The crisis in the European currency area is not yet over. Although the situation in the financial markets is currently relatively calm, the economic crisis appears to be bottoming out in most countries. Nevertheless, there are still fundamental design flaws in the Monetary Union. If these are not fully addressed, it will only be a matter of time before a new crisis hits, and a partial or complete breakup of the Monetary Union cannot be ruled out. The economic consequences would be devastating' not least for Germany. To ensure the survival of the European Monetary Union, fundamental reform is required in three problem areas: the financial markets, public finances, and the real economy. In order to give the Monetary Union a stable foundation, all problem areas must be tackled equally; otherwise, due to interactions between these fields, success in one area might be canceled out by a flare-up of the crisis elsewhere. The present article outlines the elements of such a strategy for the institutional restructuring of the Monetary Union. Other articles in this and the next issue of DIW Economic Bulletin focus on the role of the ECB as the lender of last resort, the banking union and bank regulation, Community bonds, a European investment agenda, migration within the EU, a European unemployment insurance scheme, options for fiscal devaluation, and mechanisms for sovereign bankruptcies.


In exposure and air kerma measurements, axial and radial nonuniformity perturbation correction factors are used to account for the nonuniformity of the incident photon field in the vicinity of the ionisation chamber cavity. An analytic theory for calculating the point source nonuniformity correction factor for thick-walled ionisation chambers is developed. The theory developed herein is compared with Monte Carlo calculations for chambers with pancake, cylindrical and spherical geometries similar in size to the instruments employed by Standards laboratories. The perturbations, which differ from those calculated or measured by some Standards laboratories, suggest that corrections of the order of 0.3% should be applied to typical pancake geometries, smaller corrections of the order of 0.05% or less for typical Farmer-type chambers, and no correction for spherical chambers.


Massive MIMO system uses the transmitter channel state information (CSI) to preprocess the transmitted data, which can effectively reduce the interference and enhance the Massive MIMO system capacity. In the actual transmission process, reciprocity is subject to many factors, resulting in application difficulties. In this paper, we mainly study the influence of RF device's noncardiosis on channel reciprocity of Massive MIMO system. Combined with channel estimation based on pilot signal and FRRH subspace tracking algorithm, this paper proposes a channel reciprocity calibration method for Massive MIMO. Finally, the compensation effect of the compensation algorithm is verified by simulation.


Fly ash is a waste product generated by coal burning power plants. It has been generally used for land filling. However in places where regulations preventing atmospheric pollution do not exist, it is billowed into the atmosphere. Fortunately the discovery made several years back that fly ash can be used as a partial replacement for cement in concrete. The present study aims at developing a concrete by replacement of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) with 50% Fly Ash by mass. The fresh and hardened properties of High Volume Fly Ash Concrete (HVFAC) with 50% replacement of cement and Ordinary Portland Cement Concrete (OPCC) are studied. The study discloses that high volume of Fly Ash in concrete reduces the water demand and improves the workability. Study also reveals that the OPCC and HVFAC exhibits similar hardened properties. Comparison of flexural response of beams made with OPCC and HVFAC with different percentage of reinforcement are also studied. It is observed that HVFAC beams have shown notable improvement in the deflection , cracking behaviour and load carrying capacity.


This work presents an analysis of the electrical and the noise performances of a 2.5 THz mixer. Reliable and self-consistent simulations of the circuit are carried out by means of a Monte Carlo model of the diode coupled to a harmonic balance technique. Simulations with this tool have shown that hot electrons and intervalley transitions can highly degrade the performance of this mixer. Additionally, these phenomena can be mitigated by decreasing the epilayer length of the diode.


Individuation training that helps humans see multiple other-race targets as distinct rather than as interchangeable can reduce children's implicit racial bias in the form of more negative other-race associations than own-race associations. However, little is known about which aspects of these interventions are critical for their effectiveness. The present research examines whether children need to learn to differentiate among multiple other-race individuals for these interventions to reduce their level of implicit racial bias, or whether differentiating a single other-race individual is sufficient. We addressed this question among 4-to-6-year-old Chinese children (N = 66, 31 girls) who engaged in coordinated movement with Black instructors for 2 min. There were two between-subject conditions: in a differentiation condition, there were four different Black instructors, and children had to learn to tell them apart, and in a no-differentiation condition, there was only one Black instructor. Implicit bias was measured using the IRBT, an implicit association test that was developed based on the IAT but is appropriate for young children. We found a reduction in implicit bias against Black people after this interaction in the differentiation condition, but not in the no-differentiation condition. These findings suggest that learning to differentiate among multiple other-race individuals plays a critical role in reducing children's implicit racial bias.


Network criticality is a graph-theoretic metric that quantifies network robustness, and that was originally designed to capture the effect of environmental changes in core networks. This paper investigates the application of network criticality in designing robust power allocation and flow assignment algorithms for wireless networks. Achieving robust behavior in wireless networks is a challenging task due to constant changes in channel conditions and the interference. We consider network criticality as a natural robustness metric, and propose approaches to preserve the useful convexity properties of network criticality, while resolving issues related to the non-convexity of Shannon's capacity.


In order to improve the quality of inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrum and reduce the detection limit of analysis, the influence of potassium additives into water samples on water samples' spectral intensity and signal-to-background ratio was studied. The excitation temperature and electron density of plasma were measured through multi-line slope and the Stark broadening method. The results demonstrated that the plasma spectral intensity intensity increases to a various degree after adding potassium additives into the sample solution. When the content of the potassium is 1.0 g x L(-1), the spectral lines intensity of element Al, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni and Zn was increased by 8.62%, 32.29%, 108.45%, 6.06%, 64.98% and 54.99% respectively, the spectral signal-background ratio increased by about 7.90%, 30.95%, 104.60%, 5.21%, 66.00% and 52.82%, respectively. Under the conditions of the content of potassium is 1.0 g x L(-1) in the sample, the plasma excitation temperature increased by about 239.69 K than that without additive, and the electron density increased by about 4.99 x 10(11) cm(-3). It is thus clear that potassium additives can improve the quality of inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrum.


Due to changes in the medical field introduced by the biotechnological revolution that enable physicians to prolong a patient's life artificially, courts are increasingly being called on to resolve disputes between the families of incompetent patients and the hospitals and medical personnel who are caring for them. This article discusses the significant court decisions involving the right to die and analyzes the various legislative responses to this issue. It concludes that an individual who desires to determine the timing of his or her own death should execute a living will, coupled with a durable power of attorney or proxy directive. This method is the best currently available to control medical care, even in the event of future incompetence.


When assessing a pay-for-performance arrangement, the following factors should be considered: Existence and/or size of minimum savings threshold before savings are allocated. Savings allocation percentage available to physicians. Benchmarks used to measure quality against past performance and/or medical evidence. Ways in which quality outcomes are measured and paid for. Per member per month payments for patient management. Physician investment (participation fee, time, or capital). Existence of downside risk to physicians. Employed compensation structure (if applicable).


Introduction: In recent years, it has been reported that acupuncture is useful for alleviating the symptoms of patients with hematological malignancies, but the safety of acupuncture for such patients has not been established. This study evaluated the risk of bleeding from acupuncture in patients with hematological malignancies accompanying thrombocytopenia. Methods: The authors performed a retrospective investigation of the medical records of patients with hematological malignancies who received acupuncture during hospitalization at the hematology department of a single medical center in Japan. The bleeding risk at the acupuncture site was evaluated in the following four groups according to the platelet count measured on the day of acupuncture treatment: (1) <20 × 103/μL, (2) 20-49 × 103/μL, (3) 50-99 × 103/μL, and (4) 100 × 103/μL or more. Occurrence of grade 2 or higher bleeding according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, version 5.0, within 24 h from the acupuncture session or before the next session was defined as an event, and the risk of occurrence of bleeding was examined in each group. Results: Of 2423 acupuncture sessions conducted on 51 patients with hematological malignancies, 815 were included in the analysis. Ninety sessions were performed in the <20 × 103/μL platelet count group, 161 in the 20-49 × 103/μL group, 133 in the 50-99 × 103/μL group, and 431 in the 100 × 103/μL or more group. No bleeding event according to the authors' definition occurred in any of these groups. Conclusions: This study is the largest to date to assess the bleeding risk of acupuncture in patients with hematological malignancies accompanying thrombocytopenia. The authors considered that acupuncture could be safely performed without causing serious bleeding for patients with hematological malignancies accompanying thrombocytopenia.


Introduction. The article is devoted to the development of an algorithm for checking the assessment of the adequate operation of the transport model and the application of this algorithm in practice.The research has been carried out at a regulated intersection in Belgorod, the main parameters necessary for creating a transport model have been determined. A transport model of the investigated intersection was created, an assessment of the adequate operation of the model was made, measures were proposed to increase the capacity of the investigated section of the road network.Methods and materials. The main attention is paid to the use of the software that allows simulating transport processes at the initial stages of activities related to the organization or reorganization of road traffic. Simulation is a fast, convenient and cost-effective way to assess the effectiveness of traffic management. The modeling process helps to select the most optimal solution for the transport infrastructure.Results. The authors have developed the algorithm for checking the adaptation of the controlled crossing model in the Aimsun software environment, and proposed a new coordination plan for crossing. Conclusion. It is concluded that it is necessary to use the software products intended for modeling transport systems.


