Resume This paper deals with the simulation verification of balancing systems with different numbers of batteries. There is a simulation model of the battery with adjustable inputs and a simulation model of flyback converter. These components are interconnected and controlled externally to ensure balancing of individual cells. The batteries are connected in series and a flyback converter is connected to each battery. The outputs of these inverters are connected to the output of all the batteries. So, one can say that this balancing system is designed to lighten the charger. The results of the simulations show the voltage, current and State of Charge (SoC) of the batteries. Simulation models are presented in diagrams. These models were created in the PLECS environment. Article info Received 23 November 2020 Accepted 23 December 2020 Online 23 June 2021


A series of interventional tools have emerged since the advent of percutaneous coronary angioplasty. Several are fundamental and used routinely, while others less favourable have fallen short of mainstream therapy and/or have settled as a niche device. We present an overview of the evolution of directional coronary atherectomy (DCA), a unique device that was originally conceived in 1984 to solve the limitations of balloon angioplasty. Unfortunately, we have witnessed its use fall significantly out of favour due to premature and controversial study results. In many interventional laboratories DCA is no longer available. However, we strongly feel that allowing DCA to join the list of extinct interventional tools would be very unfortunate. We, herein, present a series of complex percutaneous coronary procedures to illustrate the convenience of DCA use as a lesion-specific niche device. Finally, DCA offers a valuable distinct clinical research function as it allows for in vivo pathological coronary tissue examination. In conclusion, we plead for its continued production and use as an interventional niche device for the wellbeing of our patients.


Abstract: Mpox (formerly "monkeypox") is a viral zoonosis that presents similarly to smallpox but is less contagious and causes less severe disease. Mpox may be transmitted from infected animals to humans through direct contact or a scratch or bite. Human-to-human transmission occurs through direct contact, respiratory droplets, and fomites. Two vaccines, JYNNEOS® and ACAM2000®, are currently available for postexposure prophylaxis as well as for prevention in certain populations at high risk for mpox. Most cases of mpox are self-limited; however, tecovirimat, brincidofovir, and cidofovir are available as treatments for at-risk populations. Mpox (formerly "monkeypox") is a viral zoonosis that presents similarly to smallpox but is less contagious and causes less severe disease. Mpox may be transmitted from infected animals to humans through direct contact or a scratch or bite. Human-to-human transmission occurs through direct contact, respiratory droplets, and fomites. Two vaccines, JYNNEOS ® and ACAM2000®, are currently available for postexposure prophylaxis as well as for prevention in certain populations at high risk for mpox. Most cases of mpox are self-limited; however, tecovirimat, brincidofovir, and cidofovir are available as treatments for at-risk populations.


Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical features and etiology in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in southern China. Methods: A total of 342 patients who presented community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) from January 2019 to December 2019 were enrolled in this study. The respiratory pathogens in nine test and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) detection were used to identify pathogens. Results: The mean age of this study population was 60.89 ± 18.87 years. The total incidences of CAP were more prevalent in males (60.5%, 207/342) than females (39.5%, 135/342), and the percentage was 65.8% (225/342) CAP patients in summer and autumn. The main causative pathogens were identified in 96/342 (28.1 %) patients. Of these, 14 (14.6 %) were MP infection, the most frequently isolated microorganism. Bacterial infection in the single infection was present in 47 (47/96, 49.0%). Mixed infections were demonstrated in 26 (26/96, 27.1%). MRSA infection was close to patients with systemic diseases (P = 0.001). Factors that were associated with systemic disease was the age >65 (OR 5.555, 95%CI 3.402-9.071, P<0.001). Conclusions: MP is common organisms isolated in community-acquired pneumonia. The year of above 65, the count of WBC and mixed pathogens infections may be associated with an increased risk of CAP patients with systemic disease.


Cut-cell meshes present an attractive alternative to terrain-following coordinates for the representation of topography within atmospheric flow simulations, particularly in regions of steep topographic gradients. In this paper, we present an explicit two-dimensional method for the numerical solution on such meshes of atmospheric flow equations including gravitational sources. This method is fully conservative and allows for time steps determined by the regular grid spacing, avoiding potential stability issues due to arbitrarily small boundary cells. We believe that the scheme is unique in that it is developed within a dimensionally split framework, in which each coordinate direction in the flow is solved independently at each time step. Other notable features of the scheme are: (i) its conceptual and practical simplicity, (ii) its flexibility with regard to the one-dimensional flux approximation scheme employed, and (iii) the well-balancing of the gravitational sources allowing for stable simulation of near-hydrostatic flows. The presented method is applied to a selection of test problems including buoyant bubble rise interacting with geometry and lee-wave generation due to topography.


The object of this paper is to discuss the incidence and cause of accidents among young children. The material on which the study was based was collected in the course of a national questionnaire inquiry into the health and development of children born in Great Britain in the week 3–9 March 1946. Full information was obtained in this inquiry from 91% of the mothers of those children who had survived the first 2 years of life. It is hoped that similar studies of the same sample will be undertaken at regular intervals as the children grow older so that a complete picture can be obtained of the incidence and effects of accidents throughout childhood.

Few studies have been made of the incidence of accidents among the total population of young children. The Registrar General's figures cover fatal accidents only, and the various national sample surveys do not deal with the problem fully. For example, the American National Health Survey among the urban population in 1935–36 omitted accidents which caused less than 7 days' disablement (Britten, Klebba and Hailman, 1940), and the current monthly surveys of sickness in Britain, carried out by the Social Survey for the Ministry of Health, do not include the child population (Stocks, 1949).

Most of the previous studies of the social aspects of accidents have been confined to investigating the home environment of children treated for injuries in the departments of individual hospitals (Donald, 1930; Dunbar, 1934). These studies have shown that in spite of the general decrease in serious and fatal accidents (fatal accidental burns among the civilian population in England and Wales occurred at the rate of 30 per million in 1938 and only 20 per million in 1947), a relatively high proportion of certain types of accident continue to occur among …


Parkinson's disease generates a special interest in factors such as gait patterns, posture patterns, and risk of falls. The human gait pattern has a basic unit called the gait cycle, composed of two phases: stance and swing. Using gait analysis it is possible to get spatiotemporal variables as walking speed and step number derived from stance and swing phases. In this paper, we explore the feasibility of wavelet techniques to analyze gait signals, we use a member of Daubechies family to distinguish automatically gait phases, this approach allowed us to estimate spatiotemporal variables that shows significant differences between Parkinson patients and non-Parkinson patients, this result aims to allow clinical experts to easily diagnose and assess Parkinson patients, with short evaluation times and with non-invasive technologies.


During the last decade, huge amounts of multimedia documents have been generated. It is therefore important to find a way to manage this data. Every approach to facilitate this process requires to have a deep understanding of the content of the documents. Among two different approaches to get such insights, either by extracting information from the document (e.g. audio, image) or by using related data from external sources (such as the Web), we chose the latter. Then, these extracted information can be used in a global framework to be considered as annotations for multimedia documents in order to facilitate the management of such documents. One of the main objectives of this thesis was to be robust against noisy and small data. Our approach to reach this objective was to use simple and knowledge-light techniques (i.e. shallow linguistic analysis) as a guarantee of robustness that we assume to be mandatory for processing multimedia documents. Indeed, we used statistical analysis of text and some techniques inspired from Information Retrieval. In addition, we introduced a new data representation scheme for text processing which has been used successfully in image Information Retrieval domain. In this thesis, we focused on three tasks: Relation Extraction, Relation Discovery and Proper noun clustering. In the first task, Relation Extraction, we proposed a supervised model based on a Language Modeling and an instance-based learning algorithm, called kNN. Experimental results showed the effectiveness of our models which use shallow linguistic information compared to state-of-the-art systems that use deep linguistic analysis. In the second task, we moved to unsupervised model to discover relations instead of extracting predefined ones. We modeled this problem as clustering task and defined a similarity function based on Language Modeling and average probability. The performance of this model was evaluated with a textual football reports, which showed improvements compare to classical model with cosine similarity function. Moreover, we studied the importance of some domain independent filters in this task. Since each relation was between two entities, we defined the last task to cluster entities (more precisely, proper nouns) in order to discover and make emerge, without a priori, semantic classes.. In this task, we proposed to use a new data representation to keep each instance of the proper nouns separately. Then, we introduced a discriminative similarity function in order to take into account the importance of each occurrence of the proper nouns in the corpus. As a conclusion, we experimentally showed that simple techniques, requiring few a priori knowledge, and using shallow linguistic information can be useful to effectively extract information from text. In our case, such results have indeed been achieved by choosing suited representation for the data, based on statistical analysis or Information Retrieval models. This is still a long road before being able to process raw multimedia documents, but we hope that these good results may now serve as a springboard for future researches in this field.


The extensive use of copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO‐NPs) in various industries and their wide range of applications have led to their accumulation in different ecological niches of the environment. This excess exposure raises the concern about its potential toxic effects on various organisms including humans. However, the hazardous potential of CuO‐NPs in the literature is elusive, and it is essential to study its toxicity in different biological models. Hence, we have conducted single acute dose (2000 mg/kg) and multiple dose subacute (30, 300 and 1000 mg/kg daily for 28 days) oral toxicity studies of CuO‐NPs in female albino Wistar rats following OECD guidelines 420 and 407 respectively. Blood analysis, tissue aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase and acetylcholinesterase, superoxide dismutase, catalase, lipid malondialdehyde and reduced glutathione assays, and histopathology of the tissues were carried out. The higher dose treatments of the acute and subacute study caused significant alterations in biochemical and antioxidant parameters of the liver, kidney and brain tissues of the rat. In addition, histopathological evaluation of these three organs of treated rats showed significantly high abnormalities in their histoarchitecture when compared to control rats. We infer from the results that the toxicity observed in the liver, kidney and brain of treated rats could be due to the increased generation of reactive oxygen species by CuO‐NPs.


