The advent of multimedia applications has triggered widespread interest in quality-of-service (QoS) support. An Internet-based QoS framework, Differentiated Services (DiffServ), has been proposed. The framework focuses mainly on packet scheduling. As such, it decouples routing from QoS provisioning. This typically results in inefficient routes, thereby limiting the ability of the network to support QoS requirements and to manage resources efficiently. This article proposes a scalable, clustering, and selective probing framework to assist in identifying and selecting routing paths that are very likely to meet the QoS requirements of the underlying application. The proposed approach can be seamlessly integrated into the DiffServ framework to extend its ability to support QoS requirements. A description of the basic components of the framework is provided. Scalability is achieved using a clustering algorithm, referred to as d-median, to reduce signaling and routers overhead. A thorough study to evaluate the performance of d-median is conducted. The results of the study show that, for power-law graphs such as the Internet, the d-median clustering-based approach outperforms existing clustering methods.


: In this study, we evaluated the ability of the Numerical Tools for Hurricane Forecast (NTHF) system, operational at the Department of Meteorology of the Higher Institute of Technologies and Applied Sciences, University of Havana, Cuba, for forecasting the intensity and trajectory of the North Atlantic (NATL) tropical cyclones (TCs). To assess the ability of the NTHF system in the first five years (2016–2020) of operational runs, we used the best tracks from the National Hurricane Center HURDAT2 database. The errors in the track forecast increased linearly from 41 km at 6 h to 356 km at 120 h. In addition, NTHF underestimates the intensity of TCs, especially those that reach Category 3+ hurricanes on the Saffir–Simpson wind scale. Overall, the mean absolute error in forecasting the maximum wind speed (minimum pressure) ranged from 26.5 km/h (7 hPa) to 33.7 km/h (11.7 hPa). Moreover, the highest BIAS in the intensity forecast was found in the first 48 h, suggesting that model initialization is the main driver of NTHF errors in the forecast maximum wind speed and the minimum central pressure of TCs in the North Atlantic Basin.


Efinaconazole is a topical antifungal drug approved in Japan for tinea unguium. Although topical treatments generally have low cure rates with a prolonged therapy period, a Cochrane review confirmed that high‐quality evidence supports the effectiveness of efinaconazole for the complete cure of tinea unguium. Combination therapy is a way to improve the cure rate of onychomycosis. In this study, topical efinaconazole was administrated to 12 patients who had been treated with oral terbinafine (125 mg daily) for more than 20 weeks with little expected effect. Because terbinafine accumulates for a long time in the nail, treatment immediately followed by other drugs can be considered sequential combination therapy. During terbinafine monotherapy, the percentage involvement decreased from 53.5% to 44.0% after 37.4 weeks and the effective and cure rates were 16.7% and 0%, respectively. During sequential topical efinaconazole therapy combined with lasting terbinafine in the nail, the percentage involvement decreased from 44.0% to 18.7% after 28.4 weeks, and the effective and cure rates were 66.7% and 16.7%, respectively. The improvement rate per month of combination therapy (12.6%) was higher than that with monotherapy (2.1%) (p = 0.002). There were no serious side‐effects. This sequential combination therapy with efinaconazole was effective in poor terbinafine responders, making it a promising regimen for improving the cure rate of tinea unguium.


The majority of gastric cancers express high levels of human telomerase template RNA (hTR) that is essential for cellular survival. In this study, we examined whether antisense hTR (ahTR) had a growth inhibitory effect on three gastric cancer cell lines, MKN-1, MKN-28, and TMK-1, through transfection via an ahTR expression vector. Both the ahTR transfected MKN-1 and TMK-1 cells changed morphologically into multinucleate giant cells, and subsequently underwent cell death. Conversely, the ahTR transfected MKN-28 cells survived over 50 PDs in spite of telomere shortening. Surprisingly, high levels of telomerase activity were observed in the telomere-reduced cells. Furthermore, the expression of mRNAs for p21/Waf1/Cip1/Sdi1, IRF-1 and IFN inducible 6-16 was higher in the telomere-reduced cells than in the parental cells. These results suggest overall that the ahTR expression may bring about telomere shorting, leading to cell death or cellular senescence in gastric cancer cells.


Methacrylamide-based oligomers bearing phosphonate pending groups at the end of a long alkyl chain and originating from undecylenic acid synthons were subjected to direct oligomer dissolution. Size improvement towards much smaller objects was reached using the nanoprecipitation method: the oligomers were first dissolved in an organic solvent, and then precipitated in water using a syringe pump. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) showed phosphorous containing monomodal and quite narrow-sized self-assemblies in water with hydrodynamic diameters (DH) ranging from 80 to 280 nm (depending on the oligomer system). Direct visualization using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) showed filled and almost individual particles with spherical shape. They were considerably shrunk, suggesting the highly swollen character of the self-assemblies in suspension. Morphological information on the multi-scale self-assembled structures was complementarily obtained using static light scattering (SLS). Thus, at a low length-scale, highly segregated sub-units having sharp boundaries surrounded by water (Porod behaviour) were observed, whereas at a high length-scale random non-compact organization of these sub-units via weak interactions was found, forming a chaplet-like structure (Gaussian behaviour). Furthermore, the pH-sensitiveness of the suspensions obtained after the nanoprecipitation method was studied. Particularly, at pH = 12, the characteristic size drastically increased within few hours from typically ∼280 nm to 2 μm due to electrostatic repulsion between deprotonated hydroxyl groups. At longer times, the observed peculiar behaviour corresponded to the model of diffusion-limited cluster aggregation (DLCA) where the particles stuck easily together upon contact [continuation of the article by C. Bouilhac, C. Travelet, A. Graillot, S. Monge, R. Borsali and J.-J. Robin, Polym. Chem., 2014, 5, 2756-2767].


For the development of acoustic fishing method, the noises of fishes have been recorded and analy/'ed by many scientists. Some specimens of fishes were selected as such Cyprinus carpio, Ctenopharyngodon idellus Carassius carassius, and pagrosol1ms major in this experiment. The noises such as feeding noise, driving away noise, jumping noise and fi llip noise were recorded by the tape recorder, Sony Model 262, through the underwa te r microph I one, Oki ST 6582, and analyzed in frequencies bv octave band analyzer, Rion SA-55, and sound pressure level of source by sound level meter, Rion NA-opNN The supplied feed was placed within 5em apart from the hydrophone. The result of analyzed noises were as follow. Cyprinus carjJio; Feeding noise 250- 500 cps, 92- 99 dB Driving away noise 125-2, 000 eps, 101-112 dB Jumping noise 125-2, 000 eps, 99-116.5 dB Ctenopharyngodon idcllus; Driving away noise 125-1, 000 cps, 96-109 dB Carassius carassius; Feeding noise 250- 500 cps, 91. 5- 99.5 dB Driving away noise 125-1, 000 eps, 99-108 dB Carassius auratus Feeding noise 250 eps, 94-101 dB Driving away noise 125-1, 000 cps, 98-110 dB Pagrosomus major Feeding noise 230-500 cps, 90-101 dB Fillip noise 500 cps, 98-108 dB (1) Feeding noise was produced as like as snap noise of twig and gulping down saliva noise in human and dominant frequency range of the noise is 250-500 cps and noise level 90-101 dB. (2) It was found that feeding noise were not a monotonic but a complex tones though fish took the same food. (3) Driving away noise was produced not so keen and the wave form of the noise is rising very sharp and big amplitude in the oscillograph. Dominant frequency range of this noise was about 150-1, 000 cps and noise level 96-112 dB except thut of carp. (4) The frequency of snapper's fillip noise, when it produced by caudal fin in swimming at the surface of water, was 500 cps and noise level 93-108 dB snd that of jumping noise of carp about 150-2, 000 cps and noise level 99-116.5 dB.


Abstract Multi-scale carbonate-dominated sequences were deposited in subtidal to supratidal environments on the broad shallow Kansas shelf throughout the Paleozoic. A repeating association of original depositional facies and early diagenesis for these rocks produced lithofacies ranging from mudstones to grainstones with abundant moldic porosity. As illustrated by three representative cores, the nature of the molds varies through time reflecting the change in primary carbonate grain constituents including Upper Cambrian- Lower Ordovician Arbuckle peloid and ooid molds, Mississippian carbonate/siliceous sponge spicule and echinoderm/brachipod molds, and Pennsylvanian ooid, pelloid, and bioclast molds. Reservoir properties for each system, including porosity and permeability, are strongly correlated with original depositional facies, with reservoir quality increasing from mudstone through grainstone. Most of these rocks have undergone extensive diagenetic overprinting. However, despite significant transformation, and even reversal of solid and pore space, the nature of the post-diagenetic fabric still correlates with, and reflects original textures. The final moldic rocks exhibit petrophysical-lithofacies trends that parallel those of original primary porosity carbonates as presented by Lucia (1995). The cores from these three reservoir systems, which have produced over 4 billion barrels, played a critical role in defining reservoir performance. Integration of core petrophysical and geologic analysis provides understanding of the role of original facies and moldic porosity and definition of reservoir properties distribution. Data from core also reveal significant vertical changes in properties, such as permeability and Archie cementation exponent, which control reservoir performance or interpretation of fluid saturations, but are not fully evident in wireline logs.


