It seems that the use of mathematical models is not suitable for pharmaceutical production line optimisation and the use of simulation leads to better outputs and provides more flexibility than mathematical models. Therefore, in this study, a novel methodology based on the integration of simulation and data envelopment analysis is developed for performance optimisation of a pharmaceutical production line. For this purpose, first, an actual pharmaceutical production line was simulated, verified and validated. Afterwards, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was developed for the scenario analysis. Finally, the weight of each indicator is identified through paired t-test. Results suggested that all the indicators are significant in the production unit. Optimisation model suggested that certain inputs and outputs had to be improved for the performance optimisation of the pharmaceutical unit. This is the first study in which an integrated simulation DEA is used for the performance optimisation of a pharmaceutical unit.


Although a forecasting model has very good statistical properties and the mean of the residuals equals zero, it can produce systematic errors during a short period. In the case of regular publications, forecasters want to prevent such a persistence of errors over several periods. For this reason, a safeguard model can be used to inform the forecaster when there is a risk that the standard model (i.e. the best specified model on average) leads to persistent errors over several months or quarters. This paper explains why and how such a safeguard model has been built in order to improve the forecasts of French GDP at the current quarter horizon (nowcasts), which are officially published by the French central bank. The official benchmark model for GDP nowcasts is an aggregated model that relies exclusively on survey in the manufacturing industry. In the long run, this model still has the best performances. On the contrary, the safeguard model is a disaggregated model which features equations for the valued added of 6 sectors. From this example, we provide general remarks on the advantages of disaggregation as well as how such safeguard models can be used in practice.


Supercritical fluid extraction has been widely employed in the extraction of high purity substances. In this study, we used the technology to obtain oil from seeds from a variety of grapes, from vinification residues generated in the Southern region of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. This work encompasses three varieties of Vitis vinifera (Moscato Giallo, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon) and two of Vitis labrusca (Bordô e Isabel), harvested in 2005 and 2006. We obtained the highest oil content from Bordô (15.40%) in 2005 and from Merlot (14.66%), 2006. The biggest concentration of palmitic, stearic, and linoleic acids was observed in Bordô, 2005, and in Bordô, Merlot, and Moscato Giallo, 2006. Bordô showed the highest concentration of oleic acid and α-tocopherol in both seasons too. For the equivalent of procyanidins, we did not notice significant difference among the varieties from the 2005 harvest. In 2006, both varieties Isabel and Cabernet Sauvignon showed a value slightly lower than the other varieties. The concentration of total phenolics was higher in Bordô and Cabernet Sauvignon. The presence of these substances is related to several important pharmacological properties and might be an alternative to conventional processes to obtain these bioactives.


Introduction: Municipal Ward based PHC Outreach Teams are potential game-changers in ensuring access to care in vulnerable communities. Who are they? What do they actually do? Can they help South Africa realize universal health coverage?Methods:Descriptive secondary data analysis of team activities in the Ekurhuleni health district, South Africa covering approximately 280 000 households with one million people. This was part of a larger study exploring the effectiveness of these teams.Results:Study findings illustrated that CHWs in these teams provided early screening and referrals for pregnant women and malnourished children. They distributed condoms and chronic medication to homes. They screened and referred for hypertension, diabetes mellitus, HIV and TB. The teams also undertook defaulter and contact tracing, the majority of which was for HIV & TB clients. Psychosocial support provided was in the form of access to social grants, access to child and gender based violence protection services, food parcels and other services.Conclusion:Community Health Workers form the core of these teams and perform several health and psychosocial services in households and to poor communities in South Africa, in addition to general health education. The teams studied provided a range of activities across many health conditions (mother & child related, HIV & TB, non-communicable diseases), as well as social services. Ward based outreach teams provided comprehensive care in a large-scale urban setting and can improve access to care.


A diaphragm for a speaker obtained by forming a diaphragm base by screen processing a mixture of carbon fiber, pulp and polyvinyl alcohol fiber as a binder in a manner similar to that employed for making paper, depositing a thermosetting resin on the diaphragm base by impregnation or coating, and subjecting the diaphragm base, on which the thermosetting resin has been deposited, to electroless plating to deposit a metal film in the interstices between fibers and on the entire fiber surface.


Terraced systems currently represent an indubitable added value for Tuscany, as well as for other Italian regions and for several Mediterranean countries. This value goes beyond their original function of hosting new areas for cultivation. The hydrological functions performed by these systems, including control of erosion, stabilisation of the slopes, prolongation of runoff times and the possible reduction of the volumes of surface runoff, are well-known. In addition, they also play a strategic role in the conservation of biodiversity and in maintaining local identity. At a national level, the terraced agricultural systems fall within the scope of actions scheduled in the National Strategic Plan for Rural Development 2007–2013, and the standards of Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAECs) envisages that they be maintained through the granting of economic aid as laid down in the Rural Development Plans 2007–2013 and 2014–2020. Eighteen sample areas, previously selected on the basis of the terracing intensity index (defined as the ratio between the lines representing the walls and the surface of 1 ha), were subjected for on-site surveys to determine the geo-typological features through the identification and measurement of the main technical-construction parameters of the dry stone walls. This analysis also enabled assessments of the overall state of conservation of the dry stone walls in order to suggest operations for safeguarding and protection.


In this paper I intend to explain how the political competition, in the town of Cardoso Moreira, influences the beliefs of the residents and how the rift between the civil servants manifests itself. Furthermore, I explore the relationship of high dependence between the rulers and the ruled, in particular when it is related to the granting of public employment. I have noted that the locals try to deceive, through discursive strategies, the submission applied by the political representatives. It is from these strategies that the locals seek a greater degree of freedom and equality and then negotiate their support and resources.


Abstract. One of the challenges of the Digital Cultural Heritage (DCH) field is the creation of coherent HBIMs and the dissemination of the collected historical data. The latest development of new technologies has the great potential to realise virtual content-based immersive experiences that are easily available by both experts and non-expert users. On the other hand, they require specific skills and a holistic approach to the study of the building that involves different disciplines.The research that has been carried out for the last five years on one of the greatest monuments in Milan, the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, adopted this comprehensive methodology. Although the church is a very well-known building, its turbulent history remains in a certain aspect hidden to the large public. This paper shows the workflow that has been developed for the Basilica, starting from the 3D survey to the historical data acquisition and the study on the church itself, based on a 'virtual subtraction process', till the creation of a Virtual Reality experience. This one is the first step of a wider project on eXtended reality (Virtual/Mixed/Augmented Reality) that intends to make the gathered knowledge of the Basilica available to the public.


Today's businesses are increasingly relying on the cloud as an alternative IT solution due to its flexibility and lower cost. Compared to traditional enterprise networks, a cloud infrastructure is typically much larger and more complex. Understanding the potential security threats in such infrastructures is naturally more challenging than in traditional networks. This is evidenced by the fact that there are limited efforts on threat modeling for cloud infrastructures. In this paper, we conduct comprehensive threat modeling exercises based on two representative cloud infrastructures using several popular threat modeling methods, including attack surface, attack trees, attack graphs, and security metrics based on attack trees and attack graphs, respectively. Those threat modeling efforts may provide cloud providers useful lessons toward better understanding and improving the security of their cloud infrastructures. In addition, we show how hardening solution can be applied based on the threat models and security metrics through extended exercises. Such results may not only benefit the cloud provider but also embed more confidence in cloud tenants by providing them a clearer picture of the potential threats and mitigation solutions. Received on 27 November 2018; accepted on 19 December 2018; published on 21 December 2018


Sea anemones from phylum cnidaria are benthic organisms and live on sea substrates, so water pollution can affect them easily. The marine environments are the target of contaminations caused by a complex mixture of metals and chemical materials from various anthropogenic sources. The pollution could have mortal effects on sea anemones. Although the anemones respond to increased metal exposure by closing their tentacles and changing the activities of the enzymes, CAT (catalse), GR (glutathione reductase), and CA (carbonic anhydrase), altered enzyme activity and tentacle retraction of sea anemones, as well as decreased zooxanthellae cell density could be observed responses over exposure. Metal depuration and physiological recovery are dependent on both the metal and the exposure concentration. Copper exposure can cause tentacle retraction and increase mucus production in both symbiotic and aposymbiotic anemones. Heavy metals especially copper can cause cellular damages in the level of nucleus and DNA. Some species of sea anemones accumulate heavy metals such as copper and are sensitive, as effects were detected at environmentally relevant copper concentrations. Likewise, they may be useful in biomonitoring copper polluted environments.


This comprehensive introduction to the study of human rights in international politics blends concrete developments with theoretical inquiry, illuminating both in the process. Franke Wilmer presents the nuts and bolts of human rights concepts, actors, and implementation before grappling with issues ranging from war and genocide to social and economic needs to racial and religious discrimination. Two themes - the tension between values and interests, and the role of the state as both a protector of human rights and a perpetrator of human rights violations - are reflected throughout the text. The result is a clear, accessible exposition of the evolution of international human rights, as well as the challenges that those rights pose, in the context of the state system.


Background. The present study investigated the effects of metacognitive training implemented within a problem-solving based Logo environment on students' ability to construct graphs and reflect on their learning.

Aims. (1) To compare achievement outcomes of students who learned to construct graphs within a problem-solving based Logo environment that was either embedded with or with no metacognitive training; and (2) To examine the differences in students' cognitive-metacognitive behaviours under the different conditions.

Samples. Participants were 68 students who studied in four computer classrooms.