This article takes up Foucault´s concern for the link between psychiatry and the workings of the penal system. In this case, it is an imbrication within the prison space, based on the study of mental health care devices. We present the main results of an empirical research that addressed the effects of the reorganization of the mental health care service of the Argentine Federal Penitentiary Service (SPF) since 2011. We used a qualitative methodology that involved field observation, interviews with key informers, and analyzing of laws and regulations and institutional documents. That research exposed tensions between different mental health care regimes in relation to the prison government. In Argentina, unlike another context, there are still few studies that analyze the specific intersection between mental health care and prison space. In line with local developments, we seek to contribute to understanding the articulations of mental health care and the logics of the prison order, through three problematic knots: the criteria of admission to the different programs of mental health care, the reasons of the logics of intervention of the different devices, and the ties and articulations woven (or not) in the different interventions around the notions of security, danger and order. We conclude that the reform of the psychiatric care service supposed the emergence of an "exogenous logic", which tenses the traditional link between psychiatric practice and penitentiary order, while outlining the challenges presented in this new scenario.


Analysing political changes in Hong Kong since the SARS
crisis of 2003, this paper argues that a threefold transition process where political, economic and cultural factors reinforce each other, led to a governance
crisis in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, severely undermining the position of the executive and leading to the replacement of the Chief
Executive in July 2005. On one hand, political mobilisation increased in
recent years, both in terms of electoral turnout and protest behaviour. On the
other, the subsequent legislative elections in September 2004 revealed a clear
popular disenchantment with political party organizations. Support for prodemocracy organisations also became more diffuse and somewhat critical
toward the Democratic Party. Hong Kong's transitional crisis is further complicated by tensions between the different constitutional cultures found in
Hong Kong and the PRC. Hong Kong is having to find a way of legitimately
resisting China's political and legal encroachments without provoking mainland suspicions of "anti patriotism".


The uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is low among young Black cisgender heterosexual women, although this subgroup faces a higher burden of new HIV diagnoses. This study explored the association between sexual risk and prevention behaviors, and oral PrEP and vaginal PrEP ring interest among young Black women (YBW). A sample of YBW (N = 208) 18-25 years of age completed a self-administered questionnaire assessing sexual risk and prevention behaviors, HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing, and PrEP interest from June to December 2018. Results revealed that 103 YBW were interested in taking oral or vaginal PrEP, with 43% interested in oral PrEP use only, 28% interested in vaginal PrEP use only, and 29% interested in both oral and vaginal PrEP use. Logistic regressions revealed that YBW who had sex in the last 1-4 weeks or 3-6 months had lower odds of being interested in oral PrEP and YBW who had sex in the last 1-4 weeks had lower odds of being interested in vaginal PrEP compared with those whose last sexual encounter occurred in the last week. A large percentage of our sample was unaware of PrEP at the time of survey administration, but after learning about PrEP became more interested in potential PrEP use. This indicates that more education about the benefits of PrEP coupled with harm reduction counseling to lower their risk of STI and HIV infections is necessary to increase PrEP interest among YBW.


The hormone relaxin (RLX) is produced by the heart and has beneficial actions on the cardiovascular system. We previously demonstrated that RLX stimulates mouse neonatal cardiomyocyte growth, suggesting its involvement in endogenous mechanisms of myocardial histogenesis and regeneration. In the present study, we extended the experimentation by evaluating the effects of RLX on primary cultures of neonatal cardiac stromal cells. RLX inhibited TGF-b1-induced fibroblast-myofibroblast transition, as judged by its ability to down-regulate a-smooth muscle actin and type I collagen expression. We also found that the hormone up-regulated metalloprotease (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 expression and downregulated the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP)-2 in TGF-b1-stimulated cells. Interestingly, the effects of RLX on cardiac fibroblasts involved the activation of Notch-1 pathway. Indeed,Notch-1 expression was significantly decreased in TGF-b1-stimulated fibroblasts and this reduction was prevented by the addition of RLX to TGF-b1-stimulated cells. Moreover, pharmacological inhibition of endogenous Notch-1 signaling by DAPT, a g-secretase specific inhibitor, as well as the silencing of Notch-1 ligand, Jagged-1, potentiated TGF-b1-induced myofibroblast differentiation and abrogated the inhibitory effects of RLX. Interestingly, RLX and Notch-1 exerted their inhibitory effects by interfering with TGF-b1 signaling, since the addition of RLX to TGF-b1-stimulated cells caused a significant decrease in Smad3 phosphorylation, a typical downstream event of TGF-b1 receptor activation, while the treatment with a prevented this effect. These data suggest that Notch signaling can down-regulate TGF-b1/Smad3-induced fibroblast-myofibroblast transition and that RLX could exert its well known anti-fibrotic action through the up-regulation of this pathway. In conclusion, the results of the present study beside supporting the role of RLX in the field of cardiac fibrosis, provide novel experimental evidence on the molecular mechanisms underlying its effects.


The present report considers two questions: 1) Which patients should be monitored routinely and 2) the interpretation of antenatal cardiotocography. During 26 months 812 patients with risk pregnancies were monitored with antenatal CTG. Most of them were daily registered. One hundred and seventeen (14.5%) showed pathological CTG changes. The CTG patterns were put into four classes according to the degree of seriousness. A comparison between high risk and low risk pregnancies showed that nearly all abnormal CTGs occurred in the high risk group. Within the high risk group, patients with essential hypertension and intrauterine growth retardation had pathological CTG changes in 20--30%. The study shows that high risk pregnancies should be monitored regularly at short intervals to allow early diagnosis of fetal distress. The value of routine CTG in low risk pregnancy can be questioned.


To investigate the relative importance of pineal and eyes in ovarian activity, catfish subjected to pinealectomy, blinding, or both were exposed to continuous light (LL) or continuous darkness (DD) during the different phases of the annual reproductive cycle. Pineal or eyes have no influence on ovarian activity during the preparatory, prespawning, and spawning periods of the annual reproductive cycle under these photoregimes. However, the pineal accelerated ovarian activity under LL and DD during the postspawning period. Blinding alone has no effect on ovarian recrudescence under these regimes. However, combined surgery (blinded‐pinealectomy) inhibited ovarian development under both these conditions, indicating that the pineal organ is more important than the eyes. Ovarian recrudescence occurred even in the absence of both pineal and eyes, indicating the involvement of extrapineal and extraocular photoreception in the regulation of reproductive activity in the catfish.


Intrinsic Bi2Te3 is a representative thermoelectric (TE) material with high performance at low temperature, which enables applications for electronic cooling. However, antisite defects easily form in p-type Bi2Te3, resulting in the difficulty of further property enhancement. In this work, the formation energy of native point defects in Bi2Te3 supercells and the electronic structure of Bi2Te3 primitive unit cell were calculated using first-principles. The antisite defect Bi_Te1 has a lower formation energy (0.68 eV) under the Te-lack condition for p-type Bi2Te3. The effects of point defects on TE properties were investigated via a series of p-type Bi2Te3−x (x = 0, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08) single crystals prepared by the temperature gradient growth method (TGGM). Apart from the increased power factor (PF∥) which originates from the increased carrier concentration (n∥) and m*, the thermal conductivity (κ∥) was also cut down by the increased point defects. Benefitting from the high PF∥ of 4.09 mW m−1 K−2 and the low κ∥ of 1.77 W m−1 K−1, the highest ZT∥ of 0.70 was obtained for x = 0.06 composition at 300 K, which is 30% higher than that (0.54) of the intrinsic Bi2Te3.


X ray procedures which involve fluoroscopy often give significant radiation doses to patients. A valuable radiation protection procedure is the adoption of a quality assurance programme which will ensure the continual production of optimal quality images with the minimum necessary dose to the patient. Various publications exist which provide information on quality assurance (QA) and constancy checking of fluoroscopy and fluorography systems. These publications were reviewed and tests recommended for QA and constancy checking of fluoroscopy and fluorography systems are presented. It was found that not much information exists on QA and constancy checking for digital subtraction angiography and digital fluorography systems. More research is required in this field. Information on protocols used by various countries of the European Community for QA and constancy checking of fluoroscopy and fluorography systems was gathered. From this information it is apparent that there is a need for harmonisation within Europe.


