This article contributes to the growing literature on researcher reflexivity by broaching the often-ignored issue of religious positionalities within political science, as well as speaking to the methodological implications of researching religion more broadly. We present and compare two autoethnographic case studies of research on politico-religious conflict in Vietnam and Lebanon, exploring how a researcher's religiosity presents unique fieldwork challenges, opportunities and insights. We then discuss the ambivalence faced by religious researchers within the highly secularised academic environment, thus blurring the artificial dichotomy between 'the field' and the academy. Our reflections centre around three findings: (1) the importance of taking an intersectional approach which neither essentialises nor ignores religious aspects of positionality, whilst also being sensitive to spatial and temporal shifts in how they interact with a researcher's gender, ethnicity, class and other identifiers; (2) the opportunities and perils of a researcher's apparent religious common ground with participants (or lack thereof) in building rapport and negotiating a degree of insider status; and (3) the similarities and differences between suspicions of religious partialism during fieldwork and within academia.


There is a need for a panel of suitable biomarkers for detection of environmental chemical exposure leading to the initiation or progression of degenerative diseases or potentially, to cancer. As the peripheral blood may contain increased levels of circulating cell-free DNA in diseased individuals, we aimed to evaluate this DNA as effect biomarker recognizing vulnerability after exposure to environmental chemicals. We recruited 164 individuals presumably exposed to halo-alkane-based pesticides. Exposure evaluation was based on human biomonitoring analysis; as biomarker of exposure parent halo-methanes, -ethanes and their metabolites, as well as the hemoglobin-adducts methyl valine and hydroxyl ethyl valine in blood were used, complemented by expert evaluation of exposure and clinical intoxication symptoms as well as a questionnaire. Assessment showed exposures to halo alkanes in the concentration range being higher than non-cancer reference doses (RfD) but (mostly) lower than the occupational exposure limits. We quantified circulating DNA in serum from 86 individuals with confirmed exposure to off-gassing halo-alkane pesticides (in storage facilities or in home environment) and 30 non-exposed controls, and found that exposure was significantly associated with elevated serum levels of circulating mitochondrial DNA (in size of 79 bp, mtDNA-79, p = 0.0001). The decreased integrity of mtDNA (mtDNA-230/mtDNA-79) in exposed individuals implicates apoptotic processes (p = 0.015). The relative amounts of mtDNA-79 in serum were positively associated with the lag-time after intoxication to these chemicals (r = 0.99, p<0.0001). Several months of post-exposure the specificity of this biomarker increased from 30% to 97% in patients with intoxication symptoms. Our findings indicate that mitochondrial DNA has a potential to serve as a biomarker recognizing vulnerable risk groups after exposure to toxic/carcinogenic chemicals.


Humic substances (HS) are complex molecules characterized by high molecular weight and high chemical heterogeneity. In order to have a deeper understanding of these molecules, there is need to synthesize humic acids (HA) and fulvic acids (FA) with determined functional groups. In this paper we report a systematic study on the synthesis of both HA and FA as a function of pH and nature of the functional groups. HA and FA with two functional groups (phenolic and carboxylic) has been synthesized through polymerization of catechol and acetic acid, calibrated by dialysis with membranes of 500, 1000 and 10000 MWCO (Molecular Weight Cut Off) and characterized using two spectroscopic measurement techniques (ATR-FTIR and UV-Visible). Our synthesis technique is inexpensive and simple to undertake. There is no saturation of the reaction medium with oxygen.


31P-NMR of trimethylphosphine binding to the ferrous chains of a ([alpha Fe(II), beta Mn(II)]hemoglobin hybrid is employed to investigate partially liganded species. This study shows that at low pH (6.5), in the presence of inositol hexaphosphate, the resonance at 23.2 ppm (from H3PO4) is due to phosphine bonding to alpha-chains in the T quaternary state. At elevated pH (7.6), phosphine binding to the alpha-chains produces a resonance at 24.8 ppm which is associated with a T-to-R conversion. These findings are discussed in relation with our previous results on direct observation of intermediate ligation states of hemoglobin.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Acute C1–C2 fractures are difficult to detect on MR imaging due to a paucity of associated bone marrow edema. The purpose of this study was to determine the diagnostic utility of increased STIR signal in the posterior atlanto-occipital and atlantoaxial membrane complex (PAOAAM) in the detection of acute C1–C2 fractures on MR imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty-seven patients with C1–C2 fractures, 87 with no fractures, and 87 with other cervical fractures with acute injury who had both CT and MR imaging within 24 hours were included. All MR images were reviewed by 2 neuroradiologists for the presence of increased STIR signal in the PAOAAM and interspinous ligaments at other cervical levels. Sensitivity and specificity of increased signal within the PAOAAM for the presence of a C1–C2 fracture were assessed. RESULTS: Increased PAOAAM STIR signal was seen in 81/87 patients with C1–C2 fractures, 6/87 patients with no fractures, and 51/87 patients with other cervical fractures with 93.1% sensitivity versus those with no fractures, other cervical fractures, and all controls. Specificity was 93.1% versus those with no fractures, 41.4% versus those with other cervical fractures, and 67.2% versus all controls for the detection of acute C1–C2 fractures. Isolated increased PAOAAM STIR signal without increased signal in other cervical interspinous ligaments showed 89.7% sensitivity versus all controls. Specificity was 95.3% versus those with no fractures, 83.7% versus those with other cervical fractures, and 91.4% versus all controls. CONCLUSIONS: Increased PAOAAM signal on STIR is a highly sensitive indicator of an acute C1–C2 fracture on MR imaging. Furthermore, increased PAOAAM STIR signal as an isolated finding is highly specific for the presence of a C1–C2 fracture, making it a useful sign on MR imaging when CT is either unavailable or the findings are equivocal.


For pt.I see ibid., vol.11 p.976-82, (2004).This paper evaluates the electric stress enhancement due to surface protrusions on the tape of semiconductive shield compounds used in power cables. The results of a conventional grade and a supersmooth grade shield compounds are reported. Using a laser-scanning instrument, the shape of protrusions on the tape surface of these compounds can be quantitatively determined. An algorithm is developed to portray the geometry of a protrusion so as to allow the calculation of its stress enhancement. First the supersmooth grade shield compound is illustrated as much smoother than the conventional shield compound. Besides exhibiting a lower number of protrusions, the surface protrusions on a supersmooth shield compound also are much "flatter" than those of the conventional shield compounds. Insulation thickness is confirmed to influence the stress enhancement and, consequently, different distributions of stress enhancement factor are observed with low voltage, say, 15 kV, and high voltage, say, 500 kV, applications. The conventional shield compound exhibits higher stress enhancement than the supersmooth grade compound in higher voltage cables, though the difference is much less with lower voltage settings. Since the total number of protrusions on the conventional shield surface is more than one order of magnitude higher, the supersmooth shield therefore can offer much better protection to a cable by minimizing the electric stress degradation in its insulation material.


We consider the transmission of successive packets where each packet consists of a frame synchronization word (SW), followed by coded symbols. For short packets, the header cost is no longer negligible and the SW design requires careful optimization. In particular, a trade-off arises depending on the way the total transmit power is split among the SW and the codeword. Assuming optimal finite-length codes, we develop tight approximations on the probability of false synchronization for several synchronization metrics and use them to characterize this trade-off. Simulation results and comparisons with 5G Polar codes show the relevance of the proposed optimization for short-packet communication system design.


Mechanical reductionism, which deals entirely with homogeneous variables, will constrain and enable the activities of richly heterogeneous living systems, but it cannot determine their outcomes. Such indeterminism owes to problems with dimensionality, dynamical logic, intractability, and insufficiency. The order in any living structure arises via an historical series of contingencies that were selected endogenously by stable autocatalytic processes in tandem with, and usually in opposition to, conventional external influences (natural selection). The development of living communities thereby resembles a Heraclitean dialectic between processes that build up and those that tear down. Investigating this unconventional dynamic requires metaphysical assumptions that are complementary to those that have guided science over the past three centuries. The new dynamics can be represented in terms of weighted networks of interacting processes, which facilitate the statement of testable hypotheses. Network analysis thereby implements and tests ideas that heretofore could only be addressed as verbal propositions.


The study was undertaken to compare the effect of ADA and WHO criteria for screening of diabetes mellitus (DM) and intermediate glucose abnormality (Impaired fasting glucose/Impaired glucose tolerance-IFG/IGT) and to explore an acceptable fasting cut-off in a population-based study. Ten suburb villages with a population of 11,895 were selected purposively. Of the total 6235 eligible (> or = 20y) subjects, 4144 volunteered. We took height, weight, hip- and waist-girth, blood pressure and fasting blood glucose (FBG). All participants were classified into Group-1 (Gr-1: n=453) and Group-2 (Gr-2: n=3691), based on FBG above and below 5.4 mmol/l, respectively. All from Gr-1 and 610 randomized subjects from Gr-2 were investigated for oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), HbA1c and lipids. The mean (SD) of age, body mass index (BMI) and FBG of all participants was 37.6 (15.2) y, 19.4 (2.9), and 4.7 (0.9) mmol/l, respectively. The prevalence of diabetes and IFG/IGT using American Diabetes Association (ADA) criteria were compared with WHO criteria separately in Gr-1 and Gr-2. For group-1, ADA criteria could diagnose 5.9% as diabetes and 2.1% as IFG, whereas, WHO criteria diagnosed 11.5% diabetes and 19% IGT. Likewise, in Gr-2, ADA detected much less than WHO criteria (DM: 0.3 vs. 2.3%; IFG/IGT 1.0 vs. 14.6%). We compared fasting and 2 hours post-load glucose (2-hBG) values according to percentiles. We found that 11.1 of 2-hBG corresponded with a fasting value that lies between 90 to 95th percentile, equivalent to 5.1-5.7 mmol/l. Using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve, we determined the cut-offs 4.6 - 5.4 mmol/l for IFG and > or = 5.5 for diabetes. Taking age and BMI into account the kappa agreements were better between the estimated cut-offs and the given 2-hBG values. The ADA cut-offs were found ineffective for screening. We proposed the modified fasting cut-offs for screening IFG and diabetes among the non-obese population.


