Wound healing is one of the most complex biological processes. Studies show that Matrixyl (MTI), known as a cosmetic peptide, can lead to a faster healing process. The contribution of MTI to collagen formation during wound healing also depends on its mode of delivery and its release over time. Here, we investigate two modes of MTI-delivery system, the influence of MTI patch for wound healing application in comparison with MTI cream. In this study, animals were randomly divided into seven groups and studied for 21 days: patches containing two different concentrations of MTI (P-MTI-0.1 mg and P-MTI-1 mg), a cream containing MTI (C-MTI-1 mg), a patch (P-MTI-0), a cream with no MTI (C-MTI-0), a positive control (Comfeel), and a negative control (sham) group. To study the wound healing process, the change in collagen density, angiogenesis, epitheliogenesis, histopathology, immunohistochemical analysis, and wound area through imaging was monitored and measured. The macroscopic results showed that wound healing was improved from 63.5 up to 81.81% in treatment groups compared to that in the negative control group (P < 0.05 and P < 0.001). In addition, C-MTI-1 and P-MTI-1 had a larger impact on wound healing compared to that in the positive control group (Comfeel, P < 0.05). In hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining analysis, the rejuvenation of skin appendage was visible in both groups of cream and patches with MTI. According to the obtained results, the re-epithelialization had a higher range for the patch with MTI in comparison with cream containing MTI and positive control.


Binary trust-region steepest descent (BTR) and combinatorial integral
approximation (CIA) are two recently investigated approaches for the solution
of optimization problems with distributed binary-/discrete-valued variables
(control functions). We show improved convergence results for BTR by imposing a
compactness assumption that is similar to the convergence theory of CIA. As a
corollary we conclude that BTR also constitutes a descent algorithm on the
continuous relaxation and its iterates converge weakly-$^*$ to stationary
points of the latter. We provide computational results that validate our
findings. In addition, we observe a regularizing effect of BTR, which we
explore by means of a hybridization of CIA and BTR.


A scanning acoustic and photoacoustic microscope is demonstrated. The laser illumination and ultrasound detection in the system are co-axial. Pulsed light from a tunable optical parametric oscillator (OPO) laser is delivered to the scan tank via optical fiber. Multiple acoustic transducers with center frequencies varying from 5 MHz to 25 MHz are utilized. Images of a pig kidney (ex vivo) and a microcalcification phantom (eggshells embedded in agarose) are shown.


As the automobility has heavily penetrated the daily time-space routines of urban population, the research on its imprints on social life becomes highly relevant. Its influence is, however, not universal over the world as there are multiple automobility development trajectories conditioning various spatial and temporal arrangements of urban patterns. Moreover, public transport is often seen as an alternative for daily-routine mobility. The topic of automobility and its relations with public transport is discussed here from the specific post-socialist perspective of the Czech Republic, the Central European country, while using the city of Brno as a case study. The aim of this paper is to critically address the issue of mutual relations between car and public transport as both of them have many unavoidable and often tiny (dis)advantages. The research is focused on the experience of people who recently gained/lost competence to drive or use a car. The conducted analysis is empirically based on the detailed results of semi-structured interviews. The changes of spatio-temporal routines and related aspects of human behaviour can be thus revealed and interpreted as a consequence of a recent experience with the modal change. Its broader geographic contextualization thus offers a unique opportunity to better understand the pros and cons of investigated transport modes. The findings indicate that the car cannot be replaced by the public transport easily even in a place with very effective system of public transport (Brno, Czech Republic) mainly due to specific spatial and time contexts where the car seems to be irreplaceable.


A lower historical understanding of abstract historical facts and concepts in historical events is a challenge for low-achieving students. In fact, memorizing facts from textbooks causes students do not to understand the meaning behind historical events that make the process of teaching and learning history unattractive and teacher-centered. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify whether the achievement of historical understanding can be enhanced through the Sources-Peer Instruction method introduced in history subjects for lower achievement students. This study was conducted in a rural category secondary school in state of Perlis which involving a total of 31 Form Four lower achievement grade students that are selected using purposeful sampling techniques. Kemmis and McTaggart models, (1988) are used in the design of action studies in this study which involve quantitative and qualitative data collection through pre-test, post-test and extended post-test achievement of historical understanding test, interviews and observations. The findings of the study showed that there was higher improvement in the historical understanding of post-test and extended post- tests for lower achievement students via using the Sources-Peer Instruction method. Feedback from interviews and observations also support the findings of this study. It is hoped that the Sources-Peer Instruction method should be extended to all other levels of form, including to primary schools with different topics that enable the process of teaching and learning of history to be more fun and effective.


Cromolyn is a prototype of a new series of drugs, the pharmacologic activities of which may offer an entirely new approach in the treatment of asthma. Whereas bronchodilator drugs and steroids act primarily at tissue sites to counteract the effects of various toxic mediators released from tissue mast cells, cromolyn prevents the release of such mediators from mast cell membranes. The advent of cromolyn sodium therapy has been recognized as a significant advance by the pharmaceutical industry, which is rapidly developing a series of cromolyn-like drugs with similar properties. Many of these compounds are active orally, and some preliminary investigations suggest that they also could be clinically effective. Cromolyn has therapeutic value in immunologic and nonimmunologically induced bronchospasm, being particularly suited for conditions amenable to long-term prophylactic therapy. The risk-to-benefit ratio of cromolyn sodium therapy is excellent. Cromolyn sodium is an important adjunct in the treatment of asthma. By topical administration the drug has been effective in seasonal and perennial rhinoconjunctivitis and in selected cases of gastrointestinal allergy to foods.


We have previously demonstrated that reaching latency is affected by the direction of a preceding arm movement; reaches in the same direction have greater latency than reaches in opposite directions (Cowper-Smith et al., 2013). Under constant loading conditions, the direction of reaching is directly related to the muscles activated to produce the movement; as such, it is unclear if the effect we observed is due to movement direction (kinematics) or to muscle recruitment (dynamics). In the present study, participants completed pairs of arm movements to the left or right of centre; randomly, direction was the same or different for each pair. The first movement was made with a rubber band on the wrist pulling to the left, right, or neither side, whereas the second was always made without the band. Latencies were greater for same direction compared to opposite direction movements, regardless of the direction of pull from the rubber band. This indicates that the interaction between arm movements occurs at the level of kinematics rather than dynamics, possibly arising from motor control centres encoding intended movement trajectory. Acknowledgments: Funded by NSERC (Westwood).


Conventional in vitro assays are based on cells grown on two-dimensional (2D) substrates, which are not representative of the true in vivo cell environment. In tissue environments, cells interact with neighboring cells and the extracellular matrix (ECM). Three-dimensional (3D) cell culture methods allow cells to grow in structures more resembling the in vivo environment. Cells can develop cell-cell and cell-ECM interactions in 3D.


We review evidence from our published and ongoing research that disclosing conflicts of interest has unintended consequences, helping conflicted advisors and harming their advisees: With disclosure, advisors feel comfortable giving more biased advice, but advisees do not properly adjust for this and generally fail to sufficiently discount biased advice. Disclosure also increases pressure on advisees to comply with advice; following disclosure, advisees feel more uncomfortable in turning down advice (e.g., it signals distrust of the advisor's motives). Finally, we examine the effectiveness of policy interventions aimed at reducing these unintended consequences and discuss how to realize potential benefits of disclosure.


