Abstract Exhibits in academic libraries are drivers for outreach. Many exhibit programs center on national traveling exhibits often because they are well done and already completed. The only input necessary from a host institution is space and a small amount of time to put up the exhibit. Locally made exhibits create a stronger connection to the community, but they are more expensive in terms of time for research and creating the exhibit, and money for printing. The adage "many hands make light work" accurately describes the local exhibit creation process when multiple groups come together. Partnerships between libraries to share exhibit content broaden the Pool of exhibit possibilities and raise awareness of exhibit programs for all partners. In this case, an exhibit at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign that focused on veterans and their service-related tattoos was picked up and built upon by Eastern Illinois University. This case study covers multiple libraries, both academic and public, sharing an exhibit about veterans and their tattoos, providing outreach opportunities to veteran and service member populations at all participating libraries


BACKGROUND: Multiple carboxylase deficiency is a rare cause of progressive encephalopathy. There are 2 forms: the neonatal-onset form of holocarboxylase synthetase deficiency and the late-onset form of biotinidase deficiency. This report describes a case of biotinidase deficiency. CASE REPORT: A boy began to have repeated convulsions at the age of 3 months. The brain CT-scan and MRI were normal and the patient was given valproic acid and carbamazepine. Progressive neurological degradation was noted from the 4th month of life and myoclonic seizures began 2 months later. At admission, the patient had seizures, myoclonic fits and hypotonia. He had a skin rash but no alopecia. Biochemical investigation showed lactic acidosis, mainly in the CSF, moderate hyperammonemia and hyperalaninemia. Chromatography of organic acids showed several abnormal peaks suggesting biotinidase deficiency. The patient was given biotin (20 mg/day) orally. This treatment produced a pronounced, rapid, clinical and biochemical improvement and antiepileptic drugs were discontinued. There was no developmental delay at the age of 18 months. CONCLUSION: The clinical findings of neurologic abnormalities and dermatological signs led to the diagnosis of a metabolic disease that, fortunately, can be treated. This disease could benefit from a mass neonatal screening program.


The Co-substituted Mn2RuSn nanomaterials, namely, Mn2Ru0.5Co0.5Sn and Mn2Ru0.35Co0.65Sn have been synthesized and investigated. The presence of Co in the Mn2RuSn (a = 6.21 A) decreased the lattice parameter, where a = 6.14 A and 6.12 A for the as prepared Mn2Ru0.5Co0.5Sn and Mn2Ru0.35Co0.65Sn, respectively. The samples show a ferrimagnetic spin order with relatively small coercivities, similar to those of soft magnetic materials. There is a substantial increase in the Curie temperature (Tc = 448 K for Mn2Ru0.5Co0.5Sn and 506 K for Mn2Ru0.35Co0.65Sn) of Mn2RuSn (Tc = 272.1 K) due to Co substitution, which is a result of strengthening of the positive exchange interaction in this material. These materials are highly stable against heat treatment of up to 450 °C. The first-principles calculations are consistent with our experimentally observed structural and magnetic properties. They also provide insight on how the magnetic and electronic structures change when Ru is replaced with Co in Mn2RuSn.


An analytical technique based on electroadsorption and transmission X-ray fluorescence (XRF) for the quantitative determination of arsenic in aqueous solution with ppb-level limits of detection (LOD) is proposed. The approach uses electroadsorption to enhance the sensitivity and LOD of the arsenic XRF response. Amine-functionalized carbonaceous microspheres (NH2-CMSs) are found to be the ideal materials for both the quantitative adsorption of arsenic and XRF analysis due to the basic amine sites on the surface and their noninterference in the XRF spectrum. In electroadsorptive X-ray fluorescence (EA-XRF), arsenic is preconcentrated by a conventional three-electrode system with a positive electricity field around the adsorbents. Then, the quantification of arsenic on the adsorbents is achieved using XRF. The electroadsorption preconcentration can realize the fast transfer of arsenic from the solution to the adsorbents and improve the LOD of conventional XRF compared with directly determining arsenic solution by XRF alone. The sensitivity of 0.09 cnt ppb(-1) is obtained without the interferences from coexisted metal ions in the determination of arsenic, and the LOD is found to be 7 ppb, which is lower than the arsenic guideline value of 10 ppb given by the World Health Organization (WHO). These results demonstrated that XRF coupled with electroadsorption was able to determine trace arsenic in real water sample.


Background

Aggressive growth hormone-secreting pituitary adenomas (GHSPAs) account for 20–45% of GHSPAs. Although they are benign, treatment of GHSPAs is usually unsatisfactory.We wished to identify existing gene–drug interactions and expand the potential indications for new drugs to treat GHSPAs.
Methods

We used text mining with the keywords "growth hormone" and "visual disturbance" to obtain a common set of genes. These genes were analyzed using Genome Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes databases, as well as protein–protein interaction networks. Finally, important genes clustered in PPI networks were selected for analyses of gene–drug interactions to identify potential drugs.
Results

Through text mining, we obtained 2848 genes related to growth hormone and 220 genes related to visual disturbance, and 157 genes were common to both. Common genes were clustered in significant gene modules. Finally, 12 of the 17 genes were targeted against 46 existing drugs: APOE, TRH, MMP2, ACE, CXCL8, MMP1, ALB, VEGFA, EDN1, TNF, PTH, and VWF.
Conclusion

Drug–gene interactions increase our understanding of the pathogenesis of invasive GHSPAs, and could be used in their prevention and treatment.


Introduction: Pulmonary arteriovenous malformation (PAVM) is a rare anomaly, mostly congenital, that tends to increase in size with the influence of various factors.
Case report: A primigravida at 37 weeks of gestation presented with acute onset of dyspnea due to right sided hemothorax. Computed tomography showed abnormal vessels with pseudoaneurysm in the right lower lobe and shunting between subsegmental branch of right descending pulmonary artery and right inferior pulmonary vein. Embolization of the lesion was planned after immediate cesarean section. Coil embolization with complete occlusion of supplying artery of the lesion was done.
Conclusion: PAVM, although rare can result in fatal complications if untreated. Less invasive image guided coil embolization is a promising treatment modality.


Gaze gestures are deliberate patterns of eye movements that can be used to invoke commands. These are less reliant on accurate measurement and calibration than other gaze-based interaction techniques. These may be used with wearable displays fitted with eye tracking capability, or as part of an assistive technology. The visual stimuli in the information on the display that can act as fixation targets may or may not be sparse and will vary over time. The paper describes an experiment to investigate how the amount of information provided on a display to assist making fixations affects gaze gesture performance. The impact of providing visualization guides and small fixation targets on the time to complete gestures and error rates is presented. The number and durations of fixations made during gesture completion is used to explain differences in performance as a result of practice and direction of eye movement.


Stars which start their lives with spectral types O and early-B are the progenitors of core-collapse supernovae, long gamma-ray bursts, neutron stars, and black holes. These massive stars are the primary sources of stellar feedback in star-forming galaxies. At low metallicities, the properties of massive stars and their evolution are not yet fully explored. Here we report a spectroscopic study of 320 OB stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud. The data, which we obtained with the ESO Very Large Telescope, were analyzed using state-of-the-art stellar atmosphere models. We find that the stellar winds of our sample stars are much weaker than theoretically expected. The stellar rotation rates show a bi-modal distribution. We determine the fundamental stellar parameters and build up an empiric Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Our results show indications for a dichotomy in the evolution of metal-poor single massive stars. With initial masses less than 30 solar masses, they become red supergiants and likely end up as type II-P supernovae. The more massive stars, however, appear to evolve quasi chemically-homogeneously and are expected to finally collapse to relatively massive black holes. We find no empirical evidence for any correlation between stellar rotation and chemically homogeneous evolution of massive stars. The apparent dichotomy in evolutionary paths is found to be independent of stellar surface rotation. We report extended star-formation episodes in a quiescent low-density region of the Wing, which is progressing stochastically. We measure the key parameters of stellar feedback and establish the links between stellar feedback parameters and the rates of star formation and supernovae. Our study demonstrates that in metal-poor environments the stellar feedback is dominated by core-collapse supernovae in combination with winds and ionizing radiation supplied by a few of the most massive stars.


Lymphocele formation, a common complication of pelvic surgery, can produce considerable morbidity. Treatment is problematic, with no single procedure considered optimal. We recently treated a 67-year-old man with a symptomatic lymphocele by laparoscopic internal marsupialization. Total operative time was 45 min, and the patient was discharged home the same day with minimal need for pain medications. Total resolution of the symptoms occurred within 24 h. In comparison to other methods compiled and analyzed from the literature, this highly effective, minimally invasive procedure offers a significant advantage to the patient.


Abstract In the present paper we study η-Ricci solitons on Kenmotsu 3-manifolds. Moreover, we consider η-Ricci solitons on Kenmotsu 3-manifolds with Codazzi type of Ricci tensor and cyclic parallel Ricci tensor. Beside these, we study φ-Ricci symmetric η-Ricci soliton on Kenmotsu 3-manifolds. Also Kenmotsu 3-manifolds satisfying the curvature condition R.R = Q(S, R)is considered. Finally, an example is constructed to prove the existence of a proper η-Ricci soliton on a Kenmotsu 3-manifold.


E-learning is becoming a popular study mode in colleges and universities. With the widely use of e-learning in course delivery, people are increasingly concerned with the extent to which e-learning is an effective means for education. This paper discusses the development of e-learning in higher education sector and evaluates the teaching effectiveness of e-learning. It includes a comparison of the examination results of two groups of students studying in online mode and traditional face-to-face mode of the same master degree programme in Hong Kong. This is followed by a discussion of the blended learning approach and conclusions of the findings.


