This paper studies how courts in India have dealt with consumer finance disputes. It presents the organisation of the courts that hear consumer finance cases. It reviews the 60 most cited cases to study the position that courts have taken in banking and insurance disputes. For the cases studied, it finds that courts have generally granted relief to consumers in banking disputes. In the case of insurance, courts have emphasised contractual compliance. This is so even if the contracts themselves were opaque or had unfair terms. The paper also finds that courts award low compensation and take a long time for adjudication. It suggests that courts should put in place systems to facilitate class action suits and bring in specialisation to deal with consumer finance disputes.


Predictive transport simulations of tokamak discharges are continuously improving thanks to increasing computational resources available and to the efforts made in code development. As an example of the progress, a recent work [1] with the Elmfire code demonstrates the ability of global gyrokinetic full f electrostatic particle simulations, including both neoclassical and turbulence physics, to reproduce experimental FT-2 tokamak measurements quantitatively. The validity of such first-principles simulations in a toroidal axisymmetric tokamak configuration requires naturally the conservation of total energy and total toroidal angular momentum, in order to model long-term neoclassical and turbulence physics correctly. The conservation of energy and toroidal angular momentum in gyrokinetic simulations necessitates the existence of corresponding conservation laws in the underlying theory and the application of numerical methods that realize the conservation laws in practice. For Elmfire, the gyrokinetic formalism in Ref. [2] provides the expressions for total energy K and total toroidal angular momentum L (explicit form given in Ref. [3]) with exact conservation up to the second order in the gyrokinetic expansion for a quasineutral plasma. Therefore, the conservation of these variables is analyzed in Elmfire simulations despite the low-order gyrokinetics may neglect important terms affecting, e.g., the expression for the conserved toroidal angular momentum [4]. The accuracy of the conservation of K and L is determined by the numerical methods applied in Elmfire, as shown in the following sections. The challenging features of Elmfire with respect to the conservation of energy and toroidal angular momentum are both that it is a particle-in-cell code and that it resolves the full 5D distribution of drift-kinetic electrons, in addition to gyrokinetic ions, under 3D electrostatic potential [5]. Under the circumstances, first, the simulated plasma is non-neutral in the space between the grid points although the charge neutrality at the grid points is enforced. This inhomogene-ity results in asymmetric electric force interpolation between ions and electrons and therefore in toroidal angular momentum drive unless the so-called momentum conserving interpolation scheme is employed. In the standard version of the scheme, the electric force is interpolated from the grid to the particle location by the same interpolation function as the charge is sampled to the grid. Ideally, the quasi-neutrality at the grid points guarantees then zero toroidal


The effects of cold stratification on seed germination of 58 species from a Mediterranean area in central-eastern Spain were studied. The area is subject to fires and has a very continental climate, with long winters (187 frost days during the year). Differences in germination among species taking into account their phylogeny were studied by dividing them according to their life form (chamaephytes, hemicryptophytes), post-fire regeneration strategy (non-sprouters, sprouters), and geographical distribution range (Iberian Peninsula endemics, Mediterranean, widely distributed species). Treated seeds were stratified at 5 °C for 4 weeks, then incubated, along with the control seeds, at 15 °C for 6 weeks. Most species were not affected by cold stratification, and in the cases where they were, germination was generally lower after stratification, not higher. In general, germination percentages were low, which shows that stratification by itself was not able to break seed dormancy. Functional groups differing in their post-fire regenerative strategy or distribution range showed differing responses. Sprouters and endemic species from the Iberian Peninsula were negatively affected by stratification treatment. This is interpreted as a mechanism to stop germination after winter, preventing plants from late germination in spring, which would leave them facing summer drought without a deeply developed root system.


In this thesis, several kinds of artificial plasmonic biosensors are introduced. They have
different nanostructures which are nanoholes, nanowells and nanopores. The fabrication
technologies are introduced. All these nanostructures are fabricated based on colloidal
lithography technology and following by several special steps. Different kinds of nanostructures
can be used for different purposes, nanoholes is one of the simplest biosensors, which can be
used to detect one kind of targets. Nanowells has different plasmonic signals for different
binding positions. Nanopores can act not only as a biosensor but also nanofluidics.
All these plasmonic biosensors have plasmonic signals, which provide the information for
sensing. Depending on observing the shifts of the peak and the dip for plasmonic signal, the
reaction between the targets and the receptors on the sensor surface can be detected. The
theoretical analyzing and mathematic functions of plasmonic signals are introduced. For
different nanostructures, the plasmonic signals are also different. Even for the same kind of
nanostructures, the position of the peak and the dip are also influenced by the periodicity, the
diameters of the nanostructures and the thickness of metal layer.
The plasmonic biosensors could have lots of additional applications after combing other
technologies, the plasmonic thermal sensor is one of them. This special sensor is produced by
implementing the electrical technology on nanoholes sample. After applying electronic currents,
the nanoholes sample can produce thermal energy, meanwhile, it can also provide plasmonic
signals. By calculation the resistance of the metal film, the temperature can be gotten, so the
plasmonic biosensor can be used to heat targets with specific temperature and also observe the
surface condition of the biosensor based on the variation of the plasmonic signal.


Antimicrobial peptides of the mastoparans family exert their bactericidal activity by binding to lipid membranes, inducing pores or defects and leaking the internal contents of vesicles and cells. However, this does not seem to be the only mechanism at play, and they might be important in the search for improved peptides with lower undesirable side effects. This work deals with three mastoparans peptides, Polybia-MP-1(MP-1), N2-Polybia-MP-1 (N-MP-1), and Mastoparan X (MPX), which exhibit high sequence homology. They all have three lysine residues and amidated C termini, but because of the presence of two, one, and no aspartic acid residues, respectively, they have +2, +3, and +4 net charges at physiological pH. Here we focus on the effects of these mastoparans peptides on anionic model membranes made of palmitoleyoilphosphatidylcholine (POPC) and palmitoleyoilphosphatidylglycerol (POPG) at 1:1 and 3:1 molar ratios in the presence and in the absence of saline buffer. Zeta potential experiments were carried out to measure the extent of the peptides' binding and accumulation at the vesicle surface, and CD spectra were acquired to quantify the helical structuring of the peptides upon binding. Giant unilamellar vesicles were observed under phase contrast and fluorescence microscopy. We found that the three peptides induced the leakage of GUVs at a gradual rate with many characteristics of the graded mode. This process was faster in the absence of saline buffer. Additionally, we observed that the peptides induced the formation of dense regions of phospholipids and peptides on the GUV surface. This phenomenon was easily observable for the more charged peptides (MPX > N-MP-1 > MP-1) and in the absence of added salt. Our data suggest that these mastoparans accumulate on the bilayer surface and induce a transient interruption to its barrier properties, leaking the vesicle contents. Next, the bilayer recovers its continuity, but this happens in an inhomogeneous way, forming a kind of ply with peptides sandwiched between two juxtaposed membranes. Eventually, a peptide-lipid aggregate forming a lump is formed at high peptide-to-lipid ratios.


This work shows the measurement of the refraction index of a glass plate using a Point Diffraction Interferometer (PDI). The plate of the PDI has a micro-hole and transmittance of less than 10%. The experimental setup consists in a He-Ne laser illuminating a spatial filter, a collimated beam is produced by an achromatic lens, and close to the focal point of a second lens (focusing lens), the plate of the Point Diffraction Interferometer is located. When the laser light pass through the plate of the PDI, it is generated an interference reference pattern, called Ir, which is recorded. As a second step, a glass plate with unknown index refraction is introduced between the focusing lens and the plate of the PDI, obtaining a new modified interference pattern, called It. We use the geometrical of figure of interference fringe for analysis of the interferograms. Value of the refraction index of the glass plate, nt, can be derived, with the previous knowledge of the glass plate thickness. Some experimental results will be shown.


A new remote nondestructive inspection technique, based on thermoelastic temperature measurement by infrared thermography, is developed for detection and evaluation of fatigue cracks propagating from welded joints in steel bridges. Fatigue cracks are detected from localized high thermoelastic temperature change at crack tips due to stress singularity under variable loading from traffics on the bridge. Self- reference lock-in data processing technique is developed for the improvement of signal/noise ratio in the crack detection process. The technique makes it possible to perform correlation processing without an external reference signal. It is very difficult to detect through-deck type fatigue cracks in steel decks by the conventional NDT technique, since they are not open to the inspection. In this paper, self-reference lock-in thermography is applied for detection of through-deck type fatigue cracks. Experiments are carried out to steel deck sample, which simulates an actual steel bridge, during crack propagation test. It is found that significant stress concentration zone can be observed near the crack front, which enabled us to detect through-deck type fatigue cracks and to estimate its size.


We investigate the additivity properties for both bipartite and multipartite systems by using entropic uncertainty relations (EUR) defined in terms of the joint Shannon entropy of probabilities of local measurement outcomes and we apply them to entanglement detection. In particular, we introduce state-independent and state-dependent entropic inequalities whose violation certifies the presence of quantum correlations. We show that the additivity of EUR holds only for EUR that involve two observables, while inequalities that consider more than two observables or the addition of the Von Neumann entropy of a subsystem enable to detect quantum correlations. Furthermore, we study their detection power for bipartite systems and for several classes of states of a three-qubit system.


