The potential for filter-feeding bivalves to accumulate metals from a wide range of food sources is an important consideration when examining trophic transfer of metals up the food chain. The objective of this study was to determine the role of Leptothrix discophora in mediating metal uptake in the filter-feeding bivalve Mytilus trossulus. The bacterium L. discophora SP-6 was cultured in the absence or presence of Mn, allowing for a naturally formed Mn oxide sheath to develop. Secondary metals (Cd and Pb) were then added to the cultures, allowing for potential Cd and Pb adsorption to the Mn oxide sheath. Resulting bacterial aggregates of known diameter were then fed to the bivalve M. trossulus using a flow-through system. Initial concentrations of both Pb and Cd on the bacterium did not differ significantly in the presence or absence of the Mn oxide; conversely both Pb (F = 7.39, p < 0.0001) and Cd (F= 33.65, p < 0.0001) were found at lower concentrations in the mussel tissue when the Mn oxide was present. To determine whether these differences in metal uptake could be attributed to sorting by the mussel based on food quality, nutritional analysis was performed. Bacterial food matrixes containing Mn oxides were found to have significantly lower levels of carbon (F = 256, p < 0.0001). Particle clearance rates for the various food matrixes were positively correlated with organic content (R2 = 0.852, p > 0.008). The results of our study suggest that metal uptake in M. trossulus was significantly decreased for Cd with a similar trend for Pb when the SP-6 sheath contained Mn oxides. The mechanism mediating this differential uptake is best explained by food quality, in that a higher quality food source enhanced metal uptake due to an increased clearance rate of organic-rich particles by M. trossulus.


The intention of the present study is to investigate the cross-diffusion effect on MHD fluid flow passing through a vertical channel. Navier slip boundary conditions are applied by assuming that the channel is filled with a porous medium. The effect of considered parameters is also studied on heat as well as on mass transfer. With the help of an optimal homotopic procedure, the transformed governing equations are evaluated. The quantitative estimates are contributed through graphs and physical quantities are presented through a table.


The contribution of the surface chemistry of an implant to the thickness of the fibrous capsule formed after implantation was herein investigated. For that, self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of alkanethiols on gold with different terminal functional groups (COOH, OH, and CH(3)) were used. These surfaces were implanted in subcutaneous air pouches of BALB/c mice and the ensuing fibrous capsules were evaluated and compared with the initial inflammatory response caused by the implant. The thickness of the fibrous capsules that are under organization around the implant was measured 1 week after implantation by histology. Inflammatory exudates were collected from the air pouches 24 h after the implantation of SAMs and were analyzed by flow cytometry. A significant increase in the thickness of fibrous capsules was seen around implanted CH(3)-terminated SAMs, and also in gold surfaces, in comparison with the air pouch wall of sham-operated mice and of COOH- and OH-covered SAMs. The CH(3)-coated implants also recruited higher numbers of inflammatory cells; this enhancement involved a significant number of Mac-1(+) cells. Our data indicate that implant surfaces coated with CH(3) induce thick fibrous capsules and this may be the result of the stronger inflammatory effect of CH(3) in comparison with COOH or OH chemical groups.


The use of hydride forming metals and alloys as hydrogen acceptors in order to overcome the thermodynamic limitations in catalytic reactions involving the evolution of hydrogen is examined. The high effectiveness of intermetallic hydrogen acceptors in reactions involving the dehydrogenation of cycloalkanes, isobutane, and alcohols (C1-C3), and the aromatisation of alkanes (C2-C3 ) is noted. The bibliography includes 36 references.


New types of tridimensional composite materials have been developed during the last few years. These new materials consist of braided, weft or warp knitted, and 3D woven composites preforms, and they present excellent out-of-plane mechanical properties. In this article, tubular energy absorbers, constituted of carbon-glass hybrid braided composites, are analyzed by means of the finite-element method, with explicit time integration of the equations of motion. A new material model for (0°, - f °) braided composites is introduced in a commercial finite-element code by means of user-developed subroutines. Braided materials with carbon fiber in the 0° direction and glass fibers in the - f ° directions are studied. Moreover, different fiber orientations and geometry of the triggering devices are analyzed in order to obtain the optimum configuration in terms of specific energy absorption.


Acute platelet transfusion after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) given in efforts to reverse antiplatelet medication effects and prevent ongoing bleeding does not appear to improve outcome and may be associated with harm. Although the underlying mechanisms are unclear, the influence of ABO-incompatible platelet transfusions on ICH outcomes has not been investigated. We hypothesized that ICH patients who receive ABO-incompatible platelet transfusions would have worse platelet recovery (using absolute count increment [ACI]) and neurological outcomes (mortality and poor modified Rankin Scale [mRS 4-6]) as compared to those receiving ABO-compatible transfusions. In a single center cohort of consecutively admitted ICH patients, we identified 125 patients receiving acute platelet transfusions, of whom 47 (38%) received an ABO-incompatible transfusion. Using quantile regression, we identified an association of ABO-incompatible platelet transfusion with lower platelet recovery (ACI: 2x103cells/mL vs 15x103cells/mL; adjusted coefficient b:-19; 95%CI:-35.55 to -4.44; p=0.01). ABO-incompatible platelet transfusion was also associated with increased odds of mortality (adjusted OR 2.59; 95%CI: 1.00-6.73; p=0.05) and poor mRS (adjusted OR 3.61; 95%CI: 0.97-13.42; p=0.06), however these estimates were imprecise. Together, these findings suggest the importance of ABO-compatibility for platelet transfusions for ICH; however, further investigation into the mechanism(s) underlying these observations is required.