JNK1/2 proteins belong to the family of stress‐activated protein kinases. They play a complex role in growth regulation, inducing either cell death or growth support. In this report, we provide evidence that, in human melanoma cells, JNK inhibition with the small molecule inhibitor SP600125 induces either predominantly a G2/M arrest or apoptosis depending on the cell line. In 1205Lu cells, JNK inhibition induced cell cycle arrest through p53‐dependent induction of p21Cip1/Waf1 expression, while in WM983B cells, induction of apoptosis by JNK inhibition was accompanied by p53, Bad and Bax induction, not p21Cip1/Waf1. JNK inhibition with the small molecule inhibitor SP600125 slowed growth of all cell lines, although the effect was markedly greater in cells exhibiting high phospho‐ (P‐)JNK1 levels. Specific gene knockdown of JNK1 by means of siRNA oligonucleotides inhibited cell growth only in melanoma cell lines exhibiting high P‐JNK1 levels. siRNAs directed against JNK2 did not reduce cell growth in any of the cell lines tested. Together, our findings demonstrate that JNK, and in particular the JNK1 isoform, support the growth of melanoma cells, by controlling either cell cycle progression or apoptosis depending on the cellular context.


Background: HIV/AIDS is associated with psychological problems, which may arise due to social stigma attached to the disease.
Materials and Methods: A Cross-sectional study was conducted for one year during 2007 among 150 adult individuals (75 males & 75 females) suffering from HIV/AIDS to study depression and psychosocial aspects associated with the disease. An interview schedule was developed by the investigators to study the social problems in individuals with HIV/AIDS and Mastering Depression in Primary Care Version 2.2 instrument was used to assess depression. The participants were selected from HIV/AIDS clinic in Department of Microbiology at I.M.S. in Beneras Hindu University of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh and in the general population of Sikkim residing within 5 Kilometres radius from the Sikkim Manipal University of Health, Medical and Technological Sciences by using the snowball technique along with quota sampling for gender. Data was tabulated and analyzed by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 10.0 for Windows. Chi-square test was applied for comparisons. Here, a p-value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
Results: All participants with HIV/AIDS in this study, tried to maintain secrecy about their disease although only 26.67% of them faced social stigma. Majority (40%) of the respondents with HIV were avoiding social gathering. It was also observed that majority (40%) of them were rejected by their friends and relatives when they came to know about the disease. It was found that all respondents infected with HIV/AIDS were suffering from depression. Females showed higher level of depression than males. The major aspects of depression were apathy, sleep disturbance, pessimism, fatigue, irritability, social withdrawal and dejection.
Conclusion: This study revealed that HIV/AIDS infection is both a medical as well as psychosocial issue. In order to provide the most effective care, the care-givers of HIV/AIDS patients should recognize that both these physiological and psychological factors in HIV/AIDS are of equal importance.


A technique is presented for transforming channel and switch-box models to single-row routing (SSR) problems, which allows the use of powerful SSR techniques. This single-row transformation (SRT) technique produces a quality routing solution and reduces the number of vias required. The SRT technique can be used on these, and many other models, to reduce the time and effort required to accomplish the routing task.<<ETX>>


We report on the operation and performance of the ATLAS Semi-Conductor Tracker (SCT), which has been functioning for 3 years in a high luminosity, high radiation environment. The SCT is constructed of 4088 silicon detector modules, for a total of 6.3 million strips. Each module operates as a stand-alone unit, mechanically, electrically, optically and thermally. The modules are mounted into two types of structures: one barrel, made of 4 cylinders, and two end-cap systems made of 9 disks. The SCT silicon micro-strip sensors are processed in the planar p-in-n technology. The signals are processed in the front-end ABCD3TA ASICs, which use a binary readout architecture. Data is transferred to the off-detector readout electronics via optical fibres. We find 99.3% of the SCT modules are operational, the noise occupancy and hit efficiency exceed the design specifications; the alignment is very close to the ideal to allow on-line track reconstruction and invariant mass determination. We will report on the operation and performance of the detector including an overview of the issues encountered. We observe a significant increase in leakage currents from bulk damage due to non-ionizing radiation and make comparisons with the predictions. We will also cover the time evolution of the key parameters of the strip tracker, including the evolution of noise and gain, the measurement of the Lorentz angle and the tracking efficiency in the harsh LHC environment. Valuable lessons for future silicon strip detector projects will be presented.


Background Hospitals referring children to the Children's Acute Transfer Service (CATS) regularly ask for more and better-quality feedback. Mechanisms exist for feedback following critical incidents, but no stabilisation- and transfer-specific feedback is given for routine cases. As part of a project to improve feedback to referring hospitals, a CATS discharge letter was planned: the transporting fellow would enter feedback into the CATS database, which after consultant moderation, would be included into a transfer discharge letter. This report relates to improving feedback generation. Methods For the primary driver of feedback documentation, secondary drivers of consideration, documentation on paper, and transcription into the CATS database were identified. For the primary driver of feedback quality, secondary drivers of multidisciplinary input and retrospective team discussion were identified. An A3 project proposal document was created after team discussion. Progress was measured by graphing percentage of cases with paper feedback, and cases with correct database entry. Change ideas included regular feedback on progress; explanatory posters; inclusion on the safety brief; review of feedback in morning meeting case discussions; targeted verbal and email feedback; review of database field labelling; reviewing timing of database entry; and feedback from moderating consultants. Results Over the first 7 weeks, feedback completion rates improved from 30% to 83%, with consistent week-on-week improvements. Correct database entry was variable, ranging from 20%–92% of cases with feedback, with significant week-to-week variability. Discussion Widespread CATS team support and a high profile, along with up-to-date progress monitoring and a range of targeted interventions have helped ensure that feedback is collected for most cases. Database entry has been variable, with inconsistent and absent data entry, and is an area for ongoing intervention. Conclusion After seven weeks, referral feedback is being collected frequently enough to implement CATS discharge letters. Future PDSA cycles will review database entry and feedback quality.


This document briefly describes a new social accounting matrix (SAMs) for Peru, constructed to be consistent with 2004 macroeconomic structure and the sectoring scheme of the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP). The main table details activities, commodities, and institutional expenditure and income for 57 distinct product categories, two labor types, capital, and the usual aggregate domestic and foreign institutions. This table was estimated by the author, relying exclusively on official Peruvian and World Bank data. Despite the quality of these sources, the estimates do not represent official information or any governmental or other institutional decisions or actions based on the component data.


in a 12‐month prospective study in 1984, blood and urinary cultures were obtained as a routine from 307 children who presented with fever and convulsions to the Mater Misericordiae Children's Hospital, Brisbane, and the results were compared with data from 1981–1983 when cultures were not taken as a routine. In the prospective study, bacteraemia was found in 12 (4.3%) of 282 patients but was not suspected clinically in half of these; urinary‐tract infection was found in seven (2.6%) of 272 patients and in six of these it was not suspected clinically. All 12 patients with unsuspected bacteraemia or urinary‐tract infection had persistent fever; of these, nine patients suffered simple convulsions and all cases of urinary‐tract infection occurred in female patients. Bacteraemia was significantly more common in patients of less than two years of age, in children who were selected for lumbar puncture and in the study period compared with the retrospective period, 1981–1983. Leukocytosis (white‐cell count, more than 15.0 times 109/L) was a sensitive (75%) diagnostic aid but was poorly specific (59%) for bacteraemia. Bacterial meningitis was not diagnosed initially in four of the nine cases which occurred among children who presented with fever and convulsions between 1981 and 1984; in all four children, the cerebrospinal fluid appeared normal at hospital admission. We conclude that bacteraemia and urinary‐tract infections are detected more frequently in children who are admitted to hospital with febrile convulsions when cultures are performed as a routine. In the at‐risk group (children of less than two years of age), the prevalence of urinary‐tract infection is increased in female patients and the prevalence of bacteraemia is increased in those patients who are selected for lumbar puncture. The use of leukocytosis as a criterion to determine the need for blood cultures improves the diagnostic yield but would result in increased costs and additional venepuncture. Bacterial meningitis was rare in our case series and the performance of a lumbar puncture as a routine at admission to hospital would not have led to its earlier diagnosis.


ABSTRACT Techniques based on high-throughput sequencing (HTS) of environmental DNA have provided a new way of studying fungal diversity. However, these techniques suffer from a number of methodological biases which may appear at any of the steps involved in a metabarcoding study. Air is one of the most important environments where fungi can be found, because it is the primary medium of dispersal for many species. Looking ahead to future developments, it was decided to test 20 protocols, including different passive spore traps, spore recovery procedures, DNA extraction kits, and barcode loci. HTS was performed with the Illumina MiSeq platform targeting two subloci of the fungal internal transcribed spacer. Multivariate analysis and generalized linear models showed that the type of passive spore trap, the spore recovery procedure, and the barcode all impact the description of fungal communities in terms of richness and diversity when assessed by HTS metabarcoding. In contrast, DNA extraction kits did not significantly impact these results. Although passive traps may be used to describe airborne fungal communities, a study using specific real-time PCR and a mock community showed that these kinds of traps are affected by environmental conditions that may induce losses of biological material, impacting diversity and community composition results. IMPORTANCE The advent of high-throughput sequencing (HTS) methods, such as those offered by next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques, has opened a new era in the study of fungal diversity in different environmental substrates. In this study, we show that an assessment of the diversity of airborne fungal communities can reliably be achieved by the use of simple and robust passive spore traps. However, a comparison of sample processing protocols showed that several methodological biases may impact the results of fungal diversity when assessed by metabarcoding. Our data suggest that identifying these biases is of paramount importance to enable a correct identification and relative quantification of community members.


Until the 1840s, the dominating language in Finland was Swedish, even if ca. 80 per cent of the population had Finnish as mother tongue. The administration, academic life, public matters and literary life were conducted in Swedish. The literature in Finnish was limited mostly to the religious domain, basic legislation and books of rudimentary instruction for agriculture and medicine, one or two newspapers and journals. The situation started to change in the 1840s, with the birth of the Finnish national movement. One of the most important actors in this movement was the philosopher, journalist and statesman Johan Wilhelm Snellman (1806–1881). This article presents his views on how translations from foreign languages can be used to form a Finnish national literature. His views in this matter were closely related to his theoretical philosophy that was heavily influenced by Hegel. Snellman demanded that the Swedish-speaking elite should change its language into Finnish, and create a high-class Finnish-language national literature of scholarly books and belles-lettres. Translations from foreign languages would give standards for Finnish writers and build contacts to the general European literature and culture. He initiated in 1870 a translation program that was managed by the Finnish Literature Society.