Splicing technology is used to create fuselage panels due to the maximum width of the aluminium sheets of 60 inches as a result of the production process. A set of designing rules is required for the design of a spliced Glare fuselage resulting in a significant increase in complexity. Friction stir welding of the thin aluminium sheets in Glare results in larger Glare panels where the maximum dimensions are limited by the size of the autoclave. FSW Glare could result in reduced weight and production cost, and perhaps as well as having enhanced mechanical properties. But welding defects could occur which will compromise fatigue properties. Fatigue and damage tolerant properties of FSW Glare with welding defects are investigated, and recommendations are given in this thesis. Friction stir welding generally does not produce defects that are common to conventional welding technologies, such as warping and porosity. Instead unique defects can occur, such as the zig zag curve or lazy S defect, where the oxide particles of the aluminium are present in a concentrated form. Another typical form of defect is the tunnel defect, also know as the channel, cavity, or void defect. A physical channel is present in the cross section of the weld, which is not visible looking at the surface of the welded sheet. A similar defect is the groove defect where the absence of material is at the surface which makes it visible and tangible. Nevertheless, friction stir welding is a robust process where a wide range of welding parameters result in a defect free weld. Friction stir welding results in much more favourable fatigue properties compared to conventional welding methods, and S-N data lie well above the FAT40 design curve. Welding parameters, such as welding speed and tool pressure, as well as tool geometry play an important role in fatigue properties. Defects as a result of improper welding parameters have a large impact on fatigue properties. Surface properties of the weld also impact fatigue properties; post machining the rough surface results in improvements. Static properties are also favourable with friction stir welding. Two sets of FSW sheets with a welding defect are available for testing both in single sheet and FML form. Artificially damaged sheets are produced to model a welding defect and tested in both single sheet and FML form. This data is compared to standard 2024-T3 in single sheet form, and standard Glare in FML form. Both fatigue and static tests are performed. The Ccg and ncg coefficients derived from the single sheet 2024-T3 specimens deviate quite a lot from the Ccg and ncg coefficients derived from the Forman equation. Using the latter would have resulted in inaccurate comparisons of other single sheet FSW and Artificial Defect specimens. The single sheet FSW 0.3 – 0.4 mm specimens have a kissing bond defect, which resulted in degradation of fatigue performance. This defect was present, even though the welds on the sheets looked flawless. The single sheet FSW defect specimens show a significant drop in fatigue properties, but that is primarily due to the reduced cross section thickness of the weld. Correcting this data to the real thickness, or real stress, results in a substantial improvement, where some specimens even have the same fatigue properties as that of standard single sheet 2024-T3. The results are surprisingly favourable considering the visual state of the FSW sheets. The single sheet Artificial Defect groove specimens show the most reduction in fatigue properties. Standard Glare has a shorter crack initiation life than single sheet 2024-T3, but a much longer crack growth life resulting in an approximate doubled fatigue life. The worst case scenario is tested with the FML Artificial Defect severed weld specimens. Fatigue life is comparable to single sheet 2024-T3 at high stress amplitude, but fatigue properties are comparable to standard Glare at low stress amplitude. All other FML types perform between these two types of FMLs. The biggest degradation in fatigue occurs at high stress amplitude, whereas fatigue performance is comparable to standard Glare at low stress amplitude. The exception is FML 0.3 – 0.4 mm, which even performs slightly better than standard Glare. The reason is that the cross section of the centre FSW sheet was 0.35 millimetres, whereas it is considered as if it were only 0.3 mm. Fatigue properties of different types of material is much smaller in FML form than in single sheet form. The FMLgrow model predicts the fatigue life most accurately at low stress amplitude with a fatigue life that is 70% of the measured value. The least accurate prediction is at high stress amplitude with a fatigue life that is about 25% compared to the tested specimen. Crack initiation in the centre layer of the FML occurred only faster than in the outer aluminium layers with the Artificial Defect groove specimens, where the groove acts as a stress riser. The centre fatigue crack in this case is not longer than the fatigue crack in the outer aluminium layers when the latter reaches its final value of 2a = 50 millimetres. This is visible in the C-scan result where the delamination pattern doesn't exceed the final crack length value in the outer layer. The outer crack, after initiation, catches up with the centre crack, and then all cracks continue to grow at the same rate. Crack growth rate in FML reduces after initiation to reach a minimum value before increasing again. Crack bridging is less efficient when cracks are small, and the discontinuity due to the notch are the reasons for this initial high crack growth rate before reducing to a minimum value. Exponential growth as a function of half crack length was observed in the FML specimens, resulting in the following expression: da/dN=C_exp·a Cexp is an intrinsic fatigue property of an FML as are the Ccg and ncg coefficients for single sheet. Different basic fatigue calculations can be performed. Modeling and understanding of crack growth in Glare can be facilitated knowing this relation, since exponential growth is an intrinsic fatigue property in an FML. Plotting the logarithmic Cexp as a function of linear Sa yields a relation similar to the S-N relation. Exploration of the FMLgrow model to account for the differences between its predictions and measured data resulted in the understanding that the Alderliesten model is flawed due to interdependency of the aluminium layer with the glass fibre in the (W-2a) region, resulting in an incorrect Kfarfield. Ktip?Kfarfield+Kbridging Glare is considered as a structure where the primary load is carried solely by the aluminium sheets. Hence the feasibility of FSW Glare is based on the fatigue properties of FSW single sheet. Single sheet FSW with a defect shows more degradation in fatigue performance than the FML variant. Therefore using single sheet performance to evaluate feasibility of FSW Glare result in a stricter selection of what defects can and cannot be tolerated. At the same time will the stricter selection not result in a heavier structure; only damage tolerance will benefit. 90% of the initiation and crack growth life of 2024-T3 is chosen as an arbitrary value for the requirements of the FSW sheets. This means that 90% of the fatigue life of 2024-T3 is required. None of the tested specimens fulfill this requirement. Zero defects are not feasible in reality; an example is the presence of air inclusions in Glare. Defects in FSW are continuous and occur only as a result of incorrect welding parameters. Therefore there is no validation in the discussion what type of FSW defect can or cannot be tolerated; FSW sheets should not have any welding defects at all for Glare application.


The last decade has seen the development of the European Train Control System ERTMS/ETCS. This Automatic Train Protection system (ATP) was designed in three versions: ETCS_Level 1, 2 and 3. ETCS_Level_3 uses moving blocks and provides short headways. However, ETCS_Level 2 may also offer short headways provided suitable block sections' length.


The amount of sediment deposited through time at a given place is controlled by both tectonic and climatic factors that change over several length and time scales. For these reasons the sedimentary record is commonly exploited to study global change. To understand this record, most studies have relied on assembling data from a few localities within a given reservoir and have extrapolated those data to whole of the reservoir. Here it is shown not only that this approach has very large inherent uncertainties, but also that the use of extrapolating sedimentary records has little physical significance. A much better approach, although much more difficult, is via a full, three‐dimensional mass balance calculation.


Note-taking during lectures is a predominant activity among students. An analysis of current technologies in the classroom using cultural-historical activity theory and social constructivism yields pedagogical opportunities and design challenges. Digital notes provide for low-cost, networked notes that are embedded in lecture materials and extend beyond the classroom. Making notes public allows all students to benefit from individual, selfish actions with minimal cost of sharing. We hypothesize that public digital notes do not disrupt existing classroom dynamics and ingrained note-taking practices and enable active learning, peer learning, and inquiry learning, while sustaining attention, maintaining interest, and minimizing distraction. Public digital notes are democratic in nature and motivating to students.
The design space of public digital note-taking includes several dimensions: (1) the form factor can vary based on available technologies, (2) the time of sharing can either be during or after lecture, (3) the percentage of students generating content can vary, and (4) the direction of information flow relative to lecture can also vary. The scope of sharing always includes all of the students in the class. We explore the breadth of this design space with three different projects. (1) NoteBlogs are notes taken by a few self-selected students using Tablet PCs on top of instructor prepared slides. These notes are shared instantaneously during lecture. (2) Collaborative SearchNotes bring outside resources into the lecture. All students can search for lecture terms on the Web and view their peers' findings. (3) Integrative Notes are written with a digital pen on digital paper and imitate traditional student note-taking as closely as possible. This project explores the benefits of superimposed versus juxtaposed notes shared publicly after lecture. These projects support the traditional flow of information from inside the classroom to outside. Also, NoteBlogs supports information flow within lecture and SearchNotes supports the reverse flow from outside to during lecture. User studies of each of these projects suggest that some students will produce content, while the majority will consume the content. Yet, we find that the process of sharing is beneficial to both producers and consumers, whether as a means of explanation, self-expression, or reassurance.


A series of lanthanide and yttrium carboxyethylphosphonates has been hydrothermally prepared (200 degrees C, 4 days) from the 1:1 mixture of carboxyethylphosphonic acid and the metal chlorides. The crystal structure of the praesodymium compound Pr(III)[O(3)P(CH(2))(2)CO(2)] has been determined ab initio from X-ray powder diffraction data and refined by the Rietveld method. The compound crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P2(1)/m (No. 11) with cell parameters at 20 degrees C a = 8.3617(2) Å, b = 7.1899(2) Å, c = 5.4586(2) Å, beta = 103.784(2) degrees, and Z = 2. The final agreement factors converged to the values R(p) = 0.139, R(wp) = 0.177, Bragg R = 0.123, R(F) = 0.055, and chi(2) = 3.50. The hybrid framework consists of inorganic Pr/O/P/C layers connected by organic groups, with an interlayer spacing of approximately 8.36 Å. The praesodymium atoms are 7-fold coordinated in this pillared layered structure. Isostructural compounds were prepared for yttrium and the entire series of the lanthanide elements.


This essay is a description and discussion of my one year master's thesis assignment, the practical cataloguing of the archives of Svenska Bryggareforeningen (the Swedish Brewers' Association). The assignment resulted in the archival inventory and this essay. The archive I arranged is kept at the centre for business archives in Stockholm, Centrum for Naringslivshistoria. The focus of my essay is the question of objects in archives, on cataloguing of objects and how objects differ from standard records. I also discuss the concept of business archives as part of the cultural heritage.


In the Archaeological Museum, Gwalior, stands a square stone pillar (No. 1/48; 1/21 ?) (Pl. I(a)) surmounted by the remains of the head and bust of a male figure supported by a throne-back. The stone is a light ochre sandstone, very worn and badly flaked; and the whole front portion of the pillar and bust has, in fact, split off and been replaced, with the exception of the bust and head portion which has been lost. The front and both sides of the pillar are divided into panels with bas-relief scenes while at the back there is an inscription. The museum label reads simply "Hasalpur Inscription of Nagvarman (c.a.d. 550) records the death of a warrior". Hasalpur, in the district Sheopur (Shivapuri) is a village about 70 miles west of Gwalior. It is four miles from the Chambal River which forms the boundary with Rājasthān.


ABSTRACT Plants that experience a lack of sufficient irrigation undergo hydric stress, which causes the modification of their mechanical properties. These changes include a complex network of chemical and physical signals that interact between plant-plant and plant-environment systems in a mechanism that is still not well understood, and that differs among species. This mechanical response implies different levels of vibration when the plant experiences structural modifications from self-hydraulic adjustments of flux exchange at specific frequencies, with these carrying behavioral information. To measure these signals, highly sensitive instrumentation that allows the decoding of displacement velocity and displacement of plants, which is possible through calibrated equipment such as 3D scanning laser vibrometers, is necessary. Laser vibrometry technology allows for noninvasive measurements in real-time. Physiological changes could reasonably affect the biomechanical condition of plants in terms of the frequency (hertz) and intensity of the plant's vibration. In this research, it is proposed that the frequency changes of a plant's vibration are related to the plant's hydric condition and that these frequency vibrations have the ecological potential to communicate water changes and levels of hydric stress. The peak of the velocity of plant displacements was found to vary from 0.079 to 1.74 mm/s, and natural frequencies (hertz) range is between 1.8 and 2.6 Hz for plants with low hydric stress (LHS), between 1.3 and 1.6 Hz for plants with medium hydric stress (MHS), and between 6.7 and 7.8 Hz for plants with high hydric stress. These values could act as preliminary references for water management using noninvasive techniques and, knowledge of the range of natural frequencies of hydric stress risk in chili pepper crops can be applied in precision agriculture practices.


Adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) is an aggressive type of malignancy caused by human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1). In ATL, the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway is constitutively active, promoting cell proliferation, survival and chemoresistance. Thus, the PI3K signaling pathway is an attractive therapeutic target for ATL. In the present study, the effects of RAD001 (an mTOR inhibitor), NVP-BKM120 (a pan-PI3K inhibitor) and NVP-BEZ235 (a novel dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor) on cultured HTLV-1-infected T-cell lines were compared. The results demonstrated that NVP-BEZ235 was more efficacious compared with RAD001 and NVP-BKM120 at inhibiting cell growth. NVP-BEZ235 exhibited cytostatic rather than cytotoxic effects on various HTLV-1-infected T-cell lines, where it induced cell cycle arrest at G1 phase. NVP-BEZ235 downregulated cyclin D1, cyclin D2, cyclin E, cyclin dependent kinase (CDK)2 and CDK4 expression, and the phosphorylation of retinoblastoma protein. In C.B-17/Icr-severe combined immune deficiency mice implanted with HTLV-1-infected HUT-102 cells, oral NVP-BEZ235 caused marked retardation of tumor growth compared with the control. The present in vitro and in vivo studies highlight the efficacious dual inhibition of PI3K, and mTOR following NVP-BEZ235 treatment. Thus, the results of the current study provide preclinical rationale for phase I clinical studies to examine the effects of NVP-BEZ235 in patients with ATL.


Plants are important sources of foods and are used in traditional medicine to prevent various diseases. The quantification of the main active principles of plants serves for quality control of the formulations with them. Gas chromatography (GC) and liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection (LC-UV) have been used widely; however, these techniques have been replaced by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), mainly due to increased sensitivity. Thus, this study approached the quantification of natural products in plants by LC-MS focusing in the main analyzers, triple quadrupole and their hybrids.


Maintenance of genomic integrity is vital to all organisms. A number of human genetic disorders, including Werner Syndrome, Bloom Syndrome and Rothmund-Thomson Syndrome, exhibit genomic instability with some phenotypic characteristics of premature aging and cancer predisposition. Presumably the aberrant cellular and clinical phenotypes in these disorders arise from defects in important DNA metabolic pathways such as replication, recombination or repair. These syndromes are all characterized by defects in a member of the RecQ family of DNA helicases. To obtain a better understanding of how these enzymes function in DNA metabolic pathways that directly influence chromosomal integrity, we have examined the effects of non-covalent DNA modifications on the catalytic activities of purified Werner (WRN) and Bloom (BLM) DNA helicases. A panel of DNA-binding ligands displaying unique properties for interacting with double helical DNA was tested for their effects on the unwinding activity of WRN and BLM helicases on a partial duplex DNA substrate. The levels of inhibition by a number of these compounds were distinct from previously reported values for viral, prokaryotic and eukaryotic helicases. The results demonstrate that BLM and WRN proteins exhibit similar sensitivity profiles to these DNA-binding ligands and are most potently inhibited by the structurally related minor groove binders distamycin A and netropsin (K(i) </=1 microM). The distinct inhibition of WRN and BLM helicases by the minor groove binders suggest that these helicases unwind double-stranded DNA by a related mechanism.


We propose an on-line algorithm for simultaneous localization and mapping of dynamic environments. Our algorithm is capable of differentiating static and dynamic parts of the environment and representing them appropriately on the map. Our approach is based on maintaining two occupancy grids. One grid models the static parts of the environment, and the other models the dynamic parts of the environment. The union of the two provides a complete description of the environment over time. We also maintain a third map containing information about static landmarks detected in the environment. These landmarks provide the robot with localization. Results in simulation and with physical robots show the efficiency of our approach and show how the differentiation of dynamic and static entities in the environment and SLAM can be mutually beneficial.


Nothing strikes a heightened level of awareness among coastal and island communities, emergency managers and critical infrastructure owners like the start of another hurricane season. Even though the season starts at the same time every year - 15th May for the Eastern Pacific region, and 1st June for the Atlantic and Central Pacific regions - too many organisations, agencies and communities are ill-prepared for a hurricane to strike. For emergency management professionals and critical infrastructure owners, however, this is not an option: the communities served by these organisations are counting on them to be prepared. This paper provides a reminder that when it comes to getting ready, there is no time like the present.


Current guidelines do not recommend pregnancy in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). This is due to the associated high mortality, which both dissuades PAH patients from becoming pregnant and encourages termination of pregnancy due to high maternal mortality risk. As a result, there is a lack of data and, consequently, there are only general guidelines available for management of pregnancy in PAH patients. Additionally, novel therapeutic strategies such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), although used in the management of nonpregnant PAH patients as a bridge to lung transplantation, have not been used to treat cardiopulmonary collapse in pregnant PAH patients. In an attempt to bridge this paucity of data, we report the successful use of ECMO in resuscitation and management of a pregnant PAH patient who experienced cardiopulmonary collapse following a caesarian section.


An experimental and theoretical investigation of how the polarization mode competition and beat frequency of Er-doped fiber distributed-feedback lasers depend on perturbations such as localized transverse forces, back reflections, or changes in pump polarization is reported. Good agreement between the experiments and a comprehensive theoretical model is obtained. Use of a dual-polarization laser as a transverse force sensor with a resolution on the order of 1-100 nN//spl radic/Hz above 20 Hz is also discussed.


In this paper, we present numerical computations of the w-invariants and the Fintushel–Stern invariants for plumbed homology 3-spheres and use the results to test a conjecture of Witten suggesting that the invariants carry equivalent information. While the two invariants give nearly the same information for some homology 3-spheres, we present numerous examples in which the information carried by the two invariants is quite different.


OBJECTIVE
To study the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-associated coronavirus genotype and its characteristics.

METHODS
A SARS-associated coronavirus isolate named ZJ01 was obtained from throat swab samples taken from a patient in Hangzhou, Zhejing province. The complete genome sequence of ZJ01 consisted of 29,715 bp (GenBank accession: AY297028, version: gi: 30910859). Seventeen SARS-associated coronavirus genome sequences in GenBank were compared to analyze the common sequence variations and the probability of co-occurrence of multiple polymorphisms or mutations. Phylogenetic analysis of those sequences was done.

RESULTS
By bioinformatics processing and analysis, the 5 loci nucleotides at ZJ01 genome were found being T, T, G, T and T, respectively. Compared with other SARS-associated coronavirus genomes in the GenBank database, an A/G mutation was detected besides the other 4 mutation loci (C:G:C:C/T:T:T:T) involved in this genetic signature. Therefore a new definition was put forward according to the 5 mutation loci. SARS-associated coronavirus strains would be grouped into two genotypes (C:G:A:C:C/T:T:G:T:T), and abbreviated as SARS coronavirus C genotype and T genotype. On the basis of this new definition, the ZJ01 isolate belongs to SARS-associated coronavirus T genotype, first discovered and reported in mainland China. Phylogenetic analysis of the spike protein gene fragments of these SARS-associated coronavirus strains showed that the GZ01 isolate was phylogenetically distinct from other isolates, and compared with groups F1 and F2 of the T genotype, the isolates of BJ01 and CUHK-W1 were more closely related to the GZ01 isolate. It was interesting to find that two (A/G and C/T) of the five mutation loci occurred in the spike protein gene, which caused changes of Asp to Gly and Thr to Ile in the protein, respectively.

CONCLUSION
Attention should be paid to whether these genotype and mutation patterns are related to the virus's biological activities,epidemic characteristics and host clinical symptoms.


This book covers the Albemarle colony and its egalitarian origins.Historians have often glorified eighteenth-century Virginia planters' philosophical debates about the meaning of American liberty. But according to Noeleen McIlvenna, the true exemplars of egalitarian political values had fled Virginia's plantation society late in the seventeenth century to create the first successful European colony in the Albemarle, in present-day North Carolina.Making their way through the Great Dismal Swamp, runaway servants from Virginia joined other renegades to establish a free society along the most inaccessible Atlantic coastline of North America. They created a new community on the banks of Albemarle Sound, maintaining peace with neighboring Native Americans, upholding the egalitarian values of the English Revolution, and ignoring the laws of the mother country.Tapping into previously unused documents, McIlvenna explains how North Carolina's first planters struggled to impose a plantation society upon the settlers and how those early small farmers, defending a wide franchise and religious toleration, steadfastly resisted. She contends that the story of the Albemarle colony is a microcosm of the greater process by which a conglomeration of loosely settled, politically autonomous communities eventually succumbed to hierarchical social structures and elite rule. Highlighting the relationship between settlers and Native Americans, this study leads to a surprising new interpretation of the Tuscarora War.


This paper put forward a equivalent approach of high-density PCB assembly model, then use of sub-model on the local position of a second analytical solution. Firstly, the equivalent model, fine model and sub-model was established, and then modal analysis, random vibration analysis and sub-model analysis are performed. Comparison with the result data of the three models, it is verified the feasibility and correctness using of equivalent processing and sub-modeling techniques from the natural frequencies, mode, and stress distribution, maximum stress, maximum stress location, relative error of the maximum stress of the equivalent part. It is an effective method to analysis of high-density PCB assembly model. Finally, it is used the method to obtain the dynamic response of a particular high-density PCB assembly model under random vibration load.


