This essay examines Qoheleth's Catalogue of the Times poem in Eccl 3:2–8. I argue that the two most common scholarly interpretations of the poem's overall meaning fail to sufficiently account for its literary context and that an underdeveloped alternative reading is to be preferred. When we read the poem in light of two other closely related passages, 1:4–11 and 3:9–15, it becomes clear that a poem ostensibly about "time" is much less concerned with "timing" than is typically thought, but instead signifies Qoheleth's frustration with the inevitable equilibrating tendency embedded into every human task.


Here we have a set of papers by a number of researchers (students and faculty) at the time of the revival of connectionism, and some of the students have since made their names in the field (e.g., Bookman, Miikkulainen, and Regier). The proceedings is from the second Connectionist Models Summer School held at Carnegie Mellon University in 1988 and organized by Dave Touretzky with Geoffrey Hinton and Terrence Sejnowski as advisors.


This brief first presents an improved disturbance observer (IDOB) design method to deal with disturbance observation for the nonminimum-phase delay systems. Then, an IDOB-based compound control scheme is developed to enhance the disturbance rejection performance of multivariable model predictive control (MPC) under various disturbances and uncertainties. In such an IDOB–MPC scheme, the MPC controller acts as a prefilter and generates appropriate control actions such that a desired setpoint tracking response is achieved. The IDOB is used to estimate the various disturbances dynamically and suppress them by feedforward compensation design. Both theory analysis and simulation comparisons have shown good disturbance estimation and rejection performances of the proposed method.


Mindful of the current trend within the United States to revive the focus on the use of trademark to determine a mark's ability to act as a source indicator, in this paper I highlight how focusing on use can create disparate results by examining the role of use when dealing with well-known marks. Hence, this paper implicates the prescriptions from the harmonized trade regime, especially trademark law. In doing so, the paper outlines larger public policy concerns that will ensue especially considering the role of the use doctrine in the context of international harmonization of protection of well-known trademarks. In order to do so, this paper examines protection of foreign marks in two jurisdictions, India and the United States, to identify global public policy concerns which has national implications. The study debunks the myth that harmonization would result in trading partners extending reciprocal treatment. That is, inapposite to the touted position, this paper uses the well-known marks example to outline disparate outcomes that ensue when focusing on use as source indicator. In highlighting how harmonization has not resulted in uniformity or predictability internationally to identify and recognize well-known trademarks, this paper discusses how the lack of predictability under a harmonized system has raised strong public policy concerns as well as economic outcomes that may be detrimental to some markets but beneficial to others. Overall, this paper asserts that a coherent approach will have to necessarily involve some level of flexibilities in the trade regime to determine constituents of fame for a well-known trademark in each jurisdiction.


Introduction Whipple's pancreatoduodenectomy (PD) is a formidable operation, associated with a high risk of morbidity and mortality. In the setting of an underlying chronic liver disease, the incidence of complications and mortality increases manifold. Patients and Outcomes. Of the 112 Whipple's PD performed between 2018 to 2020 at a high-volume HPB and liver transplant centre, 4 patients underwent the surgery in the background of an underlying chronic liver disease (CLD). All except one were performed in Child's A cirrhotics. There was a single 30-day mortality in this series of 4 patients that occurred in the background of Child's B cirrhosis. On follow-up at 1 year, there was one more mortality in the series, owing to liver decompensation following chemotherapy. Conclusion Judicious preoperative selection criteria, adequate preoperative nutritional and physiological optimisation, and prudent weighing of risk vs. benefit of undergoing Whipple's PD in periampullary malignancies in the setting of CLD are the major determinants of the surgical outcome.


The present study examines whether modulating musical structural elements in therapeutic treatment reduces the severity of symptoms among individuals diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. Music therapy has recently become a more utilized non-traditional treatment modality for anxiety. However, the specific elements of music that trigger relaxation responses alongside prevent rumination spirals has not received significant attention in literature thus far. This study aims to assess what type of music allows for the most effective treatment in reducing anxiety. Using a 2 (tempo: adagio, allegro) x 2 (timbre: string instrumental, vocal) x 2 (key: C major, D minor) between participants experimental design, participants diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder will be assigned to one of eight conditions manipulating structural elements of music. Over a 10 week study period, participants will attend a CBT talk therapy session and music therapy session once a week. At the end of the study, participants will reassess the severity of GAD symptoms. It is hypothesized that music therapy involving adagio tempo, string instrumental timbre, and the key of C major music will demonstrate larger symptom reduction levels than that of allegro tempo, vocal timbre, the key of D minor music. Additionally, a supersize effect would demonstrate larger significant reductions in symptoms using a combination of adagio, string instrumental and C major key music. This study may allow the increased use of music therapy alongside traditional treatment modalities to provide greater accessibility, immediate relief, and more efficacy within the modality by understanding what elements are most impactful to reduce symptoms.


This article compares formulaic expressions for the offering of good wishes, part of the verbal rituals of politeness, in Turkish and French. Situated within a sociology of language framework, the study focuses on the analysis of verbal interaction in relation to three dimensions: syntax, semantics and pragmatics. To this end, a number of the most widespread formulaic expressions currently in use in Turkish society were identified and, through the provision of literal translations, compared with their French equivalents. The corpus consisted of 23 formulaic expressions for the offering of good wishes and their responses. Analysis revealed numerous differences between the Turkish and French equivalents at the semantic and pragmatic levels; indeed, only one expression showed a perfect match. As for all formulaic expressions, it is important to take such differences into account when engaging in the teaching of a foreign language, especially in the case of more distant cultures and languages.


Teacher at Hujjaturrahman Islamic Boarding School Tanjung Pura. Field research was used to obtain the data needed in this study, namely by using data collection tools through observation, interviews or structured interviews, and documentation. The data obtained was then processed and analyzed. In this study, qualitative research was used with an analytical description approach, namely by describing the research results obtained through structured interviews on research sources. The results of the qualification program research, in this program the teachers at the Hujjaturrahmah Tanjung Pura Islamic Boarding School already have the qualifications required by the government, which means that in this case it has shown that the teachers at the Hujjaturrahmah Tanjung Pura Islamic Boarding School have good competence, and there are still some teachers who teach not in accordance with qualifications possessed. Furthermore, the certification program, in this case is the same as the qualification program where in the certification program there are several teachers who have not taken part in certification. The efforts of the madrasa head for this program are always carried out and the waka always provides assistance in the form of services. In the training program, madrasas dispatch educators when they receive training invitations. Not only training outside the madrasah, but also carrying out training within the madrasah. The implementation is also in accordance with existing steps, starting from identifying the problems faced by teachers to following up on training activities. The teacher quality improvement program is research, in this research program carried out by the head of the madrasa in the form of classroom action research so that the research leads to supervision . Although there are several teachers who carry out classroom action research, there is no implementation yet.


Hypertrophic scar (HS) is an unfavorable skin disorder that typically develops after trauma, burn injury, or surgical procedures and causes numerous physical and psychological issues in patients. Currently, intralesional multi-injection of corticosteroid, particularly compound betamethasone (CB), is one of the most prevalent treatments for HS. However, injection administration could result in severe pain and dose-related side effects. Additionally, the vacuum therapeutic efficacy of this treatment relies on the level of expertise of the healthcare professional. To overcome the limitations of conventional injections, a new method that is convenient, painless, and self-administrable is urgently required. In this study, we developed a methacrylate gelatin (GelMA)/polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) double-network hydrogel microneedle patch loaded with CB (CB-HMNP) as an intradermal delivery system for HS treatment. The double-network structure conferred the CB-HMNP with sufficient mechanical properties to successfully penetrate scar tissue while also helping to regulate the drug's sustained release rate. Subsequently, we confirmed that the CB-HMNP had a pronounced inhibitory effect on human HS fibroblasts (hHSFs), whereas drug-free HMNPs had no effect on hHSFs, indicating its high biocompatibility. In order to assess the therapeutic efficacy of CB-HMNPs, HS models of New Zealand rabbit ears were developed. The administration of CB-HMNP three times significantly decreased the scar elevation index (SEI), collagen I/III, and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) protein. Therefore, the CB-HMNP may offer an administration pathway for the treatment of HS that is less painful, more convenient, less invasive, and sustain-released.


Hypertonic saline solutions have properties that may be advantageous for resuscitation. In both animal and human studies rapid improvements in cardiovascular status occur when hypertonic saline is administered to hypovolaemic subjects and the possible side effects of hypertonic solutions have not been shown to be of clinical importance. Hypertonic saline certainly has a potential role in resuscitation of hypovolaemic casulaties in the modern military setting.


During the last year (February 1988 to January 1989) much work has been completed on the ANS Forth Standard. The standards committee seems to be heading to require as little as possible but to standardize as much as possible. There are, of course, proponents and opponents of each side of this path. The standard will also encompass as many machines as possible. Not only will the standard allow n-bitness (16-bit virtual systems minimum) but will also allow other than twos-complement machines (specifically discussed are ones-complement machines). Math has been unbound from floored-division and is now programmer specified as floored or rounded toward zero. Minimal floating point and files are also specified. Some proposals are being considered on strings, RAM/ROM systems, and multitasking, with the current major struggle on vocabularies.


Cascading failures are the typical reasons of blackouts in power grids. The grid topology plays an important role in determining the dynamics of cascading failures in power grids. Measures for vulnerability analysis are crucial to assure a higher level of robustness of power grids. Metrics from Complex Networks are widely used to investigate the grid vulnerability. Yet, these purely topological metrics fail to capture the real behaviour of power grids. This paper proposes a metric, the effective graph resistance, as a vulnerability measure to determine the critical components in a power grid. Differently than the existing purely topological measures, the effective graph resistance accounts for the electrical properties of power grids such as power flow allocation according to Kirchoff laws. To demonstrate the applicability of the effective graph resistance, a quantitative vulnerability assessment of the IEEE 118 buses power system is performed. The simulation results verify the effectiveness of the effective graph resistance to identify the critical transmission lines in a power grid.


