Features of contemporary repertoire of church choirs are analyzed. The work shows tendencies in expansion of a national manner of singing in the orthodox liturgical choruses and ensembles which are displayed both in public and church choir singing. Also the authors identify ways of inclusion of voice and chorus parts in a national or «an open sound» manner into choral scores with initial liturgical texts of contemporary orthodox composers. Methods of composer work with the liturgical word illustrate susceptibility by the orthodox singing culture of the national singing. Its ability to accumulation in order to achieve the required


A new equation of state for the inverse power, r − n potential, fluid is proposed. It is derived on the basis of the local scaling behaviour of its structural properties, without referring to any perturbative scheme, and therefore recourse to an effective hard sphere diameter. It is shown that the general formula for the compressibility factor can be expressed as the product of three functions. The first represents the hard-sphere equation of state at the same packing fraction, and the other two incorporate the effects of the potential softness, again as functions of density. Using computer simulation results, explicit forms for these soft parts have been established, to give an approximate analytic expression for the r − n fluid equation of state. Two different regions, characterized by positive and negative softness 'compressibility' have been found.


【The "Oksa" of Samguksagi is a literature record of Unified Silla's housing regulations according to the status system. It is considered as a very important historical record to understand the architecture of those days, and its records about the walls offer good grounds to estimate how the walls would have looked like in ancient architecture in the nation. Previous studies on the walls of "Oksa" had an interpretive issue over Yangdong (梁棟, beams and ridgepoles) and reported that there were two major types of walls with Yangdong, namely the corridor type and the palace wall type of Joseon. This study set out to review the original text of Oksa and related previous studies and consult the Chinese and Japanese literature and paintings and the wall materials of Silla architecture excavated in the Gyeongju area to provide new interpretations for the walls of Unified Silla. The findings led to the following conclusions: The walls with Yangdong over which there was a controversial issue were interpreted as "walls with an upper assembled structure of beams and purlins." Based on the records about the walls in Oksa, the study also confirmed that there were five types of walls according to the status system in Unified Silla.】


Communication between the oocyte and cumulus facilitates oocyte growth, cell cycle regulation, and metabolism. This communication is mediated by direct contact between oocytes and cumulus cells, and soluble secreted molecules. Secreted molecules involved in this process are known inflammatory mediators. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is detected in follicular fluid and is associated with reduced fertility, whereas accumulation of inflammatory mediators in follicular fluid, including tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α), is associated with female infertility. Maturation of oocytes in the presence of LPS or TNF‐α reduces meiotic maturation and the capacity to develop to the blastocyst. Here we evaluated the abundance of 92 candidate genes involved immune function, epigenetic modifications, embryo development, oocyte secreted factors, apoptosis, cell cycle, and cell signaling in bovine cumulus cells or zona‐free oocytes after exposure to LPS or TNF‐α during in vitro maturation. We hypothesize that LPS or TNF‐α will alter the abundance of transcripts in oocytes and cumulus cell in a cell type dependent manner. Exposure to LPS altered abundance of 31 transcripts in oocytes (including ACVR1V, BMP15, DNMT3A) and 12 transcripts in cumulus cells (including AREG, FGF4, PIK3IP1). Exposure to TNF‐α altered 1 transcript in oocytes (IGF2) and 4 transcripts in cumulus cells (GJA1, PLD2, PTGER4, STAT1). Cumulus expansion was reduced after exposure to LPS or TNF‐α. Exposing COCs to LPS had a marked effect on expression of targeted transcripts in oocytes. We propose that altered oocyte transcript abundance is associated with reduced meiotic maturation and embryo development observed in oocytes cultured in LPS or TNF‐α.


Graph-based models have become increasingly important in various domains, but the limited size and diversity of existing graph datasets often limit their performance. To address this issue, we propose EPIC (Edit Path Interpolation via learnable Cost), a novel interpolation-based method for augmenting graph datasets. Our approach leverages graph edit distance to generate new graphs that are similar to the original ones but exhibit some variation in their structures. To achieve this, we learn the graph edit distance through a comparison of labeled graphs and utilize this knowledge to create graph edit paths between pairs of original graphs. With randomly sampled graphs from a graph edit path, we enrich the training set to enhance the generalization capability of classification models. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach on several benchmark datasets and show that it outperforms existing augmentation methods in graph classification tasks.


The Lardeau Group is a heterogeneous assemblage of lower Paleozoic eugeoclinal strata present in the Kootenay Arc in southeastern British Columbia. It is in fault contact with lower Paleozoic miogeoclinal strata for all or some of its length along a structure termed the Lardeau shear zone. The Lardeau Group was deformed prior to mid-Mississippian time, as manifested by layer-parallel faults, folds, and evidence for early greenschist-facies metamorphism. Regional constraints indicate probable Devono-Mississippian timing of orogeny, and possible juxtaposition of the Lardeau Group over miogeoclinal strata along the Lardeau shear zone at this time. Further ductile deformation during the Middle Jurassic Columbian orogeny produced large folds with subhorizontal axes, northwest-striking foliation and faults, and orogen-parallel stretching lineations. This deformation was apparently not everywhere synchronous, and may have continued through Late Jurassic time northeast of Trout Lake. This was followed by Cretaceo...


Abstract Water is the primary carrier for herbicide applications. Spray water qualities such as pH, hardness, temperature, or turbidity can influence herbicide performance and may need to be amended for optimum weed control. Water quality factors can affect herbicide activity by reducing solubility, enhancing degradation in the spray tank, or forming herbicide-salt complexes with mineral cations, thereby reducing the absorption, translocation, and subsequent weed control. The available literature suggests that the effect of water quality varies with herbicide chemistry and weed species. The efficacy of weak-acid herbicides such as glyphosate, glufosinate, clethodim, sethoxydim, bentazon, and 2,4-D is improved with acidic water pH; however, the efficacy of sulfonylurea herbicides is negatively impacted. Hard-water antagonism is more prevalent with weak-acid herbicides, and trivalent cations are the most problematic. Spray solution temperature between 18 C and 44 C is optimum for some weak-acid herbicides; however, their efficacy can be reduced at relatively low (5 C) or high (56 C) water temperature. The effect of water turbidity is severe on cationic herbicides such as paraquat and diquat, and herbicides with low soil mobility such as glyphosate. Although adjuvants are recommended to overcome the negative effect of spray water hardness or pH, the response has been inconsistent with the herbicide chemistry and weed species. Moreover, information on the effect of spray water quality on various herbicide chemistries, weed species, and adjuvants is limited; therefore, it is difficult to develop guidelines for improving weed control efficacy. Further research is needed to determine the effect of spray water factors and develop specific recommendations for improving herbicide efficacy on problematic weed species. Nomenclature: Bentazon; clethodim; diquat; glufosinate; glyphosate; paraquat; sethoxydim; 2,4-D


Phased-array imaging at 1.5 T is a practical means of obtaining high-resolution images of the brain. Our novel coil designs and image intensity correction algorithms, which are critical for the accurate interpretation of phased-array images of the brain, are described. High-resolution imaging of the brain has been proven to be clinically useful in the evaluation of patients with partial neocortial epilepsy and has potential clinical applications in mesial temporal sclerosis as well as in diffusion and functional imaging.


The ever increasing performance of supercomputers is now enabling kinetic simulations of extreme astrophysical and laser produced plasmas. Three-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of relativistic shocks have revealed highly filamented spatial structures and their ability to accelerate particles to ultrarelativistic speeds. However, these PIC simulations have not yet revealed mechanisms that could produce particles with tera-electron volt energies and beyond. In this work, PIC simulations in one dimension (1D) of the foreshock region of an internal shock in a gamma ray burst are performed to address this issue. The large spatiotemporal range accessible to a 1D simulation enables the self-consistent evolution of proton phase space structures that can accelerate particles to giga-electron volt energies in the jet frame of reference, and to tens of tera-electron volt in the Earth's frame of reference. One potential source of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays may thus be the thermalization of relativistically moving plasma.


We studied Neochetina eichhorniae and N. bruchi populations at 22 sites in southern Florida during mid-summer 1985. Species composition, reproductive females (as a percentage of total females), and flight muscle development of N. eichhorniae populations varied greatly among sites. N. bruchi populations were heterogeneous among sites for these parameters and for sex ratio. The prevalent waterhyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) phenostage and degree of biocontrol stress accounted for much of this variation. A higher proportion (74%) of N. eichhorniae females contained functioning ovaries when collected from mature, healthy plants, as opposed to developing colonies (57%), or declining plant populations (34%). The proportion of N. bruchi females with functioning ovaries was similar on mature, healthy plants (61%) and developing colonies (54%), but less (24%) on declining plants. More females from stressed plant populations possessed fully-developed indirect flight muscles (N. eichhorniae 9%, N. bruchi 16%) than those collected from healthy plants (1% and 6% respectively). The proportion of the total weevil population (i.e. both species) composed of reproductively active females of either species was higher on mature, healthy plants than on declining plants, but N. eichhorniae populations consistently exceeded N. bruchi. Reproductive potential declined and vagility increased in both species on waterhyacinth suffering from weevil-induced stress. N. bruchi seemed more sensitive to plant quality than N. eichhorniae. Both species were ubiquitous, but N. eichhorniae was more abundant, comprising 70% of mid-summer weevil populations.


