Between the 17/1/2000 and the 31/3/2000 a study was carried out in 5000 general practitioners in the management of patients with acute maxillary sinusitis. The general practitioners filled out a questionnaire in 2 parts: the first part about their management (diagnosis-treatment) and the second part included 1 case study. According to the results of the first part, acute maxillary sinusitis occurred frequently during the winter months adding further complications. The second part of the study confirmed the finding of the first part. Analysis of case study demonstrates that this pathology affected men at the median age 37.6. The incidence of bilateral sinusitis is (61.4%) maxillary (61.1%), frontal (31.7%), ethmoidomaxillary (9.4%) or sphenoidal (1.7%). One quarter of patients participated in further medical investigations that included regular X rays of sinus and 14% patients in anterior rhinoscopy. In the older patients, on the patients with unilateral sinusitis, or sphenoidal sinusitis, the investigations were more frequent and these patients appealed for the specialist frequently (Ear Nose and Throat specialist mainly). The first line of treatment included 3.2 products of which antibiotics 98.5%, vasoconstrictors 55%, anti-inflammatory 55% (corticosteroids 46.8%, non corticosteroids 8.7%), mucolytics 41.6%. In total, general practitioners confirmed their pragmatic management in the treatment of acute sinusitis based on clinical diagnosis.


where (The Will to Peace, 1923), in opposing will to imagination, overlooks the fact that to be imagining—indeed, to be mentally active—is to be willing, i.e. conative. But the author has here different strictures to make. And as to the word "self"—that she makes the Sutras condemn "self-esteem" as an illusion is to write so "occidentally"—seeing in "self" only our worst self, when for India it meant not only "spirit" but "Holy Spirit"—that we feel a much more careful handling of the text is required. An Index, too, is a need not here supplied.


ABSTRACT This study evaluated the effect of different diets on the feeding, growth, and proximal composition of Octopus mimus. Animals were kept under controlled conditions in the laboratory for 3 mo and fed ad libitum with monodiets of the molluscs Eurhomalea lenticularis and Tagelus dombeii, and the crustacean Mursia gaudichaudi. The specific feeding rates (SFRs) of O. mimus were significantly greater in individuals fed with M. gaudichaudi (1.70% body weight per day), whereas the greatest specific growth rates (SGRs) were obtained in individuals fed with T. dombeii (0.26% body weight per day) and E. lenticularis (0.15% body weight per day). The weight increase of O. mimus was affected by the treatments, and the greatest increase throughout the duration of the experiment was observed in octopuses fed with E. lenticularis (0.12% per individual). Although the gender of the animals did not directly influence SFR and SGR, males had a greater weight increase, probably because some females laid eggs during the experimental period. The quantity of macronutrients in the different treatments was not clearly reflected in the growth parameters of O. mimus, because a high protein content (i.e., M. gaudichaudi) did not necessarily give a greater growth rate or a greater weight increase. It is necessary to consider the quality of each of the dietary components, because the changes observed in the tissue composition of O. mimus are related to the feeding levels and variability in growth.


This paper proposes a Logic-Based Traffic Flow Control algorithm (LB-TFC) for integrated control of Ramp Metering (RM) installations and Variable Speed Limits (VSLs) in order to reduce traffic jams created at bottlenecks. LB-TFC estimates, for each control time step, the number of vehicles that should be held back or released by the control measures (i.e. the VSLs and the RM rates) in order to avoid the capacity drop (maximizing the outflow of the bottleneck). Afterwards, based on the resulting estimated number of vehicles, the VSLs and/or the RM rates are increased or decreased in a pre-specified order. In order to avoid or reduce traffic breakdowns, the proposed controller (LB-TFC) anticipates the future evolution of the bottleneck density by using a feed-forward structure. As a result, the performance of the controller is very efficient and similar to the one obtained with an optimal controller while the implementation of the controller (with an almost instantaneous computation time) and the tuning of the parameters are easy. In the second part of this work, published in a separate paper ('Part 2: Simulation and Comparison'), LB-TFC is simulated, analyzed and compared for two freeways (one synthetic network and one stretch of the ring-road freeway SE-30 in Seville, Spain).


This project plans to define performance indicators and construct a software system that allows collect information that the ERP System writes in the log files during the daily operations and the database and operating system also makes. The process continues by locating inside the log files the transactions related to the ERP System, Data Base and operating systems, then system will retrieve the information from the master tables, this system also plans to register the solution and who solve the problem, leaving a procedure for future considerations. Since the historical data is stored in the datawarehouse, we can have information about the common problems, the solutions and problems not solved. The project has three fundamental parts, build a data base that store the information retrieve from the logs, construct a datamart and finally show this information graphically.


Seven Arabidopsis thaliana mutants with differences in cuticle thickness and stomatal density were foliar exposed to 50 mg L-1 Cu3(PO4)2 nanosheets (NS), CuO NS, CuO nanoparticles, and CuSO4. Three separate fractions of Cu (surface-attached, cuticle, interior leaf) were isolated from the leaf at 0.25, 2, 4, and 8 h. Cu transfer from the surface through the cuticle and into the leaf varied with mutant and particle type. The Cu content on the surface decreased significantly over 8 h but increased in the cuticle. Cu derived from the ionic form had the greatest cuticle concentration, suggesting greater difficulty in moving across this barrier and into the leaf. Leaf Cu in the increased-stomatal mutants was 8.5-44.9% greater than the decreased stomatal mutants, and abscisic acid to close the stomata decreased Cu in the leaf. This demonstrates the importance of nanomaterial entry through the stomata and enables the optimization of materials for nanoenabled agriculture.


Transition metal-doped electronic deficiency boron clusters have led to a vast variety of electronic bonding properties in chemistry and materials science. We have determined the ground state structures of PdBn0/- (n = 10-20) clusters by performing CALYPSO search and density functional theory (DFT) optimization. The identified lowest energy structures for both neutral and anionic Pd-doped boron clusters follow the structure evolution from two dimensional (2D) planar configurations to 3D distorted Pd-centered drum-like or tubular structures. Photoelectron spectra are simulated by time-dependent DFT theoretical calculations, which is a powerful method to validate our obtained ground-state structures. More interestingly, two "magic" number clusters, PdB12 and PdB16, are found with enhanced stability in the middle size regime studied. Subsequently, molecular orbital and adaptive natural density partitioning analyses reveal that the high stability of the PdB16 cluster originates from doubly σ π aromatic and bonding interactions of d-type atomic orbitals of the Pd atom with tubular B16 units. The tubular C8v PdB16 cluster, with robust relative stability, is an ideal embryo for forming finite and infinite nanotube nanomaterials.


For manipulating nanoparticles, we propose a nanotweezer named plasmonic bowtie notch (PBN) by adding a thin metal film to the bottom of plasmonic bowtie aperture. The PBN can exert a large trapping force on nanoparticle because the enhanced field of resonance mode can be much accessed by nanoparticle. The optical properties and factors influencing trapping force of PBN are fully investigated and discussed. The optimized PBN shows an excellent trapping capability with ultralow threshold excitation intensity of 0.64 mW/μm2 for stable trapping of a 100 nm polystyrene particle. In addition, it provides a label-free detection of the trapped particle by observing the extinction spectrum. The sensitivity to trapped target size of 71 pm redshift in peak wavelength per 1 nm increase of particle size is relatively high compared with those obtained from most near-field tweezers. Furthermore, the footprint of PBN is only 200 nm × 220 nm. The capabilities of the proposed design show a great potential in the application of nanoparticle trapping and sensing.


The forced aeration static pile composting system was used to compost mixtures of domestic refuse and sewage sludge. Several different control methods have been evaluated over the past four years from simple, low cost fixed rate aeration timers to microcomputer based systems. Their relative merits are considered. In a compost pile using temperature feedback control the number of Escherichia coli were reduced from 107 org./g to less than 102 org./g. within 16 days. Faecal streptococci were reduced from 107 to less than 102 org./g within 30 days. The process consistently produced a good quality sanitised material under a range of control regimes.


Nowadays we are dealing with a new level of biomedical science, that is «regenerative medicine», which provides opportunities for new treatments and the prolongation of human life. It demands that new evaluative criteria, both ethic and regulatory should be worked out and the society, scientific institutions and local authorities should respond in a quick and adequate way. The authors, who are working in the frame of Megagrant Project of the Russian Government on creating Research, Education and Clinical Center of Regenerative Medicine, consider that one of the major tasks is regenerative medicine approaches to be governed by precise ethical guidelines, and social and cultural aspects. So, the first target of this collaboration is to define regulations and address ethical issues governing the field of bioengineered organs and tissues (simple or complex), both in the field of research and clinic. They present information about clinical application of tissue engineering in the world together with the summary of experience how regulations and authorities in Europe involving regenerative medicine approaches for Human Subjects. The authors presented the list of ethical rules for scientific research and clinical application in the field of regenerative medicine.


[1] During explosive eruptions, a mixture of pyroclasts and volcanic gas forms a buoyant eruption column or a pyroclastic flow. We systematically investigate how the condition that separates these two eruption styles (column collapse condition) depends on crater shape and magma chamber conditions by integrating the theoretical models for conduit flow, flow inside a crater, and eruption column dynamics. The results show that previous model predictions of column collapse condition based on the relationship between magma discharge rate () and water content (nf) strongly depend on crater shape (depth D and opening angle θ). When a crater is present, the decompression and/or compression of gas-pyroclast mixture inside and just above the crater result in two distinct types of column collapse: collapse with increasing (HM-side collapse) and that with decreasing (LM-side collapse). HM-side collapse is caused by an increase in conduit radius during the waxing stage of an eruption. LM-side collapse is associated with a decrease in magma chamber pressure during the waning stage. The value of for HM-side collapse varies by two orders of magnitude depending on crater shape for fixed nf. This estimate also depends on assumed models for decompression into the atmosphere. The value of for LM-side collapse is 108 kg s−1 when D tan θ > 102 m. These results are consistent with the field observations from the St. Helens 1980 and Pinatubo 1991 eruptions.


