The aim of the present study was to investigate the compatibility of chlorhexidine digluconate and sodium monofluorophosphate since these agents are potential ingredients in future products in preventive dentistry. Varying combinations of chlorhexidine digluconate and sodium monofluorophosphate in water, covering the possible ranges of clinically relevant concentrations of both compounds, were made, incubated for 24 h and observed for precipitation of insoluble salts. The mixtures were analyzed for presence of free chlorhexidine and monofluorophosphate after incubation. The results showed that chlorhexidine digluconate and sodium monofluorophosphate are not compatible in clinically relevant concentrations. A chlorhexidine-monofluorophosphate salt of low solubility in water is presumably formed.


Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are one of the key enablers for beyond 5G networks. A novel generation of fully integrated photonic-enabled transceivers operating seamlessly in W- D- and THz-bands is developed within the EU funded project TERAWAY. Photonic integration technology enables key photonic functionalities on a single PIC including photonic up/down conversion. For efficient down-conversion at the photonic integrated receiver, we develop the first waveguide-fed photoconductive antenna for THz communications. Finally, we report on the experimental implementation of a fully photonic-enabled link operating across W- D- and THz-bands.


Mesh simplification is an important and difficult problem in pretreatment and post-processing of finite element analysis (FEA). Simplification of tetrahedral mesh has been studied deeply in the past two decades. However, although hexahedral mesh is widely used in FEA, there is almost no related work about its simplification method.


Good understanding of the cross sections for (anti)neutrino scattering off nuclear targets in the few-GeV energy region is a prerequisite for the correct interpretation of results of ongoing and planned oscillation experiments. To clarify a possible source of disagreement between recent measurements of the cross sections on carbon, we analyze the available data within an approach based on the realistic spectral function of carbon, treating neutral-current elastic (NCE) and charged-current quasielastic (CCQE) processes on equal footing. We show that the axial mass from the shape analysis of the MiniBooNE data is in good agreement with the results reported by the BNL E734 and NOMAD Collaborations. However, the combined analysis of the NCE and CCQE data does not seem to support the contribution of multinucleon final states being large enough to explain the normalization of the MiniBooNE-reported cross sections.


We have prepared Lactobacillus casei dihydrofolate reductase containing biosynthetically incorporated (2S,4S)-5-fluoroleucine ([5-F]-Leu DHFR) and have obtained its 1H and 19F NMR spectra at 9.4 Tesla. The 19F spectrum of [5-F]-Leu DHFR showed 12 fairly sharp peaks (one containing two overlapped signals) for the 13 leucine residues in DHFR, covering a chemical shift range of 15 ppm. The large range of chemical shifts observed could not be explained solely in terms of the electrostatic field effects due to local charge fields and is thought to have a second contribution from side-chain conformational differences (γ-gauche effects) between different leucine residues, making 19F NMR of aliphatic amino acids in proteins a potentially useful new probe of protein structure.


We hypothesized that a decreased susceptibility to the development of hypocapnic central apnea during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep in women compared with men could be an explanation for the gender difference in the sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome. We studied eight men (age 25-35 yr) and eight women in the midluteal phase of the menstrual cycle (age 21-43 yr); we repeated studies in six women during the midfollicular phase. Hypocapnia was induced via nasal mechanical ventilation for 3 min, with respiratory frequency matched to eupneic frequency. Tidal volume (VT) was increased between 110 and 200% of eupneic control. Cessation of mechanical ventilation resulted in hypocapnic central apnea or hypopnea, depending on the magnitude of hypocapnia. Nadir minute ventilation in the recovery period was plotted against the change in end-tidal PCO(2) (PET(CO(2))) per trial; minute ventilation was given a value of 0 during central apnea. The apneic threshold was defined as the x-intercept of the linear regression line. In women, induction of a central apnea required an increase in VT to 155 +/- 29% (mean +/- SD) and a reduction of PET(CO(2)) by -4.72 +/- 0.57 Torr. In men, induction of a central apnea required an increase in VT to 142 +/- 13% and a reduction of PET(CO(2)) by -3.54 +/- 0.31 Torr (P = 0.002). There was no difference in the apneic threshold between the follicular and the luteal phase in women. Premenopausal women are less susceptible to hypocapnic disfacilitation during NREM sleep than men. This effect was not explained by progesterone. Preservation of ventilatory motor output during hypocapnia may explain the gender difference in sleep apnea.


Abstract Economists use public goods experiments to develop and test theories of individual preferences and institutional design. Previous work demonstrates many participants in public goods experiments contribute to the public good out of confusion. We design experiments to provide insights on the consequences and causes of confusion. We establish that confusion amounts to more than statistical noise and does not dissipate with repetition (i.e. learning). Confused subjects use experimental parameters and the behavior of other players as cues, which confounds treatment effects and traditional strategies to identify other-regarding preferences through exogenous parameter changes and the modeling of reactions to other subjects' decisions. We argue that confusion stems from an inaccurate understanding of game incentives ("failure of game form recognition"), which is a consequence of the framing and inadequate payoff information in standard instructions. Modified instructions can substantially reduce confusion, and, in turn, change the distribution of contributions to the public good.


Abstract We conducted surveillance for flavivirus infection in peridomestic rodents in Merida, Mexico in 2011–12. We captured 161 rodents inside private residences, using Sherman traps, including 86 house mice (Mus musculus) and 75 black rats (Rattus rattus). Serum from each animal was assayed by plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT) using two vertebrate-specific flaviviruses (Apoi and Modoc viruses) and five mosquito-borne flaviviruses (dengue 2, dengue 4, St. Louis encephalitis virus, West Nile, and yellow fever viruses). Sixty-one (37.9%) rodents had antibodies that neutralized at least one virus. Prevalences for flaviviruses were 64.0% and 15.1% for black rats and house mice, respectively. None of the PRNT90 titers exceeded 80, and often they were highest for Modoc virus. These data suggest that a subset of rodents had been infected with Modoc virus or a closely related flavivirus that was not included in the PRNT analysis.


This three-volume-set (CCIS 219, CCIS 220, and CCIS 221) constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International Conference on ENTERprise Information Systems, CENTERIS 2011, held in Vilamoura, Portugal, in September 2011. The approx. 120 revised full papers presented in the three volumes were carefully reviewed and selected from 180 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on knowledge society, EIS adoption and design, EIS implementation and impact, EIS applications, social aspects and IS in education, IT/IS management, telemedicine and imaging technologies, healthcare information management, medical records and business processes, decision support systems and business intelligence in health and social care contexts, architectures and emerging technologies in healthcare organizations, as well as m-health.


The role of therapeutic change in CBT for patients with BD needs to be
 analyzed. The factors of therapy success and impact of change should be specified. What are the
 principles and mechanisms of behavioral change among patients with BD? What factors contribute
 to the occurrence of BD? How is CBT effective in the treatment of BD? The author will attempt
 to find answers to the research questions, using the discourse analysis method. Current
 research analysis shows high a influence of therapeutic change on the CBT success with patients
 suffering from BD. This allows the researcher to assume that CBT has a high efficiency in the
 treatment of BD by using CBT techniques and strategies in order to cause and maintain the
 therapeutic change. Future research on the role of change in treatment of patients with BD
 should focus on important areas such as mechanisms, indicators and processes of change,
 effective methods of individualization of intervention, identification and management of group
 processes and group dynamics, motivation to change, and finally the factors that can maintain a
 change and prevent relapse.


Abstract
Objective: Community dwelling older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) encounter challenges in many daily activities including medication taking. With inadequate health literacy, many of them have difficulty in understanding the instructions on drug labels and make decision on medication taking. This study aims to assess the effect of two interventions, verbal advice plus educational leaflet (VAEL) and comic books (CB), on medication taking among persons with MCI.
Methods: This is a two-year multi-site longitudinal study with pre-and-post design and four-point measures (Time 1, 2, 3, and 4). Subjects were aged 60 or above, scored <22 in Chinese version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and were taking ≥ 2 drugs regularly. Health literacy was measured by the 24-item Chinese Health Literacy for Chronic Care (CHLCC) and medication adherence was measured by the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS). Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMM) and Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) were used.
Results:Among the 131 subjects, the majority (62%) were females and mean age was 82.5 (SD 6.5). One-third of them received primary education (31%). Controlling age, there was a significant increase in CHLCC scores after the use of CBs (T4-T3: coefficient=2.742, p=0.003;T4-T1: coefficient=5.073, p=0.014). On the other hand, comparing to the baseline at T1 and controlling age, the chance of moving MMAS level one level higher than its original level at T4 was high (O.R.=3.316, S.E. 0.2979, 95% CI 0.650-1.747, p<0.001). Similar improvement in MMAS level was observed at T3 and T2.
Conclusion: The two interventions (VAEL and CBs) seem to be a good strategy to improve health literacyand medication adherence among community dwellers with MCI. More research is warranted to support medication taking in this specific population.


