In order to determine whether a tax or transfer is progressive, this presentation shows the benefits offered by the modules cprog and cprogbt within the environment of Stata through the distributive analysis Stata package (DASP). The goal is to compute progressivity curves and check whether taxes or transfers are progressive and whether a given transfer is more progressive than a given tax. An empirical case for both taxes and transfers is shown for the current Mexican situation.


Ad2+ND1, a nondefective hybrid virus containing a segment of the early region of simian virus 40 (SV40) DNA covalently inserted into the human adenovirus 2 genome, enhances the growth of human adenoviruses in simian cells and induces the SV40 U antigen. This hybrid previously has been shown to code for a 28,000 (28K) molecular weight protein not present in wild-type adenovirus 2-infected cells. By radioimmunoprecipitation using sera from hamsters bearing SV40-specific tumors, we have established that the Ad2+ND1-induced 28K protein is SV40-specific. This Ad2+ND1-induced protein is synthesized as a 30K molecular weight precursor, which is detectable only when infected cells are pulse-labeled in the presence of the protease inhibitor tosylamino phenylethyl chloromethyl ketone. Upon fractionation of labeled cell extracts, about 80% of the 28K protein is found in the plasma membrane fraction, whereas the remaining 20% is associated with the outer nuclear membrane. This protein is not detectable either in the nucleus or in the cytoplasm. Blockage of proteolytic cleavage by tosylamino phenylethyl chloromethyl ketone did not alter the topographic distribution of this SV40-specific protein, although the amount of the precursor protein in the outer nuclear membrane increased fourfold while that in the plasma membrane was proportionately decreased. This result suggests that the 28K protein is transferred from the outer nuclear membrane to the plasma membrane after posttranslational cleavage of the 30K precursor polypeptide. These data offer further support to the proposal that the 28K protein contains the determinants for SV40 U antigen and is responsible for SV40 enhancement of adenovirus growth in simian cells.


The highly irradiated transiting exoplanet, HAT-P-7b, currently provides one of the best opportunities for studying planetary emission in the optical and infrared wavelengths. We observe six near-consecutive secondary eclipses of HAT-P-7b at optical wavelengths with the EPOXI spacecraft. We place an upper limit on the relative eclipse depth of 0.055% (95% confidence). We also analyze Spitzer observations of the same target in the infrared, obtaining secondary eclipse depths of 0.098% ± 0.017%, 0.159% ± 0.022%, 0.245% ± 0.031%, and 0.225% ± 0.052% in the 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 μm IRAC bands, respectively. We combine these measurements with the recently published Kepler secondary eclipse measurement and generate atmospheric models for the dayside of the planet that are consistent with both the optical and infrared measurements. The data are best fit by models with a temperature inversion, as expected from the high incident flux. The models predict a low optical albedo of ≲0.13, with subsolar abundances of Na, K, TiO, and VO. We also find that the best-fitting models predict that 10% of the absorbed stellar flux is redistributed to the nightside of the planet, which is qualitatively consistent with the inefficient day–night redistribution apparent in the Kepler phase curve. Models without thermal inversions fit the data only at the 1.25σ level, and also require an overabundance of methane, which is not expected in the very hot atmosphere of HAT-P-7b. We also analyze the eight transits of HAT-P-7b present in the EPOXI data set and improve the constraints on the system parameters, finding a period of P = 2.2047308 ± 0.0000025 days, a stellar radius of R ⋆ = 1.824 ± 0.089 R ☉, a planetary radius of Rp = 1.342 ± 0.068 R Jup, and an inclination of i = 85.7+3.5 −2.2 deg.


Commercial properties play a central role in economics. They are the most important real estate investment class for institutional investors, even more important than the housing market. On the other hand corporations and self-employed people consider commercial properties as input factors, for which especially the quality and costs matter. Despite the fact, that estate agents, consulting firms and banks publish market reports on a regular basis, the commercial properties market lacks behind other investment markets in terms of transparency and data availability, as these reports only monitor very small fragments of the market.On this account the paper aims at developing a hedonic rental price index for commercial properties using supply data for the case of Berlin. The index will be divided in 2 subcategories for office and retail. The data was provided by "Immobilien Scout 24", a German internet platform. To find a suitable method for constructing an index, the time dummy method is compared to the hedonic imputation method. Our approach focuses on geospatial variables to improve the hedonic functions.


The cost of capital is a fundamental concept in strategic decisions such as capital investments, capital structure, new issues, mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs and other corporate restructurings. This paper explores empirically the option-based model developed by Hsia (1991) for estimating the cost of equity and the cost of capital of the firm. The composition of the sample in this exploratory study is all 17 non-financial companies listed in the Euronext Lisbon that are included in the market index PSI20. The Hsia model is used for estimating the cost of equity and the cost of capital of the firm for these 17 companies and is compared to the estimates obtained from the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and the traditional weighted average cost of capital (WACC). The difference between the means of the cost of equity estimated by Hsia model and CAPM is not statistically significant at 1% level and their correlation of 46.2% is statistically significant at 1% level. However, the differences at the individual level are quite large. One of the limitations found in this study was the inconsistency on the computation of the cost of debt. The problem arise from the fact that the cost of debt do not follow the pattern expected in the theory, but we also find that the Hsia model is unable to deal with potential inconsistencies of the financial market.


Background: Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite, which can infect almost all warm-blooded animals, including humans, leading to toxoplasmosis. Currently, the effective treatment for human toxoplasmosis is the combination of sulfadiazine and pyrimethamine. However, both drugs have serious side effects and toxicity in the host. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the discovery of new anti-Toxoplasma drugs with high potency and less or no side-effects. Methods: The cytotoxicity of sulfadiazine and lumefantrine to Vero cells was evaluated by the methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay. And MTT assay was also used to detect the inhibitory effects of lumefantrine on parasites invasion and proliferation. Flow cytometry was conducted to further verify parasites proliferation. qPCR was performed to evaluate the parasite load in the mice after lumefantrine treatment. In order to determine whether lumefantrine treatment enhances Th1 or Th2 cytokine response, IFN-γ, IL-4, and IL-10 levels in the serum of mice were determined. Results: Our findings suggest that lumefantrine exerts activity against T. gondii by inhibiting its replication and invasion of Vero cells in vitro without being toxic to the cells. Furthermore, lumefantrine protected mice with acute toxoplasmosis from death to a certain extent and reduced the parasite burden in mouse tissues in vivo. In addition, a significant increase in IFN-γ production was observed in high dose lumefantrine-treated mice while IL-10 and IL-4 levels increased in low dose lumefantrine-treated mice. Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrated that lumefantrine may be a promising agent to treat toxoplamosis, and more experiments on the protective mechanism of lumefantrine should be undertaken in further studies.Key words: Toxoplasma gondii, Lumefantrine, anti-Toxoplasma gondii, Invasion, Proliferation


BACKGROUND
Subtype variability may influence treatment response and selection of drug resistance mutations in HIV-positive patients on antiretroviral therapy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
A retrospective study was performed on specimens collected on dried blood spots (DBS) from HIV-positive individuals receiving antiretroviral therapy in Luanda, Angola. HIV-RNA, drug resistance mutations and subtypes were examined in 294 HIV-positive patients treated with two nucleoside analogues (NA) plus one non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI).

RESULTS
Overall, 217 (74%) had <1000 HIV-RNA copies/mL after a median of 12 months (range 7-24) of therapy. CD4 count was significantly higher in subjects with undetectable viraemia compared with viraemic patients (294 versus 220 cells/mm3; P = 0.003). Reverse transcriptase and/or gp41 genes could be genotyped in only 45 (58%) of viraemic patients, probably due to poor storage conditions of DBS. The most frequent resistance mutations were M184V (70%) and K103N (39%); 65% had mutations conferring resistance to both NA and NNRTI. Only five patients did not show resistance mutations. A wide HIV-1 subtype heterogeneity was found: 6 C (18.2%), 2 F (6%), 2 H (6%), 1 D (3%), 1 G (3%), 8 CRF02_AG (24.2%), 2 CRF06 (6%), 1 CRF01_AE (3%), 1 CRF14_BG (3%), 1 CRF25 (3%) and 1 CRF19 (3%). HIV clade could not be assigned in 7 (21%).

CONCLUSIONS
Nearly three-quarters of HIV-positive individuals who began an NNRTI-based triple regimen in Angola showed undetectable viraemia after a median of 12 months of therapy, a rate similar to that reported in Western countries. Specimens collected on DBS may allow monitoring of treatment response in resource-limited regions, although adequate temperature and humidity storage conditions are important to ensure RNA stability and further successful testing.


Recently, the frequent seasonal drought in Southwest China has brought considerable concerns and continuous heated arguments on the "water pump" viewpoint (i.e., the water demand from Hevea spp. and Eucalyptus spp. can be treated as a water pump) once again. However, such viewpoint just focused on water consumption from vegetation transpiration and its ecoenvironment impacts, which had not considered other attributes of vegetation, namely, water saving and drought resistance, and hydrological regulation (water conservation) into consideration. Thus, in this paper, the synthesized attributes of regional vegetation water use had been mainly discussed. The results showed that the study on such aspects as the characters of water consumption from vegetation transpiration, the potential of water saving and drought resistance, and the effects of hydrological regulation in Southwest China lagged far behind, let alone the report on synthesized attributes of water utilization with the organic combination of the three aspects above or the paralleled analysis. Accordingly, in this paper, the study on the synthesized attributes of water use by regional vegetation in Southwest China was suggested, and the objectives of such a special study were clarified, targeting the following aspects: (i) characters of water consumption from transpiration of regional typical artificial vegetation; (ii) potential of water saving and drought resistance of regional typical artificial vegetation; (iii) effects of hydrological regulation of regional typical artificial vegetation; (iv) synthesized attributes of water use by regional typical artificial vegetation. It is expected to provide a new idea for the scientific assessment on the regional vegetation ecoenvironment effects and theoretical guidance for the regional vegetation reconstruction and ecological restoration.


