In order to evaluate the agreement between the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB, Germany) and the Ulusal Metroloji Enstitusu (TUBTAK-UME, Turkey) and to establish a firm basis for traceability, a bilateral comparison has been carried out using 1 Ω, 10 kΩ and 100 MΩ resistors. Measurements obtained by the PTB, based on their quantum Hall resistance standard (QHRS), differ from the UME results by 46 nΩ/Ω (standard uncertainty u = 0.19 µΩ/Ω) at the 1 Ω level, and by 3.0 nΩ/Ω (u = 0.25 µΩ/Ω) at the 10 kΩ level. The 100 MΩ resistors were compared using both a UME-constructed Wheatstone bridge and a commercial bridge. Measurement results obtained with the Wheatstone bridge show better agreement with those of the PTB, within 0.34 µΩ/Ω (u = 8.7 µΩ/Ω), than the results obtained with the commercial bridge, within 3.6 µΩ/Ω (u = 5.1 µΩ/Ω).


In order to achieve the actual inventory effectively tracking the target inventory under uncertain environment, this paper investigates an adaptive inventory controller for the production-inventory system. First, an uncertain production-inventory model is constructed, and then, the uncertainty of the production-inventory model is approximated by a fuzzy neural network. Secondly, in terms of the design of adaptive control law, the adaptive inventory controller is developed. Under the adaptive inventory controller, the actual inventory can track the target inventory in real time and the production-inventory system can be robustly stable in uncertain environment. Finally, the results of three simulation experiments show that the proposed adaptive inventory controller can realize both the fast tracking speed and the high tracking accuracy.


ABSTRACT This paper focuses on media innovation among publishers of metropolitan newspapers in the United States, in cities such as San Diego, Boston, Miami, Philadelphia and Dallas. The situation for metropolitan newspapers is difficult, as they fall between national newspapers, which can aim for extending their reach both nationally and globally, and local newspapers, which have a smaller cost structure and can cater to a more limited, and often more engaged, audience community. Our paper demonstrates that there seems to be great awareness of what can be done by US metropolitan newspapers, but managers are struggling with constraints, such as lack of financial and human resources and general organisational anaemia.


In this research we present a quantum circuit for estimating algorithmic complexity using the coding theorem method. This accelerates inferring algorithmic structure in data for discovering causal generative models. The computation model is restricted in time and space resources to make it computable in approximating the target metrics. The quantum circuit design based on our earlier work that allows executing a superposition of automata is presented. As a use-case, an application framework for protein-protein interaction ontology based on algorithmic complexity is proposed. Using small-scale quantum computers, this has the potential to enhance the results of classical block decomposition method towards bridging the causal gap in entropy based methods.


The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of non-genetic factors on reproductive performance of Holstein Friesian × Deoni crossbred cows. Data representing 256 HF × Deoni crossbred cows from cattle crossbreeding project with 1485 total records of lactation over a 30 years period were analyzed to determine the effects of period of calving, season of calving, age at first calving and parity on reproductive performance. The parameters used as indicators of reproductive performance in this study were age at first calving (AFC), days open (DO), dry period (DP) and inter calving period (ICP).  The overall least squares mean of age at first calving (AFC), days open (DO), dry period (DP) and inter calving period (ICP) were 1198.54±8.18, 149.15±3.87, 126.90±1.76 and 422.95±2.53 days, respectively. All sources of variations except season of calving had significant effect on AFC and ICP. The AFC as seen in this study was somewhat longer. Cows calving in summer had reduced reproductive performance, as measured by DO and DP. First lactation cows had longer DO, DP and ICP, which were poorest values as reproductive traits. It is therefore concluded that, the reproductive performance of these crossbred cows is affected by some non-genetic factors and hence, additional reproductive strategies are needed to improve their performance.

 Key words: Reproductive traits, period, season, parity, crossbred cows.


Female genital tract malignancies have worldwide distribution, but the distribution and frequency vary from one region to another. The preventable carcinoma of the cervix is still the leading cause of cancer morbidity and mortality in the developing countries. Objective of this study is to determine the patterns and frequency of female genital tract malignancies in our population and to compare it with other national and international studies. A six-year retrospective analysis of histopathologically proven gynecological malignancies was performed in the Department of Pathology, Enam Medical College & Hospital, Savar between January 2008 and December 2013. Out of the total 185 gynaecological cancers diagnosed, 120 cases (64.87%) were cervical, 44 (23.78%) ovarian, 12 (6.49%) corpus uteri, 7 (3.78%) vulval, and 2 (1.08%) vaginal cancers. No malignant lesion is found in the myometrium and the fallopian tube. Age of the cases ranged from 4 months and 85 years with mean age 43.91±12.84 years. The mean ages of cervical and ovarian cancers were 46.64±10 and 37.16±14.66 years respectively. Majority of the patients were between the fourth and six decade with peak frequency in the fifth decade of life. Squamous cell carcinoma was the commonest histopathologic type in cervical and vulval cancers whereas serous cyst adenocarcinoma and endometrioid adenocarcinoma were the commonest types in the ovary and endometrium respectively. Carcinoma of the cervix was the commonest malignancy encountered in this study. Effective screening programs and public awareness is necessary for early diagnosis and decrease mortality. Medicine Today 2014 Vol.26(2): 78-82


One of the objectives in teaching English is to make the learners able to
communicate using language in the form of oral and written communication. They
should master the language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. For
students of junior high school, speaking is one of skill in English lesson. The aim
of this research was to see whether supply the word technique could improve not
only students' speaking achievement but also students' activities and teacher's
performance. The research was conducted at SMPN 1 Negerikaton Pesawaran.
The subject of the research was students of second year in the academic year
2010/2011. In this classroom action research, the writer acted as the observer;
meanwhile the English teacher of SMPN 1 Negerikaton taught his own students
by Supply the Word Technique.
There were two cycles done in this research since the indicators have been
achieved in the second cycle. Concerning the result of speaking achievement, in
cycle 1 there about 24 or 66.67% students whose scores are 60 or more. It meant
that the result of the speaking test could not fulfill the indicator of the research.
Furthermore, in the second cycle there were approximately 30 students or 83.33%
who got 60 and even more than 60. It meant that the indicator of learning product
had been achieved in the second cycle. In addition, from five kinds of students'
activities observed by the writer, there were two activities which did not fulfill the
indicator; paying attention to the teacher's explanation (77.78%) and responding
to the teacher's questions (27.78%). Therefore, it was fulfilled in the second cycle.
The number of students who paid attention to the teacher's explanation increased
from 77.78% to 91.67% in the second cycle while responding to the teacher's
questions increased from 26.32% to 86.84%. Moreover, the teacher got 73 for his
teaching performance. It meant that the target had not reached. Fortunately, after
doing some betterments in some aspects, in the cycle 2 the target had been
fulfilled. The teacher got 81 in the second cycle. It meant that the teacher got very
good for his teaching performance. Referring to the result of the research above, it
could be concluded that supply the word technique was applicable to improve
students' speaking achievement, students' activities and teacher's teaching
performance. It was done because Supply the word Technique was believed to be
able to improve not only learning product but also learning process.


Exploiting the Kepler transit data, we uncover a dramatic distinction in the prevalence of sub-Jovian companions between systems that contain hot Jupiters (HJs) (periods inward of 10 days) and those that host warm Jupiters (WJs) (periods between 10 and 200 days). HJs, with the singular exception of WASP-47b, do not have any detectable inner or outer planetary companions (with periods inward of 50 days and sizes down to 2 REarth). Restricting ourselves to inner companions, our limits reach down to 1 REarth. In stark contrast, half of the WJs are closely flanked by small companions. Statistically, the companion fractions for hot and WJs are mutually exclusive, particularly in regard to inner companions. The high companion fraction of WJs also yields clues to their formation. The WJs that have close-by siblings should have low orbital eccentricities and low mutual inclinations. The orbital configurations of these systems are reminiscent of those of the low-mass close-in planetary systems abundantly discovered by the Kepler mission. This, and other arguments, lead us to propose that these WJs are formed in situ. There are indications that there may be a second population of WJs with different characteristics. In this picture, WASP-47b could be regarded as the extending tail of the in situ WJs into the HJ region and does not represent the generic formation route for HJs.


This essay is the companion piece to about 550 individual data series on education to be included in the updated Historical Statistics of the United States, Millennial Edition (Cambridge University Press 2000, forthcoming). The essay reviews the broad outlines of U.S. educational history from the nineteenth century to the present, including changes in enrollments, attendance, schools, teachers, and educational finance at the three main schooling levels -- elementary, secondary, and higher education. Data sources are discussed at length, as are issues of comparability across time and data reliability. Some of the data series are provided, as is a brief chronology of important U.S. educational legislation, judicial decisions, and historical time periods.


Reduction of Cr(VI) by heating may be a useful detoxification mechanism for thermal immobilization. Using X-ray absorption spectroscopy, the change of speciation of chromium in 105 degrees C dried 3.7% Cr(VI)-sorbed kaolin further heated at 500, 900, or 1100 degrees C was studied. The 105 degrees C dried 3.7% Cr(VI)-sorbed kaolin sample was prepared by mixing 1.5 L of 0.257 M CrO3 solution (pH 0.71) with 0.5 kg of kaolin powder for 48 h, and then the slurry was heated (dried) at 105 degrees C until a constant weight was reached. The toxicity characteristic leaching procedure method was used to determine the percentage of leached chromium from all heated samples. In all 500-900 degrees C heated Cr(VI)-sorbed kaolin samples, Cr2O3 transformed from the hydrated Cr(VI) by a 4-h heat application was identified by the X-ray absorption near edge structure and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy as the key species that is leaching-resistant due to its low solubility. For the 1100 degrees C heated Cr(VI)-sorbed kaolin sample, the Fourier transform of its EXAFS spectrum indicates that the intensity of the peaks at 2.45 (Cr-Cr shell of Cr2O3) and 5.00 A (Cr-Cr and Cr-O shells of Cr2O3) without phase shift correction is either relatively smaller or disappearing, compared with that of the 500-900 degrees C heated Cr(VI)-sorbed kaolin samples. It is suggested that chromium octahedra were bridged to silica tetrahedra and incorporated in minerals formed at 1100 degrees C, such as mullite or sillimanite, since these phases were detected by XRD. Cr of this form is not easily leached.