Nanotechnology has been proposed as the next general purpose technology and engine for growth for the 21th century. Increasing public R&D investments are foremost reflected in the growth of scientific publications, while nanotechnology still is in an uncertain phase of development with various directions of commercialization pending. This paper focuses on the challenge, modes and outcomes of nanotechnology as an emerging science-based field in Finland. The paper contributes by interrogating how challenges and modes of nanotechnology transfer differ across universities and companies and determine outcomes broadly defined. It uses an extensive survey data covering university and company researchers in the Finnish nanotechnology community. The results show significant differences in the perceptions of researchers across these organisations, and highlight specific challenges and modes as determinants of outcomes. The specificities of nanotechnology are also assessed in this context.


proach which I made a generation ago paralleled that of Professor Reiff in his present work. Professor Reiff, however, has written a volume marked by a greater concentration of analysis upon the sea, a more extensive and imposing bibliography, and a greater degree of expertness in the field of international law. And one is happy the note the fluency and clarity of his prose, a contrast to some of the material now appearing in the field of the social sciences.—LINDEN A. MANDER, University of Washington (Seattle).


The smart grid (SG) offers potential benefits for utilities, electric generators, and customers alike. However, the prevalence of cyber-attacks targeting the SG emphasizes its dark side. In particular, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks can affect the communication of different devices, interrupting the SG's operation. This could have profound implications for the power system, including area blackouts. The problem is that few operational technology tools provide reflective DDoS protection. Furthermore, such tools often fail to classify the types of attacks that have occurred. Defensive capabilities are necessary to identify the footprints of attacks in a timely manner, as they occur, and to make these systems sustainable for delivery of the services as expected. To meet this need for defensive capabilities, we developed a situational awareness tool to detect system compromise by monitoring the indicators of compromise (IOCs) of amplification DDoS attacks. We achieved this aim by finding IOCs and exploring attack footprints to understand the nature of such attacks and their cyber behavior. Finally, an evaluation of our approach against a real dataset of DDoS attack instances indicated that our tool can distinguish and detect different types of amplification DDoS attacks.


Energy efficiency is a major design goal for resource-constraint Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). In this paper, an energy efficient clustering approach is employed to meet this design goal. Moreover, given the fact that most of the existing clustering algorithms do not address the hot spot problem that arises in the vicinity of the base station, an unequal clustering mechanism is implemented among nodes at different distances from the base station. In this way, the hot spot problem is mitigated by evenly distributing energy consumption in WSNs. We further use simulation to carry out performance evaluation and present analysis.


For the history of this case previous to the patient's admission to this hospital, I am indebted to Dr. W. H. Gunther. J. B., admitted Oct. 18, 1893, aged 40 years. Occupation, sewer-builder; education, fair; a native of Canada; was first taken ill in the spring of 1893. The first symptoms were observed by his fellow-workmen who noticed that at times the patient would stop in the midst of his work and appear unconscious of his surroundings for periods of varying duration. At such times his left eye would wink frequently. His work was always well done and nothing irrational was noticed. He frequently complained of headache, and claimed to have had a similar attack ten years previously. Dr. Gunther was first called on Sept. 8,1893, when he found the patient in bed, rather stupid; complaining of severe general headache, vertigo and numbness of all extremities. His temperature was 97


abstract:This article analyzes in depth the history of Petrona, an enslaved woman sold in Santa Fe (Argentina), sent to Buenos Aires and later possibly to Montevideo (Uruguay). By reconstructing her case, the article demonstrates how the legal status of enslaved persons was affected by the redefinitions of jurisdictions and by the forced or voluntary crossings between political units. This study also shows the circulation and uses of the Free Womb law in Argentina and Uruguay and traces legal experts' debates over its meaning. At the same time, it reflects on the knowledge enslaved people had of those abolitionist norms and how they used them to resist forced relocations, attempt favorable migrations, or achieve full freedom. The article crosses analytical dimensions and historiographies—legal, social, and political—and articulates them by reflecting more broadly on these factors: the impact of the revolution of independence on enslaved persons' lives, the scarce circulation of abolitionist public discourse in Río de la Plata, the gendered bias of the process, and the central yet untold uses of antislavery rhetoric in the national narratives.


We have undertaken a large-scale Breit-Pauli configuration interaction calculation of transitions among lower-lying levels in Mg V. We optimised orbitals to represent the main configurations (including the LS-dependency of the states under consideration) together with all the major correlation effects. All one- and two-electron replacements from a basic reference comprising the dominant configurations were allowed for in the calculation. A small selection of oscillator strengths and transition rates is presented here. We focus in this short report on transitions with the lower state dominated by the 2p4configuration. Our results agree closely with the calculations of Fischer but differ markedly from the recent work of Bhatia et al.


Industrial robots are delivering more and more manipulation services in manufacturing. However, when the task is complex, it is difficult to programme a robot to fulfil all the requirements because even a relatively simple task such as a peg-in-hole insertion contains many uncertainties, e.g. clearance, initial grasping position and insertion path. Humans, on the other hand, can deal with these variations using their vision and haptic feedback. Although humans can adapt to uncertainties easily, most of the time, the skilled based performances that relate to their tacit knowledge cannot be easily articulated. Even though the automation solution may not fully imitate human motion since some of them are not necessary, it would be useful if the skill based performance from a human could be firstly interpreted and modelled, which will then allow it to be transferred to the robot.
 This thesis aims to reduce robot programming efforts significantly by developing a methodology to capture, model and transfer the manual manufacturing skills from a human demonstrator to the robot. Recently, Learning from Demonstration (LfD) is gaining interest as a framework to transfer skills from human teacher to robot using probability encoding approaches to model observations and state transition uncertainties. In close or actual contact manipulation tasks, it is difficult to reliabley record the state-action examples without interfering with the human senses and activities. Therefore, wearable sensors are investigated as a promising device to record the state-action examples without restricting the human experts during the skilled execution of their tasks.
 Firstly to track human motions accurately and reliably in a defined 3-dimensional workspace, a hybrid system of Vicon and IMUs is proposed to compensate for the known limitations of the individual system. The data fusion method was able to overcome occlusion and frame flipping problems in the two camera Vicon setup and the drifting problem associated with the IMUs. The results indicated that occlusion and frame flipping problems associated with Vicon can be mitigated by using the IMU measurements. Furthermore, the proposed method improves the Mean Square Error (MSE) tracking accuracy range from 0.8˚ to 6.4˚ compared with the IMU only method.
 Secondly, to record haptic feedback from a teacher without physically obstructing their interactions with the workpiece, wearable surface electromyography (sEMG) armbands were used as an indirect method to indicate contact feedback during manual manipulations. A muscle-force model using a Time Delayed Neural Network (TDNN) was built to map the sEMG signals to the known contact force. The results indicated that the model was capable of estimating the force from the sEMG armbands in the applications of interest, namely in peg-in-hole and beater winding tasks, with MSE of 2.75N and 0.18N respectively.
 Finally, given the force estimation and the motion trajectories, a Hidden Markov Model (HMM) based approach was utilised as a state recognition method to encode and generalise the spatial and temporal information of the skilled executions. This method would allow a more representative control policy to be derived. A modified Gaussian Mixture Regression (GMR) method was then applied to enable motions reproduction by using the learned state-action policy. To simplify the validation procedure, instead of using the robot, additional demonstrations from the teacher were used to verify the reproduction performance of the policy, by assuming human teacher and robot learner are physical identical systems. The results confirmed the generalisation capability of the HMM model across a number of demonstrations from different subjects; and the reproduced motions from GMR were acceptable in these additional tests.
 The proposed methodology provides a framework for producing a state-action model from skilled demonstrations that can be translated into robot kinematics and joint states for the robot to execute. The implication to industry is reduced efforts and time in programming the robots for applications where human skilled performances are required to cope robustly with various uncertainties during tasks execution.


Children played an important role in the iconographic display decorating the Theban tombs of the XVIII dynasty. The iconographic programme inside the tomb followed a fixed pattern and children were represented in some scenes with a symbolic character. They embody a guarantee for the deceased of continuity of life after death.


PURPOSE
We aimed to evaluate computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of cardiac calcified amorphous tumors (CATs).

METHODS
CT and MRI findings of cardiac CATs in 12 patients were included. We retrospectively examined patient demographics, location, size, shape configuration, imaging features, calcification distribution of tumors, and accompanying medical problems.

RESULTS
There was a female predominance (75%), with a mean age at presentation of 65 years. Patients were mostly asymptomatic on presentation (58.3%). The left ventricle of the heart was mostly involved (91%). CT findings of CATs were classified as partial calcification with a hypodense mass in four patients or a diffuse calcified form in eight. Calcification was predominant with large foci appearance as in partially calcified masses. On T1- and T2-weighted magnetic resonance images, CATs appeared hypointense and showed no contrast enhancement.

CONCLUSION
The shape and configuration of cardiac CATs are variable with a narrow spectrum of CT and MRI findings, but large foci in a partially calcified mass or diffuse calcification of a mass on CT is very important in the diagnosis of cardiac CATs. Masses show a low signal intensity on T1- and T2-weighted images with no contrast enhancement on MRI.


The current investigation clarifies the key factor on the film cooling effectiveness, which is the fundamental of the film cooling research. Conventionally, the momentum flux ratio is thought as the most critical factor on the film cooling effectiveness, and the counterrotating vortex pair (CRVP) also has significant impact. A new scheme named the nozzle scheme has been created to separate the momentum flux ratio and control the CRVP intensity. Three configurations of the nozzle scheme and the baseline have been simulated numerically under density ratio of 2 and blowing ratios that varied from 0.5 to 2. The results demonstrate that the CRVP intensity, instead of the momentum flux ratio, is the most critical factor governing the film-cooling effectiveness, and the mainstream direction component is its main component. Therefore, its two compositions, which are the corresponding velocity gradients, naturally become the key parameters considered in the design of new film cooling geometry.


