Carbomers are carboxyvinylic derivatives that are widely used in the manufacture of hydrogel dosage forms. Because of their anionic nature and large number of acid groups, they tend to interact with cationic substances, and with other hydrophilic polymers containing alcohol groups. Here, we report a study of interactions between the carbomer Carbopol and the cationic drug propranolol hydrochloride in the solid state and in solution, and of the effects of such interactions on the properties of the hydrogel. We found that the drug forms an insoluble ionic complex with the polymer, modifying all of the hydrogel properties studied (swelling, release, bioadhesion). The inclusion of beta-cyclodextrin in the formulation reduces polymer/drug interactions, so that hydrogel properties remain unchanged. This is probably attributable to formation of inclusion complexes of beta-cyclodextrin and the drug, so that the drug is prevented from interacting with the polymer.


The natural endowment of the Democrat Republic of Congo, in the form of land, minerals, and forests, is unparalleled. The right mix of policies has the potential to unleash incentives that could transform the economy. However, transport infrastructure in the DRC is amongst the sparsest and most dilapidated in the world, and this lack of infrastructure is likely a significant constraint to growth. This work considerably advances the information that is available to infrastructure planners, and provides methodologies that could be used to make more informed decisions to identify trade-offs between economic growth and environmental endangerment. The approach draws from the state-of the art across a variety of disciplines – spatial (GIS) analysis, spatial econometrics, economic theory, and conservation biology – to create an approach that can guide the location and level of investments by estimating benefits and environmental costs at a highly disaggregated spatial scale. The analysis proceeds in four related phases that combine economic assessments with geospatial analysis. First transport costs are estimated using GIS techniques. A variety of econometric procedures are then used to determine the economic effects of changing transport costs. Second, highly disaggregated spatial data is used to estimate the effects of roads on forest cover, and the resulting biodiversity that would be at risk from local deforestation. Next the two spatial estimates are combined to simulate the effects of different policies. Finally this provides a series of maps that identify regions where there are large trade-offs between economic and ecological goals. Overall the results suggests that the siting of infrastructure needs to consider impacts at the very outset of the planning process. This report presents both new data and new techniques that can be used to identify areas of opportunity, risk, and potential for REDD+ financing. Such upstream planning has been rendered both feasible and cost effective with the availability of geo-referenced information on forest cover and economic data. This report provides the data and easily comprehensible maps for such an exercise.


To obtain serial blood pressure measurements without trauma in rabbits, we developed a laser-based method which permits noninvasive determination of systolic and diastolic arterial blood pressure. The ease and accuracy of this method were evaluated over a range of blood pressures in five New Zealand White rabbits. Laser-based pressures from the central ear artery were compared with cannula-based pressures from the contralateral central ear artery. Pressures were measured before and during infusions of saline (control), nitroprusside, or epinephrine, and following induction of anesthesia. Noninvasive measurements correlated highly with direct measurements (systole: r = 0.89; diastole: r = 0.93). The difference between the non-invasive and direct pressure measurements during saline, nitroprusside, and epinephrine infusions, and following anesthesia, respectively, were (mean +/- SD, systole/diastole): 4.2 +/- 2.4 (P = NS)/9.3 +/- 1.4 (P less than .001), 4.1 +/- 1.6 (P less than .02)/3.2 +/- 1.1 (P less than .01), 0.6 +/- 2.4 (P = NS)/-3.0 +/- 2.7 (P = NS), and -5.1 +/- 2.9 (P = NS)/0.3 +/- 1.3 (P = NS). The noninvasive method did not result in observable agitation of the animals. To optimize results, visual inspection was required to assure that the instrument's diaphragm was not deformed or dried from previous use, and that the diaphragm was placed over the center of the arterial lumen. It was also necessary to dim room lights and to direct heating lights away from the ears to avoid degrading light signal quality. These results, albeit involving a small number of animals, indicate the potential utility of this method in the study of chronic pathophysiological processes requiring long-term repeated determination of systolic and diastolic blood pressure.


The x-ray spectra produced in collisions of 98 MeV/u Li-like uranium ions with N2 molecules have been studied. By measuring the decay photons associated with the capture process, experimental information for the formation of the excited [1s22s2p3/2]1P1 and [1s22s2p3/2]3P2 states in Be-like uranium has been obtained. It was found that relative probability for production of the P-states is close to statistical population law 2J + 1.


We describe a method for the experimental characterization of intrinsic switching field distributions in perpendicular media. The method is based upon a comparison between the major loop and a set of recoil loops, which start at a certain distance /spl Delta/M away from saturation. In particular, we measure the applied field difference /spl Delta/H between the recoil loops and the major loop at identical M values, for which the average demagnetizing fields are the same. By analyzing complete /spl Delta/H(M,/spl Delta/M) data sets taken from multiple recoil loops, we gain a detailed measure of the intrinsic switching field distribution D(H/sub S/). Using polar-Kerr effect measurements of recording disk samples, we demonstrate the capabilities of our approach.


Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptor, soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase (sFLT), are biomarkers of endothelial activation. Vascular endothelial growth factor and sFLT have been associated with sepsis severity among adults, but pediatric data are lacking. The goal of this study was to assess VEGF and sFLT as predictors of outcome for children with sepsis.

METHODS
Biomarkers measured for each patient at time of presentation to the emergency department were compared in children with septic shock versus children with sepsis without shock. For children with septic shock, the associations between biomarker levels and clinical outcome measures, including intensive care unit and hospital length of stay, vasoactive inotrope score, and measures of organ dysfunction, were assessed.

RESULTS
Soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase and VEGF were elevated in children with septic shock (n = 73) compared with those with sepsis (n = 93). Elevated sFLT but not VEGF was associated with longer intensive care unit length of stay (P = 0.003), longer time requiring vasoactive agents (P < 0.001), higher maximum vasoactive inotrope score (P < 0.001), and higher maximum pediatric logistic organ dysfunction score (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
Vascular endothelial growth factor and sFLT measured in the emergency department are elevated in children with septic shock, and elevated sFLT but not VEGF is associated with worse clinical outcomes.


Six novel urethane-dimethacrylate analogues (QAUDMAs) were synthesized and characterized. They consisted of the 2,4,4,-trimethylhexamethylene diisocyanate (TMDI) core and two methacrylate-terminated wings containing quaternary ammonium groups substituted with alkyl chains of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, or 18 carbon atoms. QAUDMAs, due to the presence of quaternary ammonium groups, may have possible antibacterial effects. Since they showed satisfactory physicochemical properties, they will be subjected to further research towards the development of dental composites with a capacity to reduce secondary caries. The synthesis of QAUDMAs included three stages: (i) transesterification of methyl methacrylate (MMA) with N-methyldiethanolamine (MDEA), (ii) N-alkylation of the tertiary amino group with alkyl bromide, and (iii) addition of TMDI to the intermediate achieved in the second stage. The formation of QAUDMAs was confirmed by 1H and 13C NMR. They were characterized for density (dm), viscosity (η), refractive index (RI), glass transition temperature (Tg), polymerization shrinkage (S), and degree of conversion (DC). QAUDMAs were yellow, viscous resins (the η values ranged from 1.28 × 103 to 1.39 × 104 Pa·s, at 50 °C). Their RI ranged from 1.50 to 1.52, Tg from −31 to −15 °C, DC from 53 to 78%, and S from 1.24 to 2.99%, which is appropriate for dental applications.


The aim of our study was to provide a basic data for the development of a small greenhouse model suitable for urban farmers. The study analyzed installation inclination, positive and negative reasons for installation, location of installation, preferred crops in small greenhouses, plans for use of products, and expected effects by using small greenhouse. Positive opinion on small greenhouse installation was 80.4% of the survey respondents. The most positive reason for the installation of small greenhouses was fresh and safe food supply, and the negative reason was maintenance difficulties. The results obtained in our survey indicated that small greenhouses were more likely to be installed near the house, and urban farmers tended to grow organic leafy vegetables in soil. The expected benefits of small greenhouse operation were largely divided into 'benefit for the improvement of the quality of life' and 'benefit for economic profits', and expectation for the improvement of the quality of life was higher than economic benefit. As a result of the Likert 5-point scale analysis, 'benefit for the improvement of the quality of life' by using a small greenhouse was graded as high as 4.17∼4.60. On the other hand, the 'benefit to economic profits' was rated as low as 3.51∼4.14.


BACKGROUND
Burkitt's/Burkitt-like lymphoma (BL/BLL) are highly aggressive lymphomas mainly affecting children and young adults. We report the results in adolescent and adult patients with the use of three successive regimens.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Forty-nine patients aged 15-70 years admitted to the Norwegian Radium Hospital in the period 1982-2001 with a diagnosis of BL/BLL on histological review and who were given chemotherapy with curative intent are included in this analysis. Up to 1987 patients were given doxorubicin-based chemotherapy supplemented with intravenous and intrathecal methotrexate (MmCHOP). From 1987 to 1994, patients who obtained complete remission upon this regimen were consolidated with high-dose therapy with stem-cell support (MmCHOP + HDT). In 1995 we introduced as frontline therapy the German Berlin-Frankfurt-Munster (BFM) regimen.

RESULTS
By intention to treat analyses, the progression-free survival rates for patients who received MmCHOP (n=13), MmCHOP + HDT (n=17) or BFM therapy (n=19) are 30.8%, 70.6% and 73.7%, respectively. In the groups of patients who received either the BFM regimen or MmCHOP + HDT, all patients who obtained complete remission upon induction therapy are continuously disease free. There was no treatment-related death.

CONCLUSIONS
BL/BLL in adolescents and adults can successfully be treated with 5-day blocks of intensified chemotherapy such as the BFM regimen or CHOP/methotrexate-based chemotherapy consolidated with high-dose therapy. Using the BFM regimen, continuous remissions are obtained without additional myeloablative chemotherapy.


