Table grape has an important role in the fresh fruit market all over the year. We tested shelf life 17 table grape varieties which are represent of the production and market in Hungary. The samples originated from the Trial Station of Central Agricultural Office Helvecia (Hungarian Great plain, in the middle of Hungary). The harvest was in the stage of fully ripening- that time circulation of sugar from the leaves to the berry is complete. That stage when the berries start became soft and will be deformed when lightly pressed between fingers. The study shelf life quality of the varieties started on the harvest day on room temperature (22-23oC ). We measured the weight loss of the bunch, the sugar content of the berries and observed the reasons of the losses. As a result of the experiment we found significant differences in longevity of shelf life among the tested varieties. The losses started after 4-5 days but some varieties were keeping the quality during 9 days. The sugar content increased (0,5-2%) for the end of test even the table grape is non climacteric fruit. The main reason of the losses were: berry softening, weight loss, the bunch peduncle desiccation, rotting- on the surface of berry appear some brown spots, the spots settle down, the skin become very thin and the rotting starts, micro cracking around the berry pedicel, decay starts the berries get to lose, We didn't observe dried, raisins berry among a tested table grape varieties.


A 78-year-old male presented with shortness of breath, metabolic acidosis, severe hyperglycaemia and ketonemia. Inferior ST-elevation was present on 12-lead ECG with raised troponin I, but coronary arteries were normal on emergency cardiac catheterization. Despite no previous history of diabetes mellitus and normal HbA1c levels 7 months prior, diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) was diagnosed, complicated by subsequent shock. The underlying cause was acute pancreatic disease, supported by elevated pancreatic enzyme levels and a history of chronic heavy alcohol use. There are no previous reports, to our knowledge, of patients with acute pancreatitis presenting to the ED with secondary DKA mimicking STEMI.


Thin film GaN growth on c-plane sapphire (0001) substrate using two-step method by nitrogen plasma assisted MBE is reported. After growth optimization, a low temperature buffer layer was grown followed by the main GaN thin film. The Optical and structural properties of the film were investigated using XRD, Raman spectroscopy, Photospectrometry and in-Situ RHEED. The polycrystalline nature of the grown film containing both wurtzite as well as cubic structures was obtained through XRD. The observed diffused hallo rings in the RHEED pattern confirms polycrystalline structures of the film. Optical band-gap was calculated using spectrophotometry transmission curves. Whereas, the existence of h-GaN and c-GaN phase's were validated by employing high resolution Raman spectroscopy. These results shows that the LO and TO active vibration modes of GaN were due to wurtzite and cubic phases into p-region.


The United States Transuranium and Uranium Registries (USTUR) has analysed tissues collected at autopsies of over 300 former radiation workers from actinide processing sites throughout the US, in addition to collecting the medical and radiation exposure histories of those workers. These data are included in a large USTUR database and they are available to research scientists throughout the world, either as public records or through collaborative projects with the USTUR. The USTUR also operates the National Human Radiobiological Tissue Repository (NHRTR), in which portions of tissue samples collected at autopsy are kept. These samples, frozen at -70 degrees C, may be used for molecular studies of the effects of radiation. Medical and radiation exposure histories of the tissue donors are available, as are the results of radiochemical analyses of adjacent portions of the samples. These materials are available to researchers who have collaborative agreements with the USTUR, which can be established by accessing USTUR staff members through the website, http://www.ustur.wsu.edu.


The amount of scientific findings linking air pollution with adverse health effects is continuously growing and indicates a need for action to improve air quality. On 21 September 2005, the European Commission published a new draft directive on air quality, as part of the Thematic Strategy on air pollution. This is a long-term plan on how to reduce air pollution in the European Union in the next 15 years. Immediately after its release, the Commission received criticism for not going far enough from various instances, such as research institutions and nongovernmental organizations concerned with health and environmental effects of air pollution. One policy argument for not taking full measures was the argument of scientific uncertainty. In light of this air quality strategy and the corresponding criticism which ensued, the present article discusses how the ambiguity of scientific uncertainty may contribute to impeding the process of translating scientific findings into concrete policy options. As complete certainty is likely to never be achieved, the question arises whether it is possible to determine and agree on clear and applicable definitions of certain levels of scientific certainty. The case referred to in this paper clearly demonstrates a situation with discordant views on the uncertainty of scientific findings. More discussion on how to define scientific uncertainty and how to deal with it would be beneficial for both the scientific and the political communities. Finally, it is important to recognize that scientific evidence is not the only driver influencing policy decisions.


This study examined the association between visuospatial sketchpad (VSSP) capacity and children's mathematics attainment. The aim of the study was to explore age-related differences in the relationship between the visual and spatial memory subcomponents of the VSSP (Logie, 1995) and a range of mathematical skills. Fifty-one 7- to 8-year-old and fifty-six 9- to 10-year-old primary schoolchildren participated in the study. The Visual Patterns Test and the Block Recall task were employed as VSSP measures. The results revealed a differential pattern of associations between children's visual and spatial working memory abilities and their mathematical skills. In younger children, the Block Recall task predicted mathematics performance, whereas, in the older children, the Visual Patterns Test was a significant predictor of mathematics performance.


Asymptomatic Rare Rib Anomalies: Cases of Rib Hypoplasia There are various types of congenital anomalies and deformities of the ribs, including the developmental fusion of two or more ribs, the articulation or bridge formation between two ribs, bifid rib (forked rib) and hypoplastic/aplasic rib. These morphologic anomalies and anatomic variants occur in 0.15%–0.31% of the population. Here in this paper, three patients with rib hypoplasia were reported as examples of these rare asymptomatic anomalies. The chest X-rays of three soldiers presenting with several other complaints revealed rib hypoplasias. None of the patients had a congenital disease, and they had no complaints related to these rib hypoplasias. As it is known, these rare rib anomalies are usually of little or no clinical significance; however, any physician dealing with the lung and the chest wall should be familiar with these rare anomalies to distinguish them from any tumoral or inflammatory rib diseases, and the chest X-rays should be examined very carefully to detect such asymptomatic rib anomalies.


The Effect of Free Movement on Preschool Students' Preference for and Recognition of Classical Music Emilee K. Knell School of Music Master of Arts This study was conducted in order to examine two questions: 1) Does free movement while listening to classical music influence a preschooler's preference for the music?; and 2) Does free movement while listening to classical music influence a preschooler's ability to answer recognition questions relative to the music? Subjects (N = 34) were 4to 5-year-old students from two intact classrooms at the BYU Child and Family Studies Laboratory Preschool. After being involved in six lessons utilizing two different classical pieces, each identified by a prominent instrument and experienced either Actively (with free movement) or Passively (while sitting or lying down), the students were interviewed relative to their music preferences and recognition. To strengthen the results, the process was repeated (termed Wave 1 and Wave 2) with different pieces in different experience orders. Results of a Chi-Squared test of independence indicated no effect for Active or Passive exposure on piece preference in either wave. However, in Wave 1, pieces experienced Passively were significantly preferred to those experienced Actively, while the reverse was true in Wave 2. The Active exposure had no significant effect on the overall accuracy of recognition responses. Observational data is also included, which corroborates and extends statistical results.


Purpose: To complete the first independent and largest multicenter outcome investigation to analyze the motor and functional results of a series of patients surgically aligned prior to age 6 months and followed for a minimum of 4 years. Methods: Sixteen patients, surgically aligned at an average age of 4.2 months, were examined at an average of 7.1 years to assess their motor and functional outcomes. Results: Motor and sensory tests showed 11 patients to have a small or negligible motor misalignment at near point with both binocular fusion and gross stereopsis ability. A single patient aligned by 3 months of age demonstrated reproducible refined stereoacuity on sensory testing. However, the patients who achieved alignment by 4 or 5 months did not demonstrate any better quality of binocularity than that found in a previously studied group of patients aligned at 6 months. Conclusion: Binocularity that includes refined stereoacuity remains an elusive target and a rare outcome for an ophthalmologist treating congenital esotropia, despite very early surgical alignment.


A computer model in CST Studio Suite has been developed to evaluate several novel geometrically enhanced photocathode designs. This work was aimed at identifying a structure that would increase the total electron yield by a factor of two or greater in the 1-30 keV range. The modeling software was used to simulate the electric field and generate particle tracking for several potential structures. The final photocathode structure has been tailored to meet a set of detector performance requirements, namely, a spatial resolution of <40 μm and a temporal spread of 1-10 ps. We present the details of the geometrically enhanced photocathode model and resulting static field and electron emission characteristics.


AIM
The present study aimed to map publication trends and explore research hotspots of treatment for NAFLD study by bibliometric analysis.

BACKGROUND
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a multi-system metabolic disorder involving the liver. Thousands of papers have been published on the treatment of NAFLD, but no comprehensive statistical and intuitive analysis has been made. The present study aimed to map publication trends and explore research hotspots of treatment for NAFLD study by biblio-metric analysis.

OBJECTIVE
(1) the pathogenesis of NAFLD and the possible treatment mechanism; (2) preva-lence, risk factors, and traditional therapies for NAFLD; (3) frontier therapies for NAFLD. Method; This paper conducted a bibliometric analysis based on the Web of Science Core Col-lection (WoSCC). The knowledge map was constructed by VOS viewer v.1.6.10 to visualize the annual publication number, the distribution of countries, international collaborations, author productivity, source journals, cited references, and keywords in this field.

RESULT
From 2012 to 2021, 2,437 peer-reviewed publications on the treatment of NAFLD were retrieved. China contributed the most publications, while the United States received the most citations. Journal of Hepatology was the most prolific journal in this field. Prof. Rohit Loomba.

