The involuntary inhalation of exhaust gases from internal combustion engines cause several respiratory problems and may, depending on the toxicity, lead to death. This problem is even more aggravating in mechanical workshops, as they perform vehicle maintenance and the existing ventilation is insufficient to re-move gaseous pollutants emitted by tailpipes. Within this context, the present study aimed to develop a simple construction equipment and low cost that was capable of capturing and treating the gases emitted from exhausts of vehicles that pass by the maintenance workshops. The designed equipment was called Device for gas Cleaning of the Otto Cycle (DLGO, Dispositivo para Lavagem de Gases do Ciclo Otto), this was con-nected to the exhaust of a automobile and then the gases emitted after passing through were analyzed in a PC device Electronic NAPRO MULTIGAS, which detected combustion products CO, CO2, hydrocarbons (HCs) and O2. Comparison of gas emissions by exhausts of vehicles before and after the installing DLGO showed a reduction of approximately 83% the emission of HCs, 90% of CO and 95% of CO2. Keywords: Gas Washer. Sustainability. Air quality


The main focus of this review will be to examine the current understanding of the causes and consequences of salmonid hierarchies as well as the implications to wild populations and aquaculture. Salmonid dominance hierarchies readily form under laboratory conditions, this has allowed extensive research into social structures. There is limited research into the causes of social status, however, the cause is likely to be a combination of standard metabolic rate, body size and prior competitive experience. A wide range of research outlines the consequences of social status from behavioural changes in aggression and submission to physiological changes in disease resistance, the stress response of fish, responsiveness to additional stressors and varied growth rates to name just a few.


The research aims to empirically explore the multidimensionality elements in small entrepreneurs' network change and development during periods when the entrepreneurs face tipping points. Prior scholars have examined the mix of strong and weak links in small businesses and linked them to business development stages. For small firms to continue experiencing business growth, current literature must emphasize the connection between network strengths and overcoming tipping points. This research explores the multidimensional elements of small entrepreneurs' network change and development that contribute to their survival during the era of tipping points in the Southern Region of Malaysia. This qualitative research uses a multiple case study approach involving eight small firms in the southern region of Malaysia. The data collection methods include analysis of secondary documentation and in-depth interviews with the entrepreneurs using the critical incident interview technique. The data has been analyzed using NVIVO software and has employed Miles and Huberman's (1994) flows of analysis activity. Data triangulation was carried out by interviewing individuals who were seen as having strong or weak ties within the network and who were identified through interviews with the entrepreneurs. The findings enlighten two themes: the entrepreneur-level context and the dyadic-level context. The findings show that the multidimensionality of the individual entrepreneur is demonstrated through their demographic factors, personal values, experience, and capabilities. Therefore, they differ in responding to changes in their networks. Dyadic multidimensionality is found in the tie's content, structure, governance, and the dyadic life cycle. Finally, this research provides theoretical and methodological contributions and offers implications for entrepreneurs, government agencies and policy-makers.


In many-valued logic the decision of functional completeness is a basic and important problem, and the thorough solution to this problem depends on determining all maximal closed sets in the set of many-valued logic functions. It includes three famous problems, i.e., to determine all maximal closed sets in the set of the total, of the partial and of the unary many-valued logic functions, respectively. The first two problems have been completely solved ([1], [2], [8]), and the solution to the third problem boils down to determining all maximal subgroups in the k-degree symmetric group Sk, which is an open problem in the finite group theory. In this paper, all maximal closed sets in the set of unary p-valued logic functions are determined, where p is a prime.

Mathematics Subject Classification: 03B50, 20B35.


To the Editor:— I am writing to you at the request of several of my Southern California colleagues. We have been besieged during the past several months by requests for meprobamate (Miltown and Equanil). Patients we have not seen for years call and demand that one of these be released to them. I would like to report two similar reactions, both occurring within one hour after the first tablet was taken, with both patients being incapacitated and utterly miserable for a period lasting from three to seven days. The first patient, a 59-year-old woman, was severely upset by matrimonial difficulties and experienced severe head and neck pains. After a careful examination, I found her to be suffering from severe nervous tension and Equanil was prescribed, one tablet (400 mg.) in the morning and one in the late afternoon. The patient took her first tablet at approximately 3 p. m., and


Background: Ranolazine (RAN) reduces cardiac sodium channel 1.5's late sodium current(INaL ) in congestive heart failure (CHF), reducing myocardial calcium overload, potentially improving left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF) and reducing arrhythmogenic after potentials. RAN blocks neuronal sodium channel 1.7(Nav 1.7), potentially altering parasympathetic and sympathetic (P&S) activity. RAN also selectively blocks inactivated atrial Nav 1.8, as well as ventricular IKr and ICaL ,affecting atrial and ventricular arrhythmias. Methods: (1) Matched CHF patients were given RAN (1000 mg p.o. b.i.d.) added to guideline-driven therapy (RANCHF, 41 systolic, 13 diastolic) or no adjuvant therapy (control, NORANCHF, 43 systolic, 12 diastolic). Echocardiographic LVEF and P&S measures were obtained at baseline and follow-up (mean 23.7 months). (2) A total of 59 patients with symptomatic PVCs were identified from full-disclosure Holters. Doses of 500 1,000 mg RAN b.i.d. were given to 34% and 66% of patients, respectively, and Holters were repeated (mean 3.1 months). Congestive heart failure (CHF) was defined as symptoms including dyspnea, orthopnea, paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea, and edema, with a brain natriuretic peptide > 400. Systolic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFr EF) vs. diastolic CHF (HFpEF) depended upon LVEF≥ 40%. Results: (1) LVEF increased in 70% of RANCHF patients, an average of 11.3 units. Mean LVEF remained unchanged in NORANCHF patients. P&S measures indicated cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (P<0.10 bpm2) in 20% of NORANCHF patients at baseline and 29% at follow-up (increasing in both groups). At baseline, 28% of patients had high sympathovagal balance (SB), RAN normalized SB in over 50% of these; in contrast, the NORANCHF group had a 20% increase in patients with high SB. (2) Upon repeat Holters at a mean of 3.1 months after initiating RAN, 95% (56/59) of the patients had their PVC count reduced: 24% (14/59) had more than 90% decrease, 34% (20/59) had 71 to 90% decrease, and 17% (10/59) had 50 to 70% decrease. In the entire group, RAN reduced PVCs by 71% (mean 13,329 to 3,837; p < 0.001). Ventricular bigeminy was reduced by 80% (4,168 to 851; p < 0.001), ventricular couplets were reduced by 78% (374 to 81; p < 0.001), and ventricular tachycardia (VT) was reduced by 91% (56 to 5; p < 0.001). The PVC reduction was dose dependent without proarrhythmia. Conclusions: (1) RAN preserves or improves LVEF and decreases high SB in CHF. (2) RAN offers an effective and safe pharmacologic treatment for symptomatic PVCs.


AbstractThe subsurface ocean response to anthropogenic climate forcing remains poorly characterized. From the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP), a robust response of the lower thermocline is identified, where the warming is considerably weaker in the subtropics than in the tropics and high latitudes. The lower thermocline change is inversely proportional to the thermocline depth in the present climatology. Ocean general circulation model (OGCM) experiments show that sea surface warming is the dominant forcing for the subtropical gyre change in contrast to natural variability for which wind dominates, and the ocean response is insensitive to the spatial pattern of surface warming. An analysis based on a ventilated thermocline model shows that the pattern of the lower thermocline change can be interpreted in terms of the dynamic response to the strengthened stratification and downward heat mixing. Consequently, the subtropical gyres become intensified at the surface but weakened in the lower ther...


This periodic meeting of individuals with oncologic expertise represents the best that modern medicine can be: a true multidisciplinary approach to patient care. Nowhere else in healthcare will you find a better example of combining different expertise for the express purpose of improving the delivery of care for an individual patient.


Summary. The review of the literature is devoted to the consideration of systems for assessing a seriously injured (mangled) extremity and their suitability in combat conditions: HFS-97, MESI, PSI, LSI, MESS, NISSSA, GHOISS, MUES. A search was carried out on the PubMed database for the period 1978-2023. Advantages and disadvantages are shown. The most used for combat limbs injury is MESS.


To evaluate water purification capacity of Iris pseudacorus and Acorus calamu, 5 kinds of water was compared with each other in respect to the growth reactions of plants and nitrogen- and phosphorous-removal capacity. The growth of I. pseudacorus was the best during August but began to decline around September and October, and also its growth was the best in undiluted Sonneveld solution. A. calamu showed a similar tendency to I. pseudacorus. In the case of nitrogen- and phosphorous-removal capacity, plants all showed high value in August when they can be flourish.


Let F be a field, let G be its absolute Galois group, and let R(G, k) be the representation ring of G over a suitable field k. In this preprint we construct a ring homomorphism from the mod 2 Milnor K-theory k_*(F) to the graded ring gr R(G, k) associated to Grothendieck's \gamma-filtration. We study this map in particular cases, as well as a related map involving the W-group of F rather than G. The latter is an isomorphism in all cases considered.
Naturally this echoes the Milnor conjecture (now a theorem), which states that k_*(F) is isomorphic to the mod 2 cohomology of the absolute Galois group G, and to the graded Witt ring gr W(F).
The machinery developed to obtain the above results seems to have independent interest in algebraic topology. We are led to construct an analog of the classical Chern character, which does not involve complex vector bundles and Chern classes but rather real vector bundles and Stiefel-Whitney classes. Thus we show the existence of a ring homomorphism whose source is the graded ring associated to the real K-theory ring K(X) of the topological space X, again with respect to the \gamma -filtration, and whose target is a certain subquotient of the mod 2 cohomology of X.
In order to define this subquotient, we introduce a collection of distinguished Steenrod operations. They are related to Stiefel-Whitney classes by combinatorial identities.


