The Swiss phenology network operated by MeteoSwiss counts approximately 160 stations where up to 69 phenological events are observed by private persons. Currently, 68% of the observer transmit their data online by a recently developed tool called Phenotool. In order to reduce typing errors during the entry of the data, the values are instantly checked by Phenotool. The observer receives a visual warning if the data exceeds defined limits of an expected time-period giving him the opportunity to verify the date entered. The defined limits need to be as suitable as possible for each station and phenological event as numerous false warnings reduce the sensitivity of the observers and cause them to ignore the warning.
Until June 2019, limits had been used for five altitudinal layers and for each phenological event resulting from the mean ± 2 SD (standard deviation) rounded to the nearest 10. However, for some stations these limits were not appropriate, therefore, we decided to calculate station specific limits as follows: The median and SD was calculated for each phenological series consisting of at least 10 observations. In a second step, the mean of all SDs < 20 days was calculated and 2.5 times SD added/subtracted from the median. This approach leads to the same range of the limits for each phenological event, while the start of the limits is specific for each stations depending on the previously calculated median. If we would have used a station-specific standard deviation, stations with high variability and often less accurate data, would have been “awarded” with a large range.
For new stations, data-series consisting of less than 10 observations or deviant data-series, we calculated the limits with the mean standard deviations as described above and a predicted median from a linear regression model showing the relationship between the medians of a specific phenological event and the station heights. Deviant data-series were recognized by a difference larger than 30 days between modelled and calculated median.
The comparison of the old and new limits revealed that the newly calculated limits have an average range which is 8.52 days smaller. 55 out of the 69 phenological events have a smaller range, two has the same, and the remaining 12 have a larger range. Using the previous limits, in average 8.12% of the data from 1985-2019 was outside the defined ranges, however, applying the new limits results in 3.98% of the observations not fitting the limits. Considering the fact that the new limits have in average a smaller range, this improvement becomes even more significant. To conclude, we can say that the new limits produce clearly less warnings and more appropriate warnings in Phenotool enhancing data quality.


Aim The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of splenomegaly in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Patients and methods All adult patients attending the Tropical Medicine and Gastroenterology Outpatient Clinic of Al-Azhar-Assiut University Hospital in the period from February 2017 to February 2018 were screened for NAFLD and splenomegaly by abdominal ultrasound. Patients who found to have NAFLD and splenomegaly were subjected to the following laboratory investigations: complete blood count, peripheral blood film, hepatitis B virus surface antigen test, hepatitis C virus antibodies test, Widal test, Brucella agglutination test, anti-Schistosoma antibody tests, and lipid profile. Results NAFLD was found in 1960 patients out of the 5069 patients who attended (38.66%). Splenomegaly was found in 269 patients out of the 1960 patients with NAFLD (13.72%), while only 110 (3.53%) patients had splenomegaly in the non-NAFLD arm. Of the 269 patients with splenomegaly in the NAFLD arm, 56 patients were excluded owing to being positive for one or more of the possible causes of splenomegaly (depending on the results of blood tests). So, splenomegaly with no apparent possible cause is present in 213 (10.38%) patients of the NAFLD arm. Conclusion Splenomegaly is present in 10.38% of the NAFLD patients.


An efficient computer code for calculating the impact parameter distribution of atomic ionisation probabilities caused by charge particle impact, has been developed. The program is based on the semiclassical approximation, and it allows the use of an arbitrary atomic central potential for deriving the one-electron orbitals that form the basis for the description of the atomic states. Extensive calculations are reported for proton induced K-shell ionisation in carbon and neon, covering energies in the range 0.1-10 MeV. Some calculations on proton-argon L-shell ionisation are also reported. Comparison between the results obtained using (screened) hydrogenic potentials and the recently reported energy optimised effective atomic central potentials demonstrates that wavefunction effects are generally important for inner-shell ionisation of light atoms. The agreement between theory and experiment in the K-shell case is improved for fast collisions upon using better wavefunctions.


This study focused on adult learners' attitudes towards native and non-native Chinese speaking teachers at a Chinese language academy in Bangkok, Thailand. One hundred and twenty-four adult learners from three different learning levels of this Chinese language academy participated in this study in August 2018. The study used a questionnaire to investigate adult learners' attitudes towards native and non-native Chinese speaking teachers from three aspects: motivation, communication, teaching and learning. This study had two objectives. The first objective was to determine the level of attitudes of adult learners towards native and non-native Chinese speaking teachers in a Chinese language academy in Bangkok, Thailand. The second objective was to find out whether there was a significant difference between the attitudes of adult learners towards native and non-native Chinese speaking teachers according to their learning levels in a Chinese language academy in Bangkok, Thailand. The quantitative data acquired from the study showed that the adult learners from this Chinese language academy in Bangkok, Thailand, had no preference for either native Chinese-speaking teacher or non-native Chinese-speaking teacher, no matter if they were from beginning level, intermediate level or advanced level. An one-way ANOVA showed that attitudes of adult learners from different learning levels towards native and non-native Chinese speaking teachers were not significantly different. The study concluded with recommendations for adult Chinese language learners, native and non-native teachers and future researchers.


Nowadays, with the rapid development of communication network technology, the structure of communication network is becoming more and more complex. In order to avoid users being attacked from the network, it is necessary to detect abnormal traffic behavior in the network and prevent possible network attacks in time. This paper expounds the definition of traffic anomaly detection and correlation analysis, studies the problem of traffic anomaly detection in communication network, and analyses the correlation of abnormal behavior.


Aim: The study was designed to determine the effect of Trypanosoma congolense on the genital and endocrine organs of West African Dwarf (WAD) ewes. Methods: Ten WAD ewes obtained for the study were divided into two groups comprising 5 ewes each. Group A was infected with Trypanosoma congolense, while group B was uninfected and allowed to run for eight weeks. At the end of the study period, three infected and two control ewes were sacrificed. The weights of the ovaries were determined and sections taken for histopathological examination. Sample sections from other parts of the reproductive tract, brain, pituitary gland, and hypothalamus were also taken. Results: The mean ovarian weight, number of follicles and number of corpera lutea of the infected ewes decreased compared to the control ewes but were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). No parasites were seen following impression smears conducted on the ovaries. However, there were slight areas of necrosis and mild degeneration of the ovarian stroma. These were absent in the control ewes. No detectable gross lesions were seen in the adenohypophysis of both the infected and control ewe, although slight areas of focal necrosis were seen at histology. There were no detectable gross and histological lesions in the uterus, cervix, vagina, brain and hypothalamus of both infected and control ewes. Conclusion: The findings from this study are of great importance for the economic exploitation of WAD sheep in tsetse infected area.


We study the dynamics of highly excited states in acetylene initiated by an ultrashort vacuum ultraviolet laser pulse. Electronic states lying in the 4s-3d Rydberg region are excited with one femtosecond pulse, and the dynamic development of the states is monitored by a second short pulse which ionizes the system. We show that even for femtosecond pulses where the bandwidth of the exciting pulse covers several electronic states, it is possible to extract short decay lifetimes through time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy by using a frequency-modulated (chirped) excitation pulse. We report decay lifetimes for the F 402 and E 4-502 states in acetylene, and for the E 402 and E 502 states in d-acetylene. The time evolution measured in the electron spectra is compared to decay spectra measured using ion yield and the differences in these results are discussed.


Purpose: This study explores postpartum depression during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.Methods: An online survey was conducted from May 31 to June 6, 2020 and obtained 2,878 responses from mothers with infants less than 12 months. Results: The point prevalence of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale score of ≥ 9 was 26.96%. Logistic regression analysis indicated a negative association between the COVID-19 pandemic and mental well-being. Conclusion: In particular, our results indicate the importance of social support and economic recovery in ameliorating mental health of mothers in the postpartum period.


Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) is a NP - Hard problem which is difficult to solve using deterministic algorithms. This paper proposes an improved hybrid Genetic Algorithm, where a new variation of Partially Matched Crossover operator and a variation of inversion Mutation operator are used. Hill Climbing based local search is applied after selection to prevent stuck at local optima. Implementation is carried out in MATLAB and tested using different problems of symmetric TSP taken from TSPLIB. The results are compared with pure Genetic Algorithm (GA) which is promising in terms of convergence towards the optimal solution.


The performance of a commercially available microconcentric nebulizer (MCN-100, CETAC Technologies, USA) operated at flow rates ranging from ⩽0.001 up to 0.65 ml min–1 was evaluated using a Perkin-Elmer Sciex ELAN 5000 ICP-mass spectrometer. The observations made were compared with those for the standard GemTip cross-flow nebulizer. Registration of signal behaviour plots (signal intensity as a function of the nebulizer gas flow rate) at different rf powers and at different sample uptake rates allowed firstly, a systematic optimization of the operation parameters, and secondly, a comparison of the signal behaviour observed when using both types of nebulizer. The stability of the MCN-100 was evaluated at different sample uptake rates and the occurrence of memory effects was checked for a number of elements. Also, the level and the behaviour of oxide and doubly charged ions was studied. Furthermore, the susceptibility to matrix effects was investigated using synthetic matrices of different origin (acid, organic and high salt content) and it was demonstrated that, generally, matrix effects observed with both nebulizers are comparable and the MCN-100 can be used with NaCl concentrations up to 4 g l–1 without capillary blocking. Finally, it is illustrated that the MCN-100 can be applied at sample flow rates of < 5 µl min–1, as are encountered when coupling capillary zone electrophoresis to ICP-MS for elemental speciation studies.


