Weight control or weight management can be such a difficult task to achieve. People embark on different work out plan and adjust their dietary intake in order to maintain shape and weight. This study was designed to investigate the effect of tapioca and garri on weight and hematological indices of wistar rats. Eighteen wistar rats weighing between 118g-170g were divided into three groups; Control (A), Garri (B), and Tapioca(C). The control group (A) was fed with water and growers mash ad libitum, while the experimental groups were fed with garri (A) and tapioca (C) respectively with water twice daily for 28 days. Weight readings were taken on the 1st, 14th 28th day of the experiment. At the end of 28th day, animals were fasted overnight and sacrificed. Blood samples were withdrawn from the heart and abdominal aorta and were temporarily stored in EDTA bottles. Reduction in weight (body and organs) of the treated rats was observed. Changes were also observed in hematologic values when treated and controlled group were compared (p>0.05) although not statistically significant. Tapioca has more effect on body weight and hematological indices when compared with garri. Tapioca can thus be considered effective for weight reduction however, not over prolonged periods. Key words : Tapioca, Garri, Weight, Haematological indices


Metabolic syndrome, which increases the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes, has emerged as a significant issue worldwide. Metabolic syndrome can occur due to diverse factors such as genetic background, lifestyle changes, food intake, and aging. Recent studies have highlighted the relationship between metabolic imbalance and neurological pathologies, such as synaptic dysfunction and memory loss. Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) secreted from gut L-cells, and specific brain nuclei play multiple roles, including glucose metabolism, regulation of insulin sensitivity, inflammation control, synaptic plasticity improvement, and neuronal protection. Even though GLP-1 and GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA) appear to have neuroprotective functions, the specific mechanisms of GLP-1 and GLP-1RA in brain function have remained unclear. Here, we investigated whether exendin-4 improves cognitive function and brain insulin resistance in metabolic imbalanced high-fat diet mice brain as a GLP-1RA, using electrophysiological experiments. Further, we identified the neuroprotective effect of exendin-4 in primary cultured hippocampal and cortical neurons under an in vitro metabolic imbalance condition, including neuronal structure improvement. This study provides significant findings on the effects of exendin-4 in synaptic plasticity, long-term potentiation (LTP), neuroinflammation, and neural structure. We suggest that GLP-1 may be vital to treating neuropathology caused by metabolic imbalance.


The elicitor Hrip1 isolated from necrotrophic fungus Alternaria tenuissima, could induce systemic acquired resistance in tobacco to enhance resistance to tobacco mosaic virus. In the present study, we found that the transgenic lines of Hrip1-overexpression in wild type (WT) Arabidopsis thaliana were more resistant to Spodoptera exigua and were early bolting and flowering than the WT. A profiling of transcription assay using digital gene expression profiling was used for transgenic and WT Arabidopsis thaliana. Differentially expressed genes including 40 upregulated and three downregulated genes were identified. In transgenic lines of Hrip1-overexpression, three genes related to jasmonate (JA) biosynthesis were significantly upregulated, and the JA level was found to be higher than WT. Two GDSL family members (GLIP1 and GLIP4) and pathogen-related gene, which participated in pathogen defense action, were upregulated in the transgenic line of Hrip1-overexpression. Thus, Hrip1 is involved in affecting the flower bolting time and regulating endogenous JA biosynthesis and regulatory network to enhance resistance to insect.


Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a major complication in critically ill patients and affects up to 50% of those admitted to intensive care units. Causes of AKI include patient specific factors (susceptibility: e.g. age, pre-existing chronic kidney disease, chronic heart failure, diabetes) and patient unspecific factors (exposure: e.g. sepsis, hypovolemia, cardiac surgery, nephrotoxin application). Mortality of severe AKI is in the range of 40 - 50%.AKI is accompanied by volume overload, electrolyte disorders, acidosis, and uremia. The diagnosis of AKI is based on an increase of creatinine levels and/or a decrease in urine output within 7 days after an insult. These 2 markers are late und unspecific, especially with regard to early identification of patients at risk of AKI. New AKI markers have been investigated within the last decade including NGAL (neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin), the product of IGFBP-7 (insulin like growth factor binding protein 7) and TIMP-2 (tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 2), KIM-1 (kidney injury molecule 1) and the cysteine-protease-inhibitor cystatin C. New markers or a panel of new markers might improve the diagnosis of patients at risk of AKI in the future.There are currently no specific therapeutics in the treatment of AKI. Therefore, the prevention of AKI is of an utmost importance. The recommended preventive measures include optimization of hemodynamics and volume status, close monitoring of creatinine levels and urine output, avoidance or discontinuation of nephrotoxic drugs, normoglycemia and the application of alternatives to radiocontrast agents if possible.As the long term prognosis of AKI highly depends on renal recovery, the 2 major goals for the future will be 1) the early identification of patients at AKI risk and 2) the support of renal recovery of AKI patients.


Abstract This study was designed to elucidate the biological variation in expression of many metabolites due to environment, genotype, or both, and to investigate the potential utility of metabolomics to supplement compositional analysis for the design of a new resilient cultivar of Brassica napus that can be steady in phytochemicals in different regions in France. Eight rapeseed varieties, grown in eight regions of France, were compared using a non-targeted metabolomics approach. The statistical analysis highlighted the distance and closeness between the samples in terms of both genotypes and geographical regions. A major environmental impact was observed on the polar metabolome, with different trends, depending on the varieties. Some varieties were very sensitive to the environment, while others were quite resilient. The identified secondary metabolites were mapped into the KEGG pathway database to reveal the most sensitive target proteins susceptible to environmental influences. A glucosyl-transferase encoded by the UGT84A1 gene involved in the biosynthesis of phenylpropanoid was identified. This protein could be rate limiting/promoting in this pathway depending on environmental conditions. The metabolomics approach used in this study demonstrated its efficiency to characterize the environmental influence on various cultivars of Brassica napus seeds and may help identify targets for crop improvement.


Experimental data are provided on the time course of changes in the content of noradrenaline (NA), dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-HT) in the synaptosomes of the sensorimotor cortex and caudate nucleus of the rat brain under hypokinesia (HK) lasting 30, 60 and 90 days. At the first stage of HK there were unidirectional changes in the content of NA and DA toward their accumulation by synaptic terminals whereas the level of 5-HT was slightly reduced with respect to normal. The 60-day HK led to varying decreases in the content of all three monoamines as compared with the previous period. Another DA accumulation was recorded by the 90th day of experiment. Meanwhile the content of NA and 5-HT tended toward normal.


This work brings together classical polynomial theory as it relates to the Levinson recurrence for a Hermitian Toeplitz operator and matrix theory as it relates to the class of Hermitian centro-Hermitian matrices. A new computationally efficient alternative is presented to the Levinson recurrence on either the Hermitian or skew-Hermitian polynomial spaces. This approach also leads to an entirely new algorithm for solving systems of linear equations when the coefficient matrix is Hermitian Toeplitz or real symmetric Toeplitz. Analysis of the computational complexity of the algorithms presented is also performed, and it is shown that these algorithms lead to significant improvements in the computational complexity as compared to the previously best-known recursive algorithms. They also provide further insight into the mathematical properties of the structurally rich Toeplitz matrices.


Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), such as methadone and buprenorphine, are effective strategies for treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) and reducing overdose risk. MOUD treatment rates continue to be low across the US, and currently, some evidence suggests access to evidence-based treatment is becoming increasingly difficult for those with OUD as a result of the 2019 novel corona virus (COVID-19). A major underutilized source to address these serious challenges in the US is community pharmacy given the specialized training of pharmacists, high levels of consumer trust, and general availability for accessing these service settings. Canadian, Australian, and European pharmacists have made important contributions to the treatment and care of those with OUD over the past decades. Unfortunately, US pharmacists are not permitted to prescribe MOUD and are only currently allowed to dispense methadone for the treatment of pain, not OUD. US policymakers, regulators, and practitioners must work to facilitate this advancement of community pharmacy-based through research, education, practice, and industry. Advancing community pharmacy-based MOUD for leading clinical management of OUD and dispensation of treatment medications will afford the US a critical innovation for addressing the opioid epidemic, fallout from COVID-19, and getting individuals the care they need.


We consider instabilities of two-component Tomonaga–Luttinger (TL) liquids for the one-dimensional extended Hubbard model in a magnetic field. When the density of electrons with spin σ is 1/2, electrons with spin σ tend to occupy every other site, and do not conduct. The instability stems from the umklapp scattering between same-spin electrons. But for the remaining electrons with spin −σ, an energy gap does not appear. We also consider the instability relating to the phase separation. This relates to the intrinsic stability condition of the TL liquid.


This briefing provides an overview of injury as a chronic health issue in Australia. The report highlights the long-term health consequences following severe injury and the effects on individual's physical and psychosocial wellbeing. Types of injuries covered include spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, severe burns as well as injury comorbidities such as fractures and self-harm. Key findings: • Injury is the leading cause of mortality, morbidity and permanent disability that affects the quality of life of injured people and their families in Australia. • In 2003, the burden of injury was 7.0% of total Disability-Adjusted Life Years, with 76% of the overall injury burden due to mortality. • The injury burden in Australia is dominated by suicide and self-inflicted injuries, road traffic accidents and accidental falls. • Injury was a major cause of hospitalisation, accounting for 5.5% of all hospital separations. • People with a prior injury have significantly more health service use (hospital admissions and physician claims) than do the general population. • Injuries appear to increase mental health service use for those with pre-existing mental health problems and lead to mental health service use among those without pre-injury mental health conditions. • Post traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorders were the most frequently diagnosed health conditions following post-injury trauma. • There appears to be an aetiological link between mental health conditions and injury, particularly in relation to risk taking behaviours, alcohol misuse, and psychological traits such as impulsivity, sensation seeking, and risk perception. • Given the human and economic costs of injury, it is important to address the chronic health effects of injury and to identify and reduce pre-existing risk factors that predispose people to injury.