We present a spatial structure function analysis of ionospheric velocity, measured by the Halley Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) radar over five years. We show evidence for scale‐free velocity fluctuations for separations from 45 km to ∼1000 km. For larger separations a deviation from scale‐free structure is seen that we interpret as the influence of the global convection pattern. We find evidence for scale‐free structure in regions of both open and closed field line topology, though with different power‐law exponents. The measured power‐law exponents poleward and equatorward of the open‐closed field line boundary are 0.31 and 0.39 respectively. We propose that the scale‐free spatial structure of ionospheric velocity fluctuations on open magnetic field lines is a reflection of the spatial structure of the solar wind and the scale‐free spatial structure of ionospheric velocity fluctuations on closed magnetic field lines is dictated by the internal dynamics of the magnetosphere‐ionosphere system.


Background: The different anthropometric indices have different predictive values of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in various populations. Since obesity is a common cause of NAFLD and diabetes, therefore, it is critical to correlate the various anthropometric indices as a risk factor in terms of NAFLD and diabetes in the Indian population. In view of reported association between obesity and NAFLD, the study was employed to analyze the relationship of various anthropometric indices (body mass index [BMI], a body shape index [ABSI], waist-height ratio [WHtR], etc.) with NAFLD and to comment, if possible, which among them has the highest predictive value in patients with type 2 diabetes. Material and Methods: Data of 220 diabetic patients (36–80 years) were analyzed. Anthropometric data were collected using standard methods. Routine biochemical investigations data were used. Ultrasonography was used to assess liver status for NAFLD. Results: Based on the results, Waist height ratio [WHtR] and BMI had better correlation with NAFLD than ABSI. The desirable WHtR cutoff value was 0.545 with 62% of sensitivity and 62% of specificity. The cut off for BMI and ABSI were 24.6 and 0.805, respectively, with 65% of sensitivity and 62% of specificity for BMI and 63% of sensitivity and 42% of specificity for ABSI. Conclusion: There is a strong association of BMI and ABSI with NAFLD in this study. Public health measures to limit overnutrition and management of obesity are essential to prevent NAFLD, and as its negative health effects on type 2 diabetes mellitus.


DNA is the hereditary material that contains our unique genetic code. Since the first demonstration of two-dimensional (2D) nanopatterns by using designed DNA origami ∼10 years ago, DNA has evolved into a novel technique for 2D and 3D nanopatterning. It is now being used as a template for the creation of sub-10 nm structures via either 'top-down' or 'bottom-up' approaches for various applications spanning from nanoelectronics, plasmonic sensing, and nanophotonics. This perspective starts with an histroric overview and discusses the current state-of-the-art in DNA nanolithography. Emphasis is put on the challenges and prospects of DNA nanolithography as the next generation nanomanufacturing technique.


As UNCITRAL Working Group III discussions on investment arbitration reform continue, geography remains a relevant factor when analyzing investment treaty practice, although not along traditional North-South lines. Over the past several years, three distinct models of investment treaty practice have emerged, which can be identified by geographic region: (i) a European model (as reflected in recent European Union practice), (ii) a 'regional South' model (as reflected in recent practice by Brazil, India, and the Southern African Development Community), and (iii) a Pacific Rim model (as reflected in the CPTPP as well as recent treaty practice by the ASEAN States, the Pacific Alliance States, China and Korea).

Of the three models, the Pacific Rim approach most closely resembles the extraordinarily active investment treaty practice that occurred in the 1990s and 2000s. The Pacific Rim model can be seen as retaining three fundamental elements from that earlier treaty practice: (i) the ability of disputing parties to select decision-makers, (ii) the imposition of treaty obligations on States but not investors, and (iii) the inclusion of a core set of substantive obligations.

Recent treaty practice by ASEAN, the Pacific Alliance, China and Korea, together with the entry into force of the CPTPP, illustrate the resilience of the Pacific Rim model. This Pacific Rim consensus on investment treaty practice could be further confirmed by the conclusion and entry into force of an RCEP investment chapter that follows the Pacific Rim approach. The availability of investment chapters following the Pacific Rim model in two mega-regional FTAs (CPTPP and RCEP) would create significant opportunities for institutionalization in the Pacific Rim region, in particular through the potential development of a CPTPP appellate mechanism and an RCEP appellate mechanism. In addition, China's recent UNCITRAL submission illustrates how the Pacific Rim model can be preserved while considering, at the same time, significant levels of institutionalization within the investment arbitration regime.

The compatibility of the Pacific Rim model with ambitious investment arbitration reform, together with the widespread acceptance of the model, confirm the importance of the Pacific Rim consensus for the future of the investment arbitration regime.


Mesoscopic graphene devices often exhibit complex transport properties, stemming both from the peculiar electronic band structure of graphene and from the high sensitivity of transport to local disorder in this twodimensional crystal. To disentangle contributions of disorder in the different transport phenomena at play in such devices, it is necessary to devise new local-probe methods and to establish links between transport and the microscopic structure of the devices. Here, we present a spatially resolved investigation of coherent transport inside a graphene quantum ring (QR), where Aharonov-Bohm conductance oscillations are observed. Thanks to scanning gate microscopy (SGM), we first identify spatial signatures of the Coulomb blockade, associated with disorder-induced localized states, and of charge-carrier interferences. We then image resonant states which decorate the QR local density of states (LDOS). Simulations of the LDOS in a model disorder graphene QR and temperature dependence of SGM maps confirm the presence of such scarred states.


The development of printed electronics on flexible substrates is increasing rapidly, where the main benefits are the large area and low cost. However, the functionality and performance of printed circuits cannot compete with standard silicon based microprocessors or integrated circuits, though the functionality and performance of printed circuits are increasing. Therefore, in this work we investigate the possibilities of using Sn42/Bi57.6/Ag0.4 low-temperature solder paste together with a reflow solder oven and hot air solder iron to mount regular surface mount device (SMD) components on screen-printed silver tracks. It was found that it is possible to solder standard Si SMD packages onto screen-printed Ag ink tracks on paper substrate; however, the component bonding strength to polyimide was not satisfactory. The resistance of the solder joints was found to be no more than 240 mΩ. The bond strength was found to be higher using the manual hot air solder iron than the reflow solder oven. Bending tests show that the bonding strength is higher for the hot air soldered components. Reference samples on FR-4 based copper printed circuit board show a bond strength ∼10 times higher but we conclude that it is possible to solder regular Si SMD components onto Ag-printed conductors on paper substrate with good results. The process could be used to fabricate hybrid printed electronics in a standard solder process line.


Software development is largely improved by global software development (GSD) environment. In this environment majority of the software products are developed by the team members who are geographically distinct from each other. Although existing studies have significantly acknowledged the importance of communication medium in global software development, however there is need to focus our attention towards communication medium sequences for conflicts resolutions in requirement engineering. This research deals with the identification of various conflicts that can occur while conducting requirement engineering in global software development environment. Besides, the most appropriate communication medium sequence is investigated to resolve the conflicts. For this purpose, Systematic literature review (SLR), is conducted for conflict identification. Expert's evaluation is performed to review the identified conflicts. Experiment is conducted to suggest the more appropriate communication medium sequence to resolve the evaluated conflicts. As a result, nine conflicts are identified that can occur during requirement engineering in global software development environment. The results of the experiment showed that among the six sequences of communication mediums, "sequence 3" (Phone, Email and Video conferencing) is the most appropriate to resolve the conflicts. It is notified that the participants using 'sequence 3' required less extra information and were more satisfied and clear about the conflict resolution. The results lead to the conclusion that there is a positive impact on conflict resolution by changing the communication medium sequence. This study can act as a guideline for academicians and practitioners to select the appropriate communication medium for conflict resolution, resulting in advancement in existing requirement engineering body of knowledge (REBOK).


Abstract After evaluation of the surface wind system associated with the stationary wave, the total tidal wind field on the surface is developed from the total semidiurnal pressure oscillation. Two major criticisms of the linear theory are studied and are shown to be unfounded. It is shown that the effect of the earth's magnetic field can certainly be neglected up to the E region. It is shown that even at 125 kilometers the viscous terms are some ten million times smaller than the retained linear terms. The 100-km tidal wind field is developed from the surface tidal wind field and some deductions from the linear theory of Taylor and Pekeris. The ionospheric wind observations near 100 km reported in the literature are discussed, and are shown to be in general agreement with the computed tidal winds.


Detailed information about the educational needs and aspirations of health care assistants in acute care settings is scarce. A study was undertaken across four acute trusts to develop an advanced health care assistant training programme. The findings support the drive to further develop the role of this workforce group.


Power quality disturbance (PQD) monitoring has become an important issue due to the growing number of disturbing loads connected to the power line and to the susceptibility of certain loads to their presence. In any real power system, there are multiple sources of several disturbances which can have different magnitudes and appear at different times. In order to avoid equipment damage and estimate the damage severity, they have to be detected, classified, and quantified. In this work, a smart sensor for detection, classification, and quantification of PQD is proposed. First, the Hilbert transform (HT) is used as detection technique; then, the classification of the envelope of a PQD obtained through HT is carried out by a feed forward neural network (FFNN). Finally, the root mean square voltage (Vrms), peak voltage (Vpeak), crest factor (CF), and total harmonic distortion (THD) indices calculated through HT and Parseval's theorem as well as an instantaneous exponential time constant quantify the PQD according to the disturbance presented. The aforementioned methodology is processed online using digital hardware signal processing based on field programmable gate array (FPGA). Besides, the proposed smart sensor performance is validated and tested through synthetic signals and under real operating conditions, respectively.


