John Cage's understanding of randomness, and his use of it, was far more sophisticated than many people think. Whether working with the Music for Piano series in the mid-1950s, or in constructing the electronic music construction kit that is Cartridge Music, or in the design of the IC program (co-written with Andrew Culver) in the 1980s, or in the use of the Mesostic process in the Writings Through Finnegans Wake (and others), there are very clever uses of process at work. In the Music for Piano series, three timbral possibilities are set up, and the 64 possible numbers given by the I Ching are divided up in a very uneven way, such that one of the timbres hardly appears at all. In Cartridge Music, the choice of gestures that the results of the process are applied to creates a unity among different versions of the piece, such that one can clearly talk about Cartridge Music as a unique compositional entity. In the IC program, which became the basis for much of Cage's composing in his last decade, there are options for generating random numbers with unpredictable, yet skewed probability distributions. These distributions can also change at unpredictable times, if desired. The Mesostic process extracts a new text from pre-existing ones. The restrictive rules of the process guarantee a certain kind of "rhythm of extraction" from the target text. For example, if one uses 'The Garden of Evening Mists' as the "mesostic spine", at a certain point, one has to find a word with "V" in it ("Evening"), but that word cannot have an "E" following the "V". There are very few English words having a V that do not have an "E" following the "V". (Vary, vagary, vigour would all be possible, for example.) So at this point, in extracting the poem from the target text, one has to search for quite a long time to find the proper word. The use of this particular "spine" guarantees that large portions of the target text will be skipped over in the extraction process, and shortens the length of the potential text. By understanding these processes, and the way they are carefully constructed, one can get a glimpse into the very crafty, and crafts-manly compositional mind of John Cage.


It is very important to analyze the electro-thermal characterization of the transmission line and predict the temperature in the design of high-power circuits. As an emerging transmission line, substrate integrated suspended line (SISL) has been widely studied and applied. The electro-thermal characterization of SISL has been studied for the first time in this paper. The thermal model of SISL is analyzed and electro-thermal simulation is performed. The temperature of SISL under high power is measured, and the measurement and simulation results verify the accuracy of the theoretical analysis. The methods and conclusions studied in this paper can be used to predict the average power handling capability (APHC) of high-power circuits based on SISL platform.


This article describes the research carried out to eliminate the noise found in ECG signals and cardiac rhythm. The purpose to obtain clarity and reliability in the acquiring signals which can later be interpreted by a specialist. The work is based on the use of the Undecimated Wavelet Transform (UWT).  In order to get a better identification of the acquired signal the Wavelet filter D6 (Daubechies) was chosen,  primarily because its scaling function is closely related to the shape of the ECG, fitting very well with the applications constraints. The processed signals were acquired using an amplifying board of bioelectrical signals (front-end board) and a NI PCI-6221 data acquisition board with a sampling frequency of 200 Hz. The ECG signals are obtained through the implant of electrodes connected to a channel of the front-end board. The cardiac rhythm is then obtained using an optic dactilar sensor connected to an independent channel of the ECG signal. The amplifying board was designed and developed for researching purposes on the telemedicine and signal processing area. The application to denoise the ECG signal was developed by LabView® and is capable of graphically showing the data before and after it's processed.


Nerve growth factor induces innervation and epidermal hyperplasia in inflammatory skin diseases like psoriasis. Nerve growth factor production by keratinocytes is increased in the inflammatory lesions. Nerve growth factor induces histamine release from mast cells. We examined the in vitro effects of histamine on nerve growth factor production in human keratinocytes. Histamine enhanced nerve growth factor secretion, mRNA expression, and promoter activity in keratinocytes. Two TPA-response elements on the nerve growth factor promoter were responsible for the activation by histamine. Histamine enhanced transcriptional activity and DNA binding of activator protein 1 at the two TPA-response elements. It shifted the TPA-response-element-binding activator protein 1 composition from c-Jun homodimers to c-Fos/c-Jun heterodimers. Histamine transiently induced c-Fos mRNA expression, which was not detectable in unstimulated keratinocytes, whereas c-Jun mRNA expression was constitutive and was not altered by histamine. Histamine-induced enhancement of nerve growth factor secretion, promoter activity, activator protein 1 transcriptional activity, and c-Fos expression was suppressed by H1 antagonist pyrilamine, protein kinase C inhibitor calphostin C, and PD98059, an inhibitor of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 1. Histamine induced the translocation of protein kinase C activity from cytosol to membrane, which was suppressed by phospholipase C inhibitor U73122. It stimulated the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase, which was blocked by pyrilamine, calphostin C, and PD98059. These results suggest that histamine may enhance nerve growth factor production by inducing c-Fos expression in keratinocytes. These effects may be mediated by the H1-receptor-induced signaling cascade of phospholipase C-protein kinase C-mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 1-extracellular signal-regulated kinase.


The goal of dry cow therapy (DCT) is to reduce the prevalence of intramammary infections (IMI) by eliminating existing IMI at drying off and preventing new IMI from occurring during the dry period. Due to public health concerns, however, preventive use of antibiotics has become questionable. This study evaluated selective DCT in 1,657 cows with low somatic cell count (SCC) at the last milk recording before drying off in 97 Dutch dairy herds. Low SCC was defined as <150,000 cells/mL for primiparous and <250,000 cells/mL for multiparous cows. A split-udder design was used in which 2 quarters of each cow were treated with dry cow antibiotics and the other 2 quarters remained as untreated controls. The effect of DCT on clinical mastitis (CM), bacteriological status, SCC, and antibiotic use were determined at the quarter level using logistic regression and chi-squared tests. The incidence rate of CM was found to be 1.7 times (95% confidence interval = 1.4-2.1) higher in quarters dried off without antibiotics as compared with quarters dried off with antibiotics. Streptococcus uberis was the predominant organism causing CM in both groups. Somatic cell count at calving and 14 d in milk was significantly higher in quarters dried off without antibiotics (772,000 and 46,000 cells/mL, respectively) as compared with the quarters dried off with antibiotics (578,000 and 30,000 cells/mL, respectively). Quarters with an elevated SCC at drying off and quarters with a positive culture for major pathogens at drying off had a higher risk for an SCC above 200,000 cells/mL at 14 d in milk as compared with quarters with a low SCC at drying off and quarters with a negative culture for major pathogens at drying off. For quarters that were culture-positive for major pathogens at drying off, a trend for a higher risk on CM was also found. Selective DCT, not using DCT in cows that had a low SCC at the last milk recording before drying off, significantly increased the incidence rate of CM and SCC. The decrease in antibiotic use by drying off quarters without DCT was not compensated by an increase in antibiotic use for treating CM. Total antibiotic use related to mastitis was reduced by 85% in these quarters.


The anterior pituitary gland undergoes a process of cell renewal during the estrous cycle. Although the occurrence of proliferation and death of anterior pituitary cells at specific stages of the estrous cycle is well known, the underlying mechanisms that regulate these processes are still being uncovered. In spite of the recognized proliferative effects of estrogens on lactotropes, recent evidence shows that estrogens can also trigger antiproliferative and apoptotic responses in anterior pituitary cells. In the present review we analyze the actions of gonadal steroids on proliferation and death of anterior pituitary cells during the estrous cycle and the mediators involved in these actions. Estradiol sensitizes anterior pituitary cells not only to mitogenic stimuli but also to apoptotic signals and upregulates local synthesis of tropic growth factors as well as proapoptotic cytokines. Several growth factors and cytokines have been shown to induce estrogen-dependent lactotrope proliferation and death, whereas progesterone antagonizes estrogen-induced effects. These locally synthesized factors may mediate the effects of gonadal steroids in the process of anterior pituitary cell renewal during the estrous cycle.


Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) is a promising technique for growing ultrathin, pristine dielectrics on metal substrates, which is essential to many electronic devices. Tunnel junctions are an excellent example which require a leak-free, ultrathin dielectric tunnel barrier of typical thickness around 1 nm between two metal electrodes. A challenge in the development of ultrathin dielectric tunnel barriers using ALD is controlling the nucleation of dielectrics on metals with minimal formation of native oxides at the metal surface for high-quality interfaces between the tunnel barrier and metal electrodes. This poses a critical need for integrating ALD with ultra-high vacuum (UHV) physical vapor deposition. In order to address these challenges, a viscous-flow ALD chamber was designed and interfaced to an UHV magnetron sputtering chamber via a load lock. A sample transportation system was implemented for in situ sample transfer between the ALD, load lock, and sputtering chambers. Using this integrated ALD-UHV sputtering system, superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) Nb-Al/Al2O2/Nb Josephson tunnel junctions were fabricated with tunnel barriers of thickness varied from sub-nm to ~1 nm. The suitability of using an Al wetting layer for initiation of the ALD Al2O3 tunnel barrier was investigated with ellipsometry, atomic force microscopy, and electrical transport measurements. With optimized processing conditions, leak-free SIS tunnel junctions were obtained, demonstrating the viability of this integrated ALD-UHV sputtering system for the fabrication of tunnel junctions and devices comprised of metal-dielectric-metal multilayers.


Due to the complex nature of the cervical screening for women with learning disabilities, this literature review has several different strands. The aim of which is to give a general overview of the literature available about women with learning disabilities and cervical screening. Discussing key issues in relation to uptake, access and risk factors associated with cervical screening. The role of the learning disability nurse in supporting access to cervical screening services within primary care will be explored. The notion that anxiety and a woman's capacity to consent impacts on her accessing cervical screening services and ultimately undergoing a cervical smear test, will be examined. Relaxation techniques with regard to ascertaining which techniques are more effective when used with individuals with a learning disability will also be discussed.