Introduction Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) have recently been shown to express key cardiac proteins and improve in vivo cardiac function when administered following myocardial infarction. However, the efficacy of hiPSC-derived cell therapies, in direct comparison to current, well-established stem cell-based therapies, is yet to be elucidated. The goal of the current study was to compare the therapeutic efficacy of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) with hiPSC-CMs in mitigating myocardial infarction (MI). Methods Male athymic nude hyrats were subjected to permanent ligation of the left-anterior-descending (LAD) coronary artery to induce acute MI. Four experimental groups were studied: 1) control (non-MI), 2) MI, 3) hMSCs (MI+MSC), and 4) hiPSC-CMs (MI+hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes). The hiPSC-CMs and hMSCs were labeled with superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) in vitro to track the transplanted cells in the ischemic heart by high-field cardiac MRI. These cells were injected into the ischemic heart 30-min after LAD ligation. Four-weeks after MI, cardiac MRI was performed to track the transplanted cells in the infarct heart. Additionally, echocardiography (M-mode) was performed to evaluate the cardiac function. Immunohistological and western blot studies were performed to assess the cell tracking, engraftment and cardiac fibrosis in the infarct heart tissues. Results Echocardiography data showed a significantly improved cardiac function in the hiPSC-CMs and hMSCs groups, when compared to MI. Immunohistological studies showed expression of connexin-43, α-actinin and myosin heavy chain in engrafted hiPSC-CMs. Cardiac fibrosis was significantly decreased in hiPSC-CMs group when compared to hMSCs or MI groups. Overall, this study demonstrated improved cardiac function with decreased fibrosis with both hiPSC-CMs and hMSCs groups when compared with MI group.


Experimental work is described on the initiation of spherical detonation waves, in oxyacetylene with various diluents, using an exploding wire and a lead azide pellet as sources. The transition of the spherical blast wave to a detonation, when the source energy is either above or at the critical value, is studied by three methods. Changes in wave structure are inferred from the cellular patterns obtained on smoked foils orientated radially to the flow: the wavefront velocity is derived from the Doppler frequencies and the pilot pressure variation is measured. For supercritical source energies the results obtained provide a detailed pressure history of the transition process. At critical source energy it is shown that the transverse wave structure, which is present in the initially overdriven wave, disappears when the low-velocity regime is established. The duration of the quasi-steady regime is approximately 10 mu s (or distance approximately 1 cm) before the establishment of a normal CJ wave.


There are many problems of groundwater flow in a disrupted rock massifs that should be modelled using numerical models. It can be done via "standard approaches" such as increase of the permeability of the porous medium to account the fracture system (or double-porosity models), or discrete stochastic fracture network models. Both of these approaches appear to have their constraints and limitations, which make them unsuitable for the large- scale long-time hydrogeological calculations. In the article, a new approach to the modelling of groudwater flow in fractured porous medium, which combines the above-mentioned models, is described. This article presents the mathematical formulation and demonstration of numerical results obtained by this new approach. The approach considers three substantial types of objects within a structure of modelled massif important for the groudwater flow – small stochastic fractures, large deterministic fractures, and lines of intersection of the large fractures. The systems of stochastic fractures are represented by blocks of porous medium with suitably set hydraulic conductivity. The large fractures are represented as polygons placed in 3D space and their intersections are represented by lines. Thus flow in 3D porous medium, flow in 2D and 1D fracture systems, and communication among these three systems are modelled together.


Two hundred and six patients with erysipelas were examined. Of these, 100 patients were subjected to the routine therapy and 106 were additionally treated with methyluracil and prodigiosan. It was noted that the use of methyluracil and prodigiosan in the combined treatment of erysipelas promoted an increase in the efficacy of the antibiotic therapy owing to acceleration of the local inflammation regression and the favourable effect of the treatment on the cell immunity.


The management and automation of business processes have become an essential tasks within IT organizations. Companies could deploy business process management systems to automatize their business processes. BPMS needs to ensure that those are as dependable as possible. Fault tolerance techniques provide mechanisms to decrease the risk of possible faults in systems. In this paper, a framework for developing business processes with fault tolerance capabilities is provided. The framework presents different solutions in the fault tolerance scope. The solutions have been developed using a practical example and some results have been obtained, compared and discussed.


Reducing graphene oxide (GO) is currently seen as one of the most cost effective and scalable methods to produce graphene sheets. This method takes exfoliated graphite in the form of graphene oxide (GO) and reduces it to reduced graphene oxide (rGO). This reduction process recovers the mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties of GO,1 making it more appealing for many applications including fillers in polymers. However, the reduction of oxygen functional groups tends to lead to lower dispersion quality and activity of rGO in polymers. This remains an issue as researchers search to produce graphene based nanocomposites for different applications. This study characterizes the thermal and mechanical properties of graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide epoxy nanocomposites to determine the overall performance in relation to dispersion quality and nanoparticle loading. For this purpose, epoxy nanocomposites of GO (C:O ratio 1:1) and rGO (C:O ratio 5:1) with various loadings (0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 wt.%) and dispersion qualities (3 different combinations of shear mixing and horn sonication) were fabricated and characterized. Transmission optical microscopy (TOM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to qualitatively asses the level of dispersion for each dispersion technique. Flash diffusivity analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were employed to measure the thermal diffusivity and specific heat capacity, respectively, for each sample, from which the thermal conductivity was calculated. The thermal conductivity was then correlated to the level of dispersion and filler (GO or rGO) for the composites. Nanoindentation was utilized to assess the mechanical properties of the nanocomposites with respect to dispersion, loading, and filler type.


The characteristic, dominant flavor of gin is juniper, often within a complex aroma of other botanicals. The present study examined two gins from a distillery in the German state of Bavaria; one produced with 50 individual botanicals, the other with 15. The study focused on characterizing the aroma profiles and identifying the key aroma-active compounds of the gins. Comparative sensory evaluations of the gins revealed marked differences in their aroma profiles, with the botanical-rich gin exhibiting more citrusy, orangey and fruity notes than the gin containing fewer botanicals. Instrumental analyses by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry/olfactometry (GC-MS/O) using aroma extract dilution assays (AEDA) identified terpenes as the dominant key aroma compounds, specifically limonene, 1,8-cineole, linalool, estragole and trans-anethole, with additional contributions from aldehydes, such as nonanal, and phenylpropanoids, such as eugenol and estragole. Selected compounds were quantified using stir-bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) and stabile isotope dilution analysis (SIDA) with GC-MS analysis. Further, odor thresholds and corresponding odor activity values (OAVs) of these compounds were calculated, with linalool exhibiting the highest OAV in both gins. The present analyses revealed how different botanicals alter the concentrations of key aroma compound constituents and elicit a shift in the overall aroma profile of the final spirit.


Vomiting and retching are behaviours that are part of the clinical manifestation of several disorders. Rarely, vomiting is actually tic and, when not recognized, may mislead physicians and other caregivers to erroneously diagnose a medical or psychiatric disorder without considering a tic-disorder. We report on an 18 year old male patient who demonstrated vomiting as main symptom. Initially, he was diagnosed with an eating disorder, bulimia nervosa purging type (DSM-IV TR). Firstly, he was not very able to suppress his vomiting, but later the vomiting became forced by putting fingers in his throat. This self-induced vomiting had a compulsive component and was performed after almost every meal. Psychiatric assessment disclosed a specific sequence of a premonitory epigastric feeling preceding the vomiting and relief after vomiting. History taking revealed that he had a childhood onset of motor tics (copropraxia which consisted of grabbing his genitalia, bilateral facial grimacing and sudden movements of the head) and phonic tics (sniffing and gargling). Furthermore, he had been treated with methylphenidate for a childhood diagnosis of Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder and suffered from obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS). His vomiting was considered a tic in the course of a Tourette syndrome. His score on the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale dropped from 74 at the first assessment to a score of 50 at week 4 of treatment with risperidone 0,5 mg/day and sertralin 25 mg/day. Sedation and sexual dysfunction occurred as adverse events. Vomiting as a tic is rare clinical manifestation, but this possibility should be considered when patients have a history of tics.


The dorsal root ganglion (DRG) contains heterogeneous populations of sensory neurons including primary nociceptive neurons and C-fibers implicated in pain signaling. Recent studies have demonstrated DRG hyperexcitability associated with downregulation of A-type K+ channels; however, the molecular correlate of the corresponding A-type K+ current (IA) has remained hypothetical. Kv4 channels may underlie the IA in DRG neurons. We combined electrophysiology, molecular biology (Whole-Tissue and Single-Cell RT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry to investigate the molecular basis of the IA in acutely dissociated DRG neurons from 7- to 8-day-old rats. Whole-cell recordings demonstrate a robust tetraethylammonium-resistant (20 mM) and 4-aminopyridine-sensitive (5 mM) IA. Matching Kv4 channel properties, activation and inactivation of this IA occur in the subthreshold range of membrane potentials and the rate of recovery from inactivation is rapid and voltage-dependent. Among Kv4 transcripts, the DRG expresses significant levels of Kv4.1 and Kv4.3 mRNAs. Also, single small-medium diameter DRG neurons (∼30 μm) exhibit correlated frequent expression of mRNAs encoding Kv4.1 and Nav1.8, a known nociceptor marker. In contrast, the expressions of Kv1.4 and Kv4.2 mRNAs at the whole-tissue and single-cell levels are relatively low and infrequent. Kv4 protein expression in nociceptive DRG neurons was confirmed by immunohistochemistry, which demonstrates colocalization of Kv4.3 and Nav1.8, and negligible expression of Kv4.2. Furthermore, specific dominant-negative suppression and overexpression strategies confirmed the contribution of Kv4 channels to IA in DRG neurons. Contrasting the expression patterns of Kv4 channels in the central and peripheral nervous systems, we discuss possible functional roles of these channels in primary sensory neurons.


BIOCHEMISTRY. For the article ''Crystal structure of a DEAD box protein from the hyperthermophile Methanococcus jannaschii'' by Randall M. Story, Hong Li, and John N. Abelson, which appeared in number 4, February 13, 2001, of Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (98, 1465–1470), the authors note the following. The data deposition code for this article was incorrectly set as 1HVs instead of 1HV8. The online version of this article has been corrected.


