This paper presents the development of a software to assist the planning and management of budgetary activities of public institutions that use the Integrated System of Financial Administration (Sistema Integrado de Administracao Financeira in Portuguese). The main motivation for this software is to replace the analysis and budget planning spreadsheets developed and used by the Federal Institute of Alagoas. It is understood that this replacement is necessary because of different problems caused by its use, such as inconsistencies in the data, difficulty restricting access to specific portions of the data and increased complexity to manage a budget of millions of "reais" (Brazilian currency money) per year. The architecture and the set of technologies used in the implementation are described, as well as some difficulties encountered, and the results obtained until then.


Exercise increases the production of reactive oxygen species, which may damage a number of cell constituents. Organisms have developed a sophisticated antioxidant system for protection against reactive oxygen species. Our aim was to compare the adaptive responses of antioxidant mechanisms and the blood redox status of two groups of athletes, long-distance and short-distance runners. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, catalase activity and total antioxidant capacity was measured in the serum, while reduced and oxidized glutathione as well as their ratio were determined in blood hemolysates. Serum catalase activity (P<0.001) was found to be three times higher in long-distance compared to short-distance runners (25.4 vs. 8.9 micromol x min(-3) x ml(-1)), whereas the two groups did not differ in the other markers. Catalase activity also correlated significantly with maximal oxygen consumption in long-distance runners. In conclusion, we report here that long-distance and short-distance runners exhibit similar blood redox status judged by several oxidative stress indices, except for the much higher activity of catalase in long-distance runners. This different effect of the two training modules on catalase activity of long-distance runners might be partly due to the high oxygen load imposed during their repeated prolonged exercise bouts.


Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is the transmission format for almost all future communication networks, including broadband integrated services digital networks (B-ISDN). The key feature of ATM is its high flexibility in bandwidth allocation. Instead of reserving capacity for each connection, the bandwidth is allocated on demand. As a consequence, packets (called cells in ATM terminology) might be lost. To guarantee a given quality of service (QoS), some kind of control is needed to decide whether to accept or to reject an incoming connection. A connection is accepted only if the network has sufficient resources to achieve the QoS required by the user without affecting the QoS of the existing connections. In ATM networks, connection admission control (CAC) is responsible for this decision. It is a very complex function because the traffic may vary greatly and have poorly known characteristics. This paper describes CAC procedures proposed in the literature and discusses issues related to bandwidth allocation in ATM networks. It shows that CAC and statistical multiplexing are only needed for certain connections.


ABSTRACT The ultrastructure of the spermatid and spermatozoon of Macracanthorhynchus hirudinaceus (Archiacanthocephala) was studied by means of transmission electron microscopy. The flagellum and nucleus in the spermatid gradually expanded simultaneously. The karyoplasm of the spermatid transformed into dense inclusions and a multibarrel structure, which were also found in the spermatozoan body. The multibarrel structure was located close to the flagellum and consisted of many irregular microtubes. The flagellum of the developing spermatozoon was observed in a concavity of the spermatid nucleus. The microtubule arrangement of the flagellum was ″9+2″. No mitochondria or acrosome were observed in spermatozoa.


In this review, we address the main aspects of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) resistance to water stress. We point to examine physiological and molecular answers, involving both primary and secondary metabolisms. The grapevine has been generally classified as drought-avoiding or as "pessimistic" following the ecological classification of plants into "pessimists" and "optimists", even if different grapevine cultivars show different behaviours of defence against drought. This ecological classification is analogous to the physiological classification into isohydric and anisohydric plants and fundamentally linked to stomatal behaviour. Stomatal regulation of grapevine is under hormone (ABA) and hydraulic control, the latter linked to embolism formation and recovery in xylem tissues up-stream the stomata. We review ABA effects on stomata, and their interrelationship with hydraulics of the plant. To this aim, we show that in grapevine, xylem embolism occurs and repairs during diurnal cycles, extreme water potential causing embolism, whereas an almost full recovery of water potential is needed to promote repair mechanisms. In this phase, an ABA-induced transpiration control is proposed. Aquaporins play fundamental role on water stress control, and both early or late contribution (especially in root) are discussed. When droughtavoidance mechanisms are limiting in further plant dehydration avoidance (earlier in anisohydric varieties, but in all grape cultivars during late and/or severe drought stages) metabolic mechanisms of dehydration tolerance arise. In all tissues solutes accumulate to prevent water loss, by minimizing interferences with cellular function. Grapevines accumulate one or more types of compatible solutes (osmotic adjustment). Metabolite profiling reveals that there are higher concentrations of glucose, malate, proline, phenolics and flavour precursors upon water stress. The metabolite differences are linked to differences in transcript abundance of many genes involved in energy metabolism, particularly photosynthesis and photorespiration. Droughted grapevines appear to have a higher demand than non-stressed plants to detoxify free radicals (reactive oxygen species), and to cope with photoinhibition. Results of these defence strategies accumulate in berries, during the ripening period, and are at the base of grape quality. Berry metabolites accumulated in several cultivars, as a response of controlled levels of water stress applied to the grapevine, are shown. Berry (skin, pulp and seed) phenolic fractions and flavours are reviewed and linked to perturbations of their molecular pathways, when known. Physiological, molecular and metabolic peculiarities genotype-specific are underlined. Future perspectives of research on the reviewed topic are proposed, as focused on the interrelationship between ABA metabolism and molecular aspects of water control (aqua-


Cervical agenesis or dysgenesis is a rare congenital anomaly. The patients usually present with primary amenorrhoea, primary infertility, and cyclical abdominal pain or with a history of prior surgeries like hymenectomy, vaginoplasty, or adhesiolysis for endometriosis along with well developed secondary sexual characters. We present a case of 15 years old girl with cervical dysgenesis and proximal vaginal agenesis, who presented with severe cyclical abdominal pain. She was managed with cervicovaginal canalization by coring and drilling technique done by vaginal approach with simultaneous laparoscopic guidance. Being a rare type of developmental anomaly of the female genital tract, no standard treatment for type-2 cervical dysgenesis has been established. The patient was followed up for 18 months during which she reported to be having regular menstruation.


The question of low productivity in Botswana is a cause of concern and a study has been carried out into perceptions about productivity in a sample of academic and public librarians. The main barriers to productivity were a lack of: job satisfaction, technological facilities and employee empowerment, together with poor management, working environment, relationship among staff, and inefficient use of human and material resources. The authors suggest that a serious culture change is required which would involve modifying both management and employees attitudes towards work, behaviour and commitment.


We present experimental observations of nonlinear propagation effects in an integrated AlGaAs waveguide filter. We demonstrate pulse shaping, pulse compression, and the production of gap solitons within the stop band of the grating for switching powers of approximately 130 W . This nonlinear behavior is associated with the counterbalancing effects of self-phase modulation and the large dispersion effects introduced by the grating itself.


A simple analytical method is developed to estimate frequencies of longitudinal modes in closed hard-walled ducts with discontinuities in a cross-sectional area. The approach adopted is based on a general expression for the acoustic impedance for a plane wave motion in a duct and conditions of impedance continuity at duct discontinuities. Formulae for mode frequencies in a form of transcendental equations were found for one, two and three discontinuities in a duct cross-section. An accuracy of the method was checked by a comparison of analytic predictions with calculation data obtained by use of numerical implementation based on the forced oscillator method with a finite difference algorithm.


This paper proposes an Region-of-Interest(ROI) video coding algorithm based on H.263+. The ability to give higher priority to ROI is the emerging functionality for video coding nowadays. In most videoconferencing and videophony, most existing compression schemes treat the entire image uniformly. However, the background is much less critical than the foreground, i.e., human face, moving objects, etc., for communication. A region-based video codec based on the H.263+ with the optional mode of modified quantization is set up. A new algorithm based on TMN8 utilizes a fuzzy logic control method to give adaptively weighted factors to each macroblock(MB) and allocate different bits to each MB according to the complexity and the variance variation in the rate-and-distortion model. From experimental results, the proposed method can significantly improve the quality at ROI and multiple ROI functionality also has been implemented. Our method is suitable for real time videoconferencing.


About one-half of the terminators of the Escherichia coli genome require transcription termination factor rho to function. Here we use the very "diffuse" trp t' terminator of E. coli to show that both template sequence and transcript secondary structure are involved in controlling the template positions and efficiencies of rho-dependent termination. Termination begins in the wild-type trp t' terminator sequence approximately 97 bps downstream of the promoter under our standard reaction conditions, and termination efficiencies for individual positions on three related templates have been determined in the form of quantitative patterns of rho-dependent RNA release. Comparison of these patterns shows that the rho-dependent termination efficiency at individual template positions depends primarily on the nucleotide sequence at and near the putative 3' end of the transcript, although these efficiencies can also be influenced by RNA sequence elements located further upstream. The amplitudes of the peaks of the RNA release patterns at specific template positions are controlled primarily by the effectiveness of the binding of the rho hexamer to the "rho loading site" of the transcript. Introduction of a stable element of secondary structure into the nascent RNA within the loading site both shifts the position of initial rho-dependent termination downstream and decreases the amplitudes of the peaks of the RNA release pattern at the corresponding sequences. These results and others are consistent with the view that rho-dependent terminators contain two essential components: (i) an upstream rho loading site on the RNA that is 70-80 nucleotide residues in length, essentially devoid of secondary structure, and which contains sufficient numbers of rC residues to activate the RNA-dependent ATPase of rho; and (ii) a downstream sequence within which termination actually occurs. In this study we use the trp t' terminator to characterize the involvement of each of these sequence components in detail in order to provide the parameters required to define a quantitative mechanistic model for the function of rho in transcript termination.


