The coupled inhomogeneous Schrödinger equations with a wide range of applications describing a field of pluses with the right and the left polarizations that take into account cross-phase modulations, stimulated Ramani scattering, and absorption effects are investigated. A combination of several different approaches is used in a novel way to obtain the explicit expressions for the rogue-pair and dark-bright-rogue waves. We study the dynamics of these structurally stable rogues and analyze the effects of a parameter that controls the region of stability that intrinsically connects the cross-phase modulation and other Kerr nonlinearity factors. The effects of the right and left polarizations on the shape of the rogue-pair and other solitary rogue waves are graphically analyzed. These rogue-pair waves are studied on periodic and non-periodic settings. We observe that rogue-pair wave from the right and left polarizations has a similar structure while the dark-bright-rogue waves have quite different intensity profiles.


Increased awareness and concern about climate change has made the topic a priority the political agendas worldwide, and the necessity of international action has been recognized. Both national and international goals have been established in order to reduce the anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. An expected increase in personal mobility, however, makes it difficult for the transport sector to achieve reductions in GHG emissions. In connection with the goal of reducing GHG emissions from the transport sector, the substitution of internal combustion engine vehicles by electric and hybrid electric vehicles has gained much attention due to their reduced tailpipe emissions. Although critics point to the additional environmental impacts associated with batteries, there is limited knowledge of the impacts associated with traction batteries. Thus far, only a small number of studies have been carried out to quantify these impacts. Unfortunately, there is high uncertainty associated with these previous studies, and the results and conclusions of these studies vary widely. With higher certainty than proceeding studies, our study will determine the environmental impacts associated with the production and use of lithium-ion traction batteries for electrical vehicles. This will be accomplished by the application of the method referred to as life cycle assessment (LCA). To this end, two battery inventories, representing different versions of the same battery model, are compiled. The data for these inventories are heavily based on industry data, but has also been supplemented with literature data. Due to the involvement and cooperation of these major industry players, these inventories have higher resolution and certainty than the former studies. Conducted in addition to the conventional LCA method, structural path analysis has allowed for the identification of the most emission-intensive processes and components, and their value chains. Our study shows that the newer battery offers lower environmental loads in all impact categories investigated. The manufacture of the battery cells, the positive electrode paste, and the negative current collector contribute the most to these environmental impacts. The production phase climate change potential impacts reported in our study are higher than those in previous studies. This is primarily due to high energy requirements for the production of the batteries. Our study shows that both the production phase and the use phase impacts of the batteries are greatly influenced by the electricity mix consumed. This makes Norway a well-suited location for both production and use of electrical vehicle batteries. In the light of the high climate change impacts reported in our study, the policies pertaining to electrical vehicles should be reassessed. At the same time, our findings show research and development in the battery industry can yield large environmental impact reductions. Our study has a comprehensive system, and the reported results have high certainty. The findings of our study provide much needed knowledge to the scientific literature on environmental impacts associated with traction batteries.


Gaussian process (GP) models have become popular for approximating and exploring non-linear systems based on scarce input/output training samples and on prior hypotheses implicitly done through prior mean and covariance functions. While it is common to make stationarity assumptions and use variance-based criteria for space exploration, in realistic test cases it is not rare that systems under study exhibit an heterogeneous behaviour depending on considered regions of the parameter space. With a class of problems in mind where high variations occur along unknown non-canonical directions, we tackle the problem of uncovering and accommodating non-stationarity in function approximation from two angles: first via a novel class of covariances (called WaMI-GP) that simultaneously generalizes kernels of Multiple Index and of tensorized warped GP models and second, by introducing derivative-based sampling criteria dedicated to the exploration of high variation regions. The novel GP class is investigated both through mathematical analysis and numerical experiments, and it is shown that proposed kernels allow encoding much expressiveness while remaining with a moderate number of parameters to be inferred. On the other hand, and independently of non-stationarity assumptions, we conduct (semi-)analytically derivations for our new variance-based infill sampling criteria relying on a change of focus from the GP to the norm of its associated gradient field. Criteria and GP models are first compared on a mechanical test case taken from nuclear safety studies conducted by IRSN. It is found on this application that some of the proposed sampling criteria including derivatives outperform usual variance-based criteria in the case of a stationary GP model, but that it is even better to use standard variance-based criteria with the proposed novel class of covariances. Comparisons are also done with the Treed Gaussian Processes (TGP) both on this application and on a three-dimensional NASA test case. In the IRSN application, WaMI-GP dominates TGP in static and sequential settings. In the NASA application, while TGP clearly dominates in the static case, for small initial designs it is outperformed by WaMI-GP in the sequential set up.


Tourism is a fruitful field for the application of customer satisfaction models originally drawn up for other areas, especially as far as consumer goods are concerned. However, the outcomes of research projects in tourism are still too often unconsidered in decision making process. This paper is intended to mark that the difficulties we meet in quantitative customer satisfaction research are due above all to the lack of consideration to the structural characteristics belonging to tourism. Quantitative research techniques are certainly useful for different other aims, but an in-depth knowledge of satisfaction requires also implementing qualitative research techniques. Among these, the set of experience-based qualitative research seems to fit effectually the specific context of tourism.


This paper introduces a novel approach to achieve high scalability and availability in a server environment based on operating system level virtual machine (VM). The main idea of this approach is using VM technology and maximum amount and most available service capacity finding (MA2SCF) algorithm designed by us to achieve service capacity sharing (SCS) for overloading relaxation and fault management in a server environment. And we have implemented a prototype system including two software components VMMaster and VMAgent to interact with the server environment and VMs, and to automatically manage the SCS process. The current implementation has been tested in Linux virtual server environment (LVS) and the approach itself can be applied to a more general server environment, and even a distributed or grid environment which are our ongoing work. The experiment we present in this paper proves the feasibility and effectiveness of our approach


Purpose: Metabolism of the immediate principles is altered in cancer patients, resulting in an altered serum concentration of amino acids. The aim of this study was to find specific serum amino acid profiles in patients with cancer of the lung or head and neck. Material and methods: We analyzed the baseline serum levels of 27 amino acids in 51 patients with cancer of the lung or head and neck with no metabolic alterations or other concomitant disorders and compared the results with a control group. Results: Compared with the control group, patients with head cancer had significant differences in cysteine, aspartic acid, 3-methyl histidine, alanine, glycine, lysine, methionine, proline, serine, taurine, tyrosine, and threonine; and patients with lung cancer in cysteine, aspartic acid, 3-methyl histidine, histidine, citrulline, ornithine, alanine, glycine, lysine, methionine, proline, serine, taurine, tyrosine, and threonine. Conclusions: Variation in serum levels of certain amino acids in head and neck cancer and lung cancer is probably caused by interaction of the neoplasm with the protein metabolism. Each type of tumor has a certain specificity in the serum amino acid profile that may be useful in the diagnosis of these tumors.


Background
Fabry disease (FD) is a rare lysosomal storage disease, caused by mutations in the gene encoding the enzyme α-galactosidase A (α-Gal A). Cardiac involvement is one of the main causes of death and it is characterized by progressive concentric left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), which in most cases is symmetric. Mild thickening of the left-sided valves is seen in as many as a quarter of patients. Severe aortic stenosis is an extremely rare disorder in FD.

Case summary
In this report, we describe the case of a 57-year-old male, who was diagnosed with a cardiac variant of FD 10 years ago. Since the patient had severe LVH, he was started on enzyme replacement therapy when he was 47 years old with an intravenous infusion of 0.2 mg/kg of agalsidase alpha every 14 days. The patient remained stable and asymptomatic for 9 years, until he presented with dyspnoea in New York Heart Association functional class II-III and severe aortic stenosis (aortic valve area: 0.97 cm2) together with severe systolic dysfunction [ejection fraction (EF): 29%]. Because of the patient's comorbidities and high surgical risk, he underwent successful transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). At 2 months following TAVI, the patient was asymptomatic and, in spite of his Fabry cardiomyopathy, the EF had increased to 45%.

Discussion
To our knowledge, this is the first case in the literature to demonstrate a rapid progression of aortic stenosis with severe impairment of left ventricular function and worsening in functional class in a patient with FD, who following TAVI improved his EF, with disappearance of symptoms and ventricular arrhythmias.


This article discusses outpatient withdrawal strategies for patients addicted to alcohol, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, and opiates and describes some practical ways to support recovery.


ABSTRACT Aisyah Meylinda Puspitasari, 2016, The Analysis of Code Switching in the Movie Entitled "The java heat" (A Sociolinguistics approach). Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta. The research focuses on the codes that are employed by the characters in the movie entitled "The Java Heat". The research was conducted to find the types of code switching which are employed in the movie and the functions of the switching. The researcher employs a qualitative method to describe the classifications and the functions of the switching. This research uses sociolinguistics approach and purposive sampling technique. The source of data is the movie entitled the Java Heat and the data is taken from the dialogues in the movie. Bloom &Gumperz (1972) classifies the types of code switching based on contextual/ pragmatic approach. They are situational code switching and metaphorical code switching. The data shows only situational code switching that appears in the movie. It means that all of the switching happens because of the change of situations. There are some situations that influence the code switching such as changing of participants, changing of setting, changing of atmosphere, and changing of norm of situations. Moreover, Poplack (1980) classifies the types of code switching based on grammatical approach. They are tag switching, inter sentential code switching, and intra sentential code switching. The finding shows that there is no intra sentential code switching. The analysis shows that there is no metaphorical code switching and intra sentential code switching involved in the dialogue, which both of refer to code mixing.It proves that there is no code mixing that appears in the data. There are 6 functions found in the data which are based on the analysis. They are: talking about particular topics, interjection, repetition used for clarification, intention of clarifying, expressing group identity, and addressee. The researcher concludes that the main function of the switching is to show the ethnicity and the intimacy between the speakers. Keywords: Code Switching, Code Mixing, Movie, The java Heat


This paper presents the design and development of miniature coils for wireless power and data transfer through metal. Our coil has a total size of 15 mm × 13 mm × 6 mm. Experimental results demonstrate that we can harvest 440 mW through a 1 mm-thick aluminum plate. Aluminum and stainless-steel barriers of different thicknesses were used to characterize coil performance. Using a pair of the designed coils, we have developed a through-metal communication system to successfully transfer data through a 1 mm-thick aluminum plate. A maximum data rate of 100 bps was achieved using only harvested power. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report that demonstrates power and data transfer through aluminum using miniature coils.