Objective: To evaluate gastric myoelectrical activity in children with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes melliltus (T1DM) in relation to blood glucose control and visceral neuropathy. Methods: Percutaneous electrogastrograpy (EGG) was performed on 42 children (20 F; mean age 12.9 ± 3.1 years) with T1DM of <1 year's duration and on 35 healthy controls (18 F; mean age 13.4 ± 3.6 years). After overnight fasting, a 30-minute EGG recording was followed by test meal consumption and then a 60-minute postprandial EGG aquisition. Fasting and postprandial periods were analyzed for gastric dysrhythmias, dominant frequency (DF) and additional parameters. In T1DM patients, HbA1c and blood glucose levels were measured and tests for visceral neuropathy were performed. Results: In 41 T1DM patients (98%), cardiovascular neuropathy tests were negative. In 12 of those patients (29%) and in 32 healthy controls (91%), electrogastrograms were normal. The percentages of fasting and postprandial gastric dysrhythmias were significantly higher in T1DM patients compared to controls (P < 0,05). In T1DM children after feeding, some normalization of gastric myoelectrical rhythm was observed: normogastria increased nearly 2-fold to 72.6 ± 22.9% and bradygastria decreased to 20.8 ± 20.4% from 52.3 ± 32.4% (P < 0.05). The percentages of fasting bradygastria and normogastria were correlated with glycemia level (r = −0.55 and r = 0.51, respectively; P < 0.05), as was postprandial DF (r = 0.41; P < 0.05). There was no correlation between HbA1c levels and EGG parameters. Conclusions: Derangement of the gastric myoelectrical activity is present in 71% of children with early stage T1DM. Glucose levels influence gastric myoelectrical activity, whereas long-term glucose control (HbA1c level) does not correlate with EGG parameters.


Tin and its oxides are promising anode materials owing to their high theoretical capacity, rich resource, and environmental benignity. To achieve low cost and green synthesis, a facile synthetic route of SnO x /graphene composites is proposed, using a simple galvanic replacement method to quickly obtain abundant foamed tin as raw material and ball milling method to realize a mechanochemical reaction between SnO x (0 ≤ x ≤ 2) and graphene. Under different annealing conditions, the foamed tin is converted to tin oxides with multiple oxidation states (Sn3O4, SnO, and SnO2). These unique components can greatly affect the electrochemical performance of the electrode in LIBs. The as-prepared electrode (SnO x -300/G) obtained by annealing foamed tin at 300 °C for 4 h and combining SnO x powders with graphene via ball milling shows great cycling stability, retaining a high capacity of 786 mA h g−1 at 0.1 A g−1 after 150 cycles, and its initial Coulombic efficiency can reach 84.03%. Thus, this facile synthesis can provide an environmentally friendly route for commercial production of high-performance energy storage materials.


The role of surface roughness of fractures in Opalinus Clay and in rocks in general is relevant in understanding the hydromechanical behavior of fractures. Two different fracture surfaces of shear fractures in the Opalinus Clay were investigated. The fracture surfaces were characterized based on their roughness power spectrum. It was found that slickensides fracture surfaces are near fractal-like up to the longest scale with a fractal dimension Df ∼ 2.1 and in the absence of a roll-off region at long wavelengths. In contrast, the glassy fracture surfaces show a roll-off region, which is characteristic of a flat surface with rather small and local topographic height variations. The glassy fracture surface is near fractal like with Df ∼ 2.0. The measured roughness power spectra were used to create fracture models to study the behavior of different fracture closure mechanism: 1) increasing congruence (matedness), 2) closure by compression and 3) closure by swelling. It turned out that the relationship between permeability and mean aperture depends on the fracture closure mechanism. Concerning closure by compression, the root mean square (rms) value of the aperture (aper) distribution aperrms influences the contact formation behavior, which in turn controls the hydromechanical properties. The lower aperrms is, the lower the fracture compliance. Apart from aperrms, the simulations show that in clay rocks, plastic deformation plays an important role in the closure of fractures by compression. In agreement with the experiments, the simulations predict that the permeability falls below 10% of the initial value at a compressive stress of 5 MPa. The simulations predict that fracture closure by swelling is rather ineffective for confining pressures exceeding ∼1 MPa.


BACKGROUND
Patients who visit the emergency department (ED) because of asthma frequently have a relapse. While the use of inhaled corticosteroids has been demonstrated to improve asthma symptoms and lung function, it is not clear whether their use after discharge from the ED reduces asthma relapse rates.

OBJECTIVE
To determine whether inhaled corticosteroid therapy reduces ED asthma relapse rates.

METHODS
We analyzed ED visit and medication data on patients 5 to 60 years of age who were enrolled in a government-sponsored drug plan and who visited an ED because of asthma between April 1, 1997, and March 31, 1999, in Alberta, Canada (N = 1293). Using a Cox proportional hazards model, we determined the relative risk (RR) of relapse ED visits among users and nonusers of inhaled corticosteroids after discharge from the ED. We also compared the RR of relapse ED visits across different dose categories.

RESULTS
Users of inhaled corticosteroids after ED discharge had 45% fewer relapse ED visits than did nonusers (adjusted RR, 0.55; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.44-0.69). Low-, medium-, and high-dose therapies were associated with similar reductions in the risk of relapse ED visits: low-dose therapy (RR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.39-0.68), medium-dose therapy (RR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.34-0.76), and high-dose therapy (RR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.47-0.94).

CONCLUSIONS
Inhaled corticosteroid therapy after ED discharge is associated with a significant reduction in the risk of subsequent ED visits. Low-dose therapy appears to be as effective as high-dose therapy. However, further studies are needed to determine the optimal dosing regimen for inhaled corticosteroid therapy for asthma.


The Mergers and Acquisitions market represents an important aspect on the corporate environment. Therefore it is not strange that one of the main concerns for acquirer's shareholders has been whether takeovers create value. While plentiful research has been conducted on this topic, no consistent evidence has been obtained. This master thesis provides first an overview of the fundamentals and indicators related to the value creation on M&A transactions. The aim of this study is to extend previous research by introducing a new model to predict value creation. The method consists on a linear regression model that questions some previous research. The findings suggest that it is not possible to detach the random component of M&A transactions in respect to their value creation. In effect the results emphasize the importance of a deep study for each specific transaction and the role of the management in creating value after the acquisition. The model has been complimented with other widely recognized methods for measuring postEacquisition performance and the abnormal return has been taken as the best proxy to show this performance.


Fast adaptive control is a critical component for reliable robot autonomy in rapidly changing operational conditions. While a robot dynamics model may be obtained from first principles or learned from data, updating its parameters is often too slow for online adaptation to environment changes. This motivates the use of machine learning techniques to learn disturbance descriptors from trajectory data offline as well as the design of adaptive control to estimate and compensate the disturbances online. This paper develops adaptive geometric control for rigid-body systems, such as ground, aerial, and underwater vehicles, that satisfy Hamilton's equations of motion over the SE(3) manifold. Our design consists of an offline system identification stage, followed by an online adaptive control stage. In the first stage, we learn a Hamiltonian model of the system dynamics using a neural ordinary differential equation (ODE) network trained from state-control trajectory data with different disturbance realizations. The disturbances are modeled as a linear combination of nonlinear descriptors. In the second stage, we design a trajectory tracking controller with disturbance compensation from an energy-based perspective. An adaptive control law is employed to adjust the disturbance model online proportional to the geometric tracking errors on the SE(3) manifold. We verify our adaptive geometric controller for trajectory tracking on a fully-actuated pendulum and an under-actuated quadrotor.


Rapid population growth of cities has generated great predicament to their traffic and transport systems. These problems tend to be extremely dynamic and complex to be addressed by centralized solutions. However, multi-agent systems have proven to be a technology capable of handle this kind of problems. In previous work we proposed a conceptual framework based on agents able to analyze in-formation from different sources (smart phones, applications open programming, social networks, datasets open) and make recommendations in real time based on the preferences and needs users. In this paper, we extend this work by proposing the parallelized algorithm used in generating the best k routes.


This study focuses on the use of demountable furniture joints in combination with 38-mm-thick honeycomb panels. These fittings were incorporated into L-shaped corner joints and then tested to determine their bending moment capacity. Overall, seven combinations of demountable fittings were tested. These groups of connectors consisted of solution non-glued, partly-glued connectors, and fully-glued connectors. All of the connectors were positioned in the test samples as they are commonly located in furniture construction. The highest capacities were obtained with glued connectors, followed by partly glued and then non-glued connectors. The difference in capacity between the inside and outside positions was insignificant for the non-glued and fully-glued connectors. A large difference between connectors in different positions was found for the partly glued connectors and for the second type of unglued connectors. The modes of failure were analyzed for each connector, and the possibilities for use in construction are described.


When knowledge about a configurable system grows and user requirements change over time, the corresponding knowledge base of the configurator software has to change as well. That will also affect existing configurations based upon that knowledge base. The knowledge engineer must find the appropriate balance between organizing the different versions of constraints in the knowledge base and upgrading configurations, thus making them consistent with the new constraints. Both of these alternatives have drawbacks and cause effort for knowledge engineers and users. A formal solution for this problem is still missing.


Memory impairments in the elderly have been widely studied in the past. This study focuses on the effects of these memory impairments on the ability of mature consumers to respond to brand attitude scales. An experimental study investigates the impact of age and type of measurement scale on responses to brand attitude scales. Groups of seniors within the elderly market (55‐65, 66‐75, and over 75) are investigated as opposed to contrasting two extreme points on the continuum, namely the elderly versus the young. Three commonly used attitude scales were manipulated to determine how age interacts with the form of scale to generate response bias. Three types of response bias; extremity response, acquiescence, and item non‐response were investigated. Results indicate a significant interaction between age and type of scale. Implications of these results for those involved in marketing to seniors are highlighted.