CONCLUSION
Our study provides a comprehensive and objective analysis of NAFLD treatment that allows researchers to quickly locate research hotspots in a large number of relevant litera-tures. Meanwhile, it may also provide valuable information for researchers looking for potential partners and institutions.


Temperature response of a material to an external electric field is the main method for electrocaloric effect study in ferroelectrics. In this work, for 0.65 PbFe2/3W1/3O3 – 0.35 PbTiO3 solid solution as a model object, it is shown that with an increase in the electric field strength, current filamentation effect can occur. It leads to formation of local regions of increased conductivity in the sample. The associated thermal effect have short characteristic times, due to the small volume of the filament. They are comparable to the times of the electrocaloric response of the material, and can lead to significant errors in the detection of the electrocaloric effect.


-This study aim at investigating wasteland in Nigeria and examine the remedial means of avert the deteriorating situation to attained a protected and healthy land for effective sustainable development. Economics made it clear that land is a fixed asset. This signifies that flexibility is curtailed and transfer is impossible to areas where it is inadequate for man's use. Though land is renewable, yet it is exhaustible. Our myopic idea about its readiness and availability has hindered us from seeing the fact that its sustainability should gear us into both retroactive and proactive measures that will ensure continuous supply. Recent findings have shown that much of this scarce resource is been wasted in Nigeria of late. The findings are that much of the wasteland emanates from the actions of illegal miners, dumping of toxic waste, accumulation of nonbiodegradable waste, trends of low cost housing unit schemes, oil spillages, natural disaster and the like.


The voltammetry for the reduction of oxygen at a microdisk electrode is reported in six commonly used RTILs: [C(4)mim][NTf(2)], [C(4)mpyrr][NTf(2)], [C(4)dmim][NTf(2)], [C(4)mim][BF(4)], [C(4)mim][PF(6)], and [N(6,2,2,2)][NTf(2)], where [C(4)mim](+) is 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium, [NTf(2)](-) is bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide, [C(4)mpyrr](+) is N-butyl-N-methylpyrrolidinium, [C(4)dmim](+) is 1-butyl-2,3-methylimidazolium, [BF(4)](-) is tetrafluoroborate, [PF(6)](-) is hexafluorophosphate, and [N(6,2,2,2)](+) is n-hexyltriethylammonium at varying scan rates (50-4000 mV s(-1)) and temperatures (293-318 K). Diffusion coefficients, D, of oxygen are deduced at each temperature from potential-step chronoamperometry, and diffusional activation energies are calculated. Oxygen solubilities are also reported as a function of temperature. In the six ionic liquids, the Stokes-Einstein relationship (D proportional, variant eta(-1)) was found to apply only very approximately for oxygen. This is considered in relationship to the behavior of other diverse solutes in RTILs.


Purpose of review The clinical value of active surveillance may still be limited due to acceptance and considerable misclassification rates, and inadequate follow-up criteria. This review focuses on the most recent developments in the use of active surveillance and patient-specific factors that may be used to identify patients suitable for this strategy. Recent findings The number of patients diagnosed with low-risk prostate cancer has risen. Active surveillance acceptance rates are increasing, but still limited and varying importantly (2–49%). Misclassification is inevitable in all currently used protocols, although most of these patients still have relatively favorable-risk prostate cancer. African-American race, obese, and older-aged patients show more unfavorable intermediate results in an active surveillance situation. These are unlikely to be explained by the small differences in preoperative characteristics only. Psychological profiling may also be added to the selection process. Most studies report intermediate endpoints only. Summary Patient-specific factors may be incorporated when identifying patients for active surveillance. This does not imply that active surveillance is not justified in specific groups, but may suggest the need for an intensified and personalized selection, instead of a one-size-fits-all approach.


This dissertation examines the determinants and consequences of immigrant-native intermarriage in two Nordic countries, Sweden and Denmark, between 1980 and 2011. An increase in immigration during the second half of the twentieth and early twenty-first century in the countries under study was accompanied by an increase in intermarriage. However, the marriages of natives and some immigrant groups are more frequent than others, which may indicate that the strength of the immigrant-native boundary differs between immigrant groups. In contrast to previous research, this dissertation focuses on the perspectives of both the immigrants and the native majority and attempts to answer the following questions: who crosses the immigrant-native boundary through marriage, is immigrant-native intermarriage of a special nature, and does immigrant-native intermarriage contribute to successful integration.This dissertation is a compilation of four papers, each of which is a quantitative study of the determinants or consequences of intermarriage that relies on register data collected by the administrative authorities in the countries in question. The findings of this dissertation show that for natives both economic and non-economic status in the marriage market are associated with intermarriage. Moreover, patterns of age-assortative mating differ in intermarriages and in marriages of the native majority. For both Swedish men and women, unions in which the partner is considerably younger are relatively more frequent among immigrant-native intermarriages. The findings also suggest that the larger age gap between men and women in intermarriages is not only related to the differential treatment of certain immigrant groups in the Swedish marriage market but also partly the result of racial discrimination. Intermarriage nevertheless is related to immigrant integration. The findings from this dissertation show that intermarriage leads to positive income development for intermarried immigrants, particularly for immigrants whose country of origin means that they would otherwise experience difficulties in the labour market. With respect to demographic integration, intermarried immigrants deviate strongly from endogamous immigrants. While immigrants of certain origins display fertility patterns which confirm the existence of son preferences, immigrants from the same origins who are in unions with natives do not show such patterns by and large. This dissertation shows how immigrant-native intermarriage is connected with the broader social structure. An increase in immigrant-native intermarriage reflects the openness of a society to a certain degree. However, the findings of this dissertation also show that intermarriage is related to the social structure in a particular way. Intermarriage cannot only be regarded as a reflection of the successful structural assimilation of immigrants because intermarriage patterns also reflect social stratification. Intermarriages with some immigrant groups show systematically different patterns of assortative mating, which indicates the differential treatment of certain immigrant groups in the marriage market. (Less)


Based on the assumption that there is a correlation between anti-spoofing and speaker verification, a Total-Divide-Total integrated Spoofing-Aware Speaker Verification (SASV) system based on pre-trained automatic speaker verification (ASV) system and integrated scoring module is proposed and submitted to the SASV 2022 Challenge. The training and scoring of ASV and anti-spoofing countermeasure (CM) in current SASV systems are relatively independent, ignoring the correlation. In this paper, by leveraging the correlation between the two tasks, an integrated SASV system can be obtained by simply training a few more layers on the basis of the baseline pre-trained ASV subsystem. The features in pre-trained ASV system are utilized for logical access spoofing speech detection. Further, speaker embeddings extracted by the pre-trained ASV system are used to improve the performance of the CM. The integrated scoring module takes the embeddings of the ASV and anti-spoofing branches as input and preserves the correlation between the two tasks through matrix operations to produce integrated SASV scores. Submitted primary system achieved equal error rate (EER) of 3.07\% on the development dataset of the SASV 2022 Challenge and 4.30\% on the evaluation part, which is a 25\% improvement over the baseline systems.


An asymptotic formula is found that links the behaviour of the Jacobi polynomial Pnα,β)(z) in the interval of orthogonality [–1,1] with that outside the interval. The two infinite series involved in this formula are shown to be exponentially improved asymptotic expansions. The method used in this paper can also be adopted in other cases of orthogonal polynomials such as Hermite and Laguerre.


Abstra ct This article discusses the issue of annulment of marriage according to Islamic law. This is important, onsidering that a marriage should not be annulled, because ideally a marriage aims to form a happy and eternal family, as mandated by the law, at the same time as worship as described in Islam. This article uses a qualitative research method, with a normative juridical approach. The results of the research reveal that the incident of marriage cancellation according to Islamic law is caused by things that invalidate marriage aqad, such as the prohibition of marriage (mahram) or because of things that have just happened after marriage, such as an apostate party. However, the cancellation of the marriage does not mean that the problem has been resolved. Several new problems arise as a result of the legal consequences of the cancellation of the marriage, such as child problems, joint property issues and problems with interested third parties . Keywords: Annulment of Marriage ; Islamic Law ; Legal Consequence.


A micromethod for determination of serum triglyceride concentrations using the Sumal-system and the sampler Sumal PVS 100 will be described. The results show that the qualitative, technical and economic parameters of the method (coefficient of variation 5%, 500 specimens per day and examiner, cost of reagents 0.50 M per test) correspond to the requirements of standard techniques and methods used in prevention trials. The method is suitable for use in routine clinical laboratory.


Background: The juvenile nasoangiofibroma is the commonest benign neoplasm of nasopharynx with malignant behavior. They represent 0.5% of tumors of the head and neck. In Mexico it has a high incidence, it represents a case in 5,000 ENT consultations. The juvenile nasoangiofibroma originate from vascular tissue. Microscopically is Anales de Otorrinolaringología Mexicana 166 Volumen 59, Núm. 3, junio-agosto 2014


OBJECTIVE
This study investigates the benefits of a surgical telementoring system based on an augmented reality head-mounted display (ARHMD) that overlays surgical instructions directly onto the surgeon's view of the operating field, without workspace obstruction.

SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA
In conventional telestrator-based telementoring, the surgeon views annotations of the surgical field by shifting focus to a nearby monitor, which substantially increases cognitive load. As an alternative, tablets have been used between the surgeon and the patient to display instructions; however, tablets impose additional obstructions of surgeon's motions.

METHODS
Twenty medical students performed anatomical marking (Task1) and abdominal incision (Task2) on a patient simulator, in 1 of 2 telementoring conditions: ARHMD and telestrator. The dependent variables were placement error, number of focus shifts, and completion time. Furthermore, workspace efficiency was quantified as the number and duration of potential surgeon-tablet collisions avoided by the ARHMD.