An investigation was carried out to identify the intestinal ciliated protozoa of the plains zebra known as Burchell's zebra (Equus quagga burchellii Gray, 1824) living in Sasalı National Park (İzmir, Turkey) and Gaziantep Zoo (Gaziantep, Turkey) and of the plains zebra known as Grant's zebra (Equus quagga boehmi Matschie, 1892) living in Darıca Faruk Yalçın Zoo (Darıca, Turkey). A total of 27 species and 1 morphotype belonging to 17 genera and 6 families were detected. Bundleia elongata was identified in all examined zebras, whereas Bundleia inflata, Blepharoconus benbrooki, Blepharocorys cardionucleata, Circodinium minimum, Cycloposthium bipalmatum, Ditoxum brevinucleatum, D. hamulus, and Arcosoma brevicorniger were identified only in one zebra. The average quantity of intestinal ciliates in the 9 zebras was 11.0 ± 17.0 × 104 cells mL-1. According to this study, the total number of ciliate species in the intestine of zebras increased to 51. This is the first time a report has been made on Paraisotricha colpoidea, Blepharoprosthium polytrichum, Bundleia elongata, B. triangularis, Paraisotrichopsis composita, Arcosoma brevicorniger, and A. dicorniger from zebra intestines. Moreover, A. brevicorniger was observed in binary fission for the first time.


Symbolic model checking has been found extremely efficient in the verification of hardware designs, and has been widely adopted in industry in recent years. While traditional model checkers ([McM93]) used the temporal logics ctl or ltl as their specification language, contemporary industrial languages, have sought ways to make the specification language easier to learn and use. The temporal language psl [Acc04], which has been standardized by the Accellera standards organization, augments ltl with new language constructs, including Regular Expressions. In order to be model-checked, a psl formula needs to be translated into a verifiable form, usually an automaton. In this paper we present the translation into automata of a subset of psl called SafetyPSL. This subset, as can be understood by its name, consists of safety properties. Such properties are of special interest, because they can be model checked efficiently, as will be explained in the sequel. A property is considered to be safe if its violation can be detected by a finite path. Formally, consider a language L of finite and infinite words over an alphabet Σ. A finite word u over Σ is a bad prefix for L iff ∀v ∈ Σ∗ ∪ Σ, uv 6∈ L. A language L is a safety language if every word not in L has a finite bad prefix. Model checking of a general linear property φ involves the construction of a Büchi automaton B¬φ, of size exponential in φ, that accepts exactly all the infinite computations violating the property φ. Model checking φ is done by checking the emptiness of the product of the model M and B¬φ [VW86]. For safety properties, however, we can many times do better. Since computations violating a safety formula are all finite, a finite automaton A can detect them. Model checking can then be reduced to invariant checking, with the invariant being "A is not in an accepting state". Invariant checking is typically easier to


PURPOSE
Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been observed to be adherent to and inside epithelial cells during experimental corneal infection. The authors identified bacterial ligands involved in adherence and entry of P. aeruginosa into corneal epithelial cells.

METHODS
In vitro gentamicin survival assays were used to determine the intracellular survival of a panel of P. aeruginosa mutants. Strains (10(6) to 10(7) colony-forming units) were added to primary cultures of rabbit corneal epithelial cells (approximately 10(5)/well) for 3 hours, nonadherent bacteria were washed away, and extracellular bacteria were killed with gentamicin. The antibiotic was then washed away, and epithelial cells were lysed with 0.5% Triton X-100 to release internalized bacteria. Bacterial association (sum of bound and internalized bacteria) was measured by the omission of gentamicin. Similar assays were carried out with whole mouse eyes in situ.

RESULTS
A lipopolysaccharide core with an exposed terminal glucose residue was found to be necessary for maximal association and entry of P. aeruginosa into corneal cells. Bacterial pili and flagella were not involved. Mutants of P. aeruginosa strains that do not produce an LPS core with a terminal glucose residue had a significantly lower level of association with (approximately 50%) and ingestion by ( > 90%, P < 0.01) corneal cells than did strains with this characteristic. Complementation of the LPS productions defect by plasmid-borne DNA returned association and ingestion to near parental levels. Lipopolysaccharides and delipidated oligosaccharides with a terminal glucose residue in the core inhibited bacterial association and entry into corneal cells. Experiments using P. aeruginosa LPS mutants and corneal cells on whole mouse eyes confirmed the role of the LPS core in cellular entry.

CONCLUSIONS
Corneal epithelial cells bind and internalized P. aeruginosa by the exposed LPS core.


In order to take advantage of non-radioactive methods, we have developed two plasmids (p lambda LE and p lambda RE) for mapping restriction sites of long inserts cloned in phage lambda vectors. These plasmids are constructed by cloning the left 402-bp and right 560-bp phage lambda genome ends, respectively. To map restriction sites, the cloned sequences in p lambda LE and p lambda RE are labeled with digoxygenin and hybridized to partially digested lambda DNA. The ladder of bands detected with these probes can be used to construct restriction maps in the same way as those obtained using radioactively labeled cos complementary oligodeoxyribonucleotides [Rackwitz et al., Gene 30 (1984) 195-200].


IGBT modules used in electric and hybrid vehicles are assembled by connecting approximately 500 thick Al wires (Φ 400 μm), requiring the largest scale wire bonding of any automobile part. It is accepted that the probability of cracks occurring within the IGBT chip due to damage during wire bonding is about 1 in 1,000,000. Toyota has been conducting research to clarify the cause and generation mechanism of this problem. Other companies who have also conducted investigations have reported that the cause of the problem is Si nodules resulting from Si components within the Al electrode of the chip. However, characteristics of the generation mechanism, such as the influence of surface convexity of the chip and the path by which stress sufficient to generate cracks is exerted, have not been clearly explained. In this article, the generation mechanism is examined through detailed observations of damage within the chip and analysis of stress using simulations. From these investigations, the following conclusions were reached: (1) the simulations and analyses suggest that bonding damage occurs at the bonding terminal joints from the concentration of tensile stress during bonding, (2) convexity of the chip surface causes stress to concentrate in the convex portions, (3) the extent of the damage is made worse by the shape of the convex portions and the Si nodules, and (4) the stress that concentrates on the bonding surface is variable and depends on the shape of the wire loop.


Delirium is a serious and distressing neurocognitive condition manifesting as an acute change in mental status due to medical illness, injury and/or treatment. The understanding of delirium pathophysiology is limited and largely hypothetical and this evidence gap impedes the development of effective therapies. Delirium biomarker studies have a key role in building knowledge of the pathophysiology of delirium, subject to the robustness of their methods and reporting. Our objective was to describe the multi-method development and finalisation of a new reporting guideline for delirium fluid biomarker studies: REDEEMS. A previously published systematic review on delirium and advanced cancer biomarkers informed a three-round modified Delphi study with international experts in delirium research in 2019. We held a follow-up consensus meeting with a newly configured expert panel of 12 delirium researchers in June, 2020 to determine the inclusion or exclusion of 16 items that achieved 70-80% (i.e., borderline) consensus in the Delphi study. Of the 16 items presented at the consensus meeting, seven were excluded, six remained as discrete items, and three were merged with another item. The final REDEEMS guideline contained nine items specific to reporting delirium biomarker studies. The REDEEMS guideline was developed through a rigorously conducted Delphi and follow-up consensus meeting with international experts in delirium research. The REDEEMS will support the improved reporting rigour and synthesis of future delirium biomarker research. The next step is dissemination to promote uptake of the guideline and evaluate the influence on improved study methods and capacity to address research hypotheses.


During the period of 2002 to 2003, there were collected sand flies in two areas of Amazon State (Forest Combat Training Base – BI1 and Taruma-Mirim). Were collected the 1440 L. (Nyssomyia) umbratilis female. Lu. umbratilis is the main responsible for the transmission of American Tegumentary Leishmaniasis (ATL) in the northern of Amazon River. Only 15 specimens (or 1,04%) presented natural infection with trypanosomatids, being 12 at Bl1 and 3 at Taruma-Mirim. The infection rate was 1,66% (12 of the 720 collected at BI1) and 0,42% (3 of the 720 at Taruma-Mirim). These results confirm the previous informations described by other authors that insects have low rates of natural infection by trypanosomatids even in high endemic areas for leishmaniasis.


Biochar is a carbon-rich material produced from the pyrolysis of organic biomasses in the absence of oxygen or under low-oxygen conditions. Biochar has received a great interest during the last few decades due to its beneficial roles for carbon dioxide capturing and soil fertility improvement. However, applications of biochar in arid soils are very limited, and there is a lack of knowledge on practical aspects of adding biochar to arid soils. In this chapter, we will focus on biochar applications in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia soils as an example of arid soils. These soils are characterized by several marks, i.e., high soil pH, sand structures, high CaCO 3 contents, and low soil fertility. In addition, the unsuccessful recycling practices of agricultural and food wastes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are also discussed. This chapter provides an overview of current biochar knowledge perti-nent to its application to arid soils, summarizes what is known so far about biochar and its applications in arid regions, and demonstrates the possible strategies that can be used for enhancing the practices of biochar addition to these soils.


The telenovela Montecristo is a communicative phenomenon by which mass media and human rights joined forces to promote current issues within Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo. It incorporated in its plot a traumatic process: a woman finds her real identity, the one who was stolen during the 1970s by the dictatorial government in Argentina. This process displays topics such as memory, justice, and power in current Argentine society. Montecristo was broadcasted in Argentina during 2006 and in the United States during 2008–2009, and it represents a change (among others) in Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo approach to their search. This change meant to promote awareness regarding their search for babies and children who were kidnapped during the last Argentine dictatorship. This essay also analyzes the genre telenovela as a cultural production with specific features in a growing transnational cultural market and its position inside the Latin American cultural industry.