A usual assumption in the theory of collusion is that cartels are all-inclusive. In contrast, most real- world collusive agreements do not include all firms that are active in the relevant industry. This paper studies both theoretically and experimentally the formation and behavior of partial cartels. The theoretical model is a variation of Bos and Harrington's (2010) model where firms are heterogeneous in terms of production capacities and where individual cartel participation is endogenized. The experimental study has two main objectives. The first goal is examine whether partial cartels emerge in the lab at all, and if so, which firms are part of it. The second aim of the experiment is to study the coordinated effects of a merger when partial cartels are likely to operate. The experimental results can be summarized as follows. We find that cartels are typically not all-inclusive and that various types of partial cartels emerge. We observe that market prices decrease by 20% on average after a merger. Our findings suggest that merger analysis that is based on the assumption that only full cartels forms produces misleading results. Our analysis also illustrates how merger simulations in the lab can be seen as a useful tool for competition authorities to back up merger decisions.


beyond slight diffuse turgescence of the mucosa; no discharge seen. Endo- rhinoseopy showed a few strings of clear discharge and streaks of muco-pus in the and left olfactory fissures. A good deal of tenacious opalescent mucous discharge came post-nasally, and formed a film on the granular posterior pharyn-geal wall. Exploration of Sinuses. absence of any definitely purulent discharge led me to withhold a diagnosis of any sinus infection until the maxillary antra and sphenoidal sinuses had been explored under cocaine anaesthesia. With my suction syringes, throwing in distilled water and sucking back the contents of the sinuses, I obtained clear returns the left antrum and apparently almost clear returns left sphenoidal A sterile swab was also taken collosol argentum was finally thrown into of and by


Methane (CH4) is an important element of the biogeochemical carbon cycle. Methanogenic Archaea are strict anaerobes able to survive in dry and oxic soils, but not in liquid or agar slurry. Little is known about the mechanisms of their survival. The aim of this paper is to study the methanogenic potential of mineral soils stored as air-dry over 20 years. We tested the hypothesis that the recovery of CH4 formation is strongly associated with soil textures. Samples of 16 mineral topsoils characterized by various Corg, pH and particle size distribution (PSD), and stored under air-dry conditions over 20 years were flooded with: i) water and incubated in N2 atmosphere, or ii) with glucose solution without headspace gas exchange and incubated for 132 days. Gases were measured chromatographically, PSD by laser diffraction method. Microbial activity was restored in all tested soils, and CH4 and CO2 production started within a few days or weeks after flooding, depending on soil properties and incubation conditions. The glucose amendment resulted in a 2.8-fold increase in the total CH4 and CO2 release. However, in the presence of glucose, methanogens in three soils were outcompeted by other microorganisms, and required a long 132-d lag phase or did not start CH4 production at all. The CH4 positively correlated with the finer soil fractions, especially with fine silt and clay, while negatively with medium and coarse sand fractions. Consequently, silt loam soils showed approximately 5 and 2.5 times higher CH4 production, than soils with coarser textures (sand and sandy loam soils, respectively). In contrast, CO2 production was not influenced by soil texture. The Corg and moisture retention in dry soils showed even stronger correlations with CH4 and CO2, except for CH4 released in the presence of glucose, where correlations with PSD were strongest. Most soil properties were associated with the first principal component (PC1), which explained 58.1% of the qualitative differences between the compared soils. The results stressed the significance of the inherent soil properties in determining the persistence of microorganisms responsible for CH4 and CO2 production over long storage in air-dry conditions. In fact, all analysed soil properties are related to each other and create specific habitats which allow microorganisms to persist in unfavourable conditions. Anaerobic incubations without C amendment resulted in CH4 production in all tested soils, while in some glucose enriched sand or sandy loam soils methanogens were outcompeted by other microorganisms.


Solar shading design should be done for the desired Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) in the early design stages. This field can be very challenging and time-consuming also requires experts, sophisticated software, and a large amount of money. The primary purpose of this research is to design a simple tool to study various models of solar shadings and make decisions easier and faster in the early stages. Database generation methods, artificial intelligence, and optimization have been used to achieve this goal. This tool includes two main parts of 1. predicting the performance of the user-selected model along with proposing effective parameters and 2. proposing optimal pre-prepared models to the user. In this regard, initially, a side-lit shoebox model with variable parameters was modeled parametrically, and five common solar shading models with their variables were applied to the space. For each solar shadings and the state without shading, metrics related to daylight and glare, view, and initial costs were simulated. The database generated in this research includes 87912 alternatives and six calculated metrics introduced to optimized machine learning models, including neural network, random Forrest, support vector regression, and k nearest neighbor. According to the results, the most accurate and fastest estimation model was Random Forrest, with an r2_score of 0.967 to 1. Then, sensitivity analysis was performed to identify the most influential parameters for each shading model and the state without it. This analysis distinguished the most effective parameters, including window orientation, WWR, room width, length, and shading depth. Finally, by optimizing the estimation function of machine learning models with the NSGA II algorithm, about 7300 optimal models were identified. The developed tool can evaluate various design alternatives in less than a few seconds for each.


This study identifies the historical factors that impacted Pima agriculture, water use and water rights in south-central Arizona between 1848 and 1921. Federal land and resource policies, especially federal Indian policies, impacted the dynamics of Pima agriculture and water use during these crucial years when the federal government utilized economic liberalism to open the West to homesteading and facilitate the development of the region's vast resources.As an agricultural people, the Pima did not passively accept these policies and events. Rather, they proved adaptive, demonstrating their resourcefulness in important ways. In response to water deprivation and infringement of their water rights, the Pima reduced the amount of land they cultivated. While before 1880 they had increased their cultivated acreage and expanded their trade networks, in the years after they creatively found ways to keep land in production despite water shortages. As the water crisis deepened, the Pima abandoned their least productive lands. In the midst of great deprivation, they relocated (or abandoned) a number of villages and scores of fields in an attempt against great odds to maintain their agricultural economy. To make the most of their diminishing water resources, the Pima adapted by growing small grains such as wheat and barley, even when these crops no longer proved to be economically viable in Arizona. While not new to their crop rotation, the Pima relied almost exclusively upon these crops by the 1910s since they required considerably less water than others.Because the Pima had prior and paramount rights to the water and were wrongfully deprived of their rights to the use of water, their water rights struggle raised a metaphorical Damoclean sword above the heads of those non-Indian farmers who used the water. This study, therefore, focuses on the history of water use and agricultural production among the Pima Indians between 1848 and 1921 and argues that without infringement of their rights to water, the Pima would have equaled and perhaps surpassed the local agricultural economy.


Opinion mining has rapidly gained importance due to the unprecedented amount of opinionated data on the Internet. People share their opinions on products, services, they rate movies, restaurants or vacation destinations. Social Media such as Facebook or Twitter has made it easier than ever for users to share their views and make it accessible for anybody on the Web. The economic potential has been recognized by companies who want to improve their products and services, detect new trends and business opportunities or find out how effective their online marketing efforts are. However, opinion mining using social media faces many challenges due to the amount and the heterogeneity of the available data. Also, spam or fake opinions have become a serious issue. There are also language related challenges like the usage of slang and jargon on social media or special characters like smileys that are widely adopted on social media sites. These challenges create many interesting research problems such as determining the influence of social media on people's actions, understanding opinion dissemination or determining the online reputation of a company. Not surprisingly opinion mining using social media has become a very active area of research, and a lot of progress has been made over the last years. This article describes the current state of research and the technologies that have been used in recent studies.


In his meditation on hand paintings in caves, Painting in the Grotto, philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy locates the foundation of man and subjectivity in touching and the gesture rather than sight. He resists the kind of writing that places the eye and seeing as the origin of man as conceived by the Enlightenment. For example, Sigmund Freud often wrote texts that began with 'imagine if you will,' that I call 'writing to the eye.' Instead, Nancy begins his work with 'man began', which I note as Nancy's own textual gesture of inaugurating a meditation on origins. Nancy's audacious opening sentence also pulls his text away from a historical or anthropological reading of the cave paintings that treats the paintings as objects. The text is also unusual in that it reveals at the end that touching, which is blind, is the beginning of sight. In this way, Nancy's text resists a linear reading. Finally, I discuss Nancy's unique move of placing an image of his writing next to the printed text of his book to show that writing is also a blind touching and a gesture.


A randomized controlled trial of integrative cognitive behavioural therapy for patients with alopecia areata: a pilot study S. Hart, T. Edginton, J. Jones, J. Gao, I. Vandormael and A. Mizara Department of Psychology, City, University of London, London, UK and Department of Dermatology, Royal Free Hospital, London, UK Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune condition often triggered by stress. The causes of the condition remain unknown, although research has identified genes associated with the immune response. Psychological interventions have been employed with other stress-related skin conditions and were effective in improving both physical and psychological symptoms. To date, no randomized controlled study has evaluated psychological interventions for people with AA. The aim of the trial was to examine the effectiveness of an integrative cognitive behavioural therapy (ICBT) on the psychological and physical manifestations of AA. Fifteen adults with AA were randomized into two groups. The first group was to receive ICBT and the second was a wait list control group with or without medication. All participants completed psychological and physical assessments at the beginning of the trial and at 12 weeks after the intervention or the 12-week waiting period. Multiple mixed analysis of variance tests (MANOVA), ANOVA and Mann–Whitney U-tests were used to investigate the effectiveness of the intervention. Significant differences were found between the intervention group and the control group between the initial assessment and 12-week assessment for the self-report measures in quality of life (P = 0 008), depression (P = 0 015), perceived stress (P = 0.005), hair satisfaction (P = 0.028) and levels of distress associated with AA (P = 0 003). Physical measure of scalp assessment showed significantly less hair loss (P = 0 012) for the intervention group compared with the control group between the initial assessment and the 12-week assessment. The ICBT intervention showed significant improvements in the psychological and physical symptoms of AA. These findings have important clinical implications. Larger-scale studies are needed to further investigate the impact of psychological interventions for people with AA.


