The heatwave in 2022 in South Asia disrupted the lives of millions of people and posed challenges to human health, energy, water, and food security. However, mega heatwaves' causes, impacts, and occurrence (like in 2022) remain largely unrecognized. Here, we analyzed the 2022 heatwave, its mechanisms, and future likelihood using observational datasets and climate model simulations. In the last few years, the frequency and duration of heatwaves have significantly increased in South Asia. South Asia faced five continuous heatwave spells that lasted about 35 d during late February and April 2022, affecting a large part of the region. The year 2022 heatwave was unprecedented that caused a deficit in soil moisture and crop yield. Moreover, our results show that the excessive radiative heating of arid and semi-arid regions resulted in a high geopotential height and low pressure in South Asia during the 2022 mega heatwave. The climate model simulations show that such mega heatwaves are projected to become more frequent under the warmer world, and their time of emergence could be as early as the 2030s under the highest emission scenario. Earlier occurrences of mega heatwaves in the future will pose considerable adaptation challenges for food and water security in the region.


Microbubbles are tiny bubbles with diameters below 50 μm. Because of their minute buoyant force, the microbubbles stagnate in aqueous media for a long time, and they sometimes cause serious damage. Most traditional methods chosen for elimination of gas bubbles utilize buoyancy forces including chemical methods and physical methods, and they only have a minor effect on microbubbles. Several approaches have been developed to collect and transport microbubbles in aqueous media. However, the realization of innovative strategies to directly collect and transport microbubbles in aqueous media remains a big challenge. In nature, both spider silk and cactus spines take advantage of their conical-shaped surface to yield the gradient of Laplace pressure and surface free energy for collecting fog droplets from the environment. Inspired by this, we introduce here the gradient of Laplace pressure and surface free energy to the interface of superhydrophobic copper cones (SCCs), which can continuously collect and directionally transport CO2 microbubbles (from tip side to base side) in CO2-supersaturated solution. A gas layer was formed when the microbubbles encounter the SCCs. This offers a channel for microbubble directional transportation. The efficiency of microbubble transport is significantly affected by the apex angle of SCCs and the carbon dioxide concentration. The former provides different gradients of Laplace pressure as the driving force. The latter represents the capacity, which offers the quantity of CO2 microbubbles for collection and transportation. We believe that this approach provides a simple and valid way to remove microbubbles.


with international languages like Esperanto that can be learned easily by people of many nations. As such, it has many advantages over its competitors. For one thing, if is a real language rather than a fabricated one, and therefore leads its readers into a real and important literature. Again~ it is already the property of hundreds of millions of people, in every part of the world. And finally, it is an efficient, workable language, easily learned, adequare, as Mr. Churchill said at Harvard, for "very wide transactions of practical business and of interchange of ideas •.• a medium of intercourse and understanding to many races and an aid to the building of our new structure for preserving peace."


Purpose : This study evaluated the minimum 3 year follow-up results of cementless bipolar hemiarthroplasty in elderly patients more than 80 years of age with a femoral neck fracture. Materials and Methods : 57 cementless bipolar hemiarthroplasties for femoral neck fractures were performed in elderly patients more than 80 years of age between January 1996 and December 2000. The clinical, radiological results and bone mineral density of 38 hips in 35 patients who could be followed up for at least 3 years were analyzed. The mean age of the patients was 82.5 years (80 to 100 years). 29 patients were women and 6 were men. For all cases, an identical prosthesis (VerSys® fiber metal midcoat collarless stem, Zimmer, Warsaw, Indiana, USA) was implanted. Results : The average follow-up period was 41 months (36 to 62 months). The average Harris Hip Score was 76.4±14.1 points at the time of the most recent follow-up. An excellent score (90-100 points) was recorded in 2 hips (5%), good (80-89 points) in 10 hips (26%), fair (70-79 points) in 21 hips (55%) and poor (60-69) in 5 hips (13%). The radiological assessment showed that all stems were biological stable, with 20 stems (53%) showing bony ingrowth and 18 stems (47%) having stable fibrous fixation. No cup migration, osteolysis, vertical subsidence, pedestal reaction and varus deposition of the stem etc. were observed. The mean T value of the bone mineral density (BMD) was -3.75±0.75 and was not related to the clinical and radiological results. Conclusion : Cementless bipolar hemiarthroplasty for elderly patients more than 80 years of age with a femoral neck fracture showed satisfactory short-term results with no relationship to the severity of osteoporosis.


The effects of early alert systems on student motivation in K-12 and higher education are examined throughout this paper. The two early alert systems studied are Starfish™, which is designed to inform students of academic progress, connect students with appropriate campus resources, and support student success and retention and ClassDojo, which is an immediate behavioral management system and skill tracking tool designed for use with elementary grade students. Early alert systems are used to make students aware of their current progress or standing and encourage them to alter their actions to be more successful. This paper investigated the behavioral actions of students after receiving the notifications from each early alert system. Data was gathered and studied to determine the behavior modifications, if any, after the use of the systems. Based on this study, it was determined that the same motivation strategies do not work for all students. Some students went to tutoring based on notifications from teachers, while some did not. Likewise, some students changed to more appropriate behavior based on their ClassDojo points, while others did not.


Detecting threats on the Internet is a key factor in maintaining data and information security. An intrusion detection system tries to prevent such attacks from occurring through the analysis of patterns and behavior of the data flow in the network. This paper presents a distributed platform for detection and analysis of data in a large flux, through classification algorithms present in flux processing units. The system architecture allows each classifier to work in parallel and the results are grouped into a visualization interface, allowing the monitoring of each unit. The evaluation of the system is based on the accuracy, number of false positives and false negatives, where each classifier presented accuracy above 90% and, with the exception of the Naive Bayes algorithm, reduced number of false positives and negatives, allowing The detection of real-time threats over a large volume of data. Keywords— Intrusion detection, IDS, data mining, Big Data, machine learning, real-time.


Plasmids are mobile genetic elements that play a key role in microbial ecology and evolution by mediating horizontal transfer of important genes, such as antimicrobial resistance genes. Many microbial genomes have been sequenced by short read sequencers and have resulted in a mix of contigs that derive from plasmids or chromosomes. New tools that accurately identify plasmids are needed to elucidate new plasmid-borne genes of high biological importance. We have developed Deeplasmid, a deep learning tool for distinguishing plasmids from bacterial chromosomes based on the DNA sequence and its encoded biological data. It requires as input only assembled sequences generated by any sequencing platform and assembly algorithm and its runtime scales linearly with the number of assembled sequences. Deeplasmid achieves an AUC-ROC of over 93%, and it was much more precise than the state-of-the-art methods. Finally, as a proof of concept, we used Deeplasmid to predict new plasmids in the fish pathogen Yersinia ruckeri ATCC 29473 that has no annotated plasmids. Deeplasmid predicted with high reliability that a long assembled contig is part of a plasmid. Using long read sequencing we indeed validated the existence of a 102 Kbp long plasmid, demonstrating Deeplasmid's ability to detect novel plasmids. Availability The software is available with a BSD license: deeplasmid.sourceforge.io. A Docker container is available on DockerHub under: billandreo/deeplasmid. Contact firstname.lastname@example.com firstname.lastname@example.com


Using the well‐differentiated human squamous carcinoma cell line LICR‐LON‐HN‐5 as an immunogen we have produced a monoclonal antibody (32a) that reacts with the keratohyalin granular layer of the normal epidermis. We present here results showing the distribution of the epitope recognized by this antibody in human tissues in vivo and in vitro, as demonstrated using immuno cytochemical staining techniques at the light and ultrastructural levels. Expression of the determinant first appears at 18 weeks of fetal development, localized in cells associated with the hair germ. In hyperplastic epidermis the staining pattern is altered, apparently linked with a switch from orthokeratotic to parakeratotic keratinization. In primary squamous cell carcinomas and in xenografts formed by the squamous carcinoma cell line LICR‐LON‐HN‐5 the keratinized elements are stained. Poorly differentiated tumours are not stained, indicating that antibody may be useful as a marker of terminal differentiation in vivo. When grown on collagen gels both human epidermal keratinocytes and the squamous carcinoma cell line show staining of the more differentiated cells which appears to be associated with the keratinohyalin granules, indicating that this antibody may be of value in studies aimed at the control of squamous differentiation.


By introducing Caching as a Service (CaaS) in Cloud radio access network (C-RAN), the joint resource segmentation and transmission rate adaptation problem is investigated in this paper. Specifically, in the baseband unit (BBU) pool of C-RAN, we optimally segment computation and storage resources to different types of virtual machines (VMs), and in the remote radio heads (RRHs), we adjust the beamformers to obtain the cache-based adaptive rate (CBAR). We aim to minimize the system cost, which includes server cost, VM cost and wireless transmission cost. The joint optimization problem is formulated as a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem, which contains l0-norm terms in the objective function and nonconvex constraints. We propose a three-step solution approach, i.e., a general smooth function approximation step, a weighted minimum mean square error (WMMSE) reformulation step and an integer recovery step. Simulation results show that our proposed integer recovery algorithms recover the integer variable values effectively.


