA cells, whereas miR-944 transfection had the opposite effects. SNHG6 could downregulate miR-944, and there was a negative correlation between SNHG6 expression and miR-944 expression in IPA samples. Besides, it was confirmed that miR-944 could pair with the 3′-untranslated region of RAB11A and repress its expression. Conclusions: This study authenticates that the SNHG6/miR-994/RAB11A axis plays a crucial role in regulating proliferation, migration, invasion, and EMT of IPA cells. SNHG6 and miR-994 can serve as novel valuable therapeutic targets for IPA.


Marx's theory of alienation has been served well by theorists. In the 1970s Bertell Ollman and István Mészáros produced their standard works on the topic, while recently Dan Swain has published an excellent short primer. Sean Sayers' book is different from all of these. Most importantly, it is a collection of essays. This could be a weakness, and indeed Sayers admits there are areas of overlap and repetition. Nevertheless, the essay form allows Sayers to tackle a number of related issues in short pithy papers that can be read independently. There is, nonetheless, an overall argument, and this is presented in a short introduction in which Sayers points out that though Marx's concept of alienation has sedimented into common discourse, it has done so in a misleading way. In particular, Sayers argues that Marx refused a one-dimensional rejection of capitalism but rather developed an immanent critique of it from the point of view of those workers' struggles that could only emerge with the rise of capitalism. Marx's vision of socialism is therefore not about re-appropriating some pristine pre-class form of social organisation, but is rather a very modern model of proletarian democracy. The essays themselves start with a survey of the changes and continuities between Hegel's and Marx's concepts of alienation. This is followed by a discussion of the ways in which Marx recognises production as a free and creative concept. Sayers then moves on to a third essay in which, through the lens of a critique of Hardt and Negri's use of the concept of immaterial labour, he shows how Marx's concept of labour is not the crudely materialistic caricature that is usually supposed. In the next two chapters Sayers shows how Marx conceived the relationship of the social to the individual in such a way as to overcome the simplistic opposition between individualism and collectivism, followed by an analysis of the equally dialectical relationship between freedom and necessity in Marx's thought. The second half of the book moves to discussions of alienation as a critical concept, the social content of Marx's critique of private property, his discussion of the problem of the division of labour and finally communism. This is an excellent text that deserves a space in every university library.


BACKGROUND
Specialized methods are necessary to collect data from migrant farmworkers for epidemiologic research.

METHODS
We developed a questionnaire that collected lifetime occupational histories and other lifestyle risk factors via a life events/icon calendar, and administered the questionnaire to a convenience sample of 162 migrant farmworkers in nine areas of the U.S.

RESULTS
The average duration of the interviews was about 1 h 30 min, with an average of 45 min for the work history section. The occupational histories covered a median of 27.6 years per person for men and 20.8 years per person for women. The median number of years spent in farm jobs was 11.3 for men and 5.8 for women. The median number of farm jobs (crop/task combination) per person was 59 among men and 27 among women. Many farmworkers performed the same crop/task combinations at multiple times throughout their lives, yielding a median of 13 unique farm jobs and 8 unique crops among men and 7 jobs and 5 crops among women.

CONCLUSIONS
The project demonstrated that it is feasible to collect detailed work histories and other risk factor data from farmworkers, documented the complexity of work histories encountered among farmworkers, and yielded recommendations for refining a questionnaire that will facilitate future epidemiologic research on farmworkers.


