Dengue virus (DENV) is a mosquito-borne virus that causes a characteristic pathology in humans involving dysregulation of the vascular system. In some patients with dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), vascular pathology can become severe, resulting in extensive microvascular permeability and plasma leakage into tissues and organs. The predominant view in the field is that vascular leakage during infection is the result of immune pathology that is induced by cytokines and other de novo transcribed vasoactive factors released from infected cells. Recent evidence has shown that mast cells (MCs), which are granulated immune cells that line blood vessels and regulate vascular function, are able to detect DENV particles in vivo and promote vascular leakage, however the molecular mechanism of this vascular leakage is unknown. Here, we identified the pre-stored MC protease, tryptase, to be a product that promotes endothelial cell permeability during DENV infection, through inducing breakdown of tight junctions. Tryptase alone, injected in mice at concentrations equivalent to those found in the serum of human DHF patients, is able to promote substantial vascular leakage. This study provides a new molecular mechanism by which DENV can induce vascular pathology in vivo.


There are multiple causes of prolonged and persistent postpartum bleeding. The common etiologies include uterine atony, endometritis and retained products of conception. Uncommon causes described in literature include uterine artery pseudoaneurysm, placental site nodule and uterine scar dehiscence. Endometrial hyperplasia causing persistent per vaginal bleeding postpartum has yet to be reported in literature. The rarity of this condition may be attributed to the underlying pathogenesis. Endometrial hyperplasia is caused by unopposed estrogen and it is well established that pregnancy decreases the risk of endometrial hyperplasia. We present a case report of a 42-year-old lady found to have complex endometrial hyperplasia during evaluation for persistent per vaginal bleeding 3 months post Caesarean section. J Med Cases. 2018;9(6):183-186 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jmc3064w


Since the advent of antibiotic treatment empyema has become an uncommon disease, and thus empyema necessitates has become extremely rare.1 A 68-year-old woman was admitted to hospital with a mass protruding from the …


The mechanisms that control resting heart rate in hyperthyroidism were evaluated in six patients before and after treatment with propylthiouracil. The patients were subjected to pharmacological blockade under resting conditions in two experimental sessions: first session, propranolol (0.2 mg/kg body weight); second session, atropine (0.04 mg/kg body weight) followed by propranolol (0.2 mg/kg body weight). All drugs were administered intravenously. Resting heart rate was significantly reduced from 100 +/- 6.5 beats/min to 72 +/- 2.5 beats/min (P less than 0.005) after clinical and laboratory control of the disease. After double blockade, intrinsic heart rate was reduced from 105 +/- 6.8 beats/min before treatment to 98 +/- 6.0 beats/min after treatment (P less than 0.025). The reduction in heart rate caused by propranolol was not significantly different before (-13 +/- 1.4 beats/min) and after (-9 +/- 1.0 beats/min) propylthiouracil. In contrast, atropine induced a higher elevation of heart rate after treatment (45 +/- 8.6 beats/min) than before treatment (26 +/- 4.0 beats/min). The present results suggest no appreciable participation of the sympathetic component of the autonomic nervous system in the tachycardia of hyperthyroidism, at least under the conditions of the present study. The small change observed in intrinsic heart rate, although significant, seems to indicate that this is not the most important mechanism involved in this tachycardia. Our results suggest that an important reduction in the efferent activity of the parasympathetic component participates in the mechanisms that modify resting heart rte in hyperthyroidism.


Abstract High-altitude inhospitable environments impose a formidable life challenge for the local animals. Training and exposure to high-altitude environments produce both distinct physiological and phenotypic characteristics. The mitochondrion, an organelle crucial for the energy production, plays an important role in hypoxia adaptation. In this study, we investigated the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) polymorphism and copy number variation between the population pairs from distinct altitudes across the multi-species. Higher mitochondrial DNA control region's genetic diversity is conspicuous in high-altitude animals versus low-altitude relatives. We also found an accordant decrease of mtDNA copy number in most of the tissues from high-altitude animals. Compared to mammals, chickens have significantly distinct mitogenomic characteristics, and more significant changes in the skeletal muscle mtDNA copy number between high- and low-altitude individuals. Our study catches a snapshot of the biological similarities and differences in the mitochondrial high-altitude acclimation across the species.


Thirty-two volunteers participated in a two-period crossover study in which ibuprofen was tested against an identical placebo for its effectiveness in reducing muscle soreness and damage after two bouts of downhill running. Subjective soreness, quadriceps isometric strength and isometric endurance time at 50 percent of maximum strength, serum activities of creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase and aspartate transaminase and serum levels of creatinine and urea were recorded at intervals up to 72 hours after exercise. Each downhill run produced muscle soreness, and a decline in muscle strength and 50 percent endurance time, although these parameters were unaffected by ibuprofen treatment. All serum parameters measured increased after both runs, but for the three enzymes this increase was smaller after the second run. Serum creatine kinase and urea levels were higher in the ibuprofen group after both runs. These results indicate that ibuprofen is not an appropriate treatment for delayed onset muscle soreness and damage.


Abstract Development activity in Poland began to increase in the 1990's as a result of market-oriented reforms, with the process continuing to this day. The beginnings were, however, not easy due to, among others, the absence of many important legal regulations and the lack of commercial financing. The situation changed in the second half of the 1990's, positively affecting residential development activity. The years 2008 - 2009 were particularly relevant in the course of the studied trend as a sharp increase in the number of completed developer-built residential dwelling units was recorded at this time. After this period, a decline in the number of dwelling units completed by developers was recorded, which indicates its strong dependence on changes in the economic environment. Fluctuations in the number of dwelling units completed by developers were also visible before Poland's accession to the European Union. This means that the diversity of development activity is influenced by many factors. The available literature generally states that the growth of the real estate market depends on demand. Effective demand for real estate is understood as the number of people who are willing and financially able to buy or rent a particular kind of property at different prices, at a given time and in a given market. Therefore, it can be assumed that local factors have a particular impact on the growth of development activity. However, the question arises as to which of the many local factors are important to the growth of development activity and what factors can be used by local authorities to more effectively stimulate the growth of residential housing in their area. The aim of the paper is to determine by means of econometric instruments the significance of the impact of individual local factors on development activity in the residential housing market in the largest cities of Poland.


Hydantoins and thiohydantoins derived from amino acids are an interesting subset of compounds that have a wide range of chemical and biological properties. The chemistry of amino acid derived hydantoins does not require rigorous conditions and thus, their formation is plausible in physiological conditions. Hydantoins have been isolated from urine in cases where protein consumption is increased. This raises a question of chemical and biological implications of their presence and, accordingly, elucidation of mechanisms trough which they are formed gains importance.
The reaction of 2-thiohydantoin formation from corresponding amino acids was monitored by 1H NMR spectroscopy and rate constants were determined. The mechanism of the reaction was examined using the M06-2X/6-311++G(d,p) theoretical model. The calculated rate constants of the reaction and the observed rate constants determined using NMR spectroscopy are in a good accordance. On the basis of the theoretical calculations, a different mechanism from the previously reported is proposed.


d etermining the factors that promote successful goal striving is one of the fundamental questions studied by selfregulation and motivation researchers (Bargh, Gollwitzer, & Oettingen, 2010; Gollwitzer & Moskowitz, 1996; Oettingen & Gollwitzer, 2001). A number of theories, and supporting empirical data, suggest that the type of goal chosen and the commitment to that goal are important determinants in whether an individual carries out the behaviors necessary for goal attainment (e.g., Ajzen, 1985; Bandura, 1997; Carver & Scheier, 1998; Elliot, 2008; Locke & Latham, 2006; Molden & Dweck, 2006; Oettingen, Pak, & Schnetter, 2001). Within these models, choosing or accepting a goal or standard is the central act of will in the pursuit of goals. We agree with this contention but argue in this chapter that further acts of will should facilitate goal attainment, in particular, when goal striving is confronted with implemental problems (e.g., difficulties getting started because of failure to use opportunities to do so; sticking to ongoing goal striving in the face of distractions, temptations, and competing goals). Such acts of will can take the form of making plans that specify when, where, and how an instrumental goaldirected response is to be enacted. More specifically, the person may take control over (i.e., selfregulate) goal striving by making if–then plans (i.e., form implementation intentions) that specify an anticipated critical situation and link it to an instrumental goaldirected response.


Geopolymer can be used to produce structural concrete without the consideration on the emission of carbon dioxide as what Portland cement did. Geopolymer are produced when alumino-silicate, like fly ash mixed with a strong alkaline solution. The production of geopolymer is more economical and sustainable than normal cement. Durability of a structure is one of the concern for the engineers. In order to maintain the strength characteristic of the geopolymer, way to prolong the lifespan and cater the durability problems caused by cracks after high temperature exposure. Presence of self-healing agent contributes to the enhancement on the strength characteristic of the geopolymer concrete after high temperature exposure. There are several type of self-healing agent which can be used in geopolymer, such as: Poly Methyl Acrylate, silica gel, tung oil,silicone and bacterial solution. Silica gel will be used for this research as a self-healing agent. The main objective of this research is to determine the strength performance of self-healing geopolymer mortar after high temperature exposure. This research is conducted along with the following sub-objectives which is to identify the suitability of silica gel as self-healing agent in geopolymer mortar after exposed to extremely high temperature and the effectiveness of silica gel as self-healing agent in geopolymer mortar. Samples were subjected to elevated temperature of 500, 600 and 700 °C. The highest compressive strength achieved with the inclusion of silica gel in the specimen was 63.579 MPa which is higher than normal concrete. The compressive strength of the geopolymer mortar is also preserved after high temperature exposure. The performance of the geopolymer concrete is enhanced with the presence of the self-healing agent as the micro cracks are filled. The compressive strength of geopolymer was preserved even after exposure to 500 °C in the furnace for 30 minutes. Samples showed that the compressive strength decreased exponentially from 600 °C onwards which indicated geopolymer started to fail structurally. At 500 °C, the compressive strength did not have significant difference where there are only slight reduction in the specimens. As a conclusion, the objectives of this research have been fulfilled. Silica gel is suitable for the self-healing mechanism to take place. However, the silica gel should be replaced with non-commercial silica gel to ensure that the effect of self-healing mechanism take place with better framework produced through the reaction of the silica gel with the geopolymer


The focus of this review article is on Understanding Abstract Concepts across Modes in Multimodal Discourse: A Cognitive-Linguistic Approach (2020), the latest monograph by professor Elżbieta Górska of Warsaw University, a leading Polish researcher in the area of multimodality studies informed by cognitive linguistics. The goal of this article is twofold. On the one hand, the article aims at evaluating Górska's monograph on its own merits, as a self-contained study of the cognitive processes involved in the interpretation of multimodal works of art by Janusz Kapusta, with an emphasis on conceptual metaphor, conceptual metonymy, and their interplay. On the other hand, the article aims at considering a number of thorny concepts underlying much of the current linguistically informed research into multimodal communication (notably, modality/mode, medium, and genre) by using Górska's monograph as a springboard for their discussion.