In order to evaluate their antiviral properties, a series of 4'-C-methyl-beta-D-ribofuranosyl purine and pyrimidine nucleosides has been prepared. Unfortunately, none of these 4'-branched nucleosides showed any antiviral activity or cytotoxcity when tested against HIV, HBV, and Yellow Fever virus.


Purpose: To examine the effect of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) on dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra, intracerebral inflammatory response and ethology in mice with Parkinson's disease (PD).
Methods: Four groups of male C57BL/6 mice (n = 48) were used: normal control, negative control, n3PUFA, and Madopa groups. Except for normal control group, all groups were given 6- hydroxydopamine hydrochloride (6-OHDA) to establish Parkinson's mice model. The expressions of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and calcium-binding protein (CB) in substantia nigra dopaminergic neurons were determined with immunohistochemistry and Western blot. The contents of nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) and interferon γ (IFN-γ) (indices of intracerebral inflammatory response) were measured. Tremor paralysis, moving grid number, standing times, swimming ability, and the number of rollers in each group were observed as indices of ethology.
Results: The number of TH and CB-positive neurons in the substantia nigra of n-3PUFA-treated mice was significantly increased, relative to those in Madopa-treated mice (p < 0.05). The expressions of TH and CB proteins in substantia nigra in n-3PUFA group were markedly higher than the corresponding expressions in Madopa-treated mice (p < 0.05). Decreased levels of NO, TNF-α and IFN-γ levels were seen in 3PUFA group, when compared to mice in Madopa group, but higher behavioral scores were obtained in n-3PUFA-treated mice, relative to Madopa-treated mice (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: The n-3PUFAs protect substantia nigra compact dopaminergic neurons against Parkinson's disease, alleviate immune inflammation, and improve the coordination of limb movement. Thus, n-3PUFAs have potential therapeutic application in the management of Parkinson's disease.


A 1987 follow-up study of pastors of six Protestant denominations in Oregon reveals that theologically based differences on various controversial issues were more pronounced than they had been in 1962. Three factors appear, however, to mitigate the effects of the increased divergence of views. For one thing, the scope of conflict is narrowed because many of the issues of chief concern to the members of one camp are of less concern to members of the other. Another mitigating influence is the tendency of liberals and conservatives in theologically heterogeneous denominations to moderate their views in the interest of harmony. A third factor is the continuing existence of common concerns, such as alleviating worm hunger. An examination of the issues that have recently mobilized theological conservatives demonstrates that their resistance to cultural innovations is selective and that they have abandoned or neglected several causes they once championed.


Chronic rejection (CR) is the major obstacle of long‐term successful organ transplantation. Using a recently developed rat model of CR, we found that heart allografts susceptible to development of CR showed an early (<10 days) dramatic disappearance of donor MHC class II+ cells, including ED2+ tissue macrophages, and an influx of recipient ED1+ macrophages intermixed with small numbers of recipient ED2+ and OX62+ cells. In contrast, donor MHC class II+ cells persisted in allografts resistant to CR with a small influx of recipient macrophages. MHC class II+ cells function as potent modulators of the immune system and may mediate both stimulatory and tolerogenic immune reactions after transplantation. Persistence of donor MHC class II+ antigen‐presenting cells (APC) in CR‐free graft acceptance suggests that transplantation tolerance is an active immune response requiring antigen presentation to the recipient immune system in the proper context by dendritic cells and other APC. J. Leukoc. Biol. 66: 297–300; 1999.


Nitrogen oxides (NOx) are formed during combustion in diesel engines and one current approach to reduce NOx to N2 is selective catalytic reduction with NH3 as reducing agent (NH3-SCR). To acquire both high activity and selectivity, the active site is often atomically dispersed metal atom, so-called single-site catalysts. In the case of NH3-SCR, one example is Cu-exchanged chabazite (Cu-CHA). This is a kind of ion-exchanged zeolites that over the past decade has emerged as a promising candidate for NH3-SCR thanks to its good performance over a wide temperature window (473-773 K) and a high hydrothermal stability. In this thesis, the mechanisms for solid-state ion exchange of copper into CHA and activation of oxygen during NH3-SCR in Cu-CHA have been studied through density functional theory (DFT) in combination with ab-initio thermodynamics and molecular dynamics. Firstly, the energetic conditions for functionalization of CHA with copper ions from Cu2O(111) via the formation of Cu(NH3)2+ are explored. It is found that the diamine complexes form easily on Cu2O(111) and diffuse with low barriers over the surface and inside the CHA framework. The charge neutrality of the systems is maintained via counterdiffusion of H+ in the form of NH4+ from the zeolite to the Cu2O surface where water can be formed. The efficient solvation of Cu+ and H+ by ammonia renders the ion-exchange process exothermic. The dynamic character of Cu ion sites in CHA in the presence of ammonia is also highlighted. Secondly, the activation of oxygen, one crucial step during NH3-SCR reactions, is investigated. The character of ligand-solvated Cu ions under SCR conditions is explored and Cu(NH3)2+ is found to be the preferable species under low-temperature operation conditions (below 523 K). Direct dissociation of O2 is found to be facile over a pair of Cu(NH3)2+, whereas dissociation on a single Cu(NH3)2+ species is unlikely due to a high activation energy. Theffect of Al distribution on the stability of the pair formation in CHA is also investigated. The Al distribution is found to strongly affect the propensity to form the pairs in CHA. At temperatures above 623 K, copper sites are preferably framework-coordinated without any ligands. In this case, the NH3-SCR catalytic cycle is completed over framework-coordinated Cu sites. The character of active sites during NH3-SCR is consequently condition-dependent, where the low temperature reaction occurs on Cu-solvated species. The NH3-SCR process in Cu-CHA is consequently just at the border between homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis.


(1) Background: The use of face masks and gloves in public places directly shows the commitment of the population to the established regulations. Public transport is one of the most-at-risk places of contamination. The aim of the study was to analyze the face mask use by public transport passengers and workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. (2) Methods: Public transport passengers and workers were surveyed. Periodic intermittent selective observation was used to gauge the level of adherence to the established regulations among public transport passengers. Factor analysis was used to identify factors determining the face-mask-wearing comfort. (3) Results: The majority of passengers (87.5%) and all transport workers (100%) used face masks and gloves. Most of the users wore only face masks. Only 41.6% of passengers and 74.7% of transport workers wore face masks correctly. Motivational attitudes at the implementation of preventive measures were determined: established regulations in the public place (55.8%) and the protection of one's own health and the health of family members (44.2%). Only 22.5% of those wearing face masks believed that doing so will have any effect on the spread of an infectious disease, and 10.8% wore masks to maintain the health of people around themselves. A low level of social responsibility was demonstrated. For 53.4% of workers, face mask wearing was uncomfortable. The majority of workers had adverse reactions to mask wearing: feeling short of breath (52.8%), hyperemia of face skin (33.8%), and facial hyperhidrosis (67.4%). (4) Conclusions: The comfort of wearing a mask is determined by adverse reactions occurrence, the properties of the mask, working conditions, and the duration of wearing the face mask. It is necessary to develop recommendations to reduce wearing discomfort. These recommendations, along with methods of raising the social responsibility of the population, can contribute to a greater commitment of the population to non-specific prevention measures.


An Online Doctorate for Researching Professionals was written with the view of using new perspective in expanding the horizon of PhD students in higher education. The authors considered the development of online programs to meet the needs of the working professionals. This became necessary because the traditional PhD programs in education was not enough to meet the desires of the working professionals in combining the furthering of their education and  carrying out applied research skills with continuing full-time employment. The authors presented their model that focused on an online professional doctorate program which combined theory research and practice.


OBJECTIVE To evaluate the impact of a theatre production on smoking-related attitudes, norms, and intentions of children in grades 1–6 (aged 6–12 years). DESIGN Seventeen schools were randomly selected among 160 that were participating in the implementation of the theatre production 2 Smart 2 Smoke. Schools that participated in the theatre production after 3 December 1997 were assigned as control schools. Assignment of schools to a given date for the theatre production was a random process. Students in grades 1–6 were surveyed before and after the theatre production and associated activities. The data were examined for pretest–posttest differences and intervention-control differences. The school was the unit of analysis. SETTING Elementary schools in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. PARTICIPANTS Students in grades 1–6 in 17 elementary schools. INTERVENTION Two plays2 Smart 2 Smoke for grades 1–3 (6–8 year olds) and grades 4–6 (9–12 year olds), respectively, with follow-up activities for the classroom and home. A national theatre company performed the plays at the schools. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Intention to smoke in the future, normative expectations about how many people smoke, functional meanings of smoking, expected outcomes of smoking. RESULTS 10% more students reported that they would never smoke a cigarette after the theatre production. Students in grades 4–6 showed changes in the functional meanings and expected outcomes of smoking. Students in grades 1–3 showed changes in normative expectations. CONCLUSIONS Further research on the impact of live theatre productions as a smoking prevention strategy is recommended.


SUMMARY  Bevacizumab is an antiangiogenic targeted therapy approved for the treatment of patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer other than predominantly squamous cell histology in addition to platinum-based chemotherapy. The safety of bevacizumab has been assessed in studies across most cancer types and bevacizumab is generally well tolerated. Some specific issues associated with the use of bevacizumab in lung cancer are discussed in this report (pulmonary hemorrhage, brain metastases or concurrent thoracic radiotherapy) as well as frequent and clinically relevant adverse events and their management. Oncologists and pulmonologists should be aware of such events and their management since the prescription of bevacizumab concerns many patients and the future use in maintenance therapy will be associated with prolonged treatment.