AIM
To elucidate the role of fibulin-5 (FBLN-5) as a suppressor of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell metastasis via integrin.

METHODS
The expression of FBLN-5 was determined by immunohistochemistry in 140 HCC samples and matched normal tissues, and was further confirmed by RT-PCR and Western blot analyses in various cell lines. Recombinant FBLN-5 was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3), purified and used in cell attachment assays. Expression of a specific plasmid or a specific siRNA in HCC cells resulted in the overexpression or knockdown of FBLN-5, respectively. Further, the migration and invasion of HCC cells were investigated using the Boyden chamber and transwell assays. The concentration of secreted matrix metalloproteinase 7 (MMP-7) was determined using ELISA.

RESULTS
FBLN-5 expression was found to be downregulated in HCC. Its expression was significantly correlated with advanced tumor metastasis; this was indicative of poor 5-year overall survival. Recombinant full-length human FBLN-5 promoted the attachment of HCC cells via integrins: it inhibited HCC cell adhesion and migration to fibronectin in a concentration-dependent manner. It also inhibited HCC cell migration and invasion through an integrin-binding arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) motif by downregulating MMP-7.

CONCLUSION
These results suggest that lower FBLN-5 expression is an important indicator of poor survival and that FBLN-5 inhibits HCC motility via an integrin-dependent mechanism. RGD-dependent suppression of MMP-7 by FBLN-5 might contribute to the development of new therapeutic strategies for HCC.


One of the efforts to reduce infant mortality is through exclusive breastfeeding (EBF). The target of EBF coverage in the world shows a fluctuating trend that tends to decrease. One of the innovations needed to increase exclusive breastfeeding is through prenatal breastfeeding counseling. This study aims to look at the effectiveness of prenatal breastfeeding counseling on breastfeeding practice. This research used a quantitative approach using a quasi-experimental design with a post-test only control group design approach. The study was conducted in the working area of the Menteng Public Health Center in Palangka Raya in March-October 2018. Samples for each group were 20 respondents who met the inclusion criteria. The data collection tool uses a questionnaire. Data analysis included univariate and bivariate (Chi-Square and Odd Ratio tests). The results of comparative testing of the effectiveness of breastfeeding counseling found a significant relationship between prenatal breastfeeding counseling with breastfeeding practice p-value = 0.025 (p <0.05) with an Odd Ratio of 0.222 which means that mothers given prenatal breastfeeding counseling have the potential to give EBF practice as much as 1 / 0.222 = 4.5 times higher than mothers who were not given counseling. Prenatal breastfeeding counseling was effective in enhancing EBF practices.


The goal of the research is to find out the main low-intensity radioactive anomalies as the main probable source of human light irradiation in Arkhangelsk city; give an objective estimation of radiation risks and potential health damage of the local population. Avtogamma-spectrometric method, using a mobile radiation monitoring system RS-700 was firstly used in the city. It allows to measure both natural and artificial radionuclides in real time geo-referenced. Ground gamma survey method with geological prospecting scintillation radiometer SRP-88H has been used for specification of obtained results. Soil sampling has been selected in each city block with further definition of radionuclides specific activity in the gamma spectrometer counting sample "Progress". A unique set of data on the radioactive level and the specific activity of 137Cs, 40K, 232Th, 226Ra in the soil have been collected as a part of the radio-ecological study. Nine local low-intensity anomalies have been revealed and their genesis has been set. The comparative comprehensive assessment of low doses ionizing radiation on human health has been done. Possible ways of further medical and environmental research in the field of oncological diseases and radioactivity study in the city of Arkhangelsk have been planned.


A data set of 77 genomic mouse/human gene pairs has been compiled from the EMBL nucleotide database, and their corresponding features determined. This set was used to analyze the degree of conservation of noncoding sequences between mouse and human. A new alignment algorithm was developed to cope with the fact that large parts of noncoding sequences are not alignable in a meaningful way because of genetic drift. This new algorithm, DNA Block Aligner (DBA), finds colinear-conserved blocks that are flanked by nonconserved sequences of varying lengths. The noncoding regions of the data set were aligned with DBA. The proportion of the noncoding regions covered by blocks >60% identical was 36% for upstream regions, 50% for 5' UTRs, 23% for introns, and 56% for 3' UTRs. These blocks of high identity were more or less evenly distributed across the length of the features, except for upstream regions in which the first 100 bp upstream of the transcription start site was covered in up to 70% of the gene pairs. This data set complements earlier sets on the basis of cDNA sequences and will be useful for further comparative studies. [This paper contains supplementary data that can be found at http://www.genome.org [corrected]].


Tailoring and structuring optical fibres to nanoscale dimensions is rapidly becoming a focus area of research and is important for the eventual success of future in-fibre optical systems and novel technologies. Here, I review one aspect of our work in establishing and pursuing this field: localizing light for sensing.


Abstract The reasons for changes in ranking within urban systems are a matter of a wide and long debate. Some focus on a continuous and smooth ordering of cities by their size within the urban system, in the tradition of Zipf's law. Others focus on discrete, discontinuous ordering, as cities take on functions at different levels, such as specialized market places or high-level education, in the tradition of Christaller. We enter the debate by empirically evaluating whether the same determinants explain continuous or discrete changes in urban ranks in the evolution of the Italian urban hierarchy over the years 1971 to 2011. We empirically show that small, continuous changes of cities' ranks have different drivers than large, discontinuous leaps. The presence of high-level functions in a city predicts major leaps across discrete ranks. Results are robust to the use of an instrumental variable strategy based on a shift–share argument.


In the deployment of pulse Doppler (PD) radar, determination of phase and amplitude stability is the most difficult measurement problem. Unique requirements are placed on pulse and carrier stability so that the radar can perform in strong clutter. Because of subclutter visibility and sensitivity specifications, coherent noise, which is insignificant for noncoherent pulse radars, becomes extremely important. In solving the measurement problem, special support equipment was developed which is considered to have reached such a degree of refinement that it is probably one of the most technically advanced pieces of field test equipment supporting any operational radar. This paper discusses stability requirements, sources of instability, and the combination of techniques selected for verification of compliance of the PD radar with the stability requirements. The results of a program to develop special field support equipment to satisfy the measurement requirements are emphasized. Results of field experience and the special training required of military field personnel to enable them to effectively use this relatively complex support equipment are discussed.


Aadaptive finite element computations of laminar and turbulent jet impingement heat transfer are presented. Turbulence is modeled using the standard κ-e model for high Reynolds number, coupled with wall functions. The turbulence model is solved in logarithmic form. The error estimator uses a local least-squares projection of derivatives and accounts for errors in all dependent variables, including the eddy viscosity. The performance of the methodology is verified by solving a problem possessing a closed-form solution. Two applications are then considered: laminar and turbulent impinging jets. In both cases heat transfer is a key element of the study


Increased environmental consciousness coupled with detrimental impacts of synthetic dyes and consumers' concern over hygiene, cleanliness and protection, the demand for functional textiles has increased in recent years. Antimicrobial finishing imparts protective properties to textiles besides attractive shades. The study was aimed to determine the antifungal activity of colourants from aerial biomass of Perilla frutescens and dyed fabrics against pathogenic fungi infesting textiles materials. Antifungal activity of natural dye extracted from aerial biomass of Perilla frutescens against the selected pathogenic fungi viz., Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium moniliforme, Fusarium solani, and Penicillium decumbens was evaluated by agar-well diffusion method. The MIC of the natural dye against each of the test fungi was determined by broth dilution method. Dyed silk, wool and cotton fabrics were also evaluated for antifungal activity by standard method. The natural dye showed antifungal activity against all the five test fungi in a concentration dependent manner. The treatment dose of 1000μg/ml recorded the highest growth reduction in all the test fungi, nearly at par with the positive control. The MICs of natural dye against the test fungi ranged from 32.39 to 36.50μg/ml. All kinds of dyed fabrics also showed remarkable antifungal efficacy against the test fungi. Dyed wool fabric exhibited the maximum growth reduction followed by silk and cotton. The result of the study demonstrated the remarkable antifungal activity of natural dye from Perilla frutescens aerial biomass and dyed fabrics. Therefore, Perilla frutescens can be considered as a potential source of natural dye with functional properties and can be used in protective finishing of different kinds of textile fabrics.


Twelve-hour polygraphic recordings were obtained in 20 normal healthy term infants at 1 week of age, at monthly intervals up to 4 months, and at 6 months of age. Each minute of these recordings was coded into active sleep (AS), quiet sleep (QS), wakefulness (AW), or indeterminate (IN) based on polygraphic and behavioral variables. For each state, a dozen variables were computed with the help of a laboratory computer. Together these variables describe trends in the development of sleep and wakefulness in the laboratory: an increase in QS and a concomitant decrease in AS, an increase in sustained episodes of these states, and continuous sleep onset in AS throughout this time span. Considerable variability appears to characterize immature sleep patterns, but a reduction in variability was noted between 3 and 4 months of age. The number of sustained sleep-state episodes and the percentage of AS and IN proved to be stable characteristics of individual infants. The large variability among and within infants sheds doubt on the usefulness of polygraphic monitoring of sleep states for early detection of abnormalities.


In this paper, we show that one-class SVMs can also utilize data covariance in a robust manner to improve performance. Furthermore, by constraining the desired kernel function as a convex combination of base kernels, we show that the weighting coefficients can be learned via quadratically constrained quadratic programming (QCQP) or second order cone programming (SOCP) methods. Performance on both toy and real-world data sets show promising results. This paper thus offers another demonstration of the synergy between convex optimization and kernel methods.


