Comments on Shannon Sullivan's Good White People: The Problem with Middle-Class White Anti-RacismShannon Sullivan provides a diagnosis for the problems with the social scripts that middle-class, anti-racist white people think make them good, yet which serve to support white privilege and racial domination over non-whites, African Americans in particular, as well as poor whites. She identifies four strands of "white liberal anti-racism" behind this goodness in this order: (1) the abjection of so-called "white-trash" (2) the other-ing of white people's history and ancestry, (3) the idea and ideal of color-blindness-especially in respect to childrearing-and (4) the cultivation of white guilt, shame, and betrayal.In my comments I focus on the strands of (3) color-blindness and then (2) history. For Sullivan, liberal middle-class whites put space between themselves and lower-class whites, who are identified as the believers and practitioners of unreformed, ignorant, and reactionary racial ideas. This is an easy move for liberal middle-class whites, or to adopt Sullivan's phrase, "good white people." After throwing the distant relatives under the bus, or into the red state heaths, good white people put further conceptual distance between themselves and America's racial baggage by denying any connection to, or renouncing identification with, ancestral racism especially as connected with Black American slavery. This conceptual distancing separates them from ugly race-consciousness and sets up their embracing of variations of color-blindness.Sullivan's analysis of color-blindness is interesting because it offers another facet of the idea and ideal, one based on affect rather than narrow legalistic and normative reasoning or ideology, and its criticism adds a further dimension to the objections to color-blindness as an instrument of injustice and as an expression of racist ideology.Good white people adopt the rhetoric of color-blindness because it semantically captures and conceptually justifies their stated desire not "to see" race. Color-blindness is reproduced, as Sullivan explains, through their parenting. The motivation to adopt this rhetoric is straightforward. According to Sullivan: "color blindness can seem like an attractive parenting strategy to non-supremacist white parents. It allows them to avoid clumsy and difficult conversations about race and white domination in which they fear they will say something inadequate, wrong, or harmful . . . about race or racism" (86).There are three problems, according to her analysis, with utilizing color-blind rhetoric and using it as parental technique when dealing with race and racism in family discussions. First, an individual can state a belief in color-blindness while holding racist beliefs, experiencing racial antipathy, or engaging in racist behavior. The idea even in the form of the ideal falls short. Second, color-blindness "implicitly seeks a racially pure space, and thus enacts a form of white domination similar to white supremacy" (86). The white supremacist and the color-blind good white person falsely assume their white subjective position is the universal one and seek to negate non-whiteness, and more often than not, blackness. Third, adoption of color-blindness as a parental strategy forms the racial habit of not-seeing the relevant details of the lives of others. Parents don't really teach their children not to see difference, but rather to superficially see difference, and to not see the suffering and injustices that correlate with ethnic, racial, and class differences.Good white people and good white families, in Sullivan's analysis, take a "strange kind of pride in one's interpersonal cluelessness" (86). This cluelessness is part of the script of being a good white person and is fully consistent with the other principles of racial commonsense-the shifting litany of ideas, stereotypes, practices, and rules about race that guides our interactions-that are evident in the case studies that Sullivan draws upon to illustrate how good white parents politely police racial lines. …


Fast and accurate recognition of both the identities and positions of objects in visual space is critical to deciphering visual environments. Studies in both humans and nonhuman primates have demonstrated that neural populations in ventral temporal visual areas are jointly tuned to both the form and position of objects, allowing information about the identities of objects to be "tagged" with their positions. Because not all behaviors demand that the identities of objects be associated with position information with equal precision, however, the present study asked whether the spatial tuning of form-encoding populations in the human lateral occipital complex (LOC) is sculpted by task demands. Subjects were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging while viewing matches of the game Rock, Paper, Scissors played with exemplar pairs from those categories. Subjects first performed a repetition-detection task that depended on object form but not position; subsequently, subjects viewed the same stimuli while determining the position of each pair's "winner," a task that depended upon the conjunction of object form and position. Compared to data from the initial scan, multivoxel activity patterns evoked in the lateral occipital (LO) subdivision of LOC while subjects judged winners showed enhanced sensitivity to the relative positions of objects in pairs. Although superficially consistent with dynamic position tuning, this effect appears to be attributable to an accompanying task-dependent improvement in the sensitivity of LO populations to object form. The results thus suggest that the spatial tuning of form-encoding populations in LO does not depend upon the precision of spatial information demanded by a task.


In the past few years, employers have struggled with finding the optimal approach to healthcare benefit cost sharing. Recently, a leading actuarial firm analyzed employer out-of-pocket (OOP) data and the financial impact of OOP expenses on employers and employees. Findings were shared with a group of leading employers who meet periodically to discuss innovative benefit design strategies. Attendees viewed models that showed what effects various copayment and coinsurance amounts would have on employer and employee costs. Many attendees were intrigued with results that indicated increasing OOP costs for the sickest employees would do little to lower overall benefit costs.


Nearest neighbour searching is central to the efficiency of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). Here the performance of the brute force (BF) or direct search (DS), the cell-linked list (CLL), and the KD-tree (KDT) methods in vectorised form are analysed. The results indicate that the efficiency of the SPH calculations is improved with the vectorised cell-linked list (VCLL) and the vectorised KD-tree (VKDT). However, the VKDT approach is more efficient than the VCLL method for N ≤ 105 in two dimensions (2D) and N ≤ 106 in three dimensions (3D). For larger N, the time duration of the SPH calculations with the VKDT method grows steeply while a linear trend is maintained with the VCLL. The complexity here is measured not only for early events but also close to the point of hardware limit, in which the complexity has a different behaviour, which can be measured and compared using a power fit.


Checkpointing and rollback recovery is a very effective technique to tolerate the occurrence of failures. Usually, checkpoint data is saved on disk, however, in some situations the time to write the data to disk can represent a considerable performance overhead. Alternative solutions would make use of main memory to maintain the checkpoint data. The paper starts by presenting two main memory checkpointing schemes: neighbour based and parity checkpointing. Both schemes have been implemented and evaluated in a commercial parallel machine. The results show that neighbour based checkpointing presents a very low performance overhead and assures a fast recovery for partial failures. However, it is not able to tolerate multiple and total failures of the system. To solve this shortcoming the authors propose a two-level stable storage integrating the use of neighbour based with disk based checkpointing. This approach combines the advantages of the two schemes: the efficiency of diskless checkpointing with the high reliability of disk based checkpointing.


As adoption of system-level hardware design is increasing in industry and academia, accurate power estimation at this level is becoming important. In this paper, we present a system-level power estimation methodology, which is based on a high-level synthesis framework and supports sufficiently accurate power estimation of hardware designs at the systemlevel. For early and accurate power estimation, the proposed methodology utilizes register transfer level (RTL) probabilistic power estimation technique controlled by the system-level simulation. Furthermore, our methodology does not require a designer to move to the traditional RTL power estimation methodology, thus facilitating easy and early power analysis and aiding the cause of adoption of system-level design practices in ASIC design flow. This paper provides detailed description of our methodology including tools used, algorithm for extracting activity from system-level value change dump and finally mapping this information for RTL power estimation. We show the usefulness of our approach by performing power estimation on synthesizable cycle-accurate transaction-level (CATL) design models of reasonable complexity such as prototype processor model (VeSPA processor), universal asynchronous receiver and transmitter (UART), FFT filter, etc. We demonstrate our methodology through industry standard EDA tools used in the ASIC design flow and show that the loss in accuracy for the proposed approach with respect to the state-of-the-art RTL power estimation techniques ranges from 3¿9%. The speed up gained using our approach is upto 12 times more than RTL simulation based power estimation approach.


Embryonic dental cells were used to check a series of criteria to be achieved for tooth engineering. Implantation of cultured cell-cell re-associations led to crown morphogenesis, epithelial histogenesis, organ vascularization, and root and periodontium development. The present work aimed to investigate the organization of predentin/dentin, enamel, and cementum which formed and mineralized after implantation. These implants were processed for histology, transmission electron microscopy, x-ray microanalysis, and electron diffraction. After two weeks of implantation, the re-associations showed gradients of differentiating odontoblasts. There were ciliated, polarized, and extended cell processes in predentin/dentin. Ameloblasts became functional. Enamel crystals showed a typical oriented arrangement in the inner and outer enamel. In the developing root, odontoblasts differentiated, cementogenesis occurred, and periodontal ligament fibroblasts interacted with the root surface and newly formed bone. The implantation of cultured dental cell re-associations allows for reproduction of complete functional differentiation at the cell, matrix, and mineral levels.


In this study, effects of natural fiber reinforcement on mechanical properties of polyolefin based hybrid composites widely used different industrial areas were investigated. In this context, jute - PP composites having different jute ratios are produced in twin screw extruder on first stage of production. In the second stage, the films are produced at 450 µm thickness of PP material with different jute ratios are placed between HDPE (S 0464) plates with a thickness of 1 mm and are pressed under a pressure of 8.163 bar and temperature of 190 °C and consequently hybrid polyolefin composite sheets are obtained. The improvement of mechanical strength of hybrid composite material is realized 8.6 % ratio as 18.41 MPa in 5% jute reinforced hybrid composite. As a result of FTIR characterization, it is observed that the interface agents affecting the mechanical strength positively are significant. When SEM analysis of fracture surfaces formed after tensile test is performed, it is determined that an effective interface is formed between the fiber and the polymer, wheras the fibers that change direction due to production methods adversely affected the mechanical strength.