Two cases of endometriosis in the uterine wall cesarean section scar tissue are presented. The diagnosis was confirmed by histopathologic examination of the scar tissue taken after total abdominal hysterectomy.


We describe XMM-Newton observations taken 4.3 days prior to and 1.5 days subsequent to two remarkable events that were detected with Swift on 2006 September 21 from the candidate magnetar CXOU J164710.2-455216: (1) a 20 ms burst with an energy of 10 erg (15–150 keV), and (2) a rapid spin-down (glitch) with ∆P/P ∼ −10. We find that the luminosity of the pulsar increased by a factor of 100 in the interval between observations, from 1×10 to 1×10 erg s (0.5–8.0 keV), and that its spectrum hardened. The pulsed count rate increased by a factor of 10 (0.5–8.0 keV), but the fractional rms amplitude of the pulses decreased from 65 to 11 per cent, and their profile changed from being single-peaked to exhibiting three peaks. Similar changes have been observed from other magnetars in response to outbursts, such as that of 1E 2259+586 in 2002 June. We suggest that a plastic deformation of the neutron star's crust induced a very slight twist in the external magnetic field, which in turn generated currents in the magnetosphere that were the direct cause of the X-ray outburst.


A non-parametric multi-resolution method is presented for cell segmentation and some of the advantages it has over other techniques, when applied to this application, are outlined. The proposed algorithm is an extension on the method of Wilson and Spann 6] and uses a technique based on the concept of water immersion which ensures closed boundaries. Experiments with cervical cells have shown that the algorithm is robust, fast and accurate.


OBJECTIVES: The incidence of hepatitis A infections among young adults has recently increased in South Korea. Although universal vaccination has often been suggested to mitigate the problem, its rationale has not been well-understood. Estimating the societal costs of hepatitis A infections might support the development of intervention strategies. METHODS: We classified hepatitis A infections into eight clinical pathways and estimated the number of occurrences and cost per case for each clinical pathway using claim data from National Health Insurance and several national surveys as well as assumptions based on previous studies. To determine the total costs of a hepatitis A infection, both direct and indirect costs were estimated. Indirect costs were estimated using the human-capital approach. All costs are adjusted to the year 2008. RESULTS: There were 30,240 identified cases of hepatitis A infections in 2008 for a total cost of 80,873 million won (2.7 million won per case). Direct and indirect costs constituted 56.2% and 43.8% of the total costs, respectively. People aged 20-39 accounted for 71.3% of total cases and 74.6% of total costs. Medical costs per capita were the lowest in the 0-4 age group and highest in the 20-29 age group. CONCLUSIONS: This study could provide evidence for development of cost-effective interventions to control hepatitis A infections. But the true costs including uncaptured and intangible costs of hepatitis A infections might be higher than our results indicate.


Early detection of asymptomatic phase or paraneoplastic manifestations in precancerous lesions and an early, correct and accurate diagnosis in terms of pathology of the lesion in question, makes important chances of healing and prolonged patient's life expectations. We present the case of a young patient who came to the emergency room and then admitted in the cardiology department with a heart rhythm disorder. The medical investigations that followed (gastric endoscopy, biopsy, histological and IHC exams), finds gastric polyps, which proved to be gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST).


The enzyme 6-oxocamphor hydrolase (OCH) from Rhodococcus sp. NCIMB 9784 catalyses the cleavage of a carbon-carbon bond between two carbonyl groups in both mono- and bicyclic non-enolisable β-diketone substrates. In this mode OCH has been shown to effect the desymmetrisation of both bridged symmetrical bicyclic [2.2.1] and [2.2.2] systems and a series of 1-alkylbicyclo[3.3.0]octane-2,8-diones, yielding chiral substituted cyclopentanone and cyclohexanone products in high optical purity. In the present study, OCH has been challenged with a series of heteroannular substrates including 1-methylbicyclo[4.3.0]nonane-2,9-dione (7a-methylhexahydroindene-1,7-dione) in an effort to assess the competence of the enzyme for kinetic resolutions of asymmetric, racemic substrates. OCH was shown to catalyse the resolution of 1-methylbicyclo[4.3.0]nonane-2,9-dione with an E value of 2.9. The effect of increasing the length of the alkyl chain in the 1-position, or enlarging one of the rings, was to increase the enantioselectivity of the enzyme to 5.7 and 3.1 for the substrates 1-allylbicyclo[4.3.0]nonane-2,9-dione (7a-allylhexahydroindene-1,7-dione) and 1-methylbicyclo[5.3.0]decane-2,10-dione (8a-methyloctahydroazulene-1,8-dione), respectively. 1-Methylbicyclo[5.4.0]undecane-2,10-dione (9a-methyloctahydrobenzocycloheptene-1,9-dione) was not a substrate for OCH. These experiments constitute the first description of the resolution behaviour of such a retro-Claisenase enzyme, and suggest a maximum steric limit for substrate recognition by OCH.