Methods. Intact classrooms were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups: one was exposed to a problem-solving based Logo environment with metacognitive training (N=34) and the other to the same Logo environment with no metacognitive training (N=34). All students were examined at the beginning and at the end of the study on the Graph Construction Examination. In addition, at the end of the study students were interviewed to assess their cognitive-metacognitive behaviours. Furthermore, to examine possible differences (if any exist) between the two conditions prior to the beginning of the study, students were administered the Raven Advanced Matrices Examination, and the Graph Interpretation Test.

Results. Although no significant differences were found between groups prior to the beginning of the study on all pretreatment measures, at the end of the study the students who were exposed to the metacognitive treatment tended to construct graphs better than their counterparts who were not exposed to such treatment. The metacognitive group was also better able to reflect on their learning than their counterparts who were not exposed to such training. In addition, structured interviews indicated the positive effects of the metacognitive training on students' information processing, social-cognitive interaction, and error detection.

Conclusions. Being exposed to metacognitive training exerts positive effects on students' achievement outcomes and cognitive-metacognitive behaviours.


Ex situ conservation strategies may be substantially informed by genetic data, and yet only recently have such approaches been used to facilitate captive population management of endangered species. The Galápagos tortoise Geochelone nigra is an endangered species that has benefited greatly from the application of molecular and population genetic data, but remains vulnerable throughout its range. The geographic and evolutionary origins of 98 tortoises in private collections and zoos on three continents were identified using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region sequences and multi‐locus microsatellite genotype data relative to a large database of representative samplings from all extant populations, including historical population allele frequency data for the Geochelone nigra abingdoni taxon on Pinta by way of museum specimens. All but six individuals had mtDNA haplotypes previously sampled, with the novel haplotypes identified as most closely related to robust populations on the islands of Santa Cruz and Isabela. Multi‐locus genotypic assignments corroborated the results obtained from the mtDNA analyses, with 83.7% of individuals consistently assigned to the same locality by both datasets. Overall, the majority of captive unknowns sampled were assigned to the La Caseta Geochelone nigra porteri population, with no fewer than six individuals of hybrid origin detected. Although a purported Pinta individual was revealed to be of Pinzón ancestry, the two females currently housed with Lonesome George exhibited haplotypic and genotypic signatures that indicate that they are among the most appropriate matches for captive breeding. More generally, molecular approaches continue to represent important tools for assessing conservation value, minimizing hybridization and guiding management programs for preserving the distinctiveness of G. nigra taxa in captivity.


This study aimed to study the inhibition activity of purified bacteriocin produced from the local isolation Lactococcuslactis ssp. lactis against pathogenic bacteria species isolated from clinical samples in some hospitals Baghdad city. Screening of L. lactis ssp. Lactis and isolated from the intestines fish and raw milk was performed in well diffusion method. The results showed that L. lactis ssp. lactis (Lc4) was the most efficient isolate in producing the bacteriocin as well observed inhibitory activity the increased that companied with the concentration, the concentration of the twice filtrate was better in obtaining higher inhibition diameters compared to the one-fold concentration. The concentrated bacteriocin was purified using the gel filtration column and Sephacryl S-200. The results showed the high inhibitory activity of the purified bacteriocin after the purification against the positive and negative bacteria of the Gram stain under study compared to the one-fold concentration and two-fold before purification , The diameters of the inhibition zones after gel-filtering of the purified bacteriocin reached S. aureus, S. epidermidis, P. aeruginosa, E. coli, E. clocae and S. marcescens (23, 25, 26, 20, 22 and 28) Mm respectively. The carbohydrate content of purified bacteriocin from L. lactis ssp. lactis (Lc4) isolate was 6.02% with a molecular weight of 6310 Dalton. The results showed that purified bacteriocin retained its inhibitory activity at pH 2-10 and showed the highest inhibition at pH 4-6 and lost at pH 12. The purified bacteriocin was characterized by thermal stability. It retained its effectiveness when exposed to 40, 60, 80, 100°C for 30, 15, 5 minutes and 120°C for 15.5 minutes and lost 50% of its effectiveness when exposed to 120°C for 30 minutes. Results The purified bacteriocin was effectively retained when treated with enzyme pepsin and trypsin of 37°C for one hour and at pH 7.


Epidemiologic studies have shown a beneficial association between polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), specifically linoleic acid (C18:2, n-6), intake and cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality. Clinical studies have shown that n-6 PUFAs have the most potent cholesterol-lowering effects of the individual fatty acid classes, and emerging evidence suggests that PUFAs have favorable effects on postprandial lipemia. However, some studies suggest that high intakes of linoleic acid may have adverse effects on proinflammatory cytokines and adhesion molecules. Research is needed to establish the optimal level of dietary PUFAs that maximally affects the greatest number of health risk factors.


This paper addresses the use of Big Data and machine learning based analytics to the real-time management of Internet scale Quality-of-Service Route Optimisation with the help of an overlay network. Based on the collection of large amounts of data sampled each 2 minutes over a large number of source-destinations pairs, we show that intercontinental Internet Protocol (IP) paths are far from optimal with respect to Quality of Service (QoS) metrics such as end-to-end round-trip delay. We therefore develop a machine learning based scheme that exploits large scale data collected from communicating node pairs in a multi-hop overlay network that uses IP between the overlay nodes themselves, to select paths that provide substantially better QoS than IP. The approach inspired from Cognitive Packet Network protocol, uses Random Neural Networks with Reinforcement Learning based on the massive data that is collected, to select intermediate overlay hops resulting in significantly better QoS than IP itself. The routing scheme is illustrated on a 20-node intercontinental overlay network that collects close to 2 × 10 measurements per week, and makes scalable distributed routing decisions. Experimental results show that this approach improves QoS significantly and efficiently in a scalable manner.


Coconut tree grows rapidly in tropical region such as Indonesia. Coconut wood is used as alternative or complementary raw material for housing or making furniture. Abundant coconut trees are planted, however the utilization of coconut wood as raw material for furniture is still very rare in Indonesia. This is caused by the low quality of coconut wood, since it has not found adequate technology for the processing of coconut wood. This paper presents our experimental work on coconut wood quality classification using self-tuning MLP classifier (AutoMLP) and Support Vector Machine (SVM). For SVM classifier we used the LibSVM library, available in RapidMiner. The Gray-Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) is used to extract the texture features of coconut wood images. Experiment result shows that AutoMLP gives the best accuracy rate at 78.82%, which is slightly better than 77.06% of SVM.


It's amazing how far technology has come since the invention of the Frankenstein monster. Not long ago I read about a prototype of a new kind of secure personal computer (PC). This machine was so secure that, for one user, it could generate 135 million bytes of audit data per day. My first reaction on reading this was to think that any actual information hidden in that audit data would certainly be secure.


Let X be either Z or the points of a Poisson process in R of intensity 1. Given parameters r and p, join each pair of points of X within distance r independently with probability p. This is the simplest case of a 'spreadout' percolation model studied by Penrose [6], who showed that, as r → ∞, the average degree of the corresponding random graph at the percolation threshold tends to 1, i.e., the percolation threshold and the threshold for criticality of the naturally associated branching process approach one another. Here we show that this result follows immediately from of a general result of [3] on inhomogeneous random graphs.


Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks (MANETs) are decentralized and autonomous communication systems: They can be used to provide connectivity when a natural disaster has brought down the infrastructure, or they can support freedom of speech in countries with governmental Internet restrictions. MANET design requires careful attention to scalability and security due to low-capacity and error-prone wireless links as well as the openness of these systems.
In this thesis, we address the issue of multicast as a means to efficiently support the MANET application of group communication on the network layer. To this aim, we first survey the research literature on the current state of the art in MANET routing, and we identify a gap between scalability and security in multicast routing protocols–two aspects that were only considered in isolation until now. We then develop an explicit multicast protocol based on the design of a secure unicast protocol, aiming to maintain its security properties while introducing minimal overhead.
Our simulation results reveal that our protocol reduces bandwidth utilization in group communication scenarios by up to 45 % compared to the original unicast protocol, while providing significantly better resilience under blackhole attacks. A comparison with pure flooding allows us to identify a practical group size limit, and we present ideas for better large-group support.


Objective To explore the effect of high-flow humidified oxygen therapy (HFNC) on patients with respiratory failure after general anesthesia extubation for multiple injuries. Methods 214 patients with multiple injuries in our hospital who underwent general anesthesia and suffered respiratory failure after weaning extubation and received sequential treatment were included. And, they were divided into control group (HFNC group) and observation group (NIMV group) according to the random number table method. Patients in the control group (125 cases) used high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) after general anesthesia extubation, while patients in the observation group (89 cases) used NIMV. The respiratory rate, heart rate, finger pulse oxygen, oxygenation index (PaO2/FiO2), and re-tracheal intubation rate in the two groups were compared at 2, 8, and 24 hours after sequential treatment, and the mortality rate and hospital stay of ICU time were whole-course observation. And, the effect of conventional oxygen inhalation or HFNC on oxygenation and prognosis was analyzed. Then, SPSS21.0 software was applied for statistical analysis. To analyze the effect of conventional oxygen inhalation or HFNC on the improvement of oxygenation and prognosis, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve can be used to evaluate the feasibility and treatment effect of high-flow nasal oxygen therapy (HFNC) for patients with respiratory failure after general anesthesia extubation for multiple injuries. Results Compared with the NIMV group, the respiratory frequency and heart rate of the HFNC group were significantly improved after 2 h, 8 h, and 24 h. At the same time, the finger pulse oxygen and oxygenation index increased significantly and returned to normal levels. HFNC can significantly reduce the reintubation rate, ICU hospital stay, and mortality rate. The area under the ROC curve was 0.9102, with 95% CI (0.8256, 0.9949) and P < 0.0001. Conclusion For patients with multiple injuries undergoing general anesthesia and respiratory failure after weaning and extubation, the application of HFNC can moderate patients' heart rate and respiratory rate faster, increase oxygenation index and finger pulse oxygen, and reduce the reintubation rate, mortality rate, and ICU stay. At the same time, it can effectively improve the respiratory failure of patients after extubation and reduce the occurrence of complications.