Many MEMS devices employ parallel plates for capacitive sensing and actuation. The desire to get a significant change in capacitance has been pushing the need to reduce the gap between the moving plate and the fixed plate. With fabrication processes making rapid strides, it is now possible to push the gap to be so small that it becomes comparable to the mean free path of gas or air molecules present in the gap. In all MEMS devices, where the essential function of the device depends on the dynamics of the mechanical components, the presence of air or a gas in such narrow gaps leads to energy dissipation if the gas is squeezed between the two plates due to transverse motion of the movable plate. This energy dissipation, known as squeeze film damping, plays a critical role in determining the quality factor of such devices. For many devices, simple approximation of squeeze film damping based on the linearized Reynolds equation is sufficient. However, under moderate vacuum and very narrow gaps, the linearized Reynolds equation does not give satisfactory results, especially if large amplitude motions of the movable plate are desired. In this paper, we carry out an analysis of the fluid flow in the narrow gap taking rarefaction and surface roughness into account and show that both these factors have a significant effect on the squeeze film damping of the devices.


Context: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a type of lung disease characterized as chronic lung airflow obstruction that interferes with normal respiration. The World Health Organization ranked it as the third leading cause of death. The evidence indicates that health education may improve patients' outcomes.
Aim: This scoping review aimed to identify empirical evidence related to the effect of health educational guidelines on self-management practices among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease improve self-management practices.
Methods: Studies published between 2015-2021 and recruited from authentic databases, including MEDLINE, PubMed, CINAHL, and EBSCO, were reviewed critically to explore the effect of health educational guidelines on patient self-management practices.
Results: There are four themes generated from this scoping review. In this scoping review, 14.700 articles were searched. After checking for duplicates, 1344 articles were left to evaluate titles and abstracts. This evaluation left 301 articles for reading of full texts. Of these, 238 articles did not meet the aim of this review. Ten studies were included in the current review.
Conclusion: This scoping review found that health educational guidelines consider an important need to improve self-management practices. Health education can improve patients' health outcomes and thus should be considered an essential component of the overall management of COPD.


Background Bladder cancer (BCa) is the most common malignant tumor in humans and brings about a huge burden on the international community and on the families of those it affects. Lymph node metastasis (LNM) is an important factor affecting the prognosis of BCa. This study aimed to investigate the risk factors affecting LNM.Patients and Methods This study involved 5517 patients who underwent BCa-related surgery between 2006 and 2015. The multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the association between age and LNM. The overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) were analyzed using the Kaplan–Meier method. The multivariable Cox regression model was used to evaluate independent risk factors affecting OS and CSS.Results We retrieved 5517 cases from SEER database, including 148 patients aged 40-49 years, 726 aged 50-59 years, 1541 aged 60-69 years, 1538 aged 70-79 years and 1564 aged 80+ years. The rates of LNM were 20.27%, 16.94%, 11.94%, 9.95% and 6.46% for patients aged 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79 and 80+ years. We found an inverse correlation between age at diagnosis and risk of LNM from the logistic regression analysis in three modules(Module 1: P-value for trend, crude, no adjustment < 0.001; Module 2: P-value for trend adjusted for sex, race, insurance status, and marital status < 0.001; Module 3: P-value for trend adjusted for sex, race, insurance, marital status, size, grade, and metastasis < 0.001). Compared with patients aged 40–49 years, patients aged 50–59 years (OR = 0.752; 95% CI, 0.470–1.204; P = 0.236), 60–69 years (OR = 0.517; 95% CI, 0.329–0.815; P = 0.004), 70–79 years (OR = 0.375; 95% CI, 0.237–0.595; P < 0.001), and 80+ years (OR = 0.248; 95% CI, 0.154–0.398; P < 0.001) had a lower risk of LNM.ConclusionsYounger age at diagnosis was associated with a higher risk of LNM in patients with BCa. Excepting this, grade and metastasis were also risk factors for LNM.


This research will discuss SIMPATIKA as a basis for decision making and policies in the Ministry of Religion Yogyakarta. SIMPATIKA has a role in supporting all government needs in capturing PTK data, as in the Education and Madrasah Sector (DIKMAD) Regional Office of the Ministry of Religion DIY maximally utilizes SIMPATIKA data as a means of decision making. This research is descriptive qualitative research. This study's population was the head of the field, the head of the Kasi, the staff/operator of SIMPATIKA Kanwil, 3 SIMPATIKA operators of the institution. Sampling is based on 3M's criteria of knowing, understanding, and experiencing by using data collection techniques, namely observation, interviews, and documentation. The results showed that: 1. SIMPATIKA data management in the DIKMAD area of DIY Ministry of Religion's regional office was by the central SIMPATIKA operator's procedures. Judging from how SIMPATIKA management starts from the format, data collection, and data presentation, SIMPATIKA can be used to make accurate decision-making. 2. Decision making related to Educators and Education Personnel in the DIKMAD sector is currently firm and committed to following the established system regulations because the basis for decision making is based on SIMPATIKA data analysis. 3. SIMPATIKA's strengths include: (a) Real-Time Online Transaction (2) Rule by System (3) Self-Service Technology And Paperless, while the weakness is that the Ministry of Religion does not have a SIMPATIKA patent, this is an obstacle for the Ministry of Religion in its development.


We consider the problem of reducing delays in block transmissions of packets over multicast erasure channels in heterogeneous networks using relay stations. The macro base station performs random linear network coding over a block of packets which are relayed to the relay station which broadcasts the packets to the users. We propose a fluid approximation to our problem, and obtain the optimal solution for the fluid model when the users' channels are homogeneous. For the general case we propose an approximate algorithm which is simple to implement. We observe that it is crucial to explore the trade-off between the opportunity in the users' channels and moving packets out of the system. Simulation results show that our scheme achieves a decoding delay which is close to a theoretical lower bound.


Many of the tropical and subtropical regions of the world are facing significant socioeconomic concerns. In relation to this they face the spread of dengue fever. From the populations of Southeast Asia and Western Pacific regions, Asia remains disproportionately affected by 75% of the dengue infection. Thus, it has become a major challenge to the public health because of the worldwide spread and the dramatic increase in dengue cases particularly in the Asian region. Even though, action has been taken by the government and community, to combat the diseases through media campaign and other activities, the lack of knowledge such as understanding the life cycle and breeding of a mosquito may result in less effective mosquito control measures. Taking the advantages of augmented reality (AR) technology using marker-based will be able to facilitate the visualization and integration of information by displaying it directly to the user's view. This study aims to edutain school aged children about the mosquito breeding. The total participants involved in this survey were 86 standard 6 students from public schools. The results show that the scores for all scales in UEQ tools represent a positive evaluation describing a pragmatic quality aspect (efficiency, perspicuity, dependability) with a value of 1.26, hedonic quality (stimulation and novelty) with a value of 1.50 and attractiveness with a value of 1.57. Alpha coefficients are 1.570 for attractiveness, 1.302 for perspicuity, 1.279 for efficiency, 1.186 for dependability, 1.750 for stimulation and 1.244 for novelty. The value of attractiveness and stimulation give the highest scale in the results. This showed that users have found that the overall impression of the application is attractive, exciting and motivate them to use it. This suggested that the use of AR application can assist students understanding because it provides a dynamic visualization to support learning. Thus, able to create awareness in the early prevention of dengue control.


This research uses K-Nearest Neighbors and C4.5 classification algorithm aimed to classify student lecture field based on multiple intelligence test result. There are 2 categories of fields used in the classification, namely Science-Technology (SainsTech) and Social-Humanities (Soshum.) The data used obtained from multiple intelligence test conducted to students of Sebelas Maret University Surakarta. The collected data sets will be transformed and normalized for a classification process. The selection feature is performed to remove any inappropriate attributes. The test is done by using confusion matrix, by doing 12 experimental scenarios with different datasets and classification techniques. From the experimental results, it is shown that the K-Nearest Neighbors algorithm is better than the C4.5 dataset of normalization result has the highest accuracy of 56.84% to 54.84%.


The individual investor plays an important role in the stock market because of their big share of gross savings in the country. The Regulators of the stock market cannot ignore the behaviour of individual investor. The study attempts to understand the behaviour of individual investor in stock market, specifically their attitude and perception with respect to the stock market. A survey is conducted to attain the objectives of the paper. Respondents are classified in to different categories on the basis of income, profession, education status, sex and age. Primary data is collected from a sample around 50 investors of Trichirappalli District. Finally there are different factors which affect the investment behaviour of individual investors such as their awareness level, duration of investment etc.


We study time and frequency synchronization for 3GPP long term evolution systems. A new method to generate repetitive synchronization signals is described, and a corresponding detection algorithm taking advantage of the proposed synchronization signal structure is provided. The described synchronization scheme combines the advantages of auto- and cross-correlation based detection algorithms. The performance of our approach is evaluated and compared to other existing algorithms.


Artemisia dracunculus L. (Tarragon) is a species of flowering plant within the family Asteraceae, commonly used as a dietary seasoning. During the present study, the plant was collected from Indian Institute of Integrative Medicines (IIIM Srinagar). Air dried shoots (room temperature 25-35°C) were used to extract essential oil using Clevenger type apparatus for 3 h and analyzed. Thirty-four (34) compounds were identified using gas chromatography- flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Major constituents of the essential oil were trans-Anethole (28.06%), Z-β-ocimene (15.79%), a- Terpenolene (10.12%), Elemecin (10.08%), 1, 8 cineole (7.71%) and a-copaene (2.78%), etc. Comparing our results with those of other Artemisia species already published in the literature revealed considerable qualitative and quantitative similarity of the major constituents of the essential oils. As trans-Anethole is the major constituent, this chemo type may be useful for industrial exploitation as well as chemotaxonomic characterization.

 Key words: Artemisia dracunculus, Terpenolene, Z-β-ocimene, trans-Anethole.


We present exact calculations of the partition function for the q-state Potts model for general q, temperature and magnetic field on strips of the square lattices of width $L_{y}=2$ and arbitrary length $L_x = m $ with periodic longitudinal boundary conditions. A new representation of the transfer matrix for the q-state Potts model is introduced which can be used to calculate the determinant of the transfer matrix for an arbirary $m \times m$ lattice with periodic boundary conditions.