Author(s): Lee, Sung Hee | Advisor(s): Park, No-Hee; Shin, Ki-Hyuk | Abstract: Oral cancer is thei?½6thi?½most common canceri?½worldwide, and more than 30,000 Americans are diagnosed with oral cancer each year. The 5-year survival rate for this group of cancers has been about 50%, despite advances in surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. In addition to premature death associated with oral cancer, the severe morbidity from cancer treatment makes oral cancer a major public health concern. Thus, although there has been in depth studies for understanding the molecular pathogenesis of oral cancer, further studies of the understanding of the cancer etiology, development, progress and recurrences are warranted. Recent studies have shown that cancer cells, including oral cancer, contain a small population of cancer stem cells (CSCs or alternatively cancer initiating cells) associated with drug resistance, metastasis and recurrence of the cancer. Therefore, CSCs might be strategically plausible targets for cancer therapies. More recently, many studies indicated that the suppression of Orai1 can diminish malignant phenotypes of cancer cells. Although Orai1 is known as a key calcium channel for store-operated Ca2+i?½entry, the underlying mechanism by which Orai1 regulates cancer progression remains unknown. Here we demonstrate that Orai1 is increased in a stepwise manner during oral/oropharyngeal carcinogenesis and highly expressed in cancer stem-like cell (CSC)-enriched populations of human oral/oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Ectopic Orai1 expression further induced malignant transformation and self-renewal capacity, ALDH1HIGH cell population, increased. Conversely, inhibition of Orai1 suppressed tumorigenic and CSC phenotype in OSCC, indicating that Orai1could be an important element for tumorigenicity and stemness of OSCC. Mechanistically, Orai1 activates its major downstream effector molecule, NFATc3. Knockdown of NFATc3 in the Orai1-overexpressing oral epithelial cells abrogates the effect of Orai1 on CSC phenotype. Antagonist of NFAT signaling also decreases CSC phenotype, implying the functional importance of Orai1/NFAT axis in OSCC CSC regulation. Moreover, Orai1-induced cytokines in HOK-16B/Orai1 cells were commonly upregulated in CSCs and enhanced important CSC phenotypes, i.e., self-renewal in OSCC. Subset of these CSC-specific cytokines were regulated by NFAT signaling, and partially rescued CSC phenotype in Orai1 inactivated OSCC, which suggests a possible role of cytokines in regulating CSC through Orai1-NFAT signaling. This study identifies Orai1 as a novel molecular determinant for OSCC progression by enhancing cancer stemness, suggesting that inhibition of Orai1-NFAT signaling may offer an effective therapeutic modality against OSCC.


Background and Objectives:Ablation of the slow pathway in patients with atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) can be performed by using a specific intracardiac electrogram findings predicting a successful radiofrequency catheter ablation. The purpose of the present study is to recognize a specific intracardiac electrogram findings predicting a successful sites of radiofrequency catheter ablation in patients with AVNRT. Materials and Methods:The study population consisted of the 18 patients (7 males, mean age:46 yr) to undergo successful catheter ablation using radiofrequency current in order to eliminate AVNRT from January 1993 to september 1994. We have analyzed local intracardiac electrogram at successful and unsuccessful sites of radiofrequency catheter ablation before the radiofrequency application: Atrial electrogram amplitude, duration, number of peaks in atrial electrogram, atrial/ventricular (A/V) electrogram amplitude ratio, and presence of His potential and/or slow potential. Results:Of 18 patients, 16 patients underwent a slow pathway ablation, the other 2 patients a fast pathway ablation. The mean A/V electrogram amplitude ratio at successful and unsuccessful sites was 0.69±0.91 and 1.86±2.03, respectively. The mean atrial electrogram duration and number of peaks at successful and unsuccessful sites was 57±16 msec vs 69±16 msec and 1.7±0.5 vs 2.2±0.7, respectively. His bundle electrogram was seen in one slow pathway ablated and one fast pathway ablated patient. No slow potential could be identified in any of these 18 patients. Conclusion:We think that A/V electrocardiogram amplitude ratio below 0.5 at posterior interatrial septum along tricuspid annulus is important marker indicating a successful ablation sites. (Korean Circulation J 1998;28(11):1852-1860)


LBNL-43E-2011 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)– Subsurface Biogeochemical Research (SBR) 6 th Annual PI Meeting Abstracts April 26–28, 2011 JW Marriott Hotel Washington, DC Subsurface Biogeochemical Research This work was supported by the Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research, U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.


ABSTRACT COVID-19 vaccinations have been given worldwide to save the lives of millions. However, several complications following different types of COVID-19 vaccinations were reported previously in the literature. Previous articles have reported multiple ocular complications following different types of COVID-19 vaccinations. In this article, we report a unique case in which the diagnosis of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD) was unveiled following vaccination with BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine and manifesting as acute optic neuritis in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The temporal association of acute optic neuritis after receiving the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine along with the serological evidence of NMOSD support this theory. The risk of triggering an occult autoimmune disorder in patients with an overactive immune system such as this patient should be studied to calibrate the benefits and risks of vaccination against COVID-19. Screening for aquaporin-4 antibodies in patients with SLE prior to vaccination against COVID-19 may be considered to prevent potentially devastating neurological disability in patients with premorbid occult NMOSD.


3‐Methylglutaconic (3MGC) aciduria is a common phenotypic feature of a growing number of inborn errors of metabolism. "Primary" 3MGC aciduria is caused by deficiencies in leucine pathway enzymes while "secondary" 3MGC aciduria results from inborn errors of metabolism that impact mitochondrial energy production. The metabolic precursor of 3MGC acid is trans‐3MGC CoA, an intermediate in the leucine catabolism pathway. Gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry (GC‐MS) analysis of commercially available trans‐3MGC acid yielded a mixture of cis and trans isomers while 1H‐NMR spectroscopy of trans‐3MGC acid at 25°C provided no evidence for the cis isomer. When trans‐3MGC acid was incubated under conditions used for sample derivatization prior to GC‐MS (but with no trimethylsilane added), 1H‐NMR spectroscopy provided evidence of trans to cis isomerization. Incubation of trans‐3MGC acid at 37°C resulted in time‐dependent isomerization to cis‐3MGC acid. Cis‐3MGC acid behaved in a similar manner except that, under identical incubation conditions, less isomerization occurred. In agreement with these experimental results, molecular modeling studies provided evidence that the energy minimized structure of cis‐3MGC acid is 4 kJ/mol more stable than that for trans‐3MGC acid. Once generated in vivo, trans‐3MGC acid is proposed to isomerize via a mechanism involving π electron delocalization with formation of a resonance structure that permits bond rotation. The data presented are consistent with the occurrence of both diastereomers in urine samples of subjects with 3MGC aciduria.


ABSTRACT I routinely see people use incorrect names for MAP1LC3/LC3 isoforms in scientific papers. In fact, it happens often enough that I decided to investigate the reason for the apparent confusion. It turns out that the sources of misinformation are abundant, including UniProt and antibody supplier web sites.


A marked characteristic of Judaism in the centuries surrounding the time of Jesus was its 'pseudepigraphical' writing, books which did not bear the name of their actual author but were attributed to figures from the past, particularly patriarchs and prophets. In this book Dr Russell shows the developments in the understanding of the character and function of these figures as they appear from the pseudepigrapha. He begins by looking at developments related to his theme in Philo and Josephus, the rabbinic literature and the Dead Sea scrolls. He then goes on to consider Adam, Enoch and Noah, Daniel, Job, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the twelve patriarchs, Moses and Ezra, and then the 'lives' of the prophets and the eschatological prophets. Now that the importance of Jewish literature of this period is increasingly understood and texts are more easily accessible, this new study will be found particularly useful for seeing familiar figures of the Old Testament not just through perspectives shaped by Christian tradition or modern historical criticism, but as they were seen by Jews at the time when they were written. D. S. Russell was formerly General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland. He has specialized in studies of this period.


This paper evaluates new techniques to improve performance, fairness and jitter of workloads consisting of multiple multithreaded applications running on Chip MultiProcessors (CMP). Current thread assignment techniques which are tailored for single-thread applications result in sub-optimal usage of the multiprocessor resources, unfairness between applications and jitter in execution runtimes when dealing with multiple multithreaded applications running in parallel. Multithreaded applications contain serial phases (single thread) and parallel phases (many threads). In this paper, we propose a new thread assignment mechanism that takes into account the different requirements of each phase, granting higher priority to applications during their critical-serial phases. Analytic and experimental evaluation of the proposed thread assignment mechanism on both symmetric and asymmetric multiprocessors show throughput improvements by as much as 16%, improved fairness by as much as 26% and reduced jitter by as much as 88%.


The development of GaN based devices for microwave power electronics at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), is reviewed. From 1995 to 2000, the power performance of AlGaN/GaN-on-sapphire heterojunction field effect transistors improved from 1.1 W/mm to 6.6 W/mm, respectively. Compensating the disadvantages of the low thermal conductivity of the sapphire substrate through heat management via flip chip bonding onto AlN substrates, large periphery devices with an output power of 7.6 W were demonstrated. UCSB also fabricated the first GaN based amplifier integrated circuits. Critical issues involved in the growth of high quality AlGaN/GaN heterostructures by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition and the device fabrication are discussed.


This work presents a thermodynamic analysis of a cogeneration energy process with black liquor gasification obtained in pulp and paper industries, using exergy balances to identify and quantify the main irreversibilities in the process. The cogeneration process was analyzed using a commercial simulator from which it was possible to develop the exergy balance. The influence of the composition of the gases produced in the gasifier over the exergy losses in the process was evaluated. The most appropriated operating conditions in the gasifier to reduce the concentration of these components, which are responsible for the exergy losses are the low temperature (700 o C) and the low pressure (200 kPa). The analysis showed to be useful to determine the technical viability of this alternative process of energy generation using black liquor gasification.


The objectives of this study were (1) to investigate the effects of communication style (CS) and time orientation (TO) on people's perception of and proficiency in responding to notification systems and (2) to study the applications of these effects in the design of user notification in anti-virus software. Significant effects were found in the experiment; the results showed that users with a low-context CS can remember and make sense of the information provided by the notification system better than users with a high-context CS. Polychronic users perceive a lower level of interruption of the notification messages than monochronic users; polychronic users prefer rapid and accurate responses to the stimuli provided by the notification system, whereas monochronic users tend to avoid responding to the stimuli. Four sessions of focus group discussions were then carried out with users of different CS and TO, which focused on the virus attack warning provided by anti-virus software. The results should prove useful to aid designers in creating more effective and appealing ways to give notification or warnings to users.