Abstract Abundant flowers, fruits, seeds and stamens that are closely related to extant Chloranthaceae have been reported from the Early Cretaceous floras of Portugal. Among these are small berries with endotestal seeds assigned to the extinct genera Canrightia and Canrightiopsis. Here we describe two new genera, each including a single species, based on fossil fruits and seeds from the Early Cretaceous of eastern North America and Portugal. Both genera have pendent, orthotropous, bitegmic and endotestal ovules/seeds, in which the endotesta consists of a layer of cubic to palisade-shaped crystal cells with endoreticulate fibrous infillings, a combination of features that also characterize Canrightia and Canrightiopsis and that among extant angiosperms are known only for members of the Chloranthaceae. Rightcania kvacekii gen. et sp. nov. from the early to middle Albian Puddledock mesofossil flora of Virginia, USA, is the first representative in the Early Cretaceous floras of North America of a chloranthaceous fossil related to Canrightia and Canrightiopsis. It has three- to five-seeded fruits very similar to fruits and seeds of Canrightia, also with a pronounced tegmen that probably functioned as a nutritive tissue for the developing embryo. Fruits and seeds of Rightcania are larger than those of Canrightia, and also differ in details of the seed coat. Kvacekispermum rugosum gen. et sp. nov. is rare in the late Aptian to early Albian Portuguese mesofossil flora from Vale de Água. It differs from Canrightiopsis in the coarsely rugulate outer surface of the endotesta and its larger size, but is closely similar in the general structure of seed coat and nutritive tissue. Together, Rightcania and Kvacekispermum provide further evidence of the early diversity achieved by chloranthoid angiosperms before the end of the Early Cretaceous.


We investigated the dynamics of the simple spiral waves of the Selkov reaction-diffusion system with the Lattice Boltzmann method. The results of computer simulation lead to the conclusion that the trajectory of the spiral tip is a small circle, the wavelength and the period decay exponentially when the value of parameter b increases; and the relation between the wavelength and the period is λ∝T1/2, which is qualitatively the same as that obtained by Ou-Yang Qi from Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction system.


Protected Forest Management Unit (PFMU) of Solok is one of 120 FMU Model that has been set by the government through Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF). Community settlements (Nagari) were around and inside the FMU. Additionally, the existence of the FMU as a new institution in forest management cause different interpretation of the various stakeholders. The objective of this research was to identifying stakeholders and their interest and analyzing the patterns of relationship of stakeholders involved in the management of PFMU Solok. This research was conducted based on stakeholder analysis and social network analysis. Stakeholders involved in management of PFMU Solok have diverse interests and power. There were 22 stakeholders identified, in which 2 were classified as key players, 10 as subject, 4 as context setter, and 6 as crowd. Interaction pattern of stakeholders in the form of information flow was not spread evenly. The result shows that there were many stakeholder in the management of PFMU Solok. Multistakeholder forest management can be an alternative management model to integrate interests of stakeholders and equally distribute information.


In this paper, we find out the most general coordinate transformation between a d-dimensional hydrogen atom and a D-dimensional harmonic oscillator by means of the SU (1,1) algebra. In other words, the generalized Kustaanheimo-Stiefel transformation is established.


Purpose of review In chronic pulmonary sarcoidosis, the transition from the inflammatory to the fibrotic stage of the lungs occurs in about 10–20% of cases, eventually causing end-stage fibrotic disease. To date, pathogenetic mechanisms and clinical management remain challenging; thus, we highlight the recent evidence in pulmonary fibrotic processes, clinical signs for an early detection and the potential role of the current investigated antifibrotic agents and promising targeted therapies. Recent findings Recent findings of relevant key cellular pathways can be considered as a glimmer of light in the complexity of sarcoidosis. In some patients, granulomas persist and serve as a nidus for fibrosis growth, sustained by several fibrosis-stimulating cytokines. Preclinical studies have detected profibrotic, antifibrotic and pleiotropic T cells as promoters of fibrosis. Epigenetics, genetics and transcriptomics research can lead to new target therapies. Antifibrotic drug nintedanib has shown a positive effect on non-idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis fibrotic lung diseases including fibrotic sarcoidosis; other antifibrotic drugs are under investigation. Summary Pulmonary fibrosis strongly impacts the outcome of sarcoidosis, and a better understanding of the underlying pathogenic mechanisms can facilitate the development of novel treatments, improving clinical care and life expectancy of these patients. The greatest challenge is to investigate effective antifibrotic therapies once fibrosis develops. The role of these findings in fibrotic sarcoidosis can be translated into other interstitial lung diseases characterized by the coexistence of inflammatory and fibrotic processes.


Aircraft icing refers to the ice buildup on the surface of an aircraft flying in icing conditions. The ice accretion on the aircraft alters the original aerodynamic configuration and degrades the aerodynamic performances and may lead to unsafe flight conditions. Evaluating the flow structure, icing mechanism and consequences is of great importance to the development of an anti/deicing technique. Studies have shown computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and machine learning (ML) to be effective in predicting the ice shape and icing severity under different flight conditions. CFD solves a set of partial differential equations to obtain the air flow fields, water droplets trajectories and ice shape. ML is a branch of artificial intelligence and, based on the data, the self-improved computer algorithms can be effective in finding the nonlinear mapping relationship between the input flight conditions and the output aircraft icing severity features.


Continuous Snow depth data are being collected at several points within four intensive study areas in Barrow, Alaska. These data are being collected to better understand the energy dynamics above the active layer and permafrost. They complement in-situ snow and soil measurements at this location. The data could also be used as supporting measurements for other research and modeling activities.


The purpose of this paper is to test the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology UTAUT in the government-to-government environment and determine the influence of different moderating factors of technology acceptance by government employees. By means of a thorough review of the literature in this area, the paper investigates the application of UTAUT through empirical research on the technology acceptance of the E-recovery system by government employees in different governmental organizations. The empirical data from 384 respondents revealed that performance expectancy and social influence determine employees' behavioral intention. Moreover, gender invariance was detected, but employees' age and experience difference was detected as a moderating factor of the model. The findings of the paper can help those involved in information system development, implementation, and use to take the right actions to achieve maximum adoption of the technology, especially if the use of the technology is mandatory for the users.


[This collection of essays explores the notion, tools and challenges of human rights diplomacy. Human rights diplomacy is understood as the utilisation of diplomatic negotiation and persuasion for the specific purpose of promoting and protecting human rights. This book builds on discussions at a high-level workshop on the topic, organised by the University of Nottingham Human Rights Law Centre, the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation and the Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznan, that was held in Venice., This collection of essays explores the notion, tools and challenges of human rights diplomacy. Human rights diplomacy is understood as the utilisation of diplomatic negotiation and persuasion for the specific purpose of promoting and protecting human rights. This book builds on discussions at a high-level workshop on the topic, organised by the University of Nottingham Human Rights Law Centre, the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation and the Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznan, that was held in Venice.]


The functioning of many ecosystems and their associated resilience could become severely compromised by climate change over the 21st century. We present a global risk analysis of terrestrial ecosystem changes based on an aggregate metric of joint changes in macroscopic ecosystem features including vegetation structure as well as carbon and water fluxes and stores. We apply this metric to global ecosystem simulations with a dynamic global vegetation model (LPJmL) under 58 WCRP CMIP3 climate change projections. Given the current knowledge of ecosystem processes and projected climate change patterns, we find that severe ecosystem changes cannot be excluded on any continent. They are likely to occur (in > 90% of the climate projections) in the boreal–temperate ecotone where heat and drought stress might lead to large-scale forest die-back, along boreal and mountainous tree lines where the temperature limitation will be alleviated, and in water-limited ecosystems where elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration will lead to increased water use efficiency of photosynthesis. Considerable ecosystem changes can be expected above 3 K local temperature change in cold and tropical climates and above 4 K in the temperate zone. Sensitivity to temperature change increases with decreasing precipitation in tropical and temperate ecosystems. In summary, there is a risk of substantial restructuring of the global land biosphere on current trajectories of climate change.


List-based scheduling is generally accepted as an attractive approach to static task scheduling since it combines low complexity with good results. Although a large number of scheduling heuristics have been presented in the literature, most of them target only homogeneous computing systems and almost none of them target heterogeneous communication systems. In this paper we present a simple scheduling algorithm based on list-scheduling and task-duplication on a bounded number of heterogeneous machines called Heterogenous Critical Nodes with Fast Duplicator (HCNFD). The suggested algorithm supports both heterogeneous computation and communication environments. The analysis and experiments have shown that HCNFD outperforms on average all other higher complexity algorithms.


This qualitative study explored, from the perspectives of a group of young adults, the meaning and benefits derived from their experiences of helping children in a service-learning program. The study interviewed 120 young adults between the ages of 19-25 in ten focus groups. Set in a service-learning program at a university in Hong Kong, each participant had engaged in at least 30 hours of service work with children in the last two year prior to being interviewed. Two major themes have emerged from this study - 1) volunteers have identified what they have gained through their experiences of working with children, and 2) the reflections they have made on their own life as a result of the experiences gained from helping the children. Implications are directed towards capitalizing on these reflections as an effective way to foster a positive developmental trajectory for young adults, as they emerge out of adolescence into adulthood.