Genetic factors contribute both to the development and the course of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). The contribution of inherited genetic variability has been estimated 60%. Moreover, stochastic processes during the development of the T and B lymphocytes repertoire or so-called somatic genetic diversity may be responsible for an as yet unknown fraction of the remaining 40% of the factors contributing to the pathogenesis of RA. Thus far, the only known inherited genetic factors are encoded by the HLA system. These factors contribute about 40% of the inherited genetic variability and also contribute to the somatic genetic diversity. The main contribution of the HLA system is conferred by the HLA class II region and HLA-DR genes are certainly involved but HLA-DQ genes also may have a contribution. Perhaps most importantly: certain HLA-DR genes may provide dominant protection. HLA genes not only contribute to the development but also the course and severity of RA. There is also evidence for dominant protection against the development of erosions. We observed that this effect may be relatively short-lasting and overruled by a very early start of treatment with DMARDS (Yard et al., submitted for publication). These observations suggest that pharmacogenomics may offer possibilities for a tailor-made optimal treatment for individual RA patients. The standard hypothesis for an association of an HLA class II allele with an auto-immune disease is that auto-reactive T cells recognise certain self-epitopes that are exclusively or preferentially presented by that particular HLA class II allele. The Shared Epitope (SE) hypothesis (Gregersen et al. 1987) is a paradigm of this. More than 20 years of intensive research along these lines have however yielded little evidence for this concept. Therefore, we have developed an alternative hypothesis. In this hypothesis auto-reactive T cells do not play a role in the initiation but in the regulation of the disease process (Zanelli et al., Rheumatology, in press). Our model is an extension of the one proposed by Thomas and Lipsky (Immunology Today 1996; 17: 559–560). It starts with activation of synoviocytes by a trauma or an infection. Usually this results in a local inflammation that resolves in a few days, but in the presence of one or more (yet to be identified) genetic factors (nót HLA class II) an aberrant activation of synoviocytes results in a chronic inflammation. As proposed by Thomas and Lipsky chemo-attraction of dendritic cells (DC) and/or the transformation of synoviocytes to follicular DC may play a key role in this process. In our model a so-called amplifier gene stimulates this chemo-attraction of and/or the differentiation to DC's. The DC's present self-peptides not to disease-inducing but to regulatory auto-reactive T cells that have been recruited also to the inflamed synovium. These regulatory T cells recognise self-peptides such as DERAA peptides from the HV III region of certain HLA-DR alleles presented by DR or DQ molecules. This DC-regulatory T cell interaction is an essential checkpoint for the control of the inflammation and is controlled by HLA class II genes. In the absence of protective HLA alleles and therefore self-reactive regulatory T cells this checkpoint fails and this results in a local loss of tolerance and a (severe) chronic arthritis (RA). This model has several important implications for the immunotherapy of RA: We may stop the search for a unique target antigen for disease-inducing T cells Immunotherapy that is exclusively targeted at T cells may have an adverse effect Immunotherapy strategies for RA should either be targeted at the re-establishment of a normal phenotype in synoviocytes or on restoring a functional immunoregulatory loop.


In this paper, complementary metamaterial sensor is designed for nondestructive evaluation of dielectric substrates. The design concept is based on electromagnetic stored energy in the complementary circular spiral resonator (CCSR), which is concentrated in small volume near the host substrate at resonance. This energy can be employed to detect various electromagnetic properties of materials under test (MUT). Effective electric permittivity and magnetic permeability of the proposed sensor is extracted from scattering parameters. Sensitivity analysis is performed by varying the permittivity of MUT. After sensitivity analysis, a sensor is fabricated using standard PCB fabrication technique, and resonance frequency of the sensor due to interaction with different MUT is measured using vector network analyzer (AV3672series). The transcendental equation is derived for the fabricated sensor to calculate relative permittivity for unknown MUTs. This method is very simple and requires calculating only the resonant frequency, which reduces the cost and computation time.


Objective: To search for an in vitro strategy to favor both germination and a greater number of seedlings in Tillandsia ionantha; also, to promote the development of future research on this species.
Design/methodology/approach: Factor one: lighting conditions (light-dark), factor two: 13 preconditioning treatments, which included storage at room temperature and in refrigeration at 10° C, soaking (12 and 24 hours), with hydrogen peroxide (10 and 20 %), potassium nitrate (0.2 and 0.4 %), gibberellins (50 and 150 ml.l-1), three alternate incubation temperatures (28, 32 and 36 °C). They were sown in MS medium (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) at 25 %, adding 20 g.l-1 of sugar, 2 g.l-1 of activated carbon, and 5 .5 g.l-1 of agar. A flask with three seeds which coma removed was established as an experimental unit; 15 repetitions were established and placed in the incubation room at 24 °C with a photoperiod of 16:8. The germination process was recorded, and the seedlings were extracted two months after their establishment.
Results: The treatment that resulted in the highest number of seeds that initiated the germination process and the highest number of plants was when the seeds were kept at room temperature. The highest contamination was observed in the treatment exposed to 32 °C. It was observed that 80% of the experimental units showed signs of imbibition within a few days, although the vast majority did not complete the process and the maximum yield was on average 1.4 seedlings.
Conclusions: The best treatment is to use seeds stored at room temperature and if storage is necessary, to soak them for 12 h.


Infrared thermography is becoming ever more popular and is being used in an ever-increasing number of applications mainly due to its accuracy as well as non-contact and two-dimensional characters. In particular, the thermal signatures, which are visualized over a body surface through the use of a remote infrared imaging device, may be exploited to gain information in both the body and the fl uid surrounding it. In fact, thermal images may contain either information about the body's material conditions at a given instant (e.g. material integrity or presence of defects), or its behaviour under mechanical load (e.g. during bending or impact) or about the ability of the fl uid fl ow passing over the body surface to convey heat (i.e. cooling or heating it). Of course, what is important is the choice of the technique and of the procedure used in taking thermographic images, as well of the computational method applied in reducing data for a correct representation and interpretation of the thermal phenomena under study. The specifi c intention of this work is to highlight the usefulness of infrared thermography within two main tasks of materials inspection and thermo-fl uid dynamics. With regard to the fi rst one, the different thermographic techniques, which can be used for non-destructive testing, are described with the data processing procedures; then some key examples, mainly involving composite materials, are reported and discussed. The second topic is illustrated through different fl ow confi gurations, such as impinging jets, which are encountered in the industrial context for heating or cooling purposes, a free stream fl owing over a body to assess separation and/or reattachment location and a disk rotating in still air. However, a part is spent in the description of theoretical approaches and standard procedures for acquisition of thermographic images, as well of methods for data reduction and computation of the required quantities.


This paper is concerned with inequalities of Hua-Wang type. Some generalizations for inequalities of Hua-Wang type are obtained by the method of theory of Matrix. Moreover, some new Hua-Wang type inequalities are established.


A pilot-scale sustainable hydrogen production system using reverse electrodialysis (RED) technology was launched. The system is based on direct conversion of salinity gradient energy (SGE) between seawater (SW) and sewage treated water (STW) to hydrogen production by water electrolysis. The hydrogen production rate was almost the same as the theoretical value. This indicates that the RED hydrogen production system can convert SGE between SW and STW to hydrogen energy at high current efficiency.


The objective of our study is to evaluate safety, hemodynamic performance and durability of the new generation aortic bioprosthesis with Resilia Tissue.

 RES-ITA Registry is the Italian multicenter registry created in 2017, enrolling patients who underwent isolated or combined AVR with Resilia tissue valve. The Registry was recently recognized by SICCH as the official national registry of Resilia tissue valve implantations, with Potenza's Cardiac Surgery Unit as its coordinating center. Isolated AVR (50%) was performed predominantly through an upper J mini-sternotomy or a right anterior mini-thoracotomy, while combined procedures (50%) were performed in full sternotomy and included associated CABG, ascending aorta surgery, mitral valve repair or replacement, aortic annulus enlargement. For all patients, clinical and echocardiographic assessment were evaluated at discharge, 30 days, 6 months and every year after surgery.

 Between June 2017 and March 2022, about 1000 patients were included, coming from 13 Italian cardiac surgery centers. During last year, 6 more Italian centers have asked to join the Registry. Mean age was 57±11 years. Mean Euroscore II was 2.24±3.01%. Redo surgery was performed in 11%. Most frequently implanted valve sizes were 23 mm (30%), 25 mm (27.7%) and 27 mm (19%). Two-year freedom from all-cause mortality for isolated AVR and for all patients was 97.4±1.3% and 95.7±1.1%, respectively. Two-year freedom from major paravalvular leaks (≥2+/4) was 98.4±0.8; freedom from prosthesis thrombosis was 96.7±2 and freedom from prosthesis dysfunction (according to VARC-2 criteria) was 96.7±1.7. Mean gradient was 13.3±8.3 mmHg and maximum gradient was 23.2±16.2 mmHg at 2-year follow-up.

 The new generation aortic prosthesis with RESILIA tissue demonstrates versatility of use, safety, good early and mid-term outcomes and hemodynamic performance. Further investigations and longer follow-up are needed to evaluate long-term durability.


Serum samples from 1397 Ecuadorian children 0-5 years of age were tested by ELISA for antibodies to enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC). A gradual prevalence and titer increase was seen for IgG antibodies to heat-labile enterotoxin in children 6-18 months old; 90% prevalences were reached in the second year of life. At this age less than 10% of West German children showed IgG antibodies to heat-labile enterotoxin. In Ecuador age-related ETEC-specific antibody titer increases correlated with age-related prevalence of diarrheal disease. On the other hand, pooled lipopolysaccharide from different ETEC-associated O serogroups could not be used as a seroepidemiologic marker of ETEC infections.


BACKGROUND
The Official Mexican Norm for the prevention, treatment and control of Cervical Cancer (CC) indicates that the Papanicolau (Pap) is the procedure for the detection of this neoplasia; therefore, it is of interest to know the prevalence of suspected cases by this technique in Mexican population. In this study, we show the diagnosed cases in the State of Jalisco, México.

