Prostate Apoptosis Response-4 (Par-4) is a tumor suppressor protein whose expression level in cancer is frequently decreased; however, it is rarely mutated nor suppressed. Par-4 is not only regulated at the expression level, but also post-translationally. Most recently, we reported the cisplatin-induced caspase3-dependent cleavage of Par-4 resulting in the accumulation of a 25kd cleaved-Par-4 (cl-Par-4) fragment. In the present study, we investigated the mechanisms regulating this fragment using cl-Par-4-expressing stable clones derived from ovarian and endometrial cancer cell lines. Briefly, we used cancer cell lines in which we produced stable clones expressing the cleaved form of PAR-4 (cl.PAR-4) using lentiviral particles. Using these models, we studied the regulation of cl.PAR-4 at the protein level using Western blots. Intriguingly, cl-Par-4 protein was weakly expressed in all stable clones despite constitutive transgene expression. However, upon cisplatin treatment, cl-Par-4 levels increased up to 50-fold relative to baseline conditions. We assessed the subcellular localization of cl-Par-4 in baseline and cisplatin-treated conditions using cytoplasmic/nuclear fractionation. Results showed that cl-Par-4 is localized in both the cytoplasm and nucleus compartments, but cisplatin treatment did not alter its localization. Treatment of stable clones with proteasome and translation inhibitors revealed that cisplatin exposure may in fact protect cl-Par-4 from proteasome-dependent degradation. To confirm proteasome involvement in this process, potential ubiquitination sites were predicted using bioinformatic tools. Interestingly, we showed that PI3K and MAPK pathways are also implicated in this post-translational regulation, as evidenced by an increase of cl-Par-4 in the presence of PI3K inhibitors (Wortmannin and NVP-BEZ235) and a decrease of cl-Par-4 using MAPK inhibitors (U0126 and PD98059). Finally using bioinformatics resources, we found diverse datasets showing similar results to those we observed with the proteasome and cl-Par-4. Indeed, we have showed, using data from a published study, that the use of Bortezomib (a potent proteasome inhibitor) significantly increased Par-4 expression in MCF7 cancer cells. These new findings add to the complex mechanisms regulating Par-4 expression and activity, and justify further studies addressing the biological significance of this phenomenon in gynecological cancer cells. Citation Format: Kevin Brasseur, Pascal Adam, Laurence Tardif, Francois Fabi, Sophie Parent, Eric Asselin. Post-translational regulation of the cleaved fragment of Par-4 in ovarian and endometrial cancer cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 1994.


Stent retriever thrombectomy (SRT) is one of the most effective methods for the recanalization of acute basilar artery occlusion (ABAO). The proatlantal intersegmental artery (PIA) is a rare carotid-vertebrobasilar anastomosis. Recognition of this rare form of anastomosis is particularly important for the rapid establishment of positive blood flow in patients with ABAO. In this case, the patient had a rare, left type 1 PIA. The right vertebral artery (VA) was tenuous and did not enter the cranium. We performed a thrombectomy of the ABAO by inserting a catheter via the type 1 PIA. The complete recanalization of basilar artery (BA) flow was achieved following two stent retractions; however, the patient eventually died of brain stem hemorrhage.


We analyze the accuracy of first order approximation, a method developed theoretically in Jaffe and Weyl (2012) for predicting the price effects of mergers, and provide an empirical application. Approximation is an alternative to the model-based simulations commonly employed in industrial economics. It provides predictions that are free from functional form assumptions, using data on either cost pass-through or demand curvature in the neighborhood of the initial equilibrium. Our numerical experiments indicate that approximation is more accurate than simulations that use incorrect structural assumptions on demand. For instance, when the true underlying demand system is logit, approximation is more accurate than almost ideal demand system (AIDS) simulation in 79.1 percent of the randomly-drawn industries and more accurate than linear simulation in 90.3 percent of these industries. We also develop, among other results, (i) how accuracy changes across a variety of economic environments, (ii) how accuracy is affected by incomplete data on cost pass-through, and (iii) that a simplified version of approximation provides conservative predictions of price increases.


ABSTRACT We assessed the association between internalized HIV stigma, resilience, health locus of control, coping self-efficacy and empowerment among adolescents living with HIV in Uganda. We conducted a cross-sectional study between August and October 2020 among 173 adolescents aged 13–18 years attending Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital's HIV clinic. We used linear regression to determine the association between HIV stigma and intrapersonal factors adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics. The median age of the participants was 16 (IQR 3) years. There was a negative correlation between HIV stigma and resilience (β= −0.03, p < 0.001), internal health locus of control (β= −0.095, p < 0.001) and coping self-efficacy (β= −0.02, p < 0.001), while empowerment was positively correlated (β = 0.07, p < 0.001) with HIV stigma. After adjusting for the intrapersonal factors (resilience, health locus of control, coping self-efficacy and empowerment) and socio-demographic characteristics (education level and boarding school), only internal health locus of control (β=-0.044, p = 0.016) and coping self-efficacy (β=-0.015, p < 0.001) remained significantly correlated with HIV stigma. The findings suggest that interventions focusing on intrapersonal factors such as internal locus of control, empowerment and resilience may contribute towards reduction of HIV stigma among adolescents in boarding schools.


By the 2050s, more than 120 million people are predicted to settle in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), which covers large coastal cities such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Cities in the PRD are vitally important to China in relation to their socio-economic contributions. From recent evidence, this strongly urbanized area is vulnerable to, and currently facing bigger incidences of, coastal and urban flooding. Flood risk is growing in low-lying coastal areas due to rapid urbanization and increasing flood hazards exacerbated by climate change. Frequent intensive rainstorms, sea-level rise, typhoons and surges threaten large populations and their economic assets, causing severe socio-economic and ecological impacts in the PRD cities. Current flood risk management (FRM) in the delta is still predominately focused on using traditional techno-fixes and infrastructure paradigms, lacking sufficient strategic planning and flood protection to develop adequate flood resilience. Recent urban floods, enhanced by storm surges and intensive rainstorms, have affected multiple PRD cities and drawn attention to flood risk as a major challenge in the PRD's coastal cities. This review encourages development of long -term FRM practices with provincial and municipal authorities working together more closely to develop better-integrated regional FRM strategies for the PRD.


A 49-year-old man was admitted to the hospital with swelling and redness overlying the left anterior chest wall. He had been treated by percutaneous transluminal coronary recanalization for acute myocardial infarction with central venous catheter one year and four months earlier. Since then, he had had no symptoms. An incision and drainage was performed and specimen showed acute and chronic granulation tissue containing pus with involvement of underlying left third rib and cartilage. Candida albicans was cultured from the drainage specimen. Treatment with fluconazole was began. The lesion failed to clear following incision and drainage, continuing to exude pus, then open surgical excision and curettage of the cartilage and rib was performed. After 2 months of therapy, the lesion had resolved. This is a rare case of candida costochondral osteomyelitis without a definite proof of former hematogenous candida infection.


Graph algorithms have wide applicablity to a variety of domains and are often used on massive datasets. Recent standardization efforts such as the GraphBLAS specify a set of key computational kernels that hardware and software developers can adhere to. Graphulo is a processing framework that enables GraphBLAS kernels in the Apache Accumulo database. In our previous work, we have demonstrated a core Graphulo operation called TableMult that performs large-scale multiplication operations of database tables. In this article, we present the results of scaling the Graphulo engine to larger problems and scalablity when a greater number of resources is used. Specifically, we present two experiments that demonstrate Graphulo scaling performance is linear with the number of available resources. The first experiment demonstrates cluster processing rates through Graphulo's TableMult operator on two large graphs, scaled between 217 and 219 vertices. The second experiment uses TableMult to extract a random set of rows from a large graph (219 nodes) to simulate a cued graph analytic. These benchmarking results are of relevance to Graphulo users who wish to apply Graphulo to their graph problems.


Knowledge management (KM) has become an effective strategic tool to improve the organizational competition capacity in the age of knowledge economy. Knowledge management performance evaluation is an important way to know the knowledge management level of an enterprise. In this study, a knowledge management performance evaluation indices system was established based on knowledge management theory and analytic network process (ANP) performance evaluation methodology. Theoretical foundations and application process of ANP were discussed; dependence and feedback among indices were analyzed. Super Decisions software was used to obtain the result of ANP model for the indices system. The case study in this paper demonstrated that the ANP method can solve problems with dependent indices effectively.


ABSTRACT
Nursing documentation is an important instrument to ensure patient care can be carried out continuously. Quality nursing documentation will guarantee patient safety. Incomplete documentation causes information to be unclear and confusing so that it can cause errors in handling patients. This study aims to determine the relationship between attitudes and supervision with the completeness of nursing documentation at the emergency department of Dr Kariadi Hospital Semarang. The research method used an observational quantitative analytic design with a cross sectional approach. Sampling uses a total sampling technique with a total of 58 nurses. Data was collected using questionnaires and observation sheets. The Spearman test results show that attitudes related to completeness of nursing documentation (p = 0,000; r = 0.706). Supervision relates to completeness of nursing documentation (p = 0,000; r = 0.733). Based on the results of the logistic regression test it is known that attitude is the most dominant variable associated with completeness of nursing documentation (OR = 0.075). Strengthening of nurses themselves in emergency department and hospital management were required for better quality nursing documentation.
Keywords: Emergency Department, Nursing Documentation, Attitude, Supervision


Complementary resource use and redundancy of species that fulfill the same ecological role are two mechanisms that can respectively increase and stabilize process rates in ecosystems. For example, predator complementarity and redundancy can determine prey consumption rates and their stability, yet few studies take into account the multiple predator species attacking multiple prey at different rates in natural communities. Thus, it remains unclear whether these biodiversity mechanisms are important determinants of consumption in entire predator-prey assemblages, such that food-web interaction structure determines community-wide consumption and stability. Here, we use empirical quantitative food webs to study the community-wide effects of functional complementarity and redundancy of consumers (parasitoids) on herbivore control in temperate forests. We find that complementarity in host resource use by parasitoids was a strong predictor of absolute parasitism rates at the community level and that redundancy in host-use patterns stabilized community-wide parasitism rates in space, but not through time. These effects can potentially explain previous contradictory results from predator diversity research. Phylogenetic diversity (measured using taxonomic distance) did not explain functional complementarity or parasitism rates, so could not serve as a surrogate measure for functional complementarity. Our study shows that known mechanisms underpinning predator diversity effects on both functioning and stability can easily be extended to link food webs to ecosystem functioning.