INTRODUCTION
Patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) usually have dismal prognoses, even with traditional systemic therapy. Peritonectomy or cytoreductive surgery (CRS) has been used to treat selected patients. It is also commonly used in the management of pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP), often in combination with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC).

METHODS AND RESULTS
In the present review article, the indications for CRS and HIPEC are examined, along with its technical aspects, resulting morbidity and mortality. Patients with documented peritoneal carcinomatosis from colorectal and ovarian cancer or PMP, absence of extra-abdominal metastases and liver parenchymal metastases and with an ECOG performance status of <2 should be considered for CRS and HIPEC.

CONCLUSION
It is important to recognise the role of and indications for CRS and HIPEC. Biologic factors of the disease and completeness of resection are important prognostic factors. Cytoreductive surgery, combined with intraperitoneal chemotherapy, can improve survival in selected patients with peritoneal-based malignancies.


This paper presents the method for the optimization of coupling gaps for a Microstrip bandpass filter design using cross-coupled resonators to achieve high selectivity. The paper discusses the suitability of various Evolutionary algorithm techniques for this purpose. A generalized design methodology is presented. Based on this methodology, a fourth-order filter with center frequency 2.48GHz is designed using cross-coupling resonators and PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization) for optimization of coupling gaps. The substrate used for this design is Rogers RT/Duroid 6006™ with relative permittivity 6.15 and thickness 1.27 mm. The filter has an insertion loss of 0.8dB at 2.48GHz. The return loss is greater than 13dB in the pass band. Fractional bandwidth is 3.9%. Two attenuation poles are located at 2.36GHz and 2.59GHz with attenuations of 50dB and 36dB respectively. Stopband rejection from DC to 2.36GHz and 2.59GHz to 3.5GHz is better than 40dB and 27dB respectively. The filter results are better than those of similar designs with manually computed coupling gaps. Also, this approach is effective in terms of computational requirements.


As part of a violent project US imperial expansion into Indigenous lands, the 1862 Morrill Act endowed and continues to accrue lasting benefits for Land Grant/Grab Universities (LGUs). The last three years have seen a surge in nationwide attention and mobilization for redress and calculations of debts owed to Indigenous Peoples for the land dealings of the 52 original LGUs. This article intervenes in the LGU question in two parts. First, I demonstrate culpability of LGUs by illustrating how the Morrill Act was part of a set of US imperial policies that expanded jurisdiction into Indigenous territories through violent and imperial acts of dispossession which are maintained today. Second, I argue that any terms of debt and redress for this dispossession must be framed within Indigenous and Indigenous feminist analytics of land and territory. Restitution cannot occur on the same terms as dispossession and instead must be built through repairing and maintaining good relations within specific Indigenous protocols. These interventions inform my concluding analysis of university administrations' responses to growing advocacy around LGUs, with a focus on Cornell University where I am situated as a researcher.


The First World War represents a watershed in the history of war photography. It was the first conflict to be photographed in detail by all the participants and the first in which photography was actively exploited and controlled in support of the war effort. When war broke out in 1914, many of the skills and technical resources required to photograph it were already in place. But suitable infrastructures capable of managing photography as a mass medium in wartime were lacking. The gradual evolution of such infrastructures shaped the nature and impact of photography during the First World War.


When individual statistics are aggregated through a strictly monotone function to an aggregate statistic, common knowledge of the value of the aggregate statistic does not imply, in general, that the individual statistics are either equal or constant. This paper discusses circumstances where constancy and equality both hold. The first case arises when partitions are independently drawn, and each individual's information is determined by their own partition and some public signal. In this case common knowledge of the value of the aggregator function implies (with probability one) that the individual statistics are constant, so that in the case where the individual statistics have the same expected value, they must all be equal. The second circumstance is where private statistics are related: affiliation of individual statistics and a lattice condition imply that the individual statistics are equal when the value of the aggregate statistic is common knowledge.


The state of secretory granules immediately before fusion with the plasma membrane is unknown, although the granules are generally assumed to be stably bound (docked). We had previously developed methods using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy and image analysis to determine the position of chromaffin granules immediately adjacent to the plasma membrane with high precision, often to within ≈10 nm, or <5% of the granule diameter (300 nm). These distances are of the dimensions of large proteins and are comparable with the unitary step sizes of molecular motors. Here we demonstrate with quantitative measures of granule travel in the plane parallel to the plasma membrane that secretory granules change position within several hundred milliseconds of nicotinic agonist-induced fusion. Furthermore, just before fusion, granules frequently move to areas that they have rarely visited. The movement of granules to new areas is most evident for granules that fuse later during the stimulus. The movement may increase the probability of productive interactions of the granule with the plasma membrane or may reflect the pull of molecular interactions between the granule and the plasma membrane that are part of the fusion process. Thus, instead of being stably docked before exocytosis, granules undergo molecular-scale motions and travel immediately preceding the fusion event.


Aptamers are short single‐stranded nucleic acids (RNA or ssDNA), identified by an in vitro selection process, denominated SELEX, from a partially random oligonucleotide library. They bind to a molecular target, a protein or other complex macromolecular structures of interest with high affinity and specificity, comparable to those of antibodies. Recently, aptamer selection protocols were developed for targeting living cells, including tumors. Chemical modifications of the aptamers and modalities of their detection and delivery systems are already available with high selectivity and targeting ability for the desired cancer cell type, making them promising for diagnosis and therapy. Glioblastoma multiformae represents the most malignant and fatal stage of glioma, and is also the most frequent brain tumor. Glioblastoma‐specific aptamers were developed by either targeting the whole cell surface or known glioma biomarkers. These aptamers may gain importance for imaging, tumor cell isolation from biopsies and drug delivery. In biomedical imaging techniques, aptamers coupled with radionuclide or fluorescent labels, bioconjugates and nanoparticles offer an advanced, noninvasive manner for defining the glioblastoma tissue border. Though single modality aptamer imaging probes have some limitations, these are overcome by the use of multimodal probes. Due to selectivity and chemical characteristics, aptamers can be coupled to functionalized nanoparticles and loaded with a drug, appeared promising for in vivo targeting of glioblastoma. Finally, aptamers are effective mediators for gene silencing when coupled to small interfering RNA and a viral vector, thus providing a novel tool with enhanced targeting capability in drug delivery, designed for tailored treatment of glioblastoma patients. © 2015 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry


Many educational interventions encourage parents to engage in their child's education as if parental time and attention is limitless. Sadly, though, it is not. Successfully encouraging certain parental investments may crowd out other productive behaviors. A randomized field experiment (N = 2,212) assessed the impact of an intervention in which parents of middle and high school students received multiple text messages per week encouraging them to ask their children specific questions tied to their science curriculum. The intervention increased parent–child at-home conversations about science but did not detectably impact science test scores. However, the intervention decreased parent engagement in other, potentially productive, parent behaviors. These findings illustrate that parent engagement interventions are not costless: There are opportunity costs to shifting parental effort.


The use of intensive high-yield agricultural systems has proved to be a feasible alternative to traditional systems as they able to meet the objective of guaranteeing long-term sustainability in the supply of food. In order to implement these systems, it is necessary to replace the traditional model of "extract-use-consume-dispose" with a model based on the principles of the Circular Economy (CE), optimizing the use of resources and minimizing the generation of waste. Almería has become a paradigm of this type of high-yield agricultural system, with the largest concentration of greenhouses in the world. This study analyses the opportunities that the CE can offer the intensive agriculture sector in Almería in order to obtain long-term sustainability. The results show a wide variety of alternatives, both on an agricultural exploitation level and in the case of the product packaging and wholesale centers. The priority areas of action are waste management, the prevention of product waste and the improvement in the efficiency of the use of water and energy. The principal limitations for adopting circular practices are the large investment required, the limited transfer of knowledge between the different users and the lack of sufficient support from the government and the sector.


Abstract In the presented text the author points out to anthropological as well as axiological foundations of the boxing fight from the viewpoint of Hegel's philosophy. In the genial idealist's views it is possible to perceive the appreciation of the body, which constitutes a necessary basis for the man's physical activity, for his work oriented towards the self-transformation and the transformation of the external world, as well as for rivalry and the hand-to-hand fight. While focusing our attention on the issue of rivalry and on the situation of the fight - and regarding it from the viewpoint of the master - slave theory (included in the phenomenology of spirit), it is possible to proclaim that even a conventionalised boxing fight - that is, restricted by cultural and sports rules of the game - has features of the fight to the death between two Hegelian forms of selfknowledge striving for self-affirmation and self-realisation. In the boxing fight, similarly as in the above mentioned Hegelian theory, a problem of work and of the development of the human individual (that is, of the subject, self-knowledge, the participant of the fight) appears. There appears also a prospect of death as a possible end of merciless rivalry. The fight revalues the human way in an important way, whereas the prospect for death, the awareness of its proximity, the feeling that its close and possible, saturates the life with additional values. It places the boxer, just like every subject fighting in a similar or a different way, on the path towards absolute abstraction - that is, it brings him closer to his self-fulfilment in the Absolute, to the absolute synthesis. The Hegelian viewpoint enables also to appreciate the boxing fight as a manifestation of low culture (being in contrast with high culture), to turn attention to the relations which - according to Hegel - take place between the Absolute and the man, as well as to show which place is occupied by the subject both in the process of the Absolute's self-realisation and in the German thinker's philosophical system. Independently of the dialectical, simultaneously pessimistic and optimistic overtone of considerations connected with the very boxing fight (regarding destruction and spiritualisation on a higher level), it is possible to perceive farreaching appreciation of the human individual in Hegel's philosophy since the Absolute cannot make its own self-affirmation without the individual, without the human body, without the fight aimed at the destruction of the enemy and without the subjective consciousness and the collective consciousness which appear thanks to this fight. Thus, it is justified to suppose that the foundation of the whole Hegel's philosophy is constituted by anthropology and that in the framework of this anthropology a special role is played by the fight and by work, which changes the subject and his(her) environment. Admittedly Hegel does not emphasise it explicitly, nevertheless his views (with their centre, which, according to Hegel himself and his interpreters, is constituted by the Absolute) have, as a matter of fact, an anthropocentric character and the main source of the subject's development is the struggle which, irrespectively of its result, always primarily leads to the destruction or even to the death of one of the sides, just like in the boxing fight. However, it is also a germ of the positive re-orientation of the subject, the beginning and a continuation of that what the phenomenology of the spirit describes as a movement towards absolute abstraction.