Vetches, which have an important place in our country and in the world, increased the efficiency in animal production with their high quality seeds and roughages. Vetches can be grown all over region of Turkiye because of their different life forms. Vetches having a short growing season and ecological features don't cause tympany unlikely alfalfa and clovers when given the animals as fresh. On the other hand,all of cultured vetches can't take place in pasture and meadows vegetations because of their annual life times. This case forces the researchers to find perennial legume species for pasture and meadow. Therefore, perennial and endemic Vicia freyniana, is seen as a potential candidate for forage crop.This study was conducted to determine some quality characteristics of Vicia freyniana in 2015 year. In the research, the leaf, stem and flower ratios, and crude protein ratios of components in Vicia freyniana obtained from the natural spread area of the plant were determined.Also fresh and dry herbage of the plant was given the animals to observe the palatability. According to the results crude protein ratios of the leaves, stems, flowers and whole plants were 19.42, 5.34, 12.73, 13.64% respectively. It was concluded that animals consumed the Viciafreyniana dry herbage gladly; however, they didn't consume the green herbage in the same way.


Despite the abundance of research on Palestine, studies of Palestinian political subjectivity and agency tend to adhere to the dominant analytical frames of Nationalism and/or Islamism. This has led to the neglect of a variety of socio-economic and political developments that do not fit these frameworks. Working against the dominant trend, the present paper hopes to theorize Palestinian politics in relationship to the recent globalisation of neoliberalism by exploring a variety of discourses and struggles that have developed since the late 1990s around the topic of mobile telephony in Palestine. While mobile telephony epitomises a diversity of social processes and ideas that are associated with the globalisation of neo-liberal subjectivity and desire, a study of discursive and concrete developments within this field builds up an image of a Palestinian political subject that is increasingly individualised, hybridised, and irrepresentable within the dominant discourses of nationalism and/or Islamism.


This paper addresses two main questions. First, how does one determine that something has the features it does as a result of design, as opposed to for example chance? Second, how are inferences to design affected when one makes the (plausible) assumption that the universe is spatially infinite? I will show that arguments for the existence of God based on the improbable development of life don't go through under the supposition that the universe is spatially infinite. I will also show that the model of design inferences promulgated by William Dembski is flawed, because it has the consequence that one can never infer design in a spatially infinite universe. My model for design inferences has the (desirable) consequence that there are circumstances where a seeming miracle can count as evidence for the existence of God, even if one would expect that type of event to naturalistically occur in a spatially infinite universe.


Endovascular obliteration of wide-necked aneurysms may be precluded by the inability to navigate across the aneurysm neck. The authors present a technique in which a Hyperform balloon is inflated within the aneurysm and used as a contact surface to "bounce" the remodeling balloon across the aneurysm neck. They have successfully used this technique in 3 patients to efficiently overcome vessel tortuosity, aneurysmal dead space, and balloon prolapse, allowing for obliteration of large, wide-necked aneurysms.


In 1835, the Western Australian Missionary Society appointed the Reverend Dr Louis Giustiniani to establish a Moravian-style mission in the Swan River Colony. The land grant essential for such a mission was not forthcoming from the government but Giustiniani established a small mission farm employing Aborigines at Guildford and started ministry among the settlers. This change of mission focus set the stage for conflict within the Anglican establishment of the colony, conflict which destroyed Dr Giustiniani's ministry. Giustiniani was well qualified and exerted himself to achieve the mission's objectives and many accusations made against him were essentially false; they reveal much about the prevailing culture and prejudices of the colony. He was defeated, however, because his ideas of church and mission differed from those of the colonial Church and society and because he did not conform to their expectations of the behaviour of a clergyman.


This article examines the experiences of women who establish new ventures in order to combine income generation with childcare responsibilities. Based on interviews with 20 'mumpreneurs', we examined career narratives to show how these women described the transition to entrepreneurship and their experiences of this new mode of working. The findings suggest that the women weave a path between the discourses of intensive mothering and enterprise. Becoming self-employed was deemed preferable to being perceived as a housewife as it enabled identification with a discourse of intensive mothering, facilitating far greater engagement with children than was possible during previous corporate lives. However, the findings revealed tensions which required individualized strategies to address excessive working hours and constrain business growth.


ABSTRACT To understand the transmission of Cryptosporidium infection in children, fecal specimens from 62 Kuwaiti children with gastrointestinal symptoms found to be positive by microscopy were genotyped and subtyped with a small subunit rRNA-based PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis and a 60-kDa glycoprotein-based DNA sequencing tool. The median age of infected children was 4.5 years, and 77% of infections occurred during the cool season of November to April. Fifty-eight of the children (94%) had Cryptosporidium parvum, three (5%) had Cryptosporidium hominis, and one (1%) had both C. parvum and C. hominis. Altogether, 13 subtypes of C. parvum (belonging to four subtype allele families) and C. hominis (belonging to three subtype allele families) were observed, with 92% of specimens belonging to the common allele family IIa and the unusual allele family IId. Thus, the transmission of cryptosporidiosis in Kuwaiti children differed significantly from other tropical countries.


AIMS AND METHOD Through a postal survey we sought to determine the current retirement
intentions of consultant psychiatrists working in Scotland. Consultants were
asked their likely date of retirement, whether they might return as a locum
and what might induce them to retire later. RESULTS Full data were returned by 180 consultants. The mean planned age at
retirement was 58.0 years. Women intended to retire significantly earlier than
men. Most respondents could be persuaded to retire later through changes in
services, conditions or job content; only 7% regarded their proposed
retirement date as immutable. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS Early retirement among consultants is likely to contribute to an even more
seriously understaffed service. It is necessary to seek national and
individual changes to the factors that give rise to early retirement in
psychiatry.


This article examined the predictive role of perceived control in long-term changes in disability among 1541 independently living older persons. Disability referred to self-reported difficulties with (instrumental) activities of daily living. Perceived control referred to the extent to which one assumes oneself as having control over one's life chances, unlike the fatalistic assumption that one's life is ruled by external factors. Data on disability and perceived control were collected in 1993 and recollected in 2001. Covariates included age, gender, living arrangement, level of education, and the number of chronic medical conditions. Regression equations were estimated with disability in 2001 as outcome and the selected variables as predictors. The level of perceived control decreased and the level of disability increased significantly over an 8-year period. The predictive role of perceived control for subsequent change in disability was statistically significant but not very strong. The association between perceived control in 1993 and disability in 2001 was stronger for older persons (>65 years) compared to younger persons ( 65 years).


Existence of permanent GNSS observation station provides the unseen earlier amount of data. This data can be used to calculate vertical crustal movements. In the presented paper, the adjustment of vertical movements network for the territory of Poland is presented. Both standard (least squares) and robust approaches are presented. For the computations author's own software was developed using C++ with Qt (for user interface) and Eigen (for matrix manipulations) libraries. Results are presented in the form of plots.


Prescribing neuroleptic drugs to control disruptive behavior in geriatric patients exposes them to the risk of tardive dyskinesia. Neuroleptics must be administered in the lowest effective dose for the shortest possible period, and should be given only for specific indications, usually psychotic disorders.


Computerised tomography, long a powerful tool in medicine, would be well suited to a wide range of industrial applications, particularly non-destructive testing (NDT). However, the very diversity of uses makes the production of a standardised scanner impossible. Systems for an industrial use would have to be designed with a problem in mind. An approach is presented for the analysis of CT scanning systems to help in the design problem. It first describes a system in terms of the sampling of the Radon transform of the object and then uses this information to produce a spatial description of the performance of a scanning system in terms of data collection. This description the authors call a resolution map and they show how the resolution map can be related to the object under study.


In rural West Africa, the gendered division of labour extends to labelling certain crops as 'male' or 'female'. With the introduction of new varieties of crops and technologies, these constructions of gendered plants undergo a process of renegotiation at social intrafaces. This process of attaching meaning to new features in cultivation results in the remaking of gendered crops. These negotiations, in turn, have an effect on the construction of gender in specific ethnic and environmental settings, unlinking labour from its gendered connotations and, thus, unmaking the social meaning and creating room for manoeuvre. Based on fieldwork among the Dagomba and Kusasi people in northern Ghana, this study examines how gendered responsibilities and access to the cultivation of crops are linked and expressed in obligations related to the cultural ideal of a proper meal, in this case consisting of the food categories (male) staple and (female) soup, which serve as the blueprint for assigning crops to a specific gender.


The objective of this study is to analyze price movements and interrelations of U.S natural gas, oil, and coal prices, as three main fossil fuels in the US. Structural break were identified in both natural gas and oil prices in February of 2009, at the peak of U.S. financial crisis. Both natural gas and oil are shown to be weak substitutes for coal, while the opposite relationships are not found. Stronger U.S. dollar led to lower fossil fuel prices, while only oil prices have been shown to depend on movement of income per capita and stock market.


Batch polymerization reactors commonly use optimal temperature control as the strategic operation parameter. This strategy allows for better operability and a more economic process. The main objective of the batch polymerization reactor control is to obtain acceptable product quality. Direct measurement of polymer quality is rarely achievable, which makes the online control of the reactor difficult. Temperature is the most controllable operational variable in the polymer reactor, which is seen to have a direct effect on the polymer properties. Temperature is chosen as the set point by using either the isothermal temperature or optimal temperature trajectory. Online control of the optimal temperature profile of a bench-scale batch polymerization reactor was experimentally investigated in this study. The temperature trajectory was used as the target for controllers to follow. The time-profile temperature was obtained with the objective of obtaining the desired conversion and number-average chain length within the minimum time. Two advanced controls of fuzzy logic control and generic model control were applied to the polymer reactor. A comparison of the controllers reveals that both performed better than conventional controllers.