The three cities of Hong Kong, Taipei and Kaohsiung all feature state-of-the-art transit systems, but transit commuting rates are markedly different, ranging from less than 10 per cent in Kaohsiung to about 90 per cent in Hong Kong. This paper looks at the effect of transit station accessibility on housing prices in these three cities, which are all located on the south-eastern edge of the Greater China region. The key finding is that accessibility impacts stand in an inverse relationship to the size and popularity of the transit system. The results illustrate how intraregional variability in overall transit accessibility declines with increases in the spatial coverage of transit systems. The price premium for housing near transit stations is therefore greatest in Kaohsiung and smallest in Hong Kong, with Taipei exhibiting intermediate levels. Conversely, average land values are highest in Hong Kong and lowest in Kaohsiung.


The intensity distributions of self-focusing dual Airy beams are studied analytically by means of their statistical moments. Closed form expressions are derived that allow the determination of the focal shift through two different criteria; the first one is based on the second moment of the intensity whereas the second takes advantage of the beams symmetry to employ encircled-power calculations for defining the focus. Our results confirm the existence of a focal shift as expected, and show an effective quadratic dependence on the truncation parameter of the Airy beams.


: The question of how migration patterns will be influenced by environmental and climate change has received much attention within policy and academic circles. This focus can be explained in part by fears voiced by an alarmist group of migration scholars regarding uncontrolled population movements over country borders at the hands of a changing climate. This chapter explores the undercurrents driving widespread interest in the interaction between climate change and migration. In so doing, it explores how narratives around migration have been shaped by the use of certain terminology or ways to define, theorise, facilitate and problematise the movement of people. Current understanding of the interactions between the environment and human migration are characterised by a high degree of complexity and uncertainty. A wide range of methods and theoretical frameworks have thus been developed that seek to expand our understanding of its dynamics. Despite methodological and conceptual advances within the field, we propose that future research and policy must consider the loaded nature of language and the ways in which terms such as 'climate change' and 'migration' are interpreted. Care must be taken to ensure that the development of actions and policy initiatives truly serve to protect and benefit affected people, whether they are on the move, have arrived in a new destination, or are immobile and want but are unable to move.


Micro powder metal injection molding has received attention as a manufacturing technology for microparts. Small powder size is very useful in achieving detailed structures. STS nanopowders with an average diameter of 100 nm and STS micropowders with an average diameter of 5 micron were utilized to produce feedstock. The mixing behavior of the feedstock was indicated that the nanoparticle feedstock produce highest mixing torque at various powder_loading than the micropowder feedstock. Ares rheometer was utilized to examine visco-elatic flow behavior. The nanoparticles feedstocks showed that elastic properties are dominant in flow behavior and high viscosity. Whereas the micropowders feedstocks, viscous properties are dominant in flow behavior and less viscosity.


[1] The Carrington event of August/September 1859 was the most significant solar proton event (SPE) of the last 450 years, about four times larger than the solar proton fluence of the largest event from the "spacecraft era" (August 1972). Recently, much attention has focused upon increasing our understanding of the Carrington event, in order to better quantify the impact of extreme space weather events. In this study the Sodankyla Ion and Neutral Chemistry (SIC) model is used to estimate the impact of the Carrington event to the neutral atmosphere and the ionosphere, and the disruption to HF communication. We adopt a reported intensity-time profile for the solar proton flux and examine the relative atmospheric response to different SPE-energy spectra, and in particular, the comparatively soft energy spectrum of the August 1972 or March 1991 SPE which is believed to provide the best representation of the Carrington event. Our calculations indicate that large changes in electron density and atmospheric constituents occur during the period of SPE forcing, depending upon the nature of the spectrum and also on the hemisphere considered. However, the most important SPE-driven atmospheric response is an unusually strong and long-lived Ox decrease in the upper stratosphere (Ox levels drop by ∼40%) primarily caused by the very large fluxes of >30 MeV protons. This depletion is an indication of the extreme changes possible for the largest SPE. We find that there are comparatively small long-term differences in the atmospheric and ionospheric response between the 3 suggested SPE spectra.


Abstract The coronavirus pandemic and the economic crisis in 2020 are accelerating digital transformation. During and after the crisis, there are opportunities and needs for remote work facilities, online services, delivery drones, etc. We discuss how unmanned technologies can cause a long‐term employment decrease, and why compensation mechanisms may not work. Using the internationally comparable Frey–Osborne methodology, we estimated that less than a third of employees in Russia work in professions with a high automation probability. Some of these professions can suffer the most during quarantine measures; employment in traditional services can be significantly reduced. By 2030, about half of the jobs in the world and a little less in Russia will need to adapt during the fourth industrial revolution because they are engaged in routine, potentially automated activities. In the regions, specializing in manufacturing, this value is higher; the lowest risk is in the largest agglomerations with a high share of digital economy, greater and diverse labour markets. Accelerating technological change can lead to a long‐term mismatch between the exponential increase in automation rate and compensating effects of retraining, new jobs creation and other labour market adaptation mechanisms. Some people will not be ready for a life‐long learning and competition with robots, and accordingly there is a possibility of their technological exclusion. The term "nescience economy" and corresponding assessment method were proposed. Using an econometric model, we identified factors that reduce these risks: human capital concentration, favourable business climate, high quality of life and ICT development. Based on these factors, some recommendations for authorities were proposed in the conclusion.


The Dieulafoy's lesion is a rare cause of recurrent massive gastrointestinal bleeding in children. The bleeding results from an abnormally large submucosal artery that protrudes through a small mucosal defect. The lesion is commonly found on proximal stomach. Surgical intervention was believed to be the best treatment in the past, but recent advancement in endoscopy has made effective hemostasis possible. We report a case of a 9-year-old boy with underlying mycoplasma pneumonia with effusion who presented with massive upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Bleeding was controlled with endoscopic treatment by epinephrine and ethanol injection and the patient was successfully treated. (Korean J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr 2003; 6: 187∼191) ꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏ


In this work, we have examined modifications of structural and optical properties of Y3Al5O15:Ce3+ (Ce3+:YAG) material when transforming from nanograins to nanoceramic form under high pressure. Initial YAG material with 0.5% of Ce3+ was prepared using modified Pechini and transformed to nanoceramic at low temperature with a working pressure of 4 GPa. Structural properties of both samples (nanopowder and nanoceramic) have been examined with X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope. Optical properties have been examined using photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, PL-excitation spectroscopy at different temperatures, and time-resolved spectroscopy. Based on results obtained, excitation mechanism of Ce3+ ions has been explained. The main 560 nm emission band along with a new 400 nm emission band allowed to cover the whole visible spectral range. Moreover, it has been found that under high-pressure treatment the amorphous shell of YAG core appears, leading to increased 5d electrons–lattice interaction. This, in turn, reduces PL decay time and increases emission intensity of nanoceramic sample.


Service discovery dilemma creates new confront in adhoc networks. Due to the highly energetic nature of these networks and their bandwidth, energy these networks pose new challenges during service discovery. Traditional resolutions used in the Internet are hence not well suited for adhoc networks. In wireless adhoc networks, the system chattels are limited: the terminals are constrained in energy, bandwidth, storage, and giving out capabilities. As a result of the decentralized and possibly large scale network configuration, service discovery becomes a well-known design issue for wireless adhoc networks. In this paper we present service discovery, architectures, service discovery mechanisms, modes and service state maintenance techniques. We finally conclude for future research in this area with summary and directions.


Teaching in the ambulatory setting is important for medical educators because of the economic, social, and medical trends that are pushing patients into this health care setting. While medical education in the hospital setting maintains its important role, education in ambulatory care demands innovations and new strategies. A pilot program based in a freestanding ambulatory surgery center has been developed as part of a surgical residency training program. In the present article, the author describes the program, outlines its curriculum, and details the daily activities of the residents and medical students. A brief history of ambulatory surgery is given.


In 2019, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine celebrated the 30th anniversary of its Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM) Residency program. This unique program is among the largest preventive medicine residency programs in the United States. Residents from the US Army, Navy, Air Force, other federal institutions, and the Canadian Forces come to Bethesda, Maryland, to become OEM specialists in a unique training program encompassing both military and civilian OEM settings. This publication describes the historical development and practice of OEM in the military leading to the development of the USU OEM Residency Program, along with the program's past accomplishments and current operation. Finally, the publication explores potential future directions for this relatively small but important preventive medicine specialty in the practice of military medicine, considering the impacts of reorganization of the Military Health System along with the opportunities this reorganization presents for the USU OEM Residency program.


In this article we explore the research on non-formal education and scientific dissemination in Brazil. These are areas whose importance has grown in recent decades but that, on the other hand, are not yet consolidated. The concepts themselves are ambiguous and existing research is scattered over several areas and vehicles of dissemination. Analyzing published literature reviews in the area, we propose to integrate results and to contribute to the delineation of a portrait of the research on these themes, identifying trends and developments. Our analysis confirm that the research on non-formal education and scientific dissemination has grown in recent decades in Brazil, although the actual number of publications is still low. Meanwhile, the main vehicle of publication are conferences, and studies in museums are the most covered by these research works.


Anti-Leishmania in vitro and in vivo activities of various rhodacyanine derivatives have been examined. Among them, the fluorinatied variant SJL-01 (8) showed IC(50) of 0.011 microM against Leishmania donovani strain MHOM/ET/67/L82 (selective index of >15000) and 95-97% inhibition against L. donovani strain MHOM/ET/67/HU in female BALB/c mice by 1.3-12.5 mg/kg x 5 iv administrations. Negative results on chromosomal aberration test and in vitro micronucleus test suggest that compound 8 is a hopeful candidate for visceral leishmaniasis (VL).