Different factors have stimulated the interest on the relationships between psychiatric conditions and endocrine disturbances in general and thyroid disease in particular (Lishman, 1998). Historically, several authors have speculated about the role of hormones and endocrine disorders in relation to psychiatric conditions, and important attention has been devoted to the role of hormones in relation to control and feedback processes in neural structures (Carroll et al. 1981). Psychiatric syndromes have consistently been described or documented in endocrine diseases (Lishman, 1998; Kathol, 2002) and may pose a real clinical challenge for psychiatrists working in general hospitals (liaison or psychosomatic psychiatrists), but the evidence in the literature to support his or her intervention is limited, according to modern criteria. The purpose of this chapter is primarily to review available data in relation to the characteristics and frequency of specific psychiatric syndromes in primary thyroid and parathyroid disturbances; issues of diagnosis and differential diagnosis; mechanisms of production of psychiatric symptomatology; and treatment issues, including response of psychiatric syndromes to treatment of the endocrinopathy and to psychotropic medication.


We need to diversify the colors by natural dyeing for promotion and extention of the natural dyes market, because natural dyestuffs have the limitation the number of the colors to express, compare to synthetic dyestuffs. It was investigated that wool and silk fabrics could be dyed to green colors using natural mugwort and indigo as one of color diversification, in order to express green color that is difficult to be shown by natural dyeing. The mugwort dyebath was prepared to concentration of using dried mugwort plant and indigo dyebath was prepared to concentration of using natural indigo powder. Wool fabrics and silk fabrics were dyed to green(GY, G, BG in Munsell color wheel) by two batch methods using the mugwort and indigo dyebaths. the mugwort dyeing was applied at for 20minutes and indigo dyeing applied for minutes in room temperature. The colorfastness to drycleaning and abrasion of the dyed fabrics were shown good as grade 4-5 or 5.


Fibronectin has been believed to be involved in vasculogenesis. This study demonstrates by immunohistochemistry the distribution of fibronectin around the systemic arteries of chick embryos during the periods of aortic arch formation, and examines the possible relationship between the distribution of fibronectin and the obliteration of the arch artery. In embryos at stage 23, no obliteration of arch arteries was recognized on sections. At this stage, intense staining with an anti-fibronectin antibody was seen in the developing tunica media of the carotid artery and dorsal aorta. Staining around the arch arteries was much weaker. At stage 26, the intensity of anti-fibronectin antibody staining was weaker around the left arch artery, although the diameter of the 4th arch artery was not different between the left and right. At stage 27, which is the early period for the obliteration of the left 4th arch artery, the intensity of the anti-fibronectin antibody staining for the left arch artery was much less than that for the right arch artery. These results show that fibronectin does not accumulate around the left 4th arch artery during aortic arch formation and suggest the possibility that a smaller amount of fibronectin is responsible for the obliteration of the left 4th arch artery.


Using a variable-coefficient nonlinear Schrödinger equation, transmission profile of a single soliton in the optical fiber with an inhomogeneous region is studied numerically. It is found that the transmitted wave contains two solitons which form a bound state when the difference of the dispersion coefficient between the inhomogeneous and the homogeneous regions is large enough. When the amplitude of the transmitted wave is small, the transmitted wave is apt to contain a bound state soliton. With the increase of the length of the inhomogeneous region, a quantity E3, which is the conserved quantity of the constant-coefficient nonlinear Schrödinger equation, for the transmitted wave converges to an asymptotic value with oscillation. It is found that the nonsoliton wave part of E3 for the transmitted wave converges to an asymptotic value rapidly compared with other contributions to E3. We find the condition for the parameters of the inhomogeneous region that a stable soliton can exist on the entire fiber.


This triple-arm, double-blind, randomized clinical trial investigated the effect of multisession prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on social functioning in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A total of 105 individuals (age 14–21 years) diagnosed with ASD were randomized into the active-tDCS, sham-tDCS, and waitlist control groups. The experimental group received 20 min of 1.5 mA tDCS stimulation (cathode: F3; anode: Fp2) for 10 days with concurrent computerized cognitive remediation training. Changes in overall social functioning, social communication, and restricted, repetitive behaviors (RRB) were measured by the Social Responsiveness Scale-2nd edition (SRS-2). Two-level hierarchical linear mixed-model analysis showed significant group*time interactions for SRS-2 total [F(2, 107.09) = 7.82; p = 0.001] and RRB [F(2, 90.26) = 5.62; p = 0.005] T-scores. When compared with the waitlist control group, the changes in scores were only significant in active-tDCS (SRS-2 total T-score p < 0.001, d = 0.61; SRS-2 RRB T-score p = 0.002, d = 0.88), but not sham-tDCS (SRS-2 total T-score p < 0.12, d = 0.30; SRS-2 RRB T-score p = 0.54, d = 0.17) group. Multiple sessions of prefrontal tDCS coupled with cognitive training is a safe and effective treatment for improving social functioning in people with ASD. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov (ID: NCT03814083; URL: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03814083). Lay abstract Currently available pharmacological and behavioral interventions for adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) yield only modest effect in alleviating their core behavioral and cognitive symptoms, and some of these treatment options are associated with undesirable side effects. Hence, developing effective treatment protocols is urgently needed. Given emerging evidence shows that the abnormal connections of the frontal brain regions contribute to the manifestations of ASD behavioral and cognitive impairments, noninvasive treatment modalities that are capable in modulating brain connections, such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), have been postulated to be potentially promising for alleviating core symptoms in ASD. However, whether tDCS can reduce behavioral symptoms and enhance cognitive performance in ASD remains unclear. This randomized controlled trial involving 105 adolescents and young adults with ASD showed that multiple sessions of a tDCS protocol, which was paired up with computerized cognitive training, was effective in improving social functioning in adolescents and young adults with ASD. No prolonged and serious side effects were observed. With more future studies conducted in different clinical settings that recruit participants from a wider age range, this tDCS protocol may be potentially beneficial to a broad spectrum of individuals with autism.


Section five of the book very scantily covers what is going to be the answer to sophisticated vision systems of the future: good internal world-models. The last section of the book is a good survey of hardware especially designed for fast image processing and contains references to systems, such as the Swedish hierarchical GOP image computer and the CLIP machines of University College London. On the whole, the coverage of the book is as good as could be expected in this rapidly changing field. The reader will not lack references to the key papers in this field. As a moral tale, however, the book is a good example of how academic sophistication may not lead to practical exploitability.


Radiative association and photodissociation rates are calculated for quadrupole transitions of H2. A complete set of bound and unbound states are included in a self-consistent master equation to obtain steady-state concentrations for a dilute system of hydrogen atoms and molecules. Phenomenological rate constants computed from the steady-state concentrations satisfy detailed balance for any combination of matter and radiation temperature. Simple formulas are derived for expressing the steady-state distributions in terms of equilibrium distributions. The rate constant for radiative association is found to be generally small for all temperature combinations. The photodissociation rate constant for quadrupole transitions is found to dominate the rate constants for other H2 photodestruction mechanisms for T R ≤ 3000 K. Implications for the formation and destruction of H2 in the early Universe are discussed.


citation ID: ofac492.1419 1789. Current Antibiotic Prescription Practices in Hospitalized Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and Febrile Neutropenia of Unknown Origin (FN-FUO): Data from a Large Tertiary Community Hospital Carlos Portales-Castillo, MD; Maryrose R. Laguio-Vila, MD; Rochester General Hospital, Rochester, New York; Rochester Regional Health, Rochester, New York Session: 221. Antimicrobial Stewardship: Trends in Antimicrobial Prescribing Saturday, October 22, 2022: 12:15 PM Background. Optimal duration of empiric antibiotic therapy in hospitalized patients with febrile neutropenia of unknown origin (FN-FUO) remains controversial. Emerging evidence suggests that early discontinuation of antibiotics at 48-72 hours of apyrexia is safe regardless of neutrophil count. However, in the U.S., the adoption of this and other antibiotic use practices in these patients remains unstandardized and understudied, particularly in community hospitals. In this pilot study, we sought to evaluate current antibiotic prescription practices in our large community hospital in admitted patients with AML and FN-FUO. Methods. We conducted a retrospective cohort study from January 1st, 2020 to December 16, 2021. All patients admitted with a diagnosis of AML and febrile neutropenia (FN) were screened and those with FN-FUO, defined as no microbiological growth on blood, respiratory or urine cultures at 48 hours of first fever were included. Data on initial antibiotic choices, use of vancomycin and its congruence with IDSA guidelines, mean days of therapy (DOT), mean days of "excess" therapy (DOET), defined by days of antibiotics after >72 hours of apyrexia and total DOET were obtained by medical record review and descriptive analysis was performed. Results. A total of 65 patients with FNwere screened. After screening, 27 patients met criteria for inclusion and data from their hospital stay was obtained (Table 1). Cefepime was the preferred choice of initial intravenous β-lactam in 85% of cases and piperacillin-tazobactam was used in the remainder of cases. Vancomycin was used initially in 55% of cases out of which its use was considered to be incongruent with IDSA guidelines in 25% of cases. The most common reason for IDSA incongruent use of vancomycin was lack of documentation for its use. Mean DOT was 10 and mean DOETwas 3 (Table 2). In total, we identified 87 excess days of antibiotic therapy in this cohort. Conclusion. Little is known about antibiotic prescription practices in high risk FN-FUO patients in community hospitals. Our findings highlight potential concrete antibiotic stewardship targets and shortening this knowledge gap may help guide the development of interventions that have been previously shown to improve clinical outcomes in this overall underrepresented population. Disclosures. All Authors: No reported disclosures. S696 • OFID 2022:9 (Suppl 2) • Poster Abstracts


There are many ways to include stochastic effects in models of sex allocation evolution. These include variability in the number of mating partners and fecundity in a rich literature that goes back 20 years. The effects of variance in the fecundity and number of mating partners have typically been considered separately from the stochastic effects of mortality. However, I show that these processes produce mathematically equivalent models with subtly different biological details. These scenarios differ in the way that information becomes available to individuals because the parents often have information on mating partners while they are making sex allocation decisions, but must make these decisions before brood mortality takes place. This makes it possible to test which mechanism, stochastic mortality or variation in mating partners, is responsible for observed sex ratios. Alternatively, asymmetric variance between sexual functions can cause skewed sex allocation, even in the absence of local mate competition. This allows the evolution of either female‐ or male‐biased sex ratios depending on which sexual function is more variable.