This study compared pregnancy per AI (P/AI) of heifers inseminated with sex-selected or conventional semen after estrus detection (ED) or timed-AI (TAI). Heifers in the ED group received 2 treatments with prostaglandin F2α 14 d apart and those in the TAI group received a modified 5-day Co-synch protocol plus an intravaginal progesterone releasing insert device (PRID) and were inseminated 72 h after PRID removal. Overall P/AI were 69.2% (74/107) and 64.1% (75/117) for conventional and sex-selected semen (P > 0.05). Although P/AI in ED heifers following the use of conventional semen were numerically higher (75.0% versus 63.6%), P/AI with sex-selected semen were almost identical (65.0% versus 63.2%) for ED and TAI heifers. Pregnancy losses from first pregnancy diagnosis to term did not differ between ED and TAI heifers (6.0% versus 11.3%). In summary, heifers subjected to TAI with sex-selected semen following the application of a modified 5-day Co-synch plus PRID protocol had acceptable P/AI.


Despite astonishing progress, generating realistic images of complex scenes remains a challenging problem. Recently, layout-to-image synthesis approaches have attracted much interest by conditioning the generator on a list of bounding boxes and corresponding class labels. However, previous approaches are very restrictive because the set of labels is fixed a priori. Meanwhile, text-to-image synthesis methods have substantially improved and provide a flexible way for conditional image generation. In this work, we introduce dense text-to-image (DT2I) synthesis as a new task to pave the way toward more intuitive image generation. Furthermore, we propose DTC-GAN, a novel method to generate images from semantically rich region descriptions, and a multi-modal region feature matching loss to encourage semantic image-text matching. Our results demonstrate the capability of our approach to generate plausible images of complex scenes using region captions.


Implantable microelectrodes have the potential to become useful tools for recording from and/or stimulating cells of the nervous system in paralysed individuals, or as part of neural prostheses for amputees. Once implanted into the body, these electrodes are expected to remain functional for many years; therefore the materials must be compatible within their biological environment, in order to minimise complications and implant failure. In this study, the biocompatibility of materials for electrode sites has been investigated using two measures: cytotoxicity and protein adsorption. The cytotoxic effects of materials on cells have been investigated using neutral red assay, and adsorption of proteins onto materials has been investigated using atomic force microscopy and ellipsometry. Materials investigated in this study are gold (Au), platinum (Pt), iridium (Ir), indium tin oxide (ITO) and titanium (Ti). Ti has been chosen as a reference material because it is a long established implant material. After 72 hours of exposure to fibroblast cells, Au, ITO, and Ir show no inhibitory effects on cell growth, whereas Pt and Ti show greater amounts of growth inhibition. The protein adsorption to different materials shows a steady growth following the initial adsorption pattern. After 24 hours of exposure to plasma, Ti had the thickest and ITO had the thinnest layer of adsorbed protein.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the short-term outcomes after hand-assisted laparoscopic radical gastrectomy.

METHODS
Between June 2010 and May 2011, a series of 15 patients underwent hand-assisted laparoscopic gastrectomy(HG), 16 patients underwent laparoscopic gastrectomy(LP), and 11 patients underwent open gastrectomy(OP). Short-term outcomes included operative time, blood loss, lymph nodes harvested, and the length of incision were collected after operation.

RESULTS
The operative time was 150-200 min in HG, 180-220 min in LP, and 150-200 min in OP respectively. The time of laparoscopic procedure was 18-58 and 70-100 min respectively. The average incision length was 6.8 cm in HG, 5.6 cm in LP, and 13.5 cm in OP. The average number of lymph nodes harvested was 17.6, 15.1 and 16.4 respectively. The average estimated blood loss was 228 ml, 278 ml, and 427 ml respectively. The mean length of hospital stay was 9.9, 10.8, and 12.4 d. No anastomotic leakage, bleeding, or gastric paralysis were found. One wound infection case was found in OP.

CONCLUSIONS
Hand-assisted laparoscopic gastrectomy is in concordance with the standardized treatment protocol for gastric cancer. Lymph node dissection is easier by HG, therefore HG can be an alternative for the radical resection of gastric cancer.


Climate change is becoming one of the most important challenges facing our generation. Many industries and enterprises have begun steps for carbon emissions reduction and management. Manufacturing and industrial processes produce large amounts of greenhouse gas and use more electricity than any other sector, which push manufacturing enterprises to apply renewable energy to mitigate emissions from their production and operations. This paper addresses a low-carbon production scheduling problem considering renewable energy. A low-carbon production scheduling system architecture is proposed. A mathematical model of the addressed problem is presented with the objective of minimizing the total carbon emissions during the whole planning horizon. A low-carbon production scheduling algorithm of the addressed problem is designed. Computational experiments have demonstrated the proposed low-carbon production scheduling considering renewable energy.


The methodological approach for the express-estimation of the value of individual lifetime cancer risk due to the groundwater use by population for drinking is supposed. The calculation of risk is performed with the use of only the values of specific activity of 226Ra in underground water. The formulas for calculating the value of individual lifetime cancer risk in the groundwater use by the population in drinking aims for oral and inhalation routes of exposure are suggested.


This guide will familiarize you with the resources and services that the Shapiro Library at SNHU offers for your research needs.


Social relationship expresses the relationship between two or more people or groups. This relationship could be either in the form of colleagues, friendship and understanding or conflict and tension and sometimes indifference and coexistence. In other words, social relationship is the mutual relationship and dependence of human beings and their behavioral orientation that could be in the path of friendship or enmity. The main aim of this research is surveying the effect of using android-based and IOS-based mobile computers on social interactions of 18-29 year old youth of Tehran. Based on the research aim the current research is an applied research. Also, in terms of time it is a cross-sectional research. On the other hand, based on the data collection this research is considered as a field research. Also, for collecting theoretical concepts, the documentary or library method has been used. The statistical population includes 18-29 year old youth of the city of Tehran; and the sampling method is quota sampling method. The statistical sample includes 383 individuals. The research results indicate a relationship between all variables and the independent variable.


Article History: Received 27 July 2020 Received in revised form 29 September 2020 Accepted 10 October 2020 In this study, brewery sludge was evaluated in comparison with the recommended NP mineral fertilizer rate to elucidate a potential source of nutrients for maize crop. Randomized complete block design (RCBD) was laid out in three blocks at the experimental site. Physicochemical properties of the experimental soil and brewery sludge (BS) were evaluated in the soil laboratory. The N content of the grain and straw samples were determined using the wet digestion method. Heavy metals (Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn, Cr, Mo, Co, Pb, Se, and Cd) were extracted by DTPA extraction method and measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The application of a 15 t ha sludge rate showed the highest grain yield that exceeds the value recorded from NP-treated and control plots by 3.15 t ha and 4.42 t ha, respectively. Similarly, the application of 12.5 t ha sludge rate significantly increased the total nitrogen uptake of the crop (grain and straw) by 146.13% and 223.16% over the NP and control plots, respectively. There was 93.23%, 57.14%, and 76.78% higher significant difference of total nitrogen, organic carbon, and available phosphorus (mg kg) in BS than the composition found in experimental soil before the application of treatments, respectively. The application of sludge maintained most of the heavy metal concentrations to the level of safety for health following the recommended ranges by World Health Organizations (WHO). In conclusion, future long-term study is required to elucidate the effect of the sludge on soil biology, the chemical property of soil (pH and salinity), and pathogen contaminations on soil and crop production.


The third and final volume of this history, the first two of which have already earned considerable praise, seeks to provide a comprehensive narrative which bridges the divide between the Victorian age and the twentieth century. Dr Hylson-Smith has throughout identified a number of key themes to give coherence and unity to his magisterial work, The first is the transition from the monopolistic religious regime at the end of the fifteenth century to the complex multi-faith pluralism of our time. Then comes the transformation of the Church of England, from a national to an established church, and the increasingly significant development of parties within the Church of England. Next come the changing fortunes of Nonconformity and the metamorphosis of Roman Catholicism, not only in England but globally. Finally, themes particularly important for our age are the ecumenical movement, the place of women in the life of the churches, and the whole range of topics embraced by the term 'church and society'. Dr Hylson-Smith has written not only for fellow-scholars, teachers and students but also for anyone seeking a greater understanding and appreciation of the history of the English churches. All these will find him a fascinating and provocative guide.


Dr. E. K. Walton said that the paper acquired a greater significance when it was realized that the last paper to be presented to the Society on the stratigraphy and structure of the Southern Uplands was Lapworth's classic "Girvan succession" in 1882. It might have been expected that with the application of new techniques developed during this century some differences would emerge, but the area was a difficult one and the author was to be congratulated on his new, yet convincing, structural interpretation. The Lapworthian concept of the Southern Uplands as comprising an anticlinorium to the north and a synclinorium to the south now seemed very unlikely. It seemed more probable that the area as a whole was dominated by the complex monoclinal folds which the author first recognized in the Rhinns of Galloway. There was no sign of the supposed anticlinorium in the Rhinns section; Dr. G. Y. Craig and the speaker had demonstrated that the structure in the southern belt in Kircudbrightshire did not accord with a synclinorial disposition (1959, pp. 209–20); and Professor Alwyn Williams had commented on the lack of isoelinal folds in the Girvan area and emphasized the dominance of monoclines or asymmetrical anticlines whose axial planes dipped towards the south (1959.) The speaker, judging from the exposures on the eastern side of Loch Ryan, was not convinced that the Corsewall Group could be, in part, the equivalent of the lower part of the Kirkcolm Group and he asked whether it were


Characterization of the electron beam's properties will be a major task after the upgrade of the Los Alamos Free-Electron Laser (FEL) Facility with a photoelectric injector (PEI) and increased acceleration capability to 40 MeV. Adjustments to the previous diagnostics package that address the lower beam emittance, higher energy, and wakefield source reduction issues will be discussed. 6 refs., 8 figs., 1 tab.