Effectiveness of the undertakings depends on number of factors. One of the significant elements is accountant and tax administration. This factor is regulated by tax and accountant legislation. This article survey an impact of the tax reform on entrepreneurial activity. The real incidence of the tax reform is not unambiguously positive for enterprise. For example the rates for income taxes are going down but tax base is extended and indirect taxation is rising.


This research was conducted in Sumber Agung Village, Mepanga District, Parigi Moutong Regency with the aim of examining the role of single parent mothers in developing interpersonal communication for their teenage children. This study uses qualitative methods, namely by using data collection techniques through direct observation of the object to be studied, interviews (interviews), and documentation by looking at the final results. The data analysis technique that the author uses is data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. Based on the results of this study, it was shown that (1) the role of single parent mothers in developing adolescent interpersonal communication in Sumber Agung Village, Kec. Mepanga Kab. Parigi Moutong is already good but still not effective in educating and dividing time in supervising their children. (2) The obstacles commonly faced by single parents are being busy at work because being a Single Parent must be able to play a dual role in working to meet family needs, emotions are not stable sometimes children Teenagers are still emotionally unstable, busy with their world and the environment is not good, making it a little difficult for Single Parent mothers to deal with their teenage children.


BACKGROUND
Fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) in children is associated with high mortality under medical management. Living-related liver transplantation (LRLT) is an accepted measure to treat the children with end-stage liver disease. Reversibility of hepatic encephalopathy is crucial for the quality of life among the survivors after transplantation.

METHODS
A retrospective review was made of the records of children undergoing LRLT at this hospital between May 1992 and November 1996.

RESULTS
Eleven children with FHF underwent emergency LRLT. The mean age was 5 years (range, 2 months to 15 years). The indication for transplantation was persistent or worsening hepatic encephalopathy and severe coagulopathy, despite repeated plasma exchanges or exchange transfusions. The cause of FHF was non-A, non-B hepatitis in seven children, hepatitis B in two children, herpes simplex virus hepatitis in one child, and fulminant Wilson's disease with intravascular hemolysis in one child. The grade of hepatic encephalopathy was II in four children, III in two, and IV in five. The actuarial survival rate was 73% after a mean follow-up of 28 months (range, 13-67 months). Short-term neurological morbidity was present in two children with grade IV encephalopathy who also showed brain edema on cranial computed tomography. Eight survivors exhibited no long-term neurological deficit; the mean intelligence or developmental quotient was 97 (range, 86-110) at the end of the follow-up period.

CONCLUSIONS
LRLT is an effective option for the treatment of FHF in children. The long-term neurological status is satisfactory among survivors.


WWP1 (WW domain-containing E3 ubiquitin protein ligase 1), which is frequently up-regulated in multiple human malignancies, has been demonstrated to play a critical function in cell proliferation, apoptosis and invasion. However, limited knowledge is known about the expression pattern and prognostic value of WWP1 in colorectal cancer (CRC). In this study, we firstly observed that WWP1 mRNA and protein is commonly up-regulated in CRC tissues compared with normal counterparts. Furthermore, by immunohistochemical analysis in 348 cases of CRC specimens, we demonstrated that the WWP1 protein expression is up-regulated in 58.91% (205/348) samples and detected increasing WWP1 expression is closely correlated with enhanced tumor size (P=0.022), CEA level (P=0.021), T classification (P=0.010), distant metastasis (P=0.021) and TNM stage (P=0.005). Meanwhile, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed CRC patients with a high WWP1 expression have a poorer overall survival (P<0.001) and disease-free survival (P=0.001) than those with a low WWP1 expression. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed WWP1 is the independent prognostic factors for overall survival rate of CRC patients. What's more, by CCK-8 assays and Transwell assays, we found WWP1 depletion markedly inhibited tumor proliferation and invasion in CRC cells, and cells with WWP1 overexpression had a prominently higher proliferative and invasive capacity. Most notably, we illuminated WWP1 downregulation inactivated PTEN/Akt pathway in CRC cells. Taken together, our studies revealed the prognostic value of WWP1 in CRC and support that WWP1 may act as a molecular target for CRC treatment.


In his greatest work, The Waste Land, T. S. Eliot presents a picture of twentieth century Western civilization as a culture which has lost its essential values and has come undone from its historical moorings. Material wealth has become the focal point of society and its inhabitants. In such a value distorted context, human relationships are devoid of meaning. Honest communication and a meaningful life for the soul and intellect are lost in a dehumanizing daily grind. Religious, communal, and even familial values are subverted to a culturally encouraged drive for personal gain. In this respect, modern Western civilization in general, and America in particular, embodies the world of The Waste Land even more than the Europe and America of 1922 with which Eliot was familiar. The systemic acceptance of result orientation and the consequent predominance of economic efficiencies and material wealth have not only corrupted society in general, but have also devalued modern concepts of the law in particular. Law in today's America is dominated by excessive litigation and a general disbelief that justice is evenly dispensed. The contemporary legal system has also become alienated from the historically based values which both created it and gave it meaning. Judges, lawyers, and the law itself have been adversely affected by this evolving devaluation. The pernicious influence of result orientation manifests itself in the modern American legal system through its influence on the judiciary in at least two significant ways: (1) legal theories which influence the intellectual climate within which judges operate and (2) the manner by which society instructs judges to resolve cases -- precedent or stare decisis. Both areas can be significantly reformed by the rejection of result orientation and its goal of material wealth and by the acceptance of a motivational process dedicated to the values of charity, compassion, and self-denial.


Past studies have suggested that young people lack knowledge regarding food safety, and that food safety education is appropriate for integration into science education since it often involves science knowledge. Thus, this study combined the methods of inquiry-based and game-based learning to develop a computer detective game, called the Poison Riddle, that makes students actively explore food safety knowledge through playing the role of a science detective to solve a task related to food poisoning at home in a virtual world. To evaluate the learning effectiveness of this game, 109 high school students were selected as the research participants. The research findings indicated that this game could help students improve their microbial food safety knowledge. Most students had positive participation perception and gaming behaviors related to the game. In addition, the analysis indicated that the students who successfully solved the game task gained more positive gaming behaviors, food safety knowledge, and significant sequential behaviors compared to those who were unsuccessful in solving the game task.


Background Pain management is one part of management in the postoperative period. The prevalence of moderate to severe postoperative pain and its functional interference is high in Ethiopian patients. In this study we aimed (1) to assess nurses' knowledge and attitudes regarding post-operative pain management; (2) to identify the factors of nurses' knowledge and attitudes. Method A cross-sectional multicenter study was conducted. All nurses working in Amhara region referral hospitals were involved in the study. The Nurses' Knowledge and Attitudes Survey Regarding Pain (NKASRP) was used to measure the nurses' pain management knowledge and attitudes. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with knowledge and attitude. Results A total of 433 nurses were included. Of the total respondents, 90.6% of them had a bachelor's degree with work experience of between 1 to 5 years (58.5%). Only 76 (19.2%) participants got access to read journals and 66 (16.7%) had taken training regarding postoperative pain management. The results showed that 56.5% [95% CI= (51.6–61.3)] respondents had adequate knowledge and 8.9% [95% CI= (6.1–11.6)] of them had positive attitudes towards POP management. Higher level of education [AOR=8.2; CI= (2.51–26.83)], getting access to read journals [AOR =1.83; CI= (1.01–3.30)], and taking POP management training [AOR=8.63; CI= (3.67–20.28)] were statistically associated with adequate knowledge. Similarly, positive attitude towards postoperative pain management was associated with taking POP management training, available of pain management course in the curriculum, and getting access to read. Conclusion Although more than half of nurses in the study area had adequate knowledge towards POP management, only a small number had a positive attitude. Taking POP management training and getting access to read journals were significantly associated with good knowledge and attitude towards POP management; therefore, regular in-service training and getting accessing reading materials (such as journals or articles) are recommended to enhance quality service to patients.


Aims : To investigate the prevalence and pattern of occurrence of traumatic anterior dental injuries in the 6 to 12 year olds, attending public schools in the urban city of Enugu, South – Eastern Nigeria. Subjects and Methods : A total of 2000 subjects were selected from 8 primary schools in Enugu, through a 2 stage sampling method. Examination was done out of hospital environment. Results : Traumatic injuries to the anterior teeth occurred in 11.6% (Females, 4.9%; males, 6.7%) of the studied population. The injuries were seen most frequently in the 6 years olds (25.9%). Falls (78.4%) and luxation/enamel fracture (31.9%) accounted for the majority of the injuries. Upper jaw (86.6%) and upper central incisors (75.5%) suffered traumatic anterior injuries most often. Conclusion : Within the limitations of the study, traumatic dental injuries were fairly common and it is suggested that preventive programme and early medical attention should be adopted by clinicians so that complications are prevented or reduced. Keywords : Traumatic dental injuries, prevalence, primary schools, cross sectional study. Journal of College of Medicine Vol. 11 (2) 2006: 88-91


This article—based on the author's interviews with civilians and security forces in areas retaken from the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) in Northern Iraq in 2015—examines challenges in civilian protection when pro-government forces take control of areas formerly under control of anti-government forces.1 It recommends to the Iraqi and Kurdish leadership specific harm mitigation training for their forces, a protection-based approach to shield civilians from harm from all sides, and provision of security to returnees, including protection both from crime and revenge attacks. Such preventative measures, if enacted before major military operations to retake populated areas under ISIS control begin, would better protect civilians, strengthen the government's mission against ISIS and provide building blocks for a stable Iraq.