African-Americans have far less access to treatment for heart disease than similar white Americans. In this article, we explore the sector difference theory hypothesis that treatment provided by a nonprofit Medicaid managed care plan can reduce or even eliminate the race gap. Specifically, we compare the treatment offered to patients in for-profit Medicaid managed care programs to the treatment offered to similar patients in nonprofit Medicaid managed care programs. Data are from the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission and cover all patients discharged from hospitals in Maryland during calendar year 1998 with principal diagnoses indicating diseases of the circulatory system (ICD-9-CM codes 390 through 459) or chest pain (ICD-9-CM codes 786.50 through 786.52 and code 786.59). African-Americans were significantly less likely to receive the three treatments of interest, even after controlling for principal diagnosis, blood pressure, co-morbidities, and age. In regard to African-American access to treatment, there were no significant differences between the sectors.


This article was aimed to investigate the relationship between personality traits with sport performance. The method of the study is descriptive correlational. The data was collected using questionnaires and through field study procedure. The population of the study consisted of 229 non elite football and futsal players in the 2010-2011 season in Ardebil city. The sample size was equated with the population. Personality was assessed using the NEOFive Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI; Costa & McCrae, 1992) and athlete's performance was assessed by coach's rating (Piedmont et al., 1999). The stepwise regression analysis indicated that from among personality components only Conscientiousness have positive significant correlation with sport performance. The result, also, indicated that conscientiousness was the sole predictor of sport performance.


Abstract : Due to its population, large economies and powerful militaries, the Yellow Sea is becoming the focal point of the most important region in the world. Events in the area unavoidably impact U.S. economic and security interests. In the middle of this critical area sits Jeju Island, on which the Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy is building a naval base. Jeju lies along the crossroads of the busiest ports in the world and astride strategically important economic resources. China, South Korea and Japan have several territorial disputes with each other that could spark a crisis; as a result they are all building up their maritime capabilities. Once complete, Jeju Naval Base will give the ROK Navy improved access to the open ocean for a growing blue-water fleet. China is likely to view Jeju as a threat due to its strategic fears of blockade, isolation and attack from U.S. aircraft carriers. The United States should derive its policy toward the base from two principles: first, to encourage South Korea to continue assuming an ever greater share of its own defense burden and secondly, to recognize that China will most likely feel threatened by the base s construction.


Purpose: Pakistan is one of the few countries where Rabies is endemic and a great threat to humans as well as live stocks. A large number of individuals died of rabies exposure due to either the limited access to rabies vaccines or the side-effects of sheep brain -originated Sample vaccine. Cell culture-derived rabies vaccines are mostly unaffordable to the needed population under rabies threat. Development of a safer and more affordable vaccine is necessary in Pakistan. Here, we developed two novel recombinant rabies virus vaccines using a local Pakistan rabies virus glycoprotein gene, and tested the efficacy of vaccines in mice.
Methods: The glycoprotein gene (RVG) of vector ERAg3p and ERAg3m was substituted, respectively, with a modified Pakistani RVG. The resulting recombinant vectors were applied for reverse genetics to recover two vaccine viruses, PK-SG and PK-DG. The efficacy of PK-SG and PK-DG were tested in mice by intramuscular injection and oral delivery.
Results: All mice survived the challenge after intramuscular vaccination using PK-SG, or PK-DG. In the oral
vaccination groups, 80% mice with PK-SG and 90% mice with PK-DG survived the challenge. Meanwhile, 80% of the unvaccinated control mice succumbed after challenge. The mean rabies virus neutralizing antibody titers was ≥0.5 IU/ml in all vaccinated groups.
Conclusion: Our results demonstrated the efficacy of PK-SG and PK-DG in rabies vaccination in mice. The two recombinant virus strains may be good vaccine candidates for the target animals and humans in Pakistan. Detailed investigations are necessary in the future.


Primary pulmonary artery sarcoma is a rare disease that has a poor survival prognosis due to misdiagnosis with pulmonary thromboembolism or metastatic embolisation, detailed image findings and complicated surgical procedures. Surgical procedures established for treatment include pneumonectomy and pulmonary endarterectomy. Survival after surgery still remains at 1 year survival of 50%. The following case report demonstrates a patient's status postpneumonectomy for pulmonary artery sarcoma that presented with no complications after 1.5-year follow-up.


1H NMR relaxation studies were employed to investigate potential interactions between C60 and tetraphenylporphyrin, H2[TPP], and parasubstituted tetraphenylporphyrins, H2[(p-X)4TPP], where X = CN and OCH3 in solution. The substituted porphyrins provided a means by which to investigate the role that electronic effects play in the interaction process. A comparison of the relaxation rates, R1, and correlation times, , of the pyrrole and phenyl hydrogens in these complexes, without and with the presence of C60, revealed that the introduction of C60 into solution did not have a noticeable effect on R1 and of these protons in H2[TPP], indicating the absence of long-term intermolecular interaction at either of these two sites. A similar analysis of the two protons in the other two substituted tetraphenylporphyrin analogs revealed slower molecular dynamics indicating the presence of intermolecular interactions. Stronger interactions were observed in H2[(p-OCH3)4TPP] indicating that the electron-donating abilities of the -OCH3 group promote the interaction process. Our results indicate that it is very likely that enhanced selectivity in the chemical purifications of fullerenes and metallofullerenes can be achieved by employing tetraphenylporphyrin-silica stationary phases which have been modified with electron-donating groups.


s in this Journal. Editorial Communications are to be addressed to "Editors of JOURNAL OF LARYNGOLOGY, care of F. J. Rebman, Albion Chambers, 11, Adam Stiect, Strand, London, IV. C." THE LOCAL TREATMENT OF TUBERCLE OF THE LARYNX AND ITS INDICATIONS.


Ca2+ influx through voltage-gated Ca2+ channels (VGCCs) plays important roles in neuronal cell development and function. Rem2 is a member of the RGK (Rad, Rem, Rem2, Gem/Kir) subfamily of small GTPases that confers potent inhibition upon VGCCs. The physiologic roles of RGK proteins, particularly in the brain, are poorly understood. Rem2 was implicated in synaptogenesis through an RNAi screen and proposed to regulate Ca2+ homeostasis in neurons. To test this hypothesis and uncover physiological roles for Rem2 in the brain, we investigated the molecular mechanisms by which Rem2 knockdown affected synaptogenesis and Ca2+ homeostasis in cultured rat hippocampal neurons. Expression of a cocktail of shRNAs targeting rat Rem2 (rRem2) reduced the frequency of miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (mEPSCs) measured 10 d after transfection (14 d in vitro), but did not affect mEPSC amplitude. VGCC current amplitude after rRem2-targeted knockdown was not different from that in control cells, however, at either 4 or 10 d post transfection. Co-expression of a human Rem2 that was insensitive to the shRNAs targeting rRem2 was unable to prevent the reduction in mEPSC frequency after rRem2-targeted knockdown. Over-expression of rRem2 resulted in 50% reduction in VGCC current, but neither the mEPSC frequency nor amplitude was affected. Taken together, the observed effects upon synaptogenesis after shRNA treatment are more likely due to mechanisms other than modulation of VGCCs and Ca2+ homeostasis, and may be independent of Rem2. In addition, our results reveal a surprising lack of contribution of VGCCs to synaptogenesis during early development in cultured hippocampal neurons.


This essay offers an introduction to the special issue 'Reevaluating the Postcolonial City: Production, Reconstruction, Representation'. It institutes the cultural producer as its key reference point for reexamining the spatial imaginary of the postcolonial urban landscape. From internationally acclaimed artists, exhibition curators and marginalized performers to local audiences, tourist consumers, migrant workers, garbage collectors and transsexual pedestrians, the cultural producer is endowed with a diverse range of identity narratives by the contributions to the issue. The authors posit the 'production of space' as the principal conceptual axis for reevaluating the postcolonial city as represented, interrogated and reconstructed by the cultural producer. With reference to Lefebvre's spatial theory, Foucault's postulation of heterotopia and Soja's understanding of the Thirdspace, this introduction explores the multiple spatial practices of the cultural producer as she/he engages with the everyday materiality of the postcolonial city along the discursive paradigms of colonial memory, national history, neoliberal hegemonies, racial struggles, gender politics, ethnic peripheries and radical sexualities. The essays in this issue foreground the spatial topography of the postcolonial city as an embodied site of the cultural producer's canonical, subversive and alternative modernities.


Abstract:Recent research has shown that a distinct variety of American Sign Language, known as Black ASL, developed in the segregated schools for deaf African Americans in the US South during the pre-civil rights era. Research has also shown that in some respects Black ASL is closer than most white varieties to the standard taught in ASL classes and found in ASL dictionaries. This article explores the circumstances that resulted in the creation of a distinct ASL variety, with attention to the role of language in education policy in both the white and Black Southern schools for the deaf. Archival research shows that while white deaf students were long subjected to oral instruction and forbidden to sign in class, Black students, although their severely underfunded schools provided only basic vocational education, continued to receive their education in ASL, with classes often taught by deaf teachers. The differences in language education policy explain the difficulties Black students experienced in understanding their teachers and white classmates after integration occurred, despite great resistance, in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as the fact that Black signers from the South, particularly older Black signers, are more likely than their white counterparts to use traditional features.


