One of the most interesting problems in Cataclysmic Variables is the long time scale evolution. This problem appears in long time evolution, which is also very important in the search for the progenitor of SN Ia. The classical approach to overcome this problem in the simulation of novae evolution is to assume: (1) A constant in time, rate of mass transfer. (2) The mass transfer rate that does not vary throughout the life time of the nova, even when many eruptions are considered. Here we show that these assumptions are valid only for a single thermonuclear flash and such a calculation cannot be the basis for extrapolation of the behavior over many flashes. In particular, such calculation cannot be used to predict under what conditions an accreting WD may reach the Chandrasekhar mass and collapse. We report on a new code to attack this problem. The basic idea is to create two parallel processes, one calculating the mass losing star and the other the accreting white dwarf. The two processes communicate continuously with each other and follow the time depended mass loss.


Lateral pharyngeal diverticulum (Pharyngocele) is the protrusion of pharyngeal mucosa through the pharyngeal wall, usually through either of two weak areas in the pharyngeal wall as an acquired or congenital case. Lateral diverticula are very rare and not to be mistaken for the rather more frequent and abundantly reported cases of posterior pharyngo-esophageal diverticula (Zenker`s). Here, we present a case of this very rare condition in a young boy who presented with severe dysphagia since childhood. Key words : Lateral, pharyngeal, diverticulum dysphagia


Based on the reasoning of the Appellate Body in Canada/United States — Continued Suspension of Obligations in the EC–Hormones Dispute ('Continued Suspension'), this paper analyzes the distinction between the national-treatment obligation under Article III of GATT and the requirement under the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures that such measures be based on a risk assessment that takes into account available scientific evidence. The Appellate Body's reasoning makes clear that the primary purpose of the SPS Agreement is to discipline discriminatory regulation, and not the level of protection. We argue that the case clarifies that de facto protection (market segmentation) created by an SPS measure must be motivated by demonstrating that the measure is addressing a market failure, as reflected in the existence of some scientific basis for a health or safety concern. The scientific-basis requirement is a means for determining the intent of an SPS measure. While this is a factor that is ostensibly not relevant in GATT national-treatment cases, the need for scientific justification is not a move away from a concern with preventing illegitimate discrimination against imported products.


Osteoporosis is associated with increased risk of fractures at most skeletal sites. Hip fractures have much greater prognostic significance in terms of health than any other single type of fracture. However, symptomatic vertebral fractures and other non-hip fractures also represent enormous morbidity and economic burdens, and signal increased risk of future fractures of all types, including the hip. There is convincing evidence that two bisphosphonates(alendronate and risedronate) reduce the risk of both spine and non-spine fractures. The objective of this paper is to summarize the literature concerning the consequences of osteoporotic fractures, and the effectiveness of pharmacologic agents for preventing fractures and their consequences, emphasizing a systematic, evidence-based summary of treatment results from randomized, controlled trials that were published previously.


It is important to obtain link-level performance data, such as loss rate and delay on each segment, which can help us to understand dynamic features of network traffics and identify bottlenecks. This knowledge also assists us to build and construct networks for better performance. Using end-to-end measurement to find link level performance has advantages in eliminating the burden from routers or switches. Instead of using classic statistical methods, such as maximum likelihood estimation, we use the probability network (a direct acyclic graph) to achieve the same goal. In addition, given a loss model, such as Bernoulli, the probability method can dynamically adjust the parameters to trace the traffic change. Simulations based on ns2 were conducted and the data received from the simulations were inferred by a corresponding probability network; the result is very encouraging.


The water framework directive (CEC, 2000) asks for cost-effective measures for achieving good ecological conditions in receiving waters. Because of low operation costs and good pollutant removal efficiency, vortex separators (VS) are an attractive alternative to traditional stormwater tanks. The German design standard for CSO structures, ATV-A 128 (1992), demands long-term pollution load simulations. Today's simulation software, however, considers the removal processes in CSO structures either very rudimentarily or not at all. The higher pollutant removal efficiency of a structure like a VS cannot be taken into account. This might be one reason why VS are used still comparatively scarcely. A mathematical model describing the removal efficiency could increase the acceptance of VS. Several functions describing the removal efficiency have been derived from model tests or large-scale studies within the last few years. Within this paper, the data from three large-scale studies are used to verify the general applicability of one steady-state and one dynamic approach. The results show that the complex processes involved with CSO facilities and the large error related to monitoring make the validation of models a difficult task. Anyhow, especially the dynamic approach was applicable at all considered facilities.


In the H2020 project "Satellite-borne and INsitu Observations to Predict The Initiation of Convection for ATM" (SINOPTICA), an air traffic controller support system was extended to organize approaching traffic even under severe weather conditions. During project runtime, traffic days with extreme weather events in the Po Valley were analyzed, an arrival manager was extended with a module for 4D diversion trajectory calculation, two display variants for severe weather conditions in an air traffic controller primary display were developed, and the airport Milano Malpensa was modelled for an air traffic simulation. On the meteorological side, three new forecasting techniques were developed to better nowcast weather events affecting tactical air traffic operations and used to automatically organize arrival traffic. Additionally, short-range weather forecasts with high spatial resolution were elaborated using radar-based nowcasting and a numerical weather prediction model with data assimilation. This nowcast information was integrated into the extended arrival manager for the sequencing and guiding of approaching aircraft even in adverse weather situations. The combination of fast and reliable weather nowcasts with a guidance support system enables severe weather diversion coordination in combination with a visualization of its dynamics on traffic situation displays.


Dielectric measurements on metastable solid MBBA were performed in the frequency range from 0.5 to 100 kHz under pressures up to 6 kbar. The application of pressure shifts the dielectric relaxation curves towards higher temperatures. With increasing pressure, the dielectric relaxation strength increases in the low pressure region up to about 3.5 kbar and after that tends to saturate in the high pressure region. The activation parameters, such as the activation enthalpy, entropy and free energy obtained from the linear relation between the logarithmic relaxation frequency and the reciprocal absolute temperature, increase with increasing pressure. The inflection point pt was found to be at about 3.5 kbar on the curves of activation parameters versus pressure. These facts suggest that different relaxation mechanisms should be applied to the low pressure region below pt and the high pressure region above pt. The pressure dependence of the glass transition temperature was inferred from the pressure dependence of the loss maximum temperature.


Stroke patients may exhibit the peculiar behavior of actively pushing away from the nonhemiparetic side, leading to lateral postural imbalance and a tendency to fall towards the paralyzed side. These patients use the nonparetic extremities to stem actively against attempts of passive correction towards upright orientation. This phenomenon has been called the "pusher syndrome". Recent findings disclose that the deficit leading to contraversive pushing is an altered perception of the body's orientation in relation to gravity. Pusher patients experience their body as upright when they are actually tilted to the nonhemiparetic side. In contrast, processing of visual and vestibular inputs for the determination of visual vertical was undisturbed. The results argue for a separate pathway in humans for sensing gravity apart from that for perception of the visual world. This second graviceptive system decisively contributes to our control of upright body posture. The present article describes this still largely unknown neurological disease. The clinical examination of contraversive pushing, its underlying disturbance, lesion location, and approaches for therapy are considered.


The responses of seven hpv-77 rubella vaccinees to initial challenge with "wild" rubella virus have been compared with their responses to rechallenge with Brown strain rubella virus and to the responses of five "natural" immunes to initial Brown strain challenge. Previous exposure to "wild" rubella virus 220 days post vaccine-induced immunity had resulted in six of the seven vaccinees experiencing asymptomatic reinfection. On "rechallenge" none of the previously "reinfected vaccine immunes" demonstrated clinical, virologic or serologic evidence of reinfection. These data are consistent with the conclusion that persons with vaccine-induced immunity may be assured of more prolonged and solid immunity to rubella without having to suffer the clinical disease if they are reinfected with nonattenuated rubella virus. Rigidly controlled experiments, designed to study the practicality and safety of immunization with live rubella vaccine(s), followed by deliberate challenge of vaccinees with "wild" or low tissue culture passage rubella virus, seem warranted. In addition, these data indicate that it is imperative that a distinction should be made between "vaccine immunes" and previously "reinfected vaccine immunes" in any evaluation of long term rubella vaccine(s) efficacy and vaccine-induced antibody decay.


In the four studies comprising this dissertation, we aim to shed more light on the role of implementation quality of FLPs. In the first study, we reviewed the literature on implementation quality of FLPs, to gain insight into how implementation has been assessed in studies so far, what previous studies reveal on (systematic differences in) the implementation of FLPs, and the extent to which implementation quality relates to intervention effects. In the second study, we measured and analyzed implementation quality and effects of a specific Dutch FLP called 'Early Education at Home'. In light of the hypothesis posed in the literature regarding implementation quality of FLPs in low-SES families, and our hypotheses regarding implementation quality of FLPs in ethnic-minority and bilingual families, we additionally analyzed relations among these parent characteristics and program implementation. In the third and fourth study we took a more detailed look at parent-child interactions during literacy-related activities included in FLPs such as EEH: shared reading and socalled prompting board activities. Observations of these activities can provide insight into how target group parents respond to different FLP activities and, more specifically, if certain activities are more suited to some groups than to others.


Extraction of oxidation resistant were got from Toona sinensis leaf. The extracting rates with different methods were compared. Oxidation resistance of the leaf Extraction to rapeseed oil was tested. The result showed that extraction was obtained by 70% alcohol was the highest activity in rapeseed oil. Synergistic antioxidative activity of citric acid was the Strongest. A Preliminary study was also carried out on the conservation of fresh Pig-meat.