Abstract Tissue damage caused by an infection oran autoimmune disease triggers degradation of collagen in the extracellular matrix (ECM), which further enhances inflammation. Therefore, improving ECM in aninflamed tissue can be exploited as a potential therapeutic target. A recentstudy emphasised an innovative approach against COVID‐19 using polymerised type I collagen (PTIC) that improves disease severity through a hitherto unknownmechanism. In this paper, we provide an overview of potential mechanism thatmay explain the anti‐inflammatory effect of collagen peptides. In addition,the paper includes a brief summary of possible side effect of collagendeposition in inflammatory diseases. Altogether, current knowledge suggeststhat collagen may potentially reduce the residual risk in inflammatorydiseases; however, the detailed mechanism remains elusive.


In this work the similarity solution of the thermal boundary layer for a laminar axisymmetric jet with viscous dissipation is derived and solved numerically, using a fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. The results are compared with the existing solutions, in which viscous dissipation is neglected. After that the effects of Reynolds and Prandtl numbers of the incoming hot jet on the temperature profile of the jet is investigated. It is seen that inclusion of viscous dissipation term results in a more rapid heat exchange between the incoming jet and quiescent fluid than the case where the viscous dissipation term is neglected. Also, it is observed that by increasing the Reynolds and Prandtl numbers of the jet, the heat penetrates better in locations near the symmetry line, whereas in locations farther from the symmetry axis the penetration is less.


Abstract : A high-speed, small Naval vessel innovation cell project was carried out at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division from August through December 2002. The project was chartered by ONR to define the near-term (available in 5 years) technology investments required for 500 to 3,000 ton, high-speed Naval ships. Extensive use was made of technology projections made in 1997 at the High Speed Sealift Technology Workshop held at NSWCCD. Those technology projections were made for: Ship/System concepts, Hullforms, Propulsors, Propulsion Plant, Materials and Ship Structures. This project began by reviewing the high-speed sealift technologies for applicability to high-speed, small Naval ships. Where appropriate, the state-of-the-art data was updated to include recent developments. Spreadsheet parametric models for high-speed monohulls, catamarans and trimarans were used to assess the impact of different technologies on total ship weight and performance. Capabilities needed from each technology were compared with the current state-of-the -art to determine the necessary technology enhancements. Estimates of the development time and cost for each technology were made based on experience with developing similar technologies, engineering estimates, and vendor data. The goal of this plan is to bring the individual technologies to a level of maturity appropriate for ship design and construction.


Air pollution assessment was carried out using chlorophyll concentration reduction criterion of some higher plants leaves such as (Masquerade tree) Polyathia longifolia (Sonn.) Thwaites, (Mango) Mangifera indica Linn. (Guava) Psidium guajava Linn. and (Indian Almond) Terminalia catappa Linn. as the bio-indicator species. The study was carried out at three (3) different locations namely polluted area (Ring Road, Benin City), slightly polluted area (Ekosodin Gate) and unpolluted area (Professor's Staff Quarters) inside University of Benin, Ugbowo Campus, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. Chlorophyll content of intact matured leaves of study plants were measured in situ using a hand-held digital chlorophyll content meter CCM 200 Plus. The study revealed that there were significant reduction (P < 0.05) of chlorophyll concentration at Ring Road area and Ekosodin Gate area when compared with plants at Professors' Quarters. The percentage chlorophyll reduction at Ring Road and Ekosodin Gate in Polyathia longifolia, Mangifera indica, Psidium guajava, and Terminalia catappa leaves in relation to the Professors' Quarters were 46.63 %, 45.08 %, 45.03 %, 31.79 % and 23.85 %, 25.46 %, 23.94 %, 25.71 % respectively. These results confirmed that Ring Road is highly polluted than the other study areas. This study revealed that changes occurred in chlorophyll content of plants due to air pollution and that plant act as a sink for air pollutant which deteriorates their photosynthetic pigments which invariably leads to reduction in plant productivity. This study, therefore shows that plants chlorophyll content can be used as bio-indicator of pollution.


The role of visions dominates the Book of Ezekiel. Apart from the prophet's inaugural vision in chap. I, and the related vision of the divine Glory in chap. IO, prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, there is, of course, the guided heavenly tour of the New Temple which Ezekiel receives in chaps. 40-42. In addition to these cosmic or meta-historical visions, a whole series of historical visions makes up the texture of Ezekiel's prophecies. Generations of scholars pondered their Sit:z im Leben and speculated about their authenticity. In this context, we may simply recall the diverse discussions concerning the content of the vision of the abominations in Jerusalem found in chap. 8. 1 In addition, many other of Ezekiel's predictions (like the vision of the Valley of Bones and the Gog and Magog prophecy) are rendered in a highly descriptive and visual imagery. Ezekiel is thus a seer: a seer of the future and of transcendent realities. Moreover, like his ancient counterparts, the key verb used in Ezekiel's visions is the stem riPah;2 and the key expression describing the intensity of divine influence is that the "hand of YHWH" was "upon" him. 3


Cancer is the leading cause of mortality among Alaska Native people. Over half of Alaska Native people live in rural communities where specially trained community members called Community Health Aides/Practitioners (CHA/Ps) provide health care. In response to CHA/Ps' expressed desire to learn more about cancer, four 5-day cancer education and digital storytelling courses were provided in 2014. Throughout each course, participants explored cancer information, reflected on their personal experiences, and envisioned how they might apply their knowledge within their communities. Each course participant also created a personal and authentic digital story, a methodology increasingly embraced by Indigenous communities as a way to combine storytelling traditions with modern technology to promote both individual and community health. Opportunities to learn of CHA/Ps' experiences with cancer and digital storytelling included a 3-page end-of-course written evaluation, a weekly story-showing log kept for 4 weeks post-course, a group teleconference held 1-2 weeks post-course, and a survey administered 6 months post-course. Participants described digital storytelling as a culturally respectful way to support cancer awareness and education. Participants described the process of creating digital stories as supporting knowledge acquisition, encouraging personal reflection, and sparking a desire to engage in cancer risk reduction activities for themselves and with their families and patients. As a result of creating a personalized digital story, CHA/Ps reported feeling differently about cancer, noting an increase in cancer knowledge and comfort to talk about cancer with clients and family. Indigenous digital stories have potential for broad use as a culturally appropriate health messaging tool.


The command and control structure and the perception system of ARTES (autonomous robotic test and experimental system) are described. ARTES is the demonstrator system of the German Ministry of Defense experimental program 'Robotics on the Battlefield.' It consists of a command center and the robot vehicle. The operating area for the robot will be approximately 5*5 km/sup 2/. The vehicle will not be teleoperated. One major objective of the program is to solve the problem of the commandability under battlefield conditions without line of sight. The perception system of the robot consists of several TV-cameras, an acoustic direction finder, a laser range finder, and dedicated hardware and software for sensor data processing.<<ETX>>


We report a new elastomer-silicon hybrid photonic microelectromechanical systems device incorporating a soft lithographically patterned and assembled tunable elastic grating that can be strained by on-chip silicon microactuators at high speed. The fabrication of this optical device involves an innovative process that allows the integration of polymer and silicon structures on the microscale with the inclusion of nanometer features. The nanograting is capable of varying its grating period over 13% at actuation bandwidth of 2 kHz. The unique structure is modeled theoretically and compared to experimental results. Further experimental characterization determines the device's ability to be used in combination with a single point detector for high speed, highly sensitive spectroscopic measurements. The spectroscopic detection of varying multiwavelength signals is demonstrated with the use of our device and a single detector. This demonstrated capability makes this particular device ideal for rapid detection of weak fluorescence in demand for several bioassay applications.


Organosilica membranes were fabricated using bridged organoalkoxysilanes (bis(triethoxysilyl)methane (BTESM), bis(triethoxysilyl)ethane (BTESE), bis(triethoxysilyl)propane (BTESP), bis(trimethoxysilyl)hexane (BTMSH), bis(triethoxysilyl)benzene (BTESB), and bis(triethoxysilyl)octane (BTESO)) to produce highly permeable molecular sieving membranes. The effect of the organoalkoxysilanes on network pore size and microporous structure was evaluated by examining the molecular size and temperature dependence of gas permeance across a wide range of temperatures. Organosilica membranes showed H2/N2 and H2/CH4 permeance ratios that ranged from 10 to 150, corresponding to network pore size, and both H2 selectivity decreased with an increase in the carbon number between 2 Si atoms. Organosilica membranes showed activated diffusion for He and H2, and a slope of temperature dependence that increased approximate to the increase in the carbon number between 2 Si atoms. The relationship between activation energy and He/H2 permeance ratio for SiO2 and organosilica membranes suggested that the molecular sieving can dominate He and H2 permeation properties via the rigid microporous structure, which was constructed by BTESM and BTESE. With increased in the carbon concentration in silica, polymer chain vibration in organic bridges, which is a kind of solution/diffusion mechanism, can dominate the permeation properties. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 4491–4498, 2017


A new species of dactylogyrid monogenean, Trinibaculum rotundus n.sp. is described and illustrated from the gills of freshwater fish Schizodon borellii (Boulenger, 1900) from the upper Paraná River floodplain, Brazil. Trinibaculum rotundus n.sp. has vagina dextrolateral slightly sclerotised ending at level of seminal receptacle; copulatory organ coiled with 1.5 clockwise rings; accessory piece not articulated; body disk-shape with absence of haptor peduncle and three bars (one ventral bar and two dorsal bars).