Increasing incidences of myocardial infarction and decreasing age at which they are occurring has forced many researchers to do in depth study pertaining to the anatomical variations in the vascular pattern of heart. Coronary dominancy of the heart will determine whether the territory of the heart supplied by the posterior inter ventricular artery will receive blood from right coronary artery or left coronary artery or both. Present study was conducted to explore the variations in the coronary dominant pattern in the aborted human fetal hearts. Right and left coronary arteries in 30 aborted human fetal hearts were thoroughly dissected from their commencement from the corresponding aortic sinus till their termination. The coronary dominance was determined on the basis of origin of posterior inter ventricular artery. We found 60% cases of right coronary dominance, 36.66% cases of left coronary dominance and 3.33% cases of balanced coronary dominance/ coronary co-dominance. Data shows variations in the vascular dominancy pattern of heart can be critically important for the cardiac surgeons, cardiologists as well as interventional radiologists while performing investigational or operative procedures.


This study demonstrated that freeze-dried mouse spermatozoa possess strong resistance to 137Cs gamma-ray irradiation at doses of up to 8 Gy. Freeze-dried mouse spermatozoa were rehydrated and injected into mouse oocytes with an intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) technique. Most oocytes can be activated after ICSI by using spermatozoa irradiated with gamma-rays before and after freeze-drying. Sperm chromosome complements were analyzed at the first cleavage metaphase. Chromosome aberrations increased in a dose-dependent manner in the spermatozoa irradiated before freeze-drying. However, no increase in oocytes with chromosome aberrations was observed when fertilized by spermatozoa that had been irradiated after freeze-drying, as compared with freeze-dried spermatozoa that had not been irradiated. These results suggest that both the chromosomal integrity of freeze-dried spermatozoa, as well as their ability to activate oocytes, were protected from gamma-ray irradiation at doses at which chromosomal damage is found to be strongly induced in spermatozoa suspended in solution.


The Rural Cancer Outreach Program (RCOP) between two rural hospitals and the Medical College of Virginia's Massey Cancer Center (MCC) was developed to bring state-of-the-art cancer care to medically underserved rural patients. The financial impact of the RCOP on both the rural hospitals and the MCC was analyzed. Pre- and post-RCOP financial data were collected on 1,745 cancer patients treated at the participating centers, two rural community hospitals and the MCC. The main outcome measures were costs (estimated reimbursement from all sources), revenues, contribution margins and profit (or loss) of the program. The RCOP may have enhanced access to cancer care for rural patients at less cost to society. The net annual cost per patient fell from $10,233 to $3,862 associated with more use of outpatient services, more efficient use of resources, and the shift to a less expensive locus of care. The cost for each rural patient admitted to the Medical College of Virginia fell by more than 40 percent compared with only an 8 percent decrease for all other cancer patients. The rural hospitals experienced rapid growth of their programs to more than 200 new patients yearly, and the RCOP generated significant profits for them. MCC benefited from increased referrals from RCOP service areas by 330 percent for cancer patients and by 9 percent for non-cancer patients during the same time period. While it did not generate a major profit for the MCC, the RCOP generated enough revenue to cover costs of the program. The RCOP had a positive financial impact on the rural and academic medical center hospitals, provided state-of-the-art care near home for rural patients and was associated with lower overall cancer treatment costs.


In cultured human glomerular epithelial cells (HGEC), 25 mM glucose resulted in decreased expression of alpha(3)-, alpha(2)-, and beta(1)-integrins and increased expression of alpha(5)- and alpha(v)beta(3)-integrins. This change was accompanied by decreased binding of HGEC to type IV collagen. In the presence of normal (5 mM) glucose concentration, cell binding to type IV collagen was primarily mediated by alpha(2)beta(1)- and alpha(5)beta(1)-integrins, as indicated by experiments in which cell adhesion to type IV collagen was competed by specific anti-integrin monoclonal antibodies. In the presence of high (25 mM) glucose, the upregulated alpha(5)- and alpha(v)beta(3)-integrins were mainly involved in cell binding to type IV collagen. Furthermore, high glucose decreased expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), a collagenase regulated in part by alpha(3)beta(1)-integrin, as suggested by the use of ligand-mimicking antibodies against these integrins, which resulted in release of increased amounts of MMP-2 in the culture medium. Finally, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2, the specific inhibitor of MMP-2, was upregulated in high glucose and could contribute to matrix accumulation. These changes could help explain basement membrane thickening in diabetes.


The construct of anxiety has been captivating the interest of SLA researchers for a long time. Numerous observations show that most individuals experience anxiety when learning a foreign language (FL) and using it, both in classroom and real-life contexts, though to a different extent. An analysis of studies conducted on language anxiety (LA) throughout several decades (Horwitz, 2010) shows that researchers have focused, first and foremost, on examining the nature, symptoms and consequences of being anxious, proving its detrimental effect on FL and L2 learning and performance. However, the causes of LA seem to have been less thoroughly explored. The paper reports on a study investigating whether the actual level of FL learners' pronunciation and the pronunciation level perceived by students can be considered significant sources of anxiety. It is hypothesized that both pronunciation levels are related to LA, with the latter being a more important determinant of LA than the former. To measure the subjects' degree of anxiety, the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986) was applied. The actual level of pronunciation was diagnosed with the use of a Pronunciation Test, consisting of a Perception Test and two Production Tests (word and passage reading). The perceived pronunciation level of the participants was measured with a questionnaire designed for the purpose of this research. The Pearson moment-correlation proved LA to be significantly correlated with both levels of pronunciation, with the relationship being more meaningful in the case of the perceived FL pronunciation level.


BACKGROUND Consequences of delays in treatment of nonmelanoma skin cancers (NMSCA) are largely unstudied. OBJECTIVE To determine the relationship between Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) delay time and final MMS defect size. METHODS A retrospective chart review was performed to identify patients who underwent MMS for biopsy-proven basal cell carcinoma (BCC) or squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) between 2004 and 2006. Time delay between date of biopsy and date of surgery and lesion diameter increase between biopsy and surgical defect were calculated. RESULTS Two hundred eighty-three lesions qualified for inclusion in the study. No significant difference in mean change of major diameter between primary and recurrent tumors (1.0 vs 1.1 cm, p = .67), between BCCs and SCCs (both were 1.0 cm, p = .99), and between tumor size at presentation <1.0 versus ≥1.0 cm (1.1 vs 0.8 cm, p = .11) were found. However, the mean number of MMS layers taken was significantly different between BCCs and SCCs (1.9 vs 1.5, respectively; p = .0022). Linear regression analysis of major diameter change versus time delay to MMS showed no significant increasing trend over time. CONCLUSION No evidence was found that time delays of up to 1 year from biopsy to MMS impact the growth of NMSCA.


The ultrasonic investigation has established patency of splenorenal anastomoses in 13 of 19 patients examined. When the examination failed to surely estimate the patency the percutaneous transhepatic portography is indicated.


The past decade has seen many calls for the development of unified 'world historical archaeologies' of the past 500 years. While the field benefits from growing international exchanges and collaborations, retaining the diversity of regional traditions is a major and emerging challenge. As the field increasingly tests the temporal, geographical and interdisciplinary limits of archaeological perspectives, engaging with the diversity of modern material, these complexities remain little discussed, and the situations and contingencies of disciplinary narratives, priorities and interactions remain unproblematized. Exploring these matters, this paper considers transatlantic interactions between British and North American traditions of historical archaeology over the past two decades, journeying between two garden landscapes – in Annapolis and Bristol. After considering Mark Leone's 1984 study of the William Paca garden in Annapolis, Maryland, and its subsequent reinterpretations, the paper discusses an eighteenth-century 'eclectic' garden at Goldney in Bristol. The paper argues that situational and 'symmetrical', rather than interpretative, approaches to archaeological material would aid the development of multi-vocal and inclusive 'world historical archaeologies', acknowledging and celebrating the archaeological complexities that are encountered in the past and the disciplinary present.


Changes in the acid-base state and acid-transport function of blood were studied in 59 patients with gastroduodenal ulcer bleedings. More than 50% of the changes were more pronounced in patients with a deficient globular volume and its recovery was somewhat slower. In spite of reduced values of the concentration of hemoglobin in blood, 2,3-DPH and ATP of erythrocytes, most patients were found to have satisfactory compensation of the acid-transport function and balanced oxygen affinity for hemoglobin during the whole postoperative period.


The study deals with a 3D Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) numerical model of a rectangular cantilevered flexible hydrofoil subjected to a turbulent fluid flow regime. The structural response and dynamic deformations are studied by analyzing the oscillations frequencies and amplitudes, under a hydrodynamics loads. The obtained numerical results are confronted with experimental ones, for validation. The numerical model is performed in the same geometric, physical and material conditions as the experimental set-up carried out in a hydrodynamic tunnel.
 A polyacetal (POM) flexible hydrofoil NACA0015 with an angle of attack of 8° is considered to be immersed in a fluid flow at a Reynold number of 3 × 105. The structure is initially at rest and then moved by the action of the fluid flow. The numerical model is based on a strong coupling procedure for solving the Fluid-Structure Interaction problem. The Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) formulation of the Navier-Stokes equations is used and an anisotropic diffusion equation is solved to compute the fluid mesh velocity and position at each time step. The finite volume method is used for the numerical resolution of the fluid dynamics equations. The structure deformations are described by the linear elasticity equation which is solved by the finite elements method. The Fluid-Structure coupled problem is solved by using the partitioned FSI implicit algorithm.
 A good agreement between numerical and experimental results for the hydrodynamics coefficients and hydrofoil deformations, maximum deflection and frequencies is obtained. The added mass and damping are analyzed and then the FSI effect on the dynamic deformations of the structure is highlighted.


