ABSTRACT This paper discusses the fragmented nature of media literacy and its relationship with technology. It highlights the need for standardised media literacy strategies, particularly the strand that deal with evaluation, which can help address the challenges of the current media landscape (e.g. the fake news phenomenon). Subsequently, we introduce early work towards developing a new evaluative media literacy tool that can empower media consumers to think strategically about the information they are exposed to. This tool, called Fallasigns, is based primarily on research that suggests news topics can attract specific logical flaws. Fallasigns cultivates the ability to anticipate the most likely logical and rhetorical pitfalls to emerge in a news story before being exposed to it. We argue that this strategy may work to effectively inoculate media consumers and provide a more systematic approachwhen evaluating information.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the immediate impact of robotic human cadaver training on the confidence with robotic surgery among urology residents.

METHODS
After a preliminary survey assessing baseline skills, our institution's urology residents attended a single session of robotic training on fresh-frozen human cadavers, supervised by staff urologists. Post-training, both the residents and the supervisors were administered a survey querying the improvement of robotic skills and the sentiments toward the cadaver laboratory compared with alternative trainings (answers were given by Likert scale: 1 = negative/5 = positive).

RESULTS
Twenty-two residents and five supervisors completed the surveys. Median residents' age was 32 years (IQR 29-33). Median year of residency was 4 (IQR 3-6). One hundred percent of the residents were familiar with robotics (86.4% had previous experience as bedside assistant; 90.9% have performed a median of 15 procedures at console). Post-training the residents evaluated their confidence with port placement and docking, EndoWrist® manipulation, Camera and Clutching, Fourth Arm Integration, and Needle Control and Driving with median scores of 4 (IQR 4-5), 4 (IQR 4-5), 4 (IQR 4-5), 4 (IQR 4-4), and 4 (IQR 3-4), with significant perceived improvement in all skills (P < .045). Almost all of them (86.4%) rated the cadaver training 5. When asked about the superiority of human cadaver training with respect to the virtual simulator and the pig laboratory, residents gave median scores of 5 (IQR 5-5) and 4 (IQR 3-5). At univariate analysis, increased experience with robotics was found to be inversely associated with improvement in the "camera and clutching" skill (P < .048). The supervisors felt that human cadaver training was effective in improving the residents' robotic skills (median answer of 5, IQR 4-5).

CONCLUSIONS
Human cadaver robotic training demonstrated great acceptability among both the residents and the supervisors. It allowed for immediate improvement of the residents' robotic skills.


Abstract. The purpose of this application, under Article 33.2.3 of the Code, is to correct the spelling cheesmani to cheesmanae for a tree frog named after Evelyn Cheesman. Following the finding that Hyla montana Peters & Doria, 1878 was in reality a member of the genus Nyctimystes Stejneger, N. montana Parker, 1936 became a secondary homonym. The replacement name, N. cheesmani Tyler, 1964, was given a masculine suffix, in error. Following the emendation to the feminine cheesmanae by Menzies (1976), there has been argument about whether the emendation was justified or not. To resolve the matter the Commission is here asked to rule that the emendation was justified and to place N. cheesmanae on the Official List of Specific Names in Zoology.


A new method of reduction of armature copper losses is described, which consists in the inversion of the conductors of a multi-turn barrel type coil at one or more places in the end portions of the coil. Previous writers have described methods of transposing the conductors in the slot and of carrying insulated strands through successive positions in successive coils, but the new method now described presents distinct points of difference in theory and in construction from any of these earlier methods. The theory of the new form of transposition is briefly described, complete formulas are presented for the most useful cases, and illustrations of its use are given.


Background Patients with adult polymyositis (PM), dermatomyositis (DM) and inclusion body myopathies (IBM) have reduced quality of life. Fatigue is an often disabling symptom in other inflammatory rheumatic conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, however the contribution of fatigue on quality of life in patients with myositis is largely unknown. Objectives To evaluate fatigue severity in PM, DM and IBM and to compare with population-based reference values, to evaluate a possible difference in fatigue between the myositis entities and gender, to evaluate correlations between fatigue and muscle function, disease activity and other aspects of quality of life and to study how fatigue develops over time. Methods All patients registered in the Swedish Myositis register at the Karolinska University Hospital, n=80 (PM, n=46, DM, n=27, IBM, n=7) (55 women/ 25 men) who had completed the SF-36 survey during 2013 during a yearly check-up were included in this study. They had a median age of 62 (q1-q3 54-70.5) years, a median diagnosis duration of 8 (4.5-15.5) years and a median disease activity of 6 (0-15) mm (VAS physician's global assessment). Data on fatigue (SF-36 Vitality, 0-100 where 100 equals no fatigue), and muscle endurance (Functional Index 2, FI-2) were also collected. All patients who had completed the SF-36 survey at both 2009 and 2013 (n=41) were included to study how fatigue changes over time. Results Patients had worse fatigue on the SF-36 Vitality, (median 50 (30-70)/mean 50±26) compared to population-based reference values (mean 67±20) (p<0.001). There was no difference in fatigue between patients with PM, DM and IBM (medians 48 (30-70), 50 (35-80) and 45 (35-50), respectively or between men, 50 (30-80) and women 50 (35-70). Correlations between the SF-36 Vitality and the other SF-36 domains varied between rs=0.54-0.75 with highest correlations to Mental health (rs=0.75) and Social function (rs=0.66). Correlations between the SF-36 Vitality and the FI-2, the HAQ and the physician VAS varied between rs=0.46-0.48 with lower correlations to prednisolone dose, diagnosis duration and age (rs=0.35, 0.01, <0.01, respectively). There was no significant change in fatigue over five years, median 50 (35-72.5) compared to 45 (20-60). Conclusions Patients with PM, DM and IBM have significantly worse fatigue than the reference population, with no difference between sub-diagnosis and gender. Fatigue correlated best to mental health and social function. Fatigue scores were unchanged over five years. Fatigue seems to have an impact on quality of life and function in adult myositis and needs to be addressed in clinical care and should be a subject for future research. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Abstract This essay is concerned with the links between the Arabian Nights and Iranian Culture. While the links are to some extent quite obvious and have been extensively discussed in previous research, some implications are less visible. In surveying these links, I discuss five major areas: (1) The Iranian prototype of the Nights; (2) Tales of alleged Persian origin; (3) Persian characters within the tales; (4) Persian translations of the Arabian Nights; and (5) The position of the Arabian Nights in modern Iran.


The V-I characteristics and photoresponse spectra of p-N and n-N GaAs-AlxGa1-xAs heterojunctions have been measured. Experimental results confirmed the existance of energy levels at the heterointerface. From photoresponse spectra the position of the interface levels was determined to be 0.7-0.8 eV below the conduction band of AlGaAs. Some properties of these levels are discussed.


America's founding fathers strove to preserve balance while providing for the basic needs and the freedoms of the American people. But the modern era brought unique challenges, where if we are not careful those provisions and freedoms will soon disappear forever. This is because the split dividing political ideologies is like a wedge between qualities that make people virtuous, and this threatens to tear the hearts of America apart. At the same time, it makes America vulnerable to influence from all kinds of unfriendly forces, both abroad and at home. So we need to wake up, because it doesn't matter who did this to us or why. What does matter is living up to our name by finding our unity and becoming the United States of America again. We should heed the warning by Abraham Lincoln: "A house divided against itself cannot stand."


Objectives: This study aimed to assess the demographic, clinical, and biochemical characteristics as predictors of hemolysis after ingesting fava beans. Methods: A cross-sectional study was undertaken. A total of 57 patients with Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency were recruited from the Emergency Department of Children Welfare Teaching Hospital, Medical City. Data were collected using a specially designed form. A purposive sampling method was used to recruit 57 patients (49 males and 8 females) who were visiting the pediatric emergency department from March to May 2017 with a presentation of acute hemolytic episode of G6PD. Patients were classified into mild or severe hemolysis groups based on their hemoglobin level at the time of admission. Results: Younger age group patients tend to present with the severe form of hemolysis (3.59 years with a P value of 0.001). No significant gender susceptibility between both types of hemolysis. The urban area-based living individuals tend to present with mild hemolysis while those from rural areas tends to present with more severe episodes of hemolysis (P value 0.001). There was a significant correlation between the type of fava bean ingestion (fresh or dried) and the severity of hemolysis, those who presented with more severe hemolysis usually had a history of ingestion of fresh type of fava bean. Eight individuals of severe type recorded previous episodes of hemolysis while three individuals of the mild type recorded previous episodes (P value 0.001). Family history of G6PD was significant in 88.2% of individuals with the severe form (P value 0.005). Conclusion: This study is aimed to report several factors that might predict the severity of hemolysis among patients with G6PD deficiency. Younger age, residence in a rural region, ingestion of fresh fava beans, and history of frequent hemolysis incidents are predictors of developing severe hemolysis among children admitted to the emergency room of Children Welfare Teaching Hospital in Medical City/ Baghdad.


The ablation of atrial flutter can sometimes be time consuming and unsuccessful using conventional catheter techniques especially in patients with recurrences after previous ablation procedures. Simultaneous high resolution mapping from multiple sites may overcome some of the limitations. Therefore, a new high resolution noncontact mapping system was used for diagnosis and ablation of atrial flutter in 15 patients. The mapping system consists of a catheter‐mounted multielectrode array, an amplifier, and a computer workstation. Far‐field potentials recorded by the multielectrode catheter are amplified, digitized, and sampled at 1.2 kHz, and digitally filtered to construct high resolution activation maps during tachycardia. Ablation catheters can be steered to target sites without fluoroscopy. In 12 of the 15 patients the analysis of the activation sequence during tachycardia showed a counter‐clockwise, and in 1 of 15 patients a clockwise, rotating wavefront using the isthmus as part of the reentrant circuit. In two patients no tachycardia could be induced. In 12 of the 15 patients with previous conventional ablation procedures the gap in the line of block in the isthmus region was identified and marked on the animation model. The isthmus in the right atrium was ablated and isthmus block verified by the mapping system in all patients. No complications were observed. No recurrences of atrial flutter occurred during follow‐up of 4 ± 1,7 months. The total procedure and fluoroscopy time was 171 ± 50.0 minutes and 24 ± 12.7 minutes, respectively. In conclusion, the use of the new high resolution noncontact mapping system in patients with right atrial flutter is safe and highly effective. In patients with previously failed conventional ablation procedures the use of a noncontact mapping system may facilitate the identification of the gap in the line of block in the isthmus region and reablation of atrial flutter.