ABSTRACTThe arts and disability are still considered contradictory terms in Spain. However, over the last few years, various disabled artists have called for more opportunities for their professionalisation and for the recognition of their creative potential. The objective here is to analyse them and to reflect on their artistic and political contributions to the representation of disability. These projects represent a challenge to conventional codes by positioning corporal diversity at the centre of the creative process. They play with cultural notions of functionality and capacity as well as beauty and desirability, challenging the concept of disability as a fixed reality.


Operative methods for testing the covariance matrix of the innovation sequence of the Kalman filter are proposed. The quadratic form of the random Wishart matrix is used in this process as a monitoring statistic, and the testing problem is reduced to the classical problem of minimization of a quadratic form on the unit sphere. As a result, two algorithms for testing the covariance matrix of the innovation sequence are proposed. In the first algorithm, the sum of all elements of the matrix is used as the scalar measure of the Wishart matrix that is being tested, while in the second algorithm, the largest eigenvalue of this matrix is used. In the simulations, the longitudinal and lateral dynamics of the F‐16 aircraft model are considered, and the detection procedure of sensor/actuator faults, which affect the covariance matrix of the innovation sequence, is examined. Some recommendations for the fastest detection of the fault are given. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Tympanosclerosis is a pathological finding that is accompanied by two surgical drawbacks: first, poor functional results, and second, increased risk of surgical procedures. We reviewed 138 cases operated in our Service in order to describe the audiological outcome and discuss surgical options for tympanosclerosis.


Semantic communications focus on the transmission of semantic features. In this letter, we consider a task-oriented multi-user semantic communication system for multimodal data transmission. Particularly, partial users transmit images while the others transmit texts to inquiry the information about the images. To exploit the correlation among the multimodal data from multiple users, we propose a deep neural network enabled semantic communication system, named MU-DeepSC, to execute the visual question answering (VQA) task as an example. Specifically, the transceiver for MU-DeepSC is designed and optimized jointly to capture the features from the correlated multimodal data for task-oriented transmission. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed MU-DeepSC is more robust to channel variations than the traditional communication systems, especially in the low signal-to-noise (SNR) regime.


The interrelations of clinical, exercise test, and angiographic variables and their relative values in predicting specific clinical outcomes after myocardial infarction have not been fully established. Of 302 consecutive stable survivors of infarction, 262 performed a predischarge submaximal exercise test. In the first year after infarction patients with a "positive" exercise test were 13 times more likely to die, 2.8 times more likely to have an ischaemic event, and 2.3 times more likely to develop left ventricular failure than patients with negative tests. Patients with positive exercise tests underwent cardiac catheterization. Features of the history, 12 lead electrocardiogram, in-hospital clinical course, exercise test, and left ventricular and coronary angiograms that predicted these clinical end points were identified by univariate analysis. Then multivariable analysis was used to assess the relative powers of all variables in predicting end points. Certain features of the exercise test remained independent predictors of future ischaemic events and the development of overt left ventricular failure, but clinical and angiographic variables were more powerful predictors of mortality. Because the exercise test is also used to select patients for angiography, however, the results of this study strongly support the use of early submaximal exercise testing after infarction.


Huanglongbing (HLB), also known as greening, is one of the most important diseases of citrus worldwide. The causal agent is a gram-negative bacterium known to inhabit the phloem of infected plants. Three different candidate species infect citrus: 'Candidatus Liberibacter africanus' found in the African continent; 'Ca. L. asiaticus' found in Asia, Brazil, and the United States; and 'Ca. L. americanus' found in Brazil. (1). Tobacco is an easily transformable plant species that can be used as an experimental host system to quickly screen for candidate genes useful to control plant pathogens. However, no evidence exists on the ability of this plant species to sustain populations of 'Ca. L. americanus'. With the purpose of transmitting 'Ca. L. americanus' from citrus to tobacco, fragments of healthy stems of Cuscuta spp. (dodder) were used to connect an HLB-infected sweet orange plant to each of 10 healthy plants of Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. Xanthi and allowed to remain connected for 30, 45, and 50 days. Three different HLB-infected orange plants and 30 tobacco plants were used in three independent experiments. Most HLB-exposed Xanthi plants exhibited chlorotic leaves after 50 days of exposure probably because of the parasitic effect of dodder; however, an average of 6, 1, and 3 Xanthi plants exhibited a unique blotchy mottle symptom after 30, 45, and 50 days of exposure, respectively. Symptomatic and asymptomatic leaves were collected and analyzed by PCR. The results consistently confirmed the presence of 'Ca. L. americanus' only in symptomatic leaves. Sequencing of the PCR product and comparison to the NCBI database also confirmed the identity of the pathogen as 'Ca. L. americanus'. Electron microscopy analysis of four symptomatic leaves indicated the presence of bacterium-like bodies with round to elongated bacilliform shapes and surrounded by two membranes. These bodies resembled those already described in HLB-infected citrus in Brazil (1). The evidence presented above confirms the successful transmission of 'Ca. L. americanus' from citrus to Xanthi using the parasitic plant Cuscuta spp. Reference: (1) F. A. O. Tanaka et al. Fitopatol. Bras. 31:99, 2006.


The development and improvement of methods to map agricultural land cover are currently major challenges, especially for radar images. This is due to the speckle noise nature of radar, leading to a less intensive use of radar rather than optical images. The European Space Agency Sentinel-1 constellation, which recently became operational, is a satellite system providing global coverage of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) with a 6-days revisit period at a high spatial resolution of about 20 m. These data are valuable, as they provide spatial information on agricultural crops. The aim of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the capabilities of Sentinel-1 radar images for agricultural land cover mapping through the use of deep learning techniques. The analysis is carried out on multitemporal Sentinel-1 data over an area in Camargue, France. The data set was processed in order to produce an intensity radar data stack from May 2017 to September 2017. We improved this radar time series dataset by exploiting temporal filtering to reduce noise, while retaining as much as possible the fine structures present in the images. We revealed that even with classical machine learning approaches (K nearest neighbors, random forest, and support vector machines), good performance classification could be achieved with F-measure/Accuracy greater than 86% and Kappa coefficient better than 0.82. We found that the results of the two deep recurrent neural network (RNN)-based classifiers clearly outperformed the classical approaches. Finally, our analyses of the Camargue area results show that the same performance was obtained with two different RNN-based classifiers on the Rice class, which is the most dominant crop of this region, with a F-measure metric of 96%. These results thus highlight that in the near future these RNN-based techniques will play an important role in the analysis of remote sensing time series.


This paper analytically demonstrates the use of piezoelectric actuators and PVDF sensors to actively control the far-field sound radiation from a simply-supported beam in an infinite rigid baffle. The beam is assumed to be subjected to a harmonic point force. The piezoelectric patches which are attached to the beam serve as actuators to control the sound radiated from the beam into the far-field, while the PVDF films serve as structural error sensors. A minimization process is used to calculate the optimal input voltages into the piezoelectric actuators so as to minimize the cost function which is the least mean square value of the error sensor signals. Radiation directivity patterns are plotted, and the wavenumber analysis is performed to evaluate the control effectiveness. Results show that the use of the compact distributed types of actuators and sensors can efficiently attenuate the far-field sound radiation. The reduction of sound pressure level for on-resonance cases is over 20-50 dB; however, little attenuation can be achieved or even spillover may occur for off-resonance cases due to the arbitrary location of actuators and sensors. This work demonstrates the use of structural actuators and near-field sensors for far-field sound radiation control and leads to the inherent application of an intelligent material structure system.


Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) allows the integration of low-power, miniaturized, intelligent, invasive or/and non-invasive wireless sensor nodes that are used to monitor the health status of a patient with real-time updates to a base-station/physician. Since multiple low-power sensor nodes are deployed in/on a human body, Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols are required to share the channel efficiently and to control the dominant sources of energy waste. This paper evaluates the performance of IEEE 802.15.4 MAC, WiseMAC, and SMAC protocols for a non-invasive WBAN. The IEEE 802.15.4 MAC protocol is improved for low-rate applications by sending beacons according to the traffic rate. Performance results show that the improved IEEE 802.15.4 MAC protocol outperforms traditional IEEE 802.15.4 MAC, WiseMAC, and SMAC protocols in terms of energy consumption and delay.


Abstract Fluid mechanics plays a vital role in early vertebrate embryo development, an example being the establishment of left–right asymmetry. Following the dorsal–ventral and anterior–posterior axes, the left–right axis is the last to be established; in several species it has been shown that an important process involved with this is the production of a left–right asymmetric flow driven by 'whirling' cilia. It has previously been established in experimental and mathematical models of the mouse ventral node that the combination of a consistent rotational direction and posterior tilt creates left–right asymmetric flow. The zebrafish organizing structure, Kupffer's vesicle, has a more complex internal arrangement of cilia than the mouse ventral node; experimental studies show that the flow exhibits an anticlockwise rotational motion when viewing the embryo from the dorsal roof, looking in the ventral direction. Reports of the arrangement and configuration of cilia suggest two possible mechanisms for the generation of this flow from existing axis information: (a) posterior tilt combined with increased cilia density on the dorsal roof; and (b) dorsal tilt of 'equatorial' cilia. We develop a mathematical model of symmetry breaking cilia-driven flow in Kupffer's vesicle using the regularized Stokeslet boundary element method. Computations of the flow produced by tilted whirling cilia in an enclosed domain suggest that a possible mechanism capable of producing the flow field with qualitative and quantitative features closest to those observed experimentally is a combination of posteriorly tilted roof and floor cilia, and dorsally tilted equatorial cilia.