In this paper, an approach for visual, non-contact automatic inspection of tyre tread depth based on existing image processing techniques is presented. Histograms of oriented gradient are used for feature extraction from images. In order to analyse which set of features gives the best classification results, a linear support-vector machine classifier was trained and tested using different numbers of pixels and numbers of cells per block. The obtained processing and experimental results are presented in this paper.


Existing Lanchester combat models focus on two force parameters: numbers (force size) and per-capita effectiveness (attrition rate). While these two parameters are central in projecting a battle's outcome, there are other important factors that affect the battlefield: (1) targeting capability, the capacity to identify live enemy units and not dissipate fire on non-targets; (2) tactical restrictions preventing full deployment of forces; and (3) morale and tolerance of losses, the capacity to endure casualties. In the spirit of Lanchester theory, we derive, for the first time, force-parity equations for various combinations of these effects, and obtain general implications and trade-offs. We show that more units and better weapons (higher attrition rate) are preferred over improved targeting capability and relaxed deployment restrictions unless these are poor. However, when facing aimed fire and unable to deploy more than half of one's force it is better to be able to deploy more existing units than to have either additional reserve units or the same increase in attrition effectiveness. Likewise more relaxed deployment constraints are preferred over enhanced loss-tolerance when initial reserves are greater than the force level at which withdrawal occurs.


Objectives: Diabetes Mellitus is a major health problem with individual, social and economical consequences. Knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) surveys are effective in providing baseline for evaluating intervention programmes. This study was conducted with the aim to know the level of awareness regarding type 2 diabetes mellitus to aid in future development of programmes and techniques for effective health educationStudy Design: Cross sectional descriptiveMethodology: This cross sectional study describes the Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) among female diabetic patients attending the Mother andChild Hospital and Qassim University Clinic in Buraydah from Jan 2009 toJune 2009. KAP questionnaire was used for this purpose after getting permissionfrom P and T journal Medi Media USA. Data was analyzed using descriptive analysis Microsoft office 2007 window vista and SPSS version 16 .Results: Altogether, 56.14 % of respondents scored 100% in the questions related with knowledge. However 17.58% scored 100% in the attitude questions and15.78%scored 100% in practice questions. The overall KAP score had a mean of 16and standard deviation (SD) of 6.066. The respondents correctly answering (all?) the knowledge questions have a mean Score of 12.42 and SD 3.034. The respondents answering correctly attitude and Practice questions had a mean Score of 1.46±1.739 and 2.79±2.289 respectively. Conclusion: Results revealed good knowledge but poor attitude andPractices toward diabetes. We concluded that there is a need for structured programmes to improve attitude and practices of diabetic patients to promote better compliance


A novel technique involving radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies was used to characterize and compare the expression of E- and P-selectin on unstimulated, histamine-challenged, and endotoxin-challenged endothelial cells in various tissues of the mouse. Under unstimulated conditions, E-selectin was absent in all organs, but significant expression of P-selectin was observed in several organs. Histamine induced a rapid time-dependent upregulation of P-selectin, with the largest responses observed in mesentery and lung. Significant fold elevations in P-selectin expression occurred as early as 5 minutes after the histamine injection and remained elevated up to 1 hour. Histamine-induced P-selectin upregulation was inhibited by the H1 receptor antagonist diphenhydramine, whereas the H2 receptor antagonist cimetidine had no effect. Endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide [LPS]) also induced a time-dependent expression of P-selectin that reached a maximum between 4 and 8 hours after endotoxin administration. LPS-induced upregulation of P-selectin was greatest in heart and stomach, which exhibited insignificant constitutive expression of P-selectin. LPS also induced a time-dependent upregulation of E-selectin, with maximal expression occurring 3 to 5 hours after intraperitoneal administration. The lung and small intestine exhibited the largest responses to LPS challenge. Histamine administration did not affect E-selectin expression in any tissue. E- and P-selectin-deficient mice were used to test the specificity of monoclonal antibody binding in unstimulated, histamine-challenged, and LPS-stimulated tissues. Vascular binding of the radiolabeled E-selectin and P-selectin monoclonal antibodies was not observed in the respective deficient mice. These findings suggest that P-selectin is constitutively expressed on vascular endothelium in some tissues of the mouse and that there are significant regional differences in the magnitude and time course of histamine- and endotoxin-induced P-selectin expression. In contrast, E-selectin appears to be absent on unstimulated vascular endothelium but is upregulated within 3 hours after the administration of endotoxin in most tissues.


Conventional Abbe refractometers are used to determine the refractive index (RI) of liquid samples placed on a prism surface by critical angle evaluation. However, the use of this method is limited to the investigation of fluids in a laboratory environment. With the purpose of monitoring fluids attaching to extended planar surfaces, a different method is required. We present a RI monitoring device for plates of any given geometry. The proposed method can easily be integrated into a variety of applications using the area of interest as a waveguide for optical radiation. The developed refractometer is tested with sucrose solutions of varying RIs ranging from 1.355 68 to 1.430 80 with an LED source at 589 nm. By implementing a calibration method using standardized solutions, the average uncertainty for the RI determination is 1.6 × 10-3. Compared to the values measured by a state-of-the-art refractometer, the maximum deviation is 0.13%.


Background and Objective:  Currently, probiotics are mainly used in processed foods or nutritional supplements mainly due to their impact on health. The probiotic markets have a considerable share either in food or drug industry. In this article, drug supplements and food products containing probiotic microorganisms are considered in a comparative approach from different aspects including functional, efficacy, hedonistic and economical. Results and Conclusion:  However, the impact of ingesting probiotics via food products or drug supplements is not actually the same from consumer's point of view as well as from clinical efficacy. Consumer attitudes appear to be reflected in expectations on nutritional, functional and health effects side and also from the point of nutrition economics. Conflict of interest:  The authors declare no conflict of interest.


Seventy-eight cases of meningioma and related tumors were examined independently using a simple and reproducible argyrophilic method for the demonstration of nucleolar organizer regions (AgNORs) and staining with bromodeoxyuridine monoclonal antibody. The mean number of AgNORs per cell and the bromodeoxyuridine labeling index were shown to be linearly related (r = 0.84, P less than 0.001). The mean AgNOR number was 2.99 for meningeal sarcoma, 2.29 for anaplastic meningioma, 2.08 for hemangiopericytic meningioma. 1.72 for recurrent meningioma without atypical histological findings, and 1.52 for nonrecurrent meningioma. We noted that the mean number of AgNORs reflected the cellular kinetics of a tumor and was related to histological grade and clinical behavior.


During the EFL process, learners often come across difficulties. One of the difficulties is caused by differences between their mother tongue (L1) and the second language (L2) or foreign language (FL).  This is observable through errors found in production of L2 by the English learners. The errors are observable in areas of phonology, vocabulary, and grammar. These errors are commonly referred to mother tongue interference. This study aimed at analyzing the influence of mother tongue into English produced by the students of English Department in Udayana University. The data in this paper are taken from 40 descriptive essays written by second semester students who are enrolled in Writing subject. The data were analyzed by using error analysis (EA) method to see the influence of L1, specifically on the grammatical errors. Grammatical errors refer to sentence or construction formation. Most of errors found were on the area of tenses followed by word order (constituent order). The errors demonstrate that differences between Balinese and Indonesian cause interference on the learners' English ess


Abstract Patients with primary aldosteronism (PA) are at increased cardiovascular risk, compared to patients with essential hypertension (EH). Cardiovascular damage could depend on PA phenotype, potentially being lower in milder forms of PA. Our aim was to assess atherosclerotic burden and arterial stiffness in 88 prospectively recruited patients, including 44 patients with mild PA and EH respectively. All patients underwent a structured study program, including measurements of ankle-brachial index, oscillometric measurement of central pulse wave velocity (cPWV) and vascular ultrasound examination of the supraaortic arteries, the abdominal aorta, and the femoropopliteal arteries. A plaque score was calculated to estimate atherosclerotic burden for each patient. This is a prospective case-control study set at a tertiary care hospital. Patients with PA and EH matched well for age, gender, blood pressure, BMI, and cardiovascular risk factors such as diabetes mellitus and smoking status. Common carotid intima-media thickness (0.77 vs. 0.75 mm; p=0.997) and cPWV (7.2 vs. 7.1 m/s; p=0.372) were comparable between patients with PA and EH. The atherosclerotic burden, as expressed by the plaque score, did not differ between the two groups (p=0.159). However, after initiation of treatment cPWV was significantly decreased in patients with PA (p=0.017). This study shows that subclinical atherosclerotic burden and arterial stiffness in patients with milder forms of PA is comparable to patients with EH. Nevertheless, specific treatment for PA significantly improved cPWV, which argues for a more liberal use of mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists in patients with arterial hypertension.


What are your three most important roles? Providing leadership and direction to all the staff I manage and ensuring the safety of mothers and babies through my statutory supervisory function in midwifery; ensuring the delivery of local and government objectives in line with those of the local health board (LHB); and providing strategic vision for all women and child health services.


Data on the utilization of healthcare services are useful for assessing the health status of the general population and the delivery of hospital services in a state that is facing major health and healthcare challenges. They can assist health planning and health system reform efforts by allowing comparisons to other states and to national averages, by identifying patient groups with unusually high utilization rates, by tracking trends in utilization over time, and by demonstrating the effects of various healthcare reforms. This report summarizes hospital inpatient discharge data for patients treated in Tennessee's non-federal, short-stay hospitals in 2005. The analysis focuses on the hospital utilization patterns of leading acute and chronic conditions for racial and gender groups.