The purpose of this study was to determine the comparison of Body Condition Score, Services Per Conception, Calving Interval, and Days Open cow friesian holstein (FH) in Greenfield Partnership and Tani Wilis Sendang Cooperation. The material used in this research is dairy cattle that have been inseminated in Greenfield Partnership and KUD Tani Wilis with secondary data retrieval of reproduction notes during IB until partus and quisioner distributed by farmers and inseminators. The exploratory survey method used is secondary data obtained from the record reproduction inseminator. The observed variables BCS, S/C, CI and DO . The data was processed using descriptive analysis to get a number BCS, S/C, CI and DO in Greenfield Partnership and Tani Wilis Sendang Cooperation. The results showed that the average value of BCS at Greenfield Partnership is 4.86 and at Tani Wilis Cooperation is 4.74. The average value of S/C in Greenfield Partnership is 4.36 and at Tani Wilis Sendang Cooperation is 2.06. The average value CI at Greenfield Partnership is 463.00 and at Tani Wilis Sendang is 414.40. The average value DO at Greenfield Partnership is 64.84 and at Tani Wilis Sendang is 88.00. It can be concluded that the comparison of BCS in both places is not significantly different while for the S/C of Tani WilisSendang Cooperation is better than Greenfield Partnership, the CalvingInterval in both places is still less good because it is far from the standard CI value, and for the Days Open Greenfield partnership is better thanTaniWilisSendang Cooperation.


1. Warm Up and Stretching for Soccer. 2. Dribbling. Possession of the Ball: Basic Dribbling. Speed Dribbling. Space Awareness While Dribbling. 3. Tackling. 4. Feinting. 5. Kicking and Receiving. Challenge Games for Dribbling, Kicking, and Receiving. 6. The Instep Drive. 7. Receiving the Ball with the Upper Body. The Thigh Trap. The Chest Trap. Challenge Game for Receiving, Dribbling, and Shooting. 8. Heading. 9. The Throw-In. Throw-In from Standing Position. Throw-In after an Approach Run. Challenge Games for Throw-Ins, Heading, and Shooting. 10. Goalkeeping. Defensive Skills. Balls That Can't Be Caught. Offensive (Attacking) Skills. 11. Modified Soccer Games. 12. Modified Rules for PSIS Soccer. Field and Equipment. Players and Substitutes. The Ball In and Out of Play, and Scoring. Violations and Misconduct. Modified Rules for Small-Sided Games. Soccer Knowledge Quiz. Personal Progress Chart for Soccer.


The quantum key distribution protocol BB84 combined with the repetition protocol for error correction is analysed from the point of view of its security against individual eavesdropping relying on quantum memory. It is shown that the mere knowledge of the error-correcting protocol changes the optimal attack and provides the eavesdropper with additional information on the distributed key.


The facility location selection is one of the most important decisions for investors and entrepreneurs. It is a strategic issue besides often decides the fate of such a facility. In this kind of strategic decisions, decision makers should take into account various objectives and criteria and the process of location selection is inherently complicated. This paper considers the hospital location selection for a new public hospital by using Gray Relational Analysis (GRA) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Gray Relational Analysis have been developed based on Grey System Theory. Grey System Theory is an interdisciplinary approach which first quantified by Deng in the early 1980's as an alternative method in creating the uncertainty have been proposed. The basic idea of emergence is to estimate the behavior of the systems which cannot be overcome by the stochastic or fuzzy methods with limited number of data. In this paper, the weights of criteria have been determined by using Analytic Hierarchic Process, then the grey relational degrees have been calculated for each alternative location.


A 21-year-old Japanese man without known diabetes mellitus had abdominal pain. The diagnosis was ketoacidosis and hypertriglyceridemia-induced acute pancreatitis. He had polydipsia and polyuria and had habitually drunk several soft drinks every day for two years. After hospitalization, despite adequate liquid intake, dehydration remained with hypotonic polyuria. Further examinations revealed the coexistence of central diabetes insipidus (CDI), possibly caused by lymphocytic infundibulo-neurohypophysitis, based on anti-rabphilin-3A antibody positivity. Although CDI had been undiagnosed for two years, over-consumption of sugar-rich soft drinks to ease thirst caused ketoacidosis, hypertriglyceridemia, and acute pancreatitis. There are no previous reports of this three-part combination of symptoms caused by CDI.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate expert listeners' perceptions of voice and fluency in persons with adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD) before and after treatment with botulinum toxin type A (Botox), as a function of initial severity of the disorder (while controlling for patients' age at injection).

DESIGN
Simple before-and-after trial with blinded randomized listener judgments.

SETTING
Ambulatory care clinic at a single medical center.

PARTICIPANTS
Forty-two consecutive patients with ADSD who underwent examination, with a 3- to 6-week follow-up, after initial botulinum toxin type A injection. There were also 42 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects.

INTERVENTIONS
Injections of botulinum toxin type A into the thyroarytenoid muscle(s).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Computer-implemented visual analog scaling judgments of voice quality and speech fluency made by expert listeners under psychoacoustically controlled conditions.

RESULTS
Response to botulinum toxin type A varied markedly as a function of pretreatment severity of ADSD. More severe initial symptoms exhibited greater magnitudes of improvement. Patients with mild dysphonia did not exhibit pretreatment to posttreatment change. Following treatment, voice and fluency remained significantly (P<.05) poorer in ADSD than in healthy speakers. Older patients exhibited less improvement than younger patients when the effect of initial severity was statistically controlled.

CONCLUSIONS
Voice quality and fluency improved for most patients following treatment, but older patients and those with milder dysphonia exhibited the least optimal responses to the procedure. Patients who were profoundly impaired demonstrated the greatest amount of improvement. Computer-implemented visual analog scaling provided a reliable clinical tool for determining treatment-related changes in those with ADSD.


Accretion procedure of crimes and security breaches against the privacy of individual's information and their maintenance information systems has cost huge amount of financial and other resources loose. Consequently governments take serious actions toward approving protective legislation against cyber crimes and it will be duty of software developers to adopt policies and measures to ensure that their designed systems are compatible with existing laws and their amendments. Since information technology and legislation are two quite distinct sciences, existence of a mechanism to do this adjustment and satisfy security and legal requirements of a designing software system is very essential. This paper is representing a framework that will help IT professionals to extract security requirements from relevant rules and use them in design of a system which is in accordance with those rules. It is giving brief discussion of the framework's methodology and design of a simulating computer-aided system of this framework. It also reports the research progress and new discovered conclusions.


This work aims at comparing the damping performances of two passive damping treatments based on piezoelectric or viscoelastic patches. The motivation for such a comparison stems from the fact that the two damping techniques have been developed fairly independently, and are rarely compared. First, the dynamic response of a simply-supported metallic plate is measured experimentally after being equipped with constrained viscoelastic patches or piezoelectric patches connected to an electrical network. In order to extend the comparison, a numerical model of the structure is set up and validated to evaluate the damping performances of both passive treatments under different configurations (for instance equal-mass and equal-thickness configurations). Finally, with regard to these experimental and numerical results, the advantages and the limitations in using viscoelastic or piezoelectric treatments are discussed.


One of the most significant changes that occurred at the end of Apartheid in 1994 was the transformation of the South African Police and the ten independent "homeland" police forces of the Apartheid era into a combined South African Police Service (SAPS). Not only were the SAPS faced with the democratic imperative of changing the demographic profile of the force, but it also had to adapt to rapidly changing legislation and restructuring challenges. In the context of high rates of serious crime, a number of specialised units covering investigations such as murder and robbery, thought to have performed poorly, were restructured. Some of the detectives were redeployed to station level in order to provide higher skills and enable the investigation of crimes at local level. In Cape Town, where this study was conducted, the illegal firearms unit, the murder and robbery unit, the taxi violence unit and the unit dealing with crimes against the state were closed down and replaced with a single serious and violent crimes unit. Detectives who had previously been stationed at the specialised units were moved to local stations. A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews was undertaken at two police stations in Cape Town and included 15 officers ranging from Inspector to Station Commissioner. This article aims to provide some insight into the contextual environment as well as the attitudes of police officers regarding the transformation process. Issues identified by thematic content analysis were the complaints by senior police officers regarding the lack of discipline within the SAPS since the transformation; employment equity policies; and a lack of motivation among police officers as a result of poor remuneration, low recruitment standards, a shortage of training and human resources as well as stressful working conditions. Based on this study and a review of recent literature, it is concluded that the transformation process and associated restructuring contributed to a lack of motivation and that senior officers felt that they had lost authority. Furthermore, the retirement of police officers and insufficient training cast a heavier burden on those remaining. Rates of serious and violent crimes remain high, thus raising questions about the success of the restructuring process.