Hydroxyapatite (HA), heat-treated hydroxyapatite (HAH), and fluorapatite (FA) coatings on titanium were loaded with human growth hormone (GH), and the subsequent release was monitored in vitro. The amount of GH released was significantly increased from the HA coating that had received a post-plasma-spraying heat treatment prior to incorporation of the growth hormone. Scanning electron microscopy was used to assess the surfaces of the ceramic coatings prior and postincubation with GH. Surface changes were observed on the HA and HAH coatings but not on the FA coatings after incubation with GH. Osteoblast-like cells were grown on the coatings and maintained in culture. Scanning electron microscopy was used to study the morphology of the cells and the interaction of the cells with the ceramic coatings. We used thymidine uptake and DNA content to determine the relative rates of cell division on the different coatings; the optimum rate of cell proliferation was observed on the HAH coating loaded with 0.1 IU/mL GH.


This article is a case study of a lay Buddhist community that employs a business model called "living hall" ( Shenghuo guan 生活馆 ) to facilitate the practice of Tibetan Buddhism among its members. The living hall model is explored in the context of the politics of religion in the People's Republic of China (prc) and the dynamics of Tibetan Buddhism among Han Chinese in the past decades. The author investigates the model's origin, its implementation in a contemporary Buddhist community, and its interaction with the discourse on Buddhism in the prc. The article joins a recent academic endeavor to illuminate the different modalities in which lay practitioners carry out Buddhist practice outside the sphere of institutionalized Buddhism. The article sheds light on the delicate dynamics between religion and state control in the prc and the role of entrepreneurs and materiality within lay Tibetan Buddhism.


Introduction When I was young the hill country was where the store lambs came from. But with the flatter and generally better land being lost to the likes of urban and dairy farming expansion, New Zealand's hill country is now the key breeding platform, and is increasingly being required to finish stock for the red meat sector - a sector that generates nearly $8 billion/year in export earnings for the country. Hill country farmers, their service providers and local communities face notable challenges including continuing pressure on profitability, rural depopulation and climate change, as well as environmental pressure around the 'right to farm' from the greater New Zealand population. However, there are also great success stories in terms of the improvements in productivity and environmental stewardship that have been made in the hill country. The Hill Country Symposium (HCS) will update relevant research and present some of the industry's successes. However, our main aim is as a group to answer two questions: What does a profitable and resilient future for our hill country farming look like? What do we, collectively


This paper presents a new technique for the empirical analysis of some capital market ratios and stock valuation. We first show how capital market ratios (such as the price to earning ratio) can be plotted in a constructed stock valuation box. Within the box we can also plot the contours of several associated valuation measures. Analysis of the properties of the traditional capital market ratio (the price earnings ratio, PER) suggest that they should be supplemented by a new index, the PERS (value ratio) index. We show how changes in the value of PERS are associated with changes in the ratio of the current earnings of the firm to the sum of value of the firm and current earnings, and how this may alter our economic interpretation of changes in the patterns and direction of stock values. We do also some empirical analyses to show that the new measure of PERS is better the the traditional one.


The structural transition of BaF2 nanocrystals is studied by in situ high pressure synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction measurements up to about 21.2 GPa at ambient temperature. Two phase transformations were observed at 5.8 and 14.4 GPa, and the two high pressure phases are identified as orthorhombic (Pnma) phase and hexagonal (P63/mmc) phase by Rietveld refinement. Upon decompression, the α-PbCl2-type metastable phase is retained when the pressure is released. Two phase transformations of the BaF2 nanocrystals are higher than that in bulk BaF2. It is proposed that the size effects are found to influence the BaF2 nanocrystals high-pressure behaviors and the surface energy plays a significant role in the structural stability.


Summary From 2005–2007, there were 622 deaths associated with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Eclampsia was the major cause of death (n = 344; 55.3%). There were 173 (28.3%) deaths due to pre-eclampsia, and 38 (6.1%) associated with chronic hypertension. Cerebral complications were the final cause of death in 283 (45.5%), while cardiac failure and respiratory failure were the final causes in 142 (22.8%) and 158 (25.4%), respectively. Major problems were identified in all areas of assessment. Non-attendance for antenatal care (n = 106; 19.4%) and delay in seeking help (n = 106; 19.4%) were major patient-related factors. Communication problems (n = 63; 10.8%) and lack of facilities (n = 50; 8.5%) were health administration issues. Health worker-avoidable factors included problem recognition, delay in referral and management at an inappropriate level of healthcare. Compared to the previous report of 2002–2004, there was a reduction in deaths due to hypertension.


Newly emerging or re-emerging arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) are important causes of human morbidity and mortality nearly worldwide. Arboviruses such as Dengue (DENV), Zika (ZIKV), Chikungunya (CHIKV) and West Nile virus (WNV) underwent an extensive geographic expansion in the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. In the Americas the main vectors, for DENV, ZIKV and CHIKV, are mosquito species adapted to urban environments namely Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, whereas the main vector for WNV is the Culex quinquefasciatus. Given the widespread distribution in the Americas and high permissiveness to arbovirus infection, theses mosquito species might pose an important role in the epidemiology of other arboviruses normally associated to sylvatic vectors. Here, we test this hypothesis by determining the vector competence of Ae. aegypti, Ae. albopictus and Cx. quinquefasciatus to Mayaro (MAYV) virus, a sylvatic arbovirus transmitted mainly by Haemagogus janthinomys that have been causing an increasing number of outbreaks in South America namely in Brazil. Using field mosquitoes from Brazil, female mosquitoes were experimentally infected and their competence for dissemination and transmission for MAYV was evaluated. We found high dissemination rate for MAYV in Ae. aegypti (57.5%) and Ae. albopictus (61.6%), whereas very low rates were obtained for Cx. quinquefasciatus (2.5%). Concordantly, we observed that Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus have high transmission ability (69.5% and 71.1% respectively), conversely to Cx. quinquefasciatus that is not able to transmit the MAYV. Notably, we found that very low quantities of virus present in the saliva (undetectable by RT-qPCR) were sufficient and virulent enough to guarantee transmission. Although Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus mosquitoes are not the main vectors for MAYV, our studies suggest that these vectors may play a significant role in the transmission of this arbovirus, since both species showed high vector competence in laboratory conditions. Author summary The present study showed that Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus mosquitoes have high vector competence for MAYV, in laboratory. In contrast, Cx. quinquefasciatus mosquitoes were shown to be refractory to MAYV. Regarding the viral dilution and nanoinjection, higher detection sensitivity was observed after virus nanoinjection into naïve mosquitoes, indicating that only a few viral particles are required to infect mosquitoes, and these particles may not be detected by RT-qPCR before the nanoinjection procedure.


Abstract This article focuses on three recent manifestations of cumbia in Buenos Aires, Argentina: digital cumbia released by ZZK Records; retro cumbia orchestras; and a newer strand of digital cumbia, música turra. The first two are identified with the middle class, whereas the third emerged from the clases populares ('popular classes'). Música turra is underpinned by government policies towards digital inclusion, while middle-class incursions into the traditionally working-class sphere of cumbia, too, suggest increasing social cohesion. However, the digital fascination of música turra contrasts with an embrace of the analogue and acoustic in middle-class cumbia. These developments point to the emergence of a post-digital ethos and a shift from a digital to a post-digital divide, also running along class lines, analysed here through a Bourdieusian lens of taste and distinction. While transnational in nature, the post-digital ethos appears in Buenos Aires in a distinctive local form, articulated to growing Latin Americanism and post-neoliberalism on the part of the middle class.


This paper investigates the major similarities and discrepancies of three important current decompositions proposed for the interpretation of unbalanced and/or non linear three-phase four-wire circuits. The considered approaches were the so-called FBD theory, the pq-theory and the CPT. Although the methods are based on different concepts, the results obtained under ideal conditions (sinusoidal and balanced signals) are very similar. The main differences appear in the presence of unbalanced and non linear load conditions. It will be demonstrated and discussed how the choice of the voltage referential and the return conductor impedance can influence in the resulting current components, as well as, the way of interpreting a power circuit with return conductor. Under linear unbalanced conditions, both FBD and pq-theory suggest that the some current components contain a third-order harmonic. Besides, neither pq-theory nor FBD method are able to provide accurate information for reactive current under unbalanced and distorted conditions, what seems to be done by means of the CPT.


Abstract Background and aims It has been argued that similar to addictive behaviors, problematic Social Network sites use (PSNSU) is characterized by sensitized reward processing and cue-reactivity. However, no study to our knowledge has yet investigated cue-reactivity in PSNSU. The present study aims at investigating cue-reactivity to Social Network sites (i.e., Facebook)-related visual cues in individuals identified as problematic vs. non-problematic Facebook users by the Problematic Facebook Use Scale. Methods The Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) were recorded during the passive viewing of Facebook-related, pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral pictures in 27 problematic and 26 non-problematic users. Moreover, craving for Facebook usage was collected using a Likert scale. Results Despite problematic users were more likely to endorse higher craving than non-problematic ones, Facebook-related cues elicited larger ERP positivity (400–600 ms) than neutral, and comparable to unpleasant stimuli, in all Facebook users. Only in problematic users we found larger positivity (600–800 ms) to pleasant than unpleasant cues and higher craving to be related with lower later positivity (800–1,000 ms) to pleasant and unpleasant cues. Discussion Regardless of whether Facebook usage is problematic or non-problematic, Facebook-related cues seem to be motivationally relevant stimuli that capture attentional resources in the earlier stages of "motivated" attentional allocation. Moreover, our results support the view that in higher-craving problematic users, reduced abilities to experience emotions would be the result of defective emotion regulation processes that allow craving states to capture more motivational/attentional resources at the expense of other emotional states.