The clinical course of schizoepileptic and schizopsychoasthenic variants of developing schizoid psychopathy are reviewed. On the basis of the study of 45 patients in childhood and adolescence, specific characteristics of the psychopathic, pathocharacterologic and neurotic reactions are described and their role in the evolution of an abnormal personality is shown. The role of constitutional-genetic and microsocial-environmental factors in the structural formation of these variants of psychopathies is discussed. It is concluded that the combination of various psychopathic radicals observed in the structure of an abnormal personality do not present mere summation of these factors but is manifested in complex dialectical interaction.


The results of 59 embolizations of the bronchial and intercostal-bronchial arteries in 33 patients with pulmonary hemorrhage and hemoptysis allow hydrogel emboli to be considered the optimal material for occluding vessels to achieve stable hemostasis. Successive introduction of spherical and then larger cylindrical emboli is the most rational method. Embolization of the bronchial arteries by hydrogel emboli also promotes regression of the inflammatory process in the lung and reduces the time needed for treatment.


This study was conducted to determine's the community'sparticipation implementation of the regent instruction number 01 of 2012 on strenghthening on ruralinfrastructure in 2012-2013 in the Penampi village,Bengkalis regency were reviewed based on indicators of successful implementation of INBUP-PPIP.The main problem in this study is the decreasing number of communities participation that ocured in 2013,meanwhile the activities in increase basic infrastructure,.The theory in this research is the policy theory (teori kebijakan) and the theory of community participation in development (teori partisipasi masyarakat dalam pembangunan).this reseach uses descriptive method by using aproach of kualitatif.this research uses purposive sampling and snowball sampling, namely interview with speakers as an object of information that purpose to achieved the goal. this research used primary data and secondary data has obtained throught observation and interview with informants. Based on the result of the analysis of the research data in order to uncover and answer reseacrh question related to the analysis of public participation in the implementation of INBUP-PPIP program has been see from the stage of planning, implementation, and maintenance associated with indicators of the success of the program that focuses on the self-help and mutual help villagers of penampi, it's conclude that the villagers was participated in the form of attendance at meetings and village meeting, willingness to take a part of the OMS, the contribution of labor and land. however, there has been no participation in maintance. While the declaine that occurred in 2013 the impactof the probelms that occurred in the 2012 and as well as in the public incomprehension towards INBUP-PPIP program it self that gave birth to reluctance to participate even have an impact on mutual assistance society of Penampi villages In addition,there are also constrain faced by the community participation in the implementation of INBUP-PPIP program in the village of Penampi,the time of the public,professionalism companion villages in the initial period 2012-2013 the implementation of that program, Pendamping Desa Penampi do not reside in that village


The alpha particle power coupling efficiency to the bulk plasma, ηalpha identical to Pα(coupled)/Pα(birth), is reduced when the energetic alpha particles are subject to anomalous radial diffusion, Dαan, caused by alpha particle instabilities. If ηα is appreciably smaller than 1, this has a strong effect on the ignition margin MI [≡ Palpha (coupled)/Ploss] of a tokamak plasma. First, a simple analytical form of ηα is found to be ηα = 1 - (τSD/τL), where τL ≃ α2/4Dα is the spatial loss time and τSD is the slowing down time. The power coupling efficiency ηα decreases with increasing Te and increases with ne. Second, a reduced time dependent alpha particle kinetic equation containing the term ∇.Dα ∇nα, where Dα can be a non-linear function of δnα/δτ, is derived and solved using a multiple energy group method. An Alfven wave turbulence theory by Gang (Phys. Fluids B 4 (1992) 3152) is used to parametrize Dα from first principles. When Dαan ≈ 3 m2/s, ηα is reduced to 0.95. The consequence for the accessible operating regimes of an ITER-like fusion device are also discussed


A group of mutually trusting clients outsources a computation service to a remote server, which they do not fully trust and that may be subject to attacks. The clients do not communicate with each other and would like to verify the correctness of the remote computation and the consistency of the server's responses. This paper presents the Commutative-Operation verification Protocol (COP) that ensures linearizability when the server is correct and preserves fork-linearizability in any other case. Fork-linearizability ensures that all clients that observe each other's operations are consistent in the sense that their own operations and those operations of other clients that they see are linearizable. COP goes beyond previous protocols in supporting wait-free client operations for sequences of commutative operations.


This is the only book to cover the gamut of preservation issues in layman's language: the philosophy and history of the movement, the role of government, the documentation and designation of historic properties, sensitive architectural designs and planning, preservation technology, and heritage tourism, plus a survey of architectural styles. It is an ideal introduction to the field for students, historians, preservationists, property owners, local officials, and community leaders. Updated throughout, this revised edition addresses new subjects, including heritage tourism and partnering with the environmental community.


Following the completion of the Human Genome Project (HGP) in 2003, advances in DNA sequencing technologies further popularized the field of genomics and brought its social ramifications to the fore. Scholars across disciplines recently voiced serious concerns about the re-emergence of genomic research that might be used to justify racism. In this piece, I trace the history of attempts to biologize the concept of race and its diffused presence in today's genomic research. I then include a brief analysis inspired by concepts from the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) to suggest selected ways to produce better scientific knowledge. The text highlights historic landmarks of interest to science practitioners curious about the ways science of the past co-shapes science of the present. I then argue that science has never been isolated from the socio-political climate it is produced in; instead, it has been morphed by its surroundings and historically used as a potent tool to justify systemic oppression.


The use of hypotonic intravenous solutions, especially 4% dextrose/0.18% saline, remains standard practice in many paediatric units in the UK. The practice of prescribing hypotonic intravenous fluids derives from the work of investigators in the 1950s, who produced arbitrarily-derived formulae for calculating the maintenance requirements for water and electrolytes in hospitalised patients. Combining these values led to the widespread acceptance of hypotonic solutions such as 4% dextrose/0.18% saline as 'standard maintenance' parenteral fluids. Unfortunately, these calculations do not account for the effects of antidiuretic hormone, the secretion of which is stimulated by many factors encountered during acute illness and especially in the perioperative period. In this setting, the administration of hypotonic intravenous fluids results in the retention of free water and the development of hyponatraemia. The routine administration of hypotonic intravenous fluids has been shown to be associated with severe morbidity and the deaths of many previously healthy children. The problem is compounded by the fact that 4% dextrose/0.18% saline is labelled as 'isotonic'. Whilst this solution is isosmolar compared to plasma, lack of osmotically-effective solutes means that it is hypotonic with reference to the cell membrane. There is no justification for the routine administration of hypotonic intravenous fluids.


In recent years, as selling books on the internet becomes popular, the number of off-line bookstores are rapidly dwindling away. This change on the book market requires, the function and space of the bookstores should be defined again. Now bookstores are the places of experiences on cultures, world-views, and lifestyles around books. The study examines six large bookstores and finds three strategies of space expression as follow. First, Dominicanen bookstore in Maastricht which was built as a church has an expression which contrasts the old and the new as well as the sacred and the profane. Fangsuo bookstore in Chengdu creates a modern underground Sutra Depository. Here, people experience history and religion. Second, Cook & Book in Brussels has nine theme areas, each with a different selection of books, different interior decoration and special food and beverage like a theme park. Zhongshu bookshop in Shanghai has a lattice of nine reading rooms in which each unique design theme is characterized based on each book subject. Third, Cultura Bookstore in São Paulo is created to support social interchange. It leads people to the enormous plaza of books where people read books freely and participate in workshops, movies and all kinds of events. Daikanyama Tsutaya Books in Tokyo is composed of three white box-form pavilions which are connected by a 55-meter long aisle, called a magazine street. People walk along the street and choose concierge services as they browse magazines and books. The study finds out three strategies of design in current large bookstores to promote place-experience, which are the story-telling of history and culture, the design of theme parks, and openness for public mingling like plazas and streets. Thus, the study suggests a new paradigm in the design of bookstores in this internet age.


What explains the surprising growth of work-family policies in several West European countries? Much research on the welfare state emphasizes its institutional stickiness and immunity to major change. Yet, over the past two decades, governments in Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom have introduced important reforms to their welfare regimes, enacting paid leave schemes, expanded rights to part-time work, and greater investments in child care. A comparison of these countries reveals a similar sequence of political and policy change. Faced with growing electoral instability and the decline of core constituencies, party leaders sought to attract dealigning voter groups, such as women. This led them to introduce feminizing reforms of their party structures and adopt policies to support mothers' employment. In all three cases, women working within the parties played an important role in hatching or lobbying for these reforms. After comparing three countries that moved in a path-shifting direction, this article engages in a brief traveling exercise, examining whether a similar set of dynamics are lacking in two countries—Austria and Italy—that have moved more slowly in reforming these policies. Against the prevailing scholarly literature that emphasizes path dependence and slow-moving change, this article reveals the continued power of electoral politics in shaping redistributive policies.


We examined 22 patients suffering from reflex sympathetic dystrophy with psychoanalytic interviews. In all 22 patients we found a common psychological structure corresponding to Balint's basic fault (Balint, 1970). For people with this structure the accident that preceded the reflex sympathetic dystrophy and the following pain, immobilisation and need to help are promoting the patient's regression in a specific way ending in the developing of reflex sympathetic dystrophy. The dispair of the patients about their reflex sympathetic dystrophy expresses unsolved fears of early childhood.


Sustainability and resilience are most often thought of as systems concepts that evaluate the state and function of objects of interest as well as the system as a whole. In this article, we shift the focus toward the "space in between"—i.e., the relationships among objects in the system. The article develops the concept of relationality, which provides a new lens to understanding what social and material processes drive or impede the functioning and sustainability of a social–ecological system (SES). Relationality seeks to understand a system not so much as a set of interacting objects but a web of relationships. By foregrounding relationships, we are better able to understand the rich ground of practice that guides a system in ways that the formal rational designs do not explain. Several examples are drawn from the literature that suggests how a relational analysis might proceed and what social–ecological phenomena we can better explain by this means. The article ends with a note on how the promise of relational analyses also bears in it its challenges.