The paper examines the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on a domestic firm's productivity in Vietnamese manufacturing industries. In contrast with most previous studies, the paper focuses on the FDI spillover effects taking place through both horizontal and vertical linkages and studies the variance of FDI spillovers across regions of Vietnam. Our findings are: FDI generates strong and positive spillover effects on a domestic firm's productivity through both horizontal and backward linkages; the Vietnamese regions benefit from the FDI spillovers but the spillover effects are very different from region to region; private firms have strong linkages through technical assistance and technology transfer with foreign invested firms while linkages of state owned enterprises (SOEs) with foreign invested firms are very weak; domestic firms with higher human capital stock, better financial development and lower technology gap will get more benefits from FDI spillovers and therefore they will have higher productivity.


A new static spherically symmetric solution of Einstein's unified field equations is derived. Certain boundary conditions are applied to this solution and to those already known, and the nature of the resulting fields is investigated. The only solution in the magnetic case corresponds to a magnetic pole without mass. In the electric case all the solutions correspond to continuous charge distributions, and the fields tend asymptotically to that of a point charge in classical theory. Several of the solutions are singular at an infinity of values of r, the radial co-ordinate, and in these the charge density is not of constant sign; but there are two solutions which have no singularities for finite values of r greater than 2m (where m is a constant associated with the mass), and in which the charge density has constant sign throughout the field.


Fundamentally, benefits of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) in wireless systems rest on increasing the number of Degrees of Freedom (DoFs) that can be exploited for transmission. DoFs can be used to increase spectral efficiency and/or provide increased diversity. However, exploiting DoFs in MIMO often requires knowledge of Channel State Information (CSI) at the transmitter and/or receiver. Obtaining CSI creates overheads due to the required use of wireless resources for CSI-estimation pilots and/or CSI feedback. This can create a fundamental "dimensionality bottleneck" that limits the growth in spectral efficiency for some conventional MIMO systems. Recently a new class of techniques known as "Blind Interference Alignment" (BIA) has demonstrated the possibility to grow DoFs without many of the CSI overheads of conventional systems. BIA therefore has the potential to relieve the "dimensionality bottleneck". However, BIA can have limited applicability to many users in a cellular environment given that it requires a high Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) to operate efficiently. By examining BIA, we present a method to reduce the SNR requirements and improve the application of BIA through power allocation and cluster-based transmission. We show that BIA can be applied successfully in cellular without the need for joint processing between base-stations, and can improve performance over conventional MIMO for even cell-edge users in some scenarios.


The occurrence of complications of intracranial arteriovenous malformation (AVM) during labor induction is relatively uncommon. Intracranial AVM can cause convulsions, headache, focal neurological deficits and intracranial hemorrhage if ruptures. We present a 33-year-old parturient with history of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia, who was admitted for labor induction. She experienced a bout of convulsion following a 30-min oxytocin infusion, by which time it was three and half hours since she was given the test dose of epidural analgesic. She also denied having history of convulsions or preeclampsia. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of brain demonstrated a cerebral AVM in the left frontal base without signs of intracranial hemorrhage or brain edema. The obstetrician opted for Cesarean section in order to avoid stress during vaginal delivery. The surgery was successfully performed under general anesthesia without hemodynamic fluctuations or neurological complications. We discuss the possible mechanisms of the convulsions attack in this patient and the ensuring anesthetic management for the Cesarean section she sustained.


This thesis is entitled "The Translation of Connectors in Ernest
Hemingway"s "A Clean Well-Lighted Place"". The objects of the analysis are
equivalences of connectors. This study is intended to find out the way to translate
the connectors based on the theory of equivalence and the translation procedures
used to translate the connectors as well as to explain the possible reasons why
those procedures are used in translating the connectors by seeing the effects
implied by the use of the procedures. The connectors are taken as the data. The
theories used to analyze are Verspoor"s connector, Baker"s equivalence level,
traditional grammar, componential analysis, and Newmark"s translation
procedures. The method used to collect the data is content analysis while the
method used to analyze is descriptive-qualitative method.
The result finding of the study which is classified into semantically and
syntactically equivalent, semantically and non-syntactically equivalent, nonsemantically
and syntactically equivalent, non-semantically and non-syntactically
equivalent, and non-translated translations shows that the translation procedures
used in each classification are different. Semantically and syntactically equivalent
translations use literal translation. Semantically and non-syntactically equivalent
translations use class-shift, unit-shift, couplets, and functional equivalence. Nonsemantically
and syntactically equivalent translations use modulation of abstractconcrete.
Non-semantically and non-syntactically equivalent translations use
class-shift, unit-shift, and triplets. Non-translated translations use reduction.
The analysis shows that the translation procedures used in translating the
connectors are done for several possible reasons. The first reason is because
connectors are function words carrying the grammatical meanings rather than the
lexical meanings, they are often translated literally. Secondly, since the translator
wants to make the Indonesian readers easy to understand the SL context, she
translates the connectors by not placing them as in the SL, does not translate them
literally, but contextually equivalently so that the translations will be richer in
style, and does not translate them semantically equivalently, but syntactically
equivalently. Thirdly, since the translations are wanted to be made more
interesting, they are translated neither semantically equivalently nor syntactically
equivalently. Fourthly, because the translations are wanted to be made a really
Indonesian text so that they do not seem awkward, they are translated into their
hyponyms and eliminated although the implied meanings can still be tested.
Fifthly, since the translations are wanted to have more literary sense, they are not
translated monotonously literally. Sixthly, since the translator wants to enrich the
style, she eliminates the translations completely even though the implied
meanings can still be tested while, for eliminating them completely without the
implied meanings, it is because she possibly wants to make the translations have
fewer words than the SL for the Indonesian readers.


There has been an increasing demand for outpatient services that support patient experience and quality of care. Consequently, healthcare systems aspire to reduce operational costs and improve resource utilization through different strategies. Given the complexity of multi-department outpatient healthcare facility operations, DES has been recognized as an effective tool for evaluating performance outcomes and design decisions. The purpose of this study was to introduce Discrete Event Simulation (DES) as an effective tool in the architecture planning of a multi-department outpatient clinic. The DES integrated patient flow, schedules, proposed layout, and staffing information to identify space and staff utilization, wait for the provider (WFP), and wait for the room (WFR). The study explored the effects of pooling decentralized registration desks into a centralized desk and staffing with additional kiosks for the primary care departments. We also converted underutilized exam rooms into telehealth rooms, flexible consult-exam rooms, and dedicated pediatric waiting areas. registration pooling and kiosks improved staff resource utilization. Allocating additional providers and exam rooms to departments reduced their WFP and WFR. DES indicated minimal operational effects of transitioning underutilized exam rooms to alternate functions. This finding enabled us to determine if space allocation modifications negatively affected operations. The findings suggest the effectiveness of DES in analyzing the impact of alternative design strategies on operational outcomes through a data-driven approach. This understanding is valuable, as improved resource allocation and streamlined operation are associated with cost reduction and enhanced patient and staff satisfaction.


Abstract Cochlear melanocytes are intermediate cells in the stria vascularis that generate endocochlear potentials required for auditory function. Human PAX3 mutations cause Waardenburg syndrome and abnormalities of melanocytes, manifested as congenital hearing loss and hypopigmentation of skin, hair and eyes. However, the underlying mechanism of hearing loss remains unclear. During development, cochlear melanocytes in the stria vascularis are dually derived from Pax3-Cre+ melanoblasts migrating from neuroepithelial cells including neural crest cells and Plp1+ Schwann cell precursors originated from also neural crest cells, differentiating in a basal-apical manner. Here, using a Pax3-Cre mouse line, we found that Pax3 deficiency causes foreshortened cochlea, malformed vestibular apparatus, and neural tube defects. Lineage tracing and in situ hybridization show that Pax3-Cre derivatives contribute to S100+ , Kir4.1+ and Dct+ melanocytes (intermediate cells) in the developing stria vascularis, all significantly diminished in Pax3 mutant animals. Taken together, these results suggest that Pax3 is required for the development of neural crest cell-derived cochlear melanocytes, whose absence may contribute to congenital hearing loss of Waardenburg syndrome in human.


Conventional Steel Cylinders used for LPG cylinder for domestic applications are not manufactured in a single joint but are welded. While composite cylinders are manufactured in a single joint, Composite components cannot be welded like the steel cylinder. Composite Cylinders are winded using Filament Winding technique. Compared to Steel Cylinders, Composite Cylinders are costlier. As composite cylinders are safer than steel cylinder, composite Cylinders due to a rubber lining inside, they are 100% leak proof. If mass production of composite cylinders are done then the cost may get reduced. This paper summarizes the design and analysis of the manufacturing of Liquid petroleum gas (LPG) Cylinder using Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastic (GFRP) material. The stresses along all the directions of the ply sequence are also calculated using Classical Lamination Theory (CLT).  The fibre stresses along all the directional angles were found to be under the required stress limits. The Metallic boss Calculation & angle variation at dome is the key parameter and is carried out and determined the tip radius.


The regulation of trade in cultural objects exists at national,
European as well as international level. This contribution is
devoted to the Community regulation of this area and to the
influence of it on Czech national regulation. There are two EC
instruments concerning this area: the Council Directive
93/7/EEC on return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from
the territory of a Member State and the Council Regulation
(EEC) No. 3911/92 on the export of cultural goods.


The aim of this study was to summarize current knowledge and provide perspectives on the relationships between human genetic variants, type 2 diabetes, antidiabetic treatment, and disease progression. Type 2 diabetes is a complex disease with clear-cut diagnostic criteria and treatment guidelines. Yet, the interindividual response to therapy and slope of disease progression varies markedly among patients with type 2 diabetes. Gene-gene, gene-environment, and gene-treatment interactions may explain some of the variation in disease progression. Several genetic variants have been suggested to be associated with response to antidiabetic drugs. Some are present in drug receptors or drug metabolizers (OCT genes, KCNJ11, ABCC8, and CYP2C9). Numerous type 2 diabetes risk variants have been identified, but genetic risk score models applying these variants have failed to identify 'disease progressors' among patients with diabetes. Although genetic risk scores are based on a few known loci and only explain a fraction of the heritability of type 2 diabetes, it seems that the genes responsible for the development of diabetes may not be the same driving disease progression after the diagnosis has been made. Pharmacogenetic interactions explain some of the interindividual variation in responses to antidiabetic treatment and may provide the foundation for future genotype-based treatment standards.