In addition to raising local water quality concerns, nitrate loads from Midwest agriculture are suspected as a primary contributor to hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. Over-application of fertilizer can exacerbate the problem, but the major causes are hydrological and land-use changes that came with tile drainage. Subsurface drainage creates very productive croplands and reduces water quality problems associated with surface runoff, but subsurface flow and nitrate transport are substantially increased. A permanent solution to the environmental problem of hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico will likely require more than improved nitrogen management and tillage practices. We present results of simulations integrating nitrate-removal wetlands, as a proven technology, with the emerging technologies of drainage modification. Relatively small areas of wetlands intercepting tile drainage can remove over 50% of the nitrate in tile drainage water. Controlled drainage and shallow drainage can reduce subsurface flow and nitrate export by as much as 50%. The integration of shallow and controlled drainage systems with nitrate-removal wetlands has the potential to simultaneously decrease the volume of subsurface drainage, increase the number of wetland sites, push those sites closer to the nitrate source, and enhance wetland performance by increasing the average residence time in the wetlands.


We develop a version of Haar and Holmgren methods which applies to discontinuous solutions of nonlinear hyperbolic systems and allows us to control the L1 distance between two entropy solutions. The main difficulty is to cope with linear hyperbolic systems with discontinuous coefficients. Our main observation is that, while entropy solutions contain compressive shocks only, the averaged matrix associated with two such solutions has compressive or undercompressive shocks, but no rarefaction-shocks -- which are recognized as a source for non-uniqueness and instability. Our Haar-Holmgren-type method rests on the geometry associated with the averaged matrix and takes into account adjoint problems and wave cancellations along generalized characteristics. It extends the method proposed earlier by LeFloch et al. for genuinely nonlinear systems. In the present paper, we cover solutions with small total variation and a class of systems with general flux that need not be genuinely nonlinear and includes for instance fluid dynamics equations. We prove that solutions generated by Glimm or front tracking schemes depend continuously in the L1 norm upon their initial data, by exhibiting an L1 functional controling the distance between two solutions.


Modeling multimodal perception-action loops in face-to-face interactions is a crucial step in the process of building sensory-motor behaviors for social robots or users-aware Embodied Conversational Agents (ECA). In this paper, we compare trainable behavioral models based on sequential models (HMMs) and classifiers (SVMs and Decision Trees) inherently inappropriate to model sequential aspects. These models aim at giving pertinent perception/action skills for robots in order to generate optimal actions given the perceived actions of others and joint goals. We applied these models to parallel speech and gaze data collected from interacting dyads. The challenge was to predict the gaze of one subject given the gaze of the interlocutor and the voice activity of both. We show that Incremental Discrete HMM (IDHMM) generally outperforms classifiers and that injecting input context in the modeling process significantly improves the performances of all algorithms.


This study examined the properties of the electric field penetration of a dual metallic wall with narrow slots when the plane wave is incident. Integral equations for aperture electric fields on slots were derived and solved by applying Galerkin's method of moments (MoM). The numerical results showed that a high level of electric field penetration, which is known as transmission resonance, can be obtained for a small plate spacing and two slots with the resonant length when both slots have a slight offset in the slot width direction. The maximum transmission resonance occurred at a transverse slot offset of 0.07λ for a given plate spacing. In addition, the penetration electric field fluctuates with the spacing of the plate, and the fluctuation period is approximately 0.5λ. The experimental measurements are also presented to validate the theory.


Several methods are being used to evaluate the site pollution severity (SPS). The degree of pollution is generally determined by measuring equivalent salt deposit density (ESDD) on the insulators surfaces which are removed from existing transmission lines and/or field testing stations. Non-soluble material deposit density (NSDD) is also measured, especially in case that much dust or sand is expected to accumulate on the insulator surface. Moreover, pollution level or pollution index (PI) is assessed using directional dust deposit gauge (DDDG). In this paper, the pollution severity and pollution performance of porcelain insulators are measured in different areas with different degrees of pollution by measuring the ESDD and NSDD values. The measurements are conducted on three longrod porcelain insulators with alternating sheds that were removed from three existing towers. Moreover, seven DDDG stations are mounted in several locations with different topographies to evaluate the pollution severity. Based on the values of the ESDD and PI, the field measurements show that some zones are classified as light, others as medium and others as heavy zones of pollution. Accordingly, the corresponding specific creepage distances of the insulators for each zone are determined.


In the first instance it aims to it provide an overview addressing the state-of-the-art in the area of activity recognition in Smart homes. Smart homes are augmented residential environments equipped with sensors, actuators and devices. In early method, they used data-driven approaches only for sensor data in this paper introduces a knowledge-driven approach to real-time, continuous activity recognition and describe the underlying ontology-based recognition process. We analyze the characteristics of smart homes and Activities of Daily Living (ADL) upon which we built both context and ADL ontologies.we will concern ourselves with one type of stochastic signal model is hidden markov model for recognition process.


It provides a pharmaceutical composition for the treatment of steroid-dependent diseases and other diseases. Said composition is a solution for subcutaneous or intramuscular injection, the active ingredient is present in a concentration sufficient to form a gel after administration, the general formula (1): Ac-DNal-DCpa-DPal-Ser- aph


The fungicide PCZ (propiconazole) is widely used in agriculture especially in Asian contries as India, China ect. for the production of vegetable crops. Because of its physical and chemical properties , the small concentration of PCZ in water bodies "habitate of aquatic flora and fauna" make it sever in conditions for survivle. On the basis of analysis of all data in present study, the central theory that environmentally relevant conentrations of PCZ affect biochemical parameters in fish. The conclusion also hold that the theories such as metabolites of trizole convert the enzyme activities also. The LC values (LC50) estimate on different life stages of fish that was dose as well as time dependent. The exposure of sub-lethal concentration of PCZ in vivo assessment studied after 24 h and 72 h during exposure with 40% and 80% of LC50 (0.56 mg/l, 1.12 mg/l for fingerlings respectively) & (1.11 mg/l, 2.23 mg/l for adults respectively). Protein, Amino acids, Glycogen, Nucleic acids and enzyme succinic dehydrogenase decreased in liver and muscles, but lactic dehydrogenase levels, Protease, GOT and GPT increased in the both tissues. The study shows that PCZ have potential to damage aquatic ecosystem. Therefore, we can say that this fungicide should avoid in near water bodies.


Nowadays, modern websites are utilizing service workers to provide users with app-like functionalities such as offline mode and push notifications. To handle such features, the service worker is equipped with special privileges including HTTP traffic manipulation. Thus, it is designed with security as a priority. However, we find that many websites introduce a questionable practice that can jeopardize the security of a service worker. In this work, we demonstrate how this practice can result in a cross-site scripting (XSS) attack inside a service worker, allowing an attacker to obtain and leverage service worker privileges. Due to the uniqueness of these privileges, such attacks can lead to more severe consequences compared to a typical XSS attack. We term this type of vulnerability as Service Worker based Cross-Site Scripting (SW-XSS). To assess the real-world security impact, we develop a tool called SW-Scanner and use it to analyze top websites in the wild. Our findings reveal a worrisome trend. In total, we find 40 websites vulnerable to this attack including several popular and high ranking websites. Finally, we discuss potential defense solutions to mitigate the SW-XSS vulnerability.


BACKGROUND/AIMS Alcoholic cirrhosis remains a controversial indication for liver transplantation, mainly because of ethical considerations related to the shortage of donor livers. The aim of this study was to review experience to date, focusing on survival rates and complications, and the effect of alcohol relapse on outcome and alterations in marital and socioprofessional status. METHODS The results for 53 patients transplanted for alcoholic cirrhosis between 1989 and 1994 were compared with those for 48 patients transplanted for non-alcoholic liver disease. The following variables were analysed: survival, rejection, infection, cancer, retransplantation, employment and marital status, alcoholic recurrence. The same variables were compared between alcohol relapsers and non-relapsers. RESULTS Recovery of employment was the only significantly different variable between alcoholic (30%) and non-alcoholic patients (60%). Two factors influenced survival in the absence of alcohol recidivism: age and abstinence before transplantation. For all other variables, there were no differences between alcoholic and non-alcoholic patients, and, within the alcoholic group, between relapsers and non-relapsers. The recidivism rate was 32%. CONCLUSION The data indicate that liver transplantation is justified for alcoholic cirrhosis, even in cases of recidivism, which did no affect survival and compliance with the immunosuppressive regimen. These good results should help in educating the general population about alcoholic disease.