Background Reducing car use and promoting physically active travel would be expected to decrease air pollution, traffic crashes and diseases associated with sedentary lifestyles. Objective To investigate how and why people commute by car. Design Mixed-methods cross-sectional study, integrating qualitative data from in-depth interviews with quantitative data from questionnaires. Setting Cambridge, UK. Participants Commuters to Cambridge. 47 participants (23−68 years, 26 female) completed interviews, 1142 (17−71 years, 782 female) completed questionnaires. Outcome measures Regular car commuting, defined as always/usually commuting by car in the past four weeks. We also examined whether regular car commuters drove all the way (unimodal) or used cars plus another mode (multimodal – eg, park and ride). Analysis Initial qualitative analyses generated hypotheses and conceptual models which we tested in the quantitative data. Key quantitative findings formed the starting point for further thematic analyses of the qualitative data. Results Regular car commuting was independently associated with female gender, longer commuting distance, having a driving licence, more household cars and availability of workplace parking. There was no independent effect of age, presence of children, long-term illness or difficulty walking. Socio-economic characteristics (education, housing tenure and area deprivation) showed strong univariable effects which appeared entirely mediated by commuting distance. Qualitative analysis suggested that this reflected high house prices in central Cambridge, meaning less wealthy households moved further out to achieve goals such as home ownership. Nevertheless, cars were generally affordable in this relatively affluent population, reducing the barrier which distance posed to labour-force participation. Car access was also valued by many non-regular car commuters in letting them overcome short-term challenges such as illness. Yet car commuting also introduced constraints, for example pushing drivers with flexible working hours to travel earlier (40% of drivers started work by 8:30 vs 20% of walkers and cyclists). Finally, only workplace parking availability strongly predicted unimodal versus multimodal car commuting (90% unimodal if free workplace parking, 65% if charged parking, 20% if no parking). 84% of multimodal car journeys involved walking or cycling. Conclusion In car-centred environments, car access enables individuals to reconcile life goals such as home ownership and employment, and to meet unexpected challenges. Nevertheless, car dependence also imposes constraints, particularly on those who are less affluent or who have less control over their working hours. Car commuters were much more likely to incorporate some walking or cycling into their journey if their workplace restricted parking or charged for it, suggesting potential health benefits.


The conclusion of Free Trade Agreement between South Korea and USA can become a serious threat to the Korean agriculture. On the strategic scheme the foodstuffs is the basis for protection of the state sovereignty. The Amur oblast of Russian Federation is region, which can supply South Korea cheap and good qualitative feeds. It means South Korea should create agricultural cooperation with the Amur oblast of Russian Federation with the purpose to begin organic agriculture in this area and it will help South Korea to counteract a quantitative attack on Korea from the side of american agricultural production. In the Amur oblast there are following fodder crops; Alfalfa, Smooth brome grass (Bromus arvensis L.), Siberian couch grass, Sudan grass, Colza rape (Brassica napus) and Amaranth (Avfranthus). In the same area also exist oatmeal, wheat, corn and barley, which is possible to use for feeds. All these above written cultures are cultivated organically, therefore it is possible to use them as organic forages in South Korea. It is very important to know system of crop rotation in the Amur oblast. There is a scheme of crop rotation, which is connected with increase and preservation of fertility of soil, maintenance of growth of productivity of agricultural cultures and reception of high-quality production. It is necessary to begin organic agriculture in a southern part of Amur oblast, where, in 2001 year, 97% of all sowing areas was concentrated. The acidity degree of soil in this part is not high (ph5.1~5.5), therefore does not require liming.


Two fatal cases of haemophagocytic syndrome diagnosed on the basis of autopsy findings at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Barbados, are presented. They were both young patients, a male 20 years of age and a female 28 years of age, with common clinical features of severe constitutional symptoms, pharyngeal haemorrhages, pancytopenia, and fever. The female patient had elevated titres to herpes simplex virus indicative of recent infection as well as postmortem evidence of overwhelming mixed bacteria sepsis. In both cases, histopathological studies showed lymphoid depletion and histiocytes displaying haemophagocytosis.


Abstract With renewed focus on achieving value for patients in total hip and knee arthroplasty, payors, hospitals, and physicians strive to provide quality care while minimizing cost. Large registry datasets have gained popularity in the United States to track implant survivorship and outcomes after joint replacement. Partnerships among surgeons, insurers, and health systems have improved on earlier administrative datasets from Medicare to measure quality and outcomes. Participation in state and national registries can help surgeons and hospitals gain a financial advantage in several insurers' quality programs and alternative payment models. Although large dataset analysis has its limitations, all health care stakeholders will become increasingly dependent on arthroplasty registries to improve quality and control costs.


A 15-year-old boy with severe inflammatory skin lesions from an early age was found to have extremely elevated serum IgE levels (up to 376.000 IU/ml). His skin showed positive direct immunofluorescence for IgE and he had peripheral and bone marrow eosinophilia. No evidence for atopic disease was found, but he suffered intestinal helminthic infection of moderate intensity. He showed a somewhat depressed cell mediated immune response but a normal polymorphonuclear function. Various treatments that included anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, anti-parasitic, anti-mycotic and PUVA therapy did not significantly improve his condition A therapeutic test using plasmapheresis produced marked, though short-lived clinical improvement. We believe that this case might result from the superimposition of the stimulatory effects of intestinal helminthiasis on a background of intrinsic hyper-production of IgE.


A small-area digital-to-analogue converter (DAC) using an adaptive body bias scheme is proposed for active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) data driver ICs. The proposed scheme adjusts the body bias applied to the P-type (PMOS) decoder according to the average picture level (APL) and maintains a low on-resistance of the PMOS decoder at a high APL. This enables reduction of the DAC area by realising the upper-half decoder using only PMOS switches, unlike conventional DACs which use both PMOS and N-type switches. A 20-channel data driver IC is fabricated using a 0.18 µm HVCMOS technology with 1.8 V/18 V devices. The proposed DAC occupies 33% less area than the conventional DAC and the measured differential nonlinearity and integral nonlinearity are +0.09/−0.1 and +0.36/−0.47 LSB, respectively.


We introduce SeisNoise.jl, a library for high-performance ambient seismic noise cross correlation, written entirely in the computing language Julia. Julia is a new language, with syntax and a learning curve similar to MATLAB (see Data and Resources), R, or Python and performance close to Fortran or C. SeisNoise.jl is compatible with high-performance computing resources, using both the central processing unit and the graphic processing unit. SeisNoise.jl is a modular toolbox, giving researchers common tools and data structures to design custom ambient seismic cross-correlation workflows in Julia.


Our mission of capstone computing courses for the past ten years has been to offer students experience with the development of real-world information technology projects. This experience has included both the hard and soft skills required for the work they could expect as industrial practitioners. Hard skills entail extending one's knowledge structure with technical know-how, specifically using the latest software and hardware tools for building applications of genuine utility. Soft skills include the ability to work in a collaborative setting (e.g., to participate in team coordination and governance), the ability to interact with a customer (e.g., to establish product requirements and achieve acceptance), the ethos of creating value, and a facility for technical communications (written, oral, and electronic). Significant changes in the instructional environment have taken place in the ten years since the capstone class was first offered. This paper describes the adaptation to changes in the course's delivery so that its mission continues to be fulfilled successfully.


Multi-frequency observations of two radio bright SNe (SN1993J, SN1979C) carried out over a year with GMRT are presented. Their radio light curves trace the evolution of the mass loss in the stellar wind before the pre-supernova star exploded. Their spectra at low frequencies distinguish between the synchrotron self-absorption and free-free absorption based models. Two very similar type IIp SN1999gi and SN1999em were also observed and we comment on their progenitor mass. These observations of different subclasses of core-collapse supernovae will aid in defining their progenitors.


The aims of this study were to determine the remaining subjective and objective need for orthodontic treatment, symptoms of CMD, and headache. 120 boys and 121 girls at 19 years of age participated. They were registered with casts and were sent a questionnaire about chewing ability, headache, subjective symptoms of CMD and experience of orthodontic treatment. They were also asked to give their opinion of their own teeth by putting a mark on a line. The results showed that 89.6% of the adolescents had a normal sagittal molar relationship and 9.6% a postnormal molar relationship. Space conditions of the upper and lower incisors displayed a large range. Most of the adolescents were satisfied with their dentition even though a large range was obvious. Factors of significance for the subjects' subjective opinion of their dentition were space conditions, overjet and inclination of upper incisors. It was concluded that the remaining need of treatment was low, girls being more interested in treatment than boys. The boys' and girls' subjective opinions of their own teeth after treatment were similar. Orthodontic treatment clearly increased the subjects' subjective appreciation of their own teeth.


This work proposes the coefficients for Angstrom - Prescott type of model for the estimation of global solar radiation in Makurdi, Nigeria using relative sunshine duration alongside the measured global solar radiation data (2001-2010). The model constants a and b obtained in this investigation for Makurdi are .138 and 0.488 respectively. The correlation coefficient of 89% (P=0.00) between the clear sky index and relative sunshine duration, as well as the coefficient of determination, R2 of 79.5 obtained shows that this model fits the data very well. Hence, the very low mean standard error of 0.025 showed a good agreement between the measured and estimated global solar radiation. Consequently, the developed model in this work can be used with confidence for Makurdi, and other locations with similar climate conditions.


ABSTRACT A DNA vaccine encoding sequence-conserved human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-derived cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes from multiple HIV-1 gene products (designated EP HIV-1090) was evaluated in a placebo-controlled, dose escalation phase 1 clinical trial of HIV-1-infected subjects receiving potent combination antiretroviral therapy. Patients received four intramuscular immunizations with EP HIV-1090 over a 4-month period at one of four doses (0.5, 1.0, 2.0, or 4.0 mg) or received a placebo. The vaccine was determined to be safe and well tolerated at all doses tested. CTL responses were measured from cryopreserved peripheral blood mononuclear cells using gamma interferon enzyme-linked immunospot assays, with and without in vitro peptide stimulation (IVS). Responses to one or more vaccine epitopes were detected throughout the course of vaccination in 37.5% (12/32) and 47% (15/32) of vaccine recipients measured without and with IVS, respectively, indicating possible vaccine-induced priming of epitope-specific T cells. However, differences in rates of response to HIV-1 epitopes between vaccine and placebo recipients did not achieve statistical significance. The HIV-1 epitope-specific CTL responses measured in the peripheral blood after vaccination were often low level and short-lived, and therefore, alternative immunization schedules, routes of delivery, or vaccine formulations may be required to increase vaccine potency.