RESULTS
The ARHMD condition yielded smaller placement errors (Task1: 45%, P < 0.001; Task2: 14%, P = 0.01), fewer focus shifts (Task1: 93%, P < 0.001; Task2: 88%, P = 0.0039), and longer completion times (Task1: 31%, P < 0.001; Task2: 24%, P = 0.013). Furthermore, the ARHMD avoided potential tablet collisions (4.8 for 3.2 seconds in Task1; 3.8 for 1.3 seconds in Task2).

CONCLUSION
The ARHMD system promises to improve accuracy and to eliminate focus shifts in surgical telementoring. Because ARHMD participants were able to refine their execution of instructions, task completion time increased. Unlike a tablet system, the ARHMD does not require modifying natural motions to avoid collisions.


Abstract Existing research on women's construction of professional identities and, more specifically, on leader identities in the workplace, has traditionally focused mainly on western contexts. This article aims to extend this focus by investigating the position of women in the workplace in India. We do this by discursively analyzing audio-taped semi-structured interviews with women who are working in the corporate sector in India. The aim of these analyses is to present a number of case studies about the unique challenges that women face at the workplace in the urban Indian context, especially when they take up leadership positions. The issues they grapple with are the collision of the traditional dominant discourses on appropriate female behavior and the new professional identities that these women wish to embrace. The paper discusses how these female professionals mainly construct two quite diverging identities: either as nurturing mentors or as aggressive professionals who are involved in activities traditionally viewed as "a man's domain". Conclusions are then drawn regarding how these professional identities acquiesce to, counter, or — as is the case in one interview — carefully mould, hegemonic discourses of femininity in India.


The purpose of this work is to utilize atmospheric plasma to increase coating adhesion between textile substrate and a surface which is repellent to liquid water, formed using electrospun nanofibers (NFs). Atmospheric pressure plasma and electrospinning can be scaled to industrial levels and promise cost and energy savings relative to many current textile finishing methods. A quick, simple and durable hydrophobic finishing process for woven military Nylon 6,6/cotton fabric is demonstrated, maintaining similar bulk garment characteristics like moisture vapor transmission to promote necessary dissipation of heat. The promotion of necessary heat transfer while providing protection against chemical and thermal hazards using a multilayered garment approach has become important for many textile applications including military and industrial uses for Chemical-Biological hazard protection, as well as medical and activewear textiles. Incorporation of a NF coating with a fabric imparts composite multifunctional properties, while demonstrating the potential for greatly decreased processing time and uses less water, energy, and hazardous chemicals than traditional finishing techniques.


Autonomous, vision-based quadrotor flight is widely regarded as a challenging perception and control problem since the accuracy of a flight maneuver is strongly influenced by the quality of the on-board state estimate. In addition, any vision-based state estimator can fail due to the lack of visual information in the scene or due to the loss of feature tracking after an aggressive maneuver. When this happens, the robot should automatically re-initialize the state estimate to maintain its autonomy and, thus, guarantee the safety for itself and the environment. In this paper, we present a system that enables a monocular-vision-based quadrotor to automatically recover from any unknown, initial attitude with significant velocity, such as after loss of visual tracking due to an aggressive maneuver. The recovery procedure consists of multiple stages, in which the quadrotor, first, stabilizes its attitude and altitude, then, re-initializes its visual state-estimation pipeline before stabilizing fully autonomously. To experimentally demonstrate the performance of our system, we aggressively throw the quadrotor in the air by hand and have it recover and stabilize all by itself. We chose this example as it simulates conditions similar to failure recovery during aggressive flight. Our system was able to recover successfully in several hundred throws in both indoor and outdoor environments.


Three novel bioactive peptides, which were structurally related to each other, were purified and chemically identified from two species of the earthworms, Eisenia foetida and Pheretima vittata. One peptide was isolated from the gut tissue of E. foetida, and the other two were purified from the whole body of E. foetida and P. vittata, respectively. These peptides consisted of 17 or 18 amino acid residues and were named GGNG peptides after their unique, common structure of the C-termini. These GGNG peptides augmented both tension and frequency of spontaneous contractions of isolated gut preparations of E. foetida, and also elicited contractions of other annelidan tissues such as the polychaete esophagus and the leech vagina. However, they showed no activity on molluscan or arthropodan tissues, suggesting that GGNG peptides may be peculiar to annelids. No peptides homologous to GGNG peptides have been known so far in any living organisms.


Background: The world is in the midst of the COVID crisis, which has forced the neurosurgical community to change its practices. Objective: To advocate the necessary adaptations in radio surgical practices to effectively manage the radio surgical patients, resource utilization, and protecting the healthcare provider during the COVID pandemic. Material and Methods: In addition to the literature review, pertinent recommendations are made in respect to the gamma knife radiosurgery (GKRS). Results: Every patient presenting to GKRS treatment should be considered as a potential asymptomatic COVID carrier. Patients should be categorized based on the priority (urgent, semi-urgent, or elective) on the basis of pathological and clinical status. The only urgent indication is a non-responding or enlarging cerebral metastasis. There is a high risk of aerosol dispersion during gamma radiation delivery in the gamma gantry. Conclusion: These recommendations should be used to minimize the chances of pathogenic exposure to the patient and caregivers both.


Integrated character education in secondary school (SMP) has been planned and conducted since 2010, but the result is not yet optimal and there is a lot of obstacle in conducting the plan. The weak monitoring from the government toward this integrated character education, not all guidance and counseling teacher have time to enter class to give the appropriate character guidance, class teacher that forced to be a character educator in between class time, and the lack of character education process and result assessment/evaluation system are factors that support the unsuccessful implementation of integrated character education in school. The character education problem that occur in SMP need to be assessed in order to found the alternative solution, and also need to develop an effective and operational evaluation model for character education process and result so it become easy to implement in school. Yet, the government haven't developed a standardize assessment, measurement, and evaluation system for character education to evaluate the integration character education process and result in SMP. Common way is used by teacher to assess students' character education in school and it still focused on using the technique of observation, behavior scale, and point system. That method has a lot of disadvantages such as subjective, sporadic, perceptional, inconsistent, less systematic and draw many arguments. How does the character education process and result in SMP assessed and what is the obstacle? This article is intended to discuss those based on the findings of evaluative research at 11 SMPs from some city in Indonesia. The data was collected through closed-opened questioner from 51 principals and teachers during June 2017. The data was analyzed in simple way; descriptive explorative using percentage technique and the result presented in graphical perspective. Keyword: assessment, character education in secondary school (SMP), observation, Indonesia


Pathogen recognition by Toll-like receptors (TLRs) on dendritic cells (DCs) leads to DC maturation and the initiation of adaptive immunity. Recent studies have shown that innate lymphocytes—natural killer (NK), natural killer T (NKT), and γδ T cells—also trigger DC maturation. This interaction in turn expands and activates innate lymphocytes and initiates adaptive T cell immunity. Here, we comment on the evidence that these pathways are TLR independent and have the potential to respond to infection, malignancy, and immunotherapy.


Ulrich von Pottenstein translated Petrus Zwicker's anti-Waldensian treatise Cum dormirent homines (1395) in his large catechetical encyclopaedia (ca. 1410), written in Early New High German. The translation was dispersed in different chapters, transforming the reading experience of the anti-heretical work but at the same time adding a polemical element to a pastoral text. The article discusses the historical context of Zwicker's original Latin treatise and Ulrich's translation, in particular the inquisitions against Waldensians that Zwicker led in Austria in the 1390s, as well as Ulrich's ecclesiastical career. The second part of the article explores solutions Ulrich had to employ when he translated a text for a lay audience that was not only polemical but also required from its readers a basic understanding of exegesis. Finally, the reasons for Ulrich's decision to translate Zwicker and the composite nature of the pastoral-didactic text with polemical passages is discussed. As for polemical treatises in general, the motivation behind Ulrich's translation was to defend the Church against its enemies. Ulrich's vernacular text had potential to extend the audience of a Latin anti-heretical treatise, but his catechetical encyclopaedia was too large and tedious to read to ever become a popular work. The article proposes that the polemical nature of the original was not mitigated in the process. On the contrary, Ulrich does not shy away from using denigrating or violent language, and polemical style is an essential part of his catechesis. A further study of polemical style in late-medieval pastoral and didactic works, especially vernacular texts, is proposed as a promising area of future research.


Various pathological conditions contribute to pH fluctuations and affect the functions of vital organs such as the heart. In this study, we show that in rat cardiomyocytes, acidic extracellular pH (pHe) inhibits autophagy, whereas alkaline pHe stimulates it. We also find that adenosine monophosphate‐activated protein kinase (AMPK), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and Unc‐51‐like kinase 1 (ULK1) are very sensitive to pHe changes. Furthermore, by interfering with AMPK, mTOR or ULK1 activity, we demonstrate that the AMPK–ULK1 pathway, but not the mTOR pathway, plays a crucial role on pHe‐regulated autophagy and cardiomyocyte viability. These data provide a potential therapeutic strategy against cardiomyocyte injury triggered by pH fluctuations.


This study investigates the decomposition of methane using solar thermal energy as a heat source. Instead of the direct thermal decomposition of the methane at a temperature of 1200 °C or higher, a catalyst coated with carbon black on a metal foam was used to lower the temperature and activation energy required for the reaction, and to increase the yield. To supply solar heat during the reaction, a reactor suitable for a solar concentrating system was developed. In this process, a direct heating type reactor with quartz was initially applied, and a number of problems were identified. An indirect heating type reactor with an insulated cavity and a rotating part was subsequently developed, followed by a thermal barrier coating application. Methane decomposition experiments were conducted in a 40 kW solar furnace at the Korea Institute of Energy Research. Conversion rates of 96.7% and 82.6% were achieved when the methane flow rate was 20 L/min and 40 L/min, respectively.