This study aims to determine the effect of lectures with online methods on student learning interest. The sample used in this study were students from the Food Technology of Indragiri Islamic University. Data collection was carried out in this study through observation, literature review, and questionnaire distribution. The instruments in this study include the independent variable (X) which is the Online Course Method, and the dependent variable (Y) is the Student Learning Interest. Instrument testing is done by normality test (Pearson Product Moment correlation), and reliability test (Cronbach Alpha coefficient). Data analysis was performed with simple linear regression, and to see the strength of the relationship between the two variables used the Spearman Rank correlation test. The results of this study indicate that lectures with the Online Course Method have an influence on student interest in learning. However, the effect here shows a negative relationship between the two variables. This can be seen from the negative regression coefficient. It can be concluded that if online lectures increase, students' interest in learning decreases.


Summary: Recently, novel machine-learning algorithms have shown potential for predicting undiscovered links in biomedical knowledge networks. However, dedicated benchmarks for measuring algorithmic progress have not yet emerged. With OpenBioLink, we introduce a large-scale, high-quality and highly challenging biomedical link prediction benchmark to transparently and reproducibly evaluate such algorithms. Furthermore, we present preliminary baseline evaluation results. Availability and Implementation: Source code, data and supplementary files are openly available at https://github.com/OpenBioLink/OpenBioLink Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com


Inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging of air, space or ship targets with complex motion has attracted the attention of many researchers in the past decade. Complex motion of targets induce cross-range scatterer-variant quadratic phase terms, which will degrade the cross-range resolution and affect focusing quality. A new algorithm is proposed for the ISAR imaging of complex moving targets. First, conventional range alignment, phase compensation and range compression are performed over the raw phase history data such that each range bin can be modelled as the sum of several linear frequency modulation or chirp signals. Secondly, a modified-Wigner-Ville distribution (referred to as M-WVD) approach is proposed, which is based on a scale transform in the time-frequency distribution plane and can effectively suppress the troublesome cross-term interference associated with WVD via coherent integration. Finally, the azimuth ISAR image can be obtained via a simple maximisation projection from the two-dimensional accumulated plot to the azimuth dimension. Compared with existing WVD-based ISAR imaging algorithms, the proposed method has the following features: better cross-term interference reduction achieved at no resolution loss, computationally more efficient with no expensive two-dimensional parameter search, and higher signal processing gain because of coherent integration during the whole imaging time. Both numerical and experimental results are provided to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method.


This explanatory study investigates the strategic effect of TQM factors modeled by the MBNQA criteria on customer satisfaction in modern retail industry of Pakistan. The factors comprise leadership, strategy and planning, information and analysis, customer focus, people management and process management. The data were gathered from 129 employees from various departments of modern trade stores. The statistical analysis concludes that the overall regression model is highly significant. Customer focus and process management were found to be the enablers with highest level of significance when correlated with customer satisfaction i.e. 64.7% and 63.9%. However, an anomaly was seen in the case of strategy and planning which showed a non-significant negative relationship. The findings of this research can prove to be of high value for policy makers in these organizations and those who intend to take this field as a new venture.


The research aims to determine the prevalence of malaria and Anopheles spp using bio-ecology surveillance in Alusi and Waturu community health centers in Maluku Tenggara Barat Regency. The study was conducted in March-April 2015 with cross sectional design. In this research, we performed mass blood survey on 489 participants in the Kilmasa village and 434 participants in Waturu village. We also performed entomology surveillances, i.e. larval density, catching Anopheles spp, temperature, humidity, and salinity. To confirm malaria vectors, we used enzyme linked immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA) techniques. The data analyzed descriptively. The results of the study showed proportion 0.20% malaria morbidity in Kilmasa village and 0.23% in Waturu village. Anopheles flavirostris and An. barbirostris group were likely to bite a human outside and inside the house and peaked at 11.00 pm-12.00 pm. The parous rate of An. flavirostris and An. barbirostris was 46% and 26%, respectively. Human blood index of An.flavirostris and An. barbirostris was 33.3% and by 70%, respectively. Anopheles flavirostri and An. barbirostris were malaria vectors with sporozoite rate 0.38% and 12.5%, respectively.


In vertebrates, vertebral primordia, called somites, are formed from the head to the tail along the anteroposterior axis of the body during development. The presomitic mesoderm (PSM), which differentiates into somites, is formed by continuous supply of new cells derived from the caudal lateral epiblast (CLE), resulting in body axis posterior elongation. Previous studies of mutants identified genes for posterior extension and vertebral patterning along the anteroposterior axis. Hox gene has been extensively investigated for its expression pattern and transcriptional regulation. In recent years, to elucidate the mechanism that controls the expression patterns of Hox genes, researchers have not only searched for enhancer regions and the transcription factors that bind to them but have also investigated chromatin structure, epigenetics and non‐coding RNA associated with Hox gene expression. These new findings reveal that the previously identified genes essential for posterior body axis elongation of the embryo determine positional information along the anteroposterior axis by induction of Hox genes via enhancer regions. In this review, we focus on genes that control posterior elongation and vertebral patterning along the anteroposterior axis in the PSM and CLE. We first describe the mechanism of maintenance of the stem cell‐like cell populations at the CLE, which is essential for the posterior elongation of the embryo. Next, the factors involved in posterior region formation and patterning of the vertebra are described. Finally, we discuss the regulatory mechanism of Hox gene expression and the mechanism that is responsible for the differences in skeletal pattern between species.


Efficacy research on video modeling as an instructional approach for individuals with autism has been found to be a promising area for teachers and researchers. Over the last three decades the literature has shown successful use of video modeling for teaching a variety of social, academic, and functional skills. The purpose of this literature review is to describe one specific aspect of video modeling, namely, to examine video modeling studies from the perspective of the impact of the model. To this end studies have been categorized as models using adults, peers, self, point-of-view, and mixed model approaches. Descriptive summaries and analyses of outcomes are provided for each study.


Plasma levels of nonconjugated estrone (E1), estradiol-17beta (E2), and estriol (E3) and excretion of these estrogens in urine in conjugated and nonconjugated forms were measured by radioimmunoassay in 17 healthy males and 33 males with alcoholic liver disease. Patients with liver disease had significantly elevated plasma levels of E1 (74.2 +/- 8.0 SE versus 26.0 +/- 1.7 pg per ml, P less than 0.001), E2 (29.3 +/- 2.2 versus 23.3 +/- 2.0 pg per ml, P = less than 0.05), and E3 (11.5 + 1.9 versus 6.5 +/- 0.7 pg per ml, P less than 0.01). Excretion of total E1, E2, and E3 in urine was significantly increased in patients with liver disease; the increase was primarily in the nonconjugated fraction. Among those patients with chronic liver disease, the presence of ascites was associated with significantly higher plasma levels of E1 and excretion of larger amounts of E1 and E2 in urine. On the other hand, no differences were observed in the small number of patients with gynecomastia. A direct correlation between the plasma level or excretion of E1 or E2 and several liver function abnormalities was observed. The relative hyperestrogenemia we report here may account for some of the clinical observations in chronic liver disease.


Background: Expander/implant and autogenous tissue breast reconstructions have different aging processes, and the time when these processes stabilize is unclear. The authors' goal was to evaluate long-term patient-reported aesthetic satisfaction with expander/implant and autogenous breast reconstruction. Methods: The authors surveyed a cross-section of University of Michigan women who underwent postmastectomy breast reconstruction (response rate, 73 percent) between 1988 and 2006 [110 expander/implant and 109 transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous (TRAM) reconstructions]. Each group was stratified into three postreconstructive periods: short term (≤5 years), intermediate (6 to 8 years), and long term (>8 years). Validated satisfaction items were scored on a 5-point Likert scale; scores were dichotomized into positive and negative responses. Logistic regression assessed satisfaction by procedure, while controlling for sociodemographic and clinical variables. Results: Mean follow-up time after reconstruction was 6.5 years (range, 1 to 18 years). Procedure type had no effect on short-term aesthetic satisfaction. However, in the long term, reconstruction type considerably affected satisfaction. Although satisfaction with TRAM reconstruction remained relatively constant, satisfaction with expander/implants was significantly less among those patients in the long term. Patients who had undergone implant reconstruction more than 8 years earlier, compared with those who undergone implant reconstruction less than 5 years earlier, were significantly less satisfied with breast appearance (odds ratio, 0.10; 95% CI, 0.02 to 0.48), softness (odds ratio, 0.14; 95% CI, 0.03 to 0.64), and size (odds ratio, 0.13; 95% CI, 0.03 to 0.62). Conclusions: In the long term, TRAM patients, compared with expander/implant patients, appear to have significantly greater aesthetic satisfaction. These long-term data have important implications for women's health in the survivorship period and will help women navigate the complex decision-making process of breast reconstruction.


