Phonemes revisited As we saw in Chapter 3, the two major criteria for establishing phonemic contrast are predictability of occurrence, and invariance of meaning. That is to say, if we are dealing with two allophones of the same phoneme, the two must occur in non-overlapping sets of environments. Furthermore, there cannot be any minimal pairs, where substituting one of our focus sounds for the other in exactly the same context creates a difference in meaning. These two criteria establish conclusively that English [ɹ] and [l] belong to distinct phonemes: there are many minimal pairs, like rip and lip , rot and lot , marrow and mallow , so clearly the two phones occur in the same contexts; and substituting one for the other does create a meaning difference. On the other hand, clear, alveolar [l] and dark, velar [l] occur in predictably different environments: in Standard Southern British English, the clear, more front one appears word-initially or between vowels, as in lip , lot , mallow , and the dark, more back one word-finally or before a consonant, as in pill , tall , halt . Since there are no minimal pairs, and substituting one variant for the other will not make a meaning difference, [l] and [l] are necessarily allophones of a single phoneme, /l/. Equipped with the articulatory descriptions from the last chapter, we can now progress to a more detailed account of the distribution of allophones. In doing so, we will also discover that certain phonemes form groups, in that they have similar allophones in similar environments. We must try to identify what members of such groups have in common, and what makes certain phonemes work together. Making generalisations In Chapter 2, several examples of allophonic variation were considered. In one case, we found that /k/ has two variant pronunciations, namely velar [k] in cupboard and palatal [c] in kitchen . Another involved /p/, /t/ and /k/, which have aspirated allophones, with a perceptible release of air, in pill , till and kill , but unaspirated allophones in spill , still and skill , or sip , sit and sick . However, providing a list of words where the relevant allophone appears is only our starting point.


We herein describe the operative approach of a postmenopausal woman with a history of surgically corrected congenital bladder exstrophy-epispadias who presented with long-standing complete procidentia. The patient was initially treated by laparoscopic sacral colpopexy in conjunction with a modified Elevate mesh kit anterior vaginal repair with and posterior vaginal wall repair in the form of native tissue suture plication repair. Her prolapse recurred 8 months' later due to a detachment of the mesh at the level of the promontorium. During the second-look laparoscopy, a resuspension of this mesh was deemed unsatisfactory; therefore, with patients' consent, a successful colpocleisis was performed. This case report emphasizes the complexity of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) in the context of a bladder exstrophy-epispadias complex. These women are more likely to fail the more conventional current surgical treatments for POP, coercing to revert to colpocleisis.


The female genital tract is a rare site for angioleiomyoma. Here, we present an unusual case of bilateral large angioleiomyoma in the broad ligaments. A 52-year-old woman underwent total hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy due to massive tumors in the bilateral adnexal regions. Gross examination revealed a hemangioma-like mass each in the bilateral broad ligaments. The right one extended into the uterine myometrium. Histologically, both tumors had a mixed pattern of prominent thick-walled blood vessels and cellular short spindle myoid cells throughout. The spindle cells often swirled around the vessels, displaying an overlapping feature with angiomyofibroblastoma or myopericytoma. Immunostaining demonstrated that the tumor cells were positive for alpha-smooth muscle actin, desmin, estrogen receptor, and progesterone receptor. We believe that angioleiomyoma should be recognized as a delineated variant of leiomyoma in the female genital tract. This rare benign tumor should be differentiated from other mesenchymal neoplasms with prominent blood vessels.


Primary cesarean birth increases a woman's risk for hemorrhage, infection, pain, and cesarean births with subsequent pregnancies. A woman may experience difficulties with breastfeeding, bonding, and incorporating the newborn into the family structure. One urban, academic hospital in the Midwest participated in the American College of Nurse-Midwives Healthy Birth Initiative: Reducing Primary Cesarean Births Project. The project purpose was to reduce the rate of cesarean births in nulliparous, term, singleton, and vertex pregnancies. Strategies employed included use of intermittent auscultation, upright labor positioning, early labor lounge, one-to-one labor support, and team huddles. The baseline nulliparous, term, singleton, vertex cesarean rate in 2015 was 29.3%. In 2016, after 1 year of implementation of the project, the hospital decreased nulliparous, term, singleton, vertex cesarean rate to 26.1%—a reduction of 10%. In 2017, the rate was decreased to 25.3%—a reduction by 3.7%.


Influence of transglutaminase on the production of interleukin‐1 (IL‐1) and on the release of active oxygen from mouse peritoneal macrophages was examined using cystamine and methylamine, an enzyme inhibitor and a substrate inhibitor, respectively. Casein‐elicited or lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐elicited macrophages have higher levels of transglutaminase activity in comparison with resident macrophages, and there exists a definite correlation between endocytosis of erythrocytes and transglutaminase activity in either group of macrophages. The release of IL‐1 by resident macrophages stimulated with LPS in vitro was significantly inhibited by the treatment with both transglutaminase inhibitors. However, these inhibitors were not able to inhibit the release of IL‐1 from casein‐elicited macrophages stimulated with LPS in vitro. The production of active oxygen from LPS‐elicited macrophages was inhibited in a dose‐dependent manner by the treatment of macrophages with cystamine, but was not by the treatment with methylamine. However, the treatment of LPS‐elicited macrophages with cystamine did not inhibit the uptake of glucose into macrophages. These results suggest that transglutaminase activity in mouse peritoneal macrophages is an important factor for macrophage functions.


This study was designed to evaluate the role of macrophages in cardiac dysfunction associated with endotoxemia or septic shock. Rat peritoneal macrophages were cultured on glass bead-carrier and placed in the perfusate stream of an isolated rat heart perfused according to the Langendorff technique. The heart was thus perfused with a Krebs solution exposed to macrophages stimulated with endotoxin. After 10-15 min of exposure, the macrophages released substance(s) that decreased left ventricular pressure (VP) 50-80% and coronary flow (CF) without significantly affecting heart rate or the ECG. In a separate study, macrophages were incubated with endotoxin and the incubate injected into the heart; a 20-30% reduction in VP and CF was observed. However, when macrophages were further stimulated with opsonized zymosan, 60-80% reductions in VP and CF were observed. Treatment with prostaglandin antagonists, leukotriene inhibitors, or trypsin did not significantly modify the activity of the material released from macrophages. Free radical scavengers (catalase and superoxide dismutase) reduced the activity of macrophage derived product by 15-20%. However, platelet-activating factor (PAF) antagonist prevented the action of macrophage mediators on the heart by approximately 58%. Heat inactivation destroyed activity released from the macrophages almost entirely. These findings may contribute to a better understanding of endotoxemia and endotoxin shock mechanisms.


BACKGROUND Postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) is a cause of morbidity and mortality. Its diagnosis requires better markers than variations in diuresis or postoperative serum creatinine. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of Doppler renal resistive index for early detection of AKI after hip or knee arthroplasty. DESIGN A prospective observational study. SETTING A single-centre study in a university hospital. PATIENTS Fifty men and women older than 65 years, requiring hip or knee replacement with at least two perioperative AKI risk factors, including diabetes, arteritis, chronic heart or renal dysfunction, and prescription of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors. Exclusion criteria were poor abdominal echogenicity, arrhythmia, respiratory failure or agitation. INTERVENTION Renal resistive index was measured preoperatively and in the postanaesthesia care unit. RESULTS Sixteen patients presented with AKI in the postoperative period. Resistive index was increased in this group in both the preoperative [0.72 (0.69 to 0.73) vs. 0.66 (0.58 to 0.71); P = 0.01] and postoperative periods [0.75 (0.71 to 0.75) vs. 0.67 (0.62 to 0.72); P = 0.0001]. Resistive index evaluated by ROC curves and AUC to detect AKI was 0.862 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.735 to 0.943]. The most accurate cut-off value was a postoperative resistive index of 0.705 (sensitivity = 94%, specificity = 71%, LR+ = 3.19 and LR– = 0.09). The grey area between 0.705 and 0.73, corresponding to the inconclusive zone, included 26% (13/50) of all the patients. CONCLUSION Postoperative resistive index appears to be effective for early detection of AKI after major orthopaedic surgery. Resistive index can be measured in the postoperative care unit in patients at risk of AKI. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER 29-0512.


Printing of polymeric composites into desired patterns and shapes has revolutionized small-scale manufacturing processes. However, high-resolution printing of adaptive materials that change shape in response to external stimuli remains a significant technical challenge. The article presents a new approach of printing thermoresponsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) into macroscopic structures that dynamically reconfigure in response to heating and cooling cycles. The printing process is performed using an external laser source, which enables thermal cross-linking of the polymer ink consisting of monomer, cross-linker, initiator, and inorganic nanoparticles. It is shown that the addition of silica nanoparticles enhances the mechanical properties of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) while maintaining its thermoresponsiveness at micrometer-scale resolution, which otherwise is not feasible by extrusion-based three-dimensional printing techniques. It is demonstrated that spatial reconfiguration of the printed monolayers upon increasing temperature is governed by the local geometry, which enables mimicking the reconfiguration of plant leaves in a natural environment. The study lays a foundation for developing a new fabrication platform to print thermoresponsive structures that may find applications in biomedical implants, sensors, and other multi-responsive materials.


