At the 127th European Study Group with Industry an energy sector com- pany proposed an industrial challenge that consisted on the asset acquisi- tion planning for its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder business, one of the most recent business areas in the company. This business area is still in a growing phase and to satisfy the market needs and assure a sustainable growth a very tight control of the main assets, the LPG cylinders, is of paramount importance. Therefore, a detailed planning of all the as- sets acquisition is required, taking into consideration several variables: sales growth rate, seasonality, cylinder rotation and corresponding return rate to the filling plant.
The challenge was to develop a model for the assets acquisition planning. In order to tackle this challenge, it was necessary to forecast the demand. For that purpose, time series techniques were used, in particular, moving averages and exponential smoothing. The results show that the seasonality does not explain all the variation of the demand, therefore it is necessary to use a model that would consider other possible explanatory variables.
According to several authors, gas consumption may be influenced by several aspects, such as, atmospheric temperatures, heliophany (a measure of the day luminosity), wind, relative humidity, rains, minimum and maximum temperatures, demand in previous periods, and prices.
The forecast of bottled propane gas sales and return rate was also addressed through multivariate linear regression. Regression models for the monthly number of bottles of types A and B were obtained, having pre- sented good percentages of explained variability with the variables under study.
The main goal of the challenge, the acquisition plan, was addressed u ing inventory models with reverse logistics. Several deterministic approaches have been considered to enable different aspects in the framework. A new inventory model has been developed to contemplate the three possible des- tinations of returned bottles: cleaning, requalification, or disposal. The models were implemented in Excel and can be tested, using PRIO estimates of holding costs and fixed setup costs, and the forecasts of sales and return rate computed previously.


[1] Surface currents measured by high-frequency radars are objectively mapped using covariance matrices computed from hourly surface current vectors spanning two years. Since retrievals of surface radial velocities are inherently gappy in space and time, the irregular density of surface current data leads to negative eigenvalues in the sample covariance matrix. The number and the magnitude of the negative eigenvalues depend on the degree of data continuity used in the matrix computation. In a region of 90% data coverage, the negative eigenvalues of the sample covariance matrix are small enough to be removed by adding a noise term to the diagonal of the matrix. The mapping is extended to regions of poorer data coverage by applying a smoothed covariance matrix obtained by spatially averaging the sample covariance matrix. This approach estimates a stable covariance matrix of surface currents for regions with the intermittent radar coverage. An additional benefit is the removal of baseline errors that often exist between two radar sites. The covariance matrices and the correlation functions of the surface currents are exponential in space rather than Gaussian, as is often assumed in the objective mapping of oceanographic data sets. Patterns in the decorrelation length scale provide the variabilities of surface currents and the insights on the influence of topographic features (bathymetry and headlands). The objective mapping approach presented herein lends itself to various applications, including the Lagrangian transport estimates, dynamic analysis through divergence and vorticity of current vectors, and statistical models of surface currents.


BACKGROUND
Current, nationally representative data on rotavirus disease burden and rotavirus strains in India are needed to understand the potential health benefits of rotavirus vaccination.

METHODS
The Indian Rotavirus Strain Surveillance Network was established with 4 laboratories and 10 hospitals in 7 different regions of India. At each hospital, children aged <5 years who presented with acute gastroenteritis and required hospitalization with rehydration for at least 6 h were enrolled. A fecal specimen was obtained and was tested for rotavirus with use of a commercial enzyme immunoassay, and strains were characterized using reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction.

RESULTS
From December 2005 through November 2007, rotavirus was found in approximately 39% of 4243 enrolled patients. Rotavirus was markedly seasonal in northern temperate locations but was less seasonal in southern locations with a tropical climate. Rotavirus detection rates were greatest among children aged 6-23 months, and 13.3% of rotavirus infections involved children aged <6 months. The most common types of strains were G2P[4] (25.7% of strains), G1P[8] (22.1%), and G9P[8] (8.5%); G12 strains were seen in combination with types P[4], P[6], and P[8] and together comprised 6.5% of strains.

CONCLUSIONS
These data highlight the need for development and implementation of effective prophylactic measures, such as vaccines, to prevent the large burden of rotavirus disease among Indian children.


Background: Chewing the leaves of Khat is a social habit in East African countries including Ethiopia. Its health and the socio-economic burden is becoming a severe problem in Ethiopia. Its effects on Doppler velocities in common carotid arteries have not been studied. The present study was, therefore, designed to evaluate its hemodynamic effects on these arteries in wildtype male white albino rats. Materials and methods: A total of 42 adult (7-8 weeks) wild-type male white albino rats weighing between 213 and 229 g were used in this study. The rats were received Khat extract sub chronically (kesc, 100 mg/kg, 200 mg/kg and 300 mg/kg b.w.), Khat juice (khJ, 2.5 ml/kg), ascorbic acid (AA, 200 mg/kg), 2% tween 80 in distilled water (T80W-v/v) and Khat extract sub acutely (kesa) 300 mg/kg. The blood flow velocities and indices were measured using an ultrasonic Doppler flow meter. The Doppler waveforms were measured three times and the average values were taken for analysis using SPSS version 21.0 and Microsoft Excel. Results: The SysV of common carotid artery was significantly reduced in rats received the middle (p<0.01) and higher (p<0.01) doses of Khat extract sub chronically compared with rats received vehicle. However, the DiaV has significantly reduced in rats receiving a higher dose of extract compared with the vehicle (p<0.05) and ascorbic acid (p<0.001). The SysV and DiaV in rats received the lower dose of Khat extract, Khat juice, AA sub chronically and the higher dose of Khat extract sub acutely were not affected (p>0.05). The RI (p<0.001) and the PI (p<0.01) of this artery was significantly higher in rats received a higher dose of extract compared with the rats received the lower dose. The size (in g) of the brain at a higher dose (p<0.001) of extract administered sub chronically was significantly reduced compared with rats received the vehicle. Conclusions: Khat affected the common carotid artery Doppler velocities and indices particular at the higher doses and prolonged administration. The organ bath in vitro effects of Khat on these arteries should be investigated in the future.


Monolayers derived from layered materials exhibit electrical, magnetic and optical properties radically different to the bulk. Therefore, industrially-viable methods for fabrication of layered materials from precursors will find application in fields as diverse as electronics, fuel cells and light technology. In this thesis, several new avenues for 2D materials synthesis are explored. A novel synthetic method for highly-crystalline micron-sized domains of monolayers of phase-pure MoS2 by liquid atomic layer deposition (ALD). Single-crystalline MoS2 with domain sizes up to 100 μm (among the largest reported) and an area of ~5,000 μm2 is demonstrated and proved by optical and electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL) characterisation. The new process combines liquid chemistry with discrete, layer-by-layer deposition of precursors for the first time. The quality of MoS2 is comparable to that obtained by chemical vapour deposition (CVD). Hence, this method for MoS2 production potentially provides a low-cost and large-scale route to 2D materials. An application for the technique is presented, involving development of an MoS2—WS2 heterostructure, aiming to exploit the unique optical properties of heterostructured materials in type II band alignment. A high-quality heterostructure is demonstrated, exhibiting good vertical coverage of the overlayer, as shown by XRD and Raman spectroscopy. Hydroxide-mediated liquid exfoliation of SnS2 is presented as a safe, high-quality alternative to lithium-ion intercalation. The resulting SnS2 nanoflakes are shown to be monolayer and of good crystallinity, by optical microscopy (OM), Raman spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction (XRD). The application of AFM to fundamental study of interlayer van der Waals (vdW) forces in layered materials is explored by combining the technique with liquid exfoliation.


The atomic structure of extremely small cobalt (Co) nanoparticles embedded in an amorphous carbon (C) matrix has been studied by spherical aberration (Cs) corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and focal-series restoration. The Co nanoparticles, 1–3 nm in diameter, are crystalline with the face centered cubic structure, while the radial distribution function analysis revealed the existence of a Co–C bond. The reconstructed phase images of the exit-wave function clearly show the projected potential distribution within the Co nanoparticles. The Cs-correction has hence a benefit to visualize embedded crystalline clusters unambiguously, which are responsible for the magnetotransport properties of the Co-C films.


Water is essential for life, important for the ecosystem and it is in great demand due to its scarcity. This study explored the reuse of the wastewater of the Water Treatment Plant in Gramame for agricultural purposes. A qualitative and quantitative investigation of the effluent was carried out through the characterization of its physical and chemical parameters, comparing the results to what is allowed by the current legislation, CONAMA Resolution 357/2005. After this process, the activated charcoal of coco-da-baia mesocarp, adsorbent material, was prepared and tested in a filter system in a column with a continuous flow and ascendant entrance, in which the kinetic effect was evaluated. This technique was evaluated by correlating the reduced values in the adsorption material, respecting the initial effluent concentration, obtaining a reduction of 50% in the hardness, 87.5% in chloride and 66.6% in acidity. These results verified the adequacy of the technique in potential hydrogenation (pH) and abrupt reduction of color and turbidity. This treatment is suggested to qualify the effluent for use in agricultural, safe for humans and the environment. The adsorbent substrate efficiency was verified by correlating it with the Thomas isothermal model.


In this paper, we discuss a case study performed for new method of pressure sensing, significance of this approach and propose approaches for improving sensitivity, dimensions and accuracy. The goal of the project is the research of complex smart pressure sensor based on the new sensing system with galvanic fiber optic isolation including research and experimental validation of this new pressure sensing principle. The objectives of the project of applied research are in new methods and technology of pressure sensors with galvanic isolation and function specimen of smart optical pressure sensor for explosive industrial environment and/or environment with high electromagnetic interference and very high precision and absolute resistance to electric and magnetic interference, with optional galvanic or wireless connection and its integration into the field of distributed sensors for computer processing and monitoring measured data in Internet. Key-Words: Pressure sensor with optical fiber, galvanically isolated sensor, optical sensing.