In this paper, we present the results of an experimental study involving low thermal resistance cooling of high heat flux power electronics in a forced convection mode, as well as in a thermosiphon (buoyancy-driven) mode. The force-fed manifold microchannel cooling concept was utilized to substantially improve the cooling performance. In our design, the heat sink was integrated with the simulated heat source, through a single solder layer and substrate, thus reducing the total thermal resistance. The system was characterized and tested experimentally in two different configurations: the passive (buoyancy-driven) loop and the forced convection loop. Parametric studies were conducted to examine the role of different controlling parameters. It was demonstrated that the thermosiphon loop can handle heat fluxes in excess of 200 W/cm2 with a cooling thermal resistance of 0.225 (K cm2)/W for the novel cooling concept and moderate fluctuations in temperature. In the forced convection mode, a more uniform temperature distribution was achieved, while the heat removal performance was also substantially enhanced, with a corresponding heat flux capacity of up to 500 W/cm2 and a thermal resistance of 0.125 (K cm2)/W. A detailed characterization leading to these significant results, a comparison between the performance between the two configurations, and a flow visualization in both configurations are discussed in this paper.


Cancer stem cells are known to be controlled by pathways that are dormant in normal adult cells, for example, PTEN, which is a negative regulator of transcription factor STAT3. STAT3 regulates genes that are involved in stem cell self-renewal and thus represents a novel therapeutic target of enormous clinical significance. Studies on breast cancer stem cells (BCSC) have been also significantly correlated with STATs. We describe here for the first time a novel strategy to selectively target CSCs and to induce downregulation of STAT3 downstream target genes reducing expression of series of "stem-ness genes" in treated tumors. In vitro and in vivo experiments were performed to evaluate functional activity with gene and protein expression studies. The results of the study indicate that this targeted delivery approach deactivates STAT3 causing a reduction of CD44+/CD24− CSC populations with aptly tracked gene and protein regulations of "stemness" characteristics. Mol Cancer Ther; 17(1); 119–29. ©2017 AACR.


The design of a liquid flow porometer for the measurement of stomatal responses in epidermal peels is described. The system is computerized and allows automatic measurement of about 1000 stomata (of Commelina communis L.) in three parallel experiments. Simultaneous microscopic observations of the stomata is also possible. Conditions are described for rapid measurement of stomatal responses with greater resolution than that achieved by conventional microscopic measurement techniques. To determine which feature(s) of the stomatal pore influenced the flow rate the most precise estimates of pore diameter and area were made using a cryo-fixation technique, scanning electron microscopy and image analysis. Flow rate showed a near linear dependence on pore area. The LFP was evaluated for measuring stomatal responses by comparison with conventional Petri-dish experiments. Responses to KCl, CO 2, fusicoccin, and ABA were similar using the two methods, though there was little or no response to light in the LFP. Pore widths were also lower in the LFP under similar experimental conditions. The probable causes of these phenomena are discussed. © 1991 Oxford University Press.


Bank failures affect owners, employees, and customers, possibly causing large-scale economic distress. Thus, banks must evaluate operational risks and develop early warning systems. This study investigates bank failures in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the North America Free Trade Area (NAFTA), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the European Union, newly industrialized countries, the G20, and the G8. We use financial ratios to analyze and explore the appropriateness of prediction models. Results show that capital ratios, interest income compared to interest expenses, non-interest income compared to non-interest expenses, return on equity, and provisions for loan losses have significantly negative correlations with bank failure. However, loan ratios, non-performing loans, and fixed assets all have significantly positive correlations with bank failure. In addition, the accuracy of the logistic model for banks from NAFTA countries provides the best prediction accuracy regarding bank failure.


ABSTRACT Calcification of bioprosthetic valves (BVs) implanted in aortic position can result in gradual deterioration and necessitate aortic valve replacement. The molecular mechanism of calcium deposition on BV leaflets has been investigated, but remains to be fully elucidated. The present study aimed to identify explanted bioprosthetic valve (eBV)-specific proteins using a proteomics approach and to unveil their biochemical and histological involvements in calcium deposition on BV leaflets. Calcification, fibrosis, and glycosylation of the valves were histologically assessed using Von Kossa, Masson's Trichrome and Alcian Blue staining, as well as immunostaining. Protein expression in the explanted biological valves was analysed using proteomics and western blotting. In a histological evaluation, αSMA-positive myofibroblasts were not observed in eBV, whereas severe fibrosis occurred around calcified areas. SDS-PAGE revealed three major bands with considerably increased intensity in BV leaflets that were identified as plasminogen and fibrinogen gamma chain (100 kDa), and fibrinogen beta chain (50 and 37 kDa) by mass analysis. Immunohistochemistry showed that fibrinogen β-chain was distributed throughout the valve tissue. On the contrary, plasminogen was strongly stained in CD68-positive macrophages, as evidenced by immunofluorescence. The results suggest that two important blood coagulation-related proteins, plasminogen and fibrinogen, might affect the progression of BV degeneration. Summary: Fibrinogen was specifically deposited on whole deteriorated tissue valve leaflets, and plasminogen-positive macrophages strongly invaded the areas around calcified bioprosthetic and native tissues.


In the time past, grafting buds from selected clones on seedlings or plants from seed orchards were used traditionally to propagate rubber trees. Selected seeds were frequently used because their level of resistance to diseases is known. Micro-propagation of rubber tree was the method used in the propagation of Hevea brasiliensis in this experiment, which is an approach different from the conventional way of planting rubber and this technique holds good prospect for the future. In-vitro culture of H. brasiliensis (rubber tree) embryo was carried out using different concentrations of benzylaminopurine (BAP) and 0.01 mg/l concentration of naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) to supplement the murashige and skoog's (MS) medium. In this experiment, shoot and root were obtained from the embryo culture on Murashige and Skoog's (MS) medium supplemented with 0.075 mg/l BAP and 0.001 mg/l NAA. This treatment produced rubber plantlets with well-developed taproots. Using the same concentration of NAA and a BAP concentration slightly higher or lower than 0.075 mg/l, the H. brasiliensis embryos produced shoots and lateral roots alone. Embryo cultured in different strength of murashige and skoog's medium (full strength, half strength M/2 and quarter strength M/4) without hormones did not produce taproot. This experiment was unable to achieve mass propagation of rubber plantlets. All the treatment used in the experimentation of H. brasiliensis embryo in culture contains 30 g/l sucrose and 7 g/l difco agar.


Stress is a recognised feature of the project managers' life. Projects are becoming more complex with the uncertainty in the system contributing to the lack of control and added stress. This study explores a microcosm of 25 project managers in the South Australian construction industry, their perceived level of uncertainty and stress. The project managers interviewed provide their views on what their key stressors were and the mechanisms they use to manage effectively their stress. The results showed that structural, technical and directional complexity of projects was high, but this did not always convert into more stress for the project managers. The results indicate that stressors like the lack of resources; lack of control and increasing accountability were project managers' primary concerns. Coping strategies included optimism, applying emotional intelligence and active planning strategies. In addition, they reduced their stress by working with good teams, using theirs and their team's experience, implementing sound systems and processes and effectively researching and gathering information.


PURPOSE
To evaluate LASIK corneal flaps using a multifunctional femtosecond laser suitable for cataract and corneal surgery (LenSx; Alcon Laboratories, Inc., Aliso Viejo, CA) and to compare the planned and postoperatively measured flap thickness using an anterior segment optical coherence tomography device (AS-OCT).

METHODS
Twenty patients (38 eyes) diagnosed as having myopia and myopic astigmatism were enrolled. LASlK was performed using the LenSx femtosecond laser for intracorneal flaps and the Wavelight Allegretto 400 excimer laser (Alcon Laboratories, Inc.) for intra- stromal photoablation. Desired flap thickness and diameter were 140.0 + 0.0 pm and 8.5 + 0.0 mm, respectively, whereas mean ablation depth and diameter of the excimer laser treatment were 67.9 ± 24.18 pm and 6.5 ± 0.08 mm, respectively. Entered data of the LenSx femtosecond laser were used to determine desired flap thickness, whereas AS-OCT (RTVue; Optovue, Inc., Fremont, CA) was used to measure flap thickness postoperatively. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test, dependent paired t test, and Friedman test were used for comparison of dependent and repeated measures.

RESULTS
There was no statistically significant difference in the planned and postoperatively measured flap thickness (140.0 ± 0.0 vs 140.28 _ 8.0 pm; P = .4067). Interfaces of the flaps had even surfaces according to the images and calculations on the AS-OCT device (P = .058).

CONCLUSIONS
Application of this multifunctional femtosecond laser performing LASIK proved to be a safe and effective method regarding predictability of flap thickness.


This study aims to verify and explain that the personality of Locus of Control (X1) and Total Quality Management (X2) has a positive and significant influence on Employee Performance Perception (Y) mediated by Job Satisfaction (Z). The population in this study were employees at PT. Padang Great Incasi. The sample used in the study was 144 respondents. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 23.0 using the path analysis method. The Results Showed that Locus of Control had a positive and significant effect on Employee Performance. Total Quality Management does not have a positive and significant effect on Employee Performance. Locus of Control has a positive and significant effect on job satisfaction. The value of indirect influence is greater than the direct influence, which means Job Satisfaction can mediate the relationship between Locus of Control on Employee Performance. The value of the indirect effect is smaller than the direct effect, which means Job Satisfaction is not Able to mediate the relationship between Total Quality Management to Employee Performance.