Background Polypharmacy, a risk factor for inappropriate prescribing, is common in adults with intellectual disability (ID). For older patients with polypharmacy in the general population a Systematic Tool to Reduce Inappropriate Prescribing (STRIP)* has been developed recently. This patient review requires the active involvement of the patient, which can be complicated in adults with ID. Purpose This pilot study was performed to evaluate whether STRIP can be used in adults with ID living in a centralised setting. Material and methods This observational pilot study was performed in three care organisations. In each organisation nine clients with polypharmacy, defined as concomitant use of five or more drugs, were selected by their pharmacists and ID resident physician for a review using STRIP. Clients, their legal representatives and mentors were invited to participate. The primary outcome was the proportion of clients, legal representatives and mentors who participated. Secondary outcomes were the number of potentially appropriate indicated drugs (according to the START criteria) and the number of potentially inappropriate or unnecessary drugs identified (according to STOPP criteria). Results 27 reviews were performed in this pilot study. During these 27 reviews, 24 clients (89%), 14 legal representatives (53%) and all 27 mentors (100%) participated. Thirteen potentially appropriate indicated drugs and 44 potentially inappropriate or unnecessary drugs were identified, resulting in suggestions for changes in pharmacotherapy for 21 (78%) clients. Besides, 9 (33%) reviews revealed in total 21 drugs, mainly as required prescriptions, that were never used by the client. Conclusion A Systematic Tool to Reduce Inappropriate Prescribing (STRIP) with the active involvement of adults with ID, their legal representatives and mentors can be used to identify drug-related problems in this population. The benefits in terms of reduction of patient harm as well as cost-effectiveness of this method should be assessed in this population in future studies. Reference The Dutch College of General Practitioners, Multidisciplinary Guideline Polypharmacy in the elderly, 2012 No conflict of interest.


Confronted with an unprecedented scale of human-induced environmental crisis, there is a need for new modes of theorizing that would abandon human exceptionalism and anthropocentrism and instead focus on developing environmentally ethical projects suitable for our times. In this paper, we offer an anti-anthropocentric project of an ethos for living in the Anthropocene. We develop it through revisiting the notion of sustainability in order to problematize the linear vision of human-centric futurity and the uniform 'we' of humanity upon which it relies. We ground our analyses in posthumanism and material feminism, using works by posthumanist and material feminist thinkers such as Stacy Alaimo, Rosi Braidotti, Donna Haraway and Jane Bennett, among others. In dialogue with them, we offer the concept of posthuman sustainability that decenters the human, re-positions it in its ecosystem and, while remaining attentive to difference, fosters the thriving of all instances of life.


The association of the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) to DNA synthesis sites was investigated in human quiescent fibroblasts after UV irradiation. Associated PCNA was detected with the monoclonal antibody (MoAb) PC10 and by immunofluorescence assessment with flow cytometry, after a hypotonic lysis step in order to release unbound molecules. Immunofluorescence levels, relatively low in untreated control cells, increased by about threefold after uv irradiation. The time course of PCNA complex formation showed a maximum after about 30 min from irradiation and was found to be dose-dependent up to about 10 J/m2, after that it reached a plateau. Formation of the PCNA-chromatin complex was neither significantly affected by the topoisomerase II inhibitor VP-16, nor by the poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase inhibitor 3-aminobenzamide. In contrast, a significant reduction was obtained either after ATP depletion or after incubation with the protein-kinase inhibitor staurosporine. Immunoprecipitation studies on nuclear extracts from 32P-labeled cells showed that PCNA bound to DNA synthesis sites was phosphorylated. The results indicate that PCNA associated to DNA repair synthesis sites may be detected with PC10 MoAb after a hypotonic lysis step, and provide evidence that the transition from soluble to chromatin-associated form of the protein is dependent on a phosphorylation mechanism.


This study aims to investigate binary droplet collision with large density ratios (DRs) via an improved pseudopotential multiple-relaxation-time (MRT) lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). This method can satisfy the thermodynamic consistency at a DR of 750 compared with the coexisting values from Maxwell construction. The effects of the Weber (We) number, Ohnesorge (Oh) number, DR, viscosity ratio, off-center collision, and the initial droplet position are discussed in detail by showing the development of liquid fraction contours and the velocity vectors. The simulation results indicate that (1) with an increase in the We number, the dynamic behavior of the droplets changed from coalescence to flexible separation with the formation of satellite droplets; (2) with an increase in the Oh number, the degree of deformation of the droplet collisions became smaller would become; (3) the larger the gas viscosity was, the greater the resistance of the droplet movement; (4) the change in the dynamic behavior of the droplet collisions were negligible when varying the DR from 135–750 if other parameters and conditions were maintained; and (5) for the off-center collisions with the same Oh number, an increasing We number led to the formation of a long and thin 'ligament' in between the droplets, which finally separated into two satellite droplets. It is hoped that this improved single-component pseudopotential MRT-LBM model can advance the fundamental understanding of droplet collisions with large DRs and low viscosities.


A dual polarized, dual beam phased array antenna with wide scan angle capabilities was designed and manufactured for repeater application. Two fixed feeding networks were designed and manufactured for the dual beams. With the feed networks, one broadside main beam and one tilted main beam were generated. The antenna achieved good isolation of -35.5 dB between the two main beams (broadside and tilted beam) within the frequency band of interest (2.5-2.7 GHz). The return loss for the broadside feed network port was found to be below -7.5 dB and return loss for the tilted beam feed network port was less than -15 dB. The side lobe levels for the broadside beam and the tilted beam were -12 dB and -8 dB down, respectively. The cross-polar level for the broadside beam was lower than -20 dB at the center frequency both in the elevation plane and in the azimuth plane. Also, for the tilted beam the cross-polar level in elevation plane was measured to be as low as -20 dB at the centre frequency.


We consider the problem of adaptive inference on a regression function at a point under a multivariate nonparametric regression setting. The regression function belongs to a Holder class and is assumed to be monotone with respect to some or all of the arguments. We derive the minimax rate of convergence for confidence intervals (CIs) that adapt to the underlying smoothness, and provide an adaptive inference procedure that obtains this minimax rate. The procedure differs from that of Cai and Low (2004), intended to yield shorter CIs under practically relevant specifications. The proposed method applies to general linear functionals of the regression function, and is shown to have favorable performance compared to existing inference procedures.


Epidural Hematoma (EDH) is the most common emergency case in neurosurgery, mortality rate was higher than other country. To determine the factors that influence outcome of EDH patients with performed emergency craniotomy. This descriptive analytic was conducted at Dr. M. Djamil General Hospital, Padang, Indonesia, we review the medical record all of EDH patient in 2017. Some parameters were analyzed in our study, ages (p = 0.012), gender (p = 0.418), inisial GCS (p = 0.146), pupil abnormality (p = 0.973), onset (p = 0.883) and time delayedfor surgery (p = 0.146), the mortality rate was 7/26 patients. Age has a significant difference on the outcome of EDH patients who underwent emergency craniotomy. Whereas gender, initial GCS, pupil abnormality, onset trauma, delayed time are determinat factors that influence outcome but not significant.


The importance of management to the long-term careers of practicing professional engineers has long been recognized. Undergraduate engineering education should therefore provide an exposure to the management skills required by engineers in professional practice. For the rational and effective design of undergraduate engineering management studies, it is essential to understand the nature of engineering management and to identify those management skills identified as important by practicing professional engineers. Through an investigation of the recent literature, the management skills considered important by engineering stakeholder groups are identified and ranked. This information is supplemented by recent surveys conducted by the author of stakeholders in Australia, including academic staff, mature age undergraduate students, and recent graduates of the engineering programs at Deakin University in Australia. Based on an examination of the literature and original research, a framework of ranked classified management skills is proposed. Broadly, the ranking framework is generic professional skills first, followed by general management skills and technical discipline specific management skills, followed by other professional discipline skills and theoretical skills.


Under the oxidizing condition, the cheap metal component of bimetallic catalysts often segregates to the surface and forms oxide nanoclusters (NCs) supported on the metal surface, which exhibit unique structures and catalytic properties drastically different from the corresponding bulk materials. Here, density functional theory calculations are employed to describe the atomic and electronic structures of a series of triangular FeOx NCs confined on Pt(111) with the size ranging from ∼0.3 nm to ∼2.2 nm, which behave differently from the FeO film reported previously. The lattice of supported FeOx NCs on Pt(111) is found to vary not only with the NC size but also with the Fe/O ratio or the edge termination. Owing to a strong FeOx-Pt interaction, the heterogeneous distribution of local atomic and electronic structures of Fe across the FeOx NC is observed, though most of Fe atoms are positioned at the threefold hollow site of Pt(111). Our study not only sheds light on the catalytically active sites of supported FeOx NCs but also provides guidance for the design of highly active and stable oxide nanocatalysts under reactive environment.


This paper introduces PREvant (preview servant), a software tool which provides a simple RESTful API for deploying and composing containerized microservices as reviewable applications. PREvant's API serves as a connector between continuous delivery pipelines of microservices and the infrastructure that hosts the applications. Based on the REST API and a web interface developers and domain experts at aixigo AG developed quality assurance workflows that help to increase and maintain high microservice quality.


