Considering the weakness of traditional e-learning, a multiple of e-learning systems attempt to  get  individualization  into the process  of  learning  by  offering  learner-centered instruction, the adaptive E-learning system(AES)is seen as one of the more famous models. An AES can tailor its response to different circumstances. Various types and platforms in E-Learning systems have been discussed and explained such as blended, adaptive, and educational e-learning. Architectures, functions, and challenges also illustrated in details in this paper. Mostly focused on the Adaptive e-learning concept and importance for the learners.  AES concentrates on adaptively delivering learning materials. This paper discusses some studies that approved the importance of adaption in the e-learning system in the years (2018-2023), and introduced some challenges faced by this system.


The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the development of the national quality assurance (QA) system, introduced in Taiwan in 2005, and identify the impact it had on four higher education institutions (HEIs), each with a very different mission and features. The study addresses two broad research questions: firstly, how has the current QA system developed in Taiwan, and what are its features and characteristics? Secondly, how do university staff prepare for and perceive the impact of the QA system undertaken by the Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan (HEEACT)? The key features of the QA system are identified by using documentary analysis and interviews. The documentary analysis focuses on HEEACT publications. Having analysed the documents, policymakers who were involved in the development of the QA system were interviewed. A case study approach is utilised to analyse the perceived impact of the QA system on four universities. The four universities were chosen to cover the range of higher education institutions in Taiwan. Two are prestigious institutions which have received generous funding (one public and one private), while the other two (also one public and one private) are less prestigious institutions which have received less funding than the first two. Since 2005, the Taiwan government has distributed expenditure, and restructured higher education according to the results of the QA system conducted by HEEACT. All HEIs are therefore under pressure to meet the demands of the QA system as the results of evaluations will affect their resources and reputation, as well as whether they will be able to win competitive research and teaching funds. The HEIs perceive that in order to satisfy the requirements of HEEACT, they have to introduce new processes and structures, and the characteristics of individual HEIs have changed as a consequence. The Taiwanese approach to QA is a hybrid of different approaches to QA, including the accreditation system borrowed from the U.S.A. Its key distinctive features are that: (a) it evaluates both teaching and research within one single assessment exercise; (b) its results are used to determine resource allocation of the higher education system; (c) it has also been used to merge and close HEIs by the government; and (d) some of the terminology used is ambiguous. A number of organisational changes occurred in the four universities as they prepared for the QA exercise. The internal measures introduced were categorised into three types: rewards, staff evaluations and structures. However, the changes initiated in the four universities varied and are driven by their different features including their institutional purpose, mission and whether they are public or private institutions. Together, these changes have resulted in a new form of management in the HEIs and this can be seen as an unanticipated consequence of the QA system. The contrast between research-oriented and teaching-led universities has been sharpened by the QA system as it has forced Taiwan's HEIs to choose one path or the other in order to be successfully evaluated by HEEACT. The public university with a good reputation built on its strong points and its original advantages and reinforced its position as a research-led university, whilst universities with less prestigious reputations were forced to focus on teaching regardless of whether they were public or private institutions. Academic staff also felt that they had to choose either to improve their teaching expertise or to focus on research in response to the QA system. The changes triggered by the QA system have influenced the nature of the academic profession and this, in turn, appears to have reshaped academic identities and professionalisation. This thesis offers three main contributions. First, the thesis has identified the distinctive features of the Taiwanese approach to QA. Although Taiwan's QA system was influenced by Western approaches to QA, it is in effect a hybrid of different approaches, and represents its own distinctive QA model. Second, the thesis contributes to understanding the impact of QA systems on universities. By combining the approach from Morley (2004) with the model of Brennan and Shah (2000), the resulting analytical framework explains the impact of the QA exercise on HEIs in the context of Taiwan, and possibly in the East Asia region. Finally, the thesis contributes to the QA literature by analysing the differential impact of a QA system has had on four universities with very different missions.


Introduction: As the world struggles to manage and move forward from the clinical effects of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the ability to test for viral genomic RNA in patient samples is critical Currently, the development and performance of SARS-CoV-2 clinical tests is impaired by a diminished supply chain of reagents needed for the tests, compelling labs to seek alternative, readily-available reagents as substitutes Aim: To evaluate the suitability of Phosphate-Buffered Saline (PBS) and RNAlater™ as substitutes for sample transport media, to preserve the fidelity of viral RNA for use in a SARSCoV-2 RT-PCR assay Materials and Methods: This molecular study was conducted in Dayton, Ohio (USA) using synthetic materials and de-identified remnant patient specimens Simulated standard clinical laboratory storage conditions were used, including prolonged storage up to 72 hours at 2-8°C and a freeze/thaw cycle PCR amplification performance was measured for PBS and RNAlater™ against transport medium as a reference using purified viral RNA Performance differences were determined using repeated-measures two-way ANOVA with a 5% false discovery rate Results: Results indicate that both solutions were suitable for testing viral RNA in the short term, but the viral RNA stored in PBS began to degrade after just 24 hours at 2-8°C In contrast, RNAlater™ preserved the viral RNA out to 72 hours when stored at 2-8°C, with no statistically significant decrease in the detection limits compared to freshly-prepared viral RNA dilutions A single freeze/thaw cycle raised the lower limit of detection for RNAlater™-preserved viral RNA slightly Conclusion: The current (as of April 2020) CDC sample guidelines permit the use of PBS, but have not published data to support this claim These results offer an alternative to the transport options outlined in many Emergency Use Authorisations (EUA) currently authorised for use in diagnostic testing and may be used for possible long-term storage solutions for studies investigating SARS-CoV-2


For an XPath expression q and a DTD D, q is satisfiable under D if there exists an XML document t such that t is valid against D and that the answer of q on t is nonempty. Evaluating an unsatisfiable XPath expression is meaningless, since such an expression can always be replaced by an empty set without evaluating it. However, it is shown that the XPath satisfiability problem is intractable for a large number of XPath fragments. In this paper, we consider simple XPath fragments under two restrictions; (i) only a label can be specified as a node test and (ii) operators such as qualifier ([]) and union (∪) are not allowed. We first show that, for some small XPath fragments under the above restrictions, the satisfiability problem is still NP-complete. Then we show that there exist XPath fragments, containing the above small fragments, for which the satisfiability problem is in PTIME under duplicate-free DTDs.


Monthly datasets of ecological indicators from 2010 to 2020 in Shahe Reservoir, Tianmuhu, China, were examined to reveal the long-term variations in water ecological security and its driving factors. The results of Secchi disk depth(SD) measurements revealed significantly spatial variation(P<0.05) within the reservoir. The highest SD was recorded in the downstream-linked reservoir, and the lowest SD was recorded in the upstream tributaries. In contrast, the values of other water ecological indicators were higher in the upstream tributaries than in the transition region and the downstream-linked reservoir area. In summer and autumn, the SD was low, while the concentrations of total phosphorous(TP), chlorophyll a(Chl-a), the permanganate index, and cyanobacterial biomass(BMc) were high. During the thermal stratification period from May to September, the concentrations of 2-methylisoborneol(MIB) and Chl-a were highest at a depth of 4 m, while diatom biomass(BMb) and BMc reached their maximum at depths of 2 m and 0.5 m, respectively. Therefore, spatial and temporal variations should be fully considered when evaluating aquatic ecological security. Focusing on spring and summer, when the risk of water ecological security was high, Chl-a combined with SD and MIB along with their correlation with other water quality indexes, was used to evaluate and optimize the ecological security of Shahe Reservoir. The evaluation results showed that the aquatic ecological security of the reservoir was excellent over the last 10 years; however, annual fluctuations have been large and the evaluation scores were spatially variable. While seasonal sampling strategies focusing on three layers depths are economical and reliable for lake regions with thermal stratification, our results indicate that tailored monitoring may be required to determine the aquatic ecological security of lakes and reservoirs. In Shahe Reservoir, the decrease in the SD and the increase in MIB caused by high TP and algal blooms were the most important drivers of ecological service function in the reservoir. Furthermore, hydrometeorological factors may also play important roles in the aquatic ecological security of reservoirs.


In a zonal market, the transmission system operator (TSO) has to compute the transfer limits among areas in advance (weeks or months) with respect to the day-ahead market session. The computation of such limits is usually made starting from some reference scenarios: this choice is arbitrary and has a strong influence on the results of the market. In this paper, a new probabilistic approach is developed to reduce such arbitrariness. A Monte Carlo method is applied to sample many different reference scenarios (in terms of generation patterns) to be adopted for the total transfer capacity (TTC) computation. Eventually, the probability density function of the TTC values is built. The proposed procedure allows the TSO to evaluate, for each possible choice of the TTC limit among areas, the maximum probability of congestion in a market framework, thus selecting the limit corresponding to the acceptable risk level. The new methodology is applied to the Italian system


With rapid advancement in wireless technologies, the demand of increased data rate is materializing. Gbps(Giga bit per sec) rate throughput can be realized using millimeter waves; however, atmospheric attenuations effect on these high frequency waves has not been studied meticulously. Usually satellite-earth link budget calculation does not incorporate these attenuation effects for millimeter waves; the inclusion of these attenuations is unavoidable. In this paper we extend ITU model to millimeter waves and evaluate the performance of LEO Satellite-Earth systems for rain, cloud and gas attenuations. We elaborate the modeled system's various interdependent behaviors for key transmission parameters, satellite-ground station parameters and for atmospheric parameters with meticulous analysis and discussions. Performance of the complete Satellite-Earth System is also simulated for evaluating Eb/No and Bit Error Rate result has been obtained. Finally, the diversity analysis is studied and results are plotted.