The aim of this study was to determine the preliminary phytochemistry and antibacterial effectiveness of aqueous leaf extracts of Vernonia amygdalina and Ocimum gratissimum on moxifloxacin resistant Escherichia coli isolated from clinical and environmental samples using standard microbiological and agar disc diffusion techniques. The phytochemical analysis of the aqueous leaf extracts of Ocimum gratissimum and Vernonia amygdalina revealed the presence of phyto-constituents such as alkaloids, saponins, tannins, flavonoids, phlobatanins, anthraquinones, terpenes, deoxy-sugar and cardiac glycosides. The results also showed that moxifloxacin resistant Escherichia coli isolated from clinical and environmental were susceptible to aqueous leaf extracts of Vernonia amygdalina (decoction) and Ocimum gratissimum (decoction) and combination of equal ratio (1:1) by volume of Ocimum gratissimum and Vernonia amygdalina (concoction) at different graded concentrations (6.25mg/ml, 12.5mg/ml and 25.0 mg/ml). The discs containing 25.0mg/ml of aqueous leaf extracts showed the highest Mean ± SD zones of inhibition against both clinical and environmental moxifloxacin resistant E coli, while the discs containing 6.25mg/ml showed the lowest inhibitory zones. The concoctions of the aqueous leaf extracts of O. gratissimum and V. amygdalina exert a much higher activities on moxifloxacin resistant E. coli than decoction of Ocimum gratissimum and decoction of Vernonia amygdalina. The results obtained in this research imply that aqueous leaf extracts of O. gratissimum and Vernonia amygdalina as decoctions and concoctions could be useful in the treatment of infections/diseases caused by Escherichia coli. [Akinjogunla, O. J., Ekoi, O. H. and Odeyemi, A.T. Phytochemical Screening and In-vitro Antibacterial Assessment of Aqueous Leaf Extracts of Vernonia amygdalina and Ocimum gratissimum on Moxifloxacin Resistant Escherichia coli Isolated from Clinical and Environmental Samples. Nature and Science 2011;9(7):42-52]. (ISSN: 1545-0740). http://www.sciencepub.net.


Ergot alkaloids (mycotoxins) produced by Claviceps and Neotyphodium species of fungi may contaminate animal feedstuffs and results in disease in livestock. In this study, diverse phyllosilicate clays and other adsorbent materials, differing in chemical and structural characteristics, were tested for their ability to sorb ergotamine, a prevalent ergot mycotoxin, from acidic solution. Results indicated minimal binding to those sorbents possessing low surface area, cation exchange capacity and inaccessible interlayer regions. Cetyl pyridinium-exchanged montmorillonite (organoclay) exhibited decreased propensity for ergotamine in acidic solution as compared with the unexchanged hydrophilic parent clay. The highest ergotamine sorption was observed with cation exchanged montmorillonite clays; whereas, when collapsed, these same clays sorbed very little ligand. Based on initial binding experiments, calcium and sodium montmorillonite clays were prioritized for further characterization, including: capacity, affinity, and heat (enthalpy) of adsorption. Computer models of energy-minimized ergotamine isomers and clay were used to illustrate possible mechanisms of ergot alkaloid sorption at interlayer sites. Additional studies are warranted to assess the stability of ergot alkaloid/clay complexes under alkaline conditions to further understand the mechanism of adsorption.


The simulation, modeling and analysis of manufacturing systems for performance improvement have become increasingly important during the last few decades. This paper presents a practical solution to a manageable and well distributed work in process (WIP) control system with simulation experiment demonstrated by constructing the virtual production lines, addressing issues such as wafer kitting strategy, critical work in process level setting. The simulation WIP instances are coordinated and synchronized with production line influence factors and activities imported. Through the testing and actual practice, this simulation tool helps semiconductor assembly and test factory production managers effectively manage work-in-process (WIP) levels to compensate the impact of unexpected production variations and achieve better factory performance.


Purpose Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common disease for human beings, characterized by severe inflammation, cartilage degradation, and subchondral bone destruction. However, current therapies are limited to relieving pain or joint replacement and no effective treatment methods have been discovered to improve degenerative changes. Currently, a variety of evidences have indicated that aberrant mechanical stimuli is closely associated with articular joint pathogenesis, while the detailed underlying mechanism remains unelucidated. In the present study, we determined to investigate the impact of excessive high fluid shear stress (FSS) on primary chondrocytes and the underlying epigenetic mechanisms. Materials and Methods Phalloidin staining and EdU staining were used to evaluate cell morphology and viability. The mRNA level and protein level of genes were determined by qPCR, Western blot assay, and immunofluorescence staining. Mechanistic investigation was performed through RNA-sequencing and CUT&Tag sequencing. In vivo, we adopted unilateral anterior crossbites (UAC) mice model to investigate the expression of H3K4me3 and ZBTB20 in aberrant force-related cartilage pathogenesis. Results The results demonstrated that FSS greatly disrupts cell morphology and significantly decreased chondrocyte viability. Aberrant FSS induces remarkable inflammatory mediators production, leading to cartilage degeneration and degradation. In depth mechanistic study showed that FSS results in more than 10-fold upregulation of H3K4me3, and the modulatory effect of H3K4me3 on cartilage was obtained by directly targeting ZBTB20. Furthermore, Wnt signaling was strongly activated in high FSS-induced OA pathogenesis, and the negative impact of ZBTB20 on chondrocytes was also achieved through activating Wnt signaling pathway. Moreover, pharmacological inhibition of H3K4me3 activation by MM-102 or treatment with Wnt pathway inhibitor LF3 could effectively alleviate the destructive effect of FSS on chondrocytes. In vivo UAC mice model validated the dysregulation of H3K4me3 and ZBTB20 in aberrant force-induced cartilage pathogenesis. Conclusion Through the combination of in vitro FSS model and in vivo UAC model, KMT2B-H3K4me3-ZBTB20 axis was first identified in aberrant FSS-induced cartilage pathogenesis, which may provide evidences for epigenetic-based therapy in the future.


Statistical methods are presented for joint analysis of site-specific cancer risks for the atomic bomb survivors. Previous analyses of these data have been made either without regard to cancer type, excluding leukemia, or separately for types or classes of cancers. Clearly, analyses without regard to cancer type are less than satisfactory. The primary advantages of joint, rather than separate, analyses are that: (1) models can be fitted with some parameters common to cancer types and others type-specific; (2) significance tests can be used to compare type-specific risks; and (3) through consideration of more comprehensive models, a clearer understanding may be obtained of the modifying effects of sex, age at exposure, and time since exposure. Joint analysis is straightforward, entailing primarily the incorporation of another factor, cancer type, in the usual cross-tabulation of the data for analysis. The use of these methods is illustrated in an analysis of three classes of cancer studied by the National Research Council's BEIR V Committee: digestive, respiratory, and other solid tumors. Based on this analysis, some criticism is made of the BEIR V preferred models. The proposed methods are applicable to models for either relative or absolute risks, and results using both types of models are given. Although some of the gains from joint analysis are apparent from the results here, it will be important to use these methods with a more suitable choice of cancer classes and for cancer incidence data where the diagnoses are more accurate.


We contribute to the ArgMining 2021 shared task on Quantitative Summarization and Key Point Analysis with two approaches for argument key point matching. For key point matching the task is to decide if a short key point matches the content of an argument with the same topic and stance towards the topic. We approach this task in two ways: First, we develop a simple rule-based baseline matcher by computing token overlap after removing stop words, stemming, and adding synonyms/antonyms. Second, we fine-tune pretrained BERT and RoBERTalanguage models as aregression classifier for only a single epoch. We manually examine errors of our proposed matcher models and find that long arguments are harder to classify. Our fine-tuned RoBERTa-Base model achieves a mean average precision score of 0.913, the best score for strict labels of all participating teams.


Objective—We assessed whether the association between dietary saturated fatty acids (SFA) and incident coronary heart disease (CHD) depends on the food source, the carbon chain length of SFA, and the substituting macronutrient. Approach and Results—From the Rotterdam Study, 4722 men and women (≥55 years) were included. Baseline (1990–1993) SFA intake was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire. CHD (nonfatal myocardial infarction and fatal CHD) was ascertained by medical records. Using multivariable Cox regression analysis, we calculated CHD risks for higher intakes of total SFA, SFA from specific food sources, SFA differing in carbon chain length, and substituting other macronutrients instead of SFA. During a median follow-up of 16.3 years, 659 CHD events occurred. Total SFA intake was not associated with CHD risk (hazard ratio [HR] per 5 en%, 1.13; 95% confidence interval, 0.94–1.22), and neither was SFA from specific food sources. A higher CHD risk was observed for palmitic acid (16:0) intake (HRSD, 1.26; 95% confidence interval, 1.05–1.15) but not for SFA with other chain lengths. Except for a higher CHD risk for substitution of SFA with animal protein (HR5en%, 1.24; 95% confidence interval, 1.01–1.51), substitution with other macronutrients was not associated with CHD. Conclusions—In this Dutch population, we observed that a higher intake of palmitic acid, which accounts for ≈50% of the total SFA intake, was associated with a higher CHD risk, as was substitution of total SFA with animal protein. Nevertheless, we found no association between total SFA intake and CHD risk, which did not differ by food source.