The ability to perform V(D)J recombination can be transferred to non-lymphoid cells by stable or transient transfection of the RAG genes. This fact was used to test the effect of wild type and mutant RAG-genes on the V(D)J recombination activity in recombination competent and incompetent cells. Cotransfection of wild type RAG genes induced V(D)J recombination in NIH 3T3 fibroblasts, but had no effect in the pre B cell line 38B9 and even reduced the recombination activity of the fibroblast cell line L4 which has been stably transfected with both RAG genes, indicating that these cell lines lack co-factors which are necessary for higher recombination activity. A mutant RAG-1 gene which lacks a part of the topoisomerase I-like region and a mutant RAG-2 gene which lacks its 89 C-terminal amino acids did not activate V(D)J recombination in NIH 3T3 cells. They did not decrease the recombination activity in L4 cells, but increased the V(D)J recombination activity in 38B9 cells, probably by protecting endogenous wild type RAG mRNAs and proteins against RNAses and proteinases. Treatment respectively co-transfection of NIH 3T3 cells with the V(D)J recombination stimulating agent caffeine and the lymphoid specific transcription factor Oct2A did not lead to induction of V(D)J recombination in the absence of RAG genes.


Authors investigated the Dental Fear Survey scores (DFS) of 362 persons from several subpopulations living in Budapest. Subjects were: 253 females, 109 males, aged 14 to 73 years. Scores of the items related to dental handpiece and anaesthetic needle were the highest. The group the participants belonged to influenced 19 items, marital status and age influenced 13 items, and sex influenced 10 items of the DFS significantly (one-way ANOVA, p < or = 0.05). Scores related to dental handpiece were higher than scores related to the anaesthetic needle, and the scores of the 20th item ("overall fear of dentistry") were near to the scores of most fearful items, indicating some "phobic character" of the Hungarian population.


5-Nitro-2-hydroxybenzaldehyde (1) demonstrated to be a sensitive, and a selective molecular probe for cyanide ion (CN-) in aqueous media. In acetonitrile, compound 1 shows sensitivity and selectivity for cyanide, acetate and fluoride, in comparison to other investigated anions using both visual and spectroscopic means. In aqueous solution, the color becomes intense yellow upon addition of cyanide, while acetate showed this effect to a much lower extent. Significant spectral changes were also detected with the appearance of two new absorption bands at 358 and 387 nm. This was accompanied by concomitant intensity decrease for the band at 314 nm. Fluoride, dihydrogen phosphate, chloride, bromide, perchlorate, and azide showed negligible color and spectral changes for the probe in aqueous solutions. On the other hand, hydrogen sulfate caused fainting of the yellow color and gave a spectrum similar to that of the sensor in polar aprotic solvents. The cyanide ion was detected at micro molar levels in aqueous solutions with a stoichiometry of 1:1 for CN: probe in acetonitrile as the solvent. Cyanide, hydroxide, acetate, fluoride and dihydrogen phosphate showed identical changes to color and spectra, indicating a hydrogen bonding and a deprotonation mechanism.


BACKGROUND: Strawberry puree color is unstable during processing and storage due to oxidative reactions. OBJECTIVE: To determine if strawberry puree prepared under nitrogen or carbon dioxide would result in greater retention of color and anthocyanins than samples prepared under air. METHODS: Purees prepared under carbon dioxide, nitrogen or air were pasteurized and stored at 25◦C. Samples were evaluated one day, and at two week interval for eight weeks after processing for color (L*, chroma and hue), anthocyanin content and percent polymeric color. RESULTS: Purees prepared under carbon dioxide or nitrogen retained more anthocyanins (75% and 82%, respectively) following pasteurization than samples prepared under air (60% and 72%), respectively. The protective effect of oxygen exclusion on anthocyanin stability persisted throughout eight weeks of storage at 25◦C with purees prepared under carbon dioxide or nitrogen each showing 23% retention, while purees prepared under air showed only 7% and 10% retention. Purees prepared under carbon dioxide or nitrogen also had greater color stability evident by lower L*, hue and percent polymeric color and greater chroma values than puree processed under air over storage. CONCLUSIONS: Strict oxygen exclusion during strawberry processing appears to be a viable technology to improve anthocyanin and color stability, but additional technologies are needed to prevent anthocyanin losses that occur under anaerobic conditions during storage.


The direct mixing of red and green cone signals in the outer plexiform layer of the turtle retina was studied by using intracellular recordings from red cone photoreceptors. Cone photoresponses were a function of the wavelength of the photons that stimulated them, even when small-diameter stimuli were used. The intensity response curves measured with red and green test flashes had different shapes. The kinetics of approximately equal amplitude red and green responses also differed. To quantify the short wavelength input onto red cones, differential chromatic adaptation was used. The relative sensitivity of the red cone to red and green test flashes was a function of the color and intensity of the background illumination; red backgrounds decreased relative red sensitivity, and green backgrounds increased relative red sensitivity. The spectral sensitivity of the additional short wavelength input onto red cones was determined by using differential chromatic adaptation, and was found to peak approximately 550 nm. We conclude that red cones receive an additional excitatory input from green cones (and possibly blue cones). A model of the cone mosaic suggests that approximately 50% of the red cone response (linear range) to a dim green test flash arises from neighboring green cones.


We conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials to obtain a more precise estimate of the effect of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPU) versus placebo on the acceleration of fracture healing in skeletally mature persons and to determine if any serious adverse events are associated with LIPU when used to accelerate fracture healing.


The Ottoman archives are rich in Ottoman period documents, including administrative correspondence and social and political reports. The researcher examines some of the poetry in the archives that scholars and educated people sent to the Ottoman sultans on various occasions. The researcher refers to the Ottomans' interest in Arabic, reflected on one occasion when the sultan penalized the director of one of the Ottoman newspapers due to his offense against the Arabic language. The present study also includes poetry describing the sultan and speeches sent to the Ottoman leaders.


This paper is concerned with the consensus problem of discrete-time multi-agent systems (MASs) over lossy communication channels. The communication connection between agents at initial time is assumed to be accessible, which ensures that the system can reach consensus over ideal communication channels. However, the communication channel can be fading in practice, packet loss occurs inevitably. In this paper by modeling the packet losses as a Markov process with defective transition probabilities, a new description of the scenario of packet losses is addressed. Since the transition probabilities considered here comprise three types: known, uncertain within given intervals, and unknown, our model is more general and practical than previous results. A distributed protocol is introduced to achieve dynamic consensus. Sufficient condition for the mean-square consensus of discrete-time MASs is derived in the form of linear matrix inequalities. Numerical example is also given to illustrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.


An adaptive subband chip-level equalizer is investigated for downlink multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) direct-sequence (DS) ultrawideband (UWB) systems to cope with intersymbol interference (ISI) and multiple-access interference (MAI) in multipath fading channels. The subband decomposition technique with multiple analysis and synthesis filter banks (FBs) is employed to substantially improve the downlink reception of mobile-terminal (MT) receivers. This chip equalizer utilizes subband adaptive interference suppression techniques based on the minimum mean square error (MMSE) criterion. A reduced-complexity chip-level MMSE equalization scheme is proposed by making full use of the reduced-rank (RR) multistage matrix Wiener filter (MMWF) and the matrix conjugate gradient (MCG) architectures in subbands. Simulations are conducted to provide a comparative evaluation of the proposed subband chip equalizer with other existing full-band and subband chip equalizers.


As requirements of CD uniformity on photomasks continue to tighten with advanced logic and memory devices, dry etch processing should be adopted due to the needs of OPC and reduced bias processes. For logic devices, 16 nm CD uniformity will be required for 0.15 /spl mu/m generation, so dry etching technology should inevitably be introduced. However. It was already known that there is severe CD variation in the dry etching process due to Cr density. This, so called loading effect, has been investigated and solutions developed for wafer processing. However, in photomask processing, this loading effect is a little bit different because of the difference of field size and aspect ratio compared with the wafer case.