Abstract Through a close reading of media reporting from 2017 to 2018 on the case of the Chinese girl Liu Yiming, who was first denied then granted residency in Denmark due to public pressure, this article analyses how regulation of family reunification involving children is negotiated in the Danish public imaginary in the context of strong anti-immigration sentiments. This imaginary projects the white Danish public as eager to love Yiming and as affectively invested in reversing the injustice done to her and her family. The article suggests, however, that the outpouring of white love, which functions as an affective intervention imbued with the promises of reversing Yiming's deportation, is deeply embedded in exceptionalist notions of the 'integrated' migrant and that it works to restore an idealised image of a Danish nation defined by 'human decency' as a core value. Thus, the analysis raises critical questions to the politics of white love and its promise of securing social change for the 'integrated' migrant through collective acts of white feeling.


Governments fight terrorism in many different ways1 (see e.g. Schmid and Crelinsten, 1993; Lesser et al., 1999): 1. "Soft" and "hard" responses. The soft action seeks to address the root causes of terrorism while the hard action imposes immediate and strong retribution; 2. "Conciliatory" and "deterrent" response. The conciliatory response may consist in accommodating the demands of the terrorists. But it may also consist in reforms addressing the grievances of the terrorists without directly dealing with the terrorists. The deterrent response consists in applying criminal justice; 3. "Short" and "long" run response. The short run response deals with the immediate problems created by a terrorist attack while the long run response is directed at prevention or long-term reform; 4. "Reactive" and "proactive' response. Reactive action is incident-related and seeks to deal with a terrorist incident that has already taken place. Proactive action seeks to identify newly emerging political conflicts, which might later lead to terrorism. It also considers possible future terrorist tactics, seeking to anticipate them.


Disk winds are an important mechanism for accretion and disk evolution around young stars. The accreting intermediate-mass T-Tauri star RY Tau has an active jet and a previously known disk wind. Archival optical and new near-infrared observations of the RY Tau system show two horn-like components stretching out as a cone from RY Tau. Scattered light from the disk around RY Tau is visible in near-infrared but not seen at optical wavelengths. In the near-infrared, dark wedges that separates the horns from the disk, indicating we may see the scattered light from a disk wind. We use archived ALMA and SPHERE/ZIMPOL I-band observations combined with newly acquired SPEHRE/IRDIS H-band observations and available literature to build a simple geometric model of the RY Tau disk and disk wind. We use Monte Carlo radiative transfer modelling \textit{MCMax3D} to create comparable synthetic observations that test the effect of a dusty wind on the optical effect in the observations. We constrain the grain size and dust mass needed in the disk wind to reproduce the effect from the observations. A model geometrically reminiscent of a dusty disk wind with small micron to sub-micron size grains elevated above the disk can reproduce the optical effect seen in the observations. The mass in the obscuring component of the wind has been constrained to $1\times10^{-9} M_{\odot} \leq M \leq 5\times10^{-8} M_{\odot}$ which corresponds to a lower limit mass loss rate in the wind of about $\sim 1\times10^{-8}M_{\odot}\mathrm{yr}^{-1}$. While an illuminate dust cavity cannot be ruled out without measurements of the gas velocity, we argue that a magnetically launched disk wind is the most likely scenario.


Abstract The meront stage of the oyster protozoan parasite, Perkinsus marinus, cultivated in two media with different fatty acid profiles was analyzed for its fatty acid and lipid class composition. The composition of fatty acids in the prezoosporangium stage of the parasite as well as that of the host oyster were investigated. Although the lipid class composition of meronts was dominated by phospholipids and triacylglycerol, there was no triaclgycerol detected in either culture medium. Despite the difference in fatty acid composition of the two media, the fatty acid composition of meronts in each medium was dominated by 14:0, 16:0, 18:0, 18:1(n-9), 20:1(n-9), 18:2(n-6) and 20:4(n-6), a profile that differed from its host. The quantities of total lipids and fatty acids in meronts increased as the number of meronts increased and far exceeded the initial amounts in the media and in the initial cell inoculum. The meronts harvested 25 d post-inoculation, had about 3 to 6 times higher total lipids and 4 to 13 times higher fatty acids than the amounts contained in the media. The fatty acid profiles of both prezoosporangia and oysters resembled each other and consisted primarily of 16:0, 20:4(n-6), 20:5(n-3), 22:2Δ7,15, and 22:6(n-3). These results indicate that during meront proliferation, the parasite synthesizes certain fatty acids and lipid classes. For development from meront to prezoosporangium, the parasite may rely on its host for lipid resources.


Purpose Arteriovenous fistulae (AVFs) are the preferred option for vascular access, as they are associated with lower mortality in hemodialysis patients than in those patients with arteriovenous grafts (AVGs) or central venous catheters (CVCs). We sought to assess whether vascular access outcomes for surgical trainees are comparable to fully trained surgeons. Methods A prospectively collected database of patients was created and information recorded regarding patient demographics, past medical history, preoperative investigations, grade of operating surgeon, type of AVF formed, primary AVF function, cumulative AVF survival and functional patency. Results One hundred and sixty-two patients were identified as having had vascular access procedures during the 6 month study period and 143 were included in the final analysis. Secondary AVF patency was established in 123 (86%) of these AVFs and 89 (62.2%) were used for dialysis. There was no significant difference in survival of AVFs according to training status of surgeon (log rank x2 0.506 p=0.477) or type of AVF (log rank x2 0.341 p=0.559). Patency rates of successful AVFs at 1 and 2 years were 60.9% and 47.9%, respectively. Conclusion We have demonstrated in this prospective study that there are no significant differences in outcomes of primary AVFs formed by fully trained surgeons versus surgical trainees. Creation of a primary AVF represents an excellent training platform for intermediate stage surgeons across general and vascular surgical specialties.


Ion cyclotron emission (ICE) has been observed during D-T discharges in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR), using RF probes located near the top and the bottom of the vacuum vessel. Harmonics of the alpha cyclotron frequency ( Omega a,) evaluated at the outer midplane plasma edge are observed at the onset of the beam injection phase of TFTR supershots and persist for approximately 100-250 ms. These results are in contrast with observations of ICE in JET, in which harmonics of Omega a evolve with the alpha population in the plasma edge. Such differences are believed to be due to the fact that newly born fusion alpha particles are super-Alfvenic near the edge of JET plasmas, while they are sub-Alfvenic near the edge of TFTR supershot plasmas. In TFTR discharges with edge densities such that newly born alpha particles are super-Alfvenic, alpha cyclotron harmonics are observed to persist. These results are in qualitative agreement with numerical calculations of growth rates due to the magnetoacoustic cyclotron instability


The initial chapter of this monograph deals with the pathological physiology of the signs and symptoms of coma. The basic studies are directed at the state of consciousness, pattern of breathing, size and reaction of pupils, eye movements, and skeletal muscle responses, and the value of the electroencephalogram in differentiation of comatose states is emphasized. In the section on supratentorial lesions causing coma, the authors distinguish three patterns of shift: cingulate herniation, central transtentorial herniation (of the diencephalon and midbrain), and uncal herniation. The diagrams using EEG, pupillary changes, eye movements with head turning and caloric stimulation, and motor responses are particularly graphic. The concept of rostral-caudal deterioration is well illustrated. Specific supratentorial lesions ( extracerebral and intracerebral) are mentioned and the mechanism of action pointed out. A shorter chapter deals with subtentorial lesions causing coma, including vascular occlusions, hemorrhages, and neoplasms. The most elaborate chapter covers metabolic


Religious and multi-cultural values: congruent extension of character-based english education

The curriculum amendment of 2013 has brought about the adjustment to some levels of Indonesian educational aspects. Likewise, English subject in the seventh grade of junior school might be affected in some areas, say, students' textbook as learning materials and teaching-learning activities. "When English Rings the Bell" aimed by the curriculum to provide the seventh graders with a series of learning materials probably contains religious and (socially) cultural knowledge to let them attain the religious and (socially) cultural behaviors as their first and second important competencies, in turn, indicating the character education in Indonesia. The matter of presentation of the religious and socially cultural information of the textbook was, to some extent, problematical challenge from the discourse insights as the discourse contents of the textbook had to fit the students' novel knowledge to learn English as initially compulsory subject at this school level. The discourse representation of the "what" and "how" of the religious and cultural information in the textbook to communicate religious and multi-cultural values to be integrated with teachers' teaching-learning activities became the two focuses of this current study. Within the elaboration of the discourse tools of vocabulary and reflexive context, and anthropological category tools of religiousness and culture, the researcher was going to scrutinize the presence of vocabulary of the English and Indonesian and images to depict the religious and multi-cultural information as knowledge to carry the character values in the the textbook. The words and images served as data, and units of analysis are vocabularies/words as linguistic units and culturally objective or physical or symbolic signs of images as non-linguistic units. The researcher also possibly reviewed several semiotic and material development theories to discuss and generalize the findings. Besides, the researcher applied secondary research instrument of teachers' interview of the implementation of religious and multi-cultural values into teaching and learning activities elaborated to sound the character education. The research worked as confirmatory research product to validate the discourse, anthropological, semiotic and material development insights. It might also be informative topical preference of diversity (religiousness and Indonesian multi-culture) to indicate the presence of pedagogical discourse sample to contribute to the carrying-out of the curriculum to symbolize the character education, resourceful guidance for those engaged with textbook selection and design, and be a character education model for those dealing with teaching-learning tasks and the textbook integration to help their students gain religious and multi-cultural competencies.