The conventional solid oxide cell is based on a Ni–YSZ support layer, placed on the fuel side of the cell, also known as the anode supported SOFC. An alternative design, based on a support of porous 3YSZ (3 mol.% Y2O3–doped ZrO2), placed on the oxygen electrode side of the cell, is proposed. Electronic conductivity in the 3YSZ support is obtained post sintering by infiltrating LSC (La0.6Sr0.4Co1.05O3). The potential advantages of the proposed design is a strong cell, due to the base of a strong ceramic material (3YSZ is a partially stabilized zirconia), and that the LSC infiltration of the support can be done simultaneously with forming the oxygen electrode, since some of the best performing oxygen electrodes are based on infiltrated LSC. The potential of the proposed structure was investigated by testing the mechanical and electrical properties of the support layer. Comparable strength properties to the conventional Ni/YSZ support were seen, and sufficient and fairly stable conductivity of LSC infiltrated 3YSZ was observed. The conductivity of 8–15 S cm–1 at 850 °C seen for over 600 h, corresponds to a serial resistance of less than 3.5 m Ω cm2 of a 300 μm thick support layer.


The strong competition of the automotive market brings the industries to look continuously for more challenging comfort and performance standards.These requirements often contrast with the need for weight reduction related to the restrictive emissions limits.In this scenario, the investments aimed at increasing the structure efficiency (stiffness-to-weight ratio) become fundamental.The objective of this work is to propose a methodology that allows to identify the most important chassis areas in terms of efficiency: the design and research efforts could then be focused on the real determinant parts. This is done through a sensitivity process that works on frame subsystems and then on each component, first varying the material properties and then the thickness (and so the mass). The designing loadcases considered are the torsional stiffness, bending stiffness, modal analysis and frequency response analysis.The results show which are the most important subsystems and components that affects the chassis efficiency and that will have to be re-designed in order to improve the current architecture.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


INTRODUCTION
Some men who experience prostate cancer recurrence post-radiotherapy may be candidates for local salvage therapy, avoiding and delaying systemic treatments. Our aim was to assess the impact of clinical outcomes of adding salvage local treatment in prostate cancer patients who have failed radiation therapy.

METHODS
Following radiation biochemical failure, salvage transperineal cryotherapy (sCT, n=186), transrectal high intensity focused ultrasound ablation (sHIFU, n=113) or no salvage treatment (NST, identified from the pan-Canadian Prostate Cancer Risk Stratification [ProCaRS] database [n=982]) were compared with propensity-score matching. Primary endpoints were cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS).

RESULTS
Median followup was 11.6, 25.1, and 14.3 years following NST, sCT, and sHIFU, respectively. Two propensity-score matched analyses were performed: 1) 196 NST vs. 98 sCT; and 2) 177 NST vs. 59 sHIFU. In the first comparison, there were 78 deaths and 49 prostate cancer deaths for NST vs. 80 deaths and 24 prostate cancer deaths for sCT. There were significant benefits in CSS (p<0.001) and OS (p<0.001) favoring sCT. In the second comparison, there were 52 deaths (31 from prostate cancer) for NST vs. 18 deaths (nine from prostate cancer) for sHIFU. There were no significant differences in CSS or OS possibility attributed to reduced sample size and shorter followup of sHIFU cohort.

CONCLUSIONS
In select men with recurrent prostate cancer post-radiation, further local treatment may lead to benefits in CSS. These hypothesis-generating findings should ideally be validated in a prospective clinical trial setting.


BACKGROUND
Variation in blood pressure levels display circadian rhythms. The morning surge in blood pressure is known to increase the risk of myocardial events in the first several hours post awakening. A systematic review of the administration-time-related-effects of evening versus morning dosing regimen of antihypertensive drugs in the management of patients with primary hypertension has not been conducted.

OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the administration-time-related-effects of antihypertensive drugs administered as once daily monotherapy in the evening versus morning administration regimen on all cause mortality, cardiovascular morbidity and reduction of blood pressure in patients with primary hypertension.

SEARCH STRATEGY
We searched Cochrane CENTRAL on Ovid (4th Quarter 2009), Ovid MEDLINE (1950 to October 2009), EMBASE (1974 to October 2009), the Chinese Biomedical literature database (1978 to 2009) and the reference lists of relevant articles. No language restrictions were applied.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomized controlled trials comparing the administration-time-related effects of evening with morning dosing monotherapy regimens in patients with primary hypertension were included. Patients with known secondary hypertension, shift workers or white coat hypertension were excluded.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two authors independently extracted data and assessed trial quality. Disagreements were resolved by discussion or a third reviewer. Data synthesis and analysis were done using RevMan 5.1. Random effects meta-analysis and sensitivity analysis were conducted.

MAIN RESULTS
21 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in 1,993 patients with primary hypertension met the inclusion criteria for this review - ACEIs (5 trials), CCBs (7 trials), ARBs (6 trials), diuretics (2 trials), alpha-blockers (1 trial), and beta-blockers (1 trial). Meta-analysis showed significant heterogeneity across trials.No RCT reported on all cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, cardiovascular morbidity and serious adverse events.There was no statistically significant difference for overall adverse events (RR=0.78, 95%CI: 0.37 to 1.65) and withdrawals due to adverse events (RR=0.53, 95%CI: 0.26 to 1.07).No significant differences were noted for morning SBP (-1.62 mm Hg, 95% CI: -4.19 to 0.95) and morning DBP (-1.21 mm Hg, 95% CI: -3.28 to 0.86); but 24-hour BP (SBP: -1.71 mm Hg, 95% CI: -2.78 to -0.65; DBP: -1.38 mm Hg, 95% CI: -2.13 to -0.62) showed a statistically significant difference.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
No RCT reported on clinically relevant outcome measures - all cause mortality, cardiovascular morbidity and morbidity. There were no significant differences in overall adverse events and withdrawals due to adverse events among the evening versus morning dosing regimens. In terms of BP lowering efficacy, for 24-hour SBP and DBP, the data suggests that better blood pressure control was achieved with bedtime dosing than morning administration of antihypertensive medication, the clinical significance of which is not known.


Introduction/Background Minimal access approaches to radical hysterectomy for cervical cancer have become increasingly popular in the last decade and have been adopted broadly. Laparoscopic approach for cervical cancer trial (LACC) concluded more recurrence and higher mortality in minimal access group. These findings are supported by subsequent epidemiological data.To demonstrate that patients' care had not been compromised, we compared the outcomes of TARH (Abdominal radical hysterectomy) and TLRH (Laparoscopic radical hysterectomy) in our hospital in the past 10 years. Methodology We performed a retrospective cohort study involving women who underwent radical hysterectomy for stage 1A2 - 2A cervical cancer during the January 2008 to December 2018 period at Northern Gynaecological Oncology Centre. All TARH was performed between 2008 to 2010. Overall and progression free survival were compared in the groups and compared with clinical variables using Cox proportional hazards regression and log rank test. Results A total of 239 patients were included in our study.69 patients underwent TARH and 170 had TLRH. Both groups were comparable in baseline characteristics.1A2=1%, 1B1=81%, 1B2=15%, 2A=3%. With a median follow up time of 52 months there were no significant differences in mortality 13% vs 5% (hazard ratio 1.01; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.36 to 2.82; P=0.98 by the log-rank test) or recurrence rate 15.9% and 7% (Hazard Ratio 1.46,95% CI:0.59–3.59, p=0.41) in TARH and TLRH group respectively. Although mortality was not associated with route of surgery, it was associated with tumour size, and the presence of lymphovascular space invasion(p=0.007). Blood loss, transfusion requirements and post-operative complications were significantly lower in TLRH arm (p=0.03). Conclusion Neither mortality nor recurrence was associated with route of surgery. There was a tendency of greater recurrence in the open radical hysterectomy arm, but this was not statistically significant. Disclosure Nothing to disclose.


Covid-19 Abstract Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, prospective elementary school teachers must be able to teach both online and offline using a blended learning model. The purpose of this study is to examine the fundamental teaching skills of prospective elementary school teachers in the Microteaching course. This study used qualitative descriptive method. The subjects were students of the Primary School Teacher Education Study Program at the University of Nahdlatul Ulama Sidoarjo who programmed Microteaching courses. The data were collected using observations with a performance assessment rubric. Observations were conducted in two stages: first, when students practiced online teaching, second, when they practiced offline teaching. The results showed that online teaching skills obtained an average score of 84.71, while offline teaching skills obtained an average score of 85.78. Hence, prospective elementary school teacher students in the blended learning model received an overall score of 85.24, meaning that they were categorized as a very good category


Abstract : Equiatomic powder mixtures of Al and the early transition metals in Groups IV and V (i.e., titanium [Ti], zirconium [Zr], and hafnium [Hf]; and vanadium [V], niobium [Nb], and tantalum [Ta]) were prepared by high-energy mechanical alloying. Blends were subjected to microscopy and differential thermal analysis to systematically investigate the efficiency of conversion from reactants to products. Each of the aluminum (Al)-X blends was created by mechanically milling pure elemental powders with 1.5 weight-percent stearic acid to prevent cold welding to the milling vial s internal walls during the blending process. The as-milled powders were analyzed via Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray Diffraction Analysis (XRD), and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) to determine the effect of milling time on the total heat released. These analyses were performed prior and after DSC to compare the morphologies of the reactants and products, as well as to identify the bulk phases present in the product as they relate to the equilibrium phase diagram for that particular mixture. The DSC analysis was performed to measure and determine the total energy released from the mixtures while being heated to 1,000 C at 10 K/min.


Background: Infertility is a global problem and it poses severe physical and mental discomfort to the victims. Although considered a breakthrough, the assisted reproductive treatment of infertility such as in-vitro fertilization has been marred by a high failure rate even in technologically advanced societies.
Objective: This research was conducted to understand some of the factors that influence the outcome of in-vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF & ET) and Intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)
Material and method: It is a 4-year retrospective study (April, 2017 to March 2021) which explored information from case notes of patients who underwent IVF& ET treatment at Getwell Fertility center. Information was collected and summarized using a specially designed proforma.
Results: It was discovered in this study that of the 109 IVF treatment offered, the 2 weeks pregnancy rate was 24 (22.9%), the Live birth rate was 19 (18.29%) and miscarriage was 5 (4.5%). The remaining 77.06% had failed procedures.
Conclusion: This study showed that advanced age above 32 years, and obese level of body mass index BMI, were the independent negative predictors of IVF success.