A sensor based on the electrodynamic microwave resonator has been developed to determine the antibacterial activity of antibiotics using amoxicillin as an example. Microbial cells immobilized on the polystyrene film surface were used as a sensitive element of the sensor. The optimal conditions for the immobilization of Escherichia coli Xl-1 microbial cells on the surface of a thin polystyrene film modified in high-frequency argon discharge plasma and deposited on a lithium niobate plate were determined. The effect of amoxicillin on immobilized microbial cells was studied using the developed sensor. It has been established that the increase in con- centration of amoxicillin from 5 to 50 μg/ml leads to a significant change in the reflection coefficient S11 at the resonance frequency from the lithium niobate plate in the range of -12.6 dB — -15.1 dB. It has been shown that the developed sensor allows determining the antibacterial activity of drugs in the studied concentration range with an analysis time of 15 min.


The history of wire drawing through dies is reviewed and the description of the process by Theophilus, dating from about 1100 A.D., is discussed. It can be assumed that the fact that this early metal worker did not mention a die angle was due to his lack of knowledge of its function. It is suggested that deburred holes, or holes in which the boring operation inherently produced conical surfaces possibly were sufficient to make the wire drawing process successful without the operator knowing the reasons for his success. The recent data presented by Okolo and Wistreich seem to confirm that wire drawing is possible over a wide range of operating conditions and die angles.


It is shown that the crosstalk level in coherence multiplexed systems is closely dependent on the profile of the emission spectrum of the laser diodes used. The cases of Gaussian, Lorentzian, and cos/sup 2/ power spectra are considered. The results demonstrate that crosstalk may very by several tens of decibels when using laser diodes operating with the same coherence length but exhibiting different spectral profiles. Illustrations in the area of optical communications are given for superluminescent diodes and multimode laser diodes with a Lorentzian and a cos/sup 2/ power spectrum. Results indicate that Gaussian sources are preferable. >


In this paper, we introduce and study a new Stackelberg-population competition model which captures the desired features of both population games and Stackelberg competition model within the same framework. We obtain some characterization results for the Stackelberg-population equilibrium response set and the Stackelberg-population equilibrium leader set by using the variational inequality technique and Brouwer's fixed point theorem. We also show an existence theorem of Nash equilibrium for Stackelbergpopulation competition model under some mild conditions. Finally, we give an example to illustrate our main results.


Self-assembly in the bulk of a series of hybrid triblock copolymers formed by a poly(9,9-dihexylfluorene-2,7-diyl) (PHF) middle block and two poly(γ-benzyl-l-glutamate) (PBLG) end blocks has been studied. Since the α-helical secondary structure of the PBLG block may be either maintained or suppressed depending on the solvent casting history, the PBLG−PHF−PBLG copolymers exhibit two different conformations:  a rod−rod−rod or coil−rod−coil configuration, respectively. In order to provide insight into the influence of conformation on self-aggregation of these systems, three copolymers with different block ratio were investigated in both conformations using small- and wide-angle scattering techniques and transmission electron microscopy. Time-resolved photoluminescence measurements were performed on the same samples to explore the effect of morphology on photophysical properties. The observed photoluminescence spectra and dominant excited lifetimes of the poly(9,9-dihexylfluorene-2,7-diyl) block were found to...


In the present study, the Pareto model is considered as the model from which observations are to be estimated using a Bayesian approach. Properties of the Bayes estimators for the unknown parameters have studied by using different asymmetric loss functions on hybrid censoring pattern and their risks have compared. The properties of maximum likelihood estimation and approximate confidence length have also been investigated under hybrid censoring. The performances of the procedures are illustrated based on simulated data obtained under the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm and a real data set.


In this study, a signal impulse transmission function is investigated which provides high insulation voltage capabilities for IGBT drivers devices. This electrical insulation is achieved with a printed circuit board (PCB) and classical copper windings. Two ferrite cores are added to improve the magnetic coupling effect and thus decrease the impulse current maximum value in the primary side. The electronic circuit involves a series resonant topology in the primary side and a parallel one in the secondary side. The classical electronic components lead potentially to cost-effective solutions. However, so as to optimise the proposed system, a design methodology based on virtual prototyping tools is carried out. The simulation results presented on a Pareto front are analysed with the help of propagation delay and average power consumption. Moreover, measurement results with a 1.6 mm PCB are compared with simulation ones. Finally, the proposed solution and the methodology design are clearly accurate and suitable for power electronic designers and especially for IGBT driver devices designers.


Current endodontic procedures continue to be unsuccessful for completely removing pathogens present inside the root canal system, which can lead to recurrent infections. In this study, we aimed to assess the antimicrobial capacity and tissue response of two inorganic bactericidal additives incorporated into a paste root canal sealer on contaminated root dentin in vivo. An experimental study was performed in 30 teeth of five Beagle dogs. After inducing microbiological contamination, root canal systems were treated by randomly incorporating one of two antimicrobial additives into a commercial epoxy-amine resin sealer (AH Plus), i.e., G3T glass-ceramic (n = 10) and ZnO-enriched glass (n = 10); 10 samples were randomized as a control group. After having sacrificed the animals, microbiological, radiological, and histological analyses were performed, which were complemented with an in vitro bactericidal test and characterization by field emission scanning electron microscopy. The tested groups demonstrated a non-significant microbiological reduction in the postmortem periapical index values between the control group and the bactericidal glass-ceramic group (p = 0.885), and between the control group and the ZnO-enriched glass group (p = 0.169). The histological results showed low values of inflammatory infiltrate, and a healing pattern characterized by fibrosis in 44.4% of the G3T glass-ceramic and 60.0% of ZnO-enriched glass. Bactericidal glassy additives incorporated in this root canal sealer are safe and effective in bacterial reduction.


Only a few prospective studies have investigated flavonols as risk factors for cancer, none of which has included pancreatic cancer. The latter is usually fatal, rendering knowledge about prevention particularly important. The authors estimated intakes of three flavonols-quercetin, kaempferol, and myricetin-for 183,518 participants in the Multiethnic Cohort Study and examined associations with incidence of pancreatic cancer. Baseline data were collected in Hawaii and California in 1993-1996. Diet was assessed by using a quantitative food frequency questionnaire. During 8 years of follow-up, 529 cases of exocrine pancreatic cancer occurred. Multivariate Cox regression models were calculated to estimate relative risks. Intake of total flavonols was associated with a reduced pancreatic cancer risk (relative risk for the highest vs. lowest quintile = 0.77, 95% confidence interval: 0.58, 1.03; p trend = 0.046). Of the three individual flavonols, kaempferol was associated with the largest risk reduction (relative risk = 0.78, 95% confidence interval: 0.58, 1.05; p trend = 0.017). Total flavonols, quercetin, kaempferol, and myricetin were all associated with a significant inverse trend among current smokers (relative risks for the highest vs. lowest quartile = 0.41, 0.55, 0.27, 0.55, respectively) but not never or former smokers. This study provides evidence for a preventive effect of flavonols on pancreatic cancer, particularly for current smokers.


Introduction. Skeletal malocclusions, especially those with a prominent vertical component, always present a challenge for the interdisciplinary approach to their treatment planning. The aim of this report is to present a patient with a complex skeletal deformity in all three directions (vertical, sagittal and transverse). Case report. A twenty-four year old female patient with a skeletal Class III malocclusion, open bite and laterognathia, was firstly treated by orthodontic fixed appliances, whereas the dental decompensation of dentoalveolar structures was carried out and adjusted to their bone structures, thus enabling an adequate and sufficient reposition of the jaw. A surgical correction included bi-maxillary osteotomy due to pronounced vertical cephalometric parameters, necessitating a posterior maxillary intrusion and mandibular repositioning. In that manner, the relapse was prevented and a long-term stable result obtained. In the retention period, the patient wore removable bi-maxillary retention devices. Conclusion. The combined orthodontic-surgical treatment provided the Class I occlusion with aesthetic and functionally satisfactory results which were envisioned by the treatment plan.


Man from the start of time is known to have construction etiquettes. In the high-rise buildings, the core is one of the most important elements in such enormous structures. Fast and efficient construction of the concrete core of a high-rise building is essential to maintain phased progress on other parts of the building. Formwork is one of the most important factors in determining the success of a construction project in terms of speed, quality, cost and safety of work as it accounts about forty percent of the total project cost of the structure. In high rise building construction, the most efficient way to speed up the work is by achieving a very short floor cycle. That directly depends on the selected formwork for the construction.The formwork development is equally important to the development of concrete in the construction industry. Nowadays extra effort has been put to improve the design of shuttering which ultimately leads to the reduction in weight. Apart from the primary materials of conventional techniques, the materials are now extended to aluminum, plastic, fibre glass, etc. Significant use of advanced formwork is suitable for complex construction processes and provides best results in cost effectiveness. This project describes the comparative analysis of conventional formwork and modern formwork techniques based on different parameters. IndexTerms—Mivan, yokes, batten, shuttering. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________


The establishment of the State of Israel in the constructivist perspective
The subject of the following essay is the process of establishing of a Jewish state, analysed by using categories of constructivism – one of the most dynamically developing theories on the ground of international relations. The author, by means of ideas used often by constructivists, aims to analyse the process from the end of 19th century to 14th May 1948, when the State of Israel was officially proclaimed. In the preface the main aim and the methodology of the essay is outlined. In the first chapter, the author outlines the most important assumptions, genesis and characteristic features of the constructivist perspective, in order to characterize this paradigm. The next chapter analyses three episodes of building an Israeli State: the first one between the end of 19th century and the end of I World War, second – between I and II World War and third – after II World War to 14th May 1948. All of these episodes are analysed using three essential spheres for constructivism: values, institutions and the identities created by activity of charismatic individuals. The summary recapitulates all the observations made in the essay.