This paper reports 1.5-{mu}m band time-bin entanglement generation. We employed a spontaneous four-wave mixing process in a dispersion shifted fiber, with which correlated photon pairs with very narrow bandwidths were generated efficiently. To observe two-photon interference, we used planar lightwave circuit based interferometers that were operated stably without feedback control. As a result, we obtained coincidence fringes with 99% visibilities after subtracting accidental coincidences, and successfully distributed entangled photons over 20-km standard single-mode fiber without any deterioration in the quantum correlation.


A modified version of the artificial Bee Colony Algorithm (ABC) was suggested namely Adaptive Dimension Limit- Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm (ADL-ABC). To determine the optimum global path for mobile robot that satisfies the chosen criteria for shortest distance and collision–free with circular shaped static obstacles on robot environment. The cubic polynomial connects the start point to the end point through three via points used, so the generated paths are smooth and achievable by the robot. Two case studies (or scenarios) are presented in this task and comparative research (or study) is adopted between two algorithm's results in order to evaluate the performance of the suggested algorithm. The results of the simulation showed that modified parameter (dynamic control limit) is avoiding static number of limit which excludes unnecessary Iteration, so it can find solution with minimum number of iterations and less computational time. From tables of result if there is an equal distance along the path such as in case A (14.490, 14.459) unit, there will be a reduction in time approximately to halve at percentage 5%.


Interactive feedback using SMS is a pedagogical approach to provide formative feedback to student audience using SMS messages. Immediate constructive feedback offers a valuable contribution to the learning experience because it helps to identify misconceptions, create mental schemas that can be added to existing knowledge to form new skills or attitudes. The experiments consist in Lecturer presenting a question to the audience after teaching a lesson. Students reply sending a SMS message using their mobile phones to a particular website that collect only the responses and display them using a customise template. Lecturers facilitate discussion and provide constructive feedback based on the students response. © 2011 IADIS.


A circadian rhythm in the plasma concentration of 5-fluorouracil (5-FUra) is demonstrated in seven patients receiving this drug as a continuous venous infusion at a constant rate for 5 days. All patients had stage C bladder carcinoma and received cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) (45-91 mg/m2) on day 1 as a 30-min venous infusion at 5 p.m. Continuous venous infusion of 5-FUra (450-966 mg/m2/day) was started on day 2 at 8:30 a.m. via a volumetric pump and lasted for 5 days (until day 6). Blood samples were obtained on EDTA every 3 h on days 2, 4, and 6 on each patient (20 samples/patient). 5-FUra plasma concentration was determined by high performance liquid chromatography. Data were analyzed by both multiple analysis of variance and cosinor. Mean lowest and highest values (+/- SEM) were, respectively, 254 +/- 33 ng/ml at 1 p.m. and 584 +/- 160 ng/ml at 1 a.m. (F = 2.3; P less than 0.03). Because of large intersubject differences in 24-h mean plasma concentration, data were also expressed as percentages of each patient's 24-h mean. Both analysis of variance and cosinor analysis further validated (P less than 0.0001) a circadian rhythm with a double amplitude (total extent of variation) of 50% of the 24-h mean and an acrophase located at approximately 1 a.m. (estimated time of peak). Such findings warrant a thorough scrutiny at the chronopharmacology of anticancer drugs when designing continuous infusion schedule. A circadian modulation of the infusion rate of this drug may further optimize the therapeutic index of such treatment modality.


The three-dimensional (3-D) optical confinement of the dielectrically apertured Fabry-Perot microcavity is analyzed by considering electromagnetic coupling between the confined region and parasitic waveguide modes that exist outside the aperture. If the cavity length is close to one-half the emission wavelength and for large enough aperture sizes, all parasitic waveguide modes can be evanescent except one which couples only weakly to the emitting region. If the aperture diameter is too small, loss of optical confinement is predicted, and the optical mode size at which this occurs can be estimated from the cavity length and the relative shifts in the vertical resonances inside and outside the apertured region.


Beauty standards of a person's ideal body shape, whether male or female and regardless of age, often result in body shaming of those who do not comply with these ideal standards. If body shaming continues for a long time, it will affect one's self-esteem or self-esteem. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between body shaming and self-esteem in students. The study used an analytic survey with a cross-sectional approach. The population in this study were 535 students of Nursing Health Sciences at the University of Muhammadiyah Malang, with a sample of 143 students who experienced body shaming. Data were collected through a body shaming questionnaire and Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (RSES) for self-esteem. Data were analyzed using Spearman. The results of the study showed that the group of respondents who experienced low body humiliation was 134 (93.7%), and respondents who experienced high self-esteem were 141 (98.6%). The results of the Spearman test showed a p-value of 0.000 <α 0.05 with a coefficient value of 0.460 and a correlation strength enough. Body shaming behavior can lead to depression and sometimes people will still feel happy even though they have received body shaming. This is related to the self-esteem of each individual. So, when the body humiliates someone, self-esteem will decrease and vice versa.
Keywords: body shaming, self-esteem, students


Traditional design rules for cellular networks are not directly applicable to code division multiple access (CDMA) networks where intercell interference is not mitigated by cell placement and careful frequency planning. For transmission quality requirements, a minimum signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) must be achieved. The base-station location, its pilot-signal power (which determines the size of the cell), and the transmission power of the mobiles all affect the received SIR. In addition, because of the need for power control in CDMA networks, large cells can cause a lot of interference to adjacent small cells, posing another constraint to design. In order to maximize the network capacity associated with a design, we develop a methodology to calculate the sensitivity of capacity to base-station location, pilot-signal power, and transmission power of each mobile. To alleviate the problem caused by different cell sizes, we introduce the power compensation factor, by which the nominal power of the mobiles in every cell is adjusted. We then use the calculated sensitivities in an iterative algorithm to determine the optimal locations of the base stations, pilot-signal powers, and power compensation factors in order to maximize the capacity. We show examples of how networks using these design techniques provide higher capacity than those designed using traditional techniques.


abstract:As far as we know, Milton was first introduced into China in 1832, and Shakespeare in 1839–1840. Why did Milton land in China earlier than Shakespeare? Their different routes of cultural migration into China are largely conditioned by sociohistorical forces. With keener interest in Milton for his identity as a religious poet, the Western missionaries in China cherished Milton's educational value, but were not so interested in literature per se or the entertainment value of Shakespeare. On the other hand, the Chinese educated audience seemed more captivated by the more secular and more spectacular Shakespeare, the quintessence of British cultural imperialism. In China's early reception, Shakespeare was more enjoyed as a storyteller and a dramatist. Unlike Milton, Shakespeare boasted the advantage of the stage, which makes the Bard excel his rival in their visibility in China at the turn of the twentieth century.


This paper is concerned with optimum design and sensitivity of retaining structures. The optimum design formulation in terms of a constrained nonlinear programming problem, is given for reinforced concrete-cantilever retaining walls. The objective function may be chosen as the cost or weight of the wall. The solution is carried out by a specially prepared computer program (RETOPT). Illustrative problems are solved, and their results are presented and discussed. The formulation allows for a detailed sensitivity analysis to be made for selected design parameters, also depicted with numerical examples.


Objective: To assess tetrabenazine (TBZ) efficacy by evaluating the change in Huntington disease-associated chorea resulting from TBZ treatment withdrawal. Methods: Thirty patients treated in the long term were randomized to 1 of 3 groups assigned to withdraw from TBZ in a double-blind, staggered fashion during a 5-day period. Results: The chorea scores of subjects withdrawn from TBZ treatment increased by 5.3 units from days 1 to 3, whereas the scores of the group with partial or no withdrawal of TBZ treatment increased by 3.0 units (P = 0.0773). A post hoc analysis of the linear trend was positive for reemergent chorea (P = 0.0486). No serious adverse events were reported after abrupt withdrawal of TBZ treatment. Conclusions: The trend for reemergence of chorea in patients with Huntington disease who were withdrawn from TBZ treatment is consistent with the findings from previous studies, thus showing the effectiveness of TBZ in reducing chorea.


We formulate the notion of the classical Fisher–Kolmogorov–Petrovskii–Piscounov (FKPP) reaction diffusion equation associated with a homogeneous conservative fragmentation process and study its traveling waves. Specifically, we establish existence, uniqueness and asymptotics. In the spirit of classical works such as McKean [Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 28 (1975) 323–331] and [Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 29 (1976) 553–554], Neveu [In Seminar on Stochastic Processes (1988) 223–242 Birkhauser] and Chauvin [Ann. Probab. 19 (1991) 1195–1205], our analysis exposes the relation between traveling waves and certain additive and multiplicative martingales via laws of large numbers which have been previously studied in the context of Crump–Mode–Jagers (CMJ) processes by Nerman [Z. Wahrsch. Verw. Gebiete 57 (1981) 365–395] and in the context of fragmentation processes by Bertoin and Martinez [Adv. in Appl. Probab. 37 (2005) 553–570] and Harris, Knobloch and Kyprianou [Ann. Inst. H. Poincare Probab. Statist. 46 (2010) 119–134]. The conclusions and methodology presented here appeal to a number of concepts coming from the theory of branching random walks and branching Brownian motion (cf. Harris [Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh Sect. A 129 (1999) 503–517] and Biggins and Kyprianou [Electr. J. Probab. 10 (2005) 609–631]) showing their mathematical robustness even within the context of fragmentation theory.


High frequency large scanning angle electrostatically actuated microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) mirrors are used in a variety of applications involving fast optical scanning. A 1-D parametrically resonant torsional micromirror for use in biomedical imaging is analyzed here with respect to operation by duty-cycled square waves. Duty-cycled square wave excitation can have significant advantages for practical mirror regulation and/or control. The mirror's nonlinear dynamics under such excitation is analyzed in a Hill's equation form. This form is used to predict stability regions (the voltage-frequency relationship) of parametric resonance behavior over large scanning angles using iterative approximations for nonlinear capacitance behavior of the mirror. Numerical simulations are also performed to obtain the mirror's frequency response over several voltages for various duty cycles. Frequency sweeps, stability results, and duty cycle trends from both analytical and simulation methods are compared with experimental results. Both analytical models and simulations show good agreement with experimental results over the range of duty cycled excitations tested. This paper discusses the implications of changing amplitude and phase with duty cycle for robust open-loop operation and future closed-loop operating strategies.