Against the backdrop of a weakening global economy and volatility in international financial markets, countries of the Europe and Central Asia region (ECA) are transitioning to a new normal. Oil-exporting countries in eastern part of ECA face the difficult adjustment to low commodity prices. Faster and more effective insolvency procedures, strengthened financial sectors, and higher absorption of European Union (E.U.) structural funds can contribute to rebound. This economic update consists of two parts: (i) economic outlook, comprising two chapters, and (ii) country pages. In part one, the first chapter describes the outlook for gross domestic product (GDP) growth, and then goes beyond GDP in a couple of important areas. It shows that terms-of-trade losses for oil exporters this year are much larger than changes in GDP. The second chapter establishes the link between oil prices and real exchange rates, both theoretically and empirically. Part two contains 26 two-page macro poverty outlook reports for ECA countries.


Theoretical and experimental study of heat transfer by forced convection from the cylinder in cross flow embedded in a saturated porous media was carried out. The theoretical part of the work includes the derivation of the governing momentum and energy equation by using Darcy flow model. The two equations are solved by finite difference method with constant cylinder surface temperature, with a Peclet numbers ranged between (1< Pe<10 ). The experimental part of this work included the construction of an experimental model composed of cupper cylinder with a (13 mm) in diameter heated internally by an electrical source. The cylinder was embedded in a packing of glass spheres with diameter 12 mm placed in a low velocity wind tunnel. Both the theoretical and the experimental results revealed that the average heat transfer increased when the Peclet number increased.


The purpose of this study was to determine the views of pre-service Mathematics teachers' (PMTs) about GeoGebra and its use after being exposed to GeoGebra activities designing processes. This is a case study which was conducted with 36 PMTs. Three open-ended questions were used, after the completion of the 14-week process of GeoGebra training and designing of GeoGebra activities. The content analysis of the open-ended questions indicated that all of the PMTs think that GeoGebra has positive effects on their professional development. They also stressed that GeoGebra can contribute to students' academic achievement. In addition all the PMTs stated that they would like to use GeoGebra in their professional career. However, while more than half of the teachers stated that their use of GeoGebra in their professional lives depends on some conditions and the rest of them stated that they would use GeoGebra and expressed their reasons for using it.


The intensity of Bangkok's urban heat island during the dry season can be as high as 6–7° and in the densest areas the urban heat island's intensity is approximately 4°C. The urban heat island thus is causing a city already oppressively hot to become even hotter. The urban heat island also contributes to health problems, such as heat stroke and fatigue, particularly to those with lower incomes. We historically examine the numerous causes of Bangkok's urban heat island, such as the lack of green space, high levels of air conditioning, and high rates of vehicle exhaust fumes. For example, Bangkok has only three square metres of green space per person which is one of the lowest in all of Asia. Local governmental weaknesses, administrative fragmentation, prioritisation of economic growth and limited buy-in from the private sector have intensified Bangkok's urban heat island, and imposed numerous barriers to actions that would reduce heat, such as establishing green space, restructuring urban transport or creating and following an effective urban plan. Ideas mooted to remedy these problems have yet to come to fruition, largely because of bureaucratic inertia, fragmentation and divisions within the relevant lead organisations. The political ecology lens also reveals how political–economic processes largely determine the vulnerability of urban inhabitants to heat, but also that thermal governance is highly unequal and unjust. Those who contribute to and profit the most from Bangkok's urban heat island, such as real estate developers, shopping mall owners, and automobile corporations, suffer the least from its effects, whereas low-income communities hardly contribute to this problem, yet are the most vulnerable.


Although the simultaneous engagement of multiple effector mechanisms is thought to characterize optimal CD8+ T-cell immunity and facilitate pathogen clearance, the differentiation pathways leading to the acquisition and maintenance of such polyfunctional activity are not well understood. Division-dependent profiles of effector molecule expression for virus-specific T cells are analyzed here by using a combination of carboxyfluorescein succinimidyl ester dilution and intracellular cytokine staining subsequent to T-cell receptor ligation. The experiments show that, although the majority of naive CD8+ T-cell precursors are preprogrammed to produce TNF-α soon after stimulation and a proportion make both TNF-α and IL-2, the progressive acquisition of IFN-γ expression depends on continued lymphocyte proliferation. Furthermore, the extensive division characteristic of differentiation to peak effector activity is associated with the progressive dominance of IFN-γ and the concomitant loss of polyfunctional cytokine production, although this is not apparent for long-term CD8+ T-cell memory. Such proliferation-dependent variation in cytokine production appears tied to the epigenetic signatures within the ifnG and tnfA proximal promoters. Specifically, those cytokine gene loci that are rapidly expressed following antigen stimulation at different stages of T-cell differentiation can be shown (by ChIP) to have permissive epigenetic and RNA polymerase II docking signatures. Thus, the dynamic changes in cytokine profiles for naive, effector, and memory T cells are underpinned by specific epigenetic landscapes that regulate responsiveness following T-cell receptor ligation.


Recent works within machine learning have been tackling inputs of ever increasing size, with cyber security presenting sequence classification problems of particularly extreme lengths. In the case of Windows executable malware detection, an input executable could be >=100 MB, which would translate to a time series with T=100,000,000 steps. To date, the closest approach to handling such task is MalConv --- a convolutional neural network capable of processing T=2,000,000 steps. Because the memory used by CNNs is O(T), this has prevented many from processing all executables or further extending the MalConv approach. In this work, we develop a new approach to temporal max pooling that makes the required memory invariant to the sequence length T. This makes MalConv 116x more memory efficient, and up to 25.8x faster to train, while removing the input length restrictions to MalConv. We re-invest these gains into improving the MalConv architecture by developing a new Global Channel Gating design, giving us an attention mechanism capable of learning feature interactions across 100 million time steps in an efficient manner, a capability lacked by the original MalConv approach.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to assess predictors of placebo response in all available short-term, placebo-controlled trials of psychotropic drugs for children and adolescents with internalizing disorders, major depressive disorder (MDD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD,) and anxiety disorders (ANX) exclusive of OCD and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

METHOD
We reviewed the literature relevant to the use of psychotropic medication in children and adolescents with internalizing disorders, restricting our review to double-blind studies including a placebo arm. Placebo response, defined according to each trial's primary response outcome variable and Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement, when available, and potential predictive variables were extracted from 40 studies.

RESULTS
From 1972 to 2007, we found 23 trials that evaluated the efficacy of psychotropic medication involving youth with MDD, 7 pertaining to youths with OCD, and 10 pertaining to youths with ANX (N = 2,533 patients in placebo arms). For all internalizing disorders combined, predictors of nonresponse to placebo were the percentage of Caucasian patients included in the study and the duration of the disorder: Both variables were negatively correlated with the percent of placebo responders. The type of disorder was found to predict the robustness of placebo response: (OCD < ANX < MDD). For a subset of MDD studies, we found that baseline illness severity tended to be negatively correlated with placebo response. Finally, trial "success" was significantly associated with lower placebo response rate.

CONCLUSION
Predictors of placebo response in internalizing disorders of youths parallel those in adult studies, with the exception of race. These predictors should be considered when designing placebo-controlled trials in youths to enhance findings of true drug-placebo differences.


The channel with a moving wall is considered to de scribe aeroelastic oscillations induced by gas flow. One of the channel walls has t wo degrees of freedom and it is supported by springs and dampers. The multi-fields investigation method is based on simulation transient gas flow in the channel to calculate aerodynamic forces acting on the wall. Corresponding rigidity and damping gas flow parameters obtained from these loads are included into the wall oscillations model for the stability analysis. The models are developed for two channel types: wit h smooth and finned wall. Aeroelastic stability boundary is shown for both channels. An e ffect of structural parameters on the realization of convergent oscillation and self-osci llation modes is shown too. A paradox of system destabilization with the increasing damping is observed for a certain parameter set.


Introduction : Poor quality teacher training is one reason why children do not achieve school readiness. The Occupational Therapy Practice Framework (OTPF) includes teacher and day care provider training in teaching basic concepts to pre-schoolers, as an essential occupational therapy role. eLearning and mLearning are affordable, accessible, and usable formats for this training. This scoping review will provide a framework for improving the usability of eLearning and mLearning for teachers and day care providers of pre-schoolers. Methods and Analysis :This scoping review follows Arksey and O'Malley's (2005) framework and the PRISMA-ScR reporting guidelines using ERIC, CIHNAL, Africa Wide Information and Academic Search Premier databases, and a blind review process by two researchers. COVIDENCE software will be used to manage the review. Framework analysis using the nine usability criteria and WeftQDA will identify recommendations for eLearning and mLearning design. Ethics and dissemination: This protocol is published to improve transparency and avoid duplication of work, as recommended in the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. The findings of this scoping review will be published in a peer-reviewed journal in 2020 and presented at conferences. The results will also inform the design of an mLearning application for teachers and day care providers within the African context. Key words : early childhood development, pre-school, school readiness, teacher training, eLearning, mLearning, LMICs


This paper presents a novel grid-connected boost-half-bridge photovoltaic (PV) microinverter system and its control implementations. In order to achieve low cost, easy control, high efficiency, and high reliability, a boost-half-bridge dc-dc converter using minimal devices is introduced to interface the low-voltage PV module. A full-bridge pulsewidth-modulated inverter is cascaded and injects synchronized sinusoidal current to the grid. Moreover, a plug-in repetitive current controller based on a fourth-order linear-phase IIR filter is proposed to regulate the grid current. High power factor and very low total harmonic distortions are guaranteed under both heavy load and light load conditions. Dynamic stiffness is achieved when load or solar irradiance is changing rapidly. In addition, the dynamic behavior of the boost-half-bridge dc-dc converter is analyzed; a customized maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method, which generates a ramp-changed PV voltage reference is developed accordingly. Variable step size is adopted such that fast tracking speed and high MPPT efficiency are both obtained. A 210 W prototype was fabricated and tested. Simulation and experimental results are provided to verify the validity and performance of the circuit operations, current control, and MPPT algorithm.