My doctoral and research topic was significant in the examination and analysis of leader activities in the framework of a functional, modularly constructed empirical research program of the Department of Management Sciences. I could make statements and correspond about leader activities; these exercises and the influential factors on these activities were studied by the examinations and analyses of leader communication. In this article, I will demonstrate the research I made in on agricultural communication, as a Ph.D. student in the Department of Management Sciences.


Today's ecological crises reveal the increasing awareness that the world is threatened not only by poverty, conflicts and injustices but also by lack of respect for nature. Through the tri-fold participatory and partnership approach, the Sorsogon State College (SSC), together with the LGU of Magallanes and its community beneficiaries collaborated in empowering coastal communities and helped address various concerns affecting them. In a purposive sampling technique, a total of 57 respondents composed of the key informants in the coastal communities and line agency heads gathered for this research cum extension project. The descriptive–evaluative method was employed adopting qualitative research technique. In evaluating the risk scenarios, a retroactive analysis was utilized, the results clearly illustrated the sequence of outcomes of two dreadful disasters in the Magallanes. The assessment of the pressures disclosed various vulnerabilities of the town to hazards. The established Hyogo- Framework of Action (HFA) had strengthened the capacities of the municipality to effectively response and recover in future disaster. In conclusion, ecological crisis is the responsibility of everyone since irresponsible human activities were found to have brought major physical, economic and social consequences to the community. Stewardship of resources should be encouraged through outreach/ volunteer participation to a safer healthy environment.


Pneumatosis intestinalis is gas in the wall of the gastrointestinal tract. It is not well described in pediatric burn patients. The authors present the case of a 23-month-old girl who sustained 40% total body surface area deep-partial and full-thickness burns as well as a grade two inhalational injury. On postburn day two, radiographic imaging showed extensive pneumatosis of the colon. She was managed with bowel rest, broad-spectrum antibiotics, and parenteral nutrition. Radiographic resolution of pneumatosis intestinalis occurred several days later and was followed by reinitiation of enteral feeds and bowel function. The patient later developed an abscess and a subsequent colocutaneous fistula that resolved with percutaneous drainage and conservative management. She healed and was able to avoid a laparotomy with possible bowel resection.


In recent years, our web-atlas at www.TargetGeneReg.org has enabled many researchers to uncover new biological insights and to identify novel regulatory mechanisms that affect p53 and the cell cycle – signaling pathways that are frequently dysregulated in diseases like cancer. Here, we provide a substantial upgrade of the database that comprises an extension to include non-coding genes and the transcription factors ΔNp63 and RFX7. TargetGeneReg 2.0 combines gene expression profiling and transcription factor DNA binding data to determine, for each gene, the response to p53, ΔNp63, and cell cycle signaling. It can be used to dissect common, cell type, and treatment-specific effects, identify the most promising candidates, and validate findings. We demonstrate the increased power and more intuitive layout of the resource using realistic examples.


How do disparate grievances join to form an agenda for collective action? This article analyses the articulation of movement demands and solidarity building during the formative phase of a popular mobilisation against a multinational mining company in Bangladesh. Drawing on a conceptual framework derived from Laclauian discourse theory, I explain how local community resistance inspired various social groups to support an anti-corporate social movement, ultimately defeating the mining company. I explain how the construction of an empty signifier had the capacity to connect disparate groups to oppose a common enemy. This analysis is based on a set of interviews with activists and a close reading of organisational documents. The examination of how movement demands are articulated emphasises the role of movement intellectuals and enriches the theorising of social movements in the Global South.


Deep reinforcement learning is widely used to train autonomous cars in a simulated environment. Still, autonomous cars are well known for being vulnerable when exposed to adversarial attacks. This raises the question of whether we can train the adversary as a driving agent for finding failure scenarios in autonomous cars, and then retrain autonomous cars with new adversarial inputs to improve their robustness. In this work, we first train and compare adversarial car policy on two custom reward functions to test the driving control decision of autonomous cars in a multi-agent setting. Second, we verify that adversarial examples can be used not only for finding unwanted autonomous driving behavior, but also for helping autonomous driving cars in improving their deep reinforcement learning policies. By using a high fidelity urban driving simulation environment and vision-based driving agents, we demonstrate that the autonomous cars retrained using the adversary player noticeably increase the performance of their driving policies in terms of reducing collision and offroad steering errors.


A total of 137 male patients with stable ischemic heart disease (SIHD), average age 62.3 ± 7.46 years, were divided into 3 groups depending on the initial measurements of blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR). Group 1 included patients with elevated blood pressure and/or heart rate (44.5% of patients); Group 2 included patients with normal blood pressure and/or heart rate (38.7%); Group 3 included patients with lowered blood pressure and/or heart rate (16.8%). Patients of Group 1 received beta-adrenergic blockers (BABs) or non-dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers (NDCCBs), in some cases ivabradine-containing BABs (Raenom®, Gedeon Richter) at doses required to achieve target blood pressure and heart rate. The patients of Group 2 received a limited range of drugs above listed due to their blood pressure and heart rate measurements, and the patients of Group 3 did not receive any due to the low levels of such measurements. Effectiveness of the therapy in patients of Group I was the highest. The use of trimetazidine MB (Predizin MB®, Gedeon Richter) has significantly improved the results of treatment in patients of Groups 2 and 3. Trimetazidine MB added to the therapy in patients of Group 1 improved the effectiveness of treatment. Prolongation of trimetazidine MB therapy contributed to improvement of its anti-ischemic effect. Thus, BABs, NDCCBs and ivabradine entered into the foreground, as an optimal medical therapy (OMT) in patients with elevated blood pressure and heart rate measurements. Trimetazidine MB, and ivabradine in some cases prevail in patients with normal and low blood pressure and/or heart rate. It should be stated that patients with various hemodynamic variants of SIHDa require a differentiated approach to the choice of OMT.


Introduction Physiotherapists (PT) are highly predisposed to work related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSD), due to their work nature involving manual effort, static holding and repetitive action. The severity of the WRMSD is reported to affect the quality of life causing sickness absenteeism to work, increased restrictions to work and disability. Hence, identifying the WRMSD at an early stage could help in reducing the morbidity among the PTs. Methods A longitudinal survey was conducted among PTs through a semi-structured questionnaire administered by in-person or by E-mail. A total of 350 participants consented to participate in the study. The participants were working as full time PTs, with a minimum of 1 year of professional experience, age group 22 to 45 years, of either gender, who had pain or discomfort for more than one week, and did not undertake any other part time job. The PTs did not have any prior musculoskeletal disorders, surgeries, pregnancy within the previous 12 months or any systemic health problems. The questionnaire collected demographic data, exercise habits, physical risk factors associated with working condition, present health status, Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMSQ) and the short-form Workstyle Questionnaire. Result The prevalence of musculoskeletal pain among PTs was found to be 88% and the highest prevalence of musculoskeletal pain was in the low back (61.5%) followed by upper back (59.25%). The mean age of the participants was 27.6 years. The prevalence of WRMSD was higher among male PTs (63%) and among those working in the paediatric neurorehabilitation department. 74% of the participants reported an adverse work style risk. Discussion The high prevalence of WRMSDs among PTs can be attributed to several risk factors like lifting or transferring of dependent or non-communicative patients, work setting, practice specialty, age, gender, number of working hours, years of work experience and sedentary life style.


This paper is concerned with the design problem of robust switching rule for Boost converters with uncertain parameters and disturbances. Firstly, the Boost converter is modeled as a switched affine linear system with uncertain parameters and disturbances. Then, using common Lyapunov function approach and linear matrix inequality (LMI) technique, a novel switching rule is proposed such that the model reference tracking performance is satisfied. Finally, a simulation result is provided to show the validity of the proposed method.


A privately held U.S. plumbing parts manufacturer is negotiating the purchase of a Brazilian plumbing manufacturer specializing in water conservation. The case provides sufficient information to value this cross-border acquisition and includes a brief summary of valuation techniques in this context. A particularly rich discussion arises from two points: A forecast of exchange rates from a forecasting company differs from forecasts based on inflation, and two methods are suggested for dealing with country risk (sovereign spread and scenario analysis). A teaching note and instructor and student spreadsheets are available to accompany this case. Excerpt UVA-F-1578 Rev. Jul. 30, 2014 Milagrol Ltda. In June 2010, Peterson Valve Company was in the final stages of making an offer to purchase Milagrol Ltda., a Brazilian manufacturer of faucets, showers, and other bathroom fittings, including a line of high-quality automated fixtures designed to conserve water. Discussions of a merger had proceeded smoothly. Both companies believed there were advantages to combining efforts. Milagrol needed capital to support research and development efforts. Peterson was interested in diversifying its operations globally and in gaining access to manufacturing processes that would be costly to develop. The remaining substantive challenge that Peterson faced was determining a reasonable initial offer. Peterson's management was not looking for a bargain price and would be satisfied with capturing only the value created from the synergies arising from information transfer. Peterson therefore wished to offer Milagrol a price consistent with the expected value of the company given its operations in Brazil and exports to neighboring countries. At the time, Milagrol had a 20% share of the Brazilian market. Both companies were privately held. Milagrol History and Strategy . . .