Cardiac surgery-associated acute kidney injury (CS-AKI) is common and is associated with increased risk for postoperative morbidity and mortality. Our recent survey of the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists (SCA) membership showed 6 potentially renoprotective strategies for which clinicians would most value an evidence-based review (ie, intraoperative target blood pressure, choice of specific vasopressor agent, erythrocyte transfusion threshold, use of alpha-2 agonists, goal-directed oxygen delivery on cardiopulmonary bypass [CPB], and the "Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes [KDIGO] bundle of care"). Thus, the SCA's Continuing Practice Improvement Acute Kidney Injury Working Group aimed to provide a practice update for each of these strategies in cardiac surgical patients based on the evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs). PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane library databases were comprehensively searched for eligible studies from inception through February 2021, with search results updated in August 2021. A total of 15 RCTs investigating the effects of the above-mentioned strategies on CS-AKI were included for meta-analysis. For each strategy, the level of evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology. Across the 6 potentially renoprotective strategies evaluated, current evidence for their use was rated as "moderate," "low," or "very low." Based on eligible RCTs, our analysis suggested using goal-directed oxygen delivery on CPB and the "KDIGO bundle of care" in high-risk patients to prevent CS-AKI (moderate level of GRADE evidence). Our results suggested considering the use of vasopressin in vasoplegic shock patients to reduce CS-AKI (low level of GRADE evidence). The decision to use a restrictive versus liberal strategy for perioperative red cell transfusion should not be based on concerns for renal protection (a moderate level of GRADE evidence). In addition, targeting a higher mean arterial pressure during CPB, perioperative use of dopamine, and use of dexmedetomidine did not reduce CS-AKI (a low or very low level of GRADE evidence). This review will help clinicians provide evidence-based care, targeting improved renal outcomes in adult patients undergoing cardiac surgery.


OWL ontologies are nowadays a quite popular way to describe structured knowledge in terms of classes, relations among classes and class instances. In this paper, given an OWL target class T, we address the problem of inducing EL(D) concept descriptions that describe sufficient conditions for being an individual instance of T. To do so, we use a Foil-based method with a probabilistic candidate ensemble estimation. We illustrate its effectiveness by means of an experimentation.


According to almost all modern Constitutions, political power is charged with the protec-tion of human dignity. Nevertheless, the concept of human dignity remains somehow am-biguous. This is not, in fact, surprising: this paper, given on 7th May 2012 at the inaugura-tion of the 'Antonio Rosmini' Research and Study Centre, points to the same ambiguity within Kant's practical philosophy, which is usually turned to as being the basis of the concept of human dignity. Only recently has the latter also become a juridical problem, es-pecially in regard to bioethical questions. From a juridical point of view, the relationship between dignity and justice seems to be the most problematic aspect. From this perspec-tive, human dignity can be seen as the link between morality and law, as long as it makes clear that the foundations of law have not been created by law itself: they are distinct from it and represent its true beginning.


BACKGROUND
In aortic reconstruction, intestinal and muscular ischaemia in the lower limbs occurs during cross-clamping of the aorta. After restoration of blood flow, reactive oxygen intermediates may lead to systemic injury to local or remote organs. In this study we investigated the usefulness of a shunt and vitamin E administration against the oxidant load generated in ischaemia-reperfusion phases.

METHODS
In three groups of pigs (n=16) aortic reconstruction was simulated. In Group A (n=5) clamping of the infrarenal aorta was performed for 2 hours. In Group B (n=6), during aortic cross-clamping, a shunt was used to give flow to the inferior mesenteric and internal iliac arteries. In Group C (n=5) vitamin E was administered before aortic cross-clamping. In all groups we evaluated sigmoid histology after reperfusion, while the oxidant load was estimated by measuring superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in blood samples from portal and jugular vein.

RESULTS
Histology of the sigmoid revealed increased postischaemic injuries in Group A, while the protective effect of shunt and vitamin E was apparent in Group B and C, respectively. SOD activity was minimized in Group C.

CONCLUSIONS
Vitamin E protected the sigmoid from postischaemic injury and is responsible for the decreased levels of SOD activity.


Abstract : In the Holleder Sports Complex at West Point Military Academy there exists an indoor ice skating rink. Due to perceived operational inefficiencies, it was anticipated that energy was being wasted. Furthermore, it was noted that during the normal operation of the ice making plant, heat was being rejected from the building. Questions were asked as to the possibility of recapturing this rejected heat and utilizing it to increase the operational efficiency and reduce the energy wasted. This study has in fact justified that certain changes can be made to save energy and increase operational efficiencies. The existing ice making refrigerant plant was originally installed with a heat reclaiming subsystem to utilize waste heat to provide for the required underslab heating system and to melt waste ice scrapings (snow) from the ice resurfacing process. The underslab heating system is working properly, but there is not enough recovered waste heat left to totally melt the snow from resurfacing. This snow builds up over time and is melted by spraying domestic hot water at 140 deg F over the snow pile. This process is labor intensive, energy use intensive, and reduces the capacity of the domestic hot water system to satisfy hot water needs in other parts of the building. Actual compressor run times were obtained from the operator of the ice refrigerant plant and calculations showed that 2,122,100 MBH per year of energy was available for recovery.


One of the main challenges for catalysis has been direct methane conversion to useful products such as methanol and formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is currently produced by a three-step industrial process with syngas and methanol as intermediate products. MoO3 Fe2O3, and Fe2(MoO4)3 catalysts were used with four different Mo/Fe molar ratios (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2) in this work. The ferromolybdenum catalyst was prepared by coprecipitation. Pure oxides are more active; however they are not formaldehyde selective, but carbon oxide (CO, CO2) selective. The ferromolybdenum catalysts showed better HCHO selectivity at low conversions; the molybdenum oxide content did not show increased in catalytic activity. Increased reaction temperature did not increase formaldehyde selectivity.


Somatisms, or names of human body parts, are the oldest and most important components of the linguistic "picture of the world" of any nation. People have always had associations with something directly related to them and that they are familiar with — parts of the body. The most frequently used somatisms related to the upper body (head) were chosen as material for this study: hoved 'head', næse 'nose', mund 'mouth', nakke 'back of the head', hals 'neck', pande 'forehead', øje 'eye', øre 'ear'. Since isolated somatisms act as independent units only in some specific contexts, the study also included compound words with these somatism-components as the second component. The analysis of meanings of the most frequent words belonging to the lexicalsemantic group "Upper part of the human body" reveals a rather mixed picture. On the one hand, these units in their literal sense make up parts of many compound words, which allows us to identify the main word-formation patterns for this sphere. On the other hand, somatisms in their figurative meanings are also actively used within compound nouns. Pseudoparticiples represent a separate group that can be metaphorised and in this case are used to characterize a person, together with evaluative nouns containing similar second components. In some cases, pseudoparticiples serve as parallels to evaluative nouns with a somatism as the second component. In the sphere of evaluative nouns, there is a weakening of the semantics of words used as second components, which clearly indicates that these units are on their way to become affixes. The word-formation potential of the somatisms under study is extremely wide and is determined by the importance of body parts in the sensory cognition of the world and in the subject-practical activity of man, which determines the number and regularity of the units derived from them.


Sleep disruption is a significant problem associated with the subjective experience of pain. Both rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep and nociception are modulated by cholinergic neurotransmission, and this study tested the hypothesis that antinociceptive behavior can be evoked cholinergically from medial pontine reticular formation (mPRF) regions known to regulate REM sleep. The foregoing hypothesis was investigated by quantifying the effect of mPRF drug administration on tail flick latency (TFL) of cat during polygraphically defined sleep/wake states. The mPRF was microinjected with 0.25 ml saline, carbachol (4.0 microg), neostigmine (6.7 microg), or morphine sulfate (14.7 microg), and TFL measures were obtained in response to radiant heat. During wakefulness TFL (% increase) was not increased by morphine or saline, but was significantly increased by mPRF administration of carbachol (42.4%) and neostigmine (35.2%). Cortical somatosensory potentials (SSEPs) were reliably evoked by tail stimulation before and after mPRF microinjections of carbachol. The results show for the first time that mPRF administration of cholinomimetics significantly increased TFL. During NREM sleep and REM sleep, TFL was significantly increased compared to waking TFL (110% and 321%, respectively). The finding of sleep-dependent alterations in TFL demonstrates that mPRF regions known to regulate REM sleep can modulate supraspinal cholinergic antinociceptive behavior.


In this article, the authors first discuss the special taxing rules for artistes and sportsmen and their effects. They then proceed to consider the implications of the European Court of Justice's judgment in the Scorpio case. Finally, the authors discuss the reasons behind the decision of the Netherlands to end the taxation of non-resident artistes and sportsmen.


A closed solid body separates one point set from another if it contains the former and the closure of its complement contains the latter. We present a near-linear algorithm for deciding whether two sets of n points in 3-space can be separated by a prism, near-quadratic algorithms for separating by a slab or a wedge, and a near-cubic algorithm for separating by a double-wedge. The latter three algorithms improve the previous best known results by an order of magnitude, while the prism separability algorithm constitutes an improvement of two orders of magnitude.


This paper investigates the application, design, and implementation of unscented Kalman filters (KFs) (UKFs) for induction motor (IM) sensorless drives. UKFs use nonlinear unscented transforms (UTs) in the prediction step in order to preserve the stochastic characteristics of a nonlinear system. The advantage of using UTs is their ability to capture the nonlinear behavior of the system, unlike extended KFs (EKFs) that use linearized models. Four original variants of the UKF for IM state estimation, based on different UTs, are described, analyzed, and compared. The four transforms are basic, general, simplex, and spherical UTs. This paper discusses the theoretical aspects and implementation details of the four UKFs. Experimental results for a direct-torque-controlled IM drive are presented and compared with the EKF. The focus of this study is on low-speed performance. It is concluded that the UKF is a viable and powerful tool for IM state estimation and that basic and general UTs give more accurate results than simplex and spherical UTs.


Helminth parasitic infections of the central nervous system (CNS) occur worldwide with high prevalence in tropical and subtropical countries. Clinical evaluation of patients is mandatory, and it is convenient to group the clinical manifestations into syndromes: for example space-occupying lesions, meningitis, and encephalitis. The history should focus on residence or travel to endemic areas, diet, activities, intercurrent medical conditions, and associated clinical clues. Direct parasitological diagnosis can be reached by cerebrospinal fluid and cerebral tissue examination either by microscopy, culture, or immunological techniques. Immunodiagnosis by detection of parasite antibodies or antigens in serum could provide indirect evidence of parasitic infections. In addition, various imaging and radiological techniques e.g., computed tomography (CT) scan and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) complement the diagnostic work-up of CNS diseases. Finally, the helminthic CNS infections of global impact, such as schistosomiasis, neurotoxocariasis, Strongyloides infection, neurotrichinosis, neurocysticercosis, and echinococcosis will be briefly discussed as regards the principal clinical and diagnostic features.