Electrolytes with improved thermal and oxidative stability must be developed to achieve greater power and energy densities without compromising safety in modern energy storage devices. Because of their much-reduced solvent vapor pressure and expanded electrochemical windows, solvate ionic liquids (SILs) of lithium salts have recently attracted significant attention in this regard. The current palette of SILs is, however, limited to only a few suitable anions with limited chemical functionality. Guided by fundamental physical organic chemistry principles, we designed a new family of S-substituted fluorinated aryl sulfonamide-tagged anions that feature variable numbers of electronically neutral or withdrawing sulfide, sulfoxide, and sulfone substituents. Several salts of these electron deficient anions display very high electrochemical oxidative stability, good solubility, and a weakly coordinating nature that enables the synthesis of Li-based SILs with high thermal and electrochemical oxidative stability. ...


Aims of this investigation were to prepare and characterize cabergoline intranasal microemulsion formulations, determine brain drug delivery through biodistribution using technetium-99m (99mTc) as a tracer, and assess its performance pharmacodynamically in weight control. Cabergoline microemulsions of different compositions were prepared by water titration method and characterized for globule size and zeta potential. Microemulsion with maximum drug solubilization and stability was considered optimal and taken for further studies with or without addition of mucoadhesive agent. Pharmacokinetics of optimized 99mTc-labeled cabergoline formulations and 99mTc-labeled drug solution were studied by estimating radioactivity in brain and blood of albino rats post intranasal, intravenous, and oral administrations. To confirm localization of drug in brain following intranasal, intravenous, and oral administrations, gamma scintigraphy imaging was also performed. To assess weight control performance of formulations, body weight, white adipose tissue mass, serum lipids, leptin, and prolactin were determined before and after 40 days of intranasal administrations of these formulations to Wistar rats. Microemulsions were found to be stable both physically and chemically when stored at various stress conditions. Brain/blood uptake ratios, drug targeting efficiency, and direct drug transport were found to be highest for drug mucoadhesive microemulsion followed by drug microemulsion and drug solution post-intranasal administration compared to intravenous drug microemulsion. Significant (p < 0.05) reduction in assessed pharmacodynamic parameters was observed after intranasal administration of mucoadhesive microemulsion against control group. The results of the studies conclusively demonstrate that intranasal microemulsion formulations developed in this investigation are stable and can deliver cabergoline selectively and in higher amounts to the brain compared to both drug administrations as a solution intranasally or microemulsion intravenously. The results also demonstrate reduction in weight, adipose tissue mass, serum lipids, and serum prolactin after intranasal administration of drug microemulsion. Hence, long-term studies in at least two more animal models followed by extensive clinical evaluation can safely result into a product for clinical use.


Background: In this study, we aimed to find out the features of the maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients infected with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the Blood Purification Center of Wuhan No.1 Hospital, Hubei Province, China, and provide evidences for clinical treatment.Methods: We collected the data of all the MHD patients in this hemodialysis center by February 20, 2020, including those infected with COVID-19. These patients were divided into three groups: the control group (537 cases), confirmed group (66 cases) and suspected group (24 cases). We compared the relevant data of the three groups and analyzed the factors that may affect the possibility of catching COVID-19.Results: 1. By February 20, 2020, there were 627 MHD patients in the Hemodialysis Center of Wuhan No.1 Hospital. The prevalence rate of the COVID-19 was 14.35% (90/627, including 66 confirmed cases and 24 suspected cases); the fatality rate 13.33% (12/90, including 12 death cases); the mortality rate 1.91% (12/627).2. The comparison between the three groups revealed the following results: weekly hemodialysis duration (WHD), ultrafiltration volume (UFV) and ultrafiltration rate (UFR) of the confirmed group were obviously lower than those of the control and suspected groups (P<0.05); the neutrophil ratio (N%), neutrophil (N#), monocyte (M#) and total carbon dioxide (TCO2) were significantly higher than those of the control group while the lymphocyte ratio (L%) was much lower (P<0.05).3. The lung CT scans found three common features: bilateral abnormalities (81.54%), multiple abnormalities (84.62%) and patchy opacity (61.54%).4. The binary logstic regression analysis showed that diabetes (OR=5.404,95% CI 1.950~14.976, P=0.001) and hypertension (OR=3.099,95% CI 1.380~6.963, P=0.006) are independent risk factors for MHD patients to be infected with COVID-19; WHD (OR=0.846,95% CI 0.737~0.970, P=0.017), UFR (OR=0.012,95% CI 0.002~0.058, P<0.001) and serum ferritin (SF, OR=0.823,95% CI 0.748~0.906, P<0.001) are independent protective factors.Conclusion: MHD patients with diabetes or hypertension are more likely to be infected with COVID-19. In clinical treatment, hemodialysis duration, UFR and SF levels should be controlled appropriately to reduce the risk of infection.


We hypothesized that weight perception (WP) due to inertia might be different from WP due to gravity for lifting an object with a power assist robot (PAR). Objects were lifted with a PAR independently under three different lifting schemes-unimanual, bimanual, and cooperative lift. Then, psychophysical relationships between actual and powerassisted weights (PAWs) as well as excess in load forces (LFs) were determined for each scheme separately. A novel control strategy was introduced to reduce the excess in LFs for each scheme. Finally, we proposed to use the findings as design guidelines to design PARs for lifting heavy objects in industries that would improve HRI in terms of human, robot and system.


Reading epilepsy is a rare form of reflex epilepsy that occurs exclusively during reading. In this report, we describe a patient in whom seizure was the initial symptom of idiopathic hypoparathyroidism. A 31-year-old man experienced seizures three times in different bookshops while browsing. Chvostek's sign was observed. Serum calcium and parathyroid hormone levels were decreased. Brain computed tomography revealed symmetrical calcification at the dentate nuclei of the cerebellum and the basal ganglia. The interictal electroencephalography was normal. There was no photoparoxysmal response. After amelioration of serum calcium level with oral administration of vitamin D, seizure attacks ceased without antiepileptic drugs. This case is, to our knowledge, the first report of reading epilepsy associated with hypocalcemia due to idiopathic hypoparathyroidism. The psychological stress of reading at bookshops without buying might have triggered seizures under CNS hyperexcitability due to hypocalcemia.


Background
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is responsible for half of registered visual impairment in the UK. The Royal College of Ophthalmologists recommends providing guidance to people with AMD regarding smoking, diet, and nutritional supplements. The aim of this study was to investigate lifestyle advice recalled by patients with neovascular AMD (nAMD).

Methods
The study took place at a UK hospital outpatients' clinic. Eligible patients with unilateral nAMD were presented with a survey about lifestyle advice provision.

Results
Of 248 respondents, only 39.9% remembered receiving advice regarding diet at the hospital. Only 24.2% of respondents recalled receiving advice regarding nutritional supplements, and only 19.8% of respondents started taking daily supplements as a result of their AMD. The most prevalent reason for not taking supplements amongst those advised to do so was lack of understanding of how it would help their eyes. Nearly 13% of the sample reported currently smoking, 53.1% of which reported that they were advised to stop smoking when diagnosed with AMD.

Conclusion
The findings suggest that it would be beneficial to review the provision of lifestyle advice to patients attending AMD outpatients' clinics, and to consider whether advice is being provided in an optimal format for later recall.


In this paper refined generalized numerical algorithms for solving systems of linear equations whose coefficient matrices are M-matrices are extended for solving Fuzzy Linear Systems (FLS)such as Refined Generalized Jacobi (RGJ), and Refined Generalized Gauss-Seidel (RGGS) iteration methods. The embedding approach and splitting strategy of the M-matrix together with the refinement process have been employed in the development of these methods. The presented algorithms are tested and compared with a similar work by solving a numerical example and the results showed that the present methods perform better. Keywords: Embedding, Fuzzy Linear Systems, Gauss-Seidel, Generalized, Jacobi, Refined


Shunpon: Intertextuality, Humour, and Sexual Education in Early-modern Japan This dissertation explores the sexually explicit rewritings of earlier literature in early-modern shunpon production. The term shunpon is used today by scholars to refer to books containing shunga (images displaying explicit sexual content), which were produced in Japan throughout the Edo period (1600-1868). Despite the remarkable output of shunpon, until recently the textual part of this corpus has seldom been the object of academic study, which has focused mostly on pictures. By analysing the texts in shunpon, I examine the characteristics of these early-modern writings, their aims, readership, and connection with the whole literary panorama of the time. Besides the sexual and satirical uses that have been put forward so far, this study emphasises other aims for these works, namely humour and sexual education. In particular, the focus on shunpon rewritings of earlier literature reveals how our own perception of these works, considered canonical today, differs from how they were read at the time. The introduction gives an outline of the theoretical framework. Chapter One analyses the shunpon rewritings of the 17th-century Meijo nasake kurabe (Famous Women: Comparisons of Affection), a collection of stories which has so far been considered a minor work. Chapter Two takes up the 18th-century rewritings of Makura no sōshi (The Pillow Book), a work that is considered canonical today. Chapter Three examines the re-adaptations of another Heianperiod classic, Ise monogatari (Tales of Ise), which cover a vast range of works, such as narrative prose texts, sex manuals and miscellaneous illustrated books. Chapter Four turns to the erotic rewritings of Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji), which were published between the 17th and the 19th century. Bringing together the main arguments of the discussion, the conclusion points out how this research on the texts in shunpon offers new insight into the study of parody, intertextuality, pornography, and the erotic.