Background: Tumor markers (TMs) are widely used in breast cancer to monitor patients with metastatic disease during active treatment in conjunction with diagnostic imaging, history and physical examination. Studies of CA15-3 and CEA in metastatic disease have yielded positivity rates of approximately 80% and 40%, respectively. There is less information regarding CA-125 and breast carcinoma. Recently, there has been a renewed interest in tumor markers and their potential as therapeutic targets, including vaccine development, in various cancers. Early studies have reported an association between CA 15-3 levels and ER positivity. As far as we are aware, this is the first study to report elevated TM levels in the different breast subtypes and their correlation with outcome in each subtype. Aim: To document the rate of elevated tumor markers (CEA, CA15-3, CA-125) in the different subtypes and correlate TM with outcome. Methods: Women with breast cancer diagnosed between 1986 and 1992 and referred to the British Columbia Cancer Agency with M1 disease at presentation or who later developed a distant relapse were included. Archival paraffin tissue blocks were used to construct a tissue microarray. Breast cancer subtypes were defined as Luminal A (ER/PR+, HER2- and Ki67 28, CEA>4, CA-125> 35) among the different subtypes were reported. Kaplan Meier (KM) plots were created for cases with elevated TM versus non-elevated TM cases. Results: 1,656 cases with distant metastases were potentially eligible for inclusion. Excluded cases: 428 cases without any linkage to TM data, 16 cases with subsequent contaralateral breast cancer (CBC) and no TM between the time of distant relapse and CBC, 127 cases with TM >3 months before distant relapse, and 187 cases where breast cancer subtype could not be determined. The percentage of TMs among the different breast cancer subtypes is shown in the table. Median duration of survival from time of diagnosis with metastatic disease was significantly shorter for patients with elevated TMs vs. those with normal TM values, p=0.003. Similar results were found when stratifying the results by subtype, with only Lum A and B attaining statistical significance, p=0.002 and p=0.016 respectively.Conclusion: Elevated TMs are documented in all breast cancer subtypes, with a significantly higher percentage of elevated TMs in luminal versus non-luminal groups. The lowest frequency of elevated TMs was documented in the non-basal TN cases. Elevated TMs in the metastatic setting predict worse outcome for Lum A/B subtypes. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(24 Suppl):Abstract nr 2125.


Jewish Israeli left-wing activists engage in a subversive affective politics when they express love for, and mourn the loss of, Palestinian life. But the affects of love and mourning also bind these solidarity activists to Israeli state violence and sovereignty in various ways, entangling them in the very forms of power they aim to challenge. Loving and mourning the Palestinian Other involves an ambivalent ethics in which the activist subject objectifies the Other, and this objectification is a kind of violence that emerges in the affective becomings of solidarity activism. Activist loving and mourning thus call into question the nature of solidarity and alert us to the difficulty of ethics as troubled relations enmeshed in the violence of politics. [love, mourning, solidarity, ethics, political subjectivity, activism, Israel/Palestine]


The study involved 2,101 adolescents, aged 10–18 years, from 21 centres in 17 countries in Europe, Japan and North America. Adolescent quality of life (QOL) was assessed by a previously developed Diabetes Quality of Life Questionnaire for adolescents (DQOL), measuring impact of diabetes, worries about diabetes, satisfaction with life and health perception. Parents and health professionals assessed 'family burden' using newly constructed questionnaires. Mean HbA1c was 8.7% (range 4.8–17.4%). Lower HbA1c was associated with lower impact (p ! 0.0001), fewer worries (p ! 0.05), greater satisfaction (p ! 0.0001) and better health perception (p ! 0.0001) for adolescents. Girls showed increased worries (p ! 0.01), less satisfaction and poorer health perception (p ! 0.01) earlier than boys. Parent and health professional perceptions of burden decreased with age of adolescent (p ! 0.0001). Lower HbA1c was significantly associated with better adolescent-rated QOL on all four subscales and with lower perceived family burden as assessed by parents and health professionals. Copyright © 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel


Abstract. We monitored the displacement and seismic activity of an unstable vertical rock slice in a natural limestone cliff of the southeast Vercors massif, southeast France, during the months preceding its collapse. Displacement measurements showed an average acceleration of the movement of its top, with clear increases in the displacement velocity and in the discrete seismic event production rate during periods where temperature falls, with more activity when rainfall or frost occurs. Crises of discrete seismic events produce high amplitudes in periodograms, but do not change the high frequency base noise level rate. We infer that these crises express the critical crack growth induced by water weakening (from water vapor condensation or rain) of the rock strength rather than to a rapid change in applied stresses. Seismic noise analysis showed a steady increase in the high frequency base noise level and the emergence of spectral modes in the signal recorded by the sensor installed on the unstable rock slice during the weeks preceding the collapse. High frequency seismic noise base level seems to represent subcritical crack growth. It is a smooth and robust parameter whose variations are related to generalized changes in the rupture process. Drop of the seismic noise amplitude was concomitant with the emergence of spectral modes – that are compatible with high-order eigenmodes of the unstable rock slice – during the later stages of its instability. Seismic noise analysis, especially high frequency base noise level analysis may complement that of inverse displacement velocity in early-warning approaches when strong displacement fluctuations occur.


In this study, utilization of artificial neural network (ANN) models [static-multilayer perceptron (MLP) and generalized regression neural networks and dynamic-gamma one-layer network and recurrent one-layer network] for prediction of diclofenac sodium (DS) release from drug-cationic surfactant-modified zeolites physical mixtures comprising different surfactant/drug molar ratio (0.2-2.5) was performed. The inputs for ANNs trainings were surfactant/drug molar ratios, that is, drug loadings in the drug-modified zeolite mixtures, whereas the outputs were percents of drug release in predetermined time points during drug release test (8 h). The obtained results revealed that MLP showed the highest correlation between experimental and predicted drug release. The safety of both natural and cationic surfactant-modified zeolite as a potential excipient was confirmed in an acute toxicity testing during 72 h. DS (1.5, 5, 10, mg/kg, p.o.) as well as DS-modified zeolites mixtures produced a significant dose-dependent reduction of the rat paw edema induced by proinflammatory agent carrageenan. DS antiedematous effect was intensified and prolonged significantly by modified zeolite. These results could suggest the potential improvement in the treatment of inflammation by DS-modified zeolite mixtures.


Fungal free enzymes and bacterial complexed cellulosomes deconstruct biomass using different physical mechanisms. Free enzymes, which typically contain a large proportion of GH7 cellobiohydrolase, diffuse throughout the substrate and hydrolyze primarily from the cellulose reducing end, resulting in 'sharpened' macrofibrils. In contrast, complexed cellulosomes contain a diverse array of carbohydrate binding modules and multiple catalytic specificities leading to delamination and physical peeling of the cellulose macrofibril structures. To investigate how cellulose structure contributes to recalcitrance, we compared the deconstruction of cellulose I, II, and III; using free and complexed enzyme systems. We also evaluated both systems on Clean Fractionation and alkaline pretreated biomass, which remove much of the lignin, to determine the impact on enzyme loading reduction. Free fungal enzymes demonstrated a swelling of the outer surface of the plant cell walls while removing localized disruptions, resulting in a smooth surface appearance. Cellulosomes produced cell wall surfaces with localized areas of disruption and little surface layer swelling. These studies contribute to the overall understanding of biomass recalcitrance and how combining different enzymatic paradigms may lead to the formulation of new enzyme cocktails to reduce the cost of producing sugars from plant cell wall carbohydrates.


This paper presents a stochastic optimal control for electricity generation,based on the 5-component update algorithm SARSA(λ) in compliance with the control performance standard control performance standards(CPS).This method doesn't need any knowledge about the system model but uses the trial-and-error method to find the most desirable policy.Instantaneous values of CPS1 and area control error(ACE) are used to construct the reward function which improves the convergence rate and the control performance.Eligibility trace is introduced to deal with the long time-delay problem in the secondary control of frequency.In searching the state space,the proposed method can effectively get rid of the disturbed states,thus obtaining better control results.Simulation studies based on two-area interconnected systems and China southern power grid demonstrate that SARSA(λ) controller has better control performance than that of Q(λ) controller,thus improving the stability and robustness of interconnected power systems.


Abstract Introduction We quantify the effect of a set of interventions including asthma self-management education, influenza vaccination, spacers, and nebulizers on healthcare utilization and expenditures for Medicaid-enrolled children with asthma in New York and Michigan. Methods We obtained patients' data from Medicaid Analytic eXtract files and evaluated patients with persistent asthma in 2010 and 2011. We used difference-in-difference regression to quantify the effect of the intervention on the probability of asthma-related healthcare utilization, asthma medication, and utilization costs. We estimated the average change in outcome measures from pre-intervention/intervention (2010) to post-intervention (2011) periods for the intervention group by comparing this with the average change in the control group over the same time horizon. Results All of the interventions reduced both utilization and asthma medication costs. Asthma self-management education, nebulizer, and spacer interventions reduced the probability of emergency department (20.8–1.5%, 95%CI 19.7–21.9% vs. 0.5–2.5%, respectively) and inpatient (3.5–0.8%, 95%CI 2.1–4.9% vs. 0.4–1.2%, respectively) utilizations. Influenza vaccine decreased the probability of primary care physician (6–3.5%, 95%CI 4.4–7.6% vs. 1.5–5.5%, respectively) visit. The reductions varied by state and intervention. Conclusions Promoting asthma self-management education, influenza vaccinations, nebulizers, and spacers can decrease the frequency of healthcare utilization and asthma-related expenditures while improving medication adherence.