Australia has joined many governments to adopt public-private partnership (PPP) as a major strategy for procuring infrastructure for decades. However, failures have occurred although the market has been considered to be a mature and sophisticated one. Failures have typically been traced back to inappropriate economic evaluation and a lack of value-for-money. In particular, a literature review has identified that there was no holistic consideration on the evaluation of procurement transactions of PPP projects. The transaction costs of PPPs were not handled properly. In this paper, theories of transaction cost economics are proposed for the purpose of such a holistic institutional economic evaluation. These theories are analysed in order to identify potential critical success factors for a strategic infrastructure procurement framework. The potential critical success factors are identified and grouped into a number of categories that match the theories of transaction cost economics. These categories include (1) Asset Specificity, (2) Organizational Capability, (3) Transaction Frequency, (4) Behavioural Uncertainty, and (5) Environmental Uncertainty. These potential critical success factors may be subject to an empirical test in the future. The proposed framework will offer decision makers with an insight into project life cycle economic outcomes needed to successfully deliver PPPs.


The coastal area in the Tohoku region of Japan suffered serious damage from the tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. The purpose of this research is to develop a simulator in order to predict potential damage and put in place disaster prevention measures to protect railway structures against such large scale tsunamis. For this research, a simulation was made of the tsunami generated by the Great East Japan Earthquake to evaluate the damage process that occurred at Shishiorikarakuwa station in Kesennuma city. The tsunami simulator involves a three stage zoom analysis covering a large area from the epicenter to the urban area. The results of the tsunami simulation were then used to conduct a structural analysis of the Shishiorikarakuwa station subject to the tsunami fluid pressure.


In the field of industrial design engineering, research was until now concentrated on ergonomics, marketing, design methodology, etcetera. However, very little research has been undertaken studying the relationships between form giving and the following aspects: functionality, ergonomics, production and marketing. In this thesis, the phenomena that appear during the various phases of a product's life have been summarized. These phenomena apply amongst others to the market (is the product new to the market or are there a lot of competitors?), the functionality (is it possible to improve the functionality or has it reached a high degree of perfection?), and the ergonomics (has enough attention been paid to the product's ease of use, or is there scope for improvement?). The regularities that were found have been analysed and described. This has led to six product phases: performance, optimisation, itemisation, segmentation, individualisation, and awareness. The six phases are placed in a chronological order such that predictions about new or future products can be made. This can be done by positioning a product, based on its product characteristics, into one of the product phases. When developing a future product, a designer can add to the product characteristics of the next product phase, thus creating added value for the intended user. In this way, the product phases can help a designer in creating the next generation of a product.


A four-loop, upper barrel flange forging for a nuclear reactor was produced from what the authors believe to be the largest 304H grade stainless steel electroslag refined (ESR) ingot ever refined. The ingot was refined ina 1524-mm-diameter, ingot withdrawal-type ESR furnace using a lime-bearing slag, low-frequency a-c power, and dry air protection. Five electrodes were remelted in order to produce the desired ingot weight. The ingot was subsequently forged in a five-step operation on a 6800-metric-ton press to produce the desired barrel flange configuration. Testing of the finished machined forging revealed excellent tensile ductility, excellent ultrasonic penetrability, and good chemical uniformity with no macrosegregation. Overall quality was judged to be superior to previously produced, conventionally melted forgings.


Caenorhabditis elegans has been a key model organism for biomedical research. Light microscopy has played a central role in C. elegans biology. C. elegans is transparent throughout its life cycle, and its physical size, from 50 µm (embryos) to 1 mm (adults), is well suited for light microscopy. Furthermore, it has an invariant body plan that arises from an invariant cell lineage. A wide range of biological processes, from patterns of gene expression to cell migration to neuronal activity, can be readily observed in single cells with a well-defined developmental context. This protocol describes how to collect and mount young C. elegans embryos for live imaging throughout embryogenesis.


In equine management, it is important to predict the approximate foaling date of mares to monitor parturition and allow early identification and intervention of problems during the perinatal period. There are no studies comparing accurate gestational length (GL) when mares are carrying mule foals and no controlled comparisons between GL of mares pregnant with equine or mule foals. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to compare GL of mares pregnant with equine or mule foals and establish normal reference values for GL of mares pregnant with male and female mules. Gestational length of Mangalarga Paulista breed mares pregnant with equine (n = 54) or with mule (n = 54) foals during the breeding seasons of 2007 to 2016 was evaluated. The mean GL was 347.2 ± 1.4 days (range of 326-368 days) and 341.1 ± 1.6 days (range of 307-360 days) for equine and mule pregnancies, respectively. The normal GL reference for mule pregnancies was 316.9-365.3 days. Therefore, GL of equine pregnancies was longer than of mule pregnancies. Gestational length was not different when pregnancies resulted in females or males within each group. This study established an important reference value for normal GL of mule pregnancies, which can be used by practitioners to estimate and predict foaling dates more accurately.


Hyperactivity, salivation, piloerection, exophthalmia and ejaculation occurred in rats given reserpine (5 mg/kg i.p.) 2 hr after an oral dose (5 mg/kg) of trans-dl-2-phenylcyclopropylamine (tranylcypromine, dl-Tcp). The same syndrome occurred in rats given the d-isomer (d-Tcp) plus reserpine but not in rats given the l-isomer (l-Tcp) lus reserpine. Neither alpha methyl-p-tyrosine (2 X 150 mg/kg s.c.) nor parachlorophenylalanine (200 mg/kg s.c.) pretreatment prevented the hyperactivity syndrome. The results suggest that mainly MAO inhibition and release of monoamines are involved in the hyperactivity syndrome produced by dl-Tcp plus reserpine.


Abstract Objective: To understand the meaning of playing for the hospitalized child under precaution. Method: Qualitative research, where Symbolic Interactionism is the theoretical framework and Qualitative Content Analysis is the methodological one. It was attended by eight children aged between 5 and 10. Data were collected through participant observation of playful activities developed with the child by a nurse-researcher and semi-structured interviews mediated by story-drawing with theme. Results: Data showed the evolution of the interactions among toy, researcher and child; their rapid acceptance to get involved in playing; the way they explore the toys; the desire to free themselves from confinement; the relief of stress, the mastery of the situation and the protagonism enabled by the playing; the way they outline the hospital and the importance of having someone to play. Final considerations: Nurses should use creativity, seeking strategies that allow the child to play in this environment full of restrictions.


An investigation was carried out to standardize the suitable hydrophilic polymer seed coating technique to withstand drought in rainfed Black gram cv. VBN 8. Seven organic hydrophilic polymers namely, Ethyl cellulose, Methyl Cellulose, Carboxyl Methyl Cellulose, Agar Agar, Xanthan Gum, Carrageenan and Gum Arabic were taken and their gel formation and water holding capacities were studied. Among all the polymers Xanthan Gum, Carrageenan, Agar Agar, Carboxy methyl cellulose and Gum Arabic showed higher potential in terms of gel formation and water holding capacity and were used for seed coating studies in three different concentrations (1, 2 and 3%) with two different dosages (20 ml and 40 ml /kg of seeds) and subjected to germination test under 60 % WHC of sand. Results revealed that seeds coated with 2 % carrageenan @ 40 ml /kg of seeds performed better in terms of all seed quality parameters under water stress which was on par with 2% Xanthangum@ 40 ml /kg coated seeds. Further the five identified polymers were tried in combinations. Each polymer were blended with other polymers in the ratio of 1:1 and 3:1 and studied for their stress avoidance potential under 60 % water holding capacity of sand. The results revealed that Blackgram seeds coated with 2 % Agar blended Carrageenan in the ratio of 3:1 @ 40 ml / kg performed better in terms of seed quality parameters and expressed promising effect in drought mitigation.


Two themes are explored. The first is junctions whereby personal interests contradict dominant values. The Israeli residents of Natzerat Illit, a new town in Galilee, conform with mainstream Zionist narratives when they view the presence of Palestinian residents in their town as unacceptable. At the same time, selling properties to incoming Palestinians is irresistibly Iucrative and has become a norm. The mismatch between theory and practice and the gaps between an idealized Zionist past and a disappointing present are interpreted in terms of the tension between the private and the public domains. Second, the tendency of liberalism to personalize, depoliticize, and decontextualize conflicts allows modern western states to claim the role of rational and faithful guardian of rights of all constituents. It takes the vicissitudes of interstitial zones to expose the falseness of these claims and their efficacy in arresting change, [nationalism, liberalism, minorities, borderlands, private and public domains]


Abstract Question: Two questions were posed: 1. Can an independent measure of relative competitive ability be used to predict the abundance of species in mixtures? 2. Is the success of those predictions affected by low fertility (stress simulation) or clipping (disturbance simulation)? Location: Greenhouse at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. Methods: We collected adult plant ramets of 11 species from the field and transplanted one ramet of each species into 56 containers of 60 L. We applied a 4 × 2 factorial combination of fertilization (none, full nutrients except N, full nutrients except P, full nutrients) and clipping (no clipping, clipping to 10 cm above soil) with seven replicates of each treatment. After two growing seasons the above- and below-ground biomass of each species was determined. Results: Regression analyses uncovered a significant positive relationship between plant biomass (measured in this study) and relative competitive ability (as measured in an independent study) under all experimental conditions. Both the mean slope and mean R2 were lowest in treatments with low nutrients and highest in the full nutrient treatment (irrespective of clipping). Conclusions: Our results show that (1) at high fertility, relative competitive ability can generally predict the abundance of species in experimental plant communities, and (2) the intensity of competition (inferred from the magnitude of the slope or R2) increased with increasing nutrient supply, particularly nitrogen. Nomenclature: Gleason & Cronquist (1991).