In a previous communication [Weckert et al. (1999). Acta Cryst. D55, 1320-1328], the feasibility of the measurement of a large set of triplet phases by three-beam interference was demonstrated. This paper reports the methodology for the calculation of an electron-density map from this limited amount of experimental phase information and the map's properties with respect to model building and refinement. The tetragonal form of hen egg-white lysozyme (HEWL) was chosen as a test structure for the development of this method. The quality of the electron-density map obtained from all measured triplet phases allows a straightforward and nearly complete interpretation. The starting model was refined to a final R value of 17.4%. In a second step, the minimum number of phased reflections needed for the interpretation of an electron-density map was investigated, applying criteria based on |F| and resolution.


Purpose Raised postprandial triglycerides (TAG) and related oxidative stresses are strongly associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk. Acute exercise and strawberry ingestion independently ameliorate postprandial lipid excursions and oxidative stress. However, the combined effects of these lifestyle interventions are unknown. We investigated whether acute exercise and strawberry consumption improved postprandial responses to an oral fat tolerance test (OFTT) in overweight/obese males. Methods Overweight/obese adult males underwent four separate OFTT (73 g fat, 33 g carbohydrate) with blood sampled at baseline and hourly for 4 h after OFTT. Two OFTT contained 25 g freeze-dried strawberries and two contained strawberry flavoring (placebo). Participants performed 40 min of submaximal high-intensity interval cycling exercise 16 h before one strawberry and one placebo OFTT and rested before the remaining two OFTT. Serum TAG was analyzed, and TAG area under the curve (AUC) and incremental AUC (iAUC) were calculated. Oxidative stress markers were measured at baseline and 4 h. Differences between conditions (strawberry/placebo and exercise/rest) were assessed using repeated-measures ANOVA. Results Ten males (age = 31.5, interquartile range = 17.8 yr, body mass index = 29.9 ± 1.8 kg·m−2) completed the study. TAG AUC was 1.5 mmol per 4 h−1·L−1 lower for the exercise conditions compared with the rest conditions (95% confidence interval [CI] = −2.3 to −0.8 mmol per 4 h−1·L−1, P = 0.001). TAG AUC was not different between strawberry and placebo conditions (95% CI = −1.3 to 0.6 mmol per 4 h−1·L−1, P = 0.475). TAG iAUC was 0.5 mmol per 4 h−1·L−1 greater for the strawberry compared with the placebo conditions (95% CI = 0.1 to 1.0 mmol per 4 h−1·L−1, P = 0.021). There were no changes in markers of lipid related oxidative stress (P > 0.05). Conclusion Acute submaximal high-intensity interval cycling exercise appears effective in reducing postprandial lipemia in overweight/obese adult males. However, strawberry ingestion did not improve postprandial TAG.


This article aimed to study the adaptation process of youths from the three southern border provinces who moved to other areas of Thailand, whose have Islam religious and Malay- Muslims ethnic group who move to study at Prince of Songkhla University Surat Thani Campus (PSU), Thailand. The study based on qualitative, focus group was analyzed using analysis four misunderstanding issues to finding level of adaptation as 1) Teacher day's observation 2) The activity of welcoming freshmen 3) Hijab and 4) Halal food with Youths, aged 18- 24, it found that had three levels of adaptation: The first level, during the first month. They are attached to the identity of the ethnic group. The second level, they have adapted to the identity of the ethnic group. At the same time, they have adapted to the culture or culture to the third level, and when they are in the area for longer, they see themselves as part of a new culture. Moreover, this article will help to open up new perspectives for people of different religions, or individuals in Thai society to better understand the way of life, culture, and differences of Muslim students. Together, people of different ethnicities can learn and accept their cultural differences so that they can live together peacefully.


Cost accounting is aimed at emphasising those elements of costs and profits of original importance to the management board of an organizational unit. Therefore, cost accounting was initially understood as mere collector of costs and profits, using the traditional system of costing everything, a budget with a limited base. Originally, it was designed to calculate real costs with the aim to determine the results. In public organizations, the aim of cost accounting, costs or management, can be summarized as follows: o Obtain information of how costs are found, both the ones corresponding to the internal activities as well as those for external services rendered and the cost realized investments; o Obtain information for cost and control management, with efficiency indicators of how the planned objectives were achieved and the efficient use of available resources. This paper aims at knowing the role of cost accounting in the public sector of higher education, and checks its contribution for the establishment of the management indicators in public institutions of higher education.


Abstract : This report contains the first phase of a continuing sump research study for typical small pumping stations (capacities less than 200cfs) with relatively low submergences. The facility consists fo three operational mixed-flow pumps and one suction of dummy pump. An automatic data acquisition system is housed in an environmentally controlled building. Comparison testing was conducted with an operational pump and the dummy pump. Optimum location of the pump within the sump was determined by a wide range of testing. Surface vortex suppressors and other appurtenance were tested to improve approach inflow conditions and diminish vortex action. The improved sump design with optimum pump location was used for repetitive test to determine base to plot performance ' signature' curves for each of the three operational pumps. The coordinates of these signature curves were installed in the permanent memory of the microcomputer for comparison of subsequent sump designs. An 0.8D- to 2-D-high vertical drop was located across the sump approach at varying distance from the pump. Test results showed only minor deviations from the signature data; when the distance was equal to or greater than 2D, the flow was in the lateral plane, and the submergence was equal to or greater than 0.47D. Criteria for similarity of surface vortices in pump station models are discussed using a search of the literature. Similarity of submerged vortices is investigated in physical models of different size. (fr)


We present results for the temperature dependence of the mobility for elastic scattering in a two-dimensional electron gas at low temperatures. Due to anomalous screening in two-dimensional systems the mobility varies linearly with temperature. We discuss many-body effects and spin-polarization effects and compare with some recent experimental and theoretical results. We show that the sign of the temperature dependence may change in spin-polarized systems.


The aim of this study was to predict the critical nitrogen (N) content in peach trees using spectrometric measurements. A nutrient-controlled hydroponics experiment was designed for this purpose. Peach saplings were grown under three N conditions: deficient, sufficient, and excessive. The reflectance values of a plant leaves were measured using a handheld field spectroradiometer fitted with a plant probe. The N contents of leaves were determined in the laboratory and Gaussian mixture discriminant analysis (GMDA) was used to estimate N levels in the leaves from reflectance values. The N levels were categorized for each of the three different N conditions. The wavelengths at 425 nm, 574 nm, 696 nm, and 700 nm were found to be diagnostic of the different N levels. The model developed here classified the experimental plants with high accuracy for NDeficient, 89.28%; NSufficient, 96.30%; and NExcess, 71.42% with 85.71% coefficients. The reliability of the model was also tested under field conditions using 96 peach trees representing the three different N status. Leaves were analyzed by reflectance at 425 nm, 574 nm, 696 nm, and 700 nm, which functioned in real N, percentage classes determined based on the laboratory analyses of the orchard samples, and the data were categorized as NDeficient, NSufficient, and NExcess with a similarity ratio of 77.78%, 80%, and 67.74%, respectively with the general correct classification rate of 75%. The study findings showed that the model developed using hyperspectral reflectance data can discriminate different N nutritional status in plants with an accuracy of ≥70% and can be applied under field conditions. The results of this research provide a new perspective for future studies by showing that GMDA with hyperspectral remote sensing may be useful for the classification of different plant nutrient contents.


This article analyzes the ideology of accountability in contemporary education within the context of neoliberalism and its reconstruction of social relationships on the basis of the market, competition and efficiency. Drawing on contemporary critical philosophical accounts, it argues that the scholarship on education and accountability has not fully registered the way that ideology in neoliberalism works through modes of fantasy and enclosure, inhering not only in perspectives and understandings, but also in procedures, rituals and structures of subjectivity. Analyzing the political logic of test-based accountability, and taking up several specific examples of its reorganization of curriculum and assessment, the article challenges the tendency within educational theory to understand ideology in education according to the Gramscian model of hegemony and proposes a reconceptualization of accountability's ideological effects. In particular, it shows that the tradition of understanding ideology in schooling i...


The latest numbers released from Journal Citation Reports (JCR), published annually by Thomson Reuters, show large increases in the impact factor (IF) for several AGU journals. IFs are one way for publishers to know that readers have found their journals useful and of value in research.

A journal's IF is calculated by taking the total number of citations to articles published by a given journal in the past 2 years and dividing it by the total number of papers published by the journal in the same time period. More generally, it can be seen as the frequency with which articles in a journal have been cited over the past year. The numbers speak for themselves (see Table 1).


THE TREATMENT OF INCIPIENT INSANITY. SIR,-In the address delivered by Sir John Batty Tuke to the Neurological Society there is much with which all must agree, yet there are statements to which exception may be taken; for instance, he implies, though he does not distinctly say so, that what for brevity I may call the toxaemic theory is quite a thing of yesterday, never heard-of until the last few years. Yet here is a passage from a book published in I884: The symptoms and morbid anatomy show that the disease consists in a morbid state of the blood.1 The name "toxaemia " was not invented, but the fact seems to be there. Again, the statement that the first step towards lunacy Teform is a considerable increase in the number of commis3ioners is open to doubt; especially as he informs us himself in the same paper that in the framing of the present Lunacy Act the Medical Commissioner was not even consulted, which is a fact one can well believe, judging from the amount of needless work thrown on the commissioner. That there is a need for an increase in the number of commissioners is no doubt true, and I hope that when it comes the licensed houses will be represented on the Board, for we are doing some part of the work of treatment, and are not so represented at present.-I am, etc., Shrewsbury, March7th. E. H. 0. SANKEY.


Abstract The exploitation of unnatural amino acid (UAA) technologies represents an excellent mechanism for the generation of site-specific bioconjugates. Consequently, significant effort has been invested in the advancement of the technology via the integration of novel bioconjugation reactions and the expansion of the set of UAAs that can be employed. Herein, we report the recent developments in the field and highlight advantages and disadvantages of various UAA bioconjugation reactions.