A dynamic power factor corrected resonance power supply employing a single high-speed gate-turn-off (GTO) thyristor is presented. Included is a description of the modes of operation and the design and evaluation of a 300 W, 80 kHz prototype model. Computer simulation of the prototype circuit is also discussed. An assessment of the possibility of using the converter for low-voltage applications is presented.<<ETX>>


This problem of simultaneous testing of stability for more than one trait is tackled here with the multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) approach considering the three important traits of sugarcane, viz. yield, ccs and sucrose simultaneously and by extending the perkins and jinks' model [1–3] of univariate. Results indicated significant variety x location interaction for all the traits, whether it is tested by the univariate or multivariate analysis. Regarding the significance of regression coefficients and deviation from regression under univariate (Perkins and Jinks approach) and multivariate testing the analyses showed that in most of the cases, if all the regression coefficients are significant then regression matrix is also significant. In other cases the multivariate testing reflects the majority position (significant or otherwise) under univariate testing; with a few exceptions i.e., except Co 87021, Co 7219 and Co 6304 regression coefficients were found to be non-significant in both cases either tested univariately or multivariately. In these genotypes regressions were found to be not significant for two traits only and resulted not significance for Co 87021 and Co 6304 but significant for Co 7219 when tested by multivariate analysis. The same can be said about the agreement in the multivariate and univariate testing of deviation mean squares. Deviation was observed to be not significant for Co 6304 only by both the procedures i.e., univariate as well as multivariate analysis.


Substance abuse by the collegiate athlete has become a major concern. Drug testing programs are viewed as one method of combatting this problem; however, more emphasis should be placed upon developing effective drug prevention programs. The current study addresses this need by (a) designing a multifocused prevention program specifically for student-athletes based on the previous literature, (b) evaluating its overall effectiveness as well as that of its individual components, and (c) identifying factors associated with preintervention usage patterns of student-athletes for the purpose of guiding future program development efforts. Although 110 student-athletes indicated a willingness to participate in the study, only 58 completed the assessment packet. These 58 were randomly assigned to intervention and control conditions. Few differences were found between the treatment and control groups. Perhaps the most important finding was that social-environmental factors and pro-usage attitudes were related to pre...


Conditioning is crucial in applied science when inference involving time series is involved. Belief calculus is an effective way of handling such inference in the presence of epistemic uncertainty -- unfortunately, different approaches to conditioning in the belief function framework have been proposed in the past, leaving the matter somewhat unsettled. Inspired by the geometric approach to uncertainty, in this paper we propose an approach to the conditioning of belief functions based on geometrically projecting them onto the simplex associated with the conditioning event in the space of all belief functions. We show here that such a geometric approach to conditioning often produces simple results with straightforward interpretations in terms of degrees of belief. This raises the question of whether classical approaches, such as for instance Dempster's conditioning, can also be reduced to some form of distance minimisation in a suitable space. The study of families of combination rules generated by (geometric) conditioning rules appears to be the natural prosecution of the presented research.


Correction of the directional correlation of oriented nuclei for detector efficiency has been investigated by using in-beam γ-ray spectroscopic method. The result indicates that this correction is quite necessary for the low-energy γ-rays. On the basis of the corrected directional correlation of oriented nuclei ratios the spin assignment of the new rotational band for 170Hf was yielded.


Increasingly, organic soil amendments are being examined for their potential use in soil restoration and for preventing soil erosion. Two vermicomposts, differing in their chemical nature (obtained from cow dung, CD, and green forage, GF), were applied annually for a period of 3 yr to a Xerollic Calciorthid soil located near Seville (Guadalquivir Valley, Andalusia, Spain) to evaluate the efficiency of these organic amendments in soil restoration. Their effects on the plant cover and biological properties (microbial biomass, soil respiration, and enzymatic activities such as dehydrogenase, urease, β-glucosidase, phosphatase, and arylsulfatase) of the soil were determined. The organic wastes were applied at 3 and 6 Mg C ha -1 , respectively. After 3 yr of successive soil amendment, the application of CD vermicompost to the soil had a greater effect on the soil biological properties than GF vermicompost. The final soil microbial biomass C, dehydrogenase, urease, β-glucosidase, phosphatase, and arylsulfatase values were 28.3, 25.9, 12.6, 26, 12, and 14.2% higher in CD-amended soils than in the GF-amended soils. This may have been due to a greater labile fraction of organic matter in the CD than the GF vermicompost; however, the results obtained for the enzymatic activities stabilized in humic matrix mitigated that the highest values occurred in the soils amended with GF vermicompost with respect to those amended with CD vermicompost. This increased formation of enzymes immobilized in soils humic matrix may prolong any increase in soil enzymatic activities and plant cover produced by the amendment.


and Montenegro, and assesses the degree of central bank independence (CBI) already achieved, using the Maastricht Treaty requirements as a yardstick. The following aspects of legal CBI are examined: first, the definition of statutory objectives in central bank laws (functional independence); second, the central banksÕ independence in the formulation and implementation of monetary policy (institutional independence); third, the legal status of the central bank governor and other members of the highest decision-making body (personal independence). Fourth, the paper examines two aspects of financial independence, namely the budgetary independence of the central bank itself and the prohibition of monetary financing. Fifth, the paper briefly deals with central bank accountability issues. Moreover, selected aspects of actual CBI are analyzed. The paper concludes that the central bank laws already comply with Treaty requirements in some areas, while a considerable number of weaknesses remain. With a view to future EU accession, a further strengthening of both legal and actual CBI will be necessary for the countries to fulfill the requirements of the Maastricht Treaty.


Background Patients with genotype-1 hepatitis C virus infection who have failed to respond to standard therapy or who relapse following treatment may be considered for an interferon-free regimen incorporating a nonstructural protein 5A (NS5A) inhibitor. Sustained virologic response (SVR) with these regimens is typically >90%, but this is reduced in patients with NS5A resistance. European Association for Study of the Liver guidelines recommend simeprevir + sofosbuvir ± ribavirin (SMV+SOF±R) for re-treating patients failing an NS5A inhibitor-containing regimen. An alternative strategy would be to test for NS5A resistance prior to treatment, with therapy optimized based on the results. This study investigates the cost-effectiveness of this strategy. Materials and methods A Markov model was used to estimate disease progression for treatment-experienced genotype 1 patients with severe fibrosis or compensated cirrhosis. Targeted treatment with either SMV+SOF±R or sofosbuvir + ledipasvir ± ribavirin (SOF+LDV±R) based on pretreatment NS5A resistance testing was compared to routine SOF+LDV±R without testing. Treatment duration was 12 or 24 weeks for patients with severe fibrosis or compensated cirrhosis (Metavir F3/F4). SVR data for the treatment options were based on the results of published clinical trials. The analysis was carried out from the perspective of the Italian National Health Service. Results Optimized treatment using NS5A resistance testing yielded 0.163 additional QALYs and increased costs of €2,789 per patient versus no testing. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was €17,078/QALY. Sensitivity analysis identified the SVR attributable to each of the treatment regimens as the most sensitive determinant of ICER (range: €10,055/QALY–€43,501/QALY across plausible range). Probabilistic sensitivity analysis demonstrated that, at a willingness-to-pay threshold of €30,000/QALY, the probability that NS5A-directed treatment will be cost-effective is 81.4%. Conclusion Optimizing therapy with either SMV+SOF±R or SOF+LDV±R based on pretreatment NS5A resistance testing was cost-effective from the perspective of the Italian National Health Service, in treatment-experienced patients with severe fibrosis or compensated cirrhosis.


4 Abstract: A total of 63 day-old straight run Layer chicks up to 45 weeks of age on 3 isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets D (6% PC+ 0% SWP), D (0% PC+ 6% SWP), and D (0% PC+ 8% SWP) were fed to 1 2 3 observe the effect of dietary SWP on growth and egg production performance. This study revealed that profitability, growth and egg production performance of RIR pure line were significantly (P<0.01) higher in D2 dietary treatment groups as compared to D and D treatment. No significant difference (P<0.05) in livability 1 3 was found which could be attributed to the dietary SWP levels. Feed cost/kg was gradually declined on increasing dietary levels of SWP. The efficiency by the birds receiving SWP were better as compared to the control. The result of this study demonstrated that cheaper SWP could be an excellent substitute of costly protein concentrate in formulating diets for layers leading to increase profitability.


This study was carried out to produce and evaluate the nutritional quality of cookies formulated from sorghum and fortified with cowpea, plantain and sweet potato. The sorghum and cowpea were subjected to processing technique of sprouting while plantain and sweet potato was peeled oven dried at 45°C. The sorghum variety used was Chakalari white, a low tannin variety, cowpea (Borno red), plantain (unripe) and sweet potato (Yellow variety). Sorghum (60%) was supplemented with legume and tubers at varying proportions: five formulations were made. The parameters assayed include proximate composition, mineral element, in-vitro protein digestibility, vitamin and tannin content, using standard methods. The result showed a significant protein yield for sorghum 60: Cowpea 40 fortification (12.82±0.00) when compared with the control (unprocessed) (5.07±0.00) and the processed samples at (p<0.05). Increases in moisture, crude protein, and crude fiber content in the formulated cookies were observed. Carbohydrate content of the cookies increased as the level of cowpea flour decreased by 10%. The result showed a percentage increase in the in-vitro protein digestibility of processed samples with cowpea having the maximum level (91.90)% at 6 h digestibility. For the mineral element, there was an increase in Ca and K. For the vitamin content a significant increase was observed in the level of vitamin B6 of processed samples and formulated cookies compared to control. The tannin content of processed sample (1.54%) significantly decreased compared to unprocessed sample (control) 2.07%. The sensory evaluation revealed that SSSC and SSDSp were more acceptable than the other ratio blends. It can be concluded that the nutritional quality of the cookies were improved with the addition of cowpea. Sample with sorghum: cowpea (60:40) is a better option for cookies, as it is more superior in nutrient analysis compared to the remaining ratios.