Abdominal tuberculosis is a rare disease in Western countries and remains difficult to diagnose. The most frequent symptoms are abdominal pain, weight loss, fever, vomiting, constipation and/or diarrhea. Clinical findings include abdominal tenderness, a palpable mass (often in the right fossa due to ileocecal infection), paleness, cachexia and ascites. Suggested radiological investigations include plain abdominal film, upper GI-series and barium enema. Chest X-rays often show signs of either active or inactive tuberculosis. Sputum and gastric juice should be cultured. Coloscopy serves to sample specimens for histology and bacteriology and may help to confirm the diagnosis, which is, however, not ruled out by negative findings. The same holds good for peritoneal biopsy and laparoscopy. Bowel perforation and ileus are frequent complications and always require surgery, whereas uncomplicated cases can be treated by drugs only.


Stress-activated protein kinases (SAPKs) or c-Jun amino-terminal kinases (JNKs), which belong to a subgroup of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) superfamily, are activated in response to a variety of stresses in mammalian cells. An activity to activate a recombinant rat SAPKα was detected in extracts obtained from rat fibroblastic 3Y1 cells exposed to hyperosmolar media and was resolved into unadsorbed and adsorbed fractions on Q-Sepharose chromatography. The adsorbed activity was identified as XMEK2/SEK1/MKK4 by using several anti-XMEK2 antibodies. Thus, a 45-kDa protein that was recognized specifically by these anti-XMEK2 antibodies co-eluted with the SAPKα activating activity during chromatography on Q-Sepharose and Superose 6, and the activity could be immunoprecipitated by the antibodies from these fractions. The unadsorbed activity, whose level was much greater than that of the adsorbed activity, did not contain XMEK2/SEK1/MKK4 and was also activated in a time-dependent manner by osmotic shock. This activity was further resolved into several peaks during chromatography on heparin-Sepharose and hydroxylapatite. Most of these peaks eluted separately from major peaks of a kinase activity toward p38/MPK2, another subgroup of the MAPK superfamily, whereas the activated XMEK2/SEK1/MKK4 could phosphorylate p38/MPK2 efficiently. These results indicate the existence of multiple activators for SAPK/JNK; one is XMEK2/SEK1/MKK4, and the others are previously undescribed factors.


The ever-increasing visibility and labour contributions of majority of world's children towards family sustenance offer insights into their childhoods and attest to children's knowledge and awareness of their status in society. Based on original research from extensive participant observation and in-depth interviews of child street vendors in Enugu, Southeast Nigeria, this paper explores specifically the everyday lives of six young itinerant female vendors, aged 10-16, their experiences of sex and sexual abuse in marketplaces, their resilience and coping strategies, and relationships with adult members of the vending community who controlled the markets, and had oversight function for their protection and safety. Their accounts illustrate not only the risks that children and young women face, but the ordinariness of sexual harassment and taken-for-granted attitude of society towards the sexualisation of working children. Findings revealed that children were ambivalent about their experiences in the markets. However, they were aware that vending was hard, unpleasant and dangerous. There was a pervasive sense of hopelessness, fear and distrust against adults who threatened, abused, traumatised and sabotaged their efforts. This paper calls for greater surveillance and safeguards in marketplaces, provision of emotional support to children and their families, enforceable chid protection policies and increased penal sanctions against abusers.


Zinc and zinc based electrodeposits find wide practical application due to their usage as sacrificial coatings aimed to protect iron substrates at atmospheric conditions. Their protective characteristics are often improved by additional chemical surface treatment in special developed conversion solutions the latter containing mainly chromate, phosphate or other ions. Present investigation describes the experimental conditions for obtaining of greenand black-colored layers on zinc and Zn-Co(1 wt.%) alloy from environmentally friendly Cr-containing solutions. The corrosion behavior of these layers in a model medium with chloride ions as corrosion activators is determined and discussed. The methods used to characterize the protective properties of the conversion layers are polarization resistance (Rp) measurements, XRD and XPS analyses, neutral salt spray chamber test (NSS-method)and scanning electron microscopy(SEM).


Diabetes Mellitus type 2 (T2DM) is the disorder of hormone insulin. Abnormal insulin action increases the free fatty acid pool and favours the formation of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). Increase in the level of LDL-C causes deposition of plaques in the vascular wall. This is responsible for vascular events like coronary vascular disease, peripheral vascular disease and neuropathies in T2DM patients. So, we need to monitor the levels of lipid profile of patients who are suffering from T2DM for long duration, to prevent them from peripheral as well as coronary vascular diseases. But a major part of the population of our country is below the poverty line and it is difficult for them to afford for the cost required for all these biochemical tests. In this paper, we presented two artificial neural network (ANN) based computational models: (1) back propagation-mult ilayer perceptron (BP-MLP) and (2) probabilistic neural network (PNN) for comparative study of prediction of LDL-C level. The predicted results were validated with clinical experimental results.


This research focuses on Islamic boarding school (pondok pesantren) as religious tourism destination. Religious  tourism is an important part of the international tourist market, including in Indonesia. Indonesian government has realized the role of this kind of tourism in economic development. Hence, every intake has been being taken to develop it, including promoting new destinations. One of them is pondok pesantren (Islamic boarding school) because it's a unique subculture. Pondok Pesantren Biharu Bahri 'Asali Fadlail al-Rahmah, which is located in Malang East Java, is one of them. It has luxurious, artistic as well as unique building. It's also accused as deviationist.
The main questions are the motivation of constructing the building, the process of the construction, and the effects of becoming the destination of tourism on the existence of Pondok Pesantren Biharu Bahri 'Asali Fadlail al-Rahmah. The main motivation of the construction was 'da'wah' through building instead of words. The construction didn't use any architect or other expert and financially self supported. The only inpsiration is 'ilham' (divine inspiration) of Kiai. Even the workers are the students themselves. Meanwhile, becoming tourism destination affected this pondok pesantren both positive and negative effects. Positive effects includes the mission of da'wah and economic empowerment, while the negative ones are inappropriate tourist activities, overcrowding as well as commercialization.


In this paper, we show that every planar graph without 4-cycles and 6-cycles has a partition of its vertex set into two sets, where one set induces a forest, and the other induces a forest with maximum degree at most 2 (equivalently, a disjoint union of paths). Note that we can partition the vertex set of a forest into two independent sets. However a pair of independent sets combined may not induce a forest. Thus our result extends the result of Wang and Xu (2013) stating that the vertex set of every planar graph without 4-cycles and 6-cycles can be partitioned into three sets, where one induces a graph with maximum degree two, and the remaining two are independent sets.


-The advance in technologies such as e-commerce and financial technology (FinTech) applications have sparked an increase in the number of online card transactions that occur on a daily basis. As a result, there has been a spike in credit card fraud that affects card issuing companies, merchants, and banks. It is therefore essential to develop mechanisms that ensure the security and integrity of credit card transactions. In this research, we implement a machine learning (ML) based framework for credit card fraud detection using a real-world imbalanced dataset that were generated from European credit cardholders. To solve the issue of class imbalance, we re-sampled the dataset using the Synthetic Minority over-sampling Technique (SMOTE). This framework was evaluated using the following ML methods: Support Vector Machine (SVM), Logistic Regression (LR), Random Forest (RF), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), Decision Tree (DT), and Extra Tree (ET). These ML algorithms were coupled with the Adaptive Boosting (AdaBoost) technique to increase their quality of classification. The models were evaluated using the accuracy, the recall, the precision, the Matthews Correlation Coefficient (MCC), and the Area Under the Curve (AUC). Moreover, the proposed framework was implemented on a highly skewed synthetic credit card fraud dataset to further validate the results that were obtained in this research.


Purpose: foundation of efficiency of the technique of the training process of highly skilled bodybuilders in the competitive period. Material & Methods: 16 highly skilled bodybuilders of 22–30 years old participated in the research, the average body weight of sportsmen makes 87 ± 2 – 102 ± 2 kg, which are included in the structure of the national team of Ukraine on bodybuilding. Methods: method of the theoretical analysis and generalization of literature, pedagogical observation, pedagogical experiment, method of mathematical statistics. Results: the comparative characteristic of the most often used techniques of the training process in bodybuilding is provided. The effective technique for highly skilled bodybuilders of the mesomorphic type of constitution, depending on the initial uniform of a sportsman at the beginning of the competitive period of training is developed and proved. Dependence of change of body weight of a bodybuilder on the training process is directed. Conclusions: on the effective training method, depending on microcycle of trainings in the competitive period precompetitive and competitive mesocycles (selection and main competitions), is offered the basis of the conducted research.


AIM
The aim of this review was to systematically review the literature on the adjunctive effect of oral irrigation in addition to toothbrushing on plaque and clinical parameters of periodontal inflammation.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Papers in the MEDLINE-PubMed and Cochrane Central register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) databases up to January 2008 were searched to identify appropriate studies. Clinical parameters of periodontal inflammation such as plaque, bleeding, gingivitis and pocket depth, were selected as outcome variables.

RESULTS
Independent screening of the titles and abstracts of 809 PubMed and 105 Cochrane papers resulted in seven publications that met the eligibility criteria. Mean values and standard deviations were collected by data extraction. Descriptive comparisons with brushing alone or regular oral hygiene are presented.

CONCLUSION
As an adjunct to brushing, the oral irrigator does not have a beneficial effect in reducing visible plaque. However, there is a positive trend in favour of oral irrigation improving gingival health over regular oral hygiene or toothbrushing only.