Electronic Health Records (EHRs) contain rich clinical data collected at the point of the care, and their increasing adoption offers exciting opportunities for clinical informatics, disease risk prediction, and personalized treatment recommendation. However, effective use of EHR data for research and clinical decision support is often hampered by a lack of reliable disease labels. To compile gold-standard labels, researchers often rely on clinical experts to develop rule-based phenotyping algorithms from billing codes and other surrogate features. This process is tedious and error-prone due to recall and observer biases in how codes and measures are selected, and some phenotypes are incompletely captured by a handful of surrogate features. To address this challenge, we present a novel automatic phenotyping model called MixEHR-Guided (MixEHR-G), a multimodal hierarchical Bayesian topic model that efficiently models the EHR generative process by identifying latent phenotype structure in the data. Unlike existing topic modeling algorithms wherein the inferred topics are not identifiable, MixEHR-G uses prior information from informative surrogate features to align topics with known phenotypes. We applied MixEHR-G to an openly-available EHR dataset of 38,597 intensive care patients (MIMIC-III) in Boston, USA and to administrative claims data for a population-based cohort (PopHR) of 1.3 million people in Quebec, Canada. Qualitatively, we demonstrate that MixEHR-G learns interpretable phenotypes and yields meaningful insights about phenotype similarities, comorbidities, and epidemiological associations. Quantitatively, MixEHR-G outperforms existing unsupervised phenotyping methods on a phenotype label annotation task, and it can accurately estimate relative phenotype prevalence functions without gold-standard phenotype information. Altogether, MixEHR-G is an important step towards building an interpretable and automated phenotyping system using EHR data.


Today, Erasmus Staff Mobility Programs are beneficial for university employees to experience professional practices abroad. Programs enable to know different cultures, to be aware of professional developments, to experience the lives of those countries. In this study, it is aimed to give information about Vallicelliana Library that I learned during the training i n Rome, Italy between 02 - 06 September 2 019 within the scope of Erasmus + Staff Training Mobility. This article was compiled from my presentation to Bursa Uludag University Library staff on January 09, 2020. The study introduces the Library as part of the services offered by the Vallicelliana Li brary. Institutions, organizations and applications to which the library is functioning are also included in the study.


The search for alternative and effective therapies to fight cancer is one of the main goals of the pharmaceutical industry. Recently, ionic liquids (ILs) have emerged as potential therapeutic agents with antitumor properties. The goal of this study was to synthesize and evaluate the bioactivity of different ILs coupled with the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) valproate (VPA) as an antitumor agent. The toxicity of the prepared ionic liquids was evaluated by the MTT cell metabolic assay in human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y and human primary Gingival Fibroblast (GF) cell lines, in which they showed inhibitory effects during the study period. In addition, low cytotoxicity against GF cell lines was observed, suggesting that these compounds are not toxic to human cell lines. [C2OHDMiM][VPA] demonstrated an outstanding antitumor activity against SH-SY5Y and lower activity against the non-neoplastic GF line. The herein assessed compounds played an important role in the modulation of the signaling pathways involved in the cellular behavior. This work also highlights the potential of these ILs-API as possible antitumor agents.


Audio-visual speech source separation consists in mixing visual speech processing techniques (e.g. lip parameters tracking) with source separation methods to improve and/or simplify the extraction of a speech signal from a mixture of acoustic signals. In this paper, we present a new approach to this problem: visual information is used here as a voice activity detector (VAD). Results show that, in the difficult case of realistic convolutive mixtures, the classic problem of the permutation of the output frequency channels can be solved using the visual information with a simpler processing than when using only audio information.


The purpose of this research is to explore corporate governance and CEO remuneration with banks capitalization strategies and payout policy within the Pakistani banking context. Data were obtained from the financial statements of scheduled banks listed on the Pakistan stock exchange from 2005 to 2020. The findings of the research study revealed that corporate governance mechanisms that promote the bank's shareholders' interests are linked to low capitalization strategies. The size of the board of directors has a significant impact on the capitalization of banks. Banks' capitalization techniques are also adversely correlated with effective board size. The shareholder benefits from low capitalization. Corporate governance is positively related with banking sector instability, as seen by this negative correlation. Bank capitalization strategies have a significant impact on CEO remuneration. In the event of an income shock, dividend payout is essential. Banking sector payout policies are negatively related with corporate governance. In the event of a negative income shock, financial institutions reduce dividends. As a result, it has been argued that effective corporate governance benefits shareholders by reducing capitalization tactics and limiting financial institutions' aggressive payouts. JEL classification G21, G30, G32, G35.