In this paper, we propose a high speed binomial congestion control protocol (HSBCC) for streaming video transmitting in high speed network environment, which is based on high speed TCP protocol (HSTCP) and binomial congestion control protocol (BCC). HSTCP offers an effective and robust mechanism for bulk data transmitting in high bandwidth-delay network. However it has a big rate oscillation when transmitting video data. BCC is a kind of rate control protocol which is suitable for streaming video and however it is TCP friendly and keeps the same low utilization as TCP in high-speed network environment. HSBCC employs the idea of BCC to smooth the rate and uses the response function of HSTCP to improve the fault of low link utilization of BCC. In the end, we emulate and evaluate HSBCC performance by using NS2.


This paper describes a heuristic forecasting model based on neural networks
for stock decision-making. Some heuristic strategies are presented for
enhancing the learning capability of neural networks and obtaining better
trading performance. The China Shanghai Composite Index is used as case
study. The forecasting model can forecast the buying and selling signs according
to the result of neural network prediction. Results are compared
with a benchmark buy-and-hold strategy. The forecasting model was found
capable of consistently outperforming this benchmark strategy.


Summerizer so  is a linguistic item that is used frequently by lawyers during (cross) examination in American courtroom in order to exercise power and achieve domination over witnesses or suspect; therefore, it is considered as a powerful tool guranteeing their superiority over others. The researchers try to analyse this tool critically by using Fairclough's (1989) model. This model is able to detect the linguistic dimension of such usage along with their explnation and interpretation critically to reveal any hidden ideologies of dominance and power for the sake of raising the awarness of the less powerful people of this aspect.


It is well known that in prepositional logic not every propositional connective is definable in terms of equivalence nor indeed in terms of equivalence together with negation. It is the purpose of this note to show that in a certain sense this is, however, possible within predicate logic. Let F1 be the class of predicate logical formulae containing only the logical connectives ¬ (not), ∨ (or), E (exists), and F2 the class of predicate logical formulae containing only the logical connectives ≡ (if and only if) and E. Our object will be to find a method for reducing any formulae ϕ of F1 to a formula ψ of F2 such that ϕ is valid if and only if ψ is valid. Note first that for every domain D containing at least two individuals we can for every n-place relation R defined over D find an n + 1-place relation S defined over D such that for all x1, …, xn ∈ D, holds. For instance, let S(y, x1, …, xn) be the relation y = x1 & R(x1, …, xn). Now let ϕ be an arbitrary formula of F1 and A1, …, A3 a complete list of predicate letters occurring in ϕ of degree g1, …, gi, respectively. Let ϕ′ be the formula obtained from ϕ by replacing every prime formula Ai(x1, …, xgi) by Then it follows immediately from the previous observation that (a) ϕ is satisfiable in D if and only if ϕ′ is satisfiable in D.


The effect of a cryoprotectant (glycerol) upon the mosaicity of flash-frozen T-state glycogen phosphorylase b crystals has been investigated. Glycerol concentration in a buffered solution was varied between 0 and 70% v/v. The results show that there is a well defined optimum in glycerol concentration giving lowest mosaicity, maximum resolution and no ice formation. The results also demonstrate how flash-freezing conditions can be systematically determined in-house using a minimum number of crystals and before using synchrotron time.


Abstract Recent evidence has suggested that persistence of the left superior caval vein is associated with a high incidence of obstructive lesions of the left heart. To shed more light on this issue 1085 patients with congenital heart disease were studied retrospectively, with the aim of estimating the prevalence of a persistent left superior caval vein and its associated anomalies, focusing attention on obstructive lesions in the left and right ventricles. Patients with isomerism of the atrial appendages, or hypoplastic left heart syndrome, were excluded. A persisting left superior caval vein was present in 57 patients (5.2%). The overall incidence of obstructive lesions of the left heart was higher in patients with than in those without a persistent left superior caval vein (31.6 versus 7.8%, p < 0.001). Relative hypoplasia of the left ventricle was also higher in patients with persistent left superior caval vein (14 versus 0.8%, p < 0.001). The obstructive lesions found in the left heart, compared with the number in those without a left caval vein, were: mitral stenosis, 5.2 versus 0.7%; subaortic stenosis, 5.3 versus 0.9%; aortic coarctation, 17.5 versus 5.8% (p < 0.01); all of these in association, 3.5 versus 0.4%. In contrast, the incidence of obstructive lesions of the right heart was similar in the two groups of patients. It is concluded that persistence of the left superior caval vein can perturb the normal development of the left ventricle, being strongly associated with obstructions to left ventricular inflow and outflow.


Eighty-one dogs with clinical signs and histological lesions characteristic of distemper encephalomyelitis were evaluated. Only dogs with Lenz inclusion bodies in the central nervous system were included in the study. High prevalent findings included: changes in postural reactions (87.65%), decreased tear production (83.95%), myoclonus (75.30%), paresis (69.12%), conjunctivitis (56.79%), chorioretinitis/digital and nasal hyperkeratosis (51.85%). Anemia (48.05%), lymphopenia (51.95%), and mild changes in the cerebrospinal fluid characterized by increase in total protein (77.33%) and lymphocytic pleocytosis (50.72%) were common laboratorial findings. Presence of Lenz inclusions bodies in tissues other than nervous system varied from 30 to 45%, with a higher frequence in the limph nodes. Other abnormalities in physical, neurological and laboratorial examinations were not helpful in establishing the diagnosis. Most animals examined were not properly vaccinated.


A three-dimensional reconstruction algorithm in electrical impedance imaging is presented for determining the conductivity distribution beneath the surface of a medium, given surface voltage data measured on a rectangular array of electrodes. Such an electrode configuration may be desirable for using electrical impedance tomography to detect tumors in the human breast. The algorithm is based on linearizing the conductivity about a constant value. Here, the authors describe a simple implementation of the algorithm on a four electrode-by-four-electrode array and the reconstructions obtained from numerical and experimental tank data. The results demonstrate significantly better spatial resolution in the plane of the electrodes than with respect to depth.


The development of devices that exhibit both superconducting and semiconducting properties is an important endeavor for emerging quantum technologies. We investigate superconducting nanowires fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform. Aluminum from deposited contact electrodes is found to interdiffuse with Si along the entire length of the nanowire, over micrometer length scales and at temperatures well below the Al-Si eutectic. The phase-transformed material is conformal with the predefined device patterns. The superconducting properties of a transformed mesoscopic ring formed on a SOI platform are investigated. Low-temperature magnetoresistance oscillations, quantized in units of the fluxoid, h/2e, are observed.


We propose a robust face recognition method under illumination variation. By using shadow compensation methods, we restore the image of a facial image taken under arbitrary illumination into an image that is similar to the image taken with frontal illumination. Then we apply a pixel selection method to these restored images in order to reduce the noise components, which can interfere with the extraction of discriminant features for face recognition. The experimental results for the CMU-PIE, Yale B and Multi-PIE databases show that the proposed method results in the improvement of recognition performance under illumination variation.


This study assessed the intracultural knowledge of the use of medicinal plants in an urban-rural community in an Atlantic forest fragment in northeastern Brazil. We examined the importance of native and exotic species and the effects of gender and age on that knowledge. We also compared data obtained from different groups of informants (local experts and general community). We conducted 194 interviews between June 2007 and January 2008, using the freelist technique and semistructured forms to collect ethnobotanical data. Information obtained from the community was compared with that from six local experts who participated in a survey in 2003. From a total of 209 ethnospecies, exotic and herbaceous plants presented higher richness. With respect to the number of citations, women and older informants were shown to know a higher number of medicinal plants. Comparing knowledge of local experts with that of the general community, we noted that experts know a similar wealth of plant families and therapeutic indications, but the community knows a greater species richness. These results indicate that local experts may provide useful information for studies that search for a quick diagnosis of the knowledge of a given community.


Immune system plays crucial role in body and lymph nodes are essential parts of this system for combating pathogens. However, no study has ever been conducted on morphometric development of sheep lymph nodes in fetal period. Thus, this study attempted to examine the morphometric characteristics of a number of important lymph nodes of some lymphocenters of sheep during fetal period. To this end, 60 pieces of sheep fetuses collected from Ahvaz slaughterhouse were fixated in 10% formalin and then divided into four categories based on crown-rump length (CRL) following gender and weight determinations. Mandibular, caudal superficial cervical (prescapular), caudal mediastinum, jejunal mesenteric and popliteal lymph nodes were evaluated in five lymphocenters of head, neck, thoracic cavity, abdominal viscera and pelvic limbs, respectively. In each sample, nodes formation was visually checked and in cases of nodes formation, they were measured in terms of weight, length, width and thickness and collected data were statistically analyzed. The longest and shortest fetal CRLs were found to be 48.50 cm and 3.50 cm, respectively. Gender had no effect on study parameters in 32 male and 28 female fetuses. Study of sheep fetuses' lymph nodes revealed no macroscopic lymph node development by day 45, while all nodes were observable after the day 59. The shortest lymph node was mandibular node and the longest one was caudal mediastinum. Based on the results, it seemed that although the size of lymph nodes grows by age, this increase is not the same for all nodes and groups.