Using immunocytochemical procedures in conjunction with electron microscopy we have examined the distribution of the major DNA-binding protein (DBP) of herpes simplex virus (HSV) in infected nuclei. In embedded specimens, DBP was preferentially associated with fibrillar material of electron-translucent viral inclusions, and to a lesser extent with peripheral (marginated) host chromatin. The latter association was sensitive to a non-ionic detergent ('Photo flo'). In chromatin spread by the Miller technique, DBP was found to be a component of the 10 nm 'thick filaments' previously described in HSV infection.


Wireless sensor network (WSN) is comprised of a large number of sensors that collaboratively monitor various environments which sense and forward temperature, humidity, etc. In WSN, Black hole attack is occurred when adversary or intermediary captures the node they do not transmit data to next node instead of that they transmit wrong/false event information to the base station. Literature study has been proved the 100attack and 99in presence of black hole attack by allowing packet transmission to other base station where base stations are deployed at various places. Our focus is on successful data delivery at multiple base stations. In this paper we have been proved the 100station by implementing lightweight security model. We analyze Tiny Encryption Algorithm from literature survey which deals with authentication, encryption and decryption yields feasible solution for wireless sensor networks.


Streaming media application has attracted more and more attention nowadays. However, how to improve the quality of service (QoS) for streaming media application is still a challenging issue. The emerging transport protocol - Mul-TCP Friendly Rate Control (MulTFRC), which gives different priorities to data flows, could be used in streaming applications or similar use cases. On our test bed, some streaming media applications are used to evaluate the performance of MulTFRC. In our experiments MulTFRC acts friendly with TCP flows. Meanwhile a MulTFRC flow with the higher aggression value gains more throughput, which obviously improves the performance of streaming media application.


In the context of global climate change, carbon footprint (CF) becomes an important sustainability indicator for dairy production systems. To mitigation the CF of the dairy sector, insight into greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions from individual farms is required. The objective of this study was to determine the primary contributors to GHG emissions at the farm-gate level, expressed as a carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2-eq), to produce one kg of fat-and protein corrected milk (FPCM). Primary data about farms' management and feeding practices were collected from twelve dairy farms that belong to Gyeonggi-do province, which represent the most important region for milk production in South Korea. Allocation of GHG emissions between meat and milk was assessed as a physical allocation, 98% allocated to milk and 2% to meat (surplus of calves and culled cows). The CF of the evaluated farms averaged to 0.61 CO2-eq/kg of FPCM and ranged from 0.49 to 0.78 CO2-eq/kg of FPCM. Results indicated that the largest source of GHG comes mostly from enteric fermentation (83%), followed by manure management (6%), manure and fertilizer land application (8%) and energy consumption (3%). By type of gas emitted, methane accounted for 86% of total emissions, originating from enteric fermentation and manure management. Nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide accounted for 11.6 % and 2.8% of total GHG emissions, respectively. Lactating cows contributed by 70% of total GHG emissions, whereas dry cows, heifers and calves contributed by 5, 22 and 3%, respectively. Differences in GHG emissions from the evaluated farms could be explained by differences in feed quality and management practices through manure and fertilizers application on cropland. This study contributes to identify the main sources of GHG production in dairy farms, which can help to define mitigation strategies towards the transition to neutral carbon emissions of the dairy sector.


This study provides an overview of the factors that influence the level of TOEFL graduation of English Study Program students in the Intensive TOEFL Training Program.  The purpose of this study is to conduct an empirical investigation whether the factors variable affect the variable of TOEFL graduation level. The total populations in this study were 113 respondents. The data were collected through questionnaires. Data analysis was done by multiple regressions using SPSS version 22. The result showed that the factors simultaneously affect the level of TOEFL graduation.


This paper will focus on sexual violence and new forms of religious traditionalism emerging in the Croatian political context and their engagement with the term gender. Critical Discourse Analysis as a methodological framework will be used to investigate the debates surrounding the ratification of the Istanbul Convention (Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence) in 2018 in Croatia. Religious conservative organisations started to frequently utilize the term "gender ideology" to created fear, confusion and moral panic in the public discourse in connection to the ratification. According to their interpretations, "gender ideology" in the Istanbul convention was smuggled in to destroy the traditional Croatian Catholic heterosexual family by enabling children to choose their own gender. Croatia has undergone significant changes since the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the 1990s dismissing its socialist legacy with the support of the Catholic Church and its staunch anti-communist rhetoric which seeks to undo any progress in terms of gender equality achieved during socialism. Researching sexual violence from the intersectional feminist framework poses a challenge in a climate where the conservative discourse has highjacked any discussion of sexual violence in the public sphere by contesting the term gender itself and making it a questioned category of social analysis. Even though Croatia has ratified the Istanbul Convention in April 2018, the government has issued alongside an "interpretative statement" further legitimizing the term "gender ideology."


This study examined the relationship between second language (L2) learners' collocation knowledge and oral proficiency. A new approach to measuring collocation was adopted by eliciting responses through a word association task and using corpus-based measures (absolute frequency count, t-score, MI score) to analyze the degree to which stimulus words and responses were collocated. Oral proficiency was measured using human judgements and objective measures of fluency (articulation rate, silent pause ratio, filled pause ratio) and lexical richness (diversity, frequency, range). Forty Japanese university students completed a word association task and a spontaneous speaking task (picture narrative). Results indicated that speakers who used more low-frequency collocations in the word association task (i.e., lower collocation frequency scores) spoke faster with fewer silent pauses and were perceived to be more fluent. Speakers who provided more strongly associated collocations (as measured by MI) used more sophisticated lexical items and were perceived to be lexically proficient. Collocation knowledge remained as a unique predictor after the influence of learners' vocabulary size (i.e., knowledge of single-word items) was considered. These findings support the key role that collocation plays in oral proficiency and provide important insights into understanding L2 speech development from the perspective of phraseological competence.


LISA is a space-borne, laser-interferometric gravitational-wave detector currently under study by the European Space Agency. We give a brief introduction about the main features of the detector, concentrating on its one-year orbital motion around the Sun. We compute how the amplitude as well as the phase of a gravitational wave are modulated due to this motion by transforming an arbitrary gravitational-wave signal in a reference frame that is rigidly fixed to the arms of the detector. To see how LISA works the detector response to a gravitational wave which is purely monochromatic in the barycentric frame will be discussed. A brief review of the theory of parameter estimation, based on the work of Finn and Cutler, will be given. Following this theory the detection of a gravitational-wave signal buried in detector noise was simulated numerically. We interpret the results of this simulation to determine the angular resolution of LISA.


ABSTRACT An investigation was carried out to determine the cause of death and the incidence of tumours among 1932 workers in a ferrochromium plant in Sweden. The workers had been exposed mainly to metallic and trivalent chromium (Cr3+); hexavalent chromium (Cr6+) was also present in certain working operations. The population was defined as all men employed at the plant for at least one year during 1930-75, and were classified according to their occupation within the industry. The causes of death were initially obtained from parish registers. For deaths occuring between 1951 and 1975, death certificates were collected from the National Central Bureau of Statistics. Data on the incidence of cancer during 1958-75 were obtained from the Swedish National Cancer Registry. Expected death rates and incidence of tumours were calculated, based on the rates for the county in which the factory was situated. The total number of deaths from tumours was less than expected (69 versus 76·7). Five cases of respiratory cancer were found, against an expected 7·2. Among maintenance workers, an increased death rate from all tumours and an increased number of respiratory tumours were found. Two of the latter were mesotheliomas and could be connected with asbestos exposure. No increase was found for respiratory tumours among the heavily exposed workers at the arc-furnaces; one case of mesothelioma was found in this group.


Since the turn of the century there have been several notions of convergence for subsets of metric spaces appear in the literature. Ap- pearing in as a subset of these notions is the concepts of epi-convergence. In this paper we peresent denitions of epi-Cesaro convergence for se- quences of lower semicontinuous functions from X to (1 ;1) and Ku- ratowski Cesaro convergence of sequences of sets. Also we characterize the connection between epi-Cesaro convergence of sequences of functions and Kuratowski Cesaro convergence of their epigarphs.


This book provides architects, engineers, builders, foresters, members of the pest control and timber industries, and the general public with a ready source of reference to the more important wood borers and termites encountered in Australia. Many species of timber can be attacked by wood-destroying insects such as wood borers and termites.With some species of wood borer or termite, an infestation can result in serious economic damage necessitating treatment and repair or replacement of the affected timber. With other species, remedial action is unnecessary. In many situations, preventive measures can significantly reduce the damage caused by these wood-destroying insects.


The recently discovered tunnel magnetodielectric (TMD) effect—the magnetic field-induced increase in the dielectric permittivity ( ε′) of nanogranular composites caused by the spin-dependent quantum mechanical charge tunneling—is of interest for both the scientific value that combines the fields of magnetoelectric and spintronics and multifunctional device applications. However, little is known about how large the maximum dielectric change Δ ε′/ ε′ can achieve and why the Δ ε′/ ε′ variations obey the dependence of square of normalized magnetization ( m2), which are critically important for searching and designing materials with higher Δ ε′/ ε′. Here, we perform approximate theoretical derivation and reveal that the maximum Δ ε′/ ε′ can be estimated using intrinsic tunneling spin polarization ( PT) and extrinsic normalized magnetization ( m), that is, Δ ε′/ ε′ = 2 PT2 m2. This formulation allows predicting over 200% of theoretical limit for m = 1 and accounts for the observed m2 dependence of Δ ε′/ ε′ for a given PT. We experimentally demonstrate that x-dependence of Δ ε′/ ε′ in (CoxFe100−x)–MgF2 films is phenomenologically consistent with this formulation. This work is pivotal to the design of ultra-highly tunable magnetoelectric applications of the TMD effect at room temperature.