The aim of the present paper is to establish the multidimensional counterpart of the \textit{fourth moment criterion} for homogeneous sums in independent leptokurtic and mesokurtic random variables (that is, having positive and zero fourth cumulant, respectively), recently established in \cite{NPPS} in both the classical and in the free setting. As a consequence, the transfer principle for the Central limit Theorem between Wiener and Wigner chaos can be extended to a multidimensional transfer principle between vectors of homogeneous sums in independent commutative random variables with zero third moment and with non-negative fourth cumulant, and homogeneous sums in freely independent non-commutative random variables with non-negative fourth cumulant.


Severe ionosphere scintillations have been known to affect the performance and measurement accuracy of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers. The scintillation in signal amplitude and phase reduces the number of available GNSS satellites by causing the loss of lock in GNSS receivers. Hence, the investigation of ionospheric scintillations is imperative for monitoring the activities of the atmosphere, ionosphere and space weather. Scintillations can be modelled as a function of scintillation indices like amplitude scintillation index (S4), phase scintillation index (σO), C/N and elevation angle with respect to the time. In this study, the GNSS Ionospheric Scintillation and TEC monitor receiver located at the K L University, Vaddeswaram, India, sited in low latitudes, provided the data for the real-time analysis of ionospheric scintillations. This paper describes an ionospheric scintillation model (RTISM), which determines the automatic threshold for different scintillation signals using the Neyman Pearson detector. The results of the RTISM model include estimation, detection and mitigation of ionospheric scintillations using wavelet analysis, Hilbert–Huang transform and binary hypothesis test. The RTISM model has been tested for major scintillation events observed during the geomagnetic storms that occurred in the maximum solar activity periods of the 24th solar cycle (2013–2014).


in many instances observed for comparatively short periods, and that three out of only eight cases had survived for five to six years. Professor McMichael began his series in 1951 and had seen 73 cases, of whom 11 died before treatment was started and 10 others were too advanced to respond (blood urea over 100 mg. per 100 ml.). The estimated 5-year-survival rate of the remaining 52 cases with an initial blood urea under 60 mg. per 100 ml. was 50%; this was calculated from a survivorship table expressing the experience of the group to that date, but does not mean every member of the group had been followed for five years. In an earlier report' the survival curve of the first 32 cases to the 3-year stage was shown, and came down to about 35% at three years. Combining these two reports, 20 cases had been followed for less than two years, but the early mortality of these had been sufficiently low to raise the 5-year expectancy of the whole group to 50%. The number actually observed for the full five years was probably fairly small.


Coronavirus has slowed Chinese economic growth and will generally affect all markets negatively, which means that it will affect the world economy and Russia's economy, mainly by reducing demand for resources. Coronavirus has already hit oil quotations, volatility has increased in financial markets, which may adjust stock indices in the negative direction.


We report on the crystal structure of urea (U) with acetic acid (A), its physical stability and its predictability using computational methods. The crystal structure of urea:acetic acid (U:A) shows hydrogen-bond ribbons and a 1:2 stoichiometry. Crystal structure prediction calculations are presented for two sets of U:A stoichiometries: 1:1 and 1:2. A 1:3 stoichiometry is also partially explored by means of a synthon approach. The calculated lattice energies, along with hydrogen-bond patterns, of crystal structures predicted with the three stoichiometries are presented and analysed to provide a rationalisation for the stoichiometry observed. Exploring stoichiometric diversity using computational methods provides a tool for the rationalisation of stoichiometry preferences in crystalline multicomponent systems and a first step towards their prediction.


With computational grid, running parallel program on large-scale and geographically distributed computer systems is feasible. It is a difficult task to write parallel applications which may require changing the communication structure of the applications. MPI's collective operations allow for some of these changes to be hidden from the applications programmer. We have developed optimal collective communication algorithms optimized for wide area systems and have taken hierarchical network structure into account. Both the bandwidth and the latency of the LAN and WAN links differ by almost two orders of magnitude. Our algorithms are designed to send the minimal amount of data over the slow wide area links, and to only incur a single wide area latency. Compared to MPICH that do not consider the topology, large performance improvements are possible.


Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disorder and the major cause of chronic musculoskeletal pain and mobility disability in elderly populations worldwide.1 Currently there is no effective pharmacological treatment for OA, necessitating joint replacement to reduce joint pain and improve physical functions at advanced stages of the disease.2 It has been reported that abnormal subchondral bone resorption and bone loss play an important role in both OA initiation and progression.3–5 Therefore, antiresorptive drugs are suggested to be potential OA therapies.6 We read with deep interest a recent article published in this journal by Neogi et al , who found that in elderly women with newly diagnosed knee OA, those who use bisphosphonates had lower risk of knee replacement than non-users, and suggested that treatment with bisphosphonates has a potential beneficial effect on knee OA.7 We really appreciate the great work performed by the authors; nevertheless, some worthwhile issues need to be further explored.

First, the definition of knee OA at baseline is not clearly described in the study. Nowadays there is no consensus on the classification criteria of knee OA despite extensive epidemiological and clinical studies. The two criteria most frequently used are the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) classification criteria8 and the Kellgren and Lawrence (K-L) system.9 The ACR classification criteria depend on clinical (such as pain, aching or …


In this study we investigate population genetic structure and phylogeography of the bent‐wing bat complex (Miniopterus schreibersii) in Asia Minor and adjacent regions. PCR amplification and sequencing of the first hypervariable domain of the mitochondrial control region were used to obtain the genetic data. Morphometric differentiation between lineages was analysed by comparing forearm lengths. We found two reciprocally monophyletic lineages within the M. schreibersii complex, identified as M. s. schreibersii and M. s. pallidus. Distributions of the lineages were allopatric with a U‐shaped suture zone passing through Central Anatolia. The suture zone separated coastal regions occupied by M. s. schreibersii from inland, higher altitude regions occupied by M. s. pallidus. The lineages showed a considerable sequence divergence of c. 9%, accompanied by a corresponding difference in forearm length. The presence of the genetically distinct lineages, with allopatric distribution and corresponding morphometric differences, probably reflects their long isolation during the ice‐age in the Balkans and the Caspian/Caucasus refugia, followed subsequently by expansion into different habitats. Based on the present data, the lineages can be recognized as evolutionary significant units.


A porous polymer monolithic column for solid-phase microextraction and chemiluminescence detection was integrated into a simple microfluidic chip for the extraction and determination of catechins in green tea. The porous polymer was prepared by poly(glycidyl methacrylate-co-ethylene dimethacrylate) and modified with ethylenediamine. Catechins can be concentrated in the porous polymer monolithic column and react with potassium permanganate to give chemiluminescence. The microfluidic chip is reusable with high sensitivity and very low reagent consumption. The on-line preconcentration and detection can be realized without an elution step. The enrichment factor was calculated to be about 20 for catechins. The relative chemiluminescence intensity increased linearly with concentration of catechin from 5.0 × 10(-9) to 1.0 × 10(-6) M and the limit of detection was 1.0 × 10(-9) M. The proposed method was applied to determine catechin in green tea. The recoveries are from 90% to 110% which benefits the actual application for green tea samples.


This work extends the mathematical formulation of the iterative-field-matrix method for observed data from the near-field region of a Perfect Electric Conductor. The method is used as a diagnosis tool for reflector antennas, to determine the positions and extent of distortions from their idealized shapes. The new formulation is tested on a reflector antenna with several significant bumps, and excellent results are achieved. This work also presents an example where the Method of Moments is used to generate the synthetic data and the inversion is performed using Physical Optics. Such a configuration ensures that the forward model is unbiased with respect to the inversion model, demonstrating that the new formulation is also robust for these realistic scenarios.


In order to solve the limitation of existed routing protocol in balancing the tolerance to failures and attacks towards wireless sensor network, we design a robust routing protocol based on complex networks theory, which can adjust the self organization clustering evolution in terms of a threshold function with three coefficient alpha, beta and lambda, where a represent number of hops from source node to base station, beta characterizes the signal intensity dependent on path loss coefficient. Since the construction of scale-free networks differs from that of random networks in that it involves preferential attachment, it means the new nodes are prone to connect with the heavy node with more degree of connectivity. To control the clustering coefficient of WSN, we introduce another parameter, lambda corresponding to preferential attachment. The parameter lambda governs how nodes are selected for connection once they have already been added. Therefore we can regulate the random and scale-free property of WSN under the constraints of energy resource through adjusting a, beta and lambda. Simulation results show that our protocol can increase survivability of WSN facing different sorts of failures.