This study attempts to determine the extent to which human potential may be unlocked by government or other formal sector actions that induce voluntary contributions by individuals to the activities of Indonesia's posyandus or village health posts. Posyandus have been an important feature of Indonesia's public health system and have contributed substantially to the country's success in lowering infant and child mortality rates at low cost. Our analysis of links between formal activity and voluntary contributions to posyandus is conducted at two levels: individuals and posyandus, and with two different indicators at each level. Our empirical results take advantage of data from all three waves of the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS), i.e., IFLS1, IFLS2 and IFLS3. At each level of analysis there is evidence that voluntary contributions and effective service provision can be positively affected by formal sector intervention. Both community level characteristics, such as income per capita, income inequality, ethnic and religious diversity, and household and individual characteristics have different effects on the different outcome variables at both levels of analysis. The results demonstrate that appropriately designed formal sector interventions can induce voluntary inputs and, through the public goods produced, they can unlock the human potential.


The prairie pothole physiographic region of North America is likely to be affected by climate change, and it is important to establish its baseline global warming potential as a basis for assessing global change effects. This study estimated the hydrologic effects on soil greenhouse gas efflux during the growing season along hydrologic profiles within natural prairie potholes ranging from the southern to northern limits of the prairie pothole region within central Canada. Soil moisture was found to be an important driver of differences in soil efflux along the hydrologic profiles and along the south‐to‐north gradient. The position of peak cumulative soil efflux varied along the hydrologic profile, with the N2O peak occurring at the backslope, the CO2 peaks at footslope and toeslope, and the CH4 peaks at toeslope and surface waters. When cumulative soil efflux was converted to global warming potential (Mg CO2 eq), the largest values were restricted to the narrow land‐water interface in the south but expanded to a broader area of the hillslope in the north. CO2 was the major (> 95%) contributor to global warming potential. Omitting hydrologic controls on greenhouse gas fluxes from estimates of global warming potential led to substantial underestimates of the contributions of N2O and CH4. Arid regions in the south had smaller global warming potential than wetter regions in the north. If future climate projections for a warmer, drier climate in this region are realized, global warming potential from soil greenhouse gas fluxes will be smaller in this landscape, because the changing hydrologic conditions should result in a reduction of global warming potential from land surfaces, even as global warming potential from surface waters increases.


Background Bovine pericardium collagen membrane (BPCM) had been widely used in guided bone regeneration (GBR) whose manufacturing process usually required chemical cross-linking to prolong its biodegradation. However, cross-linking of collagen fibrils was associated with poorer tissue integration and delayed vascular invasion. Objective This study evaluated the potential of bovine cortical bone collagen membrane for GBR by evaluating its antigenicity potential, cytotoxicity, immune and tissue response, and biodegradation behaviors. Material and Methods Antigenicity potential of demineralized freeze-dried bovine cortical bone membrane (DFDBCBM) was done with histology-based anticellularity evaluation, while cytotoxicity was analyzed using MTT Assay. Evaluation of immune response, tissue response, and biodegradation was done by randomly implanting DFDBCBM and BPCM in rat's subcutaneous dorsum. Samples were collected at 2, 5, and 7 days and 7, 14, 21, and 28 days for biocompatibility and tissue response-biodegradation study, respectively. Result DFDBCBM, histologically, showed no retained cells; however, it showed some level of in vitro cytotoxicity. In vivo study exhibited increased immune response to DFDBCBM in early healing phase; however, normal tissue response and degradation rate were observed up to 4 weeks after DFDBCBM implantation. Conclusion Demineralized freeze-dried bovine cortical bone membrane showed potential for clinical application; however, it needs to be optimized in its biocompatibility to fulfill all requirements for GBR membrane.