Online social networks (OSNs) are becoming an important propagation platform for Word of mouth (WOM). Therefore, it is of great significance to study the propagation of WOM in OSNs. A WOM propagation model named N-P-N is proposed in this paper, and some simulation experiments are carried out to investigate the mechanism of WOM propagation. From the sensitivity analysis of degree of initial information source node, it can be seen that the degree of initial information source node determines the scope and speed of the propagation of WOM in OSNs in some extent. Then the sensitivity analysis of number of initial information source nodes shows that the initial source nodes are crucial for controlling the propagation of negative information in OSNs. Moreover, from the user behavior respect, it is found that different user behavior in OSNs causes different propagation results, the more users who are willing to diffuse WOM, the more scope WOM can propagate and the faster the information diffuses. Findings in this paper are helpful for enterprises to form an effective WOM.


We carried out 84 trawls in 41 seagrass meadows composed of the phanerogam Cymodocea nodosa at three islands of the Canarian Archipelago, during June to Sept...


Table grapes represent true sources of antioxidants, with beneficial role on the health of the human body, berry grapes can be considered, the intensely colored ones especially, as some of the fruits that contain considerable amounts of phenolic compounds in the skin and seeds, compounds with a wide range in pharmaceutical activity, antiallergenic, anti-cancer, also contributing in a fundamental way at defining distinctive organoleptic properties. Seven varieties of table grapes were analyzed with different ripening periods and the harvest was performed at technological maturity of the grapes, when carpometric and physical-chemical determinations were made. The recorded values show a high phenolic potential at varieties with intensely colored skin 1127.3 mg gallic acid/ kg f.w. (Muscat d'Adda cv.) and 1093.9 mg gallic acid/kg f.w. (Muscat Hamburg cv.). Anthocyanins have a similar situation where red varieties contain much higher levels (Muscat d'Adda cv. - 682.7 mg malvidin-3-O glu/kg f.w.) than white varieties. The data gives an indication of nutritional valences of these varieties, which we recommend for expansion, while managing and overcoming boundaries in which they were obtained (Victoria, Xenia, Tamina cvs.).


The problem of food security governance is systematically gaining in importance but at the same time constitutes one of the less researched areas within the global governance debate. Food security has never been ensured on a global
level despite the amazing progress of science and technology. What is more, the changing nature of the threats to food security makes this goal even more
distant. Given the multidimensional nature of the food security concept, answers to this challenge have been sought through processes of international
negotiations between nation-states. However, it is increasingly clear that nation states, because of its contradictory interests, are unable to solve this issue and
meet their international commitments for addressing this issue without more explicit engagements with sub and supranational actions. Involvement of other
actors operating on different levels seems to be crucial to the process of governing of food security. The idea of multilevel governance has acquired unprecedented importance today. It not only suggests ways of dealing with new
conditions of globalization, but it is said to be an essential term for understanding the transnational processes and for identifying non-traditional
actors involved in governance processes on different levels. The idea of multilevel governance was developed into a theoretical account of the European Union in opposition to state centric or intergovernmental accounts. It refers to a particular subset of contemporary governance arrangements in which decisionmaking authority is distributed across more then one level of relatively
autonomous public-sector institutions. This paper deals with the problem of food security governance and attempts to answer the question whether multilevel governance becomes a gradually institutionalized new international practice or is it only a theoretical model useful in academic debates, without practical meaning to governance of food security?


This paper presents development and implementation of DSP based control of constant frequency and average current mode of Boost converter for power factor correction of Single phase low and medium power applications. It is implemented through average current mode control operation of boost converter with feedforward and PI controller with saturation correction scheme. Digital controller with constant frequency, discontinuous and continuous mode of boost converter operation for universal line voltage applications is presented. The proposed method exposes the enhanced performance and comparing with existing methods.


In this paper, bodyboarders who surf the breaks of the Illawarra, New South Wales talk about their surfing experiences. We are particularly interested in leisured exclusions. Bodyboarders' principal concern appears to be territorialisation of surf breaks and the legitimisation of bodyboarding in a sport where they are disavowed a 'real' surfing identity based on shortboarders' desire to claim superiority. The paper explores how bodyboarders' experiences of pride and shame articulate with understanding of space, self and masculinities. Alongside the physical environment of the surf break, interpersonal relationships between shortboarders and bodyboarders figure heavily in participant's negotiation and construction of their gendered identities. We argue how individual bodyboarders negotiate the pride/shame nexus has important implication for understanding gender and territorialisation of the surf.


In securities markets, insider trading is a crime. In commodities, insider trading is almost completely legal. This divergent treatment has long been accepted as appropriate, given perceived differences between the markets. For example, it has been thought that futures traders are sophisticated enough to neither need nor want protections from informed traders, and that the assets traded – corn, copper – do not lend themselves to insider trading anyway.This Article disagrees, showing that purported differences between these two markets do not withstand serious scrutiny, and that insider trading is harmful in the same ways in both markets and should be governed by the same restrictions. Understanding securities and commodities markets to be peer financial markets permits for the first time a serious dialogue between scholars of both fields, and this Article takes the first steps to applying theories from the securities literature to commodities markets and holding those theories up for verification or falsification against new data from commodities markets.


While many physical properties of graphene can be understood qualitatively on the basis of bare Dirac bands, there is specific evidence that electron-electron (EE) and electron-phonon (EP) interactions can also play an important role. We discuss strategies for extracting separate images of the EE and EP interactions as they present themselves in the electron spectral density and related self-energies. While for momentum, $k$, equal to its Fermi value, $k_F$, a composite structure is obtained which can be difficult to separate into its two constituent parts, at smaller values of $k$ the spectral function shows distinct incoherent sidebands on the left and right of the main quasiparticle line. These image respectively the EE and EP interactions, each being most prominent in its own energy window. We employ a maximum entropy inversion technique on the self energy to reveal the electron-phonon spectral density separate from the excitation spectrum due to coulomb correlations. Our calculations show that this technique can provide important new insights into inelastic scattering processes in graphene.


The risk of cancer associated with a broad range of organ doses was estimated in an international study of women with cervical cancer. Among 150,000 patients reported to one of 19 population-based cancer registries or treated in any of 20 oncology clinics, 4188 women with second cancers and 6880 matched controls were selected for detailed study. Radiation doses for selected organs were reconstructed for each patient on the basis of her original radiotherapy records. Very high doses, on the order of several hundred gray, were found to increase the risk of cancers of the bladder [relative risk (RR) = 4.0], rectum (RR = 1.8), vagina (RR = 2.7), and possibly bone (RR = 1.3), uterine corpus (RR = 1.3), cecum (RR = 1.5), and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (RR = 2.5). For all female genital cancers taken together, a sharp dose-response gradient was observed, reaching fivefold for doses more than 150 Gy. Several gray increased the risk of stomach cancer (RR = 2.1) and leukemia (RR = 2.0). Although cancer of the pancreas was elevated, there was no evidence of a dose-dependent risk. Cancer of the kidney was significantly increased among 15-year survivors. A nonsignificant twofold risk of radiogenic thyroid cancer was observed following an average dose of only 0.11 Gy. Breast cancer was not increased overall, despite an average dose of 0.31 Gy and 953 cases available for evaluation (RR = 0.9); there was, however, a weak suggestion of a dose response among women whose ovaries had been surgically removed. Doses greater than 6 Gy to the ovaries reduced breast cancer risk by 44%. A significant deficit of ovarian cancer was observed within 5 years of radiotherapy; in contrast, a dose response was suggested among 10-year survivors. Radiation was not found to increase the overall risk of cancers of the small intestine, colon, ovary, vulva, connective tissue, breast, Hodgkin's disease, multiple myeloma, or chronic lymphocytic leukemia. For most cancers associated with radiation, risks were highest among long-term survivors and appeared concentrated among women irradiated at relatively younger ages.


Abstract Conceptualizing person markers as an instrument of ideological negotiation and persuasion, this study explores the relationships between language, interaction and identity in the context of courtroom opening statements. The study quantitatively and qualitatively analyzes the use of first- and second-person markers. Based on a corpus of three high-profile trials, the findings indicate that person markers are pragmatically conditioned and contribute to making opening statement argumentative. By manipulating pronouns, the lawyers construct a shared identity with jurors and, at the same time, an authoritative self-image in order to align the jurors with their version of reality.


Background Emergency departments have been characterised as complex adaptive systems and patient flow is one area that affects the efficiency and quality of care in emergency departments. Complex systems may comprise complex processes but the system may still be effective if the processes have the least number of steps required to produce an outcome. Improving patient flow requires an understanding of how ED processes work. However, there is little existing qualitative literature exploring ED patient flow. This study aimed to understand the ED patient flow process and identify the factors that influence it. Multiple qualitative methods were used to explore ED patient flow in a single case study site in Trinidad and Tobago. Data was collected from May 2017 to March 2018. Non-participant observations (48 hours), observational process mapping (155 hours) and informational conversational interviews (90) were used to explore patient flow. Observational process mapping involved directly observing patient journeys across all levels of urgency. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Six broad themes were identified as factors influencing ED patient flow- 1) ED organizational work processes, 2) ED design and layout, 3) Material resources within and outside the ED, 4) ED nursing staff levels, roles, skill mix and use, 5) ED non-clinical staff, 6) External clinical and non-clinical departments. Within the themes there were primary factors that influenced patient flow as well as secondary factors. The secondary factor represented the staff response to either enhance the primary factor or to compensate for limitations in the process. A conceptual model of the factors influencing ED patient flow was developed. The conceptual model of ED patient flow developed in this study can be used to systematically examine the factors influencing ED patient flow and may be used by policy and decision makers to improve patient flow.