As affective robots become integral in human life, these agents must be able to fairly evaluate human affective expressions without discriminating against specific demographic groups. Identifying bias in Machine Learning (ML) systems as a critical problem, different approaches have been proposed to mitigate such biases in the models both at data and algorithmic levels. In this work, we propose Continual Learning (CL) as an effective strategy to enhance fairness in Facial Expression Recognition (FER) systems, guarding against biases arising from imbalances in data distributions. We compare different state-of-the-art bias mitigation approaches with CL-based strategies for fairness on expression recognition and Action Unit (AU) detection tasks using popular benchmarks for each; RAF-DB and BP4D. Our experiments show that CL-based methods, on average, outperform popular bias mitigation techniques, strengthening the need for further investigation into CL for the development of fairer FER algorithms.


Amenorrhea is common in young athletes and is associated with low fat mass. However, hormonal factors that link decreased fat mass with altered gonadotropin pulsatility and amenorrhea are unclear. Low levels of leptin (an adipokine) and increased ghrelin (an orexigenic hormone that increases as fat mass decreases) impact gonadotropin pulsatility. Studies have not examined luteinizing hormone (LH) secretory dynamics in relation to leptin or ghrelin secretory dynamics in adolescent and young adult athletes. We hypothesized that 1) young amenorrheic athletes (AA) would have lower LH and leptin and higher ghrelin secretion than eumenorrheic athletes (EA) and nonathletes and 2) higher ghrelin and lower leptin would be associated with lower LH secretion. This was a cross-sectional study. We examined ghrelin and leptin secretory patterns (over 8 h, from 11 PM to 7 AM) in relation to LH secretory patterns in AA, EA, and nonathletes aged 14-21 yr. Ghrelin and leptin were assessed every 20 min and LH every 10 min. Groups did not differ for age, bone age, or BMI. However, fat mass was lower in AA than in EA and nonathletes. AA had lower LH and higher ghrelin pulsatile secretion and AUC than nonathletes and lower leptin pulsatile secretion and AUC than EA and nonathletes. Percent body fat was associated positively with LH and leptin secretion and inversely with ghrelin. In a regression model, ghrelin and leptin secretory parameters were associated independently with LH secretory parameters. We conclude that higher ghrelin and lower leptin secretion in AA related to lower fat mass may contribute to altered LH pulsatility and amenorrhea.


Geminin has been proposed to coordinate cell cycle and differentiation events through balanced interactions with the cell cycle regulator Cdt1 and with homeobox transcription factors and chromatin remodeling activities implicated in cell fate decisions. Here we show that Geminin is cleaved in primary cells and cancer cell lines induced to undergo apoptosis by a variety of stimuli. Geminin targeting is mediated by caspase-3 both in vivo and in vitro. Two sites at the carboxyl terminus of Geminin (named C1 and C2) are cleaved by the caspase, producing truncated forms of Geminin. We provide evidence that Geminin cleavage is regulated by phosphorylation. Casein kinase II alters Geminin cleavage at site C1 in vitro, whereas mutating phosphorylation competent Ser/Thr residues proximal to site C1 affects Geminin cleavage in vivo. We show that truncated Geminin produced by cleavage at C1 can promote apoptosis. In contrast, Geminin cleaved at site C2 has lost the ability to interact with Brahma (Brm), a catalytic subunit of the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex, while binding efficiently to Cdt1, indicating that targeting of Geminin during apoptosis differentially affects interactions with its binding partners.


Scaling adaptive traffic signal control involves dealing with combinatorial state and action spaces. Multi-agent reinforcement learning attempts to address this challenge by distributing control to specialized agents. However, specialization hinders generalization and transferability, and the computational graphs underlying neural-network architectures—dominating in the multi-agent setting—do not offer the flexibility to handle an arbitrary number of entities which changes both between road networks, and over time as vehicles traverse the network. We introduce Inductive Graph Reinforcement Learning (IG-RL) based on graph-convolutional networks which adapts to the structure of any road network, to learn detailed representations of traffic signal controllers and their surroundings. Our decentralized approach enables learning of a transferable-adaptive-traffic-signal-control policy. After being trained on an arbitrary set of road networks, our model can generalize to new road networks and traffic distributions, with no additional training and a constant number of parameters, enabling greater scalability compared to prior methods. Furthermore, our approach can exploit the granularity of available data by capturing the (dynamic) demand at both the lane level and the vehicle level. The proposed method is tested on both road networks and traffic settings never experienced during training. We compare IG-RL to multi-agent reinforcement learning and domain-specific baselines. In both synthetic road networks and in a larger experiment involving the control of the 3,971 traffic signals of Manhattan, we show that different instantiations of IG-RL outperform baselines.


In this paper, control of piezostage using sliding-mode control (SMC) method is presented. Due to the fast dynamics of the piezostage and since high accuracy is required the special attention is paid to avoid chattering. The presence of hysteresis characteristics represents main nonlinearity in the system. Structure of proposed SMC controller is proven to offer chattering-free motion and rejection of the disturbances represented by hysteresis and the time variation of the piezostack parameters. In order to enhance the accuracy of the closed loop system, a combination of disturbance rejection method and the SMC controller is explored and its effectiveness is experimentally demonstrated. The disturbance observer is constructed using a second-order lumped parameter model of the piezostage and is based on SMC framework. Closed-loop experiments are presented using a proportional-integral-derivative controller and sliding-mode controller with disturbance compensation for the purpose of comparison


Active acoustics enhancement systems have been applied in room acoustics for decades yet it would be hard to say that their ultimate performance has been achieved, even with the power of today's fast digital processors. There are many challenges ahead including the creation of homogeneous directionless diffuse field using a limited number of discrete loudspeaker sources. There is also a need to create sound field having some localized directional properties mimicing the phenomena found in acoustics of musical instruments interfacing the acoustics of rooms. Some solutions to these challenges will be presented and discussed by the authors.


This paper identifies and then quantifies econometrically the impact of leniency programs on the perception of the effectiveness of antitrust policies using country level panel data for a 10-year span. Leniency programs have been introduced gradually in antitrust legislation across the globe to fight more effectively against cartels. We use the dynamics of the diffusion of such policy innovation across countries and over time to evaluate the impact of the program. We find that leniency programs have had a significant impact on the perception among the business community of the effectiveness of each country"s antitrust policy. Leniency programs have become weapons of mass dissuasion in the hands of antitrust enforcers against the more damaging forms of explicit collusion among rival firms in the market place.


Efforts to map the burden of infections globally have shown a high prevalence of genital infections, including Chlamydia trachomatis, in sub-Saharan Africa. This retrospective study aimed to investigate the prevalence of selected non-viral genital infections among pregnant women in Pemba Island, Tanzania. Vaginal swabs were collected during pregnancy and stored in eNAT buffer. Detection of C. trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrheae, Trichomonas vaginalis, and Mycoplasma genitalium pathogens was performed by PCR using validated detection kits. Vaginal samples of 439 pregnant women between 16 and 48 years were tested. In fifty-five (12.5%) of them, at least one genital pathogen was detected. The most prevalent pathogen was T. vaginalis (7.1%), followed by C. trachomatis (4.6%) and M. genitalium (2.1%). None of the vaginal samples tested positive for N. gonorrheae. Consequently, among positive samples, 7.3% were for C. trachomatis and at least one other genital pathogen. This study provides insights on the burden of the four studied genital infections, and on the coinfections among pregnant women in Pemba Island, Tanzania. These results offer a starting point that can be useful to design further research in the field of maternal and child health in Pemba Island.


Motion blur is the result when the camera shutter remains open for an extended period of time and a relative motion between camera and object occurs. An approach for velocity detection based on motion blurred images has been implemented by the Radon transformation. The motion blur parameters are first estimated from the acquired images by using Radon transformation and then used to detect the speed of the moving object in the scene. Here established a link between the motion blur information of a 2D image and camera manufacturer's data sheet and its calibration


Background In spring 2018, NHS England invited Dorset to be a demonstrator site for improving personalised care towards the end of life. Our purpose: 'In my last year of life, help me to live well until I die'. Method We seized the opportunity to take a different approach, understanding what people really needed, what mattered to them, and crucially, why. We developed six core capabilities and compared them with what actually happened, by bringing together services to map experiences of people and their families in detail, and observing interactions as they happened. We triangulated this with quantitative data including measures of informal support; advance care planning, investigations, treatments, admissions, length of stay, contacts with services in the last year of life, and place of death. Results We identified previously hidden assumptions about the way the work worked, and themes started to emerge, such as a tendency for: viewing people in isolation, rather than through their relationships and context, and recording facts rather than stories; focusing on interventions, services and organisations rather than relationships and community; assessing, diagnosing and reacting to what's happened, rather than thinking and learning together, developing shared understanding and anticipating and planning ahead. Conclusions A paradigm shift is needed in the way we think about the work and the people we support. This approach highlights implicit assumptions in the way systems currently work, and provides opportunities for shared sense-making and fundamental change. Collaborators Dorset CCG, Poole North, Dorset End of Life Care Partnership, NHS England Facilitation, coaching: Easier, Inc. Funding NHS England Personalised Care Group