Intro: The killer immunoglobulin-like receptor, three domains, long cytoplasmic tail 2 (KIR3DL2) is a transmembrane glycoprotein expressed by natural killer (NK) cells and subsets of T cells. On NK cells, KIRD3L2 modulates NK cell activation by transducing inhibitory signals upon ligation by human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I molecules. Interestingly, KIR3DL2 is also expressed on several subtypes of T cell lymphomas/leukemias, such as Sezary Syndrome and transformed Mycosis Fungoides. This expression pattern provides a promising target for antibody-based therapy. Recently, antibody-based therapies have been shown to synergize with co-stimulatory immunomodulation via agonistic immunotherapeutic antibodies, such as anti-CD137. Methods: We evaluated the efficacy of an anti-KIR3DL2 monoclonal antibody, IPH4102 (Innate Pharma S.A.), in inducing effector cell cytotoxicity of KIR3DL2 + tumors. In vitro experiments utilized primary samples and three KIR3DL2 + cell lines: HUT78, a Sezary cell line with constitutive KIR3DL2 expression; a RAJI-KIR3DL2 high-expression sub clone with ∼28,000 KIR3DL2 antigen sites per cell; and a RAJI-KIR3DL2 low-expression sub clone with ∼ 6,000 antigens sites per cell. All antibody-mediated cell cytotoxicity (ADCC) experiments used 7-AAD and Annexin-V to identify apoptotic cells. Results: In a CD107a /IFN-γ assay, NK cells co-cultured with IPH4102-coated HUT78 cells demonstrated increased activation profiles relative to NK cells co-cultured with untreated HUT78 cells. Activated NK cells displayed elevated expression of CD137, OX40, and CD69 and produced more CD107a and IFN-γ. In allo-ADCC assays using HUT78 cells at varying target to effector ratios, IPH4102 treatment induced more target apoptosis than treatment with positive control anti-CD52 alemtuzumab. In additional allo-ADCC assays, RAJI-KIR3DL2 high-expression tumors demonstrated more apoptosis than RAJI-KIR3DL2 low-expression tumors. The IPH4102-mediated cytotoxicity could be enhanced by the concurrent administration of an agonistic anti-CD137 monoclonal antibody. In ADCC assays of primary Sezary cells with autologous NK cells, we confirmed the upregulation of KIR3DL2 and observed enhanced NK cytotoxicity following tumor treatment with IPH4102. Again, the combination of anti-KIR3DL2 and anti-CD137 therapy proved synergistic leading to increased tumor eradication relative to either therapy alone. Conclusion: Our findings support a role for anti-KIR3DL2 monoclonal antibodies in the treatment of KIR3DL2 + tumors. IPH4102 effectively increased ADCC of KIR3DL2 + tumors by NK cells. The addition of agonistic anti-CD137 antibodies will further augment the anti-tumor efficacy of this therapeutic strategy. Citation Format: Cariad Chester, Sean Lim, Anne Marie-Cardine, Naren Rajasekaran, Helene Sicard, Youn Kim, Holbrook Kohrt. KIR3DL2 is a novel target for antibody-therapy of T cell lymphomas. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 2473. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-2473


It is one hundred and thirty years since Franz Ziehl and Friedrich Neelsen developed the rapid stain for acid-fast bacilli;1 ,2 accurate point-of-care diagnosis of active tuberculosis (TB) remains a major unmet clinical need. With the sensitivity of the Ziehl–Neelsen stain in sputum less than 50% and more than 20% of TB cases negative on both acid-fast stain and culture for Mycobacterium tuberculosis , there has long been a yawning gap in the diagnostic toolkit for TB. New rapid molecular methods have recently improved detection of M tuberculosis nucleic acids in sputum providing diagnostic sensitivity that is much higher than sputum-smear microscopy but lower than culture.3

The longstanding diagnostic gap has stimulated decades of research into immunodiagnosis, mostly serological. Although serological tests for TB are point-of-care, they lack diagnostic accuracy and are devoid of clinical utility. After thorough review of the evidence, and on account of their continued widespread misuse in many high-burden countries, WHO recently tried to bury current commercial serological test kits with a negative endorsement warning against their use.4

Research into cellular immunodiagnosis has been more fruitful, delivering a tangible advance in clinical practice in the form of interferon-gamma release-assays (IGRA).5 IGRA detect M tuberculosis infection, providing a new standard-of-care for diagnosis of latent TB infection (LTBI), but they cannot distinguish active TB from LTBI. Hence, their potential role in evaluation of patients with suspected active TB is limited to that of a possible rule-out test of TB, yet currently available IGRA lack sufficient diagnostic sensitivity for this indication, as discussed elsewhere in this issue of Thorax .6 ,7

Are there immune responses that differ sufficiently between active TB and LTBI to enable development of an immunodiagnostic test that is specific for active TB? Quantifying genome-wide host gene-expression yielded a …


This short communication reports on the facile and scalable synthesis and characterization of molybdenum carbides/carbon nanocomposites prepared by laser pyrolysis in a one-step process. Water and commercial molybdenum oxide were used as low-cost environmentally friendly precursors. The nanocomposites are mainly composed of two types of carbides with different apparent crystallite sizes, 21 ± 1 nm and 9 ± 1 nm for Mo2C and MoC1−x, respectively. Thanks to a simple annealing at 500 °C under argon, it was possible to increase the specific surface area around 50 m2/g without changing the morphology of the nanocomposite.


Although tert‐butyl alcohol (TBA) has not been used as a fuel oxygenate in Orange County, California, the concentrations of TBA in ground water at gasoline spill sites are high compared those of the conventional fuel oxygenate methyl tert‐butyl ether (MTBE). In the year 2002, the geometric mean concentration of TBA was 839 μg/L compared to 627 μg/L for MTBE. There are two plausible sources of TBA, the TBA originally present in the gasoline and biodegradation of MTBE to TBA. Thirteen sites where the concentration of TBA was >10 mg/L were selected for study. Biodegradation was evaluated by determining the stable carbon isotope ratio (δ13C) of MTBE in the ground water. If MTBE was biodegraded, the residual MTBE should be enriched in the heavier carbon isotope 13C. The historical highest concentration of MTBE in each monitoring well and the δ13C of MTBE in the ground water were used to estimate the concentration of TBA produced from biodegradation of MTBE. Then, the estimated concentration of TBA was compared to the measured concentration. At each site, comparisons were made for the well in the source area, and the well in the plume outside the source area, that had the highest concentration of TBA. In the wells in the source areas, the estimate of TBA production accounted for the majority of TBA at 4 of the 13 sites. In the wells in the plume outside of the source area, the estimate accounted for the majority of TBA at six sites.


The regulation of the acid-base balance in cells is essential for proper cellular homeostasis. Disturbed acid-base balance directly affects cellular physiology, which often results in various pathological conditions. In every living organism, the protein family of carbonic anhydrases regulate a broad variety of homeostatic processes. Here we describe the identification, mapping and cloning of a zebrafish carbonic anhydrase 5 (ca5) mutation, collapse of fins (cof), which causes initially a collapse of the medial fins followed by necrosis and rapid degeneration of the embryo. These phenotypical characteristics can be mimicked in wild-type embryos by acetazolamide treatment, suggesting that CA5 activity in zebrafish is essential for a proper development. In addition we show that CA5 regulates acid-base balance during embryonic development, since lowering the pH can compensate for the loss of CA5 activity. Identification of selective modulators of CA5 activity could have a major impact on the development of new therapeutics involved in the treatment of a variety of disorders.


The current study examined concurrent and longitudinal relations between maternal negative affective behavior and child negative emotional expression in preschool age children with (n = 96) or without (n = 126) an early developmental risk, as well as the predictions of later behavior problems. Maternal negative affective behavior, child externalizing emotional expression, and child internalizing emotional expression were observed during a number of lab tasks at child ages 4 and 5, and child externalizing and internalizing behavior problems were assessed via maternal questionnaire at age 6. Path analyses using structural equation modeling were utilized to test the relations among the variables at ages 4, 5, and 6. A parent-driven model of emotion socialization emerged, wherein stronger relations were found among maternal negative affect and child externalizing emotions and behaviors than among maternal negative affect and child internalizing emotions and behaviors. Early child risk did not appear to alter the overall emotion socialization process, although higher levels of maternal and child negativity were observed for the children with a developmental risk. Results underscore the complexity of emotion socialization processes throughout the preschool period.


In recent years, the concept of resilience started to dominate strategic, operational as well as political domains of modern societies. Living in highly interconnected environment, where layers of infrastructures, people and economic interests interact creating both opportunities and vulnerabilities, different countries around the world turned towards resilience practices to reduce vulnerability of their critical infrastructures and societies. However, how can one implement resilience concepts without a comprehensive understanding of the concept itself? Focusing on the concept and practice of critical infrastructure resilience, this report provides a comprehensive overview of the existing scientific literature regarding the concept of resilience in general. It discusses the development of the concept of resilience and its application in societal, economic, ecological, organisational and critical infrastructure domains. The report provides an extensive discussion on the definition of resilience concepts, as well as information on scientific endeavours to implement and measure concepts of resilience.

The report also contains detailed information on the definitions and implementation of the concepts of resilience in different continents, namely Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania, North America and South America. Focusing on the concept of critical infrastructure resilience, it provides an overview of the existing official concepts of resilience, implementation tools, and general practices aimed at increasing organisational, societal, economic and technical resilience in different countries.

To collect all the information, the IMPROVER consortium performed an extensive literature review on the use of resilience concepts. We also held a workshop with the associate partners, and conducted a set of personal interviews with critical infrastructure operators and resilience experts around the Europe. While conducting a number of case studies in different continents, we analysed existing region and state-level documents, and reports.


Effective R&D is essential for innovation and synonymous to choosing the right innovative ideas. Yet, selecting the right R&D projects is challenging because of the uncertainty and complexity inherent in making those selection decisions. We leverage a unique database comprising the drug development pipelines of the Top 15 pharmaceutical companies between 1999-2016 to examine how operational factors—technological uncertainty, competitive development projects, and the presence of project transaction costs—drive the selection decision. We find that firms continuously invest in development projects if they have previously had success in a domain, but that this decision is crucially moderated by the project development choices of their competitors. Early-stage competitive investments decrease the likelihood of the firm selecting to compete in the same domain, whereas late-stage project investments signal high technological feasibility and increase this likelihood. Still, entry into the same domain occurs only when the competitors do not have a large head-start in development. Moreover, the presence of project-level transaction costs manifested in in-licensed compounds makes them less likely to be selected than in-house ones, even though they exhibit above-average rates of success when selected. Finally, we provide evidence on how these selection factors meaningfully contribute to productivity.