METHODS
A retrospective study was made to the samples that arrived for their analysis to the Laboratorio Regional de Citología Exfoliativa (LARCE), of the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS) in Guadalajara, Jalisco. We considered all cases from January 2010 to December 2012.

RESULTS
We analyzed 188 095 cases, from which 5.3 % had a diagnosis of low dysplasia, 0.18 % of moderated dysplasia and 0.05 % of high dysplasia. Microinvasive and invasive cancer showed a low frequency (0.03 %).

CONCLUSIONS
The frequency of abnormal findings identified by vaginal cervical cytology is relatively low. The number of inadequate and limited samples for cytological assessment is high; there is a high proportion of women attending for the first time in life to cytology evaluation in older age groups.


This study describes a self-efficacy (SE) scale and examines its usefulness in predicting adherence to cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) of insomnia. The SE scale, which included three subscales (global, task-related, and self-regulation), was administered to 39 patients receiving CBT for primary insomnia. Participants'daily sleep diaries were used to estimate their adherence to treatment. The results showed that the SE scale has adequate psychometric properties. Treatment adherence increased from Week 2 to Week 7 and decreased during the week following the last therapy session. In general, the global self-efficacy measure was more strongly associated with adherence during the first week of treatment, whereas the task-related efficacy was more strongly associated with adherence behaviors from Weeks 4 to 8. These findings suggest that self-efficacy perceptions are useful in predicting adherence to CBT of insomnia.


Abstract The role of metal (Au, Pt, and Ag) electrodes in yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte-based impedancemetric nitric oxide (NO) sensors is investigated using impedance spectroscopy and equivalent circuit analysis. Focus on the metal/porous YSZ interface is based on previous studies using a symmetric cell (metal/YSZ porous /YSZ dense /YSZ porous /metal) and attempts to further elucidate the important processes responsible for sensing. The current test cell consists of a rectangular slab of porous YSZ with two metal-wire loop electrodes (metal/YSZ porous /metal), both exposed to the same atmosphere. Of the electrode materials, only Au was sensitive to changes in NO concentration. The impedance behavior of porous Au electrodes in a slightly different configuration was compared with dense Au electrodes and was also insensitive to NO. Although the exact mechanism is not determined, the composition and microstructure of the metal electrode seem to alter the rate-limiting step of the interfering O 2 reaction. Impedance behavior of the O 2 reaction that is limited by processes occurring away from the triple-phase boundary may be crucial for impedancemetric NO sensing. The role of metal (cid:1) Au, Pt, and Ag (cid:2) electrodes in yttria-stabilized zirconia (cid:1) YSZ (cid:2) electrolyte-based impedancemetric nitric oxide (cid:1) NO (cid:2) sensors is investigated using impedance spectroscopy and equivalent circuit analysis. Focus on the metal/porous YSZ interface is based on previous studies using a symmetric cell (cid:1) metal/YSZ porous / YSZ dense / YSZ porous /metal (cid:2) and attempts to further elucidate the important processes responsible for sensing. The current test cell consists of a rectangular slab of porous YSZ with two metal-wire loop electrodes (cid:1) metal/YSZ porous /metal (cid:2) , both exposed to the same atmosphere. Of the electrode materials, only Au was sensitive to changes in NO concentration. The impedance behavior of porous Au electrodes in a slightly different configuration was compared with dense Au electrodes and was also insensitive to NO. Although the exact mechanism is not determined, the composition and microstructure of the metal electrode seem to alter the rate-limiting step of the interfering O 2 reaction. Impedance behavior of the O 2 reaction that is limited by processes occurring away from the triple-phase boundary may be crucial for impedancemetric NO sensing.


Investigation on the dynamic behavior of railway bridges has not performed widely to date except high-speed railway bridges. In this study, 3-dimensional model is used for the finite element analysis of plate girder railway bridges. Train loads obtained through statistical approach of the measured true train loads are used. Numerical analysis is carried out about a 18m-span bridge. This result is compared with that of the experimental test of existing plate girder railway bridge without ballast. The good agreement was obtained through the comparison. Judging from the analysis, resonant speed of diesel locomotive train is about 120km/h. However, the resonance for the other train is not found from the analysis.


Introduction: Hospital waste is one of the most important pollutants caused by hospital processes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) risks of medical waste unit.
Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2020. The study tool included the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) technique. This research was conducted in three sections of medical Waste Unit of the Waste Management Organization including collection, processing and landfill sections.
Results: The FMEA results showed that the highest levels of environmental Risk Priority Number (RPN) in the collection, processing and landfill sections were estimated 245, 392, and 294 respectively. Furthermore, the lowest levels of environmental risk in these three sections were calculated as 144, 80, and 60 respectively. The FMEA results indicated that the highest levels of safety and health risk in the collection, processing and landfill sections were calculated to be 252, 420 and 420, respectively. Also, the lowest level of safety and health risk in all three sections was estimated to be RPN=90.
Conclusion: Findings of this study indicated that the level of hospital waste risk is high. Therefore, reducing the incidence of catastrophic consequences associated with these wastes should be considered a priority of the waste management system.


Agricultural waste constitutes for most of the manmade waste streams. Processing of biodegradable waste materials ensures the treatment of harmful substances and allows to reduce environmental pollution. In addition, conversion of these waste materials in value-added products makes these recycling methods more economically viable. Single-cell protein is one of the valueadded products that can be produced by microbial fermentation of waste materials. In this review various biodegradable agricultural by-products as substrates for production of SCP are categorized and compared.


This paper addresses the problem of perceptual quality measurement on individual coded video frames with distortions caused by both lossy source coding and lossy transmission. We focus on low bitrate H.264 coded video with error concealment and propagation due to packet losses. Identifying Human Visual System (HVS) masking effect as one of the most important factors affecting the perceptual quality, we investigate its impacts on the two aforementioned artifacts in individual video frames respectively, and then evaluate their corresponding Just-Noticeable-Difference (JND) based perceptual distortions. Finally, we combine the two distortions together and propose a block-wise full-reference quality metric for a single distorted video frame. Our subjective evaluation results show that the proposed metric correlates fairly well with actual subjective quality ratings.


This study explores the judicial articulation between religious liberty and education in Canadian Mennonite communities during the 20th century. The purpose of the study is to demonstrate how specific judicial data are linked to general social contexts and to show that some changes in global social contexts and some local elements have an influence on religious liberty in education for a specific religious community. During the 20th century, we can find three trials involving Mennonite education (R. v. Hildebrand ; R. v. Wiebe ; Bal v. Ontario). These judicial data concerning the Mennonites are understood and interpreted in the Canadian social and historical context of the 20th century. Using these rulings as primary literature, the following question is studied: which socio-legal issues linked to religious freedom and education are relevant to these trials? As a result, the study shows that the articulation between religious liberty and education varies for Mennonites according to four considerations: 1) Mennonite faith; 2) relations with other religious groups in which Mennonites had been engaged; 3) factors related to education in itself, interwoven into a plural society and conceived as a public aspect of the identity construction of individuals; and 4) some specific aspects related to the Canadian constitution. Therefore, it is shown that these four socio-judicial considerations, which were associated with the trials involving Mennonites in education, are all concerned, one way or another, with the articulation of religious liberty and education.

Keywords: religious freedom, education, Mennonite, Canada, trial


ABSTRACT Existing research has increasingly identified synergies and trade-offs between urban climate change mitigation and adaptation policies. There is a gap, however, in our knowledge of the extent to which urban climate change mitigation efforts affect the adoption of adaptation policies. Analysing the presence of different levels of climate change mitigation efforts in European cities, while also considering local climate risks and national adaptation mandates, our results show a positive and significant correlation between mitigation and adaptation policies. This is partly a result of the perceptions and discourses linking global and local climate risks, and partly a consequence of the co-benefits of the two activities at the local level, which enable cities to piggyback on their prior mitigation efforts when adopting adaptation policies. A conceptual 'mitigation-adaptation nexus' governance framework is adopted to improve the current synergy versus conflict debate. Multilevel logit regression analyses of 261 European cities, controlling for both city- and country-level factors, suggest that adaptation is positively influenced in cities with mitigation action policies with monitoring systems, rather than mere mitigation commitments. We also find that national mandates drive local adoption of adaptation policies. Key policy insights The mitigation-adaptation nexus approach enables cities to regard climate change policies not as single-dimensional, but as comprehensive capacity building efforts. Cities committed to actual progress on mitigation policy (i.e. with a monitoring system in place) are more likely to adopt adaptation policies. Cities are driven to join municipal adaptation networks on the basis of their established mitigation policies rather than local climate risk profiles. National adaptation mandates have an important influence on local climate planning.


The sulfonium borane 2(+) reacts with fluoride anions in MeOH/H(2)O mixtures to afford the zwitterionic fluoroborate 2-F as an easily isolable nonhygroscopic solid. In dry acetonitrile, 2-F reacts with PhS(-) to afford the anionic fluoroborate 1-F(-). The latter is very labile and acts as a nucleophilic fluorination reagent toward a variety of substrates including alkylhalides and electron-deficient aromatic compounds. This approach may become broadly applicable to nucleophilic fluorination procedures that involve wet fluoride sources.