Optical and time-resolved EPR(TREPR) studies were made on the excited states of fluorine-substituted magnesium tetraphenylporphines (MgF−TPPs) including related Mg porphyrins. From the analyses of TREPR spectra it was found that the zero-field splitting parameter, D, increased with an increasing number of substituents, e.g. fluorine atoms. This result is interpreted by the fact that 3(a2ueg) and 3(a1ueg) configurations are heavily mixed via vibronic couplings in the lowest excited triplet (T1) states of MgF−TPPs. Other T1 properties such as a T1 energy, a triplet lifetime, and an appearance of the b1g band in the phosphorescence supported the mixings. The mixings due to configuration interactions were studied in the lowest excited singlet (S1) states of MgF−TPPs by measuring absorption coefficients and intensities of vibronic bands both in the absorption and fluorescence. The magnitudes of the mixings were also evaluated in the S1 states of MgF−TPPs.


This article explores some aspects of the Peronist government's economic policy in the period from 1953 to 1954 at the time of consolidation of the changes made to the initial economic policy after the crisis of 1949-1952. Specifically we study a program scarcely considered by the historians, the Action Plan for National Economic Balance of October 1954, and bureaucratic changes that accompanied it. Thus, our goal is to tie the analysis of the amendments made in the areas of economic management with the measures taken in regard to economic policy, with the specific purpose of identifying the links between the two areas and arrive at a more complete understanding of actions and determinants of these changes.


The emitter doping of a solar cell usually affects the blue response of the cell because the blue light is strongly absorbed at the front of the cell in the emitter layer. However, we show here that changing the identity of the dopant at the front of the cell affects the performance of the back of the cell, sometimes more than the performance of the front of the cell. Specifically, a highly Zn-doped Ga/sub 0.5/In/sub 0.5/P layer makes a good back-surface field in an n-on-p Ga/sub 0.5/In/sub 0.5/P cell with Se doping, but not when Si doping is used, consistent with the results of Takamoto, et al. During growth of the n-type layers, Zn diffuses up through the cell, piling up at the junction. When Si doping is used, the diffusion is enhanced.


The tailor's bunion is a painful bony prominence on the lateral aspect of the fifth metatarsal head that occurs in many individuals, but seldom causes symptoms. This article reviews the current literature regarding the presentation, etiology, and management of the tailor's bunion. The first line of management should be conservative, with advice on shoe wear. Orthotics may be useful if a symptomatic tailor's bunion results from excessive subtalar joint pronation. Operative management, indicated when symptoms are not controlled nonoperatively, aims to decrease foot width and the prominence of the tailor's bunion. Procedures can be grouped into resections and distal, diaphyseal, and proximal osteotomies. A distal osteotomy is recommended if medial translation of the head for one-third of the width of the metatarsal shaft produces a normal fourth-fifth intermetatarsal angle. A proximal osteotomy can be performed in the face of larger deformities. The management of recurrent tailor's bunion is still controversial. If the recurrence is due to under-correction, or if the initial procedure was not the best suited to that particular patient, then revision surgery may be helpful, after the cause of the failure has been established. Although unpopular, resection should be considered as the final salvage procedure.


This paper presents new analytical expressions for the maximum power point voltage, current, and power that have an explicit dependence on the series resistance. An explicit expression that relates the series resistance to well-known solar cell parameters was also derived. The range of the validity of the model, as well as the mathematical assumptions taken to derive it are explained and discussed. To test the accuracy of the derived model, a numerical single-diode model with solar cell parameters whose values can be found in the latest installment of the solar cell efficiency tables was used. The accuracy of the derived model was found to increase with increasing bandgap and to decrease with increasing series resistance. An experimental validation of the analytical model is provided and its practical limitations addressed. The new expressions predicted the maximum power obtainable by the studied cells with estimated errors below 0.1% compared to the numerical model, for typical values of the series resistance.


Report on the immunohistochemical detection of genus-specific papillomavirus antigen with an immunoperoxidase technique - in a papilloma of the caruncle, in which papillomavirus-specific DNA was previously successfully, demonstrated in a virological examination by means of hybridization of nucleic acid.


Western Ghats, which runs parallel to the west coast of India are extremely important from the viewpoint
of water resources in peninsular India because almost all the major rivers originate in them. However, this region is
undergoing tremendous change in land-use/cover due to deforestation on one hand and forestation of degraded and
grass lands by plantation forest on the other. The effect of such changes on the hydrologic regime of this hydroecologically
sensitive region has not been studied comprehensively to understand influence of various hydrological
parameters and how they acted together in defining the hydrology in this sensitive region. The Varahi is one such
river in Karnataka which has undergone drastic changes in land cover due to human interventions. Therefore, the
present study was taken up to evaluate the influence of land use changes and changed water use pattern on the
hydrologic function of the river. These changes were studied by dividing the basin into two portions such as
controlled and uncontrolled catchment by using remote sensing and geographic information techniques together with
hydro-meteorological data. Analyses revealed a drastic change in flow patterns in the catchment especially after
mid-90's when the major changes in land cover due to human interference have taken place. Changes in flow
pattern are most profound during non-monsoon season compared to monsoon season indicating a cumulative impact
of changes in catchment viz., deforestation, urbanization and other land use activities. The individual contribution of
each of these changes on total flow is difficult to discern due to lack of hydrological and meteorological records for
acceptable time span. The study had provided empirical evidence on how land covers changes and commercial
agriculture activities in the river catchment has brought drastic economic disparity between the upstream and
downstream regions. This evidence can provide vital information for future planners to adopt measures which can
ensure equal growth for both the regions.


We show through theory and numerics that when few-cycle femtosecond solitons are generated through cascaded (phase-mismatched) second-harmonic generation, these broadband solitons can emit optical Cherenkov radiation in the form of linear dispersive waves located in the red part of the spectrum. The beating between the dispersive wave and the soliton generates trailing temporal oscillations on the compressed soliton. Insertion of a simple short-wave pass filter after the crystal can restore a clean soliton. On the other hand, bandpass filtering around the dispersive wave peak results in near-transform-limited ultrashort mid-IR pulses with pulse durations much shorter than the input near-IR pulse. The Cherenkov radiation for the crystal considered (β-barium borate) is found for pump wavelengths in the range λ = 0.95‐1.45 µm, and is located in the regime λ = 1.5‐3.5 µm. For shorter pump wavelengths, the phase-matching point is located in the absorption region of the crystal, effectively absorbing the generated dispersive wave. By calculating the phase-matching curves for typically used frequency conversion crystals, we point out that the mid-IR absorption in the crystal in many cases automatically will filter away the dispersive wave. Finally, an investigation of recent experimental results uncovers a four-wave-mixing phenomenon related to Cherenkov radiation that is an additional generation mechanism of long-wavelength radiation that can occur during soliton compression. We discuss the conditions that lead to this alternative dynamics rather than generation of Cherenkov radiation.


Large particle accelerator projects like the European X-ray Free Electron LASER (XFEL), which is under construction at DESY in Hamburg (Germany), or like the planned International Linear Collider (ILC) favor MBKs for their ability to generate high rf output powers at moderate electron beam energies. For the XFEL, Deutsches Electronen Synchrotron (DESY) ordered a prototype of a horizontally oriented, high-power MBK operating at 1300 MHz. This is CPGammas second generation 10 MW, L-band MBK, designated the VKL-8301B. The klystron is required to provide at least 65% efficiency at 10 MW peak rf output and more than 3 MHz instantaneous -l dB bandwidth. Average power and rf pulse length are 150 kW and 1.5 ms, respectively. Our design uses six off-axis electron beams for low cathode current density and thus longer cathode life. For the rf cavities we are utilizing fundamental-mode ring resonators. This ensures sufficient beam separation while still keeping the overall diameter of the device small in order to reduce cost. A more in-depth report on our design process and the tools we used was presented at the 2008 ICOPS. At the time of submission of this paper, initial rf hot test data were taken at reduced duty and pulse width while operating into well-matched output loads. At 0.42% rf duty, a peak rf output power as high as 11.2 MW was achieved, which corresponds to a 74% efficiency. The electron beam interception at and close to saturation was fairly high. Preliminary measurements of body power and the high efficiency indicate that mostly low-energy electrons past the output cavity gaps are involved in the klystron body interception in that operating condition. Initial optimization of the electromagnet for lower interception resulted in a 70% reduction of the rf body current, but this was accompanied by a noticeable drop in rf output power, efficiency (down to 67%) and gain. The klystron performance was stable for all operating conditions encountered so far. Further optimization of the magnetic field balance still has to be carried out for low body current and high efficiency at all required operating conditions, including operation into an output mismatch up to 1.2:1 VSWR. A more complete set of data taken after optimization and tuning will be presented at the conference.


Organizational commitment is a major determinant of organizational effectiveness and desirable employee attitudes and behaviours. Highly committed academic staff are the backbone of universities since they play an important role in the success of their institutions. This study investigated factors associated with organizational commitment among academic employees of a university in Botswana using a representative sample of 165 respondents. The study also sought to develop a parsimonious model that can predict organizational commitment among academic employees in Botswana. The results show that about 3 out of 5 academic employees sampled showed evidence of commitment to the university, regardless of their socio-demographic or socio-economic background. The study found 11 factors that were associated with commitment to the university. Most of the factors that affected organizational commitment involved decisions and actions that were directly or indirectly at the disposal and control of the management. The single most important factor that predicted commitment to the university was acceptance of the new criteria for the assessment of academic staff, followed by perception of opportunities for research.

 Key words: Organizational commitment, academic employees, management, university, Botswana.


Social networks have been shown to be smaller in individuals with severe mental illness than in the general population. Patients' social networks and social support may impact on their utilisation of psychiatric services. This literature review focuses on social networks, social support and mental health service use in patients with mental illness. Most studies suggest that smaller social networks or less social support are associated with more frequent hospitalisation. Qualitative aspects of the social network are also related to the risk of hospitalisation. The relationship between social networks and other types of service use is not established.