This piece of research was focused on identifying, evaluating and controlling the psychosocial risks in the Industrial Safety of textile laundries, the level of impact was identified, which contributed to the physical, psychological and emotional well-being of workers, improving their quality of life, increasing productivity and complying with the organizational goals; the population was made up of men and women amounting to sixty-one workers, the age ranged from fifteen to sixty-five years, from different ethnic groups, the standardized Istas 21 Questionnaire of the Union Institute of Labor, Environment and Health Of Spain was used as a methodology. It consists of six sections related to psychosocial risks, at the research levels the descriptive and explanatory levels stand out, we got levels and reference values that allow us to compare with other studies about psychosocial factors. Later, a Guide to Prevent Psychosocial Factors to improve Industrial Safety in textile laundries was designed, which served as a tool for the training of workers regarding this area, next, the retest with the Standardized Istas 21 Questionnaire was applied, which gave us different results from those obtained initially; however, it is possible to identify that the sections with the greatest impact on the staff are insecurity about the future and double presence, which maintain considerable values; on the other hand, the sections that responded best to training were Social support and quality of leadership.


Symptomatic catheter related thrombosis (CRT) occurs in 4%–8% of cancer patients. The mean incidence of CRT, detected either by echography or Doppler ranges between 12 and 14% with a high negative predictive value of about 95%, allowing the subsequent occurrence of CRT (symptomatic and asymptomatic) to be safely excluded. Despite its frequency and its medico‐economic consequences, no thromboprophylaxis has been validated to date. In most patients, CRT occurs immediately after catheter insertion, most often within the first week and almost all within the first month after insertion. Meta analyses show a reduction of asymptomatic and symptomatic CRT incidence by about 55%–60% using either vitamin K antagonists or low molecular weight heparins without an increased risk of major bleeding. This pharmacological prophylaxis is only effective when started before the central venous catheter insertion at prophylactic doses and thereafter continued at subtherapeutic doses. Since no population at high risk of CRT has been identified, this review focuses on pathophysiology, epidemiology and clinical supportive data that could lead to a new CRT prophylaxis strategy.


The problem this paper is trying to deal with is the following: whether it is possible, or simply philosophically advisable, to go on speaking about «universal values», as nearly everybody does. Actually, it would be better if we gave up using such a dubious expression, since values are goals or ends, and every goal is somebody's goal, relating to some person or another in a particularistic way. The author of this paper finds it disturbing and grammatically improper to think that there are, or that should be, aims or ideal rules addressed to all men in general. On the other hand, the question whether moral rules should be «universalizable» is not discussed here.


Based on the equation satisfied by optical pulse that is a slowly varying function, the higher-order nonlinear Schrodinger equation (NLSE) including Raman gain and self-steepening effect is deduced in detail, and a new Raman gain function is defined. By using the split-step Fourier method, the influence of the combined effect between Raman gain and self-steepening on the propagation characteristic of dark solitons is simulated in the isotropic fiber. The results show that gray solitons can be symmetrically formed by high order dark soliton, however self-steepening effect will inhibit the formation mechanism through the phenomenon that gray solitons are produced only in the trailing edge of the central black soliton. Meanwhile, the Raman gain changes the propagation characteristic of optical soliton and inhibits the self-steepening effect, resulting in the broadening of pulse width and the decreasing of pulse offset.


Background Escalation planning including decisions regarding CPR and higher levels of care should be made in advance wherever possible. A Treatment Options Form was devised in Sheffield to promote and aid the documentation of escalation planning for patients with life limiting conditions. We sought to increase the use of this form within a tertiary oncology centre, with the hope of improving the number of timely advance care decisions. Methods We included 135 patients from August 2016 to May 2017. We completed data collection at baseline and then a further four data cycles after each of the following interventions: introduction of form into clerking pack for new patients training to new junior doctors at induction presentation to consultants and questionnaire to glean barriers to usage of form ensured all patient notes contained a treatment option form. We looked at all discharges within the pre-defined data collection window (1 week per data cycle), including only those who had originally been admitted as an emergency. The notes were analysed retrospectively and data analysed using excel. Results Documentation of escalation plans increased from 13% – 52%; of these, discussions with relatives increased from 50% – 83%. Setting of these plans within 24 hours of admission increased from 7% – 13% and use of the Treatment Options Form increased from 7% – 48%. Feedback from questionnaires suggested that barriers to implementing advance planning included time pressures and reluctance of acute teams to make decisions for patients not under their outpatient follow up. Conclusions Implementing a Treatment Options Form has improved the numbers of advance care decisions for patients in the oncology setting. We have identified some of the barriers to these decisions being made. Further work to elucidate how best to overcome these is required.


Background: systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex chronic autoimmune
condition that represents a source of disability, creating a burden on the quality of life during
pregnancy and affecting maternal, fetal and neonatal outcomes. Aim: This study aimed to assess
the quality of life among pregnant women with SLE. Methods: A descriptive design was used.
This study was conducted at Rheumatology Antenatal Outpatient Clinic at Ain Shams Maternity
Hospital. A purposive sampling was used to recruit fifty pregnant women diagnosed as SLE,
regardless of their education level. Tools: (1) an Arabic interviewing questionnaire for pregnant
women with SLE, (2) a quality of life questionnaire for women with SLE, (3) a systemic lupus
erythematosus disease activity index and (4) a health assessment questionnaire for women with
SLE. Results: findings of the present study revealed that less than half of the study women had
age range between 30 to 39 years. The quality of life of the study women was affected regarding
its three domains; social, followed by physical and least the psychological domain. Conclusion:
Result supported the research question, that systemic lupus erythematosus had significant
negative effects on the quality of life among pregnant women with SLE. Recommendations:
Awareness raising programs should be provided for pregnant women about SLE to reduce
challenges of flare and remission during pregnancy and improve their quality of life and
pregnancy outcomes. It is preferable to conduct the programs for women with SLE at premarital
and preconception periods of life.


The binding of oligopeptides of general structure Lys-X-Lys (where X is an aromatic residue) to several polynucleotides has been studied by fluorescence spectroscopy. Two types of complexes are formed, both involving electrostatic interactions between lysyl residues and phosphate groups as shown by the ionic strength and pH dependence of binding. The fluorescence quantum yield of the first complex is identical with that of the free peptide. The other complex involves a stacking of the nucleic acid bases with the aromatic amino acid whose fluorescence is quenched. Fluorescence data have been quantitatively analyzed according to a model involving these two types of complexes. Association constants and the size of binding sites have been determined. Stacking interactions are favored in single-stranded polynucleotides as compared to double-stranded ones. A short oligopeptide such as Lys-X-Lys is thus able to distinguish between single-stranded and double-stranded nucleic acids. Fluorescence results are compared to those obtained by proton magnetic resonance and circular dichroism.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the early stage network engagement strategies that new ventures use to gain traction in interaction in the development of network capability.

Design/methodology/approach
Using 24 new ventures in the micro-brewing industry in Ireland, Belgium and the USA as an empirical base, the authors use an inductive case study approach owing to the exploratory nature of the research aim and the lack of prior literature in the area.

Findings
The findings suggest five early stage network engagement process strategies in network capability development: business-to-business network prospecting; co-branding/co-promoting activities; from maker-mindset to adapting; social media platforming; and recognition and activation of network role.

Research limitations/implications
The findings are limited to the micro-brewery sector at one point in time, although in multiple country contexts. Analyzing other sectors and taking a temporal view of strategizing, analyzing the sector at another time point, would show how dynamics in engagement change as the actors acquire new experiences from interaction.

Practical implications
The potential to gain from network resources and the paucity of these resources in new ventures makes early stage engagement strategizing for network capability development an attractive business strategy for new firms. All firms are born within a social network that has economic importance. Identifying the five early stage network engagement strategies can mitigate the challenge for the new venture in moving from the initial social network to collaborating within wider business networks to gain access to resources, technology and customers.

Originality/value
Strategizing in new venture contexts is a relatively new stream of research for the industrial marketing and purchasing group. This paper adds to the growing body of literature that places interaction, relationships and networks at the heart of strategy making and provides important insights for new ventures, which may lead to earlier and greater success for the firms. The authors respond to calls for increased research addressing capability development in a new venture context and for research to take a more interactive perspective on new venture processes.


A comparison of single and multifactor portfolio performance methodologies using Value Line and size-ranked portfolios indicates that although both methodologies provide unbiased estimates of portfolio performance, there are systematic differences in the power of the two methodologies. The predictive power of the multifactor methodology is superior for well-diversified portfolios but inferior for less diversified portfolios.


In this paper, some relations between estimation and mutual information are given by expressing two mutual information calculations in terms of two distinct estimation errors. Specifically the mutual information between a stochastic signal and a pure jump Levy process whose rate function depends on the signal is expressed in terms of a filtering error and the rate of change of this mutual information with respect to a parameter multiplying the rate function of the Levy process is expressed in terms of a smoothing error. These results generalize the analogous mutual information results for some Gaussian noise processes with additive stochastic signals.


Summary form only given. Two fundamental pillars of Software Engineering practice are formalism and structure. Formalism allows engineers to reason rigorously about the system in hand; structure allows them to understand its purposes and behaviours. In the constructive activity of system development structure must therefore take precedence. The central role of formalism is to check and verify — or, where necessary, correct — the products of more informal modes of thought. In this talk these ideas are explored in the context of an illustrative system. The large structure of the system functionality is discussed, together with the nature of the components of that structure. Informal criteria of functional simplicity are presented. The inescapable mismatch between an intelligible functional structure and implementable software architecture is exposed. The role of formalism in these concerns is suggested.


We address the issue of bound state in the two-nucleon system in lattice QCD. Our study is made in the quenched approximation at the lattice spacing of a = 0.128 fm with a heavy quark mass corresponding to m_pi = 0.8 GeV. To distinguish a bound state from an attractive scattering state, we investigate the volume dependence of the energy difference between the ground state and the free two-nucleon state by changing the spatial extent of the lattice from 3.1 fm to 12.3 fm. A finite energy difference left in the infinite spatial volume limit leads us to the conclusion that the measured ground states for not only spin triplet but also singlet channels are bounded. Furthermore the existence of the bound state is confirmed by investigating the properties of the energy for the first excited state obtained by 2x2 diagonalization method. The scattering lengths for both channels are evaluated by applying the finite volume formula derived by Luscher to the energy of the first excited states.