Congratulating the wonderful journal "Clinical Medicine" that has played a significant role in the development of medical care in Russia on the centennial anniversary, the surgical community also celebrates the centenary of the birth of modern military field surgery. An article "Great surgery in the frontline of the field army" was published by the surgeon-consultant of a number of fronts of the Russian army in World War I, professor of the Military Medical Academy V.A. Oppel in 1916, and the monograph "Organizational issues of the advanced surgical frontline of the army" appeared in 1917. V.A. Oppel was the first to formulate the idea of stage treatment of the wounded in these works and a number of other ones. From the point of view of stage-by-stage treatment, the wounded receives a surgical measure where this measure is needed; the wounded person is evacuated as soon as his health condition allows it. However, such an approach may seem unrealistic in large-scale wars because military environment often precluded the possibility of providing assistance to the wounded in the place where they needed it. It was not always possible to comply with the contraindications for the evacuation of the wounded. During the world wars, the system of stage-by-stage treatment of the wounded was more a theory, but it was successfully applied practically, and highly improved, during local wars of the late XX — early XXI centuries.


Uterine serous carcinoma (USC) is a rare but aggressive subtype of endometrial cancer lacking efficacious treatments. USC bears molecular and pathological resemblance to high-grade serous ovarian cancer, for which mutations in homologous recombination repair (HRR) genes have been associated with better treatment outcomes with platinum-based chemotherapy and poly-ADP ribose polymerase 1/2 inhibitors (PARPi). We aimed to investigate the prevalence of tumor HRR (tHRR) gene mutations and its potential prognostic value in USC patients. Sixty consecutive USC patients with available tumor tissue samples and complete follow-up records were included. Tumor mutations in relevant HRR genes were identified using next-generation sequencing and correlated with the progress-free survival (PFS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) of the patients. Among the 60 patients' USC, 22 (36.7%) carried tumor HRR gene mutations (tHRRmt), with ATM, BRCA1, and BRCA2 being the most frequently mutated genes. Survival analysis showed similar PFS (HR, 0.500; 95% CI, 0.203–1.232; p = 0.132), but significantly longer DSS in the tHRRmt patients than in the HRR gene wild-type (tHRRwt) patients (HR, 0.176; 95% CI, 0.050–0.626; p = 0.007). In FIGO stage III and IV patients, the tHRRmt group also displayed longer DSS than the tHRRwt group (p = 0.008). Notably, USC patients with abnormal p53 in our cohort, both PFS and DSS were significantly longer in the tHRRmt group over the tHRRwt group (p = 0.040 and p = 0.008, respectively). The HRR gene mutations are highly prevalent in USC and may be related to better clinical outcomes as a prognostic marker. Further study is needed to confirm whether tHRRmt patients may benefit from treatments targeting homologous recombination such as platinum and PARPi.


Spintronics logic devices based on majority gates formed by atomic-level arrangements of spins in the crystal lattice is considered. The dynamics of switching is modeled by time-dependent solution of the density-matrix equation with relaxation. The devices are shown to satisfy requirements for logic. Switching speed and dissipated energy are calculated and compared with electronic transistors. The simulations show that for the highly idealized case assumed here, it is possible to trade off speed for switching energy and achieve lower power operation than ultimately scaled CMOS devices.


Spatial and spectral approaches are two major approaches for image processing tasks such as image classification and object recognition. Among many such algorithms, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have recently achieved significant performance improvement in many challenging tasks. Since CNNs process images directly in the spatial domain, they are essentially spatial approaches. Given that spatial and spectral approaches are known to have different characteristics, it will be interesting to incorporate a spectral approach into CNNs. We propose a novel CNN architecture, wavelet CNNs, which combines a multiresolution analysis and CNNs into one model. Our insight is that a CNN can be viewed as a limited form of a multiresolution analysis. Based on this insight, we supplement missing parts of the multiresolution analysis via wavelet transform and integrate them as additional components in the entire architecture. Wavelet CNNs allow us to utilize spectral information which is mostly lost in conventional CNNs but useful in most image processing tasks. We evaluate the practical performance of wavelet CNNs on texture classification and image annotation. The experiments show that wavelet CNNs can achieve better accuracy in both tasks than existing models while having significantly fewer parameters than conventional CNNs.


Theoretically, induced defenses should be prevalent within low resource environments like the forest understory where constitutive defenses would be costly. Also, the induced response should be stronger when the herbivore is a generalist rather than a specialist, which often have mechanisms to avoid or overcome plant defenses. These ideas have been previously tested for herbaceous species, and we examined these predictions in Lindera benzoin (spicebush), a common woody shrub of the eastern deciduous forest. Lindera benzoin plants in contrasting light environments served as control plants or were subjected to one of four treatments: application of jasmonic acid, clipping, herbivory by the specialist Epimecis hortaria (tulip tree beauty) and herbivory by the generalist Spodoptera exigua (beet armyworm). Following treatment, we assessed induced responses by measuring leaf chemistry (C/N ratio, protein content, and peroxidase activity), and by using insect bioassays with E. hortaria larvae. We found no difference in peroxidase activity between light environments in controls, plants treated with clipping or jasmonic acid. In plants subject to insect herbivory, peroxidase activity was greater in shade plants than in sun plants. The magnitude of this increase in the shade varied between the herbivores, with a 32 fold increase in plants exposed to the generalist S. exigua and a 9 fold increase in plants exposed to the specialist E. hortaria. Leaves from shade plants had more protein and lower C/N ratios than leaves from sun plants, regardless of induction treatment. In control plants, E. hortaria larvae consumed more leaf biomass and achieved greater final weights in the sun than in the shade, but these differences disappeared with induction treatments were applied. These results are among the first to show rapid induction in a woody plant, and different levels of induction with light environments and with specialist versus generalist herbivores.


Biology presents incomparable, but desirable, characteristics compared to engineered systems. Inspired by biological development, we have devised a multi-layered design architecture that attempts to capture many of the favorable characteristics of biological mechanisms for application to design problems. In this paper we have identified and implemented essential features of Genetic Regulatory Networks (GRNs) and cell signaling so that our system exhibits self-organization which is reminiscent of aspects of biological systems.


The objective of this work was to evaluate external and internal markers in studies of partial and total digestibility in cattle. Chromic oxide (Cr 2 O 3 ) was used as external marker and acid-insoluble ash (AIA) and indigestible neutral detergent fibre (INDF) as internal markers. The animals were fed a diet 13.7% crude protein (CP), with 50% concentrate and 50% forage. Four Holstein steers with 320 kg average body weight implanted with ruminal and duodenal cannulas, and three cows with ruminal cannula for INDF determination were used. The experiment was carried to study duodenal and faecal dry matter (DM) and organic matter (OM) flows estimated by markers. To compare markers, the averages for DM and OM flow were estimated using the trust interval, and the coefficient of variation of average estimation. Under the conditions of the present work it was concluded that chromic oxide presented higher precision than AIA and INDF for estimation of DM and OM flows.


Objective: To investigate the effect of dexamethasone eye drops on bone metabolism in newborn rabbits. Methods: Thirty-four 3-week-old rabbits had unilateral clear lens extraction and were randomized into three groups. Postoperatively, group 1 received high-dose and group 2 low-dose dexamethasone eye drops (average doses 0.27 and 0.10 mg/kg body weight/day, respectively). These rabbits also received a postoperative subconjunctival injection of betamethasone. Group 3 (control) received vehicle eye drops only. After 8 weeks of treatment, all animals were killed and the left femurs were isolated and subjected to peripheral quantitative computerized tomography (pQCT) and dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) analyses. Results: DXA showed that rabbits treated with either a high or low dose of dexamethasone eye drops had significantly reduced areal bone mineral density (BMD), area and total bone mineral content (BMC) of the femur. Measurements with pQCT demonstrated a dose-dependent reduction in cortical BMC, cortical volumetric BMD and cortical area. These effects were associated with an inhibition of radial femur growth, cortical thickness and periosteal and endosteal circumferences. Conclusion: Dexamethasone eye drops have systemic effects affecting several bone parameters in young rabbits. Any long-term systemic effects of ocular glucocorticoids need to be further studied.


The article presents the analysis of the educational programs in physical education for universities. Some controversial issues associated with their development have been discussed. The trends in the development of the software-normative bases of the system of physical education of students have been summarized.


OBJECTIVE
To study the effects of antidepression drugs and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women with depression.

METHODS
Eighty six perimenopausal and postmenopausal women with depression were divided into two groups, and treated for 12 weeks, respectively. Forty three received antidepression drugs as control group. Among them, mild to moderate depression were treated with deanxid (1 - 2 pills/d), and severe depression with fluoxetine (20 mg/d). Another 43 took Tibolone (livial) as HRT group (1.25 mg/d). All patients were assessed with the Hamilton depression rating scale for depression (HRSD) and self rating depression scale (SDS) before and at weeks 4, 8, 12 after treatment.

RESULTS
(1) Total effective rate of control and HRT groups was 96% and 93%, respectively, in mild-moderate depression (chi(2)=0.012, P>0.05), while there was a significant difference between two groups in severe depression. The overall effective rates were 93% (control group) and 42% (HRT group), respectively (chi(2) = 5.72, P < 0.01). (2) HRSD of mild-moderate depression was 26.8 +/- 5.7, 10.7 +/- 3.6, 6.4 +/- 3.6, 3.5 +/- 2.5, respectively in control group, and were 25.3 +/- 4.7, 15.2 +/- 5.3, 11.4 +/- 4.4, 4.4 +/- 3.8 in HRT group before and at weeks 4, 8, and 12 after treatment. There was no difference between two groups at weeks 0, and 12 after treatment (P>0.05). HRSD scores of severe depression were 37.6 +/- 5.6, 21.4 +/- 5.2, 14.2 +/- 4.2, 7.3 +/- 2.3, respectively, in control group, and were 38.2 +/- 4.8, 32.6 +/- 5.4, 28.2 +/- 4.6, 24.3 +/- 4.5, respectively, in HRT group before and at weeks 4, 8, and 12 after treatment. There was no difference in HRSD before treatment (P>0.05), but a significant difference at weeks 4, 8, and 12 between two groups (P<0.01). (3) SDS of mild and moderate as well as severe depression was significantly different at weeks 0, 4.8, and 12 in control group (P<0.01), while there was a difference in SDS of severe depression before treatment and at weeks 12 in HRT group (P<0.05). A significant reduction in HRSD and SDS of severe depression was demonstrated in control group than in HRT group (P<0.01)

CONCLUSION
Antidepression drugs and HRT can improve symptoms of depression in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women, but the effect of antidepression drugs is much better than HRT, especially in severe depression.