Continental strike-slip shear zones that may bear important information about the evolution of convergent tectonics often occur to accommodate plate convergence. When and how shearing along the shear zones responds to plate interactions, however, are often debated. In this study, we investigated the Oligocene–Miocene leucocratic dikes from the Ailao Shan–Red River shear zone, which was active during India-Eurasia plate convergence, to constrain the timing and mechanism of ductile shearing along the shear zone. The dikes are structurally grouped into pre-, syn-, and postkinematic types with respect to ductile shearing. Prekinematic dikes from ca. 41 to 30 Ma have low whole-rock 87Sr/86Sr(i) values (0.707–0.710), generally high εNd(t) values (–3.31∼–7.98), and variable εHf(t) values (–7.9∼+5.7). Their magma sources involved high thermal perturbation inducing partial melting of the lower crust, and contributions from the mantle that were possibly related to extensional collapse of the orogenic belt prior to tectonic extrusion of the Sundaland block. Syn- and postkinematic dikes from ca. 28 to 20 Ma dominantly have high whole-rock 87Sr/86Sr(i) (0.707–0.725) and low εNd(t) (–5.83 to –9.76) values, and either negative or positive zircon εHf(t) values (broadly in the range of –12 to + 7.6) for coeval but separate crustal magma sources. The results imply that major shearing accompanying retrograde metamorphism along the Ailao Shan–Red River shear zone was localized to crustal level. A synthesis of regional structural data suggests that Oligocene–Miocene shearing along the Ailao Shan–Red River shear zone and lateral tectonic extrusion of the Sundaland block proceeded in response to progressive India-Eurasia plate convergence. Distributed and inhomogeneous middle- to lower-crustal flow along the boundaries of and within the Sundaland block occurred during the tectonic extrusion.


Introduction. Colon cancer (RCC) clinically manifests itself in the late stages, therefore, early diagnosis presents significant difficulties. There are many types of microorganisms in the human colon that form symbiosis with intestinal cells to maintain normal function. Аim of the study was to determine the composition of the parietal microflora of the colon under conditions of a tumor process and to assess the possibility of using these data in the diagnosis of colon cancer. Material and methods. The main group included 63 patients operated on for cancer (adenocarcinoma) of the left half of the colon (descending, sigmoid, rectosigmoid regions) with I T1-2N0M0, II T3-4aN0M0, III T1-2N1M0 stages of the tumor process. Among them are 32 men and 31 women aged 20 to 75 years (57.7 ± 3.8 years). In all patients, before hospitalization, the tumor was confirmed by colonoscopy followed by histological examination. The group of clinical comparison in the amount of 25 people consisted of patients with chronic hemorrhoids without exacerbation, who underwent colonoscopy. Material from the main group, biopsies of tumor tissue and visually unchanged colon mucosa, were taken intraoperatively during tumor removal. In patients of the clinical comparison group, the material was taken during the colonoscopy process. The composition of the intestinal microbiota was determined by a bacteriological method. Results and discussion. As a result of comparing the colon microbiota of cancer patients and the clinical comparison group, statistically significant differences in the quantitative composition of Lactobacillus spp., Bifidobacterium spp., Bacteroides spp., Clostridium spp., Enterococcus spp., Escherichia coli (typical), Escherichia coli (lactose-negative), Enterobacteriaceae, Staphylococcus spp. (CNS), Candida spp. It was established for the first time that Bifidobacterium spp., Enterococcus spp. and the age of the patient can be further used in the diagnosis of a malignant process. Conclusion. The created additive model can be used as an additional screening criterion in the early diagnosis of colon cancer.


Infrarenal abdominal aortic dissections (IAAD) are exceedingly rare, accounting for 1-4% of all aortic dissections. The evidence is scarce on how to best manage IAAD when they become symptomatic. Two main interventional approaches exist, open surgery and the endovascular approach. Conventional stent-graft systems make it difficult to treat nonaneurysmal aortic disease due to limb competition in a narrow distal aorta. Thus, we present a novel use of the Endologix Anatomical Fixation 2 (AFX2) Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) endograft system for the treatment of four patients with IAAD. We also highlight an individual case study that was treated with an alternative endovascular approach and the complications that followed. This was to highlight and compare our successful experience with Endologix AFX2 AAA endograft system. There were multiple benefits for choosing this stent-graft; however the main advantage is its suitability in the narrow distal aorta. Our aim was to highlight an alternative endovascular approach for the successful treatment of a rare, challenging, and potentially fatal pathology.


OBJECTIVE To examine whether combined lifestyle behaviors have an impact on all-cause and cause-specific mortality in patients aged 30–94 years with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Participants included 5,686 patients >30 years old with T2DM who were enrolled in a Diabetes Care Management Program at a medical center in central Taiwan before 2007. Lifestyle behaviors consisted of smoking, alcohol drinking, physical inactivity, and carbohydrate intake. The main outcomes were all-cause and cause-specific mortality. Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine the association between combined lifestyle behaviors and mortality. RESULTS The mortality rate among men was 24.10 per 1,000 person-years, and that among women was 17.25 per 1,000 person-years. After adjusting for the traditional risk factors, we found that combined lifestyle behavior was independently associated with all-cause mortality and mortality due to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Patients with three or more points were at a 3.50-fold greater risk of all-cause mortality (95% CI 2.06–5.96) and a 4.94-fold (1.62–15.06), 4.24-fold (1.20–14.95), and 1.31-fold (0.39–4.41) greater risk of diabetes-specific, CVD-specific, and cancer-specific mortality, respectively, compared with patients with zero points. Among these associations, the combined lifestyle behavior was not significantly associated with cancer mortality. CONCLUSIONS Combined lifestyle behavior is a strong predictor of all-cause and cause-specific mortality in patients with T2DM.


The interband-resonant light modulation by the intersubband-resonant light in selectively n-doped quantum wells is investigated. The modulation efficiency depends greatly on the degree of nonlinear optical coupling between the interband and intersubband-resonant lights. It is shown theoretically and experimentally that the selective n-doping in the barrier layers of the quantum wells is very effective to increase the nonlinear coupling degree and thus the modulation efficiency. The thermal and the hot carrier effects on the modulation are also discussed. >


Large numbers of calcium-tolerant canine cardiocytes can be isolated from the collagenase-perfused canine myocardium. An average yield of 500 million cells provides abundant tissue for the preparation of subcellular fractions. Using nitrogen cavitation, along with extraction by 0.6 M potassium chloride/sucrose buffer, we have been able to prepare, after differential and sucrose gradient centrifugation, membrane fractions that are more than 100-fold enriched in sarcolemmal marker enzymes. This preparation of sarcolemma has the advantage of being essentially free of plasma membranes from endothelial, smooth muscle, and other cell types residing in the myocardium.


Three new (2-4) and one known (1) sphingolipid were identified in the MeOH extract of Bombycis Corpus 101A. Their structures were elucidated as (4E,2S,3R)-2-N-octadecanoyl-4-tetradecasphingenine (1), (4E,6E,2S,3R)-2-N-eicosanoyl-4,6-tetradecasphingadienine (2), (4E,2S,3R)-2-N-eicosanoyl-4-tetradecasphingenine (3), and (4E,6E,2S,3R)-2-N-docosanoyl-4,6-tetradecasphingadienine (4) on the basis of spectroscopic data. Their neurotrophic effects were evaluated by examining PC12 cell neurite outgrowth.


Cytologic evaluation of the CSF is often difficult when trying to distinguish between truly neoplastic and reactive cells. Several non‐neoplastic conditions may be associated with atypical cells in the CSF, a fact the clinician has to consider to avoid inadequate aggressive theraphies. We report here three patients with infectious meningitis (due to Herpes zoster virus in two, and neuroborreliosis in one) and cytologically atypical cerebrospinal fluid lymphocytes. Further characterization showed that the pleocyrosis in these patients was of reactive origin. Cytomorphology is frequently insufficient and histochemical, immuncytochemical and cellular genome analysis techniques may help differentiate atypical reactive cells from neoplastic cells.


The paper presents a new approach for concurrent error detection in homogeneous VLSI/WSI architectures for the computation of the complex N-point fast Fourier transform (FFT). The proposed approach is based on the relationship between the computations of cells at a given point distance. This relationship is analysed with respect to functional and physical faults. It is proved that a 100% probability of detection is possible. Overhead issues for hardware and timing are addressed. It is proved that hardware overhead is 50% compared to a fault intolerant complex 2-point implementation. Fault detection can be accommodated online and on a component basis (multiplier or adder/subtractor); full fault location is accomplished by a roving technique, which utilises a reconfiguration approach at no significant time overhead. The proposed technique can be accommodated efficiently in a homogeneous layout for WSI implementation. A two-phase reconfiguration policy for the proposed architecture is presented. It is proved that switching and routing overhead are modest, while achieving a significant reliability improvement over previous approaches.


Tax evasion is the illegal withholding or underpayment of taxes, typically accomplished by intentionally providing false or no evidence to tax authorities. Tax evasion has had a severe detrimental influence on the economy of the Amhara National Regional State, Ethiopia. The Amhara Regional State lost tax revenue in recent years due to tax evasion. The objective of this study was to see how tax evasion, taxpayers' psychological egoism, and other relevant factors affect tax revenue collection performance in the Amhara Region, Ethiopia. Data were collected from 395 VAT-registered taxpayers through a structured questionnaire. The structural equation model and multiple regression analysis method were utilized for empirical test based on the softwares of SPSS and AMOS. This research revealed that tax evasion and psychological egoism negatively affect tax revenue collection performance. Tax education and technology significantly and positively affected tax revenue collection performance. Meanwhile, the relationships between the above factors (tax evasion, tax education, and technology) and the tax revenue collection performance are reliably mediated by taxpayers' psychological egoism. Those findings can give clues to researchers, tax experts, and policymakers for improving the tax revenue collection performance in Amhara Region. The government can enhance public education to reduce tax evasion and such misbehavior caused by taxpayers' psychological egoism. Meanwhile, the most up-to-date tax invoicing technologies, like artificial intelligence and machine learning technology should be adopted.