Immunoglobulins are both polymorphic and polydisperse. That is, they can occur in many functionally and physico-chemically different molecular forms, which have been classified and typed. Molecules presently classed together are not homogeneous, but they show a microheterogeneity of amino acid sequence which is presumably related to their many known antibody specificities. Figure 1 is a simplified schematic representation showing that all immunoglobulin (Ig) molecules are assembled of pairs of heavy and light polypeptide chains (14). Antigenic differ-


According to the prebiotic soup theory, the first primitive life on Earth emerged when organic molecules formed macromolecules that evolved the ability to catalyze their own replication. The main rival theory contends that the first living system on Earth was a primitive metabolic life characterized by a series of self-sustaining reactions between simple monomers. In their Perspective,
 Bada and Lazcano
 argue that the two theories are not mutually exclusive and that cool temperatures would have been required in either case for modern life to evolve.


SUMMARY Human cells that lack O6-alkylguanine DNA alkyltransferase (AT) activity can remove O6-butylguanine (O5-nBuG) produced in cellular DNA by exposure to N-n-butyl-N-nitrosourea as determined by radioimmunoassay of enzyme digests of DNA. Fibroblasts from xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) complementation groups A and G that show <5 % unscheduled DNA synthesis following exposure to UVC failed to remove O6-nBuG. Hence it appears that O6-alkylguanine is repaired in cells that lack AT by a process that is defective in XP cells, presumably nucleotide excision repair. Neither V79 nor V79/79 Chinese hamster cell lines have AT activity and both are able to remove O6-nBuG from DNA. However, only V79/79 is able to remove O6MeG, suggesting some substrate specificity of the excision repair process. Comparison of relative levels of O6-alkylation by N-methyl-, N-ethyl-, N-propyl- and N-n-butyl-nitrosourea indicate that approximately equal levels of O6-alkylation are produced by equitoxic doses of these agents.


Background: Multiple medication changes during hospitalization increase the risk of errors upon discharge. Community pharmacists may face barriers to providing pharmaceutical care because of the lack of clinical information and communication from hospitals. Studies implementing handover to community pharmacists upon hospital discharge reported improved patient outcomes, but interventions were time-consuming. Methods: One-on-one interviews and a focus group were conducted to identify community pharmacists' barriers to providing care to patients recently discharged from hospital and to determine their preferences for hospital discharge prescriptions. Transcripts were qualitatively analyzed using an inductive semantic approach. Results: Four one-on-one interviews and an 8-participant focus group were conducted. Participants described barriers to providing care to discharged patients, including lack of communication, incomplete prescriptions, and limited clinical information. Participants identified that the most valuable information to include comprised laboratory values, hospital contact information and annotation of medication changes. These items would improve their abilities to provide timely and high-quality pharmaceutical care. Interpretation: Our results were similar to prior literature identifying a lack of communication and clinical information as barriers to providing care to recently discharged patients. Unexpectedly, study participants did not rate medication indication as a strongly preferred information item. Conclusions: Hospital discharge prescriptions lack information, which makes it challenging for community pharmacists to provide pharmaceutical care. Discharge prescriptions should include additional clinical information. Can Pharm J (Ott) 2020;153:xx-xx.


This paper centres on research that investigated the contemporary policy, curriculum and pedagogical landscape of Health and Physical Education (HPE) in Aotearoa New Zealand, in the light of increasing impressions that provision was moving to an 'open market' situation. Publicly available information sourced via the Internet was used to examine the public and privately funded initiatives, programmes and resources targeted towards the provision of HPE across all phases of education. The data arising revealed an array of government and non-governmental agencies and organisations acting as producers of resources and deliverers of HPE-related programmes in schools. It also clearly pointed to structural convergence between government and non-government sectors. This paper locates the findings from the research amidst developments in policy relations and networks spanning education, health and sport, and presents a theoretically oriented critical re-examination of the structural reconfiguration of contemporary HPE in Aotearoa New Zealand. Analysis brings together insights from Ball and Junemann's work on policy networks and Bernstein's theorising of the social construction of discourse to explore linkages between policy and pedagogic relations, and the discourses and practices in HPE. Attention is directed to the significance of changes in the nature of both the Official Recontextualizing Field and Pedagogic Recontextualizing field, and the connections between the two fields. Changes in the recontextualizing fields are discussed in relation to official pedagogic discourse of HPE and the pedagogic discourse of reproduction. This analysis brings to the fore prospective curriculum and pedagogic implications of new policy networks and new networks of providers associated with provision of HPE in schools. Discussion acknowledges potentially varied readings of contemporary developments and addresses the opportunities and challenges for teachers and teacher educators in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally.


Microseismic monitoring has proven invaluable for optimizing hydraulic fracturing stimulations and monitoring reservoir changes. The signal to noise ratio of the recorded microseismic data varies enormously from one dataset to another, and it can often be very low, especially for surface monitoring scenarios. Moreover, the data are often contaminated by correlated noises such as borehole waves in the downhole monitoring case. These issues pose a significant challenge for microseismic event detection. In addition, for downhole monitoring, the location of microseismic events relies on the accurate polarization analysis of the often weak P‐wave to determine the event azimuth. Therefore, enhancing the microseismic signal, especially the low signal to noise ratio P‐wave data, has become an important task. In this study, a statistical approach based on the binary hypothesis test is developed to detect the weak events embedded in high noise. The method constructs a vector space, known as the signal subspace, from previously detected events to represent similar, yet significantly variable microseismic signals from specific source regions. Empirical procedures are presented for building the signal subspace from clusters of events. The distribution of the detection statistics is analysed to determine the parameters of the subspace detector including the signal subspace dimension and detection threshold. The effect of correlated noise is corrected in the statistical analysis. The subspace design and detection approach is illustrated on a dual‐array hydrofracture monitoring dataset. The comparison between the subspace approach, array correlation method, and array short‐time average/long‐time average detector is performed on the data from the far monitoring well. It is shown that, at the same expected false alarm rate, the subspace detector gives fewer false alarms than the array short‐time average/long‐time average detector and more event detections than the array correlation detector. The additionally detected events from the subspace detector are further validated using the data from the nearby monitoring well. The comparison demonstrates the potential benefit of using the subspace approach to improve the microseismic viewing distance. Following event detection, a novel method based on subspace projection is proposed to enhance weak microseismic signals. Examples on field data are presented, indicating the effectiveness of this subspace‐projection‐based signal enhancement procedure.


OBJECTIVE
To characterize the plasma pharmacokinetics and clinical effects of pirfenidone administered IV in healthy horses.

ANIMALS
6 adult horses.

PROCEDURES
A 15 mg/kg dose of pirfenidone was administered IV over 5 minutes. Physical variables were recorded and blood samples collected prior to infusion; 2.5 minutes after beginning infusion; at the end of infusion; and at 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 75, and 90 minutes and 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, and 24 hours after completion of infusion. Plasma concentrations of pirfenidone and its metabolites were determined.

RESULTS
Mild clinical effects, including tachycardia and muscle fasciculations, were observed during drug administration but stopped at the end of the infusion. Pirfenidone and 2 metabolites, hydroxypirfenidone and carboxypirfenidone, were detected by the end of the 5-minute infusion. Mean peak plasma concentration of pirfenidone was 182.5 micromol/L, detected at the end of the infusion. Mean peak plasma concentrations of hydroxypirfenidone and carboxypirfenidone were 1.07 and 3.4 micromol/L, respectively, at 40 minutes after infusion. No parent drug or metabolites were detected at 24 hours. Distribution of pirfenidone best fit a 2-compartment model, and the drug had mean +/- SEM elimination half-life of 86.0 +/- 4.7 minutes, mean body clearance of 6.54 +/- 0.45 mL/kg/min, and apparent volume of distribution at steady state of 0.791 +/- 0.056 L/kg.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Intravenous administration of pirfenidone was tolerated with transient adverse affects during infusion, and drug clearance was rapid.


Hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) is becoming increasingly popular for separation of polar samples on polar columns in aqueous-organic mobile phases rich in organic solvents (usually ACN). Silica gel with decreased surface concentration of silanol groups, or with chemically bonded amino-, amido-, cyano-, carbamate-, diol-, polyol-, or zwitterionic sulfobetaine ligands are used as the stationary phases for HILIC separations, in addition to the original poly(2-sulphoethyl aspartamide) strong cation-exchange HILIC material. The type of the stationary and the composition of the mobile phase play important roles in the mixed-mode HILIC retention mechanism and can be flexibly tuned to suit specific separation problems. Because of excellent mobile phase compatibility and complementary selectivity to RP chromatography, HILIC is ideally suited for highly orthogonal 2-D LC-LC separations of complex samples containing polar compounds, such as peptides, proteins, oligosaccharides, drugs, metabolites and natural compounds. This review attempts to present an overview of the HILIC separation systems, possibilities for their characterization and emerging HILIC applications in 2-D off-line and on-line LC-LC separations of various samples, in combination with RP and other separation modes.