ABSTRACT
The hospital is one of the health service facilities chosen by the community in obtaining health services. Registration is the initial gate of a hospital service, this is where the important role of the registration officer, must be able to give a comfortable impression so that patients can feel the satisfaction of hospital services. Patient satisfaction consists of 5 dimensions namely tangible, responsiveness, reliability, assurance, and empathy. This research was conducted based on 5 dimensions of service quality, which was felt by old patients towards outpatient registration officers, namely the statement "satisfied" there was empathy dimension of 83.2%, the statement "dissatisfied" in the tangible dimension of 7.4%, and the statement "neutral" on the dimensions of reliability that is equal to 9.4%. Suggestion to the old patient outpatient registration officer is to conduct periodic refresher program on "excellent service" namely tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy in entering the hospital program, especially the review of waiting room facilities in outpatient registration
Keywords :medical record, satisfaction, dissatisfaction, service quality dimension


This study explored stakeholder experiences and attitudes regarding the use of ID scanners in licensed venues in Queensland, Australia. In July 2017, the Queensland Government introduced mandatory, networked ID scanners in licensed venues within designated nightlife districts (SNPs). After 10pm, people seeking to enter late-night licensed venues must provide identification, which is verified by the scanner. The scanner also checks whether the patron has any recorded banning notice/s that may preclude entry into the venue. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 66 key stakeholders and analysed using thematic analysis. Stakeholders reported that ID scanners support the enforcement of patron bans. Their mandated use within SNPs allows for accurate and timely identification of patrons, and may offer benefits with respect to reducing and solving crime, and improving patron behaviours. Some concerns were expressed regarding data privacy and the need to ensure procedural fairness and consistent use. Overall, the study highlighted the importance of ongoing monitoring and refining of ID scanner policy, particularly with respect to where and when scanners are used.


Thyrotropin (TSH) is composed of two subunits: alpha and beta. Previously, we have mapped the TSH alpha gene to human chromosome 6 and mouse chromosome 4. In this study we have located the human TSH beta gene on chromosome 1 and the mouse TSH beta gene to chromosome 3. These data suggest that the TSH beta gene lies in a conserved linkage group with the genes for amylase 1 and 2, nerve growth factor, and the protooncogene Nras.


As Australia enters recession and the Budget enters deficit, one of the least effective and most unfair forms of government spending has increased dramatically. Tax expenditures (in the form of tax breaks on superannuation, the private health insurance and childcare rebates, housing concessions etc) are increasing in number and cost, despite being significantly less equitable than other forms of government assistance. Because tax expenditures do not go through the same review process as normal government spending, they tend to be less accountable and transparent. As a result, tax expenditures attract less media attention and less democratic scrutiny. It is essential that their growing slice of Commonwealth spending be scrutinised and in some cases reconsidered.


We propose a stochastic cellular automaton method to simulate chemical reactions in small systems. Unlike the standard Gillespie method, which simulates chemical reactions with a few thousand molecules reacting with each other but without spatial considerations, our systems are divided into independent cells, each containing only a few molecules. Our simulation of the Brusselator produces chemical oscillations that agree extremely well with solutions to deterministic rate equations, and we can see strong oscillations in systems with as few as 10 cells. We are able to study several factors that affect the robustness of these small chemical oscillators: system size, spatial distribution, and correlation of molecules. We have found that non-Poisson particle distributions can greatly suppress chemical oscillations and that chemical reactions can induce correlation between the spatial distributions of particles of different species and create large-scale inhomogeneity in particle concentrations. In addition, incomplete oscillations (misfirings) can appear among strong, regular oscillations when the system size is smaller than a certain threshold, and these misfirings are triggered by random events, with a probability that is related to the system size. Since these effects, resulting from several different physical causes, are difficult to accurately model by adding generic noise factors to deterministic rate equations, as is frequently done in theoretical studies, we argue that our stochastic cellular automaton method is a useful addition to the existing tools for studying small, inhomogeneous, and non-equilibrium reaction-diffusion systems, especially those of biological nature.


Distributed Collaborative Editors (DCE) provide computer support for modifying simultaneously shared documents, such as articles, wiki pages and programming source code, by dispersed users. Controlling access in such systems is still a challenging problem, as they need dynamic access changes and low latency access to shared documents. In this paper, we propose a Mandatory Access Control (MAC) based on replicating the shared document and its authorization policy at the local memory of each user. To deal with latency and dynamic access changes, we use an optimistic access control technique where enforcement of authorizations is retroactive. We show that naive coordination between updates of both copies can create security hole on the shared document by permitting illegal modification, or rejecting legal modification. Finally, we present a novel framework for managing authorizations in collaborative editing work which may be deployed easily on P2P networks.


This book on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) covers recent advances and controversies in both basic and clinical research in IBD, as well as an up-to-date review of current therapeutic approaches used for the care of IBD patients. It will be of interest to readers who want excellent overviews of the issues and want to know which basic researchers, clinical researchers, and clinicians are currently active in work on IBD. The first section contains a series of outstanding current reviews on the role that the immune system, intestinal bacteria, bacterial toxins, and neuropeptides play in modulating and triggering IBD. This is followed by an excellent section on the substratification of IBD patients using differences in clinical course, differences in serological markers, and differences in genetic predisposing factors. The next section contains concise reviews on selected basic topics in IBD, such as the differential diagnosis of acute and chronic colitis, IBD in children, and cancer in IBD. The fourth section covers the intriguing areas of pouchitis as well as postoperative recurrence in Crohn's disease, with regard to pathogenesis, prevention, and treatment. The section on medical treatment contains superb reviews on current medications, including 5-ASA products, steroids, immunomodulators, and antibiotics as well as a very insightful review of the optimal use of drugs that are currently part of our armamentarium. The section on surgical treatment discusses two controversial areas related to ileorectal anastomosis for ulcerative colitis. The section on new drugs and new therapies is relatively weak, irrelevant, and superficial. The chapters do not adequately discuss the exciting advances in new biologics such as anticytokines and monoclonal antibody to TNF. Although this is perhaps related to the recent rapid advances in this area, chapters should have been included to cover in depth the new exciting frontiers of clinical IBD research that are quickly leading to new experimental drugs and therapies. Nevertheless, the ongoing research in new drug therapies for IBD is moving forward at such a rapid pace that perhaps the latest results and novel approaches to experimental treatments are best found in recent journal articles rather than a textbook. Overall, I view this book as very useful, with the vast majority of chapters being extremely well written, up to date, and of great value. Most importantly, the chapters place in perspective many areas that are of great current interest and excitement in IBD. Therefore, those interested in recent advances in knowledge that are now occurring in IBD basic and clinical research will find this book valuable and worthwhile.


Recently, Petrik et al. demonstrated that L1Regularized Approximate Linear Programming (RALP) could produce value functions and policies which compared favorably to established linear value function approximation techniques like LSPI. RALP's success primarily stems from the ability to solve the feature selection and value function approximation steps simultaneously. RALP's performance guarantees become looser if sampled next states are used. For very noisy domains, RALP requires an accurate model rather than samples, which can be unrealistic in some practical scenarios. In this paper, we demonstrate this weakness, and then introduce Locally Smoothed L1-Regularized Approximate Linear Programming (LS-RALP). We demonstrate that LS-RALP mitigates inaccuracies stemming from noise even without an accurate model. We show that, given some smoothness assumptions, as the number of samples increases, error from noise approaches zero, and provide experimental examples of LS-RALP's success on common reinforcement learning benchmark problems.


A lane detection system is an important component of many intelligent transportation systems. In this paper, we present a robust and real-time lane tracking algorithm for any curved road. We use Non Uniform B-Spline (NUBS) interpolation method to construct the boundaries road lane. First, the Canny filter is employed to obtain edge map. Second, we apply parallel thinning algorithm into edge map to get the skeleton image. Once skeleton image is obtained, we introduce a new algorithm based on Vector Lane Concept to extract feature edge points that play the role as control points for NUBS interpolation process to represent left and right lane, separated. Finally, we estimate the curvature of left and right lane boundary for lane tracking. The result of this method can be used for Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGV) system application.


The view that participation in sports in outdoor environments provides unique
opportunities for growth and development is supported by the literature (Hattie, Marsh,
Neill, & Richards, 1997). However, the list of types of outcomes previously examined are
not exhaustive, and scant research has examined why or how particular changes occur
(McKenzie, 2000). The present thesis identifies factors specific to outdoor sports that
relate to outcomes of participation. Chapter 1 introduces and develops the theoretical
framework for the present research. Chapter 2 develops and confirms the structure of
informant-rated measures of coping effectiveness outcomes and confirms the structure of
modified versions of existing self-report outcome measures. The measures are then utilised
to examine the processes and outcomes in relation to participating in high-risk sports.
Results revealed that the experience of emotion regulation and agency during participation
are unique to high-risk sports (i.e., rock climbing) and provides evidence that the
experience of emotion regulation and agency during rock climbing is related to the
positive outcomes of participating in outdoor sports (i.e., increased self-esteem, greater
sense of emotion regulation). Chapter 3 examines the role of the exercise environment in
relation to the processes and outcomes of participation in outdoor sports. The pattern of
results was counter to our original hypotheses, and reflects the reality of engaging in sports
in outdoor environments. When individuals initially take part in outdoor sports they
experience difficulties and adversity that challenges them psychologically. Chapter 4
summarises the main findings, the strengths and limitations of the thesis, and directions for
future research. The results from the present thesis suggest that the experience of emotion
regulation and agency during participation are mechanisms that are involved in changes in
outcomes. The findings in the present thesis also highlight the psychological hardship and
challenge that individuals face when initially participating in a sport in outdoor
environments. It is through longer-term involvement in outdoor sports that individuals
glean benefits from participating.


Informal dementia caregivers are at greater risk of experiencing physical and mental health issues as compared to the general population. Internet-based resources may provide accessible opportunities to backing informal dementia caregivers by addressing their information and support needs. This cross-sectional study aims to characterize the use of dementia and caregiving-related internet resources by caregivers and identify variables associated with such use. Primary data were collected through a web-based survey (N = 158). Linear regression models were used to assess the associations of predisposing, enabling, and need variables with the frequency of using the internet for caregiving-related purposes. Most caregivers (93%) have ever used the internet to gather general information about dementia. The frequency of using internet resources was, however, moderate. The multivariable linear regression model suggests that being younger (β = −0.110, p = 0.009), not having a source of support to provide care (β = −2.554, p = 0.012), having used a face-to-face psychosocial intervention at some point (β = 2.731, p = 0.003), being employed (β = 2.558, p = 0.013), and appraising one's own physical health negatively (vs. appraising it as similar; β = 3.591, p < 0.001), are associated with a higher frequency of using caregiving-related internet resources. Our findings confirmed the association of age and perceived health status with caregiving-related internet use reported in other studies. The role of enabling variables as lifetime access to psychosocial interventions and having a usual source of support to provide care was a new addition. This study informs the design and deployment of information and support to dementia caregivers.