About forty percent of all accidents occur at intersections. The Intelligent Cooperative Intersection Safety system (IRIS), as part of the European research project SAFESPOT, is a roadside application and aims at minimizing the number of accidents at controlled and uncontrolled intersections. IRIS uses vehicle-to-infrastructure communication to track and analyze the movements of all individual vehicles. A key element of IRIS is to identify dangerous situations in time and take the appropriate measure to prevent collisions. This paper presents the concept of IRIS, points out the complexity of intersections and addresses the usefulness and results of a driving simulator study. KEYWORDS Intersection safety, SAFESPOT, IRIS, Cooperative, Vehicle-to-Infrastructure, Roadside application, Driving simulator, Driver behaviour, Human Factors


Perhaps the greatest handicap in trying to visualize life in prehistoric Britain is the exiguity of domestic remains, especially on the architectural side. The dwellings themselves were normally of perishable materials so that only their outlines survive, and of their furniture not even that can be said. An exceptional conjunction of circumstances has, however, preserved in Orkney a whole village belonging to a belated Stone Age, with its huts and their fixtures reasonably complete. The huts were built of stone; they had been packed in refuse and were eventually buried by sand, and so the walls still stand to a height of from 8 to 9 feet. The timber shortage prevailing on the wind-swept isle necessitated the translation into stone, and therewith the immortalization of articles such as beds, usually manufactured of ephemeral wood. The village is indeed a highly specialized adaptation to a particular environment so that deductions from it can only be generalized with reservations. Again, though the villagers used only stone and bone tools, they probably lived at a time when bronze, and perhaps even iron, were current in less isolated localities. Still we get here so vivid a picture of Stone Age life in our islands that a summary of the results of four seasons' work may be of interest even to the general reader.


Mere months ago, Iran9s nuclear program was an international pariah. Now, it9s supplying the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) with a strategic substance that the United States can9t produce. Defying criticism, DOE last week consummated a deal to purchase 32 tons of heavy water—water containing the hydrogen isotope deuterium—from Iran. The $8.6 million sale helps Iran meet a commitment under last July9s nuclear deal to shed heavy water, and it will have a swords-to-ploughshares payoff. DOE will resell a portion to industry for uses such as nuclear magnetic resonance imaging and protecting optical fibers against deterioration, and it will send 6 tons to Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee for an upgrade of the Spallation Neutron Source, an accelerator that generates powerful accelerator beams of neutrons for research.


Biosecurity plays a critical role in preventing and controlling the introduction and spread of infectious diseases. The COVID-19 pandemic in China triggered a nationwide lockdown policy which reduced most of the daily activities of people, but the pig industry was encouraged to ensure the pork supply. An investigation of biosecurity practices in intensive pig farms across several provinces in China was conducted in June 2020 via questionnaire to evaluate the factors that may pose viral diseases risk to the farms during the lockdown period from January to May 2020. A total of 50 farms in 12 provinces of China were engaged. Fourteen of them were classified as positive farms since at least one viral disease was presented during this period, including porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (seven farms), porcine epidemic diarrhea (three farms), and pseudorabies (one farm). The other three farms only reported their disease positive status but refused to release disease names. The overall farm level prevalence of viral disease was 28.0% (95%CI: 16.3–42.5%). A logistic regression model was built to identify risk/protective factors for farm positivity. In the multivariable logistic regression model, the risk factor of dead pig 'removal by the others' (OR = 8.0, 95%CI: 1.5, 43.5) was found to be significantly associated with viral disease positivity. On-farm incineration pits are highly recommended to be the administered for the harmless treatment of dead pigs. This is not only crucial for controlling the transmission of viral diseases but also plays a key role in reducing activity in the illegal dead meat business. According to previous studies, factors such as adapting an all-in-all-out system, on-farm incineration pits, and requiring workers to wash their hands regularly would reduce the risk of virus transmission, even though these factors did not show significance in our study. The results of our study could help to design better surveillance strategies in China and other countries.


Background The Transforming growth factorβ (TGFβ) signaling has a paradoxical role in cancer development and outcome. It protects against tumorigenesis by inhibiting cell growth and promoting apoptosis, but at advanced stages, it promotes tumor progression. Besides, the prognostic significance of the TGFβ1, SMAD4 in breast cancer patients is also an area of many contradictions. Transcriptional intermediary factor 1γ (TIF1γ) is thought to interact with the TGFβ/SMAD signaling through different mechanisms. Our study aimed at defining the prognostic significance of TGFβ1, SMAD4 and TIF1γ expression in breast cancer patients in addition to detection of possible interactions among those markers that might affect the outcome and explain the contradictory results. Methods Immunohistochemistry was performed on TMA blocks prepared from samples of 248 operable breast cancer patients who presented at CLB between 1998 and 2001 using. The intensity and the percentage of stained tumor cells were integrated into a single score (0-6) and a cutoff was defined for high or low expression for each marker. Correlation was done between the TGFβ1, SMAD4 and TIF1γ expression with the clinico-pathologic parameters using Pearson's chi-square test. Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate distant metastasis free survival (DMFS), disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) and the difference between the groups was evaluated with log-rank test. Results 223 cases were assessable for TIF1γ, 204 for TGFβ1 and 173 for SMAD4. Median age at diagnosis was 55.8 years (range: 27 to 89 years). Tumors were larger than 20 mm in 49.2% and 45.2% had axillary lymph node (LN) metastasis (N1a to N3). 19.4% of the patients had SBR grade I tumors, 46.8% grade II tumors and 33.9% grade III tumors. ER was positive in 85.4%, PR in 75.5% and Her2-neu was over-expressed in 10% of the cases. Nuclear TIF1γ, cytoplasmic TGFβ1, nuclear and cytoplasmic SMAD4 staining was high in 35.9%, 30.4%, 27.7% and 52.6% respectively. TIF1γ expression was associated with younger age (p=0.006), higher SBR grade (p TGFβ1 expression in tumor cells was a marker of poor prognosis regarding DMFS (HR=2.28; 95%CI: 1.4 to 3.8; p=0.002), DFS (HR=2.00; 95% CI: 1.25 to 3.5; p=0.005) and OS (HR=1.89; 95%CI: 1.04 to 3.43; p=0.037). TIF1γ expression carried a tendency towards poorer DMFS (p=0.091), DFS (p=0.143) and OS (p=0.091). In the multivariate analysis TGFβ1 remained an independent predictor of shorter DMFS, DFS and OS after adjustment for age, tumor size, SBR grade and LN invasion. Moreover, the prognostic significance of TGFβ1 was more obvious in the TIF1γ high patient subgroup than in the patients with TIF1γ low expression. The subgroup expressing both markers had the worst DMFS (HR=3.2; 95%CI: 1.7 to 5.9; p Conclusion There is a crosstalk between the TIF1γ and the TGFβ1/SMAD4 signaling that deteriorate the outcome of operable breast cancer patients and when combined together they can serve as an effective prognostic tool for those patients. Citation Format: Loay Kassem, Laurent Fattet, Jonathan Lopez, Goulvent Thibault, Emilie Lavergne, Sylvie Chabaud, Nicolas Carrabin, Nicolas Chopin, Thomas Bachelot, Germain Gillet, Isabelle Treilleux, Ruth Rimohk. TIF1[gamma] interacts with the TGFβ1/SMAD4 signaling leading to poorer outcome in operable breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2014 Dec 9-13; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(9 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-11-24.


Zooxanthellae of the genus Symbiodinium are present in the tissues of the aeolid nudibranch Pteraeolidia ianthina. Individuals with widely differing densities of zooxanthellae are found living off the mid-central coast of eastern Australia. Nudibranchs with low densities of zooxanthellae (0.02-0.5 x 106 cells mg-1 protein) are common in winter populations, whereas those with comparatively higher densities (1–3 x 106 cells mg-1 protein) are the most common form at other times of the year. Zooxanthellae at all densities in the host exhibit the capacity for photosynthesis, and they grow while resident in the host. The mitotic indices of the zooxanthellae were found to vary as a function of the population density of the algae in the host and were highest in those animals with the lowest densities of zooxanthellae. Oxygen flux was measured as a function of irradiance. Maximum photosynthetic capacity (Pmax), light utilization efficiency (α) and compensation irradiance (Ic) varied between animals, although most of the variation was attributable to differences in the density of zooxanthellae between animals. Pmax and α were positively correlated with density (r2 = 0.82 and 0.88 respectively); Ic exhibited an exponential decrease with the density of zooxanthellae in the host (r2 > 0.81). Icfor animals with 1–2 x 106 cells mg-1 protein had values of I c between 30 and 50 μE m-2 s-1 (1 μE = 6 x 1017 photons), similar to values of Ic measured for shade-adapted corals in other studies. Between 25 and 50% of the total photosynthetic products synthesized over 1 h were shown to move from the alga to the animal in that hour. The total respiratory rate of the association was positively correlated with the density of zooxanthellae (r2 = 0.94). This relation was used to estimate the respiratory rate of a zooxanthella in vivo. Estimates were, however, unreasonably high; this result suggests that zooxanthellae may directly influence the respiratory rate of the host, possibly by increasing the supply of respiratory substrates.


A facile method for synthesizing crystalline lithiated amines by ball milling primary amines with LiH was developed. The lithiated amines exhibit an unprecedented endothermic dehydrogenation feature in the temperature range of 150-250 °C, which shows potential as a new type of hydrogen storage material. Structural analysis and mechanistic studies on lithiated ethylenediamine (Li2EDA) indicates that Li may mediate the dehydrogenation through an α,β-LiH elimination mechanism, creating a more energy favorable pathway for the selective H2 release.


Functional liquid metal nanoparticles (NPs), produced from eutectic alloys of gallium, promise new horizons in the fields of sensors, microfluidics, flexible electronics, catalysis, and biomedicine. Here, the development of a vapor cavity generating ultrasonic platform for nebulizing liquid metal within aqueous media for the one‐step production of stable and functional liquid metal NPs is shown. The size distribution of the NPs is fully characterized and it is demonstrated that various macro and small molecules can also be grafted onto these liquid metal NPs during the liquid‐based nebulization process. The cytotoxicity of the NPs grafted with different molecules is further explored. Moreover, it is shown that it is possible to control the thickness of the oxide layer on the produced NPs using electrochemistry that can be embedded within the platform. It is envisaged that this platform can be adapted as a cost‐effective and versatile device for the rapid production of functional liquid metal NPs for future liquid metal‐based optical, electronic, catalytic, and biomedical applications.