Background To evaluate the safety and visual outcomes of combined phacoemulsification and sutureless 23-gauge vitrectomy for concomitant cataract and vitreoretinal diseases. Methods Retrospective consecutive interventional case series. 114 eyes of 111 patients underwent combined sutureless 23-gauge vitrectomy and phacoemulsification surgery between 1 January 2006 and 1 March 2009. Main outcome measures were visual acuity and perioperative complications. Results All patients had at least 3 months follow-up (mean 263 days). The main vitreoretinal surgical indications were intractable cystoid macular oedema, epiretinal membrane and retinal detachment. Mean logMAR visual acuity improved from baseline 20/192 to 20/129 at 3 months (p=0.005). Mean intraocular pressure (IOP) increased from baseline 15.8 mm Hg to 17.7 mm Hg (p=0.033) on postoperative day 1 and then decreased by postoperative month 3 to 14.8 mm Hg (p=0.019). 110 (96.5%) eyes had significant pre-existing macular disease, and 93 (81.6%) received preoperative treatments. 82 (71.9%) patients required supplemental treatment(s) at a mean of 91.5 days, most commonly intravitreal injections to reduce vascular leakage or YAG capsulotomy. Hypotony, defined as IOP <5, was observed in four (3.5%) patients, and no patient developed endophthalmitis. Capsular tears were more frequent in eyes with a history of previous radiation or vitrectomy. Conclusions Combined phacoemulsification and sutureless 23-gauge vitrectomy surgery was safely and effectively used for cataracts and a variety of complex vitreoretinal diseases.


The complex [FeIII(HL)Cl2(DMF)]Cl·DMF (1) was synthesized by reaction of Fe(III) chloride with a dimethylformamide solution of the Schiff base aminoalcohol HL (2-[(E)-{[2-(piperazin-1-yl)ethyl]imino}methyl]phenol) and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis, thermogravimetry and spectroscopic methods. The catalytic investigations disclosed a marked activity of 1 towards oxidation of cyclohexane with hydrogen peroxide, under mild conditions, with yields based on cyclohexane up to 37% and TONs (turnover numbers) up to ca. 900. Kinetic experiments and selectivity parameters led to the conclusion that hydroxyl radicals are active (attacking C–H bonds) species in the studied catalytic reaction. Kinetic and UV/Vis spectrometry data revealed a complex nature of the processes occurring in the catalytic system, including the transformation of 1 into catalytically active species.


A survey was conducted in Western Zone of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia to asses indigenous practices of incubation and brooding, egg and broody hen selection practices and causes of hatchability failure. Multi stage sampling produres were employed to select weredas, sample kebeles and respondents in which three rural weredas were selected by purposive sampling technique; stratified purposive techniques were employed to select nine sample kebeles and purposive random sampling techniques were used to select a total of 385 respondents. Pretested structured questionnaire and focused group discussion were employed to generate data. All generated survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics of SPSS 16. Kruskal- Wall's test option of Non-parametric tests of SPSS 16 was employed to test proportion difference of each variable among the altitudes. Broody hens were the sole means of egg incubation and chick brooding.  Broody hens selected based on plumage color, egg yield, body weight (size) and mothering ability. Eggs Laid at home was the predominant sources of incubation and selected mainly based on egg type, egg age and season/month of laying. Clay pots, ground, plastic, bamboo cages, bin, cartons and dish were used as egg setting materials and grasses, straws, cotton seeds, feather of broody hens, soil, clothes, cow dung, sand were used as bedding materials.  June to February were the most preferred while March to May was the worst months of the year to incubate eggs and to achieve best hatchability eggs. Environmental temperature, lack of proper laying nest and post handling were the critical causes of failure of egg hatchability in the study area. Visual examination, floating in water, shaking, cooking sample eggs, breaking sample eggs and weighing were the traditional techniques of egg fertility checking prior to incubation.  Farmers attempt to increase egg production by stimulating broody hens to resume laying through hanging upside down, disturbing in the nest, moving to neighbors, tying both wings together, tying outside the original laying nest, tying plastic materials on legs and piercing of noise. However, great emphasis should be given to wards selection of farmers with healthy flock when our option of breaking brooding behavior of hens is moving to neighbors otherwise it may serve as sources of infection for our flocks. There is a strong need for training of chicken producers in increasing hatchability performances through preparation of proper brooding nest or laying nest, egg selection, feeding, housing, health care, proper post handling and chick management to increase their economic returns.  Community based holistic improvement programs is also very imperative to design in order to improve the genetic potential through selective breeding and conservation of the indigenous chicken genetic resources. Further research on hatchability performance evaluation of the indigenous chickens in both on farm and station as well as effect of the twelve months of the year on incubation and hatchability of eggs. Keywords: Fertility Checking, Breaking Broodiness Behavior, Bedding, Egg Setting Materials


Objectives The opioid use disorder (OUD) crisis in North America has become "an epidemic within a pandemic" in the context of the COVID-19 virus. We aimed to explore the association between the COVID-19 pandemic and changes in opioid use patterns among patients receiving treatment for OUD. Methods We used prospectively collected data from 456 patients attending 31 opioid agonist clinics across Ontario, Canada. All included participants underwent routine urine drug screens (UDSs) both before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. A paired sample t-test was used to compare the proportion of opioid-positive UDSs collected pre- and post-pandemic, and linear regression analysis was used to explore factors associated with this change. Results Participants had a mean age of 39.9 years (standard deviation = 10.9), 52%were male, and 81%were receivingmethadone treatment. The percentage of opioid-positive UDSs increased significantly during the pandemic, on average by 10.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 8.17, 12.95, P < 0.001). Continued opioid use before the pandemic was associated with 9.43% increase, on average, in the percentage of opioid-positive UDSs during the pandemic (95% CI 3.79, 15.07). Self-reported past-month cocaine (adjusted betacoefficient 6.83, 95% CI 0.92, 12.73) and amphetamine (adjusted beta-coefficient 13.13, 95% CI 5.15, 21.1) use at study entry were also associated with increases in opioid-positive UDSs. Conclusions Increased opioid use is one measure of the negative impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on individuals with OUD, an already marginalized population. Understanding factors associated with worse outcomes is essential to ensuring that treatment programs appropriately adapt to better serve this population during the pandemic.


Blockchain offers an innovative approach to storing information, executing transactions, performing functions, and establishing trust in an open environment. Many consider blockchain as a technology breakthrough for cryptography and cybersecurity, with use cases ranging from globally deployed cryptocurrency systems like Bitcoin, to smart contracts, smart grids over the Internet of Things, and so forth. Although blockchain has received growing interests in both academia and industry in the recent years, the security and privacy of blockchains continue to be at the center of the debate when deploying blockchain in different applications. This article presents a comprehensive overview of the security and privacy of blockchain. To facilitate the discussion, we first introduce the notion of blockchains and its utility in the context of Bitcoin-like online transactions. Then, we describe the basic security properties that are supported as the essential requirements and building blocks for Bitcoin-like cryptocurrency systems, followed by presenting the additional security and privacy properties that are desired in many blockchain applications. Finally, we review the security and privacy techniques for achieving these security properties in blockchain-based systems, including representative consensus algorithms, hash chained storage, mixing protocols, anonymous signatures, non-interactive zero-knowledge proof, and so forth. We conjecture that this survey can help readers to gain an in-depth understanding of the security and privacy of blockchain with respect to concept, attributes, techniques, and systems.


Recently, structural health monitoring technologies draw keen attention for sustaining large structures. In this paper, a smart sensor network consisting of intelligent sensor nodes with an accurate time synchronization mechanism for structural health monitoring is proposed. Using a prototype system, extensive tests have been conducted to ensure its performance. The proposed sensor network could achieve high precision time synchronization.


Silicosis is an interstitial lung disease caused by the inhalation of crystalline silicon dioxide. Current concepts suggest that a crucial step in the development of silicosis is silica-induced injury of alveolar macrophages (AM). The adhesive protein vitronectin is a natural constituent of the lung, in which its function is largely unexplored. This study investigated a possible role for vitronectin in protecting AM from silica exposure. In this study, the concentration of vitronectin was shown to be increased in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of silica-treated rats. Vitronectin affinity for silica was shown both in vitro and in vivo by immunostaining. Vitronectin reduced silica-induced injury to cultured AM as determined with the (51)Cr release assay. Vitronectin reduced silica-induced free radical production as determined with a cell-free thiobarbituric acid assay. Additionally, vitronectin reduced the silica-induced respiratory burst in AM as determined with chemiluminescence. This study suggests that vitronectin may protect AM during the initial exposure to silica.


The study is motivated by the problem of stabilizing the concentration of atmospheric carbon, which is widely discussed in the context of global warming nowadays. A key difficulty in the design of stabilization strategies is the uncertainty of the underlying physical model. In the present paper, a general problem setting is suggested and a relevant analytic framework elaborated. Analysis employs specific qualitative features of an uncertain dynamics, including automatic stabilization of the trajectories in the absence of input disturbances. An asymptotic version of Krosovskii's external shift control principle is developed and model-robust strategies stabilizing a state coordinate at a prescribed level are constructed.


An extended and systematic ab initio investigation of the energetics, structural, electronic, optical and Raman-active properties of heavily Li-doped ultrathin 4 Å diameter carbon nanotubes of different chiralities has been performed. A number of new features not discussed earlier are observed in the present study. Our values for the binding energies of the Li-doped tubes are higher than the ones reported earlier. We find the Li-doped (3, 3) tubes stable in contrast to an earlier prediction. For each type of the tube, the saturation intake of Li atoms inside the tube is 8–10% only, whereas on the surfaces of the (5, 0) and (4, 2) tubes, this intake is as high as 100%, and it forms a circular tube of Li+ ions around the tube. Li atoms residing on the axis inside the tube do not modify the symmetry of the host tube and thus the electronic structure (except the upward shifting of the Fermi surface, EF) in contrast to surface Li atoms which (apart from the (4, 2) tube, which possesses no symmetry) destroy the symmetry and drastically alter the electronic structure. In general, Li doping inside or outside the tube increases the electron density of states (DOS) several times except in the (5, 0) tube doped with a small concentration of Li atoms, where it decreases. For one inner Li atom in each tube, the peak structure in the optical absorption remains essentially the same as that of the pristine tube. In general, the optical absorption is different for the various nanotube–Li configurations studied. For each type of tube, in general, the RBM frequency reduces with the dilation of the diameter of the optimized tube. The high values of DOS obtained for certain Li concentrations may lead to high values of electrical conductivity and the superconducting transition temperatures in Li-doped tubes as has already been reported in pristine tubes and ropes.