The year 1999 was designated the International Year of Older Persons (IYOP) by the United Nations and focused attention on the many challenges facing society as a result of the aging of the population during the 20th century. Traditional models of health and social care are likely to be severely challenged by growing numbers of older adults in both industrialized and developing societies. There is now compelling evidence that regular physical activity is associated with significant physiological, psychological, and social benefits in older adult populations. This paper argues that it may be possible for many older persons to age successfully and that advancing age need not be associated with only decline and decay. Examples are provided of four older persons who are managing to age successfully. There is a compelling need for the development of integrated activity programs that focus not only on physical activity, but also attempt to address the intellectual, social, and spiritual needs of older persons using a more holistic approach than is commonly used at present.


The ablation pressure at a 0.44-microm laser wavelength has been measured at irradiance up to 2 x 10(14) W/cm(2). The diagnostics consisted in the detection of shock breakout from stepped Al targets. By adopting large focal spots and smoothed laser beams, the lateral energy transport and "drilling effects" have been avoided. The measured scaling shows a fair agreement with analytical models.


Studies on the antifertility effect and metabolism of a new postcoital oral contraceptive 2-methyl-3-ethyl-4-phenyl-delta 4-cyclohexene carboxylic sodium salt (ORF-4563) are presented. 25 mcg/kg of ORF-4563 administered orally to female rats on the morning of sperm deposition prevented pregnancy. This effect was blocked by the ad ministration of beta-diethylaminoethyldephenylpropylacetate (SKF-525A) and SKF-525A did not block the antifertility activity of cartain para-substituted derivatives of ORF-4563. In the rabbit much higher doses (higher than 60 mg/kg in 1 rabbit) were required to prevent pregnancy when the compound was given orally 24 hours after mating. This compound is excreted via the kidney much more rapidly in the rabbit than the rat with less than 1% appearing in the urine as unchanged material. The conversion of the effective dose (ED) 50 in rabbits to the ED100 was accomplished by the conjunct administration of probenecid. Labeled drug-distribution studies in the rabbit revealed that the highest amounts at 4 hours were found in bladder urine then in serum kidney and bile. The oviductal fluid showed peak levels of the drug at 48 hours and a persistence for several days.


The term language refers especially to the system of articulate sounds made by the human voice primarily with a view to communication between human beings, While it is indispensable to the ment.al development of every human being, it is not the product of anyone mind, but of minds laboring' under the necessity of intercourse with one another. Through a comparison of persons who have a limited control with those who have an extended control of language, and especially _ through a comparison of the mental power of a deaf mute who has not achieved the use of language with the mental power of one who has learned to speak and write, we are justified in assuming that in the intellectual development of the human being langnagt> performs a very important part. From such observations as have been made, we judge that the deaf mute, without the advantage of language, has a mental content of images and feeI:.ngs alone, and that only through these states can an appeal reach him. His power of reflection is as limited as his power of abstraction. His physical desires are strong, and his power of self-control very weak, while his ethical sense remains entirely undeveioped. The importance of language in connection with mental development may be perceived in the lower animals quite as readily as in the human being. The excess of intelligent attention and memory in the domestic animals as compared with the same qualities in wild animals may very well be attributed in great .part to the language of human being-s to which the former in the course of ages have become accustomed. It is a noteworthy fact that in the training of domestic animals, much more dependence is placed upon the use of words than in the training of wild animals-.• The stories that we have of the dog and the horse, not to mention those of the elephant, or even of the bird family, lead us to infer that those animals not only understand words and sentences, but that they actually show signs of at least primitive judgments. The adaptability of domestic animals to new conditions, and even to modem inventions, may justify us in supposing that the language of ages has brought them into a close resemblance to the human animal, and that their generalizations differ in degree rather than in kind from those of man. * * ,. The fundamental principle of all forms of spoken language is that of connecting an idea in the mind of one individual with some external sign which is intelligible to another individual. This siR'U becomes intelligible when it is attached to similar ideas in the minds of the two individuals. For purposes of general comprehension, this sign must be constant. With this sign as a basis, a system of $2.60.1'••" A. E. WINSHIP. EdItor.


The Metacognitions Questionnaire-30 (MCQ-30), developed by Wells and Cartwright-Hatton (2004), represents a multidimensional measure of metacognitive factors considered to be important in the metacognitive model of psychological disorders. The primary aim of the present study was to examine internal consistency, test-retest reliability, convergent validity and the factor structure of the Greek version of the MCQ-30. Moreover, we investigated the associations of the extracted factors with trait anxiety in a Greek sample. The study sample consisted of 547 non-clinical participants (213 males and 334 females). All participants completed the Greek version of the MCQ-30. A subsample of 157 participants also completed the Trait Anxiety subscale of the State -Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Meta-worry subscale of the Anxious Thought Inventory. Thirty participants were retested with the MCQ-30 over a retest interval ranging from three to five weeks. The results confirmed the dimensionality of the MCQ-30 and five factors were extracted consistent with the original English version: (1) positive beliefs about worry, (2) negative beliefs about worry concerning uncontrollability and danger, (3) cognitive confidence, (4) beliefs about the need to control thoughts and the negative consequences of not controlling them, and (5) cognitive selfconsciousness. The MCQ-30 showed high levels of internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The correlation between MCQ-30 total score and AnTI-MW was strong, indicating high level of convergent validity. Moreover, all correlations between MCQ-30 total and subscale scores and STAI-T were significant apart from the correlation between 'cognitive confidence' and trait anxiety. The Greek sample scored higher in the MCQ-30 and its subscales than the English sample in the original study. Women scored significantly higher than men in the overall MCQ-30 and the "uncontrollability and danger" and "need to control thoughts" subscales, whereas no significant differences between genders had been found in the original study. The assumption that the differences in score levels and the gender effect might reflect cultural differences warrants further investigation. The findings of the present study indicate that the Greek version of the MCQ-30 is a comprehensible and psychometrically adequate instrument, as well as a reliable tool in assessing a range of dimensions of worry-related metacognitions in the Greek population. The Greek version of this scale facilitates crosscultural research in metacognition and wider testing of the metacognitive approach to emotional vulnerability, psychological disturbances and mental disorders.


Abstract To provide comprehensive information on the epidemiology and burden of respiratory syncytial virus hospitalisation (RSVH) in preterm infants, a pooled analysis was undertaken of seven multicentre, prospective, observational studies from across the Northern Hemisphere (2000–2014). Data from all 320–356 weeks' gestational age (wGA) infants without comorbidity were analysed. RSVH occurred in 534/14 504 (3.7%) infants; equating to a rate of 5.65 per 100 patient-seasons, with the rate in individual wGA groups dependent upon exposure time (P = 0.032). Most RSVHs (60.1%) occurred in December–January. Median age at RSVH was 88 days (interquartile range (IQR): 54–159). Respiratory support was required by 82.0% of infants: oxygen in 70.4% (median 4 (IQR: 2–6) days); non-invasive ventilation in 19.3% (median 3 (IQR: 2–5) days); and mechanical ventilation in 10.2% (median 5 (IQR: 3–7) days). Intensive care unit admission was required by 17.9% of infants (median 6 days (IQR: 2–8) days). Median overall hospital length of stay (LOS) was 5 (IQR: 3–8) days. Hospital resource use was similar across wGA groups except for overall LOS, which was shortest in those born 35 wGA (median 3 vs. 4–6 days for 32–34 wGA; P < 0.001). Strategies to reduce the burden of RSVH in otherwise healthy 32–35 wGA infants are indicated.


Background Patients with morbid obesity may require both bariatric surgery and total knee/hip arthroplasty (TKA/THA). How to sequence these two procedures with better outcomes remains largely unstudied. Methods This cohort study extracted claims data on patients with an obesity diagnosis that received both bariatric surgery and TKA/THA surgery within 5 years of each other (Premier Healthcare database 2006–2019). Overall, 1894 patients received bariatric surgery before TKA or THA, while 1000 patients underwent TKA or THA before bariatric surgery. Main outcomes and measures include major complications (acute renal failure, acute myocardial infarction, other cardiovascular complications, sepsis/septic shock, pulmonary complications, pulmonary embolism, pneumonia, and central nervous system-related adverse events), postoperative intensive care unit utilization, ventilator utilization, 30-day readmission, 90-day readmission, 180-day readmission and total hospital length of stay after the second surgery. Regression models measured the association between the complications and sequence of TKA/THA and bariatric surgery. Results Undergoing TKA/THA before bariatric surgery (compared with the reverse) was associated with higher odds of major complications (7.0% vs 1.9%; adjusted OR 4.8, 95% CI 3.1, 7.6, p<0.001). Similar patterns were also observed for intensive care unit admission, ventilator use postoperatively, 30-day, and 90-day readmissions. Patients who received a second surgery within 6 months of their first surgery exhibited worse outcomes, especially among the TKA/THA first patient cohort. Major complication incidences occurred at 20.5%, 12.5%, 5.1%, 5.0%, 5.8% and 8.5% with time between TKA/THA and bariatric surgery at <6 months, 6 months–1 year, 1–2, 2–3, 3–4 and 4–5 years, respectively. Conclusions Patients who require both bariatric surgery and TKA/THA should consider bariatric surgery before TKA/THA as it is associated with improved outcomes. Procedures should be staged beyond 6 months.