Cross-linking of a self-assembled monolayer of 1,1′-biphenyl-4-thiol by low energy electron irradiation leads to the formation of a carbon nanomembrane, that is only 1 nm thick. Here we study the perforation of these freestanding membranes by slow highly charged ion irradiation with respect to the pore formation yield. It is found that a threshold in potential energy of the highly charged ions of about 10 keV must be exceeded in order to form round pores with tunable diameters in the range of 5–15 nm. Above this energy threshold, the efficiency for a single ion to form a pore increases from 70% to nearly 100% with increasing charge. These findings are verified by two independent methods, namely the analysis of individual membranes stacked together during irradiation and the detailed analysis of exit charge state spectra utilizing an electrostatic analyzer.


This study was conducted to investigate the effect of Gynostemma pentaphyllum extract containing gypenoside L (GPE) on improving the cognitive aspects of fatigue and performance of the motor system. One hundred healthy Korean adults aged 19–60 years were randomized to the treatment (GPE for 12 weeks) and control groups, and efficacy and safety‐related parameters were compared between the two groups. Maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max) and O2 pulse were significantly higher in the treatment group than in the control group (p = 0.007 and p = 0.047, respectively). After 12 weeks, the treatment group showed significant changes such as decreases in the levels of free fatty acids (p = 0.042). In addition, there were significant differences in the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) (p < 0.05) and value of temporal fatigue between the treatment and control groups on the multidimensional fatigue scale (p < 0.05). Moreover, the level of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in the blood was significantly higher in the treatment group than in the control group (p = 0.047). In summary, oral administration of GPE has a positive effect on resistance to exercise‐induced physical and mental fatigue.


Background: Diabetic neuropathy (DN) is the first long-term complication of DM. It can affect any part of the nervous system. Objective: To assess the level of awareness among the general population including diabetic and non-diabetic groups regarding Diabetic neuropathy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional survey-based study collected data from Riyadh region, Saudi Arabia. Sociodemographic, diabetic history, source of information, and level of knowledge were the variables in the present study. A web site (raosoft) was used to calculate the sample size. All the statistical analysis of data was carried out using the software package for social sciences SPSS, version 26.0 by IBM. The current study is approved by the international review board (IRB) at Shaqra University, Saudi Arabia. Results: A total of (759) responses were analysed. The median age was (28 IQR=23-35). All of a Saudi nationality. Only (10.3%) were diabetics. The median for total knowledge score was (3, IQR=0-6). The scores were divided into three categories; poor (0-3), moderate (4-6) and good (7-9) levels of knowledge. Half of the participants (50.2%) had poor level of knowledge about DN, (31.6%) had moderate level of knowledge, while only (18.2%) had a good level of knowledge. Conclusion: The general knowledge about diabetic neuropathy among Saudi population in Riyadh was found to be unsatisfactory, with only (18.2%) had a good level of knowledge. Thus, more attention should be payed towards faceto-face education of the diabetics regarding diabetes complications and their warning signs.


Background Physical activity is crucial to preventing noncommunicable diseases. This study aimed to provide up-to-date evidence on the epidemiology of insufficient physical activity across Nigeria to increase awareness and prompt relevant policy and public health response. Methods A systematic literature search of community-based studies on physical inactivity was conducted. We constructed a meta-regression epidemiologic model to determine the age-adjusted prevalence and number of physically inactive persons in Nigeria for 1995 and 2020. Results Fifteen studies covering a population of 13 814 adults met our selection criteria. The pooled crude prevalence of physically inactive persons in Nigeria was 52.0% (95% CI: 33.7 – 70.4), with prevalence in women higher at 55.8% (95% CI: 29.4 – 82.3) compared to men at 49.3% (95% CI: 24.7 – 73.9). Across settings, prevalence of physically inactive persons was significantly higher among urban dwellers (56.8%, 35.3 – 78.4) compared to rural dwellers (18.9%, 11.9 – 49.8). Among persons aged 20 – 79 years, the total number of physically inactive persons increased from 14.4 million to 48.6 million between 1995 and 2020, equivalent to a 240% increase over the 25-year period. Conclusions A comprehensive and robust strategy that addresses occupational policies, town planning, awareness and information, and sociocultural and contextual issues is crucial to improving physical activity levels in Nigeria.


Baicalin (BA) is a kind of flavonoid that is isolated from Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, which has been verified to have hepatoprotective effects in some diseases. However, the role of BA in acute hepatic injury induced by arsenic trioxide (ATO) remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the protective action of BA on acute hepatic injury induced by ATO and to probe its possible mechanism. Mice were pretreated with BA (50, 100 mg/kg) by gavage. After 7 h, ATO (7.5 mg/kg) was injected intraperitoneally to induce liver injury. After 7 days of treatment, serum and hepatic specimens were collected and assayed to evaluate the hepatoprotective effect of BA. Pathological sections and the liver function index indicated that ATO caused significant liver injury. The fluorescence of reactive oxygen species and oxidative stress indicators showed that ATO also increased oxidative stress. The inflammatory markers in ATO-induced mice also increased significantly. Staining of the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling and apoptotic factor assay showed that apoptosis increased. However, with BA pretreatment, these changes were significantly weakened. In addition, BA treatment promoted the expression of proteins related to the JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway. The results suggest that BA can ameliorate acute ATO-induced hepatic injury in mice, which is related to the inhibition of oxidative stress, thereby reducing inflammation and apoptosis. The mechanism of this protection is potentially related to the JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway.


Common features of the contractual and extra-contractual obligations are examined and their differences are determined. Establishing of the peculiar features of the given kinds of obligations will enable increase in effi ciency of their legal regulation.


This study aimed to evaluate the quality of set style yogurt with replacing skim milk powder with high bloom gelatin (HBG), low bloom gelatin (LBG), cold water fish skin gelatin (FSG), low methoxyl pectin (LMP) and modified tapioca starch (MS), and effect of these thickeners on textural and physicochemical properties of samples. Firmness is one of the major sensory attributed important to customer preference. Because of low total dry material (9%) of raw milk lower concentration of thickeners didn't have suitable effect on textural properties of samples, higher value of textural parameter related to firmness and fracturability was found in samples contained 1% HBG. Viscosity of samples increases with addition of thickeners and have a straight relationship with stabilizer concentration and viscosity, in HBG contend samples slope of viscosity vs. concentration curve was highest and maximum viscosity obtained with 1% HBG addition. Except pectin all samples pH decreased over time, but MS significantly increased acidification process. All kinds of, gelatins and modified starch decrease synersis, but a reverse correlation between pectin concentration and synersis. Also all of types of gelatin decreased number of grains and grain perimeter but starch significantly increased graininess in all concentrations (p<0.05). Graininess trend in samples contained LMP decreased up to 0.05% but, higher concentration of LMP lead to more graininess. However FSG showed the best effect on decreasing of graininess. Keywords-component; textural properties, Non-fat yogurts, replacement, Gelatin, pectin, modified starch


Earth Hour is one of the most successful coordinated mass efforts worldwide to raise awareness of environmental issues, with excessive energy consumption being one driver of climate change. The campaign, first organized by the World Wildlife Fund in Australia in 2007, has grown across borders and cultures and was celebrated in 188 countries in 2018. It calls for voluntarily reduction of electricity consumption for a single hour of one day each year. Switching off non-essential electric lights is a central theme and resulted in 17,900 landmarks going dark in 2018. This switch-off of lights during Earth Hour also leads to reduction of light pollution for this specific period. In principle, Earth Hour allows the study of light pollution and the linkage to electricity consumption of lighting. However, quantitative analysis of the impact of Earth Hour on light pollution (and electricity consumption) are sparse, with only a few studies published showing no clear impact or the reverse, suffering from residual twilight and unstable weather conditions. In this work, light pollution measurements during Earth Hour 2018 in an urban park (Tiergarten) in Berlin, Germany, are reported. A novel light measurement method using differential photometry with calibrated digital cameras enables tracking of the switching off and switching back on of the lights of Berlin's iconic Brandenburg Gate and the buildings of Potsdamer Platz adjacent to the park. Light pollution reduction during the event was measurable, despite the presence of moonlight. Strategies for future work on light pollution using such events are discussed.


Pedagogy designed to improve student engagement, like the course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE), was given its hardest challenge yet during the COVID-19 pandemic: to find a way to exist and continue productive work in a remote environment. Faculty in STEM disciplines have worked to implement CURE programs into course curriculums, only to have had some of them disrupted during spring 2020. ABSTRACT Pedagogy designed to improve student engagement, like the course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE), was given its hardest challenge yet during the COVID-19 pandemic: to find a way to exist and continue productive work in a remote environment. Faculty in STEM disciplines have worked to implement CURE programs into course curriculums, only to have had some of them disrupted during spring 2020. The demonstrated benefits of the CURE in improving student engagement and persistence in the sciences could be at risk if these courses continue to be disrupted. How do faculty make CUREs work when emergency remote learning continues to loom over our institutions? This teaching tip focuses on how one antibiotic discovery CURE used technology and individual meetings to continue the students' experience and research process. The instructor remained alone in the laboratory with the student samples and acted as the students' hands, in order to continue testing and characterizing samples collected earlier in the semester, while students watched and directed the process during the online meetings. The change in methodology helped to restore some of the individual and small group mentor-type activity provided in the principal investigator–student researcher relationship present in undergraduate research experiences that was lost with the development of CUREs and the move to remote learning.


Insects or insect products are valuable feedstuffs for animal feeds but for further implementation more research is required. Different symposia contribute to sharing the obtained knowledge and in this special issue the activities of the EAAP study commission Insects are highlighted as well as five papers presented during the 2017 annual EAAP meeting in Tallinn, Estonia and one paper presented during the 'Insectinov2 2017' meeting in France. The papers highlight different aspects of the insect chain such as sustainability, insect health, bacterial contamination, nutritional value of insect meal and regulatory system.