We study Ag islands grown on strained Ag(111) surfaces using kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations. We employed KMC parameters of activation energy and attempt frequency estimated by nudged elastic band (NEB) method and vibration analyses. We investigate influences of surface strain and substrate temperature on film growth. As the biaxial surface strain increases, the island density increases. As temperature increases, the shape of the island changes from dendric to hexagonal and the island density increases.


Arc of Riolan is a collateral channel that connects the proximal superior mesenteric artery (SMA) or its middle colic branch and the proximal inferior mesenteric artery or its left colic branch in case of stenosis of either of the arteries. A 65-year-old diabetic female presented with vague abdominal pain. Ultrasonography showed a large aneurysm within the abdomen in the left lumbar region. Computed tomography (CT) angiography done showed severe diffuse atherosclerotic calcification of the abdominal aorta with complete occlusion of the celiac trunk and mild stenosis of SMA origin. The arc of Riolan was seen between the middle colic artery and the ascending branch of the left colic artery, with a large saccular aneurysm in its mid section. No evidence of rupture or hematoma was visible. Another saccular aneurysm was also seen involving the gastro-duodenal and the pancreatico-duodenal collateral arcade. As far as we know, this is the first case of arc of Riolan artery aneurysm to be reported in English literature.


PURPOSE
3D motion modeling derived from 4DCT images, taken days or weeks before treatment, cannot reliably represent patient anatomy on the day of treatment. We develop a method to generate motion models based on 4DCBCT acquired at the time of treatment, and apply the model to estimate 3D time-varying images (referred to as 3D fluoroscopic images).

METHODS
Motion models are derived through deformable registration between each 4DCBCT phase, and principal component analysis (PCA) on the resulting displacement vector fields. 3D fluoroscopic images are estimated based on cone-beam projections simulating kV treatment imaging. PCA coefficients are optimized iteratively through comparison of these cone-beam projections and projections estimated based on the motion model. Digital phantoms reproducing ten patient motion trajectories, and a physical phantom with regular and irregular motion derived from measured patient trajectories, are used to evaluate the method in terms of tumor localization, and the global voxel intensity difference compared to ground truth.

RESULTS
Experiments included: 1) assuming no anatomic or positioning changes between 4DCT and treatment time; and 2) simulating positioning and tumor baseline shifts at the time of treatment compared to 4DCT acquisition. 4DCBCT were reconstructed from the anatomy as seen at treatment time. In case 1) the tumor localization error and the intensity differences in ten patient were smaller using 4DCT-based motion model, possible due to superior image quality. In case 2) the tumor localization error and intensity differences were 2.85 and 0.15 respectively, using 4DCT-based motion models, and 1.17 and 0.10 using 4DCBCT-based models. 4DCBCT performed better due to its ability to reproduce daily anatomical changes.

CONCLUSION
The study showed an advantage of 4DCBCT-based motion models in the context of 3D fluoroscopic images estimation. Positioning and tumor baseline shift uncertainties were mitigated by the 4DCBCT-based motion models, while they caused errors when using 4DCT-based motion models. Partially funded by Varian research grant.


This book is more than a popular dictionary of Shinto. The title arises, one may suppose, because the publisher would like it to reach a wide range of general and educational readers. There are indeed others in an untitled series by the same publisher dealing with Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism. As a specialist in Japanese religions, on the other hand, Brian Bocking (Bath College of Higher Education, Bath UK) is aware of the need for an academic dictionary of Shinto. Thus the book is a compromise, but a successful compromise. For example, there is no extensive bibliography appended, but the introduction skilfully refers to a number of useful works for further reference. The author himself says in the Acknowledgements that he found it difficult to write a book with no footnotes. This seems extreme. How many dictionaries have footnotes? What this means is that academic writers cannot endlessly cover themselves against misunderstanding when compiling dictionaries. They have to take decisions. But Brian Bocking's decisions are good decisions. The picture of Shinto which emerges from these pages is clear, correct and valuable.


The effects of methimazole or betamethasone therapy on the TSH receptor antibody response to radioiodine therapy were compared in a prospective randomized study of 60 patients with hyperthyroidism due to Graves' disease. The patients were followed for 1 yr after treatment with 131I. Twenty-three patients received 131I alone, 17 were treated with methimazole for 2 months before and 3 months after 131I therapy, and 20 patients were treated with betamethasone for 3 weeks before and 4 weeks after 131I therapy. 131I induced a transient rise in the mean serum level of TSH receptor autoantibodies, measured as TSH binding inhibitory immunoglobulin (TBII), but in patients receiving methimazole treatment, no such rise occurred. In the betamethasone-treated patients, TBII increased similarly to that in patients treated with 131I alone. In addition, in patients given betamethasone, there was an early decrease in total serum immunoglobulin G, which persisted throughout the follow-up period. In the other 2 groups, no changes in total immunoglobulin G were found. The results demonstrate that in hyperthyroid Graves' disease, TBII production is influenced by therapy. Methimazole abolished the 131I-induced increase in TBII, whereas betamethasone did not have such an inhibitory effect.


The attrition of particulate materials during their handling and processing may result in losses of material, poor product quality, poor f!owability and environmental pollution caused by the generation of dust. It is not surprising therefore that so much research has been devoted to studying the breakage mechanism of particles, in order to reduce the attrition in conveying and handling systems. In this paper, an extensive literature review on the above topics is presented. The literature review also covers the experimental systems that are commonly used to evaluate these phenomena. Moreover, some new experimental results are presented to clarify future trends, to better understand the complex mechanisms at work, to reduce the required number of 'standard indices' and to enable better engineering design.


The importance of metal ions to essential functions of living systems and for the well being of living organisms is known. Metal ions are fundamental elements for the maintenance of the life spans of the human, animals and plants. The stability constants of Cd2+, Fe2+ and Zn2+ complexes with hydroxyproline were determined by Paper Electrophoretic Technique (PET). This method is based on the movement of a spot of metal ion in an electric field at various pH of background electrolyte. A graph of pH against mobility gives information about the formation of binary complexes and permit to calculate their stability constants. The stability constant of the ML and ML2 complexes of Cd (II) – hydroxyproline, Fe (II) – hydroxyproline and Zn (II) – hydroxyproline, have been found to be (4.41 ± 0.01; 2.95 ± 0.06) (4.11 ± 0.01; 2.81 ± 0.11 and (4.83 ± 0.02; 3.28 ± 0.07) ( logarithm stability constant values), respectively at ionic strength 0.1 mole L-1 (per chloric acid as background electrolyte) and a temperature of 35 0C, The first and second stability constants of metal complexes follow the order Zn (II) > Cd (II) > Fe (II). Metal complexes can offer their action such as anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, anti-thyroid and anticancer compounds. Metal based drugs bioactivity can be increased by metal chelation, which in turn increase their absorbance and stability. Recent advances in inorganic chemistry have made possible formation of a number of metal complexes with organic ligands of interest which can be use as therapeutic agents.


Liquid loading is one of the major flow assurance challenges in gas wells, causing production problems and reducing the ultimate recovery. Liquid loading is defined as the inability of a well to carry all the co-produced liquid up the tubing. This leads to liquid accumulation in the well resulting in increased bottomhole pressure and decline of gas flow rate. Although many studies have been performed on liquid loading phenomena, available models generally lack the ability to capture transient behavior of liquid loading in gas wells. We have developed a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model using Ansys Fluent 19.1 R3 version to model the transient features of liquid loading.
 In this study, the CFD model is developed and validated with data from 42 meter long vertical pipe lab at Texas A&M University. The Eulerian multiphase approach combined with volume of fluid approach (VOF) - Multi-fluid VOF model with realizable k-Є turbulence closure is used to study the flow behavior. In addition, hexahedral mesh is utilized and compared to tetrahedron mesh to test accuracy and computational time.
 The developed CFD model has unique parameters combinations that shows an acceptable agreement with the experimental work. Model accuracy and computational time is improved by using hexahedral mesh. Liquid film flow reversal mechanism is expected to be the root cause of liquid loading in gas wells rather than droplet fall back mechanism. The CFD model captures the transition from one phase to another that is crucial for determining well end life. Model novelty is based on the ability to be a reliable predictive tool that can help in the remediation of liquid loading and give a precise representation of liquid loading transient behavior in gas wells.


The altered hemodynamics of the pulmonary circulation in response to an increase in the volume flow of blood have been subjected to experimental observation through several different methods. The most direct studies have been made with a Starling heart-lung preparation1or a modification thereof.2In these preparations the lung is a surviving organ isolated from any possible control by the central nervous system, and deductions as to the state of affairs in the intact organism are to be drawn with caution. Ligation of one branch of the pulmonary artery has been employed as a device to increase the volume flow in the contralateral lung,3but this method also has its obvious limitations. Wiggers4augmented the venous return to the heart by the intravenous injection of saline solution, again a method that is at variance with normal physiologic occurrences. In the experiments herewith reported the venous return


This research presents a comprehensive view of 3D printing technologies and their evolution. Additionally, it provides a Nordic perspective on the topic by summarizing project based research conducted in Finland. Expert interviews and research data extracted from case studies are analysed to cover topical areas on additive manufacturing transferability. The contribution of this research is to combine industry case research with expert interviews, and finally present recommendations to promote technology transfer. The synthesis of the presented cases allowed us to conclude that additive manufacturing will offer greater possibilities in applications when: (1) innovation and design processes need to be enhanced, (2) customization is an advantage, (3) supply chain needs to be flexible, simplified or compressed, (4) material usage and inventories need to be reduced, (5) energy usage and waste in manufacturing have to be minimized and (6) product performance has to be optimized. In consequence, to promote technology adoption and competitive advantage in companies - policy actions should be focused on increasing input for innovation and R&D, improving and increasing the supply of skill as well as generating and exploiting the connections and complementarities of country-specific academia, research institutions, industrial clusters and funding bodies.