I slept and dreamt that life was happiness. I awoke and saw that life was service. I served and found that in service happiness is found. Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) And I awoke and found another book of anatomy. I'm happy; the queen of basic science is not forgotten. I detect a change in the swing of the pendulum (or perhaps it's my sixth sense telling me). Despite the fight by the cell biologist, anatomy is slowly but surely making a comeback. And my hope is that it will never again be the stepchild of the basic sciences, which I have lamented so many times in previous publications. Gross Anatomy in the Practice of Medicine is a beautiful book of nearly 700 pages with more than 260 black-and-white illustrations and more than 200 full-color ones, which were borrowed from other noted books of anatomy. This book has six sections, with several


The notion of a cashless society is slowly becoming an inevitability of the modern way of doing business. Withdrawal of cash from use is the result of wide application of information and communication technologies. Increasing digitalization has contributed to the fact that most transactions are performed via smart devices (phones, tablets, desktops), without the use of cash and without going to the bank. The development of technological innovations, as well as innovations in finance, has undoubtedly contributed to increasing efficiency in business, but the question is whether the increasing digitalization of life and business, which is reflected in the creation of a cashless society, is still so desirable for humanity. The paper focuses on the socio-economic aspects of withdrawing cash from use. On the one hand, states are given the opportunity to influence economic activities even more directly through their central banks, while on the other hand, the issue is raised concerning human freedoms and rights in the digital world, in which it will be possible to electronically control the entire business.


This study examines such data as are available regarding the impact of the crisis which confronted Jewish communities in many parts of the Roman Empire during the reign of Gaius Caligula (37-41 CE). Particular attention is given to Antioch on the Orontes, and to the Christian community which emerged there and was to become a major force both in the spread of Christianity and in the conversion of Gentiles to a hitherto Jewish movement. It is argued that the crisis was a major catalyst in changing the character of the Christian church in Antioch, so that it acquired an identity distinct from that of the Jewish community. The reappraisal of eschatological expectations occasioned by the crisis led to the conviction that Gentiles must be included in the Church before the parousia of Christ.


OBJECTIVE
To answer the question of which specialties utilize the service of child and adolescent liaison psychiatry and what are the problems that are likely to bring a child or an adolescent to the attention of psychiatry.

METHODS
The case records of all inpatient children and adolescents younger than 18 years, who were referred to the psychiatric team at King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia over a period of 6 years between July 1992 and July 1998, were retrospectively reviewed in regard to sociodemographic data, referring specialties and reason for referral.

RESULTS
Seven percent of referred patients were younger than 18 years. Most were Saudi nationals. Females outnumbered males. Most of the referrals were by the neurologists, endocrinologists and gastroenterologists. The most common reasons for referral were behavioral disturbances and absence of physical findings that could explain the complaint.

CONCLUSION
Low utilization of child and adolescent liaison psychiatry, reflecting the ability of pediatricians and physicians to recognize psychiatrically disturbed children and adolescents compared to adults, may explain the small number of referrals.


We present an algorithm for design of a joint source-channel coder using a channel-optimized quantizer and multicarrier modulation. By changing the power of each subchannel in the multicarrier modulation system, different degrees of error protection can be provided for different bits according to their importance. The algorithm converges to a locally optimum system design. Compared to a Lloyd-Max scalar quantizer or a LBG vector quantizer using single-channel transmission, our optimized code can yield substantial performance improvements. The performance improvements are most pronounced at low channel signal-to-noise ratios.


BACKGROUND
Severe malaria is responsible for the high load of malaria mortality. It is not clearly understood why some malaria episodes progress to severe malaria.

OBJECTIVE
To determine factors associated with severe malaria in children aged 6 months to 5 years living in Kampala.

METHODS
Over a 6-month period, 100 children with severe malaria were matched by age and place of residence with 100 children with non-severe malaria. We collected health care information from care takers.

RESULTS
Mean duration of illness before getting antimalarial treatment was shorter for controls than cases (8 hours vs. 20 hours, p 0.015). Children with severe malaria were less likely to have been treated with sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine in the preceding 2 weeks (OR 0.2, 95% CI 0.04-0.85, p 0.016). Odds of severe malaria were higher in those who reported lack of protective measures (mosquito coils (OR = 20.63, 95% CI 1.5-283.3, p=0.02 and insecticide sprays OR 10.93, 95% CI 1.13-105.64, p=0.03), although few reported their use.

CONCLUSIONS
Early anti-malarial treatment and use of barriers against mosquitoes prevent severe malaria in children. There is need to increase the use of barriers against mosquito bites and to scale up prompt treatment and community-based interventions to reduce the incidence of severe malaria in children.


Many surface processes involve the creation and decay of electronically excited states. At metal surfaces, these states have very short lifetimes and are strongly affected by defects, complicating experimental investigation. In this Perspective,
 Wolf and Ertl
 discuss results by Kliewer
 et al. (page
 1399) and Petek
 et al. (page
 1402), which illustrate the fundamental insights into the microscopic characteristics of electron dynamics at surfaces that can be obtained by state-of-the-art high spatial and temporal resolution studies.


Carrier-sensing multiple-access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA)-based networks, such as those using the IEEE 802.11 distributed coordination function protocol, have experienced widespread deployment due to their ease of implementation. The terminals accessing these networks are not owned or controlled by the network operators (such as in the case of cellular networks) and, thus, terminals may not abide by the protocol rules in order to gain unfair access to the network (selfish misbehavior), or simply to disturb the network operations (denial-of-service attack). This paper presents a robust nonparametric detection mechanism for the CSMA/CA media-access control layer denial-of-service attacks that does not require any modification to the existing protocols. This technique, based on the -truncated sequential Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistics, monitors the successful transmissions and the collisions of the terminals in the network, and determines how ldquoexplainablerdquo the collisions are given for such observations. We show that the distribution of the explainability of the collisions is very sensitive to changes in the network, even with a changing number of competing terminals, making it an excellent candidate to serve as a jamming attack indicator. Ns-2 simulation results show that the proposed method has a very short detection latency and high detection accuracy.


RATIONALE
Human herpesviruses Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) are frequently detectable in the lungs of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) patients and could contribute to disease pathogenesis.

OBJECTIVES
With the goal of inhibiting herpesvirus replication, we tested the safety and tolerability of adding valganciclovir to standard IPF therapy (pirfenidone).

METHODS
We performed a single-center, phase I, double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled trial comparing valganciclovir 900 mg daily to placebo in IPF patients with serologic evidence of prior EBV and/or CMV infection who were tolerating full-dose pirfenidone (2403 mg/day). Subjects were randomized to valganciclovir or placebo 2:1 for 12 weeks of active treatment with off-treatment follow-up for up to 12 months. The primary safety endpoint was the number of subjects discontinuing study drug before completing 12 weeks of treatment.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
Thirty-one subjects with IPF were randomized to valganciclovir (n=20) or placebo (n=11). All subjects completed assigned therapy except one subject in the valganciclovir group who discontinued the study drug after developing a rash. Total adverse events were similar between study groups. In prespecified analyses of secondary physiologic endpoints, we observed a trend towards improved forced vital capacity (FVC) from randomization to week 12 in valganciclovir-treated subjects (-10 ml [interquartile range -65, 70 ml]) versus placebo-treated subjects (40 ml [IQR -130, 60 ml]), which persisted through 12 months of follow-up.

CONCLUSION
Valganciclovir is safe and well-tolerated as add-on therapy to pirfenidone in IPF patients. Clinical trial registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02871401).


This article develops the earlier analyses of the Pareto multiagent problematique concerning collective choice situations, where members of a group, community or society, having diverse values, beliefs, and other predispositions, are faced with alternative allocations, institutional arrangements, or states of the world and may collectively choose a particular allocation, institutional arrangement or state of the world if they can agree on the choice. This type of multi-value governance situation is increasingly prevalent not only at political and societal levels, but also at the level of many enterprises, for instance, those advocating corporate social responsibility and working on economic as well as social and environmental goals. The article builds on research that has identified institutionalized governance mechanisms, which resolve conflicts of inefficient or nonoptimal states and disequilibria. In other words, Pareto optimization problems, in the face of general non-unanimity or conflict regarding the outcomes among involved actors, can be resolved.The approach, based on Sociological Game Theory (SGT), has developed specifi c models of adjudication, negotiation, and democratic procedure and investigated their legitimacy bases, the limits of such societal procedures, and the accomplishment of societal effi ciencies through such procedures. The re-conceptualization of the "Pareto problematique" is based on a general principle of "legitimation of collective choices". Such collective choices are likely to be accepted by the majority or key agents (such as government agencies, businesses, NGOs, and so on) in the society. However, legitimacy does not guarantee effectiveness. On the one hand, it creates social order and sustainable society, on the other hand, a process legitimized by one or more of the societal legitimizing procedures may nonetheless lead to highly ineffective (or "ineffi cient") outcomes, even catastrophes. There is no guarantee that legitimate collective choices are the best or right choices (this critique also applies to Pareto's approach, as we have pointed out elsewhere). In general, effective choices, whether legitimate or not, require the application of relevant or appropriate knowledge (often, multiple types of knowledge are required). Overcoming the dilemma of gaining social acceptance and achieving knowledge-based technical effectiveness requires dual (or multiple) governance systems. This article identifies and analyses the governance structures and procedures, which bring systematic knowledge to bear on collective choice problems. Many contemporary forms of collective decision-making entail mobilizing and applying expertise, such as technical and scientific, economic, organizational, legal, and cultural knowledge, and combining these with legitimizing procedures to gain acceptance of collective decisions and, thereby, accomplish social equilibria. A few models of such integrative governance systems are identified and discussed in the article.


We developed an efficient synthesis of 2-fluoro-1,3-dicarbonyl compounds using readily available alkynyl ketones or esters as starting material. The key step is the insertion of hydrogen fluoride (HF) to the gold carbene intermediate generated from cationic gold catalyzed addition of N-oxides to alkynyl ketones or esters. This method gives excellent chemical yields and regioselectivity with good functional group tolerance.