We study the existence and stability of discrete breathers in a chain consisting of alternating light and heavy particles, with nearest-neighbor coupling containing quartic soft or hard anharmonicity. This study is focused on breathers with frequency in the gap that separates the acoustic and optical bands of the phonon spectrum. Simple analytical and physical results obtained through explicit solutions of algebraic equations demonstrate the possibility of the existence of gap breathers with both types of symmetry, i.e., symmetric and antisymmetric. The specific pattern depends on the type of anharmonicity present, i.e., soft or hard, and whether the center of the breather is on a light or a heavy particle. These analytical results are verified systematically through the use of a numerically exact procedure from the anticontinuous limit.


Author(s): Canham, Hugo | Abstract: In this paper, I argue that our conception of knowledge cannot be separated from the bodies that are involved in its creation. Resisting the decolonization of the curriculum and how we come to know goes cheek by jowl with which bodies are acceptable and which are unpalatable in higher education. It is not just particular knowledges that are therefore reviled but black bodies that signify those knowledges—that have to fight to belong or are ejected. The paper focuses on critical moments when high-profile black bodies have faced expulsion from the Universities of Cape Town, Witwatersrand, and North-West to illustrate the relationship between what I term "reviled bodies" and "knowledges" in higher education. It suggests that it is no coincidence that "recalcitrant" black bodies are expelled from those universities that assign no value to indigenous ways of knowing. Finally, the paper posits that geo- and body politics of scholarship should be advanced to ensure that Southern and black bodies are at the center of the academy.


This paper discusses a stmctured data modeling approach which is used to maintain and support two different simulation tools. The data model is stored in a relational database system which provides the links for each tool to access the data. One tool provides short interval production schedules for the semiconductor manufacturing operations at NCR and the other tool performs a wide variety of factory analyses on the same wafer fabrication plants. Powerful user interfaces were built on this system which enable the end users to run simulations of both experimental and actual situations. This environment has also facilitated the maintenance and continuing use of the data over a period of twenty months. In this paper we will review the use of the data model in linking manufacturing users to simulation tools, describe the tools currently in use at NCR and highlight the pros and cons of using multiple tools and a central database.


This work has been carried out to simulate and analyzethe economic advantagesof the conventional and the reactive distillation process methods used for the production of ethyl acetate throughthe Fischer esterification reaction between acetic acid and ethanol withthe aid of Aspen Plus.The conventional and the reactive distillation models of the process were developed in Aspen Plus environment by employing an equilibrium reactor and a packed RadFrac column having 23 segments including the condenser and the reboiler. For the reactive distillation process method, the main column was divided into three sections, namely the rectifying(upper), the reaction (middle) and the stripping (lower) sections, but in the conventional process method, the main column was only divided into the rectifyingand the stripping sections. The esterification reaction, occurring in the reactor of the conventional method and in the reaction section of the reactive distillation method,of the process was modeled as an equilibrium type. The higher purity of ethyl acetate, the lower total capital cost, the lower operating cost, the lower total utilities cost, the lower equipment cost and the lower total installed cost obtained from the reactive distillation process method have revealed that, inthe production of ethyl acetate using the Fischer esterification,the reactive distillation process method was found to be better than the conventional process method both in giving ethyl acetate in higherpurity and economically


Spectroscopic orbits of the 12 eclipsing binary systems, TW And, CD And, RS Ari, RU Cnc, TW Cnc, UU Cnc, V788 Cyg, AW Her, MM Her, RV Lib, EW Ori and ZZ UMa are obtained from Coravel and Elodie radial velocity measurements. We obtain a first orbit for CD And, RS Ari, TW Cnc, and V788 Cyg. For the systems TW And, RU Cnc, UU Cnc, AW Her, MM Her, RV Lib, EW Ori and ZZ UMa, the new spectroscopic orbits are either better or of quality comparable to that previously published. The physical properties of these systems were estimated with the photometric parameters from available data except CD And, TW Cnc, UU Cnc, V788 Cyg and RV Lib for which we found a model compatible with the observations. The systems RU Cnc, AW Her, MM Her and RV Lib belong to RS CVn group. In general these systems were difficult to observe with Coravel , on the one hand because the stars are relatively weak and on the other hand because of nature of the components giving peaks of correlation with weak contrast.


Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, this volume covers the period when coal was the pivot on which British economic pre-eminence rested. It reasses widely accepted generalizations regarding the industry's economic development and explores its social ramifications. Assisted by: Hall, Alan; Unknown function: Kanefsky, John


In the subject paper, Dr. Sigmund Hammer has overstated the precision of airborne gravity and its impact on the effectiveness of exploration. The overstatement apparently results in part from an error in computations and in part from a misapplication of statistical analysis. Potential users of the method are, therefore, led to believe that airborne gravity can solve some geologic problems which in fact it cannot. This Discussion is an attempt to document these assertions.