Pending the fabrication of permanent restorations, temporary restorations are used to maintain the function and provide the necessary information for accurate fabrication of permanent restorations. Therefore, the quality and appropriateness of materials used in temporary restorations are important to the final results. This article introduces a new material system for temporary restorations. A case report is used to illustrate the technique and the discussion.


The distribution of Monoon fragrans (≡ Polyalthia fragrans) in China was first recorded in Flora of China in 2011. According to detailed specimen investigation, we found that the Chinese specimens identified previously as Polyalthia fragrans actually represent Monoon simiarum (≡ Polyalthia simiarum). Extensive field investigation also fails to discover the distribution of Monoon fragrans in China. Thus, results from field investigation and specimen examination suggest that M. fragrans is an endemic species to India and its distribution in China should be excluded. Morphologically, M. fragrans can be distinguished from M. simiarum by its tomentose peduncles, narrowly linear petals which are puberulous on both sides, ovoid puberulous monocarp with puberulous stipes and brittle pericarp, as well as the orbicular-ovoid seed.


The problem of Iran's economic is depending on oil's incomes, therefore to increase non oil exportation like agricultural products is the main goal of country's economic development program. The goal of this paper is to investigate effective factors in pistachio exportation and mentioned goal will be consider by variable factors such as export's principle, aflatoxin poison, and packaging. The type of this paper is descriptive–cognition and the related information for this scope have been collected by using library resources such as books, scientific journals, moreover for collecting necessary data in order to confirm or reject research hypotheses a questionnaire designed by researcher have been used . Statistical society for this research includes the pistachio exporter in Kerman city, the method being used has been random sampling. Results of this investigation shows that the principles of exporting, aflatoxin poison and packaging have great influence in exporting Iran's pistachio.


This study focuses on an experimental method that employs the internet, WebGIS and videoconference systems to enable gathering and sharing of information from concurrently hosted multiple distributed participatory planning workshops. The method is expected to contribute to time, effort and economic savings while enabling greater grassroots participation as well as promoting the whole participatory planning process through more efficient information collection, sharing and updating. The authors present as a case study a distributed WS supported by videoconferencing and WebGIS systems reporting on the challenges and the implications for use in supporting participatory planning from the community scale to the larger scale regional planning levels are discussed.


In fresh whole plant tissue thiocyanate was not in a "free" state and to obtain satisfactory thiocyanate values it was necessary to disrupt the tissue thoroughly by homogenisation to permit hydrolysis of the thiocyanate-containing substance.

Rape kale contained about 15 mg thiocyanate/100 g of fresh material, less than half the amounts found in thousand head, marrow stem, Maris Kestrel or Canson: there were no consistent differences among the thiocyanate contents of these four types of kale.

The thiocyanate content, although fairly constant during most of the growing season, increased about twofold in late September and October then returned to former values. This increase did not occur in rape kale.

Small young kale leaves contained more than five times the amount of thiocyanate found in large, fully formed leaves, and about twice the amount present in leaves of intermediate size.


Hasan's Hadith is a Hadith whose sanad is to be continued, by a fair narrator but is not very strong in his memory, and is protected from anomalies and diseases. To eliminate the mistake between the Sahih Hadith and the Hadith Hasan, the most important thing about this limitation, is that justice in the Hadith Hasan is carried on the Sahih Hadith attached to the narrators who are really strong in their memories. But both are free from incongruity and disease. Both can be used as evidence and their contents can be used as reinforcement in taking / referral. Hasan's Hadith is one of the discussions of this paper which according to the scholars also differed in its definition. This difference occurs pbecause there are some scholars of Hadith who classify Hasan Hadith as a Hadith who occupies a position between the Hadith and the Hadith Da'eef. But there are also those who include it as part of the Hadith Da'eef that can be used as proof of the hadith.


An extension of the multiscale coarse-graining method (MS-CG) to polarizable coarse-grain (CG) models is presented. In the extension, force matching is used to derive charged dimers that mimic the dipole behavior, including electronic polarizability, of fine resolution systems. The extended MS-CG method separates short-range and electrostatic forces and treats the polarization interactions by representing dipole fluctuations with a harmonic bond reminiscent of the Drude oscillator. The new method is first tested on several flexible alcohols, where the transferable head groups in the atomistic field lead to transferable electrostatics in the CG field. The method is then applied to a polarizable methanol model, where the CG dimer is able to match the atomistic dipole distribution. Force fields are benchmarked with radial distribution functions and dielectric constants. The static dielectric constants agree well with atomistic models, but the faster dynamics in the CG ensembles leads to significant deviations in the frequency-dependent permittivity. Model transferability is checked by measuring response to static external fields through a dipole coupling order parameter. Effective polarizabilities are inferred from the dimer harmonic bonds, and an ad hoc correction is used to improve one CG force field's dipole magnitude response to electric fields. Broader applicability is explored through a small set of amines, and several multibead models are tested where CG dipole orientations are restricted through intramolecular forces, capturing constructive and destructive dipole interactions within single molecules.


Abstract : Chinas response to the U.Ss easy defeat of Iraq in the 1991 Gull War was to close the military technology gap that existed between China and U.S. To accomplish this goal, China achieved a worldwide near-monopoly of Rare Earth Elements (REE) mining and used this near-monopoly to coerce companies to move the manufacturing that required REE to China, which allowed China to procure the intellectual property of the manufactured item. Since REE are used in almost all high-tech equipment. China has closed the technology gap and has nearly achieved Second Offset parity. REE will play an even greater role in future technological advancements. To combat Chinas and other nations near military parity, the U.S. has announced the Third Offset Strategy to create technological equipment that will give the U.S. a multi-decade military advantage. This thesis shows, that for the United States to successfully achieve the game-changing goals of the new Third Offset Strategy. it must create a comprehensive strategy that incorporates the Diplomatic, Information, Military, and Economic aspects of national power (DIME) to mitigate the effects Chinas ability to acquire the intellectual property behind the cutting-edge technologies required by the Third Offset Strategy.


The Super Fragment Separator (Super-FRS) of the FAIR-project (Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research) [1] is conceived as a large acceptance fragment separator, with three branches serving different experimental areas, including a new storage ring complex. Rare isotopes of all elements up to uranium can be spatially separated by the Super-FRS. Unique studies with these isotopes and antiprotons will be performed in the Ring Branch, consisting mainly of a Collector Ring (CR), the New Experimental Storage Ring (NESR), and the Recycled Experimental Storage Ring (RESR). A common requirement for the magnets of these systems is a large acceptance at moderate fields, which can be fulfilled by superferric magnets with wide apertures. Similar requirements for the Super-FRS and CR magnets allow using the same magnet designs for both systems, yielding a reduction of costs and development time. Rare ions and antiprotons will be decelerated in the NESR and RESR, thus requiring pulsed magnets. This requires a coil design different from CR and SuperFRS. The cryostat design has to prevent large eddy current losses. This paper describes the status and development of the aforementioned superferric magnets. Differences and common features will be clarified.


We study the superradiant instability of massive vector fields, i.e. Proca fields, around spinning black holes in the test field limit. This is motivated by the possibility that observations of astrophysical black holes can probe the existence of ultralight bosons subject to this mechanism. By making use of time-domain simulations, we characterize the growth rate, frequency, spatial distribution, and other properties of the unstable modes, including in the regime where the black hole is rapidly spinning and the Compton wavelength of the Proca field is comparable to the black hole radius. We find that relativistic effects in this regime increase the range of Proca masses that are unstable, as well as the maximum instability rate. We also study the gravitational waves that can be sourced by such an instability, finding that they can be significantly stronger than in the massive scalar field case.


Wet granulation in high shear mixer is important in reducing potential environmental and safety hazards. A complex mechanism dominates high shear mixer granulation because there is an enormous range of geometries and designs for the mixer. This study is the first report of the effects of blade design on wet granulation in high shear mixer. In this study, two designs of blade were used to compare the granulation, and it was determined that the flat blade resulted in no granule or lump formation, while the beveled blade resulted in good granule formation. Positron emission particle tracking was used in order to investigate the effects of different impeller designs in wet granulation in a high shear mixer. These results should prove useful in improving process design in order to optimize the final granules, and in improving the quality of the resultant product.


—Electric vehicle charging sessions can be authorised in different ways, ranging from smartphone applications to smart cards with unique identifiers that link the electric vehicle to the charging station. However, these methods do not provide strong authentication guarantees. In this paper, we propose a novel second factor authentication scheme to tackle this problem. We show that by using inertial sensor data collected from IMU sensors either embedded in the handle of the charging cable or on a separate smartwatch, users can be authenticated implicitly by behavioural biometrics as they unhook the cable from the charging station and plug it into their car at the start of a charging session. To validate the system, we conducted a user study (n=20) to collect data and we developed a suite of authentication models for which we achieve EERs of 0.06.


In this study natural-based complex polyphenols, obtained through a smart synthetic approach, have been evaluated for their ability to inhibit the formation of Aβ42 oligomers, the most toxic species causing synaptic dysfunction, neuroinflammation and neuronal death leading to the onset and progression of Alzheimer's Disease. In vitro neurotoxicity tests on primary hippocampal neurons have been employed to select non-toxic candidates. Solution NMR and molecular docking studies have been performed to clarify the interaction mechanism of Aβ42 with the synthesized polyphenol derivatives, and highlight the sterical and chemical requirements important for their anti-aggregating activity. NMR results indicated that the selected polyphenolic compounds target Aβ42 oligomeric species. Combined NMR and docking studies indicated that the Aβ42 central hydrophobic core, namely the 17-31 region, is the main interaction site. The length of the peptidomimetic scaffold and the presence of a guaiacol moiety were identified as important requirements for the anti-aggregating activity. In vivo experiments on an Aβ42 oligomer-induced acute mouse model, highlighted that the most promising polyphenolic derivative (PP04) inhibits detrimental effects of Aβ42 oligomers on memory and glial cell activation. NMR kinetic studies showed that PP04 is endowed with the chemical features of true inhibitors, strongly affecting both the Aβ42 nucleation and growth rates, thus representing a promising candidate to be further developed into an effective drug against neurodegenerative diseases of the amyloid type.