Abstract : A consortium of institutions that includes SAIC, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Earth Resources Laboratory (ERL), Weston Geophysical Corporation, the Russian Institute for Dynamics of the Geospheres (IDG), and the Chinese Seismological Bureau of Sichuan Province is engaged in a research program directed toward the seismic travel-time calibration of the 30 Group 1 International Monitoring System (IMS) stations of eastern Asia. We have assembled a preliminary 3-D velocity model of the entire region, which is composed of a global background model on a 5?-by-5? grid derived from surface wave analyses, supplemented by more detailed models in regions where they are available. At present, such detailed models have been identified for a large portion of the Former Soviet Union (FSU) for which Deep Seismic Sounding (DSS) data have been used to define a 3-D velocity model of the crust and upper mantle on a roughly 40-km by 40-km grid, and for an approximately 25?-by-30? area centered on the Pakistan/Afghanistan region for which a 3-D velocity model has been defined on a 1? by 1? grid. Regional phase travel times through these 3-D models are being computed using the Podvin and Lecomte finite difference algorithm to obtain preliminary SSSC estimates for the IMS stations in this region. These initial estimates are being tested using various calibration data sets that have been assembled for this study. These include a unique set of regional arrival-time data at FSU permanent network stations from some 60 Soviet Peaceful Nuclear Explosion (PNE) tests, as well as numerous Semipalatinsk and Novaya Zemlya explosions with precisely known locations and origin times.


As Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) become more accepted into our society, law enforcement, emergency services, and commercial entities will begin taking advantage of this technology in high-population urban settings. Since these aircraft will be operating between and above the high-rise buildings that de ne most urban cores, increased position estimation accuracy will become paramount to ensure safe and reliable operations. Fighting against this need for better accuracy is the degradation of Global Positioning System (GPS) accuracy in urban canyons due to signal re ection and refraction caused by buildings and other tall objects. UAS cannot rely solely on GPS position measurements for guidance and navigation to e ectively conduct urban missions. A potential solution to achieve the necessary positioning accuracy is through the fusion of the GPS data with cellular Observed Time Di erence of Arrival (OTDOA) position measurements. In areas with even modest GPS coverage, today's smart phones are already equipped to provide both measurements thus could plug into a UAS to serve as the low-cost urban autopilot of the future. Because OTDOA data is noisy, data ltering and fusion is essential. This paper proposes a sampling importance resampling particle lter to estimate UAS position from GPS and OTDOA data. Expected data error statistics are summarized from the literature and used in simulation to evaluate positioning accuracies using GPS alone, OTDOA alone, and a fusion of both data sources. Results show the GPS augmented by OTDOA provides a more accurate estimate of UAS position than either alone. However, OTDOA measurements from cellular networks of today are not as accurate as GPS measurements, thus are not yet a good sole source of aircraft position measurements, suggesting augmentation by another secondary sensing source distinct from GPS in GPS-denied areas in future work.


For the purpose of modeling the process noticed by Kim and Kisslinger (1967) regarding the generation of the two wave types (P and S) by underground explosions produced in spherical cavities, a generalization of Sharpe's (1942) and Blake's (1952) solution is made in this paper.
 The expression for the transfer function of the source has been established. By means of this function, two electronic models for the simulation of underground explosions generating longitudinal and transverse waves have been designed.


Pressure calibration experiments were performed at room temperature for a Drickamer-type apparatus using a composite anvil system with a sintered diamond anvil, which can be replaced by nano-polycrystalline diamond anvil. The culet diameter and tapering angle are 1.0 mm and 30°, respectively. Transitions in Fe2O3 (50 GPa) and CoO (55 GPa) were observed at 39.6 and 38.5 kN, respectively, by electrical resistance measurements. Pressure of about 120 GPa can be generated at the maximum load of 98 kN by assuming the linear extrapolation of the obtained load-pressure relation. The Drickamer-type apparatus with nano-polycrystalline diamond anvils has potential to generate pressure covering the whole lower mantle.


The previously reported three-dimensional stereotaxic region of interest (ROI) template (3DSRT-t) for the analysis of anatomically standardized technetium-99m-L,L-ethyl cysteinate dimer (99mTc-ECD) single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) images was modified for use in a fully automated regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) quantification software, 3DSRT, incorporating an anatomical standardization engine transplanted from statistical parametric mapping 99 and ROIs for quantification based on 3DSRT-t. Three-dimensional T2-weighted magnetic resonance images of 10 patients with localized infarcted areas were compared with the ROI contour of 3DSRT, and the positions of the central sulcus in the primary sensorimotor area were also estimated. All positions of the 20 lesions were in strict accordance with the ROI delineation of 3DSRT. The central sulcus was identified on at least one side of 210 paired ROIs and in the middle of 192 (91.4%) of these 210 paired ROIs among the 273 paired ROIs of the primary sensorimotor area. The central sulcus was recognized in the middle of more than 71.4% of the ROIs in which the central sulcus was identifiable in the respective 28 slices of the primary sensorimotor area. Fully automated accurate ROI delineation on anatomically standardized images is possible with 3DSRT, which enables objective quantification of rCBF and vascular reserve in only a few minutes using 99mTc-ECD SPECT images obtained by the RVR method.


To the Editor: The article on 'thrombolytic treatment after acute ischemic stroke' was very timely, and the observation that those who were ambulating independently prior to admission seemed to have 'poor discharge outcomes' was astute, to say the least. However, I would have liked to hear from the authors of this article, something, that would give us direction on reducing such poor outcomes. Could these patients who were described as 'rapid resolution of symptoms or mild stroke' actually suffer from 'crescendo TIAs' or other forms of TIAs while hospitalized or in rehabilitation? This second question is that if the patient initially improves perhaps not to baseline but with minimal deficits, and then suffers neurological worsening on day 2, should onset time be reset to the worsening of deficits and considered for thrombolytic treatment?


Once again Ray Siemens and Susan Schreibman have produced a remarkable collection of writing about scholarship and resource creation in the area of digital humanities. This volume on digital literary studies is, as it were, a companion to their earlier Companion to Digital Humanities. As such it promises to be be equally significant to the field and should be equally well used and highly regarded in universities both in Europe and North America.

The companion provides a very thorough survey of research and resource development in numerous area of digital literary studies, written by an impressive collection of leading scholars. It is intended as a general introduction to the multiple aspects of the field, but many of the chapters go beyond this to provide fascinating discussion of the problems and scholarly possibilities of different aspects of this highly diverse area. As such it is impossible in this space to do justice to the entire range of subjects covered in the Companion's thirty-one very detailed chapters, and so what follows will survey its general structure and comment on themes emerging from the book as a whole.

The book is divided into three sections, on traditions, textualities and methodologies. In the first section chapters are concerned with periodic areas of study, such the classical, medieval, early modern, and so on. They review the digital resources available and the type of scholarly questions that are being researched in their area, and include some speculation about future scholarship made possible by digital resources.


This article examines the role of TV coverage in voter decision making during the 2001 Australian federal election campaign, called just weeks after a major asylum seeker incident and the September 11 terrorist attacks. It does so by exploring voters' differential reliance on two distinct, high profile sets of issues that dominated media election campaign coverage: the domestic issues that had been the focus throughout the election year (especially health, education, and taxes) and the international issues that assumed centre stage just before the election was called (refugees and asylum seekers, terrorism, and defence and national security). Using an original content analysis of TV coverage and the 2001 Australian election survey, interaction effects models yield significantly different patterns of reliance on international and domestic for groups of voters. These effects are distinguished by the timing of individuals' vote choice, and the level of their existing political interest and information. Moderately interested voters, who largely decided their vote choice about the time the election was called, were the most likely to cite international issues as the key to their vote choice. Voters with lower levels of political interest, deciding just before or on election day, were significantly more reliant on domestic issues. These patterns represent a variant on Zaller's (1989) model of campaign information flow, and suggest a single, high-intensity campaign—especially in Australia's compulsory voting system, which forces the participation of the country's least interested and informed individuals—can sustain within it two distinct issue agendas which voters with different cognitive skills and responsiveness to TV cues differentially utilize to inform their vote choice.


Abstract Orthogonal vertical normal modes are found for a multilevel sigma-coordinate model, linearized about a state of rest with a nonisothermal mean temperature profile. Orthogonality permits the partitioning of energy into the vertical modes, and simplifies the application of variational techniques to normal mode initialization in the multilevel case. Improved procedures are described for the vertical transforms required during normal mode initialization. We derive relationships between the time derivatives of the energy computed in vertical normal mode space and in gold point space, and analogous relationships between the changes made by initialization to the vertical normal mode coefficients and the corresponding changes made in grid point space.


Quantitative persona creation (QPC) has tremendous potential, as HCI researchers and practitioners can leverage user data from online analytics and digital media platforms to better understand their users and customers. However, there is a lack of a systematic overview of the QPC methods and progress made, with no standard methodology or known best practices. To address this gap, we review 49 QPC research articles from 2005 to 2019. Results indicate three stages of QPC research: Emergence, Diversification, and Sophistication. Sharing resources, such as datasets, code, and algorithms, is crucial to achieving the next stage (Maturity). For practitioners, we provide guiding questions for assessing QPC readiness in organizations.


Language teaching researchers highlight the role of critical reflection, interaction and decision-making in the process of 'autonomisation' where learners experience autonomy in order to become more autonomous (Little, 2003). Distance educators have long been concerned to develop learners' capacity to take decisions and control their own learning in a context where course materials have to anticipate a wide variety of potential learning needs and cater for students working in isolation. More recently, interaction has taken an increasingly significant role in distance education, aided by technological developments.
This paper examines the experience of the Open University (UK) Department of Languages in responding to the challenges of 'autonomisation' in distance education courses for adult learners of French, German and Spanish, and considers the issues which still need to be addressed by course writers and researchers.