Endobronchial tuberculosis (EBTB) is not rare. It usually affects the upper lobe bronchi. Bronchoscopic examination may reveal white gelatinous material in the bronchial lumen, mucosal ulcerations, polypoid inflammation, scattered green-blue pigmented areas and narrowed bronchi with post-stenotic dilatation, some of which resemble colored dolomite caves. 2 women, aged 70 and 84, are presented, 1 of whom had been suffering for a year from persistent dry cough and the other from diffuse pneumonia resistant to several antibiotics. Fibreoptic bronchoscopy showed the characteristic picture of EBTB, later confirmed by positive cultures. Recognition of the clinical, radiological and bronchoscopic spectrum of EBTB makes it possible to start treatment before bacteriological diagnosis of tuberculosis from endoscopically recovered material.


The "PURE Tension" Pavilion is a lightweight, rapidly deployable, tensioned membrane structure and portable charging station commissioned by Volvo Car Italia to showcase the new Volvo V60 Hybrid Electric Diesel car. Officially launched in Milan, Italy in October 2013, this experimental structure was developed through a process of rigorous research and development that investigated methods of associative modelling, dynamic mesh relaxation, geometric rationalization, solar incidence analysis, membrane panelling, and material performance. It is an experimental structure that, similar to a concept car, is a working prototype that speculates on the potential future of personal mobility and alternative energy sources for transportation while also exploring digital design methodologies and innovative structural solutions. This paper will illustrate the design, development and fabrication processes involved in realizing this structure.


Economic activity in the teachings of Islam is part of muamalah. Franchising as a form of trade cooperation in principle by law muamalah is allowed as long as there is no proof that forbid it but still have to forward the principle benefit is the root concept of maqasid syariah. The format of the work done in the franchise, if the note is actually a development of Syirkah form. Franchising can bridge the franchisor and the franchisee to do business. In this regard the work done format franchising, is the development of a form of Syirkah or Musharaka which is a cooperation agreement or a mixture of two or more parties to undertake a particular business is lawful and productive; each party contributes capital with the agreement that the benefits and risks will be shared according to the percentage of cooperation. Establishment may vary. If the combined capital are not the same, then it becomes shirkah inan. If capital is not a treasure, but in the form of labor, or skill, then it becomes shirkah Abdan. If capital is power tdan credibility franchisor-owned businesses, the shape is shirkah Wujuh.
Keyword: muamalah, shirkah, franchising


From 1974 to 1980 77 patients underwent thrombectomy for thrombosis of their iliac or leg veins. 45 patients became symptom-free. The mean age of the patients (mostly females) came up to 43 years, the oldest was 82, the youngest 13 years of age. Following these operations in 20 cases a postthrombectomy-syndrome developed. Only in one case an amputation due to venous gangrene had to be performed. In 28 cases a protective a-v-shunt was installed. 15 times a recurrent thrombosis occurred. 5 of these patients could be reoperated successfully.


In this study, an integrated molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), thermoelectric generator (TEG), and regenerator energy system has been introduced and evaluated. MCFC generates power and heating load. The exit fuel gases of the MCFC is separated into three sections: the first section is transferred to the TEG to generate more electricity, the next chunk is conducted to a regenerator to boost the productivity of the suggested plant and compensate for the regenerative destructions, and the last section enters the surrounding. Computational simulation and thermodynamic evaluation of the hybrid plant are carried out utilizing MATLAB and HYSYS software, respectively. Furthermore, a thermoeconomic analysis is performed to estimate the total cost of the product and the system cost rate. The offered system is also optimized using multi-criteria genetic algorithm optimization to enhance the exergetic efficiency while reducing the total cost of the product. The power generated by MCFC and TEG is 1247.3 W and 8.37 W, respectively. The result explicates that the provided electricity and provided efficiency of the suggested plant is 1255.67 W and 38%, respectively. Exergy inquiry outcomes betokened that, exergy destruction of the MCFC and TEG is 13,945.9 kW and 262.75 kW, respectively. Furthermore, their exergy efficiency is 68.22% and 97.31%, respectively. The impacts of other parameters like working temperature and pressure, thermal conductance, the configuration of the advantage of the materials, etc., on the thermal and exergetic performance of the suggested system are also evaluated. The optimization outcomes reveal that in the final optimum solution point, the exergetic efficiency and total cost of the product s determined at 70% and 30 USD/GJ.


A trauma registry database containing 8,473 patients age 10 or greater injured in automobile crashes was evaluated to determine the risk of certain patterns of injury associated with wearing seat belts as compared to the risk of not wearing seat belts. Categories studied were vehicle drivers, front seat passengers, and rear seat occupants and belted and unbelted patients. Analyses were done of 2,062 individual ICD-9-CM codes to identify diagnoses that occurred at a rate significantly greater for belted occupants than for non-belted occupants. Analyses were also made of injuries by AIS body region and severity in belted and non-belted occupants. No discernable pattern of excess injury was found in the analyses of individual ICD codes. A pattern of minor and moderate injury (AIS levels 2 and 3) was found in the abdominal region of rear seat occupants from the analysis of AIS regions and severities. Odds ratios calculated demonstrated that the unbelted occupant is at greater risk of injury than the belted occupant for all seating positions.


Fatigue fracture of the semi-natural cast iron plate with dross and carbon float defects was analyzed. Crack formation and propagation were traced under the programmable cyclic load of the pure bending. The focuses of the crack and their consistent pattern up to the total fracture were determined. Fracture analysis was performed by using optical and electronic microscopy methods. High-cycle fracture mechanism was established when the number of the cycles exceeded 108. The influence of the microstructure upon fracture process was investigated.


This paper is an effort to establish a holistic approach towards environmental management of maritime activities. A number of environmental analytical and managerial concepts and tools are identified and briefly reviewed to address different environmental issues in the maritime industry. Then a framework is introduced that different stakeholders can use as a guide to identify environmental management tools relevant to different decision levels of their organization. With the help of the framework, the stakeholders can improve their environmental performance by strategically using the identified concepts and tools which will lead to reduced environmental impact throughout a ship's life cycle.


This paper presents a new technique to predict the ray pointer landing position for selection movements in virtual reality (VR) environments. The technique adapts and extends a prior 2D kinematic template matching method to VR environments where ray pointers are used for selection. It builds on the insight that the kinematics of a controller and Head-Mounted Display (HMD) can be used to predict the ray's final landing position and angle. An initial study provides evidence that the motion of the head is a key input channel for improving prediction models. A second study validates this technique across a continuous range of distances, angles, and target sizes. On average, the technique's predictions were within 7.3° of the true landing position when 50% of the way through the movement and within 3.4° when 90%. Furthermore, compared to a direct extension of Kinematic Template Matching, which only uses controller movement, this head-coupled approach increases prediction accuracy by a factor of 1.8x when 40% of the way through the movement.


ABSTRACT Proteus mirabilis ARS68, which demonstrated a very high level of resistance to various aminoglycosides, was isolated in 2003 from an inpatient in Japan. The aminoglycoside resistance of this strain could not be transferred to recipient strains Escherichia coli CSH-2 and E. coli HB101 by a general conjugation experiment, but E. coli DH5α was successfully transformed by electroporation with the plasmid of the parent strain, ARS68, and acquired an unusually high degree of resistance against aminoglycosides. Cloning and sequencing analyses revealed that the presence of a novel 16S rRNA methylase gene, designated rmtC, was responsible for resistance in strain ARS68 and its transformant. The G+C content of rmtC was 41.1%, and the deduced amino acid sequences of the newly identified 16S rRNA methylase, RmtC, shared a relatively low level of identity (≤29%) to other plasmid-mediated 16S rRNA methylases, RmtA, RmtB, and ArmA, which have also been identified in pathogenic gram-negative bacilli. Also, RmtC shared a low level of identity (≤28%) with the other 16S rRNA methylases found in aminoglycoside-producing actinomycetes. The purified histidine-tagged RmtC clearly showed methyltransferase activity against E. coli 16S rRNA in vitro. rmtC was located downstream of an ISEcp1-like element containing tnpA. Several plasmid-mediated 16S rRNA methylases have been identified in pathogenic gram-negative bacilli belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae, and some of them are dispersing worldwide. The acceleration of aminoglycoside resistance among gram-negative bacilli by producing plasmid-mediated 16S rRNA methylases, such as RmtC, RmtB, and RmtA, may indeed become an actual clinical hazard in the near future.


As one of the grid‐scale energy storage technologies, compressed air energy storage (CAES) is promising to facilitate the permeability of renewable energies. By integrating CAES into renewable sources, the fluctuation and intermittence of renewable energies could be effectively restrained. Among various CAES system configurations, isothermal CAES (I‐CAES) is considered as a most competitive technology with expected high efficiency. However, most of the existing I‐CAES systems have trouble in keeping a stable power output. To address this issue, a novel near‐isothermal CAES system is proposed in this article to acquire a near stable power output. Imitating the concept of hydraulic accumulator, a two pressure vessels structure is employed to maintain the gas pressure stable during discharging. Besides, the turbine power output can be controlled by adjusting the liquid flow rate of the Pelton turbine under this near constant pressure condition. Based on the system transient model and economic model, the system components transient behavior, parametric analysis, off‐design performance analysis and economic evaluation issues are also conducted. Results show that system round trip efficiency (RTE) with 61.42% and energy density (ED) with 0.2015 kWh/m3 can be achieved under design condition. In the discharge process, the gas pressure in vessel varies in a small range, from 68 to 72 bar, which is relatively stable. The power output from Pelton turbine can be maintained around 1 kW. Meanwhile, the initial pressure, the pipe diameter, and the spraying flow rates of circulating pumps have significant effects on system RTE and ED. Furthermore, the Pelton turbine power output level can be adjusted by adding jets number, and the higher storage pressure can make the power output unsteady.