Although underexplored, the idea of using brain computer interfaces (BCI) for behavioral and cognitive rehabilitation is based on recent evidence suggesting that not only self-regulated brain signals, but also involuntary brain signals may provide useful information about the BCI user. The aim is to promote the recruitment of neural networks involved in specific brain functions and to facilitate Central Nervous System (CNS) plasticity. Critically, CNS plasticity has been observed in early-stages of dementia, thus constituting a great challenge for the development of "cognitive BCIs" focused on the rehabilitation of brain functions in neurological patients. The main goal of this project is to promote CNS plasticity, and therefore cognitive reserve, through neurofeedback training in subjects with Subjective Memory Complaints (SMC) related to attentional deficits. It is a Phase 0 clinical trial


A two-sector dynamic model is used to determine the optimal steady-state forest stock for the Ivory Coast. The optimal stead-state forest stock is shown to be most sensitive to changes in the discount rate and the expected technoligcal change. When agricultural technology is assumed to be stagnant, the forest stock is not completely exhausted in the optimal steady-state situation. However, with continual technological change, eventually clearing all the forest lands is optimal.


Recently, given the current situation the world is undergoing with the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of companies encourage remote working from home. As a result, the use of the cloud has increased, but as a consequence, cyberattacks on the cloud systems have escalated. However, organizations and companies still have concerns about the use of the cloud as most of them remain unaware of the security threats against cloud system. This work researches through major concerns of the organizations and companies for cloud security and tries to explain why it is important for the organization to be aware of the threats that the cloud is facing. It also proposes a three-step strategy to help companies and organizations to secure their cloud system.


The current research results are based on the different historical sources, which contain information about cultural life of Kursk during the period from the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century. The analysis involved historical sources led to a number of assumptions regarding the formation and development of urban culture in the Russian province at the turn of the 19-20th centuries.


chia in which the fang are residentially dispersed may be easier to preserve intact because of the less severe strain on personal relationships, he does not pursue the matter further. If he had had room to do so it might have enabled him to lead into greater discussion of what he calls ' compound-based local agnatic groups' (p. 37) (which appear to be what Freedman and others would call ' lineages ' ?), that is, to discussion of the continuing ties beyond the formally divided chia. There seems to me to be interesting similarities between the perdurance of the residentially dispersed chia and that of the lineage, which is also composed of residentially separate family units with some property held in common. With the concentration on the economic features of the chia, some others, notably ancestor worship and the impact of personality, are played down, but these features are more readily to be found in other writings on the family. This is an important, meaty book which deals with problems of Chinese, family size and organization in a most illuminating way.


The law on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing determines the principles and the procedure aimed at preventing money laundering and terrorist financing, the use of special restrictive means against persons and groups and eventually, the duties of subjects who participate in financial transactions, notaries public included. The responsibilities of the notary public, arising from the model of notarial institution and boiling down to guarantee the security of legal transactions have been supplemented with the following duties: registration of transactions, sending information to the GIIF (General Inspector of Financial Information) and notary public'being subject to inspections. Since the very beginning this regulation by law has been raising doubts which regard not only the rules themselves, their legitimacy and effectiveness, but also the wording of the text. The reason for the controversies concerning this law is that within his/her responsibilities, the notary public is not obliged either to ascertain whether the money is of criminal origin or to verify his/her transactions in view of money laundering of financing of terrorism. The notary public has neither legal nor practical measures to adopt in this field; moreover, the State offers neither money nor any financial coparticipation in performing such tasks. In addition, in the course of legal transactions, the notary's professional secrecy might be infringed, which means breach of professional confidentiality as well. In view of such objections, of particular doubt is the possible pecuniary penalty provided either for failing or incorrect application of the law, all the more so because those items are inaccurate and in defiance of the principles of law making techniques.


This paper presents a differential microcalorimetric system made in laboratory, designed
to enable scientific research into the process of hydration in setting materials. The differential
calorimeter presented has neither isothermal nor adiabatic properties, and may be listed among
both isoperibolic and conduction calorimeters. This paper describes the microcalorimeter and
its operation, indicating properties required and the calibration of the device. The reproducibil-
ity and the statistical processing of the results obtained by means of this device were established
when the microcalorimeter was used to determine the hydration heat in a sample of Portland
cement. The results were processed by a computer, which provided a basis for calculation of
hydration kinetics, the rate constant, and the activation energy of hydration.


Until now, there has been little scholarly analysis of the Soviet Gulag as an economic, social, and political institution, primarily owing to a lack of data. This collection presents the results of years of research by Western and Russian scholars. The authors provide both broad overviews and specific case studies.


Master limited partnerships (MLPs) are limited partnerships that trade on public exchanges in the form of units, similar to common stock. MLPs have several advantages relative to traditional C corporations (C-corps) that have resulted in their frequent use to finance energy-infrastructure assets. The general partners (GPs) retain control of the assets placed in the MLP, can drop down assets to the MLP, often at advantageous prices, and receive incentive distribution rights (IDRs). IDRs increase the GPs' share of the distributions over time, which in turn affects the MLPs' cost of capital. MLPs do not pay taxes at the entity level, which increases the amount of cash that can be paid to GPs and unitholders. MLPs trade on the basis of their yield and the stability and growth of their distributions. This technical note provides a brief history of MLPs, a description of their key features and terms, and several approaches to valuing them. Excerpt UVA-F-1828 May 17, 2018 Note on Master Limited Partnerships Master limited partnerships, referred to as MLPs, are limited partnerships that trade on public exchanges. Most MLPs are formed as limited partnerships and trade in the form of partnership units (referred to as common units, or simply units), comparable to the common stock of corporations. MLPs have different governance structures in terms of voting and control rights and are taxed differently than traditional corporations (referred to as C corporations [C-corps]), whose income is taxed at an entity level. This technical note provides a brief history of MLPs, a description of their key features and terms, and several approaches to valuing them. MLPs are pass-through partnerships that are exempt from corporate taxes. This means that MLPs generally do not pay firm-level income tax; instead, their income passes through to the unitholders. The unitholders pay tax on their distributions at their individual tax rates, but the pass-through structure allows MLPs to avoid the double taxation of income. MLPs are also generally required by the partnership agreement to pay out all available cash to investors, and as a result, investors receive relatively high distributions. Because of these features, MLPs are valued for their yields and ability to maintain or grow distributions. For these reasons and others, assets housed within an MLP structure tend to trade at higher multiples than those that reside within a C-corp (Exhibit 1). Since the mid-1990s, MLPs have grown significantly in terms of their numbers and market capitalization (Figure1). By one count, starting from six MLPs in 1994, there are 112 energy-related MLPs with, collectively, a total market value of approximately $ 400 billion in 2016. Their growth has been attributed to their attractive yields to investors and their role in financing energy and infrastructure assets. . . .


This community service activity program aims to provide education related to early marriage. Given the many cases of early marriage and divorce in Indonesia, education is very important. This community service activity from home aims to provide education to teenagers regarding early marriage and its impact. It is hoped that this education will be able to provide understanding to young people. Early marriage education is very important considering the number of early marriages that occur due to promiscuity. With this educational video, we can add insight regarding early marriage and its impact.


The research analysis appeared, because the researcher found that there are imagination was connected to the identity crisis of children which was related with postcolonial era in a popular novel.  Since, the postcolonial era appeared combination of process each culture and the spirit of nationalism, as a criticism of the main character to make social equity. The exploration of the noncolonial reflects to human society in the postcolonial world. Then, this study answered two quotations. First, how does the narrator narrate the life of children in Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children. Children's Imagination of Nationality in Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children Second, how do the children's imagine the nationality in Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children.  The method used to the research through qualitative research. The research used representation and description. The researcher gained the data from books observation, then the data was found and analyzed, and after the research problem was identified, the researcher described the data base on postcolonial theory.  The results are, first; the narrator has told the children's life which was identified through the main character, Saleem Sinai. The life began with Saleem's family background that it had an identity from two cultures. Second, the children's imagine the nationality from what was happened in the life of story. Not only through imagination, but also the process of identity combination was connected to influences of the postcolonial era.  Furthermore, the research focused more on crisis condition of a nation, especially postcolonial. The narrator position was important when told how the criticism presented Midnight's Children. The research found that the existence of "midnight's children" just a dream from main character, Saleem Sinai. So that, this novel was interested to language and literature study, because it had standard of identity crisis of each culture through the children's imagine about nationality. Item Type: Thesis (Diploma) Uncontrolled


Infant crying elicits caregiving behaviors, which are indispensable for fulfilling the infant's needs. However, infant crying can also evoke negative and angry feelings in the caregiver. Therefore, parents need to regulate their own negative emotions to infant crying to sensitively respond to the distressed infant. Thus, the current study aims to examine the neural basis of emotional reactivity and emotional regulation in response to infant crying using functional MRI in primiparous mothers (N = 26). Amygdala activation in response to infant crying was negatively associated with maternal sensitivity and maternal nonhostility during mother–infant interaction. Furthermore, subjective emotional intensity and bilateral activations in the amygdala were decreased using distraction as emotion-regulation strategy. This finding adds neural evidence to the importance of maternal emotion-regulation in response to infant distress. This might be particularly important as some mothers may become overwhelmed by their infant's distress resulting in intense negative emotions that could potentially impair mother–child interaction and increase child abuse potential.


Soft Ground subsidence is an important factor of subgrade stability. A reasonable forecast of subgrade settlement is of great significance to the safety. ABAQUS finite element software can handle very complex problems and simulate highly nonlinear problems and has a good prospect in predicting the settlements of soft ground, but considering the coefficients of variation of soil parameters are usually large than those of the artificial material and the current investigation means have a big disturbance to soil, survey data can not reflect the nature of the soil, and thus it's difficult to accurately calculate and forecast soft ground settlement; based on the application of ABAQUS finite element software in predicting of the settlement and the introduction of non-probabilistic reliability analysis of predicting the structure, the reliability of predictions can be evaluated.