Hume is qualified as a naturalist in two respects: on the one hand, because he sets himself to observe natural phenomena and more precisely those relating to human nature; on the other hand, because nature refers to a mental activity that eludes the grasp of the thought that tries to seize it. Hume's dealing with the issue of personal identity creates a tension between these two meanings of naturalism – the power of nature seems to escape the understanding of the philosopher who tries to give reasons for it and both sides of Humian naturalism dissociate themselves. If this tension is not positively resolved, in the opinion of Hume himself, it is reduced through the use of a radical scepticism.


Voice Converter is a program where the user can change the octave of the input file to higher octave or lower octave. The file type that can be processed is wav file oniy. The wav tile that will be used is 8bit wav file. This project is created with Java language programming and use one dimension array, linked list and array list as data structure
The one dimension array will be used to store the processed analog signal data from wav file and for processing the voice convertion of voice. The linked list and array list will be used to process the K-means Algorithm for clustering the signal data to determine what gender it is For convert the input file from user , the project will using FFT(Fast Fourier Transform) algorithm.
Fast Fourier Transfomi is method to converts a signals from its original domain to a representation in the frequency domain. After doing various experiments with the program, the results show that the voice color characteristic that makes the different between female and mate gender still cannot achieved. The only achieved experiments results just know the different concept of wav file data reading sample that if the sample rate (how much data sample readed each second) is 22050 with 20000 data sample is the same as 44100 sample rate with 40000 data sample, the FFT Algorithm that being used in this final project is still not the best method to change the voice because still cannot change the timbre(voice color that distinguishes between male and female) and has a lot of noise after processing, but the convention the voice octave to higher or lower octave can be achieved. The noise of processed data of FFT Algorithm can be reduced using Low Pass Filtering Algorithm


In this paper we present a geometrical correction method of handwritten characters. This normalization method is based on Fourier coefficients of a chain-encoded contour. It is carried out in order to improve the rate and the performance of an Arabic handwritten word recognition system. The recognition is based on the global observation of apparent features associated to key-letters of the recognized word, followed by a succession of local observations of secondary features in the word. The global observation does not only try to detect key-word letters, but it also generates a set of characters giving some hints about the identity of the unknown letters present in the word image. The normalization stage leads back the features matching the letter hypothesis in order to increase the chance of recognizing the word presented to the system. Transformed parameters are the angular rotation of the first harmonic phasors and the magnitude of the semimajor axis associated to Fourier coefficients of the truncated approximation to a closed contour. Experimental tests help to evaluate distances between the normalized character and its reference.


We consider properties of revisions to mean square optimal concurrent estimates of unobserved components, e.g., seasonal adjustments or trends, obtained by ARIMA model-based signal extraction methods like those used by SEATS. Concurrent estimates, i.e., the estimate for the most recent month (or quarter), are updated whenever future observations become available, and the difference between the concurrent estimate and the mean square optimal update is called the revision. It is therefore of interest to measure the variance of the revisions, which generally increase in size as more data becomes available; this is because the signal extraction mean squared error decreases as more observations are added. In this paper we compute the variance of the revision based on a finite sample of data, where the revision lead, i.e., the amount of additional data that becomes available, is potentially infinite. The revision variance for the infinite revision lead represents the maximal revision variance possible, and is useful as a normalization. Our focus is on presenting practical, easily coded algorithms for computation of the revision variances. These make possible a finite sample-based alternative to SEATS' "percentage reduction in the standard error of the revision after additional years," which assumes that estimates are obtained using an infinite past. We present numerical comparisons between SEATS' diagnostic and our finite sample analogue.


Glucocorticosteroids (GCS) are beneficial in allergic asthma. GCS therapy results in reduced mRNA expression of interleukin-4 (IL-4) and IL-5 in cells from bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) but not of IFN-gamma. In vitro studies with blood-derived T cells, however, show inhibition of all three cytokines by GCS. We studied the effects of GCS on T cells from BAL in vitro, namely Th0-, Th1, and Th2-like clones; and we compared BAL- with blood-derived clones. Dexamethasone (DEX) inhibited the anti-CD3-induced production of IL-4, IL-5 and IFN-gamma in all 20 clones tested. IFN-gamma production was inhibited significantly less than IL-4 and IL-5. DEX enhanced the ratio IFN-gamma/IL-4 (mean +/- SEM: control, 28.7 +/- 17.6; with 10-7 M DEX, 55.0 +/- 27.5, P<0.005). Interestingly, two categories of clones were distinguished based on the effects of GCS on IL-2 production and IL-2R alpha expression and proliferation; 1) In low IL-2 producers DEX blocked IL-2 production and decreased IL-2R alpha expression and proliferation; 2) In high IL-2 producers DEX inhibited IL-2 production partially and enhanced IL-2R alpha expression and proliferation. Anti-IL-2 and anti-IL2R alpha blocked the DEX-induced increase in proliferation. High levels of added IL-2 induced the second type of response. In conclusion, the production of IL-4 and IL-5 by T-cell clones (derived either from BAL or blood) was more sensitive to inhibition by DEX than that of IFN-gamma, which may account for the therapeutic effects of glucocorticosteroids in patients with asthma. The differential effects of DEX on the proliferation of high and low IL-2 producers in vitro may implicate a selective outgrowth of Th1-like T cells in vivo in patients treated with steroids.


The principles of formation of the Novgorod dictionary of idioms' electronic data base are presented. The basic parameters important for creating online version of the dictionary are discussed, and examples of filling the corresponding fields are given. The present paper stresses the importance of regional idiom dictionaries for preserving national cultural heritage.


The analysis of problems, related to the acceleration of innovative development of railway transport is executed in the article. The necessity of integration of science and logistic is well-proven, and also to the sharp necessity of presence of the well-shaped innovative infrastructure of enterprises of railway transport.  As a base constituent of improvement of innovative infrastructure an informative-logistic constituent which must become the base of innovative activity is offered, that to pass through all stages of innovative process with the purpose of their system optimization, and also financial, informative, financial and other streams, related to realization of innovative activity in industry, for achievement of the put aims. For providing of efficiency of innovative activity it is suggested to plug an informative-logistic block in making infrastructural providing of innovative activity of enterprises of railway transport


Metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) were identified in olfactory receptor neurons of the channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, by polymerase chain reaction. DNA sequence analysis confirmed the presence of two subtypes, mGluR1 and mGluR3, that were coexpressed with each other and with the putative odorant receptors within single olfactory receptor neurons. Immunocytochemical data showed that both mGluR subtypes were expressed in the apical dendrites and some cilia of olfactory neurons. Pharmacological analysis showed that antagonists to each mGluR subtype significantly decreased the electrophysiological response to odorant amino acids. alpha-Methyl-L-CCG1/(2S,3S,4S)-2-methyl-2-(carboxycyclopropyl++ +)glycine (MCCG), a known antagonist to mGluR3, and (S)-4-carboxyphenylglycine (S-4CPG), a specific antagonist to mGluR1, each significantly reduced olfactory receptor responses to L-glutamate. S-4CPG and MCCG reduced the glutamate response to 54% and 56% of control, respectively, which was significantly greater than their effect on a neutral amino acid odorant, methionine. These significant reductions of odorant response by the antagonists, taken with the expression of these receptors throughout the dendritic and ciliated portions of some olfactory receptor neurons, suggest that these mGluRs may be involved in olfactory reception and signal transduction.


The valuable comments made by Babu et al. are very much appreciated. Babu et al. stress the value of exercise oxygen consumption and oxygen pulse to assess mortality risk.[1,2] Indeed, both CPET parameters were reduced in the presented patient and remained reduced after the start of therapy.[3] Babu et al. hypothesize that the lack of normalization in CPET parameters may have been explained by a short duration (4 months) of therapy. However, during her recent 1 year follow-up evaluation, we observed no further improvements in maximal exercise capacity (from 167 to 162 W), maximal oxygen consumption (from 2.11 to 2.03 l/min), or oxygen pulse (from 12 to 11 ml/beat). It is difficult to determine whether the lack of normalization of CPET parameters translates into a poor prognosis. The prognostic value of changes in CPET parameters after the start of therapy remains unclear. Studies examining the prognostic utility of CPET in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) were performed in a relatively small number of patients,[4] and in these studies, measurements were only done at baseline.


This study aimed to observe the potential of solid bioethanol as an alternative fuel with high caloric value. The solid bioethanol was produced from liquid bioethanol, which was obtained from the synthesis of oil palm empty fruit bunches (PEFBs) through the delignification process by using organosolv pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis. Enzymatic hydrolysis was conducted using enzyme (60 FPUg−1 of cellulose) at a variety of temperatures (35 °C, 70 °C, and 90 °C) and reaction times (2, 6, 12, 18, and 24 h) in order to obtain a high sugar yield. The highest sugars were yielded at the temperature of 90 °C for 48 h (152.51 mg/L). Furthermore, fermentation was conducted using Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The bioethanol yield after fermentation was 62.29 mg/L. Bioethanol was extracted by distillation process to obtain solid bioethanol. The solid bioethanol was produced by using stearic acid as the additive. In order to get high-quality solid bioethanol, the calorific value was optimized using the response surface methodology (RSM) model. This model provided the factor variables of bioethanol concentration (vol %), stearic acid (g), and bioethanol (mL) with a minus result error. The highest calorific value was obtained with 7 g stearic acid and 5 mL bioethanol (43.17 MJ/kg). Burning time was tested to observe the quality of the solid bioethanol. The highest calorific value resulted in the longest burning time. The solid bioethanol has a potential as solid fuel due to the significantly higher calorific value compared to the liquid bioethanol.