Background There is convincing evidence for the overall effectiveness of exercise in people with knee osteoarthritis (OA) [1]. However, according to the EULAR recommendations [2], most trials found in the literature review used pain or physical function as the primary outcome and surprisingly few included quality of life outcome measures. Measurement of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and utility is recommended [3]. Objectives The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine the effects of exercise therapy on the HRQOL of people with knee OA. Methods Data Sources: The electronic databases PubMed, CENTRAL, PEDro, and CINAHL were searched from the earliest date possible through January 2014. Study Selection and eligibility criteria: Randomized controlled trials that evaluated the effects of exercise therapy on HRQOL as assessed with the SF-36 were included for review. Only studies with a control group that received either no intervention or a psychoeducational intervention were included. Data Extraction and Data Synthesis The data were extracted using a predefined data extraction form by a single reviewer and checked for accuracy by another reviewer. The methodological qualities of the trials were assessed independently by two reviewers using the PEDro scale. Pooled analyses with a random-effects model or a fixed-effects model were used in the meta-analyses to calculate the standardized mean differences and 95% confidence intervals. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach was applied to each meta-analysis performed to determine the quality of the evidence. Results Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria. Our meta-analysis provided high-quality evidence that exercise therapy increased the summary (SMD =0.47, 95% CI: 0.16 to 0.78, I2 =0%), physical functioning (SMD =0.28, 95% CI: 0.12 to 0.45, I2 =0%), and role-physical domain scores (SMD =0.26, 95% CI: 0.10 to 0.43, I2 =19%) of knee OA people. Our meta-analysis also provided moderate-quality evidence that the physical component summary (SMD =0.52, 95% CI: 0.21 to 0.83, I2 =76%) and mental component summary scores (SMD =0.44, 95% CI: 0.12 to 0.75, I2 =77%) improved to a greater extent by exercise therapy than by control interventions. Conclusions Exercise therapy can improve HRQOL as assessed with the SF-36 in people with knee OA. References Tanaka R, Ozawa J, Kito N, Yamasaki T, Moriyama H. Evidence of improvement in various impairments by exercise interventions in patients with knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. Journal of Japanese Physical Therapy Association. 2013; 16(1):7-21. Fernandes L, Hagen KB, Bijlsma JW, Andreassen O, Christensen P, Conaghan PG, et al. EULAR recommendations for the non-pharmacological core management of hip and knee osteoarthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2013 Jul; 72(7):1125-1135. Maheu E, Altman RD, Bloch DA, Doherty M, Hochberg M, Mannoni A, et al. Design and conduct of clinical trials in patients with osteoarthritis of the hand: recommendations from a task force of the Osteoarthritis Research Society International. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2006 Apr; 14(4):303-322. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Abstract The role of fractures in transporting water in the unsaturated zone of the Chalk has been a source of controversy for many years. There is clearly a potential for fractures to transport water and contaminants rapidly to the saturated zone, although direct observations are rare. The evidence from well hydrographs, solute profiles and soil water measurements is ambiguous concerning the importance of by-pass flow. This paper examines drainage data from several years' operation of a 5 m cube undisturbed monolith lysimeter at Fleam Dyke, Cambridgeshire, for evidence of by-pass flow and investigates the factors responsible for its onset. Evidence from measurements of unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of the Chalk at the site and in situ measurements of soil water are also presented. Both the lysimeter and soil water observations agree that flow through fractures accounts for approximately 30% of the total drainage from this site, significantly higher than has been inferred at other Chalk sites. By-pass flow was observed to occur above a threshold of approximately −50 cm H2O matric potential, or above a flow rate of approximately 1 mm day−1. During periods of no soil water deficit, about 50% of drainage occurred via fractures. In general, there was a delay of three or four days between rainfally and drainage at the base of the lysimeter. On once occasion, intense summer rainfall satisfied the existing soil moisture deficit and initiated fracture flow, the peak in drainage through the lysimeter occurring within 24 hours. Drainage from the lysimeter was consistently higher than MORECS estimates of hydrologically effective precipitation during the period after the onset of soil water deficits.


Grant Policies and Institutions for regional Integration have demonstrated what regional integration means for Africa. It assessed grant policy in the context of regional integration and development in Africa by highlighting the role of Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in both Socio-economic development and regional integration of Rwanda. Extensive literature search and review have been used to assess and analyze the measures employed to determine the effectiveness, capability, reasons for failure or success of KOICA grants policy for Rwanda. The results show that regional grants-aid institutions are important in determining the issues, mobilizing resources, providing differential access, mediating interests and implementing policies for regional integration and development in Rwanda. Institutions and policies for grantsaid in Africa are generally weak. This is so because they do not have independent decision making capacities and as such fail to make positive impact in the development and integration efforts, in Africa. Although there are some ineffectiveness attributed to some countries that provide grantaid, their critics label such aids as harmful, a failure or counterproductive in delivering the avowed integration and development. However, the KOICA's grants-aid strategy in Rwanda for its socioeconomic development and regional integration seem healthy. This success is so because, the policy was drawn up based on mutual understanding and respect for Rwanda's national development plans, Vision 2020 and Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS I and II). KOICA programs in Rwanda have focused on improving assistance effectiveness by linking Korea's development experience and comparative advantages to the developmental demands of Rwanda, which accelerate economic cooperation and socioeconomic development. Furthermore, KOICA grants-aid policy will enable Rwanda integrate better and seamlessly into East African region and the World Economy through promotion of free movement of peoples, goods, services, capital, labor and technology among countries which Rwanda would wish to partner with, under regional integration schemes.


Author(s): Coffey, Kevin Thomas | Advisor(s): Ingersoll, Raymond V | Abstract: The San Gabriel Mountains of southern California contain anticlinoria of schist thought to correlate with one another, and with the Chocolate Mountains anticlinorium to the east. These correlations provide cumulative-slip estimates for the Punchbowl and southern San Andreas faults, respectively; however, the validity of these correlations, as well as the original orientations of these anticlinoria, is debated. This dissertation presents four related studies, each addressing a different aspect of this problem. Chapter 1 presents sedimentologic and structural data verifying that the two anticlinoria of the San Gabriel Mountains were continuous prior to 40-50 km of dextral slip on the Punchbowl fault, and casting doubt on the 80-110 km of dextral slip on the San Francisquito-Fenner-Clemens Well fault suggested by some prior studies. Chapter 2 presents structural data from the schist of the larger anticlinorium of the San Gabriel Mountains, which supports its correlation with the Chocolate Mountains anticlinorium, and thus estimates of approximately 240 km of dextral slip on the southern San Andreas fault. New data are combined with previously published structural and paleomagnetic data, which have been interpreted as implying different architectures for the anticlinorium, suggesting a model reconciling the datasets, and implying an originally linear, approximately northeast/southwest trend of the anticlinorium. Chapter 3 proposes a strain-partitioning model for the anomalously oriented Mojave segment of the southern San Andreas fault, in which slip south of this segment is partitioned within this segment into a strike-slip component along the San Andreas fault itself, and a shortening component beside it. This model, together with a previous study's insight, brings otherwise contradictory cumulative-slip estimates of approximately 240 km and 160 km for the southern San Andreas fault into agreement. Chapter 4 presents new fault-kinematic data, and sequential reconstructions of the San Gabriel block as maps and cross sections, suggesting that the anticlinorium is in the hanging wall of a detachment fault, rather than the exhumed footwall as previously suggested. New geochronologic and geochemical data support correlation of the anticlinoria and constrain the onset of extension to ca. 26-25 Ma.


Objectives: Antiseptics are used extensively in hospitals and other health care centers (clinics) to control the growth of microbes on living tissues. They are essential parts of infection control practices, especially in wound treatment and aid in the prevention of nosocomial infections. This study was done to evaluate and compare the antibacterial effectiveness of povidone iodine and eight commonly used homoeopathic mother tinctures. Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted in the Faculty of Pharmacy and alternative Medicine, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur. All the selected Homeopathic mother tinctures were purchased by Masood Homeopathic Pharmaceuticals, Pakistan. Prepared PYODINEâ (povidone iodine) solution 10% w/v, batch no. 084F4 used as positive control while 70% ethanol was used as negative control in each test. These tinctures were tested against three clinically important human skin-pathogenic bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) by disc diffusion method with povidone iodine as positive standard. Results: Seven out of eight mother tinctures showed more or less antibacterial activity; some of them have high activity than povidone iodine. Rhus glabra had maximum activity (zone of inhibition 32 mm) against Streptococcus pyogenes and Pseudomonas aeruginosa than povidone iodine and among all the tested mother tinctures. Conclusion: This study confirms the antibacterial activity and more effectiveness of Thuja occidentalis and Rhus glabra mother tinctures than povidone iodine. The other tested mother tinctures also have antibacterial activity against tested bacteria, except Echinacea.


Experimental data on impurity states in narrow-gap lead telluride based semiconductors are summarized. Theoretical models describing the nontrivial properties of such states are presented. Applications to the design of highly sensitive far-infrared detectors are considered.


Studies of physiological parameters associated with crop performance and growth in different groups of upland rice (Oryza sativa L.) may support plant breeding programs. We evaluated the role of gas exchange rates and dry matter accumulation (DMA) as traits responsible for yields in a traditional (cv. 'Caiapo'), intermediate (cv. 'Primavera') and modern (cv. 'Maravilha') upland rice cultivars. Leaf gas exchange rates, DMA, leaf area index (LAI), harvest indexes (HI) and yield components were measured on these genotypes in the field, under sprinkler irrigation. Panicles per m2 and DMA at flowering (FL) and heading, as well as CO2 assimilation rates (A) were similar across these cultivars. The highest yield was found in 'Primavera', which may be explained by (i) a two-fold higher HI compared to the other cultivars, (ii) greater rates of DMA during spikelet formation and grain-filling, as well as (iii) a slow natural decrease of A in this cultivar, at the end of the season (between FL and maturation).