The aim of this research was to compare the pain experience of cardiac surgical patients who attended the Acute Pain Service (APS) education program with cardiac surgical patients who did not attend the APS. The participants of both groups, pain levels, consumption of total analgesia, anxiety levels, satisfaction with pain management, ratios of self-administered bolus doses and failed attempts on Patient Controlled Analgesia (PCA) device and their length of hospital stay were compared.

The findings indicated no statistical significant differences between the two groups being investigated in relation to pain levels, total analgesia consumed, anxiety levels,

satisfaction with pain management, total demands and delivery attempts on the PCA and their length of hospital stay. The clinical mplications are significant. The preoperative

pain management education program provided by APS clinical nurses for cardiac surgical

patients does not have the positive outcomes expected.


A new species of Leporinusis described based on specimens from the lower rio Tocantins, Para State, Brazil. The new species is diagnosed by having conspicuous dark spots on center of scales on anterolateral portion of body, 33 or 34 scales in lateral line, 16 scales rows around caudal peduncle, four scale rows between dorsal-fin origin and lateral line and four between lateral line and pelvic-fin origin, and four teeth on premaxilla and four on dentary. The new species is similar to Leporinus gomesi, L. granti, and L. nijsseni for having three prominent dark midlateral blotches, smaller blotches formed by dermal pigment, five of which form an interrupted "X" between head and first midlateral blotch, small dark spots formed by epidermal pigment, terminal mouth with four teeth on premaxilla and four on dentary, and relatively few scales on lateral line (less than 36). In addition, new data is provided for the type specimens of Leporinus grantiand L. megalepis(=Hypomasticus megalepis),, and L. badueli is confirmed as a junior synonym of L. granti.


Objective: To describe a case multifocal motor neuropathy without conduction block (CB) misdiagnosed as a primary peripheral nerve tumor Background: Multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN) is a rare immune-mediated motor neuropathy with slowly progressive, predominantly distal, asymmetrical primarily upper limb weakness in individual motor nerve distribution with or without persistent conduction block preferentially affecting young man. Clinical response to intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) has been reported (PRuppers et al, JPNS: 20: 306–318) but there is a subgroup with irreversible axonopathy. While diagnosis is based on electrodiagnosis and clinical presentation, MRI maybe performed to rule out other etiologies of nerve injury. Design/Methods: We report the case of a 16 year-old man with acute onset right-sided finger drop with progression to the median nerve and ulnar over time. Inflammatory work up, spinal fluid indices (glucose, protein, cell count), HNPP, Anti-GM1 and cervical spine and upper limb MRI were unrevealing. Results: MMN was diagnosed and treatment with high dose IVIG (1g/kg) was given for 6 months every 3 weeks without improvement in finger extension but in grip. The patient has undergone 3 years later further studies due to isolated PIN weakness. MRI showed a mass lesion and enhancement of the PIN and nerve sheath tumor was suggested. Nerve biopsy showed axonopathy and onion bulb formation confirming the prior diagnosis of MMN. After the biopsy patient has experienced new wrist extension weakness but has refused treatment with IVIG. Conclusions: This is a patient with permanent PIN axonal injury due to MMN and MRI mistakenly diagnosed as primary nerve sheath tumor. The case highlights the importance of recognition of MRI findings of MMN. Disclosure: Dr. Meira Benchaya has nothing to disclose. Dr. Bauman has nothing to disclose. Dr. Wu has nothing to disclose. Dr. Jani-Acsadi has nothing to disclose.


The epistolary genre suggests its own authenticity, asking the reader to suspend disbelief and to treat the letters that compose its pages as historical artifact. Similarly, ethnic literature is a field too often valued for its sociological truth, admired for the extent to which its narratives express authentic ethnic experiences. This article explores the crossroads of epistolary fiction and ethnic literature, charting the collapse of authenticity in Ana Castillo's 1986 Mixquiahuala Letters and Hauling Nieh's 1988 Mulberry and Peach: Two Women of China. It argues that, far from being a venue for a singular authenticity, ethnic epistolary fiction offers the possibility for multiple iterations of subjectivity. In addition, ethnic literature likewise reinscribes the epistolary as an inherently inauthentic genre. In these novels the reader's contact with the characters is always mediated through the self-consciously textual form of the letters that the characters write as the narrative moves forward. Rather than highlighting authentic understandings of the minority group at hand, the relative disembodiment and conspicuous textuality of the epistolary genre works against such impulses to authenticate and define. Insisting on contingent performance rather than authentic truth, these novels enable complex and fluid constructions of self and homeland.


Multi-organ segmentation of X-ray images is of fundamental importance for computer aided diagnosis systems. However, the most advanced semantic segmentation methods rely on deep learning and require a huge amount of labeled images, which are rarely available due to both the high cost of human resources and the time required for labeling. In this paper, we present a novel multi-stage generation algorithm based on Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) that can produce synthetic images along with their semantic labels and can be used for data augmentation. The main feature of the method is that, unlike other approaches, generation occurs in several stages, which simplifies the procedure and allows it to be used on very small datasets. The method was evaluated on the segmentation of chest radiographic images, showing promising results. The multi-stage approach achieves state-of-the-art and, when very few images are used to train the GANs, outperforms the corresponding single-stage approach.


A patient with Harada's disease showed signs of cerebellar impairment such as gaze-evoked nystagmus, rebound nystagmus and vertical nystagmus. This study revealed that disorders of the central nervous system, and marked cerebellar disturbances are present in patients with Harada's disease who complain of disequilibrium. I propose that Harada's disease, which manifests cochleo-vestibular symptoms, should be divided into three subtypes, peripheral type, central type and mixed type, based on otoneurological results.


Conoscopic holography is an interferometric technique that permits the recording of three-dimensional objects. A two-step scheme is presented to recover an opaque object's shape from its conoscopic hologram, consisting of a reconstruction algorithm to give a first estimate of the shape and an iterative restoration procedure that uses the object's support information to make the reconstruction more robust. The existence, uniqueness, and stability of the solution, as well as the convergence of the restoration algorithm, are studied. A preliminary experimental result is presented.


This paper is an initial attempt to make an empirical evaluation of what happened in Chile after the 2004 enactment of the new Civil Marriage Act (Law 19,947), which included absolute divorce for the first time in Chilean law. Until that moment, the way that a marriage could formally be ended was by an annulment due to incompetence of the Civil Registry officer, possible only provided there was mutual consent of the spouses and the resources to hire an attorney. The analysis says that although the divorce rate has increased considerably with respect to the annulment rate prior to the law, it is not high in relation to other countries, despite an accumulation of couples that wanted to be divorced at the time the law was enacted. The study concludes that the new Civil Marriage Act has extended and equalized the possibility of a legal dissolution of the bond of marriage. Although no changes are seen in birth rates and the percentage of infants born outside of marriage, marriages have increased, even when controlling for some variables and discounting second marriages. Also, under the new law divorced women and their children would be more protected than women who are merely separated as the former would receive more alimony from their ex-husbands. At the end, some policy measures are discussed.


In this article, I discuss the economics behind a series of recent controversial pricing patterns and strategies that have spawned antitrust and related activity in the downstream petroleum industry. Brought under both federal and state laws, I discuss how legislators and courts have tried to deal with specific practices and argue that, in some cases, the laws (or the interpretation of those laws) can sometimes be counterproductive and actually harm competition. The practical consequence to downstream fuel sellers is that behavior which is perfectly pro-competitive and unilateral in nature still carries an unavoidable systematic risk of litigation. The first risk I discuss arises from parallel pricing. Well known in general and not illegal in itself, parallel behaviors still spawn substantial antitrust activity in the petroleum industry. I focus on two particular and unusual parallel pricing patterns specific to downstream petroleum that have caused recent international controversy. A second litigation risk sellers face arises from pricing too high in states with so-called "price-gouging" laws and a third risk arises from pricing too low in states with "Sales-Below-Cost" laws. Finally, a fourth litigation risk arises from the use of bundled discounts between fuel and non-fuel sales. Usually challenged under Sales-Below-Cost laws not well suited to address them, bundled discounting at the retail level has become an increasingly common pricing technique in the ongoing modernization of the downstream petroleum industry.