Distant metastasis is the major cause of breast cancer (BrCa)-related mortality with half of the disseminated disease emerging clinically after 5 or more years of seeming "cure" of the primary tumor. The lack of relevant accessible model systems for metastases has hindered our understanding of the molecular basis of metastasis, the development of therapies, and the elucidation of biomarkers to detect these lethal outgrowths in real time. To address this gap, we developed an innovative all-human 3D ex vivo hepatic microphysiological system (MPS), which faithfully reproduces human physiology and effectively recreates spontaneous quiescence in a population of BrCa cells. Thus facilitating the investigation of BrCa behavior in a micrometastatic niche. The MPS incorporated primary human hepatocytes and non-parenchymal cells (NPC) isolated from patient liver resections. BrCa cells (RFP + ) were seeded on day 3 and allowed time to intercalate into the hepatic tissue before treatment with chemotherapies (such as doxorubicin) on day 7 for 72h. Surviving BrCa cells were stimulated on day 13 with physiological inflammatory stressors (LPS/EGF) and cultured through day 15. Proliferation was determined by RFP quantification, Ki67 staining and EdU incorporation. Physiological functioning of hepatic tissue was monitored at multiple time points by protein catabolism (urea), active nutrient metabolism (glucose, CYP P450) and injury markers (AST, ALT). Luminex assays (57 analytes) were used to identify potential metastatic BrCa biomarkers in the hepatic milieu during different stages, both dormancy and progression, and determine communication networks within the micrometastatic niche. Spontaneous dormancy was observed amongst a subpopulation of BrCa cells (Ki67 - /EdU - ) after 12 days of culture. Following chemotherapy, the surviving BrCa cells were non-proliferating, quiescent (Ki67 - /EdU - ). Furthermore, re-emergence of the surviving non-proliferating cancer cells was then observed in the presence of physiological inflammatory stressors. Preliminary high-content analyses of secreted cytokines and growth factors identified candidate biomarkers of metastatic BrCa in hepatic tissue. Elevations in 11 soluble signaling factors in effluent from untreated proliferating BrCa were detected, of which actively growing cells were specifically associated with HGF, MCP-1, MIP-1β, RANTES (> 2-fold) compared to hepatic tissue alone and dormant BrCa effluent. Candidate biomarkers of dormancy were also identified when dormant cultures were compared to both hepatic tissue alone and proliferating BrCa cultures, 5 soluble signaling factors (HB-EGF, IL-18, VEGF-A, IL-10, IL-12p70). Further analyses found altered soluble signaling factors due to the presence of NPCs during attenuation and progression of BrCa, indicating NPCs within the hepatic microenvironment are implicated in regulating the dormant micrometastatic niche. This MPS provides unprecedented insights into the tumor cell biology of growing and dormant micrometastases. First, it mimics the dormancy and outgrowth observed in patients - i.e. dormant breast cancer cells resistant to chemotherapy could be stimulated to re-emerge following an inflammatory insult. Second, this system provides an accessible tool enabling the identification of candidate biomarkers of BrCa progression and dormancy within the micrometastatic niche; significantly, the latter aspect of dormant biomarkers is exceedingly novel. Ultimately, these collective innovative capabilities are instrumental in the development of therapeutic strategies to target dormant metastatic BrCa. Citation Format: Amanda M. Clark, Sarah E. Wheeler, Carissa L. Young, Venkateswaran C. Pillai, Donna B. Stolz, Douglas A. Lauffenburger, Raman Venkataramanan, Linda G. Griffith, Alan Wells. Elucidating candidate biomarkers of breast cancer progression and dormancy using a 3D model of metastasis. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Tumor Metastasis; 2015 Nov 30-Dec 3; Austin, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(7 Suppl):Abstract nr PR11.


BACKGROUND
The administration of an analgesic drug prior to nociceptive surgical stimulus could result in a better postoperative pain management. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of preoperative oral morphine sulphate on postoperative pain relief.

METHODS
Sixty patients undergoing major abdominal surgery were randomly assigned to premedication with 0.5 mg/kg oral morphine sulphate (oral morphine group) or 0.05 mg/kg oral midazolam (active placebo group). Primary outcome was efficacy of morphine premedication on opioid administration of IntraVenous Patient Controlled Analgesia (IVPCA) doses, at 4, 24, and 48 hours after completion of surgery and reducing static and dynamic visual analogue scale (sVAS and dVAS) scores. Secondary outcome was the time needed for the recovery of canalization of the gastro-intestinal tract. It was also evaluated fentanyl intraoperative consumption. Statistical analysis was performed by linear regression and student t test. Values of P<0.05 were considered significant.

RESULTS
The two groups were comparable with respect to patient characteristics. At 24 and 48 hours post surgery, administered IVPCA doses were reduced in the oral morphine group compared to the active placebo group (P<0.05). Values of sVAS and dVAS were significantly lower in the oral morphine group compared to the active placebo group at all assessment times (P<0.05). Fentanyl consumption was similar in both groups. Needs of a ketorolac rescue dose was greater in the ap versus the om group (21 patients in the ap vs 9 patients in the om group, P<0.001). Mean gastrointestinal canalization did not significantly differ between groups.

CONCLUSIONS
In major abdominal surgery, premedication with oral morphine sulphate produces better postoperative pain control and has an opioid-sparing effect without delaying gastrointestinal canalization time.


The reactive factors of regulation of migration show us how individual states intend to react to phenomena related to human migration and primarily harmful for host societies. In this context, migration emerges as a challenge for public security or law enforcement. Reactivity, however, does not only have its origin in eliminating the adverse effects of migration, but also in those responses from the states through which the baselines for regulating migration are demonstrated and reflected. The stricter the entry conditions, the conditions of stay or the conditions on certain work of foreigners are, the more easily it can be demonstrated that, as regards the given communities, migration is not an unreservedly supported phenomenon.


Twenty-nine patients with 249 fractures of the condylar process were treated by surgery which was reserved for fractures with medial dislocation of the condylar head out of the articular fossa. The fractures were exposed from a preauricular incision. Interosseous wires were not used: intermaxillary fixation for 10 days and functional treatment for another 3 weeks were the standard post-operative treatment. The operative technique and the results are described.


In South Australia, Early Permian sediments infill an erosional land surface shaped by the Late Carboniferous-Early Permian Gondwana glaciation. The Arckaringa Basin in South Australia comprises a number of deep erosional troughs recording Australia's time in the southern polar region. A recent sequence stratigraphic interpretation of the Arckaringa Basin has resulted in a better understanding of the basin fill, in particular the distribution of the organic rich marine shales in the succession. A sequence boundary cuts down into underlying glaciogenic sediments in the landward part of the basin but shows little evidence of erosion in the more seaward part of the basin. Sediments above the sequence boundary, deposited during the marine transgressive phase, onlap paleo-topographic highs. A maximum flooding surface at the base of the overlying delta succession has been identified and flattening of seismic lines on this horizon demonstrates the downlapping of clinoforms onto the surface. A prominent peak in the gamma-ray curves of wells in the basin coincides with the maximum flooding surface. Thick organic rich shales with Type II source potential have been intersected in both the southern Arckaringa troughs (TOC's ranging 4.1-7.4% over 160 m) and the Boorthanna Trough (TOC's ranging 3.9-10.4% over 70 m). The organic rich shales fall below the gamma ray peak marking the maximum flooding surface, and are transgressive systems tract deposits. Seismic data shows that the valleys were not completely filled with sediment when the sea transgressed, resulting in long and narrow fjords with a complex paleo-bathymetry. Abundant algal material recorded in the organic rich shale, including the marine alga Tasmanites, suggests that nutrient rich surface water and anoxic bottom water conditions were present at times in the restricted seaways. These conditions have been recorded in modern fjords associated with density stratification of the water column. Micropalaeontological assemblages indicate lacustrine to brackish to restricted marine environments through much of the Early Permian succession. The thick organic rich shales of the Arckaringa Basin are now being pursued as a potential shale oil play. The shale is at the threshold of oil generation over parts of the basin, but oil shows have been recorded elsewhere. Exploration efforts are currently directed at determining if a shale oil play fairway is present in the basin.


Custom hardware accelerators of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) provide a promising solution to meet real-time constraints for a wide range of applications on low-cost embedded devices. In this work, we aim to lower the dynamic power of a stream-based CNN hardware accelerator by reducing the computational redundancies in the CNN layers. In particular, we investigate the redundancies due to the downsampling effect of max pooling layers which are prevalent in state-of-the-art CNNs, and propose an approximation method to reduce the overall computations. The experimental results show that the proposed method leads to lower dynamic power without sacrificing accuracy.


In contrast to the remainder of the UK, the largest ethnic minority group inNorthern Ireland is Chinese. There are few research findings on the health status of Chinese in the UK, especially with respect to women. This research aimed to investigate the general health status of Chinese women in Northern Ireland, and to make suggestions for health promotion. A survey methodology was used. This consisted of questionnaires that included demographic measures, open-ended questions and the SF-36 (Hong Kong version) health survey. A convenience sample of non-pregnant Chinese women in Northern Ireland (n = 48) was collected during 2002–2003. Data were analysed by using the online scoring system, andsubsequently coded into and analysed using SPSS (v11.0). The findings showed that more than a quarter of the participants understood only a little English, which was a potential obstacle to obtaining health information. About 26.6% of participants stated that they were suffering from health problems, for example, anaemia, bronchiectasis, back pain anddepression. SF-36 results showed that the psychosocial health status of Chinese women living in Northern Ireland was significantly below average for women in the UK. However, the physical health status of the participants was at or above the average for the UK female population. It was concluded that the health status of Chinese women might be influenced by multiple factors, for example, their sociocultural characteristics and beliefs, heterogeneity and interaction of risk factors,acculturated dietary intake, late hospitalisation and high stress. Psychological and social wellbeing need to be improved, and more social support should be provided to improve their overall health status. Health professionals should be aware of the transcultural issues in a multicultural environment.


The number of verses of the Quran contained in the Qur'an, encouraging people to look for a way to get the exact clause in a short time. The science is an important knowledge, as Muslims we are obliged to study it with the Al-Quran as a guide. So that's how we get the verse about the science of the Quran with a quick, efficient and practical with a mobile application. Decision tree is a predictive model using a tree or hierarchical structure, this method can support mobile applications to be created. Because based decision very complex and global in the Quran, can be transformed into more simple and specific. C4.5 algorithm is a decision tree induction algorithm and is suitable to perform the classification process. The results of the percentage of successful applications created by using a decision tree that is 75.73%. From these results is known that the algorithm C4.5 and decision tree reasonably is well used in the classification process.