This study aims to look at and describe the factors that influence adolescent identity; describe the impact of the digital era on teenage identity and how parenting is applied by parents in shaping teenage identity in the digital age. The method used in this research is to use library research on the impact of the digital era on the formation of adolescent identity. Data collection techniques in this paper are to describe the impact of the digital era on adolescent identity and describe how the role of parents to help adolescents in achieving their digital identity influenced by several books and related articles. The findings of this study are the formation of adolescent identity is influenced by the internal and external environment. The external environment including digital influence in the form of the use of smartphones that are very close to teenagers and even teenagers can create a virtual identity. For this reason, it is strongly recommended for parents to apply the concept of parenting in accordance with the needs of adolescents, namely by applying authoritative parenting. Keywords: Era Digital, Teenage Identity, The Role of Parents


Reflection removal aims at enhancing the visibility of the background scene while removing the reflections for images taken through the transparent glass. Though it is of broad application to various computer vision tasks, it is very challenging due to its illposed nature and additional priors are needed to make this problem tractable. Traditional reflection removal methods solve this problem by making use of different heuristic observations or assumptions. These assumptions are seldom satisfied in practical scenarios. In this thesis, we generalize the assumptions for the reflection removal problems by using different information or imposing new constraints. We first propose a method by exploring the blur inconsistency between the background and reflections. Then, we introduce the first benchmark dataset in this area and analyze limitations of existing methods based on this dataset. In the third work, we address this problem by using the sparsity prior and non-local image prior from the external source. Then, with the observation that most reflections only cover a part of the whole image, we propose a method to automatically detect the regions with and without reflections and process them in a heterogeneous manner. At last, we introduce a data-driven method by using the concurrent deep learning framework. Our methods have been evaluated by using the benchmark dataset proposed in our second work. These evaluations cover a diversity of common scenarios in our daily life; hence the experiments prove that our approaches are valid for a broad class of practical scenarios. The main contributions of this thesis are three folds: We thoroughly study the reflection properties observed in our daily scenarios; we propose the first benchmark evaluation dataset in this area and use it to analyze the limitations of existing methods; we propose various approaches to solve this problem from different angles. The efforts and achievements in this thesis promote the practical capabilities of reflection removal techniques and provide fundamental support for future researches. iii


The centrality of the decision maker (DM) is widely recognized in the multiple criteria decision-making community. This translates into emphasis on seamless human-computer interaction, and adaptation of the solution technique to the knowledge which is progressively acquired from the DM. This paper adopts the methodology of reactive search optimization (RSO) for evolutionary interactive multiobjective optimization. RSO follows to the paradigm of "learning while optimizing," through the use of online machine learning techniques as an integral part of a self-tuning optimization scheme. User judgments of couples of solutions are used to build robust incremental models of the user utility function, with the objective to reduce the cognitive burden required from the DM to identify a satisficing solution. The technique of support vector ranking is used together with a k-fold cross-validation procedure to select the best kernel for the problem at hand, during the utility function training procedure. Experimental results are presented for a series of benchmark problems.


When people reason about the behavior of others they often nd that their predictions and explanations involve attributing emotions to those about whom they are reasoning. In this paper we discuss the internal models and representations we have used to make machine reasoning of this kind possible. In doing so, we brieey sketch a simulated-world program called the AAective Reasoner. Elsewhere, we have discussed the AAective Reasoner's mechanisms for generating emotions in response to situations that impinge on an agent's concerns, for generating actions in response to emotions, and for reasoning about emotion episodes from cases Elliott, 1992]. Here we give details about how agents in the AAective Reasoner model each other's point of view for both the purpose of reasoning about one another's emotion-based actions, and for \having" emotions about the fortunes (good or bad) of others (i.e., feeling sorry for someone, feeling happy for them, resenting their good fortune, or gloating over their bad fortune). To do this, agents maintain Concerns-of-Others representations (COOs) to establish points of view for other agents, and use cases to reason about those agents' expressions of emotions.


About nine 4-(substituted phenyl sulfonamide) benzoic acid derivatives were synthesized by ultrasound irradiation method. The synthesized sulfonamides were characterized by their physical constants and spectroscopic data. The characteristic infrared SOsym, SOasym, NH and CO vibrations (ν, cm), the chemical shifts (δ, ppm) of NH and CO of sulfonamides were assigned and correlated with various Hammett substituent constants and Swain-Lupton parameters using single and multi-regression analysis. From the results of the statistical analysis, the effects of substituents on the spectral frequencies were discussed.


The peridynamic method (Silling [1]) used in this paper reformulates the classical continuum mechanics equations by replacing spatial derivatives with an integral of force densities over a region around the material point of interest. This leads to a non-local method that may be thought of as a continuum version of molecular dynamics simulation. Any two material points are connected by a, possibly nonlinear, elastic spring (bond) with a critical stretch parameter. We present examples of dynamic fracture and damage for high-aspect ratio structures such as membranes and nanofiber networks. The membrane example captures dynamic transition from a mode III fracture to mode I. In the deformation of nanofiber networks we obtain cellular patterns of deformation when, in addition to the elastic forces along fibers or at bonded contacts between fibers, van der Waals forces are acting between the fibers. In this way we eliminate the need of modeling individual atom as required by a MD simulation. The force response across the network is similar to the response observed in rupturing of the protein adhesive in biological structure (abalone shells).


Professional and vocational courses requiring 5 years' post-secondary study are supposed to meet specific needs for competences in a given area of employment. Young graduates believe they have acquired the specific competences they think their employers require. In their view, the shortfall lies in their general competences. Is this a reason to question the increasingly vocational nature of university courses?


Objectives: to assess nurses' knowledge and attitudes toward health promotion at Al-Hussein medical city in Kerbela.
Methodology: A descriptive study was carried out during the period of March 25th through June 30th, 2014 to assess the nurses' knowledge and attitudes toward health promotion at Al-Hussein medical city in Kerbela on a sample of 120 nurses. A questionnaire was used in the study, which contain information about the demographic data of the nurses (5 items) & selected questions about their knowledge (14 items) and attitudes regarding health promotion (16 items). Data were analyzed through a descriptive, and inferential statistics (t-test and correlational statistics) using the SPSS, version 19.
Results: it was found that more than two thirds of nurses (68.3%) were no participate in training courses about health promotion .The study revealed that most of the nurses have adequate knowledge regarding majority aspects of health promotion except in the aspect of (Regular exercise is highly recommended for the obese, and obesity is always bad for health) were they have inadequate knowledge. Also, most of the nurses have positive attitude toward health promotion.
Conclusions: the present study concluded that there is a shortage in the training courses about health promotion for nurses; there is a lack of knowledge level about the importance of regular exercise for the obese; and, "obesity is always bad for health". In addition to the education level, years of experience and training have a positive effect on the level of nurses' knowledge. As well as training courses affect positively on nurses' attitudes toward health promotion.
Recommendations: the study recommended education program should be designed and implemented to nurses who were working in the hospital to increase their knowledge concerning health promotion. Also to carryout additional studies with larger sample in other Iraqi governorates.


The spectral functions of highly correlated systems Gd and NiO have been calculated within the GW approximation. In the case of Gd, satellites are found at the positions of the experimental main peaks. However, some quasiparticle weight remains at the local density eigenvalue but its weight is unusually small (0.3). In NiO, satellite structure is observed at around -10 eV when starting from the local density Hamiltonian. It is found, however, that the satellite intensity is reduced towards self-consistency and almost disappears. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.


FIELD: systems for localization and cooling of melted body at emergency its exit for the limits of the reactor's body. ^ SUBSTANCE: cooling trap is located in the mine under the reactor and fulfilled in the form of a vessel with installed in it a basket with sacrificial materials-diluters of uranium containing and steel components of corium. The bottom of the cooling drum is no less than on 30% thicker of its walls and has an incline to the center in the limits of 10-20 degrees; sacrificial materials-diluters are formed in the shape of briquettes enclosed in the steel drum. The mass of the material-diluters of oxide uranium containing and steel components of corium are determined with the help of calculated ratio computations which take into considerations: the mass of components of the corium, incoming from the reactor; physical parameters of components of melt; density of critical thermal flow drawing off the melts to cooling water through the drum. It is proposed to fulfill the directing arrangement for the body in the form of a funnel located between the bottom of the reactor and the higher edge of the trap. At that the walls of the directing arrangement are covered with heat-resistant concrete, over which a covering of easily melted concrete is put on. ^ EFFECT: the invention allows to increase efficiency and reliability of the system by way of improving conditions for coming in and cooling of melted corium in the trap. ^ 4 cl, 1 dwg


Very high energy (VHE, >100 GeV) γ-rays are expected to be emitted from the vicinity of supermassive black holes (SMBHs), irrespective of their activity state. In the magnetosphere of rotating SMBH, efficient acceleration of charged particles can take place through various processes. These particles could reach energies up to E ∼ 1019 eV. VHE γ-ray emission from these particles is then feasible via leptonic or hadronic processes. Therefore, passive systems, where the lack of a strong photon field allows the VHE γ-rays to escape, are expected to be detected by Cherenkov telescopes. We present results from recent VHE experiments on the passive SMBH in the nearby elliptical galaxy NGC 1399. No γ-ray signal has been found, neither by the H.E.S.S. experiment nor in the Fermi data analyzed here. We discuss possible implications for the physical characteristics of the system. We conclude that in a scenario where particles are accelerated in vacuum gaps in the magnetosphere, only a fraction ∼0.3 of the gap is available for particle acceleration, indicating that the system is unlikely to be able to accelerate protons up to E ∼ 1019 eV.


Our earlier work demonstrated a correlation between water level and the recurrence interval of Dead Sea earthquakes (Belferman et al., 2018, Fig. 9). The present study (Figure 2 and corresponding text – pp. 13, lines 236-237 and Eq.7) indicates that the correlation between seismicity and water level change might even be higher than that demonstrated in Belferman et al., 2018 (Fig. 9). We explain that significant uncertainties in the water level data-set might hide the correlation (please see pp.3 50-71).