Heliox breathing might positively impact upon the haemodynamic responses to exercise in non-hypoxaemic patients with moderate-to-severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (Chiappa, GR et al. Am J Respir Crit Care Med, 179:1004, 2009 ). There is, however, a lack of evidence of whether these beneficial effects would also be found in patients with more advanced cardiovascular impairment, i.e. , hipoxaemic, GOLD stage IV patients. On a double-blind study, 13 patients (FEV1= 35.4±9.1% pred; PaO2= 57.7±7.0 mmHg) were submitted to maximum incremental cardiopulmonary exercise tests while breathing hyperoxia (HiOX= 40% O2) or helium-hyperoxia (He-HiOX= 60% He/40% O2). Stroke volume (SV, mL) and cardiac output (CO, L/min) were non-invasively monitored by impedance cardiography ( PhysioFlow® , Manatec Inc, France). Peak work rate (WR) was improved with He-HiOX compared to HiOX (52±21 W vs. 46±18 W); in addition, end-expiratory lung volume (EELV) was slightly, albeit significantly, reduced (5.50±1.25 vs 5.61±1.30 L; p 0.05). In conclusion, hyperoxic heliox enhances the cardiocirculatory responses to exercise compared to hyperoxia alone in less hyperinflated patients with advanced, hypoxaemic COPD. These data indicate that increased operational lung volumes are related to deleterious haemodynamic effects in this patient sub-population.


Introduction Although undernutrition in pregnancy has continued to get global attention as pregnancy is considered a critical period in the life cycle owed to increase the metabolic and physiological demands, evidence is scarce on undernutrition and associated factors among pregnant women in eastern Ethiopia. Therefore, this study assessed the undernutrition and associated factors among pregnant women in Haramaya district, Eastern Ethiopia. Methods A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among randomly selected pregnant women in Haramaya district, eastern Ethiopia. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews, anthropometric measurement, and hemoglobin analysis by trained research assistants. An adjusted Prevalence ratio (aPR), and a 95% confidence interval (CI), were used to report associations. Poisson regression analysis model with a robust variance estimate identified variables associated with undernutrition. Data were double entered using Epi-data 3.1 and cleaned, coded, checked for missing and outliers, and analyzed using Stata 14 (College Station, Texas 77845 USA. Finally, the p-value <0.05 was the cut-off point for the significant association. Results A total of 448 pregnant women with a mean age of 25.68 (± 5.16) were included in the study. The prevalence of undernutrition among pregnant women was 47.9% (95% CI: 43%-53%). From the analysis, the undernutrition was more likely higher among respondents who had five or more family members (APR = 1.19; 95% CI = 1.02–1.40), lower dietary diversity (APR = 1.58; 95% CI = 1.13–2.21) and those who were anemic (APR = 4.27; 95% CI = 3.17–5.76). Conclusion Nearly half of the pregnant women in study area were undernourished. High prevalence was found among women who had large family sizes, low dietary diversity and anemia during pregnancy. Improving dietary diversity, strengthening family planning services and giving special attention to pregnant women, supplementation of iron and folic acid, and early detection and treatment of anemia is essential to improve the high burden of undernutrition and the adverse effect on pregnant women and the fetus.


The reagent kit AmpligenBurk-mallei/pseudomallei-RT PCR is designed for detecting in vitro diagnostics and differentiate the DNA of glanders and melioidosis pathogens by real-time multiplex PCR in biological (clinical) material and cultures of microorganisms, as well as environmental objects and solid food products (rice). During clinical testing diagnostic value of reagent kit AmpligenBurk-mallei/pseudomallei-RT PCR has been studied. Based on the results obtained, a high analytical sensitivity (1×103 microbe cells/ml) and specificity (100%) of PCR-RT with the developed reagent kit were established, regardless of the type of material being studied. The diagnostic sensitivity of PCR-RT using a set of reagents was at least 98.0% and specificity at least 99%. The stages of state examination have been completed, a registration certificate has been obtained at Roszdravnadzor, production, sale and use of reagent kit in medical laboratory practice have been permitted.


Objective: The primary objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of intensive care unit (ICU) pediatric delirium in Shanghai, China. Secondary objectives were to determine the association of hypoxia and infection with ICU pediatric delirium, and the impact between different age. Design: Prospective single-center observational study. Setting: Two pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) within a tertiary-A general hospital. Patients: Patients age between 1 month to 7 years in PICU who stayed at least 1 day were included. Convenance sampling was used. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: Pediatric patients (n=639) were screened twice a day for the prevalence of ICU pediatric delirium by Cornell Assessment of Pediatric Delirium, 300 (46.95%) of them had infection and 213 (33.33%) had hypoxia in PICU. Children who suffered hypoxia remained more than three times likely to be delirious during their hospitalization compared with children who were not hypoxia, after controlling other covariates, the odds of pediatric delirium for subjects with hypoxia was 3.26 times (95% CI, 1.98-5.38) the odds without hypoxia. Also, the odds of pediatric delirium for subjects with infection was 2.55 times (95% CI, 1.58-4.11) the odds without infection adjusting for other covariates. After subgrouping by age, the occurrence of ICU pediatric delirium with infection for children younger than two years old was 5.37 times (95% CI, 3.09-9.33) compared with patients who were never infection, while that for the children equal to or older than two years old was no statistically significant relationship. Conclusions: The prevalence of ICU pediatric delirium was 31.30%, while there is an independent association of infection and hypoxia with ICU pediatric delirium. Furthermore, children younger than two years old took more risks on pediatric delirium when they were infected in this study, while there was no relationship between infection and pediatric delirium who aged 2 years or older.


Hypothalamic hamartoma is a rare congenital lesion. We present the case of a 7-year-old girl who suffered from precocious puberty, the cause of which was diagnosed by using MR imaging and CT as pedunculated hypothalamic hamartoma associated with a large craniopharyngeal canal and sellar spine mimicking pituitary duplication.


The main purpose of this study is, "Evaluation of educational innovations in the world and compare it with the current state of the educational system of our country to provide a suitable model. Method of this research is descriptive (combination type). In the qualitative part of the population: experts and professionals in the field of educational innovation and sampling is targeted & in quantitative part, sampling was randomly (cluster type). The sample size calculations for the statistical community obtained from Morgan table is 377& from the advanced industrial countries randomly 10 countries was elected. Data collection tools of research consists of available documents in the library and websites related to cultural organization, UNESCO, interviews with subject specialists and researcher made questionnaire that its validity (Lawashe content validity), and its reliability (Cronbach's alpha)were approved. Thus analytical analysis (gap analysis and comparison of parametric test) and analyze the Conceptual model of research in current and desired condition. Thus, according to the results of the gap analysis for both research questionnaires (current & ideal situation), there was a significant difference, and after analyzing of Conceptual modeland based on approval of the final model that most fitness parameters indicates the data fitness of the model, appropriate model is offered and its features mentioned.


Abstract A survey study was conducted of adults who self-reported having children who were severely alienated from them. The primary research questions addressed were: (1) To what extent were the eight symptoms of Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS)-as identified by the construct's originator, Dr. Richard Gardnerreported to be manifested by the alienated children? And (2) holding severity constant, to what degree did the frequency of symptoms vary? Sixty-eight parents reported that the relationship with their children was severely damaged due to the attitudes and actions of the other parent. One question was asked about each of Gardner's eight symptoms (campaign of denigration, frivolous, weak or absurd rationale for the alienation, lack of ambivalence towards the alienating, lack of guilt or remorse about the alienation, borrowed scenarios, independent thinker phenomenon, taking the alienating parent's side in the conflict, and spread of alienation to the extended family of the targeted parent). Additional questions were surveyed to determine whether despite the severity of the alienation, were there moments in which the child was less than completely rejecting and committed to the alienation. Results revealed general support for the presence of the eight symptoms of PAS as well as insight into windows of opportunity when even the most severely alienated child demonstrates some "cracks in the armor," raising hope for clinical intervention and eventual reunification.


The paper discusses the developments of fixed assets in farms with poor financial health. Farms are at risk due to both permanent negative profitability and sharp fluctuation of the cash-flow causing a temporary loss of solvency. The research has shown an increase of assets in farms without any problems. The volume of both fixed and current assets increases equally in these farms. In farms with negative profitability, the share of current assets increases. The share of moveable properties increases in farms without problems. In farms with negative profitability, the share of buildings and land increases. During the reference period was not a significant trend in changing the use of long-term assets. Fund´s efficiency, however, shows the of high variability.


Although the end of Moore's law has been predicted for many years, the capacity to store information in information and communication technology is still progressing in ways we could not imagine. Hence, the museum environments are also benefiting from improvements in data collection, storage and processing as well as allowing the great body of information within cultural heritage domain to be applied through interesting processes in the museums, one of which is game-based learning. Although, concept of employing games in the learning process is known for a long-time research teams in game-based learning and in the CH field in general often lack unified approach with results that are extended globally and team effort contributing to a larger systematically organized body of knowledge. In this paper we identify advantages and disadvantages of game-based learning application in the museums. By doing this we attempt to tackle promotion of cultural heritage, raise awareness of its importance and motivate users to visit cultural institutions such as museums more often.