Abstract : This document presents a Historic Properties Management Plan (HPMP) for the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System (ABFS) Project. The primary goal of the plan is to provide the outline of a program for compliance with historic preservation requirements on lands managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the Atchafalaya Basin. The project area consists of approximately 595,000 acres lying between the East and West Atchafalaya Basin Protection Levees and from U.S. Highway 190 to Morgan City, Louisiana. Its authorized features include 1) the purchase of 50,000 acres for public access; 2) the acquisition of flowage control easements over 59,000 acres of private lands; 3) the acquisition of developmental control and environmental protection easements for 338,000 acres; 4) the purchase of 1500 acres for recreational development by the non-federal sponsor of the project; and 5) the development of two or more water management units. The statutory and regulatory bases of the Historic Properties Management Plan are summarized, and previous cultural resources research in the Atchafalaya Basin is reviewed. Models of the distribution of terrestrial sites and shipwrecks, derived from this research, are briefly discussed. The impacts of past flood control and navigation projects in the Atchafalaya Basin on cultural resources are summarized and the potential impacts of the various features of the ABFS Project are discussed. Finally, recommendations are offered for prioritizing future cultural resources investigations and for compliance procedures for specific %project activities.


In 1677, Solomon Stoddard (1643–1729), a prominent minister of a church in Northampton, made a controversial decision. Contrary to the established practice of New England Puritan ministers that allowed only those with evidence of conversion to partake in the communion, he opened the Lord's Supper to anyone who professed Christian belief and lived a respectable public life, calling the sacrament a "converting ordinance." Samuel Hopkins (1721–1803) later wrote that Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758)—Stoddard's grandson and successor at Northampton—had been hesitant about adopting this view upon his coming to the church, though he did not have the "conviction" fully to judge it negatively at first. After Stoddard passed away in February 1729, Edwards took over his ministry. However, he kept silent regarding his view on the topic.


In this paper, a single-feed planar antenna for electric and magnetic fields reception (SPAEM) is proposed in order to decrease the change of received signal level and improve the receiving signal quality. The SPAEM is composed of a line element and a conducting ground plane with a slot which are printed on the dielectric substrate. The antenna has two functions. One is the function of a planar monopole antenna (PMA), and the other is the function of a planar slot antenna (PSA). Therefore, this antenna can receive both electric and magnetic fields by a single feed point. Return loss characteristics, current distribution, and radiation patterns are analyzed by the FDTD method. It is shown that the characteristics of the SPAEM combine those of the PMA with those of the PSA. The antenna keeps an independent resonant frequency even if the PMA and the PSA were combined using single feed structure. These results are described.


Various studies on suicide and the reasons why people commit it across cultures have been conducted. However, a global view of the suicide rates, has not been explored yet. This study will prove helpful in understanding further the effect of specific cultural and social factors of the phenomenon using Fractal Statistics. This statistical method describes the irregularity of the variable. Its appropriateness is anchored on the fact that Fractal Statistics as a tool can measure the non-normal behaviour of a data set such as those found in the suicide incidence report. The data associated with female suicide do not differ much from country to country. However, differences in the male suicide rate are immensely observable. Causes such as family breakdown, overwork, and employment security are identified. Yet, questions linger regarding this psychological "short circuit", especially on the high incidence of suicide in the male population traceable to lack of cultural support and men's unwillingness to talk about suicide..


Sir David Henderson, who died in 1965 at the age of 81 years, had written the greater part of the original edition as well as its subsequent eight editions over a period of 35 years, Dr. Ivor R. C. Batchelor, who is professor of psychiatry at the University of Dundee, has revised and added chapters to the present edition "to deal more fully with current interests and problems." Dr. Batchelor's eclecticism has led him to cover a wide range of topics, probably too wide to be entirely relevant to most students and practitioners for whom the book is intended—eg, why a chapter on epilepsy in a textbook on psychiatry? His broadminded point of view, in the tradition of most textbooks of psychiatry, is more balanced than integrated and it does not capture the flavor of the psychiatry of the 1960's which, as I think Grinker once put it, has been


Feng Yansi''s Ci plays an important role in the history of Ci, and influences the development of Ci at that time and later generations. The most representative of Feng Yansi''s achievements in Ci writing is his "Quetazhi(鹊踏枝)" Ci. In the "Quetazhi(鹊踏枝)" Ci, the poet melts his feelings into the scene and describes a real and perceptible picture. In the process of description, some contents endowed with deep meaning by the poet are highlighted and become figures. These figures activate the conceptual system of the reader''s cognition. In the process of reading, the reader visualizes and reason these concepts, and finally complete the understanding of Ci. It can be seen that the creation process of poets and the reading process of readers are inseparable from the psychological cognitive process, so it is feasible and effective to use the figure-ground theory to analyze the "Quetazhi(鹊踏枝)" Ci.
Previous studies on Feng Yansi''s Ci mainly focused on the artistic style, historical position and life experience of the poet, but they have not been studied from the perspective of the figure-ground theory, and previous studies on the "Quetazhi(鹊踏枝)" Ci are mostly focused on several of them, the rest are lack of specific analysis and research.
This paper intends to make a tentative analysis of the "Quetazhi(鹊踏枝)" Ci by using the figure-ground theory, and find out its internal cognitive motivation, so as to provide a new perspective for the analysis and interpretation of Feng Yansi''s Ci. This paper first uses the figure-ground theory to make a deep understanding of the text of each poem in the "Quetazhi(鹊踏枝)" Ci, and then sums up the expressions of figure and ground.In the "Quetazhi (鹊踏枝)" Ci, some images with their own independent characteristics are mostly constructed into figures to highlight the emotion of Ci writers. In addition, the figure-ground relationship is mainly reflected through the way of location words, figurative rhetoric, time relations and marked sentence patterns. Applying the figure-ground theory to the internal analysis of the "Quetazhi(鹊踏枝)" Ci can transform the abstract language into a vivid and perceptible picture, which enables readers to recognize and experience as if they were in the picture, so as to perceive the charm of a word from a new perspective.


ABSTRACT This article analyzes the permitting proceeding for the capacity expansion of the Dakota Access and Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipelines in Illinois. Drawing on field research undertaken between 2018–2021, we examine how a grassroots-led coalition of climate activists – Save Our Illinois Land (SOIL) – navigated the Illinois Commerce Commission's institutional context to oppose regulatory approval. We argue that SOIL mobilized procedural aspects of the regulatory process to politicize a highly path-dependent and techno-managerial administrative proceeding. SOIL did so to open political space for greater consideration of and deliberation around socio-ecological challenges like climate change in pipeline governance. While U.S. focused, our findings highlight the difficulties inherent to employing institutionalized participation as a mechanism to politicize energy governance and engage in contentious energy politics. Climate advocates face complex challenges that inhibit their ability to unsettle the power structures that reinforce carbon-intensive systems and promote inclusive and climate-driven energy infrastructure governance.


Now a days the depletion of forests and the need for their restoration are well recognised. In restoring forests, the first step is to quantify the actual and potential levels of  natural regeneration ability of plant by examining the role of soil seed banks as propagule donors. In present work, soil seedbank assessment of woody plant species was made in Ramsai forests so as to evaluate composition and estimate their regeneration status. A total of 24 quadrates were established in selected six sites of the forest. The quadrates (20m x 20m) were laid along line transects.Composition and status were determined by direct count. Results showed the presence of seeds of 14 plant species in the soil. Shorea robusta had the highest seed density and Importance Value Index.The similarity between the soil seed bank, and above-ground vegetation was more or less same in most of the quadrate sites. Regeneration was abundant in some species, but poor in many others. The natural regeneration process should therefore be assisted through direct seeding planting .


Religion is a defining factor in the identity formation process of a minority community. Historically, religion has often been used as a driving force behind the introduction, development and completion of projects that require collective effort. In fact, in many cases, religion has been an extreme denominator that has created new communities of practice, or solidified existing ones. A unifying force, religion and its expressions in liturgical or everyday forms is an overarching element that unites members of these communities beyond the geographic or temporal limitations. Today, new technologies are paramount in online and digital archives of minority communities, especially in ways that these communities use these technologies to retell and "exhibit" their identity online. Crowdsourcing archives with user-generated material can add valuable context to archival holdings, shed light on hidden collections, and tie them with material in other institutions or countries. In the context of this paper, the notion of crowdsourcing in archives will be examined through the lens of religion and a classification of such initiatives will be proposed.


In this paper, we develop a simple analytical technique to determine P({Q>q}), the tail of the queue length distribution, at an ATM multiplexer. The ATM multiplexer is modeled as a fluid queue serving a large number of independent sources. Our method is based on the central limit theorem and the maximum variance approximation, and enables us to avoid the state explosion problem. The approach is quite general and not limited by a Markovian framework. We apply our analytical method to study the buffer behavior for various traffic sources such as multiplexed homogeneous and heterogeneous Markov modulated sources, sources that are correlated at multiple time scales, sources whose autocorrelation function exhibits heavy (sub-exponential) tail behavior, and sources generated from real MPEG-encoded video sequences.