: Hop cones are an indispensable raw material used for beer brewing. Since the hop plant is a minor crop, expansion habit of the hop root system has not been well investigated. In this study, we observed and analyzed the root systems of two major hop cultivars in Hokkaido, Little Star and Furano Special, using the wall profile method and root depth index. The results suggest differences in expansion habit of the hop root between the two hop cultivars, which has not been reported previously. The results also indicate that the different responses in cone yield to precipitation between the two hop cultivars may be derived from their differences in root expansion habit. The results of this preliminary study support the view that a better understanding of the hop root system could lead to improved productivity of hops via the development of agronomical techniques or genotypes.


This paper discusses numerical simulations of double layer effects at shrouded electrodes with dimensions below 100 nm. Special focus is given to the surface charge on the shrouding material. The Poisson-Nernst-Planck equations are solved to study the effects on the limiting current arising from the electrical double layer of the shrouding.


FIELD: turbines. SUBSTANCE: invention relates to gas turbine plants of aircraft and ground application, namely, to compressor supports or turbine structure. Radial flexible and damping support of turbomachine rotor contains a ball bearing, as well as consequently installed on turbomachine rotor trunnion from the side of impellers of turbine machine rotor a labyrinth seal, contact ring interacting with contact graphite sealing and roller bearing, external ring of which is installed in roller bearing housing. At the end of the trunnion of turbomachine rotor thrust ring is installed and rigidly fixed, contacting with the end of roller bearing inner ring . Housings of all said seals are rigidly connected to the support housing via flexible element "squirrel cage" type. Outer ring of ball bearing is installed in the housing of ball bearing, made integral with roller bearing housing to form a common housing of bearings, and the inner ring is fixed on the outer diameter of the auxiliary bushing. Auxiliary bushing is connected with a thrust ring by means of V-shaped mechanisms, hinged and arranged in circle, each of which is formed by two bell cranks connected to each other by means of hinge joint. In the bell cranks' connection point is a weight installed located on the diameter less than diameter of the internal ring of the auxiliary bushing, free ends of bell cranks are connected with auxiliary bushing and thrust ring by means of hinged joints. Common bearing housing is installed in the elastic element "squirrel cage" type, at that, between elastic element and bearings' common housing section located directly under it circular cavity is formed, in which axial spring is installed. Common bearing housing is made with possibility of axial shifting relative to elastic element, limited with one side by the end of contact graphite sealing housing, and with end of elastic element on opposite side. End of elastic element of "squirrel cage" type and mating end surface of bearings' common housing are tapered in relation to the longitudinal axis of the support, where the base of the cone is located on the side of the impellers of turbomachine rotor. Labyrinth seal, contact ring and inner ring roller bearing are fixed in axial direction by means of nut, installed on the thread on trunnion of turbomachine rotor and having contact with the end of inner ring of roller bearing. EFFECT: invention widens operation range of the turbine machine with low level of vibration. 1 cl, 2 dwg


This paper generalizes the ACD models of Engle and Russell (1998) using the so-called q-Weibull distribution as the conditional distribution. The new specification allows the hazard function to be non-monotonic. We document that the q-Weibull distribution recently suggested in physics as a generalization of the Weibull distribution is closely related to the much older Burr Type XII distribution in statistics. The nested, more heavy-tailed, q-exponential distribution is also being introduced. Data from the New York and the Helsinki Stock Exchange with different market microstructures and data types show that the q-Weibull specification outperforms the standard specifications used in econometrics and performs as well as the Burr specification of Grammig and Maurer (2000). The more parsimonious q-exponential specification typically provides a reasonable fit, improving the fit over the most commonly applied Weibull specification. We also find that the price threshold used affects the shape of the hazard function and thus the relative success of the models and must be taken into account when modeling price durations.


In 1990 Enderby and Barnes reviewed the electrical properties of liquid alloys which show features associated with semiconducting behaviour. They proposed an empirical classification scheme based on the notion that some liquid semiconductors are characterized by a finite gap in σ (E), the energy-dependent conductivity (narrow definition), whereas in others σ (E) is continuous (broad definition). Interesting behaviour occurs for systems at the narrow/broad boundary and further analysis of these liquid alloys will form the subject matter of this paper. Particular attention will be focused on liquid silver chalcogenides as these offer a severe test of current theories.


We focus on several learning approaches that employ max-operator to evaluate the margin. For example, such approaches are commonly used in multi-class learning task and top-rank learning task. In general, in order to estimate the theoretical generalization risk, we need to individually evaluate the complexity of each hypothesis class used in the learning approaches. In this paper, we provide a technique to estimate a theoretical generalization risk for such learning approaches in a same fashion. The key idea is to "redundantly" reformulate the learning problem as one-class multiple-instance learning by redefining the specific input space based on the original input space. Surprisingly, we succeed to improve the generalization risk bounds for some multi-class learning and top-rank learning algorithms.


The detection of anomalies in unknown environments is a problem that has been approached from different perspectives with variable results. Artificial Immune Systems (AIS) present particularly advantageous characteristics for the detection of such anomalies. This research is based on an existing detector model, named Artificial Bioindicators System (ABS) which identifies and solves its main weaknesses. An ABS based anomaly classifier model is presented, incorporating elements of the AIS. In this way, a new model (R-ABS) is developed which includes the advantageous capabilities of an ABS plus the reactive capabilities of an AIS to overcome its weaknesses and disadvantages. The RABS model was tested using the well-known DARPA'98 dataset, plus a dataset built to carry out a greater number of experiments. The performance of the RABS model was compared to the performance of the ABS model based on classical sensitivity and specificity metrics, plus a response time metric to illustrate the rapid response of R-ABS relative to ABS. The results showed a better performance of R-ABS, especially in terms of detection time.


Agency problems in firms are known to influence suboptimal capital investment decisions. Using panel data of publicly listed firms in India, we find evidence that increased insider ownership is associated with lower investment efficiency, i.e. as insider ownership increases, firms show tendency to make capital investments beyond the optimal level. However, we do not find evidence of increased insider ownership leading to underinvestment (below the optimal level of capital investment). A plausible explanation, consistent with theory, is that such insiders are making capital investments for private gain and empire-building rather than in the best interest of the firm. Additional analyses show that the presence of independent directors on the board of firms mitigates such value-destroying investments stemming from increased insider ownership.


We have registered 2,064 cases of cancer among the inhabitants of Conakry, Guinea, during 1992–1994, corresponding to age‐standardized incidence rates (ASRs) of 83.3 per 100,000 in men and 110.5 per 100,000 in women. As elsewhere in West Africa, the principal cancer of men was liver cancer (ASR 32.6), with modest rates of stomach (ASR 6.2) and prostate (ASR 8.1) cancers. In women, cervix cancer was the dominant malignancy (ASR 46.0), followed by liver cancer (ASR 12.5) and breast cancer (ASR 10.9). In contrast to contemporary East and Central Africa, Kaposi's sarcoma remained rare (only 4 cases). In the childhood age group, relatively high incidence rates were found for Hodgkin's disease, Burkitt's lymphoma and, especially, retinoblastoma. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Mixed Reality (MR) is a technology which enable to bring a virtual element into the real-world environment. MR intends to improve reality on the virtual world immerse onto real-world space. Occasionally the MR has been improved as the display technologies advanced progressively. In MR collaborative interface context, the local and remote user work together on collaborative task while sense the immersive environment in the cooperative application. User telepresence is an immersive telepresence, where the reconstruction of a human appears in a real-life. Up till now, producing full telepresence of the life-size human body may require a high transmission bandwidth of the internet. Therefore, this paper explores on a robust real-time 3D reconstruction method for MR telepresence. This paper discusses the previous works on the reconstruction method of a full-body human and the existing research works that have proposed the reconstruction methods for telepresence. Besides the 3D reconstruction method, this paper also enlightens our recent finding on the MR framework to transport a full-body human from a local location to a remote location. The MR telepresence will be discussed, as well as the robust 3D reconstruction method which has been implemented with user telepresence feature where the user experiences an accurate 3D representation of a remote person. The paper ends with the discussion and results, MR telepresence with robust 3D reconstruction method to execute user telepresence.


Background: Upper lip appearance received major attention with the introduction of diverse treatment modalities, including lip augmentation, rhinoplasty surgery, and dental treatment designed to support the upper lip. Our objectives were to define the prevalence and characteristics of the upper lip horizontal line (ULHL), which is a dynamic line appearing during a smile, in relation to gender, malocclusions, aging, and facial morphology. Methods: First, the prevalence and gender distribution of ULHL was examined from standardized en-face imaging at full smile of 643 randomly selected patients. Second, cephalometric and dental cast model analyses were made for 97 consecutive patients divided into three age groups. Results: ULHL appears in 13.8% of the population examined, and prevailed significantly more in females (78%). The prevalence of ULHL was not related to age nor to malocclusion. Patients presenting ULHL showed shorter upper lip and deeper lip sulcus. The skeletal pattern showed longer mid-face, shorter lower facial height and greater prevalence of a gummy smile. Conclusions: Female patients with short upper lip, concavity of the upper lip, and gummy smile are more likely to exhibit ULHL. The ULHL is not age-related and can be identified in children and young adults. Therefore, it should be considered when selecting diverse treatment modalities involving the upper lip.


The majority of pathogens, including many of medical and veterinary importance, can infect more than one species of host. Population biology has yet to explain why perceived evolutionary advantages of pathogen specialization are, in practice, outweighed by those of generalization. Factors that predispose pathogens to generalism include high levels of genetic diversity and abundant opportunities for cross-species transmission, and the taxonomic distributions of generalists and specialists appear to reflect these factors. Generalism also has consequences for the evolution of virulence and for pathogen epidemiology, making both much less predictable. The evolutionary advantages and disadvantages of generalism are so finely balanced that even closely related pathogens can have very different host range sizes.