We read with interest the article by Paisley et al . in the recent issue of Clinical Endocrinology . 1 In their retrospective review of patients receiving somatostatin analogue (SA) therapy, the authors reported that gallstone-related symptoms occurred in 5 of the 15 patients 3–5 months after the withdrawal of SA therapy and suggested that patients should be forewarned of this risk when SA therapy is discontinued. The authors used treatment years and off-treatment years as the denominator for the χ 2 -test. We question the validity of applying the χ 2 -test and using treatment years to analyse the data. Log-rank test or its equivalent might be more appropriate for the statistical analysis as cholecystectomy affects the likelihood of having further biliary symptoms, and because observations were censored. As the authors mentioned in their introduction, both acromegaly and use of SA are known to increase the incidence of developing gallstones. In their group of subjects, the main indication for taking SA off (in 11 of the 15 patients) was suboptimal disease control. Although data on this were not given, subjects who were taken off SA presumably had higher GH and IGF-I levels. The confounding effect of different GH and IGF-I levels on the baseline prevalence of gallstones and biliary symptoms should be taken into consideration in their analysis. Although the effect of Pegvisomant on gallstone formation and biliary symptoms is not yet well documented, it should also be considered as one of the confounding factors given that Pegvisomant is known to raise GH levels and can cause biliary tract symptoms and liver function derangement. 2


The safety assessment index system is established on the elements of mobile payment system and hierarchical structure of software risk assessment. In order to make up for the deficiencies of traditional risk methods and adapt to fuzzy description in mobile payment system, the hierarchical safety assessment model is developed with the extension theory as the core. The extension method converts the multi-object assessment to single object assessment by combining qualitative and quantitative analysis to achieve a comprehensive assessment state. The case studies show that this assessment model adapts to the actual situation of mobile payment system, and is scientific and effective which can provide dependable evidences for safety management.


In multiple-drug therapy, isoniazid (INH) is considered one of the most important antibiotics for the treatment of tuberculosis. Beyond its pharmacological importance, INH is also a versatile compound that can be combined with several other molecules to produce salts and co-crystals. In this study, novel salts of INH, obtained from the reaction with pharmaceutically accepted inorganic acids (HBr, HNO3 and H2SO4), were investigated. The reaction of INH with H2SO4, gives rise to two forms: an INH sulfate and an INH sulfate hemihydrate salt. The four salts feature a supramolecular assembly quite different from the one described for INH hydrochloride. INH hydrobromide and INH nitrate adopt a head-to-tail assembly, where the cations (INH+) are directly connected to each other. However, this is not the case for the sulfate forms, where the cations appear surrounded by the anions, being connected to them through their pyridinium and hydrazide groups. Interestingly, an unexpected homodimer is observed in the INH sulfate salt. Hirshfeld surface analysis was used to highlight and quantify the contributions of the main interactions. The relative thermal stability of these salts was studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and hot-stage microscopy (HSM). Although the melting points of both sulfate forms are practically the same, the four INH salts have distinct thermal profiles.


Worldwide, the time spent online and in digital media has been increasing, thus becoming the primary source of health and medical information. This phenomenon is driving all business, including the pharmaceutical industry, in gearing toward digital marketing strategies. Developing countries like Thailand still extend existing laws to regulate digital media despite the differences with traditional media, and consumers face the risks of buying drugs illegally and products that overclaim despite stringent pre-approval regulations on drug marketing. This study utilizes design thinking as a human-centric research method to propose appropriate and practical digital marketing guidelines for the pharmaceutical industry, using 53 informants. The problems were that consumers face persuasive risks and the need for reliable sources of drug information. The current regulatory process places a high burden on regulators and the laws that enforce it. However, several new digital strategies such as unbranded information and targeted marketing are not covered by existing laws. Regulations on teleconsultation are also needed, but no legislation currently exists for such activities. And finally, experts have articulated four domains as follows: eRegulations, e-Information sources, and e-Consultation to provide easy access to professionals, and e-Ethics, a supportive mechanism toward ethical drug marketing


This paper provides an analysis of the results of the 2011 elections by gender and offers an explanation for the trends noted. It observes that since the 2011 elections there has been a slight fall in the number of women in elected positions. Nigeria is still a long way from meeting the international standard of 35% representation for women. Factors accounting for the situation include structural issues of religion and culture, women's lack of access to funds, godfatherism in the political parties and the undemocratic disposition of party leaders, political and electoral violence and vote buying. Arguing that increased participation of women will improve the quality of decision-making by enriching the harvest of ideas to inform policy, it maintains that the poor participation of women in politics casts doubts on Nigeria's democratic credentials. Democracy relies on the principles of liberty, equality and full participation of all citizens in government activities. The 2011 election results show that the needs and interests of women will remain peripheral and that the presence of a critical mass of women in decision-making processes and leadership positions will be achieved only in the long run.


Despite repeated calls for palaeopathology to move away from descriptive case reports towards quantitative, problem-orientated work, case reports still form a high proportion of palaeopathology journal publications. This work assesses, using citation analysis, the impact of the case report relative to that of other types of study in palaeopathology. Results suggest that case studies are cited less often than other types of publication, but that this deficit is less marked than in the clinical sciences where the case report has been effectively marginalised. It is suggested that although a reduction in the proportion of publications in palaeopathology made up of case reports may be desirable, and would be an indication of maturation of the discipline, well-directed case reports will continue to play a role, albeit a diminishing one, in advancing the field. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


A theory is presented for the propagation of guided waves excited by scanning a laser beam on a specimen at a constant velocity. Formulae are derived for the excitation by a point-focused laser beam as well as by a line-focused laser beam. It is deduced that such modes of guided waves are selectively excited whose phase velocities match the scanning velocity. In the case of Lamb waves, the feature of the wave propagation depends also on group velocities. It is shown that major characteristics of experimental observations previously made are explained with the present model.<<ETX>>


India is the second largest country in the category of population. With the increasing population the consumption of the vehicles also increases, leading to critical burden on traffic management in the metropolitan cities and towns of the country. In 2011-12 alone, 20.4 million motorized vehicles were sold in India leading to congestion and accidents on the roads. For controlling the traffic on the road some traditional methods were used like using traffic lights and traffic signs, traffic policemen and round about. In this paper we will discuss the existing techniques which will help India for controlling the traffic on the roads.


Meatal stenosis is a common urologic complication after circumcision. Children present to their primary care physicians with complaints of deviated urinary stream, difficult-to-aim, painful urination, and urinary frequency. Clinical exam reveals a pinpoint meatus and if the child is asked to urinate, he will usually have an upward, thin, occasionally forceful urinary stream with incomplete bladder emptying. The mainstay of management is meatoplasty (reconstruction of the distal urethra /meatus). This educational video will demonstrate how this is performed.


We discuss the drainage of a wetting film deposited on a vertical solid covered with a regular array of microposts. It is shown that the classical Jeffreys' law, observed on flat solid, is deeply modified by the texture: 1) the film thickness does not follow anymore a scaling law, as a function of time; 2) below a critical thickness on the order of the pillar height, the film thickness drastically decreases; 3) at long time, a residual film remains trapped in the network of posts. All these facts are interpreted by considering the interaction between the "free film" flowing above the posts, and the "trapped film" inside the roughness. Beside a general description of the drainage of film on rough surfaces, our study shows that textures can be used to influence, or even block, the flow of liquid films on inclines.


The IceCube Neutrino Observatory consists of 5160 digital optical modules (DOMs) in a cubic kilometer of deep ice below the South Pole. The DOMs record the Cherenkov light from charged particles interacting in the ice. A good understanding of the optical properties of the ice is crucial to the quality of the event reconstruction. While the optical properties of the undisturbed ice are well understood, the properties of the refrozen drill holes still pose a challenge. A new data-acquisition and analysis approach using light originating from LEDs within one DOM detected by the photomultiplier of the same DOM will be described. This method allows us to explore the scattering length in the immediate vicinity of the considered DOMs.


We consider a New-Keynesian model with financial and labor market frictions where firms borrowing is limited by the enforcement constraint. The wage is set in a bargaining process where the firm's shareholder and worker share the production surplus. As debt service is considered to be a part of production costs, firms borrow to reduce the surplus which allows to lower the wage. We study the model's response to financial shock under two Taylor-type interest rate rules: first one responds to inflation and borrowing, second one to inflation and unemployment. We have found that the second rule delivers better policy in terms of the welfare measure. Additionally, we show that the feedback on unemployment in this rule depends on the extent of workers' bargaining power.


A new physical insight into the ultrafast information communication can be gained from the reversible and robust petahertz ( PHz, 10 15 Hz ) current induced by a strong few-cycle optical waveform in large band-gap dielectrics. We explore an asymmetric conduction of the petahertz current using a heterojunction of low-hole-mass and low-electron-mass dielectrics and devise various functionalities enabling the petahertz signal processing, like diode, switch, and diode transistor. We then propose a model of one-bit optical nonvolatile random-access memory ( RAM ) by assembling those functionalities and demonstrate its petahertz operation. Further, we suggest the scalability up to a four-bit data manipulation based on the 2  ×  2 array of four one-bit


The phenomenon of mesophase-enhanced polymerization of the rodlike polymer poly(pphenylenebenzobisthiazole) in polyphosphoric acid was investigated. When the polymer concentration was greater than 5 wt%, the reacting mixture became anisotropic at an early stage of the polymerization. The reaction rate increased significantly at the isotropic-nematic phase transition as the rods were aligned in positions more favorable for the condensation reaction to occur. At 4.5 wt% of polymer, the reacting mixture remained isotropic for up to 1500 min of reaction time. The chemo-rheological properties of the 15 wt% reaction mixture indicate the occurrence of the phase change in either the shear viscosity or the first normal stress difference measurements.