Sarcopenia has been associated with an increased incidence of adverse outcomes, including higher mortality, after endovascular aortic repair (EVAR). We aim to use computed tomography (CT) to quantify changes in total psoas muscles area (PMA) and psoas muscle density (PMD) after EVAR, and to evaluate the reproducibility of both measurements. PMA and PMD were assessed via manual segmentation of the psoas muscle on pre- and post-operative CT scans belonging to consecutive patients who underwent EVAR. Wilcoxon test was used to compare PMA and PMD before and after EVAR, and inter- and intra-reader agreements of both methods were evaluated through Bland–Altman analysis. A total of 50 patients, 42 of them males (84%), were included in the study. PMA changes from 1243 mm2 (1006–1445 mm2) to 1102 mm2 (IQR 937–1331 mm2), after EVAR (p < 0.001). PMD did not vary between pre-EVAR (33 HU, IQR 26.5–38.7 HU) and post-EVAR (32 HU, IQR 26–37 HU, p = 0.630). At inter-reader Bland–Altman analysis, PMA showed a bias of 64.0 mm2 and a coefficient of repeatability (CoR) of 359.2 mm2, whereas PMD showed a bias of −2.43 HU and a CoR of 6.19 HU. At intra-reader Bland–Altman analysis, PMA showed a bias of −81.1 mm2 and a CoR of 394.6 mm2, whereas PMD showed a bias of 1.41 HU and a CoR of 6.36 HU. In conclusion, PMA decreases after EVAR. A good intra and inter-reader reproducibility was observed for both PMA and PMD. We thus propose to use PMA during the follow-up of patients who underwent EVAR to monitor muscle depletion after surgery.


The Department of Dermatology at the Washington Hospital Center conducts research on drugs and products for various drug companies prior to their approval by the Food and Drug Administration. The purpose of this article is to describe this interesting and rewarding process which can give dermatology nurses the opportunity to assist patients who might not have found effective or affordable treatment for their condition.


Abstract Various biomarkers of oxidative stress and redox status have been used in a number of clinical and epidemiological studies related to diseases and conditions that involve disturbances of the redox balance. However, a comprehensive study of diurnal variations of a set of biomarkers has not been conducted so far. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate circadian rhythm and time-of-day-effects of a set of frequently used biomarkers of oxidative stress, redox and antioxidant status in serum/plasma. These biomarkers include Reactive Oxygen Metabolites (ROM), Biological Antioxidant Potency (BAP), Total Thiols in Proteins (TTP), high-sensitive C-Reactive Protein (CRP) and Uric Acid (UA). During a 24-hr study, blood sampling was conducted 6 times at 4-hr intervals. The presence of circadian rhythm was analyzed with CircWave analysis, whereas the effect of time was analyzed with Repeated Measures ANOVA (RM-ANOVA). Thereby, the main focus was on the time points in working hours (8, 12 and 16 hr), which are used frequently in practice. Of all investigated biomarkers, only TTP in males demonstrated statistically significant circadian rhythm (p = 0.040). A statistically significant effect between all six time points with RM-ANOVA was observed for ROM, TTP and UA in both genders, and for BAP in females only. No statistically significant differences were observed between the time points 8 hr and 12 hr for any of the biomarkers that were assessed in our study. In conclusion, diurnal variations in some of the studied biomarkers that we demonstrate here should be taken into account when designing and conducting clinical and epidemiological studies. It is advised to standardize the time of sampling with a preference in the morning hours.


Nonsaponifiable lipids of human atherosclerotic plaques obtained at autopsy from patients ranging in age from 45 to 85 years were analyzed by high pressure liquid chromatography. All plaques contained dolichol, ranging from 125 to 460 micrograms/g wet weight. Dolichol was also present in normal aortic tissue, but the amounts were generally less than in plaques. To investigate the source of the dolichol in plaques, blood serum was analyzed from both volunteer subjects and hypercholesterolemic patients. The levels of dolichol were generally higher in hypercholesterolemic compared with normal subjects, but were not correlated with levels of total or lipoprotein cholesterol. The homologue pattern of dolichol in atherosclerotic plaques differed from that of aorta and blood. The source of dolichol in plaques and its significance remains to be established.


Pipelined analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) achieve low to moderate resolutions at high bandwidths while sigma-delta (ΣΔ) ADCs provide high resolution at moderate bandwidths. A switched-capacitor (SC) block which can function as an integrator or an MDAC can be used to implement a reconfigurable ADC (R-ADC) which supports both these types of architectures. Through the use of high level models this work attempts to derive the capacitance and critical opamp parameters such as DC gain and bandwidth of the SC blocks in a reconfigurable ADC. Scaling of capacitance afforded by the noise shaping property of ΣΔ loops as well as the inter-stage gain of pipelined ADCs is used to minimize the total capacitance. This work can be used as reference material to understand some of the design trade-offs in R-ADCs.


With a large portion of U.S. farm production expenditures related to the cost of fertilizer, seed, and chemicals, producers within the Corn Belt region are looking for new methods and/or planting processes that would deliver higher levels of production efficiencies and lower operating costs. Specifically within the planting operation, Corn Belt producers are faced with the challenge to better manage the higher cost of crop inputs in order to sustain profitability. The primary objective of this thesis is to examine new planting technologies that would better manage planting applications while directly lowering related input costs. Another objective is to understand through regression analysis how various planting variables affect yield potential. Results from the regression analysis illustrate how the various planting variables affect yield and show the importance of "realtime" planter management, advancements possible only with the new planter technology. Customer surveys and several on-site customer visits were conducted throughout the Corn Belt to better understand the actual needs of producers for new planting technologies. Throughout the customer visits, specific questions about the producers' planting operation were asked to find new ways for precision technology to help increase overall productivity and ultimately profitability. Producer comments and feedback were analyzed through Quality Functional Deployment (QFD) practices and aligned into product development programs. The products developed from the customer research will help producers in the Corn Belt to reduce corn production inefficiencies and, potentially, increase profit margins, assuming profit levels remain steady and/or increase in lieu of reduced input costs. Farm level net present value (NPV) analyses of new planting technologies were performed. Corresponding yield data from efficiencies gained in seed corn placement and control during "real-time" planting applications were integrated into the NPV analyses along with the precision technology costs. The NPV results were positive.


This paper describes the test protocols and procedures of RCX Straddle Packer Microfrac for the estimation of formation Breakdown, fracture propagation and fracture closure pressure at different levels in Vaca Muerta formation. As a result, the horizontal stress field can be estimated, which in turns allows to infer if the fracture scheme and productivity agree well with initial prognosis.
 Historically, this tool had been used for the estimation of formation pressure and fluid samples for unconsolidated formations. However, a micro-fracture job, pump capacity, packer hermeticity and a well design test protocol were the key to allow get formation breakdown, fracture propagation, fracture closure through pumping flow back and fracture reopening in various cycles. Such procedure was performed at two depths with success. Selection of the test intervals involved a preliminary geomechanical model for the determination of stress conditions, mechanical properties and wellbore stability analysis to choose proper mud density to reduce the probability of well damage (breakouts mainly), which can compromise test hermeticity. Then, after drilling, well logs including wellbore image and caliper analysis enable the determination of test intervals with minimum damage.
 In the test well, Microfrac tests were performed successfully on two intervals out of four selected. Interpretation allowed the estimation of closure pressure related to minimum horizontal stress. Moreover, a rough estimation of maximum horizontal stress, based on breakdown pressure and closure pressure was performed as well. Such results agree well with the initial geomechanical model. Strike slip regime was confirmed in such a way that no alarms were set for future development through horizontal wells. But it is necessary to make a deepper investigation to ensure a favorable anisotrophy stress ratio. Some areas with unfavorable vertical to horizontal stress ratio, have been show low performance productivity. The main advantages of this type of tests are: (i) the availability to acquire information through several depths in a vertical well. (ii) Tests were performed in open hole conditions. (iii) Horizontal in situ stresses can be estimated. (iv) Time efficiency in comparison with classical DFIT tests. (v) Calibration of geomechanical model for future development.
 Through the application of this tool, a new methodology was set, which allows for an early diagnose of the horizontal stress field leading to the determination of stress regime. Therefore, if the worst-case scenario appears related to inverse stress regime, development plans can be reorganized, reducing potential economic losses, considering that, as had been demonstrated in Argentina, horizontal wells placed on inverse regime led to EUR lower than breakeven.


Herbert Henry Jasper was arguably the 20th century's most influential clinical and research electrophysiologist. He initially sought an understanding of the function of the brain through philosophy and psychology as a graduate student, but a chance encounter led to his training in electrophysiology with Louis Lapicque and Alexandre Monnier at La Sorbonne in Paris from 1931 to 1933. There Jasper studied the electrophysiology of the neuromuscular unit in crustaceans, amphibians, and mammals, in the hope of gaining insight into the influence of the cortex and spinal cord on motility. Jasper joined the Department of Psychology at Brown University on his return from Paris, with the intention of pursuing his studies in neuromuscular physiology, but his interest veered to electroencephalography in 1934, when he became aware of Hans Berger's work on electroencephalography. Jasper was recruited to the Montreal Neurologic Institute (MNI) as its electroencephalographer in 1938. As Canada entered the Second World War in 1939, the Canadian Army required an accurate, reliable, and portable apparatus to localize the site of peripheral nerve injuries, to assess their severity, and to guide their intraoperative treatment. Jasper, using his expertise in neuromuscular electrophysiology and André Cipriani, the MNI's electrical engineer, set themselves to the task, and together they built the first clinical electromyograph. The quality of Jasper's electromyographic recordings attracted the attention of James Golseth, a neurologist working with the US Army on peripheral nerve injuries. Golseth tested Jasper and Cipriani's machine on American casualties, and the US Army quickly adopted it for its own use. Following the cessation of hostilities, Jasper, Golseth, and James Fissell, an electrical engineer, developed the first commercial electromyograph based on Cipriani's circuitry. The commercial availability of electromyographs and their widespread use led to the creation of the American Association of Electromyography and Electrodiagnosis in 1953, with James Golseth as its first president. Jasper returned to electroencephalography after the war, but the MNI maintained an active division of electromyography under his direction where the likes of Milton Shy, who with Glen Drager described multiple system atrophy, and the Nobelist David Hubel trained in electrophysiology.