A young Protugese man, who had never travelled outside of Europe, was found to have a bacterial complication of a fibroplastic endocarditis. The onset was by a spontaneous chest pain, associated with a posterolatero-apical subepicardial ischemia and giant T waves in V3, V4, and calcification in the apex of the heart on radiography. Diagnosis was confirmed by intracardiac explorations: ventricular telediastolic pressures were increased; the lower border of the right ventricle was smooth, the left ventricle had a globular appearance with a smooth anterior border, the apex appearing to be completely excluded; coronarography was normal. Histological examination confirmed the presence of fibrosis. Anticoagulant treatment was started. Four months after the onset of the disease, a high fever, an apical systolic murmur, and nine positive blood cultures for a streptococcus mitis, suggested the development of a bacterial endocarditis, though no direct evidence was discovered. Improvement occurred after appropriate antibiotic therapy, and the anticoagulants were continued. Cardiac ultrasonography recordings were normal following this episode. This case-report is of two-fold interest: on the one hand it represents an early form of fibroplastic endocarditis, diagnosed by intracardiac exploration, and on the other hand it emphasizes the rare nature of bacterial complications of this affection. Authors differ in their evaluation of the frequency of chest pain, but their inaugural and isolated nature are rarely described. In most cases the presence of the disease is revealed by a progressive cardiac insufficiency. A very positive factor is the presence of calcifications, and the absence of an eosinophilia does not exclude the diagnosis. Electrical anomalies of the ischemic type are possible, but are rarely isolated findings, and the giant appearance of the T waves in this case is rather atypical. Bacterial complications are rare, and are only reported in 12 of the 218 cases described in the published literature. They are rarely diagnosed during the life of the patient (1 case only). The infection affects the cords, the valves, the thrombus, or the fibrosis itself.


The purposes of this study were to assess fatigue among elderly citrus farmers and indicating countermeasures to reduce the workload of agricultural work and the work-related stress among elderly citrus farmers. The Fatigue Questionnaire for Farmers developed by the Rural Life Research Institute, Japan was used after a modification by the addition of items related to dietary life. It was found that some of the factors causing fatigue among citrus farmers differed between men and women. There was a clear correlation between agricultural work load and the severity of fatigue. Among these elderly farmers, the qualitative aspect of work stress had much more effect on fatigue than the quantitative aspect. And, the fact that social support impossibility for them deepened their sense of dissatisfaction with work and social life indicated the importance of social support for them. The study suggested that the modified questionnaire was shown to be useful in the assessment of fatigue among agricultural workers; however, it needs to be simplified. Further study using the simplified fatigue questionnaire is needed for further clarification of fatigue and its underlying factors among agricultural workers.


HEMOCHROMATOSIS is an uncommon disease of uncertain etiology occurring predominantly in males and characterized by extensive deposition of iron throughout the body. Although the liver, pancreas, and skin are chiefly involved, significant iron accumulation may be present in lymph nodes, testes, heart, and adrenals. Of all the organs, the brain alone is said to be spared.1Clinically, hemochromatosis is characterized by cirrhosis of the liver usually accompanied by diabetes and pigmentation of the skin. Asthenia, loss of weight, and hypogonadism are frequently present. It seems fairly well established, particularly by radioiron absorption studies, that the underlying defect in hemochromatosis is a disturbance in the normal intestinal mucosal iron-blocking mechanism, resulting in excessive iron absorption regardless of the saturation of the body stores.* Since there is no active mechanism, except for hemorrhage, by which iron can be excreted,† a gradual increase in tissue iron saturation occurs. As a result, the


It remains an intriguing question why the medial temporal lobe (MTL) can display either attenuation or enhancement of neural activity following repetition of previously studied items. To isolate the role of encoding experience itself, we assessed neural repetition effects in the absence of any ongoing task demand or intentional orientation to retrieve. Experiment 1 showed that the hippocampus and surrounding MTL regions displayed neural repetition suppression (RS) upon repetition of past items that were merely attended during an earlier study phase but this was not the case following re-occurrence of items that had been encoded into working memory (WM). In this latter case a trend toward neural repetition enhancement (RE) was observed, though this was highly variable across individuals. Interestingly, participants with a higher degree of neural RE in the MTL complex displayed higher memory sensitivity in a later, surprise recognition test. Experiment 2 showed that massive exposure at encoding effected a change in the neural architecture supporting incidental repetition effects, with regions of the posterior parietal and ventral-frontal cortex in addition to the hippocampus displaying neural RE, while no neural RS was observed. The nature of encoding experience therefore modulates the expression of neural repetition effects in the MTL and the neocortex in the absence of memory goals.


The deterioration of the airframe due to fatigue loading and corrosion attack should be monitored by scheduled periodic inspections to assure the appropriate detection of the damaged area. In the present investigation an exploratory test program has been carried out to improve the general understanding of the fatigue behaviour of undamaged and corrosion damaged joints. Also the sequence effects in FSW joints are studied. The aim is to offer a basis both for a better experimental documentation as well as for an evaluation of existing crack propagation prediction models. Moreover specifically existent fracture mechanics principles are applied to friction stir welded structures. The objective is to elaborate an easy, practical and reliable engineering approach to perform life predictions of friction stir welded structures under in-service loading and in the presence of corrosion attack.


The present study optimizes lay-up configurations and drop-off placements to maximize the failure strength of tapered laminates. A lookup table of stress components for calculation of Christensen's criteria is prepared in advance for all possible combinations of 3-ply laminates which is the minimum structure of ply dropoff. Stress components at three corners of resin pockets modeled triangular are first obtained from the finite element analysis (FEA). Then, the optimization is conducted for the laminate which tapers from 16- to 8-ply by using a simple genetic algorithm method. Objective functions are evaluated by referring only stress indexes listed in the lookup table and the FEA are not performed during the optimization. Both thick and thin sections are limited to quasi-isotropic laminates with 45° increment angle, but a stacking sequence of plies is variable and optimized. Placement of ply drop-off are also design variables. It was revealed that 0° and 90° plies are dropped near the thick and thin sections for the optimum result. Experimental results validated that the optimum structure has higher failure strength than the reference one.


Large nonlinear phase shifts of the fundamental wave can occur even for phase-matched second-harmonic generation if a weak seed wave at the harmonic frequency is injected into the /spl chi//sup (2)/ medium. This seed wave could be internally produced inside a device. We propose to utilize such internal seeding to build a single-beam nonlinear switch that is in the configuration of a Sagnac loop. Since the seed wave controls the amount of the second harmonic generated, this effect can also be used to make a modulator, which can electronically switch the output optical frequency of a pulse train from the fundamental to the second harmonic at rates that are well into the gigahertz range. Such a modulator would require much smaller phase shifts, and correspondingly smaller driving voltages, than a conventional electrooptic modulator based on the Mach-Zehnder geometry.


The effect of BCG on the development of cell-mediated cytotoxicity (CMC) in the spleens of allogeneic tumor-bearing (C57BL/6 X A)F1 mice was studied. BCG-treated tumor-bearing animals elicited a stronger CMC response than did the untreated tumor-bearing animals. Furthermore, the degree of activation was dependent on different doses of BCG, so that if the BCG was administered at doses above or below the optimum dose, a less marked stimulation of the CMC resulted. The combination of BCG given before the tumor implant plus an intratumor inoculation resulted in a significantly higher CMC than did either treatment alone.


Abstract Cell-surface expression of CD38 in CLL has been recognised recently as a marker of progressive disease and poor outcome. In contrast to traditional staging systems, CD38 is able to identify progressive cases at an early stage. Measurement of CD38, in conjunction with other novel prognostic factors such as p53 and ZAP-70 helps to identify patients who might benefit from early and more intensive therapy. In addition, CD38 positivity can predict unmutated IgVH gene mutation status in most cases. These features, together with its easy applicability, render CD38 a valuable tool in the routine diagnostics of CLL. Questions remaining to be clarified about CD38 include the incidence and significance of its variations during the course of the disease, the optimal method to define CD38 positivity and the impact of different methodologies on results. Only after these issues are resolved can the definitive place of CD38 be defined in the diagnostics of CLL.


The study was conducted to find out the effect of beef cattle diet on the performance of upgraded Holstein Friesian bulls at BAPARD cattle farm in Bangladesh. For this purpose, twelve Local x HolsteinFriesian upgraded bulls (L×F) of average 20 months of age and 213 kg live weight were divided into three equal groups. Three different diets such as (i) a mixed concentrate ration (T1), (ii) mixed concentrate ration and UMS at a ratio of 1:1 on DM basis (T2) and (iii) green Grass based ration without concentrate and UMS. The results found that the average daily live weight gains of three groups was 350g, 330g and 340g respectively, which were not differ significantly (P<0.05). Daily DM intake was significantly higher in T3 but the digestibility found lower than other treatments. In case of feed conversion ratio (FCR), the highest FCR was found in T1 (2.96) but cost of per kg live weight gain was the lowest in T3 (BDT 90) compared to T1 (BDT 140) and T2 (BDT 142). Therefore, considering the FCR and cost of per unit beef production, a beef diet of green grass might be the appropriate diet for the floodplains area for Local x Holstein-Friesian upgraded bulls.