The effects of prednisolone was investigated on the foetoxicity of cadmium. CFLP female mice were given a single i.p. dose of 2.5 mg cadmium (Cd) per kg body weight on day 5 or 9 of gestation. This treatment significantly decreased both the number of live foetuses and foetal weights on day 18 of gestation. Prednisolone (0.1 mg kg−1) given daily from the day of cadmium treatment death, prevented the effects of cadmium on foetal weights in both groups, and on the number of live foetuses when cadmium was given on day 9 of gestation. When Cd was given on day 13 of gestation similar treatment with prednisolone did not influence either litter size or the weights of 1‐day old pups.


summary

The ectomycorrhizal activity (expressed as the number of mycorrhizas per plant) of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) overproducer mutants of Hebeloma cylindruspurum Rumagnesi and of their mono- and dikaryotic progenies has been studied in an attempt to clarify the role of fungal IAA in the establishment of ectomycorrhizal symbiosis, The original mutants obtained from the hi monokaryon produced a higher number of mycorrhizas than did the wild type. The study of the mycorrhizal activity of synthesized dikaryons heterozygous for the FIR (fluoroindoleresistant) mutations, which are responsible for IAA overproduction, showed that these mutations are recessive.

The vitro fruiting of a dikaryon heterozygous for a FIR mutation allowed the isolation of IAA-overproducing sib-monokaryons. Their average mycorrhizal activity was higher than that of non-overproducers. indicating that, although the mycorrhizal activity of sib-monokaryons is under polygenic control, high IAA production gives an advantage in mycorrhiza formation. This was confirmed by the higher number of mycorrhizas formed by synthesized dikaryons homozygous for a FIR mutation than by wild type mycelia.

The mycorrhizas formed by the mono- or dikaryotic wild types were characterized by a uniseriate Hartig net, whereas it was pluriseriate in the case of mycorrhizas formed by IAA overproducer mutants. The mutants stimulated the growth of the host plants to the same extent as did the wild types, indicating that growth stimulation is not a direct consequence of fungal auxin production. The usefulness of these mutants as a model to study the role of fungal IAA in mycorrhiza formation is discussed.


The ability of probiotics to adhere to the intestinal epithelium likely plays an important role in their colonization of the gastrointestinal tract. Here, we performed high-throughput screening (HTS) for suitable characteristics of potential probiotic bacteria using attachment and colonization ability through a C. elegans surrogate in vivo model. A total of 100 strains of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from infant feces were subjected to the colonization assay using C. elegans intestine. Based on colonization ability, we showed that nine isolates have a high attachment ability during whole experimental periods (up to 168 h), compared to Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain GG as a control. Also, through the use of an in vitro cell attachment model, nine isolates revealed highly binding activity to the mucus layer. Next, the selected 9 isolates were assayed for their survival ability when exposed to acidic and bile conditions as well as cholesterol reduction and the utilization of prebiotic substrates. As a result, the isolated nine strains were determined to be highly resistant to acid and bile conditions. In addition, they have significant activity for the reduction of cholesterol and utilization of several prebiotic substrates as a carbon source. Finally, the selected nine strains were identified by either L. rhamnosus or L. plantarum (4 strains for L. rhamnosus and 5 strains for L. plantarum, respectively). Taken together, we propose that the direct colonization of probiotics using C. elegans may be applicable to the rapid screening of valuable probiotic strains in vivo.


This paper reviews the progress in applying the plasma-driven solution electrolysis (PDSE), which is also referred to as the contact glow-discharge electrolysis (CGDE) or plasma electrolysis, for hydrogen production. The physicochemical processes responsible for the formation of PDSE and effects occurring at the discharge electrode in the cathodic and anodic regimes of the PDSE operation are described. The influence of the PDSE process parameters, especially the discharge polarity, magnitude of the applied voltage, type and concentration of the typical electrolytic solutions (K2CO3, Na2CO3, KOH, NaOH, H2SO4), presence of organic additives (CH3OH, C2H5OH, CH3COOH), temperature of the electrolytic solution, the active length and immersion depth of the discharge electrode into the electrolytic solution, on the energy efficiency (%), energy yield (g(H2)/kWh), and hydrogen production rate (g(H2)/h) is presented and discussed. This analysis showed that in the cathodic regime of PDSE, the hydrogen production rate is 33.3 times higher than that in the anodic regime of PDSE, whereas the Faradaic and energy efficiencies are 11 and 12.5 times greater, respectively, than that in the anodic one. It also revealed the energy yield of hydrogen production in the cathodic regime of PDSE in the methanol–water mixture, as the electrolytic solution is 3.9 times greater compared to that of the alkaline electrolysis, 4.1 times greater compared to the polymer electrolyte membrane electrolysis, 2.8 times greater compared to the solid oxide electrolysis, 1.75 times greater than that obtained in the microwave (2.45 GHz) plasma, and 5.8% greater compared to natural gas steam reforming.


In the absence of aetiological tests for the diagnosis of individual sexually transmitted diseases (STD), the syndromic approach has been developed as an effective and appropriate case management strategy. Algorithms provide guidance to healthcare workers and ensure standardised approaches to case management. The syndromic approach, utilising currently available algorithms, works well in the management of people with symptomatic urethritis, genital ulcer disease, and vaginitis. Owing to the frequently asymptomatic nature of gonococcal and/or chlamydial cervicitis, and the lack of specific defining risk factors and/or signs and symptoms, the syndromic approach performs less well in the identification and management of women with cervicitis. The syndromic approach can and should be adopted for the management of patients with urethral discharge, genital ulceration, vaginal discharge, and cervical signs. Further research is needed to improve the identification and management of cervical infections; to guide policy makers in selecting the most appropriate disease control strategy; to improve utilisation of available and future tests; to develop affordable, rapid, and simple diagnostic tests; and to develop STD vaccines.


OBJECTIVE: To analyze the various features of pyogenic liver abscess in poorly developed
slum area of Karachi.
DESIGN & SETTINGS: A retrospective study done in hospitalized diagnosed cases of pyogenic
liver abscess confirmed by ultrasonography in Jinnah Medical College, Hospital Korangi Karachi
from January 2004 to December 2008.
METHODS: All patients diagnosed as pyogenic liver abscess were reviewed for demographic
status, clinical features, hematological and biochemical analysis, size of abscess, cultures of
pus, management and outcome. Ameobic liver abscesses were excluded. The data were analyzed
on SPSS 11.5.
RESULTS: A total of 76 patients was diagnosed as pyogenic liver abscess having 76.6% male
and 22.4% female patients with mean age of 52.1 yrs. The most common symptoms and signs
were upper abdominal pain in 82.6%, fever in 75%, right hypochondrium tenderness in 43.4%,
hepatomegaly in 30% and jaundice in 18.4%. Leucocytosis (71%), raised alkaline phosphatase
levels (63%), raised total bilirubin levels (60.5%), ALT levels (52.6%) and low hemoglobin values
(42%) patients were common abnormal laboratory findings. Ultrasongraphy showed that right
lobe of the liver was involved in 85.5% patients with 84.2% patients having single abscess. Klebsiella
pneumoniae 35.7% was revealed as the common pathogen from the aspirated pus of the
patients. Only 9 (11.8%) patients were referred for surgical intervention and followed up there.
There was no mortality noticed in this study.
CONCLUSION: Patients with Pyogenic liver abscess can be managed with better outcome if diagnosed
early with ultrasound, necessary intervention and appropriate therapy.


Quorum sensing is a mechanism of genetic control allowing single cell organisms to coordinate phenotypic response(s) across a local population and is often critical for ecosystem function. Although quorum sensing has been extensively studied in bacteria comparatively less is known about this mechanism in Archaea. Given the growing significance of Archaea in both natural and anthropogenic settings, it is important to delineate how widespread this phenomenon of signaling is in this domain. Employing a plasmid-based AHL biosensor in conjunction with thin layer chromatography (TLC), the present study screened a broad range of euryarchaeota isolates for potential signaling activity. Data indicated the presence of 11 new Archaeal isolates with AHL-like activity against the LuxR-based AHL biosensor, including for the first time putative AHL activity in a thermophile. The presence of multiple signals and distinct changes between growth phases were also shown via TLC. Multiple signal molecules were detected using TLC in Haloferax mucosum, Halorubrum kocurii, Natronococcus occultus and Halobacterium salinarium. The finding of multiple novel signal producers suggests the potential for quorum sensing to play an important role not only in the regulation of complex phenotypes within Archaea but the potential for cross-talk with bacterial systems.


2031 Background: For most advanced solid tumors, the response rate to cytotoxic drugs is generally low, highlighting the importance of identifying those patients most likely to respond, either to single agents or combinations of cytotoxic or targeted therapies.

METHODS
We have made use of in vitro drug response data generated on the NCI-60 panel of cancer cell lines, coupled with Affymetrix U133 2.0 plus gene expression data, to develop genomic predictors of chemotherapy sensitivity. These models were then validated in independent cancer cell lines as well as response data from patient treatment studies.

RESULTS
Predictive models making use of gene expression data were developed for docetaxel, adriamycin, 5-flourouracil, cyclophosphamide, paclitaxel, and topotecan. These models were shown to accurately predict sensitivity to the drugs in an independent set (n = 30) of cancer cell lines. Importantly, three of the predictors (docetaxel, topotecan, paclitaxel) also accurately (> 80%) predicted response in patient studies. When evaluated in a large collection of human cancers (n = 381), these gene expression signatures of drug response identified patterns of predicted sensitivity suggesting potential opportunities for novel combinations. We also combined the predictions of chemotherapy sensitivity with predictions of pathway deregulation (Bild A, Nature 2005), to develop further opportunities for combination therapy. For instance, this analysis revealed a significant relationship between PI3 kinase pathway deregulation and docetaxel resistance (p = 0.001), and a correlation between docetaxel sensitivity and the activation of the Rb/E2F pathway (p = 0.009). Furthermore, cell lines showing an increased probability of PI3 kinase and Rb/E2F activation were also more likely to respond to a PI3 kinase (LY-294002) inhibitor (p = 0.01) or R-Roscovitine (p = 0.03), a cell cycle inhibitor, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
The development and validation of chemotherapeutic response predictors, together with oncogenic pathway signatures that can guide the use of targeted agents, provides an opportunity to develop effective combinatorial therapeutic strategies geared to the individual patient. No significant financial relationships to disclose.