N-acetylcysteine (NAC), acetylated derivative of cysteine amino acid, is widely used mucolytic agent. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the acute effects of NAC on total antioxidant capacity (TAC), total oxidant capacity (TOC), nitric oxide (NO), albumin, globulin, glucose levels and gammaglutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) activity. Eleven New Zealand rabbits were used in the study. Blood samples from the rabbits were taken before the start of the experiment to determine control values. NAC (100 mg/kg) was injected to rabbits as intramuscularly. Blood samples were collected from vena auricularis of rabbits at 3rd, 6th and 9th hours. While TAC levels were found high (P<0.05) at 6 and 9 hours, TOC levels were found low (P<0.05) at 3rd, 6th and 9th hours after NAC injection compared to the values before the experiment. NO levels were found low (P<0.001) at 6th and 9th hours, GGT activities were found low (P<0.05) at 3rd and 6th hours, total protein and albumin levels were found low (P<0.05) at 3rd hour after NAC injection compared to values before the experiment. As a result, after intramuscular injection of NAC, plasma TAC levels of rabbits increased, while TOC and NO levels decreased. According to the results, it can be concluded that NAC may show antioxidant effect in a short time. Therefore, NAC could be a good alternative when the antioxidant system needs to be strengthened due to its beneficial properties.


ABSTRACT In this study we explored the sexual response process in couple relationships. With a U.S. sample of 383 mixed-sex couples we found seven different classes of couple sexual response using Dyadic Latent Class Growth Analysis for ratings of self and partner about their most recent sexual experience. These classes ranged from synchronous High Arousal (31.6%) and Medium Arousal (27.7%) groups, to a few classes where one partner had a quick arousal process and the other partner had very low levels of arousal. Couples in these classes were differentiated on their levels of accuracy in understanding what their partner was experiencing, as one class had couples where men experienced higher arousal than women in the first part of the experience, but the male partner was aware of the discrepancy (Equifinality, 6.8%, i.e. couples start at different levels of arousal but end up at the same place), and another where men experienced higher arousal than women throughout the experience, but men inaccurately thought their partner also experienced higher arousal (Inaccurate Split, 7.3%). The seven classes had significantly different values on variables measuring the quality of the specific sexual experience. These classes also significantly differed on a variety of measures assessing the overall sexual relationship and the relationship as a whole. These findings counter the argument that the sexual response cycle is uniform for most couples.


Abstract In this article we present a deterministic study to estimate seismic ground motions expected in urban areas located near active faults. The purpose was to generate bedrock synthetic time series to be used as seismic input into site effects evaluation analysis and loss estimates for the urban area and infrastructures of Thessaloniki (Northern Greece). Two simulation techniques (a full wave method to generate low-frequency seismograms, ∼1 Hz) were used to compute time series associated with four different reference earthquakes having magnitudes from 5.9 to 6.5 and located within 30 km of Thessaloniki. The propagation medium and different source parameters were tested through the modeling of the 1978 Thessaloniki earthquake ( M  6.5). Moreover two different nucleation points were considered for each fault in order to introduce additional variability in the ground-motion estimates. Between the two cases, the quasi-unilateral rupture propagation toward the city produces both higher median peak ground acceleration (PGA) and peak ground velocity (PGV) values and higher variability than bilateral ones. Conversely, the low-frequency ground motion, that is, peak ground displacement (PGD), is slightly influenced by the position of the nucleation point, and its variability is related to the final slip distribution on the faults of the reference earthquakes and to the location of the sites with respect to the nodal planes of the radiation pattern. To validate our deterministic shaking scenarios, we verified that the synthetic peak ground motions (PGA and PGV) and spectral ordinates are within one standard deviation of several ground-motion prediction equations valid for the region. At specific sites we combined the low- and high-frequency synthetics to obtain broadband time series that cover the entire frequency band of engineering interest (0–25 Hz). The use of synthetic seismograms instead of empirical equations in the hazard estimates provides a complete evaluation of the expected ground motions both in frequency and time domains, including predictions at short distances from the fault (0–10 km) and at periods larger than 2–3 sec.


The division between stripped-envelope supernovae (SE-SNe) and superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) is not well defined in either photometric or spectroscopic space. While a sharp luminosity threshold has been suggested, there remains an increasing number of transitional objects that reach this threshold without the spectroscopic signatures common to SLSNe. In this work we present data and analysis on four SNe transitional between SE-SNe and SLSNe; the He-poor SNe 2019dwa and 2019cri, and the He-rich SNe 2019hge and 2019unb. Each object displays long-lived and variable photometric evolution with luminosities around the SLSN threshold of Mr < −19.8 mag. Spectroscopically however, these objects are similar to SE-SNe, with line velocities lower than either SE-SNe and SLSNe, and thus represent an interesting case of rare transitional events.


Thoughts about the University of Pécs Celebrating it's 650th Jubilee. The University of Pécs, the first ever university in Hungary, celebrated the 650th anniversary of its establishment in September 2017. The study briefly describes the different projects and events that were initiated in Pécs but also around the country in order to celebrate the jubilee condignly. These efforts included university and department level publications, exhibitions, and other events that attracted attention above and beyond the city of Pécs. It is important to note, that there were a number of international scholars and collaborators involved in the organization of some events.


Background: Respiratory muscle weakness is a common impairment in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). This is muscle weakness is exacerbated by increased chest wall rigidity that potentially contribute to reduced lung volumes and respiratory pressures and may be an important factor in the respiratory complications in this population.

Objective: This study investigated the effect of specific inspiratory muscle training (SIMT) on maximum inspiratory pressure in patients with PD.

Methods: Thirteen participants (7 males and 6 females) with PD (mean age of 69.6 years (SD=7.7 years) referred from the On-Off Parkinson's Association in Murcia, Spain, were involved in this study. Maximum inspiratory pressure (MIP) was considered the indice of inspiratory muscle strength and measured before and within one week after the training period and. All subjects trained daily at home, six times a week, each session consisting of 3 sets of the 15 times, for 8 week. The training was performed using an inspiratory muscle trainer.

Results: Following the training period there was a significant improvement in inspiratory muscle strength. The mean inspiratory muscle strength pre-intervention was 58.6 cmH20 (SD=12.3) and post-intervention was 72.4 cmH20 (SD=14.1) (p<0.01).

Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrate that muscle strength training has the potential to improve inspiratory muscle strength in patients with Parkinson's disease.


As the result of reviewing the linked treatment of water quality for treating process at public livestock wastewater treatment facilities for fair selection of the proper linked process in case of linking sewage treatment plant for livestock wastewater, in case of wastewater processed by bio-reactor that is only biologically-treated, the load factor showed relatively high as 1.67%(base on design quality), 2.59%(base on operation quality) regarding COD and 3.69%(base on design quality), 7.67%(base on operation quality) regarding COD Mn but it is judged that there is nearly no influence on the operation of sewage treatment plan. And, in case of oxidized flotation-treated water & biofiltlation-treated water that are the advanced wastewater treatment, the load factor is approximately 1% and there is concern about the installation of excessive facilities in case of installing the advanced wastewater treatment. So, in case of considering the economic efficiency & stable operation of sewage treatment plant S, it is judged to be desirable to link with wastewater processed by bio-reactor that is biologically-treated.


Investing in information technology is a requirement for enterprises to sustain their competitive advantage in a market that is described as changing and global. IT is a very important resource for enterprises to improve their organizational performance, but requires some justification for its costs and burdens. This study utilized an existing model and applied it on a case in Jordan by analyzing and exploring the implications of investing in IT projects. The case used is the Japan Tobacco International, where a survey was used to collect response from JTI personnel and the documents available on their portal. Two models are proposed to improve our understanding of topic and set the stage for future research. The detailed results of this study are reported with conclusions at the end.


We compared daily net radiation (Rn) estimates from 19 methods with the ASCE-EWRI Rn estimates in two climates: Clay Center, Nebraska (sub-humid) and Davis, California (semi-arid) for the calendar year. The performances of all 20 methods, including the ASCE-EWRI Rn method, were then evaluated against Rn data measured over a non-stressed maize canopy during two growing seasons in 2005 and 2006 at Clay Center.

Methods differ in terms of inputs, structure, and equation intricacy. Most methods differ in estimating the cloudiness factor, emissivity (e), and calculating net longwave radiation (Rnl). All methods use albedo (a) of 0.23 for a reference grass/alfalfa surface. When comparing the performance of all 20 Rn methods with measured Rn, we hypothesized that the a values for grass/alfalfa and non-stressed maize canopy were similar enough to only cause minor differences in Rn and grass- and alfalfa-reference evapotranspiration (ETo and ETr) estimates. The measured seasonal average a for the maize canopy was 0.19 in both years. Using a = 0.19 instead of a = 0.23 resulted in 6% overestimation of Rn. Using a = 0.19 instead of a = 0.23 for ETo and ETr estimations, the 6% difference in Rn translated to only 4% and 3% differences in ETo and ETr, respectively, supporting the validity of our hypothesis. Most methods had good correlations with the ASCE-EWRI Rn (r2 > 0.95). The root mean square difference (RMSD) was less than 2 MJ m-2 d-1 between 12 methods and the ASCE-EWRI Rn at Clay Center and between 14 methods and the ASCE-EWRI Rn at Davis. The performance of some methods showed variations between the two climates. In general, r2 values were higher for the semi-arid climate than for the sub-humid climate. Methods that use dynamic e as a function of mean air temperature performed better in both climates than those that calculate e using actual vapor pressure. The ASCE-EWRI-estimated Rn values had one of the best agreements with the measured Rn (r2 = 0.93, RMSD = 1.44 MJ m-2 d-1), and estimates were within 7% of the measured Rn. The Rn estimates from six methods, including the ASCE-EWRI, were not significantly different from measured Rn. Most methods underestimated measured Rn by 6% to 23%. Some of the differences between measured and estimated Rn were attributed to the poor estimation of Rnl. We conducted sensitivity analyses to evaluate the effect of Rnl on Rn, ETo, and ETr. The Rnl effect on Rn was linear and strong, but its effect on ETo and ETr was subsidiary. Results suggest that the Rn data measured over green vegetation (e.g., irrigated maize canopy) can be an alternative Rn data source for ET estimations when measured Rn data over the reference surface are not available. In the absence of measured Rn, another alternative would be using one of the Rn models that we analyzed when all the input variables are not available to solve the ASCE-EWRI Rn equation.

Our results can be used to provide practical information on which method to select based on data availability for reliable estimates of daily Rn in climates similar to Clay Center and Davis.