Some analytical aspects of prostaglandin research are discussed. We present our latest results of the determination of the various products of arachidonate oxygenation in biological fluids and during platelet aggregation. These products were determined by (GLC) in combination with electron-capture detection or mass spectrometry (multiple-ion detection). The major component released from isolated perfused heart and lung was prostacyclin, determined as its hydrolysis product 6-oxo-PGF1alpha. Spleen released much thromboxane and monohydroxy acids. Normal rat platelets formed also much hydroxy acids during aggregation but at essential fatty acid deficiency, only very small amounts of product were detected.


Remote censorship measurement techniques offer capabilities for monitoring Internet reachability around the world. However, operating these techniques continuously is labor-intensive and requires specialized knowledge and synchronization, leading to limited adoption. In this paper, we introduce Censored Planet, an online censorship measurement platform that collects and analyzes measurements from ongoing deployments of four remote measurement techniques (Augur, Satellite/Iris, Quack, and Hyperquack). Censored Planet adopts a modular design that supports synchronized baseline measurements on six Internet protocols as well as customized measurements that target specific countries and websites. Censored Planet has already collected and published more than 21.8 billion data points of longitudinal network observations over 20 months of operation. Censored Planet complements existing censorship measurement platforms such as OONI and ICLab by offering increased scale, coverage, and continuity. We introduce a new representative censorship metric and show how time series analysis can be applied to Censored Planet's longitudinal measurements to detect 15 prominent censorship events, two-thirds of which have not been reported previously. Using trend analysis, we find increasing censorship activity in more than 100 countries, and we identify 11 categories of websites facing increasing censorship, including provocative attire, human rights issues, and news media. We hope that the continued publication of Censored Planet data helps counter the proliferation of growing restrictions to online freedom.


Purpose: This paper reviews the theoretical background and the empirical results of the stock price volatility determinants under three categories: macroeconomic, company-specific fundamentals, and behavioral factors. Methodology: Previous empirical and theoretical articles on volatility determinants were compared to identify the similarities and differences of the findings. The systematic literature review followed to review the articles published in English between 1930 and 2021. Design: A critical literature review was performed by comparing the findings of previous studies based on the development status of the market. We discuss determinants of stock price volatility. Determinants include behavioral (non-fundamental) factors and macro-economic factors such as GDP, Inflation, Interest Rate, Money Supply, and Exchange Rate. In addition to Earnings and Dividend Payments have been considered under company-specific fundamentals. Findings: It was found that there is no agreement between the studies on the macro-level and micro-level determinants of stock volatility. This empirical inconsistency is substantial in GDP, Inflation, Money Supply, Exchange Rate, Earnings, and Dividend Payments. The interest rate is the only determinant that shows moderate inconclusive empirical results. However, behavioral determinants appear to be significance consistency in determining the stock price volatility. Originality: This article reviews the theoretical and empirical background of stock volatility determinants since there is no single article for reviewing theoretical and empirical results. In a single paper, we provide evidence relating to the impact of macroeconomic, company-specific, and behavioral factors on stock price volatility. Research Directions – Future research is needed to examine the reason for empirical inconsistency in volatility determinants. A systematic literature review is essential.


Herein, we report a simple and effective strategy for the synthesis of yellow ZnO (Y-ZnO) nanostructures with abundant oxygen vacancies on a large scale, through the sulfidation of ZnO followed by calcination. The developed strategy allows retention of the overall morphology of Y-ZnO compared with pristine ZnO and the extent of oxygen vacancies can be tuned. The influence of oxygen deficiencies, the extent of defect sites, and the morphology of ZnO on its solution-phase thermocatalytic activity has been evaluated in the synthesis of 5-substituted-1H-tetrazoles with different nitriles and sodium azide. A reasonable enhancement in the reaction rate was achieved by using Y-ZnO nanoflakes (Y-ZnO NFs) as a catalyst in place of pristine ZnO NFs. The reaction was complete within 6 h at 110 °C with Y-ZnO NFs, whereas it took 14 h at 120 °C with pristine ZnO NFs. The catalyst is easy to recycle without a significant loss in catalytic activity.


This paper presents a new adaptive observer design method for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems by using spline approximation. This scheme leads to a simplified observer structure which requires only fixed number of integrations, regardless of the number of parameters to be estimated. This benefit can reduce the number of integrations of the observer filter dramatically. Moreover, the proposed adaptive observer automatically generates the required spline elements according to the varying output value and, as a result, does not requires the pre-knowledge of upper and lower bounds of the output. This is another benefit of our approach since the requirement for known output bounds have been one of the main drawbacks of practical universal approximation problems. Both of the benefits stem from the local support property, which is specific to splines.


: In this study, the performance of three phase-modulated signals used in airborne Synthetic Aperture Ladar (SAL) is investigated. The transmitting and receiving modes and imaging processing methods for these signals are studied. Considering that the swath of the airborne SAL is very narrow, in order to reduce the AD sampling rate of the wideband signal, a "phase-dechirping" receiving mode is proposed for the phase-modulated signal based on the Linear Frequency Modulation (LFM) signal. The imaging simulation results for these three phase-modulated signals validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.


ARTICLE INFO Pressure control valve (PCV) is implemented in internal combustion engine to regulate crankcase pressure. In this study, the performance of a diaphragm PCV valve is investigated numerically and experimentally. Firstly, numerical simulation is carried out using commercial code to predict the flow and pressure distribution inside the valve. Furthermore, downstream and upstream pressure of the valve is measured in a laboratory test rig. Finally, displacement and oscillation of the diaphragm are measured by a high speed laser displacement sensor. Comparison of experimental and numerical results show that proposed method is capable to properly predict performance curve of the valve. © Iranian Society of Engine (ISE), all rights reserved. Article history: Received: 29 September 2013 Accepted: 18 December 2013


Self-supported Fe–N–C materials, without a carbon support and iron salt, were prepared via pyrolysis of a sole sodium ferric EDTA (EDTAFeNa) precursor containing C, N, and Fe atoms infused into hard template SBA-15, followed by base and acid etching and final heat treatment. The resultant EDTAFeNa-AL-HT2(SBA-15) demonstrated a four-electron pathway for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in 0.1 M KOH with onset (Eonset) and half-wave (E1/2) potentials of 0.96 and 0.83 V versus RHE, respectively, closely matching those of benchmark Pt/C catalysts. The joint utilization of SBA-15 and etching endowed the self-supported Fe–N–C catalyst with high graphitization, moderate nitrogen doping, large surface area, hierarchical mesopores, and noncrystalline active Fe species with increased exposure over abundant pores, which synergistically enhanced ORR catalysis, giving rise to remarkable activity and selectivity while excluding contributions of crystalline Fe entities.


DNA methylphosphonates are candidate derivatives for use in antisense DNA therapy. Their efficacy is limited by weak hybridization. One hypothesis to explain this phenomenon holds that one configuration of the chiral methylphosphonate linkage, Rp, permits stronger base pairing than the other configuration, Sp. To test this hypothesis, four specific pairs of Rp and Sp diastereomers of the DNA methylphosphonate heptamer d(CpCpApApApCpA) were prepared by block coupling of different combinations of individual diastereomers of d(CpCpApA) and d(ApCpA). Each pair of the diastereomers of the heptamer was separated into individual diastereomes using affinity chromatography on a Lichrosorb-NH2 silica column with a covalently attached complementary normal DNA octamer, d(pTpGpTpTpTpGpGpC). The stabilities of complementary complexes of phosphodiester d(TpGpTpTpTpGpGpC) with 8 individual diastereomers of methylphosphonate d(CpCpApApApCpA) were studied by measuring their melting temperatures (Tm). A direct correlation of Tm values with the number of Rp methylphosphonate centers in the heptamer was found: the more Rp centers, the higher the stability of the complex. Tm values for the diastereomers with 6 all-Rp or all-Sp methylphosphonate centers were found to be 30.5 degrees and 12.5 degrees C, respectively, in 100 mM NaCl, 10 mM Na2HPO4, 1 mM EDTA, pH 7.0 with 15 microM of each oligomer. On the average, each substitution of one Rp-center to an Sp-center in the heptamer decreased the Tm by 3 degrees C. Under the same conditions, the Tm of the normal DNA heptamer with its complement was 21 degrees C. These results are consistent with the model that all-Rp methylphosphonate DNAs hybridize much more tightly to complementary normal DNA than do racemic methylphosphonate DNAs, and may therefore exhibit greater potency as antisense inhibitors.


Two thirds of women who die during pregnancy or shortly afterwards do not die from complications of pregnancy but from other medical conditions—such as heart disease, neurological conditions, or mental health problems—that have deteriorated because they were not well controlled, a report has shown.1

From 2009 to 2012, 357 women in the United Kingdom died during their pregnancy or within six weeks of it ending. Of these deaths, 36 were coincidental and 321 related to pregnancy complications and other medical causes, said the report from the MBRRACE-UK programme (Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK), led by researchers at the University of Oxford. Death rates were higher in women who were older, from deprived areas, or born outside the UK.

The rate of maternal deaths in the UK dropped from 11.39 in 100 000 women giving birth in 2006-08, to …


Piper of the Soul is a choreographic and scholarly exploration of the doctrines of karma and reincarnation, based on Hindu philosophy and religious literature. This written thesis serves as a scholarly record of the creative project that was produced at Mills College in 2000. Piper of the Soul references Hindu god Krishna as a representation of the supreme power, calling all souls to the creator. The doctrines of karma and rebirth are investigated in the context of modern society.