In the summer of 1936, when Walker Evans traveled with James Agee to Hale County, Alabama, to document the daily lives of tenant cotton farmers for Fortune, he established in the mind of America a lasting image of the South. Though the essay never appeared in the magazine, which found Agee's writing "pessimistic, unconstructive, indignant, lyrical, and always personal," the photographs were included in Walker Evans: American Photographs, published in 1938 by the Museum of Modern Art in conjunction with its first one-photographer retrospective. (1) They also were reissued in 1941 with Agee's text as Let Us Now Praise Famous Men but belonged to Evans's employer, the Farm Security Administration (FSA), as a condition of his leave, and thus passed into the public domain. If Evans's portraits of the Alabama sharecroppers and their families stand with Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California" as icons of the Depression, his interiors of their houses, those of the West Virginia coal miners he photographed the year before, and his shots of the empty Belle Grove plantation house outside New Orleans stand as icons of place. In its elegance and decline Belle Grove was the irretrievable southern past, but Hale County was its present, a present that generations of Evans's lesser imitators have prolonged as they roam the back roads of the South in search of the ramshackle, the overgrown, and the falling-down that have become the staples of southern cliche. Evans, an aristocratic midwesterner who spent his adult life in the Northeast, was a collector who saw his photographs as artifacts, not expressions of himself but records of other. "Detachment is my professional equipment," he boasted, and he developed a straightforward, unpretentious style that laid the facts before the viewer. Despite the fame of the portraits he made for the FSA, he was primarily a photographer of environments, and his fondness for interiors--"I do like to suggest people sometimes by their absence," he told interviewer Paul Cummings--was realized most successfully in the houses of the poor, largely "because the pieces of the anatomy of someone's life were more easily captured there in a single frame." (2) Not many of the subsequent self-consciously southern and interchangeable documentarians who look for the picturesque in rural blight venture inside. Theirs is so much a record of difference that they make poverty look like a tourist attraction, something you can see from your car. Their images offer neither the personal view of Agee nor the supposedly objective eye of Evans. Instead of revealing, they confirm. This is what the South is supposed to look like. On the surface it might appear as if "Home," Boston-based artist Shellburne Thurber's series of large-scale color photographs of the interiors of vacant and neglected houses in North Carolina, follows in the tradition of documenting the shabby of abandoned that Evans unwittingly established for the South. One difference is Thurber's use of color, whereas much of the formal beauty of Evans's Depression compositions derives from the power of black and white. The contrast is startling, for Thurber's images are not merely in color; they radiate with it, so saturated that their light and color seem to glow from within. John Szarkowski, the influential director of the Museum of Modern Art's department of photography from the late 1960s to 1991, once divided the failure of color work into two categories: the failure of formlessness, in which color is extraneous, and the failure of prettiness, in which color is the subject, often, he complained, on the walls of old buildings. There is no shortage of old walls in these gorgeous chromogenic (dye-image) prints, but their subject is never color itself. The color is organic. They are, in the words Szarkowski used to describe Eliot Porter's best landscapes, "photographs of experience ... ordered and clarified." (3) Thurber, a former Bunting Fellow at Harvard who won the Maud Morgan Prize from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, uses the word experience again and again when speaking about her work. …


An important component of the New Public Management, which has spread through many countries in the world, is the emergence of hybrid governance, a structure which has replaced traditional hierarchical governance in many parts of the public sector. Hybrid governance lies between hierarchical governance and market governance, yet beyond this there is a relative lack of information on how hybrid governance works in detail. This thesis uses principal agent theory to examine the structure and form of hybrid governance. In particular, the analysis presented allows the construction of a three-dimensional governance model to explore the issue of how hybrid governance works in the context of incentives, a relatively neglected area of the public management literature. Applying the theory developed in its first half to the rapid change of higher education in China, this thesis demonstrates how hybrid governance can be analysed through an incentive approach which focuses on reducing state authority, enhancing academic power and creating market rewards. The research findings show that the Chinese government has employed these three incentive methods to motivate universities and their staff towards improved performance, and that hybrid governance has replaced traditional hierarchical governance in Chinese higher education, however the effect of changing governance structure is not significant. A reducing, but still high degree of centralised state control has restricted the incentives produced from market rewards and university academics, and the imbalance of the three incentive forces in hybrid governance impairs the further improvement of the efficiency of public service provision. The main contributions of this thesis, therefore, are to give a better understanding of the nature of hybrid governance, and to expose the limit of Chinese higher education reforms.


The aim of this study was to establish an estimated number of people living with epilepsy in southeastern Nigeria, to determine the prevalence and the utilization pattern of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). A cross sectional, observational survey was used in the study. Multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select four centers in Anambra and Enugu states in southeastern Nigeria. The selected centers were Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi (NAUTH) and Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Nawfia (NHN) both in Anambra State, while University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku-Ozalla (UNTH) and Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Enugu (FNH) are located in Enugu State. Parameters evaluated from patients' folders were gender (G), age of onset (AO), type of seizure (TS) and the probable cause of seizure (CS). The AEDs utilization pattern was evaluated and the estimation of the point prevalence was also made. A total of 365 epileptic cases of different types were investigated, with 62.7 and 37.3 percent occuring in males and females, respectively. The 13-29 age of onset (AO) showed the highest occurrence with 40.1 percent. The tonic clonic type of generalized epilepsy was highest in occurrence with 62.74% while the least was absence seizure with 2.28%. Among these, some were due to idiopathic origin while most of the cases were due to secondary or symptomatic causes. The results showed that carbamazepine, sodium valproate, diazepam and phenobarbital were the most highly prescribed drugs with 58.2, 26.1, 9.8 and 7.6 percent usages, respectively. The point prevalence for epilepsy based on this study was estimated to be 5.0 per 100,000 for southeastern Nigeria. Epilepsy in Southeastern Nigeria has a low prevalence of 5.0 per 100,000 with highest rate of onset occurring among 13-29 age range while generalized tonic clonic (GTC) seizure type occurred most and carbamazepine, a conventional AED, was the most highly prescribed. Keywords: epilepsy, pharmacoepidemiology, prevalence, southeastern Nigeria, carbamazepine


Probably the single largest advantage of the inertial route to fusion energy (IFE) is the perception that its power plant embodiments could achieve acceptable capacity factors. This is a result of its relative simplicity, the decoupling of the driver and reactor chamber, and the potential to employ thick liquid walls. We examine these issues in terms of the complexity, reliability, maintainability and, therefore, availability of both magnetic and inertial fusion power plants and compare these factors with corresponding scheduled and unscheduled outage data from present day fission experience. We stress that, given the simple nature of a fission core, the vast majority of unplanned outages in fission plants are due to failures outside the reactor vessel itself Given we must be prepared for similar outages in the analogous plant external to a fusion power core, this puts severe demands on the reliability required of the fusion core itself. We indicate that such requirements can probably be met for IFE plants. We recommend that this advantage be promoted by performing a quantitative reliability and availability study for a representative IFE power plant and suggest that databases are probably adequate for this task.


This study developed measurement scales on student leadership capacity building through a survey of 280 students from nine U.S. high schools. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses resulted in a personal, interpersonal, organizational, and overall scale for building student leadership capacity. The scales included eight mechanisms that schools can use to enhance student leadership: pedagogy, relationships, radical collegiality, governance structure, research, group makeup, consistency, and recognition. The scale items also reflected three leadership competencies: critical awareness, inclusivity, and positivity. Focus groups and interviews with students and teachers in these nine schools supported survey findings and suggested implications for practice.


Abstract A group of 72 preschoolers (36 African Americans, 36 European Americans) enrolled in Head Start programs and other preschools serving low-income children were asked 3 variations of false-belief questions across 3 scenarios and given a language and cognition subtest. Children's performance varied across the questions and tasks, but after covarying for children's language and cognitive scores, those effects were no longer found to be significant. Age effects were still significant even after differences in children's language and cognitive abilities had been accounted for. Although no language and cognitive differences were found among European Americans and African Americans, the European Americans still outperformed African Americans on 1 of the task scenarios. Those results demonstrate (a) the importance of considering testing procedures and language and cognitive abilities when assessing children's social cognitive skills and (b) that age-related changes in false-belief understanding are associated with social cognitive conceptual changes that are independent of language and cognitive skills.


We used a numerical bisection procedure to examine preschool children's sensitivity to the numerical attributes of stimuli. In Experiment 1 children performed two tasks. In the Cups Task they earned coins for choosing a green cup after two drumbeats and a blue cup after eight drumbeats. In the Gloves Task they earned coins for raising a red glove on their left hand after two drumbeats and a yellow glove on their right hand after eight drumbeats. Then in each task a psychometric function was obtained by presenting intermediate numerosities and recording the percentage of trials in which children chose the "many" option. In Experiment 2 children's performance in a '2 vs. 8' discrimination was compared with their performance in a "4 vs. 16" discrimination. Results showed that the individual psychometric functions were of two types, one in which the percentage of "many" choices increased gradually with stimulus numerosity and another in which it increased abruptly, in a step-like manner. Although the average point of subjective equality was close to the geometric mean of the anchor numerosities and the average functions for "2 vs. 8" and "4 vs. 16" superimposed when plotted on a common scale (the scalar property), the individual data were highly variable both across tasks (Cups and Gloves) and numerosity ranges ('2 vs. 8' and '4 vs. 16'). It is suggested that between- and within-subjects variability in the psychometric function is related to children's verbalizations about the sample stimulus.