The existing HTTP/2 prioritization scheme relies purely on integer
values to indicate priorities. This simple scheme misses critical
support for priority grouping, and does not support other features
like resource ordering. This draft proposes using stream dependencies
to solve the lack of priority grouping, as well as provide other
features.


Low contrast and poor quality are main problems in the production of medical images. By using the wavelet transform and Haar transform, a novel image enhancement approach is proposed. First, a medical image was decomposed with wavelet transform. Secondly, all high-frequency sub-images were decomposed with Haar transform. Thirdly, noise in the frequency field was reduced by the soft-threshold method. Fourthly, high-frequency coefficients were enhanced by different weight values in different sub-images. Then, the enhanced image was obtained through the inverse wavelet transform and inverse Haar transform. Lastly, the image's histogram was stretched by nonlinear histogram equalisation. Experiments showed that this method can not only enhance an image's details but can also preserve its edge features effectively.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether withholding feed from pigs prior to slaughter had any effects on meat quality, percentage of pigs with Salmonella spp in cecal contents during slaughter, or percentage of pigs with lacerations of the gastrointestinal tract during slaughter.

DESIGN
Split-plot design.

ANIMALS
873 pigs.

PROCEDURES
At the finishing barn, pigs were assigned to 30 pens. Feed withdrawal times were assigned to pens at random, and pigs in each pen were marketed in 3 groups. The first marketing group consisted of the 10 heaviest pigs in each pen, the second consisted of the next 10 heaviest pigs, and the third consisted of all remaining pigs.

RESULTS
Withdrawing feed improved the redness score assigned to the meat but did not have any other significant effects on carcass composition or meat quality. The percentage of pigs with Salmonella spp in the cecal contents decreased from the first (73%) to the second (64%) to the third (52%) marketing group. However, isolation of Salmonella spp from cecal contents was not associated with feed withdrawal time or with pen prevalence of Salmonella shedding during the 2 months prior to slaughter. Feed withdrawal time and marketing group did not have any significant effects on overall prevalence of gastrointestinal tract lacerations.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Results suggest that withdrawal of feed from pigs prior to slaughter does not increase the prevalence of Salmonella colonization or the risk of carcass contamination associated with gastrointestinal tract lacerations during slaughter but only slightly enhances meat quality.


Different α–nucleus potentials for the anomalous large angle scattering have been tested by the 40Ca(α, P) reaction. It seems that the WS (squared Woods-Saxon), WS2.65 and WS5 potential can not provide a correct description of the behaviour of the incident α channel wave functions, but with the L-dependent potential a reasonable result can be obtained.


An R-out-of-N repairable system, consisting of N independent components, is operating if at least R components are functioning. The system fails whenever the number of good components decreases from R to R-1. A failed component is sent to a repair facility. After a failed component has been repaired it is as good as new. Formulae for the availability of the system using Markov renewal and semi-regenerative processes are derived. We assume that either the repair times of the components are generally distributed and the components' lifetimes are phase-type distributed or vice versa. Some duality results between the two systems are obtained. Numerical examples are given for several distributions of lifetimes and of repair times.


We discuss the reform of the voting rules at the heart of the governance of the IMF and World Bank (the BWIs) in terms of three principles that we suggest ought to be fundamental: simplicity, transparency and democratic legitimacy. By simplicity we mean that the rules should make sense in terms of the purposes of the BWI and be easy to understand. By transparency we mean that the rules mean what they appear to mean in the sense of leading to the same distribution of voting power as the institution's designers intended. We show using voting power analysis that the inequality in the distribution of voting power among countries is greater than that of their voting weight. By democratic legitimacy, we consider whether we can reconcile weighted voting with democracy. Our conclusion is that the voting rules as they currently exist are far from satisfying any of these criteria and that recent reform proposals do not lead us to change this conclusion.


—This paper summarized the problems in the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in the cultivation of art design professionals, and evaluated the promotive effect of AI in terms of teaching contents, methods, and means. On this basis, an improved fuzzy evaluation system was established to reveal how AI application enhance the training of art design professionals. Drawing on fuzzy theory, a fuzzy similarity calculation model was developed for fuzzy evaluation. Next, several strategies were proposed for applying AI in the cultivation of art design professionals. This research effectively demonstrated the promotive effect of AI in the training of art design professionals, and pointed out the ways to improve the training effect.


ABSTRACT Modern civilian police in Latin America has transitioned from an authoritarian past to a violent present. This institutional trajectory has evolved in the shadow of recurrent attempts by elected civilians to bring the armed forces back to domestic politics for partisan or personal gains. Current militarisation of law enforcement is another exploitation of the traditional supremacy of the armed forces over the police, which could have important repercussions on citizen trust in the police. Survey data from 28,874 adults in 18 countries were analysed to identify patterns of trust in both the armed forces and the police and to assess the impact of public support for the militarisation of law enforcement on citizen trust in the police. Results suggest that although both the military and the police are in general moderately appreciated by the citizenry, when criminal violence and political instability strike, public trust in the two security institutions starts to move in opposite directions. Subregional differences notwithstanding, the arrival of armed forces as iron-fisted guardians preventing society's descent into violent chaos amidst insecurity and chaos typically damages police legitimacy. Declining trust in the police and increasing public support for the militarisation of law enforcement feed a downward spiral in high-crime environments that further discredits the police. Political implications of this legitimacy crisis are discussed, and policy solutions are recommended.


An 84-year-old woman with unstable angina pectoris was treated with subcutaneous enoxaparine (Clexane) for several days before presenting with severe pain and decreased vision in her left eye. The intraocular pressure was 70 mmHg, and fundus examination showed a pigmented choroidal lesion and associated choroidal and retinal detachment. Ultrasonography was consistent with choroidal hemorrhage, and she was diagnosed as having acute glaucoma secondary to massive subchoroidal hemorrhage. Medical control of the intraocular pressure resulted in a significant clinical improvement. Intraocular hemorrhage and angle-closure glaucoma are rare and previously unreported complications in patients treated with low molecular weight heparin. It is important to be aware of this ocular complication as these drugs are so often used.


The international community confronts a major gap between the ideals propounded by the United Nations and the realities on the ground that often negate those ideals. The lofty principles of peace, security, prosperity and respect for fundamental rights and civil liberties stand in sharp contrast with identity-based conflicts. These conflicts emanate not from mere difference, but from acute divisions within nations and the gross inequalities, discrimination, marginalization, and denial of rights associated with those divisions. When the international community tries to get involved to redress these domestic injustices, sovereignty is invoked as a barricade. Since military intervention to protect populations within countries is very costly in human and material terms, and although it cannot be ruled out under compelling circumstances, it is generally avoided. The challenge then becomes one of how to negotiate sovereignty, to engage governments in a constructive dialogue based on sovereignty as responsibility for state protection of its people, if necessary with the support of the international community. That is the challenge I have continued to confront in the various posts I've held throughout my career. That challenge constitutes the core message of this article.


Protein kinase Cζ (PKCζ) is highly expressed in the lung, where it plays several regulating roles in the pathogenesis of acute lung injury (ALI). Proliferation and differentiation of integrin β4+ distal lung epithelial progenitor cells seem to play a key role in proper lung regeneration. We investigated the effects of a myristoylated PKCζ inhibitor (PKCζi) in a murine model of bleomycin-induced ALI. After intratracheal injury, we treated mice three times a week with PKCζi or its vehicle, DMSO. We found that mice injured with bleomycin and then treated with PKCζi for one week showed decreased activation of PKCζ, improved lung compliance, and decreased lung protein permeability compared to injured mice treated with DMSO. Mice treated continuously with PKCζi for 6 weeks showed reduced evidence of lung fibrosis by computed tomographic images, decreased lung collagen deposition, and decreased active transforming growth factor-β in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. In addition, we found an increased number of lung β4+ cells compared to DMSO at Week 6. Therefore, we grew isolated integrin β4+ lung progenitor cells in the presence of PKCζi or DMSO and found that β4+ cells treated with PKCζi proliferated more in vitro compared to DMSO. We conclude that the use of a PKCζi promotes resolution of lung fibrosis in a bleomycin ALI model and increases the number of β4+ progenitor cells with regenerative potential in the lung.


We describe the first case in the literature of Bouveret's syndrome as the result of a cholecystoduodenocolic fistula secondary to gallbladder carcinoma. A 67-years-old woman was admitted to our department presenting with complaints of severe cramping abdominal pain, localized predominantly in the right hypochondrium and epigastrium, with infrequent alimentary and biliary vomiting for about three months. Based on the radiological and endoscopic findings, the provisional diagnosis of Bouveret's syndrome in a patient with cholecystoduodenal fistula and history of cholelithiasis was made. The laparotomy showed the presence of the stone in the duodenal bulb, already seen at endoscopy, and adhesions between gallbladder, superior duodenal flexure and hepatic flexure of the colon, and this inflammatory gangue strethed up to the hepatic hilum. During dissection in addition to the communication between the gallbladder and the duodenum, another fistula was found that led from the gallbladder to the colon. The suspicion of malignancy of this multiple biliary enteric fistula was confirmed by intraoperative frozen sections that revealed the precence of a poorly differentiated carcinoma of biliary-pancreatic origin, but the ultimate diagnosis of gallbladder carcinoma was made exclusively after the definitive histopathological examination. For these reasons the surgical procedure involved cholecystectomy with resection of the regional lymph nodes, gastrotomy with extraction of gallstone, trans-mesocolic Roux-en-Y gastro-jejunal mechanical anastomosis, resection of the hepatic flexure of the colon with termino-lateral colo-colic mechanical anastomosis. It's important to remember that rarely the Bouveret's syndrome can hide multiple biliary enteric fistulas or even a malignancy. We believe, in the light of our experience, that the surgical approach represents the first choice in the treatment of this serious disease.