Mapping Science across countries is a challenging task in the field of Scientometrics. A number of efforts trying to cope with this task has been discussed in the state of the art, addressing this challenge by processing collections of scientific digital libraries and visualizing author-based measures (for instance, the h-index) or document-based measures (for instance, the averaged number of citations per document). A major drawback of these approaches is related to the presence of bias. The bigger the country, the higher the measure value. We explore the use of an econometric index to tackle this limitation, known as the Revealed Comparative Advantage measure (RCA). Using RCA, the diversity and ubiquity of each field of knowledge is mapped across countries. Then, a RCA-based proximity function is explored to visualize citation and h-index ubiquity. Science maps relating 27 knowledge areas and 237 countries are introduced using data crawled from Scimago that ranges from 1996 to 2011. Our results shows that the proposal is feasible and can be extended to ellaborate a global scientific production characterization.


Breastfeeding is a healthy activity necessary for the babies' growth and development. The United Nations Children's Funds (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend that children only be exclusively breastfed for six months and continue for up to two years. This study objective is to describe the coverage of exclusive breastfeeding based on the coverage of infant health services and neonatal visits in the North Buton Regency for the 2018-2020 period. This is a survey research using the health report data of the North Buton Regency Health Office for the 2018-2020 period involving exclusive breastfeeding coverage data and coverage of infant health services as well as complete neonatal visits. The type of research data is numerical and the research data is presented in the form of graphs with narration. The coverage of exclusive breastfeeding for infants up to the age of 6 months was the highest in 2019 at the Kulisusu Public Health Center at 92% and the lowest in 2020 at the Kioko Public Health Center at only 43.1%. The highest coverage of baby services was in the year 2018 at the Lakansai Public Health Center at 183% and the lowest in 2019 at the Lakansai Public Health Center at only 0.0%. In 2020 the lowest at the North Wakorumba Public Health Center at only 0.0%.
Keywords: Exclusive breastfeeding, Babies, Health services


Gastric volvulus is an infrequent event and few clinical cases are an important experience. Diagnosis, both clinical and radiological, is not difficult if you think of gastric volvulus; abdomen X-ray is often sufficient to clear up diagnostic doubts. First diagnosis can be quickly confirmed by X-ray examination of digestive organs that provides us with further information: contemporaneous ulcerative of neoplastic lesions, characteristics of bowels whirling round. Endoscopic and manometric evaluation must be performed only in recurrent or chronic cases, when there's no symptom of clinical urgency. Authors describe their experience of three cases observed in the last ten years and underline the importance of deciding and performing the surgical treatment quickly to avoid serious complications, in all doubtful cases. It is important to carry out an operation compared to the pathogenesis of volvulus: generally gastropexy is sufficient while radical operations are executed only in cae of gastric necrosis or in the presence of gastric neoplasms or ulcerative lesions.


Background: Jaundice is very common in the neonatal period of life especially hyperbilirubinemia>12 mg/dl. Although it is not a major cause of mortality, it is an important cause of morbidity. So, assessment of the prevalence and risk factors of neonatal jaundice is very important. Objectives: The objectives of the study were to estimate the prevalence,to identify the risk factors and to findout the association between hyperbilirubinemia with selected neonatal,maternal,environmental and socio demographic variablesand to identify the risk factors. Methodology: This descriptive cross sectional survey study was conducted among 200 neonates of 37 completed weeks of gestation. Subjects were selected by using total enumerative sampling.Transcutaneous bilirubin was measured by bilirubinometer,clinical and demographic variables collected by using semi structured questionnaire and the risk factors were assessed by interview schedule. Results:Research showed that most of neonates (81.5%) had Transcutaneous bilirubin level more than 12mg/dl, out of that (15% )subjects had elevated level of bilirubin 15- 20mg/dl. It is concluded that there is high prevalence of hyperbilirubinemia among neonates . It is evident that neonates developed hyperbilirubinemia by 48 to 72 hours. It is inferred that prevalence of hyperbilirubinemia was high at 72 hours (56.5%) after birth compared to 48 hours of birth (38%). There was a significant association between level of hyperbilirubinemia and family history of genetic diseases (P=0.003),parity (p=0.03, χ2=4.37),mode of conception(p=0.012, χ2=6.37), and gestational age(P=0.04),gender of the neonate (p=0.004, χ2=8.1)and duration of second stage of labour (p=0.026, χ2=7.27). The study revealed that the family history of genetic diseases (p=0.004),(OR=0.09) at level of significance 0.05,is a risk factor leads to hyperbilirubinemia. Conclusion: Neonatal jaundice is a leading cause of hospitalisation in the first few weeks of life throughout the world.Though major complications may arise like kernicterus,encephalopathy and neural sequlae.Hence there is an exigent need for assessing the bilirubin value in the routine neonatal assessment.


Vascular aging is associated with progressive deterioration of vascular homeostasis, a phenomenon that affects organs in different extent. The small vessels of the corpus cavernosum (CC) are very sensitive to functional and structural changes, and particularly susceptible to age-related modifications and atherosclerotic occlusion. Penile erection is a vascular event largely regulated by the relaxation of arterial and corporal smooth muscle (SM) that directly relates to its content and integrity, and inversely to that of connective tissue (CT). Corpora expansion also depends on nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability, a molecule with recognized vasodilatory and antifibrotic properties. Thus, endothelial dysfunction mainly provoked by NO loss is currently considered equivalent to vasculogenic erectile dysfunction (ED), and the earliest clinical manifestation of atherosclerosis and systemic vascular disease. Collagen deposition in tissues, such as CC and heart, strongly compromises their function and is one of the causes of ED and cardiac failure, respectively, but as far as we know no correlation between peripheral and cardiac endothelial dysfunction has been already demonstrated. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate morphological structure and collagen deposition in rat CC, myocardium and tail artery during aging, under high-fat diet (HFD) consumption (a strong contributor to endothelial dysfunction onset), and energy restriction.


General intensional programming compiler (GIPC) is one component of the general intensional programming system (GIPSY) that aims at the development of a programming system that would allow dynamic investigations on the possibilities of intensional programming and all its widely different flavors and domains of application. To cope with the constant evolution of intensional programming languages, we design the system in a very flexible infrastructure for the generation of compiler components upon the creation of a new version. This work focuses on one and most important component that is about the generation of the translator between generic and specific intensional programming languages.


To study exposure to environmental tobacco smoke during the first year of life, 220 infants attending the outpatient paediatric clinic of the University of Jordan for routine visits with their mothers were recruited to the study. Mothers completed a questionnaire about smoking habits of household members, and urine samples were obtained from infants for analysis of cotinine levels. A total of 60.0% of infants were reported to be exposed to passive smoking at home and 36.4% had detectable levels of urine cotinine (mean 7.1 ng/mL, range 0.27-41 ng/mL). Detectable saliva cotinine levels in 8/20 mothers of neonates (1-2 days old) suggested in utero exposure. Recommendations are made to protect this vulnerable population from tobacco smoke exposure.


: Contemporary vascular management results in significant reduction of stroke risk. Carotid endarterectomy is both safe and effective, often with a 1 or 2-day hospital stay. State-of-the-art nursing practice is key to the efficacy of patient management.


Reconstructing the emplacement path of a diapiric sequence is relatively complex, in part because the stratigraphic (top versus bottom) sense of the sequence can be obscured by the complex structure. Paleomagnetic study of the diapiric sequence may reveal simultaneously three characteristics of it: (1) the stratigraphic sense, (2) the three-dimensional rotation path of the tilted sequence, and (3) the magnetic polarity of the sequence. We apply paleomagnetism to reconstruct the emplacement path of the Sedom diapir in the Dead Sea Rift, Israel. This application resolves the ambiguity regarding the geometrical orientation of the thickest intrarift stratigraphic section (2 km) exposed in the Dead Sea region. We here report the natural remanent magnetization for 172 oriented samples (mainly dolomite and siltstone) from seven localities in the steeply inclined beds of the Sedom diapir. A fold test, as well as other field and laboratory tests, shows that the characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM) component of the rocks was acquired before the tilting of the Sedom sequence, whereas the low-coercivity magnetic component of probably chemical remanent magnetization origin was acquired after the tilting. This low-coercivity (secondary) component, likely acquired in the Brunhes Normal chron, records up to 40° young counterclockwise rotation about a vertical axis. The ChRM and secondary components (together with the bedding plane) were restored to their expected (original) position by rotating them about horizontal, vertical, or inclined axes to get the complete three-dimensional rotation path. The resulting structure of the southern Sedom diapir is composed of a thin western "salt wall" that is juxtaposed against a thick eastern salt wall. In the northern part of the mountain apparently only the thick eastern salt wall is exposed.


Relationship between nitrogen/potassium with Phoma spot and nutrition of coffee seedlings cultivated in nutrient solution This work was carried out to evaluate different dosages of N and K amended through roots via nutrient solution on the intensity of Phoma spot in coffee seedlings, and to determine the dry matter and the concentration of macro and micronutrients in the aerial part of coffee seedlings inoculated with Phoma tarda. Treatments encompassed 5 dosages of K (4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 mmol/L) combined to 5 dosages of N (3, 7, 11, 15 and 19 mmol/L), in 25 treatments and three replicates. This assay was repeated three times at 20oC. By increasing the amended N, there was a linear increase of 34.8% for AUIPC (Area under incidence progress curve) and 34.3% for AUSPC (Area under severity progress curve). By increasing the K, there was a square-shaped reduction for both AUIPC and AUSPC. The dry matter of coffee seedlings increased linearly with the increase in the amended N. By increasing the amended N, a corresponding increase in shoot N content was observed. Dosages of potassium significantly influenced the N, K, Ca, S and B contents in the shoot of coffee seedlings. Thus, balanced fertilization, besides minimizing nutritional problems, can be manipulated to reduce the number of fungicide applications in this pathosystem.