It is of general interest now in Europe the focus on competences acquired in education in general and in higher education in particular. In this respect, there are projects developed in Romania aiming to meet labour market needs with curricula contents in the frame of the European Qualification Framework (EQF). The paper proposes a special view on the subject, with a study on how the teachers may encounter, in the middle, the approaches envisaging the requirements of companies – on one side, and students' skills – on the other side. The paper subject is a follow-up of studies undertaken in the frame of a project, supported by structural funds and developed in an international partnership at Danubius University, on how companies and students meet requirements of EQF. Envisaging teachers' role in the required changes toward harmonising competencies to job market needs, the paper identifies the technical and relational aspects through direct investigation (questionnaires) and process analysis of what regards teachers' involvement in that change. The paper refers to new teaching paradigm required when passing from "traditional" academic teaching to the competences centred education, and to the market needs, based on new educational approaches but also on the current view of teachers on the process. The paper comes with and added value to the subject, aiming education processes and education style changes that can be now implemented in Romanian universities.


For many years in ophthalmology there is a complex intractable problem associated with inflammation of the vascular membrane of the eye, the so-called uveitis. Experts around the world are trying to understand this heterogeneous pathology of the visual organ, in a short time, which can lead to a sharp decrease in visual acuity, the development of severe complications and further disability. The number of patients with inflammation of the vascular tract is growing rapidly every year, the age is younger. The clinical picture of this pathology has changed slightly. Often began to manifest itself in two radically different directions. It proceeds as a sluggish form or vice versa manifests itself more aggressively with the rapid development of clinical manifestations in a short time. Currently, there is evidence of endogenous causes of uveitis. The article provides a review of the literature summarizing modern views on the problem of autoimmune uveitis. New factors affecting the etiology, pathogenesis of the disease, some aspects of therapy are considered. In addition, the main experimental models of autoimmune diseases of the vascular tract of the eye are analyzed.


Isolated left adrenal gland injuries following blunt abdominal trauma are extremely rare, accounting for only 1.5-4% of all adrenal trauma cases. Most traumatic injuries are right-sided and associated with other concurrent organ injuries. While acute, unilateral adrenal injuries can be asymptomatic, it is important to recognise the potentially life-threatening complications from haemorrhage and/or adrenal insufficiency. Due to its rarity, there are currently no established guidelines for management, monitoring, or follow-up of adrenal gland trauma. We present a case report of a rare, isolated, post-traumatic left adrenal gland haemorrhage. A 39-year-old man presented with mild abdominal pain following a mountain bike accident. Initial assessment revealed tenderness in the left upper quadrant with normal vital signs and biochemistry, but computer tomography (CT) imaging demonstrated an enlarged left adrenal gland with regional fat stranding and free fluid consistent with an acute adrenal haematoma. He was admitted to the ward for observation and discharged on day three of admission. At a six-week follow-up, he reported a complete resolution in symptoms. Follow-up CT of the adrenals at five months post-injury demonstrated complete resolution of the isolated adrenal haematoma. Post-traumatic isolated left adrenal gland injuries are rare in the reported literature, and this case highlights the lack of current guidelines for management and monitoring in cases of isolated adrenal haemorrhage. The current consensus appears to be appropriate with conservative management and follow-up with serial abdominal CT until the resolution of haemorrhage and/or symptoms.


Influenza hemagglutinin (HA) was used to analyze the stepwise folding and oligomeric assembly of glycoproteins in the early secretory pathway of living cells. In addition to mature trimers, six distinct maturation intermediates were identified. Of these, all the incompletely oxidized forms were located in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and associated with calnexin, a membrane‐bound, lectin‐like ER chaperone. Once fully oxidized, the HA dissociated from calnexin as a monomer, which rapidly became resistant to dithiothreitol (DTT) reduction. Part of these extensively folded molecules moved as monomers into the intermediate compartment between the ER and the Golgi complex. Assembly of homotrimers occurred without calnexin‐involvement within the ER and in the intermediate compartment. When anchor‐free HA molecules were analyzed, it was found that they reach the DTT‐resistant monomeric conformation but fail to trimerize. Taken together, the results provide a definition and intracellular localization of several intermediates in the conformational maturation of HA, including the immediate precursor for trimer assembly.


The technique most often used to induce emotion is based on self-referent statements read by the subjects (Velten, 1968). This technique is known to be of intermediate efficiency. Therefore film and hypnosis-like procedures were investigated as alternative techniques. Efficiency was tested using two selected scales of a mood questionnaire (SES by Hampel, 1977). The subjects were male and female students. Both alternative procedures allowed us to induce significant changes in Ss' moods. The film method was more efficient than the Velten-technique in inducing a negative mood, whereas it was equally efficient in inducing a positive mood. The hypnosis-like procedure, however, was not more efficient than the Velten-technique. Obviously film is a quite efficient and easy applicable alternative technique to induce moods.


The great enlargement of the placenta which occurs in severe rhesus hmmolytic disease has been attributed to villous cedema, or increase in the number of villi. Routine histological techniques do not enable firm conclusions to be made on villous size, as the normal variations are so great. The methods of morphometry developed by Aheme & Dunnill (1966) have therefore been used to compare placentas from patients with high titres of rhesus antibodies with those from normal pregnancies. The affected group included 3 mildly affected babies, 5 severely affected, and 4 in whom intrauterine transfusion had been required. The placentas were perfused with buffered formalin at pressures within the physiological range to exclude the effects of variation in the degree of filling of the vascular bed. Measurements of villous volume, capillary volume, intervillous space volume and total villous surface area were obtained. In placentas from normal pregnancies there is a direct linear relationship between the total villous surface area and the birth weight. In the rhesus cases there was no variation from the normal range when the cord hmemoglobin level exceeded 11 g/100 ml, but the villous surface area was greatly increased in all the severely affected cases. When the cord hemoglobin level was plotted against the villous surface area, the relationship was linear in all except those cases in which the foetus had been transfused before delivery. Subtraction of the amount of adult hxemoglobin restored the linear relationship. The mean villous volume was increased from 160 ml in placentas from normal and mildly affected pregnancies to 270 ml in the severely affected ones. There was no significant reduction in the mean volume of the intervillous space. When the volume proportions of the villi and intervillous space were compared, there was no change except in two of the most severely affected cases, in which there was a 25% reduction in the intervillous space. True villous aedema was therefore present, and these babies were cedematous at birth. There was no evidence of villous cedema in any placenta when intrauterine transfusion had succeeded in raising the cord hemoglobin level to more than 9 g/100 ml. In one case foetal hydrops was demonstrated by X-ray and the aspiration of 70 ml of ascitic fluid from the peritoneal cavity before intrauterine transfusion. Normal measurements were obtained, suggesting that villous cedema can be reversed by correcting foetal anemia. In most cases in which the foetus is at risk the blood supply to the maternal side of the placenta is the important factor in determining the outcome. In rhesus hmemolytic disease there is no impairment of the maternal supply. Those parts of the placenta most closely involved in maternalfoetal exchange are able to grow in response to the foetal anaemia and this response is not affected by intrauterine transfusion. The hydropic changes which supervene in the most severely affected cases, however, can be prevented or even reversed.


Land surface temperature mapping is one of the key parameters in the physics of land surface processes. The present study covers recovering of land surface temperature from space. The study includes the separation of emissivity and temperature by using different methods. It includes computation of radiant and kinetic temperatures of the land features from Landsat 5 TM thermal infrared (TIR) data. Temperature mapping is done with thermal infrared (TIR) daytime and nighttime data. The mapping is also done using spatially improved daytime and nighttime data. As a final note, the findings between the use of improved TIR data and raw TIR data are compared and discussed.


The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is thought to flexibly regulate sensorimotor responses, perhaps through modulating activity in other circuits. However, the scope of that control remains unknown: it remains unclear whether the PFC can modulate basic reflexes. One canonical example of a central reflex is the pupil light reflex (PLR): the automatic constriction of the pupil in response to luminance increments. Unlike pupil size, which depends on the interaction of multiple physiological and neuromodulatory influences, the PLR reflects the action of a simple brainstem circuit. However, emerging behavioral evidence suggests that the PLR may be modulated by cognitive processes. Although the neural basis of these modulations remains unknown, one possible source is the PFC, particularly the frontal eye field (FEF), an area of the PFC implicated in the control of attention. We show that microstimulation of the rhesus macaque FEF alters the magnitude of the PLR in a spatially specific manner. FEF microstimulation enhanced the PLR to probes presented within the stimulated visual field, but suppressed the PLR to probes at nonoverlapping locations. The spatial specificity of this effect parallels the effect of FEF stimulation on attention and suggests that FEF is capable of modulating visuomotor transformations performed at a lower level than was previously known. These results provide evidence of the selective regulation of a basic brainstem reflex by the PFC. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The pupil light reflex (PLR) is our brain's first and most fundamental mechanism for light adaptation. Although it is often described in textbooks as being an immutable reflex, converging evidence suggests that the magnitude of the PLR is modulated by cognitive factors. The neural bases of these modulations are unknown. Here, we report that microstimulation in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) modulates the gain of the PLR, changing how a simple reflex circuit responds to physically identical stimuli. These results suggest that control structures such as the PFC can add complexity and flexibility to even a basic brainstem circuit.