Aquaponics, the combination of hydroponics and aquaculture into one growing system, is a controlled environment production system that potentially has increased environmental and consumer benefits over traditional production methods. There are many different ways to configure aquaponics systems that include different fish species, water circulation, lighting, plant species/density, and more. We tested three cultivars of lettuce, a common aquaponically produced crop, for yield in multiple aquaponic systems and conditions over a 13-month period in Minnesota. Four different aquaponic configurations and four types of fish were tested over the course of the experiment. There was no addition of supplemental nutrients to the systems to evaluate the differences between treatments and set a baseline. There was no difference in yield between lettuce produced aquaponically and those grown in soilless medium. However, there was a difference in yield between lettuce grown with different fish treatments. The tilapia treatment produced higher average yield than yellow perch. There was a difference between cultivars, with higher average yield from loose-leaf bunch cultivars (Salanova, Skyphos) than the bibb type (Rex). Average yield for all but one treatment was above that of reported commercial field production, making lettuce a competitive aquaponic crop in most systems.


The majority of research on bisexuality does not take into account the importance of bisexual visual identities. Appearance has often been trivialised, despite it being an integral part of forming and expressing our identities. A small body of literature on lesbians and gay men's visual identities has found that appearance norms can serve a number of positive functions, including identity formation and maintenance, 'coming out' (signalling sexuality to others), recognition, attracting a partner, resisting heteronormativity, forming communities, and safe-guarding such spaces from voyeuristic or homophobic others. However, very little is understood about bisexual people's visual identities. The feminist research reported in this thesis provides a mixed methods exploration (using semi-structured face-to-face interviews and photomethodology with 20 self-identified bisexual women, a quantitative questionnaire completed by a total of 494 bisexual, lesbian and heterosexual women, and a qualitative survey completed by 176 predominantly heterosexual university students) of bisexual women's visual identities. The findings highlight that binary constructions of sexuality remain dominant within psychology and the wider culture. These dichotomous understandings are problematic for bisexual people because they continually position heterosexuality and homosexuality as the only viable identity options. This has resulted in the dismissal and marginalisation of bisexual women and their identity. This research fills a gap in knowledge around bisexual women's appearance practices and (lack of) visual identities. A key finding was that bisexual women experience their identity in ways which are distinct from either lesbians or heterosexual women. Bisexual and heterosexual participants were able to describe visual images associated with lesbian, gay, and heterosexual identities, but in stark contrast they were unable to recognise any equivalent bisexual appearance norms or a bisexual visual identity. This raises a number of issues around the implications of bisexual women's lack of validation and visibility, and highlights the necessity for psychologists to recognise the existence of bisexuality in order to address the continued overlooking and marginalisation of bisexual women and their identities.


Long\|span suspension bridge is typically the flexible structural system whose mechanical properties strongly manifest themselves as geometric non\|linearity.Models,principle and software design of programs suitable for finite element calculation for spatial non\|linearity static and dynamic of long\|span suspension bridge are presented.A case calculation for structural static and dynamic of a long\|span suspension bridge is made.


The increasing globalization of technology has changed the face of computer science. In addition to core technology skills, modern computer scientist must possess cross-cultural communication skills, team management skills, the ability to perform on geographically distributed teams, and an understanding of the big picture in addition to technical ability. Lord Fairfax Community College (LFCC) used a virtual exchange as a teaching tool for introductory computer science concepts. Nineteen students participated in the Global Solutions Sustainability Challenge, a project supported by the Stevens Initiative, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and administered by the Aspen Institute. The project aims to find a sustainable solution to an issue within the hospitality and tourism industry, while providing students an opportunity to learn about a different culture. Over 10 week students learned about the seven big concepts of computer science, marketing, business plans, team work, public speaking, research, leadership, graphic design, application development, and much more. The poster describes the virtual student exchange concept, highlights the experiences and key elements that global virtual exchange offers students without travel expenses.


Summary
The possibility of applying the short-form Alcohol Dependence Data questionnaire (SADD) to an interview situation was tested in an alcoholic sample. This was in contrast to using the self-completion questionnaire as was originally proposed.

The correlation between the SADD, when applied to an interview situation and the SADD, when used as a self-completion questionnaire, as evaluated by the Spearman correlation coefficient, was r= 0.81. A test-retest reliability using the self-completed form provided a correlation of r= 0.90. Split-half reliability obtained far both the interview and self-completion questionnaire yielded correlations of r= 0.88 and r= 0.82 respectively. The interview version of the SADD can, therefore, be utilised with illiterate subjects. Furthermore, it has provided data showing that the SADD clearly discriminated between a sample of normal volunteers (n= 55) and a sample of alcoholics (n= 50).


BACKGROUND
Experimental studies investigating the impact of advertising with ecological stimuli on alcohol-related cognition are scarce. This research investigated the cognitive processes involved in learning implicit attitudes toward alcohol after incidental exposure to alcohol advertisements presented in a dynamic context. We hypothesized that incidental exposure to a specific alcohol brand would lead to heightened positive implicit attitudes toward alcohol due to a mere exposure effect.

METHODS
In total, 108 participants were randomly exposed to dynamic sporting events excerpts with and without advertising for a specific brand of alcohol, after completing self-reported measures of alcohol-related expectancies, alcohol consumption, and attitudes toward sport. Participants then completed a lexical decision task and an affective priming task.

RESULTS
We showed that participants were faster to detect brand name after being exposed to advertising during a sports game, and that implicit attitudes of participants toward the brand were more positive after they were exposed to advertising, even when alcohol usage patterns were controlled for.

CONCLUSIONS
Incidental exposure to alcohol sponsorship in sport events impacts implicit attitudes toward the advertised brand and alcohol in general. The effect of incidental advertising on implicit attitudes is also likely to be due to a mere exposure effect. However, further studies should address this point specifically.


Category is a mathematical structure consisting of objects and morphisms between objects with some specific properties. Categories examine in abstract way the properties of particular mathematical concepts by formalizing them as collections of objects and morphisms. Categorical structures are widely used in computer science for ex- act mathematical modeling. This paper highlights the most typical use of categories for constructing the model of part of dierential calculus by using special category named arrow category; and codomain and domain functors.


The objective of the Health Sector Rehabilitation Support Project (HSRSP) for Congo is to ensure that the target population of selected health zones has access to, and utilizes, a well-defined package of quality essential health services. Health-related millennium development goals (MDGs) in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are very poor. Under-five mortality (2002-06) was 148 per 1,000 live births, the prevalence of chronic malnutrition among children under five is 45 percent and maternal mortality in 2001 was 1,289 per 100,000 live births. Administrative capacity is low. Not all health workers are salaried, salaries are often paid irregularly and health workers rely on user fees for a significant proportion of their remuneration. In many poor and rural areas, there are shortages of skilled workers. International support for the development of the health system, building on government experience with partnerships with church groups and other non-governmental organizations, is often channeled through contracts with non-government organizations (NGOs). The health sector component (USD 60 million) of a multi-sectoral emergency project (2002-09) contracted NGOs to provide support to government and confessional health services in target areas. Similarly, the HSRSP (2005-11) contracts NGOs to provide technical assistance, training, and inputs in order to improve delivery of the government's basic package of services which is designed to address the major causes of morbidity and mortality.


The prevalence of dual diagnosis (developmental handicap with accompanying mental illness) was examined in a population of 71 persons who are institutionalized and developmentally handicapped. The Reiss Screen for Maladaptive Behavior (Reiss, 1988) revealed that 69% of the popula- tion had a dual diagnosis. The incidence of dual diagnosis was not related to level of functioning, although the type of psychopathology varied considerably across levels of functioning. In contrast to findings from the Reiss Screen, previous psychiatric diagnosis indicated a much lower rate of dual diagnosis (26.8%), as did current psychiatric assessment. There was little agreement between the two psychiatric assessments, or between the Reiss Screen and the psychiatric assessments. The Reiss Screen appears to provide information of more practical value for community placement decisions than is provided by the psychiatric assessments. Limitations to the concept of 'dual diagnosis' for characterizing the mental health needs of persons with a developmental handicap are discussed.


Considering local milk, data from auction experiments was used to determine whether farm size affects consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for conventional, non-certified organic, and organic versions. Tobit models including socio-demographics and variables from the theory of planned behavior were used to examine WTP for each. While farm size was insignificant for each type, WTP for large farm non-certified organic was not higher than small farm conventional. Further, WTP for small farm non-certified organic was not significantly less than large farm organic. Small farms could potentially use these differences in attempts to compete with large farms.


The present study contains data collected via end of the year assessments concerning iPad applications created especially for primary schools, and includes analyses of the data. To integrate smart board usage in primary school lessons, various applications were developed to ensure the synchronization of the smart boards and iPads. These applications were used by both students and teachers in class sessions throughout the academic year. At the end of the academic year, the usage of the iPad in the classes, the effects of iPad on class activities and teaching methods; and the opinions of the students, teachers and parents on iPad usage at academics in an educational context were sought and evaluated.


A procedure for forecasting bi-weekly dissolved oxygen (DO) levels has been validated for a portion of the Great Miami River in Southwestern Ohio. Point source pollution and land use (non-point) variables were related to mean annual DO levels at monitoring sites using multiple linear regression analysis. Bi-weekly DO concentrations were then generated assuming that they oscillate trigonometrically about annual mean DO as afunctionlof time and historic variance. Test results indicate that standard errors of estimate were less than or equal to 1.5 mg/1 for 50 per cent of all stations and less than or equal to 2.0 mg/1 for 70 per cent of all stations sampled. Point source BOD, woodland, and commercial land were found to be significant variables in explaining the variance of mean annual DO concentrations.