The write operation asymmetry of many memory technologies causes different write failure rates at 0 →1 and 1 → 0 bit-flipping's. Conventional error correction codes (ECCs) spend the same efforts on both bit-flipping directions, leading to very unbalanced write reliability enchantment over different bit-flipping distributions of codewords (i.e., the number of 0 →1 or 1 → 0 bit-flipping's). In this work, we developed an analytic asymmetric write channel (AWC) model to analyze the asymmetric write errors in spin-transfer torque random access memory (STT-RAM) designs. A new ECC design concept, namely, content-dependent ECC (CD-ECC), is proposed to achieve balanced error correction at both bit-flipping directions. Two CD-ECC schemes - typical-corner-ECC (TCE) and worst-corner-ECC (WCE), are designed for the codewords with different bit-flipping distributions. Our simulation results show that compared to the common ECC schemes utilized in embedded applications like Hamming code, CD-ECCs can improve the STT-RAM write reliability by 10 - 30x with low hardware overhead and very marginal impact on system performance.


Bacterial conjugation, transfer of a single conjugative plasmid strand between bacteria, diversifies prokaryotic genomes and disseminates antibiotic resistance genes. As a prerequisite for transfer, plasmid-encoded relaxases bind to and cleave the transferred plasmid strand with sequence specificity. The crystal structure of the F TraI relaxase domain with bound single-stranded DNA suggests binding specificity is partly determined by an intrastrand three-way base-pairing interaction. We showed previously that single substitutions for the three interacting bases could significantly reduce binding. Here we examine the effect of single and double base substitutions at these positions on plasmid mobilization. Many substitutions reduce transfer, although the detrimental effects of some substitutions can be partially overcome by substitutions at a second site. We measured the affinity of the F TraI relaxase domain for several DNA sequence variants. While reduced transfer generally correlates with reduced binding affinity, some oriT variants transfer with an efficiency different than expected from their binding affinities, indicating ssDNA binding and cleavage do not correlate absolutely. Oligonucleotide cleavage assay results suggest the essential function of the three-base interaction may be to position the scissile phosphate for cleavage, rather than to directly contribute to binding affinity.


Enhanced resistance of barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Ingrid) against barley powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei race A6) was induced by abiotic stress in a concentration-dependent manner. The papilla-mediated resistance was not only induced by osmotic stress, but also by proton stress. Resistance was directly correlated with increasing concentrations of various salts in the nutrient solution. Resistance induced by proton stress also depended on the stress intensity. Resistance induction occurred even at low stress intensities. Any specific ion toxicity affecting the fungal growth directly, and therefore leading to enhanced pathogen resistance, can be excluded because of the independence of resistance induction of the ion used and of the time course of sodium accumulation in the leaves. BCI-4, a marker for benzo[1,2,3]thiadiazolecarbothioic acid S-methyl ester (BTH)-induced resistance was not induced by these abiotic stresses. However, resistance was induced in the same concentration-dependent manner by the application of the stress hormone ABA to the root medium. During the relief of water stress, resistance did not decrease constantly. On the contrary, after a phase of decreasing resistance for 24 h the pathogen resistance increased again for 48 h before decreasing finally to control levels.


Abstract Purpose: Latanoprost ophthalmic solution is highly effective as a therapeutic agent for glaucoma and is applied worldwide. However, harmful effects on the corneal surface have been reported regarding the commercially available latanoprost ophthalmic solution. Corneal surface toxicity may be caused by the added preservative of the ophthalmic solution. In order to ascertain whether latanoprost itself can damage the cornea or if this is solely due to the added preservatives, this study attempted to determine the corneal changes that occur at different time periods following usage of preservative-free versus preserved latanoprost eye drops. Materials and methods: Preservative-free latanoprost eye drops (Monoprost®) or preserved latanoprost eye drops (Xalatan®) containing 0.02% benzalkonium chloride (BAC) were instilled in the corneas of rabbits. For each of the two different eye drop solutions, the rabbits used in this experiment were divided into three exposure groups: 1 minute, 24 hour, and 1 week groups. Corneal transepithelial electrical resistance (TER) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were examined immediately (1 minute) after instillation, at 24 hours after instillation, and at 24 hours after 1 week of daily instillations of latanoprost. Hank's balanced salt solution was used in the control group. Results: The mean corneal TER of the control group was 933.8 ± 279.0 Ω cm2. In preservative-free latanoprost instilled corneas, there was no significant decrease in the TER or morphological changes at any of the time points, with the relative TER values of 117 ± 38%, 100 ± 34%, and 93 ± 21% for 1 minute, 1 day, and 1 week time points, respectively. In preserved latanoprost instilled corneas, SEM showed that only the immediate group exhibited superficial cell damage and a significant decrease in the corneal TER compared to the controls and other time points and to the immediate preservative-free latanoprost corneas. In the preserved latanoprost groups, the relative TER values were 18 ± 5%, 110 ± 28%, and 92 ± 10%, for the three respective observation time points. Conclusions: Preservative-free latanoprost can be safely instilled to the corneal epithelium. Latanoprost with 0.02% BAC has an immediate deleterious impact on the corneal epithelium; however, it disappears within 24 hours after instillation.