Background: Impressions are an integral part of prosthodontics. Elastomeric impression materials are the impressions materials of choice in fixed prosthodontics for its better surface detail reproduction. Out of the elastomers available, vinyl polysiloxane represents the state of art impression material in prosthodontics, but even these materials cannot give an accurate reproduction of the tissues if there is separation of impression materials from the tray which may results in a distorted impression leading to poor final restorations made from such impressions. Hence, tray adhesives need to be applied to the tray to obtain an accurate and consistent impression. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the compatibility of three different impression materials to three different tray acrylic materials using tray adhesive, by determining the tensile bond strength. Materials and Methods: Two acrylic discs were utilized to make one impression sample of 3 mm thickness. The dimension of each acrylic disc was 2 mm in thickness and 2 cm in diameter. Specimens were made using a standard stainless steel die of the above-mentioned dimensions. A total of 135 specimens were prepared which included 15 samples in each category of nine groups. The samples were subjected to tensile bond strength testing using the universal testing machine and the values were recorded. All the values were subjected for statistical analysis. Results: Impregum (3M) specimens had demonstrated the highest tensile bond strength value (51.60N). Statistical analysis was done using Tukey's post hoc test and one-way ANOVA. Highly Statistical significant results were evident in Impregum (3M) and Indentium, as the P = 0.00. Conclusion: In this study Impregum (3M), specimens had highest tensile bond strength values compared to the other Groups followed by Indentium.


The Maguindanao Massacre has sent shock waves through the Philippines and beyond. A convoy of cars was caught in an armed ambush on Monday 23 November, leaving at least 57 persons dead, with mutilated bodies and crushed vehicles found buried in large pits. The convoy was destined for the Commission of Elections office in Shariff Aguak town, Magindanao Province in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The purpose was to file local vice mayor Esmael Mangudadatu's certificate of candidacy to run for the governorship of Maguindanao province in the May 2010 Philippine elections. Among the victims of the massacre were at least 30 journalists, more than 20 women, including the wife and two sisters of Mangudadatu.


The extended Gini is a family of measures of variability which is mainly used in the areas of finance and income distribution. Each index in the family is defined by specifying one parameter, which reflects the social evaluation of the marginal utility of income. The higher the parameter, the more weight is attached to the lower portion of the cumulative distribution, reflecting higher concern to poverty. In this paper we list and investigate the properties of the equivalents of the correlation coefficient that are associated with the extended Gini family. In addition, we show that the extended Gini of a linear combination of random variables can be decomposed, in a way which is equivalent to the decomposition of the variance, plus additional terms that reflect additional properties of the random variables. The implication of these properties is that any decomposition that is performed with the coefficient of variation can be replicated by an infinite number of indices that are based on the Extended Gini coefficient.


This paper presents a new approach to the design and analysis of NoC topologies which is based on the transaction-oriented communication methods of on-chip components. We propose two algorithms that attempt to meet the communication requirement of an on-chip application using a minimum number of network resources for the task, by generating application-specific topologies. In addition, to aid the design process of complex systems, the design method incorporates a form of predictive analysis which can estimate the degree of contention in a given system without performing detailed simulation. This predictive analysis method is used to determine the minimum frequency of operation for generated topologies, and is incorporated into the topology generation process. The proposed design method was tested using real-word applications, including an MPEG4 decoder and a multi-window display application. The generated topologies were found to offer similar or better performance when compared with regular topologies. However, the topologies generated by our method were more economical, using, on average, half the network resources of regular topologies.


Tectona grandis L. commonly known as teak is a commercially important, tropical hardwood tree species that has several applications in the lumber industry. In this experimental work of in vitro clonal propagation, the protocol has been established for regeneration of teakwood (Tectona grandis L.) plants with MS media beside with the supplementation of various plant growth hormones. Nodal and leaf explants of teakwood were used for callus induction and plantlet regeneration. Maximum percentage of callus formation was observed in MS medium supplemented with 2,4-D at a concentration of 2.0 mg l. Multiple shoots were observed from nodal segments through axillary bud proliferation. Maximum shoot multiplication percentage was achieved on MS medium supplemented with 6-benzyladenine (BAP) (2.5 mg l) and α-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) (1.0 mg l). Cultures have been continuously subcultured to new media supplemented with same hormone treatment after every 3-4 weeks. Multiple shoots of high quality were produced in vitro from node explants. An average of about 7 shoots/ uninodal explants was obtained in 3.5 weeks of culture on MS medium. When shoots were rooted by supplementation with NAA (2.5 mg l) in combination with kinetin (0.2 mg l) the frequency of rooting of shoots was better than any other combinations. More than 95% of shoots were developed strong and highly ramified roots on MS medium containing NAA (2.5 mg l) with Kinetin (0.2 mg l). In vitro raised plantlets were regenerated on MS medium supplemented with 0.5 mg l of NAA and acclimatized on vermiculate before transferring them to field for hardening. Shoots were successfully rooted and acclimatized to greenhouse conditions. In-vitro plantlets were planted in pots containing autoclaved mixture of soil: sand: farm yard manure (1:1:1) and grown in the green house for hardening.


Purpose: Breast cancer in young women is associated with poor prognosis. We aimed to define the role of gene expression signatures in predicting prognosis in young women and to understand biological differences according to age. Experimental Design: Patients were assigned to molecular subtypes [estrogen receptor (ER)+/HER2−; HER2+, ER−/HER2−)] using a three-gene classifier. We evaluated whether previously published proliferation, stroma, and immune-related gene signatures added prognostic information to Adjuvant! online and tested their interaction with age in a Cox model for relapse-free survival (RFS). Furthermore, we evaluated the association between candidate age-related genes or gene sets with age in an adjusted linear regression model. Results: A total of 3,522 patients (20 data sets) were eligible. Patients aged 40 years or less had a higher proportion of ER−/HER2− tumors (P < 0.0001) and were associated with poorer RFS after adjustment for breast cancer subtype, tumor size, nodal status, and histologic grade and stratification for data set and treatment modality (HR = 1.34, 95% CI = 1.10–1.63, P = 0.004). The proliferation gene signatures showed no significant interaction with age in ER+/HER2− tumors after adjustment for Adjuvant! online. Further analyses suggested that breast cancer in the young is enriched with processes related to immature mammary epithelial cells (luminal progenitors, mammary stem, c-kit, RANKL) and growth factor signaling in two independent cohorts (n = 1,188 and 2,334). Conclusions: Proliferation-related prognostic gene signatures can aid treatment decision-making for young women. However, breast cancer arising at a young age seems to be biologically distinct beyond subtype distribution. Separate therapeutic approaches such as targeting RANKL or mammary stem cells could therefore be needed. Clin Cancer Res; 18(5); 1341–51. ©2012 AACR.


Observation of molecular docking results was generally performed by analyzing the docking score and the interacting amino acid residues separately either in tables or graphs. Sometimes it was not easy to rank the tested ligands' docking results, especially if there were many ligands. This study aims to introduce a new way to analyze docking results with a two‐dimensional graph between the difference in docking score and the similarity of ligand‐receptor interactions. Molecular docking was performed with one reference ligand and several test ligands. The docking score difference was obtained between the test and the reference ligands as the graph's x‐axis. Meanwhile, the y‐axis contains the similarity of ligand‐receptor interactions, obtained from the ratio of amino acid residues and the types of interactions between the test and reference ligands. Docking result analysis was more straightforward because two critical parameters were presented in one graph. This graph could be used to support the analysis of the docking results.


Iran is one of the countries located in a dry and semi-dry area. Many provinces like Tehran are facing problems in recent years because of less precipitation. For reduction in wastewater treatment cost and water consumption, many research works have been carried out. One of them concerns food industries group, which consumes a great amount of water in different units. For example, in beverage industries, washing of glass bottles seven times requires large amounts of water but use of plastic bottles can reduce water consumption. Another problem is leakage from pipelines, valves, etc. Their repair plays an important role in the wastage of water. The non-polluted wasted water can be used in washing halls, watering green yards, recycling to the process or reusing in cooling towers. In this paper, after a short review of waste minimization plans in food industries, problems concerning water consuming and wastewater producing units in three Iranian food industries have been investigated. At the end, some suggestions have been given for implementing the water and wastewater minimization plan in the companies.


Pretreatment of lignocellulosic materials is an important step to achieve higher amounts of simple sugars, mono- and disaccharides, for obtaining ethanol as a biofuel, via enzymatic hydrolysis. The study introduces a concept that utilizes ionic liquids (ILs) as solvents in the pretreatment step, before enzymatic saccharification, for both forest residues (Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus Labill.) and Lenga (Nothofagus pumilio (POEPP. EX. ENDL.) KRASSER) and for agricultural residues (wheat and corn). The procedure was evaluated at four different temperatures (80, 121, 150 and 170 °C) for 30 and 60 min, respectively, with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([EMIM+][Cl-]). Subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis of these materials was carried out at 47 °C, for 72 h, with commercial cellulases. The results demonstrated that the best experimental conditions found for wheat, corn and Eucalyptus residues were the following: 150 °C, for 60 min, yielding a total of 46, 48 and 30% sugars, respectively; in the case of Lenga residues, the optimum conditions were: 150 °C for 30 min, yielding a total of 40% sugars after saccharification. Temperatures exceeding 170 °C are not recommended for this type of pretreatment with [EMIM+][Cl-], because significant portions of cellulose could be dissolved in this IL. Finally, an analysis of the solid material after ionic liquid pretreatment is required, to determine the changes related to lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose composition.


The Science of Language, published in the sixth decade of Noam Chomsky's linguistic career, defends views that are visibly out of touch with recent research in formal linguistics, developmental child psychology, computational modeling of language acquisition, and language evolution. I argue that the poor quality of this volume is representative of the serious shortcomings of Chomsky's recent scholarship, especially of his criticism of and contribution to debates about language evolution. Chomsky creates the impression that he is quoting titbits of a massive body of scientific work he has conducted or is intimately familiar with. Yet his speculations reveal a lack of even basic understanding of biology, and an unwillingness to engage seriously with the relevant literature. At the same time, he ridicules the work of virtually all other theorists, without spelling out the views he disagrees with. A critical analysis of the 'Galilean method' demonstrates that Chomsky uses appeal to authority to insulate his own proposals against falsification by empirical counter-evidence. This form of discourse bears no serious relation to the way science proceeds.