We report a search for H2O megamasers in 274 SDSS type-2 active galactic nuclei (AGNs; 0.3 < z < 0.83), half of which can be classified as type-2 quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) from their [O iii] 5007 luminosity, using the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and the Effelsberg 100 m radio telescope. Apart from the detection of the extremely luminous water vapor megamaser SDSS J080430.99+360718.1, already reported by Barvainis & Antonucci, we do not find any additional line emission. This high rate of nondetections is compared to the water maser luminosity function created from the 78 water maser galaxies known to date and its extrapolation toward the higher luminosities of "gigamasers" that we would have been able to detect given the sensitivity of our survey. The properties of the known water masers are summarized and discussed with respect to the nature of high-z type-2 AGNs and megamasers in general. In the Appendix, we list 173 additional objects (mainly radio galaxies, but also QSOs and galaxies) that were observed with the GBT, the Effelsberg 100 m radio telescope, or Arecibo Observatory without leading to the detection of water maser emission.


The annealing behaviour, including studies of recrystallisation kinetics anddevelopment of crystallographic texture, of two low carbon steels after different coldrolling reductions have been investigated using Optical Microscopy (OM), ElectronBack-Scatter Diffraction (EBSD) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM).The primary recrystallisation behaviour of 20, 50, 70 and 90% cold rolled InterstitialFree (IF) and High Strength Low Alloy (HSLA) steels was studied. The HSLA wasinitially processed to give a volume fraction of about 0.2 of fine pearlite colonies,which acted as mechanically hard particles. The presence of such particles on theHSLA steel significantly reduced the temperature needed for recrystallisation byenhancing the recrystallisation and acting as nucleation sites by the ParticleStimulated Nucleation (PSN) mechanism. The inhomogeneous deformation and thelocal orientation changes introduced in the neighbourhood of the carbide particles(i.e. the particle deformation zone) were observed using TEM and selected areaelectron diffraction. The JMAK model was used to analyse the recrystallisationkinetics of the two steels. The experimental data plotted according to the JMAKmodel could be represented by straight lines with a JMAK exponent n falling in therange from 1.4 to 2.0.The development of crystallographic textures after cold rolling reductions andsubsequent recrystallisation has been investigated. The texture development is shownto be largely dependent on the rolling reduction. With increasing rolling reduction,the annealing texture show gradual intensification of ?- and ?-fibre components.However, the intensity of both fibres is weaker in the HSLA steel. Despite thedominance of PSN in HSLA steel, the recrystallisation textures were similar to thatof the rolling textures with weaker intensity of both fibres. To help clarify thereasons for that, in-situ EBSD experiments of recrystallising HSLA steel deformed to50% and 70% have been carried out. It shows that the formation of the nucleusseems to occur within the deformation zones in regions away from the particlesurface leading to recrystallisation textures similar to that of the rolling textures (i.e.both ?- and ?-fibre exist).The validity of this assumption has been confirmed by the use of Monte Carlomodelling. This model was used to simulate, in general way, and study thephenomenon of PSN during the recrystallisation process. The simulation shows thediscontinuous evolution of the subgrains in the deformation zone to formrecrystallisation nuclei around the particle. It shows also the subsequent growth ofthese nuclei to consume the matrix region around the particle. The simulation resultsare shown to match with the experimentally observed features of the recrystallisationphenomena in low carbon steel containing coarse cementite particles.


The possibility of transmission of microwaves through the plasma layer with electron concentration more than critical value is considered. The problem Is solved by consideration of the nonlinear interaction of a microwave with the plane layer of magnetoactive plasma. The problem is formulated so to obtain the estimation of the greatest lower bound of microwave transmission coefficient through the plasma layer. The results of numerical parametric investigations are applied for the transparency conditions of the shock-wave plasma.


The epidemiology of cardiovascular disease (CVD) complications in people with diabetes is changing with the increasing prevalence of presentations other than coronary heart disease (CHD) (e.g., heart failure (HF), cardiomyopathy (CM)). Existing CVD risk estimators such as the Framingham Risk Score (FRS), SCORE, and UKPDS Risk Engine primarily assess CHD risk. Our goal was to assess the prediction accuracy of HF and CM from these risk equations. We evaluated FRS, SCORE, and UKPDS to predict 1-year risk of CHD, HF, and CM from electronic health records of 469 diabetes patients seen at Emory Healthcare. Only adults without a prior history of CVD at baseline were included. A patient was denoted as a case if s/he had a subsequent ICD-9 code of HF, CHD, or CM at the next visit within a year, and if not, s/he was denoted as a control. We calculated the C-statistic of each score for each disease type. Our population had an average age of 71 with 47% females and 58% Caucasian. CHD, HF, and CM annual incidence rates were 54%, 44%, and 38%, respectively. Across FRS, SCORE, and UKPDS, CHD had the highest C-statistic (0.589-0.608) with HF the next highest (0.547-0.578). CM (0.369-0.426) performed worse than chance. Moreover, UKPDS performed the best across the three CVD complications. These results suggest that CVD risk estimators need to be calibrated for variations in disease presentation. Disclosure J.C. Ho: None. L.R. Staimez: None. K. Narayan: None. R.L. Simpson: None. V.S. Hertzberg: None. Funding National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (P30DK111024); National Library of Medicine (1K01LM012924-01)


Revival of religious practices of all sorts in China, after decades of systematic government suppression, is a topic of considerable interest to scholars in disciplines ranging from religious studies to anthropology to political science. This book examines contemporary religious practices among the Premi people of the Sichuan-Yunnan-Tibet area, a group of about 60,000 who speak a language belonging to the Qiang branch of Tibeto-Burman. Koen Wellens's ethnographic research in two Premi communities on opposite sides of the border, and his analysis of available historical documents, find multiple advocates and rationales for the revival of both formal Tibetan Buddhism and the indigenous Premi practices centered on ritual specialists called anji. Wellens argues that the variety in the shape the revitalization process takes—as it affects Premi on the Sichuan side of the border and their counterparts on the Yunnan side—can only be understood in a local cultural context. This full-length study of the Premi, the first in a language other than Chinese, makes a valuable contribution to our ethnographic knowledge of Southwest China, as well as to our understanding of contemporary Chinese religious and cultural politics.


Recently, Network Slicing in Radio Access Technologies (RATs) has been proposed as an approach to divide the wireless network infrastructure into isolated logical slices which are defined following their requirements and features in a service-driven way. To the best of our knowledge, the application of Network Slicing has not been explored in IEEE 802.11ah Networks. In this work, we propose a Virtual Network Slicing Broker (VNSB), a Virtual Network Function (VNF) instantiated inside a Software Defined Network (SDN) controller which communicates with an IEEE 802.11ah network Access Point (AP) via a southbound Application Program Interface (API). Based on information obtained by the northbound API, the slicing broker gets the information contained in the slicing templates, which describes the services features and respective Quality of Service (QoS) restrictions. With these data, the slicing broker makes logical slices in the context of the Restricted Access Windows (RAW) which are periodically sent by the AP to the stations (STA) via the Raw Parameter Set (RPS). Since there is no hardware with the IEEE 802.11ah standard available on the market, we validate the proposed solution through extensive simulations in a typical smart city scenario. Results showed the broker capacity to build and manage logical slices per service, respecting the QoS restrictions of each offered service. Moreover, the proposed slicing broker makes use of available resources of neighbor slices reducing delay, packet loss, and efficiently maximizing throughput per slice.


The distributed coupling between one guided wave and a finite number M of freely propagating waves is considered as it applies to optical-grating couplers and prism couplers. Starting from a scattering-matrix representation, general amplitude and power relations among the various incident and outgoing waves are discussed. These relations are based on the reciprocity, symmetry, uniformity, or losslessness of the coupler. It is shown that the high efficiency (80%) of the prism coupler can also be obtained with a grating coupler, provided that the guided wave interacts with only one free wave (M = 1). Various methods of achieving this are proposed. Among them is a scheme that yields a wavelength-selective coupler. The optimization of couplers is discussed for a number of typical coupling situations. The effects of losses in couplers are also treated.


Wool may be classed (i.e., grouped into reasonably uniform lots prior to sale) either immediately after shearing in the shearing shed or it may be packed into bales and sent to a wool store for classing. The second type of operation (especially when applied to relatively small quantities of wool) is known as bulk classing. With bulk classing the individual grower's wool loses its identity and is offered for sale in mixed lots. There are a number of other methods of preparation of wool for sale. Of these the only one which will be considered here specifically is "interlotting" which consists of shed classed bales from a number of growers being matched and sold as one lot. Interlotting is purely an operation to increase the size of lots (i.e., the number of bales per lot sold) so as to attract more competition from buyers or to reduce the valuing, inspection and bidding work of buyers and others


9,9'-Spirobifluorene oligomers ((SBF)n(n=1-4)) were fully optimized using density functional theory (DFT) at the B3LYP/6-31G(d) level.We obtained the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO),the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energies,and HOMO-LUMO energy gap from these DFT calculations.All molecules have good π conjugation structures.From the optimized geometries of the cationic and anionic charged states,we calculated the ionization potential (IP),electron affinity (EA),hole extraction potential (HEP),electron extraction potential (EEP),and the reorganization energy.The singlet excited geometry of 9,9'-spirobifluorene was calculated using the singleexcitation configuration interaction (CIS)/3-21G method.Absorption and emission spectra were obtained by employing time-dependent (TD)-DFT calculations.Results show that as the lengths of oligomers increase,the HOMO-LUMO energy gaps become narrower,the hole injection and the electron transport properties improve,the lowest excitation energies decrease,the oscillator strength (f) increases,and the maximum absorption wavelengths (λmax) show a red shift.The electronic and electrochemical properties of the polymer were predicted by extrapolating the properties of the oligomers with an infinite reciprocal chain length.To investigate the influence of substituting the 9 position of the fluorene,some parameters of the parent fluorene ((FL)n(n=1-4)) were calculated for comparison.From this comparison,it is obvious that spiro-functionalization at the fluorene C-9 bridge position can greatly improve the electron and hole transport properties and the excellent emission spectral quality of the fluorene is maintained.