The works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez attracts the interest of both historians and literary critics as his fiction has helped bring greater exposure of Latin American culture to the rest of the world. Editor Harold Bloom cites the literary origins of Marquez as being 'Faulkner, crossed by Kafka.' The Colombian writer and Nobel Prize winner's best-known works, including "One Hundred Years of Solitude", "Love in the Time of Cholera", and "The General in His Labyrinth", are explored in-depth in this indispensable resource. Students of literature will find tips for writing effective essays on Marquez and his works.


When multiple hypothesis tests are conducted on a single data set, it is necessary to control for the inflation of the Type I error rate. This is done through the use of multiple comparison procedures. Holm's procedure is a potentially attractive multiple comparison procedure because it makes no assumptions about the data and it is simple to implement. Holm's procedure is conducted by adjusting the p-values obtained from a prior statistical test. As a result, the power and Type I error rate of Holm's procedure may be tied to the assumptions of the statistical test from which the p-values are obtained. In the case of making all pairwise comparisons across means, the independent samples t-test is typically used, which assumes normally distributed data and homogeneous variances across the groups being compared. The present study sought to examine how violating the assumptions of normality and variance homogeneity affected the power and Type I error rate of Holm's procedure across several effect sizes, mean configurations and sample sizes. The results indicated that Holm's procedure maintains the Type I error rate below α for all combinations of variance heterogeneity, nonnormality, sample size, effect size, and pattern of mean difference. As expected, the power of Holm's procedure decreases as the sample size becomes smaller and the effect size increases. Nonnormality had a negligible effect on the power of Holm's procedure. However, the presence of even moderate variance heterogeneity severely decreased the power of Holm's procedure. Future research will investigate whether these results hold for situations other than testing pairwise mean differences, such as when multiple correlations are being tested. In addition, the power and Type I error rate of Holm's procedure will be compared to alternative multiple comparison procedures.


We analyse the frictionless motion of a point-like particle that slides under gravity on an inverted conical surface. This motion is studied for arbitrary initial conditions and a general relation between the periods of the radial and angular oscillations, which holds for both small and high-energy trajectories, is obtained. This relation allows us to identify the closed orbits of the system. We emphasize the virtues of this model to illustrate pedagogically how in a physical system, energy is transferred between different modes.


We examined the prevalence of insomnia among Japanese male industrial workers and analyzed the effect of psychosocial stress on the prevalence of three types of insomnia: `difficulty in falling asleep', `frequent sleep interruption' and `early morning arousal'. The study population consisted of male day workers (n = 319) in a manufacturing heavy industry company located in Nagasaki City, Japan. The subjects answered a questionnaire consisting of six sleep‐related items and 24 questions related to occupational and private life conditions. A total of 271 men (average age 40.9 years) completed the questionnaire; a response rate of 85%. Insomnia within the month preceding the survey was present in 27.7% of the workers (75/271). Multiple logistic regression analysis demonstrated that different psychosocial stressors were associated with different types of insomnia. Visual display terminal (VDT) work overload was significantly associated with all types of insomnia, while `over‐involvement in the job' was associated with difficulty in falling asleep and early morning arousal. Our results demonstrated that the prevalence of insomnia in Japanese workers is similar to that reported among European and American general adult population. Our results also indicate that the use of VDT in the workfield is associated with insomnia.


A variety of benign and malignant endocervical glandular lesions exhibiting gastric differentiation has been described in the past decade that has resulted in the concept of an important category of cervical adenocarcinoma which is unrelated to human papillomavirus (HPV). Both minimal deviation adenocarcinoma (MDA), also known as adenoma malignum, and the benign lesion lobular endocervical glandular hyperplasia (LEGH), have been known for some time to exhibit a gastric phenotype and immunophenotype (HIK1083 and/or MUC6 positive). Accumulated evidence suggests that a subset of LEGH (atypical LEGH) exhibits a degree of cytologic and/or architectural atypia which, in some cases, may be associated with and be a precursor of adenocarcinomas exhibiting gastric differentiation, including MDA. Gastric-type adenocarcinoma (GAS), a recently described subtype of cervical adenocarcinoma, is an emerging clinicopathologic entity. These neoplasms exhibit a spectrum of differentiation, including MDA as its very well-differentiated form, are unrelated to HPV, and exhibit aggressive clinical behavior. It is proposed that a LEGH-GAS sequence exists and, from a practical point of view, the development of optimal biomarkers is awaited to assist in early detection of GAS and atypical LEGH, as current HPV-targeted screening generally does not detect these lesions and strategies employing HPV vaccination will not prevent their occurrence. Pathologists should be familiar with the morphologic spectrum of these benign, premalignant, and malignant cervical glandular lesions exhibiting gastric differentiation. They are occasionally associated with Peutz-Jeghers syndrome or are a component of "synchronous mucinous metaplasia and neoplasia of the female genital tract."


Statistical problems can usually be presented in the form of data x which depend on a parameter 6 through a known probability distribution of x for each 6, p(x\0). From observation of x it is required to make an inference about 6. The inference can take several forms: hypothesis testing, point and interval estimates, etc. Empirical Bayes (EB) problems differ in that there is not just one data set but several, xx, x2,.. ., x", each with its own parameter. As before xk relates to 9k through a distribution of a known form, the same for each k. A typical problem is to make an inference about 6" from all the observations x,, x*,. .., x". In compound problems, the inference concerns all the parameters. It is common to suppose that the 9k have themselves been generated by a probability distribution p(8) but, unlike p(x\9), this is usually supposed unknown. It is not unreasonable to expect that inferences about 0" will be improved by including the extra data xux2,. . .,x"_i in addition to x" and this is borne out by calculations displayed in this book. An example is provided by data on schools, indexed by k, where 6k reflects the "true" performance of the school. The general pattern that exists between actual and true performance for all schools can be used to improve the estimation of one school's true quality from its and others observed performances. In particular, EB methods are especially successful in correcting apparently extreme observations. The role of p(6) in generating the parameters is essentially that of a prior distribution for 8; hence Bayesian methods can be used. When, as is common, p(9) is unknown, it has to be inferred. Often non-Bayesian methods are used at this stage and the qualification "empirical" inserted. Thus a typical solution to an EB problem is a blend of Bayesian and frequentist methods and the first edition of this book (1970) by Maritz alone, discussed these. The second edition of almost double the size is a substantial improvement because it includes accounts of other methods that have been developed for EB problems, including those that are fully Bayesian. Another merit of the new edition is that it includes a substantial chapter on applications that have been made of EB methods: examples include water contents of soils, law school validity studies and cancer mortality rates. The advances over the past 19 years have been included and increased familiarity with EB problems has enabled the presentation to be improved. The treatment, except in the applications chapter, is heavily mathematical and demands a good background in statistics. EB methods were once thought to form a rather specialised corner of statistics but this book, with its broad coverage, clear style and good applications, should do much to demonstrate that EB problems arise frequently and that there is a formidable battery of methods available to handle them.


Meshfree methods offer the potential to relieve the scientist from the time consuming grid generation process especially in cases where localized mesh refinement is desired. Moving least squares (MLS) methods are considered such a meshfree technique. The pseudo-derivative (PD) approach has been used in many papers to simplify the manipu- lations involved in MLS schemes. In this paper, we provide theoretical error estimates for a least squares implementation of an MLS/PD method with a stabilization mechanism. Some beginning computations suggest this stabilization leads to good matrix conditioning.


Methods that link genetic variation to steady-state gene expression levels, such as expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs), are widely used to functionally annotate trait-associated variants, but they are limited in identifying context-dependent effects on transcription. To address this challenge, we developed the cistrome-wide association study (CWAS), a framework for nominating variants that impact traits through their effects on chromatin state. CWAS associates the genetic determinants of cistromes (e.g., the genome-wide profiles of transcription factor binding sites or histone modifications) with traits using summary statistics from genome-wide association studies (GWAS). We performed CWASs of prostate cancer and androgen-related traits, using a reference panel of 307 prostate cistromes from 165 individuals. CWAS nominated susceptibility regulatory elements or androgen receptor (AR) binding sites at 52 out of 98 known prostate cancer GWAS loci and implicated an additional 17 novel loci. We functionally validated a subset of our results using CRISPRi and in vitro reporter assays. At 28 of the 52 risk loci, CWAS identified regulatory mechanisms that are not observable via eQTLs, implicating genes with complex or context-specific regulation that are overlooked by current approaches that relying on steady-state transcript measurements. CWAS genes include transcription factors that govern prostate development such as NKX3-1, HOXB13, GATA2, and KLF5. Moreover, CWAS boosts discovery power in modestly sized GWAS, identifying novel genetic associations mediated through AR binding for androgen-related phenotypes, including resistance to prostate cancer therapy. CWAS is a powerful and biologically interpretable paradigm for studying variants that influence traits by affecting context-dependent transcriptional regulation.


Ag–TiO2–graphene pastes modified with inulin, and L-alanine tert-butyl ester nitrate (L-Ala-C4-L-Lac), respectively, were proposed for the molecular recognition of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) from whole blood samples. High levels of CEA are associated with different types of cancer, one of them being colorectal cancer. Both sensors gave high reliability for the measurements, and also high sensitivity and selectivity were recorded. The modes used were stochastic mode for qualitative and quantitative analysis of CEA, and differential pulse voltammetry for the quantitative measurement of CEA. The lowest limit of determination (20.5 fg mL ) was recorded when the multimode sensor based on Ag–TiO2– graphene paste was modified with the inulin IQ.