Nuray Egelioğlu Cetişli , Feyza Ertop , Ekin Dila Topaloğlu Ören Postpartum Comfort and Breastfeeding Behavior of Primipara Obese and Non-obese Mothers Objective: Maternal obesity negatively affects the health of the mother and the newborn during pregnancy and in the postpartum period. This study was carried out to determine if there was any difference with regard to breastfeeding behavior and postpartum comfort between obese and non-obese mothers. Materials and Methods: This prospective case-control study included 104 mothers, of whom 54 were obese, in the Obstetrics Clinic Department of a university hospital in Turkey. Data were collected using the Individual Information Form, Postpartum Comfort Questionnaire (PPCQ), and LATCH breastfeeding assessment tool. Results: The LATCH and PPCQ total scores in obese mothers were lower compared to non-obese mothers, and the difference was statistically significant. For obese women, there was a statistically significant positive correlation between the LATCH score and the PPCQ total score, and the physical, psycho-spiritual, and sociocultural comfort subscale scores. For non-obese mothers, a positive correlation with the LATCH score was found only for the physical comfort subscale score. Conclusion: Obesity affects the postpartum comfort and breastfeeding negatively, so mothers who are obese require more support than mothers who are not obese.


The effects of nonivamide on the cardiovascular system were examined and compared with the effects of substance P (SP) in rats. Intravenous (i.v.) injection (10 micrograms/kg) of nonivamide produced triphasic pressure responses (A; depressor, B; pressor, and C; depressor) and biphasic bradycardia responses (f; fast bradycardia and s; slow bradycardia). IA injection (10 micrograms/kg) into the epigastric artery caused hypotension and mild tachycardia. The effects of atropine, vagotomy, SP antagonist, propranolol, and clonidine on these responses were examined and mechanisms responsible for the nonivamide-induced responses are postulated as follows. A and f are due to vagal reflex resulting from the excitation of afferent sensory neurons in the heart and are parasympathetic efferent effects from the nucleus solitarius. B is involved in sympathetic activation, partly caused by the release of SP in the spinal cord. C is due to the vasodilatory effect of SP released from perivascular stores. s was diminished by vagotomy and is due to the bradycardiac effect of acetylcholine, released by SP, from cardiac stores. The activation of the autonomic system is inhibited by clonidine and involved in the wide spectrum of nonivamide-induced cardiovascular effects.


abstract The possibility of aftershock occurrence due to viscoelastic stress recovery after a main shock is discussed theoretically. The tectonic stress field along the San Andreas fault system is estimated using theoretical results obtained in this study, together with other theoretical and observational results. The stress gradually rises near the central part of the fault surface if a noticeable primary creep occurs near the fault surface after the main shock and several other tectonic conditions are satisfied. The occurrence of the primary creep is probable since the tectonic stress field near the fault plane of the main shock is strongly disturbed. The static frictional stress drops considerably near the fault plane at the time of occurrence of the main shock so that aftershocks can be caused by the above stress rise. In seismically active areas along the San Andreas fault system, the effective stress (defined as the static frictional stress minus the sliding frictional stress) and the fracture strength (defined as the static frictional stress minus the initial stress) will be very small near the Earth9s surface.


Citizen science is gaining popularity as a valuable tool for labelling large collections of astronomical images by the general public. This is often achieved at the cost of poorer quality classifications made by amateur participants, which are usually verified by employing smaller data sets labelled by professional astronomers. Despite its success, citizen science alone will not be able to handle the classification of current and upcoming surveys. To alleviate this issue, citizen science projects have been coupled with machine learning techniques in pursuit of a more robust automated classification. However, existing approaches have neglected the fact that, apart from the data labelled by amateurs, (limited) expert knowledge of the problem is also available along with vast amounts of unlabelled data that have not yet been exploited within a unified learning framework. This paper presents an innovative learning methodology for citizen science capable of taking advantage of expert- and amateur-labelled data, featuring a transfer of labels between experts and amateurs. The proposed approach first learns from unlabelled data with a convolutional autoencoder and then exploits amateur and expert labels via the pre-training and fine-tuning of a convolutional neural network, respectively. We focus on the classification of galaxy images from the Galaxy Zoo project, from which we test binary, multi-class, and imbalanced classification scenarios. The results demonstrate that our solution is able to improve classification performance compared to a set of baseline approaches, deploying a promising methodology for learning from different confidence levels in data labelling.


This paper describes an improved model that can be used for configuring a non-contact pneumatic head to handle a large sheet of glass. The cylindrical head model is of a large size (70 mm). It operates on vortex flow, which can simultaneously generate suction and repulsion over the flat object"s surface. The head allows for the minimal non-contact lifting of objects weighing over 3N by using reference conditions (working pressure and head dimensions). Additionally, a functional flow-guide is applied for inducing a developing tangential vortex flow to increase suction and repulsion to the reference head. The cylindrical flow-guide is associated with relatively low tangential velocity. The improved model generates greater lifting force than the reference model, as verified experimentally.


This paper proposes a framework to make the programming of cobots faster, user-friendly and flexible for assembly tasks. The work focusses on an industrial case of a small (<10kg) air compressor and investigates the technologies that can be used to automate this task with Human-Robot collaboration. To this end, the framework takes a radically different approach at the motion stack level and integrates the cobot with a constraint-based robot programming paradigm. Additionally, the framework takes inputs from the operator via speech recognition and computer vision. An implementation is made and the results show that this framework is a promising approach for the overall goal of achieving flexible assembly in the factories by making robot programming faster and intuitive.


Radiocephalic fistula (RCF) dysfunction is a common problem due to low maturation and patency rates of these fistulas. The most common procedure in such cases is to place a temporary catheter for the dialysis. Temporary catheter placement and undergoing dialysis with this catheter cause complications, reduce the chance for fistula, and deteriorate the quality of life. The aim of this study was to demonstrate that immediate intervention in RCF dysfunctions can increase fistula success for the patient and can reduce the need for a catheter. Furthermore, the hemodialysis treatment can continue without affecting the quality of life. A total of 295 patients who were admitted for RCF dysfunction and who underwent early surgical intervention without any catheter placement were evaluated for postoperative complications, patency rates, and rates and durations of temporary catheter use over a mean time of 47 months of follow-up (range: 4–79 months). Of the patients, 77.2% (n = 228) underwent new proximal anastomosis (NEO; the radial artery and cephalic vein were reached with an incision created proximal to the previous anastomosis), 14.2% (n = 42) underwent brachiocephalic arteriovenous fistula (AVF), 8.4% (n = 25) underwent side-to-side brachiobasilic AVF + superficialization of the basilic vein. In 88.8% (n = 262) of the patients, successful cannulations were performed within the first 24 to 48 hours without any catheter requirement or complications. Temporary catheter was used for 15.1 ± 10.7 days in 11.2% (n = 33) of the patients. In RCF dysfunctions, early surgical interventions performed in the forearm and elbow provide early cannulation and thus decrease the catheter requirement, also prevent the complications of temporary catheters (infection, decreasing the fistula success, vascular injuries, etc.), increase the autogenous fistula success, and allow for the continuation of dialysis without disturbing the quality of life.


Drawing on corporate law literature, the essay argues that while contractual means is a protection mechanism available to creditors, they are not sufficient on their own. The paper introduces the arguments put forth by advocates of leaving creditor protection against directorial failings to contractual means. The second part of this paper addresses arguments against the use of contracts as an adequate mechanism on the basis that they fail in terms of effectiveness and efficiency.


Frequency distributions of biostratigraphic gaps are generated for eight fossil species. The distributions help estimate confidence intervals for biozonation boundaries by providing information on the size of the gap one may reasonably expect between the lowest and highest visible fossil occurrences, seen in cross section, and the actual lowest and highest individuals, unseen within the rock, which occur beyond them. The gaps often follow a random (Poisson or near-Poisson) distribution, except for a few gaps that occur outside the distribution. These latter seem to indicate periods of abnormal increase in the rate of sedimentation and/or decrease in faunal abundance.


The paper presents a method of forecasting the product surface topography after five-axis machining with a lens-shaped end-mill. Surface roughness is one of the key parameters considered when assessing the effectiveness of the machining process, especially in the aviation, automotive, tooling and medical equipment industries. The developed method, the first published, presented in the paper is based on the analytical equations of the trajectory of the cutting edge motion, on the basis of which the cutter action surface is generated. The developed model takes into account: cutting depth, cutting width, feed, lead angle and radial runout. Experimental studies were conducted using three different materials: 40HM steel, Al7035 aluminum alloy and Ti Grade 5 titanium alloy. Various values of the cutting width parameters and different feeds were used in the tests. Based on the results of the experimental tests, an empirical model (response surface model) was determined and was then used to verify the simulation model. The simulation results and the results of experimental tests were compared and conclusions were drawn regarding the developed models. The developed models supported by numerical simulation can be used to approximately estimate the influence of the width of cut br and feed ft on selected height characteristics Sa and Sz^ of the geometric structure of the surface (GSS) after machining with a lens-shaped end-mill in terms of the process parameters adopted in the tests. It was found that the influence of the ft on the Sa and Sz^ is greater for small values of br. The effect of br is greater with lower ft values. The cutting width br has the greatest influence on Sa and Sz^, and ft and the interaction of these parameters has the least influence.