Background Seizures are well described primary manifestation of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). Lupus nephritis can further decrease seizure threshold due to hypertension, uremia and electrolyte abnormalities. In this study we investigated the risk of intractable epilepsy and status eplilepticus (general and partial) in SLE patients who have lupus nephritis. Objectives To determine if lupus nephritis is an independent predictors of status epilepticus, grand mal status or epilepsia partialis continua in patients with SLE. Methods We queried the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project's (HCUP) Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) between 2002 and 2011 and separated the hospitalizations due to or with SLE using ICD 9 diagnostic codes previously established by HCUP. Among this population, we examined the patients with lupus nephritis, and compared their risk of seizures using the logistic regression model. The model was controlled for variables which included age, sex, race, hypertension, ischemic stroke, intracranial bleed, chronic kidney disease, uremia, antiphospholipid antibodies, craniotomy, head trauma, hyponatremia, psychosis, lupus encephalitis, ischemic stroke, intracranial infections, brain neoplasms, use of immunosuppression, alcohol use, abnormal electroencephalogram (EEG) and use of antiepileptics. Using SAS 9.2, survey procedures were used to identify multivariate predictors of intractable epilepsy, grand mal status and epilepsia partialis continua. Results A total of 1,631,680 who were hospitalized with SLE were available for analysis of which 907 (0.06%) patients had intractable epilepsy, 2092 (0.13%) patients had grand mal status and 146 (0.01%) patients had epilpesia partialis continua. The odds ratio (OR) of intractable epilepsy among SLE patients with lupus nephritis was 0.756 (Confidence Interval (CI) =0.411-1.387, p value=0.3659), OR for grand mal status was 1.022 (CI=0.735-1.423, p value=0.8955); whereas OR for epilepsia partialis continua was 3.000 (CI=1.208-7.453, p value=0.0179). Conclusions Lupus nephritis is an independent predictor of epilepsia partialis continua in SLE patients; whereas it is not an independent predictor of intractable epilepsy or grand mal status. Disclosure of Interest None declared


A clear comprehension of the oscillatory nature of sound for acoustics undergraduate students is of paramount importance. In this paper, two online experiments were implemented to aid teaching of the oscillatory nature of sound through the analogy between a mechanical mass-spring model and a Helmholtz resonator. The study was conducted among undergraduate students taking a science course in the Electronic and Electrical Engineering career curriculum. These in-class experiments were conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic via the Zoom platform. Students measured the Helmholtz resonant frequency of a plastic bottle with a smartphone application and compared its oscillatory behavior with that of a conventional harmonic oscillator under a professor-student collaborative environment. The results of this study suggest that, with careful experiment design, students can effectively benefit from the use of common technology tools, which, in turn, poses these methodologies as a rather satisfactory alternative to face-to-face laboratory sessions.


We present a 29-month-old male patient in follow-up due to pyelocaliceal dilation with a prostatic nodule incidentally found during ultrasound evaluation. Cysto video endoscopy was performed and a prostate biopsy, obtained. Microscopic evaluation showed a haphazardly distributed population of muscular cells with cross striations without evidence of mitosis or necrosis. Immunohistochemistry was positive for myogenin and desmin and negative for smooth muscle actin. Next generation sequencing was performed without finding any pathogenic variant or fusion in the tumor RNA. The patient received no further treatment, remained asymptomatic and continues in follow up, 3 years after initial diagnosis. We report a case of prostate rhabdomyoma in a toddler, an exceptional location that raises concern about differential diagnosis with its malignant counterpart, rhabdomyosarcoma, especially at this age.


A systematic theoretical and experimental study on a 35-GHz 45-kV third-harmonic gyrotron with a permanent magnet system is presented in this paper. A complex cavity with gradual transition and a diode magnetron injection gun (MIG) are employed in the gyrotron. A self-consistent field nonlinear theoretical investigation and numerical simulation for electron beam interaction with RF fields are given. The diode MIG is simulated numerically utilizing our code in detail. The permanent magnet system provided the maximum axial magnetic field of about 4.5 kG in the cavity region of the gyrotron. The Ka band third-harmonic complex cavity gyrotron with a permanent magnet system has been designed, constructed, and tested. A pulse output power of 147.3 kW was obtained at a beam voltage of 45 kV with beam current of 32.2 A, corresponding to an efficiency of 10.2%.


We have developed a media player for use in distance education. The player can incorporate several time-indexed sources, including video, audio, PowerPoint, and text index. We have converted all the SMA 5503 Introduction to Algorithms lecture videos for use with the player. Student response to the player has been excellent. The media player's graphical user interface (see Fig. 1) permits a student viewer to navigate a video by the text index. The text index can be produced either automatically by a PowerPoint plug-in developed by David Mycue of MIT's Academic Media Production Systems, or manually by a teaching assistant using an ordinary text editor. The student can flip easily through PowerPoint slides, invoking the video only when needed, rather than being forced to watch video presentation of material the student already understands. The player also allows playback to be accelerated up to twice real-time speed without changing the speaker's tone, thereby allowing the student to watch a video in much less time that would otherwise be possible. A single-click button allows the student to skip backward in the video a few seconds, easing the replay of critical material. Another single-click button allows the user to skip forward. Although none of the features in this media player are unique or original, their combination provides a platform for lecture viewing, superior to the one currently being used by SMA. Ongoing work on the player includes adding more features to the player, such as allowing students to add multiple streams of other information (e.g., notes, snapshots of the lecture, etc.) which will be synchronized with the video in the same manner as the text indices and the slides in the current version. [Full Text Not Available] Figure 1. Screenshot of the Lecture Viewer


The design of a stilling basin structure involves an investigation of the river cross-section, determination of the water depth in the river, evaluation of the energy levels, definition of the downstream channel dimensions, calculation of flow depth and finally an analysis of hydraulic jump in the stilling basin. The equations that are used to determine the flow depths are non-linear and therefore required a time-consuming trial-and-error method to solve them. However, water depths may be found by utilising an iterative technique commonly referred to as the Newton–Raphson iteration technique, which is used to solve the system of non-linear equations. In this study, a computational model, based on the use of the Newton–Raphson technique to determine the flow profile of the hydraulic jump type stilling basin, is developed. A numerical example for using the computational model, depending on a prepared computer program, is presented.


Cybersex was a topic even before the proliferation of internet. But on-going technological developments and wider internet access have allowed cybersex to become part of our everyday sexual expression - especially for the generation that has grown up in the digital age. This study explores the relationships between cybersex and capitalism by conducting a historical materialist method of analysis using largely secondary resources and social theories. It argues that cybersex is a product of capitalism by first looking at the history of technology and sex under capitalism. The study then looks into three main forms of cybersex: sexting, webcam and virtual-reality cybersex. It finds that economic factors often play a big part in allowing people to consume technological products for cybersex, which then shapes the mediated forms of cybersex and their popularity. In turn, economic factors and forms of mediation help to shift the meaning of sexuality. This shift has presented challenges to notions of the body and reality - in both positive and negative ways. The study concludes that cybersex is inevitable as the role that technology plays in our life is getting bigger. Concomitantly, capitalism will constantly challenge the meanings of body, intimacy, desire and relationships. This study thereby suggests that technology should be regarded as a tool that helps our life and not a substitution.


Preservice teachers are not often provided with opportunity to learn and practice the skills required for miscue mediation. A miscue is a point in oral reading where the observed response does not match the expected response. The mediation is a verbal or non-verbal response from a teacher during a student's oral reading intending to provide confirmation, reinforcement or instruction in effective reading strategies. Preservice teachers should know (a) how to recognize and mediate appropriately at miscue, and (b) how to properly apply miscue mediation to individual tutoring situations. An Interactive Multimedia Tutoring Program (I.M.M.T.P.) delivered on CD-ROM has the potential to resolve this problem.
The I.M.M.T.P. is computer-based courseware containing several full motion video segments of an emerging reader in oral reading tutorials with a professional reading teacher. The preservice teacher can choose any video segment and engage with the program in Tutorial or Participant modes. The Tutorial mode enables the student to choose from a variety of hypertext links explaining the teacher's mediations. The Participant mode enables the student to ask questions about the tutoring through an internet link that automatically e-mails these to the instructor for personalized feedback.
Pilot testing of a prototype I.M.M.T.P. revealed that most students used the basic features of the courseware. Opportunities to engage in Participant mode were taken by fewer students. A large majority of students found the I.M.M.T.P. easy to use. Most suggestions for improvement addressed technical features. Students had an overall positive response to the courseware, reporting that they would be more comfortable tutoring a student as a result of using it. Preliminary findings suggest that the I.M.M.T.P. can be an effective educational supplement for preparing preservice teachers of reading. Opportunities for further research span the areas of reading, teacher education and instructional technology.