Active learning(AL) has been successful based on the premise that labeled and unlabeled data come from the same class distribution. However, its performance undergoes a severe deterioration under class distribution mismatch, wherein the unlabeled data contain numerous instances out of the class distribution of labeled data. In this article, we solve this practical yet rarely studied problem by minimizing the AL error, which is formally defined and decomposed as the valid query error and invalid query error. Specifically, the invalid query error is associated with the queries from unknown categories, and the valid query error is attributed to less informative queries from target categories. In light of this discovery, we propose a contrastive AL framework, named ConAL, to simultaneously learn the semantics and distinctiveness of the instances by contrastive techniques, thereby reducing the invalid query error and valid query error, respectively. Theoretically, we prove that the AL error of ConAL has a tight upper bound. Experimentally, ConAL achieves superior performance on two benchmark datasets, CIFAR10 and CIFAR100, and a cross-dataset with class distribution across multi-datasets. Furthermore, we validate that the ConAL technique performs admirably even on the realistic dataset. To the best of our knowledge, ConAL is the first AL work for class distribution mismatch.


We propose a microphone array network that realizes ubiquitous sound acquisition. Nodes with 16 microphones are connected to form a large sound acquisition system that carries out voice activity detection (VAD), sound source localization and sound source separation. The three operations are distributed among nodes using network. Because the VAD is implemented to manage power consumption, the system consumes little power when speech is not active. The power of the VAD module is only 2.1 mW on an FPGA. The system can improve an SNR by 7.75 dB using 112 microphones.


Background: As Type 2 diabetes (T2D) progresses, initiation of insulin therapy may become necessary to maintain glycemic management and prevent further health complications; however, therapeutic inertia in insulin initiation is common. This study aimed to understand perceptions of and barriers towards insulin therapy among people with T2D.
 Methods: In December 2021, 1,939 non-insulin-using adults with T2D responded to an online questionnaire. Those whose doctor had previously discussed insulin therapy with them (n=143) completed a series of questions evaluating perceptions and barriers toward insulin on a 5-point Likert scale and indicated their preferred alternatives to starting insulin. Health and demographic information were collected.
 Results: Nearly three quarters (73%) cited worries that once they start taking insulin, they would have to take it for the rest of their life. Over half (58%) felt that starting insulin would mean they were not adequately taking care of their diabetes, and 44% felt upset when their doctor first brought up insulin therapy. Concerns about weight gain (49%) , hypoglycemia (48%) , and hesitancy toward injections (43%) were also common. Only 22% felt confident that taking insulin would improve their diabetes management, and 69% believed they could improve their diabetes management without insulin. The most common preferred steps instead of starting insulin were altering diet (70%) and exercising more frequently (64%) ; 43% would rather start taking a new oral drug, while fewer would try a non-insulin injectable medication (22%) .
 Conclusions: Insulin initiation may be associated with not only undesirable side effects, but also negative emotions and self-perceptions in adults with T2D. Many do not see insulin as necessary for improving their diabetes management and would prefer to make other changes. A better understanding of perceptions towards insulin therapy can help inform approaches to care.

 J.Stevenson: Other Relationship; Abbott Diabetes, Ascensia Diabetes Care, Beta Bionics, Inc., Dexcom, Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, Insulet Corporation, LifeScan, Medtronic, Roche Diabetes Care, Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. E.Xu: Employee; dQ&A. E.Monroy-spangenberg: Employee; dQ&A, Stock/Shareholder; Senseonics. E.Ye: Employee; dQ&A. R.Wood: Other Relationship; Multiple companies and patient organizations (>10) .


Since households are one of the most energy-intensive sectors in Europe, retrofit of dwellings is promoted to increase energy efficiency. Recent research, however, shows that the energy performance after retrofit does not always meet the target values, which can be caused by amongst other things, a deviating building envelope performance. This paper compares the theoretical and measured building envelope performance for a real-life case study in post-retrofit state, in order to illustrate the limitations of calculation methods and characterization models. First, the performance is evaluated on building scale by verifying the correspondence between the default theoretical heat loss coefficient (HLC) and the measured HLC, which was determined by following the guidelines formulated within IEA EBC Annex 58 and Annex 71. In order to illustrate the limitations of the standard calculation method in real-life conditions, the theoretical variability of the HLC is evaluated, generated by variating infiltration heat losses and heat exchange with neighboring dwellings. Second, the performance is investigated on a component scale by assessing the theoretical and measured thermal resistances, identified from heat flux tests. Additionally, nonhomogeneous assembled components and air leaks are simulated to verify probable causes for the locally varying measured values and to illustrate the limitations of calculations and characterization methods. The results illustrate the limitations of the calculation methods by the assessment of the strong variability of the theoretical HLC, depending on assumptions regarding infiltration and heat exchange with neighboring dwellings. In addition, component simulations indicated that deficiencies on a component scale could be caused by a nonhomogeneous assembly and air cavity flows of the component. Moreover, a detailed assessment of an unreliable thermal resistance illustrates the limitations of the used characterization method. Finally, a contrast was found between the quite good performance on building scale (15% deviation between the theoretical and measured HLC) and poor performance on a component scale (only one out of nine monitored components met their theoretical target values), which illustrates the complexity of the building envelope performance.


Faculty in the nursing, medical, and pharmacy schools of a midwestern university health sciences center responded to a two-part instrument intended to determine the extent of 1) their commitment to implement recommended changes in their teaching activities and 2) their perceptions of the extent to which such changes had been implemented throughout their respective schools. Factor analysis and analysis of variance revealed variable degrees of commitment to change in teaching activities, as well as perceptions that such changes had not been implemented widely throughout the schools. The data suggested that faculty adjusted traditional instructional practices to fit new resources and expanded programs, rather than implementing changes in their instructional methods and techniques as the overall programs changed.


Huntington Library MS HM 64 is a collection in 197 folios of some seventeen tracts of varying size and content. It was written in England apparently about 1475. This provisional date is based on the relative chronology of a series of related glossaries, several of which will be discussed below. That this date applies to the codex as a whole may be inferred from the fact that it is written throughout in the same hand and that the pagination in a contemporary, if not the same, hand is continuous. What little is known of the later history of the codex will be found in W. J. Wilson's study of alchemical manuscripts.1 It may be, owing to the heterogeneous nature of the material in the codex, that it has not been examined as carefully as other English writings of a similar nature and date. The contents were described by Wilson, though he did not examine it personally. His interest in the alchemical portions precluded a detailed analysis of all of the tracts. Consequently, his descriptions of the nonalchemical portions are brief and, in at least one place, of questionable accuracy. In addition to the usual extracts and anonymous pieces, there is a plague tract, several astronomical and alchemical tracts, and three glossaries. These latter occupy folios 125r135r, 176v-183v, and 184r,-19Ov. It is the last of these three glossaries, described by Wilson as " A dictionary of herbs in Latin," which I shall discuss here. These fourteen leaves contain a glossary of plants, minerals, and animal products used as drugs plus a few miscellaneous items denoting pharmaceutical equipment and other matters of interest to the physician and apothe-


Population-wise matching of the cortical folds is necessary to compute statistics, a required step for e.g. identifying biomarkers of neurological or psychiatric disorders. The difficulty arises from the massive inter-individual variations in the morphology and spatial organization of the folds. The task is challenging both methodologically and conceptually. In the widely used registration-based techniques, these variations are considered as noise and the matching of folds is only implicit. Alternative approaches are based on the extraction and explicit identification of the cortical folds. In particular, representing cortical folding patterns as graphs of sulcal basins—termed sulcal graphs—enables to formalize the task as a graph-matching problem. In this paper, we propose to address the problem of sulcal graph matching directly at the population level using multi-graph matching techniques. First, we motivate the relevance of the multi-graph matching framework in this context. We then present a procedure for generating populations of artificial sulcal graphs, which allows us to benchmark several state-of-the-art multi-graph matching methods. Our results on both artificial and real data demonstrate the effectiveness of multi-graph matching techniques in obtaining a population-wise consistent labeling of cortical folds at the sulcal basin level.


The fractions obtained from purified rabbit antihapten antibody by papain digestion, which contain the antibody combining site (ADDS or ADS-I), were unable to sensitize the skin of the guinea pig for PCA or RPCA reactions. These fractions, however, when mixed with the intact antibody specifically inhibited the latter from producing PCA reactions showing that they can combine in vivo with the antigen. From a kinetic study it was concluded that these fractions diffuse away faster from the injection site than does the intact antibody. These fractions showed a precipitation line in agar double diffusion with horse-anti-rabbit γ-globulin. The fraction without antibody combining site (ADDP) can produce good RPCA reactions. It was concluded that the failure of ADDS and ADS-I to produce PCA or RPCA reactions is due to their inability to be "fixed" to the guinea pig tissues and that this "fixation" site is present on ADDP.