The southern pine beetle (SPB), is recognized as the most serious insect pest of southern pine forests. Outbreaks occur almost every year somewhere within its wide range, requiring intensive suppression efforts to minimize resource losses to Federal, State, and private forests. Effective management involves annual monitoring of SPB populations and aerial detection and ground evaluation of multiple-tree infestations during outbreaks. The 16 southern and northeastern States that face periodic SPB outbreaks have developed operational methods for detection and evaluation of new infestations and pending outbreaks of this destructive forest pest. Methods used by State forestry agencies for State and private forest lands often differ from those used on Federal forest lands and also vary significantly among States. This chapter describes the methodologies used by various States for conducting aerial detection flights and subsequent ground check evaluations for SPB. New technological developments, including geographical information systems, global positioning systems, digital sketchmapping systems, and coordinated Internet-based reporting systems, are being incorporated into traditional suppression operations to better manage this bark beetle pest. Also, a unique region-wide system for monitoring SPB populations and predicting infestation trends has been developed and implemented throughout the South. The first of its kind for any bark beetle species in the world, this system utilizes a network of pheromone traps deployed in early spring. Predictions of SPB activity to expect at the county, ranger district, and State level are made by comparing relative catches of SPB and those of a major SPB predator, the clerid Thanasimus dubius. Standardized monitoring, aerial detection, and ground evaluation protocols have become widely used by State forestry agencies and are considered essential components for the effective management of SPB. Aerial Detection, Ground Evaluation, and Monitoring of the Southern Pine Beetle: State Perspectives


Abstract. A length–frequency sample (n = 295) from a fossil population of the Ordovician trilobite Triarthrus eatoni Hall, 1838, assembled and analyzed by J. L. Cisne in 1973 is here reexamined using methods of length–frequency analysis commonly used in fishery science and marine biology. Theoretical considerations and the empirical data at hand suggest that the growth of T. eatoni was not "linear," but asymptotic, as is the growth of most Recent marine invertebrates. The parameters of the von Bertalanffy growth function (L ∞ = 41 mm, K = 0.29 yr–1) suggest that T. eatoni, which apparently lived in a challenging environment, grew somewhat more slowly than the extant marine isopod Ceratoserolis trilobitoides (Eights, 1833), used here as Recent analogue to T. eatoni. This trilobite probably lived up to 10 years, rather than the suggested 4 years, and its mortality rate was 15%–20% per year rather than 30%–40% per year. These represent the first estimates of trilobite absolute growth characteristics using methods known to accurately model growth in extant water-breathing ectotherms. These provide a baseline for trilobite growth that can be used to make inferences about growth in other species. The approach used here may also be applied to other trilobites for which suitable length–frequency data exist.


Radioisotope cells (RCs) and a direct sodium borohydride/hydrogen peroxide fuel cell ( FC) are compared to conventional chemical batteries through Ragone plots of theoretical (RCs) and experimental (chemical batteries and FC) data. It is found that the RCs are projected to have superior specific energy but inferior specific power, while the borohydride/peroxide FC shows an impressive range for both parameters. Thus, RCs may be especially useful in battery charging, communications, or other applications that require a long-lived, low-power source or periodic pulses of energy. While the borohydride/peroxide FC can be scaled to a variety of high-power applications, it is especially well suited for space and undersea use where air independence is essential.


The mud crab ( Scylla ) is a commercially important crustacean, as there is a large demand in many Southeast Asian countries. Currently, one of the main bottlenecks to the expansion of Scylla aquaculture is the inconsistent and low production of hatchery juveniles. One major challenge to overcome at the hatchery level is disease issues caused by bacteria. The use of probiotics to outcompete pathogenic bacteria is being tested in the industry as a better disease prevention method in Scylla aquaculture compared to antibiotics, and is getting more recognition in aquaculture to reduce bacterial issues. The current review discusses mudcrab farming activities in Malaysia and the scope for using probiotics in Scylla aquaculture, as this is a potential way to increase survival rates in a long term sustainable way.


We propose an iterative approach for inferring a ground truth value of an item from judgments collected form on-line workers. The method is specifically designed for cases in which the collected labels are ordinal. Our algorithm works by iteratively solving a hard-assignment EM model and later calculating one final expected value after the convergence of the EM procedure. This algorithm does not require any parameter tuning and can serve as turnkey algorithm for aggregating categorical and ordinal judgments.


The property of methanol to surface ignite can be exploited to use it in a diesel engine even though its cetane number is very low. Poor lubricity of methanol is still an issue and special additives are needed in order to safeguard the injection system components. In this work a common rail three cylinder, turbocharged diesel engine was run in the glow plug based hot surface ignition mode under different injection strategies with methanol as the main fuel in a blend with n-butanol. n-Butanol was used mainly to enhance the viscosity and lubricity of the blend. The focus was on the effect of different injection strategies. Initially three blends with methanol to n-butanol mass ratios of 60:40, 70:30 and 80:20 were evaluated experimentally with single pulse fuel injection. Subsequently the selected blend of 70:30 was injected as two pulses (with almost equal mass shares) with the gap between them and their timing being varied. Finally the effect of mass share of the injection pulses was evaluated. All the experiments were done at a speed of 1800 rpm, Brake Mean Effective Pressure (BMEP) of 8 bar and injection pressure of 850 bar and performance, emissions and combustion parameters were analyzed.Higher methanol shares increased the efficiency because of controlled combustion rates and proper combustion phasing. Enhancing the methanol share, due to its high latent heat of vaporization lowered the temperatures and the Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) levels with near zero smoke levels. However, Hydrocarbon emission (predominantly formaldehyde and methanol) was found to be higher but it was possible to reduce it by using a diesel oxidation catalyst. Double pulse injection resulted in an improvement in the brake thermal efficiency due to better combustion phasing. Reduced the rate of pressure rise and NOx emissions were also observed. An almost equal share between the two injection pulses was found to be acceptable and the efficiency was better than the base diesel engine with negligible smoke and lower NOx levels.


O I: 10 .1 50 3/ cm aj .0 71 33 9 There are no greater threats to the health of humanity than nuclear weapons and climate change, threats that paradoxically have arisen from human behaviour. Nuclear weapons arise out of the human proclivity for war and climate change from our troubled relationship to the natural world. From an evolutionary perspective, both are attempts at survival and adaptation that have gone badly awry. Like other male primates, humans hunt and kill members of their own species. Historically, war has led to an evolutionary adaptive advantage for the victorious tribe, the winners passing on their genes. Thus, it is hardly surprising that the tools of war, weapons, have been developed through the centuries with ever-greater capacities for killing and destruction. This trajectory has led to an end-game — nuclear weapons, which have rendered the survival advantage of war meaningless. Nevertheless, since the invention of nuclear weapons over half a century ago, the inherent competitive drive of war has led to their proliferation rather than their abolition. Initially, with the onset of the Cold War and the nuclear arms race, anxiety about this newly created apocalyptic weapon was expressed through the illusory protection of civil defence. Air raid drills and bomb shelters abounded in the 1950s. However, public enthusiasm for these measures soon waned as their futility in response to a nuclear attack became increasingly apparent. Gradually, over the decades, we have become psychologically numbed to the enduring and proliferating existence of nuclear weapons. Each headline announcing a new member of the nuclear club is briefly met with alarm but quickly fades into yesterday's news. The goal of global nuclear disarmament has become a quaint anachronism, rarely raised in the discourse of the mainstream media. Now we face further potential obliteration, this time in the form of climate change and impending environmental collapse. As with nuclear weapons, this crisis arose out of what was once an evolutionary, adaptive advantage. Humans who have been able to fashion and mould their surroundings, like victorious tribes, have had a greater chance of passing on their genes. However, this capacity, like weapons, has hypertrophied into a maladaptive disadvantage by overly disrupting the habitat in which the species as a whole resides. The abundant evidence of climate change and environmental degradation is everywhere to be seen: melting ice caps, raging storms and burning forests. Unlike the hypothetical threat of nuclear war, climate change is a phenomenon that is tangible and readily apparent every day. Thus, by its nature, it consistently and unmercifully challenges our denial and forces us, at a most fundamental level, to redefine our notions of survival. The solution to the environmental crisis requires human cooperation and living in harmony with the natural world. This is in diametric contradistinction to the destructive competition of war that obliterates human lives and harms the physical world. We cannot address climate change and our countless environmental concerns if we persist with the institution of war. We simply cannot afford to direct our energies, efforts and resources toward the destruction of the planet and its preservation at the same time. Climate change, in confronting us with its ominous truths, offers us both opportunities and challenges: the opportunity to recreate ourselves, the challenge to evolve beyond our instinctual predilections in reconsidering and redressing how we live with each other and with the earth we inhabit, and, ultimately, the opportunity and the challenge to reimagine and reinvent our understanding of how we pursue survival.