The study investigated life in retirement among Nigerian pensioners against the backdrop of economic strain and non-payment of pensions and gratuities. The study relied on both primary and secondary data generated from the pensioners themselves and information from newspapers, magazines, academic journals and books. The participants consisted of 32 pensioners selected from three local governments in Ibadan metropolis, namely, Ibadan North, Ibadan North East and Ibadan North West. There was no rigid sampling process. Interviews were conducted as pensioners or retirees were found and consented to participating in the study. The study also utilized the snowball sampling approach, whereby a retiree volunteered information leading to the identification of retirees. The study adopts content analysis for data sorting and each key comment is illustrated with selected verbatim quotes from the study participants which represent the views that were expressed by the respondents. Findings show that pensioners are passing through psychological trauma in Nigeria due to non-payment of their pensions and gratuities. Consequently, some of them have died of hunger, depression and preventable ailment. In attempt to avoid untimely death, some of the pensioners have engaged in all kinds of odd jobs such as alms begging, night guards, petty trading and small scale farming. The policy implication of the study is also discussed. IFE PsychologIA Vol. 14(2) 2006: 245-262


In a society centered on hyper-connectivity, information sharing is crucial, but it must be ensured that each piece of information is viewed only by legitimate users; for this purpose, the medium that connects information and users must be able to identify illegal users. In this paper, we propose a smartphone authentication system based on human gait, breaking away from the traditional authentication method of using the smartphone as the medium. After learning human gait features with a convolutional neural network deep learning model, it is mounted on a smartphone to determine whether the user is a legitimate user by walking for 1.8 s while carrying the smartphone. The accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score were measured as evaluation indicators of the proposed model. These measures all achieved an average of at least 90%. The analysis results show that the proposed system has high reliability. Therefore, this study demonstrates the possibility of using human gait as a new user authentication method. In addition, compared to our previous studies, the gait data collection time for user authentication of the proposed model was reduced from 7 to 1.8 s. This reduction signifies an approximately four-fold performance enhancement through the implementation of filtering techniques and confirms that gait data collected over a short period of time can be used for user authentication.


The intake of beta-receptor blocking agents may result in an improvement in the quality of life by reducing the frequency of angina pectoris attacks. The mode of action is a decrease of MVO2, mostly achieved by a reduction of the heart rate of about 20% during conditions of stress. The minimal oral dosages necessary to achieve this effect have not yet been well defined for the different beta-receptor blocking drugs available. Distinctly lower dosages may be sufficient. Considering these facts, the controversial points of view on the different properties of beta-receptor blocking agents should be re-examined.


Background/Aims The preventive role of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of HCQ and other immunosuppressive drugs on the incidence of COVID-19. Methods The data were collected from the South Korea National Health Insurance Sharing-COVID-19 database. All individuals who underwent nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab tests for COVID-19 from January 2020 to May 2020 are included. The association between COVID-19 risk and HCQ use was examined in a propensity score-matched population. Factors associated with COVID-19 were identified using multiple logistic regression analysis. Results Total 8,070 patients with COVID-19 and 121,050 negative controls were included from the database. Among all participants, 381 were HCQ users. In a propensity score-matched population, the incidence of COVID-19 was 7.1% in HCQ users and 6.8% in non-users. The odds ratio (OR) for HCQ use was 1.05 with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 0.58 to 1.89. Among the subpopulation of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 33 were diagnosed with COVID-19 and 478 were not. Use of HCQ, glucocorticoids, or other immunosuppressive drugs was not associated with COVID-19 risk, whereas abatacept use was. Chronic lung disease was an independent risk factor for COVID-19 diagnosis in patients with RA (adjusted OR, 6.07; 95% CI, 1.10 to 33.59). Conclusions The risk of COVID-19 did not differ between HCQ users and non-users. Glucocorticoids, conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), and biological DMARDs other than abatacept did not increase the risk of COVID-19.


Measurements of radiofrequency (RF) loading on the Doubler III D shape (DIII-D) tokamak using a fast wave ion cyclotron antenna with and without a Faraday shield present indicate that the loading resistance seen by the antenna is significantly higher at low values of RF power (P ≤ 20 kW with no Faraday shield) than is predicted by standard fast wave antenna coupling theory. Measurements of the density profile in the plasma edge region allow a direct comparison of calculated and measured loading. At high power, the calculated fast wave loading agrees with the measurements. The high loading observed at low power can be explained by direct losses in an RF enhanced sheath. The density value at the current strap of approximately=4*1010 cm-3 needed to give the observed loading behaviour is in agreement with the measured density values in the plasma scrape-off region, extrapolated to the current strap location using a simple Bohm diffusion model


Abstract Complete documentation on the status of mammals is indispensable for appropriate conservation measures in protected areas. However, there is inadequate information on mammalian resources in the ecosystem of Gibe Sheleko National Park (GSNP). Thus, the study aimed to assess species diversity, abundance, and habitat association of medium‐ and large‐sized mammals in GSNP. We stratified the study area into five dominant habitat types, namely dense forest, wooded grassland, grassland, riverine forest, and farmland habitat types based on land cover and vegetation structures and further employed stratified random sampling technique across each habitat type. The sample transects covered 20% of the study area. Transect width ranged from 50 m to 400 m based on vegetation cover and visibility of mammals. The main data were collected via direct observation. Data were analyzed via chi‐square test and species diversity indexes. We recorded the total of 20 mammals species' those belong to 10 families of which 8 species were large‐sized and 12 species medium‐sized mammals. There were two IUCN vulnerable species, namely Hippopotamus amphibious and Panthera pardus, and two globally near‐threatened species, particularly Litocranius walleri and Caracal caracal in the study area. Dense forest held the highest species diversity of medium‐ and large‐sized mammals (H′ = 2.28) with the highest evenness index (J = 0.84). Riverine forest had the least diversity with uneven population distribution. Papio anubis was the most abundance species, whereas Caracal caracal was the least abundant in the study area. GSNP is home for threatened and spectacular mammals species'; hence, an appropriate conservation measure is mandatory to keep existing mammals species'.


One of the most crucial yet challenging tasks for autonomous vehicles in urban environments is predicting the future behaviour of nearby pedestrians, especially at points of crossing. Predicting behaviour depends on many social and environmental factors, particularly interactions between road users. Capturing such interactions requires a global view of the scene and dynamics of the road users in three-dimensional space. This information, however, is missing from the current pedestrian behaviour benchmark datasets. Motivated by these challenges, we propose 1) a novel graph-based model for predicting pedestrian crossing action. Our method models pedestrians' interactions with nearby road users through clustering and relative importance weighting of interactions using features obtained from the bird's-eye-view. 2) We introduce a new dataset that provides 3D bounding box and pedestrian behavioural annotations for the existing nuScenes dataset. On the new data, our approach achieves state-of-the-art performance by improving on various metrics by more than 15% in comparison to existing methods. The dataset is available at https://github.com/huawei-noah/datasets/PePScenes.


Welcome to Beijing for Transducers'11, the 16th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Micro Systems. The Transducers conference series started in 1981 in Boston, and continued biennially in Delft, Philadelphia, Tokyo, Montreux, San Francisco, Yokohama, Stockholm, Chicago, Sendai, Munich, Boston, Seoul, Lyon, Denver and Beijing. We are pleased to see that the Transducers field has kept growing vigorously since it was founded, and the conference is now ceremoniously greeting its 30 years anniversary.


Summary Aim: The precise localisation of osteoarthritic and inflammatory changes is crucial for selective treatment planning of radiosynovectomy (RSV). The present study evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of planar bone imaging and SPECT for the detection of pathological bone metabolism and inflammation in joints of the foot and ankle, compared with SPECT/CT. Patients, methods: 39 patients (mean age 65.6 ± 11.1 years) with suspected inflammatory osteoarthritis underwent SPECT/CT of the feet. After injection of approximately 500 MBq 99mTc DPD, all patients had three-phase planar bone imaging and late-phase hybrid SPECT/CT. late-phase SPECT, and CT of the foot. Increased bone metabolism and blood-pool was assigned to the respective joint of the fore-, mid-, and hindfoot, using SPECT/CT as the reference standard. Results: Overall, SPECT had a higher sensitivity than planar imaging (0.80 vs 0.68, n.s.). The advantage of SPECT was most obvious in the anatomically complex midfoot area (0.63 vs 0.26, p < 0.05) and less obvious in the forefoot (0.85 vs 0.79, n.s.) and hindfoot (0.89 vs 0.89, n.s.). The overall concordance (Cohen`s Kappa) between SPECT/CT and planar (late-phase) imaging and SPECT was high for the forefoot and the hindfoot (planar: 0.78/0.81; SPECT 0.86/0.88) and comparatively low for the midfoot (planar: 0.27; SPECT 0.61). Conclusion: SPECT was significantly superior to planar bone imaging for the detection of joint lesions in the midfoot. The differences between SPECT and planar imaging in the fore- and hindfoot were not significant, most likely due to the inherently less complex anatomy. Compared with SPECT alone, a benefit from the use of SPECT/CT can be observed in the midfoot region where it facilitates the identification of the correct joint for RSV.


Wilfred Owen was a soldier poet during the First World War. In Wilfred Owen?s poems, patriotism becomes the central theme. At that time, patriotism was put as the outmost need in Britain. In order to get more soldiers, the British government distorted the meaning of patriotism. The government lied to the soldiers that they would get glory and rewards after the war. Actually what they got were the physical and psychological scars due to the brutality of war they experienced. Wilfred Owen?s poems, particularly ?Apologia Pro Poemate Meo? and ?Insensibility,? reveal the distortion of the meaning of patriotism seen in the perspective of the soldiers. I choose to analyze those poems because I am curious to know how Owen reveals the distortion of the meaning of patriotism that has been done during the First World War in his poems. Since the setting of the poems was during the First World War, I need the background information about Britain during the First World War, especially the Military Service Act. In order to find out how of the meaning of patriotism is distorted, I use literary approach and the elements of poetry as my tools, such as diction, imagery, tone and figures of speech: irony, metaphor, paradox, symbol, simile, metonymy, synecdoche and personification. In the analysis, I find out the meaning of patriotism has been distorted in those two poems especially through the use of the elements of poetry.