Flexible and environmentally friendly phase-change materials (PCMs) with appropriate phase transition temperatures display great potential in the regulation of environmental temperature. Here, we synthesized a series of room-temperature-use phase-change organohydrogels (PCOHs) comprising phase-change hydrated salts (disodium phosphate dodecahydrate, DPDH) and polyacrylamide (PAM) glycerol hydrogels through a facile photoinitiated one-step in situ polymerization procedure. Incorporating the environmentally friendly cost-effective DPDH hydrated salts PCMs into antidrying three-dimensional (3D) networks of the PAM organohydrogel can overcome the solid rigidity and melting leakage to achieve flexibility for wearable temperature management devices. The microstructures and physical interactions among the components of the PCOHs were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and X-ray diffraction (XRD), which demonstrate that the DPDH were uniformly loaded in the networks of the PAM. Phase-change storage and thermal properties of the PCOHs were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), and the PCOHs show high energy transition efficiency and shape stability during the long-term storage and thermal cycling. Dynamic rheology and compression tests demonstrate that PCOHs can withstand a certain stress and display flexibility performance even above the melting temperature of DPDH. We also described the smart temperature management capability and the potential application of the PCOHs. This investigation offers a facile method to construct a skin-friendly flexible phase-change glycerol hydrogel and provides an alternative to the traditional melt impregnation or microencapsulation method to prepare phase-change energy storage composites.


---------------------------------------------------------------------***---------------------------------------------------------------------ABSTRACT : This study aimed at establishing the influence of physiological stress coping strategies on the psychological wellbeing of life-sentenced inmates in maximum-security prisons in Kenya. Cognitive behavioural theory and Logotherapy theory guided this study. This study was a descriptive survey. The target population was life-sentenced inmates in nine maximum security prisons in Kenya. The accessible population was 4,487 life-sentenced inmates. The sample size of the life-sentenced inmates was 365, which was selected through systematic sampling. In addition, 30 specialised prison officers were purposively selected. Thus, the total sample size was 395 respondents. The study collected data using questionnaires for life-sentenced inmates, an adapted psychological well-being scale for life-sentenced inmates and interviews for specialised prison officers. Data was analysed through both descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings of the study indicate that physiological stress coping strategies influence the psychological well-being of life-sentenced inmates. The study concluded that correctional facilities are intended to serve diverse purposes, which include keeping the imprisoned persons in safe custody, deterrence, rehabilitation and behaviour modification. The lifers' physiological activities that include; sleep, diet, exercises, relaxation, reading, listening to music, watching TV, games, and recreation have an influence on their psychological well-being. The study recommends that; policymakers and stakeholders of correctional and rehabilitation of inmates prioritise the psychological well-being of lifers and enhance physiological stress coping strategies for the psychological well-being of lifers and effective rehabilitation and reintegration of the inmates.


ABSTRACT Introduction: Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) is a group of recessively inherited, early infantile-onset, severe rod-cone dystrophies that can result from defects in at least 25 genes, including RPE65, CEP290, RDH12, AIPL1 and GUCY2D. The possibility of benefit is offered by therapeutic intervention to provide the functional gene that is otherwise lacking. Areas covered: We searched PubMed for publications using the relevant keywords. Expert commentary: Clinical trials of gene therapy for LCA owing to defects in RPE65 have demonstrated benefit with improved function of rod photoreceptor cells. A gene therapy for this condition has been approved by the FDA. Ongoing clinical trials aim to determine whether cone photoreceptor cell function can be protected by appropriate gene delivery at an early stage of the disease. Clinical trials of gene therapy for LCA owing to defects in 5 other genes are planned.


The authors' principal objective in writing this book was to go beyond the usual coverage of material and develop a breadth and depth of treatment that would stimulate and challenge the serious student of marketing. This reviewer believes the authors have achieved their goal admirably. Economic, behavioral, and quantitative concepts are woven skillfully into a comprehensive environmental approach. Part I contains five chapters concerning the broader environment of marketing. The introductory chapter focuses the reader's attention onto some of the more serious challenges faced by today's marketing managers in the automobile, drug, tobacco, and other industries. Chapters 2 and 3 deal with the meaning and measurement of competition and the various laws that regulate it. The role of mergers and acquisitions is analyzed. Also, the legal restrictions on the individual firm's market conduct with regard to pricing, product, advertising, and distribution policies are covered. Chapters 4 and 5 are concerned with psychological and social dimensions of consumer behavior. A detailed treatment of attitudes and attitude change stands out. Part II contains 10 chapters. One chapter traces the progress made by firms in adopting the marketing concept, and there is an emphasis throughout on the necessity for marketing managers to become more involved in total corporate planning. A chapter on product planning and control reviews some of the familiar concepts with regard to product. It contains a detailed account of various attempts to classify products with an emphasis on Copeland's and Aspinwall's schemes, and refinements of these schemes suggested by later analysts. A chapter on promotion behavior presents an overview of the nature of promotion. The authors picture promotion as communication with a strong theoretical base from the behavioral sciences. Promotional communication is analyzed in terms of (1) marketing dialogue, (2) sources of behavior, and (3) symbols in the marketplace. An extensive chapter on pricing emphasizes decision areas and models. In addition to such traditional concepts as product-line pricing, skimming, and penetration pricing, the authors offer Bayesian prior analysis, sequential decision-tree analysis, and other newer approaches to pricing. A second pricing chapter puts an emphasis on demand-curve estimation and psychological pricing. The authors introduce surveys and experimentation as valuable tools for price determination. Psychological pricing is described as a departure from the law of demand, and price lining, magic prices, prestige pricing are explored along with several recent studies of pricing by Leavitt, McConnell, Tull, Boring, and others. A chapter on the channel system describes a possible model of the channel structure. It analyzes channel conflict and includes a more sophisticated three-level channel model containing both exogenous and endogenous variables. A second chapter on channel management includes such topics as modeling of alternative distribution channel structures, the channel mix, generalizations on the locus of channel control, and marketing strategy and choice. The final two chapters introduce the reader to systems analysis in marketing. The analysis is built around two major corporate marketing problems: (1) The composition of its marketing mix; and (2) its allocation of marketing expenditures. This book is recommended as an excellent classroom text, particularly for the general marketing courses on either the senior or graduate levels. STEVEN J. SHAW University of South Carolina


Objective: Carbon tetrachloride (CCl 4 ) is a highly toxic chemical agent. Therefore, the present study was carried out to investigate the protective effects of camel's milk against CCL 4 induced toxicity in male rats. Materials and methods:  Albino male rats (150-200 g) were divided into four groups of 6 rats: a control group fed only with diet and tap water for two weeks, the second group fed with standard diet and camel milk, the third group intoxicated with CCl 4 on first two days of the experimental 14 days and fed with tap water and diet, and the fourth group intoxicated with CCl 4 on first two days of the experimental 14 days and then treated with camel milk. Results: The results indicated that the CCl 4 caused a significant increased in the level of  serum total cholesterol(TC) , triglycerides(TG), very low density lipoprotein (VLDL)and low density lipoprotein(LDL), lactate dehydrogenase(LDH), creatine kinase(CK)and aspartate aminotransferase (AST). Also, there was a significant decreased in the level of serum high density lipoprotein (HDL).Protective activity of camel's milk against toxicity of CCl 4 observed in decreasing of TC, TG, VLDL, LDL, LDH, CK, AST and increased in the HDL levels. Conclusion:  These findings strongly prove that beneficial effects of Camel Milk clearly shown through the reduction of the CCl4 induced related damages and oxidative stress Keywords: Camel milk, Carbon tetrachloride, Lipid profile, Rats.


Body composition and fat patterning are considered as predictor tools for an early diagnosis of risk of cardiovascular diseases. A study was conducted in 300 male and female Venezuelan adolescents (2006-2007) to explore body composition, and fat patterning, related to physical activity. Subjects were categorized based on body mass index (BMI), arm fat area (AFA), arm muscle area (AMA), central and peripheral distribution of fat and physical activity by Krece Plus questionnaire. Multivariante techniques were applied. According to BMI categories 6.7% were categorized as low and 11.7% as high; AFA classified 12.7% as high and 3.3% as low. AMA found 11.3% as low and 19% as high, 56% of adolescents did not archive a moderate or good physical activity. Overweight adolescents showed poor physical activity. The first cluster grouped most of the normal subjects, average age 13 years, and moderate and intense physical activity (5.5 /2.3 hours for males and females). The second cluster depicted subjects with deficit, normal and high ones were located on the third and four clusters. Boys were more active (6.6-3.3) than girls (4.1-2.3). Age was a variable that characterized the profile of the clusters and was related to body fat distribution. The physical test was not strong enough to the conformation of the factorial axes and was weakly associated with body composition and its distribution. The youngest were more sedentary linked to centralized and peripheral body fat distribution, both components recognized as contributing factors to a number of medical conditions, even during adolescence. A poor physical activity level and impairment of fat distribution could be considered modifiable risks factors as elements of integral policies for adolescents. An Venez Nutr 2012; 25(1): 5 15