The equations of boundary layer theory were derived by Prandtl in 1904. These equations are the basis of boundary layer theory, which has been intensively developed for more than half a century and is one of the important branches of contemporary hydromechanics. Boundary layer theory is the subject of numerous monographs (see [3], [4] and others), written in the USSR and abroad, and also of a large collection of articles setting out the results of theoretical and experimental investigations. In connection with engineering problems (in particular, the important problem of determining the resistance of a medium to a body moving in it), the most important methods are numerical methods for solving Prandtl's system. Problems of the approximate solution of systems of boundary layer equations were investigated by Kármán, Polhausen, Kochin, Dorodnitsyn, Loitsyanskii, and many others. The present paper deals with mathematical problems in boundary layer theory. One of these is the problem of conditions for which a solution of Prandtl's system exists. This mathematical problem is important, since in the boundary layer there may occur the so-called boundary layer separation, which leads to the appearance of singularities in the solutions of Prandtl's system and to their noncontinuability. In the paper we also discuss the problem of uniqueness and stability of solutions of Prandtl's system, the problem of unsteady flow in the boundary layer resulting in steady conditions as , we construct approximate solutions of Prandtl's system and we prove their convergence. The treatment of all these problems in this paper follows that of [7], [8]. Solutions of all principal two-dimensional problems in boundary layer theory are constructed here for steady and unsteady flow of an incompressible fluid. The corresponding uniqueness and stability theorems are proved for these solutions.


Studies of 'optimal foraging' in birds have concentrated on species which search actively. This paper describes the organization of foraging behaviour under field conditions of a tropical 'sit-and-wait' predator, based on the choice of trees as vantage points. Preferences shown for different trees did not appear to maximize the birds' rate of capture of prey items, but rates of energy intake were not measured. However, it is possible that selection for 'optimal' behaviour in this species is not so strong as in temperate species which search actively.


It is an age old belief that honey improves with age. In our laboratory, we conducted a study on the antibacterial property of honey against burn wound isolates. Honey freshly obtained from forest and commercially available honey was put to test against burn wound isolates. The freshly obtained honey samples showed good antimicrobial effect against burn wound isolates, forest honey showing a better antibacterial effect than commercial products. However the same honey when stored for 1 year and further on for three years showed reduced antimicrobial effect. Hence we can conclude that freshly obtained honey has antimicrobial activity against more number of burn wound isolates as compared to older honey.
Antibacterial property of honey on burn wound isolates does reduce with age. The specific reason for this reduced antibacterial property with respect to age needs further analysis. However on the basis of our findings we can suggest that the antibacterial property of honey must be assayed before any therapeutic use.

Keywords: Honey, Burns wound isolates, Antibacterial property, Invitro


Unlicensde gold mining still occurs very often in Singingi District, leading to negative impacts on the environment. This research was conducted to determine the law enforcement against unlicensed gold mining (PETI) by the Singingi District Police and the obstacles. This is an empirical juridical or sociological legal research carried out by identifying the law and how the effectiveness of the law applies. The results conclude that the efforts made in the context of law enforcement of the PETI crime are preventive and repressive efforts. However, these law enforcement efforts have obstacles that cause ineffective PETI law enforcement by the Singingi District Police, namely the lack of supporting facilities and infrastructure, lack of coordination, both between the government and the community, and the lack of enforcement of existing indigenous law


We provide a retrospective assessment of the effects of the two recent major railroad mergers in the western United States (Burlington Northern–Atchison-Topeka-Santa Fe and Union Pacific–Southern Pacific) on the price of rail transport of export grain. Estimation accounts for selectivity bias that arises because rail prices are observed only for routes with traffic. Despite concerns that both mergers could harm consumers by reducing carrier competition, we find that, in the long run, the mergers have had negligible effects on grain transportation prices and consumer welfare.


In this chapter, the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) will be discussed. The Fourier transform discussed in the previous chapter is quite useful, but the applications will be limited for two reasons. First, the function in the time domain must be representable in closed form so that the Fourier integral can be performed. Thus, unless the input function can be written in closed form, it is impossible to evaluate the integral. Second, even if the time function can be written in closed form, it might also be difficult to find a closed-form solution to the integral.


Abstract. Ammonia (NH3) is a key precursor for the formation of atmospheric secondary inorganic particles, such as ammonium nitrate and sulfate. Although the chemical processes associated with the gas-to-particle conversion are well known, atmospheric concentrations of gaseous ammonia are still scarcely characterized. This information is however critical especially for processes concerning the equilibrium between ammonia and ammonium nitrate, due to the semi-volatile character of the latter one. This study presents an analysis of the diurnal cycle of atmospheric ammonia during a pollution event over the Paris megacity region in spring 2012 (five days in late March 2012). Our objective is to analyze the link between the diurnal evolution of surface NH3 concentrations and its integrated column abundance, meteorological variables and relevant chemical species involved in gas/particle partitioning. For this, we implement an original approach based on the combined use of surface and total column ammonia measurements. These last ones are derived from ground-based remote-sensing measurements performed by the Observations of the Atmosphere by Solar Infrared Spectroscopy (OASIS) Fourier transform infrared observatory at an urban site over the southeastern suburbs of the Paris megacity. This analysis considers the following meteorological variables relevant to the ammonia pollution event: temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction and vertical dilution in the atmospheric boundary layer. Moreover, we study the partitioning between ammonia and ammonium particles from concomitant measurements of total particulate matter (PM) and ammonium (NH4+) concentrations at the surface. We identify the origin of the pollution event as local emissions at the beginning of the analyzed period and advection of pollution from the Benelux and west Germany region by the end. Our results show a clearly different diurnal behavior of atmospheric ammonia concentrations at the surface and those vertically integrated over the total atmospheric column. Surface concentrations remain relatively stable during the day, while total column abundances show a minimum value in the morning and rise steadily to reach a relative maximum in the late afternoon during the spring pollution event. These differences are mainly explained by vertical mixing within the boundary layer, as suggested by ground-based measurements of vertical profiles of aerosol backscatter, used as tracer of the vertical distribution of pollutants in the atmospheric boundary layer. Indeed, the afternoon enhancement of ammonia clearly seen by OASIS for the whole atmospheric column is barely depicted by surface concentrations, as the latter are strongly affected by vertical dilution within the rising boundary layer. Moreover, the concomitant occurrence of a decrease of ammonium particle concentrations and an increase of gaseous ammonia abundance suggests the volatilization of particles for forming ammonia. Furthermore, surface observations may also suggest night-time formation of ammonium particles from gas-to-particle conversion, for relative humidity levels higher than the deliquescence point of ammonium nitrate.


Biofilms are surface-attached communities of bacteria enclosed in a polysaccharide matrix. Bacteria in a biofilm are extremely resistant to antibiotics. Several recent reports have linked the signaling molecule nitric oxide (NO) with biofilm dispersal. We have previously reported that an H-NOX (heme-nitric oxide/oxygen binding) protein in the biofilm-dwelling bacterium Shewanella woodyi mediates NO-induced biofilm dispersal. In S. woodyi, H-NOX (SwH-NOX) is cocistronic with a gene encoding a dual-functioning diguanylate cyclase/phosphodiesterase enzyme, designated here as HaCE (H-NOX-associated cyclic-di-GMP processing enzyme). Enzymes such as these are responsible for regulating the intracellular concentrations of cyclic-di-GMP, a secondary signaling molecule essential to biofilm formation in bacteria. We have demonstrated that NO-bound SwH-NOX regulates both enzymatic activities of SwHaCE, resulting in decreased cellular cyclic-di-GMP levels and disruption of biofilm formation. Thus, H-NOX/HaCE represents a potential drug target for regulating biofilm formation. In this work, the SwH-NOX surface residues critical for the formation of a protein complex with SwHaCE are identified using nuclear magnetic resonance, fluorescence quenching, and cosedimentation. Enzyme assays confirm this protein–protein interface and its importance for H-NOX/HaCE function.


We present a follow-up study on a series of papers concerning the role of close interactions as a possible triggering mechanism of the activity of AGN and starburst galaxies. We have already studied the close (< 100 kpc/h) and the large scale (< 1 Mpc/h) environment of Sy1, Sy2 and Bright IRAS galaxies (BIRG) and their respective control samples. The results led us to the conclusion that a close encounter appears capable of activating a sequence where a normal galaxy becomes first a starburst, then a Sy2 and finally a Sy1. However since both galaxies of an interacting pair should be affected, we present here optical spectroscopy and X-ray imaging of the neighbouring galaxies around our original Seyfert and BIRG galaxy samples. Based on optical spectroscopy we find that more than 70% of all neighbouring galaxies exhibit thermal or/and nuclear activity (namely enhanced star formation, starbursting and/or AGN), while an additional X-ray analysis showed that this percentage can reach up to 100%. Furthermore, we discovered various trends regarding the type and strength of the neighbour's activity with respect to the activity of the central galaxy, the most important of which is that the neighbours of Sy2 galaxies are systematically more ionized than the neighbours of Sy1s, a fact that indicates differences in metallicity, stellar mass and star-formation history between the samples. Our results not only strengthen the link between close galaxy interactions and activity, but also provide more clues regarding the evolutionary sequence inferred by our previous studies.