Courts have the power to stay proceedings pending arbitration. In Nigeria, the enabling statute regulating commercial arbitration is the Arbitration and Conciliation Act of 1988. Sections 4 and 5 of the Act contain two similar but conflicting provisions regulating the stay of proceedings. These sections of the law are a product of a common ground found in two different legislative texts. While section 4 leveraged on the provision of Uncitral Model Law on Arbitration, section 5 is influenced by Arbitration Act of 1914. This dichotomy between the histories of the two sections partly accounts for the controversies and difficulties in the interpretation and application by courts and scholars. This article examines the scope of sections 4 and 5 of the Act by identifying the real object of the law and the flaws in its current interpretation. The article considers the American experience, especially, the attitude of courts in granting a stay of proceedings and whether a stay can be granted in a suit against a non-party to the arbitration agreement. Unlike arbitration laws in the United States, one key gap in Nigerian arbitration law is its failure to contemplate stay of proceedings in a suit against a non-party to an arbitration agreement. In addition to identifying the need for urgent legal reforms that accommodate third-party stay pending arbitration, this article recommends that Nigerian courts, like their counterparts in developed jurisdictions, should adopt a more proactive approach by evolving innovative ways in deciding suits involving third parties to arbitration agreement and stay proceedings pending arbitration in appropriate cases to prevent parties from avoiding arbitration by suing a third-party, in line with the global best practices. Keywords : Arbitration, Stay of Proceedings, Third Party.


Introduction. In the process of reading, students require different information sources to increase their academic achievement. This paper aims to examine information sources which have a relationship with students academic achievement and become a reference in the development of information sources to support student academic achievement. Method. The research used an experimental study, with N = 38. Based on the value of chi-square of 11,613, a Pvalue of 0.169 with α = 0.25; df = 8, and the chi-quadrat table = 10.2. It showed that chi-quadrat count (11.6) is more than chi-quadrat table (10.2). If chi-quadrat counts more than chi-quadrat table, the student academic achievement has a significant relationship with access to information sources. Results and Discussions. The results showed that students' academic achievements have a significant relationship with access to information sources. The behavior of students in accessing information sources had moderate degrees of relationship with their academic achievement, which means that there is no dominant information source used by the students related to their academic achievement. Conclusion. In this study, students prefer to choose multi-acsess information resources, resulting in the spread of the values of the normal curve to the shape of academic achievements. Further research should discuss students' reading ability towards the use of information sources.


On 15 June 1973, a shallow-focus earthquake with magnitude mb 4.8 occurred in southern Quebec, in an area that has a record of only a few minor earthquakes during the previous 200 years. This event was felt throughout southern Quebec, eastern Ontario, and the New England States, to a distance of 300 km from the epicenter. A small amount of minor damage to plaster and chimneys occurred in the immediate epicentral area, indicating a maximum intensity of VI. The focal mechanism solution suggests that the earthquake was the result of primarily strike-slip movement along a plane trending northeast or a plane trending northwest. Arguments are presented that this event is part of the seismicity associated with the northern Appalachian Mountains.


Quantum 1/f frequency fluctuations arise both in bulk acoustic wave and surface acoustic wave quartz resonators from the presence of the quantum 1/f effect in the process rates which remove phonons from the main oscillator mode. Therefore, these fluctuations come from the quantum 1/f noise present in the dissipation rate. The present paper includes the incoherence effects caused by the finite "size" of the phonons, measured by their finite intrinsic coherence length. The result of this calculation is a non-monotonic dependence of the 1/f frequency noise on resonator volume, marked first by a linear increase, and followed by a inverse proportionality with volume, as noticed by T.E. Parker at NIST. The I/V dependence is similar to the behavior noticed for current carriers in semiconductors and metals, where the coherence length refers to electrons and is much smaller.


Following our previous research, the correlation between the micro-chemistry of grain boundary and the distribution of stored energy in AA2024-T3 alloy is investigated, using the combination of transmission Kikuchi diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. It is found that the difference of dislocation density, namely stored energy, between two neighboring grains significantly affects the micro-chemistry of the grain boundary. Further, it is revealed that intergranular corrosion development in the AA2024-T3 alloy is mainly attributed to the combined effect of grain boundary chemistry and stored energy distribution.


With increased concern for physical security, video surveillance is becoming an important business area. Similar camera-based system can also be used in such diverse applications as retail-store shopper motion analysis and casino behavioral policy monitoring. There are two aspects of video surveillance that require significant computing power: image analysis for detecting objects, and video compression for digital storage. The new STI CELL broadband engine (CBE) processor is an appealing platform for such applications because it incorporates 8 separate high-speed processing cores with an aggregate performance of 256Gflops. Moreover, this chip is the heart of the new Sony Playstation 3 and can be expected to be relatively inexpensive due to the high volume of production. In this paper we show how object detection and compression can be implemented on the CBE, discuss the difficulties encountered in porting the code, and provide performance results demonstrating significant speed-up


This review attempts to present an integrated update of the issue of comparisons of phenotypic plasticity between plants and animals by presenting the problem and its integrated solutions via a whole-organism perspective within an evolutionary framework. Plants and animals differ in two important aspects: mobility and longevity. These features can have important implications for plasticity, and plasticity may even have facilitated greater longevity in plants. Furthermore, somatic genetic mosaicism, intra-organismal selection, and genomic instability contribute to the maintenance of an adaptive phenotype that is especially relevant to long-lived plants. It is contended that a cross-kingdom phylogenetic examination of sensors, messengers and responses that constitute the plasticity repertoire would be more useful than dichotomizing the plant and animal kingdoms. Furthermore, physicochemical factors must be viewed cohesively in the signal reception and transduction pathways leading to plastic responses. Comparison of unitary versus modular organisms could also provide useful insights into the range of expected plastic responses. An integrated approach that combines evolutionary theory and evolutionary history with signal–response mechanisms will yield the most insights into phenotypic plasticity in all its forms.


The information echolocating bats receive is a combination of the properties of the sound they emit and the sound they receive at the eardrum. Convolving the emission and the external ear transfer functions produces the full spectral information contained in the echolocation combination. Spatially dependent changes in the magnitude spectra of the emission, external ear transfer functions, and the echolocation combination of Eptesicus fuscus could provide localization information to the bat. Principal component analysis was used to reduce the dimensionality of these complex spectral data sets. The first eight principal component weights were normalized, rotated, and used as the input to a backpropagation network model which examined the relative directionality of the emission, ear, and the echolocation combination. The model was able to localize more accurately when provided with the directional information of the echolocation combination compared to either the emission or ear information alone.


Considering that the traditional detector has lower detection rate, resource utilization and higher false alarm rate, this paper proposes a mimicry algorithm and a mimicry detector based on Immune Danger Theory (IDTMD). The detector adjusts the types and number of detection organizations and detection cells dynamically, according to the types and number of the detected signal and the detected dangerous signal, as to realize the dynamic, diversity and randomness of mimicry detection. The KDD-CUP99 dataset was used to test the comprehensive detection performance of the IDTMD detector, the detector based on Negative Selection Algorithm (NSA), the detector based on Dendritic Cell Algorithm (DAC). The results show that the detector improves the detection rate and the resource utilization, decreases the false alarm rate, and when testing amount reaches a certain scale, its response time is significantly less than other detectors'.


To isolate the endophytic fungal species from the marine macro algae and analyzed the isolation frequency and its potentials. Ten different seaweeds collected from the Mandapam and Pondicherry coastal region and endophytic fungal species were isolated. Isolation frequency (IF) was determined for each species of algae. 19 strains were screened for antimicrobial activity against human and fish bacterial pathogens. In this study, the higher isolation frequency was observed in Codium sp (80%) and least isolation frequency in Ulva fasciata (10%). 19 strains were screened and the antibacterial activities were expressed as zone of inhibition. Maximum bacterial inhibition >10mm was observed in strains 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 & 15. The isolation frequency was higher in Codium sp and among the 19 strains, 6 strains showed better antibacterial activity against human and fish pathogenic bacteria. The antibacterial activity may be due to the presence of bioactive metabolites, which are produced by the endophytic fungi.


Abstract. This study aims to test the capacity of Flow-3D regarding the simulation of a rockslide impacting a water body by evaluating the influence of the extent of the computational domain, the grid resolution, the corresponding computation times and the accuracy of modelling results. A detailed analysis of the Lituya Bay event (1958, Alaska, maximum recorded run-up of 524 m a.s.l.) is presented. A focus on the tsunami formation and run-up in the impact area is accomplished with the numerical model. Several simulations with a simplified bay geometry are accomplished in order to test the concept of a denser fluid for the impacting rockslide material compared to the water in the bay. Further, a real topography and bathymetry of the impact area are set up. The observed maximum run-up in the impact area can be reproduced using a uniform grid resolution of 5 m, where the wave overtops the hill crest on the opposite side of the impact area, then flowing diagonally along the slopes. The model is enlarged along the entire bay to simulate the propagation of the wave. The tsunami trimline is best reproduced when using a mesh size of 15 x 15 x 10 m. The trimline mainly results from the primary wave, but in some locations also from reflected waves. The dense fluid is a suitable, simple concept to recreate a sliding mass impacting a water body, in this case with impact velocities of 94 ms−1. The tsunami event and the related trimline are well reproduced using the 3D-modelling approach with the density evaluation model available in Flow-3D.


Introduction Seven district-level Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) in Bihar, India provide clinical and nutritional care for children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM). Aim To assess whether intensified case finding (ICF) strategies at NRCs can lead to pediatric case detection among SAM children and link them to TB treatment under the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP). Materials and Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted that included medical record reviews of SAM children registered for TB screening and RNTCP care during July–December 2012. Results Among 440 SAM children screened, 39 (8.8%) were diagnosed with TB. Among these, 34 (87%) initiated TB treatment and 18 (53%) were registered with the RNTCP. Of 16 children not registered under the RNTCP, nine (56%) weighed below six kilograms—the current weight requirement for receiving drugs under RNTCP. Conclusion ICF approaches are feasible at NRCs; however, screening for TB entails diagnostic challenges, especially among SAM children. However, only half of the children diagnosed with TB were treated by the RNTCP. More effort is needed to link this vulnerable population to TB services in addition to introducing child-friendly drug formulations for covering children weighing less than six kilograms.