Bioaugmentation is one of the essential components of bioremediation, a biotechnological method of recent origin. Bioaugmentation is the process of introducing a known veriety of bioremedial agent into contaminated environment to initiate and sustain a specific bioremedial process. The paper deals with the biomass production of Nostoc punctiforme under the influence of different concentrations of cadmium chloride in laboratory culture. The success of bioremedial process by N. punctiforme depends upon its biomass production, which in due course removes the heavy metal.In control culture the biomass of N. punctiforme as mg /50ml varied from 13.79 (0 day) to 22.88(25th day). The corresponding values for 0.01 and 0.5 ppm cadmium chloride treatment after 25 days were 20.68, 14.98 and 10.01 mg/50ml respectively, indicating a decline in biomass of N. punctiforme with increase in concentration. A two way ANOVA revealed the variation of biomass with respect to concentration and duration of treatment statistically significant (F= 10.494, df5,3; p<0.001 and F= 20.004, df 5,3; p<0.001). The results indicate better perfomance of N. punctiforme at lower concentrations.


Precise segmentation of tumor regions plays prominent role in the grading of breast carcinoma using the Nottingham Histological Grading (NHG) system. A robust segmentation framework is expected to produce cost-effective, repeatable, and reproducible quantitative outputs. In this study, a spatial neighborhood intensity constraint (SNIC) clustering framework for tumor region in breast histopathology images is presented. The proposed framework consists of five main stages: (1) color normalization, (2) segmentation and removal of nucleus cells, (3) SNIC, (4) FCM with knowledge-based initial centroids selection, and (5) post-processing. The novelty of the proposed framework lies within its simple but powerful in clustering tumor regions precisely in a heterogenous environment. The SNIC is implemented to remove and replace the intensity of the nucleus cells based on the spatial constraints. Also, a knowledge-based initial centroids selection method is implemented to ease the FCM clustering algorithm. Both of these methods are posited to facilitate the clustering stage producing complementary results. To validate the hypothesis, careful justifications are performed to evaluate the role of SNIC and knowledge-based initial centroids selection. These methods are found plausible by achieving positive results in \(Acc\), \(F1\), \(AOM\), and \(CEI\) of 91.2%, 92.1%, 85.7%, and 90.1%, respectively. To further demonstrate the applicability of the proposed framework, four recent works are included for benchmarking purposes. The proposed framework found outperformed these methods with the lowest percentages in over-segmentation and under-segmentation: 8.7% and 6.6%, respectively.


Ambient noise conditions at four IRIS/IDA sites in the USSR are characterized from 0.01 to 100 Hz as part of a study to ascertain the utility of broadband three-component seismic stations in monitoring regional Eurasian seismicity. Estimates of the power spectral density of noise levels were computed for a 5-day period in two seasons (winter and summer), at two times of the day. Of these periods, lower noise conditions were found at night in the summer. In general, at 1 Hz and above, noise levels and their variations correlate predictably with the soundness of vault construction and the proximity of the station to civilization. Absolute noise levels at the IRIS/IDA/USSR sites range from a high of about −120 dB to a low of −155 dB relative to (1 m/s2)2/Hz, between 1 and 5 Hz. A time-of-day variation in noise was observed at all sites, with noise levels during the work day ranging from 7 to 14 dB higher than night levels, depending on the site. This effect was observed only for frequencies above about 1 Hz. Observed seasonal variations (winter versus summer) are highly station dependent, although the seasonal effect is restricted to frequencies below 1 Hz and is in general centered on the microseism peak (0.1 to 0.2 Hz). Below 0.1 Hz, noise levels are influenced by the thermal and barometric isolation of the site. Low-frequency levels were not studied below 0.01 Hz. Minimum detectable magnitudes are estimated for the IRIS/IDA stations using the observed noise levels over 1 Hz. In general, a magnitude 3 event should be detectable at 1,000 km by all stations under night noise conditions if the dominant signal frequency is 1 Hz; the magnitude estimates increase with increasing frequency. These detectability estimates assume a conservative signal-to-noise ratio of 6.
 High-frequency data recorded by independent equipment co-located with the IRIS/IDA system during a 2-week experiment allow estimation of noise levels at the sites up to 100 Hz. Borehole versus surface noise levels recorded during the high-frequency experiment showed significant noise reduction (20 dB) can be achieved by borehole deployment at sites with exposed surface vaults. With well-isolated surface vaults, borehole noise reduction is about a factor of 2. Absolute noise levels between 1 to 10 Hz observed at IRIS/IDA/USSR sites are systematically higher than average NORESS noise by about 7 dB to 25 dB, depending on the station.


Many people today have never heard of the Comoros, but these islands were once part of a prosperous economic system that stretched halfway around the world. A key node in the trading networks of the Indian Ocean, the Comoros thrived by exchanging slaves and commodities with African, Arab and Indian merchants. By the seventeenth century, the archipelago had become an important supply point on the route from Europe to Asia, and developed a special relationship with the English.
The twentieth century brought French colonial rule and a plantation economy based on perfumes and spices. In 1975, following decades of neglect, the Comoros declared independence from France, only to be blighted by a series of coups, a radical revolutionary government and a mercenary regime. Today, the island nation suffers chronic mismanagement and relies on foreign aid and remittances from a diasporic community in France. Nonetheless, the Comoros are largely peaceful and culturally vibrant—connected to the outside world in the internet age, but, at the same time, still slightly apart.
Iain Walker traces the history and unique culture of these enigmatic islands, from their first settlement by Africans, Arabs and Austronesians, through their heyday within the greater Swahili world and their decline as a forgotten outpost of the French colonial empire, to their contemporary status as an independent state in the Indian Ocean.


We present the case report of Mr A, a 55-year-old male with treatmentresistant schizophrenia, admitted and treated in an extended care unit due to significant risks associated with wandering and disorganization. Mr A had head injury of unknown severity at 12 years of age; however, no abnormalities were detected in computed tomography (CT) scan. The illness onset was at 14 years of age with failed adequate anti-psychotic trials. His illness was characterized by positive and negative psychotic symptoms with disorganization. Clozapine was commenced 9 years ago, with good response of positive symptoms but with persisting negative symptoms and disorganization and with hyper-salivation leading to choking episodes, which did not respond to anti-cholinergic agents. Clonidine at 50 μg was trialed to control the hyper-salivation. However, within 7 days of commencement of clonidine, new-onset behavioral problems were observed, including sexual disinhibition and impulsivity in the form of repeated inappropriate touching of female co-clients that did not respond to redirection. There were no other observed changes in his mental state. Clonidine was ceased with a resolution of these behaviors within a week. Clonidine, an alpha-2 adrenergic receptor agonist, initially used primarily as an antihypertensive medication, is currently being used to treat various psychiatric disorders notably childhood attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder as well as clozapineinduced sialorrhea (Praharaj et al., 2005). Common adverse effects of clonidine include sedation, dizziness, fatigue and rebound hypertension and less commonly anxiety, depressive symptoms, sleep disturbances and hallucinations have also been reported (Praharaj et al., 2005). Sexual disinhibition secondary to clonidine use has not been reported and we hypothesize that this rare side effect could be secondary to an increase in dopaminergic activity. The norepinephrine transporter is a presynaptic transporter in sympathetic neurons that is important for the clearance of both synaptic norepinephrine and dopamine (Morón et al., 2002). Clonidine, via its action on post synaptic alpha-2 receptors, increases synaptic noradrenaline levels. We postulate that increased synaptic noradrenaline levels could compete with the reuptake of dopamine, theoretically increasing synaptic dopamine levels. Increased levels of synaptic dopamine may stimulate central dopaminergic projections to the nucleus accumbens, resulting in an increase in disinhibited and impulsive behaviors (Becker et al., 2001).


Acquired aplastic anemia, the prototypical bone marrow failure disease, is characterized by pancytopenia and marrow hypoplasia. Most aplastic anemia patients respond to immunosuppressive therapy, usually with anti-thymocyte globulin and cyclosporine, but some relapse on cyclosporine withdrawal or require long-term administration of cyclosporine to maintain blood counts. In this study, we tested efficacy of rapamycin as a new or alternative treatment in mouse models of immune-mediated bone marrow failure. Rapamycin ameliorated pancytopenia, improved bone marrow cellularity, and extended animal survival in a manner comparable to the standard dose of cyclosporine. Rapamycin effectively reduced Th1 inflammatory cytokines interferon-γ and tumor necrosis factor-α, increased the Th2 cytokine interleukin-10, stimulated expansion of functional regulatory T cells, eliminated effector CD8+ T cells (notably T cells specific to target cells bearing minor histocompatibility antigen H60), and preserved hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. Rapamycin, but not cyclosporine, reduced the proportion of memory and effector T cells and maintained a pool of naïve T cells. Cyclosporine increased cytoplasmic nuclear factor of activated T-cells-1 following T-cell receptor stimulation, whereas rapamycin suppressed phosphorylation of two key signaling molecules in the mammalian target of rapamycin pathway, S6 kinase and protein kinase B. In summary, rapamycin was an effective therapy in mouse models of immune-mediated bone marrow failure, acting through different mechanisms to cyclosporine. Its specific expansion of regulatory T cells and elimination of clonogenic CD8+ effectors support its potential clinical utility in the treatment of aplastic anemia.


The world witnessed the biggest pandemic in almost 100 years, the impact of which is felt in all walks of life. It will be early days to predict too many things. But it is essential to foresee the economic impact of COVID-19. In India, which was already in economic turmoil, it remains to be seen how this new blow will affect the economic cycle. The paper attempts to do this in various sectors like agriculture, tourism, and industrial sectors. Secondary data is reviewed for the study. The paper also discusses innovations in this reference, and it also discusses the steps that the country is taking to sustain this situation. It uses estimation techniques for predicting the economic impact in the various sectors. The paper identifies and analyses the various factors that led to the significant disturbance of farming systems and the agricultural sector as a whole following the lockout, using quantitative and qualitative sources of knowledge with an emphasis on the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, including expert elicitation and a farmer survey. Our research found that a shortage of migrant labor in some regions and a surplus of jobs in others had a significant impact on the April crop, resulting in a decrease in agricultural wages in some communities and an increase in others, as well as significant production losses.