The bureaucracy which is considered qualified will indicate its human resource's capacity and professionalism, particularyfor many civil servants who hold the current positions. For this matter civil servant development has to program accurately,selectively, objectively, and with precise method. Method which is used in quality development and career development,i.e.; (a) quality development by founding ethics and morality, performance apprasial, technicial training, and empoweringsystem; (b) career development by career coaching, career path, job training, and competency system.Key wood: civil servant, development, professional and quality


A prestressed suspension structure is a type of structures that allows covering long spans due to rational use of structural materials. Prestressing of a suspension structure allows minimizing cinematic displacements. The prestressed suspension structure with the main span equal to 200 m was considered as an object of investigation. Replacement of a single steel main cable of the prestressed suspension structure by the hybrid composite cable with CFRP (Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer) middle layer and external steel layers with cross-section variable by the cable length considerably decreases dead weight of the cable. Hybrid composite cable ensures functioning of the structure in case of destruction of the middle CFRP layer. The considered prestressed suspension structure was investigated by the FEM software ANSYS. Rational steel distribution by the cable length was determined by optimization. Behaviour of the hybrid composite main cable in the case of destruction of the middle CFRP layer was experimentally tested using the physical model. The dynamic coefficient was obtained.


The band alignment at the interface between GaAs and amorphous Al2O3 is studied through the use of hybrid functionals. For the oxide component, a disordered model is generated through density-functional molecular dynamics. The achieved structure shows good agreement with the experimental characterization. The potential line-up across the interface is obtained for two atomistic GaAs/Al2O3 interface models, which differ by the GaAs substrate termination. The calculated valence band offset amounts to 3.9 eV for an interface characterized by the occurrence of Ga–O bonds as dominant chemical bonding, favoring the high-energy side in the range of experimental values (2.6–3.8 eV). The effect of As antisite and As–As dimer defects on the band alignment is shown to be negligible.


Research funding bodies, and society in general, have high expectations for research to contribute solutions that have positive societal and environmental impact. This desire to increase societal benefits has prompted an evolution in how research is conducted, and a corresponding need for appropriate research evaluation tools and approaches. The Sustainability Research Effectiveness Program, led by Professor Brian Belcher at Royal Roads University, has responded to this need by developing a Transdisciplinary Research Quality Assessment Framework to evaluate research design and implementation and a theory-based evaluation approach to assess research contributions to outcomes and impacts.


Abstract For more than 60 years, the offshore U.S. Gulf of Mexico has been the "R&D Lab" for the world petroleum industry. Powered by continual development of new geologic depositional and structural models, and seismic data acquisition and processing techniques, along with innovations in drilling and completion technologies, the offshore Gulf of Mexico has repeatedly yielded new plays with world class oil and gas resources, assuring its permanent place as one of the global super basins for petroleum production. Over the last 20 years, drilling and regional geological studies supported by extensive 3D seismic data have proven that most salt bodies in the Gulf of Mexico are part of extensive allochthonous salt sheets that have translated more horizontally than vertically throughout the subsurface shelf and slope. Much of what the mobilized salt has covered are thick, untested sedimentary sections containing reservoir quality sand bodies and highly effective sealing shales, with petroleum liquids preservation assisted by the heat transfer properties of the embedded salt bodies. The industry has confirmed that advanced seismic imaging technologies, such as broad-frequency reverse time migration, have significantly clarified subsalt and side-salt imaging such that potential traps and even hydrocarbon indicators are far better defined, thereby enhancing future wildcat drilling success. Economics are extremely robust, benefitting from short production cycle times, advances in drilling and production technologies, access to well-established infrastructure and reasonable lease bonus costs. Today, explorers are focusing these technologies and concepts intently on the deep Miocene shelf, where new large oil discoveries will be made. Recent deepwater Miocene subsalt discoveries were built upon the initial pioneering success in the 1990s, e.g., Mahogany, Conger, Hickory, and Tanzanite fields. Gone are the days when drilling stopped at the first sign of salt, as in the first 40 years of the Gulf of Mexico exploration. Now, the deep Miocene section under the present-day shelf holds significant petroleum potential for substantial thicknesses of subsalt sedimentary section. For explorers like us that have spent over 35 years exploring the offshore Gulf of Mexico, we have always known the Gulf of Mexico to be a world class exploration province with perpetual potential. Those who have spoken of it as the "dead sea" likely underestimated the industry's barrels of oil equivalent yet to be discovered, enabled by the continuous advances in technologies and geological concepts that the industry always has, and will continue, to develop in its "R&D Lab."


An absorbed antiserum was made by incubating a cytotoxic T lymphocyte immune antiserum with the T cell leukemia HPB‐ALL, thus removing reactivity to known lymphocyte function‐associated antigens. This antiserum was used to screen a cDNA expression library and isolate a novel human lymphocyte cDNA clone designated WP34. WP34 transcript is expressed in functional T cells and a variety of hematopoietic cell lines and tissues, including fetal liver and thymus, but not in HPB‐ALL or any non‐hematopoietic cell lines or tissues tested. The WP34 protein is an acidic, phosphorylated molecule with a pI of 4.5 and molecular mass of 50 kDa. WP34 protein expression is absent in resting peripheral blood lymphocytes but can be induced with antigen stimulation, while the transcript is constitutively expressed. Sequence analysis indicates that WP34 is the human homologue of the recently described murine molecule LSP1.


Abstract Background: Anatomical lung resection offers the best chance of cure for patients with localized lung cancer. Very often late diagnoses, advanced stage of the disease limit radical anatomical surgical resection. Use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy made some of the cases operable, and later they were surgically treated. Aim: to evaluate early (surgical) complications at patients with neoadjuvant therapy. Material and Methods: We compare 36 patients surgically treated with lung resection, before treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (3 to 6 cycles with platinum based regiments under protocol) with 42 patients surgically treated without neoadjuvant chemotherapy, in the same period, in the 2009 and 2010. Results: At the group with neoadjuvant chemotherapy we register more intraoperative and early postoperative complications as: bleeding 10 vs. 7, p=0.63, changes in lung vessels 3 vs. 0, p=0.8, prolonged air leak 9 vs. 6, p=0.63, stump fistula (at pneumectomy patients) 2 vs. 0, p=0.76, pneumonia 9 vs. 3, p=0.86, wound infection 2 vs 0, p=0.73, atelectasis 8 vs. 2, p=0.88, prolonged pleural drainage 10 vs. 4, p=0.87. There, also, was no difference in 30 days mortality rate between groups. Conclusions: Neoadjuvant therapy increased theperioperative complications in this group of patients compared with a similar group undergoing anatomical lung resection in the same institution. The most common complication in patients receiving induction chemotherapy was detected at the group with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Strategies to prevent these complications will be important, especially if chemotherapy before resection becomes the standard for all patients with non-small cell lung cancer


With the recent availability of high-frequency financial data the long-range dependence of volatility regained researchers' interest and has led to the consideration of long-memory models for volatility. The long-range diagnosis of volatility, however, is usually stated for long sample periods, while for small sample sizes, such as one year, the volatility dynamics appears to be better described by short-memory processes. The ensemble of these seemingly contradictory phenomena point towards short-memory models of volatility with nonstationarities, such as structural breaks or regime switches, that spuriously generate a long memory pattern. In this paper we adopt this view on the dependence structure of volatility and propose a localized procedure for modeling realized volatility. That is at each point in time we determine a past interval over which volatility is approximated by a local linear process. A simulation study shows that long memory processes as well as short memory processes with structural breaks can be well approximated by this local approach. Furthermore, using S&P500 data we find that our local modeling approach outperforms long-memory type models and models with structural breaks in terms of predictability.


The problem of ranking is a multi-billion dollar problem. In this paper we present an overview of several production quality ranking systems. We show that due to conflicting goals of employing the most effective machine learning models and responding to users in real time, ranking systems have evolved into a system of systems, where each subsystem can be viewed as a component layer. We view these layers as being data processing, representation learning, candidate selection and online inference. Each layer employs different algorithms and tools, with every end-to-end ranking system spanning multiple architectures. Our goal is to familiarize the general audience with a working knowledge of ranking at scale, the tools and algorithms employed and the challenges introduced by adopting a layered approach.


The Anonymisation Decision-making Framework (ADF) operationalizes the risk management of data exchange between organizations, referred to as"data environments". The second edition of ADF has increased its emphasis on modeling data flows, highlighting a potential new use of provenance information to support anonymisation decision-making. In this paper, we provide a use case that showcases this functionality more. Based on this use case, we identify how provenance information could be utilized within the ADF framework, and identify a currently un-met requirement which is the modeling of \textit{data environments}. We show how data environments can be implemented within the W3C PROV in four different ways. We analyze the costs and benefits of each approach, and consider another use case as a partial check for completeness. We then summarize our findings and suggest ways forward.


The Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin B subunit (HLT-B) is one of the most powerful mucosal immunogens and known mucosal adjuvants. However, the induction of high levels of HLT-B expression in E. coli has proven a difficult proposition. Therefore, in this study, the HLT-B gene was cloned from pathogenic E. coli and expressed as a fusion protein with GST (glutathione S-transferase) in E. coli BL21 (DE3), in an attempt to harvest a large quantity of soluble HLT-B. The culture conditions, including the culture media used, temperature, pH and the presence of lactose as an inducer, were all optimized in order to obtain an increase in the expression of soluble GST-rHLT-B. The biological activity of the purified rHLT-B was assayed in a series of GM1-ELISA experiments. The findings of these trials indicated that the yield of soluble recombinant GST-rHLT-B could be increased by up to 3-fold, as compared with that seen prior to the optimization, and that lactose was a more efficient alternative inducer than IPTG. The production of rHLT-B, at 92% purity, reached an optimal level of 96 mg/l in a 3.7 L fermentor. The specific GM1 binding ability of the purified rHLT-B was determined to be almost identical to that of standard CTB.