According to current studies, guidance and counselling services were introduced in Kenyan schools around independency period (1963). They were introduced with an aim of substituting the corporal punishment which was the method of curbing indiscipline cases among the students. In relation to this, Guidance of the youth and in some case adults has been practiced for as long as man has lived. Lately, there have been several developments in schools to achieve this goal, the latest one being the posting of a professionally trained teacher counsellor by the TSC to secondary schools to head counselling departments. However, despite all these efforts, the attainment of this goal seems to be indefinable. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to investigate stakeholders involvement and perception towards guidance and counselling in kambaa division. Descriptive survey method of data collection was employed. Public day mixed secondary schools were targeted in the division. This is because of diverse indiscipline cases In addition; one boarding mixed school was studied in order to be able to generalize the results. The subjects comprised one teacher counsellor, five teaching staff and twenty students from every school. The sample consisted of one hundred and thirty subjects. Three sets of questionnaires were used as the instruments of data collection. The findings of the study revealed that parents are least involved in the follow-up of the guidance and counselling services. This is justified by the 60% majority who strongly agreed that parents are rarely involved. The data collected on the counselling services offered indicated clearly that they are mainly geared to meet academic needs of the students at the expense of other social, personal and physical needs.


The genera, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have been used by humans in production of fermented foods since time immemorial and in some ancient communities; consumption of LAB fermented foods products was  associated with improved health. Currently there is a keen scientific interest in developed countries on health benefits obtained due to consumption of fermented food products. LAB has been shown to ameliorate immune-mediated health complications such as allergy, atopic dermatitis, rhinitis, oral-tolerance, cancer and inflammatory bowl diseases. Studies have also shown that consumption of LAB fermented food products can lead to control of cardio-vascular diseases and improvement of mental health. Prevention of antibiotic associated diarrhoea, reduction in lactose intolerance, production of conjugated linoliec acid, breakdown of phytic (an inhibitor of mineral absorption in the intestine) acids and improvement of gut-microbial balance have also been linked with increased consumption of LAB fermented foods. Besides, the enormous benefits of consuming LAB fermented food products, there are very few studies conducted to determine the efficacy of traditionally fermented African food products. If conducted such studies may lead to prevention/control of several health complications, reduction in health costs and improved income and livelihoods of communities producing such foods.


Anisotropic rutile/anatase TiO2 nanoparticles (AB-TiO2) were synthesized by the Ti-peroxo complex method. Their photocatalytic activity in the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) was evaluated and compared to that of commercial TiO2 P25 and TiO2 obtained through the benzyl alcohol route (OB-TiO2). The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR in DRIFT mode), Field-Emission Scanning Electronic Microscopy (FEG-SEM), N2 physisorption and UV-visible spectroscopy. Photodegradation of RhB was carried out under visible light and the results revealed a remarkable photocatalytic activity of the AB-TiO2 in terms of surface area. The excellent performance of the AB-TiO2 was explained in light of the synergistic effect of the coexistence of anatase/rutile phases, anisotropy and irreversible adsorption of organic species during sol-gel synthesis. UV-visible measurements also indicated that N-deethylation and photobleaching mechanisms occur to different extents, depending on the surface composition of the photocatalyst.


Steel corrosion is one of the causes of steel bridge deterioration. In order to corrode the steel, water and oxygen are required. As measuring the water on the steel surface, the wet time is calculated by temperature and humidity or using an ACM sensor etc. However, those methods cannot measure the water inside of the rust layer directly. This research aims to evaluate the water retention of the rust layer, the electrical resistance was measured. First, the electrical resistance under the wet-dry cycle was measured for specimens which have four grades of rust thickness, under 200μm, 200 to 400μm, 400 to 800μm and more than 800μm. As a result, the measured resistance was smaller under a wet environment and the trend was the same in all thickness specimens. Second, the electrical resistance with supplying different water quantities was measured for three grades of rust thickness specimens. For the same water quantity, the larger the rust thickness, the smaller the electrical resistance was. Thus, there is a possibility to evaluate the water retention of the rust layer based on the water quantity in the rust by measuring electrical resistance.


Sequence alignments are used to capture patterns composed of elements representing multiple conceptual levels through the alignment of sequences that contain overlapping and variable length annotations. The alignments also determine the proper context window of words and phrases that most directly impact the meaning of a given target within a sentence, eliminating the need to predefine a fixed context window of words surrounding the targets. We evaluated the system using the CoNLL-2003 named entity recognition (NER) task.


The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the different phases of the menstrual cycle (MC) on muscular strength performance in resistance exercises. Nine healthy and physically active women, aged 27±7 yrs, body mass 58.2±5 kg, height 161.1±4.7 cm and BMI 20.4±2 kg/m2 participated in the study. All of them had regular MCs (28-31 days), used oral contraceptives and had been experienced in resistance exercises for at least eight months. Muscle strength was evaluated with a 10RM test in the following order: leg press 45o, bench press, leg extension and biceps curl. The tests were performed in the three phases of the MC: follicular (between the 3rd and 5th day of menses), ovulatory (between 9th and 10th days) and luteal (between 17th and 21th days). ANOVA for repeated measures was applied for statistical analysis, data were analyzed in the SPSS 15.0 and level of significance was set at 5% (p<0.05). No significant statistical differences were observed in the mobilized weight between the MC periods in those four exercises. Regarding the leg press exercise, a 5% increment in muscle strength was observed on the luteal phase. In the remaining exercises and phases these differences were not observed. In conclusion, the phases of the MC did not affect performance of muscular strength in resistance exercise, both single or multiple joint, for large or small muscle groups or in different body segments


A clear difficulty today is to find practical organisational modelling dealing specifically with major hazard prevention and to be able to compare them in order to potentially enhance their relevance. This work is an attempt to do so. This paper provides a comparison of the differences, the common and complementary features of the I-RISK model (developed within the European I-RISK project) and the MIRIAM model (developed at INERIS, France).


Five soluble polysaccharide fractions were sequentially extracted with water, EDTA, Na2CO3, 4% KOH, and 14% KOH solutions at room temperature for 4 h from cell wall material of rabbiteye blueberry (Vaccinium ashei) fruits, and their physicochemical properties were examined. The sequential treatments yielded a total 36.02% soluble polysaccharides of the dry cell wall material. HPAEC and spectroscopy (FT-IR, NMR) analyses indicated that water-, EDTA-, and Na2CO3-soluble polysaccharide fractions were mainly composed of pectins, followed by lower amounts of arabinogalactans and glucans, while the two KOH-soluble fractions were mainly composed of hemicelluloses. Homogalacturonan was proven to be the predominant component in the isolated blueberry fruit pectic substance. The isolated blueberry fruit hemicelluloses could be defined as a linear β-(1→4)-linked-xylopyranosyl, in which xylose was the predominant neutral sugar (69.98 to 77.16%), followed by lower amounts of galactose, glucose, arabinose, and mannose.


We report bedload data and acoustic impulse measurements due to particle impact from the Pitzbach in Austria. Impulse counts can be viewed as a measure of the energy delivered to the bed by moving particles. Impulse counts show a large scatter even for the same discharge and bedload supply. This scatter is due to varying grain size distribution, grain shape, mode of transport of the sediment particles and spatial and temporal distribution of the sediment load. The mean impulse count at given hydraulic conditions may increase or decrease with increasing sediment supply, suggesting that both tools and cover effects are active on the channel bed. Dependent on the local balance between sediment supply and transport capacity, either effect may be dominant at different locations along the cross‐section at the same time. Furthermore, the same bed location may respond to increasing sediment supply as tools‐dominated at some discharges and cover‐dominated at other discharges. Our observations may have implications for modelling of bedrock erosion in landscape evolution models and of bedrock channel morphology. Erosion models that do not incorporate both tools and cover effects are not sufficient to describe observations. Furthermore, a local erosion law cannot in general be used to describe erosion averaged over the channel cross‐section. The changing balance between sediment supply and transport capacity with increasing discharge highlights that a single representative discharge is not sufficient to capture the full erosion dynamics. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This paper first reviews the mainstream literature concerning the explanatory factors of fdis in the ceecs and specifically the exchange rate effects. We then present an empirical analysis of medium and long term exchange rate effects over the period 1995/2002, comparing us and eu investors behaviours.
 As regards the dynamics of fdis in the ceecs, the empirical results confirm the standard literature: two behavioural logics seem to appear and these are differently weighted for us and eu investors. If European fdi mainly aims at entering a foreign market, the American one also aims at relocating production so as to reexport the product to the domestic market.
 Notwithstanding the impact of exchange rate seems to be less obvious. Neither the level nor the volatility of the exchange rate appear to be significant; and neither is the de jure exchange rate regime. Nevertheless, an index of the de facto exchange regime is quite relevant.
 It is worth noting that in the case of ceecs the problem of exchange rate risk is specific: in the long run, the pegging of their currencies to the euro will become harder and harder before they join the European single currency. So, exchange rate effects may be altered throughout the transition process towards monetary union.
 Classification JEL: F21, F31, F36


The aim of this study was survey of relationship between decrease in range of motion with learning of a new sport skill in people who they had experience of weight training. This research was been by pre-test, three acquisition test, retention test and transfer test, with two group experimental (n=18 weightlifters) and control (n=20 non weightlifters). Data was collected by Universal Goniometer and AHHPERD overhand volley ball serve. All of participants did same schedule program with 120 trials (40 trials in 3 sessions). Date analysis was showed that weight lifters shoulder's range of motion was significantly (p<0.05) less than control group. Also diversity of performance from pre-test to retention and transfer test not indicated that weight lifters learned skill which practiced it, whereas this result showed that non-weightlifters learned volleyball serve. So we could say that weight lifters worse performed than non-weight lifters in learning of a new sport skill.