Abstract As a medical student completing a required rural community medicine clerkship, I discovered my home community's concern for mental health of farmers. A local economic downturn affects everyone, but especially the farmers. One farmer had recently committed suicide. Leaning heavily on work presented at a Nebraska summit on the farm crisis and mental health and on the National Rural Health Association issue paper on rural mental health, I found farmer and rural mental health to be a widespread concern, exacerbated by a scarcity of rural mental health resources. In my recommendations for rural Alabama, I endorse recommendations of others, including strengthening the local family physician role as "front door" to the mental health system, outreach with such agents as extension personnel and ministers, and farm crisis hotlines.


Proposed is a fast chromatic dispersion estimation scheme for coherent fibre-optic transmission systems. The scheme uses an alternating signal sequence as a pilot, which enables chromatic dispersion (CD) values to be estimated quickly and accurately. Experimental results show that the scheme can achieve fast and accurate CD estimation with only 0.4% of the pilot signal overhead in 100G-class coherent optical transmission systems.


In this work we propose a testing environment based on a personal computer, a data acquisition card and the LabVIEW/sup TM/ software. The testing environment will be able to accept a test plan and convert it into test cases, provide means to test ANN-specific aspects in the implementation, run the designed tests and generate reports. Here we present our first results in the development of the test bench.


This article analyzes El hombre mediocre (1913) of Jose Ingenieros, paying attention to some ideological and epistemological paradoxes present in the essay. Specifically it considers how the text interpellates the mass audience. It points out the attempt to create in the reader an identification with the values of the small minority of the merit. In this way Ingenieros confirms the guideline role of the elite of talent in front of a new and massive readership and electorate (outcome of the electoral reform of 1912). This paper also informs about the way the essay tries to integrate "ethic philosophy" and science. This integration of two hegemonic discourses, in competition in the decade of 1910, is considered as a part of autolegitimation strategy (scientific, politic and philosophic) of the intellectual.


Bipartite entanglement, entanglement spectrum, and Schmidt gap in S=1 bond-alternative antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain are investigated by the infinite time-evolving block decimation (iTEBD) method. The quantum phase transition (QPT) from the singlet-dimer phase to the Haldane phase can be detected by the singular behavior of bipartite entanglement, the sudden change of the entanglement spectrum, and the completely vanishing of the Schmidt gap. The critical point is determined to be around rc ≃ 0.587, and the second-order character of the QPT is verified. Doubly degenerate entanglement spectra of both even and odd bonds are observed in the Haldane phase, by which one can distinguish the Haldane phase from the singlet-dimer phase easily. Nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic correlations and next-nearest-neighbor ferromagnetic correlations are found in the whole parameter region. At the critical massless point, although exponentially decaying antiferromagnetic correlation is observed, it approaches to a constant value finally. Therefore, long-range correlations exist and the correlation length becomes divergent at the critical point.


Purpose: To estimate the prevalence of CVS (computer vision syndrome) among university medical students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia after establishing remote learning during COVID-19 pandemic and to compare patterns and settings of electronic devices used by students before and during this pandemic. Methods: This is an observational descriptive cross-sectional study. 1st to 5th year medical students actively enrolled at the governmental colleges of medicine in Riyadh were asked to fill an electronic online questionnaire. The questionnaire included demographic information and various variables to be studied. Results: A total of 300 medical students were included in this study. 282 (94.0%) reported at least one symptom of CVS. The most frequently reported symptoms were musculoskeletal: neck, shoulder and back pain in 253 (84.3%), headache in 213 (71.1%) and dry eyes in 204 (68%). 38% of the students experienced more severe symptoms while 48% experienced more frequent symptoms during COVID-19 pandemic. The risk factors for experiencing three or more symptoms of CVS were using electronic devices for longer periods (6.8 hours ±2.8) during COVID-19 (p<0.001) OR 1.21 [1.09-1.35] 95% CI, and being of female gender (p<0.001) OR 3.29 [2.00-5.43] 95% CI. Conclusion: CVS prevalence during COVID-19 era among medical students is high. This necessitates increasing the awareness of CVS and its preventive measures.


At the April, 1972, Annual Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Social Science Association, which took place in Salt Lake City, five young American scholars presented papers dealing with various aspects of Yugoslavism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The papers and subsequent discussions were interesting from two standpoints. First, the authors belong to the youngest generation of American scholars familiar with the several Yugoslav languages and with Yugoslav archives and other sources. Second, the topic of Yugoslavism is not only complex and provocative, but currently topical as well. It is striking that even today, more than fifty-five years after the creation of the Yugoslav state, we do not have a modern and comprehensive study of the origins and development of the Yugoslav idea and, consequently, of the Yugoslav movement in the past. Inter-war Yugoslav historiography usually approached the problem from the "unitaristic" viewpoint, which corresponded to the political necessities of the time.1 As a reaction to this. post-war Yugoslav historiography espoused the other extreme: a stress on the national histories of the various Yugoslav peoples, to the detriment of the Yugoslav entity.2 When we attempt to study the development of Yugoslavism in the past, it strikes me as necessary to find the answers to three general questions: 1. What caused the origin of the Yugoslav idea? 2. What were the features of its development? 3. What were the internal and external obstacles the Yugoslav movement had to confront?


Received May 19, 2022 Revised Sep 16, 2022 Accepted Sep 30, 2022 The complex supply chain system for the sugar agroindustry supply chain involves many actors, resulting in the asymmetry of information data. It still leads to a lack of data transparency. In the past, data traceability could not be made efficient at every stage, so the record data transaction was not real-time, less accurate, and inefficient coordination between actors. Blockchain is one of the technologies in the 4.0 era as a distributed ledger technology. It can be transparency, traceability, security, immutability, and decentralization. This study aims to design a white sugar agroindustry system based on blockchain technology using the SDLC waterfall stage public. Ethereum is a proof-ofwork convention based on the Ropsten test-net on the Metamask wallet. The sugar supply chain system that has been successfully developed allows consumers to track the purchased sugar products based on the transaction hash code sent by the seller. The data listed is the location of the plantation, the quantity (quintal) and quality of sugarcane (percentage), and the purchase price. A web-based blockchain application could be used as a model by national sugar factories to help them make enough sugar food for themselves.


Purpose To investigate the incidence of thromboembolic events and complications related to bleeding after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) with a mechanical compression device alone or in combination with low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH). Materials and Methods A total of 489 TKA patients (776 knees) were retrospectively reviewed for the incidence of thromboembolic events and complications related to bleeding. While 233 patients (354 knees) were treated with a mechanical compressive device without LMWH, 256 patients (422 knees) were treated with the mechanical compressive device along with LMWH. Results The incidences of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) were 15 of 375 knees (4.0%) and 5 of 375 knees (1.3%), respectively, in the group that used only a mechanical compressive device, and 14 of 401 knees (3.4%) and 5 of 401 knees (1.2%), respectively, in the group that used the mechanical compressive device with LMWH. There was no significant difference between the two groups (p=0.125 and p=0.146, respectively). The postoperative hemovac drainage amount was 635±57 mL in the group with a mechanical compressive device only and 813±84 mL in the group with the device and LMWH; therefore, the amount of drainage was significantly greater in the latter group (p=0.013). Conclusions Mechanical compression alone for prophylaxis against DVT and PE after TKA can be an attractive option in Korean patients.


This is a resource for RUHHRT316A Control weeds. Alyssa the Head Horticulturalist gives reasons why weeds are considered a threat to a horticultural enterprise. Fundamental business characteristics are also looked in four broad areas: (1) planning and administration, (2) skills and knowledge, (3) resources and (4) finances.


Adoptive immunotherapy for melanoma appears to be a promising approach. The aim of our study was to discuss the role of "tumour tissue" immunogenicity in response to adoptive immunotherapy. We thus studied the potential correlation between the expression of some melanocyte differentiation antigens, adhesion molecules and cytokines expressed by the tumour cells and the survival of patients receiving an adoptive immunotherapy with autologous Tumour Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TIL). An immunohistochemical study was performed on the lymph node samples obtained from 38 patients who received autologous TIL plus interleukin-2. Frozen sections were immunostained for melanocyte differentiation antigens (Melan-A and gp100), MHC molecules (Class I and II), adhesion molecules (ICAM-1, LFA-3) and suppressive cytokines (IL-10, TGF-beta and alpha-MSH). Expression levels of each marker were evaluated using a semi-quantitative visual scale. Using a multivariate analysis, a low expression level of TGF-beta by tumour cells was significantly associated with a prolonged relapse-free survival. A low expression level of TGF-beta, IL-10, ICAM-1 and alpha-MSH by tumour cells was significantly associated with a longer overall survival. This work suggests that a weak expression of immunosuppressive cytokines (IL-10, TGF-beta and alpha-MSH) could be a favourable prognostic marker for patients receiving autologous TIL.


The authors present three cases of paraganglioma located in the cauda equina. In all cases pre-operative diagnosis was neurinoma of the cauda equina and only the histology permitted correct identification. All were intradural extramedullary tumors and in two cases the presenting and dominant symptom was low back pain and sciatica. The remaining third case experimented a paraparesis with urinary and fecal incontinence. The follow-up (range of 4 months-4 years) after total excision was uneventful in two cases and showed in the third case with preoperative paraparesis, some persistent urinary incontinence (follow-up: 3 years) with good motor recovery. The light microscopic features were a Zellballen pattern of cells containing argyrophil granules. Electron microscopy was not performed. The most likely theory regarding the embryogenesis of cauda equina paragangliomas is that they arise from pre-existing paraganglia, possibly of the visceral-autonomic group. The prognosis after complete excision appears to be good. The literature is thoroughly reviewed.