Abstract A new species of the genus Heterolaophonte is described from tidal pools near the King Sejong Station at King George Island, Antarctica. This species is described and named as Heterolaophonte heejinae, new species. The new species is closely related to H. pauciseta from the South Georgia Islands and H. livingstoni from Livingston Island, Antarctica. Both species share several characters with the new species, including the seven-segmented antennule, segmentations of swimming legs and setal numbers on P5. However, the new species is distinguishable from its congeners with the combined characters of spinules on the terminal claw of the P1 endopod, the antennary exopod with only two setae, and the seta numbers on the second exopod segment of the P4 and the distal segment of the P2 endopod. A key to species of the genus Heterolaophonte is also provided.


This study looks at Rwanda conscious branding techniques to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in today's increasingly globalized economy. As Rwanda continues to face the challenge of a high demand for residential and commercial buildings, this study attempted to elucidate if nation branding could potentially be a factor that boosts the construction sector in Rwanda to increase the volume of FDI Undoubtedly every country has a reputation or simple cliché attributed to it just as products and companies have brand images. These clichés and stereotypes – whether they are positive or negative, true or untrue – fundamentally affect our behaviour. Paris is about style, Japan about technology, Switzerland about wealth and precision, Rio de Janeiro about carnival and football and most African nations about poverty, corruption, war, famine and disease. Whereas it is clearly true that nations have always sought to impose themselves and promote their economic, diplomatic and military interests, it is only in the last decade that nations have turned to the explicit use of the techniques of branding as practised in the business world to change their reputation. Terms such as 'Nation Branding', 'brand image' and 'brand identity' are increasingly used to describe the perceptions that are held of nations amongst their various 'stakeholders'. This study scrutinizes the need for actions to explicitly and implicitly shape and reshape Rwanda's identities and re-brand them. Through analysis of primary and secondary data, series of one-onone interviews and feedback of respondents through a questionnaire, this research authenticated whether the way being used by Rwanda while building its brand around reputations and attitudes in the same way smart companies do could potentially attract investors in the sector of construction and real estate subsequently attract FDI. After analyzing the findings, the study found out that successful nation branding can be considered as a powerful attracting tool for investors. The researcher recommends that Rwanda should strategize how to reverse the stereotype of a "hopeless basket case", and how to enjoy the benefit of a reputation that is more fair, more true, more complete and more useful than the typical clichés that most poor African countries are saddled with.


Objective— The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of a myocardial bridge (MB) on atherosclerosis development in the left anterior descending artery of the normal heart and the importance of traditional risk factors (RFs). An additional objective was to determine the correlation between intimal thickening and luminal narrowing. Approach and Results— The left anterior descending artery from 150 autopsied hearts was treated with formalin perfusion fixation, and each left anterior descending artery was serially cross-sectioned. The intima–media and luminal stenosis ratios were examined using computer-assisted histomorphometry. The luminal stenosis ratio was closely correlated with the intima–media ratio (r=0.792; P<0.001). When an MB was present, the luminal stenosis ratios proximal to the MB in the RF (+) group were significantly greater than those in the RF (−) group (P=0.022 by a multiple comparison test), but there were no differences between the RF (+) and RF (−) groups when an MB was absent. In addition, the site of the greatest stenosis in the MB (+) RF (+) group was 2.5 cm proximal to the MB entrance. Multivariate analyses indicated that age was an independent factor for luminal stenosis ratios ≥50% and 60% (P=0.002 and 0.029, respectively). Furthermore, the presence of an MB plus RFs was an independent factor for a luminal stenosis ratio ≥70% (P=0.037). Conclusions— An MB enhances left anterior descending artery atherosclerosis development at a site proximal to the MB entrance, particularly in subjects who have some RFs.


It would be hard to assert that one can understand an entire building by looking at a part so small as a piece of ornament, but after constructing through drawing, a number of these pieces of ornament, and doing the same for Sullivan's late commissions, I believe that it can now be asserted that Sullivan was designing buildings that were architectural ornament at a large scale. Sullivan's belief in his own creative will, fueled by the power of nature, learned from the lectures of Asa Grey, the poetry of Whitman, the drama of Richard Wagner's music Nietzsche's "Übermensch," Goethe's "Urpflanze" and his utopian ideal of Chicago seems to have been the key to the visceral power of his architectural ornamental that can only be described as fantastic and a career achievement. But Sullivan went farther than the design of ornament according to the formal methods documented his last publication, "A System of Architectural Ornament according to Man's Powers." Most of his last series of architectural commissions show evidence that he was attempting to construct whole buildings according to the same formal methods used in making the ornament. This paper will present an overview of Sullivan's principles of ornament and the primary ornament types he employed across his fifty-year career, and will focus on the medallion type of ornament and its role in the development of Sullivan's commissions following his break from Dankmar Adler in 1895 and its pivotal role during his last period of practice, 19071919 in transforming inert buildings into vibrant containers of human energy.


Objective: To learn whether there was a defect in an attentional floodlight. We used a line decision task for which subjects had to decide if two line segments separated by a gap were one line or two parallel lines. We varied the area of the gap and, therefore, the area over which subjects needed to spread attention to perform the task correctly. Background: Visual tasks requiring focused attention use an attentional spotlight. Other visual tasks requiring spatially distributed attention may require a floodlight. Neglect after right hemisphere stroke can be associated with a defect in the attentional spotlight. Results and Conclusions: Two patients with neglect after right hemisphere stroke performed more poorly than normal control subjects and left hemisphere-damaged control subjects as the area of spread in the gap increased. Right hemisphere-damaged patients did not differ from control subjects' performance on another visuospatial parameter-the degree of discontinuity between the line segments. These results support a defective attentional floodlight in neglect.


Built-in data structures are a key contributor to the performance of dynamic languages. Record data structures, or records, are one of the common advanced, but not easily optimizable built-in data structures supported by those languages. Records may be used in an object-oriented fashion or to implement object orientation itself. In this paper, we analyze how records are used in different applications in the Scheme dialect Racket. Based on the data obtained, we suggest the application of existing optimization techniques for records and devise a new one for immutable boolean fields. Most of them can be applied to a wide range of record implementations in dynamic languages. We apply these optimizations to records in Pycket, an implementation of Racket. With one exception, microbenchmarks show a two-to ten-fold speed-up of our implementation over plain Racket.


After analyzing the behavior of a fluid using an electroosmosis transport system, it was shown that the analysis of a constant electric permittivity could also be extended to a medium in which its electrical properties are space dependent. Using the hydrodynamic analysis with the Navier-Stookes equation in a high symmetric stationary environment and by solving the Maxwell's equations for only electrical charge sources within a micro channel, in the case where the electrical properties of the fluid changed along the space. In this case, it was considered a linear and a quadratic relation of the spatially modulated electric permittivity. For the first case, the solution was obtained in the terms of the Heun functions and in the second case the solution was given in terms of the Legendre polynomials. For both cases, the analytical solutions were obtained using the Maple software. After evaluating these results with the solutions obtained with the Bessel's special functions, it provided a close approximation of the behavior of the fluid under the electroosmosis effect with constant permittivity. With the development of this comparison between these solutions for the non-constant fluid's electric characteristics, the analysis could be brought into the field of non-single-phase fluids, so it might allow a further analysis of the electroosmosis within a more realistic fluid, in which properties changes among the space inside a micro channel.


A semiotics of architecture should focus on the process of the production of meaning through the articulation and organisation of space (and time). This articulation has, at least, a mental side (conception) and a material side (realisation). However, it would be misleading to try to reduce this double articulation into a formal logic alone (Pierce). Proxemics has convincingly demonstrated that spatial forms are part of social life and that their meaning depends on (and refer to) cultural values. We should study and think of the semiotics of space in the broader context of a semiotics of culture, insofar as its system of signs aims at the production of cultural meaning that is part of a code of social hierarchies and distinctions. In this paper, I propose a preliminary intersection between semiotics, literary theory and modal narratology. To decipher the social values that are inherent in spatial forms we need not only a general theory of their interpretation but also a theory of their manner of telling, their narrative structure, their plot, and how this plot is anchored and activated into specific and determinate social chronotopes. A possible strategy that would allow for the above intersection to take place could be a broad conception of the notion of 'text' that includes 'space' as a narrative process and as a discourse that follows a specific 'narrative grammar'. Therefore, architectural semiotics should lay emphasis on the process of the conception, design and production of spatial meaning as if this process was the writing of a social text, a codification of a narrative in space. In this paper, I will focus on a fragment of this project, examining some of the semiotic correlations and conceptual conjunctions between literature and architecture.