This study examines empirically the financial integration among the ASEAN-5 countries and the integration of the ASEAN-5 financial markets and the global financial markets during the period from March 1995 to June 2017. Using data from 17 stock indexes across the world, the cointegration test suggests incomplete and time-varying connections both among the ASEAN-5 countries and among the ASEAN-5 and global stock markets. Relationships strengthened during the financial crisis and were weak during normal market circumstances. However, the degree of regional and global cointegrations lessened after the Asian financial crisis. Our findings imply that the diversification benefits can be enjoyed by a well-diversified portfolio across the regions during economic expansion but the strong connection during the market turmoil can be very harmful since the similar risk factors are harbored by interconnected financial markets.


. A data-driven complementary recycling folded cascode (CRFC) OTA is demonstrated in this article. The proposed OTA introduces digital concept to analog world, establishing a data-driven scheme to control the current dynamically. Two comparators detect the state of virtual ground node of the amplifier in a closed loop. When the input differential signal exceeds the threshold of comparator, the biasing current of the OTA is augmented to achieve a higher slew rate and larger GBW, while for a small input, the OTA consumes relatively low power. The CRFC architecture improves the GBW and slew rate compared with the conventional RFC. A transient simulation on a capacitive feedback loop shows that the data-driven scheme improves the settling time of the circuit from 101.8 ns to 15.8 ns while the power only increases by 57%. The OTA is designed for capacitor sensing circuit in MEMS gyroscope readout ASIC, but it also can be used in other low power applications such as biochips and switched capacitor ADCs.


The effect of hypoxia on glioma growth including pathological changes was investigated in an experimental model of brain ischemia in the rat C6 glioma model. C6 glioma cells were inoculated into the subcortex of adult Wistar rats. Focal cerebral ischemia near the implanted glioma area was induced by permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (PMCAO). Ten days later, the rats were sacrificed to compare tumor volume of C6 glioma without PMCAO (control group) versus C6 glioma with PMCAO (hypoxia group). The histological features were also observed. The mean tumor volume in the hypoxia group was significantly larger than that in the control group. The most prominent histological finding in the hypoxia group was abundant formation of pseudopalisading around the necrotic areas. Immunohistological examinations showed intensive staining for vascular endothelial growth factor and hypoxia-inducible factor in these pseudopalisading cells. These findings suggest that cerebral ischemia positively modulates glioma mass growth by the formation of pseudopalisading necrosis, a characteristic histological finding of glioblastoma.


Hai Ngoc Pham Master of Engineering (Research) The University of Sydney March 2007 A Comprehensive Architecture for the Cooperative Guidance and Control of Autonomous Ground and Air Vehicles This thesis deals with the problem of cooperative explorations of a group of autonomous vehicles in unknown environments in the context of decentralized behaviour. The main contribution of this thesis is the development of a comprehensive decentralized cooperative exploration frame work in which each individual vehicle has the ability to explore an unknown environment by itself and also by cooperative behaviour in a team of several vehicles. To simulate the whole system, each individual vehicle will have the ability to explore an unknown environment by dynamically path-planning (with obstacle and collision avoidance), high-level controlling, updating the environment map, proposing potential destinations (frontiers), and solving online task assignment. In this thesis, the framework simulates an unknown environment as an occupancy grid map and uses a frontier-base exploration strategy, in which a cell will be marked as a frontier if it is adjacent at least one open cell, as the core architecture. In dealing with the uncertainties in process transition and observation models of autonomous vehicles, the well-known discrete extended Kalman filter (EKF) algorithm is investigated and implemented. When exploring the environment, a vehicle will update its surrounding information, then propose its potential destinations and evaluate the utility (benefit) to travel to each of those destinations. The benefit to go to each destination is derived from the subtraction of the utility (value) of that cell to the sum of the cost to travel to that cell and the steering cost. The key to cooperative exploration in the team of vehicles lies in each vehicle's ability to communicate the updates of the world to the whole team and to contribute to the global list of potential destinations. And each vehicle has the capability of solving the task assignment problem for the team by calling its own online-task-assignment solving engine. This algorithm results each vehicle in having a destination to visit, which benefits the whole team the most and reduces the total exploration time of the team.


We theoretically investigate optical absorption spectra of C606-, and discuss their relations with the optical properties of alkali metal-doped fullerides A6 C60. We use a tight binding model with long-range Coulomb interactions and bond disorder. Frenkel exciton effects are taken into account by the Hartree-Fock approximation and the CI method. We find that the Coulomb interaction parameters relevant to the optical spectra of A6 C60 are almost half of those of the neutral C60. This finding is closely related with the experimental result that dielectric constants of fullerides maximally doped with alkali metals become about twice as large as those of the neutral systems.


Patients must be followed up closely after primary therapy for invasive breast cancer so that locoregional recurrences can be detected early. Once a recurrence has been detected, a thorough evaluation is indicated to exclude distant metastatic disease. If none is found, the patient may be a candidate for aggressive surgical intervention to render the patient disease-free. If distant disease is found, certain sites, such as the CNS or long bones, may warrant aggressive therapy because failure to treat these sites may lead to excessive morbidity. In most situations, patients with distant disease are treated with palliative measures. In selected instances, however, patients with metastatic breast cancer are candidates for aggressive intervention, including pulmonary or liver resection or high-dose chemotherapy in combination with autologous bone marrow transplantation, to rid the patient of the disease.


Potentiometric or combined potentiometric and spectrophotometric or kinetic techniques have been used to determine stability constants for complexes between α-cyclodextrin and 20 of the title compounds. Linear free energy relationships indicate that 4-substituted benzoic acids, perbenzoic acids and perbenzoates have predominantly the same orientation within the cyclodextrin cavity, with the carboxylic acid, percarboxylic acid and percarboxylate groups located at the narrow (primary hydroxy) end of the cavity. 4-Substituted benzoates orientate in the opposite way with the carboxylate group located at the wide end of the cavity. Alkyl carboxylic acids, percarboxylic acids and their anions show a linear dependence between log stability constant and the number of carbons. They are likely to bind with the functional group at the narrow end of the cavity, although the carboxylate groups will probably be located outside the cavity because of solvation requirements. 2:1 cyclodextrin-guest complexes are observed for several of the compounds studied.


Articulatory speech synthesis currently has two perspectives. (i) Technical perspective: Due to progress in common computer hardware (general increase in computation rate) and software (usability of compilers and simulation software) it is now possible to develop comprehensive phonetic models of speech production reaching nearly real-time for the calculation of acoustic speech signals. Furthermore the phonetic knowledge increased to a degree that these production models now are capable of accomplishing a good up to high acoustic quality. Limitations are mainly the control modules. In this paper we argue for a self-learning input dependent gestural control model for articulatory speech synthesis. (ii) Theoretical perspective: A comprehensive articulatory speech synthesis system capable of producing high quality acoustic output necessarily incorporates a lot of knowledge on all phonetic aspects of speech production: articulatory sound targets, typical articulatory movement strategies for realizing sounds or syllables (e.g. coarticulation), a general concept for temporal coordination of speech relevant articulatory movements (i.e. speech gestures) etc. In this paper an example for such a system will be given and a suggestion for the still open question on strategies for control concepts for high-quality articulatory speech synthesis will be proposed.


Formycin, Z-aminopurine ribonucleoside, and 2,6-diaminopurine ribonucleoside are analogues of adenosine in base pairing and in a wide variety of enzymatic reactions. These chromophores, in contrast to adenine and other naturally occurring bases, are fluorescent under physiological conditions. Another noteworthy feature of these analogues is that they can be selectively excited in the presence of normal bases because their absorption bands occur at longer wave lengths. The fluorescence properties of these compounds, and of their phosphorylated derivatives, over a wide range of temperature, pH, and ionic strength, are reported here. Incorporation of formycin or 2-aminopurine into a perfectly alternating ribocopolymer results in a loo-fold reduction of the quantum yield of fluorescence. The residual fluorescence comes from chromophores at the ends of the polymer. Thermal denaturation of the helical structure is accompanied by a 3to IO-fold increase in quantum yield. The pH and temperature dependence of the fluorescence of transfer RNA with formycin residue in place of the terminal adenosine indicates that the terminal formycin residue interacts with other parts of the transfer RNA molecule. Some potential applications of these analogues in studies of the structure and function of nucleic acids and proteins are: analysis of protein-nucleic acid interaction, polynucleotide conformation and conformational transitions, enzymecoenzyme interaction, and nuclease assay.