Background The significance of the global prevalence and incidence of coronavirusdisease 2019 (COVID-19) is a measure of its severity. However, without statistical data, one cannot understand the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. This study, based on good data, enables us to know how the disease is spreading, what impact the pandemic has on the lives of people around the world, and whether the countermeasures that countries have been taking are successful for controlling and preventing the disease. Therefore, this study is undertaken to estimate the infection fatality rates (IFRs) and case-fatality rates (CFRs) in various countries and regions of the world. Methods COVID-19-related data were collected from various countries belonging to different World Bank categories based on economies (low-income, low-middle income, upper-middle income, and high-income countries) and the World Health Organization's (WHO's) regional classification of countries (the Americas, European, African, South-East Asia, Eastern Mediterranean, and Western Pacific regions). The data were collected from the WHO's dedicated website on COVID-19, and statistical methods like mean, standard deviation, p-value, and percentages were used to calculate the IFR and CFR. Results Mexico (8.94%) reported the highest IFR among all the countries. The low-income countries reported increased IFR (2.46±1.91) as compared to the other groups. The European region (7.3%) and the American region (5.3%) recorded the highest CFRs. The South-East Asian region reported the lowest CFR (1.1%). Conclusions The low-income group countries showed higher rates of IFR and lower CFRs. Lower IFRs and increased CFRs were noted among the high-income group countries and the American and European regions respectively. The varied IFRs and CFRs could be attributed to multiple factors that include climatic conditions, living environments, age, sex, comorbidities, among others.


This article presents research findings from a case study of a company's pharmaceutical sales force working in the UK and Ireland. We explore how changes in the nature of the customer and the competitive environment are impacting on the way management are structuring the work process and the nature of skills required. A central focus is whether these changes are pushing management to increase the skills and knowledge of sales reps or are encouraging the use of a more rigid and less autonomous form of work organization. Can we identify a shift of this occupational group either towards the 'knowledge' worker end or towards the routinized service worker end of the skill/control spectrum? By analysing the relationships between customer, employer and employee, we evaluate how changes in the pharmaceutical industry and the reorganization of the UK's national health service (NHS) have led management to re-evaluate the balance between control and autonomy in managing sales reps' work. We argue that management's desire to empower and upskill reps, through the 'capture and transfer' of knowledge and the recruitment of higher qualified individuals, was being undermined by the use of forms of control which reduced autonomy and routinized the work process. The routinization approach was more pervasive, despite the beliefs by many reps that it was inappropriate for successful selling within the particular customer environment and its negative impact on job satisfaction and labour turnover. Our evidence would refute any assertion of a general trend towards more skilled and autonomous work, showing that there remain considerable pressures on management to control and downskill their workforce, despite the benefits of autonomous working.


An assessment of numerous activities in the field of multisensor target recognition reveals several trends and conditions which are cause for concern. .These concerns are analyzed in terms of their potential impact on the ultimate employment of automatic target recognition in military systems. Suggestions for additional investigation and guidance for current activities are presented with respect to some of the identified concerns.


While in operation, aircraft engines may be subjected to various severe mechanical events such as bird ingestion, blade separation, ice accretion, shaft unbalance, compressor stall or rotor-stator interaction. During the development of a new engine application, such phenomena are simulated in test cells in order to make sure that the engine will still operate safely. During such tests, accelerometers and strain gages are mounted on the engine cases and near the shaft bearings in order to measure loads and vibrations and in order to understand the engine behaviour. The engine dynamic behaviour during those phenomena may be fleeting or sustained, cyclic or asynchronous, transient or stationary. Usual analysis are performed in various domains such as time, frequencies and orders of a rotating shaft speed, depending on the nature of the vibration behaviour.
This paper describes a new kind of vibrations representation that considerably facilitate the interpretation of fleeting or sustained events when both time and phase location of a shaft are meaningful. In a first section of the paper, the representation is described with a simple lumped-mass model of a rotating shaft operating with variable angular speed. In a second section, the representation is applied on a real aircraft engine during tests with various engine behaviours. The last section presents a simulation of those different behaviours with a simple model.


Abstract. The North America-based Tropospheric Ozone Lidar Network (TOLNet)
was recently established to provide high spatiotemporal vertical profiles of
ozone, to better understand physical processes driving tropospheric ozone
variability and to validate the tropospheric ozone measurements of upcoming
spaceborne missions such as Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring Pollution
(TEMPO). The network currently comprises six tropospheric ozone lidars, four
of which are mobile instruments deploying to the field a few times per year,
based on campaign and science needs. In August 2016, all four mobile TOLNet
lidars were brought to the fixed TOLNet site of JPL Table Mountain Facility
for the 1-week-long Southern California Ozone Observation Project (SCOOP).
This intercomparison campaign, which included 400 h of lidar measurements
and 18 ozonesonde launches, allowed for the unprecedented simultaneous
validation of five of the six TOLNet lidars. For measurements between 3 and
10 km a.s.l., a mean difference of 0.7 ppbv (1.7 %), with a
root-mean-square deviation of 1.6 ppbv or 2.4 %, was found between the
lidars and ozonesondes, which is well within the combined uncertainties of
the two measurement techniques. The few minor differences identified were
typically associated with the known limitations of the lidars at the profile
altitude extremes (i.e., first 1 km above ground and at the instruments'
highest retrievable altitude). As part of a large homogenization and quality
control effort within the network, many aspects of the TOLNet in-house data
processing algorithms were also standardized and validated. This thorough
validation of both the measurements and retrievals builds confidence as to the
high quality and reliability of the TOLNet ozone lidar profiles for many
years to come, making TOLNet a valuable ground-based reference network for
tropospheric ozone profiling.


This study examines the effect of oil and gas resource rent on economic growth of Ghana for the period of 2007 to 2019. The study uses the bounds test approach to cointegration within the framework of autoregressive distributed lags model as the estimation strategy. The results from the study revealed that oil resource rent had a negative and significant relationship with economic growth of Ghana. However, gas resource rent had a positive impact on economic growth of Ghana. Furthermore, the study also found that foreign direct investment and exchange rate had significant positive relation with economic growth of Ghana respectively. For government expenditure, it exerts a negative impact on economic growth of Ghana.  Based on the negative and significant relationship with oil resource rent and economic growth of Ghana, it is recommended that the government should reduce taxes on oil industries to help increase the production of oil and gas in Ghana. Furthermore, the study recommends Government and private partnership to ensure effective management of exchange rate fluctuations in Ghana.


We report results of femtosecond-resolved ex-periments which elucidate the time scale for the primary photoinduced events in the model nitroaromatic compound 9-nitroanthracene. Through time-resolved fluorescence measurements, we observed the ultrafast decay of the initially excited singlet state, and through transient absorption experiments, we observed the spectral evolution associated with the formation of the relaxed phosphorescent T(1) state. Additionally, we have detected for the first time the accumulation of the anthryloxy radical which results from the nitro-group rearrangement and NO(•) dissociation from photoexcited 9-nitroanthracene, a photochemical channel which occurs in parallel with the formation of the phosphorescent state. The spectral evolution in this molecule is highly complex since both channels take place in similar time ranges of up to a few picoseconds. Despite this complexity, our experiments provide the general time scales in which the primary products are formed. In addition, we include calculations at the time-dependent density functional level of theory which distinguish the molecular orbitals responsible for the n-π* character of the "receiver" vibronic triplet states that couple with the first singlet state and promote the ultrafast transfer of population between the two manifolds. Comparisons with the isoelectronic compounds anthracene-9-carboxylic acid and its conjugated base, which are highly fluorescent, show that in these two compounds the near-isoenergeticity of the S(1) with an appropriate "receiver" triplet state is disrupted, providing support to the idea that a specific energy coincidence is important for the ultrafast population of the triplet manifold, prevalent in polycyclic nitrated aromatic compounds.


In this paper we propose tight upper and lower bounds for the Wasserstein distance between any two univariate continuous distributions with probability densities p1 and p2 having nested supports. These explicit bounds are expressed in terms of the derivative of the likelihood ratio p1/p2 as well as the Stein kernel τ1 of p1. The method of proof relies on a new variant of Stein's method which manipulates Stein operators. We give several applications of these bounds. Our main application is in Bayesian statistics : we derive explicit data-driven bounds on the Wasserstein distance between the posterior distribution based on a given prior and the no-prior posterior based uniquely on the sampling distribution. This is the first finite sample result confirming the wellknown fact that with well-identified parameters and large sample sizes, reasonable choices of prior distributions will have only minor effects on posterior inferences if the data are benign.


Two herbicides namely Logran and Tolkan were evaluated at three different rates i.e., low, medium and high on Inqulab and Pasban varieties of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The results showed that herbicide activity index value was maximum with high rates and minimum with low rates of herbicides. Significant improvement was recorded in various morphological and yield components of wheat by low and medium rates while high rates caused detrimental effect. Recommended rates of both Logran and Tolkan produced about 37% greater grain yield than weedy check which was almost equal to hand weeding. Two varieties exhibited non-significant difference for various parameters.