Background: Achieving guideline-recommended blood pressure is imperative in reducing the rising tide of uncontrolled hypertension and its attendant sequelae, which are major causes of morbidity and mortality globally. The aim of the study was to describe the pattern of blood pressure control and identify the factors influencing blood pressure control among patients with primary hypertension seen at family medicine clinics of FMC, Abeokuta. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional hospital-based study. A systematic random sampling technique was used in selecting 360 hypertensive respondents over four months. Data were collected through a pre-tested interviewer-administered questionnaire. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0 was used to analyse data. Results: Blood pressure was controlled in 167 (46.4%) of the respondents. The independent predictors of blood pressure control were female gender (p = 0.001, OR = 2.494, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.477–4.214), regular use of medication (p = 0.001, OR = 2.900, 95% CI = 1.508–5.577), regular clinic attendance (p < 0.001, OR = 3.512, 95% CI = 1.772–6.960), and absence of diabetes mellitus (p < 0.001, OR = 7.357, 95% CI = 3.190–16.966). Conclusions: The rate of blood pressure control among the hypertensive respondents was low. Multiple independent predictors of controlled blood pressure call for a team-based approach as well as multiple approaches including education of patients, expansion of a community-based health insurance programme and intensification of treatment efforts when managing hypertensive patients.


When randomness is interpreted as variation across hypothetical replications, predicting random effects may appear like aiming for a moving target. This contradiction is resolved by considering the conditional distributions of predictors given that the target is held constant over the replications. This entry focuses on predictors based on linear random-effects models.

Keywords:

analysis of covariance (ANCOVA);
best linear unbiased predictor (BLUP);
borrowing strength;
hypothetical replications;
shrinkage


In this case, there are six short scenarios depicting a leader who needs to function in the role of mentor or coach to a junior employee. Students are assigned scenarios and engage in role play with a class mate. Each two-member team is assigned one mini-simulation with one member of the team simulating the employee and the other simulating the manager.


Summary The expansion of oil palm plantations at the expense of tropical forests is causing declines in many species and altering ecosystem functions. Maintaining forest‐dependent species and processes in these landscapes may therefore limit the negative impacts of this economically important industry. Protecting riparian vegetation may be one such opportunity; forest buffer strips are commonly protected for hydrological reasons, but can also conserve functionally important taxa and the processes they support. We surveyed leaf litter ant communities within oil palm‐dominated landscapes in Sabah, Malaysia, using protein baits. As the scavenging activity of ants influences important ecological characteristics such as nutrient cycling and soil structure, we quantified species‐specific rates of bait removal to examine how this process may change across land uses and establish which changes in community structure underlie observed shifts in activity. Riparian reserves had similar ant species richness, community composition and scavenging rates to nearby continuous logged forest. Reserve width and vegetation structure did not affect ant species richness significantly. However, the number of foraging individuals decreased with increasing reserve width, and scavenging rate increased with vegetation complexity. Oil palm ant communities were characterized by significantly lower species richness than logged forest and riparian reserves and also by altered community composition and reduced scavenging rates. Reduced scavenging activity in oil palm was not explained by a reduction in ant species richness, nor by replacement of forest ant species by those with lower per species scavenging rates. There was also no significant effect of land use on the scavenging activity of the forest species that persisted in oil palm. Rather, changes in scavenging activity were best explained by a reduction in the mean rate of bait removal per individual ant across all species in the community. Synthesis and applications. Our results suggest that riparian reserves are comparable to areas of logged forest in terms of ant community composition and ant‐mediated scavenging. Hence, in addition to protecting large continuous areas of primary and logged forest, maintaining riparian reserves is a successful strategy for conserving leaf litter ants and their scavenging activities in tropical agricultural landscapes.


The fungal keratitis is a common ocular disease, and its etiological factor and pathogenesis are definite, but the treatment is difficult and prognosis is poor. It is vital for fungal keratitis to be diagnosed rapidly and treated effectively. This paper had summarized the germ spectrum changes of fungal keratitis, new means of diagnosis adopted both in laboratory and clinical practices, such as improved staining method, confocal biomicroscope, technique of PCR and molecular sequence. There were some details of various new anti-fungal drugs and the available alternatives of surgical treatment for best treating effects.


An integrated satellite and terrestrial mobile system enables the satellite mobile terminal (h4T) to access the land mobile satellite system (LMSS) inside the coverage of a terrestrial network. When the MT operates inside an urban area, base stations of the terresmal network will act as relay stations for the LMSS. The hand-off analysis for the two systems is an important issue. In this paper, a mathematical model is developed to simulate the received signals at the MT over a Rayleigh fading channel. By using this model, the effects of level-crossing rate (LCR) on hand-off criteria for the integrated system will also be discussed.


We study a multivariate Markov chain on the symmetric group with remarkable enumerative properties. We conjecture that the stationary distribution of this Markov chain can be expressed in terms of positive sums of Schubert polynomials.
This Markov chain is a multivariate generalization of a Markov chain introduced by the first author in the study of random affine Weyl group elements.


The process of medical attention constitutes a learning object for the student of Medicine. In this article a simplified model is proposed or general of the process of medical attention whose employment possesses assistance, educational and investigative implications; elaborated on the base of the address of the mental activity that the doctor develops during the execution of the process. Starting from this idea we identify three moments or phases like components of the pattern: 1) the obtaining of information, 2) the interpretation of the information, and 3) the taking of decisions; each one of which possesses a specific objective in function of the general objective of the process, besides other particularities. The property of generality of the elaborated pattern is identified, as well as its limitations.


Understanding biological pathways is an important activity in the biological domain for drug development. Due to the parallelism and complexity inherent in pathways, computer models that can answer queries about pathways are needed. A researcher may ask `what-if' questions comparing alternate scenarios, that require deeper understanding of the underlying model. In this paper, we present overview of such a system we developed and an English-like high level language to express pathways and queries. Our language is inspired by high level action and query languages and it uses Petri Net execution semantics.


Disorder in organic semiconductors has made it challenging to achieve performance gains; this is a result of the many competing and often nuanced mechanisms effecting charge transport. In this article, we attempt to illuminate one of these mechanisms in the hopes of aiding experimentalists in exceeding current performance thresholds. Using a heuristic exponential function, energetic correlation has been added to the Gaussian disorder model (GDM). The new model is grounded in the concept that energetic correlations can arise in materials without strong dipoles or dopants, but may be a result of an incomplete crystal formation process. The proposed correlation has been used to explain the exponential tail states often observed in these materials; it is also better able to capture the carrier mobility field dependence, commonly known as the Poole–Frenkel dependence, when compared to the GDM. Investigation of simulated current transients shows that the exponential tail states do not necessitate Montroll and Scher fits. Montroll and Scher fits occur in the form of two distinct power law curves that share a common constant in their exponent; they are clearly observed as linear lines when the current transient is plotted using a log–log scale. Typically, these fits have been found appropriate for describing amorphous silicon and other disordered materials which display exponential tail states. Furthermore, we observe the proposed correlation function leads to domains of energetically similar sites separated by boundaries where the site energies exhibit stochastic deviation. These boundary sites are found to be the source of the extended exponential tail states, and are responsible for high charge visitation frequency, which may be associated with the molecular turnover number and ultimately the material stability.


Objectives This study was to investigate trends of hypertensive prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control rates among adult community population aged 40–79 years in Chengdu from 1999 to 2009. Methods Two cross sectional epidemiological surveys were conducted among adult community population of Chengdu aged 40–79 years in 1999 (n=4850) and 2009 (n=5456) using multistage clustering sampling separately. The demographic characteristics, blood pressure (BP) and associated risk factors were examined for all of subjects. Results Mean levels of systolic BP and diastolic BP in subjects of 1999 and 2009 increased from 117.83±33.86 mm Hg to 132.10±21.16 mm Hg (p<0.001), and 75.28±19.14 to 79.25±11.15 mm Hg (p<0.001) over past decade, respectively. The age and sex standardised prevalence of hypertension increased from 27.68% (1999–2000) to 29.40% (2009–2010) (p<0.001). The awareness rate increased slightly, from 37.70% to 42.52% (p<0.001). The treatment rate increased from 20.91% to 28.04 significantly (p<0.0001). While among subjects aware of their hypertension, the treatment rate increased from 46.85% to 65.80% (p<0.001). In community Hypertensive, control rate increased from 6.81% (1999–2000) to 6.85% (2009–2010) (p=0.6684). Nevertheless, in hypertensives who aware and treated, the control rate remarkably decreased from 32.52% to 24.34% (p=0.020). Conclusions Hypertension prevalence increased steadily over last decades, while awareness, treatment and control rates remained unacceptably low. There were little improvements in hypertension awareness and control rate. It was suggested that community health education is one of critical issue for hypertensive management. More efforts should be taken to improve awareness in community population, as well as treatment and control rates.


BoostCLIR is a bilingual (Japanese-English) corpus of patent abstracts, extracted from the MAREC patent data, and the data from the NTCIR PatentMT workshop collections, accompanied with relevance judgements for the task of patent prior-art search. Important: The English side of the corpus contains patent IDs as well as the text of the abstracts. The Japanese side only contains patent IDs because of NTCIR copyright restrictions. The Jap anese patent abstracts can be extracted from full text Japanese patent documents, which are available from the organizers of the NTCIR workshop. The corpus contains training, development and testing subsets sampled from non-intersecting time periods. Relevance judgement for patent retrieval are constructed from patent citations by assigning three integer levels to three categories of relationships, with highest relevance (3) for family patents, lower relevance for patents cited in search reports by patent examiners (2), and lowest relevance level (1) for applicants' citations. For a detailed descrip tion of the corpus construction process, please see the above publication.