Background: Although intra-articular injections are important in the management of patients who may later undergo hip arthroscopy, conflicting data are available regarding the safety of such injections when administered within 3 months of surgery. Furthermore, despite the increasing use of image-guided intra-articular hip injections, it is unknown whether the type of imaging modality used is associated with infection after hip arthroscopy. Purpose: To assess the risk of infection associated with image-guided intra-articular injections before hip arthroscopy and, secondarily, compare that risk between ultrasound (US) and fluoroscopic (FL) guidance. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of patients in a large national insurance database who underwent hip arthroscopy between 2007 and 2017. Patients were required to have continuous enrollment from at least 1 year before to 6 months after hip arthroscopy. Patient age, sex, geographic region, medical history, surgical details, and hip injections were collected. Patients who underwent injection ≤3 months preoperatively and >3 to ≤12 months preoperatively were compared with patients who did not undergo preoperative injection. Bivariate analyses and multivariable logistic regressions were used to assess the association between ipsilateral preoperative hip injection and surgical site infection within 6 months of surgery. Results: We identified 17,987 patients (36.3% female; mean ± SD age, 37.6 ± 14.0 years) undergoing hip arthroscopy, 2276 (12.7%) of whom had an image-guided hip injection in the year preceding surgery (53.0% FL). Patients who underwent intra-articular injection ≤3 months preoperatively had similar infection rates to patients who did not undergo preoperative injection in the year before surgery for both the FL (0.46% vs 0.46%; P≥ .995) and the US cohorts (0.50% vs 0.46%; P = .76). Results persisted in adjusted analysis (FL ≤3 months: OR, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.32-3.37; P = .94; US ≤3 months: OR, 1.19; 95% CI, 0.36-3.90; P = .78). Similar results were seen for patients undergoing injections >3 to ≤12 months preoperatively. Conclusion: Postoperative infection was rare in patients undergoing intra-articular hip injection ≤3 months before hip arthroscopy and was no more common than in patients not undergoing preoperative injection. Moreover, no differences were seen in infection risk between US and FL guidance. Although intra-articular hip injections should always be administered with careful consideration, these results do not suggest that these injections are uniformly contraindicated in the 3 months preceding hip arthroscopy.


Astroglia or astrocytes, the most abundant cells in the brain, are interposed between neuronal synapses and the microvasculature in the brain's gray matter. This unique anatomical location allows astroglia to play pivotal roles in brain metabolism as well as in the regulation of cerebral blood flow. In particular, astroglial cellular metabolic compartmentation exerts supportive roles in dedicating neurons to the generation of action potentials and protects neurons against the oxidative stress associated with their high energy consumption. Key products of astroglia include lactate and ketone bodies (beta-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate), which can also be produced avidly by muscle and liver, respectively. Therefore, brain cells, skeletal muscles, and hepatocytes constitute a metabolic compartmentation in the whole body. In this chapter, I will focus on brain cells, especially astroglia, since the impairment of normal astroglial function can lead to numerous neurological disorders including stroke, neurodegenerative diseases, and neuro-immunological diseases. I will also discuss the metabolic responses of brain cells in terms of food consumption and exercise. A better understanding of the astroglial metabolic response is expected to lead to the development of novel therapeutic strategies for diverse neurological diseases.


This article recalls a discussion about Barack Obama's mother and her biography which emerged during the course of the American presidential elections in 2008. S. Ann Dunham was a cultural anthropologist holding a PhD from the University of Hawaii and specializing in Indonesian peasant blacksmithing and cottage industry. She passed away in 1995 relatively unknown to the American anthropological world and totally unknown to the American public. Interest in Obama's family made Dunham and her biography as well as her anthropology appear publicly. Even though she was labeled an "uncaring mother," who was to "abandon" small Barack, a biographical book by Janny Scott published in 2011 depicts a deep and complex portrait of Dunham which does not go along with popular opinions. It is interesting to observe how Dunham's biography has been constructed and how her family history mirrors transformation of American society and reveals entanglement between private life and anthropological interests.


Background: As survivors of traumatic brain-injury, stroke, and brain tumors live longer programs beyond traditional rehabilitation models must be developed. Community-based therapy programs have increased and evidence-based methods of addressing client needs and program development are critical for this population.
Purpose: Determine the responsiveness/validity of the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure in determining occupational priorities for community-based program development for adults with acquired brain injury. Measure convergent validity of the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure with the Community Integration Questionnaire and the Wisconsin HSS QOL Inventory.
Methods: Demographic, occupational performance/satisfaction, community integration and needs-based quality of life scores for 80 adults were descriptively examined. One-way analysis of variance of participants' listed occupations was conducted. Correlational analyses explored community integration and quality of life variables associated with occupational performance and satisfaction.
Findings: Adults with acquired brain injury in community-based programming have robust occupational priorities. Leisure occupations are significantly more important than self-care and productive occupations (F(2,189)=13.59, p=0.01). Leisure occupations performed with others are significantly more important than quiet or active recreational occupations (F(2,316)=10.29, p=0.001). Convergent validity of the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure and the Community Integration Questionnaire was weak, and no convergence was found with the Wisconsin HSS QOL Inventory.
Implications: The responsiveness of the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure in detecting significant differences in occupational priorities of adults with ABI provides therapist with critical valid data to guide both intervention and focused program development at the community level that addresses the unique needs of this population. Higher levels of occupational satisfaction could result in higher community integration and higher quality of life for this population.


During the Paris COP21 2015, China had submitted its INDC to aggressively reduce its CO2 emission and promoted renewable energy development. In recent years, China has not only fulfilled most of its INDC requirements but also grew tremendously in its renewable energy sector. The purpose of this study is to explore China's potential for renewable energy development of 2040 and examine the possibility of a 100% renewable electricity mix in China. This exercise will commence with China's primary energy demand along with shaping factors and other international report insights. Then analysis and estimation of different major renewable energies supply in recent years and 2040 will be presented. The study indicated that it is almost impossible for China to reach a 100% renewable electricity mix in 2040. Instead, China's potential renewable electricity mix will be ranging from 40.88% to 68.77% in 2040. This result can be achieved only if China can maintain its renewable energy development momentum in the past 10 years. This result will be better if China can implement more and effective economic incentives for renewable energy installations.


Abstract Non-marine and marine palynomorphs were collected from a Telychian through Gorstian rock outcrop located near Allenport, Pennsylvania, USA in the east-central part of the Appalachian Foreland Basin. Close sampling of the section revealed six distinct palynological assemblages of spores, cryptospores, acritarchs and prasinophycean algae, likely deposited in nearshore marine settings. The Silurian Period is a critical time in plant evolution as megafossils found elsewhere indicate that vascular plants (tracheophytes) originated during this interval. Palynoflorules generally show a transition from cryptospore-dominated to miospore-dominated assemblages during the latter half of the Silurian. This transition is evident at Allenport, where over 30 species of miospores and cryptospores are recognized, including two new species: Vermiverruspora cottera and Rugosphaera falloambita. The sequential progression of innovations in exine structure and sculpture seen in the nonmarine palynomorphs at Allenport closely matches evolutionary patterns documented previously in the Appalachian Basin, Avalonia, and elsewhere around the world.


Post-operative peritoneal adhesions are serious consequences of abdominal or pelvic surgery and cause severe bowel obstruction, chronic pelvic pain and infertility. In this study, a novel nano-hydrogel system based on a monomethoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(lactic acid) (MPEG-PLA) di-block copolymer was studied for its ability to prevent abdominal adhesion in rats. The MPEG-PLA hydrogel at a concentration of 40% (w/v) was injected and was able to adhere to defect sites at body temperature. The ability of the hydrogel to inhibit adhesion of post-operative tissues was evaluated by utilizing a rat model of abdominal sidewall-cecum abrasion. It was possible to heal wounded tissue through regeneration of neo-peritoneal tissues ten days after surgery. Our data showed that this hydrogel system is equally as effective as current commercialized anti-adhesive products.


We analyze the correlations between intensity and a set of ground-motion parameters obtained from 66 free-field stations in Los Angeles County that recorded the 1994 Northridge earthquake. We use the tagging intensities from Thywissen and Boatwright (1998) because these intensities are determined independently on census tracts, rather than interpolated from zip codes, as are the modified Mercalli isoseismals from Dewey et al. (1995). The ground-motion parameters we consider are the peak ground acceleration (PGA), the peak ground velocity (PGV), the 5%-damped pseudovelocity response spectral (PSV) ordinates at 14 periods from 0.1 to 7.5 sec, and the rms average of these spectral ordinates from 0.3 to 3 sec. Visual comparisons of the distribution of tagging intensity with contours of PGA, PGV, and the average PSV suggest that PGV and the average PSV are better correlated with the intensity than PGA. The correlation coefficients between the intensity and the ground-motion parameters bear this out: r = 0.75 for PGA, 0.85 for PGV, and 0.85 for the average PSV. Correlations between the intensity and the PSV ordinates, as a function of period, are strongest at 1.5 sec ( r = 0.83) and weakest at 0.2 sec ( r = 0.66). Regressing the intensity on the logarithms of these ground-motion parameters yields relations I ∝ m logθ with 3.0 ≤ m ≤ 5.2 for the parameters analyzed, where m = 4.4 ± 0.7 for PGA, 3.4 ± 0.4 for PGV, and 3.6 ± 0.5 for the average PSV.

Manuscript received 15 April 1999.