Nowadays in watermarking applications Standard wavelets have certain limitations i.e. poor directional selectivity and property of shift invariance. As a complex number is having together real and imaginary parts ,complex wavelet is also having real and imaginary parts which can aid us in overcoming theses limitations .Dual-Tree Complex Wavelet Transform is the latest improvement and in this paper, a watermarking scheme has been projected on the base of Dual Tree Complex Wavelet Transform where DTCWT is initially applied to the host image, and it decomposes that image into eight real and eight imaginary sub bands and then DTCWT is applied to the watermark image , it also decomposes the image into eight real and eight imaginary sub bands. Finally watermarking rule is applied according to fusion principle.


Today the reduction of energy consumption in telecommunications networks is one of the main goals to be pursued by manufacturers and researchers. In this context, the paper focuses on routers that achieve energy saving by applying the frequency scaling approach. The target is to propose an analytical model to support designers in choosing the main configuration parameters of the Router Governor in order to meet Quality of Service (QoS) requirements while maximizing energy saving gain. More specifically, the model is used to evaluate the input traffic impacts on the choice of the active router clock frequencies and on the overall green router performance. A case study based on the open NetFPGA reference router is considered to show how the proposed model can be easily applied to a real case scenario.


The cross-media retrieval problem has received much attention in recent years due to the rapid increasing of multimedia data on the Internet. A new approach to the problem has been raised which intends to match features of different modalities directly. In this research, there are two critical issues: how to get rid of the heterogeneity between different modalities and how to match the cross-modal features of different dimensions. Recently metric learning methods show a good capability in learning a distance metric to explore the relationship between data points. However, the traditional metric learning algorithms only focus on single-modal features, which suffer difficulties in addressing the cross-modal features of different dimensions. In this paper, we propose a cross-modal similarity learning algorithm for the cross-modal feature matching. The proposed method takes a bilinear formulation, and with the nuclear-norm penalization, it achieves low-rank representation. Accordingly, the accelerated proximal gradient algorithm is successfully imported to find the optimal solution with a fast convergence rate O(1/t2). Experiments on three well known image-text cross-media retrieval databases show that the proposed method achieves the best performance compared to the state-of-the-art algorithms.


Data on FMD spread in Africa in 2017–2019 provided by the World Animal Health Organization (OIE) and World Reference Laboratory for Foot-and-Mouth Disease (WRLFMD) were analyzed with the emphasis on the current epidemic situation in Northern Africa, and the analysis results are demonstrated as well. Brief historical information on SAT-1, -2, -3 FMDV recovery in Africa is presented. Diagnostic test results demonstrate that the abovementioned virus serotypes are circulating in the Southern, East and West African countries. However, there are reports on detection of SAT-1 FMDV in the Near East (1961–1965 and 1970) and SAT-2 FMDV in Saudi Arabia (2000), Lebanon (2003), Bahrain, Egypt and Lebanon (2012). Infection of cattle with SAT-1, -2, -3 FMDV in Southern and East Africa is associated with the contacts between the domestic livestock and wild cloven-hoofed ungulates, specifically with African buffaloes (Syncerus caffer). FMDV persists in buffaloes for up to 4–5 years and in buffalo herds living within the limited area of the national reserves – for up to 24 years. Buffaloes are considered to be natural reservoir of the virus. The basic disease control measure in Africa is prevention of any contacts between FMD susceptible livestock and buffaloes in the national reserves and game sanctuaries. Moreover, crucial component of FMD prevention is vaccination of bovines kept in buffer zones around the wild cloven-hoofed ungulates' habitats against the virus serotypes spread by the latter. Foot-and-mouth disease remains one of the most economically significant infections in the world and it involves losses due to the decrease of the agricultural production as well as due to the international trade restrictions.


The success of total knee replacement surgery depends on several factors, including proper patient selection, appropriate implant design, correct surgical technique, and effective perioperative care. The outcome of total knee replacement surgery is particularly sensitive to variations in surgical technique 1-9. Incorrect positioning or orientation of the implant and improper alignment of the limb can lead to accelerated implant wear and loosening as well as suboptimal functional performance. A number of studies have suggested that alignment errors of >3° are associated with more rapid failure and less satisfactory functional results after total knee arthroplasty 1,10-20. Recent studies have also emphasized that the most common cause for revision total knee replacement is error in surgical technique.

Mechanical alignment guides have improved the accuracy with which implants can be inserted. Although mechanical alignment systems are continually being refined, errors in implant and limb alignment continue to occur. It has been estimated that errors in tibial and femoral alignment of >3° occur in at least 10% of total knee arthroplasties, even when performed by experienced surgeons using mechanical alignment systems of modern design. Mechanical alignment systems have fundamental problems that limit their ultimate accuracy. The accuracy of preoperative planning is limited by the errors inherent in standard radiographs. It is difficult to determine accurately, with standard instrumentation, the correct location of crucial alignment landmarks (e.g., the center of the femoral head, the center of the ankle). Moreover, mechanical alignment and sizing devices presume a standardized bone geometry that may not apply to a specific patient. Even the most elaborate mechanical instrumentation systems rely on visual inspection to confirm the accuracy of limb and implant alignment and stability at the conclusion of the total knee replacement procedure.

Computer-based alignment systems have been developed to address the …


CONTEXT
The Paratrend monitor provides continuous arterial blood gas monitoring after insertion through a >/=20-gauge arterial cannula.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the correlation of arterial blood gas values and the Paratrend monitor placed through a peripheral intravenous catheter.