Hunan AIC investigates shale brick cartel in Mayang* On 1 June 2015, the SAIC published the decisions made by the Hunan Administration for Industry and Commerce (Hunan AIC) in December 2014 and…


To study the short & long term effect of iontophoresis by dexamethasone & transcutan eous electrical nerve stimulation for the relief of pain & improvement of functional capacity in patients with painful hemiplegic shoulder. In this double blinded, randomised, trial of 63 ( 2 patients discontinued the study) p atients with painful hemipleg ic shoulder were recruited from rehabilitation unit. They were randomly divided into two groups. One of the group received maximum twelve treatments of iontophoresis to the site of maximum tenderness on the anterior & lateral aspect of shoulder joint . Oth er group received transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) to the region of shoulder joint. Stiffness and pain were recorded at the initial session; follow up at two, four & eight weeks. Data from 59 subjects were used in the study. After the treatment phase, all groups showed significant improvements in average pain, and functional ability. However, iontophoresis group showed a significantly greater improvement than the TENS intervention (p = 0.031) . At the follow up, similar improvement was noted. Twelve treatments of dexamethasone iontophoresis combined with taping gave greater relief from morning pain than TENS group. For the best clinical results at four weeks, taping combined with dexamethasone is the preferred treatment option compared with taping & TENS.


This study was conducted to clarify developmental characteristics of scab in potato fields in Jeju island, Korea from 1995 to 1999. Occurrence of potato scab increased with repeated cultivaton of potato and high soil pH in the fields. Incidence of the disease was high as 54.8% in the repeatedly cultivated potato fields but relatively low as 20.8~26.3% in the non-cultivated fields and in the fields where barley and Chinese cabbage were formerly cultivated. A total of 66 isolates were obtained from the diseased patato tubers and identified as Streptomyces scabies, S.turgidiscabies and S. acidiscabies. The isolation frequency of each Streptomyces species was 37.7%, 14.8% and 18.0%, respectively. The optimum temperature for mycelial growth of the Streptomyces spp. was , and the optimum pH for that 6~7.


Semiconductor fabrication facilities (fabs) continue to expand in both complexity and volume. As a result, integrated models are required to determine even high level impacts to key success indicators. In order to gain insight into how the components of a factory impact performance metrics, Intel uses an integrated discrete event simulation modeling approach. Two models, one fab capacity and one automation model, are used. This paper discusses the methodology for building and integrating both models, and the results from using this method. Both the fab capacity and automation models have a variety of input parameters that are required to drive the simulation. In addition, each model produces output parameters, some of which are used as inputs to the other model. An iterative feedback technique eventually results in a convergence on the appropriate data to feed the fab capacity model, which enables Intel to determine the impact of automation on 300 mm wafer semiconductor manufacturing, and predict factory performance. Intel's approach provides the capability to use the models in stand-alone mode for specific fab-only or automation-only analyses, and also to take on any number of analyses via model communication. Intel continues to search for new applications for these merged models to answer strategic operational questions.


This thesis is devoted to study the existence and properties of the root polynomial .Relationship between the root polynomial of a complex matrix and its m-th roots is also investigated. We establish the key theorem concerning necessary and sufficient conditions of the existence of the root polynomial .


This work investigates the mechanical behaviour of cementitious composites (mortar) when quartz inclusions are totally or partially replaced with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) particles. A full factorial design is performed to identify the effect of the water/cement ratio and the range of quartz particles size used in the replacement on the different mechanical and physical parameters (bulk density, apparent porosity, water absorption, oxygen permeability, compressive strength and modulus of elasticity). The results show a general reduction of the mechanical properties when the replacement with quartz particles is put in place. The composites made by replacing the coarse quartz particles showed acceptable mechanical properties for non-structural civil engineering applications, with a significant amount of PET recycling to be used as aggregates for some specific end-user cases.


The unique characteristic of web applications is that they are supposed to be used by much bigger and diverse set of users and stakeholders. An example application area is e-Learning or business to business interaction. In eLearning environment, various users with different background use the eLearning system to study a discipline. In business to business interaction, different requirements and parameters of exchanged business requests might be served by different services from third parties. Such applications require certain intelligence and a slightly different approach to design. Adpative web-based applications aim to leave some of their features at the design stage in the form of variables which are dependent on several criteria. The resolution of the variables is called adaptation and can be seen from two perspectives: adaptation by humans to the changed requirements of stakeholders and dynamic system adaptation to the changed parameters of environments, user or context. Adaptation can be seen as an orthogonal concern or viewpoint in a design process. In this paper I will discuss design abstractions which are employed in current design methods for web applications. I will exemplify the use of the abstractions on eLearning web applications as well as on applications for business to business interaction based on web services.


In recent years, customer's increasing awareness of ethical consumption has become increasingly important for the business environment and one's lifestyle. Although it is observed that consumers are influenced by their ethical concerns but ethical consumptions lack from a consumer perspective. The theoretical framework of the paper portrays the multifaceted and complex ratio of the concepts of ethical consumption and the complexities that exist in the relationship between purchase influence and consumption in general. The study took a quantitative approach to find out how consumer purchase decision is affected by four antecedents namely, Ethical Knowledge, Environmental Concern, Personal Values, and Price Factor. Data was collected through a self-developed questionnaire and distributed among 200 respondents in Karachi, Pakistan. Multiple regression was applied through SPSS in the data. The results of the study show that all other variables show a significant effect on purchase decision except Ethical Knowledge. Therefore, it implies consumers are uncertain about which products and firms follow ethical rules and which do not. This study has theoretical and practical contributions in the fashion industry context. This research might encourage fashion brands to willfully take on green exercises and give strategic guidelines to advertisers and retailers about their sustainable retail practices.


Colonies of seed harvester ants are commonly found in semiarid and arid areas of the world and have been studied for their seed dispersal behaviour. The present study focused on the bacteria associated with the nests of the harvester ant, Trichomyrmex scabriceps, and reveals that ant colonies link the aboveground resources with the belowground microbial communities as they accumulate organic debris in the close vicinity of their nests via their ecosystem engineering activities. Soil samples were collected from the nest chambers and the external debris piles of T. scabriceps colonies, located in managed ecosystems. The nest soil-associated bacteria were examined for their plant growth-promoting abilities via biochemical assays including phosphate solubilization, Indole acetic acid production, siderophore production and physiological assays including biocontrol potential against the soil pathogen, Sclerotium rolfsii. More than 60% of bacteria isolated from the ant nest-associated soil displayed plant-growth promoting ability. Bacillus sp., Azotobacter sp., Klebsiella sp., Comamonas sp., Tsukamurella sp., and Pseudoxanthomonax sp., demonstrated significantly high levels of gnotobiotic growth of the treated chickpea plants. The activities of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase and peroxidase enzymes were higher in plant growth-promoting bacteria treated and pathogen inoculated plants as compared to the control plants lacking the bacteria. Since T. scabriceps colonies often make their nests in the compact soil of unpaved paths of agroecosystems and gardens, these bacteria can act as highly effective biofertilizers and promote growth of the cultivated plants by increasing soil fertility and disease resistance attributes of the plant.


Erythropoietin is the major regulating blood flow hormone which can be effect on hematopoiesis of premature infants. The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of intravenous recombinant erythropoietin regimen associated with oral iron in hematopoiesis of premature infants. This is a randomized clinical trial that has been done on 80 (40 persons in each group) very low and premature infants. First group received intravenous recombinant erythropoietin (with 400 units per kg weight in day (3 days in week)) associated with iron drip and second group as control group iron administrated only. All information were entered in a checklist and analyzed by statistical methods in SPSS.16. In case group 62.5% and in control group 60% were boy. The average weight of cases was 1273.8± 198.4 gr and controls were 1223.8± 217.5 gr. The injection of erythropoietin could be significantly prevent the decreasing of hemoglobin and ferritin and leads to increase in reticulocytes levels in cases but not have significantly on Iron level. Results showed that injection of erythropoietin in premature infants deal to increasing reticulocyte, Hb and ferritin levels in case group and the results was similar with studies in other places.


Currently, a large number of Cenomanian gas storages inWestern Siberiaare at the final stage of development. Gas production from such storage is accompanied by the accumulation of different types of liquid at the bottomhole. One of the methods of solving this problem is the introduction of a foaming agent into the well. To date, there are no computational models that allow us to predict with a high level of accuracy the pressure loss in the tubing of a gas well working with surfactant in the flow. The existing few computational models were created on the basis of bench studies under atmospheric conditions, and the results obtained by them have significant errors. For the study and modelling of gas-liquid flows with surfactant taking into account the influence of pressure, temperature, water-gas ratio and other key parameters, an "Experimental facility to simulate gas-liquid flow and dynamic processes in the tubing of a gas well" was developed and implemented.


This letter studies cognitive radio transceiver that can opportunistically use the available channels of primary user (PU). Specifically, we investigate and compare two different opportunistic channel access schemes. The first scheme applies when the secondary user (SU) has access to only one channel. The second scheme, based on channel switching mechanism, applies when the SU has access to multiple channels but can at a given time monitor and access only one channel. For these access schemes, we derive the exact analytical results for the novel performance metrics of average access time and average waiting time under general PU traffic models.


Slippage behavior of Xe and Kr monolayers and bilayers adsorbed on gold substrates has been investigated by means of a quartz crystal microbalance. The experiments have been carried out for both solid and liquid layers, and also for films which solidify as the surrounding vapor pressure is increased. Measurements carried out on bilayer films indicate moderate increases in slippage for both liquid and solid films as the second layer condenses. Solid films are observed to exhibit greater slippage than liquids on smooth substrates.