There are few reports of severe infections caused by Candida norvegensis. We here describe a case of C. norvegensis-associated intraabdominal abscess and Gore-Tex mesh-associated infection, successfully treated with liposomal amphotericin B and removal of the mesh. This is, to our knowledge, the first report of C. norvegensis causing this type of infection.


We present a joint Fourier-transform correlator working at a 10-kHz repetition rate. It is based on a photorefractive Sn(2)P(2)S(6) crystal operated in the pulsed direct band-to-band photoexcitation regime at a wavelength of 532 nm and a pulse length of 50 ns. The intersection of two plane waves with a total pulse fluence of 100muJ/cm(2) results in a buildup of thin dynamic holograms to a typical diffraction efficiency of 10(-4) in a time of ~1mus and decay again in less than 10mus . The correlator was tested by a fast image sequence generated by the pulsed readout of a holographic memory system. Successful correlation at a rate of 10 kHz has already been achieved for a pulse energy of only 200 nJ in the template images.


In this paper, new pre- and post-processing schemes are developed to process shallow-water sonar data to improve the accuracy of target detection. A multichannel subband adaptive filtering is applied to preprocess the data in order to isolate the potential target returns from the acoustic backscattered signals and improve the signal-to-reverberation ratio. This is done by estimating the time delays associated with the reflections in different subbands. The preprocessed results are then beamformed to generate an image for each ping of the sonar. The testing results on both the simulated and real data revealed the efficiency of this scheme in time-delay estimation and its capability in removing most of the competing reverberations and noise. To improve detection rate while significantly minimizing the incident of false detections, a high-order correlation (HOC) method for postprocessing the beamformed images is then developed. This method determines the consistency in occurrence of the target returns in several consecutive pings. The application of the HOC process to the real beamformed sonar data showed the ability of this method for removing the clutter and at the same time boosting the target returns in several consecutive pings. The algorithm is simple, fast, and easy to implement.


The current paper highlights an important character represented by the American president John Tyler 1841 – 1845, who is considered the tenth American president. The importance of this paper lies in identifying his personality in terms of his upbringing and the political activities he practiced before assuming the presidency and his most significant internal achievements, which showed his decisions as a president. He was fully prepared to support national policies since they do not exceed the authorities of the states. With his achievements in the foreign policy, he was capable to draw and define the features of the American foreign relations that were in harmony with the general situation in the United States of America at that time. John Tyler came to power after the death of President Henry William Harrison in 1841, without elections. Being vice-President resulted an opposition from his political opponents, as well as his opposition to some of the previous laws of president Andrew Jackson, which consequently led to the resignation of whole Ministers (except the Minister of Foreign affairs), however, he has appointed new Ministers. After that he had been expelled from Whig Party, so he remained without any partisan support, because John Tylers' achievements were not at the required level, except for some legislation issues, that including the agricultural distribution law of the land for the settlers in 1841, then as trying to cover his failure within external directions especially with Britain in 1842 and China in 1844, in order to strengthen trade relations and resolve border issues, John Tyler had achieved some matters by joining Texas to the United States, after its secession from Mexico in 1844.


Methods and conditions of benzene series analysis with GC are discussed in this paper. Each has its merits and drawbacks. Analysts should choose the suitable analysis means based on the requires and conditions.


A new optimum structural design is presented here in order to shift the natural frequencies of the stator structure in brushless DC motor to the highest values at different mode shapes and increase the stator stiffness. Shifting the stator natural frequencies to higher values reduces or eliminates the severe effects of the structural resonances as the coincidence of the natural frequencies and the components of the motor electromagnetic excitation forces occur at higher frequencies at which the forces have lower amplitudes. In the proposed structural design, some parameters relating to stator slot are optimised to shift the stator's natural frequencies to the highest values without changing the slot areas and the stator outer diameter as the problem constraints. The optimisation is done by the response surface methodology combined with the modal analysis by the finite element method (FEM). The validity of the optimisation method is confirmed by FEM simulations and experimental tests at different speed regions. Moreover, the performances of the prototype and optimum motors are analysed by FEM and experimental tests to show that the stator parameters optimisation process does not cause any negative influences on the quality of the motor performance.


Recent surveys have demonstrated that Canadians value Canada's role as a peacekeeper and peacemaker in an international context. Additionally, research has demonstrated decreasing public support for Canada's involvement in military combat interventions in other parts of the world. However, awareness and understanding of nonviolent alternatives appear to be lacking. This survey examines Canadian public's awareness and understanding of unarmed civilian peacekeeping as an alternative to sending armed troops, and whether the public would support Canada in utilizing unarmed civilian peacekeepers (focusing on mediation, negotiation, relationship and peacebuilding activities) as part of its response to violent global conflicts. The results reveal that Canadians believe unarmed civilian peacekeeping would be more effective in tasks such as reducing human rights abuses, preventing further armed conflict and promoting lasting peace. Respondents also believe the practice would benefit Canada's reputation as a peacemaker and leader. This paper concludes with recommendations for proponents and advocates of the incorporation of unarmed civilian peacekeeping into the official policy of the Canadian government.


Chemotherapy is a cancer management with drugs. The complication that can be occurred is extravasation. The objective of this study was to analyze factors such as vein conditions, type of medications/chemotherapeutic agents, volume of chemotherapeutic agents, and their correlation with chemotherapy drugs extravasation incidences. This study used cross-sectional observational analytic design, with purposive sampling. The sample of this study was 70 cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy in hospitals. Inclusive criteria were patients with ages 18-65 in their first to fifth cycle of chemotherapy. The observation form was used as research instrument. The study showed that there were no correlation between vein conditions, type of medications/chemotherapeutic agents, and volume of chemotherapeutic agents with extravasation. Most veins were still in good condition while undergoing chemotherapy. The length of time for administering chemotherapy were mostly <24 hours, which contributed for reducing risk for extravasation, although the type of medication used were irritants and vesicants, and with drugs volume of 100–1000 milliliter. The incidences of extravasation that were immediately can be observed during chemotherapy occurred 7.14% of the time. It was possibly occurred by medical devices used, such as infusion pump that was facilitated the nurses in early anticipate drugs leakage outside the veins tissue. Nurses' roles also contributed to reduced extravasation risks. As conclusion, the results shown there were no correlation statistically; however there might be other contributing factors that need to be explored furthermore.


In the United States, Texas has one of the largest areas of land enrolled as well as expiring from the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), and most of these restored grasslands are in the Southern High Plains region. Crop market forces and agency reductions in the number of hectares that can reenroll in CRP have resulted in many farmers considering recultivating this land. Converting grasslands to conventionally tilled annual croplands could reverse the accumulated benefits afforded from perennial grasslands. Three soil profile depths (0 to 10, 0 to 30, and 0 to 50 cm) from three long-term (>23 years) CRP and three converted CRP (C-CRP) sites were assessed annually from 2012 to 2015 (representing one to five years following conversion). Soil health indicators related to soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamics were evaluated including soil organic C (SOC), total N (TN), particulate organic matter C and N (POM-C and POM-N), permanganate oxidizable C (POXC), microbial biomass C and N (MBC and MBN), in situ soil carbon dioxide (CO2) efflux, and metabolic quotient (qCO2). Redistribution of C following CRP conversion was detected in the MBC stock in 2012 with values higher in C-CRP than CRP at 0 to 30 cm and 0 to 50 cm profiles but not at 0 to 10 cm. The increase was short-lived with lower MBC in C-CRP than CRP in subsequent years. Most C and N stocks were lower in C-CRP compared to CRP across all depth profiles. The greatest losses of soil C and N stocks occurred at 0 to 10 cm, with the magnitude of loss varying by indicator and soil depth profile. Five years following conversion, SOC was reduced 2.7 Mg ha–1 at 0 to 10 cm, and averaged across all sample years, SOC was reduced by 4.3 Mg ha–1 at 0 to 50 cm. Drought stress was present from 2011 to 2014 and exerted an additional pressure to both systems, but the CRP system responded more positively to increased precipitation in 2014 and 2015. In CRP, the qCO2, an indicator of microbial stress, remained below 1.0 throughout the study, and MBC increased by 81% from 2012 to 2014, when drought stress was lessened. In contrast, MBC decreased and qCO2 doubled under C-CRP from 2012 to 2014. Overall, this study showed negative impacts on soil C and N stocks within five years after CRP to C-CRP conversion.


In A Pale View of Hills, Kazuo Ishiguro's first novel, the main character and narrator Etsuko remembers a summer in Japan after the Second World War. Migration and the possibility of rebuilding their lives in a different place become a matter of discussion in that period. The purpose of this article is to explore through textual analysis how the novel presents an experience of war in visual terms. Sight becomes the frame for war experience, and therefore the notion of ʻwitness' becomes central. The narrator takes a position between being a victim and being a witness, showing the difficulties of telling traumatic experiences such as war, the atomic bomb, and its consequences.