Since the mid-1990s, universities and colleges have sought to institutionalize service-learning and community engagement. Along with aligning institutional roles and rewards, professional development for faculty and academic staff has been a key strategy for institutionalization. However, as Welch and Plaxton-Moore (2017) noted, professional development around community engagement is rarely guided by theory or conceptual frameworks and often lacks impact or outcome data. As a response to this critique, this paper presents Michigan State University's Summer Intensive on Community-Engaged Scholarship, a weeklong professional development program for faculty, academic staff, and advanced graduate students offered in person annually. The author describes the program's underlying conceptual framework, chronicles iterative improvements in its implementation over 4 years, and documents its impacts on 85 participants. The most significant gains in participant understanding were in history and foundations, variations of community engagement, collaboration techniques, use of theory, conceptual frameworks and best practices to guide community-engaged research or teaching and learning, communicating with public audiences, communicating with academic audiences, and preparing materials for reappointment, promotion, and tenure. The author concludes with reflections on the program's inherent generative tensions and suggests future directions for professional development related to community-engaged scholarship and practice.


The prayer hall was chosen as the target of this study as it is the main interior space within the building of a mosque where religious rites are held. The problem of the research is represented in the lack of a database that summarizes the design characteristics of the interior elements of the prayer hall, and their potential values in a way that ensures reaching quantitative and qualitative scales that allow conducting comparative studies between different styles of congregational mosques. The research aims to set a database for the characteristics of the interior elements of the prayer hall by building a theoretical framework supported by the previous studies, and by using the descriptive analytical method to set the essential vocabularies of the elements of the interior space with their possible values, which will enable future studies to develop these elements, in both quantitative and qualitative ways. A table conducting more studies on how to develop the characteristics of the interior design in mosques, and the design of the interior elements, and to help conducting analytical comparison between the different types and models of mosques for ancient and contemporary times.


OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to describe quantitatively the properties of the posterolateral approaches and their combination. METHODS Six silicone-injected cadaveric heads were dissected bilaterally. Quantitative data were generated with the Optotrak 3020 system (Northern Digital, Waterloo, Canada) and Surgiscope (Elekta Instruments, Inc., Atlanta, GA), including key anatomic points on the skull base and brainstem. All parameters were measured after the basic retrosigmoid craniectomy and then after combination with a basic far-lateral extension. The clinical results of 20 patients who underwent a combined retrosigmoid and far-lateral approach were reviewed. RESULTS The change in accessibility to the lower clivus was greatest after the far-lateral extension (mean change, 43.62 ± 10.98 mm2; P = .001). Accessibility to the constant landmarks, Meckel's cave, internal auditory meatus, and jugular foramen did not change significantly between the 2 approaches (P > .05). The greatest change in accessibility to soft tissue between the 2 approaches was to the lower brainstem (mean change, 33.88 ± 5.25 mm2; P = .0001). Total removal was achieved in 75% of the cases. The average postoperative Glasgow Outcome Scale score of patients who underwent the combined retrosigmoid and far-lateral approach improved significantly, compared with the preoperative scores. CONCLUSION The combination of the far-lateral and simple retrosigmoid approaches significantly increases the petroclival working area and access to the cranial nerves. However, risk of injury to neurovascular structures and time needed to extend the craniotomy must be weighed against the increased working area and angles of attack.


GANs have matured in recent years and are able to generate high-resolution, realistic images. However, the computational resources and the data required for the training of high-quality GANs are enormous, and the study of transfer learning of these models is therefore an urgent topic. Many of the available high-quality pretrained GANs are unconditional (like StyleGAN). For many applications, however, conditional GANs are preferable, because they provide more control over the generation process, despite often suffering more training difficulties. Therefore, in this paper, we focus on transferring from high-quality pretrained unconditional GANs to conditional GANs. This requires architectural adaptation of the pretrained GAN to perform the conditioning. To this end, we propose hyper-modulated generative networks that allow for shared and complementary supervision. To prevent the additional weights of the hypernetwork to overfit, with subsequent mode collapse on small target domains, we introduce a self-initialization procedure that does not require any real data to initialize the hypernetwork parameters. To further improve the sample efficiency of the transfer, we apply contrastive learning in the discriminator, which effectively works on very limited batch sizes. In extensive experiments, we validate the efficiency of the hypernetworks, self-initialization and contrastive loss for knowledge transfer on standard benchmarks. Our code is available at https://github.com/hecoding/Hyper-Modulation.


Abstract Brachial plexus blockade is routinously performed by using the axillary route. From clinical experience and anatomical point of view it is known that the axillary approach is not the ideal technique to achieve efficient brachial plexus anesthesia. Regarding the anatomical conditions, it is clear that the mid-retrosubclavian region should be the most appropriate place to apply the local anesthetic agent due to the fact that all three fascicles of the plexus are lying close together. During the past several decades different supra- and infraclavicular approaches have been described but none of them are still in use to a great extent today. Since 1993 we routinely have used the vertical infraclavicular approach, a self developed technique based on detailed anatomic studies. This method of brachial plexus blockade has clearly defined guidelines using simple reproducible landmarks and is performed by applying a strongly vertical puncture at the center line between the ventral apophysis of acromion (lateral landmark) and the jugular notch (medial landmark) directly beneath the clavicula. The patient is lying in a supine position with his forearm relaxed on the chest and his head slightly turned to the contralateral side. The brachial plexus is met in 3 to 4 cm depth. Because of its advantages the vertical infraclavicular blockade has become the most applied technique in upper extremity regional anesthesia in our hospital. The method has a high success rate, low risks, and a high acceptance by both patients and anesthetists. © 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


Partisan perception affects the actions of professionals in the financial sector. Using a novel dataset linking credit rating analysts to party affiliations from voter records, we show that analysts who are not affiliated with the U.S. president's party downward-adjust corporate credit ratings more frequently. By comparing analysts with different party affiliations covering the same firm in the same quarter, we ensure that differences in firm fundamentals cannot explain the results. We also find a sharp divergence in the rating actions of Democratic and Republican analysts around the 2016 presidential election. Our results show analysts' partisan perception has sizable price effects on rated firms and may influence firms' investment policies.


Background Protozoan infections remain a major public health concern in Ethiopia, which causes malnutrition, protein and iron deficiencies, increment of health costs, hospitalization and long-term deleterious effects. In Tigrai, particularly, in the study area, there are limited literatures on the prevalence of protozoa and associated factors among diarrheic outpatients. Thus, aimed to determine the prevalence and associated factors of protozoan infections among diarrheic outpatients in Eastern Tigrai. Methods Health facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Eastern Tigrai, Ethiopia from April to October 2019 among diarrheic outpatient in health facilities of Adigrat. Four hundred one eighteen study participants were included consecutively. The stool samples were examined via direct wet mount following formal-ether concentration technique. Both interviewer based and self-administrated questionnaires were used to collect demographic data and factors associated with protozoan infections. Data were analyzed and computed using BM SPSS statistics version 22.0. P-value=0.05 at 95% confidence interval declared statistically significant. Results Out of 418 diarrheic outpatients, the overall prevalence of protozoan infection was 59.3% (248/418). A higher percentage of intestinal protozoan infection was recorded for females 130 (31.1%). Using well water as a source of drinking, poor hand washing habits before eating, not home latrine, dirty and untrimmed fingernails were the most important risk factors identified. E. histolytica complex and Giardia duodenalis were the most predominant protozoan infections detected among diarrheic outpatients. Conclusion The present study showed that diarrheic outpatients in the study area were heavily infected with protozoan parasitic infection. E. histolytica complex and Giardia duodenalis were the most predominant protozoans detected among diarrheic outpatients. Using well water as a source of drinking, poor handwashing habit before eating, not having home latrine, dirty and untrimmed fingernails were most important risk factors identified. So, cooperative action and health education on preventive measure are needed to reduce protozoan infections in Tigrai, particularly in the study area. The present study showed that diarrheic outpatients in the study area were heavily infected with protozoan parasitic infection.