ABSTRACT. – Marquis Alfonso Corti di Santo Stefano Belbo, descendant from a rich and noble family of Lombardy and Piedmont, described for the first time, in 1851, a series of cellular structures of the inner ear, basic for the auditory function, now known as "Corti's organ". Corti, born in Gambarana near Pavia on June 25, 1822, enrolled in 1841as a medical student at the University of Pavia. Here his favorite study was microanatomy, under professors Bartolomeo Panizza and Mauro Rusconi. In 1845, Corti moved to Vienna to complete his medical studies and to work at the Anatomical institute of the University under the supervision of professor Joseph Hyrtl and in August 1847 received the degree in medicine, with a thesis on the cardiovascular system of a lizard, the Psammosaurus griseus. At the end of December 1847 Corti was chosen as Hyrtl's second prosector, but he soon had to relinquish this position. With the outbreak of the 1848 Revolution he left Vienna and, after a brief military service in Italy, from February to August 1849 was in Bern, where he began his own-microscopic studies in collaboration with the physiologist Gustav Gabriel Valentin. Except for a trip to England, where he met some important microscopists, Corti spent the rest of 1849 with his relatives in Paris, working at the Institute of Anatomy of the Sorbonne. In the middle of January 1850, Corti left for Wurzburg Institute of Anatomy, directed by Albert Kölliker, where he began to work on the mammalian auditory system. In August 1850 Corti spent a short time at the Observatorium microscopicum in Utrech, then he returned to Würzburg and later to Paris, to complete his study of at least 200 cochleas of man and different animals. His famous paper, "Recherches sur l'organe de l'ouie des mammiferes", appeared in 1851 in Kölliker's journal Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Zoologie. After the publication Corti left Paris for Turin where he had to interrupt his scientific work in order to deal with the division of his father estate. Suddenly and inexplicably, Corti gave up any scientific activity and disappeared from the scientific world. In 1855 Corti married Maria Bettinzoli, lady of noble birth, who presented him with a daughter Bianca, and a son Gaspare, but in 1861 she died, leaving him with the responsibility of rearing the children. Corti spent the rest of his life as a country nobleman and selected winegrower in his Villa Mazzolino in Corvino San Quirico near Casteggio, soon restricted in his mobility due to a severe arthritis deformans, and died in Corvino on October 2, 1876. After Corti brought his relations with his anatomist colleagues in 1854, his stature began to fade. During the second half of the 19th century, Corti's Recherches were cited more and more in articles and treatises on otology, but the memory of their author has been lost. Corti passed like a meteor in the scientific world of the mid 19th century and it was only at the beginning of the 20th century that some researches began to wonder about the man behind the name of Corti's organ.


This paper examines the 1994-96 UN University Institute for New Technologies policy research project on technological change and women's employment in Asia. The project was conducted to provide a voice for nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) representing women workers. It focuses on the Malaysian experience in terms of the impact of technology on women's work and employment in the telecommunications and electronic industry. The results of the NGO research project revealed that the shift to a more intensive production has no uniform impact on women. Although new jobs were created, women employment status remains vulnerable. Meaning, female workers are afraid of the technological redundancy, casualization of labor, as well as health and safety hazards associated with new technology. A good example of the effect of industrialization to women¿s rights is the situation in Malaysia. Although cutting edge technology, combined with restructuring, has yielded some benefits in terms of a vastly expanded network and services, better performances and economies of scale, employment situation of the majority of women still remained in the low-skilled or semi-skilled categories. In order to upgrade women employment status along with the technological advancement, open communication and cooperation of all types is needed to ensure a successful outcome.


Abstract Number of detailed geoid models have been developed to convert geodetic heights measured by the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) to heights in the Hong Kong Principal Datum (HKPD). Although gravity measurements were used to compile these geoid models, heights of leveling benchmarks in HKPD were determined from precise spirit leveling measurements but without involving gravity data. To address these inconsistencies, the orthometric heights of HKPD leveling benchmarks were determined from leveling and gravity data. Moreover, the new geoid model HKGEOID-2022 was computed and fitted with the geometric geoid heights at GNSS-leveling benchmarks derived from newly determined orthometric heights. Numerical procedures used to prepare the HKGEOID-2022 geoid are discussed in this study. A gravimetric geoid was computed by using the KTH method. A systematic bias between the gravimetric and geometric geoid heights at GNSS-leveling benchmarks was modeled and reduced by applying a 7-parameter similarity transformation. The accuracy analysis revealed that the resulting detailed geoid model HKGEOID-2022 fits the geometric geoid heights with a standard deviation of ±2.2 cm. This accuracy is compatible with the estimated uncertainties of GNSS measurements as well as with the expected accuracy of a newly developed geoid model, both at the level of approximately ±1–2 cm.


The dynamic interpretation of the serum concentrations of markers is frequently used to calculate biological indicators of therapeutic efficiency and relapse. But analysis of marker kinetics can also help improve our understanding of the natural history of different types of cancer and their evolution under treatment. This application is illustrated by an analysis of CA 125 kinetics measured in a patient with stage III ovarian cancer treated with multiple lines of chemotherapy and who had a survival time of 9 years.


Cereals in general, and particularly oatmeals, are considered rather sensitive to oxidation owing to their relatively high fat content. The addition of antioxidants can sometimes prolong the shelf-life of products. The aim of the present study was to investigate how the rate of lipid oxidation of a packaged oatmeal product was affected by the nature and level of antioxidants incorporated in an LDPE film structure. The stability of the product, which was determined by hexanal analysis using GC–MS and by electronic nose analysis, showed very small variations over the chosen storage period. No oxidation, as determined by hexanal levels in the oatmeal, was initiated during storage, but small variations in volatile profile were seen among the samples analysed by the electronic nose. The product stored in the BHT-impregnated LDPE film had undergone the least change during 10 weeks of storage at 20 °C. α-Tocopherol-impregnated LDPE film did not appear to prolong the shelf-life of the oatmeal at all.

© 2000 Society of Chemical Industry


Heat curing processes are often used to ensure the production rate in industrial plants that fabricate precast concrete elements. However, heat curing may influence the microstructural properties and as a result the durability parameters of the reinforced concrete. This paper deals with the evaluation of the influence of the heat curing process in several microstructural parameters of the concrete such as the type of micro-cracking formed and the possible delayed ettringite formation (DEF). Different types of samples, made of identical concrete composition, have been evaluated: Concrete directly cast at the plant and stored in standard curing conditions. Concrete made in the laboratory and stored in standard curing conditions. Concretes cores extracted from a precast structure made in plant, after the heat curing process. Concrete made in the laboratory, submitted to a heat curing process that reproduced the one carried out in the plant. In these concretes, two different maximum temperatures of curing have been used, 73oC and 90oC. These concretes have been studied through the evaluation of the influence of the heat curing process on several macro and microstructural parameters of the concrete such as, mechanical strength, pore size distribution, the type of micro-cracking formed and contribute with additional evidence to the consequence derived from the delayed ettringite formation (DEF). The compressive strength of the concretes has been determined at 28 days. The microstructure of the fabricated concrete samples has been evaluated by means of Back Scattered Electron Microscopy, BSEM, and X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy microanalysis, EDAX, and X-ray difraction. The total porosity and the pore size distribution of the concrete samples have been also evaluated using a Mercury Intrusion Porosimeter. To evaluate if the maximum temperature reached during the heat curing process has some after-effects in the formation of delayed or massive ettringite in the concrete matrix, the ettringite presence has been studied submitting the concrete to two different maximum temperatures of curing: 73oC and 90oC. The obtained results show that the heat curing process carried out on a precast concrete influences the physico-chemical characteristics of the concrete. Compensating measures must be considered in the concrete mix design to compensate the loss in mechanical properties associated with heat curing and in microstructure. The formation of microcraks is located in specific places: around coarse aggregates and perpendicular to paste; they are consequences of heat curing but not of the maximum temperature. The pore size is altered by the heat curing but the maximum temperature of heating has no influence. The risk of delayed ettringite formation increases with the heat temperature being critical the maximum temperature of 73oC in present work. At 90oC the ettringite formation increases with age by formation of nodules that increased microcracking in paste and filled cracks at interface with aggregates. Second International Conference on Microstructural-related Durability of Cementitious Composites, 11-13 April 2012, Amsterdam, The Netherlands


This paper analyzes the relative efficiency of a competitive equilibrium against Cournot oligopoly and monopoly equilibria when firms have diverse private information about the stochastic market demand. When firms have information of the same precision, the competitive equilibrium yields a larger expected welfare. However, when information is costly, Cournot oligopoly and monopoly firms acquire more information and, hence, may yield a larger expected welfare than the competitive firms under certain conditions. The author also finds that competitive firms acquire less than the efficient level of information while Cournot oligopoly and monopoly firms may acquire more than the efficient level. Copyright 1995 by Economics Department of the University of Pennsylvania and the Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association.


The black hole optimization (BHO) method is applied in this research to solve the problem of the optimal reactive power compensation with fixed-step capacitor banks in three-phase networks considering the phase-balancing problem simultaneously. A master–slave optimization approach based on the BHO in the master stage considers a discrete codification and the successive approximation power flow method in the slave stage. Two different evaluations are proposed to measure the impact of the shunt reactive power compensation and the phase-balancing strategies. These evaluations include a cascade solution methodology (CSM) approach and a simultaneous solution methodology (SSM). The CSM approach solves the phase-balancing problem in the first stage. This solution is implemented in the distribution network to determine the fixed-step capacitor banks installed in the second stage. In the SSM, both problems are solved using a unique codification vector. Numerical results in the IEEE 8- and IEEE 27-bus systems demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed solution methodology, where the SSM presents the better numerical results in both test feeders with reductions of about 32.27% and 33.52%, respectively, when compared with the CSM. To validate all the numerical achievements in the MATLAB programming environment, the DIgSILENT software was used for making cross-validations. Note that the selection of the DIgISLENT software is based on its wide recognition in the scientific literature and industry for making quasi-experimental validations as a previous stage to the physical implementation of any grid intervention in power and distribution networks.