In recent years, vehicle monitoring system is widely used in the logistics and distribution system to get the real-time information of vehicles or goods and make logistics scheme. With the increasing of motor vehicles, it's more and more difficult to grasp for social enterprises and institutions on the management of vehicles. All units near exist some issues, such as poor efficiency of vehicle management; unauthorized use of enterprise's cars; excessive use of vehicles. The system described in this paper combines currently popular technology, wireless sensor networks, global positioning technology, geographic information systems, etc. Besides real-time monitoring of the location of the vehicle, the system also supports other types of sensors to monitor vehicle storage environment to meet the special tasks. It also has capability to send out alerts when some observations violate the predefined business rules. System using SaaS (software-as-a-service) architecture and a number of companies sharing the same system, it can effectively reduce the cost of enterprise systems.


Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is an irreplaceable measure with minimally invasive diagnosis and treatment of endoscopy for biliary and pancreatic diseases, but the related complications associated with ERCP are the highest among the endoscopic procedures. Post-ERCP pancreatitis (PEP) is one of the most common complications with life-threatening in severe cases. Early active prevention can effectively reduce the incidence of post-ERCP pancreatitis. At present, measures including preoperative rectal non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and prophylactic pancreatic stent placement, have definite effective strategy in clinic. Aggressive hydration with lactated Ringer's solution is also a safe and effective way to prevent PEP.


meaning when there is minor production of gastric fluid. Gastric distension was never a problem. Anastomotic healing depends on various factors, the most important probably being vascularisation. We do not feel that prolonged use of a nasogastric tube contributes positively to anastomotic healing; leakage in our series is comparable to other results. An interesting point is the need of adjuvant feeding in the period after hospitalisation. There are no reports concerning this and it would be interesting to evaluate the effects. I. J. M. Han-Geurts and H. W. Tilanus Department of Surgery, Erasmus University Medical Centre, dr Molewaterplein 40, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands DOI: 10.1002/bjs.5844


The review presents studies devoted to the analysis of one literary work by V. Rasputin. The focus of the seminar "V. Rasputin's Creativity: Spirituality and Artistic Questˮ was the writer's late story "Hutˮ (1999). At the section "Analysis of one work: V. Rasputin's story "Hut", various aspects of the artistic world of the work were considered: images of Agafya and Home, the image of space, speech characteristics of the peasantry's lifestyle, cultural contexts, and the practice of teaching the story at school. The section was attended by researchers from Gorlovka (DPR), Donetsk (DPR), St. Petersburg (Russia), Voronezh (Russia). Isolation of the story from the legacy of the writer is a sign of the relevance of the work and the vitality of the constants of Russian culture reflected in it. The researchers identified the features of the story and raised the problems of loss and perpetuation of traditional values, generational bridge, and the memory of the nation. Turning to this work of V. Rasputin in new historical conditions, researchers discover in it the meanings that are relevant for themselves and their time.


Receptor-interacting proteins are a family of serine/threonine kinases, which integrate extra and intracellular stress signals caused by different factors, including infections, inflammation and DNA damage. Receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 2 (RIP-2) is a member of this family and an important component of the nuclear factor NF-kappa-B signaling pathway. The corresponding human gene RIPK2 generates two transcripts by alternative splicing, the full-length and a short transcript. The short transcript has a truncated 5' sequence, which results in a predicted isoform with a partial kinase domain but able to transduce signals through its caspase recruitment domain. In this study, the expression of RIPK2 was investigated in human tissue samples and, in order to determine if both transcripts are similarly regulated at the transcriptional level, cancer cell lines were submitted to temperature and acid stresses. We observed that both transcripts are expressed in all tissues analyzed, with higher expression of the short one in tumor samples, and they are differentially regulated following temperature stress. Despite transcription, no corresponding protein for the short transcript was detected in tissues and cell lines analyzed. We propose that the shorter transcript is a noncoding RNA and that its presence in the cell may play regulatory roles and affect inflammation and other biological processes related to the kinase activity of RIP-2.


Renal metastatic tumors are seldom diagnosed. Their differentiation from primary renal tumors means severe problem. In connection with their cases the authors deal with this important problem. Their diagnostic and therapeutic tactics are described and publications in the literature of the past 15 years dealing with similar problems are reviewed.


Abstract : This paper discusses the design, the test facility, and the test results of an Advanced Liquid Hydrogen Turbopump for a 30,000 pound (22,679 kg) thrust Upper Stage Expander Cycle Engine being developed by Pratt & Whitney Liquid Space Propulsion under contract for the United States Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to support the Integrated High Payoff Rocket Technology (IHPRPT) program. The Advanced Liquid Hydrogen Turbopump is designed to provide improved system thrust to weight, decreased hardware/support costs, and increased reliability. These benefits will be accomplished and demonstrated through design, development, and test of this high speed, high efficiency, two stage hydrogen turbopump capable of supplying 16 lb m/sec (7.3 kg/sec.) of liquid hydrogen at 4600 psia (323.4 kg/sq cm).


Introduction Most electronically stored endoscopic reports consist of semi-structured free text. containing a significant amount of auditable information. However, the unstandardised text requires cleaning prior to audit so that the data is standardised across patients. One major obstruction to the automated auditing of free text is phrases that mention an absence of a pathology such as 'No hiatus hernia is seen.' or 'There is no malignancy.' Methods The current study aims to determine the complexity of semi-structured free text endoscopy reports and determine the simplest function in the globally most popular data analytics language 'R', to remove negative phrases from endoscopic text and to validate the performance of this algorithm against manual extraction. Five hundred endoscopic reports were randomly selected for any procedure between Jan 1 2007 to Jan 1 2017. The low average text complexity (measured using the package 'readability' in R based on sentence structure rather than terminology) was equivalent to age 14–15 years (Readability scores: Flesch KinCaid=9.8, Gunning_Fog Index=13.3, Coleman_Liau=10.0) meaning that the text could be analysed using less processor intensive pattern recognition defined as 'regular expressions 'rather than using machine learning. Negative phrases were extracted from the first 100 reports as a training set, using the 'lexicon' package in R by cross referencing each sentence in an endoscopy report with a list of known negators to create generic regular expressions that could detect all negative phrases and incorporated into a script in R. A endoscopist blinded to the automated results was required to remove all negative phrases whether in mixed or non-mixed sentences for the same 400 endoscopy reports. Automated and manually extracted phrases were then statistically compared to generate a sensitivity, specificity and accuracy measurement of automated extraction. The difference in audit outcome was also estimated when a comparison was made between simple keyword searches to populate the audit versus the use of negative removal as implemented using our technique. Results The training set resulted in 12 regular expressions, compiled into a single runnable function, thought capable of detecting most negative phrases. This resulted in a sensitivity for the detection of negative phrases of 97.2%, specificity 74.61%, positive prediction value of 65.4% and a negative prediction value of 98.01%. When the regular expression function was run against a simple keyword search for certain phrases, certain terms demonstrated a significant difference in their detection when keyword searches were used before and after the negator removal function was used.The term CLO for example was detected 12.25% without negator removal and 7.25% with the function. Conclusions Given the simple sentence structure of the endoscopy reports across multiple endoscopists, a simple processor-nonintensive approach to the removal of negative or normal findings is feasible. Although there is room to improve the specificity further, it is preferable to have false positives in the output result which may require minimal work to remove in the final data cleaning stage. The removal of negators is likely to have more or less of an impact based on the phrase being searched for.


The main aim of this study is to assess the quality of inexpensive plastic toys imported to Palestinian Markets. The content of heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Cr, Hg, As, Se, Ba, and Zn) was analyzed in 50 plastic toys purchased from local markets in Palestine and 17 plastic toys purchased from Israeli markets for comparison. After the digestion of samples with concentrated nitric acids and hydrogen peroxide using a microwave digester, the concentrations of the selected heavy metals were determined by ICP-MS Agilent 7500 in Al-Quds University. Results revealed that 40% of the Palestinian toy samples had high concentration (above international limits) of Pb, 30% of Cd, 34% of Cr, 6% of Hg, 42% of As, 32% of Se, 20% of Ba, and 40% of Zn. On the other hand, 95% of the Israeli samples were safe, and their concentrations were less than the maximum internationally allowable limits. In the same context, ten toy samples (2.5 gm each) had been crushed and dipped for 8 hours in a solution of artificial saliva. The solution was acidified and tested for heavy metal concentrations, but none of the migration concentrations exceeded the international maximum allowable limit. High levels of heavy metal concentrations, found in the plastic toys from the Palestinian markets could form a health hazard to children and put their lives at risk. It could be also an indirect source for environmental pollution.


An overview is given of recent tests of the mode-coupling theory for the evolution of structural relaxation in glass-forming liquids. Emphasis is put on comparisons between the leading-order asymptotic formulae derived for the dynamics near glass transition singularities and the results of neutron scattering, depolarized light scattering, impulsive stimulated light scattering and dielectric-loss spectroscopy for conventional liquids. The tests based on photon-correlation spectroscopy results for the glassy dynamics of colloids and the findings of molecular dynamics simulations for model systems are also considered.


We investigate extremal dyon black holes in the Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theory with higher curvature corrections in the form of the Gauss-Bonnet density coupled to the dilaton. In the same theory without the Gauss-Bonnet term the extremal dyon solutions exist only for discrete values of the dilaton coupling constant a. We show that the Gauss-Bonnet term acts as a dyon hair tonic enlarging the allowed values of a to continuous domains in the plane (a,q{sub m}) where q{sub m} is the magnetic charge. In the limit of the vanishing curvature coupling (a large magnetic charge) the dyon solutions obtained tend to the Reissner-Nordstroem solution but not to the extremal dyons of the Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theory. Both solutions have the same dependence of the horizon radius in terms of charges. The entropy of new dyonic black holes interpolates between the Bekenstein-Hawking value in the limit of the large magnetic charge (equivalent to the vanishing Gauss-Bonnet coupling) and twice this value for the vanishing magnetic charge. Although an expression for the entropy can be obtained analytically using purely local near-horizon solutions, its interpretation as the black hole entropy is legitimate only once the global black hole solution is known to exist, and we obtain numericallymore » the corresponding conditions on the parameters. Thus, a purely local analysis is insufficient to fully understand the entropy of the curvature-corrected black holes. We also find dyon solutions which are not asymptotically flat, but approach the linear dilaton background at infinity. They describe magnetic black holes on the electric linear dilaton background.« less


Total disc replacement (TDR) is an innovative procedure that has gained traction in spine surgery. A large amount of data in the literature report on the short-term outcomes of TDR surgery favorably. However, surgeons remain reluctant to opt for TDR surgery due to uncertainty of long-term outcomes. Recently, long term data regarding TDR surgery has become available, with some studies showing superior outcomes to fusion surgery. The goal of this review is to synthesize and clinically contextualize the recent literature on TDR surgery. This article also provides brief discussion of the biggest challenges currently facing disc arthroplasties and the ways in which they are being tackled.