Budgeting and budgetary control entails the establishment of goals by the management of an organization and designing a process which serves as a framework within which an organization effectively articulates overall planned activities. The quantification of these planned activities in financial terms is known as budgeting, while the establishment of an effective mechanism to guarantee desired result is known as budgetary control. This study therefore seeks to undertake a systematic review of budgeting and budgetary control in Government owned organizations and given the importance of the foregoing, attention was focused on the Nigerian National petroleum Cooperation (NNPC). To achieve the objective of the study, primary data were obtained through the use of a well structured questionnaire administered to the respondents, while the secondary data were obtained from the annual financial statements, files, memos, tax laws and gazette of the NNPC. The findings revealed that a necessary and sufficient condition for achieving effective budgeting and budgetary control is the involvement of all relevant stakeholders in the preparation of the budget, given the established processes in government circles, while emphasizing a deliberate and faithful implementation, by all responsible officers. This rests on the existence of a mental picture of the present state of affairs, vis-a-vis the future expected state of affairs, within the organization. It therefore recommended that since budgeting and budgetary control contributes to management efficiency and high productivity of an organization, all relevant stakeholders must be involved in the budget process, from preparation to implementation, in other to guarantee overall goal attainment. Keywords: Budgeting, Budgetary Control, Effective, Efficient, Management, Performance.


One of the most intriguing fi ndings in the wake of the release of the reference genome sequence from the Human Genome Project has been the realization of the extent to which each individual genome diff ers, not only in terms of single nucleotide polymorphisms, but also in terms of large deletions, duplications and other rearrange ments, a phenomenon now referred to as copy number variation. Some 3,000 protein-coding genes (around 10% of the human gene complement) are known to be associated with copy number variants (CNVs), and two unrelated human genomes may therefore diff er quite dramatically in terms of their gene content. Indeed, it is becoming increasingly evident that CNVs are a major source of genetic variation, contributing not only to phenotypic traits but also to inherited disease. A growing number of reports support the role of CNVs in the etiology of complex genomic disorders, such as the Smith-Magenis and Potocki-Lupski syndromes, CharcotMarie-Tooth disease 1A (CMT1A) and hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies (HNPP), Sotos syndrome, Williams-Beuren syndrome, Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease and autism, among others [1]. In light of these fi ndings, it is clear that the nature of the mechanisms underlying CNV formation is of central importance, from both a theoretical and a clinical standpoint. Analyses of CNVs in humans and across lines of Drosophila melanogaster have revealed that the sites of chromosomal rearrangements are characterized by either stretches of homology, or little to no homology at all, suggesting that both non-allelic homologous recombi nation and homology-independent repair are likely to lead to CNV formation. A study [2] also showed that DNA sequences fl anking CNV breakpoints often contain repeti tive sequence motifs known to form alternative DNA structures, or non-B DNA (various non-canonical types of DNA, including left-handed Z-DNA, triplexes, G-quadruplexes, cruciform and slipped structures). Th is is an important conclusion since it implies that DNA structure, rather than the sequence per se, may predispose to chromosomal breakage and subsequent repair, thereby promoting CNV formation. Th ese results [2] expand observations made earlier by a number of laboratories, including our own, using diff erent analyses and model systems [3,4]. Recent molecular analyses of novel CNVs, such as the NRXN1 region associated with autism spectrum and other neurodevelopmental disorders [5], and non-recurrent microdeletions of the FOXL2 gene associated with blepharophimosis-ptosisepicanthus-inversus syndrome, also support the above conclusions.