This paper presents a robust and precise eye detection algorithm on gray intensity face images. Our method combines the strength of two existing methods which are a feature based method and an appearance based method to detect and locate a precise pupil center. It includes the following three steps. First, the feature based method is used. The method uses a projection function to detect all possible regions of each left and right eye. Second, the appearance based method is used to filter out all non eye regions, and keep only one region for each left and right eye. All possible regions will go through a principal component analysis (PCA). Third, a modified hybrid projection function is used to locate the pupil center for both eyes. The experimental results show that the proposed method has an efficient performance with the accuracy of more than 90.52%.


Abstract Objective The present study aimed to examine the availability of energy-dense, nutrient-poor snack foods (and fruits and vegetables) in supermarkets located in socio-economically advantaged and disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Design Cross-sectional supermarket audit. Setting Melbourne, Australia. Measures included product shelf space and number of varieties for soft drinks, crisps, chocolate, confectionery and fruits and vegetables, as well as store size. Subjects Thirty-five supermarkets (response 83 %) from neighbourhoods in the lowest and highest quintile of socio-economic disadvantage. Results Shelf space allocated to soft drinks (23·6 m v. 17·7 m, P = 0·006), crisps (16·5 m v. 13·0 m, P = 0·016), chocolate (12·2 m v. 10·1 m, P = 0·022) and confectionery (6·7 m v. 5·1 m, P = 0·003) was greater in stores from socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods. After adjustment for store size (stores in disadvantaged areas being larger), shelf space for confectionery (6·3 m v. 5·6 m, P = 0·024) and combined shelf space for all energy-dense foods and drinks (55·0 m v. 48·9 m, P = 0·017) remained greater in stores from socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods. The ratio of shelf space allocated to fruits and vegetables to that for energy-dense snack foods also varied by socio-economic disadvantage after adjustment for store size (most disadvantaged v. least disadvantaged: 1·7 v. 2·1, P = 0·025). Varieties of fruits and vegetables and chocolate bars were more numerous in less disadvantaged areas (P < 0·05). Conclusions Exposure to energy-dense snack foods and soft drinks in supermarkets was greater in socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods. This may impact purchasing, consumption and cultural norms related to eating behaviours and may therefore work against elimination of the known socio-economic gradient in obesity levels. Reform of supermarket stocking practices may represent an effective means of obesity prevention.


Abstract. Twentyseven sets of twins in the last trimester of pregnancy underwent 122 antepartum nonstress tests (NST). The NSTs were evaluated by a cardiotocography score. The last test was performed less than one week antepartum. Fifty fetuses had a normal NST, 13 were smallforgestational age, but only one of these required intensive neonatal care. Four fetuses had one or more pathological NSTs; all 4 were SGA, and these required intensive neonatal care. The pathological variables in the cardiotocograms were reduced variability, absence of spontaneous accelerations, and (late) decelerations. There was no perinatal mortality. Pathological NST was associated with a statistically significantly increased rate of neonatal morbidity, reduced intrauterine growth and a low one minute Apgar score. For the evaluation of retarded intrauterine growth, the predictive value of a normal NST was 95.7%, and the predictive value of a pathological NST was 75.0%‐ The assessment of fetal wellbeing in multiple pregnancy by nonstressed antepartum cardiotocography is of clinical value and seems to be a better predictor of perinatal morbidity than are serial estriol analyses and serial biparietal diameter measurements.


The array CGH technique (Array Comparative Genome Hybridization) has been developed to detect chromosomal copy number changes on a genome-wide and/or high-resolution scale. It is used in human genetics and oncology, with great promise for clinical application. Until recently primarily PCR amplified bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) or cDNAs have been spotted as elements on the array. The large-scale DNA isolations or PCR amplifications of the large-insert clones necessary for manufacturing the arrays are elaborate and time-consuming. Lack of a high-resolution highly sensitive (commercial) alternative has undoubtedly hindered the implementation of array CGH in research and diagnostics. Recently, synthetic oligonucleotides as arrayed elements have been introduced as an alternative substrate for array CGH, both by academic institutions as well as by commercial providers. Oligonucleotide libraries or ready-made arrays can be bought off-the-shelf saving considerable time and efforts. For RNA expression profiling, we have seen a gradual transition from in-house printed cDNA-based expression arrays to oligonucleotide arrays and we expect a similar transition for array CGH. This review compares the different platforms and will attempt to shine a light on the 'BAC to the future' of the array CGH technique.


Here we provide an introduction and overview of current progress in the field of molecular simulation and visualization, touching on the following topics: (1) virtual and augmented reality for immersive molecular simulations; (2) advanced visualization and visual analytic techniques; (3) new developments in high performance computing; and (4) applications and model building.


Abstract : This research report demonstrates hot swapping protocol implementations in OPNET via the building of a dependency injection testing framework. The thesis demonstrates the externalization (compiling as stand-alone code) of OPNET process models, and their inclusion into custom DLL's (Dynamically Linked Libraries). A framework then utilizes these process model DLL's, to specify, or "inject" process implementations post-compile time into an OPNET simulation. Two separate applications demonstrate this mechanism. The first application is a toolkit that allows for the testing of multiple routing related protocols in various combinations without code re-compilation or scenario re-generation. The toolkit produced similar results as the same simulation generated manually with OPNET. The second application demonstrates the viability of a unit testing mechanism for the externalized process models. The unit testing mechanism was demonstrated by integrating with CxxTest and executing xUnit style test suits.


Neutral beam injection into reversed magnetic shear DIII-D plasmas produces a variety of Alfvénic activity including toroidicity and ellipticity induced Alfvén eigenmodes (TAE/EAE, respectively) and reversed shear Alfvén eigenmodes (RSAE) as well as their spatial coupling. These modes are studied during the discharge current ramp phase when incomplete current penetration results in a high central safety factor and strong drive due to multiple higher order resonances. It is found that ideal MHD modelling of eigenmode spectral evolution, coupling and structure are in excellent agreement with experimental measurements. It is also found that higher radial envelope harmonic RSAEs are clearly observed and agree with modelling. Some discrepancies with modelling such as that due to up/down eigenmode asymmetries are also pointed out. Concomitant with the Alfvénic activity, fast ion (FIDA) spectroscopy shows large reductions in the central fast ion profile, the degree of which depends on the Alfvén eigenmode amplitude. Interestingly, localized electron cyclotron heating (ECH) near the mode location stabilizes RSAE activity and results in significantly improved fast ion confinement relative to discharges with ECH deposition on axis. In these discharges, RSAE activity is suppressed when ECH is deposited near the radius of the shear reversal point and enhanced with deposition near the axis. The sensitivity of this effect to deposition power and current drive phasing as well as ECH modulation are presented.


Transparent optical networks offer a common transport platform for services with different bit-rates, transmission formats and technologies. In such a heterogeneous scenario, it is an inefficient use of network resource to provision end-to-end lightpaths without considering the different optical performance requirements of the different service interfaces. This paper proposes an efficient routing and wavelength assignment algorithm, based on service interface tolerance to optical noise and chromatic dispersion that allocates a lightpath with just enough end-to-end optical signal integrity for the connecting service. We investigate its performance in transparent optical networks with heterogeneous services at 10 and 40-Gb/s. For 40-Gb/s services, optical duobinary (ODB) and RZ-DQPSK modulation formats are assumed. We demonstrate that network blocking can significantly be reduced by the proposed algorithm.


Abstract One hundred and forty isolates of thermophilic bacteria from the genus Thermus were screened for the presence of restriction endonuclease activity. Thermostable isoschizomers of restriction endonucleases, such as AceIII, BbvI, BglI, BsePI, FnuDII, HgiAI, MaeII, MboI, MseI, PvuII, StuI, TaqI, Tsp4CI, TspEI, XhoI and XmaIII, were isolated. Two restriction enzymes, TatI and TauI, recognizing novel degenerate sequences 5′-W↓GTACW-3′ and 5′-GCSG↓C-3′ respectively were partially purified and the recognition and cleavage sites were determined.


PURPOSE
To investigate the difference in enhancement effects and relaxivities of the gadolinium chelate at 1.5 and 3 Tesla (T) and to elucidate the contribution of the high magnetic field to contrast enhancement in spin-echo (SE) and gradient-echo (GRE) images.

METHODS
Phantoms containing water with or without gadopentetate dimeglumine (Gd-DTPA) at different concentrations were scanned using 1.5T and 3T MRI scanners of the same manufacturer and under the same temperature conditions and scanning parameters. Relaxivities of gadolinium, R1 and R2, were estimated from serial T1 and T2 values of the phantoms using linear regression. Contrast enhancement ratios in SE and GRE T1-weighted images were compared at 1.5 and 3T.

RESULTS
The R1 and R2 of Gd-DTPA at 1.5 and 3T were 4.79 and 5.14, and 4.50 and 5.09, respectively. Although the relaxivities at 3T were slightly lower than those at 1.5T, the contrast enhancement ratio improved in both SE and GRE images as a result of T1 prolongation of the water at 3T.

CONCLUSION
The decrease in relaxivities of the Gd-DTPA at 3T appears to be so small that T1 prolongation of the water improves contrast enhancement, suggesting a potential clinical advantage in administration of Gd-DTPA at high field strength.


The research described here investigated the quality and characteristics of peer feedback given on a draft piece of writing in the context of an undergraduate summative assignment. It also investigated whether the recipients made use of the feedback, with the aim of discovering whether some types of feedback were used in preference to others. The peer feedback was characterised in various ways, and then a comparison with the feedback subsequently given on the polished piece of writing by the tutor was used to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the peer feedback. Although the peers' feedback had some different characteristics from that of the tutors, it was nevertheless of good quality. The examination of the use the recipients made of the feedback showed that much feedback was ignored. The use recipients made of the feedback depended very little on the characteristics of the feedback received, but did vary strongly across the recipients. The ability level of the recipients was not found to be a factor in this variation. The results of this research suggest that future work needs to focus more on students using feedback than on students giving feedback.