DESIGN
Prospective, open-label evaluation.

SETTING
University-based pediatric intensive care unit.

PATIENTS
Infants and children with respiratory failure and arterial access.

RESULTS
The cohort included 23 infants and children. A total of 100 sample sets (Paratrend/ABG Pco(2) and pH values) were collected. The absolute difference between the arterial and Paratrend Pco(2) was 2. 9 +/- 1.8 mm Hg (range 0 to 9 mm Hg). Linear regression analysis of Paratrend Pco(2) versus arterial Pco(2) resulted in r = 0.97 and r(2) = 0.9479 (P <.001). Bland-Altman analysis of Pco(2) values demonstrated a bias +/- precision of -2.1 +/- 2.7 mm Hg. The absolute difference between arterial and Paratrend pH was 0.04 +/- 0. 02 units (range 0 to 0.15 units). Linear regression analysis of Paratrend pH versus arterial pH resulted in r = 0.83 and r(2) = 0. 7016 (P <.0001). Bland-Altman analysis of pH values revealed a bias +/- precision of 0.03 +/- 0.03 units.

CONCLUSIONS
Inserted through a peripheral intravenous cannula, the Paratrend monitor can be used to provide an accurate estimation of arterial blood gas values in children with respiratory failure.


This article opts for a return to a critique of the ideology of consumption. Following Slavoj Zizek it argues that what must be addressed in present-day consumer-capitalism is the level of the superego. Superego is not about living up to certain norms/standards; rather, superego fits consumerism quite well, in that it is the injunction, even obligation, to go beyond any norms or standards and enhance enjoyment. The article attempts, through a diagnosis of postmodern ways of eating and consuming, a new metaphorization of consumer-capital- ism as »tasteless«: We live, basically, in a tasteless world where desires and tastes must be reinvented continuously, and we are trapped in the tastelessness of this same world, caught in the matrix of consumption, whatever we do.


The globalization of drug abuse has become a world-wide epidemic and a national threat to youths in all counties. The newest phenomenon is prescription drug abuse. It began in Germany and spread throughout Europe, then to England, and to the United States, Asia and Iran. Teenagers and young adults in contemporary society are not using as much illicit drugs (like methamphetamines, ecstasy, heroin, and cocaine) as those of previous years. They have found other ways and means to get high, with painkillers and other prescription drugs being abused at record levels. This generation of teens has been given the name "Generation Rx." In European countries drugs are not sold without prescription and specialists must prescribe them. But in our country, every household has a drug box in his house and acts like a family doctor. Research shows that teenagers have been caught searching in the abox. Behavioral sciences institute shows that the use of drug is three times more than the standards of the world and Iran is the 20th country among countries and is the second country in the Middle East that its people use non-prescription drugs. Non-prescription drugs are accessible and youths can avoid their effects easily. This article tries to focus the attention of authorities and households to non-prescription drugs and tries to offer some tips to get out of this dilemma.


On the first day of school, second grader Eduardo's Anglo classmates call him a "dirty Spic" on the playground and won't let him play basketball with them. At a middle school, in a mixed-race classroom, Juanita's teacher, Mr. Smith, yells at her when she does not turn her homework in on time. He tells her she is lazy and irresponsible. Are Eduardo and Juanita likely to perceive these interactions as acts of racial or ethnic discrimination? Is this a common occurrence for these children? Will their feelings of having been discriminated against serve as a risk factor for poor self-esteem or depression? How do racism and discrimination fit in the overall complex development of resilience? The past three decades have seen the study of resilience in development progress from its early conceptions of invulnerable children (Anthony & Cohler, 1987; Pines, 1975) to our present understandings of mediated and moderated paths toward resilience. We have begun to move from the identification of important individual characteristics of the invincibles (Werner & Smith, 1992) to a more systemic approach involving families, schools, and communities; from the identification of risk or protective factors to the understanding of the mechanisms that underlie these factors. Our conception of resilience as a multidimensional construct presently requires that empirical attention be paid not only to adaptational failures but also to positive adjustment, "to forces that are protective in nature as well as those that exacerbate vulnerability" in various groups (Luthar & Cicchetti, 2000, p. 878).


I discuss some interesting classroom demonstrations of diamagnetism and how this effect can produce levitation. The possibilities for hands-on demonstrations of diamagnetic and superconducting levitation are discussed. To conclude I discuss some practical uses for levitation in daily life.


Security of an electronic system in has been one of the considerations in implementing any organization. This is one of the impending challenges in any organization to ensure information of retention. The electronic procurement is one of the current trend in many multinational corporation. The paper's objective assesses the impact of security on the successful implementation of e-procurement systems by multinational tea companies in Kericho County. Cross-sectional survey research was conducted targeting three multination companies with a sample of 63 respondents. Primary data using questionnaire were used were both descriptive and inferential statistics were used. According to data findings; the independent variable system security was found to have correlation coefficients of 0.409 with the implementation of e-procurement among the multinational tea companies involved in the study. Conclusions are that the lack of system security was found to be key impediment to the implementation of e-procurement. Recommendations are that full adoption and implementation is a necessity that can only be achieved through a collaborative effort among the key players specific field. It is necessary that the involved tea firms should look at a means of working together as a team and build systems that will allow easier eprocurement functionality.