Cognitive Radio (CR) is a novel and promising paradigm for next-generation wireless communication. It is able to sense and change its transmission and reception parameters adaptively according to spectrum availability at different channels. The Cognition Cycle (CC) is a state machine that is embodied in each CR that defines the mechanisms related to achieving context-awareness and intelligence including observation, orientation, learning, planning, decision making, and action selection. The CC is the key element in the design of various schemes in CR networks such as Dynamic Channel Selection (DCS), scheduling and congestion control. Hence, a good implementation of the CC is of paramount importance. In this paper, Reinforcement Learning (RL) is employed to implement the CC. The main focus is to analyze the performance of RL as an approach to achieving context-awareness and intelligence in regard to DCS. The contributions of this paper are twofold. Firstly, we seek to justify whether RL is an appropriate tool to implement the CC. Secondly, we seek to understand the effects of changes on RL parameters on network performance. In addition, we propose solutions for the problems associated with the application of RL in DCS. The results presented in this paper show that RL is a promising approach.


The experiment was designed to clarify the relationship between the leaf development of the scale bulblet and the polarity of the parent scale on a scale in the Easter lily cv. 'Hinomoto'.Lily bulbs (14-15cm in girth), produced at Okino-erabu Island, Kagoshima Pref., were obtained on July 16, 1976, and stored in the darkness (ca. 25°C), until the commencement of the experiment on July 30, 1976.After the parent bulb was soaked in 45°C water for 40min, the middle scales were collected and cut into 2-4 pieces horizontally and/or vertically. They were scaled ca. 2cm below the soil surface and grown outdoors.One vertical division accelerated leaf emergence of the scale bulblet compared with the control (undivided). One additional horizontal division to the vertical division resulted in the acceleration of leaf emergence of the scale bulblet on the basal part of the scale and the retardation on the apical part, compared with the control.One to three horizontal divisions accelerated leaf emergence of the scale bulblet in the case of basal part of the scale and inhibited that in the case of the apical part, compared with the leaf emergence of the undivided (control) scale. This tendency was independent of the degree of division. On the middle part of the scale, leaf emergence showed intermediate values between those on the basal part and on the apical part.When the scale was divided horizontally, a fairly large number of ETPs were observed on the basal part of the scale, but none or few on the middle or the apical part of the scale. Increase in the degree of the scale division resulted in decrease in ETPs on the basal part of the scale.


Background and Objectives: Problem-based-learning (PBL) is generally recognized as a student centered instructional approach. Universal College of Medical Sciences Nepal introduced PBL to second year MBBS and BDS students in July 2019.This study assessed the perceptions of students of second year MBBS and BDS who participated in PBL session.
Material and Methods: This was a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study assessing perceptions of the participant students. The validated questionnaire was used for the collection of data at the end of PBL session. The questionnaire comprised of two parts; Part I- Students' perceptions and attitude towards PBL (9 statements) and Part II Students' perceptions about the role of tutor in PBL(11 statements).Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21. The frequency, mean and standard deviation were computed and t test was used for the comparison of responses on statements of MBBS and BDS groups.
Results: The mean scores on7 out of 9 statements on students' perceptions and attitude towards PBL was higher than fourat Likert scale 1-5 (5=strongly agree, 4=agree, 3=to some extent agree, 2=disagree, 1=strongly disagree) and on 2 statements was higher than 3.5. The mean scores on all the statements with regard to students' perception about the role of tutor in PBL were higher than four. The mean scores of both MBBS and BDS groups of students on all statements were compared; the significant differences were obtained only on 2 statements out of 20.
Conclusion: The perceptions and attitude of students towards PBL and perceptions about the role of tutor were positive.


Abstract : Japan's decision to attack the United States in 1941 is widely regarded as irrational to the point of suicidal. How could Japan hope to survive a war with, much less defeat, an enemy possessing an invulnerable homeland and an industrial base 10 times that of itself? The Pacific War was one that Japan was always going to lose, so how does one explain Tokyo's decision? Did the Japanese recognize the odds against them? Did they have a concept of victory, or at least of avoiding defeat? Or did the Japanese prefer a lost war to an unacceptable peace? Dr. Jeffrey Record takes a fresh look at Japan's decision for war, and concludes that it was dictated by Japanese pride and the threatened economic destruction of Japan by the United States. He believes that Japanese aggression in East Asia was the root cause of the Pacific War, but argues that the road to war in 1941 was built on American as well as Japanese miscalculations and that both sides suffered from cultural ignorance and racial arrogance. Record finds that the Americans underestimated the role of fear and honor in Japanese calculations and overestimated the effectiveness of economic sanctions as a deterrent to war, whereas the Japanese underestimated the cohesion and resolve of an aroused American society and overestimated their own martial prowess as a means of defeating U.S. material superiority. He believes that the failure of deterrence was mutual, and that the descent of the United States and Japan into war contains lessons of great and continuing relevance to American foreign policy and defense decision makers.


Although the evidence suggesting a positive relationship between mindfulness and wellbeing is rapidly accumulating, the mechanisms by which this relationship operates remain unclear. This study explored the relationship between mindfulness, wellbeing and a self- regulatory process, namely personal goal setting. It was hypothesized that people reporting higher levels of mindfulness would strive for goals having a greater degree of autonomy, which would in turn have a beneficial impact on their wellbeing. University students (n = 114) completed questionnaires aimed at assessing their level of mindfulness and wellbeing. They were asked to identify five personal goals they were currently pursuing and indicate the reasons (extrinsic, introjected, identified or intrinsic) they were pursuing these goals. A bootstrapping analysis supports the mediating hypothesis and suggests that students who reported being more attentive and aware tended to be engaged in personal endeavours that were more autonomously motivated, which in turn appeared to foster their wellbeing.


Introduction: The present work aims to discuss the current scenario of procedures and regulations regarding budget impact analysis/models (BIA/BIM) at regional level in Italy and to provide a standardized approach and detailed recommendations for developing these analyses.
Method: A systematic review of the literature was conducted in order to collect existing guidelines or specific regional procedures for budget impact analysis in Italy. All the records were analysed in qualitative terms according to a pre-specified analytical framework, based on the ISPOR BIA guidelines. At the end of the analysis, a consensus questionnaire was developed to establish agreed approaches and to provide possible solutions to any critical issues. A list of 39 statements was developed. The survey was distributed to 69 experts who rated their level of agreement with each statement on a 5-point Likert scale. Consensus was predefined as more than 66% of the panel agreeing/disagreeing with any given statement.
Results: Sisty-nine experts answered the questionnaire; a total of 30/39 statements achieved consensus. There was agreement on most of the statements. Time horizon to consider and costs were the issues on which no agreement was found. The results allowed the working group to define a list of good practices.
Conclusion: While the structure and development of BIM are now well-known and well-applied at national level, there remains a great diversity of management of BIM tools at regional level. Consensus was reached among participating experts, as to the main characteristics, determinants and features of regional BIA/BIM in the perspective of the Italian payer.


Marginal adaptation is an important feature of implant-supported crowns, ensuring long-term survival and the success of the prosthetic restoration. The long-term success of a fixed prosthesis such as an implant is highly associated with its marginal adaptation. Improper marginal adaptation increases the risk of plaque accumulation, which leads to decay and periodontal diseases and eventually results in the failure of the fixed dental restoration. The aim of this study is to evaluate the marginal fit of different types of implant-supported crowns following the cementation procedure. It is a retrospective study conducted by reviewing 86,000 patient case records of the Saveetha Dental College and Hospital, Chennai, India. A total of 196 consecutive case records of patients for a period of June 2019 to March 2020, with signed informed consent, were retrieved and analyzed. Information such as patient name, patient identification number (PID), age, gender, marginal adaptation, and type of materials was retrieved from patient case records. Data were entered in Excel and analyzed using SPSS software version 23.0. Descriptive analysis was done for the assessment of age, gender, type of materials, and marginal adaptation. A Chi-square test was used to evaluate the association between marginal adaptation and type of materials. The significant level was set at less than or equal to 0.05 (p ≤ 0.05). In this study, we observed that all-metal, metal-ceramic, hand-layered, and monolithic crowns mainly have smooth margins adaptation (52.55%) following cementation. The placement of implant-supported crowns is mostly done in individuals within the 21-30 years age group (29.08%). A higher prevalence of implant-supported crowns is seen in males (61.73%) compared to females (38.27%). Within the limits of the study, placement of implant-supported crowns is done mainly in individuals within the 21-30 years age group, with higher predilection in males compared to females. Metal-ceramic crowns are commonly placed, followed by hand-layered crowns, monolithic crowns, and all-metal crowns. Most of the implant-supported crowns exhibit satisfactory marginal adaptation with smooth margins. However, there is no significant association between the types of material and marginal adaptation.


Background The association of ABO blood group with prognosis of several malignancies has been established. However, its role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unclear. Patients and methods In this study, we investigated the prognostic role of ABO blood group in unresectable HCC patients receiving transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) as an initial treatment. Medical records of 2,611 HCC patients were collected, and clinical data of 282 unresectable HCC patients receiving TACE were ultimately analyzed retrospectively. A prognostic nomogram was generated for predicting 1-, 2-, and 3-year overall survival (OS) probability. A total of 114 (40.4%), 69 (24.5%), 64 (22.7%), and 35 (12.4%) HCC patients had blood groups O, A, B, and AB, respectively. Results The median OS times for patients with blood groups O, A, B, and AB were 24, 23, 20, and 20 months, respectively. Patients with blood group AB (hazard ratio [HR]=2.050, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.331–3.157, P=0.001) or group non-O (HR=1.479, 95% CI, 1.110–1.972, P=0.008) had a poorer OS than those with blood group O. The prognostic nomogram, with a c-index of 0.701, was modest in predicting OS of unresectable HCC patients. Conclusion Patients with non-O blood group, particularly blood group AB, had a worse OS compared with those having blood type O. ABO blood group can predict the prognosis in patients with unresectable HCC undergoing TACE as an initial therapy. Further external validation in larger cohorts is necessary to confirm their usefulness in clinical practice.