West Nile virus (WNV), a zoonotic pathogen naturally transmitted by mosquitoes whose natural hosts are birds, has spread worldwide during the last few decades. Resident birds play an important role in flavivirus epidemiology, since they can serve as reservoirs and facilitate overwintering of the virus. Herein, we report the first experimental infection of magpie (Pica pica) with two strains of West Nile virus, lineages 1 (NY-99) and 2 (SRB Novi-Sad/12), which are currently circulating in Europe. Magpies were highly susceptible to WNV infection, with similar low survival rates (30% and 42.8%) for both lineages. All infected magpies developed viremia detectable at 3 days post-infection with titers above those necessary for successful transmission of WNV to a mosquito. Neutralizing antibodies were detected at all time points analyzed (from 7 to 17 days post-infection). WNV genome was detected in the brains and hearts of all magpies that succumbed to the infection, and, in some of the surviving birds. WNV-RNA was amplified from swabs (oral and cloacal) at 3, 6 and 7 days post-infection and feather pulps, from 3 to 17 days post-infection, of infected animals. Even more, infectious virus was recovered from swabs up to 7 days post-infection and from feather pulps up to 10 days post infection. Sham-infected control animals were negative for viremia, viral RNA, and antibodies. These results suggest that the magpie, which is one of the most abundant corvid species in Europe, could represent a source of WNV transmission for birds and humans. Our observations shed light on the pathogenesis, transmission, and ecology of WNV and can benefit the implementation of surveillance and control programs.


Abstract:The word "glia" is derived from the Greek word "&ggr;&lgr;o&igr;&agr;," glue of the enteric nervous system, and for many years, enteric glial cells (EGCs) were believed to provide mainly structural support. However, EGCs as astrocytes in the central nervous system may serve a much more vital and active role in the enteric nervous system, and in homeostatic regulation of gastrointestinal functions. The emphasis of this review will be on emerging concepts supported by basic, translational, and/or clinical studies, implicating EGCs in neuron-to-glial (neuroglial) communication, motility, interactions with other cells in the gut microenvironment, infection, and inflammatory bowel diseases. The concept of the "reactive glial phenotype" is explored as it relates to inflammatory bowel diseases, bacterial and viral infections, postoperative ileus, functional gastrointestinal disorders, and motility disorders. The main theme of this review is that EGCs are emerging as a new frontier in neurogastroenterology and a potential therapeutic target. New technological innovations in neuroimaging techniques are facilitating progress in the field, and an update is provided on exciting new translational studies. Gaps in our knowledge are discussed for further research. Restoring normal EGC function may prove to be an efficient strategy to dampen inflammation. Probiotics, palmitoylethanolamide (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor–&agr;), interleukin-1 antagonists (anakinra), and interventions acting on nitric oxide, receptor for advanced glycation end products, S100B, or purinergic signaling pathways are relevant clinical targets on EGCs with therapeutic potential.


The C4v centre of Ho3+ in CaF2 has a ground state comprising of a pair of electronic singlet levels (A1 and A2) separated by 1.7 cm-1 and interacting via the hyperfine interaction. The interaction gives rise to anomalously large pseudoquadrupole splitting with P=0.4 GHz, which gives fully resolved hyperfine structure within both the 5I8(A2) implies 5F5(A2) and 5I8(A1) implies 5F5(A2) optical transitions. The latter transition gains its intensity from the former through the hyperfine mixing of the ground state singlets. The mixing also leads to the ground state levels having orbital angular momentum dependent on the hyperfine state and this results in the unusual situation that there are four superhyperfine resonances for each set of equivalent neighbouring F- ions. A 210 kHz splitting of the +or-1/2 superhyperfine resonances, which is the result of an enhanced mutual spin-flip interaction between the Ho3+ and F- nuclei, is also observed. This is the first report of such a splitting.


We conducted a randomized controlled trial to determine the effects of a home-based exercise intervention on change in quality of life (QOL) in recently resected colorectal cancer survivors, most of whom were receiving adjuvant therapy. Participants were randomly assigned in a 2:1 ratio to either an exercise (n = 69) or control (n = 33) group. The exercise group was asked to perform moderate intensity exercise 3-5 times per week for 20-30 min each time. The primary outcome was change in QOL as measured by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Colorectal (FACT-C) scale. Adherence in the exercise group was good (75.8%) but contamination in the control group was problematic (51.6%). Intention-to-treat analysis revealed no significant differences between groups for change in the FACT-C (mean difference, -1.3; 95% CI, -7.8 to 5.1; P = 0.679). In an 'on-treatment' ancillary analysis, we compared participants who decreased versus increased their cardiovascular fitness over the course of the intervention. This analysis revealed significant differences in favour of the increased fitness group for the FACT-C (mean difference, 6.5; 95% CI, 0.4-12.6; P = 0.038). These data suggest that increased cardiovascular fitness is associated with improvements in QOL in colorectal cancer survivors but better controlled trials are needed.


Objective: This study aimed to investigate whether the asphericity of the neck–head junction of the femur confirmed via ultrasound is associated with further pathology due to femoro-acetabular impingement (FAI). Methodology: After a clinical examination with positive FAI tests, an ultrasound examination of the hip was performed. In the case of asphericity, a quantitative ultrasound-assisted assessment of the hip was performed, followed by contrast-enhanced arthro-MRI with the question of cartilage or labral damage. Results and Conclusions: We included 51 patients with a mean age of 35.25. According to the examination algorithm, asphericity was present in all patients via ultrasonography. The average anterior alpha angle (AAA) determined in ultrasonography was 43.49°. The average AAA on the arthro-MRI was 44.19°. The mean anterior head neck offset (AHNO) in ultrasound was 5.27 mm, and in arthro-MRI, it was 5.36 mm. Arthro-MRI confirmed a bump in 47 patients and a talization disorder in 4 patients. In 49 patients, a labral lesion was found, with one being a re-rupture. Furthermore, in one patient, labral degeneration was identified. Cartilage damage to the hip joint was found in 25 patients. Two patients had neither labral nor cartilage damage in the arthro-MRI. In our study, sonographically confirmed asphericity of the head–neck junction was found in 49 cases, which was associated with further pathology and, according to the current doctrine, was attributable to the FAI and required surgical intervention. This study shows that the detection of a pathologic head and neck contour via ultrasound in combination with positive clinical signs, as present in FAI, is associated with chondrolabral lesions detected via arthro-MRI in 96.1% of cases.


Distribution Limitation Statement No. 2) CO2 (10.6 micron) and He-Ne (6328A) laser beams were passed through the highly turbulent region in the exhaust of a jet engine (J-57 with afterburner). Experimental information was obtained on the absorption, scattering and turbulence effects of the jet exhaust on both laser beams for various propagation paths. Estimates of a structure constant that would characterize the turbulence in the exhaust are made from the beam spread of focused and collimated beams. The structure constant obtained in this manner is then compared with the structure constant determined from scintillation measurements on the CO2 beam and with the results of hot-wire anemometer readings in the exhaust. The various methods yield results for the structure constant that are in good agreement (typically a structure constant of the order of 3x1O-5m-1/3).


High body mass index (BMI) has been shown to be a factor predictive of increased morbidity and mortality in several single-institution studies. Using the University HealthSystem Consortium clinical database, we examined the impact of BMI on in-hospital mortality for patients who underwent laparoscopic gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, and gastric banding between October 2011 and February 2014. Outcomes were examined within each procedure according to BMI groups of 35 to 49.9, 50.0 to 59.9, and 60.0 kg/m2 or greater. Outcome measures included in-hospital mortality, major complications, length of hospital stay, 30-day readmission, and cost. A total of 40,102 bariatric procedures were performed during this time period. For gastric bypass, there was an increase of in-hospital mortality (0.01 and 0.02 vs 0.34%; P < 0.01) and major complications (0.93 and 0.99 vs 2.62%; P < 0.01) in the BMI 60 kg/m2 or greater group. In contrast, sleeve gastrectomy and gastric banding had no association between BMI and rates of mortality and major complications. Cost increased with increasing BMI groups for all procedures. A strong association was found between BMI 60 kg/m2 or greater and higher in-hospital mortality and major complication rates for patients who underwent laparoscopic gastric bypass but not in patients who underwent sleeve gastrectomy or gastric banding.


The basic motivation of this essay comes from the need to understand some relationships that are established in the teaching environment of sports for kids, from the transformations of contemporary sport. Our goal is to discuss the challenges to the pedagogical practice and the role of the sport educator face of changes in the sport-spectacle and its interface with sports marketing. The methodology was based on literature search in order to substantiate a theoretical discussion and build a discussion around the existing tensions between sport pedagogy and sports marketing. We concluded that it is vital that sport educators, when teaching children, include this theme in classes and educational practices, bearing in mind the importance of this content to the consolidation of cognitive and moral references, thus seeking to stimulate a broader understanding of the social significance of sports.


In Siotani & Fujikoshi (1984), a precise local limit theorem for the multinomial distribution is derived by inverting the Fourier transform, where the error terms are explicit up to order N−1. In this paper, we give an alternative (conceptually simpler) proof based on Stirling's formula and a careful handling of Taylor expansions, and we show how the result can be used to approximate multinomial probabilities on most subsets of Rd. Furthermore, we discuss a recent application of the result to obtain asymptotic properties of Bernstein estimators on the simplex, we improve the main result in Carter (2002) on the Le Cam distance bound between multinomial and multivariate normal experiments while simultaneously simplifying the proof, and we mention another potential application related to finely tuned continuity corrections.


The purpose of this study was to investigate inscriptions used in "Types of chemical reactions" topic in Turkish, Indian, and American chemistry textbooks. We investigated both the types of inscriptions and how they were used in textbooks to support learning. A conceptual analysis method was employed to determine how those textbooks use inscriptions to present "Types of chemical reactions." Results revealed that textbooks disproportionately used inscriptions at symbolic level and failed to present sub-microscopic level. Moreover, in Turkish and Indian books, explicit connections between all three levels of inscriptions were inadequate whereas American textbook had them sufficiently. Inscriptions including multiple levels were provided simultaneously in American textbook. This research will contribute to growing literature of international studies about use of inscriptions in science textbooks.