In 2022 the BL Lac object S4 0954+65 underwent a major variability phase, reaching its historical maximum brightness in the optical and γ-ray bands. We present optical photometric and polarimetric data acquired by the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) Collaboration from 2022 April 6 to July 6. Many episodes of unprecedented fast variability were detected, implying an upper limit to the size of the emitting region as low as one hundredth of a parsec. The WEBT data show rapid variability in both the degree and angle of polarization. We analyse different models to explain the polarization behaviour in the framework of a twisting jet model, which assumes that the long-term trend of the flux is produced by variations in the emitting region viewing angle. All the models can reproduce the average trend of the polarization degree, and can account for its general anticorrelation with the flux, but the dispersion of the data requires the presence of intrinsic mechanisms, such as turbulence, shocks, or magnetic reconnection. The WEBT optical data are compared to γ-ray data from the Fermi satellite. These are analysed with both fixed and adaptive binning procedures. We show that the strong correlation between optical and γ-ray data without measurable delay assumes different slopes in faint and high brightness states, and this is compatible with a scenario where in faint states we mainly see the imprint of the geometrical effects, while in bright states the synchrotron self-Compton process dominates.


Assessment and Planning in Health Programs, Second Edition enables students and practitioners to successfully plan, implement, and evaluate programs and interventions that will assist individuals and groups in maintaining and improving their health. Written in an accessible manner, this comprehensive text provides an overview of needs assessment, program planning, and program evaluation, and explains several goals and strategies for each. It addresses the importance and use of theories, data collection strategies, and key terminology in the field of health education and health promotion.


The chain ladder (volume-weighted average development factor) is perhaps the most widely used of the link ratio (age-to-age development factor) techniques, being popular among actuaries in many countries. The chain ladder technique has a number of interesting properties. We present one such property, which indicates that the chain ladder doesn't distinguish between accident years and development years. While we have not seen a proof of this property in English language journals, it appears in Dannenburg, Kaas and Usman [2]. The result is also discussed in Kaas et al. [3]. We give a simple proof that the chain ladder possesses this property and discuss its implications for the chain ladder technique. It becomes clear that the chain ladder does not capture the structure of real triangles.


The aim of this umbrella review is to evaluate what are the most common medications and systemic diseases that can affect bone–implant integration, the success rate and survival rate of dental implants, peri-implant tissue health, and implant loss. Systematic reviews, with meta-analysis or not, about how systemic diseases and medications influence dental implant osseointegration, survival rate, success rate, and peri-implant diseases, published only in the English language, are electronically searched across the most important scientific databases. The present umbrella review includes eight systematic reviews, and osteoporosis and diabetes are the most investigated pathologies. Systemic diseases, such as neurologic disorders, HIV, hypothyroidism, cardiovascular diseases, and drugs, such as beta blockers, anti-hypertensives, or diuretics do not show a decreased rate of implant osseointegration. It seems that drugs, such as proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) or serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), negatively affect implant osseointegration. Few studies compare the effects of drugs and systemic diseases on the parameters considered in this overview. It is important to underline how the results of this review need to be validated with subsequent and more reviews.


This installation work sets out a number of proposals for future collaborations with the Southwest Victoria regions communities. Through a series of drawings/ diagram that focus on particular aspects of the region: stone walls, eel weirs. The concept for the work is taken from the folktale of travelers who come to a village asking for food and when denied, they make a magical stone soup which only need a few garnishes. in the end the traveler have enough soup for the entire village. this stands as a allegory of the way artist engage with community and induce cooperative activities a through the trickery of art practices by which all can partake and produce common, mutually beneficial experience.


Potentially toxic acrylamide is largely derived from heat-induced reactions between the amino group of the free amino acid asparagine and carbonyl groups of glucose and fructose in cereals, potatoes, and other plant-derived foods. This overview surveys and consolidates the following dietary aspects of acrylamide: distribution in food originating from different sources; consumption by diverse populations; reduction of the acrylamide content in the diet; and suppression of adverse effects in vivo. Methods to reduce adverse effects of dietary acrylamide include (a) selecting potato, cereal, and other plant varieties for dietary use that contain low levels of the acrylamide precursors, namely, asparagine and glucose; (b) removing precursors before processing; (c) using the enzyme asparaginase to hydrolyze asparagine to aspartic acid; (d) selecting processing conditions (pH, temperature, time, processing and storage atmosphere) that minimize acrylamide formation; (e) adding food ingredients (acidulants, amino acids, antioxidants, nonreducing carbohydrates, chitosan, garlic compounds, protein hydrolysates, proteins, metal salts) that have been reported to prevent acrylamide formation; (f) removing/trapping acrylamide after it is formed with the aid of chromatography, evaporation, polymerization, or reaction with other food ingredients; and (g) reducing in vivo toxicity. Research needs are suggested that may further facilitate reducing the acrylamide burden of the diet. Researchers are challenged to (a) apply the available methods and to minimize the acrylamide content of the diet without adversely affecting the nutritional quality, safety, and sensory attributes, including color and flavor, while maintaining consumer acceptance; and (b) educate commercial and home food processors and the public about available approaches to mitigating undesirable effects of dietary acrylamide.


We propose an ultra-wide band channel estimation algorithm which is applicable to TH-PPM modulation. The algorithm is based on features of the frequency domain and Recursive Least Squares to estimate channel parameters. The algorithm has low complexity and can easily be applied to engineering. The algorithm can estimate multiple channels with no ambiguity in either the amplitude or the phase of the estimated channel. Simulation results show an SNR gain of 2dB around the BER of 10−4, compared to ML channel estimation.


In this study, the transfer method is employed to add hydrophilic SiO2 nanopowders to a Pt/C catalyst ink to form an anode catalyst layer on a proton exchange membrane (PEM). The SiO2-layered membrane electrode assembly improves the performance of the PEM under low- or zero-humidification conditions. When the PEM fuel cell (PEMFC) undergoes electrochemical reaction, the moisture content of the PEM exhibits a substantial influence on the transmission of protons. To ensure the moisture content remains high, an external humidifier is typically employed to humidify the majority of PEMFCs. However, self-humidifying PEMFCs could utilize the water produced by the fuel cell reaction, thereby eliminating the need for an external humidifier. In this study, various SiO2 loadings were added to an anode catalyst layer, and the cell temperature and gas humidification conditions were adjusted to determine the influence of the SiO2 loadings on the fuel cell performance. The results show that adding SiO2 is preferable to not adding SiO2 when the fuel cell temperature is 50°C.


Accuracy and speed of movement is required for a goalkeeper robot in the Robocup soccer competition. Moreover, instability and robustness of goalkeeper robot is often a problem in itself that often arise especially if the robot is a humanoid robot. There are various methods on how to improve the performance of movement of humanoid robot have been actively studied. So now we propose how to optimize the movement of humanoid robot and research to this time is devoted to the movement of a humanoid robot goalkeeper by
using behavior based coordination. In this paper, a stabilization algorithm is proposed using the balance condition of the robot, which is measured using accelerometer sensor during standing, walking, turning, getting up, etc. Then the information from the outside is obtained by using the other sensor that is webcam camera and also from this sensor the robot can decide and behave to respond the data information effectively. In order to generate the proper and fast reaction, so a behavior based
algorithm is applied in finding the most effective movement when the robot responds some stimulus. The performance of the proposed algorithm is verified by walking, getting up and ball anticipating movement and this experiment is conducted on a 16-DOFs humanoid robot, called EEPIS Fusball Robot IO (EFuRIO) 2nd generation.


MicroRNA (miRNA) dysfunction is associated with a variety of human diseases, including cancer. Our previous study showed that miR-671-5p was deregulated throughout breast cancer progression. Here, we report for the first time that miR-671-5p is a tumor-suppressor miRNA in breast tumorigenesis. We found that expression of miR-671-5p was decreased significantly in invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) compared to normal in microdissected formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues. Forkhead Box M1 (FOXM1), an oncogenic transcription factor, was predicted as one of the direct targets of miR-671-5p, which was subsequently confirmed by luciferase assays. Forced expression of miR-671-5p in breast cancer cell lines downregulated FOXM1 expression, and attenuated the proliferation and invasion in breast cancer cell lines. Notably, overexpression of miR-671-5p resulted in a shift from epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) to mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET) phenotypes in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells and induced S-phase arrest. Moreover, miR-671-5p sensitized breast cancer cells to cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and epirubicin exposure. Host cell reactivation (HCR) assays showed that miR-671-5p reduces DNA repair capability in post-drug exposed breast cancer cells. cDNA microarray data revealed that differentially expressed genes when miR-671-5p was transfected are associated with cell proliferation, invasion, cell cycle, and EMT. These data indicate that miR-671-5p functions as a tumor suppressor miRNA in breast cancer by directly targeting FOXM1. Hence, miR-671-5p may serve as a novel therapeutic target for breast cancer management.


NCS is composed of quality of service and quality of performance. The performance parameters, functions and the process of QoS are discussed. What's more, the parallel strategy based on QoS is put forward. Finally, the parallel strategy based on QoS can improve the transferring efficiency, reduce the delay and delay jitter with illustrations


The technology status of the Advanced Boiling Water (ABWR) and Simplified Boiling Water (SBWR) reactors are presented along with an analysis of the economic potential of advanced nuclear power generation systems based on BWR technology to meet the projected domestic electrical generating capacity need through 2005. The forecasted capacity needs are determined for each domestic North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) region. Extensive data sets detailing each NERC region's specific generation and load characteristics, and capital and fuel cost parameters are utilized in the economic analysis of the optimal generation additions to meet this need by use of an expansion planning model. In addition to a reference case, several sensitivity cases are performed with regard to capital costs and fuel price escalation.


Purpose
A core element of Schema Therapy (ST) is 'schema modes' or fluctuating emotional states. ST assumes that particular personality pathology consists of specific combinations of maladaptive schema modes. There is confirmatory evidence for the modes hypothesized to be central to borderline and narcissistic personality disorder (PD) in non-forensic patients. In this study, we tested three aspects of the construct validity of schema modes in cluster-B personality disordered offenders, examining its factorial validity, and the relations among personality disorders and violence risk.