Mycoplasmas (class Mollicutes, kingdom Procaryotae) are able to induce large-scale chromosome rearrangements in the infected cells. Repeated DNA sequences including mobile elements (as IS and Tn) turn out to play a considerable part in mutation events of mycoplasmas and host cells.


PURPOSE
We assessed the therapeutic efficacy of FDA-approved anti-epileptic drug Levetiracetam (LEV) to reduce post-traumatic nonconvulsive seizure (NCS) activity and promote neurobehavioral recovery following 10% frontal penetrating ballistic-like brain injury (PBBI) in male Sprague-Dawley rats.

METHODS
Experiment 1 anti-seizure study: 50 mg/kg LEV (25 mg/kg maintenance doses) was given twice daily for 3 days (LEV3D) following PBBI; outcome measures included seizures incidence, frequency, duration, and onset. Experiment 2 neuroprotection studies: 50 mg/kg LEV was given twice daily for either 3 (LEV3D) or 10 days (LEV10D) post-injury; outcome measures include motor (rotarod) and cognitive (water maze) functions.

RESULTS
LEV3D treatment attenuated seizure activity with significant reductions in NCS incidence (54%), frequency, duration, and delayed latency to seizure onset compared to vehicle treatment. LEV3D treatment failed to improve cognitive or motor performance; however extending the dosing regimen through 10 days post-injury afforded significant neuroprotective benefit. Animals treated with the extended LEV10D dosing regimen showed a twofold improvement in rotarod task latency to fall as well as significantly improved spatial learning performance (24%) in the MWM task.

CONCLUSIONS
These findings support the dual anti- seizure and neuroprotective role of LEV, but more importantly identify the importance of an extended dosing protocol which was specific to the therapeutic targets studied.


Examining two sets of archived materials that include a corpus of narratives that reflect on the period of apartheid in South Africa and posters used by anti-apartheid activists, the paper teases out the operations of racism and the manifestations of rage on the Black body. Critical discourse analysis and affect as theory and method are applied to trace the work of racism and its affective consequences and resistances. Here affect is deployed to read the terrain of the corporeal and the discursive. Black rage is seen as a response to White supremacy and it has the following outcomes: it can have destructive consequences, can enable psychological release of pent up anger, and can simultaneously be an expression


With the celebrated success of deep learning, some attempts to develop effective methods for detecting malicious PowerShell programs employ neural nets in a traditional natural language processing setup while others employ convolutional neural nets to detect obfuscated malicious commands at a character level. While these representations may express salient PowerShell properties, our hypothesis is that tools from static program analysis will be more effective. We propose a hybrid approach combining traditional program analysis (in the form of abstract syntax trees) and deep learning. This poster presents preliminary results of a fundamental step in our approach: learning embeddings for nodes of PowerShell ASTs. We classify malicious scripts by family type and explore embedded program vector representations.


Understanding the nature and dimension of the food problem and the policies available to alleviate it has been the focal point of the IIASA Food and Agriculture Program since it began in 1977.

National food systems are highly interdependent, and yet the major policy options exist at the national level. Therefore, to explore these options, it is necessary both to develop policy models for national economies and to link them together by trade and capital transfers. For greater realism, the models in this scheme of analysis are being kept descriptive, rather than normative. In the end it is proposed to link models of twenty countries, which together account For nearly 80 per cent of important agricultural attributes such as area, production, population, exports, imports and so on.

In this paper Dr. Onishi describes a mathematical framework for an agricultural policy model for Japan.


Learn about nursing resources for Year 1 and Year 2 students, links to databases and individual nursing journals, APA resources, and more.


This thesis describes the development of a robust and portable calorimeter for use in radiotherapy photon and electron beams. The system consists of the calorimeter itself, means for thermal isolation and temperature control, and a temperature measurement system. The requirement for portability placed restrictions on the design which led to higher heat transfer between components than was desirable and much effort was put into thermodynamic modelling of the system. Effort was also focussed on the development of a temperature control system sensitive enough to allow measurements of temperature rises of the order of 1 mK. The control system maintains the temperature of the calorimeter to within +/- 0.2 mK over several hours in an uncontrolled environment. A full characterisation of the calorimeter was earned out at NPL in 60Co radiation and X-ray and electron beams from the NPL linear accelerator. This showed the system is capable of measuring a dose of 1 Gy at doserates as low as 1.5 Gy min-1 with a measurement uncertainty of +/- 0.3% (1 standard deviation). In comparisons with the present NPL primary standards the calorimeter gave agreement within the overall uncertainties. The robustness and portability of the calorimeter were proven in a number of external tests, firstly in an intercomparison between NPL and the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures in the BIPM's 60Co beam in Paris. In the final test an ion chamber was calibrated in a 6 MV X-ray beam from a clinical linac, yielding a calibration factor 0.68% different from that obtained in the NPL linac beam. This difference is within the measurement uncertainties and indicated that there is no significant error in the transfer of ion chamber calibrations from NPL to the radiotherapy clinic.


Activation of inflammasomes has a decisive role in host defense mechanism against pathogens and other intracellular risk factors, but recently, it has been revealed that they play a significant role in the pathogenesis of several diseases, including cancer. Nod-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome, the best-studied inflammasome, has contrasting roles in cancer development and progressions. In head-and-neck cancers, the upregulated level of NLRP3 promotes tumor progression. The main objective of this review is to provide current knowledge on the involvement of NLRP3 inflammasome in head-and-neck cancers. Deeper understanding of the biology of this dynamic protein complex provides new scope for the development of more effective anticancer therapies.


The authors report on intrathoracic parallel heart transplantation which was experimentally tried on 10 mongrel dogs. The described technique is advantageous since it can be performed without extracorporeal circulation. The results of hemodynamic studies on graft and recipient heart vindicate further employment of this technique to study several problems of heart transplantation still unsolved.


The incidence of the major clonal myeloid diseases, clonal cytopenias, acute, subacute (oligoblastic), and chronic myelogenous leukemia, polycythemia vera, thrombocythemia, and idiopathic myelofibrosis increases in a log-linear manner from young adulthood through advanced age. In older patients, diseases requiring cytotoxic treatment are more difficult and less successful to manage because comorbid conditions and poor performance status are more prevalent, decreasing the tolerance to therapy and increasing the frequency of side effects. This age effect is highlighted by the dramatically less favorable outcome in older than younger patients with acute myeloid leukemia with similar "favorable" cytogenetic changes. In addition, in acute and subacute myeloid leukemia in older patients, the disease is intrinsically more resistant to therapy. Overexpression of drug resistance genes and unfavorable genetic mutations are more prevalent in older patients and provide evidence that acute myeloid leukemia is often qualitatively different in these patients. The gradient of age effects is continuous; the frequency of poor outcome increasing by decade (or less). The decline in survival becomes especially steep as quinquagenarians (50-year-olds) age to nonagenarians (90-year-olds). Although improved drug schedules have led to significant improvements in event-free survival in younger patients, these improvements have been far less evident in older patients. New approaches, especially the development of drugs aimed at new targets, will be required to obtain a high frequency of long-term remissions in older patients. Agents that reverse inherent cellular drug resistance, farnesyltransferase inhibitors, BCL-2 inhibitors, and FLT3 inhibitors are early examples of such approaches.


Purpose
This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of novelty emergence in the context of an "off-line" open innovation system. Several contributions address novelty generation implying open innovation that is typically mediated by IT systems, while fewer address open innovation that takes place off-line, through new forms of collaboration happening in the so-called "physical spaces" and in widespread creativity contexts involving whole cities and territories. This research aims to clarify what the critical elements for novelty generation are, and how and why they interact in producing novelty.

Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents the case study of the Blackshape, a high-tech start-up that has become the Italian symbol of a new bottom-up economy that is grounded on high-education, a mix of territorial competencies and young initiative, and produces the development or growth of territories experiencing present or foreseen economic retardation for various reasons. This is a case in which novelty is emergent and takes place through exaptation. The case is used to elaborate an inductive understanding of the process of novelty generation through exaptation and follows a "conceptual composition" format (Berends and Deken, 2019).

Findings
This paper shows that initiatives building widespread creativity on the territory play a prominent role for emergent novelty generation, as they provide the context that sustains the efforts to keep on trying of entrepreneurs, welcomes unforeseen interaction and keeps interesting people on the territory that can be involved in random encounters. This paper adds that crucial contributions for the definition of the innovative project come from contributors that are expected to provide suggestions in other areas. Such prominent contributors are engaged in a sense "by mistake", and here the randomness perceived by the actors experiencing it, because they are perceived to be able to provide some contributions, while they provide others that are more important to the project. This paper argues that such "perceived randomness" sustains a mechanism of selection of novelty generation partners that allows to go beyond the ability of actors themselves to design and foresee other actors' contribution into the project. Finally, two other elements play a role: how the project is narrated, as well as, how the entrepreneurial team communicates their entrepreneurial competence for the project.

Research limitations/implications
This theoretical understanding builds on only one case study; further research might validate the critical role of our understanding of novelty generation elements and help develop their dynamics further.

Practical implications
Many elements in our understanding of novelty generation have typically been understood as resulting from luck and randomness, leaving, therefore, very little hope to actors' interest in supporting them. This paper claims that such elements and such dynamics can be sustained and novelty generation can indirectly be supported, for instance, by suggesting a high openness and sharing of one's own project even to accidentally encountered actors, as one's own ability to foresee how they might contribute to the project is very poor.

Originality/value
This paper provides a tentative understanding of the elements and dynamics of novelty generation through exaptation building on theoretical elaboration that is inductively triggered and stimulated by empirical evidence.