ABSTRACT Through an exploration of the interdependence between workplace affordances and individual engagement, this study addressed how medical students interact with clinical learning environments (CLEs). Building on the workplace participatory practices approach outlined by Billett, CLEs can be viewed as constructed through a negotiation of meaning between the workplace and the student. Inspired by ethnography, an observational study using field observations and follow-up interviews was performed. Workplace affordances included being given a marginal status in the healthcare team which students adapted to through striving to fit into the workplace. Further, there were many potential activities available to students; however, students seemed selective in terms of what activities they elected to engage in. As such, interacting with CLEs entailed students navigating complexity without the immediate access to any explicit 'map' of workplace learning. This study indicates that workplaces increasingly need to invite and include students in the practice of workplaces.


Thin-walled shell-type structures are widely used in various branches of technology and industry. Such structures under operating conditions are usually exposed to various loads, including thermomechanical ones. Real shell structures, as a rule, have a complex shapes. To increase reliability, reduce material consumption, for technological reasons, they are designed as inhomogeneous systems in thickness. This causes a great and constant interest of engineers and designers in the problems of investigating the behavior of elastic thin-walled shell structures. The work is devoted to the method of analysis of geometrically nonlinear deformation, stability, post-buckling behavior and natural vibrations of thin elastic shells of complex shape and structure under the action of static thermomechanical loads. The unified design model has been created on the basis of the developed universal spatial finite element with introduced additional variable parameters. The model takes into account the multilayer material structure and geometric features for structural elements of the thin shell. The shells can be reinforced with ribs and cover plates, weakened by cavities, channels and holes, have sharp bends in the mid-surface. Such a uniform formulation made it possible to create a unified finite element model of the shells with an inhomogeneous structure. It is shown on a number of problems that the method presented in this article is an effective tool for analyzing geometrically nonlinear deformation, stability, post-buckling behavior and natural vibrations of thin elastic shells of an inhomogeneous structure under the action of static thermomechanical loads.


Tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP) is a retroviral disease characterized predominantly by a chronic myelopathy and progressive leg weakness. Four patients from the northern coast of Columbia with chronic spastic paraparesis and serum positivity for antibodies to human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1 by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blot are reported. All patients had mixed ethnic origins (white, black, and amerindian). This is the first report of TSP on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. This study extends the geographic boundaries of TSP in the Caribbean basin.


Background: This study was taken up to remediate Cr6+ that is usually present in waste water of Industries that employs Chromium. This is a new venture in remediating Cr6+ using natural antioxidants which are usually overlooked.Also, it is an effort to both reduce and remove the Cr 6+ from the waste water that gives an extra edge over other technologies. Antioxidant activity and sorption ability of the leaves of Alternanthera sessilis and Tagetes erecta were studied for reduction and removal of Cr 6+ fromIndustrial waste water. FRAP and DPC assays were conducted for determining, Antioxidant Activity and Cr6+ concentration respectively. Results: Antioxidant activity of the aqueous (A.sessilis: 2657 AOU, T. erecta: 3071AOU) and methanol (A. sessilis: 2932AOU, T. erecta: 3127 AOU) extracts of both the plantswas found to be almost similar. Untreated industrialwaste water (106.07 ppmof hexavalent chromium) was collected froman electroplating unit and tests were conducted on the same. Extracts obtained by Ultra-Sonication for 5min showed the highest reduction efficiency (i'³60%until 100ppm) when compared to other time intervals of sonication and conventional shaking, while Cake obtained by Ultrasonication for 10min was found to have the highest adsorption efficiency (approximately 80%) for waste water. In the view of combining both reduction & removal, Synthetic and Industrial waste water were directly incubated with 2g of plant sample for various incubation periods and concentration levels. 1hr incubation for all the concentration levels proved to be the optimum incubation time for both plant samples with approximately 98% remediation efficiency. Conclusion: Current studies indicate that the plant samples adopted for our studies prove to be both cost effective and environment friendly alternative to the conventional techniques.


Selective electron beam melting (SEBM) is an additive manufacturing method used to produce complex parts in a layer-by-layer process utilizing Ti6Al4V powder. To improve the very good properties of built parts even more and to use the full capacity of the process, the fundamental understanding of the beam powder interaction is of essential relevance. Numerical simulations and observation with a high speed camera of powder melting show the strong melt pool dynamic and its lateral extent clearly. Furthermore, the immediate effect of beam parameters, e.g. beam current and velocity, on the melting behavior of the powder can be resolved in time steps of a few milliseconds.


Abstract Data from surveys are used to help quantitatively diagnose the relative importance of chemical and nonchemical management practices, identify weed problems, and provide potential solutions. However, to our knowledge, such surveys have not been conducted in Argentina. In 2016, advisors and crop producers from cropping areas across Argentina were surveyed through email with the objectives to identify the main weed species problems and assess the use of chemical and nonchemical weed management practices in different crop production areas in Argentina. Fleabane, pigweed, johnsongrass, fingergrass, goosegrass, barnyardgrass, and ryegrass were considered the most important weeds. More than 53% of the producers used only chemical options; 86% used chemical fallow (i.e., keeping weed free with chemical application); 62% used full herbicide rates; 46% used proper herbicide timing; 41% used multiple modes of action; and 32% used rotation of herbicide modes of action. The main nonchemical practices used were crop rotation (45%); avoiding seed production during (31%) and after (25%) the crop cycle; narrow row spacing (19%); and cultivars with greater competitive ability (18%). Less than 15% of the people surveyed used increased crop densities or altered date of sowing. There is a high dependence on chemical control in the main crops grown in Argentina. Extension efforts are needed to emphasize the importance of integrated weed management.


Hypopharyngeal cancer is a poorly characterized type of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) with bleak prognosis and only few studies focusing specifically on the genomic profile of this type of cancer. We performed molecular profiling of 48 HPV (Human Papilloma Virus)-negative tumor samples including 23 originating from the hypopharynx and 25 from the larynx using a targeted next-generation sequencing approach. Among genes previously described as significantly mutated, TP53, FAT1, NOTCH1, KMT2C, and CDKN2A were found to be most frequently mutated. We also found that more than three-quarters of our patients harbored candidate actionable or prognostic alterations in genes belonging to RTK/ERK/PI3K, cell-cycle, and DNA-damage repair pathways. Using previously published data we compared 67 hypopharyngeal cancers to 595 HNSCC from other sites and found no prominent differences in mutational frequency except for CASP8 and HRAS genes. Since we observed relatively frequent mutations of KTM2C (MLL3) in our dataset, we analyzed their role, in vitro, by generating a KMT2C-mutant hypopharyngeal cancer cell line FaDu with CRISPR-Cas9. We demonstrated that KMT2C loss-of-function mutations resulted in increased colony formation and proliferation, in concordance with previously published results. In summary, our results show that the mutational profile of hypopharyngeal cancers might be similar to the one observed for other head and neck cancers with respect to minor differences and includes multiple candidate actionable and prognostic genetic alterations. We also demonstrated, for the first time, that the KMT2C gene may play a role of tumor suppressor in HNSCC, which opens new possibilities in the search for new targeted treatment approaches.


On a theoretical basis, innovation processes in Localized Agri-Food Systems (LAFS) and potentially associated Geographical Indications (GI) are perceived as necessarily collective. Recent literature on innovation systems has pushed the actors involved in the development of these local systems increasingly towards cooperation between actors. Individual initiatives are perceived as attempts to appropriate collective action and are pursued. The trajectory of two GI-protected LAFS, Villa Rica coffee in Peru and Uvs sea-buckthorn in Mongolia, leads to a re-examination of the nature of ongoing innovation processes. While they have benefited from a territorial embeddedness, individual initiatives have prevailed over collective dynamics at different times in their history. Some of them had predatory aims, but others finally allowed the maintenance or even the development of common resources. We conclude on the need to reconsider the role of individual actors in territorialized innovation systems.JEL Codes: O31, Q16, B52, R58


This chapter introduces basic concepts, properties, and principles of different processes in inland surface water and analytical methodologies. The fundamentals of surface water hydrodynamics, including water properties, hydrodynamic processes, Cartesian coordinate- based governing equations, and boundary and initial conditions were reviewed. The fate and transport of contaminants in surface water were introduced. Based on aforemen- tioned theory and principles, two hydrodynamic-water quality models were developed for studying a lake and a river, respectively. A stratified 3D model was used to investigate the circulation and E. coli transport in the nearshore region of Lake Michigan. The modeling results show that stratified phenomenon exists in the near region, and a 3D model is necessary even though a previous 2D model works well for the shallow water environment. A 2D depth-averaged water quality model was developed to estimate the fate and transport of four contaminants in the San Joaquin River of California. The modeling results indicate that it took 20 days for these contaminants to transport from the upstream to the downstream in the research domain. These models can be effectively used for inland surface water restoration and management. 2D depth-averaged water quality model developed to estimate the fate and transport of four contaminants in the (SJR)


Background Psychiatry is nearly entirely reliant on patient self-reporting, and there are few objective and reliable tests or sources of collateral information available to help diagnostic and assessment procedures. Technology offers opportunities to collect objective digital data to complement patient experience and facilitate more informed treatment decisions. Objective We aimed to develop computational algorithms based on internet search activity designed to support diagnostic procedures and relapse identification in individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Methods We extracted 32,733 time-stamped search queries across 42 participants with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and 74 healthy volunteers between the ages of 15 and 35 (mean 24.4 years, 44.0% male), and built machine-learning diagnostic and relapse classifiers utilizing the timing, frequency, and content of online search activity. Results Classifiers predicted a diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum disorders with an area under the curve value of 0.74 and predicted a psychotic relapse in individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders with an area under the curve of 0.71. Compared with healthy participants, those with schizophrenia spectrum disorders made fewer searches and their searches consisted of fewer words. Prior to a relapse hospitalization, participants with schizophrenia spectrum disorders were more likely to use words related to hearing, perception, and anger, and were less likely to use words related to health. Conclusions Online search activity holds promise for gathering objective and easily accessed indicators of psychiatric symptoms. Utilizing search activity as collateral behavioral health information would represent a major advancement in efforts to capitalize on objective digital data to improve mental health monitoring.