Since the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq is still suffering from the crisis and irregular in the processing of electric power to customers. Damage to the network, the old measurement devices for measuring electrical energy consumption, and irregularities and corruption in the process of measuring and calculating fees of the consumption, all these reasons led to the deterioration of the performance of the distribution network in Iraq. In this paper, Wireless Electric Power Meter Based on XBee Module has been designed and implemented which ZigBee wireless sensor network (WSN) will be used for wireless electric power meter communication supported by PIC microcontroller which used for power unit measurements. Wireless metering system will be controlled by central computer which place in base station; also database will be design to record and manage all data and information of consumers.


Target tracking with a mobile robot has numerous significant applications in both civilian and military. Practical challenges such as limited field-of-view, obstacle occlusion, and system uncertainty may all adversely affect tracking performance, yet few existing works can simultaneously tackle these limitations. To bridge the gap, we introduce the concept of belief-space probability of detection (BPOD) to measure the predictive visibility of the target under stochastic robot and target states. An Extended Kalman Filter variant incorporating BPOD is developed to predict target belief state under uncertain visibility within the planning horizon. Furthermore, we propose a computationally efficient algorithm to uniformly calculate both BPOD and the chance-constrained collision risk by utilizing linearized signed distance function (SDF), and then design a two-stage strategy for lightweight calculation of SDF in sequential convex programming. Building upon these treatments, we develop a real-time, non-myopic trajectory planner for visibility-aware and safe target tracking in the presence of system uncertainty. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is verified by both simulations and real-world experiments.


The retention of girls and women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is important for both equity and economic reasons. Focusing on girls, from birth until the age they leave school, this report provides an up-to-date look at the reasons why many girls do not pursue STEM subjects in school and STEM careers. Next, the report outlines the most promising ways to address this critical problem. The report is based on a comprehensive review of the international literature, combined with interviews with stakeholders, and followed by two rounds of consultations among representatives from education, governments, and industries.


The purpose of this study was to determine the condition of the elementary school environment, to determine the teacher's role in creating effective and efficient learning in elementary schools, to determine the inhibiting factors of the learning process and to determine the extent to which the school environment influences the effectiveness of learning in elementary schools. The type of research chosen by the researcher is survey research and is a qualitative research by exploring field data using descriptive analysis methods. the study took the research location at SDN Rancairung 1 because it was strategically located, easy to reach and did not require a lot of money, and in collecting data the authors conducted interviews, observations and documentation to complete the required data. The results of this study indicate that in creating effective learning in the classroom the teacher's role is very important because the teacher provides the most services to students when students are at school. Factors that become obstacles to the learning process.


We present a search for new massive particles decaying to a pair of top quarks with the CMS detector at the LHC. Proton-proton collision data recorded at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV is used. The search is performed by measuring the invariant mass distribution of the top-quark pair and testing for deviations from the expected Standard Model background. Final states with 0 or 1 leptons are considered, and the selection is optimized accordingly. In the high mass ranges accessible by the LHC at these energies, the top quarks are produced with high transverse momenta: the products of hadronically decaying top quarks emerge as a single jet, whereas the products of the semileptonic decay mode are characterized by the overlap of the lepton and the b jet. Specific reconstruction algorithms and selections are employed to address the identification of boosted top quark signatures. The results are presented in terms of upper limits on the model cross section. Models of Randall-Sundrum Kaluza-Klein gluon production as well as narrow, wide, and extra-wide Z′ boson models are considered.


Healed partial thickness wounds including burns and donor sites cause hypertrophic scar formation and patient discomfort. For many patients with hypertrophic scars, pruritis is the most distressing symptom, which leads to wound excoriation and chronic wound formation. In spite of the clinical significance of abnormal innervation in scars, the nervous system has been largely ignored in the pathophysiology of hypertrophic scars. Evidence that neuropeptides contribute to inflammatory responses to injury include inflammatory cell chemotaxis, cytokine and growth factor production. The neuropeptide substance P, which is released from nerve endings after injury, induces inflammation and mediates angiogenesis, keratinocyte proliferation, and fibrogenesis. Substance P activity is tightly regulated by neutral endopeptidase (NEP), a membrane bound metallopeptidase that degrades substance P at the cell membrane. Altered substance P levels may contribute to impaired cutaneous healing responses associated with diabetes mellitus or hypertrophic scar formation. Topical application of exogenous substance P or an NEP inhibitor enhances wound closure kinetics in diabetic murine wounds suggesting that diabetic wounds have insufficient substance P levels to promote a neuroinflammatory response necessary for normal wound repair. Conversely, increased nerve numbers and neuropeptide levels with reduced NEP levels in human and porcine hypertrophic scar samples suggest that excessive neuropeptide activity induces exuberant inflammation in hypertrophic scars. Given these observations about the role of neuropeptides in cutaneous repair, neuronal modulation of repair processes at two extremes of abnormal wound healing, chronic non‐healing ulcers in type II diabetes mellitus and hypertrophic scars in deep partial thickness wounds, may provide therapeutic targets.


Masters and Johnson (1966) described 3-15 rhythmic contractions of the orgasmic platform in the outer third of the vagina as the physiological basic of female orgasm. Bohlen et al. (1982) in a more recent research registered in some subjects during "long orgasms" up to 34 additional irregular pelvic contractions. In some subjects no contractions occurred during their orgastic experience. Our own findings are based on Czech sexological questionnaires SGZ and SFZ/K, which include questions asking about subjective experience of vaginal contractions or pulsation during orgasm. In a sample of 200 women treated for neurotic disorders, about 60% reported such contractions or pulsations. In a sample of 100 female health professionals and counselors, contractions were reported in 80%. Contractions seem to frequently accompany subjective experience of female orgasm, but are not its necessary condition. Some women experience their orgasm regularly without contractions and some report having contractions during orgasm only occasionally.


INTRODUCTION:
Bowel gangrene is one of the most challenging surgical emergency with high morbidity and mortality all over the world. The causes are diverse and clinical and radiological manifestations vary according to etiology. Early diagnosis, prompt treatment and good postoperative care are the three important basic key stones for a successful outcome in a patient with bowel gangrene. These include rapid correction of fluid and electrolyte imbalance, control of sepsis and urgent & prompt resection of the diseased bowel. All will be lost once the lethal toxins enter the systemic circulation. The technical and judgment errors during surgery are the two important preventable factors that can have high impact on morbidity and mortality of the patient and therefore it should be limited. These errors can be minimized by meticulous surgery, clear goal and alternative surgical strategy- i.e. safest surgery that gives best outcome for each individual patient. However certain uncontrollable factors like advanced age, poor functional status and associated co-morbid systemic illness can cause potential life threatening consequences in a patient with bowel gangrene undergoing surgery.
AIM OF THE STUDY:
1. To analyze various etiological factors causing Bowel Gangrene.
2. To evaluate the final outcome of the treatment offered.
3. To study various factors influencing the morbidity and mortality associated with Bowel Gangrene.
Materials & Methods:
MATERIALS:
Study group:
50 cases with Bowel gangrene admitted under all surgical units at Government Thanjavur Medical College Hospital.
Inclusion Criteria:
• Patients age group : 12 years & above.
• Both sexes.
Exclusion criteria:
• Patient < 12 yrs.
Total Number of cases studied: 50 Cases.
Study Period: May 2010 to November 2012.
Data Collection regarding the study:
• Demographic details.
• Time interval between onset of symptoms and surgery.
• Clinical Presentation.
• Imaging studies and Laboratory investigation.
• Operative Findings & Cause for Gangrene.
• Type of the treatment offered.
• Eventual outcome of the patient.
Methodology:
Study was a prospective observational study
Study group was 50 cases with Gangrenous Bowel disease admitted at Thanjavur Medical college Hospital, satisfying the inclusion & Exclusion criteria, during the period of 2 years from May 2010 to November 2012.
Detailed History, clinical Findings and Pre operative complications if any were noted.
All the patients were subjected to relevant radiological and Blood investigations with simultaneous resuscitation.
After adequate pre operative resuscitative measures that includes fluid & Electrolyte correction by intravenous route, naso gastric decompression and broad spectrum antibiotics, all the patients were subjected to Emergency surgical procedure appropriate to the condition.
Preoperative findings, intra operative complications if any and type of surgical procedure offered was documented.
Post operatively, all the patients were managed effectively under surgical intensive care unit with intravenous fluids, Antibiotics, etc.
CONCLUSION:
Intestinal strangulation from hernia, adhesions and Volvulus was the major cause for Bowel Gangrene. Mesenteric Vascular diseases contribute only about 4% in our study.
(1) (a) Among the Bowel strangulation, Hernia is leading cause for bowel gangrene in our study (34%) of which Inguinal Hernia along accounts for 88% in total
(b) Strangulation following adhesive obstruction comes as the 2nd leading cause for Bowel Gangrene (28%) of which post inflammatory adhesions is the major cause (65%).
(c) Sigmoid Volvulus ranks 3rd in etiology of Bowel Gangrene contributing 14%. Large Bowel Neoplasm contributes 8%.
(2) The final outcome of the treatment offered is as follows:
(a) Complete recovery is attained in 50% of patients.
(b) Overall mortality rate is 30%. This figure is 18% for hernia, 21% for Adhesions 71% for sigmoid volvulus and 50% for malignancy and 50% for MVD.
(c) Septicemic shock is the prime cause of death in vast majority of patients with Bowel Gangrene (47%). Failures to wean from ventilator, ARDS, Progressive renal insufficiency and cardiogenic shock together contribute the rest.
(d) Overall morbidity rate is 20%. Among these local complications like Anastomotic leak and local sepsis together constitute about 14%.
(3) Old age, premorbid illness, treatment delay, and Fecal contamination are significantly associated with increased morbidity and mortality rate.
(4) Mortality and Morbidity associated with Bowel Gangrene can be limited by following measures:
(a) Pre operative optimization of hemodynamic and respiratory parameters.
(b) Control the sepsis with liberal use of antibiotics.
(c) Early surgical intervention and removal of devitalized Bowel, before lethal toxins enters into the circulation.
(d) Careful planning and Technique during definitive surgical therapy.
(e) Recognition of Barriers to healing and control over them.