The two-dimensional steady and unsteady flow field at midspan in a turbine rotor has been investigated experimentally using an LDV with an emphasis on the interaction of the nozzle wake with the rotor flow field. The velocity measurements are decomposed into a time-averaged velocity, a periodic velocity component and an unresolved velocity component. The results in the rotor passage were presented in Part I. The flow field downstream of the rotor is presented in this paper.The rotor wake profiles and their decay characteristics were analyzed. Correlations are presented which match the decay of the various wake properties. The rotor wake velocity defect decays rapidly in the trailing edge region, becoming less rapid in the near and far wake regions. The rotor wake semi-wake width increases rapidly in the trailing edge region and then grows more gradually in the near and far wake regions. The decay of the maximum unresolved unsteadiness and maximum unresolved velocity cross correlations are very rapid in the trailing edge region and this trend slows in the far wake region. In the trailing edge region, the maximum periodic velocity correlations are much larger than the maximum unresolved velocity correlations. But the periodic velocity correlations decay much faster than the unresolved velocity correlations. The interaction of the nozzle and rotor wakes are also studied. While the interaction of the nozzle wake with the rotor wake does not influence the decay rate of the various wake properties, it does change the magnitude of the properties. These and other results will be presented in this paper.Copyright © 1995 by ASME


The common sunn pest (CSP) Eurygaster integriceps Puton is the most important pest of wheat and barley in Iran. A few egg pararsitoid from Trissolcus, Telenomus, Ooencyrtus, etc. attack CSP eggs. Often the host eggs are stored in cold temperatures for subsequent use with negative effects on the parasitoids which increases by time. This study focused on quantitative changes of biostatistics including parasitism rate, emergence rate, sex ratio, fecundity, immature development, longevity and body size of Trissolcus vassilievi (Mayr) reared on host eggs stored for different periods in 5±1°C. The results revealed that all above mentioned statistics were affected by storing with an increasing intensity by duration. Parasitism rate and sex ratio decreased more strongly than adult emergence rate. A maximum 35% decrease in fecundity was also observed with stronger effect in long term storages. An increasing effort to compensate the initial lag however was observed in first week of the reproductive life of those wasps that accessed to older eggs. Developmental time increased by a sigmoid trend by storage time. Head capsule width and hind tibia length as measurements of body size both decreased suddenly in those wasps that obtained from >2 week old eggs, but the width of the head capsule decreased more rapidly in females than males that may imply stronger fitness loss in females. As a conclusion host eggs stored < 1 month may use with negligible negative effects on the parasitoid efficacy, while longer storage times may cause serious negative syndromes.


Plasma treatment affected the quality-related properties of wool fabric such as air permeability, pilling, tearing strength, tensile strength, crease-recovery angle, and surface luster which were studied thoroughly in this paper. The plasma gases with different natures were used, and the experimental results showed that the gas nature influenced the properties of air permeability, tearing strength, tensile strength, elongation, and crease recovery to different extent. In the pilling-resistance test, the antipilling property was improved but no definite conclusion was drawn to distinguish which of the plasma gases had the significant effect. The surface luster had no significant changes under the influence of plasma treatment. In addition, the low-stress mechanical properties related to fabric handle were also studied. A fabric objective measurement system, fabric assurance by simple testing, was used for measuring the low-stress mechanical properties such as extensibility, bending rigidity, shear rigidity, surface thickness, and formability. In the evaluation of the low-stress mechanical properties of the plasma-treated fabrics, the plasma treatment showed different effects on the extensibility, bending rigidity, shear rigidity, surface thickness, and formability. However, the overall results confirmed that the plasma treatment could alter the low-stress mechanical properties of the fabric.


This paper aims to present a new approach to the numerical solution of skin effect integral equations in cylindrical conductors. An approximate, but very simple and accurate method for calculating the current density distribution, skin-effect resistance and inductance, in pulse regime of cylindrical conductor, having a circular or rectangular cross-section, is considered. The differential evolution method is applied for minimization of error functional. Because of its application in the practice, the lightning impulse is observed. Direct and inverse fast Fourier transform is applied.,This method contributes to increasing of correctness and much faster convergence. As the electromagnetic field components depend on the current density derivation, the proposed method gives a very accurate solution not only for current density distribution and resistance but also for field components and for internal inductance coefficients. Distribution of current and electromagnetic field in bus-bars can be successfully determined if the proximity effect is included together with the skin effect in calculations.,The study shows the strong influence of direct lightning strikes on the distribution of electrical current in cables used in lightning protection systems. The current impulse causes an increase in the current density at all points of the cross-section of the conductor, and in particular the skin effect on the external periphery. Based on the data calculated by using the proposed method, it is possible to calculate the minimum dimensions of the conductors to prevent system failures.,There are a number of approximations of lightning strike impulse in the literature. This is a limiting factor that affects the reliability and agreement between measured data with calculated values.,In contrast with other methods, the current density function is approximated by finite functional series, which automatically satisfy wave equation and existing boundary conditions. It is necessary to minimize the functional. This approach leads to a very accurate solution, even in the case when only two terms in current approximation are adopted.


Introduction Self-taken vulvovaginal swabs analysed by nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) for chlamydia and gonorrhoea are standard practice worldwide. Extra-genital sampling (rectum and pharynx) is becoming increasingly important in women, with evidence that urogenital sampling alone may miss infections. Yet, little is known about women's views of extra-genital sampling. We explored the acceptability of self-taken extra-genital samples for women as part of a clinician versus self-taken extra-genital sampling study. Methods Women attending a sexual health clinic were invited to participate in a 'swab yourself' trial. After randomisation, both clinician and self-taken samples for chlamydia and gonorrhoea NAATs from vulvovaginal, pharyngeal and rectal sites were taken. Participants were then invited to complete a questionnaire about the extra-genital sampling. Results 400 surveys were returned from 402 women recruited (response rate >99%), age range 17–57 (mean 25.2) years. 75% disagreed/strongly disagreed with the statement 'taking my own samples was difficult'. 72% agreed/strongly agreed that they felt confident taking their own swabs but 30.5% agreed/strongly agreed they felt uncomfortable taking their own swabs; of these 53 (43%) stated they had never had anal sex. 42% agreed/strongly agreed that they would prefer to take their own samples compared to 34% who agreed/strongly agreed they would prefer clinician-taken swabs. 66% agreed/strongly agreed they would be happy to take the samples themselves in a non-clinic setting. Free comments covered themes of 'more confidence if had clinician samples taken before', 'concerns if self-swabbing would give correct results'. Nine commented specifically on discomfort, but none disagreed with the statement 'I would be happy to take my own swabs in a non-clinic environment'. Conclusion Extra-genital sampling was highly acceptable to the majority of women, with high levels of confidence and low reports of discomfort. This has positive implications for the future of extra-genital testing in women, especially in non-clinic settings. Disclosure of interest statement Dr Janet Wilson has received honoraria and travel and accommodation expenses from BD Diagnostics, and research grants in the form of diagnostic kits from Hologic/Gen-Probe.


This policy note reviewed the status of farm machinery in the Kyrgyz Republic. Agricultural productivity, particularly in terms of grain yields, is low because of underinvestment. This note finds that a significant deficit in agricultural machinery is hindering sector productivity. The Kyrgyz Republic has fewer tractors per hectare than any comparable country, with a deficit estimated at 40 percent. The deficit of combine harvesters, estimated at 45 percent, is even more critical. When the age of agricultural machinery is taken into account, the underinvestment becomes even more acute. The reduced domestic production of wheat exacerbates food security concerns. Inadequate access to credit and small farm size are the main factors that constrain farm mechanization. The policy note presents three sets of short- to medium-term policy options to: i) promote the demand for farm machinery, by developing credit lines for agricultural productive assets, leasing, facilitating access to secondhand equipment, and testing/demonstrating the efficiency of farm machinery for small-scale farming; ii) increase the supply of farm machinery, by facilitating the development of mechanical services contracting and improving access to farm machinery import markets, including for second-hand equipment; and iii) remove obstacles to private investment, by avoiding distributions of farm machinery or inputs in-kind, the setting of production targets for specific crops, and ensuring that the private sector is free to fulfill its role.


Aim: The objective of this survey was to assess the relationship between overweight, overweight and the frequency of advanced dental caries in South Pakistani adults, using surrogate measures. Among the survey members, 376,077 people aged 20 years and older were assessed for their well-being between 2005 and 2008. This assessment was based on a difference in body mass index (BMI) class over a very long period of time, using a set of agent information available from the national health insurance system. Rather than using rotten, missing or filled (DMFT) teeth, demonstrative codes that show dental caries, pulp disease and recurrent visits to dental wellness experts were used for this situation. Our current research was conducted at Services Hospital, Lahore from March 2019 to February 2020. A multivariate Cox relapse survey was conducted to examine the relationship between dental caries progression and BMI. Despite BMI, a multivariate review of data on gender, age, lifestyle and basic disease was incorporated. To this end, the proportion at risk (HR) and the increase in certainty (CI) to 96% were determined. Essentially, it was found that overweight and obese individuals were destined to create progressive dental caries without predominant factors. The positive relationship between a high BMI and the development of progressive dental caries is most evident in those in the order of older people and women. Among wellness and life-cycle practices, smoking and non-smoking were found to be among the variables influencing outcomes. The surrogate technique used in this survey showed that overweight and corpulence had an immediate relationship with the frequency of advanced dental caries in Pakistani adults.