The effects of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor antagonists were studied on currents evoked by application of ATP to rat isolated dorsal root ganglion cells, and human embryonic kidney 293 cells expressing rat P2X(3) and P2X(2/3) receptors. The rapidly desensitising (within 100 ms) current in dorsal root ganglion cells was inhibited by methyllycaconitine, alpha-bungarotoxin and (+)-tubocurarine (concentrations giving half-maximal inhibition were approximately 40, 60 and 800 nm, respectively), but not by hexamethonium (100 microm) or mecamylamine (100 microm). The sustained (>250 ms) current in dorsal root ganglion cells was inhibited by (+)-tubocurarine (80% by 10 microm), but not by methyllycaconitine (200 nm), alpha-bungarotoxin (200 nm), mecamylamine (100 microm) or hexamethonium (100 microm). Rapidly desensitising currents evoked by alpha,betamethylene-ATP in human embryonic kidney cells expressing P2X(3) receptors were inhibited by methyllycaconitine and alpha-bungarotoxin, at concentrations similar to those effective in dorsal root ganglion cells. The results indicate that some nicotinic acetylcholine receptor antagonists are potent blockers of P2X receptors on neurons, particularly the homo-oligomeric P2X(3) receptor. This finding suggests that these drugs should be used with care to discriminate between P2X and neuronal acetylcholine receptor types.


In modern electric traction systems, dual inverter fed open-end winding induction motors (DI-OEWIM) present a promising solution to improve their performance. The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of the decoupled PWM strategy on the performance of DI-OEWIM. The principle of this study is to create different phase shifts on the voltages output of one of the inverters using the decoupled PWM strategy, and then evaluate the performance of the system. This strategy was implemented experimentally on a dSPACE 1104 board and applied to a 1.5 kW motor. The responses of the common-mode voltage (CMV), zero sequence voltage (ZSV), THDs and speed clearly show an improvement in the dynamic and steady-state performance of the motor drive.


Universities have a responsibility to deliver an accessible academic curriculum to an increasingly diverse student cohort with a widening range of academic preparedness for study. For first year students, the 'hidden curriculum' of academic assessment can be mystifying, with its unfamiliar conventions and opaque standards. The Developing Understanding of Assessment for Learning (DUAL) Program aims to de-mystify biology laboratory report writing with an approach that integrates best practice initiatives for both students and markers. DUAL makes the conventions of scientific report writing clear by providing written guidelines and an online report writing tutorial. The required standard of report writing is communicated to students when they participate in a mock moderation session, requiring them to mark and discuss reports of varying standards. In the following class formative peer assessment of draft reports is conducted. Before submission of the second report, DUAL guides students to develop the meta-cognitive skill of reflecting on their learning by using an 'action plan' to record how they will apply feedback from their first report to their second. Although marks awarded for the second report showed no statistically significant improvement for the cohort as a whole, student perceptions of DUAL were very positive.


A 65-year-old man suddenly developed severe headache, vertigo, and sensory disturbance of the right side. On the CT, a high density round mass was identified in the dorsal portion of the pons. The patient's level of consciousness decreased one hour later. A repeat CT showed diffuse subarachnoid hemorrhage and hydrocephalus. Angiography demonstrated a dural arteriovenous fistula (DAVF) at the craniocervical junction. The main feeding artery was the left C2 radicular artery, and the fistula was drained by a leptomeningeal vein that proceeded upward and had a venous ectasia in its distal portion. Transarterial embolization could not be performed because the feeding artery could not be cannulated using a microcatheter. 3D-CT angiography showed a single draining vein at the anterior portion of the left vertebral artery. Four weeks later, ventricular drainage was instituted following surgical disruption of the arteriovenous fistula's draining vein. Postoperative angiography demonstrated complete obliteration. In the present case, surgical clipping of the draining vein was safe and effective; surgical resection of the DAVF or cautery of the surrounding dura was not necessary. Intraoperative digital subtraction angiography (DSA) was as useful as the Doppler technique.


A major challenge in studies relating built environment features to health is measurement error in exposure due to geocoding errors. Faulty geocodes in built environment data introduce errors to exposure assessments that may induce bias in the corresponding health effect estimates. In this study, we examine the distribution of the measurement error in measures constructed from point‐referenced exposures, quantify the extent of bias in exposure effect estimates due to geocode coarsening, and extend the simulation extrapolation (SIMEX) method to correct the bias. The motivating example focuses on the association between children's body mass index and exposure to the junk food environment, represented by the number of junk food outlets within a buffer area near their schools. We show, algebraically and through simulation studies, that coarsening of food outlet coordinates results in exposure measurement errors that have heterogeneous variance and nonzero mean, and that the resulting bias in the health effect can be away from the null. The proposed SC‐SIMEX procedure accommodates the nonstandard measurement error distribution, without requiring external data, and provides the best bias correction compared to other SIMEX approaches.


The authors report a rare case of dural arteriovenous malformation (AVM) associated with occlusion of the superior sagittal sinus. A 78-year-old female developed transient aphasia, followed by generalized convulsion. Common carotid angiography showed a dural AVM fed by the bilateral middle meningeal arteries, draining to the superior sagittal sinus, and sinus occlusion. 123I-single photon emission computed tomography demonstrated decreased blood flow in the bifrontal-parasagittal regions. Transcatheter embolization via the feeding arteries improved the cerebral blood flow around the lesion, and the symptoms disappeared.


The article pays attention to spiritual formation as a vital focus in youth ministry. Spiritual formation will be described as a contextual process of meaning making and integration of what we believe into how we live our lives. The individualistic nature of especially postmodern spirituality gets attention. Lastly the article will focus on the connection between identity formation and spiritual formation, as well as the community orientated focus of Christian spirituality, which makes it so valuable for youth ministry today.


This article presents an optimized heavy duty electric truck charging station (ETCS) design based on bi-level mixed integer linear programming. Electric truck parameters are integrated with the grid model and charging sequences are firstly formulated to optimize charging stages. As the second level of the optimization stage, line losses are aimed to be minimized for the charging station. ETCS model is obtained from actual parameters of the Istanbul Muratbey Customs zone which is one of the busiest customs zone in Europe and an ideal location for ETCS application in the future. The ETCS is equipped with roof type photovoltaic (PV) modules and the capacity of the PV generation is determined in accordance with the actual data of the customs zone buildings. The PV generated power is integrated with electric truck demand which varies in daytime based on hourly intervals along with the seasonal impact. Ultimately, an optimized ETCS model is presented including PV generated power to reduce line losses and CO2 emission along with optimized charging sequences for ETCS with huge power consumption. The proposed model represents the reduction of line losses along with the obtained environmental and economic benefits.


The authors have investigated empirical correlations between descriptions of grain characteristics and friction angle of some coarse-grained soils. They have defined strength as the peak total stress ratio and described this by a Mohr–Coulomb criterion with values of cohesion in the range 48–165 kPa and friction angles in the range 33–54°. They have related the friction angles to grain characteristics. These values and correlations raise a number of important issues.

Soil parameters fall into two classes. There are material parameters that depend only on the grains and there are state-dependent parameters that depend also on the current stress and voids ratio. (State-dependent parameters may be modified by structure described by fabric and bonding but material parameters depend only on the characteristics of the grains.) For example, the critical state friction angle ϕ′c is a material parameter. The parameters that describe peak strength are clearly state-dependent parameters and they depend on the current stress and voids ratio. Any empirical correlation between a state-dependent parameter such as peak friction angle and grain characteristics that does not explicitly include stress and voids ratio must have very limited application.

It is clear from their figure 7a that the authors are considering strength at the peak total stress ratio, which occurred at a strain of about 2.5% in these tests. The peak strength may be described by a Mohr–Coulomb criterion with total stress parameters c p and ϕp or by a maximum stress ratio criterion ϕm (= tan−1τ/σ). For uncemented soil with zero pore pressure, the peak envelope must pass through the origin (the shearing resistance of uncemented dry soil is …


Primary lung carcinoma with distant metastasis is a life-threatening diagnosis that presents many unique challenges due to the severity of the disease at the time of presentation. We investigated a life-threatening primary lung carcinoma with distant metastasis in a 73-year-old transgender woman, which posed unique challenges due to the advanced stage of the disease at presentation. The patient exhibited nonspecific musculoskeletal and neurological symptoms resulting from the primary lung carcinoma metastasizing to her liver, bones, and brain. We evaluated various imaging modalities that aided in determining the disease's severity and identifying complications related to metastasis. Although these efforts can offer symptomatic relief, the overall prognosis remains poor when metastasis spreads to multiple organs, particularly the brain, as remission may no longer be attainable.


A number of steam turbine prime-mover models for extended system dynamics simulation has recently evolved and been documented from planning type of studies. Significant effort has been expended in the development resulting in some general awareness of this applicability. However, the effective model structure as affected by limited data, and individual dynamic response characteristics of these state-of-the-art models remain to be considered. It was not known how these models individually respond dynamically in terms of closed-loop response time and nonlinear effects such as dead-bands and limits. It was also not known how well these models can be used in a dispatcher training simulation. This paper presents computed results of individual unit dynamic responses of two such models out to several minutes. Computations simulating load following and breaker opening are included. The responses show nonlinear effects due to dead-bands in series with major control paths. The closed-loop response times are found to be not directly related to any single time parameter of the model. Effects and limitations of integration time steps and integration methods are illustrated. The results of the computational study show that the models can be adapted for dispatcher training simulation, and time steps can be as long as two seconds with appropriate choice of integration algorithm. Computational interface consideration for these models in other power system studies is also included in this paper.


—The poor scalability of Volunteer Computing (VC) hinders the application of it because a tremendous number of volunteers are needed in order to achieve the same performance as that of a traditional HPC. This paper explores optimization potential to improve the scalability of VC from three points of view. First, the heterogeneity of volunteers' compute-capacity has been chosen from the whole spectrum of impact factors to study optimization potential. Second, a DTH (Distributed Hash Table) based supporting platform and MapReduce are fused together as the discussion context. Third, transformed versions of work stealing have been proposed to optimize VC for both computeand data-intensive applications. On this basis, the proposed optimization strategies are evaluated by three steps. First, a proof-of-concept prototype is implemented to support the representation and testing of the proposed optimization strategies. Second, virtual tasks are composed to apply certain computeor data-intensity on the running MapReduce. Third, the competence of VC, running the original equity strategy and the optimization strategies, is tested against the virtual tasks. The evaluation of results has confirmed that the impaired performance has been improved about 24.5% for computeintensive applications and about 19.5% for data-intensive applications.