 Key words: Sorghum, cowpea, plantain, sweet potato, cookies.


We present the results of muon-spin-relaxation experiments for two materials which show geometric frustration. ZnCr2O4 has a spinel structure with S = 3/2 spins on a lattice of corner-sharing tetrahedra. Our experiments show that a local magnetic field which is quasi-static on the muon timescale develops below Tc = 12.5 K, a transition which has been associated with a three-dimensional analogue of the spin-Peierls transition. In contrast, Gd3Ga5O12 has a garnet structure with S = 3/2 spins arranged on interpenetrating triangular sublattices. In this material the muon data exhibit a temperature-dependent spin-relaxation rate indicative of slow spin fluctuations. We discuss these differing behaviours and relate them to the underlying physics in the two materials.


In this paper we define metrics for objective evaluation of the degradation caused by lossy compression on a specific image processing task. The study is done on gray-scale Surface Mounted Device (SMD) images degraded by lossy JPEG compression. We focus on evaluating the impact of the distortion on the extraction of a set of digits which form a label on top of the SMD component. A digit extraction systems is devised in order to isolate them and produce individual binary masks. Our approach is to compare the results of a simple digit extraction system from the uncompressed (reference) image with the results obtained from the compressed/decompressed version. The use our previously devised binary metrics to evaluate the distortion of the resulting binary masks of the digits. We then define and apply a new metric that directly measures the distortion as a distance in a feature space. The digit extraction is then improved using region growing and the compression distortion is evaluated using the new feature metric. The results show that this metric does not change considerably over a large range of compression rates. This metric also provides objective way of evaluating performance of bath processing methods in the presence of a compression/decompression step.


The growth response of Chlorella vulgaris was studied under varying concentrations of carbon dioxide (ranging from 0.036 to 20%) and temperature (30, 40 and 50°C). The highest chlorophyll concentration (11 μg mL–1) and biomass (210 μg mL–1), which were 60 and 20 times more than that of C. vulgaris at ambient CO2 (0.036%), were recorded at 6% CO2 level. At 16% CO2 level, the concentrations of chlorophyll and biomass values were comparable to those at ambient CO2 but further increases in the CO2 level decreased both of them. Results showed that the optimum temperature for biomass production was 30°C under elevated CO2 (6%). Although increases in temperature above 30°C resulted in concomitant decrease in growth response, their adverse effects were significantly subdued at elevated CO2. There were also differential responses of the alga, assessed in terms of NaH14CO3 uptake and carbonic anhydrase activity, to increases in temperature at elevated CO2. The results indicated that Chlorella vulgaris grew better at elevated CO2 level at 30°C, albeit with lesser efficiencies at higher temperatures.


This book aims at detailed analysis and structural design of high rise buildings with real life examples. The knowledge of the design of high building for gravity and seismic loading is highly essential for the upcoming engineers to work in actual field efficiently. The various structural analysis and design aspect for high rise buildings are taught in the undergraduate level but not in full depth. Therefore the objective of this book is to understand the analysis and design of high rise building for gravity and seismic analysis. Since the designing for gravity and seismic is usual in actual field but retrofitting of high rise building is less common but it is highly important to study. In this report retrofitting techniques are also proposed for high rise building taking into account of the gravity and seismic loads. The understanding of current softwares for design is the need of the hour especially for the design structural engineers. Therefore, ETABS was used for the analysis of gravity and for earthquake loads. The gravity analysis and design is based on ACI-99 and earthquake analysis is based on UBC-97.


Competency-based training (CBT) is a curriculum model employed in educational sectors, professions and industries around the world. A significant feature of the model is its permeability to control by interests outside education. In this article, a 'Neoliberal' version of CBT is described and analysed in the context of Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET). In this version of the model, a division of curriculum labour is instituted that, from the perspective of Neoliberal theory, allows the interests of educators to be limited in accordance with the belief that they will neglect the interests of students and other stakeholders if they have control over the whole curriculum construction process. But this version of CBT denigrates the expertise of educators by forcing them to set aside their own judgement about what is important to teach and implement a pre-existing picture of an occupation that may or may not be an effective representation. Empirical evidence is reviewed that suggests curriculum work in VET is indeed alienating for educators. Existing critiques of CBT are considered and found to have overlooked the specifically Neoliberal form of CBT in VET analysed in the article.


: Aim: To evaluate status of general a medical procedure graduates' learner entering licensed careful subspecialty cooperation in Pakistan. Methods: A multi-sectoral and global evaluation review planned by the Fellowship Board Research Group was sent electronically to all subspecialty program leaders. Interviewees included low-restrictive medical procedures, obesity cases, colorectal, hepatobiliary and thoracic cancer cases. There were 49 quantitative questions spread over 5 domains and at least 1 intelligent subjective question/zone. Results: The response rate was 63% (n=92/149). Of the program leaders surveyed, 22% felt that new fellows were caught unawares in the delivery room, 38% showed a lack of patient ownership, 32% could not freely perform laparoscopic cholecystectomy, and 68% were considered unfit to work for 30 minutes without the aid of a major strategy. In terms of laparoscopic skills, 36% could not control traumatic tissue, 28% could not perceive anatomical planes and 58% could not stitch. In addition, 29% of colleagues were curious about restorative choices and 26% could not perceive early indications of discomfort. Conclusion: At long last, it was felt that most of new colleagues couldn't imagine, plan, and direct exploration/scholarly ventures. Topical grouping of subjective information uncovered shortfalls in areas of employable self-rule, reformist duty, longitudinal development, and academic concentration after broad medical procedure training.


Background: Ductal carcinoma in situ with microinvasion (DCISM) is a rising rare entity. Because of that and its controversial pathological definition, there is a lack of clear recommendations for treatment. The purpose of this study was to describe the clinical and pathological characteristics, treatments and outcomes of our single institutional experience. Patients and methods: Individual clinical and pathological data were collected from 63 women, diagnosed and treated for DCISM at the Claudius Regaud Cancer Hospital between January 2000 and April 2010. All available histological material (45 patients) was reviewed by an expert pathologist. Results: The median age was 56 years (range 34–83). Seven patients (11.5%) had a personal history of DCIS, 27 patients (42%) a familial history of breast cancer. Fourteen patients (22%) had a clinical sign at the diagnosis. Fifty one patients were mammographically detected (81%). All the patients underwent surgery, mastectomy for 17 patients (27.4%) and conservative surgery for 45 (72.6%). Secondary surgery of the breast was required for 21 patients (46.6%) after conservative surgery, enlarging surgery (N=13) or mastectomy (N=8). Surgical axillary lymph node evaluation was performed on 52 patients (82,5%), axillary dissection alone for 10 patients, sentinel node biopsy alone for 37 patients and the 2 methods for 5 patients. The median size of the DCIS was 16mm (6-80mm) with 37/60 (61.7%) grade III Van Nuys classification. The most histological subtype was comedo carcinoma (68%). Concerning the 45 reviewed biopsies, the size of the microinvasive component was ≤ 1mm for 38 lesions and between 1 and 2 mm for 7 lesions. Hormonal receptor status was positive for 29 (64.4%), 27 (64.3%) for estrogen receptors and 20 (44.4%) for progesterone receptors. HER 2 status was performed for 34 patients, among 12 (35%) of them were found overexpressed on the microinvasive component. Lymph node invasion was found among 2 of the 52 patients (3.8 %) who underwent axillary lymph node evaluation. Radiation therapy was delivered to all the patients after conservative surgery (n=37)(50 Gy with a 10 Gy boost for 22 of them) and 2 after mastectomy (chest wall irradiation (50 Gy)). Adjuvant hormonotherapy was delivered on 11 patients (18%). With a median follow-up of 36,4 months (95%CI=[27.7- 44.16]), 62 patients are alive at the last follow-up and 58/63 free of disease (2 relapses and 3 second cancers).The 3 year disease free survival rate was 91.1 (95%CI=[78.1;96.6] ). During follow-up, two local relapses occurred on patients treated by mastectomy. One of them had local invasive relapse at 43 months and she is still NED after 90 months. The second patient who had local invasive carcinoma with axillary node invasion at 32 months treated by conservative surgery, axillary dissection, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, had metastasis at 51 months and passed away after 70 months. Conclusion: Mammographic screening programmes increase the rate of small diagnosed tumours, specially DCISM. Despite a priori good prognostic outcome, 2 axillary node involvements and 2 delayed relapses were observed. So, this kind of presentation deserves better evaluation of relapse risk factors to determine adapted adjuvant therapies. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2011;71(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-18-05.


South Asia is gradually diversifying its crop sector in favour of high value commodities, especially fruits, vegetables and spices. If carried out appropriately, diversification can be used as a tool to augment farm income, generate employment, alleviate poverty and conserve precious soil and water resources. In India in the state of West Bengal diversification in cropping pattern is a very recent phenomenon. It is basically a rice producing state which has achieved a very high level of productivity in paddy cultivation during the second phase of green revolution and is now the largest producer of rice in the country. Crop Diversification is expected to be able to contribute towards a higher nutrition level, poverty alleviation, employment generation, and sustainable natural resources management. This paper aims to understand the nature and magnitude of the extent of diversification that is taking place in the state of West Bengal in the recent years and explore the farmers' cropping strategy and to identify the determinants of diversification.