Green buildings have become broadly adopted in commercial and residential sectors with the objective of minimizing environmental impacts through reductions in energy usage and water usage and, to a lesser extent, minimizing environmental disturbances from the building site. In this paper, we develop and discuss a techno-economic model for a green commercial building that is 100% powered by a photovoltaic (PV) system in stand-alone configuration. A medium-sized office building in El Paso, TX was modelled to rely on a photovoltaic system to supply all of its electricity needs either directly from the PV system or through an energy-storage system (ESS) using Li-ion batteries (LIBs) or reversible fuel cells (RFCs). Cost results show that a 400-kW PV system can generate electricity at a cost of 2.21 cents/kWh in El Paso, TX and the average levelized cost of energy storage (LCOS) using 450-kW RFC is ~31.3 cents/kWh, while this could reach as low as 25.5 cents/kWh using a small LIB ESS. While the RFC provides the flexibility required to meet building-energy demand, LIBs may not be able to meet building needs unless the storage size is increased substantially, which in turn incurs more energy-storage cost, making LIBs less favourable from an economic perspective. Sensitivity analysis revealed that capital cost, discount rate and expected system lifetime play key roles in shaping the LCOS in both systems.


ABSTRACT Background: Families of children with developmental delays (DD) prior to the COVID-19 pandemic experienced inequalities in accessing health and social care services. Measures put in place to combat the spread of the coronavirus have potentially exacerbated existing inequalities and have led to additional pressures for these families. Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional online survey of parents of young children with moderate to severe DD and challenging behaviors living in England, UK. We asked about the impact the pandemic has had on their family well-being, receipt of support, and post COVID-19 concerns. Results: Eighty-eight parents who are participants in an ongoing clinical trial (EPICC-ID) reported a broad range of challenges they faced during the pandemic: lack of information specific to children with DD; difficulties following social distancing and isolation rules; disruption or pause of health and social care services; deterioration in parental mental health and regression of the child's skills. Future access to services, negative long-term impact of school closures, parental unemployment were the parents' main post-COVID-19 concerns. Conclusions: Families of children with significant developmental delays fear lasting impact of the pandemic on their own psychological and material wellbeing and on their child's health. These families require urgent help to meet major health and social care needs and should be prioritized within an overall children's mental health strategy. The article includes a commentary from parents with lived experience.


Compacted bentonites and compacted sand-bentonite mixtures have been proposed as suitable barrier and backfill
materials for the disposal of municipal solid waste and high level radioactive waste. Although unsaturated on
placement, the barrier and backfill materials can become saturated subject to the availability of fluid. Detailed
understanding of the saturated hydraulic conductivity of compacted bentonites and sand-bentonite mixtures is
essential to ensuring the integrity of the waste disposal facility and the long-term protection of the
geoenvironment.
This thesis is concerned with the experimental determination of the hydraulic conductivity of compacted MX80
bentonite and sand-bentonite mixtures (30% MX80 bentonite to 70% sand). A high capacity fixed ring modified
swelling pressure cell was used for carrying out the hydraulic conductivity tests. High precision pressure-volume
controllers were used to apply a range of hydraulic gradients between about 1250 and 12500 under constant head
conditions. The expansion of the measuring system was studied to account for differences between inflow and
outflow water volumes during the hydraulic conductivity tests. The hydraulic gradient was increased and
decreased during the hydraulic conductivity tests. Chemical analysis of fluid samples collected from the inflow
and outflow reservoirs after each hydraulic conductivity tests provided information about the type and amount of
exchangeable cations expelled from the specimens. The inflow volume was calculated based on the system
expansions. The hydraulic conductivities were calculated from Darcy's law. The saturated hydraulic conductivity
of compacted bentonite and sand-bentonite specimens were also calculated based on the consolidation tests
results. The gas permeability of compacted unsaturated bentonites was determined. The saturated hydraulic
conductivity of compacted bentonites was assessed using various existing models. A model based on parallel plate
flow was proposed in the current study. The proposed model considered the viscosity of water in the inter-platelet
region and its influence on the hydraulic conductivity of compacted bentonites.
The correction of the water inflow volume by accounting for the system expansion during the hydraulic
conductivity tests provided good compatibility between the inflow and outflow water volumes. The equilibrated
inflow and outflow rates were found to be similar during the hydraulic conductivity tests. A linear relationship
was noted between hydraulic gradient and hydraulic flux indicating the validity of Darcy's law for calculating the
hydraulic conductivity of compacted bentonites. An expulsion of exchangeable cations from the compacted
bentonite specimens occurred during the hydraulic conductivity tests. The amount of expelled cations was found
to be less than about 6% of the total exchangeable cations present in the bentonite. The gas permeability of
compacted unsaturated bentonite was found to decrease within an increase in compaction dry density. The
calculated hydraulic conductivity of compacted unsaturated bentonite based on the measured gas permeability was found to be greater than the measured hydraulic conductivity of compacted saturated bentonite
indicating that swelling reduces the hydraulic flow paths. The saturated hydraulic conductivities calculated from
the Kozeny-Carman model were found to better describe the measured saturated hydraulic conductivities than the
other available models. The model proposed in this study did not satisfactorily establish the hydraulic conductivity
of compacted saturated bentonite due to uncertainties associated with the assumptions made regarding the
viscosity of the bulk fluid.


Nowadays, the widely used Internet-of-Things (IoT) mobile devices (MDs) generate huge volumes of data, which need analyzing and extracting accurate information in real time by compute-intensive deep learning (DL) inference tasks. Due to its multilayer structure, the deep neural network (DNN) is appropriate for the mobile-edge computing (MEC) environment, and the DL tasks can be offloaded to DNN partitions deployed in MEC servers (MECSs) for speed-up inference. In this article, we first assume the arrival process of DL tasks as Poisson distribution and develop a tandem queueing model to evaluate the end-to-end (E2E) inference delay of DL tasks in multiple DNN partitions. To minimize the E2E delay, we develop a joint optimization problem model of partition deployment and resource allocation in MECSs (JPDRA). Since the JPDRA is a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem, we decompose the original problem into a computing resource allocation (CRA) problem with fixed partition deployment decision and a DNN partition deployment (DPD) problem that optimizes the optimal-delay function related to the CRA problem. Next, we design a CRA algorithm based on Markov approximation and a low-complexity DPD algorithm to obtain the near-optimal solution in the polynomial time. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithms are more efficient and can reduce the average E2E delay by 25.7% with better convergence performance.


The shear-strain accumulation in five tectonically-active areas of California has been calculated from triangulation data supplied by the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Three of the areas lie along active sections of the San Andreas fault. Near Hollister, no appreciable strain accumulation was detected for the period 1930 to 1962. The movement of the fault blocks there appears to be accommodated by slip on the San Andreas and Calaveras faults. Near Cholame, the only appreciable accumulation of shear strain in the period 1932 to 1962 appears to be associated directly with slip on the San Andreas north of Cholame, slip which probably occurred during the 1934 Parkfield earthquake. Significant strain accumulation was confined to a zone centered on the San Andreas fault and extending 10 km on either side. Some of this strain was released in the 1966 Parkfield earthquake. In Imperial Valley, an average accumulation of γ = 0.4 μstrain per year right-lateral (referred to vertical planes parallel to the Imperial fault) shear strain extends over a zone perhaps 100 km wide centered on the Imperial fault. It appears that this shear pattern may be resolved into two zones of shear, one concentrated near the Imperial fault and the other near the San Andreas fault. No appreciable shear-strain accumulation was detected in the two areas that do not lie on the San Andreas fault—Santa Barbara channel for the period 1880 to 1923 and Owens Valley for the period 1934 to 1956.


In this U.S. Geological Survey study of forest land cover across the conterminous U.S. (CONUS), specific proportions and rates of forest conversion to developed (urban) land were assessed on an ecoregional basis. The study period was divided into six time intervals between 1973 and 2011. Forest land cover was the source of 40% or more of the new urban land in 35 of the 84 ecoregions located within the CONUS. In 11 of these ecoregions this threshold exceeded in every time interval. When the percent of change, forest to urban, was compared to the percent of forest in each ecoregion, 58 ecoregions had a greater percent of change and, in six of those, change occurred in every time interval. Annual rates of forest to urban land cover change of 0.2% or higher occurred in 12 ecoregions at least once and in one ecoregion in all intervals. There were three ecoregions where the above conditions were met for nearly every time interval. Even though only a small number of the ecoregions were heavily impacted by forest loss to urban development within the CONUS, the ecosystem services provided by undeveloped forest land cover need to be quantified more completely to better inform future regional land management.


Non-coding RNAs (ncRNA) are RNA molecules that function in the cells without being translated into proteins. In recent years, much evidence has been found that ncRNAs play a crucial role in various biological processes. As a result, there has been an increasing interest in the prediction of ncRNA genes. Due to the conserved secondary structure in ncRNAs, there exist pairwise dependencies between distant bases. These dependencies cannot be effectively modeled using traditional HMMs, and we need a more complex model such as the context-sensitive HMM (csHMM). In this paper, we overview the role of csHMMs in the RNA secondary structure analysis and the prediction of ncRNA genes. It is demonstrated that the context-sensitive HMMs can serve as an efficient framework for these purposes


MADAM, We were interested to read the article by Neumann, Rappold and Pohl-Markl {British Journal of Dermatology, 1986,115,77) regarding the treatment of polymorphic light eruption with nicotinamide. We note that they say that nicotinamide should be avoided in diabetic subjects, although they produce no evidence to support this. We have been using nicotinamide 1500 mg daily in the treatment of necrobiosis lipoidica, and cautious treatment of two diabetic patients has led to improvement of their necrobiosis. In one patient, a 26-yearold insulin-dependent diabetic, control became much easier while she was on nicotinamide, her total insulin requirement dropping from 72 units to 55 units per 24 h. A second patient showed no change in her insulin requirement whilst on nicotinamide. Although nicotinic acid as a treatment for hyperlipidaemia has been reported to cause glucose intolerance,' a study of schizophrenic patients given nicotinamide in doses of up to 3 g a day did not find glucose intolerance to be a problem.^ In view of these facts, we feel that diabetes mellitus should not be an absolute contra-indication for nicotinamide, but that glucose status should be monitored closely whilst the drug is being taken.