The lung epithelium is rich in celltype diversity including several progenitors. These distinct regional progenitors have traditionally been identified using lineage tracing or single cell RNAseq. Isolation and use of such cells are hampered by the lack of specific markers that distinguish them in different airway compartments. Thus, a robust method is needed to reliably isolate progenitors from their respective location in the airway. Further, isolation of cells from the same mouse allows for direct analysis of regional disease specific effects and reduction in overall animal numbers. Here, we developed a 3D-printed lobe divider (3DLD) to simultaneously isolate proximal and distal epithelial cells from the same lung. We evaluated isolated cells by their capacity to differentiate in standard in vitro assays. Proximal and distal cells isolated with 3DLD gave rise to differentiated airway and alveolar epithelia respectively as evident by air-liquid-interface cultures and organoid assays with colony forming efficiency (CFE) matching literature. 3DLD method yielded distal organoids with increased CFE and smaller organoid diameters with median of 107µm compared to 171µm from those isolated without 3DLD. We used RNAseq in combination with computational deconvolution to evaluate differences in celltype representation among these cultures. We found that separation of proximal and distal compartments prior cell isolation altered the initial cell populations, likely due to the presence of proximal airway progenitors in single cell suspensions of distal epithelial cells. 3DLD is an inexpensive and reproducible method for isolating proximal and distal progenitors from individual mice.


The aim of this paper was to present the reserves of labour resources in agriculture on the basis of statistical data from the Central Statistical Office of Poland and indicate the possibilities to use them in rural areas. The paper presents the changes in the structure of agricultural holdings, the level of concentration of the labour resources expressed in number of annual work units (AWU) per 100 ha of agricultural land and the qualifications of farm managers. The paper also investigates the possibilities to utilize the surplus labour force in agriculture in rural areas, stressing the necessity to stop the migration of rural population to urban areas.


Abstract— Previous studies of unmelted micrometeorites (>50 μm) recovered from Antarctic ice have concluded that chondrules, which are a major component of chondritic meteorites, are extremely rare among micrometeorites. We report the discovery of eight micrometeorites containing chondritic igneous objects, which strongly suggests that at least a portion of coarse‐grained crystalline micrometeorites represent chondrule fragments. Six of the particles are identified as composite micrometeorites that contain chondritic igneous objects and fine‐grained matrix. These particles suggest that at least some coarse‐grained micrometeorites (cgMMs) may be derived from the same parent bodies as fine‐grained micrometeorites. The new evidence indicates that, contrary to previous suggestions, the parent bodies of micrometeorites broadly resemble the parent asteroids of chondrulebearing carbonaceous chondrites.


At the highest level of description, this book is about dimensionality reduction for data mining. It focuses on dimensional reduction on Small, Medium and very large Scale data. This book is not intended as an introduction to Feature selection, although we do provide the background necessary in several areas in order to facilitate the readers comprehension of their respective roles in data mining. This book reviews state-of-the-art dimensionality reduction techniques for analyzing enormous quantities of raw data in high-dimensional data spaces to extract new information useful to the decision-making process.


We read with interest the article by Drs Swinhoe and Groves (Anaesthesia 1994; 49: 165-6) on patients knowledge of the role of anaesthetists. Preliminary findings from our own similar study reinforce this perception of public ignorance regarding the work of anaesthetists. Of 104 patients surveyed so far, 46% did not know anaesthetists were doctors, none knew of his/ her work outside the operating theatre and only 13% indicated that the anaesthetist both anaesthetised and monitored patients. The corresponding figures from the the study by Swinhoe and Groves were 35%, 25% and 6%. The figures may be different but the trends remain the same. These differences may reflect the populations studied. We have quantified the education level of our sample. Although from a rural community, 97% of patients have at least a second level education. The preliminary findings indicate that the better educated patients have a greater appreciation of the role of anaesthetists. The fact is that despite extensive training and stringent examinations, anaesthetists are still not recognised as medically trained. The reasons for this are unclear. It may be because the first interaction between patient and anaesthetist occurs when the former is most distracted, on a busy, strange, stressful ward full of unfamiliar faces and customs. Keep and Jenkins [ l ] suggest that 'Something more than mere ignorance is operating against the public image of the anaesthetist: something that market research organisations might describe as irrational product resistance'. Another finding has been that the public appears disinterested in finding out more about anaesthetists [2]. Yet Lonsdale and Hutchison [3] found that patients rated meeting the anaesthetist as their single most important concern pre-surgery. Perhaps these apparently divergent views are not so surprising. It seems natural that patients would want to meet the anaesthetist to whom they shall entrust themselves. It behoves us to elucidate our role to the public a t large, but at the same time, patients may not appreciate being subjected to a lecture on the role and scope of the anaesthetist. Swinhoe and Groves propose solving the problem by giving information sheets to their patients pre-operatively on the ward. We feel that an Anaesthetic Clinic, which would allow both anaesthetist and patient to evaluate and educate each other in a more relaxed atmosphere is the answer.


Abstract This paper addresses the problem of connectivity constrained surveillance of a given polyhedral area with obstacles using a group of Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs). The considered communication restrictions may involve both line-of-sight constraints and limited sensor range constraints. In this paper, the focus is on dynamic information graphs, G , which are required to be kept recurrently connected. The main motivation for introducing this weaker notion of connectivity is security and surveillance applications where the sentry vehicles may have to split temporary in order to complete the given mission efficiently but are required to establish contact recurrently in order to exchange information or to make sure that all units are intact and well-functioning. From a theoretical standpoint, recurrent connectivity is shown to be sufficient for exponential convergence of consensus filters for the collected sensor data.


The Networking for Science Advancement (NSA) team's institutions consist of nine universities located in one large southwestern state. This study evaluated students enrolled from Spring 2017 to Fall 2019 in first- and second-semester general chemistry. Over 90% of the students (n = 6,694) have been exposed to a secondary school isomorphic curriculum. The population studied, Chem I (n = 4,619) and Chem II (n = 2,075), met entry-level criteria and are therefore expected to succeed (i.e., earn grades of A, B or C). This study's focus is to disaggregate data based on binary gender (M/F) in hopes of revealing patterns that might remain hidden when studying an undivided population. In Chem I, the female population was 59.6% and increased to 64.5% for Chem II. The 15-min., diagnostic Math-Up Skills Test's (MUST) scores identified about half of all students who were unsuccessful (grades of D and F). Results from the study support that males enter Chem I and II with better automaticity skills (what can be done without using a calculator) than females. However, females outperformed males on course averages in Chem I but not Chem II. Our data provide supporting evidence that the gender gap may be closing.


At slightly acidic or even neutral pH, oligodeoxynucleotides that include a stretch of cytidines have been shown to form a tetrameric structure in which two parallel-stranded duplexes have their hemiprotonated C.C+base pairs face to face and fully intercalated, in a so-called i-motif. Cytosine-rich pyrimidine oligodeoxynucleotides can form an intramolecular i-motif. We have studied the ability of several DNA analogs to fold into this structure. Evidence for folding was provided by thermal denaturation. We have shown that phosphorothioate and phosphodiester oligodeoxynucleotides, but not methylphosphonate or PNA oligomers, may form the i-motif. Four different PS oligodeoxynucleotides were compared with their PO counterparts. In all cases, the melting temperature (Tm) of the phosphorothioate oligomer was equal or slightly inferior (by 2-3 degreesC) to the Tmof the natural oligodeoxynucleotide. For long oligodeoxynucleotides, a small change of pH leads to a completely different melting profile: the curves are reversible at pH 6.4 or lower, and a hysteresis is obtained at pH 6.8 or higher; cooling and heating curves were not superimposed, allowing us to determine the rate constants of association (kon) and dissociation (koff) as a function of the temperature: these rate constants give linear Arrhenius plots, in agreement with the prediction of the two-state model of association-dissociation. The activation energy Eonis strongly negative and, at neutral pH, the phosphorothioate associates and dissociates nine times faster than the phosphodiester oligodeoxynucleotide of identical sequence.


Colorectal cancer is a common disease which is almost wholly preventable by early removal of adenomatous polyps. Screening should be offered to all persons without risk factors from the age of 50. Selection of the appropriate screening programme should take into account personal preference, local expertise and insurance coverage. Endoscopic screening and surveillance investigations should be strongly encouraged in all persons wit risk factors such as (1) previous treatment of colorectal adenomatous polyps or cancers, (2) ulcerative colitis, (3) patients with hereditary colorectal cancer syndromes and (4) first degree relatives of patients with colorectal cancer. The following four strategies are available for candidates > 50 years without risk factors: (1) faecal occult blood testing (annually), (2) flexible sigmoidoscopy (every 5 years), (3) a combination of both (1 + 2) strategies and (4) coloscopy (every 10 years). Coloscopy should be performed after a positive test result in strategy programs 1-3. Results from prospective randomized trials are available only for faecal occult blood testing, showing an approximately 15% reduction of mortality in the screening group. The potential for reduction of colorectal cancer mortality has been estimated at 30-70% and 60-90% for flexible sigmoidoscopy and coloscopy respectively. However, no results from prospective randomized trials are presently available. Cost-effectiveness analysis has not shown relevant differences between the four different screening strategies.