The First International Workshop on T-cell colonies in semisolid media has released some important applications of the method: (a) it should be a very useful tool for the study of the different steps of T-cell differentiation and their control mechanisms; (b) it may provide methods for the induction and initial cloning of functional subsets of mature T cells before subsequent expansion in liquid culture; (c) such cloned T cells may be used not only as a source of functional cells and lymphokines, but also to screen otherwise undetected subgroups of the major histo-compatibility complex as well, hopefully for immunotherapy of malignancies and autoimmune or infectious diseases; (d) the study of lymphocyte colony formation should be complementary to investigations dealing with other lineage precursors (CFU-GM, BFU-E, CFU-E, CFU-Meg) for the monitoring of hemopoiesis in a variety of immunohematological disorders.


In the article I demonstrate the connection between Fazekas and Csokonai through two poems. Fazekas's Az érzékenységek énekben (The Senses in Song) was written in imitation of Csokonai's A' Reményhez, and A serdűlő bajuszhoz (To the Pubescent Moustache) was written similarly after Csokonai's A' Pillangóhoz, in these two poems by Fazekas Csokonai's influence can be observed from formal characteristics through themes to intertextuality. However, this influence is not merely a copy of form, but it is an expression of Fazekas's poetic irony and his polemic mentality with Csokonai. Both poems target the Lilla-affection and the love cult of sensitive poetry, as opposed to which, as poetic banter, Fazekas depicts on the one hand, an ordinary woman character who requites love, and on the other hand, a woman of easy virtue. The subtle irony is present on multiple levels in both poems due to the verbunkos (a Hungarian dance originated in military recruiting) and sensibility-classical melody.


Communication channels can severely degrade a signal, not only due to fading effects but also interference in the form of impulsive noise. In conventional communication systems, the additive noise at the receiver is usually assumed to be Gaussian distributed. However, this assumption is not always valid and examples of non-Gaussian distributed noise include power line channels, underwater acoustic channels and manmade interference. When designing a communication system it is useful to know the theoretical performance in terms of bit-error probability (BEP) on these types of channels. However, the effect of impulses on the BEP performance has not been well studied, particularly when errorcorrecting codes are employed. Today, advanced error-correcting codes with very long block lengths and iterative decoding algorithms, such as Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) codes and turbo codes, are popular due to their capacity-approaching performance. However, very long codes are not always desirable, particularly in communications systems where latency is a serious issue, such as in voice and video communication between multiple users. This thesis focuses on the analysis of short LDPC codes. Finite length analyses of LDPC codes have already been presented for the additive white Gaussian noise channel in the literature, but the analysis of short LDPC codes for channels that exhibit impulsive noise has not been investigated. The novel contributions in this thesis are presented in three sections. First, uncoded and LDPC-coded BEP performance on channels exhibiting impulsive noise modeled by symmetric α-stable (SαS) distributions are examined. Different sub-optimal receivers are compared and a new low-complexity receiver is proposed that achieves near-optimal performance. Density evolution is then used to derive the threshold signal-tonoise ratio (SNR) of LDPC codes that employ these receivers. In order to accurately predict the waterfall performance of short LDPC codes, a finite length analysis is proposed with the aid of the threshold SNRs of LDPC codes and the derived uncoded BEPs for impulsive noise channels. Second, to investigate the effect of impulsive noise on wireless channels, the analytic BEP on generalized fading channels with SαS noise is derived. However, it requires the evaluation of a double integral to obtain the analytic BEP, so to reduce the computational cost, the CauchyGaussian mixture model and the asymptotic property of SαS process are used to derive upper bounds of the exact BEP. Two closed-form expressions are derived to approximate the exact BEP on a Rayleigh fading channel with SαS noise. Then density evolution of different receivers is derived for these channels to find the asymptotic performance of LDPC codes. Finally, the waterfall performance of LDPC codes is again estimated for generalized fading channels with SαS noise by utilizing the derived uncoded BEP and threshold SNRs. Finally, the addition of spatial diversity at the receiver is investigated. Spatial diversity is an effective method to mitigate the effects of fading and when used in conjunction with LDPC codes and can achieve excellent error-correcting performance. Hence, the performance of conventional linear diversity combining techniques are derived. Then the SNRs of these linear combiners are compared and the relationship of the noise power between different linear combiners is obtained. Nonlinear detectors have been shown to achieve better performance than linear combiners hence, optimal and sub-optimal detectors are also presented and compared. A non-linear detector based on the bi-parameter Cauchy-Gaussian mixture model is used and shows near-optimal performance with a significant reduction in complexity when compared with the optimal detector. Furthermore, we show how to apply density evolution of LDPC codes for different combining techniques on these channels and an estimation of the waterfall performance of LDPC codes is derived that reduces the gap between simulated and asymptotic performance. In conclusion, the work presented in this thesis provides a framework to evaluate the performance of communication systems in the presence of additive impulsive noise, with and without spatial diversity at the receiver. For the first time, bounds on the BEP performance of LDPC codes on channels with impulsive noise have been derived for optimal and sub-optimal receivers, allowing other researchers to predict the performance of LDPC codes in these type of environments without needing to run lengthy computer simulations.


BRIER, G. W. & BRADLEY, D. A. (1964). The lunar synodical period and precipitation in the United States. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 21, pp. 386-95. BRYSON, R. A. (1948). On a lunar bi-fortnightly tide in the atmosphere. Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 29, pp. 473—5. BRYSON, R. A. (1975). The lessons of climatic history. Environmental Conservation, 2(3), pp. 163-70, 8 figs. BRYSON, R. A. & DITTBERNER, G. J. (1976). A non-equilibrium model of hemispheric mean surface temperature. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 33, pp. 2094-106. BRYSON, R. A. & GOODMAN, B. M. (1980). Volcanic activity and climatic change. Science, 207, pp. 1041-4. BRYSON, R. A., IRVING, W. M. & LARSON, J. A. (1965). Radiocarbon and soils evidence of former forest in the southern Canadian tundra. Science, 147, pp. 46-8. BRYSON, R. A. & STARR, T. B. (1977). Chandler tides in the atmosphere. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 34, pp. 1975-86. BRYSON, R. A. & SWAIN, A. M. (1981). Holocene variations of monsoon rainfall in Rajasthan. Quaternary Research, 16, pp. 135-45. DAS, P. K. (1968). The Monsoon. National Book Trust, New Delhi, India: 162 pp., illustr. JULIAN, P. R. & CHERVIN, R. M. (1978). A study of the Southern Oscillation and Walker Circulation phenomenon. Monthly Weather Review, 106, pp. 1433-51. KUTZBACH, J. E. (1981). Monsoon climate of the early Holocene: Climate experiment with the Earth's orbital parameters for 9000 years ago. Science, 214, pp. 59-61. MAKSIMOV, I. V. (1958). Nutational phenomena in the high latitude atmosphere and their role in the formation of climate. Nat. Res. Council of Canada, Ottawa, Problems of the North, No. 1 (1960), pp. 103-23. MAKSIMOV, I. V., KARKLIN, V. P., SARUKHANIAN, E. I. & SMIRNOV, N. P. (1967). Nutational migration of the Icelandic low. Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR, 177, pp. 88-91. (English transl. Dokl. Acad. Sci. USSR, Earth Sci. Section.)


Hermetics, the oldest art of knowledge, based on structural analogies between big and small, above and below is said to be invented by the legendary Egyptian priest Hermes Trismegistos (beside others the threefold greatest in astrology, alchemy and magic). Long time valued as obscure it seems to find a new interest and revival in philosophy, theory of knowledge and cyberspace. It is claimed as an alternative of modern differentiated sciences with their lack of integration and interdisciplinarity, especially for solving practical complex problems and for re-establish human qualities in artefacts. We look upon its scientific, cultural, and educational options in history and future as one approach to the information society with "all kinds of knowledge, in every quantity, quality, and combination".


UNLABELLED
Focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST) is used as a screening tool to detect hemoperitoneum in patients with blunt abdominal injuries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of FAST performed by third year surgical residents.

PATIENTS AND METHOD
Data were collected prospectively in one hundred and twenty-nine blunt abdominal trauma patients admitted to King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital from November 2000-November 2002. FAST was used by third year surgical residents to detect intraperitoneal fluid and considered positive if such fluid was identified. Data were analyzed using the chi-square test.

RESULTS
Of the 129 patients, there were 31 female (24%) and 98 male (76%) patients, with the mean age of 34 years. The mean Injury Severity Score was 13.2. 53 patients had proven intraabdominal injuries and 76 had no injuries. FAST was positive in 28 patients and negative in 101 patients. There were 3 false positive FAST. The sensitivity and specificity of FAST were 47.17 per cent and 96.05 per cent, respectively. The positive predictive value was 89.29 per cent, the negative predictive value was 72.28 per cent and the accuracy was 81.59 per cent.

CONCLUSION
FAST performed by third year surgical residents for blunt abdominal trauma had high specificity to detect hemoperitoneum. A positive FAST is a strong predictor of significant intraabdominal injury. The need for more practices to improve sensitivity is recommended.


In 1979, a guestworkers children project was established with funding from state of Hesse and Federal Republic of Germany ministries. Eleven kindergartens with high foreign student enrollments were pinpointed for field research to be followed up by publications and recommendations which would enhance the integration of foreign pupils. The first book to grow out of the project, Die Heimat des Nachbarn, provides background accounts of the history, society and culture of the four countries from which most of West Germany's foreigners hailItaly, Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey. The idea here is that German knowledge and appreciation of the background of foreigners will help foster integration. The last section of the book focuses on the history of immigration to the United States and examines in what ways and to what degree the United States might serve as a reference point for West German public policy debates over integration issues, particularly as they pertain to the role of schools. This chapter reveals that the guestworkers children project has progressed far beyond official thinking summed up by the slogan: Germany is not an immigration country. The second book to grow out of the project, Freunde und Fremde, consists of interviews with the parents of foreign children, articles on films and other teaching materials for foriegn pupils, and discussions of language problems, ethnicity and the role of guestworker mother tongues in West German kindergartens. Again, the book's emphasis is upon practical problems and different strategies to overcome them so as to enhance integration.