An MR imaging technique called inhomogeneous magnetization transfer (ihMT) could potentially be used for quantitative myelin imaging by using T1D filtering to filter out the short dipolar relaxation time (T1D) components. However, to show that ihMT with T1D filtering is myelin-specific, we need to confirm that myelin has the longest T1D in nerve tissue. Here, we combined ihMT and myelin water imaging (MWI) to separate the ihMT signal in myelin water from intra-/extra-cellular water, which we fitted using a four-pool model with dipolar order reservoirs. Our model allowed us to connect myelin with myelin water and measure myelin's T1D.


China's growing role in international development through so‐called 'South–South cooperation' has attracted considerable global attention. This article aims to provide a nuanced understanding of the nature of foreign aid policies implemented by China and help facilitate a new set of dialogues between China and more established providers of aid. It unpacks the developmental side of the story by first analysing the official discourse of Chinese aid in a historical context and thereafter examines the practice of conditional aid in relation to the Chinese emphasis on non‐interference and mutual interest. The empirical basis for this article is largely derived from field studies undertaken in Malawi, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. We argue that although centrally controlled, Chinese aid has been consistently developmental, reflecting both the country's own development path and, to a lesser extent, international developmental goals.


The latest trend towards performance asymmetry among cores on a single chip of a multicore processor is posing new challenges. For effective utilization of these performance-asymmetric multicore processors, code sections of a program must be assigned to cores such that the resource needs of code sections closely matches resource availability at the assigned core. Determining this assignment manually is tedious, error prone, and significantly complicates software development. To solve this problem, this thesis describes a transparent and fully-automatic process called phase-based tuning which adapts an application to effectively utilize performance-asymmetric multicores. The basic idea behind this technique is to statically compute groups of program segments which are expected to behave similarly at runtime. Then, at runtime, the behavior of a few code segments is used to infer the behavior and preferred core assignment of all similar code segments with low overhead. Compared to the stock Linux scheduler, for systems asymmetric with respect to clock frequency, a 36% average process speedup is observed, while maintaining fairness and with negligible overheads.
A key component to phase-based tuning is grouping program segments with similar behavior. The importance of various similarity metrics are likely to differ for each target asymmetric multicore processor. Determining groups using too many metrics may result in a grouping that differentiates between program segments based on irrelevant properties for a target machine. Using too few metrics may cause relevant metrics to be ignored thereby considering segments with different behavior similar. Therefore, to solve this problem and enable phase-based tuning for a wide range of a performance-asymmetric multicores, this thesis also describes a new technique called lazy grouping. Lazy grouping statically (at compile and install times) groups program segments that are expected to have similar behavior. The basic idea is to use extensive compile time analysis with intelligent install time (when the target system is known) group assignment. The accuracy of lazy grouping for a wide range of machines is shown to be more than 90% for nearly all target machines and asymmetric multicores.


Solute transport in overland flow is considered as one of the main contributors to water pollution. Although many models of pollutant transport mechanism from soil to run‐off water have been proposed, the characteristics of solute transport accompanying the water run‐off over vegetated surface have not been well studied. In this study, a series of laboratory experiments were conducted to study the solute transport over vegetated surfaces. Based on the experimental results, an idea of the "stationary water layer" in run‐off was proposed. Applying the complete mixing theory in the stationary water layer, an analytical solute transport model was developed with the assumption that the upper run‐off completely mixes with the underlying water in the stationary water layer for each site. The results show that the predictions made by the present model are in good agreement with the measured experimental data. For the vegetated surfaces, the depth of stationary water layer is related to the rainfall intensity, bed slope, and vegetation density. The analytical solution shows that the maximum solute transport occurs at the time of concentration. This study advances our understanding of the mechanisms of solute transport over vegetated areas.


The human fetal adrenal is proportionally 10 to 20 times larger than the adult gland. Its large size is attributable to a histologically distinct central reticular zone known as the fetal zone. This zone is prominent throughout fetal life, but undergoes rapid involution in the first postnatal week (1). In the course of a study of the human fetal adrenal, electron micrographs were obtained of cells in the fetal zone. These cells are distinguished by having a very extensive, densely packed system of tubules which occupies most of the cytoplasmic volume and are considered to be morphologically homologous to the endoplasmic reticulum found in other cells. In addition to its tubular structure, and dense packing, the endoplasmic reticulum of the fetal zone ceils differs from that of other cell types described by Porter (2) and Palade (3) in being predominantly free of attached particles. I t is felt that the unique character of the endoplasmic reticulum in the fetal zone justifies a brief description of our findings. The adrenal specimens were obtained in Stockholm, from human fetuses between 6 and 17 weeks of gestation. The fetuses were delivered either by Caesarian section or vaginal hysterotomy. One adrenal gland was dissected free of the surrounding tissue and placed in a pool of cold OsO4. In the case of the Caesarian sections the time lapse between cessation of blood flow from placenta to fetus until the tissue was placed in OsO4 was approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Fetuses delivered by vaginal hysterotomy necessitated a longer time lapse due to the procedure involved. However the degree of postmortal change between the two pro-


Abstract Background Mid-regional pro-adrenomedullin (MR-proADM) is useful for risk stratification in patients with sepsis and respiratory infections. The study's purpose was to assess the available data and determine the association between MR-proADM levels and mortality in COVID-19 participants. Methods A comprehensive literature search of medical electronic databases was performed including PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane, and grey literature for relevant data published from 1 January 2020, to 20 November 2022. Mean differences (MD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Results Fourteen studies reported MR-proADM levels in survivors vs. non-survivors of COVID-19 patients. Pooled analysis showed that MR-proADM level in the survivor group was 0.841 ± 0.295 nmol/L for patients who survive COVID-19, compared to 1.692 ± 0.761 nmol/L for non-survivors (MD = −0.78; 95%CI: −0.92 to −0.64; p < 0.001). Conclusions The main finding of this study is that mortality of COVID-19 is linked to MR-proADM levels, according to this meta-analysis. The use of MR-proADM might be extremely beneficial in triaging, assessing probable therapy escalation, predicting potential complications during therapy or significant clinical deterioration of patients, and avoiding admission which may not be necessary. Nevertheless, in order to confirm the obtained data, it is necessary to conduct large prospective studies that will address the potential diagnostic role of MR-proADM as a marker of COVID-19 severity. KEY MESSAGES Severity of COVID-19 seems to be linked to MR-proADM levels and can be used as a potential marker for predicting a patient's clinical course. The use of MR-proADM might be beneficial in triaging, assessing probable therapy escalation, predicting potential complications during therapy or significant clinical deterioration of patients, and avoiding admission which may not be necessary. For patients with COVID-19, MR-proADM may be an excellent prognostic indicator because it is a marker of endothelial function that may predict the precise impact on the equilibrium between vascular relaxation and contraction and lowers platelet aggregation inhibitors, coagulation inhibitors, and fibrinolysis activators in favor of clotting factors.


There is a scarcity of empirical data to demonstrate the actual benefit of energy efficient
retrofitting in the residential sector. The Irish official methodology for calculating the
energy rating of dwellings only offers an indication of energy performance. This paper
describes the methodology involved in the initial stages of an on-going longitudinal
energy monitoring programme to determine actual energy savings brought about by a
building retrofitting programme for social housing in Kilkenny, South East Ireland.
The bespoke system was designed to monitor whole building energy use for one year
pre- and post- retrofitting. The wireless system installed in nine dwellings regularly logs
indoor temperature, humidity, volatile organic compounds, gas and segregated
electricity. Raw data is relayed to a data concentrator within the building and via a
network to a secure database. Basic cleaning of the data is carried out prior to
presentation for analysis on a secure website.
The monitoring system is designed to provide an understanding of energy consumption
patterns and energy wastage in social housing. The paper explains and reviews the
monitoring system employed and highlights some of the key lessons learnt during the
planning and installation of equipment. Gas meters which do not have a pulse output
and solid fuel use pose the largest challenge to monitor. The paper makes suggestions to
researchers and industry professionals for future domestic energy monitoring systems.


We present a method to control transport in Hamiltonian systems. We provide an algorithm—based on a perturbation of the original Hamiltonian localized in phase space—to design small control terms that are able to create isolated barriers of transport without modifying other parts of phase space. We apply this method of localized control to a forced-pendulum model and to a system describing the motion of charged particles in a model of turbulent electric field.