The antiobesity effects of kimchi with catechin and lactic acid bacteria as starters were studied in C57BL/6 mice with high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity. We prepared four types of kimchi: commercial kimchi, standard kimchi, green tea functional kimchi, and catechin functional kimchi (CFK). Body weight and weight of adipose tissue were significantly lower in the kimchi-treated groups than in the HFD and Salt (HFD +1.5% NaCl) groups. In addition, in the CFK group, the serum levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol were significantly lower and those of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were markedly higher than the corresponding levels in the HFD and Salt groups. Moreover, CFK reduced fat cells and crown-like structures in the liver and epididymal fat tissues. The protein expression of adipo/lipogenesis-related genes in the liver and epididymal fat tissues was significantly lower (1.90-7.48-fold) in the CFK group than in the HFD and Salt groups, concurrent with upregulation of lipolysis-related genes (1.71-3.38-fold) and downregulation of inflammation-related genes (3.17-5.06-fold) in epididymal fat tissues. In addition, CFK modulated the gut microbiomes of obese mice by increasing the abundance of Bacteroidetes (7.61%), while in contrast, Firmicutes (82.21%) decreased. In addition, the presence of the Erysipelotrichaceae (8.37%) family in the CFK group decreased, while the number of beneficial bacteria of the families, Akkermansiaceae (6.74%), Lachnospiraceae (14.95%), and Lactobacillaceae (38.41%), increased. Thus, CFK exhibited an antiobesity effect through its modulation of lipid metabolism and the microbiome.


In this paper we present AWA, a general architecture for representing the linguistic information produced by diverse linguistic processors. Our aim is to establish a coherent and flexible representation scheme that will be the basis for the exchange of information. We use TEI-P4 conformant feature structures as a representation schema for linguistic analyses. A consistent underlying data model, which captures the structure and relations contained in the information to be manipulated, has been identified and implemented by a set of classes following the object-oriented paradigm. As an example of the usefulness of the model, we will show the usage of the framework in a real context: two corpora have been annotated by means of an application which aim is to exploit and manipulate the data created by the linguistic processors developed so far.


The effects of cattle grazing on biodiversity in Mediterranean woodlands are yet unknown. To assess these effects on diurnal butterflies, we conducted daytime surveys in the Mt. Meron nature reserve (northern Israel) in two habitats over two different years. In each habitat we chose one site that was grazed by cattle and, as a control, a similar but ungrazed site. Belt transects (5m wide), divided for 100m replications, were surveyed five times on ridges in 2015 (11 replications, 538 butterflies, 25 species), and nine times in valleys in 2016 (12 replications, 3,944 butterflies, 38 species). In both habitats, species similarity index between sites was high. Richness was higher in the ridge control and evenness was higher in the valley grazed site. In both habitats total abundance was ca. twofold higher in the control, and the abundance of woody affiliated butterflies was threefold higher in the control, probably due to overgrazing, which affects butterflies' breeding niches. For batha polyphagous and oligophagous butterfly species, abundance was similar between the sites, and for a few of those, associated with increaser plants, it was even higher in the grazed sites. However, the batha monophagous species were significantly more abundant in the control. Monophagous and endangered species were found to be more sensitive to cattle grazing. We conclude that the current cattle grazing management in Mt. Meron reserve affects butterfly populations negatively. Therefore, we recommend more regulated grazing and early-season deferment precautions, along with designation of no-grazing areas in reserves.


High manganese steels are able to deform by the TRIP effect, TWIP effect and microbanding formation. These steels are quite promising materials for mechanical construction, once they show an unusual combination of high ductility and high tensile strength. The casting of these steels represents a technological challenge, because they are extremely prone to macro‐ and microsegregation. Segregation, on its turn, may locally impair the desired mechanical properties. Simulations by the phase‐field method may be utilized to investigate microstructure formation and the development of microsegregation patterns during solidification. Nevertheless, performing reliable microstructure simulations is only possible when reliable values for the solid–liquid interface energy are available. Through utilization of the sessile‐drop method, first measurements of the interface energy in the Fe–Mn–C alloy system were performed. By utilizing the obtained values for the interface energy as an input, phase‐field simulations were run aiming at investigating both the effect of the value for the interface energy and of the steel composition on the dendrite morphology.


Bringing to safe health standards and maintaining the basic parameters of the air (microclimate) in the premises for various purposes within the established limits with a high level of efficiency, pro-vides an opportunity to solve the problem of national importance – public health and the necessary environmental characteristics. The purpose of the study is to develop technology and foundations for the construction of universal systems of automated high-quality air purification in rooms for various purposes. Methods of analysis, synthesis, mathematical modelling, and engineering calculations were used in the research process. The technology, composition, and structure of universal systems for au-tomated cleaning and maintenance of the required indoor air quality, which provides automatic control of air parameters, have been developed. The composition and features of software and hardware are substantiated, the method of engineering calculation, structure of air purification system is developed and its technical parameters are defined. The synergetic effects in the implementation of air purification, which are achieved through a comprehensive, consistent with the procedures and pro-cesses of sequential parallel processing of injected and filtered air, have been investigated and proved. Developed technology and systems provide the ability to purify large volumes of air at high speed and quality in rooms with different levels of mechanical contamination, microflora, other harmful impurities, including microorganisms, allergens, dangerous viruses that cause infections with pathogens diseases characterised by mass and high rate of spread, such as COVID-19. For the first time, the problem of creation of energy-efficient high power systems of complex air purification for industrial premises of large sizes, which are 2.5-4 times more effective on all basic indicators in com-parison with the best analogues has been solved


Current high-throughput data acquisition technologies probe dynamical systems with different imaging modalities, generating massive data sets at different spatial and temporal resolutions-posing challenging problems in multimodal data fusion. A case in point is the attempt to parse out the brain structures and networks that underpin human cognitive processes by analysis of different neuroimaging modalities (functional MRI, EEG, NIRS, etc.). We emphasize that the multimodal, multiscale nature of neuroimaging data is well reflected by a multiway (tensor) structure where the underlying processes can be summarized by a relatively small number of components or "atoms." We introduce Markov-Penrose diagrams-an integration of Bayesian DAG and tensor network notation in order to analyze these models. These diagrams not only clarify matrix and tensor EEG and fMRI time/frequency analysis and inverse problems, but also help understand multimodal fusion via multiway partial least squares and coupled matrix-tensor factorization. We show here, for the first time, that Granger causal analysis of brain networks is a tensor regression problem, thus allowing the atomic decomposition of brain networks. Analysis of EEG and fMRI recordings shows the potential of the methods and suggests their use in other scientific domains.


Air pollution is becoming a major environmental issue in Pakistan owing to rapid
urbanization and economic growth.In order to assess the extent of air quality within the
major urban environments, PM2.5 pollutant has been analyzed during the period 2007-2011
in Islamabad; and 2007 to 2008 in Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta.Seasonal and diurnal
variation of PM2.5 mass concentration and meteorological factors affecting the emissions,
secondary PM2.5 formation and accumulation of pollutants have been analyzed.Air quality
monitoring data and meteorological data were obtained from Federal and Provincial
Pakistan Environmental Protection Agencies.Ambient air quality data of Islamabad,
Pakistan, for six representative air pollutants (carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of nitrogen
(NO and NOy�A�), sulfur dioxide (SO2), ozone (O3), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nonmethane
hydrocarbons (NMHCs), and meteorology was collected for five years (2007-
2011).In Islamabad, the annual average PM2.5 mass concentrations were 81.1�}48.4 AE�A�g m-
3, 93.0�}49.9 AE�A�g m-3, 47.8�}33.2 AE�A�g m-3, 79.0�}49.2 AE�A�g m-3, 66.1�}52.1 AE�A�g m-3 during 2007 to
2011, respectively; and the highest hourly values observed were 303 AE�A�g m-3 during
December 2007, 495.0 AE�A�g m-3 during November 2008, 259.8 AE�A�g m-3 during September
2009, 456.0 AE�A�g m-3 during October 2010, and 379.0 AE�A�g m-3 during January 2011.
Comparison of the four cities during summer 2007 to spring 2008 shows that all the four
cities have PM2.5 concentration exceeding the Pakistan National Environmental Quality
Standards (annual average concentration of 25 AE�A�g m-3; and 24 hourly average
concentration of 40 AE�A�g m-3) for ambient air. During the same time period (i.e. summer
2007 to spring 2008), the highest seasonal PM2.5 mass concentration for Islamabad was
observed as 98.5 AE�A�g m-3 during spring 2008; 150.4�}87.9 AE�A�g m-3; 104.1�}51.1 AE�A�g m-3 and
72.7�}55.2 AE�A�g m-3 for Lahore, Peshawar, and Quetta during fall 2007 respectively. Wind
speed and temperature have a negative correlation with the mass concentration of PM2.5.
Moreover, the relation of vapor pressure is weak but mostly negative.Diurnal profile for
all the cities suggests an association of PM2.5 with vehicular traffic.Data analysis revealed annual average mass concentration of PM2.5 (~45 to ~95 AE�A�g
m-3) and NO concentration (~41 to ~120 AE�A�g m-3) exceed the Pakistan�fs National
Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS).The annual O3 concentration is within the permissible limits; however, some of the hourly concentration exceeds the NEQS mostly
during summer months. Correlation studies suggest that carbon monoxide has as a
significant (p-value .0.01) positive correlation with NO and NOy�A�; whereas, with ozone, a
significant (p-value .0.01) negative correlation is observed.The regression analysis
estimates the background CO concentration to be ~250 to ~500 ppbv in Islamabad.The
higher ratio of CO/NO (~10) suggests that mobile sources are the major contributor to NO
concentration. On the other hand, the ratio analysis of SO2/NO for Islamabad (~0.011)
indicates that the point sources are contributing to SO2 in the city.NO and SO2 correlation
indicates a direct emission sources containing high sulfur content.The correlation of PM2.5
and NO suggests that a fraction of secondary PM2.5 is produced by chemical conversion of
NO into nitrates.The regional background O3 concentration for Islamabad has been
determined to be ~31ppbv.The study suggests that there is an increase in O3 concentration
with increases in photochemical conversion of NO to reservoir NOy�A� species.
In order to investigate the contribution of local or transboundary sources of air
pollution towards the high ozone episodes in Islamabad, backward trajectories using
NOAA HYSPLIT model were computed. Furthermore, simulations of two selected high
ozone episodes were carried out by using Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF)
model to assess the influence of meteorological conditions on level and variation of ozone
during episode period.The HYSPLIT back trajectories have revealed that a number of
back trajectories are originated from west, south-west and eastern transboundary pollution
sources.It has been observed that local sources are also contributing towards pollution in
Islamabad when high concentrations are observed during stagnant conditions.Furthermore, when air masses from west, south-west and south-east are advecting into the
city, stagnant conditions lead to accumulation of pollutants. It has been revealed that most
of the episodes occurred during stagnant conditions followed by advection from far-off
regions.The study recommends that an extended air quality and climate modeling may be
conducted to get an insight into the tropospheric chemistry of the area leading to many
frequent high ozone episodes.There is also need to develop effective control strategies to
meet the ambient air quality standards through the use of an integrated assessment model.