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

Recent combinatorial approaches have demonstrated multidrug-based chemotherapy which target multiple pathways simultaneously leading to enhanced efficacy and reduced toxicity. Our study reports simultaneous delivery of 5-Fluorouracil (a clinically approved drug) and Apigenin (a naturally occurring isoflavonoid abundantly present in fruit and vegetables) through a single liposome to combat and control colon cancer effectively in-vitro and in-vivo based on synergy studies after screening natural product library. Uniform homogeneous suspension of dual drug-loaded large unilamellar vesicles with substantial entrapment of both drugs was obtained by modified thin film hydration method. The vesicles exhibited excellent hemocompatibility and cytocompatibility against normal fibroblasts. The cytotoxicity and cellular effects of individual and combinatorial free drugs, neat vesicles and single or dual drug-loaded liposomes tested against different human colon cancer cell lines revealed significantly higher cytotoxicity of dual-drug liposomes in comparison to other formulations. The dual drug loaded liposomal formulation was observed to be effectively internalized by endocytosis and demonstrated enhanced inhibition of angiogenesis, better reduction in cell proliferation, increased apoptotic potential and significantly decreased cellular migration and invasion capacity. Cell signaling studies indicating a significant upregulation of AMPK and activity against downstream targets by dual drug liposomes resulted in apoptosis, autophagy and senescence, suggesting its role in the reversal of Warburg effect. Enhanced apoptotic potential of the formulation was traced to its ability to induce greater oxidative stress through the generation of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. The formulation was tested in a preclinical setting in nude mice tumor xenograft model and was found to have greater anti-neoplastic and anti-tumorigenic effect. The study indicated the potential of the synergistic effect of Apigenin in 5-Fluorouracil treatment of colon cancer which effectively circumvents the problem of drug resistance and 5-Fluorouracil associated toxicity. This dual drug loaded liposomal formulation thus, offers a new attractive alternative to enhance the therapeutic potency of drugs and paves way for potential clinical applications.

Note: This abstract was not presented at the meeting.

Citation Format: Kacoli Sen, Shubhadeep Banerjee, Mahitosh Mandal. Reversal of Warburg effect by Apigenin and 5-Fluorouracil loaded dual drug liposomes result in enhanced colorectal chemotherapy. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 4594. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-4594


Nitrogen is practically inert and largely unreactive, existing mostly in molecular form (N2) in the atmosphere and unsuitable for uptake by living matter. But it is one of the most commonly used practices to increase crop yields throughout the world because of the abundant availability of N fertilizers and their great effectiveness to increase yields compared with other organic fertilizers, such as manure and compost. It is essential to achieve production levels, which enable global food security, without compromising environmental security. Excessive application of N fertilizers in the last several decades, however, has resulted in undesirable consequences of soil and environmental degradations, such as soil acidification, N leaching to the groundwater, and greenhouse gas (N2O) emissions. Crop yields have declined in places where soil acidification is high due to the unavailability of major nutrients and basic cations and the toxic effect of acidic cations. Other disadvantages of excessive N fertilization include increased cost of fertilization, reduced N-use efficiency, and negative impact on human and livestock health. Diffuse pollution, caused by N fertilization in agriculture, has become a global problem that is difficult to solve. Nearly half of N fertilizer input is not used by crops and is lost into the environment via the emission of gases or by polluting water bodies. The N pollution level expected by 2050 is projected to be 150% higher than in 2010, with the agricultural sector accounting for 60% of this increase. So, to reduce these problems globally, understanding of nitrogen cycle and nutrient use efficiency is important.


In this paper, the pseudo-differential operators and the generalized Lax equations in integrable systems are implemented in symbolic software Mathematica. A great deal of differential polynomials which appear in the procedure are dealt with by differential characteristic chain method. Using the program, several classical examples are given.


Many studies on the distribution of contact pressure have been made when a flexible or rigid footing is founded on soil. Many investigators have proposed bearing capacity theories assuming the footing to be rigid. But all theories have been based on the assumption that the footing will always be in contact with the soil. In this paper numerical analysis is carried out to separate foundations with partial contact with soil form those with full contact. The factors determining the contact of footing with the soil are plan dimensions, thickness and elastic properties of the material of the footing, modulus of sub grade reaction of the soil supporting it, the column to footing width ratio and eccentricity of loading. Multiple linear regression analysis is carried out to develop an equation for critical relative rigidity (CRR) in terms of the other parameters influencing it. Based on the equation, a single chart has been developed to find CRR for various combinations of the parameters influencing it. The conventional method of finding bending moment says that the maximum bending moment is independent of the relative rigidity of the footing(i.e . thickness of the footing and the modulus of sub grade reaction of the soil supporting it). But ANSYS 12.0 results show that bending moment depends on relative rigidity of footing also. Experimental work have been conducted to verify the values of maximum bending moment given by ANSYS.The results derived from the tests that are performed at the laboratory are typically a specific problem and they are difficult to extend, and to develop to field problems due to the different material or the geometric parameters used.


Dissemination Level PU Public X PP Restricted to other programme participants (including the Commission Services) RE Restricted to a group specified by the consortium (including the Commission Services) CO Confidential, only for members of the consortium (including the Commission Services) ECRYPT ⇪ The work described in this report has in part been supported by the Commission of the European Communities through the IST program under contract IST-2002-507932. The information in this document is provided as is, and no warranty is given or implied that the information is fit for any particular purpose. The user thereof uses the information at its sole risk and liability.


Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) has recently been addressed in a good proportion of research in the scope of applied linguistics. Consequently tasks are widely used in most English teaching course books. With regard to increasing interest of learning English which has, nowadays, been expanded to even rural areas, the question of compatibility of different types of task with rural areas arises. Thus, the present study is aimed at comparing language learners' achievement (performance) in Real-world task and Pedagogical task in rural and urban areas. Participants are 80 female English language learners at elementary level aged from 15 to 25. Half of the participants are selected from an urban area, and another half are from a rural area. To measure participants' language achievement (performance) through each task type, two different Real-world Task Test and Pedagogical Task Test were given to the students at the end of the term. To analyze the data, two T-Tests were run. The results showed that urban participants had a better performance in real-world task compared to rural participants, but both rural and urban groups did not differ in their performance in pedagogical task. The findings of this study, on the one hand, are in line with some theories and models in the related literature, and on the other hand, can appeal not only to English language teachers working in different urban and rural institutes or schools but also appear to be of high importance for English language teaching material developers.


Strabismus is a major cause of amblyopia. Parents not aware of the adverse outcome of untreated strabismus is thought to be a major reason of their affected child not being discovered earlier. An ocular survey was therefore conducted to examine the relative neglect of strabismus by the public, using myopia as a reference eye disorder. Specific objectives included estimating the prevalence of these ocular diseases, comparing the self-reported rate to the test-based rate, and investigating how much parents knew about these ocular diseases. Between 1993 and 1995, 862 elementary students in the first, third, and sixth grade at Keelung Ann-Lo Community were screened. The prevalence of manifest strabismus was 1.62% (95% CI = 1.19% approximately 2.05%). Of those with strabismus, three (21.4%) knew that they had strabismus. Neither the prevalence nor the self-known proportion of strabismus changed substantially with school grade, suggesting that the majority of strabismus afflicted children remain unrecognized during their elementary school years. The amblyopia proportion in those with tropia was 42.9% and reduced to 21.5% after abnormal refractive error was excluded. Of six knowledge statements about each ocular disorder, parents answered 2.13 (SD = 1.40) strabismus statements correctly, which was significantly less than their response on myopia statements (4.32 with SD = 1.24) (p < .0001). Onset age of strabismus was the question answered least correctly, implying that parents are not aware of the timing of treating strabismus. Our findings suggest that childhood strabismus was neglected by the public before the implementation of National Health Insurance (NHI). Should a similar study continued to be conducted in the future, the efficacy of NHI in the early recognition and treatment on childhood strabismus can be evaluated.


Argues that architect's have a moral imperative to transform and support living conditions and recommends a hippocratic oath for architects to recognise their responsibility to support human wellbeing. A value change needs to shift from considering architecture as an object to architecture as experience and architectural education must take the lead. Discusses the importance of empathy and defining performance outcomes. Suggest ways to apply neuroscientific research at multiple scales


Abstract- A myriad of research have listed organisational commitment, reduced employee turnover, increased productivity amongst others, as some of the benefits of employee participation in management. Some studies on employee participation, however,indicates that, employees are generally reluctant to use formal avenues created for them to contribute to management. This is especially so because management mostly uses such formal avenues for a top-down information transfer. Also, employees have the fear of being victimised if they raise issuesof concern thatboarders on the use of finance or on something they assume may be offending to management during such meetings.  In Ghana, the high annual accident and injury claims made by employees from the manufacturing industry requires urgent action by manufacturing organisations. Legislature on occupational safety and health (OSH) is scattered, with different oversight agencies, inadequate enforcement,and the absence of laws that require the establishment of a health and safety committee which is standard practice in mostdeveloped jurisdictions.In the light of the weak OSH legal and regulatory framework, coupled with the fact that employees feel reluctant to report their safety predicaments during formal meetings, it is important that management and employees create the necessary environment for employees to participate in safety management. Indeed, studies suggest that the existence of such informal avenues in organisations for employee participation in management decision making will enable open discussions on employee safety issues and therefore lead to the prioritisation of OSH in those organisations. Nevertheless, research indicates that informal participation has received little research attention especially with regards to Ghana. This study makes a case for the use of informal participation in ensuring safety in manufacturing companies in Ghana.


Aim: To discuss intestinal side effects of ibuprofen in the treatment of patent ductus arteriosus, after having observed two cases of spontaneous intestinal perforation following ibuprofen treatment. Methods: Clinical and laboratory records of two preterm infants, who developed intestinal perforation after ibuprofen administration, were evaluated. Results: Gestational ages of infants were 29 wk (male) and 30 wk (female). Both infants developed intestinal perforations without signs of necrotizing enterocolitis. The perforations cured with Penrose drainage alone.


Several formulations containing EPDM and LDPE were prepared. EPDM was blended with LDPE in different weight ratios of LDPE/EPDM (40/60, 30/70, 20/80, 10/90). These compounds were mixed at 150oC in open mill for 10 min at a speed of 19 rpm and then mixed with phenolic resin. Here, phenolic resin grade SP-1068 work as a tackifier resin. The result of mechanical measurement shows that mechanical properties such as tensile strength, modulus and elongation-at-break of blends can be enhanced with increase LDPE content in the formulation.