The present study was designed to evaluate the analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity of the aqueous extracts of Iraqi propolis(AEIP) in male mice, AEIP at the doses of 100,200 and 300mg/kg/orally. For the evaluation of analgesic activity hot plate and acetic acid were used, while for anti-inflammatory we using carrageenan to induce paw edema. The results exhibited significant p<0.001 and dose dependent activity compared with the control by increasing in reaction time to thermal stimuli and reduction in abdominal writhing induced by acetic acid, furthermore AEIP was significantly p<0.001 reduced paw edema induced by sub planter injection of carrageenan. In conclusion oral administration of AEIP showed that it has antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities .


Aimed for the problems of changeable demand for form in workflow management system based on web, a form designer based on Ajax was designed, which realized the function of custom form. A model of process promotion based on the form is devised, which put foward the method of integration of workflow and custom form, the scalability and flexibility of workflow management system are enhanced,and the requirements to flexibility of form definition are satisfied.


Ptolemy's theorem is suggested, giving a cyclic quadrilateral with one of its diagonals and also one of its sides of 20 units. This leads to an isosceles triangle, . . . , and by the time one has finished with this figure it is a cyclic hexagon with all sides and diagonals of integral lengths, and quite small integers, too. Meccano strips can be used with effect. Does anyone know of others like it? Puzzle makers should enjoy it. C. DUDLEY LANGFOED.


In order to contribute to the interpretation of radiobiological data obtained when thin samples of tissue are exposed to neutrons, the absorbed dose distribution as a function of LET has been calculated for monoenergetic neutrons with energies between 0.025eV and 10 MeV. From the results obtained the dose distribution for neutrons with a complex spectrum may be easily calculated.


Xray imaging is a well established technique of detecting strongly attenuating materials and has been applied to a number of inspection applications within the agricultural and food industries. However, there are still areas within these industries in which the technique has been underexploited. In particular there are many applications within the biological sciences where we wish to detect weakly attenuating materials against a similar background material. It is in this area that Xray inspection techniques need to be developed. This paper seeks to show how transmission imaging could be better exploited. In particular it is shown that the image contrast between softly attenuating materials can be enhanced by optimally selecting the Xray energy and improving the spatial resolution. The paper also presents full three dimensional reconstructions of samples obtained using computer tomography (CT) techniques and discusses the potential of these methods.


Purpose/Objectives: Historically, melanoma has been considered a relatively radioresistant tumor. Newer data have challenged this viewpoint, and radiation therapy (RT) is now considered to be useful for treating patients with malignant melanoma. Most importantly, it can provide effective palliation for the 40 to 50 percent of patients who develop unresectable locally recurrent or metastatic disease producing bone pain, epidural spinal cord compression, central nervous system dysfunction due to brain involvement, and/or tumor hemorrhage. RT has also been applied after complete excision of a primary melanoma or after therapeutic lymphadenectomy for regional nodal disease as adjuvant therapy to reduce the rate of local recurrence for certain types of melanoma. Melanoma is the most lethal form of skin cancer and incidences in the United States have steadily increased over the past 30 years. According to the American Cancer Society, melanoma accounts for only 3 percent of all skin cancers, but is responsible for nearly 74 percent of the deaths resulting from skin cancer. Prognosis is particularly poor for patients with metastasis as only 15 percent of this patient population survives for more than 5 years. Melanoma has been regarded as resistant to most treatments including radiation therapy. Melanoma has been poorly studied from the perspective of radiation biology and it is our intentions to elucidate key molecular mechanisms that can improve the benefit of radiotherapy in melanoma. Materials/Methods: In this study we set out to study genes that are commonly mutated in melanoma: BRAF, N-RAS, CKIT, TP53, PTEN, etc. These genes were sequenced in our panel of melanoma cell lines for determination of mutational status. We then stratified the cell lines based on their response to radiation as measured in a clonogenic survival and other functional assays. Established (ATCC) and primary (OSUMC patients) cell lines were used in this study. From the radioresistant melanoma cell lines we were able to isolate a small subpopulation of cells which exhibited the properties of stem cells and currently we are conducting further studies to completely characterize this sub population. Results/Conclusion: Melanoma has been poorly studied from the perspective of radiation biology and it is our intentions to elucidate key molecular mechanisms that can improve the benefit of radiotherapy in melanoma. It appears that BRAF intact cell lines are radiosensitive, whereas a mutation in at least one of the BRAF alleles at codon 600 leads to a radioresistant phenotype. We have adapted a pathway based targeting approach rather than the conventional gene based methods. We will present our preclinical studies on how genetic and molecular signatures in melanoma play a pivotal role in radiosensitizing melanoma and which subset of melanoma patients would derive the benefit from RT. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2504. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-2504


The storage unit 121 of the directory service device 12, the name information generated using a value corresponding to the decryption key, and the address information of the key cloud apparatus for providing a cloud key management type decoded service using the decryption key, the association store, the search unit 125 of the directory service device 12 searches the storage unit 121 by using the name information entered, obtain the address information corresponding to the name information entered.


A system of microring resonators (MRRs) is presented to generation entangled photon. Different time slot for continuous variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD) use is applicable in optical wireless link. Chaotic behavior of a soliton pulse within the device can be presented respect to the Kerr nonlinear type of light in the MRR devices. Continuous spatial and temporal signals are generated spreading over the spectrum. The CVQKD is formed using the localized spatial soliton pulse. Here localized temporal soliton with FWHM and FSR of 0.2 ps and 0.58 ns is obtained respectively. The spatial soliton pulse has a FWHM of 80 pm. Transmission of soliton pulse with FWHM of 1.5 ps is simulated along the long distance fiber optics where the polarized photons are formed incorporating with the polarization control unit into the MRRs, which allows different time slot entangled photons to be randomly formed.


A novel thickening equipment known as a wide neck thickener (WNT) was designed to solve the problem of depending only on gravity settlement of the thickener. The computational fluid dynamics method with the Reynolds stress and the volume of fluid models and the particle image velocimetry experimental method were both applied to investigate the pressure and velocity variation and turbulent characteristics of the WNT under different parameter settings. The results indicate that experiments and simulations are consistent. Under four parameter settings, the axial and tangential velocities decrease to the minimum and then increase from the wall to the center. Under different feed velocity, cone angle, and spigot diameter settings, turbulent kinetic energy k and intensity I decrease from the cylinder to the cone and from the wall to the center; the max k and I correspond to the area near the inlet followed by the cylinder, and k and I in the cone are the smallest. When the classification overflow outlet (COO) diameter is 200 mm, k and I increase rapidly, the max k and I are transferred from near the inlet to near the cylinder wall at the COO, and the k and I near the wall decrease significantly.


[1] Specific catchment area, defined as the area of land upslope of a width of contour, divided by the contour width, is a commonly used quantity in hydrology to describe complex terrain for analyzing water flow on hill slopes; it can be a surrogate for water discharge per unit flow width. Although specific catchment area is important in hydrological, ecological, and geological studies, it can be difficult to estimate. Gallant and Hutchinson provide a simple differential equation that describes the rate of change of specific catchment area along a flow path. The equation can be directly integrated to calculate specific catchment area at any point on a digital elevation model. The method avoids use of catchment area and width estimates, which have errors. Although the method is more computationally intense than most methods for calculating specific catchment area, it can be used as a reference against which other methods can be tested. (Water Resources Research, doi:10.1029/2009WR008540, 2011)


Changes in the concepts of psychiatric care have led to a relaxation of the strict division of care into out-patient and inpatient care. The complex care of patients, the demand for more diagnosis-specific care of good quality require more multifarious kinds of care. Concerning patients which are not in need of the comprehensive care performances necessary to bedridden patients for other specialized fields. As can be seen from literature, this kind of care has not yet taken its due place in practice despite good experience over a period of more than 50 years. This would require unisonous views of semi-in-patient care, its documentation and mode of accounting up to issues of social insurance.


OBJECTIVE
The family meal is an integral component of Maudsley family-based treatment for anorexia nervosa. The aim of this study was to determine whether there are different types of family meal, as suggested in the treatment manual, and whether within session processes differ according to meal type.

METHOD
Thirty video-recorded family meal sessions from a randomised controlled trial were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis.

RESULTS
Analyses revealed two types of family meal. In the first, the patient ate one mouthful more than they were willing to eat. This meal type was characterised by processes that were consistent with the Maudsley model. In the second, the patient ate what was asked of them with little to no difficulty. Therapist and family avoidance differentiated this meal type from the first.

DISCUSSION
The current findings, along with the existing theory, suggest that avoidance may have reduced the therapeutic impact of the meal for many families. Strategies to challenge therapist and family avoidance are suggested. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.


One of the difficult tasks of linguistic geography is the clear delimitation of dialectal borders in a multi-dialectal and multi-lingual environment. Western Iran is exactly such a region, hosting a number of Iranian and non-Iranian dialects: Kurdish, Avromani, Gurani, Laki, Kalhori, Luri, Azari Turkish, etc. The demographic situation is rather complicated here as well: along with the localities that are inhabited by a single ethnic group, there are many townships and rural settlements having mixed populations of different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds. In addition, the indiscriminate use of the ethnonym Kurd , applied as a common label to almost all Iranian-speakers of the area, except for, of course, Persians. This paper tries to identify the area populated by the Avromans in the abovementioned region, with possibly accurate statistical data on the number of inhabitants, obtained through the author's personal efforts during several fieldwork periods. This is a part of a larger project on Gurani dialects, including Avromani.