In this study, a total number of animal samples (583) were collected from cattle (170) , sheep (221) and goats (192) suffering from respiratory manifestations (freshly dead and slaughtered). Nasal swabs (169) were collected from cattle (43), sheep (67) and goats (59) . Blood samples (312) were collected from cattle (95) , sheep (112) and goats (105) and lung and spleen tissues (102) were collected from cattle (32) ,sheep (42) and goats (28) . Samples collected for bacteriological isolation and identification of P. multocida. After that confirmation of identification by using PM-PCR, and multiplex-PCR for detection of the virulence factors genes, DNA nucleotides sequencing of these genes were done for detection of the genetic diversity.
The prevalence of P.multocida isolated from all samples from Cattle, Sheep and Goats is 1.76%, 1.8%, 1.56% respectively. While, P. multocida not found in all blood samples collected from cattle, sheep and goat.
PM-PCR and multiplex-PCR confirmed presence of genes under examination.
DNA nucleotide sequencing and analysis of sequences obtained for the 5 genes under investigation Concluded that: P. multocida isolates had no genetic diversity of oma 87 gene, ptf A gene, phf A, tox A and nan B among cattle, sheep and goats.


The Vicryl suture was assessed in 72 surgical patients who underwent follow-up observation for at least 30 days, and it proved to be an excellent inert absorbable synthetic suture.


Bio-oil obtained from fast pyrolysis of biomass has the potential to be upgraded to renewable, drop-in fuel intermediates. The quality of bio-oil produced is critical to downstream process development and is determined by a number of factors like reaction timescale, extent of primary and secondary reactions, and the presence of minerals. In this work, we provide a mechanistic understanding of the various competing reactions in fast pyrolysis of cellulose and other glucose-based carbohydrates through a unified microkinetic model. The model incorporates the reactions of the cellulose chain and of the glucose intermediate to form a variety of bio-oil components, which are confirmed by either experiments or theoretical calculations reported in the literature. The majority of the Arrhenius rate parameters were based on existing studies, while a small number were fitted to match the experimental product distribution over a wide range of temperatures. The model yields of all the major primary fast pyrolysis products, viz., levoglucosan, formic acid, glycolaldehyde, 5-hydroxymethyl furfural, furfural and char, match reasonably well with the experimental data over the temperature range of 400–550 °C. The model predicted that the time required for complete conversion corresponds to 2.5–3 s. Net rate analysis identified key pathways to levoglucosan via either mid-chain initiation, or depropagation and end-chain initiation that were dominant over the timescales of 0–100 ms and 100–1000 ms, respectively, at 500 °C. Unlike the existing lumped kinetic models, our model provides a detailed picture of levoglucosan formation that involves mid-chain glycosidic bond cleavage followed by unzipping of levoglucosan from the chain ends. The model, utilizing the same set of rate coefficients, was able to predict the dominant products of fast pyrolysis of maltohexaose, cellobiose and glucose that also are in good agreement with experimental data. The initial chain length of cellulose was found to have a profound effect on the product yields for chain lengths shorter than 50, while it had no effect on the total reaction time.


Adolescence is not only an important stage of growth and development, but also a critical period for the formation of social and psychological cognition. The increasing incidence rate of depression in adolescents has caused serious global burden of disease. Allostatic load is a comprehensive index including multiple physiological system disorders. In the key stage of brain development, allostatic load plays an important role in the occurrence and development of mental diseases. This paper summarized the evaluation methods and prevalence of adolescent allostatic load, reviewed the relationship between allostatic load and adolescent depression, and revealed the possible physiological and neurobiological mechanisms, in order to provide scientific basis for prevention and control of adolescent depression.


The Russian language has several kinds of predicates, which can denote emotions. They are verbs, categories of state (kategorija sostojanija), past participles, adjective' short forms, possessive construction, "emotion is power" structure, and "emotion is space" structure. The "emotion is space" structure consists of the preposition v and the emotion noun. In this structure the emotion is considered as a space, whereas the subject is considered as an object, located in that space. The emotion in this construction is believed to be deep, strong and non-transient so that the subject can stay in it or fall into it. There are three subgroups of emotion predicate structure "v+location" in Russian. The first one is the emotion locative structure "byt' + v + prepositional case of emotion noun". The second one is the emotion movement structure "prijti/ pogruzit'sja/ vpast' + v + accusative case of emotion noun". The third one is the causative emotion structure "privesti + v + accusative case of emotion noun". These structures are distinct by the features like "visibility/invisibility", "short-time/long-time duration", "negativity". The Russian native speakers use this emotion predicate structure "v + location" quite often. Using this structure, the Russians are willing to imply that their emotions are strong and deep, and they last for some time. On the other hand, this structure presupposes that the emotion is bigger than the men themselves and the former cannot be controlled and overcome by the latter. Therefore the Russian emotion predicate structure "v + location" reveals the Russians' attitudes towards the emotion and the world.


Bells and whistles may grab a customer's attention, but words make the sale. 'The ancients rightly distrusted rhetoric that made 'the worse argument appear the better' - an underhanded trick that business has often been guilty of. But rhetoric is also the craft of clear and persuasive communication, which online business needs desperately today. Nick Usborne's insight into this craft fills a surprising gap in the online marketing toolbox' - Christopher Locke, author of "Gonzo Marketing: Winning Through Worst Practices", and co-author of "The Cluetrain Manifesto".'The best book I've seen on writing for the Web' - Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, "Web Marketing Today". 'Nick Usborne, shows us how to write powerful and compelling copy that fully leverages the communications power of the Net. Nick knows the Internet - and Nick knows copy' - John Audette Founder and Publisher, "The Adventive Knowledge Exchange".In "Net Words", emarketing guru Nick Usborne introduces you to a revolutionary copy-centered approach to online marketing. He explains what works and what doesn't and shows you how to create copy for websites, enewsletters, and email campaigns guaranteed to: attract customers and hold their attention; differentiate your business from its competitors online; dramatically increase sales from your site; build customer loyalty; and, breathe new life into your customer services. "Net Words" offers corporate decision makers an inexpensive, proven, low-tech cure for their ecommerce blues. It is also a how-to guide for copywriters thinking about taking the leap into online marketing, as well as for Web professionals who want to increase their sites' usability and appeal.


The formation of kaolin-group minerals in the weathering profile of granite, under the humid, temperate climate as found in Korea, was studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electron microprobe analysis (EMA). The granite was gradually weathered to saprolite. K-rich feldspar was not weathered in the profile, but plagioclase partially weathered to halloysite septa (i.e., wall-like masses). At the bottom of the profile, biotite had weathered to regularly interstratified biotite-vermiculite (B-V), and subsequently to kaolinite, with a considerable increase in grain volume. In the upper part of the profile, loose aggregates of transported clays, including halloysite and kaolinite, coated the preformed halloysite septa in the weathered plagioclase. Halloysite had precipitated as a metastable phase in the microfissures of partially weathered plagioclase. Kaolinite had precipitated heavily in the weathered biotite, where surfaces supply abundant templates facilitating the nucleation of kaolinite. The localized crystallization of halloysite and kaolinite, depending on the distribution of primary minerals, strongly influenced the kaolin mineralogy of the granite weathering profile.


It is of great necessity to exploit a real-time, highly selective and sensitive method for hypochlorite (ClO-) detection in both the environment and living systems because of the complex influence of ClO- on health. In this paper, based on the intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) effect, a NIR fluorescent probe (probe DAB) was designed for the accurate detection of ClO-, which produced a fluorescence response to ClO- with high selectivity and rapid response (within 1 min). The probe DAB could determine ClO- over the linear range of 0-80 μM with a low detection limit of 1.46 μM. And the sensing mechanism between the probe and ClO- was verified using HPLC and MS. To further prove its practicability, the probe was applied for detecting ClO- in actual water samples. In addition, owing to its good sensing properties and low cytotoxicity, probe DAB could be expediently applied to visualize ClO- in living cells and zebrafish, and it is expected to be a useful tool for investigating the detailed functions and mechanisms of ClO- in living systems.


This article uses a novel data source to test whether British Napoleonic prison hulks were as bad as many claim, and whether they were perceived to be bad by seamen who risked ending up in them. We find that they were not so bad: death rates of imprisoned Danish and Norwegian seamen were low. We test the perceptions of seamen by seeing whether those with the most options in the labour market (tall people) continued to choose to go to sea after war was declared. We find that they do. We therefore conclude that Danish and Norwegian seamen were not scared of the British Navy or British prison hulks, and that they were right not to be scared. We also provide the first modern estimates for the change in heights over time in Denmark and Norway, finding no change in living standards for those born from 1720 to 1800.


The observed temperature increase due to anthropogenic carbon emissions has impacted economies worldwide. National income levels in origin and destination countries influence international migration. Emigration is relatively low not only from high income countries but also from very poor regions, which is explained in current migration theory by credit constraints and lower average education levels, among other reasons. These relationships suggest a potential non-linear, indirect effect of climate change on migration through this indirect channel. Here we explore this effect through a counterfactual analysis using observational data and a simple model of migration. We show that a world without climate change would have seen less migration during the past 30 years, but that this effect is strongly reduced due to inhibited mobility. Our framework suggests that migration within the Global South has been strongly reduced because these countries have seen less economic growth than they would have experienced without climate change. Importantly, climate change has impacted international migration in the richer and poorer parts of the world very differently. In the future, climate change may keep increasing global migration as it slows down countries' transition across the middle-income range associated with the highest emigration rates.