Short-pulse metrology and dynamic studies in the extreme ultraviolet (XUV) spectral range greatly benefit from interferometric measurements. In this contribution a Michelson-type all-reflective split-and-delay autocorrelator operating in a quasi amplitude splitting mode is presented. The autocorrelator works under a grazing incidence angle in a broad spectral range (10 nm - 1 μm) providing collinear propagation of both pulse replicas and thus a constant phase difference across the beam profile. The compact instrument allows for XUV pulse autocorrelation measurements in the time domain with a single-digit attosecond precision and a useful scan length of about 1 ps enabling a decent resolution of E/ΔE = 2000 at 26.6 eV. Its performance for selected spectroscopic applications requiring moderate resolution at short wavelengths is demonstrated by characterizing a sharp electronic transition at 26.6 eV in Ar gas. The absorption of the 11th harmonic of a frequency-doubled Yb-fiber laser leads to the well-known 3s3p64p1P1 Fano resonance of Ar atoms. We benchmark our time-domain interferometry results with a high-resolution XUV grating spectrometer and find an excellent agreement. The common-path interferometer opens up new opportunities for short-wavelength femtosecond and attosecond pulse metrology and dynamic studies on extreme time scales in various research fields.


Khula is the most practically used component in the judiciary of Pakistan and this requires completely Islamic Jurisprudence but unfortunately, Neither bar nor bench has special competency on this issue, on top of that Dar Ul Ifta is a different system in Pakistan that is not recognized ultimately common peoples face problems. The question arises to examine the theory of Khula in Islamic law along with Pakistani judicial practice in this relevant matter and furthermore to point out contemporary issues with its solutions so comparative study between khula and its practice is mainly focused in this research. This paper is not just an analytical study of the topic, but it is comparing both theoretical and practical aspects of Kula so that reforms could be oriented toward emerging issues. This work has drawn the conduct for the legal fraternity in concern matter furthermore, this writing has shown a way to the public for adopting a just & fair process for canceling the contract of marriage and more importantly the replacement of Civil judges with Muftian-E-Kiram in family courts will overcome the problems in family cases.


This paper describes an iterative band approximation method (BAM) that is useful for solution of large matrix eqnations where the elements of the matrix decrease in magnitude with increasing distance from the diagonal. The method involves the inversion of a band about the diagonal which is nsed to obtain a first estimate of the solution. This estimate, along with the remaining elements in the matrix above and below the band, is used to iterate to the final solution. Due to the substantial reduction in the size of the matrix which is actually inverted, the method has been applied to the solution of full complex matrix equations involving up to 1698 unknowns. BAM is used to obtain distributions of EM energy absorption for man models with 180-1132 cells.


The TCLE method (a method in which the admittance of a system is directly calculated from time-convolutionless equations with external driving terms) formulated in terms of thermo-field dynamics, is applied to a boson system interacting with its surroundings, referred to as the "heat reservoir", and with an external driving field. For a boson system interacting with its heat reservoir, the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, a dispersion relation, and sum rules are studied through application of the TCLE method. The effects of the interference between the external driving field and the heat reservoir, which give the effects of the initial correlation and memory, as well as the effects of the boson-boson interaction, are numerically investigated for a non-degenerate boson system interacting with its heat reservoir, up to first order in powers of the boson-boson interaction.


Palliative care aims to improve the quality of life of patients through attention to physical, psychological, social and spiritual distress. Assessment of quality of life, expressed as a global score, is difficult because patients are too ill for long interviews, but relatives and professionals are poor proxy respondents for patients. Quality of life assessment tools must be multidimensional, considering both physical and psychosocial issues, must be quick and easy to administer and score and must be sufficiently sensitive to detect changes with time. Quality of life assessment has audit and routine clinical uses; it is an essential consideration in any research involving the patient with advanced cancer. The different types of questionnaire assessment tool are discussed in detail.


Development of an efficient intraocular drug delivery nanosystem remains the most difficult challenge to attain a prolonged therapeutic effect at the site of drug action. The purpose of this work was to develop a biodegradable, long-term sustained release, and biocompatible nanoparticulate system to treat various intraocular diseases. To attain the objectives, poly(ortho ester) (POE), a hydrophobic, surface erodible, and nontoxic polymer, was selected for fabrication of nanoparticles for the first time using a double emulsion solvent evaporation method. The influence of POE molecular weight on particle size, polydispersity index, zeta potential, drug content, in vitro release, degradation, in vitro cytotoxicity, and cell uptake studies was investigated. Drug-loaded nanoparticles had a spherical shape with an average particle diameter from 241 to 298 nm and zeta potential values from -8 to -11 mV. Encapsulation efficiency ranged between 21 and 63%, depending on the type of the water-soluble molecule used. Approximately 20-30% of the loaded drug was released over a period of 14 weeks. The drug release and degradation profiles of nanoparticles followed perfect zero-order kinetics confirming the POE-surface erosion mechanism. In vitro cytotoxicity and cell uptake studies revealed the cyto-compatible nature and nonendocytic behavior of POE nanoparticles. Collectively, POE nanoparticles are a very promising vehicle for sustained delivery of therapeutics to the back of the eye.


The wasp Anagrus atomus L. parasitizes eggs of the cicadellid Empoasca vitis (Göthe) on grapevines during the vegetative season. In vineyards, abundant parasitoid emergence occurs in the autumn as a result of a developmental delay in part of the A. atomus population. In this context, physiological times required by the parasitoid to develop in E. vitis eggs are recorded during the summer. In early summer, all individuals develop fully, with physiological times in agreement with those reported in the literature. From early August onwards, an increasing proportion of parasitoids show a delay in development involving pre‐imaginal stages. Under transmission microscopy, larvae of A. atomus inside the eggs of E. vitis can be clearly differentiated as 'light' and 'dark' types, which are associated with normal and delayed development, respectively. The decreasing photoperiod as autumn approaches appears to promote the retardation of growth. This phenomenon can be considered a typical case of risk spreading because, when the availability of E. vitis eggs in vineyards is high (i.e. in early summer), A. atomus shows (i) only a normal developmental pattern that allows a faster population increase, whereas (ii) when E. vitis egg availability begins to be scarce (i.e. from mid summer), an increasing proportion of individuals having delayed development provides better fitness because it allows the parasitoid to synchronize its life history with leafhopper species that lay overwintering eggs on plants other than grapevines.


In this paper, a low-power low-IF receiver and a direct-conversion transmitter (DCT) suitable for the IEEE standard 802.15.4 radio system at the 2.4-GHz band are presented in 0.18-mum deep n-well CMOS technology. By using vertical NPN (V-NPN) bipolar junction transistors in the baseband analog circuits of the low-IF receiver, the image rejection performance is improved and the power consumption is reduced. In addition, by applying the V-NPN current mirrored technique in a DCT, the carrier leakage is reduced and the linearity performance is improved. The receiver has 10 dB of noise figure, -15 dBm of third-order input intercept point, and 35 dBc of image rejection. The transmitter has more than -2 dBm of transmit output power, -35 dBc of local oscillator leakage, and -46 dBc of the transmit third harmonic component. The receiver and transmitter dissipate 6 and 9 mA from a 1.8-V supply, respectively


Umbilicals are widely used to provide monitoring and control functions for distant satellite wellheads in subsea developments. Detailed analysis is required to predict the behavior of the umbilical during the installation process. Finite Element Analysis is performed to determine the limiting operational sea-state for the installation operations. This paper presents work carried out with Acergy Norway AS, comparing two irregular wave spectra that are commonly used for installation analysis in the North Sea. The purpose of the study is to select the most suitable method for the installation analysis with respect to different types of installation operations. Selection is carried out based on several limiting criteria, including top tension, compression, minimum bending radius and the tension at the touchdown point. The JONSWAP spectrum and Torsethaugen spectrum are used to model the physical environment of the North Sea. Both of these spectra are especially designed for North Sea environment. The JONSWAP spectrum represents the fetch-limited (or coastal) wind generated seas, meanwhile the Torsethaugen spectrum represents the wave conditions in open ocean areas where the waves are dominated not only by local wind seas but are also exposed to swells (Torsethaugen and Haver, 2004). Two types of installation operations are selected for this work, which are the "buoyancy overboarding" for dynamic umbilical installation analysis and "normal lay" for static umbilical installation analysis. The analysis shows that the Torsethaugen spectrum generates higher tension forces compared to the JONSWAP spectrum. On the other hand, the JONSWAP spectrum generates higher compression and lower bending radius. However, the differences between the results using these two spectra are not large. This is due to the limited wave height and period applicable for installation operations. This work only covers wave height of Hs = 2.5–4.0 m and wave period of Tp = 6–14 s. The selection of these low conditions is based on typical sea states for installation operation (without consideration of survival conditions). Since there is only small variation on the results from the two spectra, both JONSWAP and Torstehaugen spectra are considered suitable for analysis of installation operations. It is further noted that although the Torstehaugen spectra will often provide a more realistic representation of the physical environment, forecast or measured weather data is rarely presented in this form, therefore the JONSWAP or other single peak spectra must be used for decision making offshore. This study has validated that for the range of condition studied, this is an acceptable approach. The conclusion from this study is only applicable for low sea-states and without considering effects from different direction of wind seas and swells components in the Torsethaugen spectrum. Therefore further work is required to fully asses the impact of directionality between the wave components and the impact of higher sea states which are applicable to survival conditions.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


If $G$ is a finite group, is a function $f:G\to\mathbb C$ determined by its sums over all cosets of cyclic subgroups of $G$? In other words, is the Radon transform on $G$ injective? This inverse problem is a discrete analogue of asking whether a function on a compact Lie group is determined by its integrals over all geodesics. We discuss what makes this new discrete inverse problem analogous to well-studied inverse problems on manifolds and we also present some alternative definitions. We use representation theory to prove that the Radon transform fails to be injective precisely on Frobenius complements. We also give easy-to-check sufficient conditions for injectivity and noninjectivity for the Radon transform, including a complete answer for abelian groups and several examples for nonabelian ones.