3236 Multidrug resistance (MDR) in cancers is a significant impediment for successful cancer treatment. Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) is an established cancer adjuvant treatment based on a photosensitizer absorbing light energy to generate reactive oxygen species leading to cellular destruction of cancer cells. As there is a significant worldwide increasing in gynecological cancer cases, we therefore employed a MDR (MES-SA-DOX) human uterine sarcoma cell line and its counterpart, the wild type (MES-SA) to study the efficacy of ALA-hexylester-PDT on this in vitro model. In this study, the cellular uptake and the efficacy of ALA-hexylester-PDT on these two cell lines were compared by flow cytometry and MTT assay. Also, the signal transduction events were elucidated in response to ALA-hexylester-PDT especially in MDR uterine sarcoma cancer cells. The results showed that in order to achieve a lethal dose of 80 (LD 80 ) in the MDR cells, a two-fold of light dose (4 J/cm ² ) was required with 50μM ALA-hexylester when compared with the wild-type (2 J/cm ² ). At LD 30 , ALA-hexylester-PDT significantly provoked an up-regulation of the phosphorylated p38 mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPK) and c-Jun NH 2 -terminal kinase (JNK) proteins in both cell lines from 1 to 8 hours post-PDT. The protein phosphorylation was quantitated by a cell-based Cellular Activation of Signaling ELISA (CASE TM ) assay (SuperArray). Further, the downstream apoptotic cell death mediated by ALA-hexylester-PDT was confirmed by DAPI staining. At LD 50 , a 50 % and 30 % of apoptotic cells were achieved for wild-type and MDR cells respectively at 4 hours post-PDT. A higher PDT dose was crucial to induce apoptotic cell death in the MDR cells in contrast with the wild type cells. Our study provides the first evidence supporting the role of p38 MAPK and JNK kinases triggering ALA-hexylester-PDT-induced apoptosis in both wild-type and MDR human uterine sarcoma cells. In vivo studies of ALA-hexylester-PDT in this MDR cancer model are worthy warranted to examine for the benefit of further clinical applications. This study was supported by the Competitive Earmarked Research Grant (CERG) [PolyU.5404/04M] from Hong Kong Research Grant Council.


We propose an extended Nambu—Jona-Lasinio model to include heavy mesons with heavy quark symmetry. The quark current—current interaction is generalized to include the heavy quark currents. In order to comply with the heavy quark spin symmetry at the heavy quark limit, the dependence of the quark mass on the interaction strength is introduced. The light and heavy pseudo-scalar and vector mesons, their masses and the weak decay constants are calculated in the unified frame.


Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a severe and traumatic disorder that ultimately results in the loss of motor, sensory, and autonomic nervous function. After SCI, local immune inflammatory response persists and does not weaken or disappear. The interference of local adverse immune factors after SCI brings great challenges to the repair of SCI. Among them, microglia, macrophages, neutrophils, lymphocytes, astrocytes, and the release of various cytokines, as well as the destruction of the extracellular matrix are mainly involved in the imbalance of the immune microenvironment. Studies have shown that immune remodeling after SCI significantly affects the survival and differentiation of stem cells after transplantation and the prognosis of SCI. Recently, immunological reconstruction strategies based on biomaterials have been widely explored and achieved good results. In this review, we discuss the important factors leading to immune dysfunction after SCI, such as immune cells, cytokines, and the destruction of the extracellular matrix. Additionally, the immunomodulatory strategies based on biomaterials are summarized, and the clinical application prospects of these immune reconstructs are evaluated.


We construct efficient and accurate numerical algorithms for pricing discretely monitored barrier and Bermudan style options under time-changed Levy processes by applying the fast Hilbert transform method to the log-asset return dimension and quadrature rule to the dimension of log-activity rate of stochastic time change. Some popular stochastic volatility models, like the Heston model, can be nested in the class of time-changed Levy processes. The computational advantages of the fast Hilbert transform approach over the usual fast Fourier transform method, like exponential decay of errors in terms of the step size in the transform and avoidance of recovering option prices at the monitoring time instants, can be extended to pricing barrier style options under time-changed Levy processes. We manage to compute the fair value of a dividend-ruin model with both embedded reflecting (dividend) barrier and absorbing (ruined) barrier. We also consider pricing of Bermudan options in conjunction with the determination of the associated critical asset prices. Our numerical tests demonstrate high level of accuracy, efficiency and reliability of the fast Hilbert transform approach when compared to other numerical schemes in the literature.


Historically, 810nm has been the predominant wavelength used for intraoral surgery, when diode lasers have been discussed, due to their large numbers in the market place. The techniques used intraorally with the 810nm diode have been relatively similar in most cases. Low powers, 1 or 2 watts, using continuous wave, are employed. The purpose of this study is to compare the thermal damage of the technique of using continuous wave at low powers, to using higher powers with a pulse mode and water for coolant, with the 980nm diode wavelength. During the study the laser fiber was held immobile eliminating surgical manipulation as an error. The resultant histology proves, while the volume of vaporization dramatically increases, thus giving the clinician the ability to reduce the time for destructive conduction of excess heat for a given procedure, the amount of coagulation actually decreases in width and depth. As an added benefit charring, which has been implicated in delayed healing is virtually eliminated. This evidence, coupled with excellent clinical results, lends validity to the use of pulsed higher powers and water coolant for the 980nm diode laser.


Actuality. Three-dimensional (3D) printing (Construction 3D printing (c3Dp), 3D Construction Printing (3DCP), additive manufacturing) is an advanced manufacturing process that can produce construction component or buildings automatically from a 3D computer-aided design model [1]. To use 3D printing technology in construction, it is necessary to develop or improve mechanical equipment for 3D printing, development of mixtures and technological parameters of mortars, development of methods for controlling the physical and mechanical properties of materials, development of constructions of buildings and structures made by 3D printing. The purpose. The main objective of the presented research is to develop scientific bases and to create innovative architectural, structural and technological system of construction by 3D printing method of construction objects. Methodology. Engineering design has been applied to develop the mechanical equipment and structures made by 3D printing, laboratory study has been realized for development of mixtures and technological parameters of mortars, methods for controlling the physical and mechanical properties of materials. Finding. Theoretical and experimental studies were carried out at the SHEI PSACEA (Dnipro, Ukraine). Mechanical equipment for 3D printing was improved during the research. The developments were protected by patents of Ukraine. In the technological part of the research, compositions of mixtures with accelerating curing were developed. Concrete quality control methods were substantiated. The structural elements of buildings that are erected by 3D printing method are proposed and investigated. The results of the research were put into practice in construction. Scientific novelty and practical value. The results obtained are a significant contribution to the theory of technological innovation development, which make it possible to improve the efficiency of construction production while reducing the consumption of material and energy resources. Vitruvius et al, Title of the paper... 7 November 2019, Bratislava, Slovakia


Background: Over the last few years fungal infection rates have increased and a change is seen in their epidemiology and antifungal susceptibility pattern. Hence this study was conducted to learn the distribution of Candida species in various samples and their antifungal susceptibility pattern. Material and Methods: A total of 60 Candida isolates were included in the study. Identification was done by colony morphology and Gram stain. Speciation was carried out by Germ-tube test, urease test, chlamydoconidia production test, colony characteristics on chromogenic agar medium, sugar assimilation test,sugar fermentation testand Vitek2 compact(Biomeriux, France) using ID-YST cards. Antifungal testing was done on Vitek2 compact using AST YS01 cards which included fluconazole, voriconazole, amphotericin b, caspofungin, micafungin and flucytosine. Results: 60 Candida isolates were included in this study. Samples from which Candida species were isolated were sputum (45%), urine (33.5%), pus (12%), vaginal swab (5%), endotracheal secretion (1.5%), blood (1.5%) and tissue (1.5%). Isolates from males and females were 30% and 70% respectively. Isolates from geriatric age group (>65 years) and adults (18-65 years) were 52% and 48% respectively. Isolates from samples received from IPD, OPD and ICU were 58%, 34% and 8% respectively. Out of all isolates, Candida albicans was 58%, Candida tropicalis 20%, Candida glabrata 10%, Candida parapsilosis 9% and Candida krusei 3%. All Candida species (except Candidaglabrata ) showed 100% sensitivity to amphotericin b and caspofungin. Sensitivity to azole group of drugs was 100% among NAC except C. glabrata and C. krusei and more than 90% among C. albicans . Conclusion: Candida albicans was the commonest isolate followed by C. tropicalis among the NAC . Overall also, C. Albicans were predominant as compared to Non albicans Candida ( NAC) species . All Candidaisolates except ( C. glabrata ) showed good sensitivity to all antifungals.


It is known that Efron's nonparametric bootstrap of the mean of random variables with common distribution in the domain of attraction of the stable laws is not consistent, in the sense that the limiting distribution of the bootstrap mean is not the same as the limiting distribution of the mean from the real sample. Moreover, the limiting distribution of the bootstrap mean is random and unknown. The remedy for this problem, at least asymptotically, is either the m out of n or the subsampling bootstrap. However, we show that the both these bootstraps can be quite unreliable if the sample is not very large. A refined bootstrap is derived by considering the distribution of the bootstrap P value instead of that of the bootstrap statistic. The quality of inference based on the refined bootstrap is examined in a simulation study, and is found to be satisfactory with heavy-tailed distributions unless the tail index is close to 1 and the distribution is heavily skewed.


In 16 patients who had pulmonary edema as a complication of heroin overdose, clinical manifestations varied from a total lack of symptoms to marked dyspnea and hypotension. Two of these patients died. Because of severe respiratory depression, 12 patients received nalorphine hydrochloride intravenously, and 7 required emergency endotracheal intubation. Fourteen patients were treated with oxygen given under intermittent positive pressure, usually with a good clinical response. Antibiotics were used to combat the pneumonia which often complicated this disorder; the role of digitalis, diuretics, and corticosteroids in its therapy is conjectural. The pathogenesis of heroin pulmonary edema is unclear, but hypoxia may be an important factor. Since pulmonary edema may be a late complication of heroin intoxication, all patients suspected of acute heroin overdose, even if they respond rapidly and well to narcotic antagonists, should be observed for at least 24 hours in the hospital.