In this paper, we report our results on surface preparation for the growth of epitaxial Si films. Hydrogen passivated surfaces are currently being investigated for application in Si epitaxy to eliminate the high temperature in-situ bake necessary to remove the native oxide. Hydrogen passivation is obtained by a dilute HF dip before the substrate is loaded in the process chamber. However the passivation is partially lost when the HF dip is followed by a water rinse which results in oxygen absorption on the substrate. It was found that the peak oxygen concentration at the epitaxy substrate interface increase by an order of magnitude due to a five minute water rinse. We report here that oxygen and carbon at the epitaxy substrate interface can be desorbed during initial stage of epitaxial growth by reducing epitaxial growth rate. In this work, epitaxial Si films were deposited over a wide range of growth rates obtained by varying Si 2 H 6 flow rates. The peak oxygen concentration decreases by an order of magnitude by changing the growth rate from 3000 to 700A/kminute for a deposition temperature of 800°C. We believe that at higher growth rates Si overgrows on absorbed oxygen maintaining epitaxial alignment reflected in the good electrical quality of the epitaxial films. However, at low growth rates oxygen has sufficient time to desorb before overgrowth can take place, improving the epitaxy substrate interface quality.


Long term evolution (LTE) technology leveraging the unlicensed band is anticipated to provide a solution for the challenges stemming from the rapid growth of mobile wireless services, the scarcity of available licensed spectrum, and the expected significant increase in mobile data traffic. Ensuring fair operation in terms of spectrum sharing with current unlicensed spectrum incumbents is a key concern relative to the success and viability of Unlicensed LTE (U-LTE). This paper addresses the problem of modeling and evaluating the coexistence of LTE license-assisted-access in the unlicensed band. The paper presents a novel analytical model using Markov chain to accurately model the LAA listen-before-talk scheme, as specified in the final technical specification 36.213 of 3GPP release 13 and 14. Furthermore, model validation is demonstrated through numerical and simulation results comparison. Model performance evaluation is examined and contrasted with IEEE 802.11 distributed coordination function. Finally, a comprehensive coexistence performance analysis is conducted for both homogeneous and heterogeneous network scenarios and coexistence results are presented and discussed herein.


From the advance publicity for Mortal Peril: Our Inalienable Right to Healthcare?,1 one might suppose the book would offer a closely reasoned argument for a market-based health care system with minimum government involvement and maximum deference to individual autonomy. While Epstein does advocate such a system, he fails to provide the reasoned argument. The book actually presents a collection of topics that seem to have been chosen because Epstein has strong views about them, not because taken together they yield a coherent view of health policy. To make matters worse, the discussion of each topic is a confusing mixture of broad generalizations, often unsupported by argument or data, and narrow analyses of specific laws, court cases, and regulations. The first half of this 503-page book is about access to health care. It includes chapters on the existence of a right to health care, futile medical treatment, care for the indigent, wealth and disability, community rating and pre-existing conditions, Medicare reform, and the Clinton health plan. The second half addresses self-determination and choice, with chapters on the buying and selling of babies and human organs, euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, and the malpractice liability system. Since I cannot cover all this ground adequately in a review, I have chosen to focus primarily on the access issues.


We present fixed point results for admissibly compact maps on cones in Fr´echet spaces. We first extend the Krasnosel'ski˘i fixed point theorem with order type cone-compression and cone-expansion conditions. Then, we extend the monotone iterative method to this context. Finally, we present fixed point results under a combination of the assumptions of the previous results. More precisely, we combine a cone-compressing or cone-extending condition only on one side of the boundary of an annulus with an assumption on the existence of an upper fixed point. In addition, we show that the usual monotonicity condition can be weaken


Contemporary DNA sequences can provide information about the historical demography of a species. However, different molecular markers are informative under different circumstances. In particular, mitochondrial (mt)DNA is uniparentally inherited and haploid in most vertebrates and thus has a smaller effective population size than diploid, biparentally inherited nuclear (n)DNA. Here, we review the characteristics of mtDNA and nDNA in the context of historical demography. In particular, we address how their contrasting rates of evolution and sex-biased dispersal can lead to different demographic inferences. We do so in the context of an extensive review of the vertebrate literature that describes the use of mtDNA and nDNA sequence data in demographic reconstruction. We discuss the effects of coalescence, effective population size, substitution rates, and sex-biased dispersal on informative timeframes and expected patterns of genetic differentiation. We argue that mtDNA variationin species with male-biased dispersal can imply deviations from neutrality that do not reflect actual population expansion or selection. By contrast, mtDNA can be more informative when coalescence has occurred within the recent past, which appears to be the case with many vertebrates. We also compare the application and interpretation of demographic and neutrality test statistics in historical demography studies. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2014, 112, 367–386.


We propose a novel data-driven approach for solving multi-horizon probabilistic forecasting tasks that predicts the full distribution of a time series on future horizons. We illustrate that temporal patterns hidden in historical information play an important role in accurate forecasting of long time series. Traditional methods rely on setting up temporal dependencies manually to explore related patterns in historical data, which is unrealistic in forecasting long-term series on real-world data. Instead, we propose to explicitly learn constructing hidden patterns' representations with deep neural networks and attending to different parts of the history for forecasting the future. In this paper, we propose an end-to-end deep-learning framework for multi-horizon time series forecasting, with temporal attention mechanisms to better capture latent patterns in historical data which are useful in predicting the future. Forecasts of multiple quantiles on multiple future horizons can be generated simultaneously based on the learned latent pattern features. We also propose a multimodal fusion mechanism which is used to combine features from different parts of the history to better represent the future. Experiment results demonstrate our approach achieves state-of-the-art performance on two large-scale forecasting datasets in different domains.


The new genus Kashiwadia S. Y. Kondr., L. Lőkos et J.-S. Hur, gen. nov. for the Eastern Asian species Physcia orientalis Kashiw. being in isolated position in the genus Physcia after morphological and anatomical characters as well as showing closer relation to the Heterodermia branch (than to the Physcia branch) in phylogenetic tree of the Physciaceae based on results of ITS1/ITS2 nuclear ribosomal and positioning in separate branch after 12S SSU mitochondrial DNA sequences and combined data set is proposed. Description of new genus and new combination is provided.


OBJECTIVE
To report an 8-year institutional experience in the use of the B-Lynch Suture for the management of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH).

STUDY DESIGN
Cases with B-Lynch suture utilization for severe postpartum hemorrhage were identified, from March 1997 to March 2005, at White Memorial Medical Center. Case charts were reviewed, and postoperative follow-up after hospital discharge was conducted by telephone interview and outpatient clinic chart review. Historical characteristics and outcome of these patients are described.

RESULTS
B-Lynch suture was performed on 22 patients, between March 1997 and March 2005, to control intractable PPH at cesarean section that did not respond to uterotonic agents. In 12 instances, the B-Lynch suture was the only intervention, whereas in 10 it was combined with vessel ligation. The procedure resulted in control of bleeding with uterine preservation in 77% of the cases. In those cases where the etiology of PPH was uterine atony, the B-Lynch suture was successful in 85% of the cases. Hysterectomy was avoided in 17/22 cases.

CONCLUSION
The B-Lynch suture is an alternative surgical procedure for uterine preservation that may be used to control postpartum hemorrhage from uterine atony.


This work proposes a simple and effective Intrusion Detection System (IDS) to classify different attacks in MANETs. IDS extracts four features for every traffic pattern and applies Support Vector Machine algorithm over them for the classification. Before applying the feature extraction, the input traffic pattern is subjected to pre-processing as it is composed of non-uniform features. IDS classifies the input traffic pattern into three classes; they are normal, blackhole and wormhole. Finally, this work analyses the feasibility of machine learning algorithms for the detection of security attacks in MANETs. For experimental validation, we have referred a self-created dataset which was acquired from the observations of blackhole and wormhole attacked node's traffic patterns. Moreover, we have also validated the proposed method through NSL-KDD dataset.


Maps of the form Phi(X) =sum_{i=1}^s A_iXA^*, where A_1, . . . ,A_s are fixed complex n by n matrices and X is any complex n by n matrix are used in quantum information theory as representations of quantum channels. This article deals with computable conditions for the existence of decoherence--free subspaces for Phi. Since the definition of decoherence-free subspace for quantum channels relies only on the matrices A1, . . . ,As, the term of common reducing unitary subspace is used instead of the original one. Among the main results of the paper, there are computable conditions for the existence of common eigenvectors. These are related to common reducing unitary subspaces of dimension one. The new results on common eigenvectors provide new effective condition for the existence of common invariant subspaces of arbitrary dimensions.


In this research, the parameters affecting the Nusselt number of a generator rotor and stator under varying heat transfer rate are experimentally studied. In spite of the stator having no grooves, the rotor has four large triangular grooves. The temperature and then heat transfer rate of the rotor and stator are experimentally measured in three longitudinal and two angular positions. First, the effect of axial Reynolds number and rotor rotational speed on the rotor and stator Nusselt number with constant heat transfer rate ratio is studied. The range of the axial Reynolds number and rotational speed used is from 4000 to 30,000 and from 300 to 1500 rpm, respectively. Next, the effect of stator to rotor heat transfer rate ratio on the Nusselt number at constant axial Reynolds number and rotational speed is investigated. Three experiments were conducted at three heat transfer rate ratios (3, 5, and 8), defined as the ratio of heat transfer rate of the stator to the rotor. The results show that the higher the heat transfer rate ratio, the lower is the stator mean Nusselt number and the higher the rotor mean Nusselt number.


The clinical history, long term follow-up, and the surface electrocardiographic interpretation of four newborn infants with different arrhythmias are described. The arrhythmias discussed are: supraventricular tachycardia involving an accessory atrioventricular nodal bypass tract (Kent fibers), ectopic atrial tachycardia, atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia, and ventricular tachycardia associated with congenital prolonged QT syndrome. Echocardiographic examination completed the evaluation in these newborns. A cardiac tumor was found in one infant and an aneurysm of the atrial septum was observed in two. Pharmacological therapy was successful in each newborn infant.