1,2 Professor, Department Of Biochemistry 3 AssociateProfessor, Department Of Biochemistry 1 Hi-Tech Medical College & Hospital Rourkela, Odisha, India 2 Hi-Tech Medical College & Hospital Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India 3 Santosh Medical College & Hospital, Gaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India Abstracts Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common endocrine metabolic disorder and is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Thyroid disorders are also very common in the general population and are second only to diabetes as the most common condition to affect the endocrine system. As a result, it is common for an individual to be affected by both thyroid diseases and diabetes. Our aim was to compare the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in type 2 diabetic patients and healthy controls. Thyroid disorders and diabetes mellitus have a common auto immuneetiology, diabetic patients having increased TSH could be due to immunological disturbances. Increase in serum TSH levels in diabetes patients compared to healthy controls is suggestive of diabetic patients probably suffering from subclinical hypothyroidism.


A physics-based compact model for silicon-on-insulator lateral double-diffused metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors including impact ionization, subsequent snapback (SB), and self-heating (SH) is presented. It is observed that the SB effect is caused by the turn-on of the associated parasitic bipolar transistor. The model includes the effect of device SH using resistive thermal networks for each region. Comparisons of modeling results with device simulation data show that, over a wide range of bias voltages, the model exhibits excellent accuracy without any convergence problem.


Tay–Sachs disease is classified as a rare paediatric disease of metabolic origin. It is an autosomal recessive inherited disease. The gene responsible for the disease is known as HEXA, and it is located on chromosome 15(15q23). There is currently no effective treatment for Tay–Sachs disease; hence, it is an incurable disease in which patients do not live for more than five years, meaning that nursing care takes on greater importance to maintain quality of life. The main objective of this work is to develop a specific standard nursing care plan by applying an inductive research method supported by nursing methodology using the NANDA-NIC-NOC taxonomy and validated by the Delphi method. This care plan will improve the knowledge of health professionals on this topic and support future studies on the disease. Following its implementation, the care plan proposed in this study aims to increase the quality of life of patients diagnosed with this disease.


Background It has been a scarcity of evidence regarding differences in left ventricular (LV) and left atrial (LA) size and strain changes across stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and which echocardiographic parameters could be utilized to predict the decline of glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Objectives This study aimed to evaluate the alterations of LV and LA strain across the reduction of renal function and potential echocardiographic parameters which could be correlated with the GFR decline among patients with CKD. Method A cross-sectional study was conducted on 169 CKD patients at Bach Mai General Hospital, Hanoi, Vietnam from April to November 2022. Demographic, clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients were collected. Transthoracic echocardiography was performed to measure LV and LA size and strains. Jonckheere-Terpstra test was used to measure the tendency of change. Multivariate linear regression models were performed to find associations between different echocardiographic parameters and renal function reduction. Results The number of patients with CKD stages 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 was 21 (12.4%), 28 (16.6%), 27 (16.0%), 22 (13.0%) and 71 (42.0%), respectively. CKD severity was positively associated with LV diastolic and systolic diameters, LV mass, E/e' ratio, and maximal tricuspid regurgitation velocity (TR max), and negatively correlated with the LV global longitudinal strain. Higher severity of CKD stage was associated with higher LA diameter, LA strain, and volume in four and two-chamber views, and lower LA reservoir and conduit function. Left ventricular mass (β = 0.068), ejection fraction (β = 0.112) and left atrial reservoir (β = −0.077) were associated with reduced GFR. Conclusion Left ventricular mass, ejection fraction, and atrial longitudinal strain by STE should be done at the earlier stages of CKD patients for better follow-up of GFR decline.


We use observations from the Goddard particle detectors on IMP 8 to investigate near-Earth interplanetary disturbances and the associated solar events in January–May 1997. We infer the presence of high-speed streams and ejecta (material in the solar wind associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs) at the Sun) using depressions in the counting rate of >60 MeV/amu particles measured by the anti-coincidence guard. In addition to a sequence of high-speed streams, the guard detected four ejecta. A fifth ejecta (January 10–11), evident in solar wind observations, did not produce a particle decrease. During the study period there were five particle enhancements, indicating the occurrence of energetic CMEs at the Sun. All the particle enhancements were associated with halo CMEs observed by the SOHO LASCO coronagraphs. Five of the total of nine halo CMEs in this period impacted the Earth. None of the other ∼120 CMEs detected by LASCO did so. Only the four CMEs associated with traditional flare signatures were also associated with >10 MeV particle increases.


Abstract : The report issued by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also referred to as the "9/11 Commission") identifies emergency response gaps evident after the attacks of September 11, 2001. While heroic actions that day saved thousands of people, many lives were lost, in part because standard procedures were not in place, or were not followed, and standardized technologies were not used by participating agencies. To correct these deficiencies, the 9/11 Commission report includes recommendations that emergency response standards be adopted nationwide. The report includes three recommendations that focus on emergency response standards: (1) the adoption and use of emergency response standards for incident command, (2) mutual aid provisions concerning liability and indemnification of responders, and (3) private sector preparedness. Through enactment of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (P.L. 108-458) Congress addressed these recommendations. In addition, the Department of Homeland Security has taken action to establish standards to improve emergency response capabilities. General agreement appears to exist on the intent of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations in this policy area -- improvement of the nation's emergency response capabilities. During the 109th Congress, the policy debate might be extended to include discussion of the implications and consequences of adopting the 9/11 Commission's recommendations and implementing federal standards. This report presents background information on the commission's findings, on emergency response standards, and on options Congress might consider to address issues related to emergency preparedness standards. This report will be updated as legislative developments and administrative actions warrant.


In this article we present the work that has been carried out within the research project "Society and Archaeological Heritage. Recovery of the Archaeological Heritage of Buenavista del Norte (Tenerife, Canary Islands), in rural and urban areas (PARQ_BVISTA)". The objective of this research is the elaboration of an interpretative and operational framework, oriented towards the creation of citizen participation networks in the management of cultural heritage. The study is based on an articulated methodology that combines the multidisciplinary perspective of the research team with qualitative and quantitative social research techniques. It comprises of focus groups, in-depth interviews to administrators and businesspeople and a questionnaire for local citizens.


Today the South Pacific is the theatre of environmental and related social developments induced by climate change that are destined to affect other regions of the world sooner or later. For this reason Pacific Island Countries (PIC) are of particular interest within the discourse on climate change and its social effects. This paper gives an overview of climate changeinduced migration in the Pacific, starting with a brief sketch of the environmental impact of climate change on PIC. It then presents a prominent example of resettlement, namely the case of the Carterets Islands in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (Papua New Guinea), focussing on the islanders' capabilities and agency. The paper then goes on to address some transnational dimensions of climate change–induced migration in the Pacific, drawing on the cases of Kiribati and Tuvalu in particular. The domestic-transnational interface, the role of labour migration, remittances and diasporas are discussed. Based on empirical findings, the main challenges of resettlement are identified: the land-people connection, attitudes of recipient communities, conflict, governance, and funding. The paper closes with some more general considerations that flow from the South Pacific experiences, highlighting inter alia the need for long-term international planning. It becomes clear that communities in the South Pacific are not just helpless victims of an overwhelming fate, but are bestowed with admirable resilience, ingenuity and capabilities which they draw upon when coping with the challenges of climate change–induced migration.


These two great poems date from Shakespeare's early years and are full of passion and invention. In "Venus and Adonis", the goddess of love pleads with the beautiful boy to submit to her advances and become her love - but he only wants to hunt boar. In the more serious "Rape of Lucrece", Shakespeare draws on the Roman take of the Emperor Tarquin's desire for Lucrece and its tragic consequencies. These poems give prominent parts to the two heroines, and Clare Colbert and Eve Best shine.


Abstract observations of waterspouts and tornadoes suggest some influence of surface roughness on these phenomena. In a laboratory model of a tornado-like vortex, this influence is measured in terms of tangential and vertical velocity profiles above the ground boundary layer. The roughness induces an increase of the core updraft, and the effect on the tangential velocity profile is such as to increase the radial Reynolds number. In the atmosphere, geometrical similarity suggests that passing over forests or towns could greatly affect tornadoes, increasing the core diameter and mean updraft, but suddenly decreasing the explosive effects and wind speeds.


It is well known that microscopic effects are important in the evaluation of the radial heat transfer within a grooved heat pipe evaporator. We develop a multi-scale model which is composed of two parts, macroscopic and microscopic, which cannot be decoupled from each other. In our study, we include various effects such as the disjoining pressure, the influence of the interfacial curvature, the variation of the saturation temperature, the interfacial resistance and the thermal conduction. The macroscopic part consists in a heat conduction problem with a mixed boundary condition at the meniscus, while the microscopic part is based on a classical lubrication type theory which allows to determine, thanks to a correlation, the apparent contact angle. This last quantity is essentially in order to couple the two scales. We also underline in particular the variation of the heat transfer coefficient with, on the one hand, the apparent contact angle and, on the other hand, the geometry of the groove.