Background and Purpose— Recanalization rates are higher in acute anterior stroke treated with stent-retrievers when compared with older techniques. However, some still have sizeable infarcts and poor outcome. This may be related to underestimation of core infarct on nonenhanced computed tomography (NECT). CT angiography (CTA) source images (CTASI) and CT perfusion may be more informative. We hypothesize that core infarct estimation with NECT, CTA, and CT perfusion predicts infarct at 24 hours and outcome after fast recanalization. Methods— Consecutive good recanalization patients with proximal anterior circulation stroke were evaluated. We assessed Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (ASPECTs) on NECT for subtle early infarct, hypodensity, loss of gray–white (CTASI), and low cerebral blood volume (CBV; CT perfusion). Sensitivity and specificity for predicting infarct by region were calculated. Results— Of 46 patients, 36 (78%) had successful thrombectomy. Median ASPECTS was 10 for NECT early infarct and frank hypodensity; for CBV, CTASI-ASPECTS was 8. CTASI had the highest sensitivity of 71% and specificity of 82% for 24 hours NECT infarct. There was moderate correlation and concordance between CBV/24-hour NECT (Rp=0.51; Rc=0.50) and CTASI/24-hour NECT (Rp=0.54 and Rc=0.53). Thirty-four patients (74%) had good outcomes. Median ASPECTS was higher on CTASI (8 versus 5; P=0.04) and CBV (9 versus 5; P=0.03) for patients with good versus bad outcome. There were better outcomes with increasing CTASI-ASPECTS (P=0.004) and CBV-ASPECTS (P=0.02). Conclusions— CTASI and CBV were better at predicting 24-hour infarct and outcome than NECT. Appropriate advanced imaged guided selection may improve outcomes in large-vessel stroke treated with the newest techniques.


Unprecedented ground-based and aircraft measurements in June-July 2016 in southern West Africa characterize atmospheric composition and dynamics, low-level cloud properties, the diurnal cycle, and air pollution impacts on health.
The EU-funded project DACCIWA (Dynamics-Aerosol-Chemistry-Cloud Interactions in West Africa) investigates the relationship between weather, climate, and air pollution in southern West Africa, an area with rapid population growth, urbanisation, and increase in anthropogenic aerosol emissions. The air over this region contains a unique mixture of natural and anthropogenic gases, liquid droplets and particles, emitted in an environment, in which multi-layer clouds frequently form. These exert a large influence on the local weather and climate, mainly due to their impact on radiation, the surface energy balance, and thus the diurnal cycle of the atmospheric boundary layer.
In June and July 2016, DACCIWA organized a major international field campaign in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria. Three supersites in Kumasi, Save, and Ile-Ife conducted permanent measurements and 15 Intensive observation periods. Three European aircraft together flew 50 research flights between 27 June and 16 July 2016 for a total of 155 hours. DACCIWA scientists launched weather balloons several times a day across the region (772 in total), measured urban emissions, and evaluated health data. The main objective was to build robust statistics of atmospheric composition, dynamics, and low-level cloud properties in various chemical landscapes to investigate their mutual interactions.
This article presents an overview of the DACCIWA field campaign activities as well as some first research highlights. The rich data obtained during the campaign will be made available to the scientific community and help to advance scientific understanding, modeling, and monitoring the atmosphere over southern West Africa.


How do young married women fare in an urban slum in Bangladesh? This article is based on in-depth ethnographic fieldwork among 153 married girls aged 15–19 in a Dhaka slum, carried out during December 2001–January 2003. The author finds a shift away from the traditional arranged marriage practice, with 81 of the 153 young women having 'love' marriages. Young women now have greater mobility and freedom to choose their own partners, but at the same time face greater instability in marital relations. The lived experiences of engaging in sexual relations with their spouses are fraught with contradictions. Without economic independence and social autonomy, many young women tolerate bad marriages, and unsafe and painful sex as a survival strategy. Some however have more leeway to set the terms of engagement, using their sexuality as a resource to attract their husbands and secure his material support, and may even enjoy doing so.