Abstract Workers are frequently exposed to the occupational hazards of ionizing radiation and noise. Co-exposure to these hazards is not well understood in terms of their physiological effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the physiological effects of co-exposure to ionizing radiation and noise within the occupational limit. This study extracted the physical examination parameters of workers who met the screening criteria from the occupational health surveillance database. The workers were divided into three groups: the co-exposure (COE) group, the ionizing radiation exposure (ION) group, and the non-exposure (NON) group. The age and sex of the three groups were matched with a sample size ratio of 1:3:3. The physical examination parameters of the three groups of workers were compared. The results showed that there was no significant difference in blood pressure and blood biochemical parameters among the three groups. The COE group had higher levels of free triiodothyronine than the ION group, but there was no difference with the NON group. Moreover, the COE group had lower levels of free tetraiodothyronine than the ION group and the NON group. There was no significant difference in thyroid stimulating hormone, total triiodothyronine, and total tetraiodothyronine among the three groups. Additionally, the number of white blood cells of the COE group was lower than that of ION group and NON group. This study suggests that co-exposure to low-dose ionizing radiation and noise can cause alterations in thyroid hormone and peripheral white blood cells. These alterations are different from those observed after single exposure to low-dose ionizing radiation and require further research.


Vector autoregressions with Markov-switching parameters (MS-VARs) fit the data better than do their constant-parameter predecessors. However, Bayesian inference for MS-VARs with existing algorithms remains challenging. For our first contribution, we show that Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) estimators accurately estimate Bayesian MS-VAR posteriors. Relative to multi-step, model-specific MCMC routines, SMC has the advantages of generality, parallelizability, and freedom from reliance on particular analytical relationships between prior and likelihood. For our second contribution, we use SMC's flexibility to demonstrate that the choice of prior drives the key empirical finding of Sims, Waggoner, and Zha (2008) as much as does the data.


Sequential random sampling ('Markov Chain Monte-Carlo') is a popular strategy for many vision problems involving multimodal distributions over high-dimensional parameter spaces. It applies both to importance sampling (where one wants to sample points according to their 'importance' for some calculation, but otherwise fairly) and to global optimization (where one wants to find good minima, or at least good starting points for local minimization, regardless of fairness). Unfortunately, most sequential samplers are very prone to becoming 'trapped' for long periods in unrepresentative local minima, which leads to biased or highly variable estimates. We present a general strategy for reducing MCMC trapping that generalizes Voter's 'hyperdynamic sampling' from computational chemistry. The local gradient and curvature of the input distribution are used to construct an adaptive importance sampler that focuses samples on low cost negative curvature regions likely to contain 'transition states' — codimension-1 saddle points representing 'mountain passes' connecting adjacent cost basins. This substantially accelerates inter-basin transition rates while still preserving correct relative transition probabilities. Experimental tests on the difficult problem of 3D articulated human pose estimation from monocular images show significantly enhanced minimum exploration.


Rational approximation is a powerful tool to obtain accurate surrogates for nonlinear functions that are easy to evaluate and linearize. The interpolatory adaptive Antoulas–Anderson (AAA) method is one approach to construct such approximants numerically. For large-scale vector- and matrix-valued functions, however, the direct application of the set-valued variant of AAA becomes inefficient. We propose and analyze a new sketching approach for such functions called sketchAAA that, with high probability, leads to much better approximants than previously suggested approaches while retaining efficiency. The sketching approach works in a black-box fashion where only evaluations of the nonlinear function at sampling points are needed. Numerical tests with nonlinear eigenvalue problems illustrate the efficacy of our approach, with speedups above 200 for sampling large-scale black-box functions without sacrificing on accuracy.


Networks of biomolecular unit cells are proposed as a new type of biologically inspired intelligent materials. These materials are derived from natural cellular mechanics and aim to improve current biologically-inspired technologies by recreating the desired systems from the basic building block of the natural world; the cell. The individual biomolecular unit cell is able to replicate natural cellular abilities through a combination of lipid bilayer membranes containing embedded proteins and peptides. While individual unit cells offer an ideal testing environment for demonstrating proofs of concept, more advanced abilities require larger networks, utilizing cell-to-cell interactions.The cell-to-cell interactions often involve multiple modes of communication, which have been identified for this paper as primarily electrical, chemical, and mechanical phenomenon. Previous modeling efforts have incorporated the electrical portion through equivalent circuit models, but these lack the ability to fully explain some of the network characteristics. A new formulation is presented here to illustrate how these three classes of phenomenon may be coupled to achieve various engineering design goals.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


Leucine-rich repeat-containing G protein-coupled receptor 6 (LGR6) is a seven-pass transmembrane protein known to be a marker of stem cells in several organs. To deepen our understanding of the cell biology of LGR6-positive cells, including stem cells, we generated monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against human LGR6. DNA immunization followed by whole-cell immunization with LGR6-expressing transfectants was performed to obtain mAbs that recognized the native form of LGR6. Hybridomas were screened by flow cytometry using LGR6-transfected cells. Because the molecules of LGR4, LGR5, and LGR6 are 50% homologous at the amino acid level, specificity of the mAbs was confirmed by transfectants expressing LGR4, LGR5, or LGR6. Three LGR6-specific mAbs were generated. Two of the three mAbs (designated 43A6 and 43D10) recognized the large N-terminal extracellular domain of LGR6, and competitively blocked the binding of R-spondin 1, which is known to be the ligand for LGR6. The other mAb, 43A25, recognized the seven-pass transmembrane domain of LGR6, and was able to be used for immunoblot analysis. In addition, mAbs 43A6 and 43D10 detected endogenous expression of LGR6 in cancer cell lines. We expect that our mAbs will contribute to widening our understanding of LGR6-positive cells in humans.