The present study discusses the distribution of living planktonic foraminifera (LPF) in a neritic environment from the SE Bay of Biscay. Four sites, located at the head of Capbreton Canyon and near the Adour River mouth, were sampled during four cruises between June 2006 and July 2008. Each site was sampled with a plankton net (>100 μm) to characterize the LPF communities. The four onshore stations are here compared to three offshore stations located along a bathymetric transect on the Plateau des Landes to document the influence of submarine canyon bathymetry and river input on LPF communities. Five major species were observed: Globigerina bulloides , Globigerinella calida-G. bulloides complex, Neogloboquadrina pachyderma dextral, Globorotalia inflata, and Turborotalita quinqueloba . Late spring (mid-June 2006) standing stocks showed a decreasing trend toward the coast, whereas fall (late November 2007) and summer (mid-July 2008) standing stocks showed higher values at the canyon head and onshore stations. High standing stocks dominated by specimens from the G. calida-G. bulloides complex were recovered in late November 2007 at neritic stations and could be related to upwelling and/or strong tidal currents in the submarine Capbreton Canyon. Their distribution and production in the SE Bay of Biscay is affected by the Adour River turbidity discharge and also by mesoscale upwelling events induced around the Capbreton Canyon head.


over the ring of integers Z, where A and B are non-degenerate and symmetric matrices of size m × m and n × n over Z respectively, and A is indefinite with m ≥ 3. It is a necessary condition for solubility of equation (1.1) that it is solvable over Zp for all primes p and the real numbers R. This necessary condition is already sufficient if m − n ≥ 3 [Kn1,Hs]. However the equation (1.1) is no longer a purely local problem when m − n ≤ 2. By the Hasse principle, the necessary condition implies there is a rational solution of (1.1). In the previous papers [CX] and [X1], one of us has given conditions that allow to decide for m−n ≤ 2 whether the equation (1.1) is solvable over Z by looking at a given rational solution whose denominator is prime to the determinant of A. Can one also determine the solubility of (1.1) if the denominator of the rational solution is not prime to the determinant of A? In this note, we try to give such a condition. Notation and terminology are standard if not explained, or adopted from [CX] and [X1]. Let V be a quadratic space over a number field F with a non-degenerate symmetric bilinear form 〈x, y〉, Q(x) = 〈x, x〉 be the quadratic map on V and SO(V ) be the special orthogonal group of V . A lattice in V means a finitely generated oF module in V such that it generates a non-degenerate quadratic subspace of V . A full lattice means a lattice which generates the whole space. For a full lattice L, L denotes the dual lattice of L. For two lattices K and L in V , 〈K, L〉 denotes the fractional ideal generated by 〈x, y〉 for x ∈ K and y ∈ L. We use τz for the reflection if Q(z) 6= 0. We also denote n(L) and s(L) as norm and scale of a lattice L in the sense of [O] respectively. For any prime p of F , Vp (resp. Fp, etc.) denotes the local completion of V (resp. F , etc.). Let oF be the ring of integers of F . If p is a finite prime, the group of units of oFp is denoted by up, and πp is a uniformizer of Fp. We use θp to denote the spinor norm map of SO(Vp). For a lattice Kp and a full lattice Lp in Vp, let


Sperm cryopreservation is widely used in assisted reproduction and male infertility therapy; however, it induces oxidative stress affecting sperm quality. This work evaluated the effect of the antioxidant MnTBAP during vitrification steps in human spermatozoa. First, the effect of MnTBAP on viability and ROS production was evaluated. Then, the spermatozoa were vitrified in straws with the vitrification, warming and post‐warming incubation media separately supplemented with MnTBAP. An untreated control was included. The sperm viability, ROS production, total and progressive motility were evaluated. The results showed that the direct exposure of spermatozoa to MnTBAP significantly decreases the ROS levels in comparison with the untreated control without affecting the viability. The supplementation of the vitrification medium with MnTBAP did not affect the parameters analysed. However, the supplementation of the warming and incubation post‐warming media resulted in a decrease in ROS production and maintained viability and motility for 4 hr after warming with concentrations up to 100 μM of MnTBAP. Higher concentrations of MnTBAP caused a decrease in total motility. In conclusion, the use of MnTBAP during the warming or post‐warming incubation media has beneficial effect decreasing ROS levels and maintaining the viability and motility during the vitrification procedure.


In multimedia communication and data storage, compression of data is essential to speed up the transmission rate, minimize the use of channel bandwidth, and minimize storage space. The drawback of compression is that compressed data are more vulnerable to channel noise during transmission. In this work, error concealment methodology is proposed that has the ability of both error detection and concealment, and thus guarantees minimum use of channel bandwidth. The methodology requires transmission of edge information of the original image along with JPEG2000 compressed image. At the receiver, the edge information of received wavelet coefficients is computed and compared with the received edge information of the original image to determine the corrupted coefficients. Three methods of concealment, each including a filter, are investigated to handle the corrupted regions/coefficients. The simulation results conducted on test images for different values of bit error rate are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed approach. The objective quality measure such as peak-signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), root-mean-square error (rms) and subjective quality measure are used to evaluate processed images.


This research aims to: 1) To understand further the need for the implementation of counseling guidance in schools, 2) To find out the obstacles faced in the implementation of counseling guidance in schools, 3) Looking for solutions for the implementation of counseling guidance in schools in the implementation of the curriculum 2013. Benefits: 1) Provide real meaning to the school about the importance of counseling guidance in schools, 2) Overcoming the obstacles that arise in the implementation of counseling guidance in the implementation of curriculum 2013. This article was prepared using literature and interview methods. BK Implementation Solutions in the implementation of the 2013 curriculum: 1) Enlightenment about the role and role of BK to the school principal as the highest authority in the school in order to avoid BK dysfunction; 2) There is a need for continuous training of all BK teachers on how to implement BK in the implementation of the 2013 curriculum; 3) There is a need to study the theme relation and sub theme of BK material with related subjects so that although there is no time for BK material counseling but can be integrated in subject matter of certain subjects; 4) Guidance and Counseling Study Program as a teacher-producing institution BK needs to undertake a continuous assessment of the performance of BK teachers as alumni.


Rat striatal synaptosomes (Pz-fraction) were subjected to lipoperoxidation by the addition of 120 pM Fe2' and 200 pM ascorbic acid. This preparation (pretreated synaptosomes) was used to investigate the interaction of Pb2+ and Mn2+ on the uptake of tritiated catecholamines, Na+, K+-ATPase activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) formation in order to understand the mechanism of enhanced neurotoxocity by concurrent exposure to these metals. The combination of Pb2+ and Mn2+ (25 pM + 100 pM, respectively) produced a significant increase in the uptake of 3H-Dopamine only in the untreated synaptosomes. No significant effect was noted on the uptake of 3H-Norepinephrine in either pretreated or untreated synaptosomes. However, the combination of Pbz+ and Mn2+ produced a pronounced decrease in the activity of Na+, K+-ATPase, but the magnitude of the change was the sum of the individual metal effects. Metal interaction did not produce any significant change in the formation of MDA compared to the control (without addition of metals). These results indicate that PbZ+ and MnZ' interaction may produce inhibition in the activity of transport ATPase in both the preparation of synaptosomes, with more pronounced effect of synaptosomes subjected to lipoperoxidation and these changes may be responsible for the disruption in the physiology of nerve impulse transmission.


In HIV/AIDS treatment, there is need for physician to use realistic and interpretable tools in their daily medical care of patients. In this work, a Homogenous Semi-Markov Model (HSMM) in discrete time is introduced and defined. The HIV/AIDS model considered is based on CD4 count levels and this multistate model is made of four immunological states. A large number of results have been obtained including the following conditional probabilities: an infected patient will be in state j after a time t, given that the patient entered at a time 0 (starting time) in state i; that he/she will continue to remain in the starting state up to time t; that he/she reach stage j of the disease in the next transition, if the previous state was i and no state change occurred up to time t. The result of the expected duration by means of renewal time in a state shows that an infected patient spends smaller time in AIDS full blown stage than other immunological stages. This model when compared with to the most common epidemiological data analyses, has several advantages discussed in this work.


Objective During the COVID-19 pandemic, excess mortality has generally been estimated comparing overall mortality in a given year with either past mortality levels or past mortality trends, with different results. Our objective was to illustrate and compare the two approaches using mortality data for Switzerland in 2022, the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Using data from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, standardized mortality rates and life expectancies in 2022 were compared with those of the last pre-pandemic year 2019 (first approach), as well as with those that would be expected if the pre-pandemic downward trend in mortality had continued during the pandemic (second approach). The pre-pandemic trend was estimated via a Poisson log-linear model on age-specific mortality over the period 2010–19. Results Using the first approach, we estimated in Switzerland in 2022 an excess mortality of 2.6% (95%CI: 1.0%-4.1%) for men and 2.5% (95%CI: 1.0%-4.0%) for women, while the excess mortality rose to 8.4% (95%CI: 6.9%-9.9%) for men and 6.0% (95%CI: 4.6%-7.5%) for women using the second approach. Age classes over 80 were the main responsible for the excess mortality in 2022 for both sexes using the first approach, although a significant excess mortality was also found in most age classes above 30 using the second approach. Life expectancy in 2022 has been reduced by 2.7 months for men and 2.4 months for women according to the first approach, whereas it was reduced by respectively 8.8 and 6.0 months according to the second approach. Conclusions The excess mortality and loss of life expectancy in Switzerland in 2022 are around three times greater if the pre-pandemic trend is taken into account than if we simply compare 2022 with 2019. These two different approaches, one being more speculative and the other more factual, can also be applied simultaneously and provide complementary results. In Switzerland, such a dual-approach strategy has shown that the pre-pandemic downward trend in mortality is currently halted, while pre-pandemic mortality levels have largely been recovered by 2022.


Expression vs. Equality: The Politics of Campaign Finance Reform. By J. Tobin Grant and Thomas J. Rudolph. Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2004. 144p. $59.95 cloth, $21.95 paper. Through a series of experiments embedded in a national survey, J. Tobin Grant and Thomas J. Rudolph systematically examine attitudes toward campaign finance reform in a very interesting and compelling manner. In a thorough analysis, they examine the commitment citizens have to the competing democratic values of political equality and political expression, finding that opinion varies depending upon perceptions of whose rights are being threatened. The central thesis of the research, which is well established with a comprehensive literature review and theoretical analysis, is that public opinion on campaign finance reform is group-centric, a function of the views individuals have toward groups that are thought to be affected by the proposed reform. If individuals feel positively about a group that is seen as being threatened by the reform, they will be negatively inclined toward the reform. Conversely, if individuals view the group with suspicion or negativity, they will favor the reforms. The research represents a systematic analysis of public opinion on campaign finance reform on a nation level, examining the factors that impact opinions and the dynamic manner in which opinions are formed and maintained.