As the number of travellers in airports increase, the load on the Baggage Handling Systems naturally gets higher. To accommodate this, airports can either expand or optimize their Baggage Handling System. Therefore, capacity is a common parameter to evaluate Baggage Handling Systems, and methods that can increase the capacity are highly valued within the airport industry. Previous work has shown that Deep Reinforcement Learning methods can be applied to increase the system capacity when a high load is constantly applied. It is, however, still not clear, how well such Deep Reinforcement Learning agents perform when the load of the system can change according to distributed flight schedules and realistic distributions of incoming baggage. In this work, we apply Deep Reinforcement Learning to a simulated Baggage Handling System with flight schedules and a distribution of incoming baggage generalized from data from a real airport. As opposed to previous work, we allow empty baggage totes to be stored at the entry point until new baggage arrives. The centralized Deep Reinforcement Learning agent must learn to balance the number of baggage totes in the entry queue, while also learning optimal routing strategies, ensuring that all bags meet their scheduled departure times. The performance is measured by the average number of delivered bags and the average number of rush bags that occurred in the example environment. We find that by using Deep Reinforcement Learning in this type of congested system with scheduled departures, we can reduce the number of rush bags, compared to a dynamic shortest path method with deadlock avoidance, resulting in a higher number of delivered bags in the system.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text Conducting in-vitro thrombosis research presents numerous challenges, the primary of which is working with blood products, whether whole blood or fractionated whole blood, that have limited functional shelf-lives. As a result, being able to significantly prolong the clotting functionality of whole blood via fractionation and recombination promises greater accessibility via resource minimization in the realm of thrombosis research. Whole blood with CPDA1 from healthy volunteers was fractionated and stored as frozen platelet-free plasma (PFP, -20°C), refrigerated packed red blood cells (pRBCs, 4°C) and cryopreserved platelets (-80°C). Subsequent recombination of the above components into their native ratios were tested via thromboelastography (TEG) to capture clotting dynamics over a storage period of 13 weeks in comparison to refrigerated unfractionated WB+CPDA1. Reconstituted whole blood utilizing PFP, pRCBs and cryopreserved platelets were able to maintain clot strength (maximum amplitude) akin to day-0 whole blood even after 13 weeks of storage. Clots formed by reconstituted whole blood exhibited quicker clotting dynamics with nearly two-fold shorter R-times and nearly 1.3-fold increase in fibrin deposition rate as measured by TEG. Storage of fractionated whole blood components, in their respective ideal conditions, provides a means of prolonging the usable life of whole blood for in-vitro thrombosis research. Cryopreserved platelets, when recombined with frozen PFP and refrigerated pRBCs, are able to form clots that nearly mirror the overall clotting profile expected of freshly drawn WB.


We discuss the NC3 Networking Experimentation Modules for studying Trans/Post Resilient Mesh Networking solutions. They represent a set of hands-on field experiments focused on the integration and operation of Trans/Post Resilient Mesh Networks( TP-RES MESH). A work arrange (or basically mesh net) may be a neighborhood organize topology in which the framework hubs (i.e. bridges, switches, and other framework gadgets) interface specifically, powerfully and non-hierarchically to as numerous other hubs as conceivable and participate with one another to productively course information from/to clients. This need of reliance on one node allows for each hub to take an interest within the transfer of data. Work systems powerfully self-organize and self-configure, which can decrease establishment overhead. The capacity to self-configure enables energetic conveyance of workloads, especially within the occasion a couple of hubs ought to come up short. This in turn contributes to fault-tolerance and diminished upkeep costs.[citation needed] Mesh topology may be differentiated with ordinary star/tree nearby arrange topologies in which the bridges/switches are straightforwardly connected to as it were a little subset of other bridges/switches, and the joins between these foundation neighbors are progressiveWork systems can hand-off messages utilizing either a flooding method or a steering strategy. With directing, the message is engendered along a way by bouncing from hub to hub until it comes to its goal. To guarantee that all its ways are accessible, the organize must permit for ceaseless associations and must reconfigure itself around broken ways, utilizing self-healing calculations such as Most brief Way Bridging. Self-healing permits a routing-based arrange to function when a hub breaks down or when a association gets to be questionable. As a result, the organize is typically quite solid, as there's regularly more than one path between a source and a goal within the organize. In spite of the fact that for the most part utilized in remote circumstances, this concept can moreover apply to wired systems and to computer program interaction. A mesh network whose hubs are all associated to each other may be a completely associated organize.Remote work radio systems were initially created for military applications, such that each hub might powerfully serve as a switch for each other hub. In that way, indeed within the occasion of a disappointment of a few hubs, the remaining hubs might proceed to communicate with each other, and, in the event that essential, to serve as uplinks for the other nodes. Early remote work organize hubs had a single half-duplex radio that, at any one moment, seem either transmit or get, but not both at the same time. This was went with by the improvement of shared work systems. This was hence superseded by more complex radio equipment that seems get bundles from an upstream hub and transmit parcels to a downstream hub at the same time (on a diverse recurrence or a distinctive CDMA channel). This permitted the improvement of exchanged work systems. As the measure, taken a toll, and control prerequisites of radios declined assist, hubs can be cost-effectively prepared with different radios. Remote work radio systems were initially created for military applications, such that each hub might powerfully serve as a switch for each other hub. In that way, indeed within the occasion of a disappointment of a few hubs, the remaining hubs may proceed to communicate with each other, and, in case vital, to serve as uplinks for the other nodes. Early remote work arrange hubs had a single half-duplex radio that, at any one moment, seem either transmit or get, but not both at the same time. This was went with by the improvement of shared work systems. This was in this way superseded by more complex radio equipment that seem get parcels from an upstream hub and transmit bundles to a downstream hub at the same time (on a distinctive recurrence or a diverse CDMA channel). This permitted the advancement of exchanged work systems. As the measure, fetched, and control necessities of radios declined advance, hubs may be cost-effectively prepared with different radios.Keeping up smooth Wi-Fi execution and throughput for gaming, video spilling, and savvy domestic gadgets is imperative, but presently that so numerous people are working from domestic with no conclusion in locate, you've too need to consider critical work applications and different modes of work communication, particularly video conferencing. This is often where whole-house scope gets to be more than a nice-to-have. Many of the most recent remote switches can give solid scope to most rooms of a commonplace medium-size house, but bigger homes and residences with thick dividers, different floors, metal and concrete substructures, and other basic obstacles may require extra components to bring Wi-Fi to zones that the switch can't reach. Run extenders do a great work of filling in dead zones, but regularly give as it were half the transmission capacity simply get from your primary switch.Planned to cover your domestic with remote scope, Wi-Fi frameworks are a crossover of sorts, made up of a few organizing components. There's a fundamental switch that interfaces straightforwardly to your modem, and a arrangement of toady modules, or hubs, that you simply put all through your house. They are all portion of a single remote arrange, and share the same SSID and secret word. Not at all like extend extenders, which communicate with the switch through the 2.4GHz or 5GHz radio groups, most Wi-Fi framework satellites utilize work innovation to conversation to the switch and to each other.Each hub serves as a jump point for other hubs within the framework. This makes a difference the hubs most remote from the switch to provide a solid Wi-Fi flag as they are talking to other hubs and not depending on one-to-one communications with the switch. Not all Wi-Fi frameworks utilize work organizing, be that as it may; a few utilize a devoted radio band to communicate with the switch and with each other. As with work, the committed band liberates up the standard-use 2.4GHz and 5GHz groups for client use..The TP-RES MESH will utilize maritime-land self-forming mesh networking enclaves, R/N sensors, cubesats, rapidly deployed stratospheric aerial nodes , and links to partner agency/nation assets. Geographically, the experimentation area will span from places like Offutt, Barksdale, or Hanscom, to the assisting sites in SF Bay and Camp Roberts. The series of TP-RES MESH experiments, conducted by students quarterly, will serve as field laboratories to support the TR-RES MESH NOC class and related NC3 certificate studies.


The purpose of this research was twofold: to examine the vocabulary load of English-medium traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) textbooks and to create a TCM English word list (TCM EWL) to bridge the vocabulary gap for matriculating TCM undergraduates. The researcher compiled a corpus containing 4.48 million running words of 100 textbooks across 20 TCM subject areas and examined the lexical range and frequency along the wordfrequency scale of the British National Corpus and the Corpus of Contemporary American English. The results demonstrate that knowing the most frequent 9K-10K word families plus proper nouns, transliterated words, apparent compounds and abbreviations would command 95% lexical coverage of a TCM textbook. To reach the vocabulary threshold for adequate comprehension, nearly one thousand of the most frequently-occurring word families in the corpus were chosen and they covered 19.39% of the total words in the TCM textbooks. The TCM EWL encompasses various technical, lay-technical and academic vocabularies beyond the first 2K most frequent words. For TCM novices, the present TCM EWL provides a window to the TCM register and may be helpful for ESP teachers when preparing TCM English teaching materials for reading and vocabulary development.