The excitability of somatic membrane of Helix lucorum neurons was studied by means of extracellular electric current of various direction (frequency 0.1 Hz). Inhomogenous excitability of somatic membrane was shown and the existence of the local low-threshold area of spike generation in the soma was demonstrated.


Under the situation of an urban environment, noise has been a critical issue in affecting the indoor environment. A reliable approach is required for evaluation of the community noise as one factor of anthrophonic in the urban environment. This research investigates the level of noise exposure from different community noise sources and elaborates the advantage of the noise disadvantages for soundscape innovation. Integrated building element design as a protector for noise control and speech intelligibility compliance using field experiment and MATLAB programming and modeling are also carried out. Meanwhile, for simulation analysis and building acoustic optimization, Sound Reduction-Speech Intelligibility and Reverberation Time are the main parameters for identifying tropical building model as case study object. The results show that the noise control should consider its integration with the other critical issue, thermal control, in an urban environment. The 1.1 second of reverberation time for speech activities and noise reduction more than 28.66 dBA for critical frequency (20 Hz), the speech intelligibility index could be reached more than fair assessment, 0.45. Furthermore, the environmental psychology adaptation result "Close The Opening" as the best method in high noise condition and personal adjustment as the easiest and the most adaptable way.


Abstract : A study conducted by Carpenter, O Brien, Hagerman and McCarl in 2011 estimates the economic impact of a foot and mouth disease (FMD) epidemic in the United States to be $2.3 $69.0 billion. We simulate an outbreak of FMD across central California using the InterSpread Plus simulation package. We use an experimental design that produces 102,400 epidemic simulation runs. Using the data from the simulations, we identify 16 critical disease and control parameters that have the greatest effect on the spread of FMD. A statistical model based on these 16 parameters and their interactions captures approximately 85% of the variability of the simulation model. The main takeaways of our analysis of FMD spread are as follows. The two most critical disease parameters are initial condition and local spread. The most critical disease control parameters are market movement and surveillance. Our experimental results indicate that if a typical premise sends an animal to market every 2.2 days instead of every day, we will see a 25% reduction in the mean number of cattle infected. Similarly, if there is less than a three day delay in between suspecting an FMD outbreak and declaring an FMD outbreak at dairy-like facilities, we see a 50% reduction in the number of infected cattle. Control measures cannot be taken in isolation. Our models show significant interaction effects between the most effective control measures market movement, and surveillance and other control measures such as tracing, vaccination and depopulation.


Transgenic domestic animals remain infrequently used as models for biochemical, biomedical or pharmaceutical studies. The difficulty in obtaining these animals and the cost of their maintenance explains this situation. This review briefly summarizes the different techniques of gene transfer, targeted or not, and also the techniques for constructing vectors for transgene expression. A few examples of domestic animal models are also reported.


In recent years, there has been a growing trend in research on smart contract applications. Smart contracts potential in the energy landscape is visible in their major applications such as peer-to-peer energy trading, electric vehicle charging, energy market management, and many more. Many studies have been conducted that produced a lot of literature in this area and many startups and companies have surfaced that exhibit large scope of its application in the energy sector. However, in comparison to other domains, there is still more development required. The literature available focuses on the different technical aspects and use cases, but there is no such scientific article providing gathered details of the smart contracts development process that invites the attention of researchers in the energy domain for development or provides basic knowledge of available tools. It is therefore necessary to contribute with academic articles that summarize this information, thus opening up paths of development in this field and strengthening the community. This paper is the first step towards the implementation of this idea and that is intended to be extended in the future.


▪ Abstract Spring water provides a unique opportunity to study a range of subsurface processes in regions with few boreholes or wells. However, because springs integrate the signal of geological and hydrological processes over large spatial areas and long periods of time, they are an indirect source of information. This review illustrates a variety of techniques and approaches that are used to interpret measurements of isotopic tracers, water chemistry, discharge, and temperature. As an example, a set of springs in the Oregon Cascades is considered. By using tracers, temperature, and discharge measurements, it is possible to determine the mean-residence time of water, infer the spatial pattern and extent of groundwater flow, estimate basin-scale hydraulic properties, calculate the regional heat flow, and quantify the rate of magmatic intrusion beneath the volcanic arc.


Electron capture in collisions between multiply charged (v ~ v0) ions and H2 has been shown to lead to a strong population of highly excited Rydberg states. Accordingly, relative intensities of the spectral lines corresponding to transitions from these states can be measured under single-collision conditions. The dominating transitions for ions with large (n, l) values are Δn = 1 transitions, which for ions with charge states ~ 15 and n values from 10 to 15 result in light emission in the visible region. The lines corresponding to transitions between two n values are found to present structure, which indicates a non-degeneracy according to different l values. This l splitting is assumed to be caused by core polarization, and it is found that capture predominantly takes place to l = n - 1 states. The dipole polarizability for Au13+ is found to be be 0.9a03.


This study was conducted to determine how the relationship between institutions and enforcement of Syariat Islam in Aceh as well how the process of cooperation as well as the separation of powers between the relevant institutions. The objectives to be achieved in this research is to identify and analyze the role of the Department of Syariat Islam and its position in the governance of Aceh. This type of research is qualitative descriptive research type with survey research, by analyzing data in the field on a direct source in the form of words, the picture is not numbers, data obtained include interviews, field notes, documents and so on others. This study aims to describe, summarize a variety of conditions, various situations that arise on implementation of Islamic Law in Aceh local governance which is the object of this study, based on what happened then raised to the surface of the character / picture of conditions and circumstances. The focus of research is the Islamic Law enforcement agencies in Aceh who participated in providing support and assist the Department in enforcing the Syariat Islamic Law. From the data processing research showed that the relationship of the Department of Syariat Islam in Aceh with the relevant institutions have close cooperation and mutual support in the enforcement of Shariah. Cooperation between the Department of Islamic Law with the relevant institutions have been better when compared to previously where the relevant institutions to help the enforcement of Syariat Islam only as guidance only, but now the Department of Islamic Law together with the relevant institutions can conduct training, investigation, interrogation until the execution which will be performed by the judiciary of Syariat Islam law in Aceh on the legality and authority he had. Socialization provided by the government of Aceh has also been quite good, with a positive response from the people of Aceh and the Aceh government's support of the enforcement of Syariat Islam in Kaffah to realitation. Keywords : Authority of Syariat Islam, Place of Syariat Islam,The Judiciary of Aceh, Aceh government.


This paper represents a comparative study among different types of existing single phase AC to DC step down converter. Their performances and outputs have been analyzed depending on their equations. Different parameters such as voltage gain, harmonic contents in input current, parameters of changing output voltage are compared among three different existing single phase AC to DC converters. This research also highlights the advantages and drawbacks of these converters. Simulations of the converters are performed using MATLAB/SIMULINK and PSIM.


In this study, raw natural gas data from Uch gas field located in Dera-Bugti of Balochistan, Pakistan is simulated for performance analysis over amine absorber unit in Aspen HYSYS V9.0. The primary amine, MDEA was selected to remove bulk CO2 and reduce H2S to ppm level, where secondary amines, MEA, DEA and Sulfolane were selected to observe CO2 levels in sweet gas. The primary amine in isolation and blend with secondary amine was simulated and analysed over absorber performance. The absorber performance is reported as CO2, H2S and water content in sweet gas, hydrocarbons in rich amine and its temperature. MDEA in isolation resulted in minimum 14.13 and 12.78 mol% CO2 in sweet gas and rich amine temperature of 81.11oC and 82.13oC with 24 and 30-Trays, respectively at 2500 m3 /h of lean amine recirculation rate. Among the tested blends, MDEA/MEA, MDEA/Sulfolane showed no significant improvement on absorber performance compared to isolated MDEA. However, MDEA/DEA blends indicated that CO2 in sweet gas can be reduced to 12.07, 3.41, 1.85 mol% with rich amine temperature of 89.05, 111.72 and 124.80oC, respectively. The lowest CO2 detected of 1.85 mol% was achieved with 40 mol% MDEA and 15 mol% DEA blend at 2500 m3 /h recirculation rate and rich amine temperature of 124.80oC. The results indicated that MDEA/DEA blend has the potential to attain CO2 of less than 2 mol%. The higher rich amine temperature raise concern that can be resolved by using heat stabilized salt.