As the main source of income and expenses of hospitals, operating rooms (ORs) are the engines of hospitals' economics and they have a significant impact on public health. Many papers concerned regarding OR planning and scheduling problems, but they have not considerably applied the simulation-based optimization approach to solve the problems. In OR scheduling problems, there are a number of ORs and some surgeons with different specialties and each surgeon has a waiting list of some patients that each surgery should be planned and scheduled on the days when relevant surgeons are available. In this study, we consider two objectives: (1) minimizing the costs of overtime staffing and ORs' idle time, and (2) minimizing the number of waiting days for patients. The mathematical model of OR scheduling problem is developed and solved by both exact method and simulation-based optimization approach. The comparison of results obtained from exact method and simulation-based optimization approach indicates that the exact method is only able to solve the small-size problems in reasonable time, while simulation-based optimization approach find competitive solutions for both small-size and large-size problems and solve large-size problems in an acceptable time.


Whole body nitrogen can be measured by neutron activation analysis with an acceptable radiation dose; it is an index of body protein which, in normal subjects, is 65% cellular protein and 35% extracellular connective collagen. Whole body potassium can be measured by whole body counting without irradiating the subject; it is an index of body cell mass. We measured whole body nitrogen, potassium, extracellular water, intracellular water, and fat-folds. The differences between 37 malnourished patients and five normal subjects suggested that the patients had 9 kg less cell mass than normal, but no difference in extracellular mass. Measurements were made on eight patients before and after 14 days of total parenteral nutrition; balance of nitrogen intake and excretion also was measured. The changes were consistent with mean increases of 3 kg of cellular mass and 3 kg of fat with no change of extracellular mass. The accuracy and sensitivity of the whole body measurements need further confirmation for use in patients with changing body composition. Where tissue wasting is largely from the cellular compartment, potassium could be a more sensitive index of wasting than nitrogen. Multielement analysis of nitrogen, potassium, chlorine, and carbon will probably be valuable in elucidating body composition in malnutrition.


A communication setup is considered where a transmitter wishes to convey a message to a receiver and simultaneously estimates the state of that receiver through a common waveform. The state is estimated at the transmitter by means of generalized feedback, i.e., a strictly causal channel output, and the known waveform. The scenario at hand is motivated by joint radar and communication, which aims to co-design radar sensing and communication over a shared spectrum and hardware. For the case of memoryless single receiver channels with i.i.d. time-varying state sequences, we fully characterize the capacity-distortion tradeoff, defined as the largest achievable rate below which a message can be conveyed reliably while satisfying some distortion constraints on state sensing. We propose a numerical method to compute the optimal input that achieves the capacity-distortion tradeoff. Then, we address memoryless state-dependent broadcast channels (BCs). For physically degraded BCs with i.i.d. time-varying state sequences, we characterize the capacity-distortion tradeoff region as a rather straightforward extension of single receiver channels. For general BCs, we provide inner and outer bounds on the capacity-distortion region, as well as a sufficient condition when this capacity-distortion region is equal to the product of the capacity region and the set of achievable distortions. A number of illustrative examples demonstrate that the optimal co-design schemes outperform conventional schemes that split the resources between sensing and communication.


In the paper there methodical process of development potential evaluation of regions and micro-regions is suggested. This methodical approach is applied in chosen micro-regions Podluži, Hranicko, Bělec and Lucina. Methodical process of development potential evaluation of micro-regions results from suggested and calculated index of development potential for individual municipalities of chosen micro-regions. 35 indicators in time period 2001-2008 were found out and used to determination of the index. Calculation of the development potential index is based on multidimensional statistical method – factors analysis.


Starting from two cases of adenolymphoma of the parotid gland they had under observation, the Authors underline their doubts regarding the histogenesis, discuss the clinical approach and show their attitude towards the therapy. It consists of an enucleation or nucleoresection of the tumour in case only the superficial part of the gland is affected; a total parotidectomy with facial nerve preservation and without any radiotherapy, in case of a radical operation; with complementary radiotherapy if the operation has not been radical for certain.