Textile dyes have adverse effects on human beings and aquatic life. Textile dye waste is a potential source of surface and ground water contamination if it is not properly collected, treated and disposed of. The main objective of the research was to prepare activated carbon from an agricultural solid waste, coconut coir and to determine its effectiveness in removing textile dyes from aqueous solution and in textile dye waste treatment. The coconut coir activated carbon (CCAC) and a commercial activated carbon (CAC) were characterised in terms of ash content, bulk density, pH, pHZPC, surface area, micropore area, micropore volume, average pore diameter, surface morphology, surface acidic functional groups, basic sites and surface functional groups. Adsorption of four different classes of textile dyes, namely Acid Red 18 (AR 18), Disperse Red 343 (DR 343), Reactive Yellow 15 (RY 15) and Direct Blue 86 (DB 86) by CCAC and CAC were examined.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Cognitive deficits after stroke are common and interfere with recovery. One purpose of this study was to determine whether the motor abilities of subjects who have poststroke cognitive deficits and who have received problem-oriented willed-movement (POWM) therapy will improve more than the motor abilities of subjects in the reference group who have received neurodevelopmental treatment (NDT). Another purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between cognitive function and motor abilities for both groups.

SUBJECTS
The subjects recruited for this study were 36 men and 11 women with various degrees of poststroke cognitive deficits.

METHODS
A randomized block design was used to assign the subjects to 2 groups. Cognitive function and motor ability were evaluated with the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Stroke Rehabilitation Assessment of Movement (STREAM). Both groups received physical therapy 5 or 6 times per week in 50-minute sessions.

RESULTS
The STREAM scores improved after treatment in both groups. Main group effects were found for the lower-extremity (F=4.58, P< .05) and basic mobility (F=27.49, P< .01) subscales of the STREAM. Pretest cognitive function showed a positive relationship with posttest motor ability in the NDT group (r = .446, P< .05). However, the relationship between pretest cognitive function and posttest motor ability had no statistical significance in the POWM group (r = .101, P= .630).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
These findings suggest that, regardless of a person's cognitive function, POWM intervention is effective in improving lower-extremity and basic mobilities and indicates the need to use relatively intact cognitive function or perceptual function, or both, to improve motor rehabilitation for people with cognitive function deficits.


A recent study of carbon nanotube (CNT)-field emission display (FED) was described, and luminance uniformity of the experimental panel and the results of the life test of the CNT emitters were revealed. Furthermore, a high-resolution CNT-FED was investigated for graphic-displays. The sub-pixel size was 0.2 mm × 0.6 mm. The configuration of the display was a metal-backed color-phosphor screen, tall-spacer of 0.5-1.0 mm height for individual phosphor line, a metal gate-substrate with tall spacer and chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-grown-CNT on a metal-electrode. In order to improve field-emission characteristics of the CNT cathode, we developed two kinds of new CNT emitters by thermal-CVD. One is an emitter with thin CNTs which were grown on an alumina layer. The emission was extremely increased at lower voltage, compared to our conventional CNT emitter. Another is an emitter with secondary thin CNTs grown on thick CNTs. The emission showed an improvement in emission distribution uniformity.


We report a quantitative, analytical, and numerical comparison between two models of the interaction of a nonrelativistic quantum particle with a thin time-dependent absorbing barrier. The first model represents the barrier by a set of time-dependent discontinuous matching conditions, which are closely related to Kottler boundary conditions used in stationary-wave optics as a mathematical basis for Kirchhoff diffraction theory. The second model mimics the absorbing barrier with an off-diagonal δ potential with a time-dependent amplitude. We show that the two models of absorption agree in their predictions in a semiclassical regime, the regime readily accessible in modern experiments with ultracold atoms.


In plants, lipoxygenases (LOXs) play a crucial role in biotic and abiotic stresses. In our previous study, five 13-LOX genes of oriental melon were regulated by abiotic stress but it is unclear whether the 9-LOX is involved in biotic and abiotic stresses. The promoter analysis revealed that CmLOX09 (type of 9-LOX) has hormone elements, signal substances, and stress elements. We analyzed the expression of CmLOX09 and its downstream genes—CmHPL and CmAOS—in the leaves of four-leaf stage seedlings of the oriental melon cultivar "Yumeiren" under wound, hormone, and signal substances. CmLOX09, CmHPL, and CmAOS were all induced by wounding. CmLOX09 was induced by auxin (indole acetic acid, IAA) and gibberellins (GA3); however, CmHPL and CmAOS showed differential responses to IAA and GA3. CmLOX09, CmHPL, and CmAOS were all induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA), while being inhibited by abscisic acid (ABA) and salicylic acid (SA). CmLOX09, CmHPL, and CmAOS were all induced by the powdery mildew pathogen Podosphaera xanthii. The content of 2-hexynol and 2-hexenal in leaves after MeJA treatment was significantly higher than that in the control. After infection with P. xanthii, the diseased leaves of the oriental melon were divided into four levels—levels 1, 2, 3, and 4. The content of jasmonic acid (JA) in the leaves of levels 1 and 3 was significantly higher than that in the level 0 leaves. In summary, the results suggested that CmLOX09 might play a positive role in the response to MeJA through the hydroperoxide lyase (HPL) pathway to produce C6 alcohols and aldehydes, and in the response to P. xanthii through the allene oxide synthase (AOS) pathway to form JA.


The extension of Parseval's theorem given in [2] is interpreted from the viewpoint of expansion systems. To do this, we present the definition and basic properties of orthorecursive expansion systems (introduced by Lukashenko) and prove the equivalence of Stechkins' result and the convergence of the expansion by a certain system (the signum system) of any element in to this element. The approach adopted enables us to study questions of uniform convergence, pointwise convergence and convergence in the metrics of expansions by the signum system of functions not only in , but also in , where is an arbitrary measurable space with a finite measure. We prove the convergence in the metric of the expansion of any function, , the uniform convergence of the expansion of any continuous function and the pointwise convergence of the expansion of any essentially unbounded function by the signum system to this function.


Many intrusion-hosted Ni–Cu magmatic sulfide deposits, such as Voisey's Bay (Labrador, Canada) and Jinchuan (China), show evidence for late-stage mobilization of high-density, low-viscosity sul-fide-rich melts, which range from sulfide-rich silicate magma pulses to coherent pulses of pure sulfide liquid. Here we investigate the possibility that such sulfide-rich pulses can be generated by the upward entrainment of pooled sulfide liquid by immiscible silicate magma within a two-phase, density-stratified staging chamber. The potential degree of entrainment is measured by the critical draw-up height d , defined as the height of the overlying silicate magma at which the lower sulfide liquid will be mobilized and entrained during withdrawal of silicate magma from the chamber. Previous analytical solutions for axisymmetric withdrawal from a density-stratified reservoir have focused on the volcanology of bimodal, felsic–mafic silicate magma systems. We present new laboratory experiments of axisymmetric withdrawal that are tuned to the physical properties of mafic–sulfide systems, and find that the draw-up scales previously applied to felsic–mafic systems can be applied to both viscous and inertial entrainment of sulfide liquid into silicate magma. Within viscous (Reynolds number, Re < 10) to transitional regimes (Re (cid:2) 10–1000) d is dependent on the viscosity of the mafic layer, but independent of the viscosity of the sulfide layer; at a given volumetric magma flow rate ( Q ), higher viscosity mafic magmas will be more efficient sulfide entrainers than lower viscosity magmas. Entrainment is independent of viscosity within inertial regimes (Re > 1000). In all dynamic regimes d is proportional to Q and inversely proportional to the density difference between the fluids. Significant mobilization and entrainment of sulfide liquid, as indicated by predicted draw-up cones with d between 1 and 10m, can occur under inertial conditions at high ( Q (cid:2) 1–1000 m 3 s –1 ) magma volumetric flow rates that are plausible for mid- to upper-crustal magma chambers. Although entrainment can potentially generate sulfide-rich magma pulses, it probably represents only an initial step in the mobilization of sulfide liquid and the genesis of magmatic sulfide deposits. Entrained sulfide liquids must be transported upwards and/or laterally from their site of mobilization towards their site of deposition, which may occur as coherent masses or as droplets depending on the dynamics of the system. Although entrainment may be viable at the scale of sills, dykes, chonoliths and lava flows, it may not be significant in scenarios where significant ( > 100m) thicknesses of molten mafic magma must be expelled prior to reaching 1–10m scale critical draw-up heights; in such scenarios gravitational backflow of sulfide may be a more viable mechanism for producing economic concentrations of Ni–Cu sulfide mineralization.


A case report is presented which contains a constellation of congenital anomalies often found associated in the polysplenia syndrome. A single ectopic rudimentary spleen was found instead of the typical polysplenic malformation. The case is discussed in relation to the variability of both the asplenia and polysplenia syndromes.


Abstract In this paper, a study examining high-risk situations for relapse is presented. The sample consisted of 72 participants (51 male and 21 female) who had relapsed after having received a residential psychological treatment for drug addition in a therapeutic community in Spain. In order to analyze what personal, environmental or social factors were the most immediate triggers of relapse, a personal interview, using the Relapse Interview, was administered to each one of the relapsed patients. Results showed that most of the relapses took place during the first year after completing the treatment program. Likewise, the factors most frequently cited for relapse were the following: to cope with negative emotional states (49.5%), to be unable to resist temptations or impulses to consume (17.5%), to test personal control (10.3%) and to cope with interpersonal conflicts (9.3%). Results indicate that most factors were of an intrapersonal nature. Implications of these results for further research and clinical practice are commented upon.


AIM OF STUDY
Aim of conducted studies was to asses changes in time and coexistence of improper behavior patterns among students in year 2009 and 2012.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study included 905 students of the University of Rzeszow and Rzeszow University of Technology who have studied on medical, humanistic and science fields. Research was conducted by diagnostic sounding with usage of survey technique. In statistical elaboration squared-chi test and logical regression models were used. The study was conducted between October and December 2009 (study T1). It was repeated in 2012 among the same group of students (T2).