Abstract The cis,cis-muconic acid derivative of pyrazon, which was formerly isolated from the medium of pyrazon-de-grading bacteria, was formed enzymatically by incubation of the catechol derivative of pyrazon with partially purified ortho pyrocatechase from pyrazon-degrading bacteria.


A tethered Small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) provided structural forensic inspection of the collapsed Berkman Plaza II six-story parking garage. The sUAS, an iSENSYS IP3 miniature helicopter, was tethered to meet US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirements for unregulated flight below 45 m (150 ft). This created new platform control, human-robot interaction, and safety issues in addition to the challenges posed by the active, city environment. A new technique, viewpoint-oriented Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA), was used to generate the 4:1 human-robot crew organization and operational protocol. The sUAS over three flights was able to provide useful imagery to structural engineers that had been difficult to obtain from manned helicopters due to dust obscurants. Based on these flights this work shows that tethered operations decreases team effectiveness, increases overall safety liability, and in general is not a recommended solution for sUAS flight.


Survivin is a cancer associated protein that is present in all embryonic cells, but whose expression is normally limited to actively proliferating cells in adults. During mitosis it is part of a conserved complex of chromosomal passenger proteins (CPPs), which is essential for chromosome biorientation and cell division (Ruchaud et al., 2007). Defects in CPP function cause errors in mitosis and cytokinesis and can lead to genomic instability, or "aneuploidy", a status indicative of tumorigenesis. First discovered by Altieri and coworkers (Ambrosini et al., 1998), survivin is the fourth most upregulated mRNA in the cancer transcriptome (Velculescu et al., 1999), and in many tumours its expression is detected throughout the cell cycle. Importantly increased survivin abundance correlates with tumour resistance to conventional radiation and chemotherapies, a correlation recapitulated in cultured cells in the laboratory (Chakravarti et al., 2004; Colnaghi et al., 2006). While involvement in mitosis alone is a valid reason for considering a protein as a biomarker, or a target for cancer therapy, the oncotherapeutic potential of survivin is compounded by the fact that it is also an inhibitor of cell death (for review see Altieri, 2008). The principle aim of this article is to highlight the manifestations of survivin expression in the nucleus and to discuss how these might be exploited for oncotherapeutic gain.


This title analyses European Muslim communities' developing involvement in their political environment. Muslims are making themselves noticed in the political process of Europe. But what is happening behind the sensational headlines? These 16 essays look at the processes and realities in 12 European areas: Belgium, Catalonia, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the UK. They analyse and compare issues from voting patterns in local and national assemblies to the tensions between ethnic, political and religious identities. These developments drive internal Muslim debates including whether Muslims should take part in the democratic process at all, and rivalries over who should represent Muslims. They also inspire sharp discussion in Europe: how should European states view the increasingly active role of Muslims in the public space? Does it signal integration or separation?


In this paper, we consider discrete delay systems and obtain conditions for global uniform exponential stability. Our approach is based on the use of the Razumikhin technique and the Lyapunov function method. In the second part of the paper, we use our stability results to derive exponential synchronization criteria for discrete dynamical networks with coupling time delays. We explicitly consider the case of networks with complex structures, such as networks with chaotic nodes, which have great practical importance in the area of secure communications.


Serum free-carnitine levels were determined in 973 unrelated white collar workers in Akita, Japan. Fourteen of these participants consistently had serum free-carnitine levels below the fifth percentile (28 microM for females and 38 microM for males). The OCTN2 (organic cation transporter) gene was sequenced for these 14 subjects, for 22 subjects whose carnitine levels were below the fifth percentile in the first screening but were normal in the second measurement and in 69 individuals with normal carnitine levels for two separate measurements. Polymorphic sequences defined three major haplotypes with equal frequency. Mutations were identified in nine subjects with low carnitine levels: Trp132X (three individuals), Ser467Cys (four), Trp283Cys (one) and Met179Leu (one). In vitro expression studies in HEK cells indicated that Ser467Cys and Trp283Cys, but not Met179Leu, significantly reduced L-carnitine uptake relative to the normal control. Trp132X and Ser467Cys were associated with specific haplotypes, suggesting a founder effect. A conservative estimate of the overall prevalence of heterozygotes was 1.01% in the Akita prefecture, Japan, giving an estimated incidence of primary systemic carnitine deficiency (MIM 212140) as 1 in 40 000 births. An echocardiographic study of the families of patients with primary carnitine deficiency revealed that the heterozygotes for OCTN2 mutations were predisposed to late onset benign cardiac hypertrophy (odds ratio 15.1, 95% CI 1.39-164) compared with the wild-types. Sequencing of DNA isolated from three deceased siblings (1.5-8 years) in two families retrospectively confirmed that all three deceased subjects were homozygous for the OCTN2 mutations.


A Wireless Sensor Network consists of several tiny devices which have the capability to sense and compute the environmental phenomenon. These sensor nodes are deployed in remote areas without any physical protections. A Wireless Sensor Network can have various types of anomalies due to some random deployment of nodes, obstruction and physical destructions. These anomalies can diminish the sensing and communication functionalities of the network. Many kinds of holes can be formed in a sensor network that creates geographically correlated areas. These holes are also responsible for creating communication voids. These voids do not let the packets to reach the destination and minimises the expected network performance. Hence it ought to be resolved. In this paper we presented different kinds of holes that infect the sensor network, their characteristics and the effects on successful communication within the sensor network .Later we presented a detailed review on different routing hole handing techniques available in literature ,their possible strengths and short comes. At last we also presented a qualitative comparison of these routing hole handing techniques.


Objectives Medical practice may attract and possibly enhance distinct personality profiles. We set out to describe the personality profiles of surgical and medical specialties focusing on board-certified physicians. Design Prospective, observational. Setting Online survey containing the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI), an internationally validated measure of the Five Factor Model of personality dimensions, distributed to board-certified physicians, residents and medical students in several European countries and Canada. Differences in personality profiles were analysed using multivariate analysis of variance and Canonical Linear Discriminant Analysis on age-standardised and sex-standardised z-scores of the personality traits. Single personality traits were analysed using robust t-tests. Participants The TIPI was completed by 2345 board-certified physicians, 1453 residents and 1350 medical students, who also provided demographic information. Results Normal population and board-certified physicians' personality profiles differed (p<0.001). The latter scored higher on conscientiousness, extraversion and agreeableness, but lower on neuroticism (all p<0.001). There was no difference in openness to experience. Board-certified surgical and medical doctors' personality profiles were also different (p<0.001). Surgeons scored higher on extraversion (p=0.003) and openness to experience (p=0.002), but lower on neuroticism (p<0.001). There was no difference in agreeableness and conscientiousness. These differences in personality profiles were reproduced at other levels of training, that is, in students and training physicians engaging in surgical versus medical practice. Conclusion These results indicate the existence of a distinct and consistent average 'physician personality'. Despite high variability within disciplines, there are moderate but solid and reproducible differences between surgical and medical specialties.


In this paper, we investigate a covert labeling cue, namely the probability that a title (by example of the Wikipedia titles) is a noun. If this probability is very large, any list such as or comparable to the Wikipedia titles can be used as a reliable word-class (or part-of-speech tag) predictor or noun lexicon. This may be especially useful in the case of Low Resource Languages (LRL) where labeled data is lacking and putatively for Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks such as Word Sense Disambiguation, Sentiment Analysis and Machine Translation. Profitting from the ease of digital publication on the web as opposed to print, LRL speaker communities produce resources such as Wikipedia and Wiktionary, which can be used for an assessment. We provide statistical evidence for a strong noun bias for the Wikipedia titles from 2 corpora (English, Persian) and a dictionary (Japanese) and for a typologically balanced set of 17 languages including LRLs. Additionally, we conduct a small experiment on predicting noun tags for out-of-vocabulary items in part-of-speech tagging for English.


In the last decade, Ohio reformers advocated redistricting by formula: selecting the redistricting plan that scores best on a predefined objective scoring function that combines prima facie neutral criteria with political goals of plan fairness and district competition. In the post-2010 redistricting, these reformers hosted a public competition where prizes were awarded to the best legal plan scored on the reformers' formula. The submitted plans provide a unique opportunity to evaluate how redistricting by formula may work in practice. Our analysis finds the public yields a broader range of redistricting plans, on indicia of legal and public policy interest, than developed by the state legislature. The Pareto frontier reveals plans that perform better than the legislature's adopted plan on one and two dimensions, as well as the reformers' overall scoring function. Our evaluation reveals minimal trade-offs among the components of the overall competition's scoring criteria, but we caution that the scoring formula may be sensitive to implementation choices among its components. Compared with the legislature's plan, the reform community can get more of the four criteria they value; importantly, without sacrificing the state's only African American opportunity congressional district.


Abstract Should rights be publicly or privately enforced in the case of digital piracy? The emergence of large-scale anti-piracy laws and the existence of illegal non-monitored channels raise important issues for the design of anti-piracy policies. We study the impact of these demand-side policies in two enforcement settings (namely, public and private enforcement settings) with an outside adoption option for users of an illegal non-monitored channel. Our results show that public enforcement generates higher monitoring and lower price levels, and also higher legal welfare than private enforcement. However, we identify potential conflicts of interest between the legal seller and the social planner when the efficiency of the illegal non-monitored channel is low. Introducing supply-side policies, i.e. policies targeted to suppliers of illegal content, we find that they may have unexpected impacts and can damage legal welfare. We also identify situations in which the two policies are substitutes or complements.