Painful conditions are frequently accompanied by sleep disorders. Here we present the case, never previously reported, of high doses of zopiclone and prazepam abuse in a patient suffering from migraine and insomnia. A 37-year-old female Caucasian patient, nursing degree, with two 7-year-old twin daughters, began to suffer from migraines in her childhood. Migraine worsened and was associated with insomnia after the daughters' birth. Eight months ago, migraine and insomnia further worsened in conjunction with the prescription of fluoxetine and prazepam as migraine prophylaxis and of zopiclone for insomnia. From that moment, the patient increased the dose of zopiclone up to 20 tablets (150 mg) nightly and prazepam up to 20 tablets (400 mg) daily. As acute migraine treatment she also used ketorolac 1-2 f every day intramuscularly. The patient was hospitalised for withdrawal of medications and to treat migraine. Hair analysis documented the history of this patient and the good progress of the treatment. Zopiclone and prazepam are considered drugs with low abuse potential. However, the final outcome of a drug treatment may be influenced by non-drug factors, such as the patient's characteristics and the treatment milieu. In fact, in a stressful context, the prescription of zopiclone in a patient vulnerable for migraine triggered abuse of this drug and of prazepam, which was associated with chronification of migraine and analgesics overuse, without relieving insomnia. In prescribing hypnotics and anxiolytics to patients with chronic pain there must therefore be great caution. doi:10.4021/jmc729w


Background: More than 52 countries make use of the 'Newspapers in Education' programme. In the last 10 years, in Belgium, an application of the international programme Newspapers in Education has become a well-known way of stimulating adolescents to explore the political realm and challenge the way they think about and participate in democracies. However, the longer-term effectiveness of the programme is not fully understood because studies tend to focus on a period shortly after programme participation. Purpose: This study aimed to investigate whether pupils who participated in the Newspapers in Education programme scored more highly on scales of media use/habits and social and political attitudes, in a survey conducted more than half a year after programme participation. Programme description: The programme Newspapers in Education was evaluated. Newspapers in Education makes newspaper reading accessible to young people by providing a free newspaper package containing a variety of national newspapers for each student. This way, the programme aims at connecting young people to current affairs, and wants to stimulate interactive ways of teaching to attain the goals that are often specified when the teaching of citizenship education is concerned. The programme, moreover, has the firm intention of creating a generation of critical thinkers and informed citizens. Sample details: For the assessment of the effects of the Newspapers in Education programme, the 'Belgian Youth Survey' was used. The Belgian Youth Survey 2006 is a representative survey conducted in 2006 among more than 6000 15- and 16-year-olds in Belgium (both in the French and Dutch communities). However, for these analyses we focussed on the data of the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, i.e. Flanders (N = 3453), because the Newspapers in Education programme has manifested itself on a continuous basis in this community for several years. Design and methods: The Belgian Youth Survey 2006 is based on written surveys filled out by the respondents in schools. The response rate at the Flemish school level is 72%. This survey tried to tap into social and political attitudes of young people and also provided us with specific background characteristics, which we could control for when looking into programme effects. Because the aim of this study was to uncover longer-term effects of the Newspapers in Education programme whilst controlling for individual background effects, bivariate and regression analyses were used. Main findings in relation to the research goals/objectives: Results suggested that the participants of Newspapers in Education may follow the news, particularly on the Internet, more often than their non-participating peers; they also displayed a slightly higher level of political knowledge. However, many other differences between participating and non-participating groups were not significant. In addition, a slight association was apparent in the media use of students receiving vocational education. The relationship between participating in the programme and tolerance towards ethnic minorities was also significant for the whole sample. Main conclusion: In this study, only minor differences were detected between the media use/habits and social and political attitudes of participants and non-participants in the Flemish Newspapers in Education programme. It is possible that the brevity of the programme itself may make it difficult for its impact to be evident six months after participation.


Background: Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer-related death among women worldwide. Herein, we examine global trends in female breast cancer rates using the most up-to-date data available. Methods: Breast cancer incidence and mortality estimates were obtained from GLOBOCAN 2012 (globocan.iarc.fr). We analyzed trends from 1993 onward using incidence data from 39 countries from the International Agency for Research on Cancer and mortality data from 57 countries from the World Health Organization. Results: Of 32 countries with incidence and mortality data, rates in the recent period diverged—with incidence increasing and mortality decreasing—in nine countries mainly in Northern/Western Europe. Both incidence and mortality decreased in France, Israel, Italy, Norway, and Spain. In contrast, incidence and death rates both increased in Colombia, Ecuador, and Japan. Death rates also increased in Brazil, Egypt, Guatemala, Kuwait, Mauritius, Mexico, and Moldova. Conclusions: Breast cancer mortality rates are decreasing in most high-income countries, despite increasing or stable incidence rates. In contrast and of concern are the increasing incidence and mortality rates in a number of countries, particularly those undergoing rapid changes in human development. Wide variations in breast cancer rates and trends reflect differences in patterns of risk factors and access to and availability of early detection and timely treatment. Impact: Increased awareness about breast cancer and the benefits of early detection and improved access to treatment must be prioritized to successfully implement breast cancer control programs, particularly in transitioning countries. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 24(10); 1495–506. ©2015 AACR.


Activation of AMPK, a master regulator of the homeostasis of energy levels in the cell, has been shown to reduce toxicity induce both by mutant huntingtin and polyglutamines (polyQ) in both in vitro and in vivo models. Moreover, a cross-sectional study of the Enroll-HD database shows that metformin intake associates with better cognitive state of patients of Huntington's disease (HD) which also are type 2 diabetics. AMPK is at the center of a network of signaling pathways in which activation happens by allosteric stimulus, but also by direct phosphorylation. Once active, it phosphorylates a range of targets to regulate the levels of ATP. AMPK can be activated by nutrient deprivation, but also by stress of different kind, like for example polyQ-induced toxicity. We sought to test whether synergistic combinations of potential AMPK activators, in a context of polyQ toxicity, may induce cellular protection in C. elegans. Analysis of different models of polyQ toxicity showed that some combinations of activators of AMPK are able to induce reduction in polyQ aggregates, and also to restore neuronal function in C. elegans. Currently, we are investigating the mechanism by which this synergistic combination of substances restores normal cellular function, focusing on AMPK as a target. This enzyme is an obliged heterotrimer, composed by AMPKα, the catalytic subunit and two regulatory subunits, AMPKβ and AMPKγ. It is believed that allosteric activators bind AMPKβ, so we sought to test whether the activation of AMPK, and its neuroprotective activity, may depend on this subunit. To do so we have produced knock outs in the only two isoforms of AMPKβ present in the worm, aakb-1 and aakb-2, using CRISPR.


Aim. The article deals with the study of technological approaches to the quality and development of a functional fermented milk product for specialized sports nutrition. Materials and methods. Skim milk, whey protein concentrate, and starter cultures (DELVO-YOG®, DIRECT SET) were used for the study. Bifidobacteria (Bifidobacterium animalis) were introduced as a probiotic. Creatine monohydrate (Creatine Powder C4N9O2N3, USA) was used as an element of sports nutrition. The fruit fillers ("Green Apple", "Blueberry", produced by "Zuegg", Italy) were also introduced into the product. The research was conducted using standard and original methods, mathematical modeling, and statistical processing of experimental data. Results. The obtained data on the physiological effects of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and nutrients, enhancing the adaptive capacity to the physical and neuro-emotional stress, indicate the need for their use in the technology of specialized food for athletes. Technological approaches to the quality of a functional fermented milk product for sports nutrition were studied. Based on a combination of milk, whey protein concentrate, starter cultures, and bifidobacteria, a fermented milk product was designed. This product is intended for athletes during training, competition, and recovery. The introduction of creatine monohydrate into the milk base allowed enriching the product with amino acids. Conclusion. This study is of great interest in terms of getting yogurts with the textural properties similar to the traditional ones but with the use of functional ingredients. The study also contributes to the development of food technologies and products for sports nutrition.


DR. N. W. MARKWELL thanked Dr. Shellshearand Dr. Sippe for their paper. It showed a great deal of careful researchthrough the literature and they had also investigated a series of casesthemselves. The subject was an important one. Dr. Markwell had used Pachon'soscillometers only for the last fourteen years. The diastolic pressurehad originally been placed lower down at the bottom of the curve, as Dr. Shellshearhad pointed out. Later on, Pachoncame to the conclusionthat the diastolic pressurewas just below the longestoscillation, namely,the point which was called the median pressurein the paper. Dr. Markwell had followed this lead. Therefore,all the recordsof the diastolic pressurethus recordedby Pachon's csctllometerwere really records of the median pressure,' but aboutfive to ten millimetres below it. It was therefore more accuratewhen the oscillometerwas used toget away from the term diastolic pressureand to record the exact medianpressure,as suggestedin the paper. Dr. Markwell had hadthreeoscillometersin fourteenyearsandtheinstrument had never let him down. This could not be said of other string instrumentson the market. He agreedwith Dr. Shellshear that the mercury instruments should be replaced by Pachon's oscillometer or other osclllometer which could be equally relied upon. Fourteenyearspreviously there had been only one bag in the cuff which was placed over the wrist, and the results obtainedthen were not comparablewith the results obtained by the mercury manometer. However, the double cuff used now allowed this instrument to be compared in its results with the Riva-Rocci instrument. Dr. Markwell agreed that when the median pressurewas close to the systolic pressure, it was of great importance. He quoted a case of amale patient with a large heart, who suffered from cardiac asthmaat night, but who was quite well in the day time; he had seen the patient in consultation. The medical practitioner in charge of the case reported that the systolic blood pressurewas not high, being only 160 millimetresof mercury,and he did not report anythingunusual about the diastolic blood pressure. ThePachoninstrument showed clearly that the systolic pressure was 160 and the median pressure150 millimetres. The electrocardiograph confirmed the serious condition of the patient, socalled arborization block being present, and the patient died soon afterwards. In the case of a raised median pressurein a young person,one should be careful in one's diagnosis. Dr. Markwell stated that such a patient was not necessarily "a heart case" already; he might be a "potential heart case". He thanked Dr. Shellshearand Dr. Sippe for their extremely instructive paper. DR. ELLIS MURPHY congratulated Dr. Sippe and Dr. Shellshearon their paper. He was struck with the great amountof work involved in it. One point was the actual mechanical dUllculty of taking the charts; each chart representedup to ten or twenty readings and it would take an enormousamountof time. Also the finding of the actual pressureswas not altogethera simple matter. Dr. Murphy had found in his notes that the readings did vary and quoted casesto. this effect. He had not found the mean pressuresuch a criterion as many authors claimed. He found that sometimesa patient'sclinical condition had improved with a meanpressurethat had goneup. Patients with arteriosclerosis and those with marked Graves's diseasegave a high oscillometric reading. DR: E. S. MEYERS said that the subject matter of the paper was very important, as diseaseof the heart and arteries was among the most frequent causesof death. A numberof preconceivedideaswere upset. How was the general practitioner going to get on? Would he have to discard his presentinstrument? Dr. Meyers wished to ask if any work had beendone as todecidingwhetherpatients were good "operative risks" or not. This should help a lot with patients in the fourth and flfth decades,who were not in good physical condition.