RESULTS
Conducted in year 2009 and 2012 studies indicated that over half of surveyed students did not smoke cigarettes (T1 67.8%; T2 66.5%) and that daily smoking was declared only by 11.5% (T1) and 10.9% (T2) of asked youths. Majority of examined youth academic people drank alcohol once a month (T1 30.7%; T2 32.1%). Only 4.7% (T1) i 6.3% (T2) declared themselves as abstainers. Research pointed on significant increase of systematic drugs use (T1 0.4%; T2 1.7%). Vast majority of surveyed youths did not use legal highs in both research periods (89.3%--T2 and 91.5%--T2). There were no differences shown on the level of statistical significance in neither category (tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, usage of drugs and legal highs). Students who smokes have bigger chance to addict themselves to alcohol, legal highs and drugs then the ones who do not smoke cigarettes.

CONCLUSIONS
Conducted studies shows that tobacco smoking is a predictor of risky behaviors. Students who smoke are more exposed to addiction to alcohol, drugs and legal highs then those who reject tobacco.


One day after a single exposure of rats to cigarette smoke their blood pressure responses to intravenous injections of angiotensin I and II were slightly increased in comparison to sham-exposed animals. When the exposure was repeated daily during ten consecutive days, no changes could be detected. These results suggest, that the total conversion of angiotensin I in vivo was not affected by cigarette smoke but the sensitivity of rats to angiotensin II was slightly increased after a single exposure to cigarette smoke.


Our purpose was to assess the epidemiological situation of pertussis among infants in the region of Sfax (southern Tunisia). From January 2013 to January 2014, infants consulting for a suspected diagnosis of whooping cough were included in this study. The laboratory diagnosis was based on Bordetella culture and detection of B. pertussis- B. parapertussis DNA by real-time PCR. Household contacts were asked to provide pertussis diagnostic specimens for PCR and serology. One hundred thirty six infants clinically suspected of whooping cough were enrolled. Fifty two infants (38.2%) had a confirmed B. pertussis positive laboratory diagnosis by real-time PCR, whereas, culture was negative in all cases. For household contacts of pertussis positive cases, 8 among 20 parents tested had positive serology among them 2 mothers had also a positive nasopharyngeal Bordetella PCR. Our study confirms that whooping cough remains a public health problem in Tunisia affecting not only infants but also adults.


The study introduces novel codes called irregular repeat quaternary-accumulate (IRqA) codes whose performance is better than that of the standard irregular repeat accumulate (IRA) codes for the medium-to-short block lengths. The codes are a serial concatenation of an irregular repeat code and a quaternary-accumulate (qA) code. The decoding is performed iteratively by exchanging extrinsic information. The decoding of qA codes is executed using two-dimensional BCJR (Bahl, Cocke, Jelinek and Raviv) decoding. Our codes are found by optimising irregular repetition factors, based on EXIT charts. We also present some simulation results, which show that IRqA codes surpass IRA codes with the comparable encoding and decoding complexities.


The task of generating code solutions for a given programming problem can benefit from the use of pre-trained language models such as Codex, which can produce multiple diverse samples. However, a major challenge for this task is to select the most appropriate solution from the multiple samples generated by the pre-trained language models. A natural way to evaluate the quality and correctness of a code solution is to run it against a set of test cases, but the manual creation of such test cases is often costly and time-consuming. In this paper, we propose a novel method, CodeT, that leverages the same pre-trained language models to automatically generate test cases for the code samples, thus reducing the human effort and increasing the coverage of the test scenarios. CodeT then executes the code samples using the generated test cases, and performs a dual execution agreement, which considers both the consistency of the outputs against the generated test cases and the agreement of the outputs with other code samples. We conduct comprehensive experiments on four benchmarks, HumanEval, MBPP, APPS and CodeContests, using five different pre-trained language models with varying sizes and capabilities. Our results show that CodeT can significantly improve the performance of code solution selection over previous methods, achieving remarkable and consistent gains across different models and benchmarks. For instance, CodeT improves the pass@1 metric on HumanEval to 65.8%, which represents an absolute improvement of 18.8% over the code-davinci-002 model, and an absolute improvement of more than 20% over the previous state-of-the-art results.


1. Lee et al. present measurements from the FAME2008 campaign of ambient OA mass loadings and how the OA mass changes as the particles are passed through a thermodenuder (TD) maintained at elevated temperatures. An interesting contribution from this paper is the measurement of mass thermograms for different TD residence times (14 sec and 105 sec). Their results clearly indicate that the particles do not achieve equilibrium in the TD within 14 seconds, indicating that a non equilibrium model must be used to interpret the observations. However, only a few data points at the


Motivational profiling is commonly done in both marketing and forensic contexts. In an unabashed quest for creativity, many marketers use projective psychological techniques to search for inspiration that leads to ad concepts that will, ultimately, sell more products. Forensic professionals also seek predictive information about motivation in search of facts that will effectively lead to the capture and handling of criminals by using the recent advances found in linguistic technology. Projective profiling techniques produce very soft, opinionated data that are open to interpretation and which has only random relevance to predicting customer behavior. In contrast, linguistic profiling techniques produce hard data that are reliable, valid and very powerful in predicting behavior. The differences in process and results between the creative versus linguistic profiling are compared. Linguistic profiling is clearly the superior approach if prediction of behavior is at issue. Key Words: Motivational Profiling, Forensics, Linguistics, Qualitative Market Research, Creative Techniques, Projective Techniques Motivation The playwright Neil Simon summed up a major theme in qualitative research in reference to his stories: "It's about wanting; if it's not about wanting, it's not about people." In law enforcement circles, wanting, a.k.a., motivation, is central to crime fighting. In marketing, motivation is also central. The difference: in law enforcement, motivational profiling is deadly serious because lives are at stake while in marketing, motivational profiling may be merely semi-serious where only money is at stake (... sometimes lots of money). Law enforcement motivational profiles, driven by linguistic models, are based on evidence. Marketing profiles, at least those generated by projective techniques, are based on unreliable impressions formed without predictive validity: evidence is rarely produced. Three decades of linguistic technology provide the means to get the needed hard facts about motivation. Law enforcement has embraced this technology because the evidence works in profiling motives in high stakes situations. Marketers who use projective techniques get almost no facts and are willing to settle for imagination, vague impressions and supposition that has little or no bearing on the facts of motivation. The difference is behavioral engineering versus creative art. Enter Linguistics Let's get our premises clear. We all learn in Psychology 101 that people are always motivated. People are always thinking and deciding about what they want. Scores of motivated decisions begin with our response to the morning alarm clock and continue from moment to moment throughout the day. In grammar school English we learned another relevant fact: "A sentence is a group of words expressing a complete thought." People often say, "Of course! Of course! We know that." Maybe we don't know as much as we would like to think. Few of us wanted to learn all the grammar in the textbooks. Perhaps that explains why research practitioners seldom systematically connect the simple idea that sentences express thoughts to their research designs. As linguist Benjamin Whorf (1956) noted: "The limits of my language are the limits of my world." In motivational matters, we are largely motivated by what we are capable of thinking. David McClelland, noted pioneering Harvard psychologist, assessed motives by language content analysis (McClelland, 1961). His early work looked for thematic motivational differences among verbiage expressed by cultures, but he did not plumb the latent depths of linguistic architecture. Soon, linguists added the missing ingredient: They mapped the architecture of language, for example, Chomsky's (1968) "transformational grammar." Then Bandler and Grinder (1975; Grinder & Bandler, 1976) connected the architectural meta-language of language with behavioral assessment, prediction, intervention and change. …


A healthy and a dignified life experience requires adequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WaSH) coverage. However, inadequate WaSH resources remain a significant public health challenge in many communities in Southern Africa. A systematic search of peer-reviewed journal articles from 2010 –May 2022 was undertaken on Medline, PubMed, EbscoHost and Google Scholar from 2010 to May 2022 was searched using combinations of predefined search terms with Boolean operators. Eighteen peer-reviewed articles from Southern Africa satisfied the inclusion criteria for this review. The general themes that emerged for both barriers and facilitators included geographical inequalities, climate change, investment in WaSH resources, low levels of knowledge on water borne-diseases and ineffective local community engagement. Key facilitators to improved WaSH practices included improved WaSH infrastructure, effective local community engagement, increased latrine ownership by individual households and the development of social capital. Water and sanitation are critical to ensuring a healthy lifestyle. However, many people and communities in Southern Africa still lack access to safe water and improved sanitation facilities. Rural areas are the most affected by barriers to improved WaSH facilities due to lack of WaSH infrastructure compared to urban settings. Our review has shown that, the current WaSH conditions in Southern Africa do not equate to the improved WaSH standards described in SDG 6 on ensuring access to water and sanitation for all. Key barriers to improved WaSH practices identified include rurality, climate change, low investments in WaSH infrastructure, inadequate knowledge on water-borne illnesses and lack of community engagement.


Several works have proposed Simplicity Bias (SB)---the tendency of standard training procedures such as Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) to find simple models---to justify why neural networks generalize well [Arpit et al. 2017, Nakkiran et al. 2019, Valle-Perez et al. 2019]. However, the precise notion of simplicity remains vague. Furthermore, previous settings that use SB to justify why neural networks generalize well do not simultaneously capture the brittleness of neural networks---a widely observed phenomenon in practice [Goodfellow et al. 2014, Jo and Bengio 2017]. To this end, we introduce a collection of piecewise-linear and image-based datasets that (a) naturally incorporate a precise notion of simplicity and (b) capture the subtleties of neural networks trained on real datasets. Through theory and experiments on these datasets, we show that SB of SGD and variants is extreme: neural networks rely exclusively on the simplest feature and remain invariant to all predictive complex features. Consequently, the extreme nature of SB explains why seemingly benign distribution shifts and small adversarial perturbations significantly degrade model performance. Moreover, contrary to conventional wisdom, SB can also hurt generalization on the same data distribution, as SB persists even when the simplest feature has less predictive power than the more complex features. We also demonstrate that common approaches for improving generalization and robustness---ensembles and adversarial training---do not mitigate SB and its shortcomings. Given the central role played by SB in generalization and robustness, we hope that the datasets and methods in this paper serve as an effective testbed to evaluate novel algorithmic approaches aimed at avoiding the pitfalls of extreme SB.