A study of cancer incidence rates in Newark, NJ showed an increase in invasive cervical cancer among black women between 1970 and 1976. The incidence was substantially higher than that found in the Third National Cancer Survey and the Surveillance Epidemiology End Results Program. The ratio of in situ/invasive cervical cancer incidence among black women was 1:1, far below the national ratio of about 3:1. It seemed that the high-risk population in Newark might not be having regular Papanicolaou smears. From 1976 through 1981, intensive educational and cervical cancer screening programs were carried out in the city of Newark. A review was made of cervical cancer cases (1976-1981) reported to the tumor registries or recorded on discharge diagnoses in hospitals where Newark residents are known to have sought care. The findings showed that the ratio of in situ to invasive cervical cancer had increased dramatically: the overwhelming majority of cancers were found to be in situ carcinomas. The improvement was far more impressive among black women than among white women. Since the intervention campaign had been directed primarily toward the black female population, a group at extremely high risk, this suggested that efficacy of the intervention program.


Variable length coding is a widely used technique in digital video compression systems. Previous work related to variable length decoders (VLDs) was primarily aimed at high throughput applications, but the increased demand for portable multimedia systems has made power a very important factor. In this paper, a data-driven variable length decoding architecture is presented, which exploits the signal statistics of variable length codes to reduce power. The approach uses fine-grain lookup table (LUT) partitioning to reduce switched capacitance based on codeword frequency. The complete VLD for MPEG-2 has been fabricated and consumes 530 /spl mu/W at 1.35 V with a video rate of 48-M discrete cosine transform samples/s using a 0.6-/spl mu/m CMOS technology. More than an order of magnitude power reduction is demonstrated without performance loss compared to a conventional parallel decoding scheme with a single LUT.


Respiratory papillomas are rare benign lesions. They are characterized by the appearance of papillomatous lesions anywhere in the tracheo-bronchial tree. It affects children and young adults. Although the disease affects mainly the upper airways, it may be aggressive and extends distally to the lower respiratory tract and pulmonary parenchyma. The course of the disease is unpredictable. It may regress spontaneously, but in other instances, it may lead to serious complications ranging from airway obstruction up to malignant transformation. Surgical excision is the mainstay of definitive treatment to prevent recurrence and to exclude malignancy. We have reviewed the literature for this rare type of respiratory disease and present a thirty-five years old; male patient who had chronic cough and was referred to our unit with a CT-chest that revealed left main endo-bronchial lesion. Bronchoscopy and biopsy of the lesion were performed and revealed squamous papilloma. Final treatment introduced to the patient was endoscopic thermal ablation. However, the final pathology revealed complicated squamous bronchial papilloma with infection by aspergillosis and actinomycosis.


Automated office blood pressure (AOBP) measurement, attended or unattended, eliminates the white coat effect (WCE) showing a strong association with awake ambulatory blood pressure (ABP). This study examined the difference in AOBP readings, with and without 5 minutes of rest prior to three readings recorded at 1‐min intervals. Cross‐sectional data from 100 randomized selected hypertensives, 61 men and 39 women, with a mean age of 52.2 ± 10.8 years, 82% treated, were analyzed. The mean systolic AOBP values without preceding rest were 127.0 ± 18.2 mm Hg, and the mean systolic AOBP values with 5 minutes of preceding rest were 125.7 ± 17.9 mm Hg (P = .05). A significant order effect was observed for the mean systolic BP values when AOBP without 5 minutes of preceding rest was performed as the first measurement (130.0 ± 17.7 vs 126.5 ± 16.2, P = .008). When we used a target systolic AOBP ≥ 130 mm Hg, awake ABP yielded lower readings, while at a target systolic AOBP value of < 130 mm Hg higher awake ABP values were obtained. Our findings indicate that systolic AOBP can be initially checked without any preceding rest and if readings are normal can be accepted. Otherwise, when AOBP is ≥ 130 mm Hg, measurements should be rechecked with 5 minutes of rest.


Two new sets of projection and condenser optics for our prototype 10× reduction extremeultraviolet lithography (EUVL) system were coated with Mo/Si multilayers. The coating thickness was graded across the optics by using shadow masks to ensure maximum throughput at all incidence angles in the camera. The overall deviation of the (normalized) wavelength response across the clear aperture of each mirror is negligible, i.e., below 0.005% root mean square for each optic. However, the wavelength mismatch between two optics coated in different runs is up to 0.07 nm. Nevertheless, this is still within the allowed tolerances, and the predicted optical throughput loss in the camera due to such wavelength mismatch is about 4%. EUV reflectances of 63% and 65% were measured around 13.40 nm for the two secondary optics, which is in good agreement with the expected reflectance based on the substrate finish as measured with atomic force microscopy.


OBJECTIVES The goal of this study was to use angioscopy to investigate the amount of neointimal coverage after sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) implantation. BACKGROUND Sirolimus-eluting stents reduce intimal hyperplasia. METHODS We used angioscopy to evaluate 37 consecutive stented coronary artery lesions (15 SES and 22 bare-metal stents [BMS]) in 25 patients (18 men, 7 women) at 3 to 6 months after stent implantation. Angioscopic evaluation focused on: 1) neointimal coverage of stent struts, and 2) the existence of thrombi. The degree of neointimal coverage was classified as grade 0 when there was no neointimal coverage (similar to immediately after the implantation); grade 1 when stent struts bulged into the lumen, but were covered and still translucently visible; grade 2 when stent struts were visible but not clearly seen (not translucent); and grade 3 when stent struts were not visible because they were embedded in the neointima. RESULTS Thrombi were identified in eight stented segments, tended to be more common with SES (p 0.14), but were not seen on angiography. Three of the 15 SES (20%) had grade 0 neointimal coverage, and only 2 SES (13.3%) had complete coverage (grades 2/3). In contrast, all 22 BMS showed complete intimal coverage (grades 2/3). Thrombi were more common in stents with incomplete neointimal coverage (p 0.09). CONCLUSIONS The SES had incomplete neointimal coverage three to six months after implantation, and this was associated with subclinical thrombus formation. (J Am Coll Cardiol 2006;47:2108–11) ublished by Elsevier Inc. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2005.11.092


To explore the role of oxygen free radicals produced by the xanthine oxidase pathway on infarct size and left ventricular function, the effect of oxypurinol, an active metabolite of allopurinol and a potent noncompetitive inhibitor of xanthine oxidase, was assessed in a 90 min, closed-chest, canine preparation of occlusion-reperfusion. Animals were randomized to receive 25 mg/kg iv oxypurinol (n = 13) or saline (n = 13) 60 min after occlusion. Regional myocardial blood flow was measured with radioactive microspheres and regional ventricular function with contrast ventriculography. Hemodynamic variables, regional myocardial blood flow, and size of the occluded bed were similar in the two groups. Oxypurinol failed to reduce infarct size 24 hr after reperfusion when expressed as a percentage of the area at risk (36.3 +/- 4.9% vs 36.0 +/- 5.6%; p = NS). Both groups exhibited comparative radial shortening at baseline and similar degrees of dyskinesia 1 hr into occlusion (-6.6 +/- 1.2% vs -4.9 +/- 1.0%). However, oxypurinol-treated animals demonstrated an improved regional ventricular function at 3 hr after reperfusion (0.7 +/- 2.6% vs -2.8 +/- 2.0%) and a significant improvement at 24 hr (5.4 +/- 2.5% vs -3.2 +/- 1.7%; p less than .05). A reduced neutrophil infiltrate was observed in the border zone in treated animals. These findings suggest that oxygen free radicals derived from the xanthine oxidase pathway contribute to stunning of reversibly damaged myocardium but do not determine the final extent of myocardial necrosis in a canine preparation of reperfusion.


In this work a cryptographic protocol to encrypt text data is presented. It is based on the use of a particular type of delay discrete dynamical system called memory cellular automata. The cryptographic protocol is shown to be secure against the most important cryptanalytic attacks.


to gauge volunteer interest in educational membership was included. Results/Findings: The survey was submitted to a total of 93 employees, and reviewed by EC. A total of 43% of employees responded; 52.5% preferred monthly ES, 42.5% preferred 30-min ES. Delivery format responses included 60% case studies, 55% live study sessions, and 52.5% Slide Presentation. 30% responded to volunteer for the EC. 72.9% were willing to help assist for others attending ES. 92.5% wanted sessions to occur during work hours. 35% answered a free response comments question which included specific topics of interest, requests to provide allotted time for sessions, and ensuring access to all shifts. Volunteers were chosen for the EC based on participation interest and availability. Conclusions: The EC developed and maintained an intentional and relevant digital library of EM based on the survey, coordinated ES activities and schedule. An EC presentation introduced the members, mission statement and goals and provided contact information (email distribution list) to all laboratory staff. Biweekly meetings were established to address needs and concerns, while exploring alternate instant contact means. Discussions included ES topics, creation of EM, and applications to apply continuing education credits (CEU) for participants. Currently, 19 external educational websites/CEU opportunities, 4 in-house presentations, 1 CEU quiz, and 21 journal articles have been uploaded. ES or EM additions are accompanied by an email notification and direct links for ease of accessibility of EM specifically designed for clinical laboratory scientists. The creation of the EC has proven to be efficient in coordinating and delivering EM among team members.


Software cost estimation based on multivariate data from completed projects requires the building of efficient models. These models essentially describe relations in the data, either on the basis of correlations between variables or of similarities between the projects. The continuous growth of the amount of data gathered and the need to perform preliminary analysis in order to discover patterns able to drive the building of reasonable models, leads the researchers towards intelligent and time-saving tools which can effectively describe data and their relationships. The goal of this paper is to suggest an innovative visualization tool, widely used in bioinformatics, which represents relations in data in an aesthetic and intelligent way. In order to illustrate the capabilities of the tool, we use a well known dataset from software engineering projects.