We explore the use of the recently defined scalar charge which satisfies a Gauss law in stationary spacetimes, in the context of theories with a scalar potential. We find new conditions that this potential has to satisfy in order to allow for static, asymptotically-flat black-hole solutions with regular horizons and non-trivial scalar field. These conditions are equivalent to some of the known ``no-hair'' theorems (such as Bekenstein's). We study the extended thermodynamics of these systems, deriving a first law and a Smarr formula. As an example, we study the Anabal\'on-Oliva hairy black hole


We investigate the interplay between a stable horizontal thin liquid film on a solid substrate and an excitable or bistable reactive mixture on its free surface. Their coupling is twofold. On the one hand, flow in the film transports the reacting surfactants convectively. On the other hand, gradients in the surfactant concentration exert Marangoni stresses on the free surface of the film. A reduced model is derived based on the long-wave approximation. We analyze the linear stability of the coupled system as well as the nonlinear behavior, including the propagation of solitary waves, fronts, and pulses. We show, for instance, that the coupling of thin film hydrodynamics and surfactant chemistry can either stabilize instabilities occurring in the pure chemical system, or in a regime where the pure hydrodynamic and chemical subsystems are both stable, the coupling can induce instabilities.


(mostly the former). The book's mathematical content is no more advanced than differential calculus and differential equations (albeit with very heavy measures of each). After reading the Preface, I wondered if I had enough background in Ž nance to read the book. It was quickly apparent that the book was going to bash most conventional investment wisdom, at least before the ".com" crash, on generating good returns on investments. Concerning the inimitable Alan Greenspan, "By bailing out LCTM (in 1998, a capital hedge fund) on the one hand, and sti ing investment on the other, it appears he acted with the wisdom one tends to associate with the economic planning of, say, Argentina" (p. xiv). Concerning neoclassical economists, "The assumption of security progression according to a geometric Brownian walk is hugely unrealistic. Such models do not realistically admit to a large (say 5%) 24-hour change in a stock price" (p. xv). Fortunately, the Ž rst part of the book provides an excellent introduction to the world of investments. The second part proposes some appropriate modeling strategies for 21st century Ž nancial markets. Chapter 1 presents the institutional considerations for how the markets operate, including some history about both the markets and how they have been viewed by economists. A primary theme of the book—market efŽ ciency—is developed in this chapter. Chapter 2 describes utility theory as the basis for building investment portfolios. Chapter 3 concerns the value of diversiŽ cation as a fundamental principal in making wise investment selections. Chapter 4, "Capital Market Equilibrium Theories," and Chapter 5, "Equilibrium Implying EfŽ ciency: The Neoclassical Fantasy," summarize the current wisdom among Ž nancial economists (along with extensive critical commentary, of course). Chapter 6 presents a basic valuation equation, derived more than 60 years ago, that forms the basis for the realistic approach, where probability distributions are attached to all of the underlying variables, for generating value distribution, touted in this book. Chapters 7 and 8 apply this methodology to security analysis and Ž nancial forecasting. They build a quantitative framework around Ž nancial statements. Chapter 9 presents growth as "noisy compound interest." Chapter 10 uses risk proŽ les as an aid for investing in the real world to build a portfolio. Chapter 11 applies the methodology of the book to stock options. A major theme is that classical models (e.g., Keynesian economics) and much of modern computing capability, particularly simulation and resampling, can provide better guidance for investors than some of the models that won Nobel prizes for the current generation of economists. There have been few books reported herein that I have wished so much to have had the time to read more carefully than this book. I am certainly not a knowledgeable (or, lately, successful) investor. This book is very readable and highly educational. Fortunately, statisticians are compensated adequately enough to make it relevant for all of us. It would be a good choice for your next investment.


We evaluated the acute effects of ibuprofen and salicylic acid on cAMP-mediated Cl- secretion (Isc) in both colonic and airway epithelia. In T84 cells, ibuprofen inhibited the forskolin-dependent Isc in a concentration-dependent manner, having an apparent Ki of 142 microM. Salicylic acid inhibited Isc with an apparent Ki of 646 microM. We determined whether ibuprofen would also inhibit the forskolin-stimulated Isc in primary cultures of mouse trachea epithelia (MTE) and human bronchial epithelia (HBE). Similar to our results in T84 cells, ibuprofen (500 microM) inhibited the forskolin-induced Isc in MTEs and HBEs by 59+/-4% (n = 11) and 39+/-6% (n = 8), respectively. Nystatin was employed to selectively permeabilize the basolateral or apical membrane to determine the effect of ibuprofen on apical Cl- (ICl) and basolateral K+ (IK) currents after stimulation by forskolin. After forskolin stimulation, ibuprofen (500 microM) reduced both the ICl and IK; reducing ICl and IK by 60 and 15%, respectively. To determine whether this inhibition of ICl was due to the inhibition of CFTR, the effects of ibuprofen and salicylic acid on CFTR Cl- channels in excised, inside-out patches from L-cells were evaluated. Ibuprofen (300 microM) reduced CFTR Cl- current by 60+/-16% and this was explained by a short-lived block (approximately 1.2 ms) which causes an apparent reduction in single channel amplitude from 1.07+/-0.04 pA to 0.59+/-0.04 pA (n = 3). Similarly, salicylic acid (3 mM) reduced CFTR Cl- current by 50+/-8% with an apparent reduction in single channel amplitude from 1.08+/-0.03 pA to 0.48+/-0.06 pA (n = 4). Based on these results, we conclude that the NSAIDs ibuprofen and salicylic acid inhibit cAMP-mediated Cl- secretion in human colonic and airway epithelia via a direct inhibition of CFTR Cl- channels as well as basolateral membrane K+ channels. This may reduce their efficacy in conjunction with other therapeutic strategies designed to increase CFTR expression and/or function in secretory epithelia.


The University of Sunderland was approached by Together for Children in the Autumn of 2018 to 'investigate the factors that impact upon social and emotional wellbeing of children and young people from 3-16 years in Sunderland City which may lead to exclusion from school'. The purpose was to provide a research-informed review of mainstream schooling in the City, through a detailed examination of the personal lived experiences of children and their caregivers who experienced exclusion from school. The research also elicited the perceptions and experiences of other stakeholders across health, education and support services on the enablers and barriers to mainstream education for children vulnerable to school exclusion.


The article is devoted to research the Cauchy problem for singularly perturbed higher-order linear integro-differential equation with a small parameters at the highest derivatives, provided that the roots of additional characteristic equation have negative signs. An explicit analytical formula of the solution of singularly perturbed Cauchy problem is obtained. The theorem about asymptotic estimate of a solution of the initial value problem is proved. The nonstandard degenerate initial value problem is constructed. We find the solution of the nonstandard degenerate initial value problem. An estimate difference of the solution of a singularly perturbed and nonstandard degenerate initial value problems is obtained. The asymptotic convergence of solution of a singularly perturbed initial value problem to the solution of the nonstandard degenerate initial value problem is established.


Introduction Intramuscular (IM) olanzapine has been approved for the management of acute agitation/psychosis secondary to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and dementia, in a dose not to exceed 10 mg per injection and 30 mg per day. Many other clinical situations exist in which patients are acutely agitated and in whom IM olanzapine might be warranted at recommended or higher doses. We systematically reviewed data on 8 such patients, during 10 inpatient admissions, to assess the overall safety and tolerability of this approach. Methods Using a standardized data recording sheet, we retrospectively collected information on 10 inpatient admissions between 2004 and 2007, in which IM olanzapine was administered outside of product dosing and/or indication guidelines. We present composite data and the details of each case individually. Results Records of eight patients (5 males, 3 females; mean age/age range = 43.9/18–77 years) were reviewed over 10 inpatient admissions, 5 to Psychiatry, 4 to Surgery, and one to Internal Medicine. Indications for admission were mania (2), schizophrenia (1), schizoaffective disorder (2), brain injury (2), sepsis (1), sepsis with respiratory failure (1), and cancer (1). Five patients were intoxicated with or experienced withdrawal from alcohol and/or drugs, likely adding to their agitation. Only one symptomatic episode of orthostatic hypotension occurred, in a patient with comorbid C. difficile colitis, which resolved when antibiotics were initiated and olanzapine discontinued; olanzapine IM was successfully reinstituted 2 days later, without incident. No other significant adverse events or side effects were ascribed to IM olanzapine. Conclusions Intramuscular olanzapine may be safe to use outside of product dosing and indication guidelines. Randomized clinical trials are warranted to study such off-label use further.


The phenomenon of superior biological behavior observed in titanium processed by an unconventional severe plastic deformation method, that is, hydrostatic extrusion, has been described within the present study. In doing so, specimens varying significantly in the crystallographic orientation of grains, yet exhibiting comparable grain refinement, were meticulously investigated. The aim was to find the clear origin of enhanced biocompatibility of titanium-based materials, having microstructures scaled down to the submicron range. Texture, microstructure, and surface characteristics, that is, wettability, roughness, and chemical composition, were examined as well as protein adsorption tests and cell response studies were carried out. It has been concluded that, irrespective of surface properties and mean grain size, the (101̅0) crystallographic plane favors endothelial cell attachment on the surface of the severely deformed titanium. Interestingly, an enhanced albumin, fibronectin, and serum adsorption as well as clearly directional growth of the cells with preferentially oriented cell nuclei have been observed on the surfaces having (0001) planes exposed predominantly. Overall, the biological response of titanium fabricated by severe plastic deformation techniques is derived from the synergistic effect of surface irregularities, being the effect of refined microstructures, surface chemistry, and crystallographic orientation of grains rather than grain refinement itself.