Changes in the online availability of 3D models of skeletal elements and 3D printer technology have made it feasible to develop a fossil or osteological collection from scratch. Many online sites have models that can be freely downloaded and 3D printed. Other sites have CT-scan movies online—which can be downloaded and turned into printable 3D models by using the free software suite SPIERS. Post-processing of the printed models (sanding, painting, etc.) can make them almost visually indistinguishable from real specimens.


User-worn sensing units composed of inertial and magnetic sensors are becoming increasingly popular in various domains, including biomedical engineering, robotics, virtual reality, where they can also be applied for real-time tracking of the orientation of human body parts in the three-dimensional (3D) space. Although they are a promising choice as wearable sensors under many respects, the inertial and magnetic sensors currently in use offer measuring performance that are critical in order to achieve and maintain accurate 3D-orientation estimates, anytime and anywhere. This paper reviews the main sensor fusion and filtering techniques proposed for accurate inertial/magnetic orientation tracking of human body parts; it also gives useful recipes for their actual implementation.


Considering the incentive mechanism of P2P network nodes, this paper analyzes the mechanism combined with the thought of repeated game. First, it respectively describes the modeling conditions and processes for the incentive mechanism of P2P nodes based on the supervision game and the P2P incentive mechanism for identification of node information. Then it performs the simulations for the strategy of two models by software, and the simulation result shows that these two kinds of models are both feasible. Finally, it analyzes and compares the advantages and disadvantages for the two kinds of models, and appropriate scenes for these two models as well.


Kefir grains might have different ratios and/or content of microflora according to their origin. The purpose of this study was to determine microbial flora of kefir grains produced in three regional universities in Turkey using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and consensus sequence primers. According to the results of PCR products with the specific primers, the following were identified as the natural inhabitants of the kefir grains: Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus helveticus, Streptococcus thermophilus, Bifidobacterium bifidum and Kluyveromyces marxianus kefir. The results of this study revealed that traditional kefir produced by using kefir grains as natural starter cultures contains lactic acid bacteria especially Lactobacillus spp. One of the sources also contained B. bifidum. This is the first record on the presence of B. bifidum in kefir grains.


Within the field of social studies education, disciplinary models of teaching, such as approximating a historian in asking students to 'think historically,' have been the emphasis of countless professional development and teacher education programs. This movement, however, has focused largely on the use of traditional primary documents and generally does not include training for teachers or students on how other forms of media construct history. This collective case study examines how two US history teachers' epistemological beliefs about historical media and ideology and overall goals for students as citizens impacts their pedagogy with different historical media, particularly film. Data were collected on a daily basis over the course of six months, and included observations, teacher interviews, and the media used as historical sources. Findings show that teachers' beliefs about how sources represent history affect their pedagogy with the particular media, and that epistemic development and current notions of historical thinking may be limited when it comes to media that commonly serve as historical sources for the public at large (e.g., film, television, WWW, videogames). This limitation is caused in large part by the teachers' larger goals for students that are informed by their ideology, and difficulty in identifying bias in media that aligned with their own beliefs. Therefore, a shift in teachers' epistemic beliefs about how different forms of media serve as sources of history, essentially a form of critical media literacy, and coinciding recognition of ideological goals needs to occur in order to better instill students with skills in historical and media literacy for the twenty‐first century.


Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is a neuropathic pain disorder that is characterized by: 1) Severe pain beyond the area of injury; 2) Autonomic dysregulation; 3) Neuropathic edema; 4) A movement disorder, atrophy and dystrophy. It is most often caused by a fracture, soft-tissue injury or surgical procedure and is divided into Type I, in which no nerve lesion is identified (classic reflex sympathetic dystrophy), and Type II where a specific nerve has been damaged (causalgia). In addition to the peripheral manifestations, there are many internal medical complications whose etiology is often not appreciated. This article will examine how CRPS affects the systems of: cognition; constitutional, cardiac, and respiratory complications; systemic autonomic dysregulation; neurogenic edema; musculoskeletal, endocrine and dermatological manifestations; as well as urological and gastrointestinal function.


A method for computing all zeros of a retarded quasi-polynomial that are located in a large region of the complex plane is presented. The method is based on mapping the quasi-polynomial and on utilizing asymptotic properties of the chains of zeros. First, the asymptotic exponentials of the chains are determined based on the distribution diagram of the quasi-polynomial. Secondly, large regions free of zeros are defined. Finally, the zeros are located as the intersection points of the zero-level curves of the real and imaginary parts of the quasi-polynomial, which are evaluated over the areas of the region outside those free of zeros.


This article explores the internationalisation process of the increasingly oligopolistic farm equipment industry. It does so by examining the case of International Harvester in Spain in the light of the changes that were taking place in world and host markets from the beginning of the twentieth century, when pioneering US firms began to operate abroad, until 1980, when economic depression forced a drastic reorganisation of the sector with which this multinational would not be able to cope. Although the case of International Harvester fits very well into gradual approaches of internationalisation, the study emphasises the influence exerted by the economic and political world and host contexts in that process, as well as the role played by local partners in increasing knowledge of and commitment to foreign markets. The study also provides empirical evidence about the bargaining process that usually preceded the entry of International Harvester and its competitors into promising protectionist markets throughout the 1960s.


Many studies of Japan have used the 'sociocentric' (i.e., contextual, collective and empathic, etc.) framework of analysis to contrast Japanese culture, people, or behavior with their arguably individualistic counterparts in America (or 'Western societies'). This article argues that the individualism-sociocentrism dichotomy as applied uniformly (e.g., all or the majority of Japanese are sociocentric) and exclusively (e.g., Japanese are sociocentric but not individualistic, unlike Americans who are individualistic, but not sociocentric) to a group of people such as those in Japan is methodologically limited and conceptually inadequate to understand private experiences of its individual members. Placing case studies of three adolescents in the ontological perspective of Heidegger and Paul Tillich, I will show that the two orientations are mutually dependent and dynamically constituting elements of their personal experiences.


High-quality silicon-nitride (Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/) formed by rapid thermal nitridation is investigated as the tunnel dielectric in a SONOS-type memory device for the first time. Compared to a conventional thermal SiO/sub 2/ tunnel dielectric, thermal Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/ provides 100/spl times/ better retention after 1e5 P/E cycles and better endurance characteristics with low programming voltages. Hence, the SONNS structure is promising for nonvolatile memory applications.


This research aimed to overcome the issue of plastic packaging waste that accumulates in nature because synthetic polymers cannot be easily unraveled by bacteria. Biodegradable plastics were produced by mixing waste of plastics of the low density polyethylene (LDPE) with starch of empty palm fruit bunches, modified with the addition of maleic anhydride as a crosslinking agent. To produce biodegradable plastics, different compositions of LDPE waste, starch of empty palm fruit bunch, maleic anhydride, and benzoyl peroxide were used, namely (90: 10: 1: 1), (80: 20: 1: 1), (70: 30: 1: 1), and (60: 40: 1: 1). Research stages consisted of extraction of starch from palm empty fruit bunch (PEFB); preparation of biodegradable plastic powder with the reflux method and xylene solvents; and making of biodegradable plastics using the press molding method. Based on the results of characterization, it was revealed that the optimum condition was generated by biodegradable plastics with the composition of LDPE waste, starch of empty palm bunches, maleic anhydride, and benzoyl peroxide was equal to 60: 40: 1: 1, which generated the tensile strength value of 6.9410 N/m2, the elongation at break of 3.1875%, the the melting point temperature of 103oC, and the decomposition temperature of 384oC. Besides, the thermal gravimetric test generated a residue of 12.6% and results of the analysis on morphological properties suggested that the starch distributed evenly.


In recent years, autoantibodies targeting subcellular structures described as the rods and rings pattern in HEp-2 ANA have been presented as a unique case of autoantibody generation. These rod and ring structures (RR) are at least partially composed of inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase type 2 (IMPDH2), and their formation can be induced in vitro by several small-molecule inhibitors, including some IMPDH2 inhibitors. Autoantibodies targeting these relatively unknown structures have been almost exclusively observed in hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients who have undergone treatment with pegylated interferon-α/ribavirin (IFN/RBV) combination therapy. To date, anti-RR antibodies have not been found in treatment-naïve HCV patients or in patients from any other disease groups, with few reported exceptions. Here, we describe recent advances in characterizing the RR structure and the strong association between anti-RR antibody response and HCV patients treated with IFN/RBV, detailing why anti-RR can be considered a human model of drug-induced autoantibody generation.