Extinction of a conditioned association is typically viewed as the establishment of new learning rather than the erasure of the original memory. However, recent research in the nudibranch, Hermissenda crassicornis (H.c.) demonstrated that extinction training (using repeated light-alone presentations) given 15 min, but not 23 h, after memory acquisition reversed both the cellular correlates of learning (enhanced Type B cell excitability) and the behavioral changes (reduced phototaxis) produced by associative conditioning (pairings of light, CS, and rotation, US). Here, we investigated the putative molecular signaling pathways that underlie this extinction in H.c. by using a novel in vitro protocol combined with pharmacological manipulations. After intact H.c. received either light-rotation pairings (Paired), random presentations of light and rotation (Random), or no stimulation (Untrained), B cells from isolated CNSs were recorded from during exposure to extinction training consisting of two series of 15 consecutive light-steps (LSs). When in vitro extinction was administered shortly (2 h, but not 24 h) after paired training, B cells from Paired animals showed progressive and robust declines in spike frequency by the 30th LS, while control cells (Random and Untrained) did not. We found that several molecules implicated in H.c. conditioned inhibitory (CI) learning, protein phosphatase 1 (PP1) and arachidonic acid (AA)/12-lipoxygenase (12-LOX) metabolites, also contributed to the spike frequency decreases produced by in vitro extinction. Protein phosphatase 2B (PP2B) also appeared to play a role. Calyculin A (PP1 inhibitor), cyclosporin A (PP2B inhibitor), and baicalein (a 12-LOX inhibitor) all blocked the spike frequency declines in Paired B cells produced by 30 LSs. Conversely, injection of catalytically-active PP1 (caPP1) or PP2B (caPP2B) into Untrained B cells partially mimicked the spike frequency declines observed in Paired cells, as did bath-applied AA, and occluded additional LS-produced reductions in spiking in Paired cells.


The effects of ethnicity on the career paths of advanced and specialized law enformcement officers are examined. Analyses focus on two measures of possible perceived or actual employment discrimination by ethnicity. Ethnicity is found to be a minor indicator of rank compared to experience and education. A differential distribution of rank by ethnicity was found in some departments and in the total sample in some rank categories. Lack of ethnic diversity became increasingly disproportional as rank rose. Analysis of length of assignment shows all minority groups and females proceeding through their career paths more quickly than white males. Findings are presented with policy implications.


We study theoretically the coupling between localized spins mediated by itinerant polaritons in a planar micro-cavity. Due to their photon-like mass, polaritons provide an extremely long spin-coupling range, useful for the realization of two-qubit operations.


It is well-known that placing disks in the triangular lattice pattern is optimal for achieving full coverage on a plane. With the emergence of wireless sensor networks, however, it is now no longer enough to consider coverage alone when deploying a wireless sensor network; connectivity must also be con-sidered. While moderate loss in coverage can be tolerated by applications of wireless sensor networks, loss in connectivity can be fatal. Moreover, since sensors are subject to unanticipated failures after deployment, it is not enough to have a wireless sensor network just connected, it should be k-connected (for k > 1 ). In this paper, we propose an optimal deployment pattern to achieve both full coverage and 2-connectivity, and prove its optimality for all values of rc/rs, where rc is the communication radius, and rs is the sensing radius. We also prove the optimality of a previously proposed deployment pattern for achieving both full coverage and 1-connectivity, when rc/rs < √3 .Finally, we compare the efficiency of some popular regular deployment patterns such as the square grid and triangular lattice, in terms of the number of sensors needed to provide coverage and connectivity.


Every molecule has two or more atoms linked to each other through a bond. The number of bonds between two atoms is called bond order. Hence, the bond order gives information about the total number of bonds between two atoms. Besides, different methods and definitions have been given to find out an exact bond order based on various theories. The most acceptable theory to find an exact bond order is the molecular orbital theory. Using this theory, the whole electronic configuration of the molecule is written first, then total electrons present in bonding orbitals as well as antibonding orbitals are counted. After that, the bond order is calculated using an old and time-consuming formula. The presented paper describes an advanced, easy, and time-saving method, named as an advanced trick/method, with a new formula to find out an exact bond order. In this trick, only total electrons and the number of antibonding electrons is considered to calculate the bond order using developed strategy with practical examples.


User selection (US) with Zero-forcing beamforming is considered in fast fading Gaussian vector broadcast channels with perfect channel state information (CSI) at the transmitter. A novel criterion for US is proposed, which depends on both CSI and the data symbols, while conventional criteria only depend on CSI. Since the optimization of US based on the proposed criterion is infeasible, a greedy algorithm of data-dependent US is proposed to perform the optimization approximately. An overhead issue arises in fast fading channels: On every update of US, the transmitter might inform each user whether he/she has been selected, using a certain fraction of resources. This overhead results in a significant rate loss for fast fading channels. In order to circumvent this overhead issue, iterative detection and decoding schemes are proposed on the basis of belief propagation. The proposed iterative schemes require no information about whether each user has been selected. The proposed US scheme is compared to a data-independent US scheme. The complexity of the two schemes is comparable to each other for fast fading channels. Numerical simulations show that the proposed scheme can outperform the data-independent scheme for fast fading channels in terms of energy efficiency, bit error rate, and achievable sum rate.


Vortex shedding in a turbomachine blade row is affected by the passing of blades in the adjacent downstream blade row, but these effects have not been examined in the literature. A series of flow simulations has been performed to study vortex shedding in a turbine stage, and to quantify the blade interaction effects on the unsteady pressure response.The numerical issues of spatial order of accuracy and the use of Newton subiterations were first investigated. Second order spatial accuracy was shown to be inadequate to accurately model the shedding frequency response and time-averaged base pressure. For the small time step employed for temporal accuracy, Newton iterations were shown to be unnecessary.The effects of the adjacent blade row were examined by comparing the shedding frequency response for the stage simulations to the response for isolated cascades. The vane shedding was shown to occur exactly on a series of harmonics of the blade passing frequency for the stage case, compared to a single predominant frequency for the isolated cascade.Losses were also examined in the wake region. It was shown that close to the trailing edge, losses were mainly due to wake mixing. Farther downstream of the trailing edge, losses were predominantly due to the trailing edge shock wave.Copyright © 1998 by ASME


As satellite imagery collections continue to grow at an astonishing rate, so is the demand for automated and scalable object detection and segmentation. Scaling computational activities demand models that generalize well across various challenges that can hamper progress, including diverse imaging and geographic conditions, sampling bias in training data, manual ground truth collection, tooling for model reuse and accountability assessment, and poor model training strategies. A great deal of progress has been made on these challenges. We contribute to the improvement through further development of ReSFlow, a workflow that breaks the problem of model generalization into a collection of specialized exploitations. ReSFlow partitions imagery collections into homogeneous buckets equipped with exploitation models trained to perform well under each bucket.s specific context. Essentially, ReSFlow aims for generalization through stratification. Therefore, within a bucket, exploitation is a homogeneous process that mitigates heterogeneity challenges, including the number of training data and data biases that can occur over varied conditions. Furthermore, custom model architectures and rich training strategies effective for within-bucket conditions can be developed. Meanwhile, across buckets, performance metrics support systematic views of the workflow leading to optimal data labeling allocations and indications that further specialization is warranted. Herein, we discuss the formation of models during the framework's "Offline Initialization" stage. Lastly, we exploit the inherent parallelism due to bucketing to introduce model reuse and demonstrate efficacy by reducing an 89-day manual data labeling cost to zero-days in a new area of interest.


The magnetic field of a recording head is measured by projection electron-beam tomography with a resolution of about ten nanometers, and the magnetic field closer to the sample surface than the measurement plane is estimated by numerical calculation. The magnetic field at 20 nm calculated from the field measured at 50 nm adequately agrees with the directly measured field at 20 nm. The combination of projection electron-beam tomography and this calculation method make it possible to determine the magnetic field close to a head (air-bearing) surface.


In the Egypt's Eastern Desert intrusive rocks with U-REE mineralization (two-mica granites, microgranites, dolerites, and bostonites) are developed. We estimated the content of chemical elements in reference samples of intrusive rocks and also in their water-soluble (colloid-salt) fraction. This fraction is water-extracted from the rock under certain conditions. The rock sample and its colloid-salt fraction are analyzed using ICP-MS. The chemical characteristic of the extracted fraction reflects the mobile migrating part of the chemical elements in the composition of the rocks. Comparison of the obtained data allows us to estimate the share of migrating and weakly migrating elements.


The purpose of this study is to discuss the importance of knowledge management for enterprises and individuals and to gain abilities of knowledge management through a finance investing management activity in college business course learning. The learning activity includes designing a personal fund management chart and discussing how to develop a student's ability of knowledge management. After participating the activity, students can learn how to express and share their opinions in fund investment. The anticipated benefit of this study for students is to learn the abilities of knowledge obtaining, transformation, application, innovation, protection and so on.


Ocean acidification (OA) may interact with anthropogenic pollutants, such as heavy metals (HM), to represent a threat to marine organisms and ecosystems. Here, we perform a quantitative meta-analysis to examine the combined effects of OA and heavy metals on marine organisms. The results reveal predominantly additive interactions (67%), with a considerable proportion of synergistic interactions (25%) and a few antagonistic interactions (8%). The overall adverse effects of heavy metals on marine organisms were alleviated by OA, leading to a neutral impact of heavy metals in combination with OA. However, different taxonomic groups showed large variabilities in their responses, with microalgae being the most sensitive when exposed to heavy metals and OA, and having the highest proportion of antagonistic interactions. Furthermore, the variations in interaction type frequencies are related to climate regions and heavy metal properties, with antagonistic interactions accounting for the highest proportion in temperate regions (28%) and when exposed to Zn (52%). Our study provides a comprehensive insight into the interactive effects of OA and HM on marine organisms, and highlights the importance of further investigating the responses of different marine taxonomic groups from various geographic locations to the combined stress of OA and HM.