Previous studies (1-9) have suggested that peripheral human T cells can be divided into two mutually exclusive functional subsets by the two monoclonal antibodies, OKT8 and OKT4. The OKT8+ subset does not provide helper activity but contains cells capable of suppressing B cell differentiation . Importantly, the suppression observed with OKT8+ cells requires the presence of radiosensitive OKT4+ cells . Potent helper activity is found in a radiosensitive OKT4' subset . Irradiated OKT4+ cells also induced B cell differentiation, but only at high ratios of T cells to B cells . In our previous studies (7), we also found that the addition of graded numbers of radiosensitive OKT4+ cells to B cells eventually decreased the net helper activity observed . These experiments raised the possibility that precursors of suppressor cells may be contained within the OKT4+ population . The current study was undertaken to further investigate the functional heterogeneity within the OKT4+ population . In particular, we asked whether OKT4+ cells could be induced to differentiate into immunoregulatory cells capable of suppressing B cell differentiation . In the experiments reported here, we observed that although in vitro pokeweed mitogen (PWM) -activated' OKT4+ cells can function as radioresistant helper cells, these activated OKT4+ cells could also exert potent feedback suppression . This suppression mediated by activated OKT4+ cells required the presence of radiosensitive cells contained within the resting OKT4+ population . These data emphasize the potential role of interactions of T cell subsets contained exclusively within the OKT4+ population in the immunoregulation of B cell differentiation .


A major obstacle to the wide use of lock-free data structures, despite their many performance and reliability advantages, is the absence of a practical lock-free method for reclaiming the memory of dynamic nodes removed from dynamic lock-free objects for arbitrary reuse.The only prior lock-free memory reclamation method depends on the DCAS atomic primitive, which is not supported on any current processor architecture. Other memory management methods are blocking, require special operating system support, or do not allow arbitrary memory reuse.This paper presents the first lock-free memory management method for dynamic lock-free objects that allows arbitrary memory reuse, and does not require special operating system or hardware support. It guarantees an upper bound on the number of removed nodes not yet freed at any time, regardless of thread failures and delays. Furthermore, it is wait-free, it is only logarithmically contention-sensitive, and it uses only atomic reads and writes for its operations. In addition, it can be used to prevent the ABA problem for pointers to dynamic nodes in most algorithms, without requiring extra space per pointer or per node.


Histological findings of malignant tumors were reviewed in relation to the prognosis following surgery, radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. To say the histological grading of malignancy by differentiation (maturation), estimation of it seemed to be subjective and it did not always correlate with the disease free survival rate. Histological findings which indicated a high degree of tumor-host interaction were a good predictor of the prognosis as well as the cell type, and the disease free survival rate of the cases with these findings was relatively higher following not only surgery, radiotherapy but also chemotherapy.


This study aimed to evaluate the adaptability and stability and correlate their parameters to maximize the information about maize genotypes in Tocantins. The experiments were carried out in the cities of Natividade, Formoso do Araguaia, Brejinho of Nazare, Gurupi and Palmas and in two growing seasons, the experimental design was made in randomized blocks with four replications, with 24 genotypes. The productivity was evaluated and the analysis of adaptability and stability, as well as the analysis of correlation between their parameters, were performed. The cultivar XGN5320 stood out with a high average productivity in all locations (6389.8 kg ha-1), and the regression coefficient obtained was 1.16 and not different from a t test, which indicates good adaptation to favorable environments, but does not guarantee a good yield in unfavorable environments. It was concluded that the hybrids XGN5320, XGN6370, DAS2B710, XGN6318 and XGN4210 showed good productivity, adaptability and stability for the evaluated conditions. The adaptability and stability methodology was adequate for the characterization of the genotypes under the conditions studied. It was possible to identify the groups of adaptability, stability and productivity parameters, for the correlation between them.


Speech emotion recognition aims to determine the emotional state in people by processing the speech with digital signal processing methods. Speech emotion recognition is influenced by many factors such as the language, the demographic characteristics of the participants, and the signal processing methods used. By pre-processing the speech signals before emotion recognition, the signal is improved and the recognition performance is being increased. The framing involved in preprocessing methods is the division of the speech signal into small pieces. In this study, we investigated the effect of the frame size used in framing on the emotion recognition. In addition, the most appropriate frame size for the most commonly used datasets in the literature has been determined. According to the results obtained, the frame size to be used differs according to the dataset used. Furthermore, even the 1ms difference in frame size causes a change in the rate of emotion recognition.


We have explored the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) database for a correlation between the density of putative SNPs, as well as SNPs that map to different chromosomal locations (ambiguously mapped SNPs), and segmental duplications of DNA in chromosome regions involved in genomic disorders. A high density of SNPs (14.4 and 12.4 SNPs per kb) was detected in the low copy repeats (LCRs) responsible for the chromosome 17p12 duplication and deletion that cause peripheral neuropathies. None of the SNPs at the PMP22 gene were ambiguously mapped, but 93% of the SNPs at LCRs mapped on both LCR copies, indicating that they are in fact variants in paralogous sequences. Similarly, a high SNP density was found in the LCR regions flanking the neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) gene, with 80% of SNPs mapping on both LCR copies. A high density of SNPs was found within LCR sequences involved in the deletions that mediate contiguous gene syndromes on chromosomes 7q11, 15q11-q13 and 22q11. We have analyzed the whole sequence of chromosome 22, which contains 14% of ambiguously mapped SNPs, and have found a good correlation between these SNPs and segmental duplications detected by BLAST analysis. We have identified several segments of ambiguously mapped SNPs, four corresponding to LCRs involved in the chromosome 22q11 microdeletion syndromes. Our data indicate that most SNPs in LCR segments are in fact paralogous sequence variants (PSVs), and suggest that a significant proportion of the SNPs in the NCBI database correspond to PSVs within segmental duplications of the human genome sequence.


In recent years, heterogeneous photocatalysis has emerged as a new effective, powerful, clean, and safe decontamination technology for the treatment of organic pollutants and the transformation of hazardous chemicals into different forms. This review focuses on the recent development of various conventional technologies of reactors designated for the photodegradation of hazardous organic pollutants with their limitations. This phenomenon is strongly influenced by reaction conditions such as temperature of reaction, pH, light intensity and wavelength, pollutant concentration, photocatalyst quantity, relative humidity (RH), and other parameters. The catalyst photoactivity depends on the structural characteristics of the semiconductor, its morphology, and its particles size. This paper presents the progression of photocatalytic reactors for synthetic dyes degradation with special consideration to the use of supported photocatalyst and nanostructured titanium supported over volcanic ashes, owing to the major advantage of an easy separation of the catalyst when compared to homogenous system, namely suspended catalyst. In addition, special attention was paid to the literature dealing with the promotion of light efficiency by testing various light sources.


Today, film analysis is still a tedious process performed mostly manually by film experts. Existing computer vision approaches aim at improved retrieval and summarization methods rather than at film understanding. While current research is predominantly focused on the question what can we learn and extract from a film as the final product, this thesis aims at the study of the filmmaking process as a source for high-level content information.

The central question of this thesis is what can computer vision methods provide to support film analysis as performed by film expert? We discuss a possible mapping between factors that influence the production, presentation, and perception of movies, their application by means of well-established film techniques, and existing feature extraction methods in computer vision. This novel view on film analysis allows for the exploration and identification of three areas in the domain of automated film analysis and understanding. The first area comprises research tasks that have been subject to active research in the recent past. The second area covers research topics that are not immediately solvable for a fully automated computer vision approach without any prior knowledge. The last area identifies research tasks that are still open in the context of automated film analysis and understanding.

Finally, we introduce three novel research questions and possible solutions: camera take reconstruction, film comparison, and recurring element detection. Performed experiments reveal two significant potentials. First, they can assist film experts by providing support for tasks that are currently performed manually. Second, proposed algorithms blaze the trail for advanced application scenarios such as the analysis of different montage patterns, the identification of missing shots, the reconstruction of the original film cut, or the detection of recurring elements.


Multi-vehicle or universal coolants, or both, have been introduced into the marketplace to satisfy the wishes of mass merchandisers, automotive garage and repair shops, quick oil change establishments, and the general public for a convenient single coolant for use in the myriad makes and models of vehicles. Universal coolants are recommended for top off, as well as complete drain and fill of the customer's cooling system, regardless of the color or inhibitor chemistry of coolant already in use. Coolant mixing, and potential compatibility issues, will result for the top-off scenario, but may also be of concern following coolant system flush-and-fill. However, there are currently no standard compatibility tests to define satisfactory compatibility when coolants of different chemistry are mixed. Previous work to establish compatibility of coolant mixtures documents that potential coolant deterioration of the corrosion protection may occur in the ASTM D 4340 [1] Aluminum Heat-Rejection Test when mixing coolants with different additive chemistries. Compatibility testing has been conducted on various universal coolants with traditional high silicate, traditional low silicate, hybrid (phosphate free), hybrid (phosphated), and OAT-only technologies. This paper provides results of the coolant compatibility tests and correlation of coolant chemistry with coolant performance in these tests.


Using acetylene methodology, a synthesis of [14,14-2H2]-octadeca-9(Z), 12(Z), 15(Z)-trienoic acid is described. The isotopically marked acid is used to distinguish decisively between two possible pathways for the formation of 12-oxophytodienoic acid (12-oxoPDA) by flax enzyme preparation in plants: (a) a route via antarafacial ring closure of a zwitterion derived from an allene epoxide (no loss of 14,14-2H2) and (b) a pathway resembling the accepted mammalian prostaglandin biosynthesis (loss of one 14-2H). Pathways to metabolic products formed in Nature from linoleic and linolenic acid are summarised in Scheme 3. The entry species is considered to be the epoxy-carbonium ion. Loss of a proton leads to an allene-epoxide from which are formed the α-ketol, the γ-ketol and 12-oxoPDA. A second group of products (colneleic and colnelenic acid, a hemiacetal, its corresponding aldehydes and an epoxy alcohol) are not formed via the allene-epoxide. The epoxy-carbonium ion can be trapped as an epoxy alcohol or rearranged via a vinyl-oxonium ion with capture by water to form a hemiacetal. Alternatively, loss of a proton from the epoxy-carbonium ion or vinyl-oxonium ion leads to colneleic and colnelenic acid.