The EU has historically been portrayed as a distinctive international actor both in terms of the norms and values it exports in context of its international relations and the manner in which it seeks to influence others. However, such claims to the EU's distinctiveness are increasingly being questioned. This article joins this chorus of voices arguing the non-distinctiveness of the EU's foreign policy power by focusing on a specific feature of the EU's external trade policy, the role of World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement in the EU's attempts to promote its interests, values and norms.


We fabricated bulk GdBa2Cu3O7-? (Gd123) superconductors with additions of Gd2BaCuO5 (Gd211) and Gd2Ba4CuMoOx (Gd2411). We analyzed the relation between the addition amounts of Gd211/Gd2411 particles and critical current Jc. We found Gd2411/Gd211 particles formed a band structure which resulted in the inhomogeneous distribution of Jc in the Gd123 bulks. Gd2411 particles can stably exist in the vicinity of the seed site compared to Gd211 that is easy pushed out to edge area of single domain. This enhanced the critical current Jc in the vicinity area of bulks.


A simplified model of Darwinian evolution at the molecular level is studied by applying the methods of artificial chemistry. A chemical reactor (chemostat) contains molecules that are represented by binary strings, the strings being capable of replication with a probability proportional to their fitness. Moreover, the process of replication is not fully precise, sporadic mutations may produce new offspring strings, which are slightly different from their parent templates. The dynamics of such an autoreplicating system is described by Eigen's differential equations. These equations have a unique asymptotically stable state, which corresponds to those strings that have the highest rate constants (fitness). Fitness of binary string is calculated as a graph-theory similarity between a folding (phenotype) of respective string and the so-called required folding. The presented method offers a detailed view of mechanisms of the molecular Darwinian evolution, in particular of the meaning and importance of neutral mutations.


Scattering from dielectric one-dimensional (1-D) random rough surfaces at near grazing incidence is studied for both TE and TM cases. To obtain accurate results at incidence angles of 80/spl deg/-85/spl deg/, we use long surface lengths of up to 1000 wavelengths. Numerical results are illustrated for dielectric surfaces corresponding to soil surfaces with various moisture contents. Results indicate that TM backscattering is much larger than that of TE backscattering. The ratio of TM to TE backscattering increases as a function of soil moisture and can be used as an indicator of soil moisture in remote sensing applications. However, the ratio of TM to TE backscattering is much lower than that predicted by the small perturbation method. To facilitate computation of scattering by such long surfaces, the previously developed banded-matrix iteration approach/canonical grid method (BMIA/CG) has been extended to dielectric surfaces. The numerical algorithm consists of translating the nonnear-field interaction to a flat surface and the interaction subsequently calculated by fast Fourier transform (FFT).


Although meaning is at the core of human cognition, state-of-the-art distributional semantic models (DSMs) are often agnostic to the findings in the area of semantic cognition. In this work, we present a novel type of DSMs motivated by the dual-processing cognitive perspective that is triggered by lexico-semantic activations in the short-term human memory. The proposed model is shown to perform better than state-of-the-art models for computing semantic similarity between words. The fusion of different types of DSMs is also investigated achieving results that are comparable or better than the state-of-the-art. The used corpora along with a set of tools, as well as large repositories of vectorial word representations are made publicly available for four languages (English, German, Italian, and Greek).


SnSb has attracted a great attention in recent investigations as an anode material for Li ion batteries. The formation energies and electronic properties of the Li intercalations in SnSb have been calculated within the framework of local density functional theory and the first-principles pseudopotential technique. The changes of volumes, band structures, charge density analysis and the electronic density of states for the Li intercalations are presented. The results show that the average Li intercalation formation energy per Li atom is around 2.7 eV.


Objective: To find the incidence of intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) induction and factors associated with its insertion in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Methods: This retrospective observational non interventional study was conducted at Cardiac Surgery Department, North West General Hospital and Research Center, Peshawar from December 2018 to March 2020. The total sample size was 360 patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). The research was piloted in the cardiac operation theatre then cardiac intensive care unit (CICU) of Northwest General Hospital and Research center Hayatabad Peshawar. Data was collected from 360 patients scheduled for CABG. Total numbers of patients in whom IABP was inserted and factors associated with IABP insertions were noted. All the information was collected on a specifically prepared Form. Data was entered and evaluated in statistical package for social sciences form 25. Results: In this study, a total of 360 patients were observed who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). We determined the frequency of IABP induction and the factors related to it. Gender distribution among patients who were assisted with IABP was 43% female and 57% male. IABP induction was done for most of moderately to severely reduced ejection fraction patients. Other factors related to patients who required IABP support were previous myocardial infarction 100%, hypertension 86%, diabetes mellitus 64%, coronary end-arterectomy 21% and smoking 7%. The results were analyzed. We have used the (SPSS) version 25 and Chi-square test for analysis in which the P-value less than 0.00001 is statistically significant. Conclusion: Incidence of insertion of IABP among CABG population was 3.9% in our hospital. It is an essential support to post CABG patient with left ventricular dysfunction after cardiopulmonary bypass with moderate to severely reduced ejection fraction, Myocardial infarction, hypertension, diabetes mellitus. Smoking and endarterectomy were not significantly related to IABP induction in our study. Multicenter study is still required to find out the other factors governing the IABP insertion.


In this study, the possibility of applying the enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) process for Algiers dairy wastewater which can have phosphorus contents up to 130 mg/L was examined. EBPR is conventionally performed by an anaerobic-aerobic process. The objectives of this work were to determine an optimal hydraulic retention time (HRT) in aerobic conditions and to study the effect of short chain fatty acids (SCFA) (acetic and propionic acids) addition on the phosphorus release in anaerobic conditions. The tests were performed in a batch reactor operating with an aerobic/anaerobic sequence of phases. Batch tests have been carried out at 3 HRTs in aerobic conditions (1, 2 and 3 h) while the anaerobic retention time was fixed at 4 h, to examine the effect of stress related to changes of aerobic HRT. Main results show that the most favorable aerobic retention time was found to be 2 h. The amount of P released in anaerobic phase increases from 2.25 to 2.48 mgP/gVSS with increasing aerobic HRT from 1 to 2 h and decreases to 1.28 mgP/g VSS for a time of 3 h using acetic acid. Similarly, this amount increases from 1.62 to 4.38 mgP/gVSS for 1 to 2 h and decreases to 1.41 mgP/gVSS for a time of 3 h using propionic acid. The initial release rate was directly proportional to the amount of added substrate. Propionate may be a more effective carbon source for biological phosphorus removal than acetate. Based on the results presented herein, we can confirm the possibility of phosphorus removal from dairy wastewater in the aerobic-anaerobic biological process. Keywords: Dairy wastewater, biological phosphorus removal, aerobic, anaerobic, release, acetic acid, propionic acid


Chatbots have become increasingly popular in the last years among both businesses and consumers. These conversational agents typically use natural language understanding technologies for reformulating questions as queries to a knowledge base and answer the user according to the resulting information. This demo paper proposes a general software architecture for chatbots that can be employed for exploring largescale knowledge graphs of scholarly data. It also introduces AIDA-Bot, a working prototype that implements this architecture and can answer queries about scientific publications, research topics, researchers, universities, and conferences. In order to show the flexibility of the proposed solution, we implemented two versions of AIDA-Bot which can run, respectively, on Alexa devices and web browsers.


This paper takes note of the major influences of room acoustic effects on the fundamental frequency F0 of speech and its determination. A detailed description of room acoustic measures and effects is given. As a conclusion of those the dependency of the speaker to microphone distance (SMD) is to be studied combined with the reverberation time T60. Evaluation experiments aiming to find dependencies of the room acoustic effects are accomplished. In contrast to most of the studies which deal with reverberation, this paper proves that T60 cannot be the only measure to describe the behavior of systems in reverberant environments. Experiments studying the dependency on the SMD are new contributions within this paper. The experiments are an extension of the previous studies on the dependency on artificial reverberation, where twelve F0 estimation methods are compared. Here, two further methods are added and the systematic use of real measured room impulse responses (RIR) is applied. Apart from the SMD dependency other main contributions are the experiments of different disturbing effects on high and low F0. The results show male F0 estimation is significantly more sensitive to reverberation than female.


The robotic liver resection (RLR) has been increasingly applied in recent years and its benefits shown in some aspects owing to the technical advancement of robotic surgical system, however, controversies still exist. Based on the foundation of the previous consensus statement, this new consensus document aimed to update clinical recommendations and provide guidance to improve the outcomes of RLR clinical practice. The guideline steering group and guideline expert group were formed by 29 international experts of liver surgery and evidence-based medicine (EBM). Relevant literature was reviewed and analyzed by the evidence evaluation group. According to the WHO Handbook for Guideline Development, the Guidance Principles of Development and Amendment of the Guidelines for Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment in China 2022, a total of 14 recommendations were generated. Among them were 8 recommendations formulated by the GRADE method, and the remaining 6 recommendations were formulated based on literature review and experts' opinion due to insufficient EBM results. This international experts consensus guideline offered guidance for the safe and effective clinical practice and the research direction of RLR in future.


This meta-analysis synthesized over 40 years of research (k = 42 studies) in the social studies for students with learning disabilities. We analyzed the various mechanisms that researchers have used to improve outcomes in the social studies by conducting a subgroup investigation of interventions targeting the following instructional categories: (a) content acquisition, (b) general literacy in social studies, (c) alternative or digitized text, and (d) historical reasoning. The subgroup meta-analyses resulted in considerable variability across study and intervention components. Meta-analysis robust variance estimation procedures were used to aggregate standardized mean difference effect sizes of treatment and comparison groups. Implications for future research and suggestions for classroom instruction are provided.