In this article, the construction of the biographical identity of self-harmer who belongs to the online self-injurers community in Russian social network "Vkontakte" is analyzed. We applied a poststructuralist sociological approach to self-harm, this supposed viewing self-injury as a center of discursive struggles between different social actors and institutions. Our goal was to understand how self-harming person positions herself concerning diverse cultural discourses. We wanted to identify not only the patterns of biographical work but also the place of self-mutilation in the narrative. Before the interview we analyzed the discourse of the online community to which the informant belonged, we based our guide on the literature review and the results of discourse analysis. The sequential and thematic analyses were employed to investigate the interview data. As a result of our analysis, we identified the existence of normalizing and pathologizing discourses in the narrative and the ability of discursive influence to be differently included in the narrative (on the language and logic levels). Furthermore, we came up with methodological suggestions for further studies of the Russian online self-harm communities. The discussion of the biographical structure of self-harmer and the self-injury representations in it could become part of the discussion on the status of online mental health communities that exists among social scientists. This article also helps to illustrate the ability to combine the sociological and psychological optics in the studies of mental health.


The article is devoted to the study of the essential features of the head of the public service in a state body as a subject of public service legal relations. It is found that depending on the nature of the powers that determine the role and degree of participation of public servants in the exercise of public power functions, there will be a different range of rights and responsibilities of managers, specialists, executors. Given the great diversity of public servants, the scope of their powers affects the content of the legal status of a public servant, but not the fact of his belonging to the public service. It is established that the head of the public service in a state body has: a) the general status of a citizen of Ukraine; b) sectoral status within the framework of official law – the status of a public servant; c) a special status within the framework of official law, which is mediated by the nature of the powers granted – the status of the head of the public service in a state body. The substantive features which characterize a public servant who has acquired a special legal status of the head of the public service in a state body are singled out: 1) he is assigned to public servants; 2) he holds the highest position of public service in a state body; 3) he is obliged to perform a special type of duties that are an element of authority: a) in matters of public service and b) organization of work of other employees in this body. Attention is paid to the fact that each head of the public service in a state body is an official authorized to perform organizational and administrative functions, but not every official is the head of the public service in a state body. A possible algorithm for finding a higher position in a state body is identified: a) if there are positions in a state body that fall into different categories, the highest position in a state body will be held by the public servant who replaces a category "A" or "B" (in the absence of positions classified in category "A"); b) if there are positions in a state body that are assigned to one category, the highest position will be held by the public servant whose position is assigned to the highest subcategory.


Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels is a perennial herb of the genus Angelica in the family Umbelliferae. The dried root of A. sinensis has have long been used medicinally (Zhang et al., 2016). Several plant viruses have been reported to infect A. sinensis: tomato mosaic virus, Japanese hornwort mosaic virus, and konjak mosaic virus (Zhang et al., 2020). In July 2019, we collected A. sinensis samples exhibiting symptoms of yellowing, mottling, and wrinkling from fields in Gansu Province. Seven plants were mixed in a composite sample and were commissioned to Biotech Bioengineering (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. for small RNA sequencing. Total RNA of A. sinensis was extracted according to the manufacturer's directions using the total RNA extraction kit (Tiangen Biochemical Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.). The library was constructed using the TruSeq™ Small RNA Sample Prep Kits (Illumina, San Diego, USA) kit and was sequenced using the Illumina Hiseq2000/2500 with a single-end read length of 1X50bp. Samples were sequenced to obtain 1199561625 raw reads and 281093971 clean reads by removing low quality reads. Quality-controlled qualified reads were assembled using SPAdes (Bankevich et al., 2012) with a k-mer value of 17 and the obtained results were compared with NCBI's nucleotide database. Eight contigs were annotated as homologous to apple latent spherical virus (ALSV, AB030940.1 and AB030941.1). The similarity between the eight contigs and the reference genome ranged from 84% to 90%. The sequencing coverage of RNA1 and RNA2 of ALSV were 23.00% and 32.36%, respectively.The specific primers F 5`-CAGGGCCCAGATTTCACTAGAATTA-3` and R 5`- CTAAGTGTAGCCAGCCTTGAGCAATC -3` were designed based on acquired contigs to validate the sequencing results in the individual samples. One of the original composite samples was ALSV positive. Polymerase chain reaction products were detected in 1.5% agarose geland 1761 bp target band was obtained. The obtained sequence (OP038546) was searched against the NCBI nucleotide database using the BLASTn algorithm. Results showed that it shared 81.53% nucleotide sequence identities with the genome of ALSV ((AB030941.1) and this is the first time that ALSV was found to naturally infect A. sinensis. ALSV belongs to the genus Cheravirus in the family Secoviridae that was first identified in apple leaves (Li et al., 2000). To analyze the phylogenetic relationships of ALSV, all the coat protein genes of genus Cheravirus were downloaded from NCBI and a phylogenetic tree was constructed using the Construct/Test Maximum Likelihood Tree method using MEGA7.0 software. The self-extension value was 1000, and the branches with evolutionary numbers below 50% were removed. The ALSV isolate obtained from Gansu A. sinensis in this experiment aggregated in the same branch as the ALSV infested apple, again proving that the virus is ALSV (Fig.1A). Additionally, a total of 111 A. sinensis samples were collected and validated by RT-PCR with primers ALSV-F and ALSV-R. Among these samples, 15 were positive for ALSV. The overall infection rate of ALSV on A. sinensis was 13.51%. The detection rates of Weiyuan, Zhangxian, Tanchang, Minxian and Yuzhong were 15.38%, 40.00%, 23.08%, 7.84% and 8.33%, respectively (Table.1). A. sinensis infested with ALSV may produce symptoms of chlorotic and mottle (Fig.1C and D), which is similar to that in quinoa. Accordingly, larger scale A. sinensis investigations must be conducted to determine the distribution and prevalence of ALSV in China.


Migraine and tension-type headache (TTH) are often viewed as distinct entities and defined as such in the International Classification of Headache Disorders, 2nd edition (ICHD-II) criteria, although there is also empirical evidence to suggest they may be etiologically similar. This study aims to investigate whether migraine and TTH are etiologically related conditions. First, we explored whether migraine and TTH were associated with the same environmental and lifestyle risk factors at the population level. Second, we examined comorbidity of migraine and TTH in a twin design. By comparing the associations in monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs, we investigated whether the comorbidity can be explained by genetic factors that influence both conditions. Results indicated that migraine and TTH were largely associated with the same environmental and lifestyle factors, including younger age, female sex, higher body mass index, more depression, stress at home, and less participation in regular exercise, with consistently stronger effects for migraine than for TTH. Migraine in one twin was significantly associated with TTH in the other twin. A stronger cross-trait, cross-twin association in MZ than DZ twins suggested that this comorbidity may also be partly due to shared genetic factors, although the difference in associations was not significant. In conclusion, our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that migraine and TTH have partly shared etiologies. For both treatment and research, it may be advisable not to make a rigid distinction, but to treat migraine and TTH as related conditions.


Being socially active online is something most Millennials find themselves doing as they move towards adulthood. The non-Millennials today adapt more and more to this trend of being socially active online. The rising amount of data generated from social media´s, also labelled as big data, could result in new issues regarding privacy and security. The potential privacy and security risks of social networking sites (SNS) are often underestimated. Not a lot is understood of the privacy and security perceptions on Facebook in particular. This paper tries to examine whether there is a significant difference in perception between members of the 'net-generation' and non-members. Furthermore, the aim is to provide insight into the relationship between the privacy/security perceptions of the two age groups and their social media behavior. This study examines security, trust and privacy concerns with regard to Facebook. To do so, we conducted a survey-based study, in which we questioned two specific age groups.


Women and girls with bleeding disorders experience abnormal and excessive bleeding that can negatively impact their overall health and quality of life. In this report, we provide an overview of the biology, types, clinical care, and state of the science related to bleeding disorders in girls and women and describe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) activities related to (1) surveillance of bleeding disorders in women; (2) scientific review, research, and collaboration to inform health care gaps in identifying and caring for women with bleeding disorders; and (3) development of health promotion and education programs to bring awareness about bleeding disorders to both women and girls in the population at large and various health care providers who care for women. Findings generated from surveillance and research activities inform the development of new public health programs aimed at improving diagnostic and health care services and empowering women with bleeding disorders with the knowledge they need to navigate a complex health care system with the need for specialty care services. Additional work is needed to improve provider awareness and understanding of the unique needs of women and girls with bleeding disorders to achieve appropriate care and treatment and ensure optimal outcomes and quality of life.


The formation of Si trenches with anisotropic wet etching of (100) Si wafers for light-emitting diode electrode arrays has been investigated. An alkali etchant, potassium hydroxide (KOH), was used as the anisotropic etchant for the Si etching in this study. Experimental results show that the KOH etching process not only etches the Si surface, but also etches the SiO2 film on the wafer surface. Electrode arrays of 25 columns by 25 rows, providing a total of 625 trenches in the Si wafer, were produced with well-controlled anisotropy. Finally, Silvaco TCAD software was used to simulate the thermal power variation of the LED die in the Si trench. Heat distribution simulation analysis showed that this design improves the heat dissipation problem in subsequent manufacturing processes, such as assembly and packaging.


High‐precision spectrophotometry is highly desirable in detecting and characterizing close‐in extrasolar planets to learn about their makeup and temperature. For such a goal, a modest‐size telescope with a simple low‐resolution spectroscopic instrument is potentially as good as or better than a complex general‐purpose spectrograph since calibration and removal of systematic errors are expected to dominate. We use a transmission grating placed in front of an imaging CCD camera on Steward Observatory's Kuiper 1.5 m telescope to provide a high signal‐to‐noise ratio, low‐dispersion visible spectrum of the star HD 209458. We attempt to detect the reflected light signal from the extrasolar planet HD 209458b by differencing the signal just before and after secondary occultation. We present a simple data reduction method and explore the limits of ground‐based low‐dispersion spectrophotometry with a diffraction grating. Reflected light detection levels of 0.1% are achievable for 5000–7000 Å, too coarse for useful limits on extrasolar planets but potentially useful for determining spectra of short‐period binary systems with large (Δmvis = 6) brightness ratios. Limits on the precision are set by variations in atmospheric seeing in the low‐resolution spectrum. Calibration of this effect can be carried out by measurement of atmospheric parameters from the observations themselves, which may allow the precision to be limited by the noise due to photon statistics and atmospheric scintillation effects.