Bargaining and negotiation are the most constructive ways to handle conflict. Economic prosperity, order, harmony, and enduring social relationships are more likely to be reached by parties who decide to work together toward agreements that satisfy everyone's interests than by parties who fight openly, dominate one another, break off contact, or take their dispute to an authority to resolve.
 There are two major research paradigms: distributive and integrative negotiation. Distributive negotiation ("bargaining") focuses on dividing scarce resources and is studied in social dilemma research. Integrative negotiation focuses on finding mutually beneficial agreements and is studied in decision-making negotiation tasks with multiple issues. Negotiation behavior can be categorized by five different styles: distributive negotiation is characterized by forcing, compromising, or yielding behavior in which each party gives and takes; integrative negotiation is characterized by problem-solving behavior in which parties search for mutually beneficial agreements. Avoiding is the fifth negotiation style, in which parties do not negotiate.
 Cognitions (what people think about the negotiation) and emotions (how they feel about the negotiation and the other party) affect negotiation behavior and outcomes. Most cognitive biases hinder the attainment of integrative agreements. Emotions have intrapersonal and interpersonal effects, and can help or hinder the negotiation. Aspects of the social context, such as gender, power, cultural differences, and group constellations, affect negotiation behaviors and outcomes as well. Although gender differences in negotiation exist, they are generally small and are usually caused by stereotypical ideas about gender and negotiation. Power differences affect negotiation in such a way that the more powerful party usually has an advantage. Different cultural norms dictate how people will behave in a negotiation.
 Aspects of the situational context of a negotiation are, for example, time, communication media, and conflict issues. Communication media differ in whether they contain visual and acoustic channels, and whether they permit synchronous communication. The richness of the communication channel can help unacquainted negotiators to reach a good agreement, yet it can lead negotiators with a negative relationship into a conflict spiral. Conflict issues can be roughly categorized in scarce resources (money, time, land) on the one hand, and norms and values on the other. Negotiation is more feasible when dividing scarce resources, and when norms and values are at play in the negotiation, people generally have a harder time to find agreements, since the usual give and take is no longer feasible. Areas of future research include communication, ethics, physiological or hormonal correlates, or personality factors in negotiations.


Intensive immunization of chickens and rabbits with unconjugated PABA produced no antibody response as measured by the passive hemagglutination reaction. Antibody to PABA was produced in response to a series of injections of BGG-p-azobenzoate in rabbits, and to a single injection in chickens. Anti-PABA and anti-BGG primary and secondary antibody responses were partially characterized. In chickens a single injection of BGG-p-azobenzoate induced anti-PABA antibody within 72 hr. The peak for both anti-PABA and anti-BGG occurred after 5 to 7 days. Following peak titers, anti-BGG titers decreased rapidly, but anti-PABA titers persisted for 70 days. The persistence of antihapten antibody was discussed.
 Following primary immunization with BGG-p-azobenzoate, anamnestic responses were produced in rabbits and chickens with free PABA. Secondary responses to BGG and to homologous protein-hapten were also reported.


OBJECTIVE
To observe the clinical therapeutic effects of sternoclavicular hook plate for the treatment of sternoclavicular joint dislocation.

METHODS
From June 2010 to June 2012, 7 patients with sternoclavicular joint dislocation were treated with sternoclavicular hook plate fixation. Among the 7 patients, 5 patients were male and 2 patients were female, and the average age was 42.3 years, ranging from 38 to 54 years. The course of the disease ranged from 1 to 4 weeks. All the patients had trauma history. The clinical manifestations included: obvious swelling and pain of sternoclavicular joint, restricted shoulder joint activity. The sternoclavicular joint dislocation was proved by preoperative X-ray and CT. The postoperative curative effect was evaluated according to Rockwood scoring method.

RESULTS
According to Rockwood scoring method, the excellent results obtained in 6 cases, good in 1. There were no complications such as internal fixation loosening or broken, second dislocation, pain in the sternoclavicular joint, and deformity. The function of shoulder joint was good, and the limb activity was free and no pain appeared.

CONCLUSION
The sternoclavicular hook plate for the treatment of sternoclavicular joint dislocation has follow advantages: simple procedure, stable fixation, definite therapeutic effects.


The endogenous estrogen metabolite 2-methoxyestradiol has modest antimitotic activity that may result from a weak interaction at the colchicine binding site of tubulin, but it nevertheless has in vivo antitumor activity. Synthetic efforts to improve activity led to compounds that increased inhibitory effects on cell growth, tubulin polymerization, and binding of colchicine to tubulin. This earlier work was directed at modifications in the steroid A ring, which is probably analogous to the colchicine tropolonic C ring. One of the most active analogs prepared was 2-ethoxyestradiol (2EE). We report here that different modifications in the steroid B ring of 2EE yield compounds with two apparently distinct modes of action. Simple expansion of the B ring to seven members resulted in a compound comparable to 2EE in its ability to inhibit tubulin polymerization and colchicine binding to tubulin. Acetylation of the hydroxyl groups in this analog and in 2EE essentially abolished these inhibitory properties. The introduction of a ketone functionality at C6, together with acetylation of the hydroxyls at positions 3 and 17, produced a compound with activity similar to that of paclitaxel, in that the agent enhanced tubulin polymerization into polymers that were partially stable at 0 degrees C. The acetyl group at C17, but not that at C3, was essential for this paclitaxel-like activity.


Abstract This study was conducted to gather evidence on the factor structure and concurrent criterion validity of the Multicultural Counseling Self-Efficacy Scale – Racial Diversity Form (MCSE-RD; Sheu & Lent, 2007). The MCSE-RD was designed to assess therapists' perceived capabilities in performing culturally relevant in-session behaviors in cross-racial counseling. Participants were 209 students in counseling-related graduate programs in the USA. Confirmatory factor analyses identified a bifactor structure in which responses to MCSE-RD items could be explained by one generic and three multicultural-specific counseling self-efficacy factors. Support was also found for a social cognitive model in which self-efficacy and interests in multicultural counseling mediated the effects of prior cross-racial client contacts and perceptions of multicultural training environments on intent to perform multicultural counseling in the future. Additionally, outcome expectations were predictive of multicultural counseling interests and choice goals. Implications for multicultural training and directions for future research are highlighted.


Acetylcholinesterase (AchE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuchE) activities were studied in 20,000 g supernatant (S) and pellet (P) fractions of cerebrum1, caudate nucleus and cerebellum regions of human brain between the gestational ages of 20 and 40 weeks. On a per gram wet tissue basis, cerebrum and cerebellum had 60% and caudate nucleus had 80% of AchE activity present at 20-22 weeks as compared to 38-40 weeks of gestation. Specific activity (SA) of AchE did not change appreciably with gestational age in any of the P fractions. In S fractions of cerebrum and cerebullum there was about a 1.5-fold increase during this period. BuchE SA and activity per gram tissue in P and S fractions of cerebrum and cerebellum increased by 1.5- to 3-fold and decreased by about the same order of magnitude in caudate nucleus, during 20-40 weeks of gestation.


Spiritual ecology is described as a preferable and thought-provoking designation for the study of religion and nature. Some of its main past contributions and limitations within cultural anthropology are outlined. Several key needs for future teaching, research, and publication are identified. Selected citations place the subject in broader perspective and provide a convenient entry for those wishing to pursue this exciting and promising new multidisciplinary arena of scientific and scholarly research, instruction, and practical action.


We discuss SU (2) Bogomolny monopoles of arbitrary charge k invariant under various symmetry groups. The analysis is largely in terms of the spectral curves, the rational maps, and the Nahm equations associated with monopoles. We consider monopoles invariant under inversion in a plane, monopoles with cyclic symmetry, and monopoles having the symmetry of a regular solid. We introduce the notion of a strongly centred monopole and show that the space of such monopoles is a geodesic submanifold of the monopole moduli space. By solving Nahm's equations we prove the existence of a tetrahedrally symmetric monopole of charge 3 and an octahedrally symmetric monopole of charge 4, and determine their spectral curves. Using the geodesic approximation to analyse the scattering of monopoles with cyclic symmetry, we discover a novel type of non-planar k -monopole scattering process.


This project brings music to sight. Music can be a visual masterpiece. Some people naturally experience a visualization of audio - a condition called synesthesia. The type of synesthesia explored is when sounds create colors in the 'mind's eye.' Project included interviews with people who experience synesthesia, examination of prior art, and topic research to inform project design. Audio input, digital signal processing (including Fast Fourier Transforms (FFTs)) and data manipulation produce arguments required for our visualization. Arguments are then applied to a physics particle simulator which is re-purposed to model a synesthetic experience. The result of the project is a simulator in MAX 8, which generates a visual performance using particles by varying each particle's position, velocity, and color based on parameters extracted via digital processing of input audio.


【Single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) can be modified to produce a new concept of hybrid materials by introducing atoms or molecules inside their cylindrical empty space. Such an endohedral doping of the SWCNTs is expected to decisively alter their electronic transport and mechanical properties, In this study, we purified SWCNTs by three-step purification processes and formed the peapod structure by introducing $C_{60}$ fullerenes inside the SWCNTs. $C_{60}$ molecules were observed to be regularly arranged by transmission electron microscopy. In Raman spectra, the radial breathing mode (RBM) rather than the other modes was significantly affected by the endohedral injection of $C_{60}$ . The RBM intensity was more greatly reduced in the large-diameter SWCNTs than the small-diameter ones, Raman spectroscopy is expected to be a key technique for analyzing $C_{60}$ -encapsulated SWCNTs.】


In this study balancing is taken into consideration in the formation of groups according to the total travel distance as a set partitioning problem (SPP). Fitness functions that can test imbalance are proposed and mathematical models including these fitness functions are presented. In order to make balanced groupings, four different fitness functions are used. The first model aims to minimize total travel distance. The other two models are used for balancing and the last one constitutes a precedent as a multi-objective decision making problem. Genetic Algorithms (GAs) which is a meta-heuristic technique is used for the solution of the proposed models. Data is taken from the study of Akyurt et al. [1] and is used to balance groups in Football Leagues. Different groups are formed according to these models; effects of the results are examined among themselves and compared with the current situation. Additionally, all results are displayed on the maps.