The overall objective of this research is to investigate the effectiveness of BJ-1 and CBERS remote sensing images for monitoring and modeling the spatial-temporal pattern change in Shanghai city. In this study, a scene of BJ-1 and two scenes of CBERS 01/02 images were used as the data sources. Comparing the accuracy of maximum likelihood classifier (MLC) and support vector machine (SVM) with two different kernel functions, the highest one in each temporal was chosen to analyze the typical ground objects and landscape pattern change. Gradient and direction characteristic analysis were also applied to calculate the degree and direction of urban growth. We selected some human and natural indicators from the Shanghai Statistical Yearbook to analyze the driving force of Shanghai. The results indicated that urbanization in Shanghai tended to be marginalization. And the urban growth has occurred in the NE-E and SE-S direction regions (Pudong New Area and Sanlin Area).


One of the tasks of the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) Emerging Research Devices (ERD) Technology Working Group (TWG) is to seek out memory technologies presented in the research literature and weigh whether they have the potential to serve in 22-nm and smaller IC generations. The motive for this effort is to develop data that can help guide research investment decisions. In 2004, the ERD TWG summarized some quantitative attributes of four alternative memory approaches, and developed a potential/risk score for each. While this effort falls far short of identifying a specific technology, it is at least a beginning. This article describes the nature of the challenge and reports initial study results.


With the increase in the prevalence of obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become among the leading causes of chronic liver disease in the pediatric age group. Once believed to be a "two-hit process", it is now clear that the actual pathophysiology of NAFLD is complex and involves multiple pathways. Moreover, NAFLD is not always benign, and patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) are at increased risk of developing advanced stages of liver disease. It has also been shown that NAFLD is not only a liver disease, but is also associated with multiple extrahepatic manifestations, including cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and low bone mineral density. Although the data is scarce in the pediatric population, some studies have suggested that long-term mortality and the requirement of liver transplantation will continue to increase in patients with NAFLD. More studies are needed to better understand the natural history of NAFLD, especially in the pediatric age group.


Biometric authentication system are used prevalently for its template security, retract ability and privacy. The Authentication process is reinforced by biometric cryptosystem. We propose a demonstrable secure and blind biometric authentication protocol which discloses only identity and not any other information to both client and server. To reduce the computational cost and enhance security we have used ElGamal. It is based on asymmetric encryption in which biometric authentication and security of public key cryptography is enhanced. Authentication protocol works on public network and provides template protection, ability to retract template protection and assuage the concern on privacy. In our approach the authentication in the encrypted domain does not affect the accuracy, while the encryption key bolsters security.


Voltage controlled voltage source inverters (VCVSI) are predominantly used as an interface between source and grid in distributed generation. Modularity of system is achieved by parallel operation of several VCVSI of reduced rating. In this paper, a 3-DOF control scheme is proposed for parallel operation of three phase inverters to enable equal load sharing even during transients while tracking a common sinusoidal voltage reference. The voltage reference is either free running or derived from grid voltage and can be used to synchronize a parallel inverter module with any utility grid. The control algorithm for each inverter is identical, and it is independent of terminal parameters of other inverters, granting N+1 modularity to the system. The proposed fast inner voltage loop with second-order controller and lead compensators enable stable operation at low switching frequencies. A voltage correction is added to the reference to ensure sharing of higher order load current harmonics among inverters. A method to estimate the system tolerance to parametric uncertainties and delays is developed using μ-analysis and a method is presented to improve it. The analysis is validated with simulation and experimental results on two 110 Vac/2.5 kVA three-phase inverters, paralleled to form a stand-alone grid and feeding a nonlinear load.


We combine beam search with the probabilistic pruning technique of nucleus sampling to create two deterministic nucleus search algorithms for natural language generation. The first algorithm, p-exact search, locally prunes the next-token distribution and performs an exact search over the remaining space. The second algorithm, dynamic beam search, shrinks and expands the beam size according to the entropy of the candidate's probability distribution. Despite the probabilistic intuition behind nucleus search, experiments on machine translation and summarization benchmarks show that both algorithms reach the same performance levels as standard beam search.


Living systems are full of astonishing diversity and complexity of life. Despite differences in the length scales and cognitive abilities of these systems, collective motion of large groups of individuals can emerge. It is of great importance to seek for the fundamental principles of collective motion, such as phase transitions and their natures. Via an eigen microstate approach, we have found a discontinuous transition of density and a continuous transition of velocity in the Vicsek models of collective motion, which are identified by the finite-size scaling form of order-parameter. At strong noise, living systems behave like gas. With the decrease of noise, the interactions between the particles of a living system become stronger and make them come closer. The living system experiences then a discontinuous gas–liquid like transition of density. The even stronger interactions at smaller noise make the velocity directions of the particles become ordered and there is a continuous phase transition of collective motion in addition.


A HIS REVIEW is confined to published reports of experimental studies on problems of method in teaching psychology, educational psychology, and courses in education. Except for one (152), all of these studies have appeared during the period from January 1, 1934, to July 1, 1937. Several studies were omitted because they have already been included in a previous issue of the Review of Educational Research (149). References to these omitted studies, however, are contained in the present bibliography (144, 146, 150, 153, 163, 164, 167).


The concept of basic demagnetized states in which the directional distributions of magnetic moments show the simplest rotational symmetry is introduced and suggested as a supplementary statement to the definition of demagnetization. Any demagnetized state can be considered as a linear combination of basic demagnetized states so that the magnetic behavior of the system can be evaluated by the summation of contributions from the basic states. Fourier analysis is used to extend this model of demagnetization. >


The prevalent view of project stakeholder management theory assumes that stakeholders will behave freely according to their own rational self-interest, and, based on this assumption, that their position towards a project can be predicted and managed. The process gives precedence to human agency, with little or no consideration of the structural forces which may also constrain and enable stakeholder behaviours. This paper challenges that view, using the notion of Institutional Logics to demonstrate the significant influence that structural forces have on stakeholder behaviours. Our case study will be a major, IT enabled, UK government change project. In providing this empirically grounded theoretical contribution, we offer a powerful new way to reconceptualise project stakeholder management which gives precedence to neither structure nor agency. Instead we argue that both have significant influencing effects on stakeholder behaviours, and that both should be given consideration in project stakeholder management analyses.


We determine action dependent damping coefficients for electron coolers with cylindrical and hollow beams and action dependent diffusion coefficients from the interaction with a pellet target and a simple model of intrabeam scattering. We use these coefficients to numerically solve the time-dependent \FPE\ and present simulations of the transient cooling down. An efficient integrator makes it possible to simulate long times (hours) very efficiently and quickly. Moreover we determine a maximum acceptable limit of the cooling time to provide stable operation. Transverse Profiles and Stability Limits with Electron Cooler and Pellet Target V. Ziemann, Uppsala University


The planning of effective services for patients with particular conditions demands an understanding of epidemiology, pathophysiology and therapy. In the case of chronic pain in general, and chronic pelvic pain in particular, elements of the pathophysiology are beginning to be elucidated, and certain treatments that were formerly deployed only in pain clinics are now entering use in gynaecological settings. These developments have been reviewed elsewhere1. Here we assess the scale of the health problem posed by chronic pelvic pain (CPP) and the kind of clinical services that would optimize outcomes.


Financial distress (FD) is a common occurrence in Kenyan commercial sector and is not lacking in non-life insurance companies in Kenya. Several insurance companies have been placed under statutory management for failure to pay genuine claims and other creditors. Insurance companies provide unique financial services, not only to individuals but also to the growth and development of the economy; giving employment to workers and dividends to investors. Financial distress places insurable properties and businesses at risk thus reducing the general public confidence in the insurance sector. For this paper, the goal was to investigate whether fraudulent claims (FC) significantly cause financial distress in non-life insurance companies in Kenya. In accounting for insurance fraudulent claims, increases in fraudulent claims mean a reduction of profitability of an insurer; and payment of fraudulent claims drains the insurer's cash flow, thus causing financial distress. Out of 37 non-life insurance companies, registered in 2018 in Kenya, four insurers were subjected to Pilot Testing and another four companies declined to participate in the survey. Secondary data from Insurance Regulatory Authority website was retrieved for calculations of Z-scores using Altman's [1], amended formula. Using the discriminative Z-score formula, 52% of the non-life insurance companies in 2018 were financially distressed, compared to 48% in 2017. However, when considering the average of ten years (2009 to 2018), financially distressed companies were 38%. To confirm this distressful situation, primary data was also collected through a questionnaire. A partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach was employed to affirm the researcher's hypotheses and further test whether theoretical framework was supported by primary data analysis. Goodness-of-fit (GoF) indices were used to assess the model's goodness of fit. The structural path from FC to FD was found to be significant at 5% level of significance. Financial Distress (FD) increased with an increase in fraudulent claims (FC) (regression coefficient,  β= 0.32, 95% CI (0.16, 0.4)). This means that the relationship was significant in this study. In other words, for every unit increase in FC, FD significantly increased by 0.32. However, the indirect effect of FC on FD via IRA was not significant. Hence, IRA supervision was not a significant mediating factor. In a research in the USA by A. M. Best Company [2], alleged fraud in insurance claims was identified as one of contributors of insurance companies' failure, accounting for 10%. An insurance fraud survey carried out by an audit firm KPMG [3] showed that Kenyans could have paid over Kshs 30 billion to cover for fraud. The researchers further observed that companies' employees were found to be colluding with policyholders and claims agents to doctor and file illegitimate claims with the insurers. The insurance business classes which are most affected by fraud are motor and medical classes. The researchers recommends that members of staff of insurance companies be trained to effectively detect fraudulent claims; and that the insurance act be amended to give power to the board of directors in stamping out of financial distress in the insurance industry.