As a relatively new conceptual narrative, the history of interior design has various potential starting points. Thus far, interior design histories have followed either art, architectural or decorative arts histories in order to establish a coherent, progressive narrative that might both contextualize and frame possibilities for contemporary practice. While older historical surveys of the discipline typically located the origins of interior design in ancient civilizations such as Greece or Rome, recent historical surveys have followed an art historical convention in locating the origins of interior design in the Paleolithic caves of Europe. This paper contains a review of literature on the beginnings of interior design's historical narrative, as well as a reconsideration of the cave as a conceptual foundation for interior design theory and practice. The Paleolithic cave is here re–evaluated as both an historical origin that distinguishes interior design history from architectural and art history, and as a speculative, theoretical space rich with possibilities.


We develop the theory of reflective subfibrations on an $\infty$-topos $\mathcal{E}$. A reflective subfibration $L_\bullet$ on $\mathcal{E}$ is a pullback-compatible assignment of a reflective subcategory $\mathcal{D}_X\subseteq \mathcal{E}{/X}$, for every $X \in \mathcal{E}$. Reflective subfibrations abound in homotopy theory, albeit often disguised, e.g., as stable factorization systems. We prove that $L$-local maps (i.e., those maps that belong to some $\mathcal{D}_X$) admit a classifying map, and we introduce the class of $L$-separated maps, that is, those maps with $L$-local diagonal. $L$-separated maps are the local class of maps for a reflective subfibration $L'_\bullet$ on $\mathcal{E}$. We prove this fact in the compantion paper "$L'$-localization in an $\infty$-topos". In this paper, we investigate some interactions between $L_\bullet$ and $L'_\bullet$ and explain when the two reflective subfibrations coincide.


The study integrated and updated the entire Fadama-mada area with a comprehensive digital map and cadastral data. The raster image from the analogue maps was also fully utilised. Scanned images were sent to Auto CAD environment for proper geo-referencing. Positions of updated features were added using coordinate geometry (COGO). Drawings were properly edited using Arc view 3.2. Graphics were linked with non-spatial attributes data base. The result of this exercise was checked by some GIS operation and analysis; digital map of Fadaman-Mada was produced; and feature details shown in graphics and tables. Thus, for sustainable development, Cadastral Information System (CIS) has been made more effective for the monitoring, evaluation and management of cadastral records in government ministries,  local government offices as well as other related government agencies. Key words: Fadaman-Mada, Cadastral, GIS, Coordinate Geometry.


Arguments for judicial restraint point to some kind of judicial deficit (such as a democratic or an epistemic deficit) as grounds for limiting judicial review. ("Judicial review" is used in this Article to mean, essentially, the judicial invalidation of statutes, rules, orders and actions in virtue of the Bill of Rights, or similar unwritten criteria.). The most influential argument for judicial restraint has been the Countermajoritarian Difficulty. This is a legislature-centered argument: one that points to features of *legislatures*, as grounds for courts to refrain from invalidating *statutes*. This Article seeks to recast scholarly debate about judicial restraint, and to challenge the Countermajoritarian Difficulty, by arguing that legislature-centered arguments do not (simply) extend to cover most of the practice of judicial review. Judicial review includes not merely the review of statutes, but also the review of administrative rules, orders and actions, and the statutory pedigree of these rules, orders and actions does not suffice to "translate" legislature-centered arguments into the administrative state. In particular, there is no reason to think that the most important kind of restraintist argument, for constitutional reviewing courts in an administrative state, should be a democratic argument such as the Countermajoritarian Difficulty. Rather, epistemic arguments -- arguments that point to judicial deficits in determining what morality requires -- are at least as promising.


In the course of the work, an analysis of existing gas reduction schemes at the gas distribution stations was carried out. For development of an optimal reduction scheme, there was made a selection of equipment operating in the pressure range from 1,2 to 6,4 MPa with single-stage gas reduction. According to the results of the technical and economic calculation of each scheme, it was concluded that they should be used from the point of view of technological efficiency and economy. Gas reduction schemes are proposed for the study and use. They contain a regulator-monitor that performs the role of a redundant regulator and its use solves two problems at the same time—increasing the reliability of the gas reduction line and automating the throttling process.