In a robot workspace expressed explicitly by a quadtree representation that controls free regions and other regions, good algorithms have been presented which generates a fast collision-free path and a sequence of collision-free motions between the given start and goal for a mobile robot with complicated shape. Thus it is important to represent explicitly the workspace quadtree by using some sensor. If the workspace shapes can be acquired enough from an image obtained through a camera on the workspace ceiling, the presented algorithms fulfil their functions in the workspace. Otherwise, an another sensor must be used to construct the workspace quadtree. The authors propose an extension method of free space in an unknown two-dimensional workspace by using an ultrasonic sensor. Combining this extension method with the previous planning algorithms, the mobile robot can navigate to the target while avoiding obstacles even if it does not know their shapes and locations at all.<<ETX>>


This study investigates the feasibility of forming amorphous iron-based coatings using the cold spray deposition process. Splat tests of cold-sprayed SAM1651 (Fe48Mo14Cr15Y2C15B6 at.%) particles impacting a mild steel substrate were performed using varying gas temperatures and particle diameters. Specimen inspection by scanning electron microscopy revealed splat morphologies that varied from well-adhered particles to substrate craters formed by rebounded particles. Particle flow was analyzed using a finite element model, and impact conditions were predicted using an experimentally validated analytical model, in empirically generating a temperature/velocity window of successful particle deposition as a framework for ongoing work on the formation of cold-sprayed SAM1651 coatings. The results indicate that the unique characteristics of the cold spray process offer a promising means for the formation of metallic glass coatings that successfully retain the amorphous structure, as well as the superior corrosion and wear resistant properties of the feedstock powder.


Streptococcus pneumoniae is a genetically diverse organism that varies substantially in its genomic content from one strain to another. Current therapeutic strategies in the management of pneumococcal disease include treatment with antibiotics and prevention by vaccination. However, due to the highly competent nature of the bacterium the prevalence of antibiotic resistance and vaccine escape is increasing. The pneumococcus causes a wide range of diseases, and this can be attributed to both the succeptibility of the human host and the genetic background of the infecting strain. The study of the contribution of variations in the genome of S.pneumoniae is clearly important in understanding the behaviour of this organism, and managing the burden of disease relating to this organism.
S.pneumoniae strains are able to acquire DNA from other strains, and also from other closely related species, who occupy the same niche in the human host. One region of genomic diversity in the pneumococcus encodes a large serine rich repeat protein, glycoysltransferases and secretion proteins, some of which are homologous to the Sec secretion pathway. Similar loci have been characterised and found to be important in the virulence of other gram positive bacteria, including S.gordonii and S.parasanguinis.
The presence of this locus was investigated in a diverse population of pneumococcal isolates, and shown to be present in a wide variety of isolates. The RNA of genes in the locus was found to be expressed. Expression of the SRR protein, encoded by SP1772, was investigated; a role in biofilm formation was identified utilising an isogenic mutant in SP1772 of TIGR4. In addition, the gene encoding the SRR was found to be able to recombine within a single strain of S.pneumoniae, suggesting this region of the genome is not only variable in its presence in the pneumococcal population but also able to adapt to the environment it is in.


In France, interdisciplinary studies between social science and natural science were very important in the 8Oth, to resolve environmental problems. But only few social scientists attempted the interdisciplinary adventure to try getting across disciplinary borders. We will call them " utopian pioneers" because they thought that it was possible to invent a new science or to understand the complexity. They constituted an interdisciplinary and knowledge of one another network.
Actually, we assert that interdisciplinary studies are lead under stressed. In National and European calls for project, interdisciplinary is becoming an injunction. The work sharing is built on artificial cutting that are spread in disciplinary "workpackages". Researchers are required to form "consortiums" involving a large number of laboratories, not necessary linked by a common scientific question. They don't know one another when the partnership is putting place and the interdisciplinary research is reduced to a single meeting at the beginning of the research (in the best case) or only to a meeting at the end of the work.
Our demonstration will be based upon analysis of researches funded by the Interdisciplinary and Environmental research of the CNRS in the period 1978-2000 compared to researches fund by European programs (for example Horizon 2020 and French Research National Agency for 2005).


Food fortification and increased vitamin intake have led to higher folic acid (FA) consumption by many pregnant women. We showed that FA-supplemented diet in pregnant mice (fivefold higher FA than the recommended level (5xFASD)) led to hyperactivity-like behavior and memory impairment in pups. Disturbed choline/methyl metabolism and altered placental gene expression were identified. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of 5xFASD on the brain at two developmental stages, postnatal day (P) 30 and embryonic day (E) 17.5. Female C57BL/6 mice were fed a control diet or 5xFASD for 1 month before mating. Diets were maintained throughout the pregnancy and lactation until P30 or during pregnancy until E17.5. The 5xFASD led to sex-specific transcription changes in P30 cerebral cortex and E17.5 cerebrum, with microarrays showing a total of 1003 and 623 changes, respectively. Enhanced mRNA degradation was observed in E17.5 cerebrum. Expression changes of genes involved in neurotransmission, neuronal growth and development, and angiogenesis were verified by qRT-PCR; 12 and 15 genes were verified at P30 and E17.5, respectively. Hippocampal collagen staining suggested decreased vessel density in FASD male embryos. This study provides insight into the mechanisms of neurobehavioral alterations and highlights potential deleterious consequences of moderate folate oversupplementation during pregnancy.


Extensive political science research reveals that the decisions of the US Supreme Court are deeply political. And both advocates and critics of judicial elections concede that partisan elections are a democratic method of judicial selection. Does the value of democratic representation mean that US Supreme Court Justices should be selected through partisan elections? I argue not. Partisan judicial elections are actually far poorer institutional mechanisms for capturing the judgment of the people on legal matters than has been recognized. The role of parties in structuring a campaign distorts the deliberative environment surrounding judicial elections, creating significant barriers to voters expressing a judgment on matters of legal meaning. The kind of distortion is best understood through reference to a processual criterion of deliberative democracy, which provides a fitting normative template to ground theoretical inquiry into the reason-giving possibilities of existing democratic institutions and practices. Hence, answering why the US Supreme Court should not be elected on democratic grounds also reveals new insights about the role of parties in sustaining (or subverting) deliberative democratic ideals.


Crystals of merwinite were prepared at 1550 °C from chemical reagents, and their intracrystalline microstructures were examined by the combined use of x-ray diffraction and optical microscopy. The crystals were composed of pseudomerohedral twins. The adjacent twin domains were related by the pseudosymmetry two-fold axis parallel to ⟨011⟩with the composition surface {811} The overall twin structure was constructed by introducing the pseudo-symmetry three-fold axis normal to (100), which must originally be a symmetry element of the former high-symmetry phase. The transition from the primitive trigonal (point group 3 m ) to the primitive monoclinic (space group P 2_1/ a ) was accompanied by the combination of reducing the order of the point group and the change in the size of the unit cell. The order of the point group was reduced from 12 to 4, resulting in three twin domains with six different interfaces. This accounted for the experimentally observed microstructure consisting of repeated lamella twins in several orientations. Because the unit lattice translation would be lost during the transition, the formation of antiphase domains was expected. The lost translation vectors were 1/2[011], 1/2[100], and 1/2[111] resulting in four antiphase domains. As a result, the total number of domains possible in the transition was 3 × 4 = 12.


Employing linked data technologies and semantic endpoints for question answering systems are expanding approaches among the researchers. Therefore, systems that combine syntactic and semantic analysis and enrich input questions by sentence-level recognition are examined. A systematic mapping study is conducted to identify and analyse the studies from major databases, journals and proceedings of conferences or workshops published between 2010 and 2017. With a set of 14 research questions, inclusion and exclusion criteria are specified. 53 studies are selected as primary studies from an initial set of 845 papers. This study provides a mapping while focusing on the methods and identifying the gaps between required and existing approaches. Popular approaches which have gained the most attention among researchers are given as a conclusion. Moreover, a comparison between the authors' study and related work in the literature is given to point out the differences and the contributions of their study. As the result of the comparison, it is concluded that the study is a novel and original topic on question answering frameworks.


The distribution of fitness effects (DFE) defines how new mutations spread through an evolving population. The ratio of non-synonymous to synonymous mutations (dN/dS) has become a popular method to detect selection in somatic cells, however the link, in somatic evolution, between dN/dS values and fitness coefficients is missing. Here we present a quantitative model of somatic evolutionary dynamics that yields the selective coefficients from individual driver mutations from dN/dS estimates, and then measure the DFE for somatic mutant clones in ostensibly normal oesophagus and skin. We reveal a broad distribution of fitness effects, with the largest fitness increases found for TP53 and NOTCH1 mutants (proliferative bias 1-5%). Accurate measurement of the per-gene DFE in cancer evolution is precluded by the quality of currently available sequencing data. This study provides the theoretical link between dN/dS values and selective coefficients in somatic evolution, and reveals the DFE for mutations in human tissues.


The sedimentary architecture of basins and passive margins is determined by a complex interaction of parameters, including subsidence, eustasy, and sediment supply. A quantification of the post-rift (20 Ma-0 Ma) vertical movements of the Gulf of Lion (West Mediterranean) is proposed here based on the stratigraphic study of sedimentary paleomarkers using a large 3D grid of reflection seismic data, correlations with existing drillings, and refraction data. Post-rift subsidence was measured by the direct use of sedimentary geometries analysed in 3D and validated by numerical stratigraphic modelling. Three domains of subsidence were found: on the continental shelf and slope, subsidence corresponds to a seaward tilting with different amplitudes, whereas the deep basin subsides purely vertically. We show that these domains fit with the deeper crustal domains highlighted by previous geophysical data, and that post-break-up subsidence follows the initial hinge lines of the rifting phase. Subsidence rates are quantified on each domain for each stratigraphic interval. At a constant distance from the rotational hinge line, the Plio-Quaternary subsidence rate is constant on the shelf overall. Conversely, Miocene subsidence rates are very different on the eastern and western shelves. Stratigraphic simulations focused on the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC) were also performed. Their results are discussed together with our post-rift subsidence estimates in order to provide ideas and hypotheses for future detailed quantifications of Miocene subsidence, including isostatic readjustments linked to the MSC.