In the genus Paradiplozoon, few hard structures are present therefore most of the taxonomic studies have focused on the unique ultrastructure of the sclerites. Alcohol-fixed specimens were transferred to BSA-saline for 5 min. before staining indefinitely with 5 microl WGA-TRX, 5 microl SYTO 9 and 5 microl of Calcofluor White M2R. Rhodamine, Fluorescein and DAPI bandpass filters on the microscope enabled selective light wavelength illumination of the three flourochromes by a mercury light source. This method provided an easy and rapid methodology to show the internal sclerites of attachment clamps. It is suitable for alcohol preserved specimens and may have additional applications in other helminth organisms.


Laparoscopic cholangiography is invaluable in the detection of bile duct stones, visualization of ductal anomalies and discovery and prevention of iatrogenic injuries to the bile ducts. The use of this procedure is, however, limited by the technical difficulties of cystic duct cannulation. A method of laparoscopic cholangiography that avoids cystic duct cannulation is described. It consists of a Kumar I Cholangiography Clamp that is applied across the gallbladder just above the Hartmann's pouch and divides the gallbladder into a medial and lateral compartment. A Kumar Cholangio Catheter is then introduced through the side-channel of the clamp, puncturing the medial compartment (i.e. the Hartmann's pouch) with a short #22 gauge needle for aspiration, followed by dye injection. Cholangiography was obtained with remarkable ease in 49 of the first 50 cases (98%) without complication.


Chiral Lewis acid catalysis has emerged as one of the premiere method to control stereochemistry. Much effort has gone into the design of superior ligands with increasing steric extension to shield distant reactive sites. We report here an alternative and complementary approach based on a "chiral relay". This strategy focuses on the improved design of achiral templates which may relay and amplify the stereochemistry from ligands. The essence of this strategy is that the chiral Lewis acid would effectively convert an achiral template into a chiral non-racemic template. This approach combines the advantages of enantioselective catalysis (substoichiometric amount of the chiral inducer) with the ones of chiral auxiliary control (efficient and predictable stereocontrol).


which covers the entire series. (Volumes I and II had no indices of their own.) Volume III is subtitled Regeringsmakt och Forvaltningsorganisation ("Government and Administration"). It subsumes much of what we would call constitutional law (structure of government, but not civil liberties), administrative law, and public administration—all of this on a comparative basis. Understandably, the author has had to eschew further comparison to extraScandinavian systems. By describing government in the five countries, Herlitz has contributed significantly to the reader's understanding of his own Scandinavian state as well as to his understanding of the neighboring ones. Confrontation of the five highlights the characteristic features of each, and permits a more incisive appraisal of their differences and similarities than is possible in less systematic and comprehensive approaches. The separate chapters of the book—e.g., Central Administration, Local Government, Civil Service—are self-sufficient treatises on each topic for each country, with rich citation to further sources. This is a practical reference work as well as a text in comparative government. When the first volumes were published, Professor Herlitz had already retired from the University of Stockholm and from parliament. With volume III, he threatens to put down his heretofore prolific pen. One can only hope that he will reconsider. In any event, the concluding sentence of the review of the 1958 volumes still holds true: "Much more of Scandinavian letters and science should be made readily available to English speaking audiences, and not least Professor Herlitz' Scandinavian Public Law."—STANLEY V. ANDERSON, University of California, Santa Barbara.


Malaysia is generally food secure in the Global Food Security Index report 2020 which ranked 43rd out of 113 other countries globally (Global Food Security Index, n.d.). Malaysia has achieved relatively impressive growth over recent decades with the agricultural sector making a major contribution to this growth. The agriculture industry has been the backbone of the Malaysian economy for decades, the development of industrial crop commodities such as rubber, oil palm, and cocoa has been a major contributor to its economic growth. Despite these achievements, the agro-food sector has been considerably left behind in comparison to its commodities crop sector (World Bank, 2020). The country's food sector has remained slow to develop, as illustrated by food trade deficits of RM17 million in 2019 (Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries Malaysia, 2020). It also depends on imported inputs such as feed, fertiliser, agricultural machinery, and labour, and overall productivity remains low, as the food sector in Malaysia is largely driven by its policy formulation, then and now (Fatimah, 2017). Malaysia's agriculture policies have been prioritizing industrial commodities over the food crop industry as it gives a higher return to the economy over the past decades. Thus, it has marginalised the agro-food sector and has resulted in the agro-food industry being left behind in terms of growth and productivity. Domestic food production is inadequate to meet the country's population's need for food. As a result, import substitution is the most straightforward solution to this problem. Food imports are available since supply is assured and comes from many producing nations such as China, India, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Thailand (Fatimah, 2020). For that reason, the imports of food products have increased year after year, thus restricting the growth of agro-food sectors and indirectly does not drive the national food sector to carry out reforms (Fatimah, 2020). Malaysia's food import bills rise dramatically from RM34 billion in 2011 to RM51 billion in 2019, pointing to increased dependency on food purchases (Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries Malaysia, 2016, 2020).


Using institutional ethnography and narrative, this analysis exposes the role of schools and teachers in serving students, their families and communities.  The analysis explores the extent to which academic learning is privileged and the pros and cons of such privilege.  The author balances a traditional and non-traditional research design that opens a dialogue about how teachers and students cope within stigmatized programs. The movement by governments to 'bottle' a curriculum to nurture a generation of creative people, serves as a backdrop. Slojd and crafts teachers are exalted for using a more authentic pedagogical form compared to their academic counterparts.  The author's autobiographical account as a university teacher educator sets the stage for a more complete representation of what is really going on in schools under the long arm of government.  Keywords:  experiential learning, narrative inquiry, cultural capital, colonialist policy, human creativity


Studying massive binaries in different evolution stages or environments may help us to solve the problem of the evolution of massive binaries. The metallicity in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is much lower than that in our Milky Way, and binaries in the SMC are rarely studied. OGLE-SMC-ECL-2063 is a short-period early-type binary with a period of ${0{_{.}^{\circ}}6317643}$ in the SMC. We use the Wilson–Devinney code to analyze its light curves. The result shows that OGLE-SMC-ECL-2063 is an overcontact binary with a high mass ratio of 0.900 and a fill-out factor of $35.9\%$. The O − C curves of the period of OGLE-SMC-ECL-2063 show a long-term increase with a cyclic oscillation of amplitude A = 0.00503 d and period P3 = 14.80 yr. All the evidence above indicates that OGLE-SMC-ECL-2063 is in the Case A mass transfer evolutionary state. The mass transfer rate $\dot{M}_2 = -5.67 \times 10^{-7} M_{\odot }\:$yr−1 is derived and used to explain the continuous period increase. Because both components of OGLE-SMC-ECL-2063 are early-type stars, the existence of a third body may be the reason for the cyclic change in period. The mass of the third body is derived to be no less than 0.70 M⊙ and the orbital separation to be no more than 13.22 au. Combining the result of light-curve analysis, the third body tends to be a low-mass late-type star. Such high-mass-ratio binaries play an important role in the evolution of early-type binaries. Thus, researching OGLE-SMC-ECL-2063 provides the basis for us to study the formation and evolution of early-type contact binaries.


Recent developments of Baxter algebras have lead to applications to combinatorics, number theory and mathematical physics. We relate Baxter algebras to Stirling numbers of the first kind and the second kind, partitions and multinomial coefficients. This allows us to apply congruences from number theory to obtain congruences in Baxter algebras.


The article reveals results of the theoretical generalization of studies concerning the Russian and foreign systems of higher education of personnel training for tourism. The author considers European systems as the exemplars boasting historical experience and sustainability in preparing the personnel for the tourism industry. The researcher reveals conditions and factors influencing the educational policies of teaching specialists and elaborates requirements to such systems as stated by the professional community. The paper concludes with the proposals for the use of positive foreign experience for implementing them into the schooling activities of Russian universities.


Here we study Enneper's minimal surface and some of its properties. We compute and visualize the lines of self--intersection, lines of intersections with planes,  lines of curvature, asymptotic and geodesic lines of Enneper's surface. For the graphical representations of all the results we use our own software for line graphics.


In general the Induction Motor is known to be a constant speed motor. In most of the industries the induction motor is mainly used for Drive Systems. But due to the advances in computer technology the speed of the induction motor can be controlled under certain conditions. There are many ways to control the speed of the Induction Motor for variable speed applications. The basic method is 2-level inverter controlled by microcontroller using space vector modulation. In this method the output of the inverter may not be exactly sinusoidal and hence at the star point of the Induction Motor winding, causing a Voltage Harmonic Distortion in the output of the inverter. To minimize the voltage harmonic distortion a multilevel inverter can be used. In addition, the harmonic frequencies will not produce usable torque but causes heating the Induction motor windings, which are harmful to the insulation. In this paper two level and three level inverter fed induction motor driven at various frequencies are reported. Simulation, experimentation and the measurement of voltage total harmonic distortion have also been reported. In the experiment the Arduino microcontroller, Line Impedance Stabilization Network, opto-isolator, Hall Effect sensor, H-bridge inverter and other necessary electronic circuits are used. The measurements are recorded using Agilent make Mixed signal Oscilloscope. The Fast Fourier transform has been carried out for the experimental result, using signal analysis software. Simulation has been implemented using the MATLAB/Simulink. The results of simulation and experimentation are compared and tabulated.


Abstract The identification of wood species in paper products is highly important for the enforcement of the newly established timber regulations regarding the control of illegal logging. In the context of European Timber Regulation (EUTR), in the present paper a database has been established containing reference samples and anatomical descriptions for the identification of 23 tropical timbers from Southeast Asia in pulp and paper products. The vessel elements and fibers of these mixed tropical hardwoods (MTH) were characterized by light microscopy. The woods in focus were macerated, embedded and compared visually and statistically. The collected microscopic data and images are helpful for the identification of the wood species used for paper production.