This paper presents a force/disturbance observer that compensates for the low-frequency response of a piezoelectric force sensor. Although the piezoelectric force sensor has many salient features, it is unable to measure dc and quasi-dc forces. The proposed observer compensates for this low-frequency deficiency, enabling the piezoelectric force sensor to be used in a servo system. Compared with previous studies, the proposed scheme requires redesigning neither the sensor structure nor sensing circuitry and can be easily integrated into an existing measurement system. As a by-product, the proposed observer also produces a disturbance estimate that can be used to enhance the robustness of a servo system. This paper reports experimental results of force control and position control for a linear motion platform equipped with a piezoelectric force sensor and a strain gauge-based load cell. The force control results indicate that the control system using the proposed observer can achieve a wider bandwidth than that using the load cell as a feedback-sensing device. In a comparative study, the position control results further demonstrate the proposed observer's effectiveness in diminishing the piezoelectric sensor's low-frequency deficiency. Moreover, the disturbance estimate produced by the proposed observer is experimentally introduced to the position control system, showing an enhanced tracking performance in terms of the root-mean-square error.


The effects of inlet conditions on downstream mixing in turbulent pipe flow have been studied with the use of photoactivatable fluorophores and standard laser-induced fluorescence techniques. The different inlet conditions included both geometry changes and changes in the manner in which the constituents were introduced into the flow. Results indicate that small changes in inlet geometry can greatly affect the downstream mixing rate. Changes in the geometry of the inlet had a greater influence on downstream mixing than did the manner in which constituents were introduced into the flow. Further experiments included a static mixer that was used in conjunction with two different inlet conditions. It was found that the inlet condition greatly affects the effectiveness of the static mixer. The static mixer is most effective when placed downstream of an inlet that produces scalar length scales that are similar in size to the elements in the mixer (i.e., the pipe diameter). Overall, the results of these experiments demonstrate that the method used to introduce two constituents to be mixed in pipe flow can profoundly affect the downstream mixing rate.


Complex collective behaviour, such as flock forming in birds, can be produced from the local interaction of simple agents. We have produced an environment for studying these emergent behaviours with multiple, interacting mobile robots. Each small, inexpensive, robot contains an embedded PC and a PCMCIA radio LAN. This provides high bandwidth communications and runs a wide range of PC software. Each robot estimates its position and orientation using odometry. Drift in this pose estimate is corrected by fusing with non-drifting data from video cameras and a tracking system. The pose is then broadcast to all other robots.


Environment Recognition for Digital Audio Forensics Using MPEG-7 and MEL Cepstral Features Environment recognition from digital audio for forensics application is a growing area of interest. However, compared to other branches of audio forensics, it is a less researched one. Especially less attention has been given to detect environment from files where foreground speech is present, which is a forensics scenario. In this paper, we perform several experiments focusing on the problems of environment recognition from audio particularly for forensics application. Experimental results show that the task is easier when audio files contain only environmental sound than when they contain both foreground speech and background environment. We propose a full set of MPEG-7 audio features combined with mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) to improve the accuracy. In the experiments, the proposed approach significantly increases the recognition accuracy of environment sound even in the presence of high amount of foreground human speech.


Deep learning became the method of choice in recent year for solving a wide variety of predictive analytics tasks. For sequence prediction, recurrent neural networks (RNN) are often the go-to architecture for exploiting sequential information where the output is dependent on previous computation. However, the dependencies of the computation lie in the latent domain which may not be suitable for certain applications involving the prediction of a step-wise transformation sequence that is dependent on the previous computation only in the visible domain. We propose that a hybrid architecture of convolution neural networks (CNN) and stacked autoencoders (SAE) is sufficient to learn a sequence of actions that nonlinearly transforms an input shape or distribution into a target shape or distribution with the same support. While such a framework can be useful in a variety of problems such as robotic path planning, sequential decision-making in games, and identifying material processing pathways to achieve desired microstructures, the application of the framework is exemplified by the control of fluid deformations in a microfluidic channel by deliberately placing a sequence of pillars. Learning of a multistep topological transform has significant implications for rapid advances in material science and biomedical applications.


Light carries energy, and therefore, it is the source of a gravitational field. The gravitational field of a beam of light in the short wavelength approximation has been studied by several authors. In this article, we consider light of finite wavelengths by describing a laser beam as a solution of Maxwell ' s equations and taking diffraction into account. Then, novel features of the gravitational field of a laser beam become apparent, such as frame-dragging due to its spin angular momentum and the deflection of parallel co-propagating test beams that overlap with the source beam. Even though the effects are too small to be detected with current technology, they are of conceptual interest, revealing the gravitational properties of light.


The simulation of complex systems is a time expensive and resource consuming task. Furthermore, the statistical validation of simulation models or the need to compare the system behavior in several different conditions require many simulation runs. A viable solution to speed up the process is to run multiple simulations in parallel on a distributed system, for example by means of a web interface. In this context, the cloud computing paradigm can be of help, offering almost unlimited computing resources that can be leased as a service. In this paper we will present the structure of a new simulation engine " in thecloud" (mJADES), which runs on the top of an ad-hoc federation of cloud providers and is designed to perform multiple concurrent simulations. Given a set of simulation tasks, mJADES is able automatically to acquire the computing resources needed from the cloud and to distribute the simulation runs to be executed.


The aim of the present work was to examine the antioxidative effect of EGCG after administering it perorally to rats at a dose of 150 mg/kg body weight. The antioxidative activity of rat plasma, and plasma levels and tissue distribution of EGCG were determined. The results showed that oral administration of EGCG increased the antioxidative activity of rat plasma, measured by the preservation of the inner lipophilic antioxidant α-tocopherol during ex vivo oxidation by hydrophilic radical initiator, at 2nd, 5th and 24th hours post dose. The levels of the total EGCG in rat plasma were 0.82 and 0.5 μ M at 2nd and 5th hours respectively as measured by developed high-performance liquid chromatographic method with electrochemical detection (HPLC - ED). The highest levels of EGCG were detected in rat small intestine and colon and were in the range 4.75 - 24.41 nmol/g. The EGCG levels in rat kidneys, liver, spleen, lung, brain, bladder and prostate were in the range 0.1 - 1 nmol/g. In conclusion, we showed that oral administration of EGCG at a dose of 150 mg/kg body weight increased the antioxidative strength of rat plasma, preserving α-tocopherol during ex vivo oxidation. In small intestine and colon EGCG reached values having anticancer effects in cell culture experiments.


We discuss about how to make a new logic with considering a slogan: take the inversion of what you know. Suppose that we have a Gentzen-style logical system S. The operation to make a new logic from S is the following: for all the axioms and rules of S, change the direction of all the arrows occurred in the sequents of the axiom or the rule to the opposite side. We call this operation Stahlization. We consider certain logics in this respect.


In the past recent years, numerous studies have been conducted on additive manufacturing of thermosets and thermoset composites. Thermosets are an important class of polymers used in engineering applications. Monomer units in these material systems irreversibly cross-link when external stimuli or a chemical crosslinking agent is applied in terms of the curing or photopolymerization process. Thermally curing thermosets mark unique mechanical properties including, high temperature resistance, strong chemical bond, and structural integrity and therefore these materials find wide range of applications currently. However, direct write additive manufacturing of these material systems at high resolution and at complex geometries is challenging. This is due to the slow curing rate of thermally curing thermoset polymers which can adversely affect the printing process, and the final shape of the printed object. On the other hand, VAT Polymerization additive manufacturing, which is based on curing the photopolymer resin by Ultraviolet (UV) light, can allow the fabrication of complex geometries and excellent surface finish of the printed parts due to the fast curing rate of photopolymers used in this technique. Mechanical properties of photopolymers, however, are usually weaker and more unstable compared to the thermally curing polymers used in the direct write additive manufacturing method. Therefore, this study focuses on taking the advantages of these two thermoset additive manufacturing methods by utilizing both the thermally cured epoxy and photopolymer resins together. Using the direct writing, the resin mixture is extruded though a nozzle and the final 3D object is created on the print bed. Simultaneously, the deposited ink is exposed to the UV light enhancing the yield strength of the printed material and partially curing it. Therefore, thermally cured epoxy is used to obtain the desirable mechanical properties, while the addition of the photopolymer resin allows the thermoset mixture to partially solidify the printed ink when exposed to the UV light. The results achieved in this study showed that, the hybrid additive manufacturing technology is capable of fabricating complex and tall structure which cannot be printable via additive manufacturing method. In addition, mechanical properties of the hybrid thermoset ink are comparable to the thermally cured thermoset polymer indicating the great potential of the light-assisted, hybrid manufacturing to fabricate mechanically strong parts at high geometrical resolution.


The time pattern of glycinergic inhibitory postsynaptic currents (IPSCs) in sympathetic preganglionic neurons was studied in thin transverse spinal cord slices of neonatal (1–10 days postnatal) rats by means of the patch‐clamp technique. Three time patterns could be distinguished: (i) large events [mostly >400 pA (30–36°C)] occurring at regular intervals, (ii) small events occurring at irregular intervals, and (iii) small events occurring in transient (1.5–10 s), high‐frequency (>15 Hz) bursts of synaptic activity. The large regular events had uniform kinetics which was consistent with the idea of a proximal site of origin for all of these events. They were reversibly inhibited in amplitude and frequency by extracellular application of a high concentration of acetylcholine (200 μM) or the specific nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist dimethylphenylpiperazinium iodide (DMPP; 1 mM), but unaffected by glutamate (100 μM). IPSCs occurring in bursts had slower and less uniform kinetics, suggesting a more diverse site of origin. The frequency of events decreased during a burst. Similar bursts could be induced by extracellular application of glutamate receptor agonists. These results indicate that sympathetic preganglionic neurons in a thin, transverse spinal cord slice receive at least two different glycinergic inputs.


Gaza's economy is still suffering from the Israeli blockade and the continued closure policy for a long time which have become more rigorous since 2000 and increased with the construction of the Apartheid wall in 2002. After the Israeli retraction from Gaza in 2005, the economic conditions were exacerbated in which Israel continued control over the air, sea and land private sectors. Moreover, in 2007, the restrictions have increased and switched into expanded blockade separates Gaza strip from the outside world. In spite of the mitigations that carried on during 2007-2015 period, represents in increasing the goods quantities which allowed to enter and exit from Gaza Strip for commercial purposes and the increasing number of Palestinians who are allowed to leave through Eretz crossing, the siege and its effects still exists till now.