To examine the acute hemodynamic effects induced by large swings in intrathoracic pressure such as may be generated by obstructive lung disease, airway obstruction was simulated by means of two different fixed external alinear resistances and the results were compared with those for unobstructed breathing (C). Eight normal subjects breathed through external resistances during inspiration (I), expiration (E), or both (IE) at rest (Re) and exercise (Ex). The resistances were chosen to induce similar mouth pressure (Pm) swings at Re and Ex. Pleural pressures (Ppl) were found to correlate closely with Pm. During IE resistive breathing mean swings in Pm were -31 and +19 cmH2O at Re and -38 and +22 cmH2O at Ex, with a corresponding decrease in minute ventilation (-30 and -18%) and an increase in end-tidal PCO2 (+5.6 and +4.2 Torr); these were associated with an increase in heart rate (delta HR = 4 and 6 beats/min) and systolic systemic arterial pressure (delta Psas = 10 and 14 Torr at Re and Ex, respectively). O2 consumption and cardiac output did not change. The myocardial O2 consumption, estimated from the product HR X (Psas--Ppl), increased by 17 and 20% at Re and Ex, respectively. Changes in mechanics, gas exchange, and hemodynamics were less pronounced during I or E resistive loading. It is concluded that breathing through a tight external resistance during IE at Re and Ex increases the metabolic load on the myocardium.


The atomic-force microscopy-based method of irreversible chemical AFM-fishing (AFM-IF(Ch)) has been developed for the detection of proteins at ultra-low concentrations in solution. Using this method, a very low concentration of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) protein (10(-17) M) was detected in solution. A theoretical model that allows the description of obtained experimental data, is proposed. This model takes into consideration both the transport of the protein from the bulk solution onto the AFM-chip surface and its irreversible binding to the activated area.


Our past research identified two aspects of deaf children's functioning that places them at risk for underachievement in mathematics. The first is their reduced opportunities for incidental learning, and the second is their difficulty in making inferences involving time sequences. This article examines the effectiveness of an intervention program to promote deaf children's numeracy that was designed to deal with these two factors. The design involved a comparison of 23 deaf pupils participating in the project with a baseline group formed by 65 deaf pupils attending the same schools in the previous year. The project pupils were tested before and after the intervention on the NFER-Nelson Age Appropriate Mathematics Achievement Test. The intervention was delivered by the teachers during the time normally scheduled for mathematics lessons. The project pupils did not differ from the baseline group at pretest but performed significantly better at posttest. They also performed at posttest better than expected on the basis of their pretest scores, according to norms provided by the NFER-Nelson Age Appropriate Mathematics Test for assessing the progress of hearing pupils. We conclude that the program was effective in promoting deaf pupils' achievement in numeracy.


Previous results have shown that spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) are insulin resistant, hyperinsulinemic, and hypertriglyceridemic as compared to Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY). Since SHR rats also have higher blood pressures than WKY rats, the current study was initiated in an attempt to evaluate the relationship between the magnitude of blood pressure and the differences in insulin and lipid metabolism seen in SHR and WKY rats. The experimental variables to be compared were determined in three groups of SHR and WKY rats, varying in age: Group I rats were 6 to 7 weeks of age; Group II rats were 8 to 9 weeks old; whereas Group III rats were 12 to 13 weeks of age. Maximal insulin-stimulated glucose transport by adipocytes isolated from SHR rats was significantly lower (P less than .005) than isolated adipocytes from WKY rats in all three groups, whereas plasma insulin and triglyceride concentrations were significantly higher (P less than .005). Blood pressure was also higher in SHR than in WKY rats within each group. Since absolute values for maximal insulin-stimulated glucose uptake did not change statistically as the rats grew older, the magnitude of the decrease in SHR rats was similar in each group. The increase in plasma insulin and triglyceride concentration observed in SHR rats was also the same in each group, but the absolute values increased with age in both SHR and WKY rats. However, blood pressure rose significantly with age in SHR, but not WKY rats, leading to a progressive increase in the degree of hypertension in SHR rats. These results support the view that hypertension, per se, does not lead to insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, and hypertriglyceridemia.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


The demand for immediate and universal access to information is increasing rapidly, leading to the desire for mobile access to the Internet. The Mobile Internet Protocol (Mobile IP) provides mobility to Internet users with some basic security features that are insufficient. Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) brings security to the network, but uses more bandwidth. The desire for mobility does not reduce the requirement for security and maximum throughput. The purpose of this research is to further examine the effects of different security algorithms on bandwidth in mobile scenarios. The results of the measurements of throughput with different security implementations can allow the users to balance security and bandwidth.


OBJECTIVE
To examine life satisfaction as a moderator or mediator of accommodation category and loneliness for elementary and middle school students in rural areas so as to provide evidence for psychological health intervention among said students.

METHODS
All participants were asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire battery which including an 18-item General Health Questionnaire, Children's Loneliness Scale and Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction.

RESULTS
The average score of loneliness scale (35.0 +/- 9.5) among boarding-school students was significantly higher than those students living at home (33.1 +/- 10.1) (P < 0.01). The average scores on school-satisfaction (33.5 +/- 6.3), friend-satisfaction (42.1 +/- 6.2) and self-satisfaction (32.4 +/- 5.0) of boarding-school students were significantly higher than those students living at home (35.9 +/- 6.6, 42.9 +/- 6.6, 32.9 +/- 5.3) (P < 0.05). The association between accommodation category and loneliness was fully mediated by school-satisfaction (the standardized coefficients of loneliness was reduced from 0.043 (P < 0.05) to 0.021 (P > 0.05) and partly mediated by self-satisfaction and friend-satisfaction. Data through Moderation analyses indicated that self-satisfaction, school-satisfaction and friend-satisfaction did not serve as moderators.

CONCLUSION
Accommodation category, life satisfaction seemed to be good predictors on loneliness among elementary and middle school students and the fully mediated effect of school-satisfaction between accommodation category and loneliness was significant, suggesting that intervention of loneliness should focus on these variables.


This paper considers the problem of rotating a constellation of spacecraft using on/off thrusters such that the relative distance between the spacecraft is maintained to within a specified tolerance. The basic idea is to resolve all of the constraints into a sphere around the desired trajectory of each spacecraft. As the constellation rotates, the sphere sweeps out a tube that constrains the motion of the spacecraft. The control is activated when the spacecraft encounters the constraint sphere, the direction and magnitude of the thrust are calculated to maximize the travel of the spacecraft before the next required thrust, thus minimizing thrust.


Background:The objectives of the study were to determine the prevalence of underlying conditions causing pleural effusion in cats and to calculate the positive predictive values, negative predictive values, sensitivity and specificity of radiographic signs.Methods:Data from 151 cats diagnosed with pleural effusion with known aetiologies were retrospectively analysed. Seventy-one patients' thoracic radiographs were available for a prospective, blinded evaluation by two radiologists. Results:Congestive heart failure (52.3%) was the most common diagnosis, followed by neoplasia (21.9%), pyothorax (10.6%), idiopathic chylous effusion (5.3%), feline infectious peritonitis (1.3%) and Other or cats with multiple diagnoses (total 9.3%). Cats with an enlarged cardiac silhouette had a high positive predictive value of congestive heart failure (73% and 81% for radiologist 1 and 2 respectively). The presence of unilateral effusion was highly predictive of pyothorax (75%) for radiologist 1 and poorly predictive (20%) for radiologist 2. Mediastinal masses (100%, 83% for radiologist 1 and 2 respectively), pulmonary nodules (50%, 50%) and pulmonary masses (50%, 67%) had moderate probabilities of neoplasia. The remainder of the radiographic variables were not informative predictors of underlying disease. Conclusions:In our population of cats, congestive heart failure was the most common cause of pleural effusion. Radiographically enlarged cardiac silhouette, presence of a mediastinal mass and unilateral effusion may be useful predictors of aetiology. Limitations of radiography alone as a diagnostic tool are discussed.


The simulation program SIGMA, which can be used to assess the compounding process on tightly-intermeshing, co-rotating twin screw extruders, was developed within the framework of a joint project conducted by the Institut fur Kunststofftechnik (KTP) of the University of Paderborn and fifteen industrial companies of several fields in the polymer industry. The program presented here permits calculations based on physical mathematical models of the pressure, temperature, local degree of filling, melting, residence time, mixed substance characteristics derived therefrom, power consumption, and degree of dispersion of the machine. These results assist the designing process engineer in the optimization of existing equipment or in the designing of new equipment. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Adv Polym Techn 18: 147–170, 1999


-One of Egypt's most worked-on agendas is developing a new enhanced streets network, which directly impacts street users, city residents, and most certainly the economics of the country as a whole. Additionally, street design has an immense impact on developing livable and sustainable cities, since designing them sufficiently means that one-third of the city design is successful, with a tremendous effect on the remainder of the city, especially on already established cities and their residents. The crucial factor is to apply a comprehensive approach in planning or developing them, where all factors involved must be considered, including pedestrians, vehicles, parking slots, etc. This must be achieved without neglecting the important role of public participation in matters of concern. Thus, this study aimed at analyzing one of the newly developed streets in Nasr City, Cairo, to assess its achievement and if it needs enhancement from the public point of view. It was found that the latest development of the Mostafa El-Nahas Axis was favored by the majority of the study sample. However, some enhancements must be conducted on the detail level. For example, the study sample expressed the need for increasing plantations on the street and making it more pedestrian friendly.


This article is based on the proceedings of the conference 'Appraisal: purpose, pitfalls and good practice,' held at the Royal College of Physicians of London in May 1996. The conference brought together not only doctors but also representatives of other professions, to review the role of appraisal in education and industry, and to discuss how it might be applied in the medical field.