Some of the most common mistakes in criminal investigations include one-sided and confirmatory information seeking, and premature narrowing of potential suspects. Such activities appear somewhat comprehensible, considering the fact that investigators typically face considerable time pressure and work in a police culture that advocates efficiency, decisiveness and prestige?conditions that promote a need for investigative closure and undue partiality toward specific conclusions. The motivated social cognition framework accounts for how people?s wishes and needs affect social judgments, and a number of mechanisms for such influence have been identified. The present paper is a theoretical overview seeking to elucidate the direct implications that the mechanisms of motivated cognition have for the investigative process and the practical consequences that may follow. In addition, some initial experimental results generated from this approach are presented


This study seeks to analyze the rule of compensation toward working motivation of salesforces in mobiling channel Wall's Ice Cream at PT. Unilever Indonesia. The compensationvariable includes Financial (Direct and Indirect Financial Compensation) and Nonfinancial(Job and Environment). Meanwhile, the motivation variables consist of intensity,persistence, and direction. The objective of this study is to explain the rule of compensationtoward working motivation of Wall's Ice Cream mobiling channel sales forces. This studyuses qualitative method by in- depth interview with sixth sales forces from three differentgroup performance into high, medium, and small performance. To see the influence ofcompensation on sales forces working motivation, the author had experiment ofcompensation program such as diligence bonus, insurance, employee recognition anddressing up stock point. This experiment is conducted to strengthen the hyphothesis thatcompensation strongly influences sales forces working motivation. The result of this study,all those compensation showed a very good effort from the company to increase the spirit ofsales forces as seen by a very excited way on answer in the last interview. The sales forcesmotivation also is increased as they felt that the company paid more attention to them so itcould now expect the sales forces to work better and harder, especially in reaching the target.The result shows that there is sales increase of 300% within 3 months after the compensationhappen. Implication of the study and recommendation is needed to improve thecompensation plan for sales forces to be always motivated and the implementation of thecompensation plan after experiment program should be implemented nationally to increasethe working motivation of sales forces.Keywords:Financial compensation, Non financial compensation, Working Motivation.


The purpose of this article is to identify student migration plans. The presented data are included in the optics of comparing the migration aspirations of medical students and pedagogy (N = 289). The research sample of the entire project in quantitative analysis numbered 604 people, and it was students of Poznan universities: Adam Mickiewicz University; Poznan University of Technology; Medical University; Economic University; University of Arts in Poznań. External migrations of "white staff" are an important topic, for example, in public debates due to the wide context of consequences that may occur in an abandoned country, which is why this group was chosen as a reference group in relation to the group constituted by pedagogy students.


The number of subjects with heterozygous beta-thalassaemia and sickle-cell anaemia in metropolitan France can be evaluated by the distribution of populations originating from countries with a high prevalence of genetic haemoglobinopathies. Taking into account the movements of these populations observed since the 1982 census, the current prevalences of beta-thalassaemic and drepanocytic traits are higher than the figures of 180,000 and 130,000 respectively found at that date. On the other hand, it appears from episodic screenings performed during the last few years that the percentage of subjects with heterozygous beta-thalassaemia is 3.09% in Corsica, 0.77% in school-age population in the Marseille area, and 0.72% in the general population of Marseille, Toulon and Nice. In 1992, the number of patients with heterozygous beta-thalassaemia and with major sickle-cell syndrome is estimated at 250-350 and 1000-3000 respectively. Patients with sickle-cell anemia predominate in the Paris area, whereas those with heterozygous beta-thalassemia predominate in the provinces, notably in the Provence-Côte d'Azur and Corsica regions.


WiMAX (Worldwide Interpretability for Microwave Access) is one of the leader standards of broadband Wireless Access (BWA). This standard becomes a competitor of 4G or LTE (Long Terme Evolution) with the introduction of different class of service flow (UGS, rtPS, nrtPS, BE). Each service class has its own QoS requirements. Even if the standard specify the transmission policy of each service class, it recommends the implementation of an admission control (AC) without any specification. This task is let to the operator. In this paper, we propose an implementation of an AC algorithm mechanism for IEEE 802.16. The performance evaluation of these networks by analytical models is not easy due to the state space explosion, thus we use the Stochastic Automata Networks (SAN) formalism to model our proposed AC mechanism. With the SAN we calculate the rewards of the proposed AC and we show that the proposed solution is efficient.


ABSTRACT Background: The current study investigated the impact of an intervention that included aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technologies on the frequency of symbolic communication turns of school-age children, adolescents, and young adults with severe disability. Method: Nine students ages 8–20 were engaged in interactive activities using an aided AAC system with visual scene displays (VSDs; concepts embedded within a photograph of a naturally occurring event), and "just-in-time" (JIT) programming (the capability to add new contexts "on the fly"). Effectiveness was evaluated using a single subject multiple probe across participants design. Results: All participants demonstrated increases in symbolic communication turns upon introduction of the AAC technologies with VSDs using JIT technology. Conclusions: AAC with VSDs and JIT programming may be effective in increasing symbolic communication for students with severe developmental disability. The fast and easy creation of VSDs and hotspots to provide communication may be a valuable tool for interventionists.


Abstract Frail older adults are at high risk of negative consequences from hospitalization and are discharged without completely returning to their pre-existing health status. Transitional care is needed to maintain care continuity from hospital to home. This systematic review aimed to examine transitional care for frail older adults and its effectiveness. The Cochrane guidelines were followed, and search terms were determined by PICO: (P) frail older adults, not disease-specified; (I) transitional care initiated before discharge; (C) usual care; and (O) all health outcomes. Four databases were searched for English-written randomized controlled trials (inception to 2020), and eight trials were ultimately included. Frail older adults in eight trials (1996–2019) totaled 2,785, with a mean sample size of 310. The intervention components varied from hospital care (e.g., geriatric assessment, discharge planning, rehabilitation) to follow-up care after discharge (e.g., home visit, phone follow-up, community service). Most measured outcomes were readmission (n = 7), function (n = 4), quality of life (n = 4), self-rated health (n = 3), and mortality (n = 3). Statistical significance was reported in the following number of trials: readmission (n = 2), function (n = 2), quality of life (n = 1), self-rated health (n = 3), and mortality (n = 0). The effectiveness of the intervention on each outcome was inconsistent across the trials. Varied transitional care between hospital and home was implemented to improve health status; however, its effectiveness was controversial. A novel, yet evidence-based approach is needed to develop transitional care interventions for these vulnerable populations.


The content of extremely high energy (EHE) photons in the highest energy cosmic rays can be investigated by analyzing showers arriving from directions where the perpendicular component of the Earth's magnetic field is high or showers arriving from the region surrounding the Sun. We perform Monte Carlo simulations of cascades initiated by photons with parameters of the highest energy showers observed by the past and present detectors (AGASA, Fly's Eye, Yakutsk, Haverah Park). The purpose is to find out which events should cascade with high probability if initiated by photons. It is shown that EHE photons arriving from directions towards the magnetic poles cascade with higher probability. Alternatively, the lowest probabilities of cascading are expected for photons arriving from directions of the equator at the zenith angles equal to the angle between location of the specific observatory and the magnetic pole. We show that very unusual showers should arrive from direction of the Sun due to cascading of photons in the Sun's magnetosphere if EHE photons are numerous at the highest energies. The rate of such showers is estimated on about one per ten years. However extraordinary lateral distribution of secondary particles of such showers in the Earth's atmosphere may help to distinguish them from the ordinary showers arriving isotropically from the sky.


Previous retrospective case series have suggested that intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is associated with adverse fetal outcomes, but there have been concerns over possible biases in these studies. The aim of this study was to describe the pregnancy complications in a national cohort of women with severe ICP and to compare these with pregnancy complications in a cohort of unaffected women and with national rates where available. 713 confirmed cases of severe ICP were identified, giving an estimated incidence of 9.2 cases per 10 000 maternities. Women with a singleton pregnancy affected by severe ICP (n = 669) had increased odds of preterm delivery (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 5.39, 95% CI 4.17–6.98), neonatal unit admission (aOR 2.68, 95% CI 1.97–3.65) and stillbirth (aOR 2.58, 95% CI 1.03–6.49) compared to control women, and these risks rose with increasing maternal serum bile acid concentrations. Seven of the ten stillbirths in ICP cases were associated with co-existing pregnancy complications. The risks of preterm delivery (both spontaneous and iatrogenic) and stillbirth were also raised when compared with national data. These findings support the case for close antenatal monitoring of pregnancies affected by severe ICP. Marian Knight MA DPhil FFPH Head of UKOSS/NIHR Research Professor in Public Health National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Old Rd Campus, Oxford OX3 7LF, UK Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


BACKGROUND
Neonatal sepsis is characterised by bacteraemia and clinical symptoms caused by microorganisms and their toxic products. Gram negative bacteria are the commonest causes of neonatal Sepsis. The resistance to the commonly used antibiotics is alarmingly high. The major reason for emerging resistance against antibiotics is that doctors often do not take blood cultures before starting antibiotics. We have carried out this study to find out various bacteria causing neonatal sepsis and their susceptibility to antibiotics for better management of neonatal sepsis.

METHODS
A total of 130 neonates with sepsis who were found to be blood culture positive were taken in this study. Culture/sensitivity was done, isolated organisms identified and their sensitivity/resistance was noted against different antibiotics. Data were arranged in terms of frequencies and percentage.

RESULTS
Out of 130 culture proven cases of neonatal sepsis, gram negative bacteria were found in 71 (54.6%) cases and gram positive bacteria in 59 (45.4%) cases. Staphylococcus aureus was the most common bacteria found in 35 (26.9%) cases followed by Escherichia coli in 30 (23.1%) cases. Acinetobacter species, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Klebseila, Streptococci, Enterobacter cloacae and Morexella species were found in 17 (13.1%), 17 (13.1%), 13 (10%), 7 (5.4%), 6 (4.6%), and 5 (3.8%) cases respectively. In most of the cases causative organisms were found to be resistant to commonly used antibiotics like ampicillin, amoxicillin, cefotaxime, and ceftriaxone (77.7%, 81.5%, 63.1%, and 66.9% respectively). There was comparatively less (56.9%) resistance to ceftazidime. Gentamicin had resistance in 55.1% cases, while amikacin and tobramycin had relatively less resistance (17.4% and 34.8% cases respectively). Quinolones and imipenem had relatively less resistance. Vancomycin was found to be effective in 100% cases of Staphylococcus group.