Dr Herman Blumenthal emphasizes in his introduction that this volume is not about the basic biology of aging or clinical geriatrics. It is about "disease causality as possibly directly related to biologic aging." As such, it is a provocative and brilliant multiauthored volume containing a wealth of research and theoretical information on the relationship between aging and disease. Dr Blumenthal hypothesizes that the aging process, at a molecular level, represents an accumulation over time of errors in intracellular information flow, with transcription and translation "mistakes," resulting in the production of misspecified proteins. These cybernetic alterations result in cellular dysfunctions, which combine with environmental risk factors to produce a high incidence of certain diseases in the elderly (cancer, arteriosclerosis, autoimmune diseases, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and Alzheimer's disease). Twenty-five prominent investigators thoroughly discuss these pathological states, not so much from the viewpoint of proving this hypothesis, but instead to provide an objective


The contribution presents novel observations on unreinforced masonry made of solid clay brick units and surrounding mortar joints. Focus is the brittle-ductile interaction of the two constituents in form of the so-called masonry prism test under axial compression. The experimental observations include Digital Image Correlation (DIC) data from a newly acquired 3-D DIC system to ascertain the effect of bond on the overall behaviour of the masonry composite. Special attention is directed towards the use of the DIC system to observe mismatch among the two constituents leading to tensile splitting under axial compression. Preliminary tests were performed on the brick units and mortar cubes aside from the masonry prisms using the 3-D DIC system for imaging which did display interesting results which would have been missed by traditional deformation measurements. The presentation concludes with remark on the resolution and limitations of the DIC system.


The use of diffusion weighted imaging with apparent diffusion coefficient mapping in the diagnosis of cerebral fat embolism is shown here to demonstrate infarcts secondary to fat emboli more intensely than T2 weighted sequences 24 hours after the onset of symptoms. Embolic foci are hypointense on apparent diffusion coefficient mapping consistent with cytotoxic edema associated with cell death and restricted water diffusion. This technique increases the sensitivity for detecting cerebral fat embolism and offers a potentially important tool in its diagnosis.


Development of aspergilloma is common in cases with a fungus ball-like shadow in cavities due to old tuberculosis. Some reports have shown that blood clots tend to appear as a fungus ball-like shadow. A 71-year-old man with a history of pulmonary tuberculosis presented with a fungus ball-like shadow in an old cavity and hemoptysis. There was no evidence of aspergillus infection on various examinations. We confirmed a blood clot and aneurysm of an artery under direct vision by bronchoscopy. A lateral thoracic artery aneurysm was detected by angiography. Transcatheter arterial embolization was performed. After treatment, the artery aneurysm disappeared.


Abstract: Estrogens are represented by a diverse group of compounds. Within this large family of molecules are tissue‐selective estrogens that have been classified as selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs). These compounds are characterized by the fact that they exhibit both estrogen agonist and antagonist activity dependent upon the gene promoter and target tissue being examined. SERMs have been intensively studied over the past decade, especially since one, raloxifene, has been approved for the prevention and treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis. While not a replacement for hormone replacement therapy (HRT), raloxifene can be an alternative to it and other treatments for osteoporosis. The ideal SERM would provide the positive benefits associated with HRT without the uterine and breast stimulation. Raloxifene does achieve some of the benefits of HRT, specifically on the skeleton and lipid metabolism with no apparent uterine effects, and a potential decreased risk of developing breast cancer associated with raloxifene therapy. However, there are a number of parameters that can be improved. A number of SERMs have been evaluated only to fail in development due to, for the most part, uterine safety issues. In order to develop an improved SERM, a stringent screening process was designed to select compounds that did not stimulate the uterus or breast. At the same time, these new compounds would have a positive impact on the skeleton and lipid metabolism with the additional improvement (over raloxifene) of a neutral effect on hot flashes. Under these strict conditions, WAY‐140424 was developed and, to date, the preclinical pharmacology data have accurately predicted the clinical response demonstrated in phase I and II trials.


Renal denervation (RDN) was reported as a novel exciting treatment for resistant hypertension in 2009. An initial randomized trial supported its efficacy and the technique gained rapid acceptance across the globe. However, a subsequent large blinded, sham arm randomized trial conducted in the USA (to gain Food and Drug Administration approval) failed to achieve its primary efficacy end point in reducing office blood pressure at 6 months. Published in 2014 this trial received both widespread praise and criticism. RDN has effectively stopped out with clinical trials pending further evidence. This joint consensus document representing the European Society of Hypertension and the Cardiovascular and Radiological Society of Europe attempts to distill the current evidence and provide future direction and guidance.


Sir, In a recent paper, Ma and Nenchev have investigated some interesting aspects of the pseudoinverse transformation which is required in robot control schemes. These authors present an exact equation of pseudoinverse's null space vectors, but apparently they only consider the mechanical dynamics. As shown in reference 2, this short Letter points out that a stable behaviour of null space vectors results of the implementation of convenient null space feedback laws in programming pseudoinverse expressions. The usual control laws are derived from on a slightly different version of the formulation provided in reference 1. The kinematic equation which links workspace and joint space represents the basic relationship of robot motion. But as the Cartesian acceleration is generally needed, such a mapping relationship can be directly derived with respect to time. Alternatively, it is also possible to transform its aspect via the use of a pseudoinverse J, before to consider its time derivative. This implies both the projection into the null space of a vector <t>,, as well as the handling of its time derivative


In pharmacogenomic studies, the use of human liver microsomes as a model system to evaluate the impact of complex genomic traits (i.e., linkage-disequilibrium patterns, coding, and non-coding variation, etc.) on efficiency of drug metabolism is challenging. To accurately predict the true effect size of genomic traits requires large richly sampled datasets representative of the study population. Moreover, the acquisition of this data can be labor-intensive if the study design or bioanalytical methods are not high throughput, and it is potentially unfeasible if the abundance of sample needed for experiments is limited. To overcome these challenges, we developed a novel strategic approach using non-linear mixed effects models (NLME) to determine enzyme kinetic parameters for individual liver specimens using sparse data. This method can facilitate evaluation of the impact that complex genomic traits have on the metabolism of xenobiotics in vitro when tissue and other resources are limited. In addition to facilitating the accrual of data, it allows for rigorous testing of covariates as sources of kinetic parameter variability. In this in silico study, we present a practical application of such an approach using previously published in vitro cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2D6 data and explore the impact of sparse sampling, and experimental error on known kinetic parameter estimates of CYP2D6 mediated formation of 4-hydroxy-atomoxetine in human liver microsomes. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT This study presents a novel non-linear mixed effects model (NLME)-based framework for evaluating the impact of complex genomic traits on saturable processes described by a Michaelis-Menten kinetics in vitro using sparse data. The utility of this approach extends beyond gene variant associations, including determination of covariate effects on in vitro kinetic parameters and reduced demand for precious experimental material.


Superficial siderosis (SS) is a rare condition in which hemosiderin is deposited on the pial surface of the brain and/or spinal cord. Hemosiderin deposition is the consequence of recurrent or persistent hemorrhage in the subarachnoid space. There are two types of SS. In "classical"-type SS, hypointense MRI signals are observed in the brainstem and cerebellum with diffuse and symmetrical margins. Causes of hemorrhage in the "classical" type include tumor, vascular abnormality, injury, and dural defect. The source of hemorrhage is not apparent in approximately 50% of patients despite extensive examination. In "localized"-type SS, hypointense MRI signals are localized in the cerebral cortex. The most common causes of hemorrhage in the "localized" type are cerebral amyloid angiopathy and/or Alzheimer's disease. Patients with SS usually present with slowly progressive and irreversible cerebellar ataxia, sensorineural hearing loss, and/or myelopathy due to involvement of the acoustic nerve, cerebellum, and spinal cord. T2-weighted imaging (WI) or T2* WI demonstrates characteristic linear low-intensity signals along the surface of the brain and spinal cord. Treatment of SS involves identification and surgical correction of the bleeding source. Deferiprone, which is a lipid-soluble iron chelator that can penetrate the blood-brain barrier, is reportedly effective at improving the clinical symptoms and deposition of hemosiderin. It is thus a hopeful treatment option for SS.