The increasing number of cores on a chip has made the network on chip (NoC) concept the standard communication paradigm for chip multiprocessors. A fault in an NoC leads to undesirable ramifications that can severely impact the performance of a chip. Therefore, it is vital to design fault tolerant NoCs. In this paper, we present Shield , a reliable NoC router architecture that has the unique ability to tolerate both hard and soft errors in the routing pipeline using techniques such as spatial redundancy, exploitation of idle cycles, bypassing of faulty resources and selective hardening. Using Mean Time to Failure and Silicon Protection Factor metrics, we show that Shield is six times more reliable than the baseline-unprotected router and is at least 1.5 times more reliable than existing fault tolerant router architectures. We introduce a new metric called Soft Error Improvement Factor and show that the soft error tolerance of Shield has improved by three times in comparison to the baseline-unprotected router. This reliability improvement is accomplished by incurring an area and power overhead of 34 and 31 percent respectively. Latency analysis using SPLASH-2 and PARSEC reveals that in the presence of faults, latency increases by a modest 13 and 10 percent respectively.


ABSTRACT Preference responses of cats for scratching fabrics commonly used on furniture were evaluated during four consecutive days in three Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that rescue companion animals. Cats were grouped and their choices were registered at a group level (no individual identification). Daily choices for chenille, suede, synthetic leather, or waterproof grosgrain fabrics were evaluated for the cats' groups. A preference for chenille and non-preference for synthetic leather and waterproof grosgrain was found, independent of the NGO. In conclusion, although not using chenille does not assure that cats stop scratching furniture – especially if no other option to scratch is available – synthetic leather and waterproof grosgrain seem to be less attractive fabrics for these animals. Further studies are needed to investigate whether these findings apply to cats in a home scenario, when just one or a few individuals are usually present and only one type of fabric covering furniture is commonly available. Although we did not investigate the effect of providing scratching posts for these animals, we recommend such posts are available in the environment as scratching behavior is important to cats.


Glaciers across the Southern Alps of New Zealand have been photographed annually since 1977, creating a rare record of Southern Hemisphere glacier change. Here, we revisit these historic photographs and use structure from motion photogrammetry to quantitatively measure glacier change from the images. To establish this new method, it is initially applied to Brewster Glacier (1670 – 2400 m a.s.l.), one of the 50 monitored glaciers. We derive annual equilibrium line altitude (ELA) and length records from 1981 – 2017, and quantify the uncertainties associated with the method. Our length reconstruction shows largely continuous terminus retreat of 365 ± 12 m for Brewster Glacier since 1981. The ELA record, which compares well with glaciological mass-balance data measured between 2005 and 2015, shows pronounced interannual variability. Mean ELAs range from 1707 ± 6 m a.s.l. to 2303 ± 5 m a.s.l. The newly developed ELA chronology from Brewster shows several years since 1981 with especially high mass loss, all of which occurred in the past decade. Investigation using reanalysis data shows that these extreme mass-loss years occur when surface air temperatures, sea surface temperatures, and mean sea level pressure are anomalously high. In particular, the three highest mass-loss years on record, 2011, 2016, and 2018, each had a 2-month mean surface air temperature anomaly of at least +1.7°C between November and March, which is exclusive to these three years over the time investigated (April 1980 – March 2018). Using event attribution — a methodology using climate model simulations with and without human-induced forcings to calculate the anthropogenic influence on extreme events — we calculate the anthropogenic influence on these surface air temperature anomalies. The positive temperature anomalies during extreme mass-loss years have probabilities of 0 – 90% confidence) more likely to occur with anthropogenic forcing, and in once case in 2018 could not have occurred (>90% confidence) without anthropogenic forcing. This increased likelihood is driven by present-day temperatures ~1.0°C above the pre-industrial average, confirming a connection between rising anthropogenic greenhouse gases, warming temperatures, and high annual ice loss.


This paper discusses the concept of spatial stratification (SS) as applied to forest modelling in general, and spatial forest modelling in particular. SS is a way of providing a geographically explicit forest description in forest modelling, or a way of accommodating spatially explicit management objectives and interventions. In the former, called a priori SS, stands of a forest landscape are spatially aggregated into a set of stand clusters which become input to forest modelling. The latter, called dynamic SS, utilizes stands as the input forest description upon which various spatial aggregations occur throughout forest modelling. Distinctions between the two alternative approaches are highlighted and implementation considerations are examined within the forest landscape management design context. The paper concludes that: (i) modelling techniques are directly linked to forest stratification approaches; and (ii) a priori stratification is seriously limited in spatial modelling for landscape management de...


The Ca++‐regulated calcineurin/NFAT cascade is one of the crucial signalling pathways that controls adaptive immunity. However, a number of novel experimental data suggest that, in addition to their role in T cell activation, NFATc transcription factors play also a decisive role in the generation of peripheral tolerance against self‐antigens. This function of NFATc factors is mediated by controlling activation‐induced cell death and clonal anergy of T helper cells and the activity of regulatory T cells. The multi‐functional role of NFATc proteins characterize these transcription factors as key regulators of immunological tolerance and, if dysregulated, of development of autoimmune diseases.


OBJECTIVE
To find if patients experiencing postsurgical facial nerve stimulation caused by underlying disease process (ie, otosclerosis) can improve their hearing performance with their cochlear implant by reimplantation and by an optimal programming strategy.

DESIGN
Retrospective analysis.

SETTING
Academic tertiary referral center.

PATIENTS
Two cochlear otosclerosis patients with resistant facial nerve stimulation (FNS). Both patients were initially implanted with Nucleus 22 devices (Cochlear Corporation, Englewood, Colo) and they developed FNS after a period of use. Owing to the decreasing number of active electrodes, concurrent decreases in speech understanding occurred.

INTERVENTIONS
Various programming approaches were used to address the FNS. Both subjects ultimately received Nucleus 24 devices. One was reimplanted in the same ear, and the other was implanted in the opposite ear. Both have been followed up for 8 months following the reimplantation.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Cochlear implant programming levels, cochlear implant performance, and facial nerve stimulation.

RESULTS
The FNS was managed for more than 3 years through optimized programming. However, the FNS progressed until performance dropped below acceptable levels. Reimplantation was believed to be the only option for improvement. After reimplantation and programming, both subjects showed immediate improvement in speech discrimination. One user increased his consonant-nucleus-consonant word score from 12% preoperatively to 42%, and the other's performance increased from 0% to 86%.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that having more programming options with newer devices is critical in otosclerotic or ossified users who experience FNS. Also, reimplantation may be a useful tool to improve performance.


To evaluate the diagnostic value of different tests for gastroesophageal reflux disease, a test population was constructed from 45 patients with symptoms of heartburn and regurgitation with or without esophagitis and 45 healthy subjects, who never experienced heartburn, regurgitation, or swallowing discomfort. The test population underwent esophagoscopy, standard acid reflux test, 24-hour pH monitoring, and manometry of the lower esophageal sphincter. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and the accuracy of the tests and test combinations were calculated. Esophagoscopy had a sensitivity of 62%, that is, only 62% of patients with the disease have evidence of mucosal damage on endoscopy. Manometric measurements of the lower esophageal sphincter had a sensitivity of 84%, a specificity of 89%, and an accuracy of 87%. Twenty-four hour esophageal pH monitoring had a sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 96%. The results show that 24-hour pH monitoring can detect gastroesophageal reflux disease with an accuracy of 96% by measuring an increase in esophageal acid exposure. Manometry of the lower esophageal sphincter can detect a mechanically deficient sphincter as a cause of the disease with an accuracy of 87%. The test combination of 24-hour monitoring and motility studies can select patients with an accuracy of 91% who have an increase in esophageal exposure to gastric juice because of a deficient cardia. Antireflux surgery is designed to reduce esophageal exposure to gastric juice in patients with a deficient sphincter by creating a mechanical antireflux mechanism at the cardia. Therefore it is necessary to determine the mechanical status of the sphincter with manometry before surgery in such patients. Thus the indications for antireflux surgery are (1) uncontrolled symptoms of increased esophageal exposure to gastric juice; (2) a documented increase in esophageal exposure to gastric juice by 24-hour pH monitoring; and (3) a mechanically defective sphincter on motility with a pressure of 6 mm Hg or less, an overall length of 2 cm or less, and an abdominal length of 1 cm or less.