CONCLUSION
Staphylococcus aureus are the most common gram positive bacteria and Escherichia coli are the most common gram negative bacteria causing neonatal sepsis. Resistance to commonly used antibiotics is alarmingly increasing. Continued surveillance is mandatory to assess the resistance pattern at a certain level.


Background: Reports indicating incidence of Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) infections have been increasing. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of CT and NG infected individuals attending a Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) clinic in a University Hospital. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on attendees of the STD clinic throughout a 10 year period. Diagnoses of CT and NG infections were enabled upon nucleic acid amplification analysis (PCR). Results: In our study population there was a male predomi- nance (83.3%). Overall prevalence of CT and NG infection was 1.6% and 0.8%, respectively. A prevalence of 3% of chlamydia infection was recorded when routine screening was implemented. More so, 53% of individuals displayed asymptomatic infection, 78% of which had chlamydia infection and 22% had gonococcal infection (p<0.05). Routine screening of STD attendees has resulted in the diagnosis and treatment of an average of 13.7 asymptomatic individuals. Conclusion: Unlike gonococcal infection we found an increase of chlamydia infection prevalence when routine screening was implemented. Screening of STD attendees for CT provided the opportunity to identify and treat asymptomatic Chlamydia infections. Systematic screening of STD attendees of both genders for CT should be offered. KEYWORDS – Chlamydia Infections; Chlamydia trachomatis; Gonorrhea; Neisseria gonorrhoeae; Ambulatory Care Facilities.


A severe olive decline of unknown aetiology is currently under investigation in Apulia, (southern Italy). The decline affects mainly aged trees (100 years or older) growing in the Gallipoli bay, on an area extending about 10.000 ha located on the western coast of the Salento peninsula. The disease is characterized by a rapid dieback of shoots, twigs and branches followed by death of the entire tree. Leaf tips and margins turn dark yellow to brown, a condition that spreads inward, eventually leading to desiccation. Symptoms progress in severity from older to younger leaves. Desiccated leaves and mummified drupes remain attached to the shoots. Trunks, branches and twigs viewed in cross section show more or less extensive discolorations of the vascular elements, as reported earlier by Carlucci et al. (2008), plus sapwood and vascular cambium. Numerous galleries of the leopard moth, Zeuzera pyrina and bark beetles occurr on the trunks, branches and twigs of affected plants. Isolations from discolored sapwood made on different growing media allowed the recovery of a number of fungi, Phaeoacremonium spp. in particular, which were identified based on morphometric characters and sequencing of ITS and β-tubulin gene regions (Mostert et al., 2006). P. parasiticum was the most frequent species, followed by P. rubrigenun, P. aleophilum, P. alvesi,. Fungi belonging to the genus Phaemoniella were also found. This is the first report of P. parasiticum and P. alvesii on olive in Italy. The role of these fungal species, alone or in combination with other plant pathogens, in determining the symptoms observed on olive trees is currently under investigation.


A feature detector and a feature descriptor are presented, which are applicable to 3D range data. The feature detector is used to identify locations in the range data at which the feature descriptor is applied. The feature descriptor, or feature transform, calculates a signature for each identified location on the basis of local shape information. The approach used in both the feature detector and the descriptor is motivated by the success of the scale invariant feature transform and speeded up robust features approaches in the 2D case. Using synthetic data, the authors evaluate the repeatability of the detector and robustness of the descriptor to global transformations and image noise. The complete system is then applied to the problem of automatic detection of repeated structure in real range images.


The Online Distance Learning System from CRT Brasil Telecom (the Brazilian telephone company) has shown that technology and education have found a common point to perform good educational methodologies. Contents and ODL (online distance learning) programs have now reached a very good point of performance and, moreover, the internal culture is now much more prepared to use online learning than ever before. The next target is how to steer employees to get good results on a "sea of knowledge". CRT Brasil Telecom's knowledge communities have been assembled to give a natural orientation that is specifically prepared for both professional and applied educational needs.


BACKGROUND
The Current Population Survey (CPS) is often used as a source of denominator information for analyses of US fatal occupational injury rates. However, given the relatively small sample size of the CPS, analyses that examine the cross-classification of occupation or industry with demographic or geographic characteristics will often produce highly imprecise rate estimates. The Decennial Census of Population provides an alternative source for rate denominator information. We investigate the comparability of fatal injury rates derived using these two sources of rate denominator information.

METHODS
Information on fatal occupational injuries that occurred between January 1, 1983 and December 31, 1994 was obtained from the National Traumatic Occupational Fatality surveillance system. Annual estimates of employment by occupation, industry, age, and sex were derived from the CPS, and by linear interpolation and extrapolation from the 1980 and 1990 Census of Population. Fatal injury rates derived using these denominator data were compared.

RESULTS
Fatal injury rates calculated using Census-based denominator data were within 10% of rates calculated using CPS data for all major occupation groups except farming/forestry/fishing, for which the fatal injury rate calculated using Census-based denominator data was 24.69/100,000 worker-years and the rate calculated using CPS data was 19.97/100,000 worker-years. The choice of denominator data source had minimal influence on estimates of trends over calendar time in the fatal injury rates for most major occupation and industry groups.

CONCLUSIONS
The Census offers a reasonable source for deriving fatal injury rate denominator data in situations where the CPS does not provide sufficiently precise data, although the Census may underestimate the population-at-risk in some industries as a consequence of seasonal variation in employment.


Assessment of climate change impact on water resources is often based on hydrologic projections developed using monthly water balance models (MWBMs) forced by climate projections. These models are calibrated against historical data but are expected to provide accurate flow simulations under changing climate conditions. However, an evaluation of these models’ performance is needed to explore their applicability under changing climate conditions, assess uncertainties and eventually indicate model components that should be improved. This should be done in a comprehensive evaluation framework specifically tailored to evaluate applicability of MWBMs in changing climatic conditions.

In this study, we evaluated performance of four MWBMs (abcd, Budyko, GR2M and WASMOD) used for hydrologic simulations in the arid Wimmera River catchment in Australia. This catchment is selected as a challenge for model application because it was affected by the Millennium drought, characterised by a decrease in precipitation and a dramatic drop in runoff. The model evaluation within the proposed framework starts with dividing the complete record period into five non-overlapping sub-periods, calibration and cross-validation (i.e., transfers) of the models. The Kling-Gupta efficiency coefficient is used for the calibration in each sub-period. Consistency in model performance, parameter estimates and simulated water balance components across the sub-periods is analysed. Model performance is quantified with statistical performance measures and errors in hydrological signatures. Because the relatively short monthly hydrologic series can lead to biased numerical performance indicators, the framework also includes subjective assessment of model performance and transferability.

The results show that model transfer between climatically contrasted sub-periods affect all statistical measures of model performance and some hydrologic signatures: standard deviation of flows, high flow percentile and percentage of zero flows. While some signatures are reproduced well in all transfers (baseflow index, lag 1 and lag 12 autocorrelations), suggesting their low informativeness about MWBM performance, many signatures are consistently poorly reproduced, even in the calibrations (seasonal distribution, most flow percentiles, streamflow elasticity). This means that good model performance in terms of statistical measures does not imply good performance in terms of hydrologic signatures, probably because the models are not conditioned to reproduce them. Generally, the greatest drop in performance of all the models is obtained in transfers to the driest period, although abcd and Budyko slightly outperformed GR2M and WASMOD. Subjective assessment of model performance largely corresponds to the numerical indicators.

Simulated water balance components, especially soil and groundwater storages and baseflow, significantly vary across the simulation periods. These results suggest that the model components and the parameters that control them are sensitive to the calibration period. Therefore, improved model conceptualisations (particularly partitioning of fast and slow runoff components) and enhanced calibration strategies that put more emphasis on parameters related to slow runoff are needed. More robust MWBM structures or calibration strategies should advance transferability of MWBMs, which is a prerequisite for effective water resources management under changing climate conditions.


A field experiment was executed during two consecutive winter seasons of the years 2020/21 and 2021/22, at the research farm of the National Institute of Desert Studies – University of Gezira, new Hamdab scheme - Northern State of Sudan to assess the effect of Urea (N46%), NPK (20-10-10) and di ammonium phosphate (DAP) (18-46) fertilizers on growth and yield of wheat. The treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates. Consisted control (untreated plots), N (Urea 100 Kg fed-1), NPK (100 Kg fed-1) and di ammonium phosphate (DAP) 100Kg fed-1. Results indicated that there were no significant (P≤0.05) differences in the numbers of plant per meter square, but there are significant (P≤0.05) differences in plant height (cm), /spike length (Cm), thousand seed weight (g), biological yield, straw yield and harvest index in both seasons and highly significant (P≤0.01) differences in grain yield) ton/ ha) in both seasons compared to the control. The best type of evaluated fertilizer which gave the highest values of growth, yield and yield components of wheat for both seasons in high terrace soil of Northern State of Sudan was N(Urea) followed by NPK and DAP.


It is shown that the scope of the flash method, to determine thermal diffusivity of materials, can be significantly extended by taking into account the finite pulse widths of realistic flash lamp excitations. The pulse profiles of a commercial flash system are determined and parameterized. A series of 1D FEM simulations are carried out to establish (a) the notion of equivalent rectangular pulse widths and (b) a universal curve that enables correction factors to be determined for thermal diffusivity evaluation. Simulations are validated with experiments carried out with seven flash excitation pulse widths and three materials.