In January 2017, we conducted the "Survey on the Current States and Issues of Regional Revitalization and Regional finance from the View Points of Branch Managers of Regional financial Institutions" on 7,000 branch managers of regional financial institutions. We received responses from 2,868 people (41.0% response rate). This paper aims to explain the outline of this survey result. The main feature of this survey is that, rather than the headquarters of the regional financial institutions, the people who manage the bank branches which actually conduct business with customers are the subjects. We obtained the results suggesting the validity of the Business Viability Assessment and Regional Revitalization advocated by the financial Services Agency and positively promoted by many financial institutions. For example, a person who has a stronger awareness of "being able to work for local people" has a strong sense of "rewarding" to describe his or her current job, and the branch offices that are firmly engaged in the Business Viability Assessment tend to be workplaces that are rewarding for the staff. Furthermore, the staff of financial institutions that evaluate the ability to assess customers' viability as important qualities and capabilities tend to have improved in this aspect. Most branch managers consider Regional Revitalization to be the mission of financial institutions, but at the same time, they have experienced various obstacles when supporting client companies in collaboration with the national government and local governments. These situations must be improved to advance cooperation with them.


Background and Aims Neonatal pneumothorax is a potentially fatal condition if not managed promptly and effectively. The little training in chest drain insertion is highlighted by doctors regularly. This is compounded by various factors including decreased incidence of pneumothorax and decreased working hours. The animal models have been used for such training. We started and tested such training model in our unit to improve the skills and confidence of junior doctors in chest drain insertion. Methods The workshop included presentation (theoretical), videos of procedure and then the hands on experience on dead rabbits. The rabbits were prepared by the local butchers and were easily available. The training was delivered (2 hour) as part of regular departmental teaching programme and was conducted in the first few weeks of start of job. A three point likert scale was used to record the feedback. Results 25 colleagues were trained including 17 junior doctors, 3 consultants and 3 advanced neonatal nurse practitioners (23 feedbacks received). All of the them fedback that the session fully met their professional needs. Everybody (23) felt that the integration of theory and practical in this way was excellent. 3 participants did not have any opinion about using the animal model. One person did not like the idea of animal model (religious reasons). Conclusion A rabbit model for chest drain training was found to be extremely useful to majority of our trainees. This type of training should be arranged once every 6 months with the changing team of junior doctors.


Background: Hypertension is a significant public health concern of world‑wide distribution and is also the most common cardiovascular disease risk factor. Adequate control of blood pressure is a critical element in the prevention of hypertension induced‑organ damage and life‑threatening complications. Prevention of hypertension is possible and early detection and effective treatment can significantly reduce the incidence of adverse clinical outcomes. Methods: An extensive search of all materials related to the topic was carried out in PubMed, Medline, World Health Organization website and Google Scholar search engines. Keywords used in the search included hypertension, cardiovascular disease, public health, life‑style modifications and awareness. Overall 51 articles were selected and analyzed. Results: Multiple socio‑demographic and potential risk factors have been recognized in the causation and determining the long‑term outcomes of the disease world‑wide. As the natural history of hypertension is complex and etiology is multi‑factorial the strategy to combat also should be multi‑pronged based on the trends and magnitude of the disease in variable settings. Conclusions: To conclude, although progress has been observed in the area of awareness, treatment and control, the need continues to be high for sustainable and cost‑effective interventions that will ultimately halt and reverse the rising tide of hypertension prevalence. Population‑based health education, dietary and life‑style modification and pharmacological therapy are all effective measures to reduce the prevalence and increase the control rate of


Describes the technologies of cooperative driving with automated vehicles and intervehicle communications in the Demo 2000 cooperative driving. Cooperative driving, aiming at the compatibility of safety and efficiency of road traffic, means that automated vehicles drive by forming a flexible platoon over a couple of lanes with a short intervehicle distance while performing lane changing, merging, and leaving the platoon. The vehicles for the demonstration are equipped with automated lateral and longitudinal control functions with localization data by the differential global positioning system (DGPS) and the intervehicle communication function with 5.8-GHz dedicated short range communication (DSRC) designed for the dedicated use in the demonstration. In order to show the feasibility and potential of the technologies, the demonstration was held in November 2000, on a test track with five automated vehicles. The scenario included stop and go, platooning, merging, and obstacle avoidance.


Prosperity and development of society depend on reasonable policies. However, some factors such as problem affirmation, information resources, executor of policy and so on can arouse policy failure. Financial policy failure is one of the fundamental causes of the current financial crisis originated in the US. In order to prevent occurring of similar crisis in China, efforts should be devoted to promoting technology innovation by means of financial development on the one hand, and devoted to developing E-government on the other hand. Financial system needs not only to provide financing for technology innovation, but also to promote technology innovation by means of financial services in respects such as information processing, risks management, supervision and incentive. E-Government can not only help officials to make scientific decisions and establish effective supervision system, but also help object of policy to understand policies better. Therefore, we should concentrate our efforts on developing E-Government in order to avoid policy failure.


Weakly nonlinear theory is used to study the flow in and heat transfer across a 'double-glazing' slot. In this problem convection is always present, but it only plays a role in the transportation of heat when the applied temperature difference (more precisely, the Grashof number) exceeds a critical value defined by linear-stability theory. The resulting convection pattern depends upon the Prandtl number, P, of the fluid in the slot: for P < 12.7, horizontal cells occur, whereas for P > 12.7, the instability sets in as a travelling wave. The present study focuses on the interaction of these instabilities with subcritical flows that are driven by weak imperfections in the boundary temperatures. These variations are taken to be simple sinusoids with a wavenumber equal to that of the instability. Except for very special values of the phase and amplitudes of the imperfections, resonance generally occurs when P < 12.7. In contrast, when P > 12.7, resonance is not a feature and the bifurcations to the travelling-wave modes are not unfolded. In fact, these modes bifurcate subcritically at a Hopf point. This result does not seem to have been previously noted although it is not altogether surprising given that these modes arise though a thermal boundary layer instability. An interesting and unexpected feature of the subcritical flows is that the heat transfer may fall below that due to pure conduction. This fall seems to be associated with a flow adjustment.


Shallow groundwater is one of the primary sources of fresh water, providing river base-flow and root-zone soil water between precipitation events. However, with urbanization and the increase in demand for water for irrigation, shallow groundwater bodies are being endangered. In the present study, 101 hydrographs of shallow groundwater monitoring wells from the watershed of the westernmost brackish lake in Europe were examined for the years 1997–2012 using a combination of dynamic factor and cluster analyses. The aims were (i) the determination of the main driving factors of the water table, (ii) the determination of the spatial distribution and importance of these factors, and (iii) the estimation of shallow groundwater levels using the obtained model. Results indicate that the dynamic factor models were capable of accurately estimating the hydrographs (avg. mean squared error = 0.29 for standardized water levels), meaning that the two driving factors identified (evapotranspiration and precipitation) describe most of the variances of the fluctuations in water level. Both meteorological parameters correlated with an obtained dynamic factor (r = −0.41 for evapotranspiration & r = 0.76 for precipitation). The strength of these effects displayed a spatial pattern, as did the factor loadings. On this basis, the monitoring wells could be objectively distinguished into two groups using hierarchical cluster analysis and verified by linear discriminant analysis in 98% of the cases. This grouping in turn was determined to be primarily related to the elevation and the geology of the area. It can be concluded that the application of the data analysis toolset suggested herein permits a more efficient, objective, and reproducible delineation of the primary driving factors of the shallow groundwater table in the area. Additionally, it represents an effective toolset for the forecasting of water table variations, a quality which, in the view of the likelihood of further climate change to come, is a distinctive advantage. The knowledge of these factors is crucial to a better understanding of the hydrogeological processes that characterize the water table and, thus, to developing a proper water resource management strategy for the area.


his paper analyzes the socioeconomic factors that influence the inhabitants ofTunja to belong to the informal sector; using as a source of information the Great lntegrated Household Survey (GEIH), conducted by the National Department of Statistics (DANE) during the years 2008 and 2015.Far this, a logit econometric model was carried out, which showed that the probability of being informal in Tunja decreases if it is male, if it has more years of schooling, and if it is occupied in the sectors of electricity, financial intermediation, real estate-rental activities -business, public, education and services. In addition to this, particular cases were analyzed, and it was observed how probable it is far a certain person (according to their years of schooling, their income and their gender) to belong to the informal sector.


The wireless sensor networks combines sensing, computation, and communication into a single small device. These devices depend on battery power and may be placed in hostile environments replacing them becomes a tedious task. Thus improving the energy of these networks becomes important. Clustering in wireless sensor network looks several challenges such as selection of an optimal group of sensor nodes as cluster, optimum selection of cluster head, energy balanced optimal strategy for rotating the role of cluster head in a cluster, maintaining intra and inter cluster connectivity and optimal data routing in the network. In this paper, we study a protocol supporting an energy efficient clustering, cluster head selection and data routing method to extend the lifetime of sensor network. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed protocol prolongs network lifetime due to the use of efficient clustering, cluster head selection and data routing. The results of simulation show that at the end of some certain part of running the EECS and Fuzzy based clustering algorithm increases the number of alive nodes comparing with the LEACH and HEED methods and this can lead to an increase in sensor network lifetime. By using the EECS method the total number of messages received at base station is increased when compared with LEACH and HEED methods. The Fuzzy based clustering method compared with the K-Means Clustering by means of iteration count and time taken to die first node in wireless sensor network, as the result shows that the fuzzy based clustering method perform well than kmeans clustering methods.