Clinical case of paraneoplastic vasculitis аssociated a brain tumor was presented. Paraneoplastic vasculitis is a rare type of paraneoplastic syndrome. The frequency of detection of paraneoplastic vasculitis in cancer patients is 0.01-5%. In 70% of cases, the manifestation of vasculitis is observed long before the clinical manifestations of the tumor. Most studies report so-called leukocytoclastic vasculitis (allergic) or allergic angiitis. Vasculitis is usually accompanied by slowly progressing tumors such as breast and prostate cancer. It also develops with of stomach cancer, lung cancer, kidney adenocarcinoma, epithelioma, sarcoma, cholangiocarcinoma, other solid tumors, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The nosological forms of paraneoplastic vasculitis include called polyarteritis nodosa, hemorrhagic vasculitis, Wegener's granulomatosis, non-specific aortoarteritis, idiopathic pulmonary hypertension syndrome, thrombovasculitis, allergic hemorrhagic vasculitis, cutaneous vasculitis, systemic necrotizing vasculitis with increased ANCA titer. The patient suffered from paraneoplastic vasculitis with the development of amyloidosis of vascular tissues and arterial hypertension. The progression of the vascular process led to damage of the arteries of the brain and heart, the development of ischemic stroke and hemodynamically significant stenosis of the coronary arteries, the development of acute myocardial infarction complicated by acute heart failure, which caused death. The clinical significance of the case lies in the fact that paraneoplastic vasculitis, which was developed due to a brain astrocytoma with the formation of amyloidosis was firstly described.


Abstract: This paper aims at demonstrating that preterit forms such as the pluperfect and the imperfect subjuntive tenses are forms that encode various functions in Portuguese. It is assumed that there is no categorical one-to-one relationship between form and function. Initially, iconicity and grammaticalization principles are presented in order to show how they function in relation to the data under analysis. Next, we illustrate the multifunctionality of the pluperfect (in diachronic perspective) and the imperfect subjuntive tense (in synchronic perspective) considering Time and Modality as the motivation for such multifunctionality. The results point to the generalization of the irrealis feature modality as a factor that trig-gers changes in both time and reference point. The tenses under review migrate from past with past referencepoint to the future: the pluperfect form encodes projection and the imperfect subjunctive encodes less referential and factual situations. Key-words: Iconicity, grammaticalization, pluperfect, imperfect.


Radioactive waste management agencies all around the world are focusing their efforts to provide a reliable technical solution to the Deep Geological Disposal (DGD) concept, in order to store high level (HLW) and intermediate level long lived (IL-LLW) radioactive waste. The protection and isolation of radionucleides is guaranteed by a set of barriers. Bentonite/sand blocks -in proportion of 40/60 on dry mass of the mixture- constitute the main core of the sealing barrier in the French concept run by the French National Radioactive Waste Management Agency (Andra). Its high swelling potential (>2MPa) during hydration, its low hydraulic permeability (<10-11 m/s) and its gas entry pressure (<2MPa) make it ideal to seal the DGD galleries excavated inside the host rock used as geological barrier. Bentonite/sand blocks are placed at unsaturated state during construction. Afterwards, water migration –in both liquid and vapour states- from the saturated host rock to the blocks will induce the humidification of the blocks until hydraulic equilibrium is reached, hypothetically reaching the saturation state. As this natural process will take hundreds of years, a multitude of experimental devices have been reported at laboratory [3, 5] and real scale [4] to understand the evolution of water transfer in bentonite mixtures and support the predictions of numerical models [1]. In laboratory experiments, samples made of a compacted bentonite mixture are usually placed inside a rigid cell connected to a water source. The infiltration of water is not measured directly but deduced by relative humidity gradients measured along the specimen height.
Numerical models and experimental results have not yet reached accurate predictions of how long it takes for bentonite mixtures to hydrate until complete saturation or how the unsaturated hydraulic permeability evolves. In this context, there is a motivation to study this phenomena by advanced techniques able to capture, image and quantify water transfer through porous media. Thus, an experimental campaign based on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and 3D X-Ray micro computed tomography (µCT) is proposed to analyze water infiltration in bentonite/sand blocks. MRI is extensively used in health sciences to create images where the contrast is given by the water's hydrogen proton content in the different tissues of the body. For geological media, where water content is much smaller than in biological tissues and relaxation times of the porewater are shorter -from 0.1 to 2 ms for compacted bentonite/sand [2]- the experimental requirements are different and less documented. On the other hand, µCT scanning provides high spatial resolution images based on the contrast between the X-Ray absorption properties of the constitutive phases observed. Its temporal variations, in a bentonite/sand mixture, might be the result of concurrent phenomena, namely, porosity and saturation changes together with heterogenous motions induced by hydromechanical couplings -the swelling of bentonite solids when they absorb water-.
On going MRI and µCT experimental campaigns on a PEEK cell aim at proving the suitability of these techniques to track the evolution of water infiltration in compacted bentonite/sand mixtures, characterizing the water front and the water content along the specimen in function of time. At this stage, preliminary MRI tests have shown the potential of Single Point Imaging (SPI) sequence to quantify, with one-dimensional images, the water content along the bentonite/sand specimen based on a linear correlation with its signal intensity. Preliminary X-Ray radiography tests (Figure 1) run on a cylindric cell of PMMA filled with small blocks of 12 mm in diameter and 10 mm high, prove that X-Ray radiography image analysis gives access to observable and quantifiable increase of absorption associated to the measured decrease in grey level at different transversal sections of the sample. This evolution is linked to the increase of apparent density of the solids -that indeed are absorbing the water-, as described by the Beer-Lambert equation. Even though apparent density increase is goverened by the augmentation of water content, changes in porosity due to the hydromechanical coupling along the sample cannot be neglected. Thus, observing the liquid phase evolution (hydraulics) by MRI, as well as the evolution of the solid/liquid phase (hydromechanics) by 3D-µCT imaging, will potentially provide complementary insight into the mechanisms governing water infiltration in bentonite/sand mixtures.


The aim of this study was to evaluate the attitudes of physicians (anaesthetists + other doctors + surgeons) towards Jehovah's witness patients refusing blood transfusion. Such a situation is not uncommon: 79% of respondents uncountered it. For scheduled surgery in adults, 75% of these physicians (54% of anaesthetists) would accept to lake care of these patients. In case of emergency or unforeseen indication for transfusion, 54% of these physicians (72% of anaesthetists) would administer blood, despite a written transfusion refusal. These figures would be 95 and 97% respectively in children.


As minorities, African Americans (AAs) and Hispanic adults face enormous discrepancies across many dimensions, including race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, legal status, gender, insurance status, or severity of conditions. There is a lot of evidence in the literature about the relationship between lifestyle and cognitive functioning in older adults. However, due to the infancy of research in this area, the relationship between diet, physical activity and cognitive decline in ethnic minorities remains unclear. We discussed the neurocognitive changes associated with physical activity and/or dietary aspects in Hispanic and AA adults, and explored various factors that affect physical activity and dietary changes in this population. Our analysis confirmed the convincing link between certain dietary patterns, physical inactivity and poor cognitive performance in AA and Hispanic adults. This report allowed us to draw necessary conclusions regarding the structure of Jacobi Frailty Initiative in the Bronx, NY, USA. J Neurol Res. 2020;10(3):56-68 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jnr594


A glassy dilute glycerol-water solution undergoes a mutual polyamorphic transition relating to the transition between high- and low-density amorphous ices of solvent water. The polyamorphic transition behavior depends on the glycerol concentration, indicating that the glycerol affects the water polyamorphism. Here, we used the glassy dilute glycerol-water solution of the solute molar fraction of 0.07 and examined the effect of the polyamorphic change in solvent water on the molecular vibrations of glycerol via Raman spectroscopy. It is found that the molecular vibration of glycerol in high-density liquid like solvent water is different from that in the low-density liquid like solvent water and that the change in the molecular vibration of glycerol is synchronized with the polyamorphic transition of solvent water. The dynamical change of the solute molecule relates to the polyamorphic state of solvent water. This result suggests that the polyamorphic fluctuation of water structure emanated from the presumed liquid-liquid critical point plays an important role for the function of aqueous solution under an ambient condition such as the conformational stability of solute, the functional expression of solute, and so on.


In this paper, we discuss the positive heuristic potential of two Brazilian discourse theories: the first one is Semiotics of the song, by the Brazilian researcher Luiz Tatit; the second one is the Theory of basic stereotypes and opposed stereotypes, by the Brazilian researcher Sírio Possenti. The first theory, on one hand, is based on the preparation of a complete concept for a systematic study of Brazilian songs considering the meeting of melody and lyrics. The Semiotics of the Song Theory presents an isotopic analysis of elements of content and expression, in which melody and lyrics are taken as equivalent structural elements. The researcher Tatit, in his studies, relates aspects of expression to aspects of content in various Brazilian popular songs. He comprehends that Brazilian songs may be assigned to three major types: thematized, passionalized and figuretivized.


We analyze a situation where a principal wants to induce two firms to produce an output, e.g. electricity from renewable energy sources. Firms can undertake non-contractible investments to reduce production cost of the output. Part of these investments spills over and also reduces production cost of the other firm. Comparing a general price subsidy and an innovation tournament, we find that the principal's expected cost of implementing a given expected output are always higher under the tournament, even though this scheme may lead to more innovation. JEL Classification: Q55; D82; H23; D43


Islamic banking and finance is a multitrillion-dollar industry, which offers interest-free banking arrangements that entail risk sharing and cater to all sections of society, thereby bringing about stability, equality and prosperity. Although the ethical underpinnings of the Islamic banking business model, guided by Shariah law, have enabled Islamic banks to compete successfully with conventional banks, there remains a paucity of work that examines the contributing factors to the corporate performance of Islamic and conventional banks operating in dual banking systems. This paper investigates the relative importance of the Islamic banking business model, alongside its conventional counterparts, in relation to financial and market-based performance. Based on empirical data gathered from Islamic and conventional banks operating in five Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states with dual banking systems, the study reveals that human capital exerts a significant positive impact upon the financial performance (measured by ROAA) of both Islamic and conventional banks.