The accuracy of a system for reconstructing a three dimensional image of the left ventricle from randomly recorded multiple short axis images was tested by comparing the calculated left ventricular volume with the directly measured left ventricular volume in 11 excised porcine hearts. The system comprised a real time phased array sector scanner, a transducer locating system, and a computer system for digitising outlines of the left ventricle, displaying the reconstruction image, and calculating the left ventricular volume. The reconstructed image was similar to the real image and the calculated left ventricular volume showed a high correlation with the directly measured left ventricular volume. This method was accurate in vitro and is expected to be available for clinical measurement of left ventricular volume.


The contribution of glycolysis and oxidative metabolism to ATP production was determined in isolated working hypertrophied hearts perfused with Krebs-Henseleit buffer containing 3% albumin, 0.4 mM palmitate, 0.5 mM lactate, and 11 mM glucose. Glycolysis and glucose oxidation were directly measured by perfusing hearts with [5-3H/U-14C]glucose and by measuring 3H2O and 14CO2 production, respectively. Palmitate and lactate oxidation were determined by simultaneous measurement of 3H2O and 14CO2 in hearts perfused with [9,10-3H]palmitate and [U-14C]lactate. At low workloads (60 mmHg aortic after-load), rates of palmitate oxidation were 47% lower in hypertrophied hearts than in control hearts, but palmitate oxidation remained the primary energy source in both groups, accounting for 55 and 69% of total ATP production, respectively. The contribution of glycolysis to ATP production was significantly higher in hypertrophied hearts (19%) than in control hearts (7%), whereas that of glucose and lactate oxidation did not differ between groups. During conditions of high work (120 mmHg aortic afterload), the extra ATP production required for mechanical function was obtained primarily from an increase in the oxidation of glucose and lactate in both groups. The contribution of palmitate oxidation to overall ATP production decreased in hypertrophied and control hearts (to 40 and 55% of overall ATP production, respectively) and was no longer significantly depressed in hypertrophied hearts. Glycolysis, on the other hand, was accelerated in control hearts to rates seen in the hypertrophied hearts. Thus a reduced contribution of fatty acid oxidation to energy production in hypertrophied rat hearts is accompanied by a compensatory increase in glycolysis during low work conditions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Metastatic seminoma can potentially be confused with lymphoma in a lymph node biopsy. Here, we report a case in which the immunohistochemistry of CD10 was a pitfall in the differential diagnosis of a metastatic seminoma, and further present a brief study of CD10 expression in a seminoma series. A 67-year-old man, who had a history of lobectomy of the lung due to squamous cell carcinoma 2 years prior, showed lymphadenopathy of the neck and the paraaorta on follow-up study by fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission computer tomography scan. The biopsy of the cervical node demonstrated infiltration of large atypical cells. The results of the screening immunohistochemistry were CD20(-), CD3(-), CD10(+), CD30(-), AE1/AE3(-), and placental alkaline phosphatase(-), providing the impression of CD10-positive lymphoma. However, the following studies revealed germ cell characteristics [OCT3/4(+), SALL4(+), and CLDN6(+)], confirming the diagnosis of seminoma. We further evaluated CD10 expression in a series of seminomas (n=16). Strong positivity was observed in 14 cases; partial and weak positivity, in 2 cases. These findings should be considered in the differential diagnosis of seminoma.


Introduction. The actual problem of improving the methods of experimental studies of the properties of fibre-reinforced concrete obtained using various types of fibre is considered in the article. As a result of the analysis of the technical literature, some shortcomings of the existing test methods of one of the most important characteristics of fibre-reinforced concrete, crack resistance, were revealed. The aim of this study is to develop methods for determining the fibre-reinforced concrete crack resistance parameters. Materials and methods. The GOST 29167 standard is used as a basis for the development of a new method and device. Regulations of this standard pursue an aim of obtaining the most informative data about the material by plotting the dependences of test specimen deflections on the applied loads and determining with their assistance the power and energy parameters of the crack resistance. The test samples are presented by fibre-reinforced fine concrete beams made using steel wire fibre of circular cross-section and wave profile. Diagrams of the dependences of sample deflections on applied loads were plotted in the course of the tests for tension in bending. Calculations of power and energy parameters of crack resistance were conducted. Results. The device and method of testing the fibre-reinforced concrete crack resistance are developed and proved. A comparative analysis of the results of tests of steel fibre concrete samples is made. Conclusions. The proposed device and method allow researching influence of the fibre reinforcement parameters on fibre-reinforced concrete crack resistance parameters quickly and with minimal labour expenditures for preparation and tests. Increased adequacy of the obtained data promotes building up new trends in research and rapid introduction of fibre-reinforced concrete in the construction industry. As a result of the analysis of the obtained data, it is established that the proposed device and method can be recommended for research of the influence of fibrous reinforcement parameters on the obtained fibre-reinforced concrete properties and accumulation of statistical data for the development and improvement of normative and technical documents.


A summary of results from the solid state spectrometer on the Einstein Observatory for 7 RS CVn binaries is presented. The spectra of all require two emission components, evidenced by line emission characteristic of plasma at 4 to 8 x 10 to the 6th power and bremsstrahlung characteristic of 20 to 100 x 10 to the 6th power K. The data are interpreted in terms of magnetic coronal loops similar to those seen on the Sun, although with different characteristic parameters. The emission regions could be defined by separate magnetic structures. For pressure less than approximately 10 dynes/sq cm the low temperature plasma would be confined within the stellar radii, while the high temperature plasma would, for the synchronous close binaries, fill the binary orbits. However, for loop pressures exceeding 100 dynes/sq cm, the high temperature components would also be confined to within the stellar radii, in loops covering only small fractions of the stellar surfaces. While the radio properties and the occurrence of X-ray flares suggest the larger emission regions, the observations of time variations leave the ambiguity unresolved.


Motivated by recent developments in the field of so-called "superatom complexes", as well as by the challenge posed to theory in understanding the many polymorphs of gallium, we analyse the electronic structure of several previously synthesised ligand-protected gallium clusters and their model derivatives using density functional theory. The calculated electron charge densities within the respective gallium cores are shown to be consistent with the jellium superatom model, exhibiting well-defined global spherical shells and wide HOMO-LUMO gaps--indicating enhanced chemical stability. It is demonstrated that the HOMO-LUMO gaps are widened due to the presence of covalent gallium-ligand bonds and a closed electron shell (i.e. electron "magic" number). The tendency of retaining a filled electron shell is shown to be particularly apparent in two closely-related clusters, with one derived from the other simply via substituting a doubly negative charge by a single protective moiety containing a lone electron pair. This analysis verifies that spherical electron shells can influence the chemical stability of ligand-protected gallium clusters, and also demonstrates the significant stabilising effects of metal-ligand interactions-something that is poorly accounted for in the current superatom model.


Aims and objectives : To develop a new diagnostic criterion for RV contractile function assessment in patients with COPD. Methods: Forty patients with COPD of III-IV stages (mean age of 58,4 ± 7,3) with precapillary pulmonary hypertension (PH, PA systolic pressure ± 43,9 mmHg) and 30 healthy individuals (mean age of 52,5 ± 6,9) were examined. For each patient the calculation of the geometric center of the right ventricle (RVGC), amplitude and angle of RVGC vector displacement, using an original method for secondary processing of ultrasound images normal and for COPD.

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Results: The amplitude of the RVGC movement in healthy individuals was a=1,8±0,36 cm vs a1=0,92±0,23 cm in patients with COPD (p <0,01), and the angle of RVGC vector displacement in normal a=137 ±15° vs a1=155 ±14° in COPD (p <0,01). Conclusions: The assessment of amplitude and angle of movement of the RVGC vector can be used as a quantitative ultrasound criteria of the RV contractile dysfunction in COPD associated with PH.

 [1]: pending:yes


Climate change represents a significant challenge for human settlements and buildings which may fail to perform under the predicted future higher summer temperatures. This is the case in particular for the hot, arid climates of the Middle East where the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects an average summer temperature rise of between 2.5 and 5 °C by the end of the 21st century for an emissions scenario assuming a mix of fossil fuel intensive and non-fossil energy sources. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly important to assess the future building performance and the associated cooling loads during the summer months. However, data suitable for this purpose is scarce. This paper presents a tool for transforming existing industry standard weather data for building performance simulation into climate change adapted weather data using climate model outputs generated by the UK Hadley Centre. Weather data generated with this tool is investigated for selected cities in the Middle East with a specific focus on the potential future cooling load requirements.


In Smart Home (SH) the devices and appliances can be controlled automatically and remotely via the internet. Sensors in a smart home detect changes, which are processed and used to make intelligent decisions, such as automatically turning on the lights. To be effective, a smart home's sensors must be connected, establishing a wireless sensor network as the backbone for the smart home's functionalities. For many researchers, the performance of WSN faces several challenges. Power consumption is the most crucial factor since nodes require power to collect, process, and send data but have limited energy. As a result we propose an improved protocol for WSN in smart homes called EEP-LEACH (Energy Efficient Protocol - Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy) based on the LEACH protocol. Matlab was used for the algorithm's performance analysis, and the simulation result showed that, compared to others protocols the death time of the nodes was longer, thus managing to balance the consumption of energy of the network nodes. Python and Arduino are used in this research to perform some simulations.