This paper sheds lights on long-standing issues and new proposals on family planning and adoption promotion. The spate of bills promoting adoption in Title X family planning clinics and federally funded health centers by opponents of family planning programs raise a significant concern in the family planning community. This concern gave rise to questions on the nature of adoption counseling that should be offered to pregnant women in government-funded programs and the extent to which family planning programs should assume the duties of adoption agencies. Budgetary constraints also raise a serious question on the degree to which family planning funds should be rechanneled to serve this purpose. One more immediate issue, however, is the fact that two of the proposed strategies deny women facing pregnancy crisis the right to informed decision on their options by preventing family planning providers to discuss on abortion. Other measures set include the revival of the abortion "gag rule" previously imposed by the Reagan and Bush administrations and promoting a program of direct federal subsidy to organizations which provide counseling to women provided that these organizations shall provide full information on pregnancy options.


Abstract This study entailed a longitudinal test of basic psychological needs theory, a sub-theory in the self-determination framework (Deci & Ryan, 2000), in young soccer players. We examined whether changes in soccer players' perceptions of the coaches' interpersonal style (autonomy supportive and controlling) predicted changes in the players' need satisfaction/need thwarting, and in turn, variability in their reported subjective vitality and burnout over the course of a season. Young male soccer players (M = 12.58 ± 0.54 years) completed a questionnaire at two time points in the season [n(T1) = 725; n(T2) = 597]. Changes in the players' perceptions of an autonomy supportive environment significantly predicted changes in psychological need satisfaction (positively) and in psychological need thwarting (negatively). Changes in psychological need satisfaction positively predicted changes in subjective vitality and negatively related to cross-time variation in global burnout scores. In contrast, changes in the players' perceptions of a controlling coach-created environment were positively associated with changes in psychological need thwarting that corresponded to increases in player burnout. Finally, results provided support for the assumed mediational roles of psychological need satisfaction and need thwarting in the social environment to well- and ill-being relationships.


UKM Pempek Ogan is a small industry engaged in the food sector. This UKM was founded in 2007. The main problem of UKM Pempek Ogan Palembang is the slow and monotonic development and business innovation i.e. the promotion strategy implemented is not well designed to increase sales and compete with similar businesses. Consequently, the business experienced declined sales and therefore, reducing revenues if appropriate measures are not taken. The purpose of this research is to develop new strategies, marketing strategies, by creating new innovations for UKM Pempek Ogan Palembang using Blue Ocean Strategy. The Blue Ocean Strategy is a method to develop a new value innovation that is not yet owned by competitors to divert from intense competition among business actors. The BOS method has several steps in its application, namely the creation of a strategy canvas, the creation of a four-step framework i.e. eliminating, enhancing, reducing, and creating, of the creation of three characteristics of a good strategy, namely focus, divergence and motto. Our findings from the strategy canvas suggested that there are several indicators whose values are below competitors. The new innovation applied to UKM Pempek Ogan Palembang as a diversion from competitors by the framework of four steps is to reduce a product price. Moreover, product variants, social media advertising, sales promotion, employee appearance, cleanliness and comfort of the place as well as poor-designed-banners should be improved. We suggested frozen pempek and pempek with unique shapes are created for new and fresh looks as a new innovation.


Background Although immunosuppressants such as corticosteroids or cyclophosphamide can suppress the progression of LN, a major manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), some cases are resistant to those agents, and severe adverse reactions (ARs) may occur. Therefore, development of new effective drugs with fewer ARs is important. Recently, all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), one of natural retinoids, has been reported to differentiate regulatory T cells and suppress Th17 cells in the models of autoimmune diseases. We have reported that ATRA improved proteinuria, survival rate as well as renal pathology in lupus-prone mice (ref). On the other hand, AM80, a synthetic retinoid, has been reported to suppress the expression of inflammatory cytokines in collagen-induced arthritis and EAE. Objectives Effectiveness and safety of these retinoids for the treatment of LN were examined. Methods Twenty-three patients with LN who fulfilled the ACR's revised criteria for classification of SLE were enrolled. Those unable to prevent pregnancy for more than 2 years, and who had been newly given any immunosuppressants within 8 weeks before this study were excluded. ATRA (10 mg/day) was administered to 9 patients (group A) and AM80 (4 mg/day) to 14 (group B) for 6M. Six in group B dropped out due to ARs, and effectiveness was analyzed using data of 8 patients. Through the study, the dose of steroid was not increased but allowed to be reduced if the clinical course was improved. Urinary protein (UP), serum albumin (Alb) and creatinine (Cr) levels, titer of the serum anti-double-strand DNA antibody (ADNA), serum complement levels (C3, C4) and activity (CH50) were determined every month. Results In group A, Average of UP decreased at 6M after the treatment (3.2 to 0.4 g/g Cr, p<0.05), Alb tended to elevate (3.2 to 3.8 g/dl), and Cr did not change. ADNA tended to reduce from 23.5 to 15.5 IU/ml, and C3, C4 and CH50 tended to elevate. In group B, UP tended to reduce at 6M (2.3 to 1.3), while Alb and Cr did not change. ADNA reduced from 37.6 to 18.8 at 3M and kept the similar value at 6M. Serum C3, C4 and CH50 tended to elevate until 6M. In group A, ARs occurred in 3 cases (leucopenia, fatigue and myalgia), while skin rash occurred in 4, bone pain in 3, hair loss in 3, and faintness, hypertension and fever in one case each in group B. AM80 was discontinued in 6 cases due to bone pain, faintness, hypertension and fever within 2M. Dose of steroid tended to reduce at 6M (A:17.1 to 15.0, B:13.6 to 13.2 mg/day). Conclusions This is the first report of on effectiveness and safety of retinoids for LN. Although the difference did not reach significance due to lack of number, UP and ADNA tended to reduce, Alb elevate, and complements tended to elevate in the both groups. Dose of steroid was reduced in some cases. Number of the cases was not enough mainly because of the exclusion criteria of contraception. Bone pain occurred relatively frequently and caused dropout in AM80 group, although it was not so severe. These findings suggest that retinoids might have a role in improvement of LN resistant to conventional therapy, and ancillary role of retinoids to high-dose steroids or immunosuppressants should be also tested in future. References Kinoshita K, Funauchi M, et al.: Retinoic acid reduces autoimmune renal injury and increases survival in NZB/W F1 mice. J Immunol. 170:5793, 2003. Disclosure of Interest None declared


This paper build the foundations of a simulation tool for blockchain-based applications. It takes advantage of the huge expressiveness and extensibility of PyCATSHOO framework to deal with the important variability of blockchain implementations and properties of interest. A simple stochastic model of generic blockchain-style distributed consensus system and associated performance indicators are proposed (performance in terms of consistency and ability to discard double-spending attacks). Monte Carlo simulations are applied to assess the indicators and determine their sensitivity to the variation of input parameters.


ABSTRACT Feline calicivirus is a major causative agent of respiratory disease in cats. It is also one of the few cultivatable members of Caliciviridae. We have examined the entry process of feline calicivirus (FCV). An earlier study demonstrated that acidification in endosomes may be required. We have confirmed this observation and expanded upon it, demonstrating, using drugs to inhibit the various endocytic pathways and dominant-negative mutants, that FCV infects cells via clathrin-mediated endocytosis. We have also observed that FCV permeabilizes cell membranes early during infection to allow the coentry of toxins such as α-sarcin. Inhibitors of endosome acidification such as chloroquine and bafilomycin A1 blocked this permeabilization event, demonstrating that acidification is required for uncoating of the genome and access to the cytoplasm.


Understanding the changes in Well-being, Consumption, Income, Saving and Socio-Economic Indicators of Iranian people, who have experienced Several Five Year Plan is an important issue. At the end of each plan, it was expected that the wellbeing and other facilities in rural and urban areas would improve remarkably. The level of income and level of consumption was also expected to change. This research has dealt with effects of Five Year Development Plans on the Consumption, Marginal Propensity to Consume and Income Elasticity of Consumption in deciles of Income during the last two decades.It has also tried to evaluate the situation of consumption and its trend according to Five Year Plans. For this purpose the Households Income and Expenditure Survey are employed. The Annual Average Consumption Expenditure by resident household has been published by Statistical Center of Iran,which is the main source for such a this research. This project has also provided a comparative study on Consumption and GDP for Iran and India and then it has brought the estimation of consumption function in both countries. In addition it has compared both countries based on some socioeconomic indicators.


Steve Jobs' world-changing innovations at Apple are usually considered to be his marriage of art and technology. Here, the author argues that the major changes in our world resulted from clever business models, especially those that created ecosystems in which other parties could participate. Moreover, we have Jobs to thank for a major world-changing technology: Wi-Fi.


Sexual ornaments, signalling individual quality to choosy females or rival males, often show steeper body size scaling compared with non‐sexually selected traits. Theory posits such steeper body size scaling is the result of differential resource allocation, reflecting trade‐offs between different components of fitness. Yet, the process of resource allocation towards body size‐dependent sexual ornaments has been rarely understood empirically. Using the Neotropical territorial damselfly Megaloprepus caerulatus, whose males and females carry wax‐based, sex‐specific white wing bands and white wing tips respectively, we investigated nutrition sensitivity and body size scaling of both traits by manipulating larval food availability and directly quantified both the fat allocated to wing ornaments and the fat reserve from which allocations are made. Both colour traits exhibited sensitivity to food availability during larval development and steeper body size scaling compared with control traits. Although the absolute amount of fat invested in developing the colour ornaments increased with body size, the proportion of total fat allocated to the ornaments decreased with body size, making exaggerated ornaments less affordable for smaller individuals. Our data demonstrate that measuring the proportion of resource pool from which an individual's ornaments are derived (i.e. its affordability) is essential for understanding the maintenance of honesty of sexual signals.