The nature and extent of cyberbullying and traditional bullying were examined among a sample of primary school pupils aged 7–11 years in the London area. Pupils were given anonymous self-report questionnaires which asked about their use of mobile phones and the Internet, and their experiences of bullying and cyberbullying as either the victims or perpetrators. Most pupils had a mobile phone and almost all had access to the Internet at home. It was found that a significant number of pupils reported being involved in both types of bullying, although more children were involved in traditional bullying than cyberbullying. The most commonly reported types of cyberbullying were via instant messenger, email and text messages. Children were also likely to consider cyberbullying as upsetting as traditional bullying. Implications for intervention and prevention work are discussed.


A total of 109 sows (Line 241; DNA, Columbus, NE) were used in a study to evaluate the effect of increasing phytase concentration in lactating sow diets on farrowing duration, and sow and litter performance. On d 107 of gestation, sows were blocked by body weight and parity and allotted to 1 of 3 dietary treatments of increasing phytase concentration (0, 1,000, or 3,000 FTU/kg; Ronozyme HiPhos 2700; DSM Nutritional Products, Inc., Parsippany, NJ). The control diet contained no phytase and was formulated to contain 0.50% standardized total tract digestible phosphorus (STTD P; 0.45% available P) and 0.62% STTD calcium (0.90% total Ca). The phytase diets contained 1,000 or 3,000 FTU/kg also formulated to 0.50% STTD P and 0.62% STTD Ca including the release of 0.132 STTD P and 0.094 STTD Ca in both phytase diets. Diets were balanced for net energy by altering choice white grease. Diets were fed from d 107 of gestation until weaning (d 17 ± 2) and all farrowings were monitored with farrowing duration measured starting at the time the first pig was born until the first dispersal of placental tissues with no subsequent pigs born. Litters were cross-fostered within treatment until 48 h post-farrowing to equalize litter size. There were no differences among treatments in body weight at d 107 of gestation, 24 h after farrowing, or at weaning. Sow average daily feed intake (ADFI) from farrowing to weaning tended to increase (linear, P = 0.093) as phytase units increased. There was no evidence for difference in farrowing performance, wean-to-estrus interval, or litter size among dietary treatments. Although not significant (linear, P = 0.226), farrowing duration decreased for sows fed 3,000 FTU/kg. Litter weaning weight increased (quadratic, P = 0.039) and overall litter gain increased (quadratic, P = 0.047) with 1,000 FTU of phytase. In summary, sow feed intake tended to increase linearly with increasing phytase; however, feeding 1,000 FTU/kg maximized overall litter gain and weaning weight. Farrowing duration was numerically decreased with increasing units of phytase. This small-scale study presents interesting impacts on sow and litter performance due to high inclusions of dietary phytase; however, a commercial trial with more sows is warranted.


Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease of unknown etiology that manifests as a pleomorphic systemic disease mainly affecting females. The variety of autoantibodies found in the serum of patients indicate that SLE is an autoimmune disease, but the mechanisms leading to the aberrant responses are not clearly understood although it is thought that a number of genetic and environmental factors may be involved. Environmental (or non-genetic) exposures could include infectious agents, chemicals or other compounds capable of modulating immune responses such as occupational/environmental pollutants or drugs, and behavioural factors such as smoking and diet. Environmental exposures may lead to the production of autoreactive T cells and autoantibodies, the stimulation of pro- and antiinflammatory cytokines, and target end-organ damage, but are not so convincing as agents causing SLE. Exposure to viruses increases antibody titres, but these may be the result of polyclonal B cell activation. The amount and timing of exposure to different environmental factors may play a significant and complex role in the pathogenesis of SLE and other autoimmune diseases. A better understanding of the etiopathogenetic mechanism of SLE is required in order to clarify the multiple interactions between environmental exposures and genetic factors.


Addressing term is a common language phenomenon as it functions as a linguistic unit to refer to someone in a conversation whether it is the speaker, the hearer or the object being discussed. Addressing terms are also found in a chronicle, a written historical record, of a certain place, person, or events. Babad Banjoemas Wirjaatmadjan (BBW) exhibited the history of Banyumas, a regency in the southern part of Central Java. It was written by Raden Wirjaatmadja and continued by Raden Poerwasoepradja. As this paper uses a pragmatic approach, context is significant in the analysis. The context of Banyumas culture is essential in revealing the function of each addressing term used in the chronicle. By using descriptive qualitative methods, the analysis shows that addressing terms in BBW are used to show formality, to show politeness, to show social status, to show inferiority, to show power and to refer to inanimate objects. There is no clear boundary among those functions as similar addressing terms can be used in various conte


The discovery in 1953 of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and the appreciation that sleep is a heterogeneous physiological state stimulated major research into sleep disorders. Electroencephalographic studies have shown that the amount of REM sleep changes with age. While newborns spend almost 50% of their sleep time in REM, the percentage of REM sleep decreases to 30% by the age of 3 months and to 20% by the age of 6 months. In addition, newborns enter REM sleep soon after the initiation of sleep, but by the age of 4 months entry into sleep assumes the adult pattern in which a significant period of non-REM sleep precedes the onset of REM sleep. Since reduction in the amount of REM sleep is associated with cerebral maturation and since the pineal gland has been implicated both in cerebral development and in the organization of REM sleep, the pineal gland may be involved in the maturation of the adult REM sleep pattern. Prior to the age of 3 months melatonin plasma levels are low and the characteristic circadian rhythms of melatonin are absent. Thereafter, melatonin secretion increases and circadian rhythmicity of melatonin becomes apparent. Thus, the abundance of REM sleep during the first 3 months of infancy is associated with deficient pineal melatonin functions, while the decline in the percentage of REM sleep coincides with the emergence of melatonin secretion coincident with the maturation of the pineal gland. I propose, therefore, that a state of low melatonin secretion is permissive for REM sleep and that maturation of the pineal gland retards REM sleep. This hypothesis is supported by the findings that melatonin suppresses REM sleep in cats and that in rats and humans pinealectomy induces a narcoleptic-like pattern of REM sleep which strikingly resembles that of the newborn and which is reversed by the administration of melatonin. A further hypothesis is advanced to explain the pathophysiology of narcolepsy in terms of a maturational defect of the pineal gland in infancy.


The majority of environmental bacteria are not readily cultured in the lab, leaving the natural products they make inaccessible using culture-dependent discovery methods. Cloning and heterologous expression of DNA extracted from environmental samples (environmental DNA, eDNA) provides a means of circumventing this discovery bottleneck. To facilitate the identification of clones containing biosynthetic gene clusters, we developed a model heterologous expression reporter strain Streptomyces albus::bpsA ΔPPTase. This strain carries a 4΄-phosphopantetheinyl transferase (PPTase)-dependent blue pigment synthase A gene, bpsA, in a PPTase deletion background. eDNA clones that express a functional PPTase restore production of the blue pigment, indigoidine. As PPTase genes often occur in biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs), indigoidine production can be used to identify eDNA clones containing BGCs. We screened a soil eDNA library hosted in S. albus::bpsA ΔPPTase and identified clones containing non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS), polyketide synthase (PKS) and mixed NRPS/PKS biosynthetic gene clusters. One NRPS gene cluster was shown to confer the production of myxochelin A to S. albus::bpsA ΔPPTase.


The continuum theory has been used to analyze the polarization, ion crowding, and electrostatic forces of the electric double layer in the electrode materials having simple cubic (SC), body-centered cubic (BCC), and face-centered cubic (FCC) morphologies. The study manifests the effect of thickness of electrodes, electrode's particle size, and porosity on electric double-layer specific capacitance (EDLC). Electrochemical interference and the specific capacitance depend on the packing factor. The larger particle size decreases the specific capacitance, but porosity increases due to more surface area. Due to symmetry, SC, BCC, and FCC morphologies have 1, 3, and 5 spheres in a unit cell. The number of unit cells is varied from 1 to 100 in model 1 to analyze the effect of electrode thickness. Model 2 has three unit cells to understand the effect of porosity, and only pore lengths are varied. The critical thickness of the electrodes is the integer multiples of 1.71 μm in all the morphologies. The Stern layer-specific capacitance is 167.6 μF cm−2 in all cases. The EDLC in BCC is around 5.6–7.6 μF cm−2 in the steady state that is intermediate between SC and FCC morphologies. The more dense packing of carbon particles in a unit cell increases the energy storage capabilities of electrodes. The average electrode permittivity slightly decreases due to the combined effect of the high electric field, status of polarization, and electrode particle size. The least optical transmission of electrodes is 98.35%.


: There exist several dozens of metadata standards for empirical research data, making it difficult for users to choose and apply such standards. Consequently, the integration of datasets from similar empirical studies for further knowledge acquisition is highly constrained. To resolve this problem, an ontology for social science research data integration (Empirion-core) has been developed. The ontology reuses existing data integration schemas: DDI-RDF Discovery Vocabulary, Generic Statistical Information Model, Core Ontology for Scientific Research Activities, Data Catalog Vocabulary, and DCMI Metadata Terms. It consists of five subontologies that provide concepts for empirical datasets description: Information resource ontology, Research activity ontology, Research coverage ontology, Measurement ontology, and ontology.


Continues the discussion of T. C. Yen9s recently established genus Bathonella. On the basis of associated fossils in various localities, it is concluded that the evidence points to a brackish-water habitat which was inhabited at times by marine forms. Consequently, it may be more desirable to maintain a generic separation, even with the small differences in shells, inasmuch as the name Viviparus connotes fresh-water conditions.


This paper proposes a novel fast search algorithm with search direction extensible, through investigating diamond search algorithm's directivity and robustness. The proposed algorithm starts with a five-point diamond search's block matching, and decides the direction from the center check point to the least block distortion point to be the search direction. Next we continuously extend one check point and detect its block distortion until the next one check point's block distortion is larger than the current check point's. Then the current check point is declared to be the center check point, and repeat the operations. Finally we end the search when the center check point has least block distortion. The proposed algorithm's search speed can increase 1 to 2 times than diamond search's with the same video quality