Background Comparative analysis of Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by massively parallel sequencing (ChIP-seq), combined with transcriptomics data (RNA-seq), can provide critical insights into gene regulatory networks controlled by transcription factors in a given biological context. While multiple programs exist, which need to be individually installed and executed to generate such information, a user-friendly tool with low system requirements which combines the various computational processes into one package, using a docker container, is lacking. Results In this study, we present a user-interactive, infrastructure-independent computational pipeline, called Motifizer, which uses open source tools for processing ChIP-Seq and RNA-seq datasets. Motifizer performs extensive analysis of raw input data, performing peak calling, de-novo motif analysis and differential gene expression analysis on ChIP and RNA-seq datasets. Additionally, Motifizer can be used for analysis and quantitative comparison of transcription factor binding sites in user defined genomic regions. Motifizer also allows easy addition and/or changes of parameters, thereby adding to the versatility of the tool. Conclusion The Motifizer tool is an easy to use tool which uses a docker container system to install and execute ChIP-seq and RNA-seq data parsing. The Analysis module of Motifizer can be employed to identify putative targets involved in gene regulatory networks. Motifizer can be accessed by a large user base and does not require programming skill by the user. Motifizer can be locally installed from the repository (https://github.com/abhikbhattacharjee/Motifizer)


It has been reported in the literature several clinical cases of renal failure after the use of flunixin meglumine in normal healthy dogs. Based on these reports this study was developed to evaluate the renal function of normal healthy dogs. Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine were measured in four groups of 5 dogs submitted to a single surgical procedure. Two groups received flunixin meglumine and the other two ketoprofen, both in therapeutic dosages. The results showed values of BUN and serum creatinine within normal range for dogs. It is fair to conclude that flunixin meglumine and ketoprofen do not produce renal failure when administered during the peri-operative period in normal healthy dogs.


Spoken document retrieval (SDR) systems must be vocabulary-free in order to deal with arbitrary query words because a user often searches the section where a query word is spoken, and query words are liable to be special terms that are not included in a speech recognizer's dictionary. We have previously proposed new subword models, such as the 1/2 phone model, the 1/3 phone model, and the sub-phonetic segment (SPS) model, and have confirmed the effectiveness of these models for SDR [1]. These models are more sophisticated on the time axis than phoneme models such as the triphone model. The present paper proposes an integration method of plural retrieval results that are obtained from each subword model and demonstrates the performance improvement through experiments using an actual presentation speech corpus.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate a family with autosomal dominant optic atrophy, which has been previously linked to the Kidd blood group.

DESIGN
Clinical evaluation with the assessment of visual acuity, color vision, and optic nerve appearance to determine affection status. Linkage analysis using polymorphic DNA markers.

RESULTS
Visual acuities ranged from 20/20 to 6/200. Although linkage was excluded for chromosome 3q28-29, markers from chromosome 18 in the vicinity of the Kidd locus were linked to the disorder (D18S34 [maximal lod score (lodmax) of 5.38 at recombination fraction (theta) of 0.14], D18S548 [lod(max)=7.26, theta=0.09], D18S861 [lod(max)= 5.32, theta = 0.07], and D18S479 [lod(max) = 3.28, 0 = 0.12:]). Multipoint linkage analysis demonstrated lod scores of greater than 3 in an approximately 3-centimorgan region flanked by D18S34 and D18S479, using 98% penetrance and a phenocopy rate of 1/50.

CONCLUSIONS
Dominant optic atrophy is genetically heterogeneous, with loci assigned to chromosomes 3q28-29 and 18q12.2-12.3. Dominant optic atrophy linked to 18q shows intrafamilial variation similar to that previously reported in families linked to 3q, with visual acuities ranging from normal to legal blindness. The overall distribution of visual acuities appears more favorable with the 18q phenotype. Both phenotypes appear to have a similar rate of visual decline.


AIMS
Right ventricular (RV) function assessment is crucial in congenital heart disease patients, especially in atrial septal defect (ASD) and repaired Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) patients with pulmonary regurgitation (PR). In this study, we aimed to analyse both 3D RV shape and deformation to better characterize RV function in ASD and TOF-PR.

METHODS AND RESULTS
We prospectively included 110 patients (≥16 years old) into this case-control study: 27 ASD patients, 28 with TOF, and 55 sex- and age-matched healthy controls. Endocardial tracking was performed on 3D transthoracic RV echocardiographic sequences and output RV meshes were post-processed to extract local curvature and deformation. Differences in shape and deformation patterns between subgroups were quantified both globally and locally. Curvature highlights differences in RV shape between controls and patients while ASD and TOF-PR patients are similar. Conversely, strain highlights differences between controls and TOF-PR patients while ASD and controls are similar [global area strain: -31.5 ± 5.8% (controls), -34.1 ± 7.9% (ASD), -24.8 ± 5.7% (TOF-PR), P < 0.001, similar significance for longitudinal and circumferential strains]. The regional and local analysis highlighted differences in particular in the RV free wall and the apical septum.

CONCLUSION
Chronic RV volume loading results in similar RV shape remodelling in both ASD and TOF patients while strain analysis demonstrated that RV strain is only reduced in the TOF group. This suggests a fundamentally different RV remodelling process between both conditions.


OBJECTIVE To evaluate the sex difference in the impact of diabetes on survival in patients with coronary heart disease. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Cohort study based on a sample from a hospital registry in Chicago, IL. A total of 974 consecutive patients (585 men and 389 women) with angiographically confirmed coronary artery disease were followed for 4.6 yr. RESULTS At baseline, 160 men and 155 women had diabetes. The age-adjusted relative risk of death from all causes for patients with diabetes versus patients without diabetes was 0.93 (95% confidence interval 0.65–1.34) in men and 1.99 (95% CI 1.30–3.05) in women. For cardiac death, the corresponding relative risk was 1.00 (95% CI 0.64–1.56) and 1.96 (95% CI 1.19–3.24) in men and women, respectively. Baseline differences in age, hypertension, body mass index, number of diseased vessels, and ejection fraction did not fully explain the excess mortality risk in diabetic women. Excess risk was apparent in both cardiac and noncardiovascular categories. Among nondiabetic patients, the risk of death was significantly lower in women compared with men (multivariate-adjusted relative risk = 0.61, 95% CI 0.41–0.89). However, the mortality risk of diabetic women became similar to men as a whole (relative risk =1.13, 95% CI 0.80–1.60). CONCLUSIONS Diabetes confers a substantially higher risk of mortality in women than in men when it occurs in the presence of coronary heart disease.


To gain a better understanding of the chemistry of cyclic allenes, in the present work six-membered monocyclic systems containing second- (B−O) and third-row elements (Al−S) of the periodic table of elements are studied in detail, regarding the energetic order of the electronic states and the planarization energies, which together determine their chemical behavior. The data obtained by high-level ab initio methods show that the properties of the compounds strongly depend on the heteroatoms and can be related to trends in the periodic table of elements. These trends in the series B to O and Al to S are rationalized by the degree of the interaction between the various fragments and the interplay between this interaction and the strain in the allene moiety. In addition, by applying the model to charged species, we reveal an unexpected link between the cyclic allenes and the phenyl anion. Furthermore, our computations answer open questions about the chemical properties of 1-aza-2,3-cyclohexadienes. Finally, w...


The modification of polymer properties through the addition of nanoparticles has lead to the development of the so-called nanocomposites. The purpose of this study was to observe the glass transition temperature by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) in epoxy/alumina nanocomposites. Analysis was carried-out for different volume fractions, ranging from 2.5% to 10%. The results showed that the glass transition temperature (Tg) is generally higher in the samples with nanoparticles; however, the observed Tg showed no variation with nanoparticle concentration. For the final version of this study, analysis of Termogravimetric Analisys (TGA) was performed to confirm the nanoparticle volume fraction and the DSC results.


Mitochondrial job and creation of toxic mix by antibiotic Mitochondria, a primitive endosymbiotic bacteria, related to extant SARII marine bacteria and Rickettsias, in eukaryotes is responsible for Oxidative Phosphorylation (OP) and ATP and NAD production, when exposed to clinically equivalent doses of antibiotics that target bacteria (cipromycin, ampicillin, kanamycin), exhibited a decline in glutathione titre, an increase in Reactive Oxygen (ROS) and an increase in lipid peroxide [1,2]. Modes of action of antibiotics on mitochondria and microbiome 1. Quinolones: Commonly prescribed antibacterial organofluorine compounds that act by inhibition of bacterial DNA synthesis and result in rapid cell death [3]. They could be expected to do collateral damage to mitochondria and the human microbiome. This group contains Ofloxacin, Norfloxacin (Noroxin), Ciprofloxacin (Cipro), Moxifloxacin (Avelox)


We have studied charging effects in ultrasmall aluminum or lead alloy Josephson junctions (S ≈ 0.01–0.02 μm2) protected from the shunting impedance of the external circuit by high resistance leads with R ≈ 100–300 kΩ. Measurements of the single junctions have shown two new effects predicted by theory: the Coulomb blockade of Cooper pair tunneling and the time correlation of individual Cooper pair tunneling events (so-called Bloch oscillations). The former effect was observed for a wide range of Josephson coupling energies less than and grater than the charging energy. Bloch oscillations were indicated by phase locking to an external signal of frequency 0.4 to 10 GHz for Josephson energies close to charging energy. The shape of the current-voltage characteristics and the bandwidth of Bloch oscillations as measures from the derivative dV/dI, were analyzed within the context of three different theoretical models.