Abstract The purpose was to assess sleep patterns, quantity and quality in adolescent (16.2 ± 1.2 yr) Middle Eastern academy soccer players (n = 20) and the influence of an intermission upon these characteristics. On a 17-day training camp (located one time zone west of home) including three discrete matches, sleep was assessed pre- (PRE) and post-match (POST) via wrist actigraphy. Retrospective actigraphy analysis identified sleep characteristics, including if players experienced a sleep intermission (YES) or not (NO) proximal to dawn, and bedtime (hh:mm), get-up time (hh:mm), time in bed (h), sleep duration (h) and sleep efficiency (%). Within YES two bouts were identified (BOUT1 and BOUT2). No differences were seen between PRE and POST, nor between BOUT1 and BOUT2 (p > .05). Overall players did not meet National Sleep Foundation (NSF) guidelines (7:04 ± 1:16 h vs. recommended 8–10 h for 14–17 yr). Sleep duration was significantly reduced (∼ −13% or −1:06) in YES compared to NO (6:33 ± 1:05 vs. 7:29 ± 1:17, p < .01). Despite players in YES waking earlier due to an intermission, they did not compensate for this with a later wake time, rising significantly earlier compared to NO (09:40 ± 00:38 vs. 10:13 ± 00:40, p < .05). These players on average do not obtain sufficient sleep durations relative to NSF guidelines, with decrements increased by an intermission proximal to dawn. High inter- and intra-individual variance in the players sleep characteristics indicates the need for individualized sleep education strategies and interventions to promote appropriate sleep.


The thermal decomposition behavior of hydrotalcite-like compounds (HTlcs) prepared by reconstruction of calcined HTlcs is described. From the results of X-ray diffraction (XRD), it seems that dicarboxylate intercalates of HTlc calcined at 500 °C are completely reconstructed to Mg-Al-CO3 HTlc by exposure to aqueous Na2CO3. However, the Mg-Al-CO3 HTlc reconstructed under particular conditions yields spinel (MgAl2O4) at 400 °C. This temperature is very low, because Mg-Al-CO3 HTlc that has been reported yields spinel at 900 °C after forming a Mg-Al double oxide. The reconstructed Mg-Al-CO3 HTlc that yields spinel at 400 °C is obtained when the following conditions are fulfilled: the crystallites of the starting dicarboxylate intercalates are coagulated tightly and the calcined HTlcs and reconstructed materials are not ground. The Mg-Al-CO3 HTlc reconstructed under these conditions contains only 55–70% of carbonate anions required by stoichiometry. Therefore, we conclude that the transformation of reconstructed Mg-Al-CO3 HTlc to spinel at 400 °C is the result of a reaction occurring between edges of crystallites.


We present N2Cloud, a novel Cloud-based neural network simulation system, which provides and exchanges neural network knowledge and simulation resources to and between arbitrary users on a world-wide basis following the Web 2.0 principle. N2Cloud enables the exchange of knowledge, as neural network objects and paradigms, by a virtual organization environment and delivers ample resources by exploiting the Cloud computing principle. The system provides a transparent environment to allow even naive users to exploit the resources of this simulation system. N2Cloud uses standard protocols and is based on a pure service oriented approach. Hereby it integrates into the up-to-date service stack (SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS) of service oriented architectures.


INTRODUCTION
Pentraxin-3 (PTX-3) is a prototype of pentraxin proteins that have been shown to be involved in acute phase response. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between PTX-3 levels and familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) disease, and to evaluate PTX-3 as a novel diagnostic marker of FMF.

METHOD
Forty-three male patients diagnosed with FMF and 42 healthy individuals were included in the study. Patients with other inflammatory diseases and patients who used drugs having anti-inflammatory properties were excluded from the research. Blood samples were obtained during both attack and attack-free periods.

RESULTS
Patient attack periods were confirmed by combining physical examination and elevation of acute phase reactants. Acute phase reactants were significantly higher in attack versus attack-free periods (p < 0.01), however PTX-3 levels were not significantly different between the two periods. Additionally, PTX-3 levels in FMF patients were higher than in controls in both attack (917.29 ± 725.29 vs 451.83 ± 291.95, p < 0.01) and attack-free periods (748.23 ± 487.53 vs 451.83 ± 291.95, p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION
In this study, we showed that PTX-3 levels, in both FMF attack and attack-free periods, were significantly higher than in the control group. Finally, PTX-3 may be a promising biomarker for FMF diagnosis and may predict FMF attacks (Tab. 2, Fig. 2, Ref. 18).


To the Editor. —"Even when testing of the field is automated, interpretation is not" has been stated by Anderson. 1 In regard to the editorial on automated perimetry by Wilensky in the February 1989 issue of theArchives, 2 I must congratulate the author for his depth of knowledge in the visual field area. I believe we should be happy with Humphrey perimeters and Humphrey technicians only after working with them ourselves for a while. Only in this way may we learn about automated perimetry's fitness, where it can fool the spectator, where it is superior to Goldmann perimetry, where and with what kind of patient Goldmann perimetry is preferable, and in which cases to perform and compare both types of examinations. Concerning the last, but not the least, sentence in the editorial, "The most important computer is still the one in the ophthalmologist's head," I would like to report


Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is the preferred procedure for biliary and pancreatic drainage. While ERCP is successful in about 95% of cases, a small subset of cases are unsuccessful due to altered anatomy, peri-ampullary pathology, or malignant obstruction. Endoscopic ultrasound-guided drainage is a promising technique for biliary, pancreatic and recently gallbladder decompression, which provides multiple advantages over percutaneous or surgical biliary drainage. Multiple retrospective and some prospective studies have shown endoscopic ultrasound-guided drainage to be safe and effective. Based on the currently reported literature, regardless of the approach, the cumulative success rate is 84%-93% with an overall complication rate of 16%-35%. endoscopic ultrasound-guided drainage seems a viable therapeutic modality for failed conventional drainage when performed by highly skilled advanced endoscopists at tertiary centers with expertise in both echo-endoscopy and therapeutic endoscopy.


In response to short‐day photoperiods in the autumn, the large milkweed bug Oncopeltus fasciatus Dallas enters a reproductive diapause and migrates south to avoid the adverse environmental conditions and food shortages that prevail in the winter. Milkweed bugs are one of only a few temperate insects that undergo long distance migration during diapause, making them a good model for investigating trade‐offs associated with migratory diapause. Although enhanced stress tolerance is typical of diapause, it is unclear whether this aspect of diapause would be retained in a species that migrates to more favourable conditions. The present study tests (i) whether diapause enhances thermal tolerance; (ii) whether food shortage, which is required for maximal expression of diapause, influences thermal tolerance during diapause; and (iii) whether the potential changes in stress tolerance are associated with upregulated heat shock protein expression or metabolic adjustments (including cryoprotectant synthesis), or both. Both cold tolerance at −10 °C and heat tolerance at 43 °C are significantly higher in diapausing O. fasciatus, whereas food restriction has no further effect on thermal tolerance. None of the heat shock protein transcripts measured are significantly upregulated in response to diapause, and the experiments also fail to detect any cryoprotectant accumulation during diapause. Thus, although heat shock proteins and cryoprotectants are common mechanisms for enhancing thermal tolerance in many diapausing insects, the results of the present study suggest that alternative mechanisms are responsible in milkweed bugs.


Assessing the total loss and damages that may result from oil spill constitutes risk assessment. The study area is the coastal Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Akwa Ibom State, located in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. The delta generates the greatest proportion of foreign exchange and internal revenue earnings of the country as the crude oil sector accounts for 90 to 95% of export revenues. Since most of information used for oil spill risk assessment have some form of spatial content, extensive use of Geographic Information System (GIS) capabilities are used in the study. A combination of hazard and vulnerability data layers constitutes the GIS based risk assessment. Hazard was modeled in the study by sources of petroleum oil spill moderated by surface characteristics, while data on crop suitability, socio-economy, environmental sensitivity, accessibility, and settlement development, were used to model vulnerability. The resulting risk layer was classed into four Risk zones of very high, high moderate and marginal risk. Iko and the environs were found to be in the very high risk zone. Based on the fact that increasing investments are being made in the petroleum oil sector in Akwa Ibom State, the study analysis the implications of the findings and stresses the need for a comprehensive GIS based oil spill contingency plan for the area.

 Key words: Risk assessment, vulnerability assessment, impedance surfaces, cost distance modeling.


Rhodobryum giganteum is a rare Chinese traditional medicinal moss species and has special therapy value in heart diseases. In the present study, we successfully induced gametophores and protonemata of R. giganteum in vitro from its new shoots, which were disinfected with 0.1% HgCl2, for eight minutes. We also tested the factors influencing the growth of its protonemata and found that: (1) modified Knop medium is able to facilitate the elongation of the protonemata in vitro and prolong their growth time in vitro, whereas MS medium is able to facilitate the branching of the protone mata, and the protonemata grew slowly in modified White medium, accompanied by the development of gametophores; (2) cutting of the protonemata increases protonemal proliferation in vitro; (3) 2,4-D facilitates the induction of protonemata from leaves at 0.5 mgl-1, but inhibits the induction and quickens the aging process of the protonemata at 2.0 mgl-1.