With the right government support and with efforts to fast-track stronger environmental building standards, Australian homes and neighbourhoods could be emissions free and water efficient by 2020, according to this report. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Climate change presents a clear and present danger to ecosystems, communities and economies. As Professor Garnaut so powerfully stated "the failure of our generation (to address climate change) would lead to consequences that would haunt humanity until the end of time". With further climate change already locked in based on historical emissions it is clear that climate change will impact directly on our homes and we need to prepare them for higher temperatures, more erratic weather and extreme weather events and higher energy and water costs. It makes sense to prepare our homes to withstand future environmental and economic shocks with better design, glazing, insulation and water-efficiency measures. At the same time, the residential housing sector is a major contributor to our total greenhouse emissions. The residential sector contributes 17.5 percent of Victoria's greenhouse gas emissions. By 2010, emissions from buildings are estimated to increase by more than 48 percent above 1990 levels. Yet greenhouse gas emissions from the average home can be reduced by more than 75 percent with energy efficient design and appliances. If the remaining energy demand is supplied with renewable energy further greenhouse savings are possible. It is even possible to achieve a house with zero net carbon emissions. Implementing cost-effective, simple water-saving measures at the same time can help us adapt to the impacts of climate change, such as drought. The majority of homes that we build today will still be in place in 2050. Building these new homes to yesterday's water and energy efficiency standards will lock us into high emissions and water use far into the future. This report recommends that Australian governments adopt a goal of requiring new homes and neighborhoods to be 'climate safe' by 2020 to guide both regulation and incentives. This would mean that new homes would need to have zero net carbon emissions and be extremely water efficient. The report suggests that Australian governments follow the example of the UK Government which has committed to building all new homes to zero emissions standards from 2016 onwards, and established a task force to set interim standards and programs to make progress towards this target. Australian Governments recently committed through the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) to increase the energy efficiency standards for new residential buildings to six stars or equivalent nationally as part of the 2010 update of the Building Code of Australia. While the COAG commitment is a good move forward for all Australian states, a 6 star energy efficiency requirement is only a half step towards preparing our new building stock for the future. Ultimately, if we are to avert catastrophic climate change and prepare our houses to cope with predicted temperature and price shocks, we should be aiming for building standards that require a 'climate safe' home – that is a zero net emissions home which is also highly water efficient. Given the length of time today's houses will be in use, it is essential that any decisions taken now to raise building standards represent a decisive first step along the road towards this long-term goal. Focusing particularly on Victoria, this report makes a convincing case for raising the required standard for new homes and renovations to at least 7 to 8 Stars and for including complementary water efficiency measures. The report highlights that moving to at least 7 stars would increase the affordability of purchasing and living in a home as the energy and water cost savings would far outweigh the slightly increased up front construction cost. It also outlines further benefits of higher building standards including further job creation in building industries. However as new homes will account for just 15 percent of Australia's housing stock by 2020, a focus solely on standards for new homes will not achieve the 'mass greening' of our housing stock we need. An estimated 1.9 million Victorian homes built before 2004 still have energy ratings of 2 Stars or less, while at least 50 percent of Melbourne households do not have a water-efficient showerhead and 20 percent still have at least one single flush toilet. Improved standards for new homes must therefore be complemented by a concerted program to upgrade the energy and water efficiency of our existing housing stock as well. At present, our poor quality housing stock is part of the climate change problem. But as this report shows, with the right mix of policies the housing sector can become an important part of the solution. A full summary of policy recommendations to achieve climate safe programs is at the end of this report. Prepared by Australian Conservation Foundation, Environment Victoria, the Alternative Technology Association, Friends of the Earth and the Moreland Energy Foundation.


Background/Aims : Many factors could be responsible for poor environmental health situations. Methodology : A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted in Layin Zomo, a semi-urban community located in Sabon Gari Local Government Area of Kaduna State to assess availability of environmental health facilities in a semi-urban community in Northern Nigeria. Findings : Results from the study shows that the environmental health status of the community is in conformity with national figure which is far below the acceptable standards. Conclusion : More detail environmental health study needs to be undertaken to assist in designing comprehensive and sustainable policy, programmes and activities. Keywords : environmental health, assessment, semi-urban community Sahel Medical Journal Vol. 8(4) 2005: 88-91


The current study was undertaken for the preliminary investigation of the analgesic, cytotoxic, antioxidant, and thrombolytic properties of the methanolic extract of Stachytarpheta cayennensis (Rich.) Vahl leaves. Both the central and peripheral analgesic action of the crude extract of methanol were significant and the analgesic effect increases with the increasing of dose and time with the pronounced effect at 600 mg/kg body weight. According to the brine shrimp lethality bioassay, the pet-ether soluble fraction (PESF) displayed notable cytotoxic action showing LC50 value (5.33 μg/ml) among the fractions as compared to the standard vincristine sulfate (0.452 μg/ml) and crude extract of the leaves contained a total phenolic content ranging from 18.68-145.98 mg of GAE/gm while revealing moderate thrombolytic activity.
Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Journal 26(1): 45-50, 2023 (January)


With many organizations, particularly higher education institutions, placing a priority on sustainability education it is important to have a measure of sustainability knowledge to assess growth over time. There have been several attempts using differing approaches to develop a valid assessment tool. However, given wide-ranging conceptual definitions of sustainability and diverse instructional techniques, we are skeptical that sustainability is a concept that can adequately be measured. The existing measures were developed using a top-down approach to question inclusion the questionnaire. As an alternative, in this paper we develop a new measure, using a bottom-up approach. In Study 1 with a sample from the University of California, Santa Barbara, we test the 44 item instrument with a large student sample. In Study 2, with a sample from Northern Illinois University, we test a shortened 10 item instrument in a different student population. Across both studies, we find little evidence for a coherent structure to sustainability knowledge. Yet, the 10 item measure correlates highly with the longer version and may be suitable to other research applications.


This paper presents the generalized multi-protocol label switching (GMPLS)-based transport architecture for next-generation wireless IP networks as well as the handoff procedure in such networks. A QoS-aware crossover LSR (label switching router) discovery (CLD) algorithm, to reroute a user connection during handoff in such networks, is proposed. In the proposed GMPLS-based wireless IP networks, when inter-cluster handoff occurs, it causes connection rerouting in the wired backbone network, and the connection rerouting operations are performed at the crossover LSR. The proposed CLD algorithm performs LSP rerouting with the target of maintaining QoS requirements for different traffic types. Comparing the proposed algorithm with three existing crossover switch discovery algorithms, it is our conclusion that the proposed CLD algorithm achieves better performance in terms of QoS maintenance and network resource utilization efficiency.


Rita Levi-Montalcini was born in 1909 in Turin. A medical doctor and neurobiologist, she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1986, together with Stanley Cohen, "for their discoveries of growth factors." In this [essay][1], she recounts her story of her life and research during the second world war in Italy, where she set up a laboratory in her bedroom to continue her research, and after the war in St. Louis and Rio de Janeiro. [][2]

 [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/287/5454/809
 [2]: http://


The authors report a case of a primary mucinous carcinoma of the skin. This is a rare adnexial tumor arising from the eccrine secretory coils. The histologic characteristic finding of this lesion is the heap of abundant mucinous material (sialomucin) in the dermis in which rare epithelial islands are free-floating. In this study we also value the importance of a correct diagnosis for an appropriate therapy.


We investigate the recently observed sidelobes in the angular distribution of high-order above-threshold ionization (ATI) by placing an atom in a bichromatic laser field of frequencies and where both components have a relative phase . Using an improved Keldysh - Faisal - Reiss (KFR) model, in which the Coulomb effects of the parent ions are taken into account, we show that even for a second field of very low intensity, drastic changes in the angular distributions occur as a function of the phase . Relations of our work to previous investigations are established.


The computer simulation of a memory device using a Gunn effect diode is described, and its detailed mechanism of operation is demonstrated. The method of computation is based on the relaxation technique to solve Poisson's equation describing the behavior of charges in the diode. The results of simulation prove the possibility of a memory operation of the device.


Background: Neurotization in breast reconstruction can be performed with the aid of nerve grafts and conduits to decrease the tedious dissection and overcome size mismatch. However, there has yet to be a formal analysis of this approach. The goal of this study was to evaluate sensory recovery after neurotized abdominally based free flaps for breast reconstruction using the authors' novel technique and analyze factors that could affect sensory recovery. Methods: A novel technique using processed nerve allograft in combination with a nerve conduit was used. Dynamic and static sensation recovery tests were performed in patients who underwent neurotized or nonneurotized abdominally based free flap reconstructions. Demographics, surgical details, and complications were analyzed. Statistical analyses were performed using chi-square and Mann-Whitney tests. Results: Fifty patients (78 breasts) were analyzed: 60 breasts with neurotized reconstruction and 18 breasts without. For patients with more than 12 months of follow-up, the neurotized cohort demonstrated improved dynamic tests compared to the nonneurotized cohort (38 ± 21.69 versus 56.17 ± 20.8, respectively; P = 0.014). Factors associated with decreased sensory return in patients who underwent neurotized reconstruction were diabetes, higher body mass index, skin-sparing mastectomy, higher American Society of Anesthesiologists class, history of radiation therapy, or history of hormonal therapy. Conclusions: This is the first study to report on outcomes of neurotized autologous breast reconstruction using a nerve graft and conduit technique. The authors' approach resulted in improved sensory outcomes compared to those in patients who did not undergo sensory reconstruction. Importantly, factors that can interfere with sensory recovery were identified. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, III.


The cooperation between established SMEs and innovative start-ups offers considerable opportunities for the respective companies and the German economy. New business models can be adopted, and innovative products can be jointly developed. In particular, the digitalisation of the 'German Mittelstand' could receive a boost through collaboration with digital start-ups. This could lead to an increase in the demographically induced declining growth potential of the German economy. In order to exploit the full potential of cooperation, cultural differences between the two types of company must be overcome and in case of different regional focal points, the initiation of contacts must be facilitated. Based on expert interviews in start-ups, SMEs and associations, this policy paper identifies opportunities to strengthen cooperative relationships between established SMEs and the growing start-up scene. The paper concludes with ten policy recommendations.