Diazepam (DZ) reinforcement was tested under anxiogenic (public speaking) and neutral (computer task) conditions. Individuals with social anxiety disorder (n = 11) and healthy controls (n = 11) participated in two 5-session phases. Each phase used a standard choice procedure (2 sample, 3 choice sessions) comparing 10-mg DZ and placebo. During the public speaking condition, DZ preference was greater among the participants with social anxiety compared with controls (81.8% vs. 36.4%; p < .05). Participants with social anxiety also gave DZ significantly higher crossover values on the multiple choice procedure under the speech condition compared with the computer condition. Subjective effects indicated that DZ reduced anxiety when levels were elevated during the speech in socially anxious participants. These results suggest that DZ reinforcement may occur under conditions of heightened anxiety by bestowing therapeutic efficacy.


extract] A Question to Ponder: How does your service compare to other similar services in the industry? How would knowing this help your organisation?


The intensity noise spectra of several multi-transverse mode 1550-nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) have been experimentally investigated. For a VCSEL emitting in two parallel polarized transverse modes the noise spectra of the individual modes and total power show two resonance peaks. The frequencies at which both peaks appear have been measured as a function of the bias current. Our experimental results confirm the theoretical predictions of Valle Differences in the noise spectra are experimentally observed when considering a VCSEL emitting in three transverse modes with polarization instabilities. We show that additional peaks appear in the noise spectra of the total power as the bias current is increased.


As more and more approaches focus on service oriented architecture, the idea presented in this paper looks much further. An approach for a new identity is introduced that describes a machine or a service neither by technical details nor addresses but by the needs they may satisfy. The new human oriented identity management, by focusing on the user's view, leads to a convenient and easy service discovery system. A consumer no longer has to know specific details about the machine or the service, but can still find the machine that satisfies exactly his current needs.


F or students, cognitive academic language is their second language. Their first language is their "social language" or the "everyday conversational language" of the community, of the media, and at home. While students are exposed to social language in various settings, their exposure to cognitive academic language acquisition is generally limited in the classroom. To them, this second language is full of new words, figurative expressions, and grammatical structures. Zweirs (2004) asserted that many learners, even those with developed social language, struggle to master the complex language of school. This study assessed the cognitive academic language proficiency of Letran Calamba college students by using a written test. The overall learning styles of students and teaching methodologies of faculty members were also presented. In addition, the paper identified the language learning strategies of students through the use of Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL). A total of 365 students and 73 faculty members were tested across all departments and in all year levels. The study was conducted in Colegio de San Juan de Letran, a private Dominican educational institution, located in the City of Calamba, Laguna. Letran Calamba college students had difficulty with intricate or theoretical academic language. When grouped according to departments, the scaled scores showed that only the School of Arts and Sciences (SAS) and School of Business, Management, and Accountancy (SBMA) had reached elementary academic language proficiency level. The School of Nursing (SN) students excelled in vocabulary and reading comprehension, while SAS and SBMA students were better in writing than those from the other departments. When grouped according to year levels, the third year students scored better in vocabulary than those students from other year levels. In reading comprehension, the fifth year students scored poorer than those students from other year levels. In writing, there were no significant differences at α = 0.05. When grouped according to gender, male students performed more poorly than the female students in vocabulary and reading comprehension. In writing, students' scores did not differ from one another. Overall, the students were using auditory, kinesthetic, and visual learning styles. Colegio's teachers, on the other hand, were using group, individual, and visual learning styles. The extent of practice of the different language learning strategies did not vary with the students' gender, year level, and department, except for the metacognitive and cognitive language learning strategies which varied with the students' department. It was, thus, recommended that instruction should be cognitively challenging requiring students to use higher-order thinking abilities rather than low-level memorization and application skills. A re-visit of instructional strategies and curricular content should be done to address the proficiency problem.


Smart devices like mobile phones with internet are becoming an indispensable part of our everyday lives. Digital solutions are expected to contribute to the healthcare sector (e-health) in the form of online patient portals and home measuring devices. Nevertheless, e-health is being utilised very little in daily practice. This dissertation focuses primarily on the patient's perspective, with the main aim of researching the need and the use of e-health by general practitioners. This dissertation also examines the implementation of e-health in the Netherlands in a broader context. It appears that e-health is not commonly used by patients due to a lack of: 1) understanding and information about the possibilities and advantages of e-health; 2) understanding about the possibilities and skills required to use e-health; and 3) the expected value of e-health in terms of disease-specific characteristics. The low usage rate of e-health may be particularly problematic for patients that could benefit from it, but do not have access to it or the ability or skills to use it. This dissertation found that e-health is not equally relevant for all patients and therefore does not have to be implemented for everyone. Its introduction in GP care depends on the efforts of the parties involved, including patients, healthcare providers, e-health developers, health insurers, the government and researchers. They will have to draw on their own perspectives and values and work together to point the large-scale deployment of e-health in the right direction.


A simple method for the design of the finite-impulse-response prototype filter for maximally-decimated overlapped complex modulated transmultiplexers with near perfect reconstruction property is presented. The procedure is unified for all values of overlap factor and leads to a prototype filter with excellent frequency selectivity and fast side-lobe fall-off rate. The high stop-band attenuation and fast side-lobe fall-off rate, which is justified analytically, make the proposed filters suitable candidates for high-speed data communication applications employing multicarrier modulation.


Rocket science has always been fairly complex. Its not because, it deals only the properties of rocket dynamics, attitude control, propulsion systems but the complexity arises mostly as a result of its payload, whether its manned or unmanned, how to make that payload reaches to orbit? How to assemble them in orbit to make giant structures like space stations? And most importantly, the mechanisms and aerodynamics of the shuttle associated with the lifting of the rocket. This paper, not only helps to make ease out the complex terminology, rigorous mathematics, pain stroking equations into a simplified norms, like a non-fiction for the general readers but also, no pre-requisite knowledge in the field is needed to study this paper. However, every possible attempt have been make to simplify the dynamics of rocket sciences and control mechanisms to the most easier way that one can imagine, still, there are some complex terminologies but pictures are provided deliberately with facts and histories to boost up the way of understanding the subject much more better than before. It has been deliberately proved in this paper that rockets along with orbital mechanics, Kessler's syndrome, Lunar and Martial landing of the Apollo and the Curiosity rovers, is not the future of the humanity to reach out to the stars. Therefore, to eliminate time completely, to warp the space in a new way, to make the gravity constant at 1g Earth gravity, physics of Electrohydrodynamics – Or, the physics beyond the rocket propulsion by harnessing the Anti-Gravity is discussed in details with various types of engines and experiments carried out throughout the globe. Just as a rocket become incapable of taking humans to some exoplanets millions of light years apart, Electrohydrodynamics have shown humanity hopes that, this can be achieved by applying clever physics by eliminating the hindrances of time, gravity, acceleration and fuels. Thus arrives the need to consider a totally different form of propulsion technology unknowingly discovered by Tesla and later put forward by Thomas Townsend Brown. The technology of the super-intelligent humans that the Earthmen have gathered by reverse engineering the crashed Unidentified Flying Objects which involves the perpetual motion mechanism of Anti-Gravity governed by Semi-Quantum Kinetics.


We simulated the evolution of a three-site haplotype system, two restriction fragment length polymorphisms flanking one short tandem repeat polymorphism, under five different demographic scenarios, three with constant population size and two with population growth. The simulation was designed to observe the effects of population history, recombination fraction, and mutation rate on allele and haplotype frequencies, haplotype diversity, frequency of ancestral alleles, and linkage disequilibrium. The known ancestral haplotypes were often found at low frequencies and even became extinct after 5,000 generations, especially with small effective population sizes. The original linkage disequilibrium was eroded and even reversed.


Acute heart disease patients often go on to develop worsening renal function,  termed as cardiorenal syndrome. The growing breadth of studies has shown the implications of combining multiple biomarkers to better chart outcomes between heart and kidneys, and produce desirable results in such patients,  as cystatin C and galectin-3
The aim: To estimate the levels of cystatin C and galectin-3,  and their relationship with cardiorenal syndrome.
Methods: Cystatin C and galectin-3 were obtained from 144 samples: 50 sample with cardiorenal syndrome, 25 sample with heart disease, 25 sample with kidney disease and 44 normal healthy .
Results: A highly significant increase (p<0.0001) in the levels of cystatin C in serum  of  patients with cardirenal syndrome, heart disease and kidney disease compared with normal individuals. A  highly significant (p<0.0001) increase in the serum levels of  galectin-3 in patients with cardirenal syndrome and patients with heart disease, significant increase in the serum levels of  galectin-3 and  in patients with kidney disease when compared with control group
Conclusions: Cystatin C and galectin-3 have higher diagnostic validity values in the current study, which may be useful as a diagnostic tool to identify  recurrence of  the cardiorenal syndromes


A tight approximation of a bit error probability analysis is derived for a L-diversity non-coherent 8-ary FSK frequency hopping system with binary convolutional code and soft Viterbi decoder. For this, we compare a traditional coded 8FSK receiver using a binary Viterbi decoder with the optimal decoder based on the maximum likelihood (ML) criterion. For this ML decoder (MLD) receiver, bit error probability is written as an expression depending on the pairwise 8FSK symbol error probability, and new codeword spectrum c'(d). We analyze the behavior of these receivers: a conventional receiver with Viterbi decoder and a MLD decoder receiver, versus L-diversity and concatenated code, when a bit interleaver is present or not. We show that bit error probability is very similar for these two receivers when the interleaver is present. We then deduce an analytical expression giving the exact behavior of traditional and AGC 8FSK receiver with concatenated code and soft Viterbi decoder under Gaussian noise and partial-band noise jamming.