Backgrounds: Three-dimensional (3D) measurement in computer software has become increasingly popular, which uses 3D visualization instead of traditional two-dimensional (2D) viewing angle by plain X-rays, computed tomography (CT) scans, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The goal of this study is to introduce the 3D modeling of glenohumeral joint and a method of 3D measurement technique by using computer tool. We hope it can achieve accurate parameters by computer tool and help surgeons to choose the treatment of shoulder instability. Also, the parameters of normal shoulder can help us choose the prosthesis of both total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) and reverse shoulder arthroplasty (RSA).
 Methods: Three dimensional measurement and relative parameters of glenoid and humeral head in normal cadaver and one patient's shoulder were evaluated with software of Mimics and Imageware, in order to choose the treatment of shoulder instability. We used the Chinese Digital Man No. 1 and Woman No. 1 as the normal cadaver and patient's shoulder as instability modeling, which were collected and made by Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China. Four shoulders (both shoulders of the Chinese Digital Man No. 1 and Woman No. 1) were collected from DICOM format by CT scans and three dimensional reconstructions were performed in Mimics software.
 Results: The parameters of normal glenoid and humeral head were the anteroposterior diameter, supra-inferior diameter, depth and curvature radius of glenoid labrum, and radius of humeral head. The Man No. 1: The left and right shoulder showed 24.66 and 23.70 mm of anteroposterior diameter, 34.70 and 33.43 mm of supra-inferior diameter, 4.05 and 4.01 mm of depth of glenoid labrum, 25.62 and 25.02 mm of curvature radius of glenoid labrum, 22.16 and 22.22 mm of radius of humeral head, respectively. The Woman No. 1: The left and right shoulder showed 20.40 and 19.96 mm of anteroposterior diameter, 29.68 and 29.35 mm of supra-inferior diameter, 2.48 and 2.34 mm of depth of glenoid labrum, 27.92 and 26.47 mm of curvature radius of glenoid labrum, 20.48 and 19.80 mm of radius of humeral head, respectively. In another case we considered a 27-year-old male with a history of shoulder recurrent dislocation in May, 2018. His CT showed he suffered from a bony bankart injury and Hill-sachs lesion. We calculated and measured the parameters of his shoulder by computer software. The length of the lesion is 31.67 mm. The radius of the circle is 11.64 mm given in the software. According to the distance between border-top and border-bottom of bankart lesion that is 21.74 mm, the area of the circle equals 425.2028 mm 2 and the area of bone loss equals 118.2855 mm 2 , for a calculated bone loss of 27.82%. The depth of the lesion is 11.13 mm.
 Conclusions: A 3D model can provide a more vivid vision of the glenohumeral joint. We hope that measuring parameters can be performed by using computer software tool, without manual measurement and calculated in minimum error range.


PURPOSE
Infants at neonatal intensive care units (NICU) are invariably exposed to various procedural and environmental stimuli. The study was performed to compare the pain responses in three NICU stimulants and to examine the clinical feasibility for NICU infants using CRIES, FLACC and PIPP.

METHOD
In a correlational study, a total of 94 NICU stimulants including angio-catheter insertions, trunk-rubbings and loud noises, was observed for pain responses among 64 infants using CRIES, FLACC and PIPP.

RESULTS
A significant difference was identified among the mean scores in CRIES (F(2, 91)=47.847, p=.000), FLACC (F(2, 91)=41.249, p=.000) and PIPP (F(2, 91)=16.272, p=.000) to three stimulants. In a Post-hoc Scheff test, an angio-catheter insertion showed the highest scores in CRIES, FLACC and PIPP compared to the other two stimulations. A strong correlation was identified between CRIES and FLACC in all three stimulations (.817 < r < .945) while inconsistent findings were identified between PIPP and CRIES or FLACC.

CONCLUSIONS
The results of the study support that CRIES and FLACC are reliable and clinically suitable pain measurements for NICU infants. Further studies are needed in data collection time-point as well as clinical feasibility on PIPP administration to assess pain response in infants, including premature infants.


Optical-to-THz conversion of microcomb with uni-traveling-carrier photodiode is a potential method to generate CW-THz wave with ultra-high frequency, low phase noise, and high practicability. In this paper, we evaluated the phase noise of CW-THz wave at 560 GHz.


The integration of retrieved passages and large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPTs, has significantly contributed to improving open-domain question answering. However, there is still a lack of exploration regarding the optimal approach for incorporating retrieved passages into the answer generation process. This paper aims to fill this gap by investigating different methods of combining retrieved passages with LLMs to enhance answer generation. We begin by examining the limitations of a commonly-used concatenation approach. Surprisingly, this approach often results in generating"unknown"outputs, even when the correct document is among the top-k retrieved passages. To address this issue, we explore four alternative strategies for integrating the retrieved passages with the LLMs. These strategies include two single-round methods that utilize chain-of-thought reasoning and two multi-round strategies that incorporate feedback loops. Through comprehensive analyses and experiments, we provide insightful observations on how to effectively leverage retrieved passages to enhance the answer generation capability of LLMs.


Purpose: To optimize the extraction conditions of polysaccharides from the root of Senecio scandens Buch,-Ham. (PRS) and evaluate its anti-tumor effect on hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods: Response surface methodology (RSM) applied with a Box-Behnken design (BBD, three levels and three factors) was employed to determine the effect of extraction time, number of extraction and ratio of water to raw material on the yield of PRS. The anti-tumor effect of PRS on A549, HL60, S180 and H22 cell lines was evaluated in vitro by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl) -2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, while in vivo anti-tumor effect was evaluated in H22 tumor transplanted mice. Furthermore, expressions of proteins including caspase-3, caspase-9, Bcl-2 and Bax were determined by western blotting assay. Results: The established BBD model was highly significant and the optimal conditions were: extraction time, 3.06 h; number of extractions, 2; and ratio of water to raw material, 16.17 mL/g. PRS showed significant inhibitory effect on H22 cells (IC 50 = 42.4 μg/mL), and significantly inhibited the growth of transplanted H22 tumors in mice at the doses of 20, 40 and 80 mg/kg (p < 0.05, p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively). Treatment with PRS (20, 40 and 80 μg/mL) significantly up-regulated the expressions of Bax, caspase-3 and caspase-9 in H22 cells, whereas Bcl-2 protein was significantly down-regulated. Conclusion: The results suggest that PRS possesses significant anti-tumor activity on H22 cell line in vitro and in vivo , and the mechanism may be closely related to the induction of mitochondria-mediated apoptosis. Keywords: Senecio scandens , Polysaccharides, Hepatocellular carcinoma, Response surface methodology, Anti-tumor activity, Apoptosis


: Technological progress and institutional change are key drivers for industrial development. The rapid development of information and communication technology has weakened the demand of industrial production for local resources and promoted the free flow of capital, knowledge, labor, and other factors of production in a wider area. The "temporal and spatial compression" formed by technological evolution has further changed the pattern of global interests and led to institutional reform aimed at regional integration and trade liberalization. This loosens the restriction of trade costs on location options for productive activities and provides more possibil-ities for cross-regional production linkages and the establishment of global production network (GPN). With the formation of GPN, transnational enterprises (TNE) tend to locate in regions with cheaper labor cost, more prefer-ential policies, and greater market potential in order to optimize their cost-benefit of operation on a global scale by means of foreign direct investment (FDI). Under this trend, developing countries become essential destina-tions for FDI, which in return makes FDI a key factor that affects the industrial change of host countries through spillover and competition effects, for example. Technological proximity between foreign and domestic parts in one industry also contributes to enhancing or weakening the effects of spillover and competition, then influences the interaction between the spatial dynamics of foreign direct investment and domestic industrial change, and further exerts impacts on regional economic growth. Based on the theories of global production network and Evolutionary Economic Geography and using four-digit manufacturing data of China's prefectural-level cities in ASIFs from 1998 to 2008, this study analyzed the interaction between FDI spatial dynamics (including FDI enterprise entry and FDI enterprises exit) and domestic industrial change and the impact of technological proximity on FDI spatial dynamics and domestic industrial change by using qualitative and quantitative analysis methods. The re-sults show that the entry and exit of TNEs both induced change of domestic industries, while the spatial dynamics of FDI demonstrated the most significant effect in central and western China, followed by eastern cities. FDI entry contributed more in promoting domestic industrial change than FDI exit in the Northeastern. Technological proximity between domestic industries and FDI industries mostly weakened the positive effect of different spatial dynamics of FDI on domestic industrial change, except for the entry of FDI during 1998-2003. From a regional perspective, technological proximity in eastern cities showed positive effect on both entry and exit of FDI, suggesting a typical example of "strategic coupling." On the other hand, in middle, western and northeastern cities, higher technological relatedness has become an essential reason that prevents FDI from promoting the development of domestic industries.


Holoprosencephaly has a sever condition called Cylopia that is occur due to embryonic prosencephalon cleavage failure and contrast. Mostly cylopia form is holoprosencephaly, mid facial tissue is absent which causes the one eye on a single orbit. It is a sever deformity of median faciocerebal development. There are 1.05 cases in100,000 birth, still births of cyclopean. Abnormal nose above eyes or absence of nose, single eyes or half divided eyes in single orbit are features of cyclopia, where as reduced size of oral aperture or absence of mouth, absence of mandible with ears below chin. It is as etiologically heterogeneous condition, which can be caused by genetic mutation, chromosomal defect and teratogenic environmental factors. Environmental factors can be diabetic embryopathy, retinoic acid, several anecdotal suggestion of teratogenic factor for HPE, which includes salicylates and viruses. Some list of syndrome are also involved to cause cyclopia Like steinfeld syndrome, dysgnathia complex,Pseudotrisomy 13 syndrome and Smith–Lemli– Opitz syndrome. On other hand inborn abnormalities also cause cyclopia but its come under chromosomal syndrome. Anatomical detection can be done by brain MRI, whereas in prenetal diagnosis, sonography is more significant. Ultrasound also used early detection can be done and knowledge of sonographic finding soectrum leads to accuracy of prenatal diagnosis of cyclopia. After birth the chromosomal study helps to diagnose cyclopia along with postmortem biopsy.


A d-dimensional branching diffusion, Z, is investigated, where the linear attraction or repulsion between particles is competing with an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck drift, with parameter b (we take b > 0 for inward O-U and b < 0 for outward O-U). This work has been motivated by [4], where a similar model was studied, but without the drift component. We show that the large time behavior of the system depends on the interaction and the drift in a nontrivial way. Our method provides, inter alia, the SLLN for the non-interactive branching (inward) O-U process. First, regardless of attraction (γ > 0) or repulsion (γ < 0), a.s., as t → ∞, the center of mass of Zt converges to the origin when b > 0, while escapes to infinity exponentially fast (rate |b|) when b < 0. We then analyze Z as viewed from the center of mass, and finally, for the system as a whole, we provide a number of results and conjectures regarding the long term behavior of the system; some of these are scaling limits, while some others concern local extinction.