Research involving students (N=612) at a large, research-extensive university who participated in voluntary short-term leadership programs showed an increase in leadership capacity, even when measured three months later. A popular assessment tool, the Socially Responsible Leadership Scale (SRLS), was used. Not all leadership competency scores showed significant increase after training, which may indicate that some leadership capacities may be more amenable than others to development through short-term programs. However, most competency scores displayed stronger relationships with each other after training, suggesting that training fostered a more integrated understanding of leadership. In addition, the analysis suggested the need for further study of the SRLS.


Optical chirality plays a key role in optical biosensing and spin-selective optical field manipulation. However, the maximum optical intrinsic chirality, which is represented by near-unity circular dichroism (CD), is yet to be achieved in a wide bandwidth range based on nanostructures. Here, we utilize dielectric bilayer polyatomic metasurfaces to realize the maximum optical intrinsic chirality over a wide bandwidth range. The CD efficiency of the two designed metasurfaces with opposite chirality is 99.9% at 1350 nm and over 98% from 1340 nm to 1361 nm. Our work provides a straightforward and powerful method for the realization of maximum optical intrinsic chirality, which has great potential in spin-selective optical wave manipulation.


Coastal marshes and wetlands are vital natural resources that offer habitats for plants and animals, serve as ecological filtration for soil and water pollutants, and act as protection for coastlines. Fishing, both commercial and sport, has a large economic impact in the study area – the Gulf Coast between Galveston Bay, TX and Oak Grove, LA. The objective of this research was to determine the contribution of Hurricane Ike storm surge sedimentation to long-term marsh aggradation in Texas and Louisiana coastal marshes. The research hypothesized that Hurricane Ike's storm surge deposit would be equal to decades and possibly even a century's worth of the average annual non-storm sedimentation. A quantitative field study was performed. The storm surge deposit was examined in a series of 15 transects covering approximately 180 km east of Hurricane Ike's landfall. Nine of the 15 transects were re-surveyed a year after the initial measurement to assess preservation of the deposit. The results demonstrate that Hurricane Ike contributed between 10 to 135 years' worth of sediment to coastal marshes along the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, and the sediment deposits have been preserved for over two years.


The timing and amount of irrigation water are critical to the optimum production of pecans in semi-arid, irrigated agriculture systems. However, few tools are available to managers for measuring or estimating water use compared to deep percolation (DP) below the root zone. The RZWQM2 model was compared to the daily water balance method at two flood-irrigated mature pecan orchards, with different soil textures and depths to water table, in the lower Rio Grande Valley near Las Cruces, New Mexico, to characterize: (1) DP below the upper 100 cm soil profile, and (2) the effects of DP on water table levels. At site 1 (sandy loam) and site 2 (silty clay loam), comparisons between measured and simulated soil water contents at different soil depths during March to December in 2009 and 2010 demonstrated that RZWQM2 generally provided satisfactory predictions of soil water dynamics but consistently undepredicted soil water content after irrigation. Total estimated and simulated DP at site 1 were 489.1 and 445.2 mm in 2009, and 541.5 and 465.8 mm in 2010, respectively. Thus, at site 1, 25% to 29% of the applied water percolated below the root zone, but the model underpredicted these values by 3 to 4 percentage points. In contrast, total estimated DP at site 2 was 37% and 35% of the total water, and again the model underpredicted by 4 to 5 percentage points. Water table levels at site 1 were affected by DP following irrigation events. This was likely related to the relatively shallow water table and the highly permeable sandy loam soil in the upper layers. Nevertheless, the root zone water balance at site 1 did not appear to be influenced by the water table since downward hydraulic fluxes were predominant below 40 cm depth and soil water content remained constant at 160 cm depth. In contrast, the deeper water table at site 2 was not influenced by DP. Calibration and validation of RZWQM2 with field data at pecan orchards with different soil textures and water table depths allow managers to use the model to address water management issues to minimize DP while optimizing pecan production.


The in vitro compatibility of the entomopathogenic fungus, Cladosporium cladosporioides BOU1, with the crude extract of three plants viz. Calotropis gigantea, Vitex negundo and Carissa macrocarpa at a concentration of 1% and 2% was investigated. The compatibility of the fungal isolate with the plant extracts was calculated using the biological index formula from the germination percentage, radial growth and spore production of BOU1. The compatibility of the plant extracts with the fungal isolate was also assessed based on the protease and lipase activities of the treated fungus. Both concentrations of plant extracts did not significantly inhibit the germination percentage, radial growth and spore production of BOU1 in a dose-depended manner. The average mean values of the biological index for the three plant extracts with two concentrations were more than 98%. The analyses of the data with the compatibility index formula suggest that irrespective of concentration, all three plant extracts were compatible with BOU1. When the plant extracts were added to the fungal isolate, the protease and lipase activities of the fungal isolate were not significantly inhibited compared to the untreated control. The reduction in all the variables of fungal growth and the enzymatic activity was less than 10% and 20%, respectively. From these findings, we can conclude that the fungal biocontrol agent C. cladosporioides BOU1 is compatible with the investigated plant extracts in terms of the fungal growth and enzymatic activities.


A chain with random hydrophobic-hydrophilic charges is studied in the presence of an interface separating a polar from a non-polar solvent. Within a Gaussian variational approach in replica space, a transition is found, from a high-temperature region, where the chain is delocalized, to a low-temperature region, where the chain is localized at the interface. The transition temperature diverges as the neutrality of the chain is approached. Our results are in agreement with an Imry-Ma type argument by Garel et al. (Europhys. Lett., 8 (1989) 9). The problem of replica symmetry breaking is also addressed, and the replica-symmetric solution is found to be unstable.


The existence of Javanese language learning in the era of modern technology among the younger generation is starting to decline. Considering the Javanese language is a learning that does not only emphasize language and culture learning but as an effort to preserve culture, one of which is uploading the Javanese language. The purpose of this research is to analyze the understanding and implementation of the Javanese language variety upload material when communicating with other people. With this research, it is hoped that the obstacles experienced during the Javanese language learning process can be overcome. This research uses a qualitative method with a case study approach involving a Javanese language teacher and 50 students from two elementary schools. Sources of data from interviews, questionnaires, and written exams for students. The data were analyzed using the analytical model of Milles and Huberman starting from the collection, reduction, and presentation of data, and drawing conclusions. The results showed that the factors causing the decline in the existence of the Javanese language among elementary school students were due to the lack of precise teaching methods for subject teachers, the social environment of children, and the absence of proper habituation of Javanese language children in the family. Based on the results of the questionnaire sheet, it was found that students had difficulty in distinguishing various Javanese languages such as ngoko, krama, and krama inggil. Students tend to generalize the use of Javanese for parents, teachers, and friends when communicating.


Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia, which is characterised by extracellular Aβ plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles, comprised of fibrils of Aβ42 and tau protein, respectively. A species of tau protein localised to the nucleus has been discovered, but its role in AD is still unclear. Glutamate excitotoxicity, oxidative stress, DNA damage, alteration of the chromatin and nucleolar stress are key features of AD. The early stages of the disease are characterised by minimal neurodegeneration and altered protein synthesis machinery. The culprit (s) and molecular link between these changes and the role of nuclear tau are unclear. This work utilised glutamate stress and Aβ42 oligomers to investigate the involvement of nuclear tau in the chromatin alteration, nucleolar dysfunction, and downstream protein synthesis impairment that occurs in AD. This revealed that glutamate stress in SHSY5Y neuroblastoma cells results in oxidative stress, a nuclear upsurge of phosphorylated tau and delocalisation of nucleolar tau, alongside, DNA damage, heterochromatin loss, nucleolar stress and protein synthesis inhibition, partly through eIF2α phosphorylation. Likewise, short incubation of SHSY5Y cells with Aβ42 oligomers led to significant oxidative stress, with gradual accumulation of nucleolar stress, which resulted in altered transcription and processing of 45S pre-rRNA and decrease in protein synthesis, without DNA damage. Although both glutamate and Aβ ultimately decreased protein synthesis, Aβ incubation led to an increase in heterochromatin formation and a reduction in RNA synthesis without DNA damage, pointing to a different mechanism of toxicity by the Aβ and glutamate stress. To characterise a nuclear role for tau, this work localised tau in the nucleolus and heterochromatin in the SHSY5Y cells and the human brain, where it associates with TIP5 – a key player in heterochromatin formation. Accordingly, tau knockdown destabilises the heterochromatin and increases rDNA transcription, indicating that tau is essential for silencing of the rDNA and heterochromatin stability, similar to TIP5. Overall, this thesis provides evidence that implicates glutamate and Aβ toxicity in some of the changes that occur in the disease and specifically implicates Aβ42 as a key culprit that drives changes in the early stage of the disease. It also reveals a new role for tau in the nucleus and points to its pathological involvement in AD.


The human capital represents the most important investment made both by state and companies and also individually for the education and development of skills, knowledge, qualifications and capabilities of individuals, in order to obtain various incomes from certain economic activities. Both the expenses made for education and long term benefits influence the value of the investment in education. The analysis performed on the Romanian economy shows that between the educational level and the income, there is a positive relationship as the one, that numbers are showing with no doubt, between the manpower occupancy and the education period (the amount of investments in human capital). Therefore, the analysis of the Romanian labor market shows that the most affected by unemployment are the individuals with a modest education level while persons with a university degree suffer less from this phenomenon.


A pharmacokinetic one-compartment model for the cerebrospinal infusion for the brain tumor chemotherapy is described together with various parameters used for computer simulation. An antitumor protein, neocarzinostatin (NCS) as a prototype drug, has been utilized since it was found effective against glioblastoma cells at extremely low concentration (less than 5 ng/ml) and it is readily inactivated by serum. A very slow infusion velocity was found necessary for an appropriate dose regimen; for example, 0.25mg of the drug should be infused into CSF for about 40 min to attain a drug level of 8 ng/ml.