The present investigation was conducted to identify different bacterial agents associated with the respiratory infections of equines in the submountaineous region of Himachal Pradesh. Nasal swabs were collected from a total of 119 animals, including horses (n=59) and mules (n=60), exhibiting respiratory disease manifestations (n=20) as well as apparently healthy animals (n=99); and subjected to routine cultural, staining and biochemical examinations for the identification of the isolated bacteria. The bacterial genera thus isolated and identified included Staphylococcus spp. 12 (38.71%), Corynebacterium spp. 6 (19.35%), Bacillus spp. 3 (9.68%), Streptococcus spp. 2 (6.45%), Micrococcus spp. 2 (6.45%), Pseudomonas sp. 1 (3.23%) and others 5 (16.13%) from the 15 samples from diseased equines; and Staphylococcus spp. 83 (44.62%), Corynebacterium spp. 30 (16.13%), Bacillus spp. 33 (17.74%), Micrococcus spp. 12 (6.45%), Streptococcus spp. 6 (3.23%) and others 22 (11.83%) from the 81 samples from apparently healthy animals, whereas, 23 samples were bereft of any bacterial growth. Further speciation of Staphylococcus spp., Corynebacterium spp. and Bacillus spp. was also carried out by means of biochemical tests.


The NAD-dependent deacetylase SIRT1 improves β cell function. Accordingly, nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), the product of the rate-limiting step in NAD synthesis, prevents β cell dysfunction and glucose intolerance in mice fed a high-fat diet. The current study was performed to assess the effects of NMN on β cell dysfunction and glucose intolerance that are caused specifically by increased circulating free fatty acids (FFAs). NMN was intravenously infused, with or without oleate, in C57BL/6J mice over a 48-h-period to elevate intracellular NAD levels and consequently increase SIRT1 activity. Administration of NMN in the context of elevated plasma FFA levels considerably improved glucose tolerance. This was due not only to partial protection from FFA-induced β cell dysfunction but also, unexpectedly, to a significant decrease in insulin clearance. However, in conditions of normal FFA levels, NMN impaired glucose tolerance due to decreased β cell function. The presence of this dual action of NMN suggests caution in its proposed therapeutic use in humans.


Children are not objects of deviant behavior or inhuman actions by anyone. However, in reality the child exploitation in Indonesia has become a complex problem. This research was conducted with the aim of describing the legal arrangements for children as beggars and the legal protection for minors as beggars. This study used a normative legal research method as well as statutory and conceptual approaches. The results of this study indicated that the regulation of minors as beggars is contained in Article 2 paragraph 1 of the Child Welfare Law No. 4 of 1979 which explains that the right to care for welfare care and guidance with affection is the right of the child as well as the care for the development of children in a healthy and good family. In addition, legal protection for minors as beggars as stipulated in the Child Protection Law No. 35 of 2014 in conjunction with Law No. 23 of 2002 can be in the form of socio-economic health services and adequate education.


In a sequence of decisions between 1989 and 2014, the United States Supreme Court grappled with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the shadow of the imposition of the death penalty on criminal offenders. In Penry v Lynaugh, 492 US 302 (1989), it jettisoned the notion of 'mental age' as a tool for assessing such disabilities. In Hall v Florida, 572 US (2014); 134 S Ct 1986 (2014), it abandoned the terminology of mental retardation and identified intellectual disability as existing on a spectrum, not being just an IQ number, to be determined by reference to various forms of evidence, lay and expert. In Atkins v Virginia, 536 US 304 (2002), it pronounced imposition of the death penalty on persons who are 'mentally retarded' to be cruel and unusual punishment in breach of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution. Importantly, too, the Supreme Court jurisprudence has evidenced an increasing sophistication in awareness of the forensic repercussions of 'intellectual and developmental disorders' (IDDs). This editorial traces the evolution of United States intellectual disability jurisprudence in respect of imposition of the death penalty, reflects on the ongoing areas of vulnerability for criminal offenders with IDDs and calls for further consideration to be given to the option for offenders with an IDD to be sentenced to reside in a forensic IDD environment as a humane containment and behaviour modification alternative to other forms of disposition.


Impinging air jets are widely used in industry, for heating, cooling, drying, etc., because of the high heat transfer rates which are developed in the impingement region. In this study, two methods of enhancing jet heat transfer have been investigated, namely, by using turbulence promoters to artificially raise the turbulence level, and by using a loudspeaker to excite the jet acoustically. In both these cases, the increases in heat transfer from enhancement were found to be modest. Some experimental hot-wire anemometry data obtained for free and impinging air jet flows are presented here. The existence of a relationship between turbulence intensity and heat transfer mechanism is also discussed.


This article describes clinical experience of surgical treatment of aortic insufficiency in type A aortic dissection using valve-sparing technique. Results of treatment are presented.


We investigate the fair quantum blind signature scheme proposed by Wang and Wen [Wang T Y and Wen Q Y 2010 Chin. Phys. B 19 060307], which uses the fundamental properties of quantum mechanics and the availability of a trusted arbitrator. However, in this paper, we find that the protocol cannot satisfy the property of non-forgeability even under the condition that the trusted arbitrator is totally credible. Moreover, a simple feasible suggestion for improving the protocol is proposed.


One of the two nonidentical subunits of Escherichia coli ribonucleotide reductase, protein B2, contains in its active form two antiferromagnetically coupled Fe(III) ions and an organic free radical that arises by the one-electron oxidation of tyrosine-122 of the polypeptide chain. Protein B2 lacking the tyrosine radical but with the iron center intact (called protein B2/HU because it is produced by treatment with hydroxyurea) is enzymatically inactive. Previously, it was found that a crude extract from E. coli transforms B2/HU into B2 in the presence of dithiothreitol, Mg2+, and oxygen. On purification of the enzyme system, we now find that radical introduction requires three separate proteins as well as NADPH and FMN. One of the proteins is superoxide dismutase. We hypothesize that the overall reaction involves a reduction of the iron center followed by the oxidation of iron and tyrosine-122. Superoxide dismutase may then be involved in the second step to protect an oxidation-sensitive intermediate. Alternatively, the enzyme might be directly involved in the oxidation step.


In these notes we give the reader a feel for the mathematical problems involved in describing grasping and fine motion manipulation of objects with multifingered robot hands. Multifingered robot hands can be thought of as several robots (fingers) on a common base (palm) cooperatively manipulating all object. It is clear that positioning an object in space, namely specifying its position and orientation needs 6 degrees of freedom. However, dextrously manipulating objects requires far more degrees of freedom especially in the execution of tasks involving picking up an object, regrasping it and using the object. It is here that the study of multifingered hands is important. The study of multifingered hands has a long history not just in the context of robotics but also in the context of prosthesis. In Chapter 2, we set down a brief discussion of the kinematics of a single rigid body, followed by study of contacts and the kinematics of rolling. Rolling Is an especially important way in which finger tips move over the surface of an object in order both to reposition and regrasp the object. In Section 2.4 we study the kinematics of a multifingered hand in terms of the kinematics of the individual fingers. Finally, we define grasp stability and the manipulability of grasps. The appendix contains a derivation of the contact equations in terms of the metric tensor and connection form of the surfaces in contact at the finger tip and object. In Chapter 3, we develop the dynamics of multifingered hands by aggregating the dynamics of individual fingers with the dynamics of the grasped object and the kinematic equations of contact. In Section 3.3 we describe a few different control techniques to follow a specified trajectory for the body and the grasp forces exerted on it. In Chapter 4, we axiomatize the process of regrasping an object by rolling the finger tips on the surface of the object. We show how the problem of finding geodesics for singular or Carnot-Caratheodory metrics is useful in steering the finger tips from one grasp to another. We conclude with some open problems. The discussion of this paper is a summary of our own work and that of others, notably those at Harvard, in the last few years in this area. Detailed references to these appear in the body of the notes.


Generally irrigation efficiency is reported too low in most fields of Iran. It can be increased when the design input parameters such as infiltration opportunity and advance time are estimated accurately. Volume balance model (VBM) is introduced as an appropriate model for evaluation of the surface irrigation system and its application in designing the irrigation system. However, the predicted values from this model are not strongly correlated to the hydraulic model due to the model assumptions. The purpose of this research was to develop an improved volume balance model (IVBM) for furrow irrigation system. The IVBM is based on a combination of the VBM and the Zero-Inertia model (ZIM) that was used to desing border irrigation system. For evaluation of the model, it used five series of field data with a differente range of soil texture and the field properties. The data included geometric/hydraulics coefficients, advance time, inflow/outflow discharges, Manning's coefficient, bed slope and Kostiakov infiltration coefficient. The comparison of the models (VBM and IVBM) has been done with root mean squared error (RMSE) with the observed data. The result shows an increasing of 15-40% accuracy for advance distance estimation of IVBM in comparison with the VBM.


In this work, we explore self-supervised visual pre-training on images from diverse, in-the-wild videos for real-world robotic tasks. Like prior work, our visual representations are pre-trained via a masked autoencoder (MAE), frozen, and then passed into a learnable control module. Unlike prior work, we show that the pre-trained representations are effective across a range of real-world robotic tasks and embodiments. We find that our encoder consistently outperforms CLIP (up to 75%), supervised ImageNet pre-training (up to 81%), and training from scratch (up to 81%). Finally, we train a 307M parameter vision transformer on a massive collection of 4.5M images from the Internet and egocentric videos, and demonstrate clearly the benefits of scaling visual pre-training for robot learning.