Patulin, a mycotoxin, which is a major contaminant in apple juices, has contributed immensely to the occurrence of liver diseases. Consumption of apple juice could over long period of time become harmful to the health of individuals with pre-existing liver disease. Probiotics are known for their role in patulin removal from aqueous media. In this study, we investigated the effects of a probiotic microorganism on patulin toxicity in hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cells and established the protective effect of Lactobacillus rhamnosus (LGG) as mediated by induction of BH3-interacting domain antagonist (BID) in response to patulin toxicity. After 24 hours of patulin exposure followed by 24 hours of treatment with Lactobacillus rhamnosus, cells proliferation decreased with increasing patulin exposure in samples without LGG pre-treatment, whereas with increasing concentration of patulin, cells were relatively rescued in LGG treated samples. It was further observed that pre-treatment of LGG with polysaccharide gums led to a decline in cell proliferation with increasing patulin exposure. Compare to the control, the expression of p53 upregulated moderator of apoptosis (PUMA) increased slightly by 7 % at 10µM patulin exposure in treatment and decreased by 30% in untreated cell. However, the expression of BID decreased by 26% in treatment compared to the control. We further established that the protective effect of Lactobacillus rhamnosus was mediated by the inhibition of BID. Our findings suggest that Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG could potentially function as a therapeutic agent to reverse the damaging effect of patulin on the liver of individuals with pre-existing liver disease.


Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a condition in which excessive fat builds up in the liver of a person who has never drank excessive alcohol. This disease includes simple steatosis and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The hepatic manifestation of the metabolic syndrome is known as NAFLD/NASH. Pediatric NAFLD has risen in recent years, along with an increase in the frequency of childhood obesity. The frequency of pediatric NAFLD is believed to be between 2.6 and 9.6 percent, and it is linked to sex, age, and ethnicity. The "two-hit" concept is largely recognised when it comes to the aetiology of NAFLD, and oxidative stress is assumed to play a key role in the second hit. Despite the importance of clinical symptoms, laboratory data, and imaging results, liver biopsy remains the gold standard for diagnosing NAFLD/NASH. In addition, liver biopsy is essential for assessing the degree of necro-inflammatory change and fibrosis in NASH. There are two forms of steatohepatitis (type 1 and type 2 NASH), with type 2 NASH being present in up to 51% of juvenile NAFLD patients. We and others have seen, however, that type 1 and 2 patterns frequently overlap. Despite the fact that medication has been investigated in clinical trials, diet and exercise remain the foundation of NAFLD/NASH treatment.


A new protein was cloned and identified as the sixth member of the human origin recognition complex (ORC). The newly identified 30-kDa protein hsORC6 is 28% identical and 49% similar to ORC6p from Drosophila melanogaster, which is consistent with the identities and similarities found among the other ORC members reported in the two species. The human ORC6 gene is located on chromosome 16q12. ORC6 protein level did not change through the cell cycle. Like ORC1, ORC6 did not co-immunoprecipitate with other ORC subunits but was localized in the nucleus along with the other ORC subunits. Several cellular proteins co-immunoprecipitated with ORC6, including a 65-kDa protein that was hyperphosphorylated in G1 and dephosphorylated in mitosis. Therefore, unlike the tight stoichiometric association of six yeast ORC subunits in one holo-complex, only a small fraction of human ORC1 and ORC6 is likely to be associated with a subcomplex of ORC2, 3, 4, and 5, suggesting differences in the architecture and regulation of human ORC.


Exchange rate is an important aspect in economic growth in Indonesia, because it will affect the workings of the national economy, especially stock returns, the results of previous studies show different results related to exchange rates with stock returns, while economic growth on stock returns is very consistent. This study aims to examine the effect of the exchange rate on stock prices in the financial sector, and examine the effect of economic growth on stock prices as an effort to confirm the results of previous studies. This study uses a quantitative approach with an empirical method, the data used begins in the 2009-2018 period, a time series model with a Vector Autoregressive (VAR) approach where if the data used is statistic and not co-integrated. The VAR model shows that in simultaneous equations, if there are simultaneous relationships between observed variables, then these variables must be treated equally, so that there are no more endogenous and exogenous variables. The results show that the exchange rate and economic growth has no effect on stock returns. Macroeconomic aspects namely the exchange rate and economic growth in the period 2009-2018 shows that there is no influence on stock returns of the financial sector which are listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange.


This paper presents a star shaped reconfigurable microstrip antenna which exhibits frequency tuning and radiation pattern alteration for different configurations. Switches are suggested to reconfigure the antenna. The antenna is fabricated and measured and simulated results are compared. This antenna can be used in several practical applications according to each configuration. The antenna is then graph modeled and its structure is shown to be not redundant.


This research is the design of a decision support system (DSS) to determining the student as scholarship recipients of the STMIK Pelita Nusantara, Medan, Indonesia, with the approach of Fuzzy Multi Attribute Decision Making (FMADM) with TOPSIS method. Approach to Fuzzy Multiple Attribute Decision Making (FMADM) by specifying the values of the weights for each of the criteria or attributes and TOPSIS method for selecting student scholarship recipients. Implementation of a decision support system that can show the interaction of the user with the software application built using Visual Basic 2008 programming language. Conclusion the results obtained from the discussion shows that the approach with FMADM TOPSIS give final value calculation results ordered that can help decision makers determine the student deserves the scholarship. The existence of a decision support system that has been designed so the process of determining a student scholarship recipients more accurately, quickly, and accurately.


Abstract : The U.S. Navy's Information Professional Community currently qualifies its officers using a paper-based system. Candidates for the Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced Qualifications use qualification books to attain knowledge and, subsequently, prove possession of it. Once those books are filled with signatures, a board of Subject Matter Experts tests the candidate and verifies his or her mastery of that knowledge. Using Knowledge Value Added analysis and Business Process Reengineering, the return on knowledge (ROK) for the current Personnel Qualification System (PQS) was estimated and improved processes were designed with the goal of maximizing ROK. First, the as-is ROK was estimated for the three processes and their various subprocesses. Then, a new to-be workflow for each of the three processes was designed, emphasizing incremental improvements that could be implemented quickly. Finally, another workflow was designed, emphasizing radical, unlimited change. When it was proven that Web-enabling the PQS system improves the knowledge-creating capability of these processes, a prototype Web-enabled database, called the Electronic Qualbook, was developed as a demonstrator of the technologies and capabilities involved. This thesis includes appendices illustrating the design of the database schema and the Electronic Qualbook's Web interfaces. A third appendix lists the majority of the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and Active Server Pages (ASP) code integral to the Electronic Qualbook.


Purpose: to investigate clinical and bacteriological aspects, follow-up and treatment of mastitis in our clinic. Methods: this study was performed at Cleriston Andrade General Hospital. Patients were interviewed regarding personal data, prenatal care, care received during delivery and puerperium and clinical aspects. Their mastitides were classified by Vinha's criteria. The patients with abscesses had them drained for bacteriological study. Culture medium Tryptone Soya Broth was used. Results: seventy nursing mothers were interviewed; 57% of them had given birth for the first time, 57% were between 20 and 29 years old, 51% had not finished elementary school, 63% had income less than the minimum wage, 66% of them had nobody to help with the housework. Out of the seventy females, 50% had not had their breasts examined. Approximately half of them had not been told how to breastfeed (50%) or how to express breast milk (58%). Sixty-three percent had not delivered in institutions designated by WHO as "Children's Friends Hospitals". Engorgement occurred in 46% of the cases and nipple fissures in 47%. According to Vinha's criteria, 44% had lobar, 39% ampular and 17% glandular locations. Presence of Staphylococcus aureus was detected in 55% of the cases. Conclusion: factors such as low schooling, low incomes, no assistance in housework, giving birth for the first time and lack of professional help contributed to occurrence of mastitis.


Enzyme replacement therapy is highly effective for patients with Type 1 Gaucher disease. In order to estimate the quantity of enzyme that would be necessary for clinical benefit, we conducted a single-infusion, dose-response study in nonsplenectomized patients with Gaucher disease. Biochemical and histologic changes were compared in liver biopsy specimens obtained before and 44 h following the infusion of varying quantities of enzyme. Based on the information obtained from this investigation, patients in our initial clinical efficacy trial were given 60 IU of macrophage-targeted glucocerebrosidase/kg body wt every other week. All patients had significant improvement of their anemia and reduction of splenomegaly after 6 months of treatment. In a subsequent investigation, 10 moderately symptomatic patients with intact spleens were given 10 IU of glucocerebrosidase/kg body wt every other week. After 6 months of treatment, only a portion of these patients had beneficial responses. We concluded that the rate and extent of response to enzyme replacement therapy in patients with Gaucher disease are dependent upon the quantity of enzyme administered. When treatment is initiated in patients with mild to moderately severe disease, a lower dose of enzyme can be selected. Moreover, the maintenance dose of glucocerebrosidase has been shown to be much less than the amount initially required to reduce the accumulated lipid. Some patients require enzyme infusions on only a monthly basis, require enzyme infusions on only a monthly basis, and it is possible that even this frequency may eventually be reduced. These refinements in treatment strategy merit serious consideration for the long-term management of patients with Gaucher disease.


In this paper, we obtain some regularities of the free boundary in optimal transportation with the quadratic cost. Our first result is about the $C^{1,\alpha}$ regularity of the free boundary for optimal partial transport between convex domains for densities $f, g$ bounded from below and above. When $f, g \in C^\alpha$, and $\partial\Omega, \partial\Omega^*\in C^{1,1}$ are far apart, by adopting our recent results on boundary regularity of Monge-Ampere equations \cite{CLW1}, our second result shows that the free boundaries are $C^{2,\alpha}$. As an application, in the last we also obtain these regularities of the free boundary in an optimal transport problem with two separate targets.