The findings from this work show that no single energy resource can sustainably meet the energy demands of Onitsha as the business hub of Anambra State. Integrating all exploitable energy sources is a viable way of achieving stability in energy supply for Onitsha, Anambra State Nigeria. Hence, the paper focuses on the role of energy mix in sustainable development of Onitsha the commercial hub of Anambra State, Nigeria and as it affects the environment. The impact of existing energy mix; crude oil, coal, electricity and renewable Energy on sustainable development of Onitsha is considered in this work. A sample of 375 respondents was randomly chosen in the study area based on the population. Questionnaire was designed and administered to inhabitants of the study area to enable the researchers ascertain information on the effect of energy mix on the economy and the environment and possible remedies. The Pearson's product moment analysis correlation and Chi-square test were applied in the hypothesis testing. The result shows that huge amount of effluents are discharged on the environment in using fossil energy products thereby polluting the environment. This leads to radiative forcing which causes global warming. Also, the energy mix has not significantly influenced sustainable development given that electricity generation is inadequate and coal is no longer in use. To ensure proper recovery, the study recommends that government makes available alternative energy sources through subsidy re-investment in addition to the conventional power to save the environment; with this, waste becomes wealth towards a sustainable economy in Onitsha.


Purpose This study aims to evaluate the effects of the intraoperative application of low-dose esketamine on postoperative neurocognitive dysfunction (PND) in elderly patients undergoing general anesthesia for gastrointestinal tumors. Methods Sixty-eight elderly patients were randomly allocated to two groups: the esketamine group (group Es) (0.25 mg/kg loading, 0.125mg/kg/h infusion) and the control group (group C) (received normal saline). The primary outcome was the incidence of delayed neurocognitive recovery (DNR). The secondary outcomes were intraoperative blood loss, the total amount of fluid given during surgery, propofol and remifentanil consumption, cardiovascular adverse events, use of vasoactive drugs, operating and anesthesia time, the number of cases of sufentanil remedial analgesia, the incidence of postoperative delirium (POD), the intraoperative hemodynamics, bispectral index (BIS) value at 0, 1, 2 h after operation and numeric rating scale (NRS) pain scores within 3 d after surgery. Results The incidence of DNR in group Es (16.13%) was lower than in group C (38.71%) (P <0.05). The intraoperative remifentanil dosage and the number of cases of dopamine used in group Es were lower than in group C (P <0.05). Compared with group C, DBP was higher at 3 min after intubation, and MAP was lower at 30 min after extubation in group Es (P<0.05). The incidence of hypotension and tachycardia in group Es was lower than in group C (P <0.05). The NRS pain score at 3 d after surgery in group Es was lower than in group C (P <0.05). Conclusion Low-dose esketamine infusion reduced to some extent the incidence of DNR in elderly patients undergoing general anesthesia for gastrointestinal tumors, improved intraoperative hemodynamics and BIS value, decreased the incidence of cardiovascular adverse events and the intraoperative consumption of opioids, and relieved postoperative pain.


. We address the problem of estimating a photo's geographical location. Success in this estimation enables many impactful applications, like facilitating Disaster Management circumstances. However, this is also a very challenging task. Due to the complexity of the problem, we restrict the area of geolocation to a single city, treating geolocation as a classification problem where the districts of a city are the classes to be distinguished. In this paper, we exploit the Focal Modulation Network that is proven to perform effectively and efficiently in visual modeling for real-world applications. Experimental results on two diverse datasets, crawled from online sources, show the effectiveness of our approach. We can geolocate correctly more than two-thirds of test images from the larger dataset and about one-third from an experimental training dataset of a ten-times smaller size.


Background Globally, almost 15 million infants are born prematurely each year, disproportionately affecting low and middle-income countries. In the absence of mother's milk, the World Health Organization recommends using donor human milk (DHM) due to its protective effect against necrotizing enterocolitis, a life-threatening intestinal disorder. The use of DHM is increasing globally, with many low and middle-income countries integrating donor milk banks into their public health strategies to reduce neonatal mortality, yet very little is known about the nutritional composition of DHM. Additional knowledge gaps include how DHM composition is influenced by milk banking practices, and whether preterm nutrient recommendations are achieved when DHM is used with commercially available fortifiers. Methods We designed a multi-site study with eight geographically diverse milk bank partners in high, middle, and low-income settings that will examine and compare a broad range of nutrients and bioactive factors in human milk from 600 approved milk bank donors around the world to create comprehensive, geographically diverse nutrient profiles for DHM. We will then simulate the random pooling of 2 to 10 donors to evaluate the impact of pooling as a potential strategy for milk banks to manage nutrient variability in DHM. Finally, we will evaluate whether commercially available fortifiers meet nutrient recommendations when used with DHM. Discussion We expect that results from this study will improve nutritional care globally for the growing number of preterm infants who receive donor human milk.


Temporal online content becomes the zeitgeist to reflect our interests and changes. Active users are essential participants and promoters behind it. Temporal dynamics becomes a viable way to investigate users. However, most current work only use global temporal trend and fail to distinguish such fine-grained patterns across groups. Different users have diverse interest and exhibit distinct behaviors, and temporal dynamics tend to be different. This paper proposes GrosToT (Group Specific Topics-over-Time), a unified probabilistic model to infer latent user groups and temporal topics at the same time. It models group-specific temporal topic variation from social content. By leveraging the comprehensive group-specific temporal patterns, GrosToT significantly outperforms state-of-the-art dynamics modeling methods. Our proposed approach shows advantage not only in temporal dynamics but also group content modeling. The dynamics over different groups vary, reflecting the groups' intention. GrosToT uncovers the interplay between group interest and temporal dynamics. Specifically, groups' attention to their medium-interested topics are event-driven, showing rich bursts; while its engagement in group's dominating topics are interest-driven, remaining stable over time.


This article takes root in the reading of the narrative sequence which we find 1S 24-26 where three narratives follow one after another: at first to David who leads Saul to Engaddi, then to Abigail who diverts David from his plan to avenge Nabal, and finally, to David who once more saves the life of Saul in the desert of Ziph. To emphasize the need for pity and nonviolence in the society, it seems interesting to us to raise the context antecedent to this sequence where the hostility of Saul towards David leaves no shadow of a doubt. Indeed, devoured by jealousy in the face of David's successes, Saul tries with a doggedness to eliminate the latter who dashes off desperately until golden opportunities are presented to him to eliminate Saul. He does not eliminate him, but he gets only the piece of his coat as he surprises him while he was covering his feet. Then, for a second time, he still saves his life when he perceives him sleeping near Abner. Refusing to hurt him, he takes the lance which was at his bedside as well as the gourd of water. Pity and non-violence towards enemies practised by David could be the resources which our society needs to strengthen to consolidate conviviality. In this context where wars, conflicts, hatred, vengeances and terrorism seem to gain ground, could the rediscovery of these two values be a challenge to reveal for our world?


An optimist says the glass is half-full, a pessimist half-empty, whereas a good engineer says that the glass is twice as big as it needs to be. There has been much debate over the years about the relative functionality, application and even necessity of proppant in delivering effective hydraulic fractures. Often these debates have been directly linked to major changes in core frac applications, more recently in the dominant North American onshore unconventional market. However, the debates have all too often used broad or unclear brush strokes to describe shifting fracture requirements. Meanwhile, the developing oilfield in the rest of the world resides in more permeable areas of the resource triangle, great care must be taken to ensure that conventional lessons hard learned are not lost, but also that unconventional understanding develops.
 Over recent years there have been many debates and publications on the relative value of the use of proppant (and associated conductivity), although the true question was about appropriate fracture design in different rock/matrix qualities and environments. Certainly, the vast majority of fracturing engineers appreciate the difference between continuous proppant-pack conductivity and other techniques, such as infinite conductivity, pillar fracturing or duning designs. However, there is increasing evidence that conventional fracturing is suffering from populist attitudes, leading to ineffective fracturing. Additionally, and just as impactful, that unconventional fracturing continues to rely on the lessons learned and physics derived directly from our conventional experience but applying this in an entirely different environment.
 Primarily, the main concern is with the transfer of recent lessons learned and techniques utilised in one rock quality and environment, to an entirely different scenario, resulting in the misapplication, reduced IP30, poorer NPV or reduced long term EUR and IRR. Examples will be referenced where appropriate proppant selection and frac design can be the difference between success and failure. Fundamentally, we have not sufficiently developed our understanding of the role of proppant and conductivity, for application in unconventionals and thereby rely far too much on our previous conventional thinking. While at the same time we are exporting often inappropriate unconventional populist practice into very conventional environments, thereby potentially achieving the abhorrence of the worst of both worlds.
 This paper will describe and address scenarios where appropriate engineering selection, rather than popularity-based decision making, has resulted in a successful outcome. It will also attempt to ensure that we show the importance of studying your rock, in anticipation of engineering design, and that this should be a key consideration. The paper will also suggest that as an industry we urgently need to address our approach to consideration of conductivity, placement and importance and ensure that unconventional knowledge and learning progresses with a beneficial outcome for all.


On his 1998 album Fabrication Defect the Brazilian composer‐performer Tom Ze articulates the discourses of postmodernity and postcoloniality. More than simply touching on various aspects of "post‐ness," Ze forges from them an updated manifesto premised on Oswald de Andrade's 1928 "Cannibalist Manifesto." The former Tropicalia musician proposes an "Esthetics of Plagiarism" as a way to appropriate and then reformulate the products of Western techno‐capitalism. In this discussion, I will argue that the composer reconfigures the modernist and colonial tropes of primitivism and cannibalism in a subversively technophilic postmodern and postcolonial fashion—an oppositionality embodied in the album's "defective android" figure.


In 1976 Reddi et al. reported increase of serum Ribonuclease (RNase) in pancreatic cancer patients. In this study, the increase in serum RNase activity was observed in patients with pancreatic cancer, coincided with the report by Reddi et al. The increase was also observed in patients with advanced gastric cancer. Especially, in patients with cancer invasion into pancreas, high value was obtained. Patients with other cancers showed the elevation of RNase activities. Thus, the elevation of serum RNase level is not specific only to patients with pancreatic cancer. An selectric focusing test showed no distinguishable difference in patients with pancreatic cancer and healthy persons. In mice with transplanted tumor of pancreas, serum RNase increased. Simultaneously, histological dilatation of pancreatic ducts and destruction of acinus were observed. When pancreas was occupied by tumor, serum RNase was decreased. These results suggest that RNase is not produced by cancer cell but is released from pancreas itself.