World Eras, a cross-disciplinary overview of world history from a global and multicultural perspective, covers the events, lifestyles, social history and key figures unique to each era. Each volume begins with an introductory essay describing the time period. Each chapter includes an overview essay; timeline; subject-specific essays and biographies; and more. Volumes also include 150 photographs, line drawings, diagrams and illustrations.


This paper develops a simplified Bayesian approach to evaluate a luminescence age. We limit our purpose to the cause-effect relationship between the age and the accumulated dose. The accumulated dose is given as a function of the age and several others parameters: internal radionuclides contents, gamma dose rate, cosmic dose rate, alpha efficiency, wetness, conversion factors, wetness coefficients, fading rate and storage time. The age is the quantity we are looking for. Bayes' theorem expresses the changes on the probability distribution of age due to the luminescence study. The information before study (prior) comprises what is previously known about the age and the archaeological model (cultural period, stratigraphic relations, type, etc.) as well as the parameters of the physical model. The accumulated dose consists in the data describing the measurement. The various stages of Bayesian approach were implemented using the software WinBugs. Simulated data sets were used in various models. We present various small models representing typical examples encountered in luminescence dating.


This study aims at overcoming difficulty in learning language, both in Indonesian Language and English at international elementary school, especially in creative writing. Creative writing as part of human activity is creativity with language medium as prose (narrative, description), poem (old, new and modern), as well as drama (dialogue, role play, and sosio drama). Specific target to be achieved is the design of Video Streaming for all kinds of creative writing in the language of Indonesian and English. This investigation is a continuation of the previos investigation that has managed to make a video leaning in English for Math and Science as integrated learning to early class at international elementary school. The method used follow the principles of developmental reasearch. The firts stage is script writing video streaming through brainstorming with teachers, lecturers, teams of investigators Indonesia (UPI) and Malaysia (USM). The second stage manuscript, making finalization Video Streaming, make the Web, media experts and creative writing material team investigators. The third stage, testing the Video Streaming, Web and dissemination of results into all the international elementary school in Indonesia and Malaysia.


There is an increasing tendency amongst the general population towards rejection of conventional medical therapeutic measures, particularly certain types of medication such as antibiotics. Alternative modes of treatment, often undertaken independently by the patient, are favoured. Because of this, diseases that have become less frequent have acquired new significance as the cause of sudden unexpected death. This problem is illustrated with the case of a 20-year-old woman who died as a result of inadequate treatment of subacute bacterial endocarditis (endocarditis ulceropolyposa).


One of the key issues with the overabundance of online information sources is that of finding what is relevant. The key to success for any type of information provider must be the personalisation of content in information retrieval, and this can be achieved through the maintenance of user profiles and the matching of these profiles to content metadata. This paper is concerned with user profiling and its role in content personalisation of information retrieval, and in particular presents a profile model which incorporates user preference information and action history information (representing the user's previous searches). The benefits and costs of such a model are examined and it is argued that the benefits (including personalisation accuracy, computational costs extensibility and flexibility) far outweigh the costs. The matching of profiles to metadata is also discussed as it fulfils an important role in the personalisation process. Although, the user profile model presented is focused on E-Learning, the general platform could be applied to other areas.


There is a bidirectional connection between tumors and thrombosis. On one hand, thromboembolic events are more frequent in cases of malignancies, on the other hand, proliferation of tumor cells, progression of the malignant process and metastasis formation are facilitated by the activation of the hemostatic system. Thromboembolic events are associated with a worse prognosis in case of patients with malignant diseases. Thromboembolism is the second most frequent cause of death in patients with malignant tumors. Mortality is twice as high in patients with thromboembolism compared to those without it. The incidence of thromboembolism shows an increasing tendency. There has been a 28% increase among hospitalized cancer patients between 1995 and 2003. One reason is that the new anti-tumor agents have more pronounced prothrombotic activity than those of traditional chemotherapeutic drugs. Assessment of the thrombotic risk of cancer patients becomes more important. Several guidelines have been published concerning the prevention and treatment of thromboembolism in patients with malignancy. The risk of thrombosis is influenced not only by the type of malignancy but there are also large individual differences. Furthermore, the risk of thrombosis changes during the disease process in the same patient. Perioperative thromboprophylaxis is a very important issue considering oncologic surgery. Thromboprophylaxis of oncologic patients has a high significance in respect of morbidity and mortality. However, thromboprophylaxis may also cause serious complications thus the correct risk assessment of cancer patients is very important.


Background: TWEAK receptor (TweakR, TNFRSF12A, CD266) is a member of the TNF receptor superfamily and is expressed on a range of solid tumors. Enavatuzumab is a humanized IgG1 antibody to TweakR that exhibits anti-tumor activity in preclinical models through two mechanisms: direct signaling through TweakR and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity. Methods: This phase I, multicenter study was designed to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and to evaluate the safety and pharmacokinetic (PK) profiles of enavatuzumab, given intravenously over 60 minutes on days 1 and 15 of each 28-day cycle. Pts with advanced solid tumors; ECOG ≤1; adequate hematologic, renal, and hepatic function; no brain metastasis; no history of cirrhosis or pancreatitis; no recent history of acute cholecystitis; and not on immunosuppressive drugs were enrolled. Cohorts of 3–6 pts were treated at escalating dose levels of enavatuzumab ranging from 0.1 mg/kg to 1.5 mg/kg. Dose limiting toxicity (DLT) was defined as grade (G) 3 AST or ALT lasting >14 days or associated with clinical hepatitis and/or bilirubin ≥G2; G3 amylase or lipase lasting >14 days; ≥G3 bilirubin; any G4 AST, ALT, amylase, or lipase; acute pancreatitis; ≥G3 hematologic and non-hematologic toxicities; G4 cytokine release syndrome (CRS) or G3 CRS despite premedication. MTD was defined as the highest dose level with 0/3 or ≤1 of 6 pts experiencing a first-cycle DLT. PK sampling was performed on cycle 1 day 1 (C1D1), C1D2, C1D8, Day 15 of all cycles, C1D16, C2D1, and C3D1. Response was assessed by RECIST every 8 weeks. Results: Thirty pts [12 male, 18 female; median age 64.5 (range 36–82)] were enrolled at 6 dose levels: 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 1.0, and 1.5 mg/kg. Tumor types included colorectal (15); pancreas (4); ovarian (4); and tongue, cervical, prostate, endometrial, breast, hepatocellular, and thyroid (1 each). Sixteen pts had liver metastases. DLTs included G4 lipase and G3 bilirubin in 1 of 6 pts at the 1.0 mg/kg level and G4 lipase and G4 amylase in 1 pt at the 1.5 mg/kg level. Grade 3/4 toxicities in ≥5% of subjects included fatigue, pneumonia, hyponatremia, hypoxia, dyspnea, and elevated AST, ALT, GGT, lipase, and amylase. There was no apparent correlation of liver or pancreatic enzyme elevation with tumor type or presence of liver metastases. Of the disease evaluable pts, 11 had disease progression as their best response and 2 had stable disease (2 and 4 month duration). Enavatuzumab followed a two-compartment linear PK model. The estimated clearance was 23–33 mL/hr and elimination half-life was 7–18 days. The mean Cmax after the first dose was 2.0 mcg/mL and 28.1 mcg/mL for the 0.1 mg/kg and 1.0 mg/kg cohorts, respectively. Mean Css was reached following the second dose and was within the target efficacious peak and trough levels for the 1.0 mg/kg cohort. Conclusions: The MTD for this first-in-class drug was reached at 1.0 mg/kg. Six of 7 pts at 1.0 mg/kg and 1 of 1 pts at 1.5 mg/kg had ≥G3 liver and/or pancreatic enzyme elevations; therefore higher doses are not being tested. The mechanisms of liver and pancreatic enzyme toxicity are currently being investigated and preclinical studies are ongoing to assess potential combination strategies. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2011 Nov 12-16; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2011;10(11 Suppl):Abstract nr C18.


The exchange of histones for transition proteins (TNPs) and finally protamines is an essential process during spermatogenesis that enables the strong condensation of chromatin during sperm formation. Research on this process obviously depends on the availability of specific antibodies recognizing these nuclear proteins. A commercial antibody generated against human protamine-2 (PRM2) has been described to cross-react with mouse PRM2 and in fact has been used in several studies to detect mouse PRM2. Some inconsistent results obtained with this goat-derived antibody prompted us to re-examine its specificity. In immunofluorescence experiments with epididymal sperm, only a low percentage of sperm nuclei were stained by this antibody, whereas a mouse monoclonal anti- PRM2 antibody stained most sperm, as expected. Western blot analysis of basic nuclear proteins from spermatids and sperm separated by acid urea (AU) gel electrophoresis revealed that the goat anti- PRM2 antiserum binds to mouse TNP2 but not mouse PRM2. Epitope mapping using glutathione-S-transferase-fusion proteins with peptide sequences conserved in human PRM2 and mouse TNP2 identified the tetrapeptide arginyl-lysyl-arginyl-threonine as an epitope of the goat anti- PRM2 antiserum. Our findings underline the importance of using AU gel electrophoresis to confirm specificities of antibodies directed against basic nuclear proteins, which are not well separated, and may show abnormal migration behaviour, in SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.