Acute heart failure is one of the most common condition leading to hospital admission and is burdened by important mortality and readmission rates. A timely diagnosis of congestive heart failure at admission by hospitalists is essential for an early and tailored medical management. The initial clinical evaluation based on symptoms, physical signs and chest radiography remains inconclusive for the diagnosis in many patients with acute dyspnea, and the use of natriuretic peptide testing (BNP and NT-proBNP) through a two cut-point strategy is currently recommended as first-line diagnostic complement in the acute care setting. Bedside Doppler echocardiography is another reliable, noninvasive method that offers additional diagnostic information over the initial clinical evaluation. Along with echocardiographic evidence of depressed left ventricular systolic function, several simple Doppler indexes have been validated in the emergency diagnosis of congestive heart failure. Doppler echocardiography at bedside may especially benefit to patients with intermediate, inconclusive natriuretic peptide concentrations. The aim of the present review was to offer to the hospitalist a practical overview on the relative contribution of natriuretic peptide testing and bedside Doppler echocardiography to the diagnosis of acute heart failure in the emergency care setting.


Objective The European Surgical Outcomes Study described mortality following in-patient surgery. Several factors were identified that were able to predict poor outcomes in a multivariate analysis. These included age, procedure urgency, severity and type and the American Association of Anaesthesia score. This study describes in greater detail the relationship between the American Association of Anaesthesia score and postoperative mortality. Methods Patients in this 7-day cohort study were enrolled in April 2011. Consecutive patients aged 16 years and older undergoing inpatient non-cardiac surgery with a recorded American Association of Anaesthesia score in 498 hospitals across 28 European nations were included and followed up for a maximum of 60 days. The primary endpoint was in-hospital mortality. Decision tree analysis with the CHAID (SPSS) system was used to delineate nodes associated with mortality. Results The study enrolled 46,539 patients. Due to missing values, 873 patients were excluded, resulting in the analysis of 45,666 patients. Increasing American Association of Anaesthesia scores were associated with increased admission rates to intensive care and higher mortality rates. Despite a progressive relationship with mortality, discrimination was poor, with an area under the ROC curve of 0.658 (95% CI 0.642 - 0.6775). Using regression trees (CHAID), we identified four discrete American Association of Anaesthesia nodes associated with mortality, with American Association of Anaesthesia 1 and American Association of Anaesthesia 2 compressed into the same node. Conclusion The American Association of Anaesthesia score can be used to determine higher risk groups of surgical patients, but clinicians cannot use the score to discriminate between grades 1 and 2. Overall, the discriminatory power of the model was less than acceptable for widespread use.


Arytenoidectomy is currently the most reliable method of treating patients with bilateral vocal cord paralysis. Although both endoscopic and external approaches have been described, the endoscopic laser technique is more desirable because it requires no incision and allows for the immediate assessment of airway size. Eleven patients with bilateral vocal cord paralysis treated by endoscopic laser arytenoidectomy were presented in 1984. At that time, 10 of the 11 patients had been successfully decannulated. Follow-up on that group of patients revealed that 7 of the 10 successfully treated patients remain decannulated with a good airway, although 2 of these patients required a revision procedure to excise a granuloma. One patient failed at 15 months and has failed two subsequent revision operations, and 2 patients have been lost to follow-up. Since 1984, 17 additional patients with bilateral vocal cord paralysis have been treated by the authors using the same endoscopic laser arytenoidectomy technique; all have been successfully managed, with a minimum follow-up of 3 years. The technique of this operation will be reviewed. This study demonstrates the clinical usefulness of endoscopic laser arytenoidectomy in the treatment of bilateral vocal cord paralysis.


A longitudinal design was employed to study the relationship between drug use and school dropout in a general high school population.Nine hundred and fifteen students enrolled in Grade 9 classes were initially questioned concerning their use of drugs (Time 1). Thirteen months later, those students who had dropped out of school as well as those students still attending classes were asked to report again on their current druguse practices (Time 2). The results supported previously reported findings by demonstrating greater use of most licit and illicit drug categories byschool dropouts following their withdrawal from school (Time 2). Furthermore, it was shown that for almost every drug, the trend towards greater drug use within the dropout group was evident and equally strong before the dropping out occurred (Time 1). There was, however, some indication that dropouts were additionally more likely to start or initiate some categories of drug use following school dropout. The findings were discussed in terms of a "symptom" versus "cause" view of school dropout in relatio to drug use. It was concluded that drug use functions as part of the constellation of contributing factors that precedes dropping out of school, but that dropout status itself may play a causal role in fostering self-identification and/or social group contacts which promote the development of drug abuse patterns.


Background Adequate nutrition during adolescence is important for optimal physical and cognitive development and for pregnancy either during adolescence or later life. Thinness amongst adolescent girls in low and middle income countries (LMIC) has been little studied. Methods We used BMI data from 40 LMIC from the Global School Health Survey to estimate the prevalence of moderate and severe thinness in 12–18 year olds using the WHO 2007 growth reference. Self-report data on going to bed hungry was used as a proxy for household food insecurity. We used multi-level models to assess whether national wealth (gross domestic product, GDP), income inequality (Gini index), national gender inequality (Gender Inequality Index (GEI)) and food security (Global Food Security Index (GFSI)) were associated with undernutrition. Results Prevalence rates of moderate and severe thinness across 61,603 girls from 40 countries were 6.30% (95% CI: 5.71, 6.95) and 1.34% (1.12, 1.59) respectively. The prevalence of combined moderate and severe thinness demonstrated wide variation between countries; countries in Asia were found to have highest prevalence (nearly 20% in Sri Lanka). Combined moderate/severe thinness was more common amongst early (12–14 years) than later adolescents (15–18 years). Going to bed hungry sometimes was associated with increased risk of moderate/severe thinness (OR: 1.102; 95% CI 1.007, 1.206). A significant inverse relationship was found between thinness and GDP (OR: 0.94; 95% CI: 0.88, 0.99) and GFSI (OR: 0.96; 95% CI: 0.93, 0.99) but not Gini or GEI. Conclusion Thinness is still prevalent in adolescent schoolgirls in LMIC, and poses a significant threat to their health and that of the next generation. New attention is needed to public health nutrition interventions for adolescent girls in LMIC. Our study provides the first systematic data on adolescent thinness to guide regional and national nutrition strategies and provides data to allow for future epidemiological comparisons.


Exchanging CAD model data among heterogeneous CAD systems is indispensable for collaborative product development. Currently, the industry mainly uses the standardized neutral files based methods to implement such exchange. While at the same time, the application of Web Ontology Language (OWL) file and underlying Semantic Web technologies in CAD model data exchange is gaining importance and popularity within the academia. The coexistence of different types of methods has generated a series of controversies and questions within the industry and the academia. Yet, can the neutral files based exchange methods completely implement model data exchange among heterogeneous CAD systems? What challenges have been addressed to date by the developed CAD model data exchange standards? Why OWL has been introduced to CAD model data exchange? Does CAD model data exchange really need OWL? Are there any issues in existing neutral files based exchange methods and OWL file based exchange methods need to be addressed in future studies? This paper proposes to conduct a study of the standardized neutral files based exchange methods and OWL file based exchange methods. An in-depth analysis of the widely used STandard for the Exchange of Product model data (STEP) method and the newly emerging OWL methods is firstly provided. Then the paper makes a detailed comparison between these two types of methods based on this analysis. Finally, some issues in the two types of methods that need to be addressed in the future are discussed


Patients with anterior mediastinum tumors fall into a difficult category due to high risk of invasion of vital structures and complexity of surgical correction. We report resection of recurrent hemangioma of anterior mediastinum with aortic arch replacement and simultaneous resection of left atrial myxoma in a 35-year-old woman. Successful treatment of these patients correlates with aggressive surgical approach followed by total resection of tumor and all affected vessels and other tissues.


ABSTRACT The lipooligosaccharide (LOS) present in the outer membrane ofHaemophilus ducreyi is likely a virulence factor for this sexually transmitted pathogen. An open reading frame in H. ducreyi 35000 was found to encode a predicted protein that had 87% identity with the protein product of the gmhA(isn) gene of Haemophilus influenzae. InH. influenzae type b, inactivation of the gmhAgene caused the synthesis of a significantly truncated LOS which possessed only lipid A and a single 2-keto-3-deoxyoctulosonic acid molecule (A. Preston, D. J. Maskell, A. Johnson, and E. R. Moxon, J. Bacteriol. 178:396–402, 1996). The H. ducreyi gmhA gene was able to complement a gmhA-deficientEscherichia coli strain, a result which confirmed the identity of this gene. When the gmhA gene of H. ducreyi was inactivated by insertion of a catcartridge, the resultant H. ducreyi gmhA mutant, 35000.252, expressed a LOS that migrated much faster than wild-type LOS in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. When the wild-type H. ducreyi strain and its isogenic gmhA mutant were used in the temperature-dependent rabbit model for dermal lesion production byH. ducreyi, the gmhA mutant was found to be substantially less virulent than the wild-type parent strain. TheH. ducreyi gmhA gene was amplified by PCR from the H. ducreyi chromosome and cloned into the pLS88 vector. When theH. ducreyi gmhA gene was present in trans ingmhA mutant 35000.252, expression of the gmhAgene product restored the virulence of this mutant to wild-type levels. These results indicate that the gmhA gene product of H. ducreyi is essential for the expression of wild-type LOS by this pathogen.


This paper depicts law through prosaic and photographic montage. In matters of law, every interpretation necessarily concerns a claim in right to administer violence through enforcement. Montage as form in writing about law gives a greater scope for interpretation to the reader, more so than traditional narrative.

This work incorporates elements of literary and photographic montage as developed by John Heartfield and Walter Benjamin, and as described by Siegfried Kracauer and Walter Benjamin. The Frankfurt School's perspective on critical theory informs montage in this paper.