Field theories in the presence of branes encounter localized divergences that renormalize brane couplings. The sources of these brane-localized divergences are understood as arising either from broken translation invariance, or from short distance singularities as the brane thickness vanishes. While the former are generated only by quantum corrections, the latter can appear even at the classical level. Using as an example six-dimensional scalar field theory in the background of a 3-brane, we show how to interpret such classical divergences by the usual regularization and renormalization procedure of quantum field theory. In our example, the zero thickness divergences are logarithmic, and lead classically to non-trivial renormalization group flows for the brane couplings. We construct the tree level renormalization group equations for these couplings as well as the one-loop corrections to these flows from bulk-to-brane renormalization effects. ∗email@example.com †email@example.com 1


This paper focuses on the expression of duration in (European and Brazilian) Portuguese. English is used for comparative purposes, since many of the issues to be discussed have been intently studied for this language. The paper has two main, parallel, goals: (i) a description of the Portuguese subsystem of duration, with an identification of the main structures involved in the expression of this semantic value, and (ii) an attempt to distinguish several conceptually different – though closely related – temporal subdomains within the semantic area under study. This second goal has obviously implications for the grammatical description that go well beyond the analysis of Portuguese. Two distinctions will be explored in some detail: one between strict duration and durative temporal location, which is not assumed by all authors, and another between the duration of telic and atelic eventualities. Other (semantic and/or syntactic) subtypes of strict duration that will be discussed are: argumental vs. adjunct, continuous vs. discontinuous, time-anchored vs. non-time-anchored, and planned vs. non-planned duration.


Modern engineering programs have to address rapidly changing technical content and have to enable students to develop transferable skills such as critical evaluation, communication skills and lifelong learning. This paper introduces a combined learning and assessment activity that provides students with opportunities to develop and practice their soft skills, but also extends their theoretical knowledge base. Key tasks included self directed inquiry, oral and written communication as well as peer assessment. To facilitate the SPIDER activities (Select, Prepare and Investigate, Discuss, Evaluate, Reflect), a software tool has been implemented in the learning management system Moodle. Evidence shows increased student engagement and better learning outcomes for both transferable as well as technical skills. The study focuses on generalising the relationship between learning outcomes and assignment tasks as well as activities that drive these tasks. Trail results inform the approach. Staff evaluations and their views of assignments and intended learning outcomes also supported this analysis.


Aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and the retention-in-care of individuals diagnosed during six years of salivary HIV testing (EASY-test project). Among those linked-to-care at the Infectious Diseases Department of San Raffaele Hospital (Milan, Italy), the proportion of patients engaged, retained in care and virologically suppressed after the antiretroviral treatment was 96%, 100% and 95.2%, respectively. Results from our study suggest that salivary HIV testing may help bring to light cases of HIV infection otherwise undiagnosed, and thus favour a more rapid and wider reduction of the HIV infection burden at the population level.


Solving regression problems with interval-valued datasets is a challenging task that may arise in many real world applications. Motivated by that fact, many researchers have proposed nonlinear regression methods to handle interval-valued data in recent years. In this paper, we propose two variants of the Minimal Learning Machine (MLM) for interval-valued data. The choice of MLM is explained by its remarkable performance in many applications and the need of a single hyperparameter definition. We present a performance comparison between our methods and five benchmark nonlinear regression methods. The proposed methods presented competitive results.


Why do refugees exist – not as an empirical, but as a normative, category? What special sense of duty connects us to those people whom we call refugees, and how does this duty translate into asylum? What does the practice of asylum tell us about who we are, as individuals as well as members of political communities? How does one morally justify the special concern we feel for, and consequently the privileged treatment we give, refugees as compared with other foreigners in need? Revisiting the main features of the ethical debate over asylum and refugeehood, this article argues that the 1951 Refugee Convention provides a coherent framework to explain the 'refugee privilege'. This contention is based on three features of the Convention, namely: its focus on admission and assimilation; its affirmation of the refugee as a privileged alien; and its emphasis, through the key concept of persecution, on the prohibition of discrimination and the identifying value of tolerance. However, one must acknowledge that a proper understanding of the moral duty to admit and integrate refugees does not suffice to explain contemporary state practice in dealing with the 'refugee problem' as a matter of solidarity. This article suggests that there are two additional asylum paradigms at work in today's world: one takes disaster as a motivation for action, and rescue as the underpinning moral and legal imperative; and the other rests upon a duty not to return individuals to specific forms of danger, absent affinity or even compassion. The article examines some of the impacts which the co-existence of these three paradigms has on the global refugee regime, and their implications for law- and policy-making on asylum, both within and among states.


"Learning by doing" has incontestably the highest enduring and motivating effects in learning. It challenges the exploratory aptitude and curiosity of a person. In higher education in information technology, exploratory learning is hindered by technical situations that are not easy to reproduce and to verify. Technical skills are, however, mandatory for employees in this area. On the other side, theoretical concepts are often compromised by commercial implementations. The challenge is to contrast and reconcile theory with practise. In two European Union funded projects we designed, implemented, and evaluated a unique e-learning approach, which realises a modularised teaching concept that provides easily reproducible virtual hands-on labs. The novelty of the approach is to use software products of industrial relevance to compare with theory and to contrast different implementations. Pilot applications in several European countries demonstrated that the participants gained highly sustainable and profound understanding about the learning objects. Keywords-learning by doing, virtual laboratory, hands-on lab, e-learning concept.


Pseudo-peptides (pGlu-His-amphetamine, pGlu-His-pro-Amphetamine and pGlu-amphetamine) were subjected to enzymatic degradation by porcine serum and brain homogenate. The enzymic digests were (qualitatively) analyzed by the "Finger-prints" technique to provide evidence for the presence of free pyroglutamic acid and also quantitatively by HPLC to provide evidence for the presence and yield of free amphetamine. The stability in vitro toward enzymes of serum and brain homogenate of a new type of drug based on the combination of a peptide moiety (TRH) with a non peptide psycho-tropic moiety (amphetamine) is also considered and discussed.


Summary
An adenine-rich fraction has been extracted from the mycovirus infecting the Phycomycete Allomyces arbuscula. This fraction which accounts for approximately 8% of the total RNA is heterogeneous and contains tracts of 25 to 45 nucleotides in length. The majority of the poly(A) tracts have a mol. wt. of 1.2 × 104 and a sedimentation value of 2 to 3S.


Micromachined microphones with grating-based optical-interferometric readout have been demonstrated previously. These microphones are similar in construction to bottom-inlet capacitive microelectromechanical-system (MEMS) microphones, with the exception that optoelectronic emitters and detectors are placed inside the microphone's front or back cavity. A potential advantage of optical microphones in designing for low noise level is the use of highly-perforated microphone backplates to enable low-damping and low thermal-mechanical noise levels. This work presents an experimental study of a microphone diaphragm and backplate designed for optical readout and low thermal-mechanical noise. The backplate is 1 mm × 1 mm and is fabricated in a 2-μm-thick epitaxial silicon layer of a silicon-on-insulator wafer and contains a diffraction grating with 4-μm pitch etched at the center. The presented system has a measured thermal-mechanical noise level equal to 22.6 dBA. Through measurement of the electrostatic frequency response and measured noise spectra, a device model for the microphone system is verified. The model is in-turn used to identify design paths towards MEMS microphones with sub 15-dBA noise floors.


AIMS
The aim of the authors' study was to determine the prevalence of myopia and premyopia in children and adolescents attending primary school in a village in the north of Slovakia in the period before and after the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Changes in the spherical equivalent and axial length of the eyes were measured in 2019 and 2022 in a group of 47 children and adolescents within the age range of 7-12 years at the time of first measurement. In all the individuals, refraction was measured using an automatic keratorefractometer without the use of cycloplegic eye drops, and axial length was measured with an optical biometer. Refraction was also measured using an automatic keratorefractometer after using cycloplegic eye drops.

RESULTS
We recorded a significant change in the mean spherical equivalent (1.02 ±1.16 D vs. 0.72 ±1.29) and the axial length of the eyes (23.05 ±0.72mm vs. 23.30 ±0.74mm) when comparing the measurements from 2019 to 2022. The probands manifested a myopic refractive shift of -0.30 D throughout the entire cohort (-0.24 D in boys and -0.38 D in girls), and the mean axial length increased by 0.2 mm in the entire cohort (by 0.3 mm in boys and 0.2 mm in girls). The percentage of myopic and premyopic eyes increased (4.3% vs. 8.5% a 31.9% vs. 48.9%).

CONCLUSION
We noted a decrease in the spherical equivalent and increase in the axial length of the eyes after the Covid-19 pandemic compared to the period before the pandemic in Slovak school-aged children. During this period, the prevalence of myopia and premyopia increased.


Purpose: Deformable image registration (DIR) has widespread uses in radiotherapy for applications such as dose accumulation studies, multi-modality image fusion, and organ segmentation. The quality assurance (QA) of such algorithms, however, remains largely unimplemented. This work aims to determine how detailed a physical phantom needs to be to accurately perform QA of a DIR algorithm. Methods: Virtual prostate and head-and-neck phantoms, made from patient images, were used for this study. Both sets consist of an undeformed and deformed image pair. The images were processed to create additional image pairs with one through five homogeneous tissue levels using Otsu's method. Realistic noise was then added to each image. The DIR algorithms from MIM and Velocity (Deformable Multipass) were applied to the original phantom images and the processed ones. The resulting deformations were then compared to the known warping. A higher number of tissue levels creates more contrast in an image and enables DIR algorithms to produce more accurate results. For this reason, error (distance between predicted and known deformation) is utilized as a metric to evaluate how many levels are required for a phantom to be a realistic patient proxy. Results: For the prostate image pairs, the mean error decreased frommore » 1–2 tissue levels and remained constant for 3+ levels. The mean error reduction was 39% and 26% for Velocity and MIM respectively. For head and neck, mean error fell similarly through 2 levels and flattened with total reduction of 16% and 49% for Velocity and MIM. For Velocity, 3+ levels produced comparable accuracy as the actual patient images, whereas MIM showed further accuracy improvement. Conclusion: The number of tissue levels needed to produce an accurate patient proxy depends on the algorithm. For Velocity, three levels were enough, whereas five was still insufficient for MIM.« less