Background To explore whether serum Zinc deficiency (sZnd) is a promoter to the development and lymphonode metastasis of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of oral and maxillofacial region (OMF). Methods 610 patients with SCC were enrolled in the study group, the controls consisted of the same number of age-gender matched subjects without cancers, serum Zinc level (sZn) was tested in both groups and anyone whose sZn belowed reference interval was detected as having sZnd. Characteristics of SCCs were investigated. Different concentration of serum Zinc and prevalence of sZnd between the two groups were calculated using Chi-square test. The association between serum Zinc status and SCC with different T-stages and lymphonode metastasis was focused on research. Results The patients varied from 19 to 87 years with a mean age of 58.89±10.91 years. Oral cavity was the most commonly affected region. Males were involved predominantly with a ratio of 1.44:1 to females. The concentration of sZn in malignancies was 12.57±2.53 μmol/L, 17.87% suffered from sZnd; in the control group were 14.65±2.25 μmol/L and 4.75%. Decreased sZn and increased prevalence of sZnd in SCC were statistically significant to controls (p=0.000) . Increased incidence of sZnd and reduced level of sZn correlated significantly to the the progression and lymphnode metastasis of SCC (p<0.01).Conclusions sZnd was a possible predisposing indicator to the tumorigenesis of SCC and also a promoter to its aggravation and lymphonode metastasis, which should be considered as a factor in devising the treatment plannings.


This paper shows how sparse path problems can be solved by tree-decomposition techniques. We analyse the properties of closure matrices and prove that they satisfy the axioms of a valuation algebra, which is known to be sufficient for the application of generic tree-decomposition methods. Given a sparse path problem where only a subset of queries are required, we continually compute path weights of smaller graph regions and deduce the total paths from these results. The decisive complexity factor is no more the total number of graph nodes but the induced treewidth of the path problem.


PCB 11 is an emerging global pollutant that we recently showed promotes axonal and dendritic growth in primary rat neuronal cell cultures. Here, we address the influence of sex and species on neuronal responses to PCB 11. Neuronal morphology was quantified in sex-specific primary hippocampal and cortical neuron-glia co-cultures derived from neonatal C57BL/6J mice and Sprague Dawley rats exposed for 48 h to vehicle (0.1% DMSO) or PCB 11 at concentrations ranging from 1 fM to 1 nM. Total axonal length was quantified in tau-1 immunoreactive neurons at day in vitro (DIV) 2; dendritic arborization was assessed by Sholl analysis at DIV 9 in neurons transfected with MAP2B-FusRed. In mouse cultures, PCB 11 enhanced dendritic arborization in female, but not male, hippocampal neurons and male, but not female, cortical neurons. In rat cultures, PCB 11 promoted dendritic arborization in male and female hippocampal and cortical neurons. PCB 11 also increased axonal growth in mouse and rat neurons of both sexes and neuronal cell types. These data demonstrate that PCB 11 exerts sex-specific effects on neuronal morphogenesis that vary depending on species, neurite type, and neuronal cell type. These findings have significant implications for risk assessment of this emerging developmental neurotoxicant.


Antisense oligonucleotide (AON)-induced exon skipping is one of the most promising strategies for treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and other rare monogenic conditions. Phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligonucleotides (PMOs) and 2'-O-methyl phosphorothioate (2'OMe) are two of the most advanced AONs in development. The next generation of peptide-conjugated PMO (P-PMO) is also showing great promise, but to advance these therapies it is essential to determine the pharmacokinetic and biodistribution (PK/BD) profile using a suitable method to detect AON levels in blood and tissue samples. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)-based method, which shows greater sensitivity than the liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method, is the method of choice for 2'OMe detection in preclinical and clinical studies. However, no such assay has been developed for PMO/P-PMO detection, and we have, therefore, developed an ultrasensitive hybridization-based ELISA for this purpose. The assay has a linear detection range of 5-250 pM (R(2)>0.99) in mouse serum and tissue lysates. The sensitivity was sufficient for determining the 24-h PK/BD profile of PMO and P-PMO injected at standard doses (12.5 mg/kg) in mdx mice, the dystrophin-deficient mouse model for DMD. The assay demonstrated an accuracy approaching 100% with precision values under 12%. This provides a powerful cost-effective assay for the purpose of accelerating the development of these emerging therapeutic agents.


This paper proposes two novel image similarity measures for fast indexing via locality sensitive hashing. The similarity measures are applied and evaluated in the context of near duplicate image detection. The proposed method uses a visual vocabulary of vector quantized local feature descriptors (SIFT) and for retrieval exploits enhanced min-Hash techniques. Standard min-Hash uses an approximate set intersection between document descriptors was used as a similarity measure. We propose an efficient way of exploiting more sophisticated similarity measures that have proven to be essential in image / particular object retrieval. The proposed similarity measures do not require extra computational effort compared to the original measure. We focus primarily on scalability to very large image and video databases, where fast query processing is necessary. The method requires only a small amount of data need be stored for each image. We demonstrate our method on the TrecVid 2006 data set which contains approximately 146K key frames, and also on challenging the University of Kentucky image retrieval database.


Secondary mammary cancers are rare tumors and represent only 0.3% of all malignant breast tumors. Mammary metastases of ovarian origin are rarely reported in the literature. We report the case of a 48-year-old woman with antecedent peritoneal tuberculosis treated 2 years ago. She had chronic pelvic and lower back pain associated with weight loss and general impairment. Pelvic examination showed a bilateral mobile and painful latero-uterine mass. Serum CA 125 levels were elevated. Abdomino-pelvic ultrasound and CT scans showed the presence of a bilateral para-uterine pelvic liquid mass evoking a hydrosalpinx. The patient received a laparoscopy with an ovarian biopsy. The morphological and immunohistochemical aspect points to an invasive and sparsely differentiated primary ovarian adenocarcinoma. The patient benefited from 4 chemo treatments with a good radiological and biological response. Two years after the onset of symptoms, the patient presented a solitary 3-cm nodule in the left breast without associated axillary adenopathies. At mammography, the tumor was classified as ACR 4 and biopsies were performed. The histological study showed malignant tumor proliferation with the same morphological and immunohistochemical characteristics as an ovarian tumor. The patient was lost to follow-up after the diagnosis of breast metastasis.


Leicester City Council identified traffic as the main source of air pollution with adverse impacts on health. The Intelligent Transport System provides a rich source of monitored, real-time and archived traffic data, from the Urban Traffic and Management Control and Automatic Classified Vehicle Counting systems. Data from the Air Quality Monitoring Stations, roadside pollution monitors, weather stations and the meteorological services have been integrated using Air Quality Monitoring and Modelling Systems. "Nowcasts" and "Forecasts" of air pollution and noise estimates are being developed to influence public choice on time/mode of travel and assist in the management of the road network in an environmentally friendly manner to satisfy the requirements of the Traffic Management Act, the Environment Act, Local Transport Plan, Access to Environmental Information Directive and the Aarhus Agreement. The introduction of "WebServices" and "Open Systems Architecture" with Geographical Information System, together with the MESSAGE Project's `Grid enabled' "e-Science" infrastructure (including pervasive sensors), will enhance the "Instrumented City" concept and improve the assessment of the impact of traffic on air and noise quality, the environment and health, as well as informing the Climate Change Strategy and the City's Carbon Footprint via the "4M" Project.


We present a new method for detecting and correcting systematic errors in the distances to stars when both proper motions and line-of-sight velocities are available. The method, which is applicable for samples of 200 or more stars that have a significant extension on the sky, exploits correlations between the measured U, V and W velocity components that are introduced by distance errors. We deliver a formalism to describe and interpret the specific imprints of distance errors including spurious velocity correlations and shifts of mean motion in a sample. We take into account correlations introduced by measurement errors, Galactic rotation and changes in the orientation of the velocity ellipsoid with position in the Galaxy. Tests on pseudo-data show that the method is more robust and sensitive than traditional approaches to this problem. We investigate approaches to characterizing the probability distribution of distance errors, in addition to the mean distance error, which is the main theme of the paper. Stars with the most overestimated distances bias our estimate of the overall distance scale, leading to the corrected distances being slightly too small. We give a formula that can be used to correct for this effect. We apply the method to samples of stars from the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (SEGUE) survey, exploring optimal gravity cuts, sample contamination, and correcting the used distance relations.


Conflict probes will be important components of air traffic control tools in the next years. They appear in almost every project (CINCAT, ERATO, HIPS, PHARE, and so on). To be useful, they have to fulfill two goals : reliability (they have to detect all conflicts) and efficiency (they must minimize the number of false alarms). Conflict probes rely on trajectory prediction, and their reliability and efficiency highly depend on the accuracy of trajectory prediction. In this paper, we present a quick mathematical insight of the influence of ground speed errors on trajectory prediction, results of arithmetic simulations on real traffic both on ground and vertical speed errors, and a statistical analysis of these results to model the influence of vertical and ground speed errors on conflict probe.