This paper has presented a planar broadband CP antenna incorporating a printed dipole and a microstrip-fed slot. The design approach, measured and simulated results of the proposed antenna have been provided. A 28% of 10dB return loss bandwidth and 34% of 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth is achieved from the designed prototype. The proposed antenna covers the frequency range from 1.3 GHz to 1.72 GHz. It has been demonstrated that planar broadband CP antenna can be easily obtained by combining printed dipole and microstrip-fed slot while maintaining its simple structure.


The study examined the productivity in the electricity industry in Nigeria. The aim of the study was to ascertain the determinants of productivity in the electricity sector. The research design adopted for the study was a longitudinal study of productivity in the electricity industry in Nigeria. The study considered time series data for a 20 year period from 1996 to 2015. Data on study variables were obtained from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) statistical bulletins, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) annual publications, and the websites of both Transparency International (TI) and Energy Information Administration (EIA). Based on the study objectives, the fully modified ordinary least square (FM-OLS) technique was used to estimate the multiple regressions between productivity and the explanatory variables. Data analyses were carried out using the software application of E- View 9.0. Results from the study showed that the total factor productivity which is an indication of efficiency in the electricity sector was 0.29. This is low when compared with international best practice of 0.80. Also, results from the study revealed that funding, weather condition, vandalism and labour supply have significant effect on productivity of the electricity industry in Nigeria. However, tariff structure and corruption were not statistically significant in the prediction of productivity in the electricity industry. The study recommended that increased budgetary allocations should be made available to the electricity industry to provide the needed improvements in the sector.


Peripheral nerve injury (PNI) is an unresolved medical problem with limited therapeutic effects. Epineurium neurorrhaphy is an important method for treating PNI in clinical application, but it is accompanied by inevitable complications such as the misconnection of nerve fibers and neuroma formation. Conduits small gap tubulization has been proved to be an effective suture method to replace the epineurium neurorrhaphy. In this study, we demonstrated a method for constructing peripheral nerve conduits based on the principle of chitosan acetylation. In addition, the micromorphology, mechanical properties and biocompatibility of the chitin nerve conduits formed by chitosan acetylation were further tested. The results showed chitin was a high-quality biological material for constructing nerve conduits. Previous reports have demonstrated that mesenchymal stem cells culture as spheroids can improve the therapeutic potential. In the present study, we used a hanging drop protocol to prepare bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell (BMSCs) spheroids. Meanwhile, spherical stem cells could express higher stemness-related genes. In the PNI rat model with small gap tubulization, BMSCs spheres exhibited a higher ability to improve sciatic nerve regeneration than BMSCs suspension. Chitin nerve conduits with BMSCs spheroids provide a promising therapy option for peripheral nerve regeneration.


Complementary or Alternative Medicine is defined as a form of therapy that has no scientific basis or proven effectiveness. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of the use of such therapies for pediatric patients with atopic dermatitis at the University Hospital of Brasília, in the period between March 2007 and December 2008. A total number of 54 patients (63.5%) used some kind of alternative resource and phytotherapy and homeopathy were the most used ones.


The purpose of this thesis was to develop novel ways to study tinnitus, to investigate the course of tinnitus, and to study the effects of cognitive-behaviour therapy on tinnitus related distress. Data from 377 tinnitus patients were collected.A group of 216 patients completed audiological measures and were assessed in a structured interview. The Klockhoff and Lindblom's grading system was used and its inter-rater reliability assessed in a subsample showing a high degree of correspondence. A discriminant analysis showed that a substantial proportion of patients could be correctly classified into grade II or III, by measures of pitch, minimal masking level of tinnitus, avoidance of situations because of tinnitus, and tolerance in relation to onset.Using tests developed in cognitive psychology, it was found that tinnitus patients had impaired performance. There was no evidence for an attentional bias towards tinnitus related words using a computerized emotional Stroop task, but masking sounds of an "on-and-off" character were more disruptive than constant masking when patients performed the digit-symbol test. It is suggested that tinnitus distress may be increased by the 'changing-state' character of the tinnitus signal, or alternatively by intermittent masking sounds.In a case-study a patient received an i.v. injection of lidocaine while Positron Emission Tomograpy was conducted. The brain activity associated with tinnitus included the left primary, secondary and integrative auditory brain areas, as well as right paralimbic areas related to negative feelings. The precuneus (Brodmann area 7) might be a brain area involved in the aversiveness associated with tinnitus.Using a tinnitus questionnaire as the dependent measure it was found that tinnitus maskability at admission predicted distress at follow-up for an average of five years following admission. Some improvement in tinnitus occurred over time, but this was more evident in patients who had received a cognitive-behavioural treatment program.The effect of an Internet based cognitive-behavioural self-help treatment program for tinnitus was investigated showing a high dropout rate, but with positive results in that the treated patients improved.


Purpose – Women interest in logistics and transport is increasing, align with a research interest on gender inequality in logistics sector. This area is considered as understudied field by the scholars in the field of logistics and transport. Hence, this paper aims to discuss this issue by looking at the history of women study in logistics and transport, as well as examine the trend of past studies with regards to women in logistics and transport.
Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, the researcher conducts a bibliometric study on women in logistics and transport using Scopus Database. Five key terms has been used in searching activity namely "women in logistics", "women in transport", "women in aviation", "women in rail" and "women in maritime". The searching effort has been performed in December 2019. Specifically, the VOS viewer software and Harzing's Publish or Perish software were utilised to conduct document analysis.
Findings – From the searching findings using scopus database, only 10 papers related to women in logistics and transport appeared. This finding shows serious dearth on the study related to women in logistics and transport. This reflect serious dearth on previous research examining women issue in logistics and transport sector. Specifically, it opens up new research opportunity for future scholars to investigate this issue mainly from aviation, maritime, rail perspective.
Research limitations/implications – Some documents published on the web or in paper form maybe missing. For this article, the analysis using bibliometric are largely depend on the choice of keywords and Scopus database only. Another selection finding using different keywords may lead to different results.
Originality/Value - This paper provides the basis for future researcher to focus on the issue of women in a context of logistics and transport. The small aggregate analysis from this study result to more divergence study needed in women and logistics discipline.

Keywords: Bibliometric, Women, Women in Logistics, Women in Transport, Women in Aviation , Women in Rail, Women in Maritime


Fraud acts as a major deterrent to a company's
growth if uncontrolled. It challenges the fundamental value of
"Trust" in the Insurance business. COVID-19 brought additional
challenges of increased potential fraud to health insurance
business. This work describes implementation of existing and
enhanced fraud detection methods in the pre-COVID-19 and
COVID-19 environments. For this purpose, we have developed an
innovative enhanced fraud detection framework using actuarial
and data science techniques. Triggers specific to COVID-19 are
identified in addition to the existing triggers. We have also
explored the relationship between insurance fraud and
COVID-19. To determine this we calculated Pearson correlation
coefficient and fitted logarithmic regression model between fraud
in health insurance and COVID-19 cases. This work uses two
datasets: health insurance dataset and Kaggle dataset on
COVID-19 cases for the same select geographical location in
India. Our experimental results shows Pearson correlation
coefficient of 0.86, which implies that the month on month rate of
fraudulent cases is highly correlated with month on month rate of
COVID-19 cases. The logarithmic regression performed on the
data gave the r-squared value of 0.91 which indicates that the
model is a good fit. This work aims to provide much needed tools
and techniques for health insurance business to counter the
fraud.


The majority of the studies on laser evoked potentials (LEPs) have been focused on hand and foot stimulations and only lately on the trigeminal system. Because of a high receptor density in the facial skin and the very short conduction distance, LEP recordings after trigeminal stimulation are easier and quicker than those after stimulation of the limb extremities. Laser pulses with a stimulus intensity close to perception threshold can evoke well-defined LEPs. Few trials are sufficient to yield stable and reproducible averages. Even ultralate LEPs related to the C-fibre input are comparatively easily obtained from the trigeminal territory. The brain generators of the main LEP waves are probably very close for the trigeminal and limb stimulations. Trigeminal LEPs have been found absent or delayed in patients with trigeminal neuralgia, trigeminal neuropathies, posterior fossa tumors, and brainstem infarctions or demyelinating plaques. Conversely, trigeminal LEPs appear to be enhanced in patients with migraine. High-intensity pulses directed to any trigeminal division also elicit reflex responses: a blink-like reflex in the orbicularis oculi and a single silent period in the contracting masseter muscle. The availability of a neurophysiological method of assessing function of the trigeminal nociceptive pathways reaching both the cerebral cortex and the brainstem reflex circuits, has provided new opportunities for investigating the pathophysiology of orofacial pain syndromes. © 2003 Éditions scientifiques et médicales Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.


In traditional Information Retrieval (IR), user profiles are often represented by keyword/concepts space vectors or by some predefined categories. Unfortunately, this data is often inadequately or incompletely interpreted. Ontology-based user profile is another newer approach. This method is able to provide richer semantic information to facilitate information retrieval processes. It has become an important means for semantic-based information search and retrieval. Some ontology-based user profile models have been developed over the past few years. With the increasing usage of this method, it raises the issues of effective relevance measurement for the evaluation of ontologies. In practice, it is crucial to find a good relevance assessment algorithm for measuring the quality of ontologies. To represent user profile by relevant topic ontology, this paper presents a new method capable of measuring the user profile more objectively and hence has great potential to enhance the IR processes.