This study examined frontcountry state park visitors' attitudes toward and support for common Leave No Trace practices. Understanding state park visitors' attitudes toward Leave No Trace practices and support of the program can inform the development of effective educational communication strategies and specific messaging, for park and protected area managers to address and potentially reduce recreation-related impacts. Data were collected through on-site surveys administered to visitors in three Wyoming state park units. Results indicate that while there are statistical differences among park visitors' attitudes, a uniform approach to Leave No Trace– based communication strategies in state parks may be effective at minimizing depreciative behavior in these parks and in other protected areas. Subscribe to JOREL


Development of a rich hand-gesture-based interface is currently a tedious process, requiring expertise in computer vision and/or machine learning. We address this problem by introducing a simple language for pose and gesture description, a set of development tools for using it, and an algorithmic pipeline that recognizes it with high accuracy. The language is based on a small set of basic propositions, obtained by applying four predicate types to the fingers and to palm center: direction, relative location, finger touching and finger folding state. This enables easy development of a gesture-based interface, using coding constructs, gesture definition files or an editing GUI. The language is recognized from 3D camera input with an algorithmic pipeline composed of multiple classification/regression stages, trained on a large annotated dataset. Our experimental results indicate that the pipeline enables successful gesture recognition with a very low computational load, thus enabling a gesture-based interface on low-end processors.


We evaluated the effects, on immunity and survival, of injection of interferon (IFN)-α-transfected dendritic cells (DC-IFN-α) into intracranial tumors in mice immunized previously with syngeneic dendritic cells (DCs) pulsed either with ovalbumin-derived CTL or T helper epitopes. These immunizations protected animals from s.c. challenge with ovalbumin-expressing M05 melanoma (class I+ and class II-negative). Notably, antiovalbumin CTL responses were observed in animals vaccinated with an ovalbumin-derived T helper epitope but only after the mice were challenged with M05 cells. This cross-priming of CTL was dependent on both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Because we observed that s.c., but not intracranial, tumors were infiltrated with CD11c+ DCs, and because IFN-α promotes the activation and survival of both DCs and T cells, we evaluated the combinational antitumor effects of injecting adenoviral (Ad)-IFN-α-engineered DCs into intracranial M05 tumors in preimmunized mice. Delivery of DC-IFN-α prolonged survival. This was most notable for animals prevaccinated with both the CTL and T helper ovalbumin epitopes, with 60% (6 of 10) of mice (versus 0 of 10 of control animals) surviving for >80 days after tumor challenge. DC-IFN-α appeared to persist longer than mock-transfected DCs within the intracranial tumor microenvironment, and DC-IFN-α-treated mice exhibited enhanced levels of ovalbumin-specific CTL in draining cervical lymph nodes. On the basis of these results, we believe that local expression of IFN-α by DCs within the intracranial tumor site may enhance the clinical efficacy of peripheral vaccine approaches for brain tumors.


Biological false positive serologic reactors were studied during a long-term follow-up of asymptomatic patients with chronic false positive serology for syphilitic reagin. This was done with a view to facilitating the early diagnosis of systemic disease, particularly collagen disorders, which are frequently associated with this finding in women. One hundred and thirteen cases were studied. Thirty-eight were "acute", i.e. positive for less than six months, 58 were "chronic", i.e. positive for more than six months, and the remainder still positive but followed for less than six months. Of 39 female chronic reactors, 10 were diagnosed as having collagen disease, and in six the BFP reaction preceded clinical diagnosis of the disease. Five had no apparent disease. In 19 male chronic reactors, there was no evidence of collagen disorders and five were free of any recognizable pathology. The remainder in both sexes were found to have a wide variety of systemic illnesses.


Research and development drives success in shale plays throughout the world, enabling operators to deploy new drilling, completions, and production technologies to reach more reservoir area and extend the life of production wells. This work demonstrates the development, validation, and deployment of an extreme torque casing connection addressing technical challenges of tubulars in unconventionals.
 Throughout the well lifetime, Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) experience various loads during the installation, stimulation, and production phases. Some of the challenges experienced during the stimulation and production phases relate to internal and external pressure resistance, sealability, corrosion and cracking, erosion, and wear. Furthermore, with the increase in lateral length and the more demanding well geometries, the OCTG capabilities related to high cycle fatigue, connection runability, and torque limits become more important to safely and efficiently reach the total depth of the well and ensure integrity throughout well life. Another scenario in which the torque limit of an OCTG connection is important is rotating while cementing, a practice undertaken to mitigate sustained casing pressure, improve well integrity, and completion efficiency.
 We present the key elements in the development of a casing connection that overcomes these challenges and the decision process leading to a prototype. To prove the design concept, a fit-for-purpose testing protocol was adopted to validate its performance, replicating the installation, stimulation, and production phases under the expected loads. Once validated, a pilot involving casing installation, rotation while cementing and stimulation was completed in two wells, and its outcomes will be discussed in this work.
 This novel casing extreme torque connection, designed to overcome the application challenges, enables the installation of casing in longer laterals, together with the improvement of well integrity through rotation while cementing.
 The performance of the product, tested through a special procedure while ensuring reliability, was confirmed by the case study from the Niobrara shale. A new connection considering the challenges of wells in unconventional plays must account for several aspects from design to installation. We show the process, from the design stage and validation, leading to successful field deployment.


Abstract. Stability of masonry constructions is highly conditioned by the geometric disposition of its elements due to its low tensile strength and great compressive mechanical properties. Under this framework, this paper attempts to evaluate the suitability of a wearable mobile mapping solution, equipped in a backpack and based on the well-known simultaneous location and mapping paradigm, for the structural diagnosis of historical constructions. To evaluate the suitability of this device, the structural analysis obtained is compared with a high precision terrestrial laser scanner, which is considered as ground truth. The Romanesque church of San Pedro (Becerril del Carpio, Spain) was selected as a study case. This construction, initially conceived in the XIIIth century, has experimented in the past a soil settlement promoting the leaning of the north wall, several plastic hinges in its barrel vault and a visible geometrical deformation. The comparison of both techniques was carried out at different levels: i) an evaluation of the time needed to obtain the point cloud of the church; ii) an accuracy assessment based on the comparison of a terrestrial network using artificial spheres as checkpoints and; iii) an evaluation of the discrepancies, in terms of safety factor and collapse topology, found during the advance numerical evaluation of the barrel vault by means of the finite element method. This comparison places this wearable mobile mapping solution as an interesting tool for the creation of advanced numerical simulations to evaluate the structural stability of historical constructions.


Objective: To assess the levels of serum C-reactive protein(CRP) in cirrhotic patients with varied renal dysfunction and to investigate the relationship with hepatorenal syndrome(HRS).Methods: The concentrations of CRP were quantitatively assessed in 60 cirrhotic patients and 20 normal age and sex-matched controls.Serum creatinine(Scr),blood ureanitrogen(BUN),liver function,prothrombin time and urea creatinine(Ucr) were assayed.The relativity of CRP to creatinine clearance rate(Ccr) was analyzed.Results: In cirrhotic group with renal dysfunction,the serum CRP levels were significantly higher than those in normal control group and cirrhotic group without renal dysfunction,and increased with the aggravated degree of renal dysfunction.Serum CRP concentrations inversely correlated with the Ccr.Conclusion: The concentrations of CRP reflect the severity of HRS,and may be as an important indicator of prognosis in monitoring the patient's condition.


Label smoothing is widely used in deep neural networks for multi-class classification. While it enhances model generalization and reduces overconfidence by aiming to lower the probability for the predicted class, it distorts the predicted probabilities of other classes resulting in poor class-wise calibration. Another method for enhancing model generalization is self-distillation where the predictions of a teacher network trained with one-hot labels are used as the target for training a student network. We take inspiration from both label smoothing and self-distillation and propose two novel instance-based label smoothing approaches, where a teacher network trained with hard one-hot labels is used to determine the amount of per class smoothness applied to each instance. The assigned smoothing factor is non-uniformly distributed along with the classes according to their similarity with the actual class. Our methods show better generalization and calibration over standard label smoothing on various deep neural architectures and image classification datasets.


The publication is devoted to the study of the potential of the discourse analysis method for conducting pedagogical research. The authors substantiate the relevance and importance of using discourse analysis when working with modern pedagogical sources of information within the framework of the discursive approach. Particular attention is paid to working with theoretical sources of information. Arguments are given in favor of the universality and interdisciplinarity of the described method, and its advantages over traditional methods are described. The technique of discourse analysis from a three-level system is described. The authors emphasize the importance of discourse analysis in the interdisciplinary research and outline the prospects for further research in the field of pedagogical science methodology. Recommendations of the research work design for a novice teacher-researcher are offered.


The choice of fuel is an important issue influencing the selection of catalyst, cost, and commercialization of fuel cells. Electrochemically-active and low-cost fuels that can be oxidized by non-precious catalysts are an attractive objective. The native electrochemical activity and low cost of sulfide make it a suitable candidate. Fuel cells using alkaline sulfide as a fuel were developed. At room temperature, a single cell containing non-precious anode catalysts achieves a maximum power density of 12.3 mW·cm-2 with a current density of 42.8 mA·cm-2. Life tests show that alkaline sulfide fuel cells exhibit good durability. Ion chromatography detected considerable amounts of thiosulfate, sulfite, and sulfate. The deep oxidation and high capacity of sulfide make it an attractive fuel candidate. Compared with other fuels, sulfide has the advantages of being inexpensive, easy to transport, possesses high electrochemical activity, and can be catalyzed by non-precious catalysts.