The widespread use of echocardiography has generated considerable interest in the ultrasonic properties of myocardial collagen. This study was designed to investigate the effect of collagen on the propagation of ultrasound by measuring the anisotropy of ultrasonic velocity through formalin fixed specimens of bovine Achilles tendon. Tendon was chosen for this study because it possesses a high content of collagen and a well-defined unidirectional arrangement of fibers. Ultrasonic velocity data were acquired from nine samples of fixed tendon that were each insonified at multiple angles relative to the fibers in 2 degrees increments for a full 360 degrees. Analysis of the data revealed a substantial angular dependence of velocity qualitatively similar to that reported for formalin fixed specimens of normal human myocardium, but approximately 17 times larger in magnitude. Together with measured values of density, these results were used to compute the elastic stiffness coefficients C11 (corresponding to propagation perpendicular to the fibers) and C33 (corresponding to propagation parallel to the fibers) of fixed tendon, yielding 3.08 and 4.51 GPa, respectively.


Drawing on theories of intergroup prejudice and decision making, the authors examined how much participants valued lives of conationals and enemy civilians. Using decisions made under risk, Experiment 1 showed that Americans valued Iraqi and American lives equally when outcomes for those nations did not compete but valued American lives more under outcome competition. Experiments 2 and 3 extended this finding by illustrating ethnocentric valuation even when large numbers of lives were at stake: The number of lives at stake mattered less for enemy civilians than it did for conational combatants. Experiment 4 provided additional evidence of this ethnocentric indifference to magnitude, regardless of combatant status of the conationals' lives. In all experiments, individual difference measures associated with prejudice (e.g., group identification and prejudice, empathy, social dominance orientation, social attitudes) corresponded to ethnocentric valuation measured in decisions. Results demonstrate that categorization, competitive context, and individual propensities for prejudice influence how much one values lives.


The hypertensive and hyperlipidemic effects of cyclosporin A (CsA) may contribute to the high cardiovascular morbidity in renal transplant patients and to the development of chronic transplant nephropathy. Tacrolimus is reported to have less effect on BP and lipids, but steroids, other drugs, and renal function may confound this. This study assessed 24-h BP and lipid profile in stable renal transplant recipients (n = 17) while they were receiving CsA, after 4 wk of receiving tacrolimus, and again after 4 wk of receiving CsA. Antihypertensives were stopped at least 3 wk before. A few patients used low-dose steroids and lipid-lowering drugs, which were not changed during the study. Mean daytime BP decreased from 149 +/- 12 and 95 +/- 8 mmHg to 138 +/- 13 and 87 +/- 9 mmHg (P: < 0.001) after patients were switched to tacrolimus. Mean nighttime BP also decreased, from 140 +/- 12/86 +/- 7 mmHg to 132 +/- 17/79 +/- 10 mmHg (P: < 0.05). Total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol decreased from 6.1 +/- 0.7 and 3.84 +/- 0.79 mmol/L to 5.1 +/- 0.8 and 2.98 +/- 0.75 mmol/L (P: < 0.001). Return to CsA caused an increase in BP and cholesterol to values similar as during the first CsA period. The conclusion is that tacrolimus has fewer unfavorable effects on BP and lipids than does CsA. Elective conversion from CsA to tacrolimus in stable renal transplant recipients may lead to attenuation of cardiovascular morbidity and chronic transplant nephropathy in the long term.


Two unconformities in the Ordovician of western Tarim basin,Northwest China have been recognized on the base of sedimentary,stratigraphical and palaeontological data.One is between the Lower Ordovician Penglaiba Formation and Yingshan Formation,which is a parallel unconformity indicated by weathered beds and stratigraphical gaps.That two or three conodont zones/assemblages are absent from the unconformity indicates this stratigraphical gap is about 5.5~7.2 Ma.The other one is between the Upper Ordovician Terekawat Formation and the underlying formations,which presents commonly as a parallel unconformity or an angular unconformity in some regions.Palaeontological data show the underlying beds belonging to different formations at different sections,which are the Yingan Formation at the Dawangou,East Dawangou and Yangjikan sections that belongs to the Aijiashanian of late Late Ordovician according to the chitinozoans,or the Qilang Formation at the Sishichang and Terekawat sections that is early—middle Aijiashanian in age as indicated by conodonts;or the Tumuxiuke Formation or Yijianfang Formation at the Sanjianfang section that have been assigned to the early Aijiashanian of Late Ordovician or Darriwilian of Middle Ordovician on the basis of conodonts,or the Yingshan Formation at the North Xiker and East Xiker sections that is early Middle Ordovician based on the conodonts as well.The stratigraphical gap varies from 1 or 2 Ma to over 20 Ma as the maximum.


Abstract The spring seed bank in a red maple bottomland swamp along the Chadakoin River in western New York was examined. Soil samples were collected at 13 microtopographically defined microsites and placed in a greenhouse for a seed bank emergence study. Mean emergent seed density was 1,037/m2 with a total of 2,179 seedlings emerging. A total of 81 species were identified, 18 of which were non-native. Seed bank composition was dominated by the forbs Boehmeria cylindrica, Lysimachia nummularia, and Scutellaria lateriflora. Of the seed bank species 23% were woody trees, shrubs and vines, 46% were perennial forbs, 16% were perennial graminoids, and 15% were annuals and biennials. Microsites varied in seed bank density with elevated moss, swale, mossy stump, mossy tree hummock and mossy root containing 58.3% of the emergent seedlings. Detrended Correspondence Analysis showed that berm and stump microsites differed in seed bank composition from the other microsites which were very similar to each other. The extant swamp vegetation, with 68 species in nineteen 100 m2 plots had 39 species in common with the seed bank. Seeds of the dominant woody species (Acer ×freemanii, Fraxinus pennsylvanica and Ulmus americana) were present in the seed bank. The Sorenson-Dice index of similarity between the species composition of the standing vegetation and the soil seed bank based on presence/absence data was 0.347. This moderate level of similarity indicates that Bonita swamp is a mid-successional forested wetland.


This thesis investigates power allocation schemes for an amplify-and-forward dual-hop relay based cooperative communication system with perfect and imperfect channel state information (CSI). We define cost functions and propose power allocation schemes such that the cost functions are minimized. We analyze a multiuser system, where we select the best user for transmission, who incurs the least cost of transmission. In a practical system, estimated CSI is often imperfect. We assume the estimated CSI is affected by estimation errors, which are modeled as zero mean complex Gaussian. First we propose an optimization scheme where the objective is to minimize the weighted sum of source and relay powers. Then we propose a more general multi-objective optimization scheme which jointly optimizes sum power and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In our proposed schemes, source and relay nodes share a fixed total power, and transmission is allowed only if the minimum required SNR at the destination can be achieved with the available power budget. These schemes are analyzed under both perfect and imperfect CSI assumptions. In addition to proving the convexity of these problems, we propose analytical solutions for sum power minimization and SNR maximization schemes in the


With a focus on the factors that determine the effectiveness of product placements, we compare the use of product placements in traditional and digital media. Despite the enthusiastic use of product placements in both forms of media, research has not provided conclusive results as to the effectiveness of this form of marketing. After reviewing the factors that alter product placement outcomes, we present a conceptual model designed to highlight the processes that we perceive as altering the consequences of product placements. We presume that whether or not a product placement results in positive consequences for an embedded brand depends on a combination of influences that stem primarily from the degree of a consumer's immersion within the media experience. The highly stimulating and self-directed nature of digital media is predicted to produce profitable consequences for embedded brands, making it a prosperous venue for marketers to utilize to feature their brands. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-792-8.ch005


Numerical modelling is a powerful and well-proven tool for investigation of nonlinear polarization evolution (NPE) mode-locked fiber lasers, exhibiting various regimes of signal generation. The scalar model based on nonlinear Schrodinger equation (NLSE) was used to describe evolution of dissipative solitons (DSs) in a laser cavity in the presence of stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) [1, 2] and even to predict conditions of a Raman dissipative soliton formation [3]. However, a question of validity of the model was not properly investigated. In the later work [4] only a qualitative agreement between the simulation and experiment was achieved.


The objective of this paper is to model the dynamics of volatility transmission from mature global stock markets of France, Germany, UK and the US to MENA (Middle East and North African) markets of Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates. GARCH, TGARCH models of returns are estimated to determine evidence of volatility spillover from global mature markets to emerging or less mature markets of MENA region. We find evidence of different level of volatility spillover and leverage effect. This varying response to global stock market shocks reveals that MENA stock markets are not fully integrated with global economy.


The purpose of this article is to review the content of existing social— emotional learning programs in the American K-12 curriculum and the relationship between the school-based programs and the needs of the American workplace. Social and emotional learning (SEL) programs were examined for their content and compared to research on critical emotional intelligence skills for the workplace. Emotional intelligence literature was reviewed, as was the SEL literature. The two literatures were compared to identify gaps so that practitioners of human resource development have a basis on which to consider important areas for training programs in emotional intelligence.


ABSTRACT Due to the ever-increasing importance of multilevel inverters, researchers try to offer new structures for these types of inverters to improve their performance and reduce their costs. In this paper, a new topology has been proposed for cascaded multilevel inverters. This inverter is formed by the series connection of new basic units, which utilise fewer power switches in their structure. The reduction in the number of components used in this new inverter has resulted in lower economic costs and installation area. Also, four different methods have been proposed to determine the magnitudes of the input voltage sources, enabling the proposed inverter to operate in both symmetric and asymmetric modes. To show the advantages of the inverter, it is compared with the conventional cascaded H-bridge inverter and other similar ones. The simulation and experimental results confirm the performance accuracy of the proposed inverter and also its ability to generate different voltage levels at the output.