"Wild Sargasso Sea" is Jean Rhys's story of Antoinette Cosway, the first "Mrs Rochester" of Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre". Set in Jamaica, this work paints a portrait of a young girl doomed by society, the past and the future to become the most notorious madwoman in English literature. This series of notes for GCSE and A level is tailored to exam requirements. The books provide criticism on specific texts plus questions. Information on the author and the historical background to the text is given and a specimen essay, hints for study and a summary of the text is included. The series covers major works from medieval to modern English literature, and classic and contemporary works from Europe, America, the Commonwealth and the Third World. Key features include: a biography of the author; literary and historical background to the work; a summary and glossary of the text; a specimen essay; and suggestions for further reading. This text is designed for use by GCSE, A-level and first year undergraduate students on English literature courses.


Based on the experimental work by Boscaino et al on the EPR transient nutations (TNs) and free induction decay (FID) in solids, we propose the modified Bloch equations (MBEs). In addition to the Tomita expression for power-dependent parameter T2u, we give an original phenomenological expression for power-dependent parameter T2v and tuning Δ. Both analytical (in the form of a Torrey solution with these parameters) and numerical solutions of MBE are obtained for TN and for different FID regimes with very good agreement between theory and experiment. We also discuss the meaning and role of the instantaneous diffusion mechanism in the transient pulse experiments.


The metabolism in vitro of synthetic leukotriene B4 (LTB4) in synovial fluid from rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis patients and in whole blood from these same patient groups and from normal volunteers has been studied. A linear relationship existed between a plot of the time of incubation of samples with LTB4 and the percentage of the initial concentration of LTB4 at each time point. The slope of this line, the rate constant for metabolism, has been used to compare different samples. LTB4 was metabolised more rapidly in the synovial fluid of rheumatoid arthritis patients than osteoarthritis patients. Furthermore, LTB4 was metabolised more rapidly in the blood of rheumatoid arthritis patients than either osteoarthritis patients or normal volunteers. These differences in metabolism correlate with the polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) and albumin content of samples. It is suggested that binding of LTB4 to albumin in vivo will in part determine the available concentration of LTB4 in inflammatory lesions.


Abstract Pneumonia is a leading cause of hospitalization and death due to infection worldwide. Streptococcus pneumoniae and Legionella pneumophila remain among the most commonly identified bacterial pathogens. Unfortunately, more than half of all pneumonia cases today lack an etiologic diagnosis due to limitations in traditional microbiological methods like blood and sputum cultures, which are affected by poor sample collection, prior antibiotic administration, and delayed processing. Urinary antigen tests (UATs) for S. pneumoniae and L. pneumophila have emerged as powerful tools for improving the diagnosis of bacterial respiratory infections, enabling physicians to administer early directed therapy and improve antimicrobial stewardship. UATs are simple, rapid, and non-invasive diagnostic tests with high specificity (>90%) and moderate sensitivity (<80%). The potential impact of urinary antigen testing is especially significant for respiratory infections caused by Legionella. While all recommended community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) therapies are adequate for treating pneumococcal pneumonia, only certain antibiotics are effective against Legionella. Delayed therapy for Legionella is associated with worse clinical outcomes, which underscores the importance of rapid diagnostic methods like UATs. Despite their potential impact, current American Thoracic Society and Infectious Diseases Society of America (ATS/IDSA) guidelines argue against the routine use of urinary antigen testing for S. pneumoniae and L. pneumophila, except in patients with severe CAP and those with epidemiological risk factors for Legionella. Further research is necessary to evaluate the impact of early targeted treatment due to positive UAT results, as well as optimal strategies for UAT utilization. The purpose of this review is to summarize the UATs available for bacterial respiratory infections, describe current guidelines on their usage, and assess their impact on clinical outcomes and targeted therapy.


Summary. Twenty patients with onychomycosis secondary to paronychia or to onycholysis were examined for causative fungal agents. The role of yeasts in these diseases is critically discussed.


According to a doctrine that I call "Cartesianism", knowledge – at least the sort of knowledge that inquirers possess – requires having a reason for belief that is reflectively accessible as such. I show that Cartesianism, in conjunction with some plausible and widely accepted principles, entails the negation of a popular version of Fallibilism. I then defend the resulting Cartesian Infallibilist position against popular objections. My conclusion is that if Cartesianism is true, then Descartes was right about this much: for S to know that p, S must have reasons for believing that p which are such that S can know, by reflection alone, that she has those reasons, and that she could not possibly have those reasons if p is not true. Where Descartes went wrong was in thinking that our ordinary, fallible, non-theologically grounded sources of belief (e.g., perception, memory, testimony), cannot provide us with such reasons.


Born in 1913 to poor working-class parents, Willy Brandt was involved in socialist politics from an early age. By 1933 he was an active anti-Nazi, so that at 19 he had to flee Germany for Denmark and Norway. He was to remain outside Germany for the next 18 years, involved in the resistance and as a radical journalist all that time. For his troubles he was stripped of his German nationality in 1938; it was only returned to him in 1948. And yet within a year he was a deputy for Berlin in the first German Bundestage. From then on his rise was rapid, and in 1970 he was made Chancellor and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971. Now in his seventies he is still a tireless internationalist. The historic events of 1989 were the culmination of a political career dedicated to bringing East and West together. This book chronicles the life of Willy Brandt, the former Chancellor of West Germany.


Diabetics mostly display a deterioration of blood flow properties. Studies of various hemorheological factors in 163 diabetics (96 females, 67 males; 52 subjects with uncomplicated and 49 with proliferative retinopathy) disclosed in comparison to 79 matched controls: Concentrations of macromolecular proteins, especially of fibrinogen, were raised independently of actual diabetic metabolic situation; this was linked with an increase in plasma viscosity and in erythrocyte aggregation, specially pronounced in patients with renal affection. Erythrocyte flexibility assessed by filtration testing was deteriorated in dependence of metabolic control, impairment increasing in patients with progressing diabetic proliferative retinopathy. Duration of diabetes, type of diabetes and of treatment exert only indirect influence on blood rheology. Risk factors such as hypertension, arteriosclerosis and smoking have an aggravating effect. The complex disturbances of blood fluidity can contribute to the development of microcirculatory blood flow disorders, whereby, of course platelet hyperreactivity and hypercoagulation come into play, too. Especially a good diabetes control is a premise for an efficient blood flow promoting rheologic therapy.


The pressure-volume relationship (PVR) in the intracranial cerebrospinal fluid space has been a matter of investigation for quite sometime. The quantitative considerations of the PVR are believed to have important clinical implications, and attempts have been made to study the pressure-volume characteristics associated with a variety of disease states. Efforts have been made by researchers to understand the phenomenon in terms of mechanics. The major drawback has been that almost all researchers have invoked in their analyses, concepts from linear infinitesimal elasticity to explain the intracranial PVR. In this paper we have proposed a more realistic hyperelastic model to explain the observed PVR of the intracranial complex. The proposed model provides a better approximation to the intracranial P-V response than those proposed by previous investigators. The model highlights also the parameters that are relevant to characterise the intracranial tissues.


BACKGROUND: Primary hypothyroidism accounts for 90 to 95 %of all cases of hypothyroidism. Thyroid hormone deficiency increases systemic vascular resistance, decreases contractility and slow the heart rate . OBJECTIVE: To investigate cardiac changes in primary hypothyroidism. METHODS: In this prospective study 36 patients with untreated primary hypothyroidism were compared with 30 healthy persons. Cardiovascular evaluation of all subjects had been made both clinically and by the following studies :Chest X-Ray, electrocardiography, serum lipid and Echocardiography. RESULTS:: The main cardiac manifestations of hypothyroidism were: Easy fatigability) 88.9 ) % , exertional dyspnea (75%o),obesity or gaining weight( 66.7 ) % , sinus bradycardia ( 47.2 ) % and peripheral edema(11.1 ) % Electrocardiography showed sinus bradycardia in( 47 %) low QRS voltage in (33.3% ) , flat or inverted T wave(27.8%), prolonged QT interval (19.5%), first degree heart block in( 19.5 ) % .Echocardiography showed the following :a decrease in global systolic function, asymmetric sepal hypertrophy in (91.6%) Pericardial effusion in (38.8%).Low QRS voltage was found to be related to thyroxin level and age of the patient .No correlation was found between heart rate and thyroxin level. CONCLUSION: Primary hypothyroidism accompanied by significant changes in cardiovascular system which may explain the development of premature coronary artery disease in these patients.


INTRODUCTION
Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the world. The prevalence of smoking is higher in people infected with HIV than in the general population. Although it is biologically plausible that smoking increases the morbidity and mortality of people living with HIV/AIDS, few studies in developing countries have analyzed the determinants and consequences of smoking in HIV infected people.

OBJECTIVE
To estimate the prevalence of smoking and identify the socioeconomic factors associated with smoking and smoking cessation in patients with HIV by sex.

METHODS
A cross-sectional study was conducted with baseline data, obtained from an ongoing prospective cohort study of patients with HIV attending two referral centers in Recife, Northeast Region of Brazil, between July 2007 and October 2009.

RESULTS
The prevalence of current smoking was 28.9%. For both sexes, smoking was independently associated with heavy alcohol drinking and marijuana use. Among women, smoking was associated with living alone, not being married and illiteracy; and among men, being 40 years or older, low income and using crack. Compared with ex-smokers, current smokers were younger and more likely to be unmarried, heavy drinkers and marijuana users.