Stereotyping is one of the largest and most enduring research areas in social and personality psychology; many of the processes by which stereotypes are formed, maintained, and applied are now well understood. Yet, little is known about the degree to which stereotyping processes apply outside of North American and Western European contexts. This theoretical paper aims to serve as a starting point for researchers interested in the intersection of culture and stereotyping. We review the nascent literature documenting similarities and differences in intergroup perception across cultural groups and note areas in which the cross-cultural and stereotyping literatures have explored common mechanisms that could be profitably integrated. Finally, we offer suggestions for future research that will greatly improve our understanding of how culturally influenced cognitive tendencies influence the perception of social groups and their members.


15th International Conference on Virology, Emerging Diseases & Vaccines 2020

Morphology and morphogenesis of arboviruses circulating in Brazil: Dengue, Yellow Fever, Zika and Chikungunya

Debora Ferreira Barreto-Vieira1, Dinair Couto Lima2, Fernanda Cunha Jacome1, Gabriela Cardoso Caldas1, Ortrud Monika Barth1

1Laboratory of Morphology and Viral Morphogenesis, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz, Avenida Brasil 4365, 21040-900, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 2Laboratory of Mosquitos Transmissores de Hematozoarios, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz, Avenida Brasil 4365, 21040-900, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.

Abstract:

The impact of the cocirculation of different arbovirus in Brazil is still little known. As in the case of reinfection by different serotypes of dengue virus (DENV), the interaction of arboviruses (DENV serotypes 1-4, chikungunya [CHIKV] and virus zika [ZIKV]) could theoretically result in more intense viremias or other immunological alterations. The epidemic of ZIKV in 2015 in the Americas it provided evidence for features of pathogenicity that had not been observed previously in infections by flaviviruses. ZIKV was shown to be able to cross the placental barrier to cause congenital infections and to be transmitted sexually among humans. Studies in vitro by transmission electron microscopy shows that part of the ZIKV morphogenesis may occur within viroplasm-like structures, never seen in other flaviviruses. Current studies suggest that flaviviruses produce an ensemble of structurally different virions circulating in an organism, collectively contributing to tissue tropism and virus dissemination. In this work, Aedes albopictus mosquito lineage cell (C6/36 cells) and Kidney epithelial cells of African green monkey (Vero cells) were infected with samples of the main circulating arboviruses in Brazil (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, DENV-4, ZIKV, yellow fever [YF] and CHIKV) and ultrastructural studies by transmission electron microscopy were performed. In all cells cultures inoculated, virus particles and replication was observed. The particle morphology was similar between the four serotypes of DENV, YF and ZIKV, with differences only in diameter. Cells infected with DENV, YF presenting tubular structures and, after the appearance of these structures, particles in the assembly process and particles already presenting envelope structure were observed in cisterns of the rough endoplasmic reticulum and in cytoplasmic vesicles. In cells infected with large viroplasm-like compartments, localized in the perinuclear area together with peripheric rough endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria and microtubules, were verified. ZIKV particles were observed inside lysosomes and rough endoplasmic reticulum. The CHIKV particles showed spherical format with an approximate diameter of 50-60nm and with the envelope structure enough evident. In cells infected with CHKV it was observed that the particles are internalized mainly by clathrin-mediated endocytosis. Virus particles was observed in endocytic vesicles and in compartments formed by unitary membranes where nucleocapsids were observed. The release of CHKV particles was by budding. In this study we demonstrated that morphology of DENV of four different serotypes is similar with differences only the diameter and that there is no difference between the replicative cycles; the ZIKV had a different replicative cycle than the Flavivirus pattern. Regarding CHKV, the replicative cycle occurred as described in the literature.

Financial support: CNPq


Low-salinity water flooding is a promising technique for enhanced oil recovery in sandstone and carbonate reservoirs. Given the complex physical and chemical processes involved, several controlling mechanisms have been proposed to describe oil re-mobilization in the presence of water solution with low salinity. Osmosis and water-in-oil emulsification are among these mechanisms. However, our current knowledge about these processes is limited and their associated time scales are not well understood. In our study, three main research questions have been answered: how do the osmosis and emulsification impact the water transport and the corresponding oil mobilization? What is the effect of low-salinity on the ion transport in a thin aqueous film on a charged solid surface?
To solve the first issue, we used three aqueous solutions and two alkanes in a series of microfluidic experiments with hydrophobically coated glass micro-chips for mimicking the low-salinity waterflooding process in an oil-wet rock formation. We created multiple systems of low-salinity water-alkane/high-salinity water in the porous micromodel, and afterward, continuously monitored the domain for 70 hours. We noted that ionic strength and the hydrocarbon chain length both played important roles in water diffusion. A salinity contrast of 1.7 g/L-170 g/L caused a higher water volumetric flux than 50 g/L-170 g/L for both alkanes. There was no simple relationship between the chain length of hydrocarbon and water volumetric flux. Moreover, to investigate the effect of salinity on water behavior in heptane, we conducted molecular dynamic (MD) simulations by considering three different concentrations in the high-salinity water region featuring our experiments. The results indicated that high salinity limited the water diffusion from high-salinity phase into the oil phase and reduced the possibility of water entering the heptane phase.
The numerical modelling of ionic diffusive transport through a charged thin film of electrolyte is mathematically and computationally complex due to the strongly coupled hydrodynamics and electrochemical interactions. Due to the highly nonlinear and coupled equations the computational costs are heavy and very often limited to simulations in two-dimensional geometries. We have developed an equivalent one-dimensional electro-diffusive transport model based on mathematical averaging of 2D equations to reduce the computational time. The computational time is improved substantially and simulation of much larger domain sizes which are required to study and interpret the experimental results is shown to be feasible. We have shown the high accuracy of the developed model by comparing the electric potential and concentration profiles of the developed model against the original 2D simulations.
Wettability is a crucial factor for pore-filling events in multiphase flow. Different wettabilities of the solid substrate affect the global displacement pattern, the fluid trapping and the hysteretic saturation. Furthermore the effect of wettability needs to be considered in numerical and analytical models to enable the accurate description of the pressure response during such a pore-filling event. The PDMS micro-models are designed with a depth of 100 μm and with one square pore body of 800 μm in width and length which is connected to 4,000 μm long inlet and outlet channels with a height of 150μm. The models are rendered with three surface wettabilities of 40º, 95º and 150º static contact angle (measured with the sessile drop method for a water droplet on PDMS in air). Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) is applied to recognize the fluid interface and monitor its movement. With an inserted pressure transducer in the upstreaming plastic tube, the pressure change during the events was continuously measured. The collected pressure curves are compared with existing analytical solutions. We correspondingly developed numerical models based on the volume of fluid method which will be validated with the presented experimental data.


Overview: Anxiety in the dental office is a common challenge for the clinicians. Dentophobia is a common cause for reduced motivation and infrequent dental visits for patients with oral diseases. Several techniques to reduce dental anxiety have been in practice since years. This review aims to summarize the potential use of Lavender as an aromatherapeutic agent for dental anxiety management. Methodology: Articles pertaining to the key words "Lavender", "Lavender Aromatherapy", "Dental anxiety management" and "Complementary and Alternative medicine (CAM)" were searched in MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The findings from the studies were consolidated and inferences were summarized into a review. Results: Although less in practice, our literature search found that lavender aromatherapy was an effective adjunct to manage current or state anxiety and should be considered as an "on the spot" therapeutic agent in managing dental anxiety. Conclusion: Within the confines of the review, it could be concluded that lavender aromatherapy is an effective method of managing dental anxiety. Compared to the conventional methods described in the literature, aromatherapy offers the benefit of increased patient compliance and reduced rates of complications associated with such procedures. However further research focussed on the effectiveness of this method should be done for establishing this therapy as an optimal therapy to manage dental anxiety.


This paper discusses Hospital Accreditation through a theoretical approach, whose
development was based on the content of Manual de Acreditacao Hospitalar Brasileiro 3a
edicao (Brazilian Hospital Accreditation Manual 3rd edition) and on a selection of articles
about this subject. It also aims to present the Hospital Accreditation method to be appreciated,
demonstrating its techniques, advantages and difficulties. According to Brazilian Ordinance
1970/2001, Hospital Accreditation represents "consensus, rationalization and ordering for
hospitals and especially for permanent education of health workers and it is expressed by
evaluating institutional, voluntary, periodic and reserved resources, which tends to ensure
quality for care procedures through previously established standards". This is a theoretical
reflection regardless the research method. Hospital Accreditation is still considered little
explored in literature. However, greater interest of scholars in this area may represent a
breakthrough in researches development and may accelerate the process of its consolidation in Brazil.


A new method is presented to identify the characteristics of a rigid body and its supports, such as the center of gravity, the moment of inertia, and the stiffness and damping matrices, based on the measured time domain vibration data. Transformation matrices are formed using only the geometric co-ordinates relative to an arbitrary selected origin to relate the pure translational measurement to both translation and rotation of the rigid body system. The rigid body modes and mode shapes, carefully selected from the accurately determined modes and mode shapes (rigid body and structural), are used, together with the special matrix structure, such as symmetry. The test result shows that the center of gravity and the moment of inertia are determined with good accuracy. The simple test procedure makes it an easily implementable method in practice. (A)


The Lagrangians and dissipation functions are proposed for use in the electrodynamics of the double-negative and chiral metamaterials with finite loss. The double-negative metamaterial considered here is the 'wires and split-rings' periodic structure, while the chiral metamaterial is the 'single-resonance helical resonators' array. For either system, application of Legendre transformation leads to a Hamiltonian density identical to the energy density obtained in our previous work based on the Poynting theorem and the mechanism of the power loss. This coincidence implies the correctness of the energy density formulas we obtained before. The Lagrangian description and Hamiltonian formulation can be further developed for exploring the properties of the elementary excitations or quasiparticles in dispersive metamaterials due to light–matter interactions.