Abstract Identifying trends in dietary salt sources is essential for effectively reducing salt/Na intake. This study aimed to examine the trends in dietary salt sources among Japanese adults using the 2007–2019 National Health and Nutrition Survey data collected from 95 581 adults aged ≥ 20 years. Dietary intake was estimated using the 1-d household-based dietary record. Foods reported as potential sources of salt intake in Japan and other countries were categorised into twenty-one groups. Salt intake for each food group was adjusted using the density method based on the energy intake. Trends in dietary salt intake based on food sources by sex and age groups (20–39 years, 40–59 years and ≥ 60 years) were analysed using the Joinpoint Regression Program. Salt intake for each age group in both men and women decreased from 2007 (5·3 g/1000 kcal–6·4 g/1000 kcal) to 2019 (4·9 g/1000 kcal–5·6 g/1000 kcal). The major dietary source of salt continued to be seasonings such as soya sauce and soyabean paste (approximately 70 %). Salt intake from seasonings decreased over time in adults aged ≥ 40 years but did not change in those aged 20–39 years. Additionally, a decreasing salt intake from unprocessed fish and shellfish and an increasing salt intake from unprocessed meat were observed across all age categories for both sexes. This study demonstrated that a strategy targeting different age groups may be needed to reduce salt consumption from seasonings among the Japanese population. Further studies on salt content in seasonings and continued monitoring of trends in dietary salt sources are required.


Monoclonal antibody (mAb)-based treatment of cancer has a significant effect on current practice in medical oncology, and is considered now as one of the most successful therapeutic strategies for cancer treatment. MAbs are designed to initiate or enhance anti-tumor immune responses, which can be achieved by either blocking inhibitory immune checkpoint molecules or triggering activating receptors. TIM gene family members are type-I surface molecules expressed in immune cells, and play important roles in the regulation of both innate and adaptive arms of the immune system. Therapeutic strategies based on anti-TIMs mAbs have shown promising results in experimental tumor models, and synergistic combinations of anti-TIMs mAbs with cancer vaccines, adoptive T-cell therapy, radiotherapy and chemotherapy will have great impact on cancer treatment in future clinical development.


This paper describes the design, modelling and fabrication of a shape memory alloy micro-actuation concept for application in an endoscopic capsule. The constraints of the actuators are discussed based on the planned integration in a swallowable capsule and a preliminary concept of a legged system with shape memory alloy actuation is presented and tested. Based on the preliminary results, a modelling of the system is given in order to optimize the actuator design in terms on length, diameter, angle and force. Thus, a new high performance prototype is developed and characterized, thus verifying the theoretical model


This paper presents a system for measuring micro holes that makes use of an optical fiber probe. The optical fiber probe is deflected when it comes into contact with a hole surface, and this deflection is measured optically. For this research, the optical fiber probe is fabricated by using an acid etch technique and its characteristics in the process of displacement detection are described. The effects of surface force are then evaluated. The diameter of the optical fiber probe sphere at the tip of the probe is calibrated by using a 1mm gage block, and the effect of the probe sphere diameter is compensated for measurement of the roughness standard specimen. As a result, it is confirmed that the accuracy after compensation of the roughness standard specimen as measured by the measuring system corresponds well to that of the surface roughness tester in both shape and value, demonstrating the utility of this means of calibration.


During the past decades much work has been done for establishing tools and techniques that support the design of software user interfaces such as GUI's (Graphical User Interfaces). As software user interfaces seemed to adapt continuously to requirements, the interaction techniques of physical user interfaces (e.g. desktop PC, Notebook, PDA) principally remained the same. Moreover, physical user interfaces have been disregarded when speaking about user interface design in general. It is therefore not surprising that the methodologies used for physical user interface design are rather non-formal. This makes it complicated to sufficiently incorporate e.g. tasks, interactions and preferences of the user during the design process. As a result, contemporary physical user interfaces such as PDA's, Smartphones and Notebooks are far from being adequate for supporting the user in his tasks the best possible way. This is especially true when considering the diversity of potential tasks and interactions of end users in industrial environments. Due to this fact, the authors of this paper are convinced that there exists a need for highly-specialised- and adaptive physical user interfaces. These new user interfaces can only turn out to be truly useful when appropriate methods are applied which are able to incorporate the specific context of the end user and of the environment during the entire design process. The authors of this paper invoke that model-based techniques have proven to be a well-established approach when it comes to designing useful software user interfaces. In analogy, it is argued that model-based techniques provide a promising approach when supporting the design of physical user interfaces such as wearable computing devices.


The discovery of missense mutations in the signal peptide of preproinsulin that causes congenital diabetes highlights the critical role of ER translocation in insulin biosynthesis. However, the mechanisms that govern these early events in insulin biosynthesis are poorly understood. GWAS studies have shown that translocon-associated protein alpha (TRAPα) is a high risk allele for both type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes. Yet, the pathophysiological role of TRAPα in β-cell function remains unknown. Here we show that TRAPα is the most upregulated subunit of the TRAP complexes in isolated islets exposed to high glucose, suggesting that it may play an important role in insulin biosynthesis. Crispr/cas9 mediated TRAPα deletion in pancreatic INS832/13 cells causes inefficient preproinsulin translocation across the ER membrane, resulting in an accumulation of un-translocated preproinsulin in the cells. Surprisingly, TRAPα deletion also affects proinsulin ER export, leading to a decreased insulin production in INS832/13 cells. Re-introducing an epitope-tagged TRAPα to TRAPα KO cells rescued preproinsulin translocation defect and restored insulin production in a dose-dependent manner in TRAPα KO cells infected with adenovirus encoding TRAPα. Importantly, TRAPα deletion did not significantly affect the biogenesis or secretion of α1-antitrypsin, indicating that TRAPα promotes the ER translocation and subsequent trafficking of only a subset of secreted proteins. These results establish preproinsulin as a client protein for TRAPα in ER translocation and unveil unanticipated function of TRAPα in proinsulin ER export and insulin biosynthesis, and provide key insights into the disease pathogenesis associated with TRAPα deficiency. Disclosure X. Ll: None. Funding National Natural Science Foundation of China (81570699, 81620108004, 81370895); National Institutes of Health (R01DK088856, DK111174)


Abstract: Severe cardiomegaly with an atrial septal defect was discovered during necropsy of a subadult White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) found dead in the wild. A thin membrane composed of fibromuscular tissue separated the left atrium into two chambers, most consistent with that described for cor triatriatum sinister (CTS) in other species. Seventeen months later, necropsy of an adult White-tailed Eagle again revealed CTS. This lesion has not been reported previously in raptors.


BetaIGH3 protein has been recently involved in the pathogenesis of blinding corneal diseases, some of which have characteristic amyloid corneal deposits. The 124 codon of the betaig-h3 gene seems to be crucial for the amyloidogenicity of the protein product. We presently report an in vitro system that reproducibly forms amyloid fibrils from betaIGH3((110-131)) derived peptides. We also assessed the differences in fibril formation of two 22-amino acid peptides centered on the 124 residue: the native form and the Arg124Cys peptide (mutation linked to lattice corneal amyloid dystrophy type 1). After dialysis of Arg124Cys peptide against PBS 1/15 M pH 7.4 for 72 hours, Congo red staining and electron microscopy demonstrated the presence of abundant material fulfilling the criteria of amyloid. Quantitative analysis with thioflavine T fluorescence studies confirmed the high capacity of Arg124Cys peptide to form amyloid fibrils when compared to the native form.


We investigated the spiking activity of autaptic Hodgkin-Huxley neuron with a tunable fraction of blocked potassium ion channels. We consider an electrical autapse expressed by its coupling strength and delay time. We showed that there exists a double coherence resonance induced by autaptic time delay at an intermediate autaptic conductance level, as well potassium ion channel blocking impairs this behavior at a certain extent at a specific range of autaptic time delay. In the light of the obtained results; we concluded that the reduction of the number of active potassium ion channels destroys the spiking regularity of a single neuron in the presence of electrical autapse.


The Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) is a general
authentication protocol that supports multiple authentication methods
and typically runs directly over data link layers without requiring
IP. EAP can be used for different types of authentication, where
multiple providers provide different services. However, EAP itself
does not have the ability to differentiate between multiple EAP
conversations between a peer and an authenticator. This document
specifies the 3GPP2 Generic EAP Encapsulation (GEE) protocol for
differentiating between multiple EAP conversations between a peer and
an authenticator.


This article presents the types of licenses and certificates of qualifications for ultralight aircraft and attempts to assess the suitability of this type of allowances for possible further career in aviation and their possible usefulness for students who are in education on faculties related to transport and logistics.


Diastereoselective intramolecular aldol condensations are investigated in an experimental and computational study of 1, 6-diketones. Ab initio results show the importance of the acid medium and disapprove the possibility of a spontaneous cyclization, even for silylated compounds. The combination of both experimental and computational approaches brings valuable information on the mechanism and on the selectivity of the aldol reaction. It is found that the enolization of the diketone is a key step in acid-catalyzed mechanism. The cyclization step bears a very small activation energy. The dehydration of the aldols are discussed.