Context
Emerging evidence has related the gut microbiome and circulating metabolites to human obesity. Gut microbiota is responsible for several metabolic functions, and altered plasma metabolome might reflect differences in the gut microbiome.

Objective
To identify a plasma metabolite profile associated with body mass index (BMI) in a general population and investigate whether such metabolite profile is associated with distinct composition of the gut microbiota.

Design
Targeted profiling of 48 plasma metabolites was performed in a population of 920 Swedish adults (mean age, 39 years; 53% women) from the ongoing Malmö Offspring Study using targeted liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Gut microbiota was analyzed by sequencing the 16S ribosomal RNA gene (V1-V3 region) in fecal samples of 674 study participants.

Results
BMI was associated with 19 metabolites (P < 0.001 for all), of which glutamate provided the strongest direct association (P = 5.2e-53). By orthogonal partial least squares regression, a metabolite principal component predictive of BMI was constructed (PCBMI). In addition to glutamate, PCBMI was dominated by branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) and related metabolites. Four gut microbiota genera (Blautia, Dorea, Ruminococcus, and SHA-98) were associated with both BMI and PCBMI (P < 8.0e-4 for all). When simultaneously regressing PCBMI and metabolite-associated gut bacteria against BMI, only PCBMI remained statistically significant.

Conclusions
We discovered associations between four gut microbiota genera (Blautia, Dorea, Ruminococcus, and SHA-98) and BMI-predictive plasma metabolites, including glutamate and BCAAs. Thus, these metabolites could be mediators between gut microbiota and obesity, pointing to potential future opportunities for targeting the gut microbiota in prevention of obesity.


An actively cooled charge couple device detector in combination with a 4 mm focal length lens (camera) was used to evaluate the luminance and perceived contrast properties of a liquid crystal display (LCD). The circular field of view (FOV) of the camera occupied an angular range (θ) of ±42.5° from normal in all directions. Uniform field images corresponding to 17 equally spaced grayscale values in the 8 bit digital driving level (DDL) range of the display system were acquired. The 12 bit grayscale digital images produced by the camera were converted to luminance (cd/m2) units via the measured DDL vs. luminance response of the camera. The Barten model of the grayscale response of the human visual system was used to compute the perceived contrast of the display within the angular FOV of the camera and throughout the 8-bit DDL range of the display. 1D profiles were extracted from the 2D measurements and compared to measurements acquired from a similar display using a Fourier-optics-based luminance meter and published methods. The results of the two methods generally agreed to within 5%. Greater discrepancy was realized for the lowest portion of the DDL range. The photographic methods used were straightforward and resulted in accurate display assessment measurements over a FOV that is relevant for the clinical use of LCDs.


This paper is concerned the limitation of the knowledge and its discovery and propaganda processes. All the knowledge is the reflection of the world and knowledge itself. We can divide the knowledge into static and dynamic forms according by its object. Static knowledge can't be perfect as the Set theory has proved. Dynamic knowledge can't be Precise. All the knowledge can't handle the world as a whole. The propaganda process of the knowledge has limitation too, because the density of the knowledge can't be infinite. So we have to admit that the knowledge have left the space for the belief and random. Furthermore the world is undetermined in the boundary of human being's intelligence.


Abstract The fractional nonhomogeneous Poisson process was introduced by a time change of the nonhomogeneous Poisson process with the inverse α-stable subordinator. We propose a similar definition for the (nonhomogeneous) fractional compound Poisson process. We give both finite-dimensional and functional limit theorems for the fractional nonhomogeneous Poisson process and the fractional compound Poisson process. The results are derived by using martingale methods, regular variation properties and Anscombe's theorem. Eventually, some of the limit results are verified in a Monte Carlo simulation.


Background: Dyslipidemia and local inflammation at sites of lipid deposition on blood vessel walls have been demonstrated to be risk factors for patients with acute aortic dissection (AAD). Statins have anti-inflammatory and lipid-lowering effects, which suggest that statins may play an important role in prevention and treatment of AAD. Some retrospective studies show that statins can protect patients with aortic dissection. However, the effect of statins on survival of AAD patients have been scarcely investigated, especially in randomized trials. In this study, we will perform a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the effect of statins on in-hospital mortality of AAD patients. Methods: A total of 384 subjects diagnosed with AAD in the First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College will be recruited. Participants will be randomly divided into atorvastatin-treated or placebo groups. The primary outcome will be the in-hospital mortality. Discussion: This study is designed to verify the safety and efficacy of atorvastatin in patients with AAD. The aim is to provide a new way to improve survival as a complement to conventional drug therapy.Trial registration: Registered by Chinese Clinical Trials Registry (Registration number:ChiCTR1900023515,http://www.chictr.org.cn/edit.aspx?pid=38275&htm=4).Registered 1 June 2019.


Contribution: This article presents a synthesis of the findings and implications from the IC2Think program of research in undergraduate computer science (CS) courses examining student motivation and self-regulated learning (SRL). These studies illuminate both the difficulty and potential for motivating CS students, as well as the uniqueness of CS as a context for studying undergraduate motivation. Background: Computing disciplines are increasingly important in preparing the future workforce. It is imperative that CS educators understand how to motivate students and enhance student outcomes. Synthesizing findings across multiple studies allows for the emergence of new insights into student motivation and SRL. Research Questions: Which aspects of students' motivation and SRL are predictive of achievement and retention in CS and how can findings inform CS education? Methodology: The primary methodology is a comprehensive review of seven years of research on undergraduate CS education. Studies use a variety of analysis techniques, examine a range of constructs, and include multiple introductory and advanced CS courses. Studies of relationships between variables and change over time were conducted. Findings: The present synthesis of studies on motivation and SRL highlights the complex, counter-intuitive, and positive aspects of student motivation in CS.


OBJECTIVES
To identify work-related factors associated with depressive symptoms and probable major depression in primary care teams.

METHODS
Cross-sectional study among primary care teams (community health workers, nursing assistants, nurses, and physicians) in the city of São Paulo, Brazil (2011-2012; n = 2940), to assess depressive symptoms and probable major depression and their associations with job strain and other work-related conditions.

RESULTS
Community health workers presented higher prevalence of probable major depression (18%) than other primary care workers. Higher odds ratios for depressive symptoms or probable major depression were associated with longer duration of employment in primary care; having a passive, active, or high-strain job; lack of supervisor feedback regarding performance; and low social support from colleagues and supervisors.

CONCLUSIONS
Observed levels of job-related depression can endanger the sustainability of primary care programs. Public Health implications. Strategies are needed to deliver care to primary care workers with depression, facilitating diagnosis and access to treatment, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Preventive interventions can include training managers to provide feedback and creating strategies to increase job autonomy and social support at work.


Bearingless PM motors which have additional suspension windings have been designed with 3D FEM. To verify satisfactions in practical application, a test machine has been built. In this paper, suspension force is measured with the static forces. Two experimental methods are proposed. It is proved that those procedures are suitable even if it is in limited conditions, only one shaft end can be used for static force applied. Furthermore, the relation of the suspension force and rotor rotational angle is shown.


The measurement and quantification of features and products from the microscale and precision manufacturing industries often requires uncertainties and resolution of the order of nanometers. A suitable means of delivering these requirements is through ultra precision co-ordinate measuring machines (CMMs). However, the current state-of-the-art CMMs are often restricted by the relatively large and insensitive probes used. This paper focuses on the assembly challenges of a novel micro-CMM probe as well as the techniques and equipment used to resolve these challenges. The probe comprises a 70 µm diameter, rigid tungsten carbide shaft on the end of which is attached a 100 µm diameter glass sphere. This joint must be made without damaging the glass sphere or the tungsten carbide shaft. The primary assembly requirement is to ensure that the sphere is located centrally with respect to the shaft. Two joining methods, utilising a nanometre resolution assembly platform and micro-manipulators integrated within a combined focused ion beam and scanning electron microscope, were tested and compared. These joining methods were also carefully developed to ensure that they could be scaled down to be reproducible on shaft and sphere diameters of 30 µm and 50 µm respectively. The work has delivered a number of prototype probes that have been characterised. These prototypes will be used for testing and validation of the probe design and modelling.


We study on-line scheduling in overloaded systems. Requests for jobs arrive one by one as time proceeds; the serving agents have limited capacity and not all requests can be served. Still, we want to serve the "best" set of requests according to some criterion. In this situation, the ability to preempt (i.e., abort) jobs in service in order to make room for better jobs that would otherwise be rejected has proven to be of great help in some scenarios.
We show that, surprisingly, in many other scenarios this is not the case. In a simple, generic model, we prove a polylogarithmic lower bound on the competitiveness of randomized and preemptive on-line scheduling algorithms. Our bound applies to several recently studied problems. In fact, in certain scenarios our bound is quite close to the competitiveness achieved by known deterministic, nonpreemptive algorithms.