In this study, an algorithm is developed for the optimum design of the steel buildings. The optimum design problem is formulated according to LRFD-AISC. Design constraints include the displacement limitations, inter-story drift restrictions of multi-story frames, strength requirements for beams and beam-columns and geometric constraints. Teaching and learning based optimization (TLBO) technique, inspired by the interaction and outcome of teacher and learners, is employed to determine its optimum solution. The design algorithm developed selects optimum W sections for beams and columns of three dimensional steel frames so that aforementioned constraints are satisfied and the frame has the minimum weight. A large scale steel building has been designed by TLBO algorithm developed in order to test performance of the algorithm.


Three of the major error sources in interferometric synthetic aperture radar measurements of terrain elevation and displacement are baseline errors, atmospheric path length errors, and phase unwrapping errors. In many processing schemes, these errors are calibrated out by using ground control points (GCPs) (or an external digital elevation model). In this paper, a simple framework for the prediction of error standard deviation is outlined and investigated. Inputs are GCP position, a priori GCP accuracy, baseline calibration method along with a closed-form model for the covariance of atmospheric path length disturbances, and a model for phase unwrapping errors. The procedure can be implemented as a stand-alone add-on to standard interferometric processors. It is validated by using a set of single-frame interferograms acquired over Rome, Italy, and a double difference data set over Flevoland, The Netherlands.


Nanodiamond-drug conjugates show antitumor activity in mouse models of chemoresistant breast and liver cancer. When treating metastatic tumors, chemoresistance can cause problems. A report in this issue of Science Translational Medicine demonstrates the potential of nanodiamond carriers (2 to 8 nanometers) for treating cancers with drug-efflux–based chemoresistance. Nanodiamond-mediated delivery of the chemotherapeutic doxorubicin (Dox) allowed for prolonged activity and increased apoptosis with decreased toxicity when compared with free Dox in liver cancer cells in culture as well as in vivo in mouse liver tumors. This finding may represent a broadly applicable strategy for overcoming adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP)–binding cassette (ABC) drug transporter–mediated resistance during cancer chemotherapy.


Abstract. Although still new in many parts of the world, qualitative research is growing exponentially. More and more countries are experiencing a growing interest in qualitative research. More and more universities are promoting the inclusion of qualitative research in the coursework, faculty research production and dissemination, as well as theses and dissertations. Research funding organizations that used to be strongly based on quantitative research have begun promoting alternative research methods. More and more scholarly conferences and seminars are opening up for qualitative research papers and presentations. People who used to struggle with quantitative research are finally finding their voice and discovering their formerly-unexplored skills. As a result, there is a growing wealth of qualitative research.  Unfortunately, synthesizing qualitative research is still an uncommon practice. It is not yet common to find many meta-syntheses in many fields in general There is more need to systematically synthesize the qualitative research studies that have recently been produced. One of the ways to do so is to conduct a meta-synthesis, known also as meta-narrative. Although this qualitative research design is not necessarily new, it is still not frequently used to help synthesize existing qualitative research studies. This is because either most qualitative researchers do not know how to use it, since they are still fairly new to the field, or because it is a challenging undertaking. Unlike meta-analysis, its counterpart, meta-synthesis still needs to be more clearly and more practically introduced to qualitative researchers in many parts of the world. This presentation paper defines meta-synthesis, provides different orientations of meta-synthesis, as well as a step-by-step guide in conducting a meta-synthesis. This presentation of this ongoing work is meant to generate more interest and discussion on this less-used and yet much needed qualitative research design. The discussion generated here will be helpful in improving the practice of meta-synthesis in general. With this knowledge, more qualitative research may be systematically synthesized to help orient new directions of inconclusive research. Expertise in meta-synthesis can also help generate more informed practical guidelines needed by different policymakers and practitioners in different fields. Such a contribution would take the relevance of qualitative research one step higher. Although the presentation uses the illustration from the field of education, it is based on principles and steps that are useful in many different fields where qualitative research is used.


ABSTRACT We investigated both social and foraging plasticity in a population of Common Loons (Gavia immer) that overwinter inland on Lake Jocassee Reservoir, South Carolina, using transects and time-activity budgets from 4 January to 10 March 2017. Loons were observed as either solitary individuals (65%) or in groups (35%, i.e., within ≤5 body lengths of another loon). Loons were more social (i.e., in groups) on transects with a river mouth (40.9% ± 7.1) than on transects without a river mouth (24.2% ± 5.4). The mean (± SE) dive duration for solitary loons was 71.3 ± 7.7 s (n = 46, range 15–219 s) and several dives exceeded 2 min (22.2%, 10/46). In contrast, 15 foraging flocks were characterized by numerous shallow dives of <20 s. The mean group size (± SE) was 6.9 ± 0.8 individuals and group foraging bouts lasted 8.3 ± 1.2 min. In addition, Horned Grebes (Podiceps auritus) and Ring-billed Gulls (Larus delawarensis) joined loons forming multispecies foraging flocks, 26.7% and 13.3% of the time, respectively. These data indicate Common Loons wintering at Lake Jocassee are social and exhibit foraging plasticity.


Phospholipid signaling mediated by lipid-derived second messengers or biologically active lipids is still new and is not well established in plants. We recently have found that lysophosphatidylethanolamine (LPE), a naturally occurring lipid, retards senescence of leaves, flowers, and postharvest fruits. Phospholipase D (PLD) has been suggested as a key enzyme in mediating the degradation of membrane phospholipids during the early stages of plant senescence. Here we report that LPE inhibited the activity of partially purified cabbage PLD in a cell-free system in a highly specific manner. Inhibition of PLD by LPE was dose-dependent and increased with the length and unsaturation of the LPE acyl chain whereas individual molecular components of LPE such as ethanolamine and free fatty acid had no effect on PLD activity. Enzyme-kinetic analysis suggested noncompetitive inhibition of PLD by LPE. In comparison, the related lysophospholipids such as lysophosphatidylcholine, lysophosphatidylglycerol, and lysophosphotidylserine had no significant effect on PLD activity whereas PLD was stimulated by lysophosphatidic acid and inhibited by lysophosphatidylinositol. Membrane-associated and soluble PLD, extracted from cabbage and castor bean leaf tissues, also was inhibited by LPE. Consistent with acyl-specific inhibition of PLD by LPE, senescence of cranberry fruits as measured by ethylene production was more effectively inhibited according to the increasing acyl chain length and unsaturation of LPE. There are no known specific inhibitors of PLD in plants and animals. We demonstrate specific inhibitory regulation of PLD by a lysophospholipid.


The social nature of multiplayer games provides compelling play experiences that are dynamic, unpredictable, and satisfying; however, playing digital games with others can result in feeling socially excluded. There are several known harmful effects of ostracism, including on cognition and the interpretation of social information. To investigate the effects of social exclusion in the context of a multiplayer game, we developed and validated a social exclusion paradigm that we embedded in an online game. Called Operator Challenge, our paradigm influenced feelings of social exclusion and access to hostile cognitions (measured through a word-completion task). In addition, the degree of experienced belonging predicted player enjoyment, effort, and the number of hostile words completed; however, the experience measures did not mediate the relationship between belonging and access to hostile cognitions. Our work facilitates understanding the causes and effects of exclusion, which is important for the study of player experience in multiplayer games.


THE FEMALE CONSUMER, Rosemary Scott. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Halsted Press, 1976. 352 pp. $24.95. At first glance, The Female Consumer appears to be about female consumption behavior. Though this is true to some extent, closer inspection of the book leads to the realization that the underlying purpose is to alter the notion that "it's a man's world." In general, Rosemary Scott-a doctorate researcher in applied social psychology at The University of Aston in Birmingham-emphasizes the importance of the female to marketers and attempts to persuade marketers to alter some of their more traditional approaches to women's markets. The first part of the book is primarily descriptive, presenting secondary data on female purchasing behavior in food and nonfood markets. This section provides the rationale for the book: the importance of the female to marketers. Many of the studies providing data for this and subsequent sections of the book were conducted in the United Kingdom; however, Scott also draws heavily upon research conducted in the United States. The second part of The Female Consumer focuses on female attitudes toward shopping, in-store behavior, and responses to pricing, branding, product innovation, and convenience items. Scott asserts that there is a lack of creativity and an adherence to cultural stereotypes in researchers' choice of variables in studying female consumers. Factors such as psychological masculinity, ambition, and aggression are typically omitted from investigation, whereas housewifery and child-care variables are included. The author next discusses the influence of the family and significant others on female purchasing decisions, as well as the behavior of the woman buying for herself. In this section, Scott describes markets which traditionally have been female-dominated, predicts further erosion of market delineation on a sexual (male versus female) basis, and challenges the proposition that single and married females constitute two distinct market segments. The book then moves to an investigation of media habits and media stereotypes of women. Following this, Scott examines the pervasive Y chromosome in industry and universities as part of the reason for the perpetuation of myths and marketing approaches to women. This section also compares and contrasts females with blacks. The final section of the book identifies sources of bias in researching female consumers, and makes suggestions for innovative stratification of the female market. The Female Consumer is well written, with clear, concise presentation and organization. Though the book centers around research on female consumption and purchasing patterns, the intent seems to be to reform as much as to inform. Ms. Scott questions the continued applicability of current marketing apJOURNAL OF MARKETING RESEARCH, FEBRUARY 1977


Malformation of the foetus is a curious phenomenon of which very little is known although from time to time various theories have been advanced to explain the condition. We are herewith reporting five such cases. The first two are examples of malformations involving one individual (single monster) and the last three are examples of malformations involving two individuals (duplicate monster). All of them were too malformed to be consistent with life and were either born dead, or died soon after.