In 1997, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) initiated a process to select a symmetric-key encryption algorithm to be used to protect sensitive (unclassified) Federal information in furtherance of NIST's statutory responsibilities. In 1998, NIST announced the acceptance of 15 candidate algorithms and requested the assistance of the cryptographic research community in analyzing the candidates. This analysis included an initial examination of the security and efficiency characteristics for each algorithm. NIST has reviewed the results of this research and selected five algorithms (MARS, RC6™, Rijndael, Serpent and Twofish) as finalists. The research results and rationale for the selection of the finalists are documented in this report. The five finalists will be the subject of further study before the selection of one or more of these algorithms for inclusion in the Advanced Encryption Standard.


This work aimed to evaluate yield and morphological characteristics of 'Mandirituba' chamomile capitula as functions of the use of nitrogen (3, 18, 30, 42 and 57 kg ha -1 ), in ammonia sulfate form, and semi-decomposed chicken liter (1,000; 6,000; 10,000; 14,000 and 19,000 kg ha -1 ) doses. The treatments were determined using Plan Plueba III experimental matrix, which resulted in the N and chicken litter combinations, respectively: 18/6,000; 18/14,000; 42/14,000; 30/10,000; 3/6,000; 57/14,000, 18/1,000 and 42/19,000 kg ha -1 . The experimental design used was randomized blocks with nine treatments and four replications. Plant height, total fresh and dry mass, number and height, diameter and single dry mass of capitula were evaluated. The greatest plant heights were observed in the treatments 57/14,000 kg ha -1 (37 cm) and 42/19,000 kg ha -1 (38 cm) of nitrogen and chicken litter, respectively, 85 days after transplant. The highest yield of fresh and dry mass of capitula were obtained from combinations of the greatest doses of chicken litter with nitrogen. Diameters (variation between 1.87 and 2.01 cm), heights (variation between 0.65 and 0.79 cm) and single dry mass (variation between 0.10 and 0.15 g) of capitula were not influenced by treatments.


OBJECTIVE
We analyzed the perinatal risks of midwife-attended planned home births in the United States from 2010 through 2012 and compared them with recommendations from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) for planned home births.

STUDY DESIGN
Data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics birth certificate data files from 2010 through 2012 were utilized to analyze the frequency of certain perinatal risk factors that were associated with planned midwife-attended home births in the United States and compare them with deliveries performed in the hospital by certified nurse midwives. Home birth deliveries attended by others were excluded; only planned home births attended by midwives were included. Hospital deliveries attended by certified nurse midwives served as the reference. Perinatal risk factors were those established by ACOG and AAP.

RESULTS
Midwife-attended planned home births in the United States had the following risk factors: breech presentation, 0.74% (odds ratio [OR], 3.19; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.87-3.56); prior cesarean delivery, 4.4% (OR, 2.08; 95% CI, 2.0-2.17); twins, 0.64% (OR, 2.06; 95% CI, 1.84-2.31); and gestational age 41 weeks or longer, 28.19% (OR, 1.71; 95% CI, 1.68-1.74). All 4 perinatal risk factors were significantly higher among midwife-attended planned home births when compared with certified nurse midwives-attended hospital births, and 3 of 4 perinatal risk factors were significantly higher in planned home births attended by non-American Midwifery Certification Board (AMCB)-certified midwives (other midwives) when compared with home births attended by certified nurse midwives. Among midwife-attended planned home births, 65.7% of midwives did not meet the ACOG and AAP recommendations for certification by the American Midwifery Certification Board.

CONCLUSION
At least 30% of midwife-attended planned home births are not low risk and not within clinical criteria set by ACOG and AAP, and 65.7% of planned home births in the United States are attended by non-AMCB certified midwives, even though both AAP and ACOG state that only AMCB-certified midwives should attend home births.


Geological sequestration of CO2 in the pore space of subsurface rock formations offers a safe and permanent carbon storage solution. In this work, we present the application of a pore-scale flow simulator to the study of CO2 storage in geological formations. We model the rock pore space geometry, extracted from high-resolution X-ray microtomography images of suitable rocks as a network of connected capillaries. Assuming piston-like flow within each capillary and conservation of mass at each network node, a large system of equations can be solved to compute properties like pressure distribution or flow rate at each point in the network. Multi-phase flow simulations track the displacement in time of the fluid interface within each capillary. These dynamic simulations on the high-resolution capillary network representation of the rock are very computationally costly. Alternatively, analysis is carried out on the aggregate results of multiple two-phase flow simulations on several statistically equivalent capillary network models of the rock sample, which retain topological properties of the original at a significantly lower computational cost. We performed a sensitivity analysis with respect to multiple fluid parameters, such as viscosity, interfacial tension, contact angle, pressure, and temperature, and quantify their influence on the infiltration and retention of CO2 inside a capillary network that is representative of an actual rock.


Transfusion‐related acute lung injury (TRALI) is the most common cause of death from blood transfusion and red blood cells (RBCs) now account for approximately 50% of these fatalities. RBCs from female donors have been implicated in large series and HLA Class II antibodies to cognate recipient antigens identified in small series and case reports. The absolute volume of residual plasma in these RBCs is unknown.


There was no evidence that shelter conveyed a metabolic advantage to the false clown anemonefish Amphiprion ocellaris in terms of standard and routine rates of oxygen uptake. The metabolic and fitness benefit of shelter might not, therefore, be widespread among all fish species.


The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action 'Global Mobility of Employees' (GLOMO) strives for a comprehensive investigation of global mobility into EU countries and within the EU and its impact on international careers.
 Using qualitative and quantitative research methods, 15 early-stage researchers and their supervisors explore the conditions for career mobility and advancement among self-initiated expatriates in Europe.
 The studies analyse key variables at the micro level of individual employees, meso level variables across a sample of different companies and macro-level factors capturing different institutional contexts at the national level.


Safety critical systems must satisfy stringent safety standards and there development requires the use of specialist safe software system development (SSSD) approaches as the complexity and penetration of these systems increases. These SSSD approaches satisfy certain useful properties that make them suitable for safety system development. The first objective of this thesis is to select a candidate SSSD approach and evaluate its capabilities against a set of useful properties identified from reviewing a group of existing SSSD approaches, and thus show that this candidate SSSD approach is appropriate for use in safety system development.

In addition, a second objective is to use this candidate SSSD approach to improve the early life cycle phase of an existing industrial safety development process used to develop embedded avionics applications. In particular to allow issues to be resolved earlier in the development, which are currently not being uncovered until much later in the development when they are much more difficult and expensive to correct. This involved the identification of further properties and issues that the candidate SSSD approach must address.

The overall aim is to demonstrate that this candidate SSSD approach can be used in the early phase of a safety system development to derive a validated specification that can be subjected to safety analysis to show that it satisfies the identified system safety properties and thus forms a viable basis for the rest of the development.


Immunomodulatory protein hydrolysate consumption may delay or prevent western immune-related diseases. In order to purposively develop protein hydrolysates with an optimal and reproducible immunomodulatory effect, knowledge is needed on which components in protein hydrolysates are responsible for the immune effects. Important advances have been made on this aspect. Also, knowledge on mechanisms underlying the immune modulating effects is indispensable. In this review, we discuss the most promising application possibilities for immunomodulatory protein hydrolysates. In order to do so, an overview is provided on reported in vivo immune effects of protein hydrolysates in both local intestinal and systemic organs, and the current insights in the underlying mechanisms of these effects. Furthermore, we discuss current knowledge and physicochemical approaches to identify the immune active protein sequence(s). We conclude that multiple hydrolysate compositions show specific immune effects. This knowledge can improve the efficacy of existing hydrolysate-containing products such as sports nutrition, clinical nutrition, and infant formula. We also provide arguments for why immunomodulatory protein hydrolysates could be applied to manage the immune response in the increasing number of individuals with a higher risk of immune dysfunction due to, for example, increasing age or stress.


Merging galaxy clusters may provide a unique window into the behavior of dark matter and the evolution of member galaxies. To interpret these natural collider experiments, we must account for how much time has passed since pericenter passage (TSP), the maximum relative speed of the merging subclusters, merger phase (outbound after first pericenter or returning for second pericenter), and other dynamical parameters that are not directly observable. These quantities are often inferred from staged simulations or analytical timing arguments that include neither substructure, nor large-scale structure, nor a cosmologically motivated range of impact parameters. We include all these effects by extracting dynamical parameters from analog systems in a cosmological n-body simulation, and we present constraints for 11 observed systems. The TSP and viewing angles we derive are consistent with those of staged hydrodynamical simulations, but we find lower maximum speeds. Compared to the analytical MCMAC method, we find lower TSP and viewing angles that put the separation vector closer to the plane of the sky; we attribute this to the MCMAC assumption of zero pericenter distance. We discuss potential extensions to the basic analog method, as well as complementarities between methods.


Purpose
Using service-based logic as its theoretical lens, this study aims to approach residents' place satisfaction in a novel way. The purpose is to explore residents' perception of the place in which they live and to shed new light on their place satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on explorative qualitative focus group research. Data were collected in two typical municipalities in southern Sweden. The sampling procedure was purposive, resulting in six focus groups, consisting of a total of 33 residents. The empirical material was transcribed and analyzed using a structured content analysis inspired by grounded theory.

Findings
A model for understanding residents' perceptions of what constitutes a good place to live is introduced. The model shows that many value propositions are produced in the provider sphere, independent of the user, for example by the municipality or the business sector. Other value propositions are co-created in a joint sphere, meaning that the user is actively involved in the production of these value propositions. The resident then uses different value propositions to create value-in-use in the resident sphere, independent of the provider, and to co-create value-in-use in the joint sphere.