This case report presents the experience of a training course on bioethics for nurses and physicians of the Family Health Strategy in Santo André, SP. This study is based on problem-based learning and deliberative bioethics, and aimed at presenting the deliberation procedure as a means of handling ethical issues. Contents were addressed in a cross-section manner through five sequential activity sessions at two different moments of concentration with one dispersion interval. In the first moment of concentration, key concepts and deliberative bioethics contents were developed. The second involved deliberation sessions on moral conflicts, which were selected and prepared during the dispersion interval. Participants evaluated the deliberation as an appropriate instrument to deal with the ethical issues they are faced with. Problem-based learning was an effective educational strategy for continuing education in deliberative bioethics.


The microscopic agglutination test was applied to 329 samples taken from 156 dogs from urban area and 173 from rural areas of Monte Negro County, Rondonia State, Brazil, to determine anti-Leptospira spp. antibodies. A survey was concomitantly done to detect eventual risk factors thru the use of logistic regression. Studied variables were age, sex, diet, management, environment, contact with other species and hunting habit. Titers ≥100 were detected in 27.3% (90/329) of the dogs, being 23.7% (37/156) urban and 30.6% (53/173) rural dogs. The most frequent serovars were Autumnalis (22.0%), Pyrogenes (12.0%), Canicola (10.0%) and Shermani (7.5%). Dogs older than 12 months showed higher positive frequencies than younger animals (P<0.05). Risk factor were associated with commercial food as compared to homemade food (odds ratio: 3.3; 95% confidence interval : 1.3 – 3.9; P=0.02) and associated with sex, with higher occurrence in males than in females (odds ratio: 2.3; 95% confidence interval: 1.3 – 3.9; P=0.003). It was emphasized the serological occurrence of serovars kept and spread in nature by wild animals.


Object-oriented is a popular expression that can be applied to a language, a user-interface style, an approach or even a database. The author aims to describe the concepts as applied to a programming language. He also describes an object-oriented user-interface style, giving insight into how object-oriented design and programming aids the software development process. >


Extracting speaker-dependent paralinguistic information out of a person's voice, provides an opportunity for adaptive behaviour related to speaker information in speech processing applications. For instance, in audio-based conversational applications, adapting responses to the attributes of the correspondent is an integral part in making the conversations effective. Two speaker attributes that humans can estimate quite well, based solely on hearing a person speak, is the gender and age of that person. However, in the field of speech processing, age and gender classification are relatively unexplored tasks, especially in a multilingual setting. In most cases, hand-crafted features, such as MFCCs, have been used with some success. However, recently large transformer networks, utilizing self-supervised pre-training, have shown promise in creating general speech embeddings for various speech processing tasks. We present a baseline for gender and age detection, in both monolingual and multilingual settings, for multiple state-of-the-art speech processing models, fine-tuned for age classification. We created four different datasets with data extracted from the Common Voice project to compare monolingual and multilingual performances. For gender classification, we could reach a macro average F1 score of ~96% in both a monolingual and multilingual setting. For age classification, using classes with a size of 10 years, we obtained a macro average mean absolute class error (MACE) of 0.68 and 0.86 on monolingual and multilingual datasets, respectively. For the English TIMIT dataset, we improve upon the previous state of the art for both age regression and gender classification. Our fine-tuned WavLM model reaches a mean absolute error (MAE) of 4.11 years for males and 4.44 for females in age estimation and our fine-tuned UniSpeech-SAT model reaches an accuracy of 99.8% for gender classification. All the models were deemed fast enough on a GPU to be used in real-time settings, and accurate enough, using only a small amount of speech, to be applicable in multilingual speech processing applications.


This article describes the revision of the business combination guidelines of Japan and activities of the mergers and acquisitions division of the Japanese Fair Trade Commission during 2006–2007 in detail. The revision of the guidelines is based on three factors: (i) international consistency; (ii) historical experiences; and (iii) economic theory, and these factors are effective and efficient for a rapidly changing and globalized market. The main contribution of this article includes a comparison with the US and EU merger guidelines on not only a set of specific standards, but also the ideas that the United States and European Union adopted or the reason why these standards were selected.


A classical paradigm for interference detection between polyhedra consists in testing all edges of one polyhedron against all faces of the other one for intersection. If the relative orientation of the polyhedra is fixed, only certain edge-face pairs can intersect first, when the polyhedra come into contact. These candidate pairs are efficiently determined using a representation which the authors call spherical face orientation graph. By applying the interference test to candidates only, the computational effort is significantly reduced, as shown by experimental results with convex polyhedra. In the non-convex case, the strategy is conservative, but it still leads to savings.


The crystallization behavior and kinetics of fly ash-based glasses were investigated by using DTA and SEM techniques. The crystal growth activation energies were determined by using the Kissinger and Matusita-Sakka equations as 200 and 283 kJ/mol, respectively. The Avrami exponent (n) was calculated by means of Augis-Bennet and Ozawa equations. Calculated values indicated that the crystallization mechanism was a three dimensional bulk process. This result is in well agreement with the cross-sectional SEM investigations.


This paper explains how STAND Chattanooga became the world's largest community visioning process in 2009. Behind its public success, the authors relate the underlying 'research story' of how 26,263 viewpoints were achieved by changing course in midstream and adopting more ethnographic methods of survey collection. For an EPIC audience, we analyze STAND's ultimately successful outcomes as a case of following the logic of 'social fields' (however unintentionally). The paper furthermore argues that STAND is a paradigm example of the way ethnographic principles can be deployed at various scales to accomplish goals (such as community renewal) outside the reach of most 'Big Data' analytics.


The dye adsorption potential and characteristics of the submerged aquatic plants Ceratophyllum demersum and Myriophyllum spicatum were investigated using an azo dye (Basic Blue 41 – BB41). Adsorption equilibria were attained after 160 min at various initial BB41 concentrations (in the range 5–80 mg/l). Attempts were made to fit the equilibrium data obtained using the Langmuir, Freundlich, Redlich–Peterson, Temkin and Dubinin–Radushkevich adsorption isotherm models. The data obtained from the C. demersum and M. spicatum studies were fitted exactly by the Redlich–Peterson and Temkin adsorption isotherms models with correlation coefficient (r) values of 0.999 and 0.981, respectively. The fits of the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm models were also acceptable. Evaluation of the experimental data using the Langmuir equation revealed that the maximum adsorption capacities of C. demersum and M. spicatum were 50.0 mg/g and 64.9 mg/g, respectively.


Questions

Examining the responses and co-occurrence patterns of 30 herbaceous forest plant species sampled altogether in 302 plots, we asked whether the niche estimates of rare and common species are affected by the different sample sizes for these species, and whether the results of the resource-based and co-occurrence-based methods coincide in the prediction of species specialization.

Location

Deciduous forests in northwest Germany.

Methods

We compare the classical method of determining niche breadth as the response of a species along environmental resource gradients (here soil pH and light availability) with a recently introduced method based on the co-occurrence of a target species with other species, using the Multi-Simpson index for turnover calculations.

Results

The total frequency of the species in the data set had a strong effect on the niche breadth estimates in the resource-based method, with species with higher frequencies having larger niches. In contrast, co-occurrence-based niche breadth was independent of sample size. When calculating the niche breadth estimates for equal numbers of plot occurrences for all species, none of the methods resulted in significant differences between common and rare species. Soil pH niche breadth and co-occurrence-based niche breadth were unrelated to each other, whereas light niche breadth and soil pH niche breadth, corrected for the different frequencies of pH values in the region, were positively correlated with the co-occurrence-based estimates. Species richness, increasing with increasing soil pH, was negatively correlated with niche breadth.

Conclusions

As the co-occurrence method is not distorted by varying plot frequencies, it offers a reliable alternative for extracting species niche breadth from vegetation surveys even if no environmental data are available. The gradient approach, however, remains important, as it provides additional information about measured niche characteristics (e.g. optima, response shape) along these gradients, which is of particular importance in various fields of applied ecology.


AIM
To report a study protocol to explore the experience of cancer screening from the perspective of ethnic minorities in Hong Kong

BACKGROUND
Cancer is a major health problem, but screening can be effective in decreasing the incidence and mortality rates. Providing information on how to participate in recommended preventive measures and on accessibility to these services is a crucial step in promoting healthy behaviour. Ethnic minorities in Western countries are found to be less likely to use preventive services and encounter more barriers in doing so than the general population.

DESIGN
A mixed-method design with two phases has been chosen to meet the aims and objectives of the study, with Phase 1 using a self-reported survey and Phase 2 involving focus-group interviews.

METHOD
A convenience sample of 1540 South Asians (770 in each gender) will be recruited from community centres for the Phase 1 survey in 2013-2014, of whom 72-96 will be invited to participate in the Phase 2 interviews. The Survey and Behavioural Research Ethics Committee of the local university approved the study in March 2012.

DISCUSSION
The findings will provide detailed information on the use of cancer screening and the barriers that this minority population faces in Hong Kong. The findings will inform the government and policy-makers on the implementation of culture-specific interventions, so as to increase the screening uptake rate of this ethnic minority.