The purpose of this paper is to find out how effective the communication process is between students and the labor market. The author has performed observations and interviews with students enrolled at Stockholm School of Business and some consulting companies, which participated in the annual labor market fair ED2001. The conclusion of the study is that the communication process between students and the labor market not always is as effective as could be. There is need for a more profound cooperation where students, companies, alumni and teachers work together decreasing the gap between the academic and theoretical world, and the professional and practical reality.


Leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula) infests 302,000 acres in South Dakota. Ninety-two percent of the infestation is in grassland or noncrop areas. Environmental sensitivity and economic constraints are critical factors in many areas. Field studies were established in 1998 in Harding County, SD. Data provided comparative performance under more critical precipitation conditions compared to other areas of South Dakota. In the long-term study, reduced rates of picloram + 2,4-D applied in the spring, spring and fall 2,4-D ester and spring and fall imazapic + 28% N + MSO provided at least 90% stand reduction 12 months after two application sequences. Initial high rates of picloram followed by annual 2,4-D in the spring, spring 2,4-D at high rate, spring dicamba and spring fosamine provided at least 75% control for the same period. Evaluation of emerging herbicide technologies compared rates and timing of imazapic. Fall treatments of .06 and .12 lb/A provided 70 to 85% control 9 months after treatment, respectively. Spring treatments at the same rates provided 47 and 45% control 3 months after initial treatment. Integrating reduced rates of fall-applied herbicides following sheep grazing provided 75 to 90% reduction after two seasons. The studies provided data to improve herbicide decisions in drought stress situations. The concepts integrated into the TEAM Spurge Project resulted in increased awareness of leafy spurge; provided data and first-hand observation for producers and land managers and has dramatically increased acres of leafy spurge subjected to control practices in the project and surrounding area using biological agents, new herbicide technologies and livestock grazing.


This article reviews the features of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), including its pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment. CRPS is a pathology that has been described as occurring almost always in a limb, but this review provides a focus on the literature reporting cases in which the face, head, and neck were affected. Very few cases were found that seemed to meet the International Association for the Study of Pain criteria for the disease. The clinical characteristics were similar to those of CRPS elsewhere in the body, with the main features being burning pain, hyperalgesia, and hyperesthesia starting after a trauma to the craniofacial region. Physical signs were reported less frequently. The treatment of choice was seen to be a series of stellate ganglion anesthetic blocks, which resulted in a good outcome in all the cases reviewed.


Lifecycle Dynamics and Experimental Elimination of the Deer Tick Ovarian Symbiont The deer tick Ixodes scapularis is the most important vector of arthropod-borne diseases to humans in North America, with tens of thousands of cases of Lyme disease reported annually. The symbiont Rickettsia buchneri is found in the ovaries of female ticks and is transmitted transovarially to the offspring. In this article, Oliver et al. (e01672-20) describe the reproductive dynamics of R. buchneri throughout the lifecycle of I. scapularis and describe methods for its elimination using antibiotics. Removing R. buchneri will allow future researchers to determine the fitness effects of the symbiont on the host and evaluate its interactions with pathogenic microorganisms responsible for I. scapularis-borne diseases.


We develop a stochastic volatility model with jumps in returns and volatility to analyze the risk spillover from the U.S. market and the regional market to a number of European countries' equity markets. The key advantage of this approach compared to the earlier approaches is that it enables us to identify jumps and investigate spillover of extreme events across borders. We find that a large part of the jumps in the local markets are due to the U.S. market and the regional market. The U.S. contribution to the variances is in general below the contribution from the regional market. In general, we observe an increasing integration during the last two decades, which, to some extent, can be related to the advancement of the European Union. Furthermore, we show that the identification of the jumps can be used as a useful signal for portfolio reallocation.


Aim: To assess the association between PEMT variants and nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate in Chile and the effects of these variants on global DNA methylation. Subjects & methods: The authors obtained genotypes for nine variants from 247 cases and 453 controls for genotype-phenotype associations. The effect of significant polymorphisms on global DNA methylation (percentage of long interspersed element-1 methylation) was evaluated in a subsample of 95 controls. Results: After multiple comparison corrections, variants rs7649 and rs4646409 were associated with nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate. Carriers of risk alleles presented lower DNA methylation levels than noncarriers. Conclusion: According to functional analysis for risk variants from previous reports, the authors infer that a decrease of methyl group availability is occurring in affected subjects.


Computer vision to achieve object detection, tracking and recognition will become hugely important in future Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADAS). A variety of smart sensors has become available, including radar, lidar, ultra sound, and video cameras that monitor the environment around the vehicle. Camera-based systems have immensely progressed in recent years and will be an indispensable part of ADAS. Cameras are now cheaper, smaller, and of higher quality than ever before. Concurrently, computing power has dramatically increased. For that reason, NXP started an investigation into the principles, capabilities and future requirements of smart camera systems, being able to detect and track objects with a large degree of accuracy and confidence. In this project, insights about the feature extraction methods for object detection and tracking in automotive domain are gained. Various methods are compared with respect to their suitability for the major use cases, namely, vehicles, pedestrians, traffic signs, and lanes.


The 181 bacteria classified as Proteus rettgeri biovar 5 considered to be a group intermediate to P. rettgeri and Providencia stuartii were found, in all cases, to possess O-specificities characteristic of Providencia O-serovars. Isolates of the intermediate group showed biochemical reactions characteristic of Prov. stuartii except for positive reactions in tests for urea hydrolysis. The reassignment of the intermediate strains (P. rettgeri biovar 5) to Prov. stuartii is advocated.


Selective formation - in intramolecular Wittig condensations - of the 2-oxocephem-4-carboxylate 8a and of the 2-acetylpenem-3-carboxylate 9, respectively, was observed as a consequence of different carbonyl reactivities in two homologous α-oxoacylthio groupings. Free, racemic and 7-unsubstituted 2-oxocephem-4-carboxylic acid (10) was prepared from 8a for biological testing. Attempts to prepare the free 2-acetylpenem-3-carboxylic acid from 9 failed, probably due to the high lability of the β-lactam system.


Cholelithiasis is one of the clinically common and frequently encountered diseases. In this paper, the Chinese Meteria Medica and prescriptions utilized to treat cholelithasis were discussed in four aspects. In addition, we discussed the clinical effect and mechanism of actions of these drugs in order to provide some reference for future drug development in this area.


Implementing Quality Improvement for Psychosocial Interventions To the Editor A Viewpoint by Drs Pincus and England summarized a new report by the Institute of Medicine on improving the quality of psychosocial interventions for mental and substance use disorders.1 We wish to draw attention to advances in intervention science that could facilitate implementation of recommendations in the report. The Behavior Change Technique Taxonomy addresses the recommendation for a common terminology for specifying elements of psychosocial intervention elements.2 This taxonomy was developed using consensus methods and includes a hierarchically structured catalog of 93 distinct intervention elements. Use of this taxonomy would improve the clarity and synthesis of research. Widespread adoption could further the goals of identifying key elements within and across interventions, discovering optimal dosing and sequencing of elements, and connecting elements to purported moderators or mechanisms. New methods for research synthesis can facilitate implementation of the recommendations regarding high-quality systematic reviews of psychosocial intervention elements.3 Theory-based meta-regression involves using theoretical frameworks to select intervention elements for metaanalytic investigation. Individual participant-level data metaanalysis is much more powerful than meta-analysis using aggregate data for identifying mediators and moderators of intervention effects. Network meta-analysis can use all relevant trials in one analysis to probabilistically rank multiple interventions according to their comparative effectiveness. Qualitative meta-syntheses offer an explicit and transparent method for developing robust descriptive and analytic themes about intervention implementation across a body of literature. Greater use of these research synthesis techniques can inform clinical guidelines and implementation tools on psychosocial intervention elements. The report recommends developing performance measures to guide continuous quality improvement for psychosocial interventions. As it notes, standardization is limited because consensus is often lacking about which outcomes and measures should be prioritized. The Core Outcome Measures in Effectiveness Trials Initiative aims to further the development of "core outcome sets"—based on research evidence and stakeholder consensus—that specify the most important outcomes to measure when evaluating interventions for a specific condition and the best extant tools to measure these outcomes.4 Although originally intended for use in clinical trials, core outcome sets are increasingly used to select outcomes for clinical audit and performance measurement—and could be developed for psychosocial interventions targeting mental health and substance use disorders for this purpose. Such advances may be useful to implementation of the report's recommendations and may facilitate the goal of improving scientific evidence and quality improvement for psychosocial interventions.


The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has become widespread around the world. It started in Wuhan, China, and has since spread rapidly among people living in other countries. Hence, the World Health Organization has considered COVID-19 as a pandemic that threatens millions of people's lives. Due to the high number of infected people, many hospitals have been facing critical issues in providing the required medical services. For instance, some clinical centers have been unable to provide one of the most important medical services, namely blood tests to determine whether an individual is infected with COVID-19. Therefore, it is important to present an alternative diagnosis option to prevent the further spread of COVID-19. In this paper, a proposed intelligent detection communication system (IDCS) is configured for distributed mobile clinical centers to control the pandemic. In addition, the intelligent system is integrated with the Zigbee communication protocol to build a mobile COVID-19 detection system. The proposed system was trained on X-ray COVID-19 lung images used to identify infected people. The Zigbee protocol and decision tree algorithm were used to design the IDCS. The results of the proposed system show high accuracy 94.69% and accept results according to the performance measurements.