Originality/value
The study creates a bridge between the stream of research on place satisfaction and studies that take stakeholders and co-creation into consideration; it shifts from the prevalent provider perspective on place branding and static place attributes to a focus on the relationship between users and providers.


Urban agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has gained momentum in recent years in terms of research and policy, as well as in practical terms. The paradox of accelerated urbanization and the increase in urban agriculture in developing countries is widely recognized. More than ever before, urban residents all over the developing world are cultivating urban plots and/or keeping animals to sustain their livelihoods. This volume looks at urban farming in the Kenyan town of Nakuru and is based on surveys and in-depth studies carried out by various researchers, including Kenyan Masters students, 1999-2002. It considers farming techniques (crops and yields, animal production and rearing systems), socioeconomic aspects of urban farming (income, food supply, employment, assistance to urban farmers) and the environmental issues involved, and there is also a chapter on school farming. Specific attention is paid to urban farming in relation to poverty, with the conclusion being that those who depend on urban agriculture the most are, in fact, benefiting the least from it. [ASC Leiden abstract]


The effects of changes in the calcium ion concentration in the medium bathing single beating cultured chick embryo ventricular cells were determined using an electro-optical monitoring technique for measuring the amplitude and velocity of cell wall motion. Although single cells showed significant decreases in the amplitude and velocity of cell wall motion during contraction when the calcium ion concentration was lowered from 1.8 mM to 0.9 raM, there were no significant changes in these parameters when the concentration was increased from 1.8 mM to 3.6 mM. Ventricular strips obtained from embryos of the same age showed positive inotropic responses to an increase in the external calcium ion concentration from 1.8 mM to 3.6 mM, and the magnitude of this response increased with increasing embryonic age. These results suggest that there is a reduced positive inotropic responsiveness in young chick embryo ventricular cells, which is particularly marked in the single cultured cell preparation because of the tendency of culturing techniques to select out immature cell populations.


The objective of this article is to make a comparison in a computational environment between an alternating current motor and a direct current motor is made for dynamic variations in the propulsion of an artisanal fishing boat. Initially, the boat was simulated in the Maxsurf software to obtain the dynamic behaviors for pitching, rolling, yawing, and heave motions with wind and wave perturbations for a Pierson Moskowitz spectrum. Subsequently, the motors are selected and in Matlab/Simulink software and a torque behavior required by the vessel to act on the resistance presented in each dynamic motion is proposed. This allows for analyzing the required mechanical and electrical conditions, using the curves obtained in the simulation. Finally, it is concluded that taking into account the criteria of torque, power, speed, and current, the results obtained show that the DC motor is more efficient than the three-phase AC motor for artisanal fishing vessel applications. In addition, the two motors require greater effort to overcome the disturbance related to the rolling motion in the steady-state, while in the transient state the DC motor requires a higher starting torque and the AC motor presents oscillations, which are undesirable disturbances because they produce instability in the electrical system. Additionally, it is important to take into account the energy source that feeds the motors, which can be alternating current or direct current.


The nature and formation of smoke and its combustion were investigated. Smoke, which consist of tiny mesomorphous crystals tightly packed into popcorn-ball-like particles that agglomerate to give filaments, was found to contain about 5 percent of the hydrogen originally present in the fuel. Factors affecting smoke formation were studied in both diffusion flames and premixed Bunsen flames. It is suggested that smoking tendency increases with increasing stability of the carbon skeleton of the molecule, as determined by relative bond strength.


Objective: To study the abnormality of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in enteric fever among children and to test the association between raised alanine aminotransferase with antibiotics resistance.
Study Design: A descriptive prospective study.
Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Pediatric department of KRL Hospital, Islamabad from October 2018 to March 2020.
Material and Methods: A total of 100 patients were enrolled as per inclusion criteria. Detailed clinical history was taken and physical examination was done. Laboratory tests i.e. full blood count, liver function tests and blood culture were performed to validate the inclusion, exclusion criteria and to collect the data of required variables mentioned in structured proforma.
Results: Out of 100 culture-proven typhoid fever patients, 57% were male and 43% female. The average age was 7.79 ± 3.3 years. Raised alanine aminotransferase (>45 U/l) was observed in 60%. The alanine aminotransferase is raised in at least 51% of the population having typhoid fever with p-value 0.035. The results also showed that the proportion of extensive drug resistant (XDR) typhoid is greater in the patients having raised alanine aminotransferase as compared to the patients having normal alanine aminotransferase with p-value 0.003.
Conclusion: On the basis of our study, we concluded that high alanine aminotransferase is related with enteric fever. We also observed that those having raised alanine aminotransferase have more chances of extensive drug resistant typhoid.


In the present work, we have developed a rapid, one step, calcination-free protocol for the synthesis of uniform spherical Cu/Cu2O nano/microparticles (NMPs). The synthesis of Cu/Cu2O NMPs was achieved by microwave irradiation of copper acetate as a precursor and 1,4-butanediol as a solvent in a few minutes. The prepared Cu/Cu2O NMPs gave 100% yield of uniform spherical morphology. 1,4-Butanediol plays a crucial role in reactions such as a solvent, reactant, stabilizer and capping agent which control the crystal morphology. The resultant product was characterized with the help of different techniques such as XRD, FEG-SEM, EDS, TEM, FT-IR, TPR, DSC-TGA, XPS and BET surface area analysis. The results confirm that the Cu/Cu2O NMPs had good crystallinity and were essentially pure. This is a simple, faster, inexpensive and additive-free protocol for synthesis of nanocrystalline Cu/Cu2O compared to the conventional method. These Cu/Cu2O NMPs showed excellent catalytic activity in the Buchwald–Hartwig amination coupling reaction. Notably the reaction does not require any ligand source, and requires low catalyst loading, and low temperature with catalyst recyclability.


Ensuring drug safety for pregnant women through prescription drug monitoring is essential. The aim of this study was to describe the prescription pattern of medicines among pregnant immigrant women from countries with high migratory pressure (HMPCs) compared to pregnant Italian women. The prevalence of drug prescriptions among the two study populations was analysed through record linkage procedures applied to the administrative databases of eight Italian regions, from 2016 to 2018. The overall prevalence of drug prescription was calculated considering all women who received at least one prescription during the study period. Immigrants had a lower prevalence of drug prescriptions before (51.0% vs. 58.6%) and after pregnancy (55.1% vs. 60. 3%). Conversely, during pregnancy, they obtained a slightly higher number of prescriptions (74.9% vs. 72.8%). The most prescribed class of drugs was the blood and haematopoietic organs category (category ATC B) (56.4% vs. 45.9%, immigrants compared to Italians), followed by antimicrobials (31.3% vs. 33.7%). Most prescriptions were appropriate, while folic acid administration 3 months before conception was low for both study groups (3.9% immigrants and 6.2% Italians). Progesterone seemingly was prescribed against early pregnancy loss, more frequently among Italians (16.5% vs. 8.1% immigrants). Few inappropriate medications were prescribed among antihypertensives, statins and anti-inflammatory drugs in both study groups.


We introduce and discuss a new class of solutions of the Dorokhov–Mello–Pereyra–Kumar (DMPK) equation in which some of the eigenvalues are grouped into clusters which are conserved in the asymptotic large distance limit (i.e. as the length of the wire increases). We give an explicit expression for the asymptotic expansion of these solutions and suggest some possible applications. In particular, these new solutions could be useful for avoiding the quasi-one-dimensional constraint in the DMPK equation and for studying the crossover between the metallic and insulating phases.


B cells play an important role in antigen presentation and antibody production. However, they appear to exhibit suppressive function inhibiting autoimmune responses in mice. Yet, it remains unknown whether regulatory B cells exist or participate in cancer progression. Here, we demonstrate that a unique B cel subset is induced from resting B cells by cancer cells. These B cells, designated as tumor Bregs (tBregs), are poorly proliferative and express high level of IL-2Rα. The major function of tBregs is to suppress T cell responses, as they efficiently and in dose dependent manner inhibits a proliferation of T cells stimulated with anti-CD3/28 beads. The suppressive activity of tBregs is a cell contact-dependent, but Fas/FasL- and PD1/B7H1-independent, and unlike any other reported regulatory cells, does not require soluble factors such as IL-2, IL-10, TGFβ, IL-27 and IL-35. Importantly, we show for the first time, tBregs induce a conversion of Tregs from non-regulatory CD4+ T cells. Taken together, tBregs are an important and distinct subset of regulatory cells which promote cancer escape and metastasis through direct and indirect (via Tregs) suppression of cellular responses. This work was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Aging, NIH.


This paper introduces a new P wave arrival time determination algorithm of acoustic emission (AE) suitable to identify P waves with low signal-to-noise ratio generated in rock masses around the high-level radioactive waste disposal repositories. The algorithms adopted for this paper were amplitude threshold picker, Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), two step AIC, and Hinkley criterion. The elastic waves were generated by Pencil Lead Break test on a granite sample, then mixed with white noise to make it difficult to distinguish P wave artificially. The results obtained from amplitude threshold picker, AIC, and Hinkley criterion produced relatively large error due to the low signal-to-noise ratio. On the other hand, two step AIC algorithm provided the correct results regardless of white noise so that the accuracy of source localization was more improved and could be satisfied with the error range.