Built‐up environments are extremely complex for 3D surface modelling purposes. The main distortions that hamper 3D reconstruction from 2D imagery are image dissimilarities, concealed areas, shadows, height discontinuities and discrepancies between smooth terrain and man‐made features. A methodology is proposed to improve automatic photogrammetric extraction of an urban surface model from high resolution satellite imagery with the emphasis on strategies to reduce the effects of the cited distortions and to make image matching more robust. Instead of a "standard" stereoscopic approach, a digital surface model is derived from tri‐stereoscopic satellite imagery. This is based on an extensive multi‐image matching strategy that fully benefits from the geometric and radiometric information contained in the three images. The bundled triplet consists of an IKONOS along‐track pair and an additional near‐nadir IKONOS image. For the tri‐stereoscopic study a densely built‐up area, extending from the centre of Istanbul to the urban fringe, is selected. The accuracy of the model extracted from the IKONOS triplet, as well as the model extracted from only the along‐track stereopair, are assessed by comparison with 3D check points and 3D building vector data.


To be able to overcome water shortages, Abu Dhabi Emirate started an Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) project with desalinated seawater (DSW) as source water near Liwa. It is the largest DSW-ASR project in the world (stored volume ~10 Mm3/year), and should recover potable water for direct use. DSW is infiltrated into a desert dune sand aquifer using "sand-covered gravel-bed" recharge basins. In this study, we evaluate the hydrogeological and hydrogeochemical stratification of the (sub)oxic target aquifer, and water quality changes of DSW during trial infiltration runs. We predict water quality changes of DSW after 824 d of infiltration, during 90 d of intensive recovery (67% recovered) without storage (scenario A), as well as after 10 years of storage (scenario B, with significant bubble drift). Monitoring of preceding trials revealed a lack of redox reactions; little carbonate dissolution and Ca/Na exchange; much SiO2 dissolution; a strong mobilization of natural AsO43−, B, Ba, F, CrO42−, Mo, Sr and V from the (sub)oxic aquifer; and immobilization of PO4, Al, Cu, Fe and Ni from DSW. The Easy-Leacher model was applied in forward and reverse mode including lateral bubble drift, to predict water quality of the recovered water. We show that hydrogeochemical modeling of a complex ASR-system can be relatively easy and straightforward, if aquifer reactivity is low and redox reactions can be ignored. The pilot observations and modeling results demonstrate that in scenario A recovered water quality still complies with Abu Dhabi's drinking water standards (even up to 85% recovery). For scenario B, however, the recovery efficiency declines to 60% after which various drinking water standards are exceeded, especially the one for chromium.


An optical vector analyzer (OVA) based on phase-shift (PS) technique is proposed and experimentally demonstrated, which enables improved accuracy and enhanced dynamic range. A carrier-suppressed optical double-sideband (ODSB) signal achieved by external modulation is used as the probe signal, which is then transmitted through a device under test (DUT). By photodetecting, a photocurrent carrying the frequency responses is generated. By scanning the wavelength of the optical carrier while extracting the magnitude and phase information of the photocurrent, the responses of the optical DUT are thus acquired. Since the carrier-suppressed ODSB signal has lower sensitivity to the nonlinearity and generates larger photocurrent than the intensity modulated ODSB signal, the proposed OVA has improved accuracy and enhanced dynamic range compared to the conventional PS-based OVA, which is comprehensively investigated in analytical analysis and simulation. In an experiment, the accuracy improvement is confirmed, and the enhancement of the dynamic range is evidently observed, which agrees well with the simulation results.


Abstract I examine whether firms' use of alternative work arrangements, particularly temporary agency workers, affects their cost of equity. Exploiting a major labor-market deregulation in Japan that induced manufacturing firms to increase their employment of temporary agency workers, I show that the cost of equity decreased in manufacturing firms, relative to nonmanufacturing firms, after the deregulation. Further analysis using variations within manufacturing firms provides corroborating evidence. The rigidity in labor expenses and the cost of debt also decreased in manufacturing firms. Overall, alternative work arrangements increase the flexibility in labor costs, leading to lower operating leverage and cost of capital.


A 67 kDa protein was isolated from cell membrane preparations of Staphylococcus aureus (NCTC 10655) by affinity adsorption with synthetic Lewis a antigen conjugated to Synsorb beads. Pre-treatment of buccal epithelial cells expressing Lewis a with the purified protein reduced binding of the staphylococcal strain to a greater extent than the material not bound to the Synsorb beads. The significance of this work is discussed with reference to expression of Lewis a antigen in infants and the proposed role of toxigenic strains of staphylococci in some cases of sudden infant death syndrome.


AIM
The study was aimed at comparatively assessing the dynamics of the parameters of the microcirculatory bed of the skin after endovascular revascularization of the lower limb in patients suffering from intermittent claudication (IC) with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM).

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Microcirculation (MC) of the skin of lower extremities was examined in 88 male patients presenting with IC and without DM (Group One) and in 28 male patients with IC and DM (Group Two). 30 patients from Group One and 21 patients from Group Two were subjected to endovascular revascularization of lower limbs. MC was examined on the 2nd day after restoration of blood flow in the extremity by means of laser Doppler flowmetry with the assessment of the amplitude parameters of blood flow fluctuations, reflecting active and passive mechanisms of regulation of microcirculation, the intensity of blood flow through the arteriole-venule shunts and the nutritive blood flow.

RESULTS
At baseline, the main parameters of MC had no differences in the groups and were characterized by intensification of the blood shunted bypassing the nutritive bed, venous plethora, constriction of precapillaries and restriction of capillary blood flow. After endovascular angioplasty of the affected artery and restoration of blood flow therein the patients of the examined subgroups demonstrated an equal increase in the ankle-brachial index, thus approaching the normal values; the patients of both subgroups reported disappearance of pain in the legs during usual daily activities. In patients without DM, endovascular intervention was accompanied by a decrease in the intensity of the arteriole-venule shunts, venous plethora, and enhancement of capillary blood flow. The patients with DM at the early stage after restoration of blood flow in the limb were found to have no statistically significant shifts of the functional parameters of the microvascular bed.

CONCLUSION
From the point of view of microcirculatory transformations in patients with IC and DM, the effect of limb revascularization at early stages of follow-up turned out to be incomplete, which, probably, was due to irremovable events of latent diabetic microangiopathy and neuropathy.


This article explores the justice of the family. From the perspective of justice, the family causes serious concerns, for it causes severe inequalities between individuals. Several justice theorists remark that by its mere existence the family impedes the access to equality of life chances. The paper examines whether this means that justice requires the abolition of the family. It asks whether everyone, and, in particular, the worst off, would prefer the family to a generalized well-run orphanage. This thought-experiment is used to inquire which value, if any, is such that (a) it would be menaced by the abolition of the family, and (b) in a just society, it would to prioritized over the principle of equality of life chances. I


Sustainable development studies tend to give urban areas a priority seat, with rural areas cast in an inferior role. Despite of the growing urbanization, rural areas still are homes of billions of people universally suffering from poverty, hunger, disease, poor education. The urbanized rural areas, where population, economy, and built-up land area are higher than urban areas, present the opportunities and challenges to sustainable development. Using large-scale and high-granular spatial data (e.g., population, economy, land-use) from Fujian Province of China, we identified 69, 123, and 213 urbanized rural areas in 1995, 2005, and 2015 from 14,136 village-level administrative units. Spatial agglomeration, proximity to well-developed urban centers, and transportation accessibility are the important spatial factors influencing the development of the urbanized rural areas. Furthermore, we investigated the socioeconomic characteristics of the urbanized rural areas based on the Point of Interest data and found the urbanized rural areas had urban-like housing model, diverse non-agricultural livelihoods, complex road networks, mature public transportation, and better access to medical service. Our results suggest that the urbanized rural areas contribute to sustainable development in terms of economy and society, such as alleviating rural poverty, reducing urban-rural inequality, improving health. However, the environment impacts of the urbanized rural areas should be emphasized because urban-like socioeconomic activities and land conversions toward built-up land may lead to increased energy consumption, land degradation and biodiversity loss in rural areas.


Electronic health records (EHR) and electronic billing systems have been proposed as mechanisms to help curb the rising costs of health care in the United States. Given this scenario, our research efforts have targeted the idea of using open-source cloud computing technologies as the mechanism to build an affordable, secure, and scalable platform that supports billing as well as EHR operations. We call this platform MedBook, and in this paper we present the architecture and implementation status of this system. MedBook provides patients, health care providers, and health care payers a platform for exchange of information about EHR, billing activities, and benefits inquiries. MedBook is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application built on top of open source technologies and running on an Infrastructure-as-a-Service platform. The client applications are mobile apps run from iPhone and iPad devices.


Property derivatives as a financial tool have gained increasing attention by practitioners in recent years. However, there is relatively little evidence on the patterns of use and the property funds' attitudes with respect to derivatives. Therefore, this study seeks to address this shortfall and aims to examine the application of derivatives by Australian property funds. A survey of Australian property fund managers was undertaken. The results show that different types of property funds have exhibited various patterns regarding the use of derivatives. The results also reveal that large property funds are more likely to use derivatives. The motivation factors (namely to reduce cash flows volatility and hedging currency risk) and risk factors (development of internal control and complicated accounting procedures) for using derivatives have also been identified. In addition, significant differences are found between the perceptions of derivative users and non-users. The findings have offered some insights into the knowledge base of property investors towards derivatives.