We present algorithms that create coresets in an online setting for clustering problems according to a wide subset of Bregman divergences. Notably, our coresets have a small additive error, similar in magnitude to the lightweight coresets Bachem et. al. 2018, and take update time $O(d)$ for every incoming point where $d$ is dimension of the point. Our first algorithm gives online coresets of size $\tilde{O}(\mbox{poly}(k,d,\epsilon,\mu))$ for $k$-clusterings according to any $\mu$-similar Bregman divergence. We further extend this algorithm to show existence of a non-parametric coresets, where the coreset size is independent of $k$, the number of clusters, for the same subclass of Bregman divergences. Our non-parametric coresets are larger by a factor of $O(\log n)$ ($n$ is number of points) and have similar (small) additive guarantee. At the same time our coresets also function as lightweight coresets for non-parametric versions of the Bregman clustering like DP-Means. While these coresets provide additive error guarantees, they are also significantly smaller (scaling with $O(\log n)$ as opposed to $O(d^d)$ for points in $\~R^d$) than the (relative-error) coresets obtained in Bachem et. al. 2015 for DP-Means. While our non-parametric coresets are existential, we give an algorithmic version under certain assumptions.


Nayasilana IN, Hadisusanto S, Wijayanto H, Atmoko SSU, Prasetyo D, Sihite J, Van Schaik CP. 2017. Behavioral ecology of reintroduced Orangutans in the Bukit Batikap, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 18: 875-886. Conversion habitat is the major threats to orangutan survival. More than 600 orangutans in rehabilitation center Nyaru Menteng BOSF, Central Kalimantan, waiting to be released to their nature habitat. The success of reintroduction is strongly dependent on the ecological component of the new habitat's quality. Orangutans' spatial behavior strongly related to fruit availability fluctuation, which will effects adaptation success. The goal of the study is to differentiate adaptation patterns of reintroduced orangutans (semi-wild and rehabilitant) base on habitat suitability. This study focused on 16 reintroduced orangutans (8 semi-wild and 8 rehabilitant) with a distribution of vegetation analysis overlaid with ranging for ecology effect. Day journey length and ranging of orangutans were collected for 18 months (20122014) by means of focal animal sampling. Ranging data was analyzed using ArcMap GIS 9.3 Kernels program, the correlation between ranging and vegetation by Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA), diversity and biodiversity vegetation analysis which was then compared to wild orangutans (Sebangau and Tuanan Research Station). We found, 98% of Sorensen's similarity in vegetation and similar diversity for Simpson's, Shannon-Wiener and biodiversity indexes. Significantly high proportions of food patches consumed were fruit (p < 0.81) and rattan (p < 0.58). Our data also show the range of reintroduced orangutan vertical movements were between 0 m to >20 m, minimum home range for males was 619 ha and females 544 ha, with overlapping areas between orangutans 0.09%77.85%. Based on the correlation between ranging and food distribution, reintroduced orangutan distribution was found to be concentrated on food resources, with other factors indicating that they still felt comfortable around humans, and ranging was found to be similar compared to wild orangutans. In conclusion, an adaptation of reintroduced orangutans, both semi-wild and rehabilitated, in their new habitat was found to be similar.


In high performance computing (HPC), the applications are periodically check pointed to stable storage to increase the success rate of long executions. Nowadays, the overhead imposed by disk-based checkpoint is about 20% of execution time and in the next years it will be more than 50% if the checkpoint frequency increases as the fault frequency increases. Diskless checkpoint has been introduced as a solution to avoid the IO bottleneck of disk-based checkpoint. However, the encoding time, the dedicated resources (the spares) and the memory overhead imposed by diskless checkpoint are significant obstacles against its adoption. In this work, we address these three limitations: 1) we propose a fault tolerant model able to tolerate up to 50% of process failures with a low check pointing overhead 2) our fault tolerance model works without spare node, while still guarantying high reliability, 3) we use solid state drives to significantly increase the checkpoint performance and avoid the memory overhead of classic diskless checkpoint.


Owing to a chronic shortage of medical staff in South Africa, sleep-deprived medical interns and community service doctors work up to 200 hours of overtime per month under the state's commuted overtime policy. Nurses moonlight in circumvention of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. For trainee doctors, overtime over 80 hours is unpaid, and rendered involuntarily under threat of not qualifying to practise medicine in South Africa. As forced labour, and sleep deprivation amounting to cruel and degrading treatment, it is outlawed in international law. No other professional group in the country is subjected to such levels of exploitation and discrimination by the state. These abuses should be challenged under the Constitution. Solutions include the installation of electronic time-recording in state hospitals, cessation of unpaid overtime, limits on medical intern shifts to a maximum of 16 hours, and an investigation by the Human Rights Commission of South Africa.


Andrographis paniculata has obtained a well renowned name as one of the best traditional remedies, owing to its multiple pharmacological activities. In this work, the anti- histamine effect of hydroalcoholic leaf extract of Andrographis paniculata (Burm.f), family Acanthaceae, was planned. The concentration response curve (CRC) of histamine was recorded and its modification by anti histamine drugs of pheniramine maleate and hydroalcoholic extract of Andrographis paniculata Leaf (1mg/ml) by using guinea pig ileum preparation. The histamine dose responses were reduced (*P<0.005) after the incubation of hydroalcoholic extract of Andrographis paniculata Leaf (1mg/ml) when compared with normal CRC of histamine. The CRC of histamine was reduced (*P<0.05) after the incubation of pheniramine maleate (100μg/ml) when compared with normal CRC of histamine. The pheniramine maleate has been highlighted more anti histamine activity when compared with Andrographis paniculata leaf extract (APLE). Hence our present study was aimed to justify that the traditional claim of the entire leaf has used against histamine induced disease condition.


Ramirez-Albores, J.E. Variability in bird communities' composition in the Biosphere Reserve Montes Azules and adjacent areas, Chiapas, Mexico. Biota Neotrop. May/Aug 2006 vol. 6 no. 2, http://www.biotaneotropica.org.br/v6n2/pt/ abstract?article+bn03106022006. ISSN 1676-0603 In order to compare the bird communities' composition and their possible relationships, I sampled monthly from January to December 2002 in the Biosphere Reserve Montes Azules (REBIMA) and adjacent areas, Chiapas, Mexico. Data were obtained during 48 days of fieldwork in an area of 60 ha by site. I recorded 133 species, which represent 36% of the total number of species reported for the REBIMA. Highest species richness was found in the site 1 (well preserved forest with 113 spp). High similarity between the sites 1 and 4 were found (this last with 50% original vegetation, IS = 0.89). Approximately 80% of the species were residents; and insectivores were the best represented trophic guild (47 spp). All feeding guilds were represented in all sites showing differences in species richness and abundance. Variation in the richness and composition of bird communities among different sizes was due to the fact that some species may demonstrate a different response to the degree of forest fragmentation and habitat transformation. However, in spite of limited sampling efforts, the bird richness suggests that secondary habitats play an important role in the persistence of species in tropical ecosystems.


Several areas of knowledge have exploited differences/similarities between men and women and the reflexes that these aspects have in the sexuality experience. Human cultures, structured and shaped on the basis of sexual differences, separate roles, tasks and privileges between both sexes, emerging sexual patterns characterized in each eco-cultural space. Some authors say, female sexuality formula have a higher dose of culture regarding the biological substrate facet, than male sexuality. Objectives: 1) Characterize the trends of teens about sexual double standard; 2) Characterize adolescents attitudes in relation to the use of contraception; 3) Relate sexual double standard trends with contraceptive attitudes. Methodology: Current research is quantitative and exploratory in nature. In a group of 351 adolescents in school environment the relationship between the double standard and contraceptive attitudes were studied, using Double Standard Scale (Caron et al., 1993) and the Contraceptive Attitude Scale (Kyes 5, s.d.). The data analysis was performed using SPSS- 19 program. Results: A double-standard tend liberal was identified mainly in girls, not being influenced by age when considering the total of the subjects. However, double standard was inversely related to age in the girls subgroup. Favorable attitudes were identified in relation to contraception, not influenced by age, noting the girls awareness. Double standard is more liberal in individuals predisposed to use contraception. Conclusions: Sexual double standard and attitudes related to contraception are important aspects to work when you intend to study sexuality in adolescence, to the extent that can increase knowledge of health technicians, particularly nurses, and promote change. Aware of this, it is appropriate to continue to perform studies that characterize male and female teenagers according to contraceptive attitudes.


We investigate the sum-capacity loss for using uncorrelated Gaussian inputs over multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) power-constrained linear additive-noise channels in multi-user configurations. We show that the sum-capacity loss is bounded by a universal constant which depends only on the total number of input and output dimensions of the channel, but is independent of the channel matrix, the noise distribution and the number of users. Specifically, for a multiple-access channel with a total number of nt transmit antennas and base-station with nr receive antennas, the sum-capacity loss is at most C* = min{1/2, nr/2nt log2(1 + nt/nr)} bit per input dimension (or 1 bit per transmit antenna per second per Hertz). If we restrict attention to Gaussian noises, then the capacity loss is upper bounded by CG* = min{0.265, 0.265nr/nt log2(nt/nr)}, and this bound is tight for certain channel matrices and noise spectra. We show also that the same bounds hold for the sum-capacity loss of uncorrelated Gaussian input over linear MIMO broadcast channels, input distribution being interpreted either in terms of the equivalent point-to-point channel with Sato condition, or as the output distribution of a "dirty-paper" transmitter. One implication of these results is the limited value of coherence and water-filling in spatial transmission. Another implication is the limited capacity loss in multi-user configurations relative to the fully cooperative (point-to-point) channel


Advances in network architecture, enhancements in signaling protocols, provisioning of end-to-end QoS, worldwide seamless mobility, and flexible service provision are among the major research challenges toward next-generation wireless networks. The integration and interoperability of all these technologies, along with new truly broadband wireless innovations and intelligent user-oriented services will lead toward the so-called 4G wireless networks. In this article we identify the key issues of an innovative transparent IP radio access system that targets 4G networks.