With ever-more demanding requirements for the accurate manufacture of large components, dimensional measuring techniques are becoming progressively more sophisticated. This review describes some of the more recently-developed techniques and the state-of-the-art in the more well-known large-scale dimensional metrology methods. In some cases, the techniques are described in detail, or, where relevant specialist review papers exist, these are cited as further reading. The traceability of the measurement data collected is discussed with reference to new international standards that are emerging. In some cases, hybrid measurement techniques are finding specialised applications and these are referred to where appropriate.


BACKGROUND
Many explanatory models of obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD) support the idea that compulsive behaviours are an attempt to avoid an aversive situation. There are few experimental studies carried out on the onset of repetitive behaviours. This study tries to create a repetitive checking behaviour as an analogue explaining similar OCD behaviours.

METHOD
An inter-group design with 3 levels of aversion (minimal, progressive and maximum) in a visuo-spatial reasoning task was used. 48 university students without OCD problems (mean= 23 years old) were the participants, randomly distributed in 16 per group. Checking frequency (semi-hidden chronometer) for each task was measured and the questionnaires TONI-2, STAI, MOCI and YBOCS-SR were applied.

RESULTS
Participants with a minimal or maximum level difficulty showed a significantly higher level of checking behaviour than those in the progressive difficulty. The differences occurred between the minimal and the progressive group, and between the minimal and maximum difficulty. There were no differences in any other variable.

CONCLUSION
In this analogue, the continuous checking of a chronometer was reinforced by the elimination of boring tasks. The momentary escape from an aversive situation explains the checking behaviour. This study could be an experimental analogue of checking behaviour, showing its avoidance function.


ABSTRACT: The woolly mouse opossum Marmosa demerarae and the murine opossum, Marmosa murina, occur in sympatry across most of their range; however, they are not syntopic in that M. demerarae is more abundant in the canopy of primary and secondary forest, while M. murina is scansorial and appears to be more abundant in lower forest strata. We herein present a survey and comparison of the helminths occurring in these 2 species in French Guiana based on examinations of 18 individuals of M. murina and 21 individuals of M. demerarae. At the level of the component community, species richness was established at 12 for M. demerarae and 14 for M. murina; the nematodes Pterygodermatites (Paucipectines) elegans and Aspidodera raillieti were established as the most abundant and prevalent species in M. demerarae and M. murina, respectively. Infracommunities in both species had an average species richness of 3.7 and 3.8, respectively. Both species share 12 species of parasites, yet Phaneropsolus philanderi, Pterygodermatites (Paucipectines) elegans, Travassostrongylus paraquintus, Trichuris reesali, and Spirura trinitatis were significantly more frequent in M. demerarae. Infections also included Mathevotaenia bivittata, an unidentified anoplocephalid, and Viannaia venezuelensis, all 3 species of which were more frequent in M. murina.


In this paper, we propose a new phantom protection method for multi-dimensional index structures. The proposed method uses a hybrid approach of predicate locking and granular locking mechanisms. The proposed mechanism is independent of the types of multi-dimensional index structures, i.e., it can be applied to all types of index structures such as tree-based, file-based and hash-based index structures. Also, it achieves low development cost and high concurrency with low lock overhead. It is shown through various experiments that the proposed method outperforms existing phantom protection methods for multi-dimensional index structures.


We study diffusion of pointlike particles biased toward the x axis by a quadratic potential U(x,y)=κ(x)y². This system mimics a channel with soft walls of some varying (effective) cross section A(x), depending on the stiffness κ(x). We show that diffusion in this geometry can also be mapped rigorously onto the longitudinal coordinate x by a procedure known for channels with hard walls [P. Kalinay and J. K. Percus, Phys. Rev. E 74, 041203 (2006)]; i.e., we arrive at a one-dimensional evolution equation of the Fick-Jacobs type. On the other hand, the calculation presented serves as a prototype for mapping of the Smoluchowski equation with a wide class of potentials U(x,y) varying in both the longitudinal as well as the transverse directions, which is necessary for understanding, e.g., stochastic resonance.


The isocyclic ring (E-ring) is a common structural feature of chlorophylls. The E-ring is formed by two structurally unrelated Mg-protoporphyrin IX monomethylester (MPE) cyclase systems, oxygen-dependent (AcsF), and oxygen-independent (BchE) systems, which involve incorporation of an oxygen atom from molecular oxygen and water into the C-131 position of MPE, respectively. Which system operates in cyanobacteria that can thrive in a variety of anaerobic environments remains an open question. The cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 has two acsF-like genes, sll1214 (chlAI) and sll1874 (chlAII), and three bchE-like genes, slr0905, sll1242, and slr0309. Five mutants lacking one of these genes were isolated. The ΔchlAI mutant failed to grow under aerobic conditions with anomalous accumulation of a pigment with fluorescence emission peak at 595 nm, which was identified 3,8-divinyl MPE by high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis. The growth defect of ΔchlAI was restored by the cultivation under oxygen-limited (micro-oxic) conditions. MPE accumulation was also detected in ΔchlAII grown under microoxic conditions, but not in any of the bchE mutants. The phenotype was consistent with the expression pattern of two chlA genes: chlAII was induced under micro-oxic conditions in contrast to the constitutive expression of chlAI. These findings suggested that ChlAI is the sole MPE cyclase system under aerobic conditions and that the induced ChlAII operates together with ChlAI under micro-oxic conditions. In addition, the accumulation of 3,8-divinyl MPE in the ΔchlA mutants suggested that the reduction of 8-vinyl group occurs after the formation of E-ring in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803.


Leaf area index (LAI), crop growth rate (CGR), relative growth rate (RGR), net assimilation rate (NAR) and leaf area duration (LAD) of a variety of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were studied with three concentrations (0, 25 and 50 ppm) of naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and four levels (0, 50, 75 and 100 %) of Nfertilizer in a field experiment during 2014 2015. Results showed that LAI and LAD at all stages of growth increased from control and their peak values were recorded mostly from 25 ppm NAA in combination with 75 % N-fertilizer and 50 ppm NAA in combination with 50% N-fertilizer. RGR was affected both positively and negatively depending on the concentration of NAA and nitrogen levels and was higher at earlier age (15 to 45 DAS) as opposed to later stage irrespective of treatments. CGR and NAR were also affected positively and negatively and tended to increase sharply reaching maximum at 30 45 DAS with a few exceptions and then decreased for most of the treatments with the progression of age. At 30 45 DAS, peak value of CGR was recorded from 25 ppm NAA in combination with 75% N-fertilizer. Of all the treatments, 25 ppm NAA in combination with 75% N-fertilizer produced better stimulation.


The COVID‐19 pandemic has upended head and neck cancer care delivery in ways unforeseen and unprecedented. The impact of these changes parallels other fields in oncology, but is disproportionate due to protective measures and limitations on potentially aerosolizing procedures and related interventions specific to the upper aerodigestive tract. The moral and professional dimensions of providing ethically appropriate and consistent care for our patients in the COVID‐19 crisis are considered herein for head and neck oncology providers.


Objective
Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) is a useful tool for the diagnosis and management of diabetes mellitus and generally an excellent marker of overall glycemic control for the preceding 8 to 12 weeks; however, the test is not without its pitfalls. A suspicion of falsely high or low HbA1c should prompt clinicians to evaluate for possible causes. Here, we present the novel use of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) in a case of a 49-year-old African American woman with discrepant HbA1c and self-monitored blood glucose (SMBG). CGM data suggested that the HbA1c values were falsely elevated, and subsequent evaluation led to a diagnosis of hemoglobin C (HbC) trait.

Methods
Case identified is described. Point-of-care (POC) and central laboratory HbA1c were measured on the Bayer DCA 2000 and Bio-Rad Variant II Turbo ion-exchange high-performance liquid chromatography platforms, respectively.

Results
The patient had an elevated POC HbA1c of 10.8% (95 mmol/mol) and a central laboratory HbA1c of 9.2% (77 mmol/mol). The patient's glucose meter measured an average glucose of 138 mg/dL. The Freestyle LibrePro professional CGM was used to investigate the reliability of the patient's SMBG and showed an average glucose of 165 mg/dL. An investigation into potential causes for falsely elevated HbA1c revealed a previously undiagnosed HbC trait.

Conclusion
CGM is a valuable tool to assess HbA1c and SMBG discordance and to guide subsequent diabetes management. Our results suggest that the HbA1c may have been overestimated in our patient due to HbC trait; therefore, results must be interpreted with caution.


As a lattice interference effect, moiré superlattices feature a magnification effect that they respond sensitively to both the extrinsic mechanical perturbations and intrinsic atomic reconstructions. Here, using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, we observe that long-wavelength WS2 superlattices are reconstructed into various moiré morphologies, ranging from regular hexagons to heavily deformed ones. We show that a dedicated interplay between the extrinsic nonuniform heterostrain and the intrinsic atomic reconstruction is responsible for this interesting moiré structure evolution. Importantly, the interplay between these two factors also introduces a local inhomogeneous intralayer strain within a moiré. Contrary to the commonly reported electronic modulation that occurred at the valence band edge due to interlayer hybridization, we find that this local intralayer strain induces a strong modulation at K point of the conduction band, reaching up to 300 meV in the heavily deformed moiré. Our microscopic explorations provide valuable information in understanding the intriguing physics in TMD moirés.