2-deoxy-2-(Fluorine-18) fluoro-D-glucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) has been used exclusively to diagnose malignancies. However, increased18F-FDG uptake is not always limited to malignant lesions. This imaging review demonstrates the physiological18F-FDG uptake of normal structures in the thorax and illustrates many benign pathological lesions with standardized uptake value >2.5. These various conditions can be broadly categorized into three groups: infective lesions, active granulomatous diseases such as sarcoidosis, noninfectious/inflammatory, or proliferative conditions such as radiation pneumonitis, postlung transplant lymphoproliferative disorders, occupational pleuropulmonary complications, and postsurgical conditions, all of which can demonstrate varying degrees of18F-FDG uptake on PET/CT based upon the degree of inflammatory activity. Familiarity of false-positive findings improves the PET/CT evaluation accuracy of benign lesions of the thorax. Radiation exposure and surgical history correlation along with imaging cross check evaluation of radiographs and magnetic resonance images for the anatomic location remains the mainstay of PET/CT characterization of positive findings.


On the north-west or Highland side of the great boundary fault which separates the Highlands from the Lowlands of Scotland there occur series of ancient rocks with roughly parallel outcrops, striking N.W. and S.E., and generally known as the Dalradian system. Though mostly consisting of altered sediments, the metamorphism of these sediments is by no means uniform, increasing, as it does, progressively both from the S.E. and from the N.W. towards a central axis.1 Thus the alteration is very slight in the case of the slates and grits, which are immediately adjacent to the fault (or in places separated from it only by the narrow "Boundary Fault Series"). This series of little-altered slates and grits—the Aberfoyle series—is problematic as to its relationship with the Dalradian system. Usually regarded as among the oldest members of the system, it has been suggested by Professor J. W. Gregory that this series is either one of the youngest members of that system or else is post-Dalradian.2 Apart from the grits, the Aberfoyle series consists mainly of phyllites, which are quarried for roofing slates at several places, such as Aberfoyle to the east and Luss to the west of Loch Lomond. The Survey maps indicate local bands of limestone in the phyllites, but apparently no descriptions of these bands have been published. The rock described in this paper was from one of these limestone outcrops, in the bed of the northern branch of the small burn flowing down Craperoch and entering Fruin Water just above This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract


This paper tests the relationship between trade and economic growth for the case of Romania, during 1998-2004. We employed cointegration and Granger-causality tests on stochastic systems composed of exports, imports and GDP. In order to have some degree of significance, we performed our tests on quarterly data. We found that exports do not Granger-cause GDP in the Romania's case, while the inverse relationship holds. The presence of imports in the stochastic models does not affect significantly the results. For validating our results, we performed the same tests on the 10 countries that entered EU on 1 May 2005, Bulgaria and EU with 15 members and EU with 25 members. We found that only in few cases – Czech Republic, EU 15 and Bulgaria, export-led-growth hypothesis is verified. Bi-directional causality found for exports and output in the case of Czech Republic and EU 15 is implying a virtuous circle of growth and exports, case that should be desirable for all the countries from the sample. The analyzed countries have situations which differ from case to case and a unified framework can not be applying for a generalization of the results.


Distributional semantic models learn vector representations of words through the contexts they occur in. Although the choice of context (which often takes the form of a sliding window) has a direct influence on the resulting embeddings, the exact role of this model component is still not fully understood. This paper presents a systematic analysis of context windows based on a set of four distinct hyper-parameters. We train continuous Skip-Gram models on two English-language corpora for various combinations of these hyper-parameters, and evaluate them on both lexical similarity and analogy tasks. Notable experimental results are the positive impact of cross-sentential contexts and the surprisingly good performance of right-context windows.


The energy efficiency and features of open docks and refrigerated docks are discussed. Two kinds of dock are analyzed under the same cold store conditions. Annual heat loads are calculated for the two cases. The results show that the annual refrigeration load of the refrigerated dock is only 31.1% of that for the open dock. The energy efficiency of the cold store, as well as the quality of refrigerated food, will obviously be improved when a refrigerated dock is adopted in a cold store.


Identifying database corresponding attributes in schema matching plays a key role in data integration in heterogeneous databases. Most of current approaches mainly use schema information of attribute. Little research has attempted to fully explore the use of data content. This paper introduces a novel schema matching algorithm based on data content, which has two-step process. First, through the analysis of the data pattern, we train a set of neural networks which used for calculating candidate matching pairs. Then we apply a rule-based algorithm to filter the candidate pairs and get correct matching result. The experiment result based on real data shows our proposed approach can improve the precision and recall of schema matching obviously. The approach can either be used independently or work together with other schema matching methods.


Abstract
A female Onchocerca was found in a nodular swelling removed from the wrist of a 48-year-old woman who had not been outside the area of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Missouri. Detailed examination of Onchocerca from man, horse, and cow demonstrated that on the basis of cuticle morphology the worm from the patient was distinguishable from O. volvulus obtained from subcutaneous nodules from man, O. lienalis from the gastrosplenic ligament of cattle, O. reticulata from the ligaments and flexor tendons of the legs of horses, and an Onchocerca species from the stifle joint of cattle. It closely resembled O. gutturosa and O. cervicalis from the ligamentum nuchae of the cow and horse, respectively. Its location in dense connective tissues possibly favors the likelihood of its being eventually identified as O. cervicalis. Neither O. gutturosa or O. cervicalis has been reported from the immediate locality of the patient's residence but both species probably occur there as do also their respective vectors, Culicoides and Simulium species. Three authentic cases of zoonotic onchocerciasis have been reported previously, one each from Switzerland, Crimea (USSR), and Canada.


Core-shell nanomaterials are fast-emerging hybrid nanocomposites in area of nanotechnology, materials science and biochemistry, which are fast attracting research attention. Nanostructured nanomaterials are utilized in wide industry fields such as electronics, biopharmaceutical, biomedicine, optics and biocatalysis. Owing to the additional exterior shell-coating material, the primary core material ' s functionality, biocompatibility, chemical stability and colloidal dispersibility can be greatly enhanced. Silica, in particular, is found to be an excellent exterior shell-coating material, has been widely researched for the synthesis of core-shell nanocomposite materials. So far, there have been numerous publications devoted to silica-coating techniques using hydrophobic silanes, such as tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) or tetramethyl orthosilicate (TMOS), via the classic Stober method. Recently, there has been strong interest in the use of water-soluble silanes such as MPTMS (3-(mercaptopropyl)-trimethoxysilane), MPTES (3-(mercaptopropyl-triethoxysilane), MTMS (3-(methyltrimethoxysilane)) and sodium silicate for water-based silica-coating techniques have gained much attention, due to the fast-growing need to focus on process simplicity, large-scale fabrication and environmental- friendly synthesis techniques of silica-based core-shell nanomaterials. Hence, this chapter focuses on the recent development on silica-coating techniques for colloidal nanoparticles, particularly on water-based techniques and morphologies. In summary, we emphasize the importance of advanced nanomaterials in today ' s world and envisage there will be more breakthrough research on aqueous silica-coating techniques for silica-encapsulated core-shell nanomaterials.


Water deficit (WD) in Lupinus albus L. brings about tissue-specific responses that are dependent on stress intensity. Carbohydrate metabolism is very sensitive to changes in plant water status. Six days from withholding water (DAW), sucrose, glucose and fructose levels of the leaf blade had already increased over 5-fold, and the activities of SS and INV(A) had increased c. 1.5-2 times. From 9 DAW on, when stress intensity was more pronounced, these effects were reversed with fructose and glucose concentrations as well as INV(A) activity dropping in parallel. The stem (specifically the stele) responded to the stress intensification with striking increases in the concentration of sugars, N and S, and in the induction of thaumatin-like-protein and an increase in chitinase and peroxidase. At 13 DAW, the plants lost most of the leaves but on rewatering they fully recovered. Thus, the observed changes appear to contribute to a general mechanism of survival under drought, the stem playing a key role in that process.


The Electronic Cryptographic Data Management System (ECDMS) is designed for secure and correct preparation of cryptographic data. The process of preparation consists of three stages generally: planning of secure connections, generation of required keys and distribution of produced data to points of exploitation. These steps have to be perform sequentially. The planning can be realized by "according to needs" or "each to each" method. First method is inconvenient in use while second one extends time of data generation significantly. However the distribution process takes still the most of time. Till now distribution was realized by couriers. Nowadays, thanks to available secure telecommunication infrastructure, distribution can be realized in electronic way. A replacement of courier distribution with electronic one enables to improve efficiency and flexibility of ECDMS. Time of delivery data to devices is negligibly short and, in consequence, processes of planning and generation became a bottle neck in this case. In the article we will prove that in extreme situations method "according to needs" is impracticable and use of "each to each" method causes that time of data generation is unacceptably long. In answer to these difficulties we propose new method of secure connections planning called adaptive method. It combines advantages of two previous methods and eliminates disadvantages. One, crucial requirement for using this method is availability of communication infrastructure that will allow ECDMS to monitor work of supported devices.


Great whales have been detected using very‐high‐resolution satellite imagery, suggesting this technology could be used to monitor whales in remote areas. However, the application of this method to whale studies is at an early developmental stage and several technical factors need to be addressed, including capacity for species differentiation and the maximum depth of detection in the water column. Both require knowledge of the spectral reflectance of the various whale species just above the sea surface, as when whales bodies break the surface of the water to breath, log or breach, there is, at times, no sea water between the whale's skin and the satellite sensor. Here we tested whether such reflectance could be measured on dead whale tissue. We measured the spectral reflectance of fresh integument collected during the bowhead subsistence harvest, and of thawed integument samples from various species obtained following strandings and stored at −20°C. We show that fresh and thawed samples of whale integument have different spectral properties. The reflectance of fresh samples was higher than the reflectance of thawed samples, as integument appears to darken after death and with time, even under frozen conditions. In this study, we present the first whale reflectance estimates (without the influence of sea water and for dead tissue). These provide a baseline for additional work, needed to advance the use of satellite imagery to monitor whales and facilitate their conservation.