Method
Our sample consisted of 70 offenders who were diagnosed with an antisocial, borderline, or narcissistic PD. Schema modes were assessed with the Schema Mode Inventory (SMI), personality disorders with the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality-Forensic Version (SNAP-FV), and violence risk with the Historical, Clinical, and Risk management scheme (HCR-20V2).

Results
When controlling for the two other PDs, three schema mode factors distinguished antisocial PD as a disorder involving both low scores on internalizing and high scores on externalizing modes, and borderline PD as involving high scores on internalizing modes. Furthermore, the externalizing schema modes were a significant predictor for violence risk inside the hospital.

Conclusions
The hypothesized mode models were partially supported for all three PDs. The findings thus provide some support for the construct validity of schema modes in a forensic sample.


Pharmacogenomics is the study of the association between inter-individual genetic differences and drug responses. Researches in pharmacogenomics have been performed in compliance with the use of several genotyping technologies. In this study, a total of 392 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in 141 pharmacogenes, including 21 phase I, 13 phase II, 18 transporter and 5 modifier genes, were selected and genotyped in 150 subjects using the GoldenGate assay or the SNaPshot technique. These variants were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) (P>0.05), except for 22 SNPs. Genotyping of the 392 SNPs revealed that the minor allele frequencies of 47 SNPs were <0.05, 105 SNPs were monomorphic and 22 variants were not in HWE. Also, based on previous studies, we predicted the association between the polymorphisms of certain pharmacogenes, such as cytochrome P450 2D6, cytochrome P450 2C9, vitamin K epoxide reductase complex, subunit 1, cytochrome P450 2C19, human leukocyte antigen, class I, B and thiopurine S-methyltransferase, and drug efficacy. In conclusion, our study demonstrated the allele distribution of SNPs in 141 pharmacogenes as determined by high-throughput screening. Our results may be helpful in developing personalized medicines by using pharmacogene polymorphisms.


Agglutinating activity was found in the haemolymph and in extracts of midgut and hindgut of Glossina austeni against calf, guinea pig and chicken erythrocytes for the first time. Trypanosoma brucei procyclic forms were also agglutinated by midgut and hindgut extracts, but not by haemolymph. The 3 fractions tested failed to react with erythrocytes of four other vertebrates and other trypanosomatids (Leishmania hertigi and Crithidia fasciculata) examined. The reciprocal titre of agglutinating activity of the 3 fractions against calf, guinea pig and chicken erythrocytes were approximately the same at a dilution of 64. Both midgut and hindgut agglutinins showed higher titres against T. brucei at reciprocal dilutions of 128 and 256 respectively. Sialidase treatment, reduced the agglutinating activity to half its normal range while trypsinisation had no effect. The results of attempts to inhibit the agglutinating activity using a variety of sugars and glycoproteins revealed that midgut and hindgut were specific for D+glucosamine suggesting that midgut and hindgut agglutinin were possibly of the same origin. This is the first report of haemagglutinating and parasite agglutinating activity in Glossina tissues which may play a role not only in insect defence reactions but also in the determination of parasite establishment and infection in vectors.


This paper compares 30 patients with good therapeutic outcome to 30 with poor therapeutic outcome in terms of the differential distribution of (1) Intake Variables (2) Outcome and Process Variables, and (3) Narrative Variables. Results indicated that psychosocial functioning, motivation, pre-therapy symptoms, Working Alliance, total number of therapy sessions, total pre-post symptom reduction, and mean scoring for total working alliance in sessions 3, 4, and 8 discriminated between both groups. Results also showed that almost all narrative variables except some of them discriminated good outcome clients from poor outcome ones from the beginning, midpoint and final stage of their therapeutic process. These results are discussed according to their relevance for clinical practice.


Time-based measurements are commonly used for lifetime characterization of semiconductors. We have developed the theory, verified by experiment, of frequency-based lifetime characterization as an alternative to time-based measurements for MOS devices biased in inversion. One consideration during lifetime/diffusion length measurements, is whether the near-surface space-charge region or the bulk or quasineutral region is characterized. To characterize the near-surface space-charge region of the device, one usually makes room temperature pulsed MOS capacitor or diode leakage current measurements. We show that room-temperature, frequency-domain capacitance, conductance, or resistance measurements characterize the quasineutral bulk, not the space charge region, in contrast to room-temperature pulsed MOS-C or diode leakage current measurements which characterize the space-charge region.


The adjuvant of organic bentonite (OBT), zinc oxide (ZnO), zeolite 4A (4A), aluminum phosphinate (AlPi), terephthaloyl-biscaprolactam (TBC), 2,2′-bis(2-oxazoline) (BOZ), and manganese dioxide (MnO2) on flame retardant enhancement of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (ABS)/polyamide 6 (PA6)/styrene-maleic anhydride (SMA)/ammonium polyphosphate (APP) blends were investigated by using the limiting oxygen index (LOI), the UL-94 (vertical flame) test, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The LOI datas and vertical flame tests showed that the synergistic flame retardant effect of OBT, ZnO, 4A, AlPi, BOZ, and MnO2 on the ABS/PA6/SMA/APP blend was good, and the LOI value of ABS/PA6/SMA/APP/MnO2 (55/15/5/25/2) system was 33% and class V-0 of UL-94 test was passed. The TGA data demonstrated that the incorporation of adjuvant was known to improve the fire properties essentially accompanied by only minor changes in thermal decomposition. The strong influence of oxygen on the thermal degradation of the ABS/PA6/SMA/APP system, and the oxygen could modify the carbonaceous structure. The microstructures observed by SEM indicated that the adjuvant can promote formation of compact intumescent inorganic-carbonaceous char layers in ABS/PA6/SMA/APP blends. Furthermore, the effects of adjuvant on the mechanical properties of ABS/PA6/SMA/APP blends were also investigated. The Izod impact strength of the ABS/PA6/SMA/APP/Adj composite showed a little depressing. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010


Deaf people have long held the belief that American Sign Language (ASL) plays a significantrole in the academic development of deaf children. Despite this, the education of deaf children hashistorically been exclusive of ASL and constructed as an English-only, deficit-based pedagogy.Newer research, however, finds a strong correlation between ASL fluency and English literacy,supporting Deaf people's belief. This article describes efforts at the University of California, SanDiego to develop and field-test a teacher preparation program that combines best practices inbilingual education and deaf education. The training curriculum designed for this programincorporates cultural practices from the Deaf community into the training of teachers of deafchildren, a paradigmatic shift from traditional deaf education pedagogy based on a deficit modelto a socio-cultural view of deaf children and their schooling. This shift represents a significantnew direction in addressing the chronic poor performance of schools in educating deaf and hardof-hearing children who as a group are severely undereducated. This article also providesbackground and rationale for the recent approval of ASL authorization on the Multiple Subjectsteaching credential in California.


In this paper, we present design, fabrication, and test results of a novel wavelength-selective MEMS switch for integrated optics. The device is based on switching of a ring resonator add-drop filter by use of an electrostatically-actuated MEMS bridge. We have demonstrated the wavelength-dependant switching capabilities of a prototype device; however, the residual stress in the bridge caused sagging of the bridge and high insertion loss to the optical output. Therefore, we are investigating the use of titanium nitride (TiN) for the MEMS bridge material. TiN has ideal characteristics both mechanically and electrically. It can also be annealed to lower the residual stress to almost zero. We have fabricated the MEMS bridge with TiN and done some preliminary experiments on the structure. The results show promise for the use of this material in our device, and more generally as a structural material. We have also designed closed-loop feedback control for precision positioning of the bridge. This enables this device to tune the selected wavelength over one full channel (30nm) for use as a tunable optical filter. The feedback scheme is based on using the bridge as one electrode of a capacitive sensor, and simulations indicate that the bridge position can be controlled to 2.5pm accuracy. Modifications of the device could also be used as a variable optical attenuator.Copyright © 2005 by ASME


Cardiomyocytes are the muscle cells that make the heart beat, pump oxygen, and deliver nutrient-rich blood throughout the human body. During a heart attack, the blood supply to the heart is interrupted. Cardiomyocytes then die and are replaced by scar tissue that can no longer contract. As a result, the heart is weakened and may beat abnormally. For many years, researchers have been searching for a way to replace damaged cardiomyocytes with new ones. Stem cells are master cells that grow and divide rapidly. They may be ideal for repairing organs and tissues because they can turn into many different cell types, including cardiomyocytes. Among other medical therapies, stem cells have been used to develop the cardiac patch, a heart "band-aid" that can regenerate damaged heart muscle. In this article, we will discuss the advantages and limitations of using stem cells for repairing a "broken heart."


Purpose: The vulnerability of statistical learning (SL) in developmental language disorder (DLD) has mainly been demonstrated with metacognitive offline measures which give little insight into the more specific nature and timing of learning. Our aims in this study were to test SL in children with and without DLD with both online and offline measures and to compare the efficiency of SL in the visual and acoustic modalities in DLD. Method: We explored SL in school-age children with and without DLD matched on age and sex (n = 36). SL was investigated with the use of acoustic verbal and visual nonverbal segmentation tasks relying on online (reaction times and accuracy) and offline (two-alternative forced choice, 2AFC and production) measures. Results: In online measures, learning was evident in both groups in both the visual and acoustic modalities, while offline measures showed difficulties in DLD. The visual production task showed a significant learning effect in both groups, while the visual two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) and the two acoustic offline tasks only showed evidence of learning in the control group. The comparison of learning indices revealed an SL impairment in DLD, which is present in both modalities. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that children with DLD are comparable to typically developing (TD) children in their ability to extract acoustic verbal and visual nonverbal patterns that are cued only by transitional probabilities in online tasks, but they show impairments on metacognitive measures of learning. The pattern of online and offline measures implies that online tests can be more sensitive and valid indices of SL than offline tasks, and the combined use of different measures provides a better picture of learning efficiency, especially in groups where metacognitive tasks are challenging.