The writer interprets the Boston Bay group as partially intertongued lithofacies of coarse conglomerate and associated volcanic rocks (Roxbury conglomerate) and finely laminated siltstone and mudstone (Cambridge "slate"). He regards the Squantum "tillite" as multiple discontinuous lenses of unsorted pebbly to bouldery mudstone of various ages interstratified within this complex. Although fossil evidence is inconclusive, stratigraphic relationships and clastic compositions suggest that these deposits were formed during middle Paleozoic diastrophism. The writer does not consider the Squantum as a temporal equivalent to southern hemisphere Permo-Carboniferous glaciation, as advocates of a glacial origin had supposed. Lack of glacial pavement and comparison of composition, graded bedding, gross stratigraphy, and tectonic setting with known submarine slide and mass-flow deposits render the glacial interpretation suspect. Origin by gravity movement of rapidly deposited, volcanic-rich sediments and periodic resedimentation by turbidity currents in a Paleozoic eugeosynclinal belt is a more plausible alternative. Very poor sorting, striated clasts, faceting, and even some rafted erratic fragments in fine, laminated mudstones can arise from mechanisms other than glaciation. A preserved, extensive, grooved and polished pavement overlain by poorly sorted, till-like material—particularly if nonmarine—is the most compelling glacial evidence. Very large erratic boulders are suggestive of ice movement, as are abundant rafted erratic fragments in fine muds, as in the Gowganda formation of Ontario. Independent biologic or isotopic cold-temperature indicators are sorely needed to strengthen glacial interpretations. General stratigraphic relationships and tectonic setting serve as important factors in judging probability of alternate interpretations, particularly in geosynclinal sequences. From these criteria, the writer judges that only the Permo-Carboniferous glaciation in certain parts of the southern hemisphere is firmly established. The Gowganda and some other Precambrian deposits are very likely glacial, but most postulated examples must be re-evaluated.


A single-station technique is used to compute vertical velocities over San Juan, P. R., at standard constant pressure levels from 850 to 100 mb. Periods of strong upward motion are observed to occur rather frequently within the layer 400 to 100 mb. and these are discussed in relation to subsequent precipitation patterns.


Asthma is the most common chronic disorder of childhood and continues to be a leading cause of pediatric hospital admission. The National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) recommends that spirometry be obtained for asthma patients upon hospital admission, after bronchodilation during the acute phase of asthma symptoms, and at least one additional time before discharge from the hospital. The objectives of this study were to describe the use of spirometry in children hospitalized with asthma and to determine association of pulmonary function with future exacerbations. A retrospective cohort study design was utilized involving review of medical records of children ≥5 years old admitted with asthma to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center from September 1, 2009 to March 31, 2011. Hospitalization or emergency department (ED) visits were identified by the ICD‐9‐CM codes of having either a primary diagnosis of asthma (493) or a respiratory illness (460–496) plus a secondary diagnosis of asthma. Asthma re‐exacerbation was defined as either having an ED visit or hospitalization for asthma that occurred within 3 months after the index hospitalization. All spirometries were performed in a pediatric pulmonary function laboratory. Among 1,037 admissions included in this study, 89 (8.6%) had spirometry that was recommended by a consulting asthma specialist and usually performed on the day of discharge. Spirometries for forty‐five of these patients (54.9%) met all acceptability and repeatability criteria of the American Thoracic Society. Patients who performed acceptable spirometry were significantly older (12.4 ± 3.8 vs. 10.7 ± 3.0 years; P = 0.041). The average forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) was 84.4 ± 19.7% predicted; forced vital capacity (FVC) was 98.1 ± 16.0% predicted; FEV1/FVC was 74.6 ± 9.6%; forced expiratory flow at 25–75% (FEF25–75) was 61.2 ± 30.1% predicted. Ten patients (22%) who performed spirometry developed a re‐exacerbation. Patients with versus without re‐exacerbation had significantly lower FEV1/FVC (P = 0.027) and FEF25–75 (P = 0.031). Nevertheless, separate logistic regression models found that FEV1/FVC and FEF25–75 were not associated with re‐exacerbation when adjusted for age and length‐of‐stay. We found that few children admitted with asthma had spirometry as recommended in the NAEPP guidelines unless recommended by specialists and both lower lung function (FEV1/FVC and FEF25–75) and history of more frequent and more recent prior health‐care utilization for asthma were associated with repeat asthma exacerbation. However, the value of performing spirometry on asthmatic children prior to hospital discharge remains unclear and will require prospective study. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2014; 49:451–457. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


This study aims to calculate the earthwork volumes by Civil 3D. Civil 3D is modern software techniques application used by civil engineers and other professionals to plan, design, and manage engineering projects .These projects need an efficient techniques for computation the earthworks volumes with high accuracy and short time in both theoretical and practical works. Surveying methods for the earthworks quantity are most common and important activities for civil engineers these modern techniques have a potential to offer more productivity and efficiency for Civil 3D in earthwork quantity calculation. Civil 3D connects design and documentation to enabling you to boost productivity, deliver higher quality designs and construction documenters.


According to both cybernetics and general system theory, a subject develops and uses an adequate model of a system to widen his/her knowledge about the system. Models are then the interface between a subject and a real-world system to solve problem and to construct knowledge. Hence, evaluating these models is crucial to ensure the quality of the constructed knowledge. We propose here an evaluation framework to assess complex models based on the intrinsic properties of these models as well as the properties of the derived knowledge. A series of 40 evaluation criteria are proposed under the four systemic axes: ontology, functioning, evolution and teleology. Through a case study, we show how our evaluation model allows both presenting a given model and assessing it.


Heterogeneity in contact patterns, mortality rates, and transmissibility among and between different age classes can have significant effects on epidemic outcomes. Adaptive behavior in response to the spread of an infectious pathogen may give rise to complex epidemiological dynamics. Here we model an infectious disease in which adaptive behavior incentives, and mortality rates, can vary between two and three age classes. The model indicates that age-dependent variability in infection aversion can produce more complex epidemic dynamics at lower levels of pathogen transmissibility and that those at less risk of infection can still drive complexity in the dynamics of those at higher risk of infection. Policymakers should consider the interdependence of such heterogeneous groups when making decisions.


Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks is effective and intelligent utilization of energy for routing protocol in longer network lifetime. Energy Consumption and load balancing are the vital roles for a network lifetime. The use of load balancing in WSN is granted as the best resource of sink mobility which protects energy sources to organize. The aim of this paper is to evaluate various deployed strategies involving sink mobility. Multiple mobile sinks are capable of performing computational operations like collecting information from electric joints instantly, storage, and also communication capability. It evaluates the results and the effect of sink mobility by comparing with another routing protocol GEDAR.


The transformation of methylene-active reducing Maillard intermediates 4-hydroxy-5-methyl-2h-furan3-one (norfuraneol, 1) and 2,3-dihydro-3,5-dihydroxy-6-methyl-4h-pyran-4-one (DDMP) was studied in heated (at 70–95°C up to 2 h) model aqueous binary systems containing various reactive carbonyl Maillard intermediates. Among them, furan-2-carbaldehyde and its derivatives 5-hydroxymethylfuran-2-carbaldehyde and pyrrol-2-carbaldehyde react intensely with the above reductones resulting in significant formation of consecutive reducing products. The active products formation and changes in total electrochemical activity were evaluated by using HPLC system with amperometric detection. The active products are consisted of primary reductone-carbaldehyde adducts (2a, b) that dehydrate to major active stereoisomeric condensation products (3a, b). The latter are hydrolysed to still electrochemically active compounds (4a, b) with yet unknown structure. Norfuraneol is transformed by 67–94% after 2 h heating at 95°C and pH 7 depending on a carbaldehyde, while DDMP react much slowly. Up to 42% of the initial norfuraneol electrochemical activity remains retained in the consecutive products depending on time and carbaldehyde involved.


Computers and computer‐assisted instruction are being used with increasing frequency in the area of health science student education, yet students' attitudes towards the use of e‐learning technology and computer‐assisted instruction have received limited attention to date. The purpose of this study was to investigate the significant predictors of health science students' attitudes towards e‐learning and computer‐assisted instruction. All students enrolled in health science programmes (n=2885) at a large multi‐campus Australian university in 2006‐2007, were asked to complete a questionnaire. This included the Online Learning Environment Survey (OLES), the Computer Attitude Survey (CAS), and the Attitude Toward Computer‐Assisted Instruction Semantic Differential Scale (ATCAISDS). A multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine the significant predictors of health science students' attitudes to e‐learning. The Attitude Toward Computers in General (CASg) and the Attitude Toward Computers in Education (CASe) subscales from the CAS were the dependent (criterion) variables for the regression analysis. A total of 822 usable questionnaires were returned, accounting for a 29.5 per cent response rate. Three significant predictors of CASg and five significant predictors of CASe were found. Respondents' age and OLES Equity were found to be predictors on both CAS scales. Health science educators need to take the age of students and the extent to which students perceive that they are treated equally by a teacher/tutor/instructor (equity) into consideration when looking at determinants of students' attitudes towards e‐learning and technology.


For pt.I see Huby, Nucl. Phys., vol.A167, p.271 (1971). A theory is developed for resonant nucleon-nucleus scattering which yields a particularly apt form of wavefunction for use in calculating DWBA matrix elements for stripping to unbound levels. It is a generalization of an existing theory to cover the case that the unbound state can decay through more than one channel. A concise matrix formulation is employed to deal with the greater complexity of the model. The end product is to put a known prescription for the stripping form factor and spectroscopic factor on a sound theoretical basis.


The generative adversarial networks (GANs) have facilitated the development of speech enhancement recently. Nevertheless, the performance advantage is still limited when compared with state-of-the-art models. In this paper, we propose a powerful Dynamic Attention Recursive GAN called DARGAN for noise reduction in the time-frequency domain. Different from previous works, we have several innovations. First, recursive learning, an iterative training protocol, is used in the generator, which consists of multiple steps. By reusing the network in each step, the noise components are progressively reduced in a step-wise manner. Second, the dynamic attention mechanism is deployed, which helps to re-adjust the feature distribution in the noise reduction module. Third, we exploit the deep Griffin-Lim algorithm as the module for phase postprocessing, which facilitates further improvement in speech quality. Experimental results on Voice Bank corpus show that the proposed GAN achieves state-of-the-art performance than previous GAN- and non-GAN-based models