Objective: Poor adherence to antipsychotic medications is strongly associated with psychotic relapses and hospitalizations. This may hinder patients' ability to function, particularly in a first episode of psychosis (FEP). Poor adherence to treatment may be due to poor insight that can alter the capacity to consent to care, including pharmacotherapy. When patients are judged legally lacking the capacity to consent to care, treatment can be mandated through community treatment orders (CTOs). This naturalistic study examines the effects of CTOs in FEP patients. Method: This study examines 38 FEP patients legally deemed unable to consent to care during their follow-up. Using a naturalistic mirror-image approach, we compare clinical (Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms [SAPS], Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms [SANS]), functional (Global Assessment of Functioning Scale [GAF], Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale [SOFAS]), and service use (number of emergency room visits, length of hospitalizations) indicators before and after CTO. Results: After the CTO, 37 of 38 patients complied with treatment. Statistically significant improvements in clinical (▵SAPS = –6.3; 95% CI, 4.5 to 8.1 and ▵SANS = –2.2; 95% CI, 0.9 to 3.4, P < 0.01) and functional (▵GAF = +15.0; 95% CI, 8.4 to 21.6, ▵SOFAS = +18.6; 95% CI, 12.8 to 24.4, P < 0.01) outcomes were observed. Significant reduction in emergency room visits (P = 0.016) and days of hospitalization per month in acute care units (P < 0.05) were identified with no difference in hospital days per month in short-stay units. Moreover, encounters with case managers (P = 0.008) and attendance of cognitive therapy sessions (P = 0.031) were significantly higher. However, patients' weight significantly increased after CTO (▵weight = +8.0 kg, P < 0.01). Conclusions: In FEP patients, CTOs improve compliance to treatment, which contributes to reducing positive and negative symptoms, shortening hospital stays, and improving functioning.


Nowadays, non-invasive blood pressure (BP) is commonly measured by cuff-based devices, which cause discomfort during measurement and can only provide snapshots of BP. In order to measure beat-to-beat BP continuously and cufflessly, models based on pulse arrival time (PAT) and RR interval (RRI), which can both be conveniently acquired by wearable devices, have been previously proposed. Nevertheless, the existing models often estimate BP based on PAT and RRI of the same beat and ignore the possible time shifts between these variables. In this paper, the cross correlation between RRI, systolic BP (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP) and PAT were studied on 25 young healthy subjects. In total, 1015 cross correlation coefficients, each from a 1-minute signal recording, were calculated for any two cardiovascular variables. The results of the study showed that on average, maximum correlation is found between RRI and DBP when RRI led by 1.3 seconds and between RRI and PAT or SBP when RRI led them by 2.5 seconds. Based on the results of this study, it is therefore concluded that future BP estimation models should take into account the time shifts between these cardiovascular variables when using RRI for the estimation of SBP and DBP as well as when using PAT for the estimation of DBP.


Both glial and neuronal cells maintained in primary culture were found to accumulate [3H]GABA by an efficient "high-affinity" uptake system (apparent K,, = 9/xM, Vmax = 0.018 and 0.584 nmol/mg/min, respectively) which required sodium ions and was inhibited by 1 mM ouabain. Strychnine and parachloromercuriphenylsulfonate (pCS) (both at 1 mM) also strongly inhibited uptake of [*H]GABA, but metabolic inhibitors (2,4-dinitrophenol, potassium cyanide, and malonate) were without effect. Only three strtictural analogs of GABA (nipecorate, fl-alanine, and 2,4-diaminobutyrate) inhibited uptake of [SH]GABA, while several other compounds with structural similarities to GABA (e.g. glycine, Lproline, and taurine) did not interact with the system. The kinetic studies indicared presence of a second uptake (K,, = 92/xM, Vm~x = O. 124 nmol/mg/min) in the primary cultures containing predominantly glioblasts. On the other hand, only one of the neuronal cell lines transformed by simian virus SV40 appeared to accumulate [SH]GABA against a concentration gradient. Apparent K,n of this uptake was relatively high (819/zM), and it was only weakly inhibited by 1 mM ouabain and 1 mM pCS. The structural specificity also differed from that of the uptake observed in the primary cultures. Significantly, none of the nontransformed continuous cell lines of either tumoral (glioma, Ca; neuroblastoma, M1; MINN) or normal (NN; 16) origin actively accumulated [3H]GABA. It is suggested that for the neurochemical studies related to GABA and requiring homogeneous cell populations, the primary cultures offer a better experimental model than the continuous cell lines.


We report on room temperature infrared transient absorption experiments on Bacteriorhodopsin concerning the early picosecond dynamics of the all trans to 13-cis isomerization of the retinal chromophore. The absorption band of the all-trans chromophore ethylenic stretch vibration bleaches concomitantly to photoexcitation whereas new absorption strength is created redshifted within less than 1 ps. the initial bleach recovers partly according to the non unity quantum yield of the photoisomerization within 2 ps. With a time constant of 3ps the low energy absorption band is downshifled 5–10 cm-1. Thus, vibrational relaxation and cooling processes appear to have ended within a few ps and on the time scale of 20 ps a stationary BR-K difference spectrum is obtained.


Abstract— The problem of reconstructing an image from irregular frequency samples arises in synthetic aperture radar (SAR), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), limited angle tomography, and 2-D filter design. Since there is no 2-D Lagrange interpolation formula, this problem is usually solved using an iterative algorithm, such as POCS (Projection Onto Convex Sets), or CG (Conjugate Gradient) applied to a linear system of equations with the image pixels as unknowns. However, these require many iterations, and each iteration requires a non-uniform forward 2D Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT). We present a non-iterative algorithm for the reconstruction of an (M × M) image from a sufficient number of arbitrary samples of its (N × N) 2-D DFT, where N >> M . The algorithm requires only a single sparse (N × N) 2-D DFT, followed by two roughly (M × M) 2-D DFTs. Precomputation for a given configuration of irregular (N × N) 2-D DFT samples is also required. Small and large examples illustrate the algorithm.


Indonesia is the world's largest producer of crude palm oil (CPO). At peak harvest conditions, frequent accumulation of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) due to abundant raw materials. Based on data from one palm oil mill in the province of North Sumatra, the percentage of FFB stays in the field overnight, which is 41% of the total FFB though, on the one hand FFB that has been harvested must be processed immediately because it can affect the quality of oil to be produced. Besides that, the factors of production and storage processes are also very influential on the quality of CPO. The imbalance in production planning shows that production planning is not yet optimal in the CPO supply chain so that a production optimization design is needed in the CPO supply chain. The genetic algorithm was chosen in the completion of the optimization model because of the complex characteristics of the CPO supply chain. The purpose of this research is to optimize the palm oil supply chain system to minimize production costs. This method shows that the optimum production yield for the third quarter of 2017 is 12,202,285 kg. With the proposed system an increase in the percentage of CPO production was obtained by 8.34% compared to the actual system.


In the paper is presented the overview of the legal requirements in Serbia covering planning and as well landscape planning. It is stress that Serbia is in the process of the ratification of the European Landscape Convention (ELC) and adoption of the Spatial Plan of the Republic of Serbia (SPRS) where is included the obligation of the production of the study "Characterization of the landscape in Serbia"and as well pilot projects "Characterization of the landscape" where are separated priority areas and where are specially stressed as tourist destinations spas. Taking into consideration that important step towards development of the methodological framework for landscape planning and management in Serbia was made with the inclusion of this subject within the process of formulating of the SPRS, besides the overview of the main obligations set by this document covering landscape planning and management, as an example of the current practice, two case studies of Vrnjacka spa and Pribojska spa are presented where special attention within planning documents was given to the protection and enhancement of the landscape. Beside that, as a contribution, it is given the proposal of the preliminary typology of the landscape of Vrnjacke spa within the borders of the Master plan and Pribojska spa within the borders of the Plan of detailed regulation. Taking into consideration the scope of these plans, the landscape is defined as cultural and by more detailed analyses as urban and rural. Within these two types of landscape are separated urban area, the "core" of the spa, peri-urban area, and within rural forest and agricultural area. One of the main conclusions of this paper is that the inclusion of the landscape within legal framework which is promoting spatial and urban planning, nature and environmental protection is very important prerequisite for adequate planning and management of the landscape in Serbia.


Intellectual property has become an increasingly valuable corporate asset. Not surprisingly, many companies use intellectual property for security purposes in commercial financing schemes. The recent revision of Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) was drafted with a comprehensive understanding of how intellectual property has been used generally in commercial transactions and as collateral in secured transactions. The revised Article 9 aims to facilitate more financing schemes secured by intangible assets in electronic com- merce. Given the growth of borderless, electronic commerce, new intellectual property assets such as domain names and web contents are often the primary assets of online companies.3 If these assets are secured for purposes of obtaining financing for online companies, both the lender (creditor/investor) and the online company (debtor) should understand the nature of the assets and how a security interest in the assets is perfected. Most importantly, from the lender's side, having a perfected security interest will provide the lender priority in the intangible assets over the bankruptcy trustee in the event the online company is insolvent. From the online company's side, it is important to understand how the securing of intellectual property is achieved and what impact it may have on the company's daily operation.


The historical background leading to the current use of buprenorphine as an analgesic and its role in the management of opioid dependence is summarized. The popular description of buprenorphine as a "partial agonist" is discussed in relation to efficacy in animal models of antinociception and clinical analgesia. The latest information on the respiratory depressant effects of buprenorphine and its N-dealkylated metabolite (norbuprenorphine) is presented. New data on the buprenorphine withdrawal syndrome in rats are described.