BACKGROUND
Almonds and Brazil nuts are widely consumed allergenic nuts whose presence must be declared according to food labelling regulations. Their detection in food products has been recently achieved by ELISA methods with recombinant antibodies (scFv) isolated against complete Brazil nut and almond protein extracts. The screening of phage-scFv libraries against complete protein extracts confers a series of advantages over the use of purified proteins, as recombinant proteins might alter their native folding. However, using this strategy, the nature of the target detected by phage-displayed antibodies remains unknown, and requires further research to identify whether they are nut allergens or other molecules present in the extract, but not related to their allergenic potential.

RESULTS
Electrophoretic, chromatographic, immunological and spectrometric techniques revealed that the Brazil nut (BE95) and almond (PD1F6 and PD2C9) specific phage-scFvs detected conformational epitopes of the Brazil nut and almond 11S globulins, recognised by WHO/IUIS as Ber e 2 and Pru du 6 major allergens. Circular dichroism data indicated that severe heat treatment would entail loss of epitope structure, disabling scFv for target detection.

CONCLUSIONS
The presence of important Brazil nut and almond allergens (Ber e 2 and Pru du 6) in foodstuffs can be determined by using phage-display antibodies BE95, PD1F6 and PD2C9 as affinity probes in ELISA. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.


Two forced shallow-water flow scenarios are explored in a 2D fourth-order finite-volume dynamical core with adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) to investigate AMR's ability to track and resolve complex evolving features. Traditional shallow-water test cases are mainly characterized by large-scale smooth flows that do not effectively test the multiscale abilities of variable-resolution and AMR models to resolve sharp gradients and small-scale flow filaments. Therefore, adding forcing mechanisms to the shallow-water system to model key atmospheric processes adds complexity and creates small-scale phenomena. These can serve as foci for dynamic grid refinement while remaining simple enough to study the numerical design of a model's dynamical core. The first shallow-water flow scenario represents a strengthening, tropical cyclone–like, vortex that is driven by a Betts–Miller-like convection scheme. The second shallow-water test is built upon a barotropically unstable jet with an added Kessler-like warm rain scheme that leads to precipitating frontal zones. The key feature of both tests is that there is significant sensitivity to the model grid while converging (structurally) at high resolution. Both test cases are investigated for a series of uniform resolutions and a variety of AMR tagging criteria. The AMR simulations demonstrate that grid refinement can resolve local features without requiring global high-resolution meshes. However, the results are sensitive to the refinement criteria. Criteria that trigger refinement early in a simulation reproduce the uniform-resolution reference solutions most reliably. In contrast, AMR criteria that delay refinement for several days require careful tuning of the AMR thresholds to improve results compared with uniform-resolution simulations.


High temperature superconductivity in cuprates is realized by doping the Mott insulator with charge carriers. A central issue is how such an insulating state can evolve into a conducting or superconducting state when charge carriers are introduced. Here, by in situ vacuum annealing and Rb deposition on the Bi2Sr2Ca0.6Dy0.4Cu2O8+delta (Bi2212) sample surface to push its doping level continuously from deeply underdoped (Tc=25 K, doping level p-0.066) to the near zero doping parent Mott insulator, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements are carried out to observe the detailed electronic structure evolution in lightly hole-doped region for the first time. Our results indicate that the chemical potential lies at about 1 eV above the charge transfer band for the parent state at zero doping which is quite close to the upper Hubbard band. With increasing hole doping, the chemical potential moves continuously towards the charge transfer band and the band structure evolution exhibits a rigid band shift-like behavior. When the chemical potential approaches the charge transfer band at a doping level of -0.05, the nodal spectral weight near the Fermi level increases, followed by the emergence of the coherent quasiparticle peak and the insulator-superconductor transition. Our observations provide key insights in understanding the insulator-superconductor transition in doping the parent cuprate compound and for establishing related theories.


The usefulness of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent(MMPI-A) (J. N. Butcher et al., 1992) was examined for 162 delinquent boys in a state training school. Their base rates, patterns, and configurations on all the MMPI-A scales and subscales were determined and compared with those of the 805 nondelinquent male adolescents in the MMPI-A standardization sample and with the original MMPI patterns of 7,783 delinquents identified in a literature review. The most prominent clinical scales were 4, 6, and 9, and 49/94 was the most frequent 2-point code. The study confirmed 14 of 18 hypotheses for mean differences on the 38 MMPI-A validity, clinical, supplementary, and content scales, and also found significant mean differences on 33 of the other 51 MMPI-A scales and subscales, 13 of which were large enough to be clinically meaningful. Most of the MMPI-A patterns and configurations were consistent with the literature on male juvenile delinquents.


Cloud computing is a vital field of information and communication technologies , introducing new summons for environmental protection. Cloud computing technologies have a variety of application domains, since they offer scalability, are trustworthy and reliable, and offer high performance at relatively low cost. The cloud computing revolution is redesigning modern networking, and offering promising environmental protection prospects as well as economic and technological advantages. These technologies have the potential to improve energy efficiency and to reduce carbon footprints and (e-)waste. These features can transform cloud computing into green cloud computing. In this survey, we review the main achievements of green cloud computing. First, an overview of cloud computing is given. Then, recent studies and developments are summarized, and environmental issues are specifically addressed. Finally, future research directions and open problems regarding green cloud computing are presented. This survey is intended to serve as up-to-date guidance for research with respect to green cloud computing.


Interpretation is essential in tour guiding services and it is formed by tour guides' information. The body of the tour guiding literature has examined tour guides' interpretation and information-giver role in various aspects. However, tourists' questions, as a component of tour guide-tourist interaction and interpretation, are under-studied. Hence, this empirical research aims to identify tourists' questions directed to tour guides in Türkiye. It also examines tour guides' perceptions of tourists' questions and their geographic origin. Additionally, tour guides' strategies to handle challenging questions were clarified. 13 tour guides were interviewed to conduct the qualitative research and the findings reveal that tourists' questions are related to Geography, Islam religion, History in Anatolia, Sociocultural settings, and Socioeconomic infrastructure in Türkiye. Therefore, this study contributes to the current body of knowledge as it offers a framework for tourists' questions, tour guides' relevant perceptions, and strategies. Finally, it provides recommendations for practitioners and policy-makers.


Flooding is a prevalent problem in the Philippines, especially now that there are heavier rains due to climate change. Experience has shown that being prepared for a disaster can minimize casualty and damage. However, for people living in remote areas, preparedness could be a problem, as they do not usually have access to radio, TV, mobile phones, and other media that can immediately warn of possible floods and landslides. As such, an effective early warning system needs to be designed specifically for far, remote areas. The Bell and Bottle Early Warning Systems (EWS) project aims to address this need. The project seeks to establish a low-cost, fast, effective, and community-based early warning system designed for remote communities that are prone to floods and landslides.


The role of professional revolutionaries is usually reserved for men. One exception is Teresa Noce, a prominent Italian Communist leader in the (residual) quota reserved for women, who was the wife of Luigi Longo, but with an independence that made her existence an original example of militancy and activism. Both underground and within republican Italy, Noce never adapted to what already existed, but fought to subvert the order, especially in the face of exploitation and discrimination. A member of the ICP, Noce fought against fascism, transporting clandestine material, writing articles for anti-fascist papers, promoting strikes by rice weeders and labourers. In France, she directed partisan movements and, in Spain, she was a militant in voluntary groups against Francisco Franco. After the war, she was elected to the Parliament as a "Constituent Mother". She also revolutionised the world of labour as the first female Secretary General of the textile trade union.


BACKGROUND
Data on implant recession coverage (RC) are very scarce.

PURPOSE
To present a new surgical approach and preliminary results for the treatment of peri-implant soft tissue recession via partially epithelialized connective tissue grafts (PECTGs).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We harvested PECTGs from the palate using a double-blade scalpel. All donor sites were sutured and covered with a stent. Dissection lines were placed minimally coronal to the mucogingival border. The recipient areas were prepared epiperiostally. All PECTGs were sutured with the keratinized mucosa (KM) portion toward the local KM tissue and were subsequently widely covered by the local mucosal tissue layer.

RESULTS
Fifteen patients with 22 implants were available for follow-up. The recession depth at baseline was 2.4 ± 1.1 mm (median: 2.5). After a mean observational period of 5 years, we found a mean recession value of 0.4 ± 0.5 mm (median: 0). We found a mean increase in the peri-implant KM width of 2.2 ± 1.1 mm (median: 1.5). In all cases, progression of the recession had stopped. None of the grafts was lost. The mean RC was 2 ± 0.9 mm (median: 1.5 mm) [88 ± 20% (median: 100)]. Complete RC was found in 64% of the implants. The results have remained stable for up to 13 years.

CONCLUSION
Soft tissue recession around dental implants may successfully be treated using the PECTG technique.


Localized malignant mesothelioma of the pleura (LMM) is an extremely rare tumor. The biologic association between LMM and diffuse malignant mesothelioma of the pleura (DMM) remains unclear, and the standard treatment for LMM has not been established to date. We experienced a rare case of LMM. A 49-year-old male was admitted to our hospital because of dyspnea on effort and an abnormal shadow on the chest X-ray. He had a 7 cm pleural tumor with right hemothorax. The tumor was surgically removed completely and the diagnosis of LMM was established pathologically. After surgery, he underwent radio-chemotherapy. The patient has been followed up for 6 years with no evidence of reccurence.


Nanosecond laser induced damage in RbTiOPO(4) (RTP) an isomorphic material to the more widely known KTiOPO(4) (KTP) is studied in crystals with varying properties. The ionic conductivity along the z-axes of the tested crystals ranged from 1.5 10(-9) S/cm to 1.1 10(-12) S/cm. Further, different growth sectors with different absorption in the range of hundreds of ppm/cm and differing zones in inhomogeneous crystals have been investigated. Despite these important differences in crystal quality, no significant difference could be observed in the laser damage resistance at 1064 nm. Thus growth induced defects only play a minor role in nanosecond laser induced damage in RTP. Transient, laser induced defects are discussed in analogy with KTP as possible laser damage precursors.