Ab initio perturbed ion plus polarization calculations are reported for doubly charged nonstoichiometric (MgO)nMg2+ (n=1–29) cluster ions. We consider a large number of isomers with full relaxations of the geometries, and add the correlation correction to the Hartree–Fock energies for all cluster sizes. The polarization contribution is included at a semiempirical level also for all cluster sizes. Comparison is made with theoretical results for neutral (MgO)n clusters and singly charged alkali–halide cluster ions. Our method is also compared to phenomenological pair potential models in order to assess their reliability for calculations on small ionic systems. The large coordination-dependent polarizabilities of oxide anions favor the formation of surface sites, and thus bulk-like structures begin to dominate only after n=24. The relative stabilities of the cluster ions against evaporation of an MgO molecule show variations that are in excellent agreement with the experimental abundance spectra.


Introduction: Despite the prevalence of various cancers among Latino populations, this demographic is underrepresented within cancer clinical trial (CCT) participants. A potential barrier to Latino participation involves the manner in which Latino patients are informed of available trials. Moreover, little is known about interactions between potential CCT Latino participants and their family members and how they influence the decision to participate. Therefore, the goal of this study was to examine the ways in which Latino cancer patients describe communication about CCTs, including availability of CCT-related information and family communication about CCT-related decisions. Methods: Methods employed in this study included thematic qualitative analysis of interviews with Latino (n=16) and non-Hispanic white (n=15) patients treated at a Minority-Serving Academic Cancer Center. The semi-structured interviews explored participants9 experiences with CCTs – including factors that affected their decision to participate, such as family member input and the manner and extent of patient-provider communication. Results: Analysis of the results thus far have revealed several prominent themes. First, patients in general did not demonstrate complete understanding of their diagnosis, treatment details and objectives. Similarly, they did not fully understand the implications of CCTs. Second, most participants did not actively seek information on CCT opportunities, but were willing to participate in a CCT if given the opportunity. Differences between Latino and non-Latino patients included altruism as a common motivation for CCT participation for Latino patients, preference among Latino patients to obtain CCT information directly from physicians alone, and placing higher value in consulting family members when deciding to participate in CCTs. However, virtually all families interviewed felt that the ultimate decision was the patient9s alone. Discussion: Several important implications stem from these results. First, it appears that low CCT participation rates amongst Latinos are not due to a lack of interest, but rather a lack of awareness. Our early findings suggest that if more efforts were made to educate Latinos regarding CCTs and their validity as an approach to cancer treatment, the disparity seen to date could be reduced. While many Latino patients expressed a preference to receive the specific details about CCT treatment directly from physicians, many had suggestions of using new mediums – non-medical websites, magazine subscriptions, and community outreach programs – to increase awareness of CCTs among Latino cancer patients. Implementing these suggestions could also potentially create an opportunity to emphasize that CCT participation may not only benefit the patient, but future cancer patients as well. Lastly, our findings suggest that involving family members in the educational process may help participants understand and draw significance from the vast amount of information presented and reach a decision that better suits their needs. The findings and conclusions of this study highlight a valuable opportunity: to address some of the barriers that Latino cancer patients face, and tailor CCTs to actively seek out and include a population that better represents the United States as a whole. Not only would this facilitate delivery of new treatment options to a historically underserved population, but could lay the foundation for other similar research efforts that seek to understand and alleviate barriers to CCT participation that are unique to other minority groups. Citation Format: Leah Lucero, Darian Siddhartha Dhawan, Tamar Ginossar. Family and health communication influence on Latino cancer clinical trial participation. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Ninth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2016 Sep 25-28; Fort Lauderdale, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2017;26(2 Suppl):Abstract nr A12.


This article demonstrates the feasibility of exploiting insurance claims data to estimate the marginal benefits to society of highway infrastructure improvements. We construct a unique database linking claims expenditures for a major auto insurer in Michigan to infrastructure investments at 62 intersections in the City of Detroit, and conclude that the addition of a left-turn lane, or left-turn phase in the signal, decreases the insurer's average monthly claims costs at a representative intersection by $944 or $1,062, respectively. The evidence also indicates that these cost savings are a result of reductions in accident severity, rather than being a consequence of fewer accidents. Copyright The Journal of Risk and Insurance.


The Visible Ear Simulator (VES) is a freeware temporal bone surgical simulator utilizing a high-fidelity haptic and graphical voxel model compiled from segmented digital images of fresh frozen sections. A haptic device provides the 3-dimensional handling and drilling with force-feedback in real time. In a multilingual user interface the integrated tutor function provides stepwise instructions during drilling through an intuitive, volumetric approach. A censor function draws on metrics derived from the simulator to provide instant and summary feedback for the user. The VES can be downloaded from http://ves.cg.alexandra.dk.


The results of studies on the synthesis, structure, and reactivity of organometallic derivatives of the lanthanide elements are surveyed. Data concerning their practical applications are presented. The bibliography includes 235 references.


Maize is a highly valuable staple food crop in Sub-Saharan Africa regions. Its production is hampered by both biotic and abiotic stress. Early-maturing genetic resources appear as an excellent choice to manage adverse climatic change's effects. This study aimed to find the best extra-early maize genotypes based on genotype by environment interactions in the groundnut agro-ecological zone of Senegal. The trials were conducted in Paoskoto, Ndiedieng, Nioro and Keur Sene during the rainy seasons of 2016 and 2017. Six extra-early maize genotypes were evaluated following a randomized complete block design with three replications. Data on grain yield were recorded and analysed using additive main effect and multiplicative interaction and genotype plus genotype by environment biplot methods. Analysis of variance revealed a significant (P < 0.01) genotype by environment effect on grain yield. The sum of squares variation was higher (77.2%) explained by the environment effect. The genotype 2008-TZEE-W-STR showed the highest yield performance (3299 kg ha-1) and lowest yield stability index (3). This genotype can be suggested to farmers for its cultivation and a good candidate for early maturing maize breeding program in Senegal.


Movement‐based indices such as moves per minute (MPM) and proportion time moving (PTM) are common methodologies to quantify foraging behaviour. We explore fundamental drawbacks of these indices that question the ways scientists have been using them and propose new solutions. To do so, we combined analytical and simulation models with lizards foraging data at the individual and species levels. We found that the maximal value of MPM is constrained by the minimal durations of moves and stops. As a result, foragers that rarely move and those that rarely stop are bounded to similar low MPM values. This implies that (1) MPM has very little meaning when used alone, (2) MPM and PTM are interdependent, and (3) certain areas in the MPM‐PTM plane cannot be occupied. We also found that MPM suffers from inaccuracy and imprecision. We introduced a new bias correction formula for already published MPM data, and a novel index of changes per minute (CPM) that uses the frequency of changes between move and stop bouts. CPM is very similar to MPM, but does not suffer from bias. Finally, we suggested a new foraging plane of average move and average stop durations. We hope that our guidelines of how to use (and not to use) movement‐based indices will add rigor to the study of animals' foraging behaviour.


Vanadium concentrations have been measured in the serum of 23 healthy subjects by neutron activation analysis, with post-irradiation chemical separation. The values obtained fall in a fairly narrow range (260-1300 ng/L, mean 670 ng/L), which suggests a physiological role for this element. We checked the method by analysis of standard (U.S. National Bureau of Standards) water samples and serum samples supplemented with 48V, and we found excellent agreement with expected results in both cases. We consider the reported results for human serum to be more reliable than those obtained by atomic absorption spectroscopy.


The article is based upоn the review of statistical and scientific data and is devoted to the determination of the main features of family institution transformation which threaten national security. The authors analyze the changing tendencies of demography and children morbidity indices. According to the results of their own studies they characterize the health status of young pregnant persons and their attitude to the pregnancy planning, their attitude to own health while the pregnancy period. The authors substantiate the basic risk factors in artificial abortion; detected the peculiarities of young mеn attitude to sex, marriage, child-bearing, domestic violence; characterize their behavior in this sphere. The tendencies of value aims dynamics in the sphere of marriage-family relations are substantiated according to the results of inquest of the universities students. The authors conclude that there is the real threat to family functions of reproduction and health formation the most important functions for demographic security provision. Unfavorable prognosis is also made for families which will bе formed in the nearest ten years.


In this paper we present an segmentation technique which uses super pixels as the basic unit of operation. The image is first converted into a super pixel image. Then the rules framed by Gestalt based on study of cognitive science are used to extract the features of image such as texture, edges and spatial information. The rule of locality determines the neighboring pixels. The rule of proximity group pixels of same brightness. The rule of consistency is used to identify the boundary for the pixels to be merged. The image is first split using region splitting. Then it is merged in two stages, first abrasively and then finely. In the first stage the pixels within a super pixel are merged and in second stage the pixels along the boundary are merged. The goal of this paper is to obtain segmentation with accuracy. KeywordsSynthetic Aperture Radar, Image Segmentation Region Splitting, Region Merging.


Physical locks are one of the most prevalent mechanisms for securing objects such as doors. While many of these locks are vulnerable to lock-picking, they are still widely used as lock-picking requires specific training with tailored instruments, and easily raises suspicion. In this paper, we propose SpiKey, a novel attack that significantly lowers the bar for an attacker as opposed to the lock-picking attack, by requiring only the use of a smartphone microphone to infer the shape of victim's key, namely bittings (or cut depths) which form the secret of a key. When a victim inserts his/her key into the lock, the emitted sound is captured by the attacker's microphone. SpiKey leverages the time difference between audible clicks to ultimately infer the bitting information, i.e., shape of the physical key. As a proof-of-concept, we provide a simulation, based on real-world recordings, and demonstrate a significant reduction in search space from a pool of more than 330 thousand keys to three candidate keys for the most frequent case.


CASE REPORT
We present the case of a 56-year-old male with a malignant exophthalmos in the context of Graves' disease. He suffered a significant worsening coincident with a hypothyroid crisis, and various therapeutic approaches were required for reduction of the proptosis.