Background The aim of this study was to examine the gender differences in the association between status changes of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components, using Joint Interim Statement (JIS) criteria, with the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) among an urban population. Methods The study included 4,463 Iranian adult participants (2,549 women) aged ≥20 years. Based on status changes of MetS and its components during 3 years, subjects were categorized into four groups: MetS-free (reference), MetS-developed, MetS-recovery, and MetS-stable. A similar categorization was applied to MetS components. Multivariable Cox regression models were used for estimating hazard ratios (HRs) and women-to-men ratios of HRs (RHRs). Results During a median follow-up of 9.3 years, 625 T2DM events (351 women) occurred. Compared with the reference, the HRs of the MetS-developed, -recovery, and -stable groups among men for incident T2DM were 2.90, 2.60, and 4.92; the corresponding values for women were 2.73, 2.88, and 5.21, respectively (all p-values < 0.01), without significant gender difference in these relationships. In both genders, the fasting plasma glucose (FPG) component, regardless of the change in status, was strongly and significantly associated with incident T2DM with HRs ranging from 2.49 to 9.42; a similar association was also found for high waist circumference (WC)-recovery and -stable groups, with HRs ranging from 1.58 to 2.85 (p-values ≤ 0.05). Regarding gender differences, the development and persistence of high blood pressure (BP) status exposed men to greater T2DM risk than women with women-to-men RHRs of 0.43 (0.26–0.72) and 0.58 (0.39–0.86), respectively. Moreover, stable low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and high triglyceride (TG) levels conferred higher T2DM risk in women than in men, with women-to-men RHRs of 1.67 (0.98–2.86) and 1.44 (0.98–2.14), respectively (both p-values = 0.06). Conclusion Among Tehranian adults, in both genders, all status changes of MetS, even those recovered from MetS, have a higher risk of T2DM compared to those who never had MetS. Also, all statuses of high FPG, in addition to recovered and stable high WC, were strongly associated with T2DM risk. Specifically, men with stable or developed high BP and women with stable dyslipidemic status were at differentially increased risk of incident T2DM.


In recent years, progress in information and communication technology (ICT) has caused many structural changes such as reorganizing of economics, globalization, and trade extension, which leads to capital flows and enhancing information availability. Moreover, ICT plays a significant role in development of each economic sector, especially during liberalization process. Growth economists predict that economic growth is driven by investments in ICT. However, empirical studies on this issue have produced mixed results, regarding to different research methodology and geographical configuration of the study. This paper examines the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) use on economic growth using the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator within the framework of a dynamic panel data approach and applies it to 159 countries over the period 2000 to 2009. The results indicate that there is a positive relationship between growth rate of real GDP per capita and ICT use index (as measured by the number of internet users, fixed broadband internet subscribers and the number of mobile subscription per 100 inhabitants). We also find that the effect of ICT use on economic growth is higher in high income group rather than other groups. This implies that if these countries seek to enhance their economic growth, they need to implement specific policies that facilitate ICT use.


In this work, possibility of making jam from two underutilized fruits (baobab and pawpaw fruits) known to have high pectin content was investigated. Formulation was made in different proportions (100:0, 0:100, 70:30, 30:70, and 50:50) using both fruits. Granulated sugar solution and acidifying agent (lime) were added to the mixture and heated at 80oC until it set. The samples were stored under refrigeration till analysis. The jam samples were analyzed for pH, total soluble solids (0Brix), titratable acidity (TTA), ascorbic acid, â-carotene and moisture content (M.C). Sensory attributes of the samples were compared with a commercial jam (apricot jam, APJ). Results from this study showed that TTA ranged between 3.27% for 100% baobab jam (BBJ) and 5.37% for APJ. The pH of the samples was highest in 100% BBJ and lowest in Apricot jam. The moisture content (29.03-30.13) and soluble solids (60.33-65.67) of the samples were within the recommended range for commercial jam. Vitamin C ranged between 24.27 to 51.57 mg/100g for APJ and BBJ, while â-carotene for the samples was between the ranges of 30.00 to 105.00 ig/100g for APJ and BBJ. Jam sample formulated from 70:30 of baobab and pawpaw fruit respectively had better ratings in terms of flavor, taste, texture and spreadability. Similarly, the sample had better retention of vitamin C. Two bacterial species were isolated from the formulated products which were identified to belong to the genera \Pseudomonas spp, and Proteus spp. Keywords : Baobab, Pawpaw, Ascorbic acid, Jam, Beta carotene


The genome of the pufferfish (Fugu rubripes) (400 Mb) is approximately 7.5 times smaller than the human genome, but it has a similar gene repertoire to that of man. If regions of the two genomes exhibited conservation of gene order (i.e., were syntenic), it should be possible to reduce dramatically the effort required for identification of candidate genes in human disease loci by sequencing syntenic regions of the compact Fugu genome. We have demonstrated that three genes (dihydrolipoamide succinyltransferase, S31iii125, and S20i15), which are linked to FOS in the familial Alzheimer disease focus (AD3) on human chromosome 14, have homologues in the Fugu genome adjacent to Fugu cFOS. The relative gene order of cFOS, S31iii125, and S20i15 was the same in both genomes, but in Fugu these three genes lay within a 12.4-kb region, compared to >600 kb in the human AD3 locus. These results demonstrate the conservation of synteny between the genomes of Fugu and man and highlight the utility of this approach for sequence-based identification of genes in human disease loci.


The theory of scattering of plane waves of sound is extended to scatterers in the form of thin elastic shells of cylindrical and spherical shape. As for all elastic scatterers, the scattering action is the resultant of: (1) "rigid body scattering," i.e., the scattering which would be present if the scatterer were rigid and immovable; (2) "radiation scattering," which represents the sound radiation from the shell undergoing forced vibrations under the influence of the incident wave pressure, and which is determined by the dynamic characteristics of the submerged shell. Contrary to solid scatterers, whose dynamic characteristics are little different in vacuum and in the fluid medium, the characteristics of shells are profoundly altered by fluid reaction. When the shell is excited near resonance, the scattering pattern resembles the dynamic response of the shell in that it is highly frequency sensitive.The mathematical analysis proceeds by correlating the general solution of the wave equation in the fluid me...


The soccer game is one of the most popular sport games. Even though the game is easy to play for humans, it requires a wide range of intelligent abilities. With this lens, the game of soccer is a very intriguing topic in Artificial Intelligence. In this research, we apply reinforcement learning techniques, which have been successful in various games, such as Go and Atari. Using these techniques, we focus on whether it is possible to design a system that performs in simulations with multiple team and field sizes at an equal level as a multilayer perceptron (MLP) based Q-learning agent that receives information from all points in a grid modeling the game of soccer and is trained specifically on one field size. This reference player is also trained on varying team sizes. The results illustrate that the vision grid player performs better than the reference player on all tested setups except the one with the smallest team and field size (9 by 9 cells and 1 player per team). The vision grid player is therefore flexible regarding the size of the field it plays in and the number of players it plays with, and able to outperform the reference player that is only trained using a varying number of players per team. The influence of the activation function in the hidden layer of the MLP is also researched. It is found that for this simulation, the sigmoid activation function works best.


Introduction: The progression of aortic calcification is associated with mortality in haemodialysis patients. Blood calciprotein particle (CPP) levels are associated with coronary artery calcification, and was reported to be inhibited when using citric acid-based bicarbonate dialysate (CD). Therefore, we examined the effect of CD on the progression of the aortic arch calcification score (AoACS) and blood CPP levels in haemodialysis patients.Methods: A 12-month retrospective observational study of 262 haemodialysis patients who met the eligibility criteria was conducted at Joban Hospital. Patients taking warfarin or bisphosphonates and those with baseline AoACS of 100% were excluded. Progression, defined as ΔAoACS (12 months – baseline) > 0%, was compared between the CD and acetic acid-based bicarbonate dialysate (AD) groups.Results: The CD group had significantly lower AoACS progression than the AD group (P = 0.037). ΔCPP and ΔAoACS were not correlated in the AD group (R2 = 0.030, P = 0.098), but were negatively correlated in the CD group (R2 = 0.065, P = 0.022). Multivariate logistic analysis showed that the CD (odds ratio [OR] 0.51, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.27‒0.97, P = 0.042) was significantly associated with the AoACS progression.Conclusion: CD may suppress the progression of vascular calcification in haemodialysis patients.


Abstrak : This  research   aims  to  find  out  the  sources   of character   education   at Islamic  schools,   character- building  values application  and actualization.   This research  was conducted  in SMA Mubammadiyah I Yogyakarta  and MA Muallimin  Muhammadiyah   Yogyakarta. The  result  of research   showed  that  teacher's   perception   on character   education  relied  on Islamic precepts   to create akhakul  karimah-human   beings.  The  sources  of character   education   included Quran  and as=Sunnah/Hadist   as well  as Ijtihad. The character   value  implantation   was  carried  out through   learning   in the  classroom,   precedents   from  figures,   teachers   and  peers,  well-behaving familiarization   in the presence  of rule and order, personality  report,  and extracurricular   activities  in knowledge,  skill, sport, art, and organization  fields. The form of character-building  values actualization emphasized   more  on the Islamic  activities  such as collectively   shalat,  reading  and reciting  Quran, social service, participating   actively  in IPM, hizbul wathan,  and tapak suci organizational   activities. In addition,   there  were kader  inti/an,  mubalig  jumat,   mubalig   hijarah,  fasting,  Friday  sermon, becoming  the orator  in pengajian,  and flag ceremony.  Such these  activities  reflected  on religious, cooperative,   leadership,   loving-to-homeland,    social care, environmental   care, and creative  values. Keywords :  Education,  Character,  Muhammadiyah.