Electron microscope autoradiography was applied to the study of the distribution of autographs corticosterone-3H in the cells of the liver against the background of adrenalectomy. Deficiency of endogenous glucocorticoids aided more intensive incorporation of corticosterone-3H into the cells of the liver, this being evidenced by the appearance of tracks over the hepatocyte nuclei and an increase of their number over various cytoplasmic formations.


Background. There are limited community based treatment services for drug dependence in India. Rural areas and urban resettlement colonies are in particular deficient in such services. Aims. The current study aimed at preliminary assessment of substance use disorder management services at a community based substance use treatment clinic in an urban resettlement colony. Methods. The study was carried out at community based substance use treatment centre in a resettlement colony in India. The records of the centre were chart reviewed. Results. A total of 754 patients were registered at the clinic during the study period. Heroin was the primary drug of abuse for 63% of the patients. The mean duration of follow-up for the patients with opioid and alcohol dependence was 13.47 (SD ± 10.37; range 0-39) months. A total of 220 patients of opioid dependence were prescribed substation or abstinence directed therapy. Buprenorphine (87), slow release oral morphine (SROM) (16), and dextropropoxyphene (98) were used for opioid substitution. Conclusion. It is possible to deliver substance use disorder treatment services in community setting. There is a need to develop area specific community based treatment services for substance abuse in socially disadvantaged populations such as urban resettlement colonies.


The authors reviewed the preoperative and postoperative charts and radiographs of 100 patients who were at least 80 years old when they underwent total hip arthroplasty. Seventy-six of these patients were available for further reexamination and evaluation. The average patient age was 85.2 years old (range, 80-97 years). The average followup period was 59.4 months (range, 26-146 months). The female to male ratio was 4 to 1. Osteoarthritis was the most common diagnosis. Hospital stay ranged from 12 to 39 days. Preoperative Charnley pain and walking scores averaged 5.1 points of a possible 12 points, and postoperative scores averaged 10.6 points. Eighty-eight percent of patients remained community walkers, and 60% used a cane. Four percent of the patients had 1 dislocation. There were no instances of mechanical loosening and no deaths. Subjective satisfaction was high. The level of independent living was maintained in 96% of patients at long-term followup. A satisfactory and cost-effective health outcome can be anticipated after total hip arthroplasty in octogenarian and nonagenarian patients.


recent graduate, or enterprising final-year undergraduate, in mathematics. The reviewer's only adverse criticism—and that a minor one—is that the author has perhaps been too severe in limiting the scope of the book. Some further developments and indications of how the integral can be used (for instance, in constructing theZ,i-algebra of a group) would have been welcome. But what the author has given us is certainly an attractive and useful account of the basic facts of the subject. His aim of arousing the reader's interest and stimulating him to further study should undoubtedly be achieved. j . H. WILLIAMSON


The work is mainly focused on the description of an original scheme for information representation in e-learning applications, where three levels are used to describe course related knowledge: content level, symbolic level, and conceptual level bridging the previous ones. Moreover, an integrated architecture design is proposed to support the presented model. The reference scenario is the development and deployment of lessons for undergraduate students using both local and internet resources. Multimedia information is managed at a content level relying on the SCORM standard. At a symbolic level, an ontology is built as a linguistic knowledge base, where all the course topics are represented together with temporal and user-related constraints. The ontology is used to generate a suitable learning path in response to the student requests, which has the form of a SCORM course description. At the intermediate level, which bridges the content and the symbolic ones, topics are represented by a concept map, implemented as a SOM network. The map is used to cluster the course materials, and to map them onto atomic concepts that can be instantiated at the ontological level. This solution allows the discovering similarity between topics, and creating new relations between them at the symbolic level. A detailed description of the model is presented, along with the outline of the architecture.


[1] Freshwater pulses from melting ice sheets are thought to be important for driving deglacial climate variability. This study investigates challenges in simulating and understanding deglacial climate evolution within this framework, with emphasis on uncertainties in the ocean overturning sensitivity to meltwater inputs. The response of an intermediate complexity model to a single Northern Hemisphere meltwater pulse is familiar: a weakening of the ocean overturning circulation in conjunction with an expansion of sea ice cover and a meridional temperature seesaw. Nonlinear processes are vital in shaping this response and are found to have a decisive influence when more complex scenarios with a history of pulses are involved. A meltwater history for the last deglaciation (21–9 ka) was computed from the ICE-5G ice sheet reconstruction, and the meltwater was routed into the ocean through idealized ice sheet drainages. Forced with this meltwater history, model configurations with altered freshwater sensitivity produce a range of outcomes for the deglaciation, from those in which there is a complete collapse of the overturning circulation to those in which the overturning circulation weakens slightly. The different outcomes are interpreted in terms of the changing hysteresis behavior of the overturning circulation (i.e., non-stationary freshwater sensitivity) as the background climate warms through the course of the deglaciation. The study illustrates that current uncertainties in model sensitivity are limiting in efforts to forward-model deglacial climate variability. Furthermore, ice sheet reconstructions are shown to provide poor constraints on meltwater forcing for simulating the deglaciation.


AIM
Although previous studies assessed the effects of Serenoa repens, quercetin and β-sitosterol on inflammatory parameters, no randomized studies have tested the combination of these agents neither on BPH symptoms nor on the inflammatory pattern. The aim of this trial was to evaluate the effects of Difaprost® on voiding dysfunction, histological inflammatory alterations and apoptotic molecular mechanisms in BPH patients.

METHODS
We included 36 patients affected by BPH with obstructive symptoms eligible for surgery. Patients were randomly assigned to two groups: 18 patients received Difaprost® for three months before surgery, and 18 patients did not receive any additional therapy and were scheduled for surgery. All patients receiving Difaprost® were evaluated with uroflowmetry with post-void residual volume (PVR) evaluation, serum PSA, and IPSS questionnaire before and after treatment. Moreover, we evaluated inflammatory patterns in prostatic specimens at final pathology.

RESULTS
Even without statistically significant differences on inflammatory pattern between patients receiving Difaprost® and controls, patients receiving Difaprost® had lower presence of edema and angiectasia at histological evaluation of prostate specimens. Moreover, patients included in the treatment group had a clinically significant reduction of PVR (46.1 vs. 25.2 mL; P=0.1) and a slight increase in Qmed (5.6 vs. 6.5 mL/s; P=0.9) after three months of chronic treatment with Difaprost®. No statistically significant differences were recorded in other clinical parameters between patients receiving Difaprost® and controls.

CONCLUSION
Although not statistically significant, patients treated with Difaprost® showed an improvement in voiding function compared to controls (namely, an increase in Qmed and a reduction of PVR). Future trials with a larger number of patients and a longer treatment period could be necessary to evaluate the clinical efficacy of Difaprost®.


Aluminium alloys were analysed by ArF laser-induced atomic emissions of laser plumes. The vapour plume was created by a Nd:YAG laser pulse at 1064 nm. Unlike laser-excited atomic fluorescence, when only one transition was excited at one wavelength, numerous analytes were induced to emit simultaneously at the single excitation wavelength of 193 nm. Detection limits for Na, Mg, Si and Cu were 83, 240, 590 and 470 ng g−1, respectively. They were established under conditions of minimal sample destruction. The mass detection limits were in the tens of attomoles. Because of the high sensitivity even at low etch rates, depth profiling at sub-nm resolution was possible. Prompt segregation of trace impurities towards the target surface was revealed.


We study the effect of dephasing on the coherent dissociation dynamics of an atom-molecule Bose-Einstein condensate. We show that when phase-noise intensity is strong with respect to the inverse correlation time of the stimulated process, dissociation is suppressed via a Bose enhanced quantum Zeno effect. This is complementary to the quantum Zeno control of phase-diffusion in a bimodal condensate by symmetric noise [Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 220403 (2008)] in that the controlled process here is phase formation and the required decoherence mechanism for its suppression is purely phase noise.


Linear programming has been successfully used to compute admissible heuristics for cost-optimal classical planning. Although one of the strengths of linear programming is the ability to express and reason about numeric variables and constraints, their use in numeric planning is limited. In this work, we extend linear programming-based heuristics for classical planning to support numeric state variables. In particular, we propose a model for the interval relaxation, coupled with landmarks and state equation constraints. We consider both linear programming models and their harder-to-solve, yet more informative, integer programming versions. Our experimental analysis shows that considering an NP-Hard heuristic often pays off and that A* search using our integer programming heuristics establishes a new state of the art in cost-optimal numeric planning.


A formalism for systems of rigid bodies, with the needs of digital simulation especially in mind, has recently been given by Sandier. The philosophy he outlines is quite correct, though some elaboration of certain definitions might be desirable. I wish to comment that there already is a body of literature on this subject, including Refs. 2-6, and some of these carry the development further. (I do not cite the other formalisms of the same general type given in various unpublished works, i.e., company reports, during the past decade.) References 5 and 6, in particular, also were developed with a recognition of digital simulation problems. I feel that Sandier's concluding remarks about "elastic bodies" are subject to misinterpretation, since this terminology usually is interpreted to refer to elastic continua to which his formulation (as well as the others cited here) does not apply.