Dendritic cells (DCs) bridge the connection between innate and adaptive immunity. DCs present antigens to T cells and stimulate potent cytotoxic T‐cell responses. Metabolic reprogramming is critical for DC development and activation; however, metabolic adaptations and regulation in DC subsets remains largely uncharacterized. Here, we mapped metabolomic and lipidomic signatures associated with the activation phenotype of human conventional DC type 1, a DC subset specialized in cross‐presentation and therefore of major importance for the stimulation of CD8+ T cells. Our metabolomics and lipidomic analyses showed that Toll‐like receptor (TLR) stimulation altered glycerolipids and amino acids in cDC1. Poly I:C or pRNA stimulation reduced triglycerides and cholesterol esters, as well as various amino acids. Moreover, TLR stimulation reduced expression of glycolysis‐regulating genes and did not induce glycolysis. Conversely, cDC1 exhibited increased mitochondrial content and oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) upon TLR3 or TLR7/8 stimulation. Our findings highlight the metabolic adaptations required for cDC1 maturation.


At a time when most African countries are characterised as 'strong societies and weak states', the tendency to afford the state 'ontological primacy' in explaining the nature of African political economy is being challenged. One manifestation of this has been a shift in scholarly attention to those intermediary and autonomous organisations which function and sometimes flourish in the space that exists between the state and the household – namely, the various groups which comprise 'civil society'.


Taxis has been reported in many cells and microorganisms, due to their tendency to migrate toward favorable physical situations and avoid damage and death. Thermotaxis and chemotaxis are two of the major types of taxis that naturally occur on a daily basis. Understanding the details of the thermo- and chemotactic behavioral response of cells and microorganisms is necessary to reveal the body function, diagnosing diseases and developing therapeutic treatments. Considering the length-scale and range of effectiveness of these phenomena, advances in microfluidics have facilitated taxis experiments and enhanced the precision of controlling and capturing microscale samples. Microfabrication of fluidic chips could bridge the gap between in vitro and in situ biological assays, specifically in taxis experiments. Numerous efforts have been made to develop, fabricate and implement novel microchips to conduct taxis experiments and increase the accuracy of the results. The concepts originated from thermo- and chemotaxis, inspired novel ideas applicable to microfluidics as well, more specifically, thermocapillarity and chemocapillarity (or solutocapillarity) for the manipulation of single- and multi-phase fluid flows in microscale and fluidic control elements such as valves, pumps, mixers, traps, etc. This paper starts with a brief biological overview of the concept of thermo- and chemotaxis followed by the most recent developments in microchips used for thermo- and chemotaxis experiments. The last section of this review focuses on the microfluidic devices inspired by the concept of thermo- and chemotaxis. Various microfluidic devices that have either been used for, or inspired by thermo- and chemotaxis are reviewed categorically.


Cord Blood Transplantation (CBT) has a significantly lower incidence of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) compared to marrow or peripheral blood transplantation (1). There are largely unknown T-cell silencing factors involving in the less severe GVHD after CBT. Sorg et al. highlighted the lower functional capacity of the Cord Blood Dendritic Cells (CBDCs) (2). The available evidence shows that there are a multitude of differences between CBDCs and PBDCs: CBDCs are in general functionally immature with low expression of costimulatory molecules, deficient in interleukin-12 (IL-12) production, less effective in stimulating T-cell proliferation, and therefore favoring immune tolerance (3). In this study, we have approached the low risk of GVHD in CBT from a new angle by focusing on DC-derived Nitric Oxide (NO) which has recently been shown to inhibit T cell proliferation and induce T cell apoptosis (4). We designed experiments to determine whether an increase in NO synthesis in CBDCs plays a protective role in severe GVHD and evaluated NO production in Mixed Leukocyte Reaction (MLR) using pure populations of CBDCs and PBDCs. A total of 14 samples of fresh CBDCs and PBDCs were isolated as lineage-negative cells according to a slightly modified protocol described previously (5). Using a cocktail of PE conjugated anti-lineage markers (CD3, CD19, CD34, CD16, CD56, CD14, CD11b, and CD66b), FITC conjugated anti-HLA-DR monoclonal antibodies, and flow cytometric analysis, the frequency of Lin HLA-DR cells (DCs) was determined to be 58.5 ± 4.5 % and 45 ± 12 % of enriched cells from PB and CB, respectively.


Cocoa is one of the potential agricultural resources in Indonesia but still lacks the attention of stakeholders to get the best economic value. It is important to encourage the cocoa business industry to capture opportunities in the cocoa processing business in the future. Taman Teknologi Pertanian in Nglanggeran is an SME that is also a business incubator that has produced various chocolate products. The design used in this research was explanatory research with the process of data collection through interviews, observation, and questionnaires. This analysis consists of two steps of weighting and prioritizing. The weighted score of the IFE and EFE matrix is (2.5671; 3.1132). SWOT diagram is used to determine the current position of the company which is on the second quadrant (1.1895;-0.0460) which refers to the S-T strategy. The chosen strategy triggered to do diversification strategy as doing product innovation gradually according to consumer needs. Concentric diversification for internal can be done by utilizing cocoa peel waste as scrubs, whereas, concentric diversification for external can be done by developing agro-tourism. These strategies support sustainability in the area.


In this paper, we report a piezoelectric deformable mirror composed of high-density actuator array for low-voltage adaptive optics. A piezoelectric Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PZT) film was deposited on a Pt-coated silicon on insulator (SOI) substrate, and a diaphragm structure of 15 mm in diameter was fabricated by etching a Si handle wafer. A hexagonal 61-element unimorph actuator array was produced with an Al or Au reflective layer over the backside of the diaphragm. In order to reduce the dead space for the lead lines between the actuators, they were prepared on the polyimide insulating layer. The displacement of each actuator was measure by using a laser Doppler vibrometer and we confirmed a relatively large displacement of more than 1 mum by applying a voltage of 10 Vpp.


This chapter explains the rules governing the legal and evidential burdens of proof that decide which party has the responsibility of proving a fact in issue to the court. It then discusses the degree of persuasiveness the evidence must attain to satisfy the appropriate standard of proof including the test for a successful submission of no case to answer and considers the human rights issues in those exceptional situations where the accused has the legal burden of proof. For both the prosecution and the defence, the rules that allocate the burden of proof and the degree of proof are fundamental to the outcome of a case at trial.


This paper presents a single-pass bit allocation and rate control method for H.264. We first present an R-Q model which can estimate the frame codingcomplexity before macroblock mode selection. Based on our R-Q model, a single-pass slice layer rate control scheme is developed, including bit allocation of the frame layer and the slice layer. At last, to enhance our rate control scheme with greater accuracy, we propose a fine rate control method based on mode selection by optimizing the Lagrange multiplier. The experiments show that compared to JVT-E069 and JVT-G012 proposed to JVT (Joint Video Coding Expert Group), our methodcan control the bit rate more accurately and obtain a higher PSNR. When the three schemes applied to the sequence with scene changes the PSNR of this paper is improved by 0.2~0.4dB.


BACKGROUND
The World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund promote integration of maternal and child health (MCH) and immunization services as a strategy to strengthen immunization programs. We updated our previous review of integrated programs and reviewed reports of integration of MCH services with immunization programs at the service delivery level.

METHODS
Published and unpublished reports of interventions integrating MCH and immunization service delivery were reviewed by searching journal databases and Web sites and by contacting organizations.

RESULTS
Among 27 integrated activities, interventions included hearing screening, human immunodeficiency virus services, vitamin A supplementation, deworming tablet administration, malaria treatment, bednet distribution, family planning, growth monitoring, and health education. When reported, linked intervention coverage increased, though not to the level of the corresponding immunization coverage in all cases. Logistical difficulties, time-intensive interventions ill suited for campaign delivery, concern for harming existing services, inadequate overlap of target age groups, and low immunization coverage were identified as challenges.

CONCLUSIONS
Results of this review reinforce our 2005 review findings, including importance of intervention compatibility and focus on immunization program strength. Ensuring proper planning and awareness of compatibility of service delivery requirements were found to be important. The review revealed gaps in information about costs, comparison to vertical delivery, and impact on all integrated interventions that future studies should aim to address.


This editorial lays out the editors' vision for Volume 57 of the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy: to provide rich research, review a variety of print and digital texts for adolescents and adults and highlight diverse perspectives across departments regarding literacies learning and education. Also, the JAAL editors continue to cultivate active engagement of JAAL readers as both consumers and producers in the JAAL community through JAAL's Facebook page. Further, editors continue the inclusion of multimedia material through feature article video clips and podcasts.


The research aims to develop a controlling intangible assets model on secondary irrigation system management. The method used in this research consists of three stages: model development, collecting the data, and testing of models. Two stages were done in model development; the first stage was building the model of controlling intangible assets in irrigation system management using neuro-fuzzy system, which had three sub models: (i) knowledge management, (ii) intangible assets, and (iii) performance of irrigation system. The second stage was evaluating the model at Molek irrigation system in Malang, East Java. Data collection were done by questionnaire and interview on employees of Kepanjen Irrigation Office. Data analysis was done using Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System. The model was evaluated using correlation coefficient, Mean Absolute Percentage Error and Root Mean Square Error. The result indicated that the model of controlling intangible assets in irrigation system management could predict the intangible assets and performance of irrigation system. The model linked to knowledge management, intangible assets and performance of irrigation system. Knowledge management was described into four main components: (i) learning organization, (ii) principle of organization, (iii) policies and strategies of organization, and (iv) information and communication technology which control intangible assets on irrigation system. Intangible assets consist of moral intelligence, emotional intelligence, creative attitude, and institutional culture which controlling effectiveness of irrigation system. It can be concluded that the controlling model of intangible assets irrigation systems which built with the principles of neuro-fuzzy can predict the intangible assets and irrigation system performance keywords: Model, Intangible Assets, Controlling, Irrigation System.


The time domain response of uniform RC lines with RC termination at both ends is obtained from the approximate poles of the transfer function. A simple model is developed for the URC line. The model consists of three passive elements only and can be easily implemented for computer-aided analysis of URC lines with RC termination at both ends.