A new approach to high-order Boussinesq-type equations with ambient currents is presented. The current velocity is assumed to be uniform over depth and of the same magnitude as the shallow water wave celerity. The wave velocity field is expressed in terms of the horizontal and vertical wave velocity components at air arbitrary water depth level. Linear operators are introduced to improve the accuracy of the kinematic condition at the sea bottom. The dynamic and kinematic conditions at the free surface are expressed in terms of wave velocity variables defined directly on the free surface. The new equations provide high accuracy of linear properties as well as nonlinear properties from shallow to deep water, and extend the applicable range of relative water depth in the case of opposing currents.


Gold has long been known as being catalytically inactive. However, more interest and attention have been concentrated on the research and development of gold catalysts in recent years. Gold catalysts have been shown good catalytic performances, especially for CO oxidation, and can be used to eliminate CO even below ambient temperature. Compared with other catalysts for CO oxidation, the nanosize gold catalysts have superior catalytic behaviors, such as high catalytic activity, high catalytic stability and high resistance to moisture, and show a continuously increasing and more extensive application prospects. In this review, the preparation factors such as preparation method, supports particle size, pretreatment condition were summarized. The activation and reaction mechanisms were discussed.


Diseases due to aeroallergens constantly increased over the last decades and affect more and more people. Adequate protective and pre-emptive measures require both reliable assessment of production and release of various pollen species, and the forecasting of their atmospheric dispersion. Pollen forecast models, which may be either based on statistical knowledge or full physical transport and dispersion modeling, can provide pollen forecasts with full spatial coverage. Such models are currently being developed in many countries. The most important shortcoming in these pollen transport systems is the description of emissions, namely the dependence of the emission rate on physical processes such as turbulent exchange or mean transport and biological processes such as ripening (temperature) and preparedness for release. Thus the quantification of pollen emissions and determination of the governing mesoscale and micrometeorological factors are subject of the present project MicroPoem, which includes experimental field work as well as numerical modeling. The overall goal of the project is to derive an emission parameterization based on meteorological parameters, eventually leading to enhanced pollen forecasts. In order to have a well-defined source location, an isolated birch pollen stand was chosen for the set-up of a 'natural tracer experiment', which was conducted during the birch pollen season in spring 2009. The site was located in a broad valley, where a mountain-plains wind system usually became effective during clear weather periods. This condition allowed to presume a rather persistent wind direction and considerable velocity during day- and nighttime. Several micrometeorological towers were operated up- and downwind of this reference source and an array of 26 pollen traps was laid out to observe the spatio-temporal variability of pollen concentrations. Additionally, the lower boundary layer was probed by means of a sodar and a tethered balloon system (also yielding a pollen concentration profile). The concentration distribution downwind of the birch stand exhibits a significant spatial (and temporal) variability. Small-scale numerical dispersion modeling will be used to infer the emission characteristics that optimally explain the observed concentration patterns.


This study estimates the effect of neighborhood disadvantage on bachelor's degree attainment with data from a long-term follow-up of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. We focus on heterogeneous effects by race and class as well as individual and neighborhood mechanisms that might explain observed patterns, including parents' educational expectations, collective efficacy, social relationships, and neighborhood violence. Using newly developed methods for estimating longitudinal treatment effects, we find that cumulative neighborhood disadvantage in adolescence is strongly associated with lower bachelor's attainment among high-income blacks and Latinos. We find no effect for whites and at most a modest effect among low- and middle-income blacks/Latinos. A sensitivity analysis suggests that the estimated effect for high-income blacks/Latinos is plausibly causal. These results support an advantage-leveling model of neighborhood effects and add important nuance for research considering how and for whom neighborhoods influence life chances.


The standard conditions for stress relief annealing (SR-treatment) of welded structures such as pressure vessels are indicated by JIS or ASME code. However, application of these conditions to high quality thick plates seems to be unreasonable, since they require for such plates to simply keep higher temperature for longer time than actually needed . This is partially due to the lack of sufficient knowledge on the effect of SR-treatment over the reduction of welding residual stresses, especially for thick plates. On the other h and, the theory of thermal elastic-plastic creep analysis based on the finite element method has been well developed. Although the SR-treatments of welded joints of very thick plates have been analyzed by this method, its application . is not easy but requires a great deal of computation. Accordingly, it is necessary to develop some simple calculation method to accurately estimate residual stresses remained in a very thick plate after SR-treatment . In this fundamental study , using the various relations between stresses and strains during SR-treatment, estimating equations are formulated in order to simply calculate residual stresses after SR -treatment as in a uniaxial stress state. As a demonstration , approximate equations are developed for the relaxation test both at a constant and changing temperatures because of its similar stress relaxation phenomenon to that of SR-treatment . The results are compared with the highly accurate analytical result based on the finite element method. The both results show such a good coincidence that the appropriateness of the adopted method is confirmed. In the next report, this method will be developed and applied to SR-treatment of welded structures with more general stress state and boundary condition in order to obtain the change of residual stresses in a welded joint of a very thick plate .


Background In chronic disease management, shared medical appointments have been shown to improve clinic access, productivity and patient education. However, adoption of this model in surgical consultation is limited, and its effect on surgical patients' satisfaction, comfort and surgical risk recall is unknown. Objective To determine whether shared medical appointments could be applied to carpal tunnel surgery consultation while being equally effective as individual consultation for risk recall, patient comfort and satisfaction. Methods A prospective randomized trial involving 80 patients referred for carpal tunnel release consultation, in which patients were assigned to an educational discussion individually or as part of a shared appointment, was conducted. In a blinded fashion, patients were contacted preoperatively to assess their risk recall and postoperatively to rate their overall satisfaction, comfort and satisfaction with the surgeon. Results Patient demographics were equal. Surgical risk recall was equivalent between shared and individual consults (2.06±1.15 versus 1.64±1.04; P=0.11). More participants in the shared appointments condition remembered the specific risks of infection (61.1% versus 33.3%; P=0.020) and bleeding (30.6% versus 10.3%; P=0.028). There was no difference in overall satisfaction (8.70 versus 8.88; P=0.75), satisfaction with the surgeon (8.05 versus 8.13; P=0.92) or overall comfort (8.80 versus 8.31; P=0.46). Discussion Shared medical appointments for carpal tunnel surgery consultation were equivalent to individual consultation in terms of surgical risk recall, patient satisfaction and comfort. Conclusion These results support the use of shared appointments for large-volume, low-variation surgery.


Abstract This nationwide retrospective cohort study determined the association between alcohol use disorder (AUD) and the risk of necrotizing fasciitis (NF). This study used health insurance claims data of 52,212 in-patients with AUD and 208,848 controls randomly frequency-matched by age and sex at a 1:4 ratio. The AUD cohort included patients newly diagnosed with AUD between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2008. The NF event occurrence was observed until December 31, 2011. We used the Kaplan–Meier method to present the cumulative incidence curve and Cox proportional hazard models to depict the risk of NF in patients with AUD. The incidence of NF was 19.4 per 10,000 person-years in the AUD cohort, which was nearly 7.73-fold higher than that in the comparison cohort (2.54 per 10,000 person-years). After adjustment for age, sex, and comorbidities, the patients with AUD exhibited a 3.55-fold higher risk of NF than did the controls (hazard ratio [HR] = 3.55, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.00–4.20). Nevertheless, in the AUD groups without any comorbidity, patients with AUD exhibited a significant 15.2-fold higher risk of NF than did the comparison cohort (HR = 15.2, 95% CI = 10.9–21.3). Moreover, the adjusted HRs of NF risk with respect to the severity of AUD were 2.15 (95% CI = 1.76–2.62), 4.54 (95% CI = 3.67–5.62), and 10.7 (95% CI = 8.66–13.2) for mild, moderate, and severe AUD, respectively. This study indicated that AUD should be considered an independent and significant risk factor for NF.


The dynamic development and expansion of artificial intelligence (AI), one of the most important technologies currently being developed in the world, which may herald the fourth technological revolution, brings not only numerous benefits, but also threats in many spheres of socio-economic life, including law. This breakthrough technology also creates a number of challenges and opportunities for the science and practice of competition law (or antitrust law). The aim of this study is to show the pro- and anticompetitive effects of AI implementation, as well as to identify and outline the key challenges and opportunities that these effects have on competition law. This paper is intended to serve as an introduction to the subject matter. It does not claim to examine it exhaustively, but rather to inspire its further, more extensive and in-depth analysis.


The process of a feature matching for two different spatial data sets is similar to the process of classification as a binary class such as matching or non-matching. In this paper, we calculated a threshold by applying an equal error rate (EER) which is widely used in biometrics that classification is a main topic into spatial data sets. In a process of discriminating what`s a matching or what`s not, a precision and a recall is changed and a trade-off appears between these indexes because the number of matching pairs is changed when a threshold is changed progressively. This trade-off point is EER, that is, threshold. To the result of applying this method into training data, a threshold is estimated at 0.802 of a value of shape similarity. By applying the estimated threshold into test data, F-measure that is a evaluation index of matching method is highly value, 0.940. Therefore we confirmed that an accurate threshold is calculated by EER without person intervention and this is appropriate to matching different spatial data sets.


An alumina template modified with ZrO2 was coated with cellulose acetate (CA) containing imprinted molecules for a novel enantioselective membrane. The preparation, morphologies, and properties of the different membranes were introduced and investigated. The morphologies of the membranes were examined using a scanning electron microscope. The best performing CA amount in the casting solution was observed to be 15 wt %, and this was chosen as the preparation amount for the resulting membrane. (S)-(+)-Mandelic acid was used as imprinted molecules to prepare the molecular imprinted nanochannel membrane, which enhanced the permselectivity and flux compared with the traditional membrane, and the separation factor was as high as 35. And this membrane has the best separation effect on (R,S)-mandelic acid when compared with (R,S)-malic acid and (R,S)-lactic acid.