This paper describes an autopilot design of tilt-rotor UAV, which is being developed by KARI as a Smart UAV Development Program in Korea, using particle swarm optimization (PSO) method. The tilt-rotor UAV considered in this paper holds five control modes in the stability and control augmentation system (SCAS) depending on flight mode. Flight control systems designed via the classical approach have been performed in such a way that yields linear models about several trim flight conditions, designing linear controllers for each condition, and integrating these design points with a gain scheduling scheme. However, it is very tedious and time-consuming to design an autopilot of a tilt-rotor UAV which represents various dynamic characteristics, nonlinearity, and uncertainty via classical control technique, because there are many design points and operating conditions throughout the flight envelope. To solve this problem, an automatic tool for control system design using PSO method is developed and applied to autopilot design of tilt-rotor UAV. The desired output of control system is chosen to satisfy the control system requirement. Gain margin and phase margin of control system are additionally considered as a penalty term in the objective function. The designed control system guarantees the satisfaction of the control system requirement ensuring a sufficient stability margin of the control system. Also, the gain scheduling scenario and SCAS switching logic of each control mode are successfully designed. Fully nonlinear 6-DOF simulation for an automatic landing scenario is performed to verify the performance of autopilot system of tilt-rotor UAV. The results from the nonlinear simulation show good control performance of the tilt-rotor UAV.


This paper examines the relationship between credit constraints − proxied by the investment-to-cash flow sensitivity – and firm-level economic performance − defined in terms of labor productivity – during the period 2009-2016, using a sample of 22,380 manufacturing firms from 11 European countries. It also assesses how regional institutional quality affects productivity at the level of the firm both directly and indirectly. The empirical results highlight that credit rationing is rife and represents a serious barrier for improvements in firm-level productivity and that this effect is far greater for micro and small than for larger firms. Moreover, high-quality regional institutions foster productivity and help mitigate the negative credit constraints-labor productivity relationship that limits the economic performance of European firms. Dealing with the European productivity conundrum thus requires greater attention to existing credit constraints for micro and small firms, although in many areas of Europe access to credit will become more effective if institutional quality is improved.


This paper is concerned with a set of parametric estimators that attempt to provide consistent estimates of average medical care costs under conditions of censoring. The main finding is that incorporation of the inverse of the probability of an individual not being censored in the estimating equations is instrumental in deriving unbiased cost estimates. The success of the approach is dependent on the amount of available information on the cost history process. The value of this information increases as the degree of censoring increases.


Accomplishment of efficient intracellular delivery of bioactive peptides and proteins have been reported via conjugation of peptides having membrane permeation ability (i.e., cell‐penetrating peptides [CPPs]), where a physiological uptake system of extracellular materials, endocytosis, often plays a role. When endocytosed, the bioactive peptides and proteins are encapsulated into vesicular compartment named endosomes, and have to escape into the cytosol with the help of tethered CPPs for obtaining the expected bioactivities. Therefore, CPPs having improved endosomolytic activity is necessary. We here introduce an approach to employ hemolytic peptides as a new class of CPPs, which was designed to attenuate their membrane perturbation ability on cell surfaces while recovering the membrane lytic activity under endosomal conditions (i.e., the attenuated cationic amphiphilic lytic [ACAL] peptides). This was realized by introducing negatively charged glutamic acid (Glu) residues into the potential hydrophobic face of the cationic amphiphilic peptides. The applicability of these peptides for CPPs was evaluated through the intracellular delivery of shepherdin, an apoptosis‐inducing peptide.


OBJECTIVE
We retrospectively analyzed the backgrounds, treatment and nursing care for 96 patients aged 80 years or more with malignant tumors. Twenty of them were hospitalized on an emergency basis. Sixty patients were male and 36 were female, with a median age of 83 years (range: 80-94 years). Twenty-seven had a PS of 3 or 4, and 41 were rated as not independent based on analysis of autonomy at hospitalization. Forty-seven patients had clinical stage III or IV malignancies. The proportions of patients with disease complications were 33.3% for neurological disease, 21.9% for respiratory disease, 70.8% for cardiovascular disease including hypertension, and 36.5% for metabolic disease. Thirty-nine patients underwent surgical or endoscopic resection of their tumors. Twenty-three patients received chemotherapy: hormonal treatment in 14, local injection of cytotoxic agent(s) in 6 and systemic anti-cancer therapy in 3. Thirty-nine patients received supportive care only. Forty-three patients newly required nursing care or an increased level of care at discharge. The median survival time was 10.9 and 15.3 months for stage III/IV and 0/I/II patients, respectively. In conclusion, most elderly patients with malignant tumors require full supportive care, including social nursing care, from the time of cancer diagnosis.


Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC) is characterized by reversible left ventricular apical and/or midventricular hypokinesia with unknown etiology. The clinical presentation is similar to acute myocardial infarction in the absence of significant obstructive coronary artery disease. Various predisposing factors have been related to TTC, such as acute neurological illnesses, endocrine diseases, pain, and emotional stress. We present the first description of an association between TTC cardiomyopathy and panhypopituitarism. This case reinforces the connection between the hormonal and cardiovascular systems. Furthermore, it supports the importance of a comprehensive and integrated medical history in the approach of a patient with cardiac disease, towards clinical decision-making.


Social identities play a critical role in the various phases of conflict. Existing literature often examines the role of social identity of groups in inducing conflict in heterogeneous societies. This article puts forward the view that the role of identity is not limited in terms of inducing conflict, but it also plays a vital role in influencing the dynamics of conflict. Based on this conceptual framework, the article outlines the conflict dynamics observable in the Kannan Devan Hills village in Kerala, where several factors, over the course of time in the last century, have led to the perception of conflict between the Tamils and the Malayalis. As a major objective, the article identifies the issues and processes of social interaction between the two groups that necessarily influence the nature of the conflict. The article identifies that the conflict between the two communities, though mostly latent, can be seen through three important aspects: assertion, negotiation and subjugation of identities. Through assertion of identity, the conflict is perceived over ethnic lines, whereas the process of negotiation and subjugation of identity constantly undermines the ethnic nature of conflict to specific grievances, thus giving insight into the dynamic nature of the conflict.


Biofilm‐induced dynamic evolution of streambed permeability commonly concurs with the transition from connection to disconnection between surface water and groundwater in arid regions. However, in most previous studies, static streambeds were assumed to examine the evolution of disconnection, or despite dynamic streambeds being considered, the feedbacks between nutrients transport and microbial growth were ignored. In this study, we developed an innovative coupled variably saturated flow, microbial growth, biogeochemical reactions, and bioclogging model. We applied this model to investigate the feedbacks between nutrients transport and microbial growth and their controls on infiltration evolution. Our results showed that a new clogging layer can naturally develop due to these feedbacks and does not require prior clogging. The development of the new clogging layer promotes the occurrence of disconnection. These results illustrate that as bioclogging is a dominant process, previous static disconnection conditions cannot be used as criteria to predict whether disconnection can occur in a stream‐aquifer system. Furthermore, different from the previous assumption of constant specific microbial growth rates, biomass growth, and streambed permeability evolution are self‐limiting. Accordingly, due to initial low growth rate, infiltration increases when the water table declines, and it then decreases and reaches a minimum while a stable biofilm is developed. These trends coincide with the infiltration variations reported in previous field investigations. After reaching the minimum, infiltration increases again with decline of the water table until achieving a constant at the moment of disconnection. This stage was missing in previous studies because constant specific growth rates were assumed.


ABSTRACT This paper proposes two new approximate confidence limit methods for the common odds ratio from multiple 2 × 2 tables. The two new procedures, based on the asymptotic distribution of Woolf estimator and Mantel-Haenszel estimator, associate with inverse sinh transformation. We employ three pseudo-frequency methods to calculate confidence intervals in order to avoid the interval failure caused by the presence of zero cells in multiple 2 × 2 tables. We develop the modified inverse sinh intervals for the common odds ratio which add one pseudo-frequency (c 1) to all the cells before computing the point estimate of common odds ratio and another pseudo-frequency (c 2) to all the cells before computing the standard error estimate. The simulation is to evaluate the 22 confidence intervals, including Woolf, Mantel-Haenszel, their inverse sinh intervals, and their pseudo-frequency modified inverse sinh intervals, in terms of their coverage probabilities and average log lengths. Simulation results demonstrate that the adjusted inverse sinh intervals by two different pseudo-frequencies perform quite well when c 2 is slightly greater than c 1 since the coverage probabilities of them are closer to confidence level of 95%. Larger values of c 2 lead to narrow intervals and low coverage probabilities. We also find that inverse sinh intervals are shorter than untransformed intervals based on Woolf estimator and Mantel-Haenszel estimator, respectively. These procedures were illustrated with two clinical trials.


ration, allowing readers direct access to the sometimes contradictory, often flawed reasoning that leads Helen into many painful life lessons. In addition, although the male characters are largely interchangeable, Helen is surrounded by an array of compelling, brilliant women who will certainly appeal to both the fantasy and myth fans who are the audience for this novel. An author's note will lead interested readers to the classical texts and myths on which Friesner based her Helen, and a map is included. AS


1 From the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA 19104 2 State Key Laboratory of Cell Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China 200031 3 Women's Cancer Program at the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 8700 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90048 5 Barnett Institute, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA 02115 6 These authors contributed equally to this work.


Performance of gravitational wave (GW) detectors can be characterized by several figures of merit (FOMs) which are used to guide the detector's commissioning and operations, and to gauge astrophysical sensitivity. One key FOM is the range in Mpc, averaged over orientation and sky location, at which a GW signal from binary neutron star inspiral and coalescence would have a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 8 in a single detector. This fixed-SNR approach does not accurately reflect the effects of transient noise (glitches), which can severely limit the detectability of transient GW signals expected from a variety of astrophysical sources. We propose a FOM based instead on a fixed false-alarm probability (FAP). This is intended to give a more realistic estimate of the detectable GW transient range including the effect of glitches. Our approach applies equally to individual interferometers or a network of interferometers. We discuss the advantages of the fixed-FAP approach, present examples from a prototype implementation, and discuss the impact it has had on the recent commissioning of the GW detector GEO 600.