CONCLUSIONS
It is important to incorporate smoking cessation interventions for the treatment of heavy alcohol drinkers and marijuana users with HIV/AIDS, which may increase life expectancy and quality of life, as smoking is related to risk of death, relapse of tuberculosis, and non communicable diseases.


Here we report a methionine sulfoxide reductase A (MsrA) homologue with extremely high substrate tolerance and a wide substrate scope for the biocatalytic preparation of enantiopure sulfoxides. This MsrA homologue which was obtained from Pseudomonas alcaliphila (named paMsrA) showed good activity and enantioselectivity towards a series of aryl methyl/ethyl sulfoxides 1a-1k, with electron-withdrawing or electron-donating substituents at the aromatic ring. Chiral sulfoxides in the R configuration were prepared with approximately 50% of yield and up to 99% enantiomeric excess through the asymmetric reductive resolution of racemic sulfoxide catalyzed by the recombinant paMsrA protein. More importantly, kinetic resolution has been successfully accomplished with high enantioselectivity (E > 200) at initial substrate concentrations up to 320 mM (approximately 45 g L-1), which represents a great improvement in the aspect of the substrate concentration for the biocatalytic preparation of chiral sulfoxides.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
Adequate bowel preparation is essential for an effective and safe colonoscopy. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of bowel preparation according to waiting times from education to colonoscopy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A prospective, investigator-blinded, randomized study was performed from December 2016 to March 2017. Patients were divided into two groups: within 2 weeks (group A, n=64) or more than 2 weeks (group B, n=66) from education about bowel preparation to colonoscopy. The primary outcome was the quality of bowel preparation as assessed by the Boston Bowel Preparation Scale (BBPS). The secondary outcome was the polyp and adenoma detection rate.

RESULTS
A total of 130 patients were enrolled. The total BBPS score was significantly higher in group A (within 2 weeks from education to colonoscopy) than in group B (more than 2 weeks). Total BBPS scores were 8.25}0.97 in group A and 7.75}1.32 in group B (P=.017). The rate of good preparation (BBPS≥8) was higher in group A than in group B (78.1% vs. 59.1%, P=.020). The rates of polyp and adenoma detection were both slightly higher in group A (polyps, 42.2% vs. 38.5%, P=.667; adenoma, 31.2% vs. 22.7%, P=.275). A numerical trend was observed for the slightly superior polyp and adenoma detection rate in group A, but it was not statistically significant.

CONCLUSION
This study demonstrated that shorter waiting times from education to colonoscopy can improve the quality of bowel preparation. Ensuring sufficient staff and equipment for endoscopy is one approach to reducing waiting times to colonoscopy. If waiting times can not be reduced, more contact through telephone, e-mail, and text messaging could be used to remind patients about information regarding bowel preparation.


Age Exchange is bringing reminiscence art to patients with dementia and it is raising their spirits as well as improving the working environment of nurses.


This paper develops a geometric perspective that ties together a number of graphically based techniques from classical control theory. In particular, in the frequency domain, a connection between the Nyquist diagram and the Bode plots is unfolded via a sequence of three-dimensional representations. A parallel development in the "gain-domain" begins with the Evans root locus plot and leads to a set of gain plots that portray eigenvalue behavior as an explicit function of forward gain. The gain plots extend the standard root locus plot by depicting explicitly the influence of gain (or any system parameter) on the closed-loop system eigenvalues. This is similar to the way the Bode plots embellish the information of the Nyquist diagram by exposing frequency explicitly. The gain plots enable direct determination of gain values for which the closed-loop system is stable or unstable. By exposing the correspondence of gain values to specific eigenvalues, the plots serve as a pole-placement tool for identifying closed-loop designs meeting performance specifications. Furthermore, the gain plots reveal by inspection information about the closed-loop root sensitivity. The authors have found the gain plots as well as the underlying geometric development in both the frequency and gain domains invaluable in undergraduate and graduate controls education. >


Modern hand-held devices such as smartphones and tablets have become high in demand. Wide range of commercial concepts and possi-bilities have come into the limelight due to the extra features fitted in these devices. In particular, most smartphones and tablets regularly include cameras, high-speed processors, GPS and internet access. With emerging technology, there are many applications that allow the processing of real time information and location based services. Mobile devices from various platforms gain much popularity and become more advanced these days. In short, we are using them to accomplish our daily tasks. Hence, two applications are developed and tested with cloud services integration.


Abstract A Mössbauer study of synthetic leucophosphite, KFe2(PO4)2(OH)·2H2O is reported. The sample was prepared by the reaction of synthetic goethite (α-FeOOH) with a K-phosphate solution of pH 2 at 373 K for 20 days. The obtained cell parameters are a = 9.771(1), b = 9.675(2), c = 9.747(2) Å, β = 102.45(1)°. The Mössbauer spectra from 295 K down to 40 K show the existence of two Fe3+ doublets with ΔEQ1 ≈ 0.62 mm/s and ΔEQ2 ≈ 0.91 mm/s (at 80 K), respectively, whereas for lower temperatures the spectra are composed of two sextets with Hhf1 ≈ 48.3 T and Hhf2 ≈ 48.8 T at 4.2 K. The magnetic transition temperature was determined to be 36 K from a Mössbauer thermoscan experiment. The magnetic ordering is presumed to be antiferromagnetic. The temperature variations of the hyperfine fields cannot be explained by the simple molecular field approximation. Using a model that takes into account the exchange magnetostriction associated to a non-second-order transition, an excellent reproduction of the Hhf(T) curves was obtained.


Contributors Introduction: Pentecostalism as a Global Phenomenon Donald E. Miller SECTION 1. Pentecostal Origins: From Azusa Street to Global Networks Chapter 1: The Emergence of a Multidimensional Global Missionary Movement: Trends, Patterns, and Expressions Allan Anderson Chapter 2: Launching a Global Movement: The Role of the Azusa Street in Pentecostalism's Growth and Expansion Cecil M. Robeck, Jr. SECTION 2. Why is Pentecostalism Growing? Chapter 3: Spirited Competition: Pentecostal Success in Latin America's New Religious Marketplace R. Andrew Chesnut Chapter 4: The Growth and Development of Non-Catholic Churches in Paraguay Henri Gooren SECTION 3. Pentecostalism and Politics Chapter 5: Pentecostalism and Politics in Latin America: Compromise or Prophetic Witness? Paul Freston Chapter 6: Pentecostalism and Democracy: Is There a Relationship? Robert Woodberry SECTION 4. Pentecostalism and Social Engagement Chapter 7: Pentecostals and the New World Order in El Salvador: Separating, Consuming, and Engaging Timothy Wadkins Chapter 8: The Metamorphosis of Nigerian Pentecostalism: From Signs and Wonders to Service and Influence in Society Danny McCain SECTION 5. Transnational Pentecostalism Chapter 9: Reconfiguring the Global Religious Economy: The Role of African Pentecostalism Afe Adogame Chapter 10: Remittances and Mission: Transnational Latino Pentecostal Ministry in Los Angeles Juan Martinez SECTION 6. Gendered Pentecostalism Chapter 11: Beautiful Feet: Women Leaders and the Shaping of Global Pentecostalism Estrelda Alexander Chapter 12: Constructing Gender within Global Pentecostalism: Contrasting Case Studies in Colombia and South Africa Katherine L. Attanasi SECTION 7. Spirit/Power Chapter 13: Gifts of the Spirit: Reflections on Pentecostalism and Its Growth in Asia William Kay Chapter 14: Prophecy, Empowerment and Godly Love: The Spirit Factor in the Growth of Pentecostalism Margaret Poloma and Matthew T. Lee Conclusion: Pentecostalism in Global Perspective Richard Flory and Kimon H. Sargeant Appendix. By the Numbers: The Global Expansion of Pentecostalism 1. Global Pentecostal Demographics Todd Johnson 2. Pentecostal Growth in Africa, Asia, and Latin America: Findings from a Ten Country Survey John Green Index


Abstract An examination of how and why Channel Island society adopted agriculture is aided in this paper by an island-based approach, which stresses the social and environmental implications of island life. This paper proposes a two-stage model of neolithisation of indigenous island hunter-gathers, beginning with a phase of cooperative interaction between forager and farmer in the early stages of the transition, followed by a later phase of direct competition for island resources. A rapid shift from cooperative to competitive interaction is proposed, amplified by constraints of island biogeography, sea-level change and insularity. Islanders were 'pulled' toward a Neolithic world view through increased exchange, while environmental conditions and limitations on the islands 'pushed' indigenous island hunter-gatherers to adopt agriculture.


This technical note investigates the controllability of the linearized dynamics of the multilink inverted pendulum as the number of links and the number and location of actuators changes. It is demonstrated that, in some instances, there exist sets of parameter values that render the system uncontrollable and so usual methods for assessing controllability are difficult to employ. To assess the controllability, a theorem on strong structural controllability for single-input systems is extended to the multiinput case.


Graphene is an allotrope of carbon that is composed of one-atom-thick planar sheets. It is known to have a preventive effect on cancer in photothermal therapy and a protective effect in DNA oxidation. The effect of graphene on oxidative stress and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) was investigated in human fibrosarcoma HT1080 cells. The results showed that graphene specifically exerted an inhibitory effect on DNA oxidation, but it did not inhibit other oxidative stress. In addition, graphene decreased the expression and the activation of MMP-2 and MMP-9 stimulated by phenazine methosulfate-m, which induces the production of intracellular hydrogen peroxide. In particular, the expression of antioxidant enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD-2), was decreased in the HT1080 cells, indicat-ing that the decrease in the expression level of SOD was due to the antioxidant effect of graphene. These results suggest that the inhibitory effect of oxidative stress in the presence of graphene could inhibit the expression of MMPs in HT1080 cells. Based on the above results, graphene may have che-moprevention properties through inhibition of MMP-2 and MMP-9 related to metastasis.