DISCUSSION
When managing this condition, both the severity of the exophthalmos and the activity of the thyroid must be considered when choosing which of the different therapeutic approaches should be employed.


The use of thermal infrared technology to monitor the land surface temperature has received mature development, and the acceleration of urbanization makes the urban heat effect emerge, thus, studies of the thermal radiation characteristics of urban typical surface features make great significance for the analysis of the causes and distribution of the thermal phenomenon. Based on the study of ground measured data of Baoding city, we have found that, the feature types, the observation time and wall orientations are principal factors that exert an influence on the thermal radiation brightness temperature of urban typical surface features. The results show that different types of surface features will significantly affect the brightness temperature, but "different things with the same spectrum" still exists; the observation time has direct impact on the intensity of thermal radiation and to a large extent on the brightness temperature difference of each channel; the brightness temperature of different wall orientations are also different, and the difference changes with the change in observation time. Studies of thermal radiation characteristics of urban typical surface features have theoretical and practical significance, providing basis for thermal infrared remote sensing to monitor the urban heat effect.


5127 Background: Cholangiocarcinomas are cancers of the biliary tract that arise in the setting of chronic biliary tract inflammation. The inflammation-associated cytokine IL-6 is over-expressed in cholangiocarcinoma, and promotes tumor growth. However the mechanisms by which over-expression of IL-6 contributes to tumor growth or formation remain unknown. Recently, IL-6 has been shown to regulate activity of DNA methyltransferases. By altering DNA methylation, IL-6 could regulate gene expression. Thus, our aim was to assess the effect of IL-6 over-expression on gene expression, and to identify potential target genes that are epigenetically regulated. Methods: Mz-ChA-1, malignant human cholangiocarcinoma cells were stably transfected to over-express IL-6. Stable transfectants or their respective controls were treated with 0 or 5 μM 5'-Azacytidine, an inhibitor of DNA methylation. Tumor cell growth was assessed by cell proliferation assays, and anchorage independent growth in soft agar. Genomic DNA was isolated and analyzed for 5-methyl-cytosine content. Methylation of selected gene promoters was assessed using the TransSignal Methylation Array. Gene expression was assessed by microarray analysis using Affymetrix U133A chips, and analyzed using GeneSifter. The expression of the receptor for the biliary epithelial mitogen EGF was assessed by Western blot analysis. Results: Treatment with 5'-Azacytidine decreased Mz-ChA-1 cell proliferation and growth in soft agar. 5'-Azacytidine decreased methylcytosine in controls, but not in IL-6 over-expressing cells. Moreover, 5'-Azacytidine did not alter cell proliferation or growth in soft agar in IL-6 over-expressing cells. Thus, overexpression of IL-6 prevented the effects of 5'-Azacytidine on tumor cell growth. The expression of several genes was altered in cells over-expressing IL-6. An increased methylation of the promoters of several genes such as survivin, HoxA2 and caspase 8 was observed in IL-6 over-expressing cells. However, promoter methylation of several oncogenes such as K-ras and Rb was not observed. The expression of the EGF receptor was decreased by 5'-Azacytidine, but was increased by IL-6 over-expression. Summary and Conclusion: Over-expression of IL-6 can modulate gene expression and tumor cell growth by altering gene-specific methylation and expression of growth regulatory pathways such as those involving the EGF receptor. Moreover, enhanced IL-6 expression may decrease the sensitivity of tumor cells to methylation inhibitors. We conclude that dysregulation of promoter methylation and gene expression is an important mechanism by which IL-6 contributes to tumor progression. These observations provide a mechanism by which persistent cytokine stimulation can promote tumor growth.


In this study, we document the evolution of the gender pay gap in the UK over the past three decades and its association with fertility, examining the role of various differences in career patterns between men and women and how they change with the arrival of the first child. We show that differences in accumulated years of labour market experience play an important role, while differences in industry, occupation, and job characteristics explain less, conditional on working experience. We develop an empirical wage model to estimate the causal effect of working experience on the wages of women. Estimates from this model are then used to simulate two counterfactual scenarios in which women who are employed always work full-time, or women's rates of both part-time and full-time work are the same as men's. We find that differences in working experience explain up to two-thirds of the gender pay gap of college graduates 20 years after the first childbirth, and that the gap is largely driven by differences in full-time experience. The role of working experience is more moderate for individuals with no college education, but it can still account for about one-third of the overall long-term gender wage gap.


This thesis presents formal approaches for automated database updating and consistency control in vector- structured spatial databases. To serve as a framework, a conceptual data model is formalized for the representation of geo-data from multiple map layers in which a map layer denotes a set of terrain objects of the same mapping context, e.g., cadastral, soil mapping, etc. The necessity for a generalised model arises from the frequent requirement in spatial analysis and planning for a geometric integration of several different views of the world, whereas most existing data models were designed from the perspective of a "single application" leading to ad hoc and repeated overlay computations (during query processing) when dealing with an integrated analysis. An alternative model is therefore proposed in this thesis for the geometric integration of geo-data from multiple map layers. The proposed model is an object-based, query-oriented 2.5D data model for multi-valued vector maps (DMMVM). A multi-valued vector map refers to the vector-based representation of terrain objects from multiple map layers whereby two objects of the same geometric type may be spatially coincident. Two objects of the same type are spatially coincident if they (partially) overlap in space. In this model, positions of objects are defined in a 3D metric space but embedded in 2D topologic space. The model is based on the 2D formal data structure (FDS) for singlevalued vector maps. Terrain objects play a central role in the terrain description; each object has a thematic component and a geometric component. In the thematic domain, the objects can be grouped into thematic classes in which each class has a specific attribute structure, and in the geometric domain the object types (points, lines and areas) are distinguished for a 2D or 2.5D terrain description. A geometric data type -- the m-dimensional container, or simply m-container, where m e{0,1,2} -- is then introduced to model spatial coincidence among objects of the same geometric type. By introducing the container data type, overlapping sections across the layers are uniquely identified such that they have their own individual geometric data and nonspatial data, apart from those inherited from the overlapping objects; they can then be maintained and manipulated by the DBMS just like single objects. Using graph theory as a mathematical tool, the three container types are then represented by the topologic primitives arc and node. A node defines one 0-container andlor the beginning or end of an arc, while an arc defines (part of) one 1-container andlor (part of) the boundary of a 2-container. The arc is defined by one start node and one end node, and a node is defined by a coordinate triplet X,Y,Z. A flexible integration of the model with a DTM is also presented in the thesis, using an edge-based TIN. Two primitives of the edge-based TIN (edge and vertex) are added to the data types of the DMMVM to define the integrated model. Research and development on the updating of geo-information have been confined mainly to the aspects of data collection and change detection, with little emphasis on the corresponding automated propagation of the updating in the database in a consistent manner. To address the latter aspect, procedures are formulated in the thesis for a consistent automated updating of a vector-structured database, using the DMMVM as a framework. Algorithms are provided for the automated update propagation such that topology is automatically updated by the system, while maintaining structural and semantic consistency. This will improve on the current practice in operational systems, which usually requires a delayed reconstruction of topology whenever there is a geometric change in the database. Algorithms are developed for the insertion, deletion or modification of each of the eight data types (area, line, point, 2- container, 1-container, 0-container, arc and node) in the DMMVM. The human operator interacts with the system at the object-level, while the system propagates the update. The topology of the database is updated dynamically by the system by evaluating, using computational geometry, the topologic relationship between the new primitive (are or node) of an object and the existing primitives in the database. The type of relationship detected will then activate the relevant consistency rule (including update propagation) to validate the topology and consistency of the database. The system alerts the human operator if it is not possible for it to resolve the inconsistency. To enforce data consistency during geometric updating of the database, consistency rules are defined to ensure structural consistency, while a monitoring strategy is formulated for semantic (application-dependent, topologic) constraints. In both cases, topology plays the central role as an "alerter" of constraint violations. Thus the possible topologic relationships among the three elementary object types (area, line and point), and among the geometric primitives (arc and node) in the DMMVM are formalised and algorithms are defined for detecting the occurrence of any of the elementary relationships for any object combination. Then the consistency constraints can be translated to topologic relationships and stored in the database as events, and the corresponding responses of the system to enforce consistency can be defined as actions, thus giving a rule-based procedure (using the if event then action convention) for the management of data consistency in spatial databases. The DMMVM was translated into a relational database structure and an object-oriented database structure to facilitate implementation in a variety of systems. The object-oriented data structure and the consistency rules and algorithms were tested experimentally using Postgres, an extended relational database management system. Data were acquired using the Kork digital mapping system, on a Planicomp C120 photogrammetric stereoplotter equipped with a Zeiss Videomap and a Calcomp drawing board digitizer. The thesis concludes with an evaluation of the proposed model and an outline of areas requiring further investigations.


The steady-state behaviour of the ' autocatalator ' model A + 2B⇌3B B⇌C in a continuous-flow stirred-tank reactor (CSTR) with flow rate as the bifurcation variable is investigated. It is shown that the model gives rise to a structurally stable singularity provided none of the rate constants is zero and all the species are present in the feed stream. When the inlet concentration of species A is greater than three times that of species C, there exist 14 stable bifurcation diagrams. Some of these bifurcation diagrams contain three different ranges of flow rates in which multiplicity exists. When the inlet concentration of species A is smaller than three times that of C, the organizing centre for the autocatalator is a winged cusp. The unfolding of this singularity gives seven stable bifurcation diagrams, which also exist for the physical system. In this case, the behaviour of the autocatalator is qualitatively the same as that of the classical problem of a single exothermic reaction in a CSTR.