Abstract Nanostructured H2V3O8 is a promising high‐capacity cathode material, suitable not only for Li+ but also for Na+, Mg2+, and Zn2+ insertion. However, the full theoretical capacity for Li+ insertion has not been demonstrated experimentally so far. In addition, improvement of cycling stability is desirable. Modifications like substitution or prelithiation are possibilities to enhance the electrochemical performance of electrode materials. Here, for the first time, the substitution of vanadium sites in H2V3O8 with molybdenum was achieved while preserving the nanostructure by combining a soft chemical synthesis approach with a hydrothermal process. The obtained Mo‐substituted vanadate nanofibers were further modified by prelithiation. While pristine H2V3O8 showed an initial capacity of 223 mAh g−1 and a retention of 79 % over 30 cycles, combining Mo substitution and prelithiation led to a superior initial capacity of 312 mAh g−1 and a capacity retention of 94 % after 30 cycles.


This study examined the association between active and past major depression and deficits in young adult functioning using data from a longitudinal community study (N = 354). Three groups were compared: (1) participants with a 1-year diagnosis of major depression at age 26 (active group); (2) those who experienced major depression during the transition to adulthood, ages 18–25, but did not have active depression at age 26 (past group); and (3) individuals not meeting diagnostic criteria for depression during the transition period. Results highlight serious deficits in psychosocial functioning at age 26 linked to both active and past depression. Although participants with active depression experienced the greatest number of problems, those with past depression evidenced similar deficits across many important domains of functioning. The significant impairments characterizing those with past depression indicate the need for continued monitoring to decrease the risk of recurrence and the establishment of a chronic course of illness.


New Anisian to Ladinian palynology, palynofacies and stable carbon isotope records are reported for the Middle Triassic from deep Swiss wells (Weiach, Benken, Leuggern), well B3/13 (Weizen, S-Germany) and the type area of the Freudenstadt Formation in southern Germany.

A wide spectrum of moderately to well-preserved palynomorphs represent a high Middle Triassic plant diversity. Based on the distribution of diverse spore-pollen assemblages five Anisian Palynozones (A–E) and two Ladinian ones (F, G) are differentiated. Throughout these Palynozones the occurrence of spores and pollen, assigned to plant groups so far known only from the Palaeozoic, shed a new light on the evolution of plant assemblages during the Triassic. The comparison of Palynozones A–G with palynostratigraphic schemes from the central part of the Germanic Basin and from the Tethyan realm demonstrate the regional variability of marker species ranges – especially for the Anisian.

n agreement with the lithological record, two prominent transgressive events (Lower Muschelkalk, Upper Muschelkalk) are indicated by increased abundances of marine particulate organic matter in palynofacies data. Marginal marine influence is documented at the base of the studied interval, comprising the Buntsandstein and the base of the Lower Muschelkalk. Carbonate carbon isotopes data show a negative shift at the boundary between lower and middle Muschelkalk. Coincidently, a prominent change in relative abundances of climate-sensitive plant groups (e.g. Triadispora spp. vs. Pteridophytes) indicate a change to relatively dryer climatic conditions during the middle Muschelkalk.


Considerable efforts have been made to provide cow-calf producers with information to help them make informed decisions about adding value to calves. Despite demonstrated market incentives to retain calves, many producers still sell right after weaning. We postulate this observed behavior is related to producer risk aversion. Our study concludes risk aversion is an important factor affecting calf retention as the most risk-averse producers have more than a 60% probability of selling calves at weaning and the most risk tolerant have less than a 20% probability of selling at weaning.


We study the reported data from the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in January - May 2020 in 119 countries. We observe that the time series of active cases in individual countries (the difference of the total number of confirmed infections and the sum of the total number of reported deaths and recovered cases) display a strong agreement with polynomial growth and at a later epidemic stage also with a combined polynomial growth with exponential decay. Our results are also formulated in terms of compartment type mathematical models of epidemics. Within these models the universal scaling characterizing the observed regime in an advanced epidemic stage can be interpreted as an algebraic decay of the relative reproduction number $R_0$ as $T_M/t$, where $T_M$ is a constant and $t$ is the duration of the epidemic outbreak. We show how our findings can be applied to improve predictions of the reported pandemic data and estimate some epidemic parameters. Note that although the model shows a good agreement with the reported data we do not make any claims about the real size of the pandemics as the relation of the observed reported data to the total number of infected in the population is still unknown.


Background: The validity of conclusions from observational studies depends on decisions regarding design, analysis, data quality, and implementation. Through sensitivity analyses, we explored the impact of such decisions on balance control and risk estimates. Methods: Using as a template the Mini-Sentinel protocol for the active surveillance of acute myocardial infarction (MI) in association with use of antidiabetic agents, we defined cohorts of new users of metformin and second-generation sulfonylureas, baseline covariates and acute MI events using three combinations of washout and baseline periods. Using propensity-score matching, we assessed balance control and risk estimates using cumulative data for matching all patients compared with not rematching prior matches in quarterly analyses over the follow-up period. Results: A longer washout period increased the confidence in new-user status, but at the expense of sample size; a longer baseline period improved capture of covariates related to pre-existing chronic conditions. When all patients were matched each quarter, balance was improved and risk estimates were more robust, especially in the later quarters. Conclusions: Durations of washout and baseline periods influence the likelihood of new-user status and sample size. Matching all patients tends to result in better covariate balance than matching only new patients. Decisions regarding the durations of washout and baseline periods depend on the specific research question and availability of longitudinal patient data within the database. This paper demonstrates the importance and utility of sensitivity analysis of methods for evaluating the robustness of results in observational studies.


The carbon content of steel affects many of its essential properties, e.g., hardness and mechanical strength. In the powder bed fusion process of metals using a laser beam (PBF-LB/M), usually, pre-alloyed metal powder is solidified layer-by-layer using a laser beam to create parts. A reduction of the carbon content in steels is observed during this process. This study examines adding carbon particles to the metal powder and in situ alloying in the PBF-LB/M process as a countermeasure. Suitable carbon particles are selected and their effect on the particle size distribution and homogeneity of the mixtures is analysed. The workability in PBF-LB is then shown. This is followed by an evaluation of the resulting mechanical properties (hardness and mechanical strength) and microstructure in the as-built state and the state after heat treatment. Furthermore, potential use cases like multi-material or functionally graded parts are discussed.


This study combines market waste (MW), yard waste (YW) and cow rumen (CR) as raw materials to obtain the optimum C/N ratio of compost raw materials. Composter consists of 6 variations, namely variation 1 (70% MW: 30% YW), variation 2 (60% MW: 20% YW: 20% CR), variation 3 (50% MW: 30% YW: 20% CR), variation 4 (40% MW: 40% YW: 20% CR), variation 5 (30% MW: 50% YW: 20% CR) and variation 6 (20% MW: 60% YW: 20% CR). This study aims to analyze the effect of variations in compost raw material composition so that the most optimum variation is obtained for the composting process. The method used was semi-aerobic composting. The results of observations on compost maturity for temperature, pH, texture, color and odor parameters have met SNI 19-7030-2004 standards with composting time of 12-21 days. The results of compost quality analysis including water content, organic C, nitrogen, C/N ratio, phosphorus, and potassium have not all variations fulfilled the SNI 19-7030-2004 standard, namely the value of the C/N ratio in variation 6 which exceeds the standard. Of the total compost as much as 3 liters, the solid compost yields of 0.5-1.25 liters and liquid compost from 0.05 to 1.5 liters were obtained. Based on the results of scoring on maturity, quality, and compost quantity, the best variation was found in variation 2


RF power harvesting enables controllable and simultaneous wireless power delivery to many RF devices. Devices built with this unique technology can be sealed, embedded within structures, or made mobile, thus eliminating additional service for a battery. A key component of this technology is the "rectenna," which is composed of antennas and rectifying circuitry to convert RF energy into DC power. Rectenna could obtain the maximum microwave to direct current (mw-dc) conversion efficiency on the three stable conditions: an operation frequency, an input microwave power and a load. In this paper, a 2×4 circular polarized receiving antenna array with circular patches at 5.8 GHz is suggested to get higher microwave capture efficiency with an enhanced directivity of about 13.4 dBi and an overall size of about 18×17cm2. This receiving antenna is associated with a microstrip rectifier formed by a modified doubler voltage topology using two Zero-Bias Schottky diode HSMS2862. Using schematic simulation in ADS software, the proposed rectenna design provides an output DC voltage of more than 2.53 V and a RF-to-DC conversion efficiency of 92.45 % with an optimum load resistance of 5 kΩ at 0 dBm microwave incident power level.


This paper reviews new findings on ovine chlamydial abortion. Concerning chlamydial taxonomy, with the recent advances due to the analysis of the ribosomal genes, nine genotypic groups were identified separated into two lineages. It also describes the transmission of the disease, the site of entry of the organism and chlamydial shedding by underlying the role of latent infections. Recent results also concern the pathogenesis, with the kinetics of placental colonization and placental pathology leading to abortion in ruminants. Studies using experimental infection in a pregnant mouse model have allowed the identification of target placental cells and have shown the differential evolution of the infection according to the stage of pregnancy. Different diagnosis techniques are compared (ELISA, PCR and immunofluorescence for the direct diagnosis) but also the possibilities of distinction between antibodies against Chlamydia pecorum and Chlamydia psittaci (for serodiagnosis). The recent advances on prophylaxis are presented, as well as the research efforts needs for the next century.


In this paper we generalized recently introduced approach for estimation of time scales of mass transport. The approach have been illustrated by estimation of time scales of relaxation of concentrations of charge carriers in high-doped semiconductor. Diffusion coefficients and mobility of charge carriers and electric field strength in semiconductor could be arbitrary functions of coordinate.


Two dicopper(I) complexes containing tertiary N-methylated hexaaza ligands which impose different steric constraints to the Cu ions have been synthesized, and their reactivity toward O2 has been compared with a mononuclear related system, highlighting the importance of cooperative effects between the metal centers in O2 activation.