The increasing utilization of cell and gene therapy in the treatment of human diseases, particularly cancers, has led lawmakers to institute stringent rules to regulate this new area of medicine and optimally protect patients. Cell and gene therapy centers, often located within academic institutions, are becoming subject to rules previously applied only to pharmaceutical companies. Based on the US experience, we review here the regulations that currently regulate or are being proposed to cover cell and gene therapy centers. We describe the principles of good manufacturing practices, quality assurance and quality control and accreditation. Finally, we discuss the future of cell and gene therapy in the context of the increasingly rigorous regulatory environment implemented in the US.


I. Introduction 1. Implications of China's Rise for US-China Relations Suisheng Zhao 2. China Rising: Geo-Strategic Thrust and Diplomatic Engagement Suisheng Zhao II. Perspectives of Chinese Scholars 3. Learning to live with the Hegemon: China's Policy toward the U.S. Since the End of the Cold War Jia Qingguo 4. Complexity and Transformational Structure of China-US Relations Chen Dongxiao 5. Comparing Security Concepts of China and the United States Xu Jian 6. Nuclear Deterrence and Sino-U.S. Strategic Relationship Zhang Baohui 7. China-US Economic Relations and the Trade Imbalance Issue Li Wei III. Perspectives of US-based Scholars 8. Managing a Multifaceted Relationship with China Phillip Saunders 9. The Domestic Political Game Behind the Engagement Strategy Jean Garrison 10. Chinese Military Modernization and Energy Security: Conflict or Cooperation? Bernard Cole 11. The Rise of China and Sino-American Energy Cooperation June Teufel Dreyer 12. China's Economic Rise: Implications for the United States Pieter Bottelier 13. China, the US and Japan: Reconfiguring Relations in Southeast Asia Elizabeth Economy


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of our study was to investigate the distribution of HLA-DQ beta-chain amino acid residue 57 (HLA-DQ beta 57) as a genetic marker of susceptibility for insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in the Hispanic population.

STUDY DESIGN
Fifteen patients of Puerto Rican descent with juvenile-onset insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus underwent human leukocyte antigen typing for HLA-DQ beta 57 by polymerase chain reaction amplification of the target genomic DQ sequence followed by hybridization of the polymerase chain reaction product to phosphorus 32-labeled allele-specific oligonucleotide probes. A control group of 44 Hispanic adults without diabetes who were undergoing human leukocyte antigen typing for tissue donation were concurrently typed for comparison.

RESULTS
The Hispanic insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus group showed a significant increase in homozygosity for a non-aspartate amino acid (p = 0.023) over a control group of Hispanic subjects without diabetes. A high rate of heterozygosity for aspartate (53.3%) is found in Hispanic subjects with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus as well.

CONCLUSIONS
HLA-DQ beta 57 in the Hispanic population has a distribution distinct from HLA-DQ beta 57 in the Caucasian population. A single aspartate is not protective against insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in Hispanic subjects.


The promotion of green housings (GHs) is considered a potentially effective way to save energy, reduce air pollution, and promote industrial upgrading. However, the low level of public acceptance of GHs leads to insufficient GH market penetration in China. Thus, it is significant to explore GH purchase decisions to understand and enhance the market demand for GHs effectively. From an extended perspective of perceived value, this study proposes a comprehensive research model that integrates residents' perceptions and personal traits to examine the influencing mechanism of residents' intention to purchase GHs. The proposed model is empirically tested using data collected from 728 urban residents in China. The results reveal that perceived value is a crucial predictor of GH purchase intention. All dimensions of perceived benefits—including perceived functional benefits, perceived emotional benefits, perceived green benefits, and perceived social benefits—have a positive influence on perceived value, while perceived performance risks have a negative influence on perceived value. Two types of personal traits, namely, environmental concern and social trust, significantly affect residents' perceived benefits and perceived risks. The findings contribute to a more in-depth analysis of the effects of residents' perceptions and personal traits on GH purchase behavior. Furthermore, suggestions for policymakers and developers on popularizing GHs are proposed.


The hearing loss in a cleft patient is a well known complication, but generally gets ignored. These children continue to have recurrent otitis media with effusion that affects the hearing abilities. Unfortunatley the middle ear function may not improve with palatoplasty.Cleft palate teams need to follow up all such children beginning at birth and going into adulthood, decades after a 'successful' palate repair. These patients should have careful otological and audiological surveillance with appropriate interventions whenever required. The review article discusses the current status of hearing management in patients with cleft palate.


Misinformation and disinformation pose major challenges to effective health communication around the globe during the Covid-19 pandemic. In this special issue, we present research on mis- and disinformation about Covid-19 in the European context and describe challenges and potential solutions for health communication. More specifically, the special issue features articles that analyse (a) the prevalence of mis- and disinformation beliefs about Covid-19 and their impact on individuals, as well as the drivers of these beliefs and (b) the effectiveness of potential prebunking and debunking interventions to combat mis- and disinformation. The articles demonstrate the relevance of political attitudes and media use as significant predictors of belief in health misinformation and tested a variety of effective interventions– from pausing to think critically to detailed debunking. Together, the collection of articles serves to support the evidence-based efforts of international organisations, governments, social media technology companies, and major academic institutions to address the problem of health mis- and disinformation.


: Preserving the students' educational motivation and satisfaction of teaching methods has a considerable influence on their educational success. Therefore, finding effective strategies to enhance students' educational motivation and satisfaction of teaching methods is considered as one of the most important educational priorities. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of utilizing the capabilities of caricature on the students' educational motivation and satisfaction of the teaching methods. The participants were the students of Yazd Payame Noor University. Nineteen students participated in the learning program utilizing caricature through textbook and PowerPoint slides and 18 students took part in the instructional program based on the lecture. The course of "consistency" with the subject of "strength of the metal structures" was taught using the two mentioned approaches. The classes were randomly assigned to these educational programs. The data were collected in the two stages of pretest and posttest using the summarized version of Mac Innerni and Sinclaire standard questionnaire of educational motivation. Moreover, after the treatment, the students were asked several direct questions about their overall satisfaction from the educational programs. The data were analyzed using t-test, Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney statistical tests. The findings indicated that comparing the two approaches, teaching with utilization of caricature can enhance the students' educational motivation and satisfaction of the teaching methods.


The enactment of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 can be seen as a 'paradigm-oriented' policy transfer of the model of utilities regulation in the UK. This article draws on the literature on infrastructure regulation in order to analyse this transfer. Taking a long view on attempts to introduce competition into health services in England, it points to a number of challenges of liberalisation, corresponding to those arising in infrastructure sectors. Using a framework drawn from utilities, it analyses these under the headings of: (a) market structure; (b) allocation of regulatory authority; and (c) decision-making style. It suggests that the lens of utilities regulation is a useful one for analysing the NHS reforms, and clearly shows the difficulty in establishing workable competition in the sector.


The net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) between a Mojave Desert ecosystem and the atmosphere was measured over the course of 2 years at the Mojave Global Change Facility (MGCF, Nevada, USA) using the eddy covariance method. The investigated desert ecosystem was a sink for CO2, taking up 102±67 and 110±70 g C m−2 during 2005 and 2006, respectively. A comprehensive uncertainty analysis showed that most of the uncertainty of the inferred sink strength was due to the need to account for the effects of air density fluctuations on CO2 densities measured with an open‐path infrared gas analyser. In order to keep this uncertainty within acceptable bounds, highest standards with regard to maintenance of instrumentation and flux measurement postprocessing have to be met. Most of the variability in half‐hourly NEE was explained by the amount of incident photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). On a seasonal scale, PAR and soil water content were the most important determinants of NEE. Precipitation events resulted in an initial pulse of CO2 to the atmosphere, temporarily reducing NEE or even causing it to switch sign. During summer, when soil moisture was low, a lag of 3–4 days was observed before the correlation between NEE and precipitation switched from positive to negative, as opposed to conditions of high soil water availability in spring, when this transition occurred within the same day the rain took place. Our results indicate that desert ecosystem CO2 exchange may be playing a much larger role in global carbon cycling and in modulating atmospheric CO2 levels than previously assumed – especially since arid and semiarid biomes make up >30% of Earth's land surface.


Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) systems have emerged as one of the most promising areas for Industrial Applications. The highly growth of fuzzy logic applications led to the need of finding efficient way to hardware implementation. Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is the most important tool for hardware implementation due to low consumption of energy, high speed of operation and large capacity of data storage. In this paper, instead of an introduction to fuzzy logic control methodology, we have demonstrated the implementation of a FLC through the use of the Very high speed integrated circuits Hardware Description Language (VHDL) code. FLC is designed for an armature control DC motor speed control. VHDL has been used to develop FLC on FPGA. A Sugeno type FLC structure has been used to obtain the controller output. The controller algorithm developed synthesized, simulated and implemented on FPGA Spartan 3E xc3s500e-4fg320 board.


Glucose, a critical source of energy, directly determines the homeostasis of the human body. However, due to the lack of robust imaging probes, the mechanism underlying the changes of glucose homeostasis in the human body remains unclear. Herein, diboronic acid probes with good biocompatibility and high sensitivity were synthesized based on an ortho-aminomethylphenylboronic acid probe, phenyl(di)boronic acid (PDBA). Significantly, by introducing the water-solubilizing group −CN directly opposite the boronic acid group and −COOCH3 or −COOH groups to the β site of the anthracene in PDBA, we obtained the water-soluble probe Mc-CDBA with sensitive response (F/F0 = 47.8, detection limit (LOD) = 1.37 μM) and Ca-CDBA with the highest affinity for glucose (Ka = 4.5 × 103 M–1). On this basis, Mc-CDBA was used to identify glucose heterogeneity between normal and tumor cells. Finally, Mc-CDBA and Ca-CDBA were used for imaging glucose in zebrafish. Our research provides a new strategy for designing efficient boronic acid glucose probes and powerful new tools for the evaluation of glucose-related diseases.