Clearing of trees and native vegetation over the past 160 years has led to increasing rates of dryland salinization in the Goulburn-Broken Catchment area. In its dryland section, within the Goulburn Highlands, South West Goulburn, and the Broken Highlands subcatchments, hydrologic balance exists. But in the Riverine Plains comprising the Goulburn and Broken Plains sub-catchments, where average annual rainfalls are less than 600 mm per annum, it will be many decades before hydrologic balance is achieved. This study is set in the Broken Plains sub-catchment where over the next 100 years, it is expected that deep drainage of annual rainfall will cause watertables to rise to within two metres of the ground surface. Such rises of groundwater will lead to marked land degradation, initially in the form of induced waterlogging and ultimately increased dryland salinity. There is therefore a critical need to redress this increasing problem. One main way of doing so is by introducing deep-rooted perennial species such as lucerne into the landscape. Lucerne has a higher level of water extraction than annual crops and pasture. However, one of the barriers to farmers changing from annual subterranean clover pasture to lucerne is uncertainty about the effects of such a change and the chance of reduced average profit or its volatility. This study seeks to reduce that uncertainty by investigating changes in profitability and cash flow across the Broken Plains sub-catchment where farming with lucerne replaces cropping with subterranean clover pasture.


We used the effects of colored distractors on ERPs to assess the psychophysiological consequences of selection by color. In Experiment 1 participants searched a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) sequence for a prespecified target letter that usually appeared in a cued color. ERPs elicited by cued-color distractors were similar to those elicited by targets, indicating relatively complete distractor processing. In Experiment 2 one letter in the RSVP sequence was framed by an irrelevant distractor probe in either the cued color or an uncued color. Such distractor probes elicited a P1, N1, or P2 sequence that depended on their color. In addition, probes presented shortly before the target tended to suppress the ERP components associated with target processing, especially for probes in the cued color. These observed variations in ERPs depending on the distractor's type and its distance from the target help to reveal the time course and mechanisms of selection by color.


A new SOI lateral emitter switched thyristor structure with partial buried oxide, which suppresses the parasitic thyristor turn-on and improves a maximum controllable current density, is proposed and compared with conventional LEST and LIGBT with partial buried oxide by using 2-D numerical simulations. Simulation results show that the proposed LEST exhibits latch-free characteristics without sacrifice of the on-resistance and switching speed while the LIGBT on the partially bonded SOI does not improve latch-up capability.


Adaptive systems manage and regulate the behavior of devices or other systems using control loops to automatically adjust the value of some measured variables to equal the value of a desired set-point. These systems normally interact with physical parts or operate in physical environments, where uncertainty is unavoidable. Traditional approaches to manage that uncertainty use either robust control algorithms that consider bounded variations of the uncertain variables and worst-case scenarios or adaptive control methods that estimate the parameters and change the control laws accordingly. In this article, we propose to include the sources of uncertainty in the system models as first-class entities using random variables to simulate adaptive and control systems more faithfully, including not only the use of random variables to represent and operate with uncertain values but also to represent decisions based on their comparisons. Two exemplar systems are used to illustrate and validate our proposal.


SUMMARY On the basis of a detailed case study of the High Forest Zone of Ghana, the paper challenges the common narrative of REDD as being fast and easy. The paper analyses proximate and underlying causes of deforestation and degradation and finds that these processes are driven by multiple underlying causes. The paper goes on to argue that the causes of deforestation and degradation that are found within the realm of the forestry sector, to which REDD measures will be largely confined, have emerged as a result of a political economy that gives priority to economic development over forest conservation, while at the same time allowing powerful interest groups, in particular the political and administrative elite, to financially benefit from resource depletion. The analysis suggests that forest conserving policy reforms are unlikely to come fast and easy, and that the prospect of future REDD payments may not accelerate them. It is argued that the case of Ghana is not unique and that REDD implementation may face similar constraints in many developing countries.


Student opposition in school is traditionally cast in terms of individual dispositions, whereby particular students or groups of students are said to "resist" or "oppose" school structures and identities aligned with the dominant cultural group. The author examined instead how the teacher and students in a low-track mathematics classroom jointly constructed opposition through their classroom interactions. Analysis of the classroom interaction revealed the emergence and escalation of a number of classroom practices that became oppositional. These practices were related to the nature of the mathematical activity, the framing and positioning of student participation in this activity, and multiple interpretations of student competence in and out of the classroom. The author found that classroom opposition is fostered by weak opportunities for meaningful mathematical engagement and the transformation of a polarized participation structure into an oppositional one.


The physical processes postulated to explain the high-energy emission mechanisms of compact astrophysical sources often yield polarised soft gamma rays (X-rays). PoGOLite is a balloon-borne polarimeter operating in the 25-80 keV energy band. The polarisation of incident photons is reconstructed using Compton scattering and photoelectric absorption in an array of phoswich detector cells comprising plastic and BGO scintillators, surrounded by a BGO side anticoincidence shield. The polarimeter is aligned to observation targets using a custom attitude control system. The maiden balloon flight is scheduled for summer 2011 from the Esrange Space Centre with the Crab and Cygnus X-1 as the primary observational targets.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between effort-based decision making and gross motor performance. Effort-based decision making was measured using a modified version of the Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task in which participants pressed a button on a keyboard to fill a bar on a screen for a monetary reward. Gross motor performance was measured with a walking task in which participants matched their steps to the beat of an audio metronome. We hypothesized that increased effort during the effort-based decision making task would be paired with an increase in steps taken per minute during the gross motor task. However, the results of this study indicated no relationship between the effort-based decision making task and the gross motor task. Planning rather than decision-making may have been the cognitive construct that governed our gross motor task. These findings can be beneficial when thinking about potential interventions for populations who experience deficits in motor performance and cognition as well as for understanding the relationship between both cognitive and motor performance in healthy adults.


The COVID-19 disease usually leads to mild infectious disease in children, but some develop serious complications. Here, we describe the characteristics of children with COVID-19 in northern Iran, the Golestan province. Ninety-one confirmed cases were enrolled in the study, aged 0–18 years. Demographic, clinical, comorbidity, laboratory, and radiological data were compared based on the disease severity (admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) or not) and disease outcome (recovered or deceased). Sixteen (17.5%) cases were hospitalized in ICU, and 8/91 (8.8%) deceased. Fever and cough were the most common clinical symptoms. Among all symptoms notified there were no significant differences between severe and milder cases, or between those who deceased and recovered. Failure to thrive (FTT), malignant disease and neurological disease were significantly more prevalent in severe cases as was frequently reported comorbidities. Laterality, ground-glass opacity, and lung consolidation were the most common findings in chest computed tomography. The data confirms that the COVID-19 disease has various presentations in children, and clinical, laboratory, and radiological findings may help predict the development of severe forms of COVID-19 among children.


Platinized deposits have been formed on TiO2 particulate films supported on Ti substrates, by means of galvanic replacement of pre-deposited metallic Cu and subsequent immersion of the Cu/TiO2 coatings into a chloroplatinic acid solution. The spontaneous replacement of Cu by Pt results in Pt(Cu)/TiO2/Ti electrodes. Both the platinized and the precursor TiO2/Ti electrodes have been characterized by SEM microscopy/EDS spectroscopy, their surface electrochemistry has been assessed by cyclic voltammetry in the dark and their photoelectrochemical properties by photovoltammetry under UV illumination. It has been found that, although platinized rutile-rich electrodes exhibit typical Pt surface electrochemistry, the anatase-rich electrodes show only traces of oxide formation and stripping. The latter has been translated to a suppression of methanol oxidation at anatase-rich electrodes. On the contrary, methanol oxidation at platinized rutile-rich electrodes occurs at significant rates and can be further enhanced upon UV illumination, as a result of Pt and TiO2 synergism in the photoelectrochemical oxidation of methanol.


Autologous bone marrow transplantation (AuBMT) is an accepted treatment modality for patients with high-risk or relapsed hematological malignancies. Hepatotoxicity, in particular veno-occlusive disease (VOD), is a significant complication of this therapy. The purpose of this study was to determine the clinical relevance of abnormal liver function in the patients who received high-dose cytotoxic therapy and AuBMT for hematological malignancies at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Medical records of 180 consecutive patients between 1984 and 1991 treated with cytotoxic chemotherapy and AuBMT for acute myelogenous leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and Hodgkin's disease were reviewed. Forty-six patients (26%) developed jaundice with bilirubin > 4 mg/dl. These patients had a 43% toxic death rate compared to an 11% toxic death rate in patients with lower bilirubins (p < 0.001). The main etiology of hyperbilirubinemia was VOD of the liver noted in 22 of the 180 patients (12%). Other etiologies of jaundice included hepatitis, sepsis with multiorgan dysfunction, cholecystitis, and recurrent disease. Hyperbilirubinemia of various etiologies is a significant complication of AuBMT. Several new strategies are under investigation to decrease the toxicity of intensive therapy.


Software plays a vital role in our daily life. Unfortunately, it also fails to deliver according to promises. Many popular systems are renowned for their user-friendliness but notorious for their numerous faults. The QSIC conference provides a forum to bring together researchers and practitioners who work on improving the quality of software, enabling them to exchange ideas and present new results in this challenging area. It was first held in Hong Kong as an Asia-Pacific Conference. It then established itself as an international conference and was held in Dallas, Texas, USA; Braunschweig, Germany; Melbourne, Australia; Beijing, China; Portland, Oregon, USA; Oxford, UK; and Jeju, Korea. We are very pleased to be back in Asia this year to celebrate its tenth anniversary.