Rob Bowden is co-founder and co-director of Lifeworlds Learning, a social enterprise based in the Staffordshire Moorlands. He has previously enjoyed an academic career in geography and development studies where he specialized in participatory methodologies and the exploration of children's 'lifeworlds'. Rob is also an acclaimed author and photographer of over 50 children's books on global and environmental issues. In Lifeworlds Learning, Rob coordinates a team of practitioners specializing in critical learning and strategic creativity. They work across all phases of education and have supported organizational learning and transformation whether in village schools or international NGOs. As a social enterprise, Lifeworlds coordinates a number of learning communities in England and works in close collaboration with others to achieve common goals. This paper reflects on a recent collaborative project working alongside Think Global, Oxfam, British Red Cross and Practical Action to explore the potential of 'Leading Through Values' for school-based transformation.


Athletic talent as biological, social and methodological phenomenon is one of the most scientifically complicated and practically important problems of contemporary sport. The earlier discovery of athletic talent permits more rational management of gifted young prospects' preparation increasing their chances for the most successful athletic carrier. With this position, the thorough investigation of the long‐term preparation of outstanding athletes allows to find earlier indications of athletic talent that can be utilized for recognition of extra‐ordinary abilities in young athletic candidates. Correspondingly, this study is aimed to investigate long‐term preparation of several Olympic champions, focusing on their training time expenses and earlier indications of athletic talent for possible evaluation of young athletic prospects. The personal data of nine Olympic Champions were collected by means of specially organized interviewing, where retrospective data were collected for characterization of time expenses for training until achievement of the first big success, earlier recognition of giftedness, and availability of parental support during initial part of athletic carrier. The unique data of nine Olympic champions evidenced that they attained their first big success after 4‐6 years of their purposeful preparation when total amount of accumulated time expenses for training varied between 1840‐5000 hours. Available findings allow indicate three general factors affecting discovery and development of extraordinary athletic talent: high internal motivation (1), creative and intelligent coaching (2), high rate of learn‐ and trainability (3). Comparison of annual time expenses of respondents with junior standards gives firm evidence that studied outstanding athletes executed much larger training workloads even on the earlier stages of their multi‐year preparation. The study outcomes contradict to popular theory of deliberate practice (Eriksson et al., 1993) that postulates 10‐years rule and accumulation of 10 000 hours training for attainment of high‐level expert performance. Importantly, that majority of respondents were early recognized as potentially talented individuals and received appropriate family support. keywords: athletic talent, long‐term preparation, identification of gifted youngsters.


NMR Spectroscopy has been established as a major tool for identification and quantification of metabolites in a living system. Since the metabolomics era began, one‐dimensional NMR spectroscopy has been intensively employed due to its simplicity and quickness. However, it has suffered from an inevitable overlap of signals, thus leading to inaccuracy in identification and quantification of metabolites. Two‐dimensional (2D) NMR has emerged as a viable alternative because it can offer higher accuracy in a reasonable amount of time. We employed 1H,13C‐HSQC to profile metabolites of six different laboratory E. coli strains. We identified 18 metabolites and observed clustering of six strains according to their metabolites. We compared the metabolites among the strains, and found that a) the strains specialized for protein production were segregated; b) XL1‐Blue separated itself from others by accumulating amino acids such as alanine, aspartate, glutamate, methionine, proline, and lysine; c) the strains specialized for cloning purpose were spread out from one another; and d) the strains originating from B strain were characterized by succinate accumulation. This work shows that 2D‐NMR can be applied to identify a strain from metabolite analysis, offering a possible alternative to genetic analysis to identify E. coli strains.


FIFTEEN calves, 7 to 11 months of age, were inoculated intradermally with group III mycobacteria ---6 isolates from swine, 1 isolate from cattle feed, and 2 isolates from soil of swine farrowing pens. Calves were tuberculin tested at 50 days and killed approximately 60 days after inoculation. Only 1 of the cultures, that of porcine origin (93c-0), produced any lesions. There were a caseo-calcareous granuloma 3mm in diameter in the regional lymph node (left prescapular) and a granuloma at the skin inoculation site. None of the 5 calves inoculated with soil- or feed-origin mycobacteria had any lesions. Three of the calves inoculated with porcine origin group III mycobacteria had suspicious or positive caudal fold reactions. Two of these had granulomas at the skin-inoculation sites and one had no lesions. The calf having lymph node and skin-inoculation site granulomas was negative. The 5 calves inoculated with feed- or soil-origin mycobacteria had negative caudal fold tuberculin tests.


Abstract Hebrew verbs were analyzed in the peer talk produced by 36 Hebrew-speaking children in two age/schooling groups (4;0–5;0 and 5;0–6;0 years), and from two socio-economic backgrounds (SES), mid-high and low. Each of the four age/SES groups consisted of nine children in three triads, where each triad was recorded for 30 minutes while playing. The interface of lexical and morphological growth was demonstrated in the developing organization of verbs in terms of roots, binyan conjugations and derivational families. SES was found the major source of variation in all measures, indicating a smaller and less specific verb lexicon in the low SES groups. Network analyses, a novel methodological approach, revealed the internal structure of the verb category in each age/SES cell, pointing to a scarce and less complex verb lexicon of the low SES groups. These measures also accounted for the growth potential of the network, increasing from the younger low SES group at one pole and peaking in the older mid-high SES at the other pole. These quantitative and qualitative differences in the morphological make-up of the verb lexicon and its usage patterns in preschool peer talk have implications for the impact of SES on verb learning in Hebrew.


Abstract: Experience of many ECRIS designers and users during more than a decade has given a few experimental rules, or "scaling laws". Many of these have been discussed at the ECRIS workshops. After the 1993 workshop it was concluded that the properties of the magnetic trap, in particular the strength of the radial component, determine to a great deal the confinement characteristics. For that reason it was decided at the KVI to choose a very strong magnet for the new 14 GHz ECRIS4 to be used in the Atomic Physics experiments. The hexapole magnet designed by the Giessen group is a good example. The induction, measured 2.5 mm inside the pole tips (i.e. at the wall of the plasma chamber) amounts more than 1.2 T. The measured radial field component Br obeys closely the expression Br= 0.00136 r2. (with B in T, r in mm). The quality of the magnetic trap can be given by the "radial mirror ratio", which is usually defined as R = Bmax / Breson, with Breson equal 0.5 T for a 14 GHz ECRIS. For the KVI magnet this would give R= 2.4 . This hexapole magnet was installed in ECRIS4, which is in operation since 1996. ECRIS4 is to a large extent a copy of ECRIS3 at KVI; the main difference is that the hexapole magnet of ECRIS3 has a considerably lower mirror ratio, i.e. R = 1.86. ECRIS3 is in operation since 1995; its performance has been reported at the 1995 ECRIS workshop. It turns out that the source with the stronger magnet produces much lower currents of highly charged ions. Various changes were made in the source set-up, including major alterations of the (axial) magnet configuration. The results of some of these changes, in terms of O7+ and Ar14+ currents, will be discussed. One conclusion could be that, at the given RF frequency of 14 GHz, the strong hexapole magnet forms a basic limitation, because of the smaller ECR volume. At present this conclusion may seem obvious, but that was certainly not the case after the 1993 ECRIS workshop.


The problems associated with disguise in scale construction are approached from the perspective of situated identity theory. Procedures are proposed to determine empirically the communicable meaning of scale-item responses, to measure precisely the dimensions along which responses are potentially reactive. The utility of the approach is assessed in a series of studies employing various response formats for Machiavellian scale items. Contrary to conclusions suggested by previous research employing groups of items, the data reveal that a simple, forced-choice format provides maximum disguise and minimal bias-but only if these forced-choice items are embedded among other items of extraneous content. The possibilities for extension of the approach are discussed. When respondents become aware of how


Modern on-line collaborative learning environments no longer depend on homogeneous groups, static content and resources, and single pedagogies, but high customization and flexibility are a must in this context. This means that collaborative learning practices need to be continuously adapted, adjusted, and personalized to each specific target learning group. Moreover, these environments are to enable and scale the involvement of an increasing large number of single/group participants who can geographically be widely distributed, and who need transparently share a huge variety of both software and hardware distributed resources. As a result, collaborative learning applications need to be designed in a way that overcome important nonfunctional requirements arisen in distributed contexts, such as scalability, flexibility, availability, interoperability, and integration of different, heterogeneous, and legacy collaborative learning systems. As a contribution towards this direction, in this paper, an approach based on Web and Grid services is proposed to guide developers in meeting these demanding requirements for the enhancement and improvement of the collaborative learning experience in highly distributed environments


Segregation in a dense solid-liquid multiphase flow is complicated by its interactions between phases. In this paper, the segregation of dense solid-liquid flow was simulated using the Finite Volume Method. A Euler-Euler multiphase simulation was conducted for the dense solid-liquid flow. The flow in the viscous regime was evaluated using kinetic theory describing the flow of smooth, slightly inelastic, spherical particles. The friction between solid particles which occurs in the plastic regime was evaluated based on the concepts from critical soil mechanics. The challenge of simulating non-segregation behaviour of dense solid-liquid flow was discussed.


ABSTRACT This study examined what leisure planning priorities and activities contribute to retirement vitality and satisfaction. Founded on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and Serious Leisure Perspective (SLP), an online survey and a focus group discussion were conducted to collect qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data were analyzed using the constant comparison method, word count, and classical content analysis. Quantitative methods were applied to determine if retirement satisfaction and vitality related to SDT constructs in addition to retirement leisure planning priorities. Spearman correlation analyses showed significant correlations between vitality and retirement satisfaction, competence satisfaction, relatedness satisfaction, and autonomy satisfaction, and casual leisure competence and project leisure competence. Significant correlations were also found between retirement satisfaction and retirement competence, relatedness satisfaction, and autonomy satisfaction, and casual leisure competence. Suggestions for further research are recommended, and specific priorities for retirement planning are proposed.