[1] Soil moisture is known to show distinctive persistence characteristics compared to other quantities in the climate system. As soil moisture is governing land-atmosphere feedbacks to a large extent, its persistence can provide potential to improve seasonal climate predictions. So far, many modeling studies have investigated the nature of soil moisture memory, with consistent, but model-dependent results. This study investigates soil moisture memory in long-term observational records based on data from five stations across Europe. We investigate spatial and seasonal variations in soil moisture memory and identify their main climatic drivers. Also, we test an existing framework and introduce an extension thereof to approximate soil moisture memory and evaluate the contributions of its driving processes. At the analyzed five sites, we identify the variability of initial soil moisture divided by that of the accumulated forcing over the considered time frame as a main driver of soil moisture memory that reflects the impact of the precipitation regime and of soil and vegetation characteristics. Another important driver is found to be the correlation of initial soil moisture with subsequent forcing that captures forcing memory as it propagates to the soil and also land-atmosphere interactions. Thereby, the role of precipitation is found to be dominant for the forcing. In contrast to results from previous modeling studies, the runoff and evapotranspiration sensitivities to soil moisture are found to have only a minor influence on soil moisture persistence at the analyzed sites. For the central European sites, the seasonal cycles of soil moisture memory display a maximum in late summer and a minimum in spring. An opposite seasonal cycle is found at the analyzed site in Italy. High soil moisture memory is shown to last up to 40 days in some seasons at most sites. Extremely dry or wet states of the soil tend to increase soil moisture memory, suggesting enhanced prediction potential during extreme events at most sites considered in this study.


The aim of this paper is to explore the stress and the psychological distress faced by parents of children living with different types of disability. Its main focus is on parents of children with autism. The first part describes the stress factors faced by parents of children with disabilities and the second, the particularities of the stress faced by parents of children with autism. The third part explores other types of stress factors, such as financial problems, marital discord or beak-up, single parenthood and lack of social support. In the forth part, we examine weather the services are well suited to provide for the needs of families, and, in the fifth part, we describe the major role played by intervention in the life of families of children with autism.


Current approaches to cross-lingual sentiment analysis try to leverage the wealth of labeled English data using bilingual lexicons, bilingual vector space embeddings, or machine translation systems. Here we show that it is possible to use a single linear transformation, with as few as 2000 word pairs, to capture fine-grained sentiment relationships between words in a cross-lingual setting. We apply these cross-lingual sentiment models to a diverse set of tasks to demonstrate their functionality in a non-English context. By effectively leveraging English sentiment knowledge without the need for accurate translation, we can analyze and extract features from other languages with scarce data at a very low cost, thus making sentiment and related analyses for many languages inexpensive.


The rolling texture of Cu3Au has been investigated by X-ray diffraction. At room temperature, independently of the degree of long-range order, Cu3Au developed a mixed or "hybrid" texture; it consisted of elements of each of the prototype face-centered cubic textures characterized by pure copper and 70/30 brass. However, on rolling at 77 K the alloy in the disordered state was significantly more "brass-like" than when it was fully ordered. This result may be explained by a stacking fault energy texture reversal analogous to that observed in wire drawing at low SFE. The lack of twinning (or other deformation mechanism such as slip by partial dislocations) in the ordered alloy could be responsible for this reversal.


Objectives The purpose of this study was to evaluate a new free-breathing 3D phase sensitive inversion-recovery (PSIR) turbo FLASH pulse sequence for the detection of left ventricular myocardial scar in a swine myocardial infarction model. Methods After inducing a myocardial infarction, eight mini Chinese swine's were examined on a 1.5-T MR scanner for myocardial late enhancement after the administration of gadopentetate dimeglumine using a segmented 2D PSIR turbo FLASH sequence followed by a navigator-gated 3D PSIR turbo FLASH sequence. Image quality was scored by two independent readers using a 4-point Likert scale (0=poor, nondiagnostic; 1=moderate, diagnostics may be impaired by artefacts; 2=good, some artefacts but not interfering in diagnostics; 3=excellent, no artefacts). Scars were compared quantitatively in volume and graded qualitatively on the basis of size and location in these two sequences. Results One pig died from anaesthetic accidents. The quality of the 3D PSIR images was acceptable in 6 pigs. Qualitative analysis of scar area (p=0.88), and scar location (p=0.81) were similar for both techniques. More hyperenhanced scar volumes (p=0.02) and small hyperenhanced scars (p=0.03), corresponding mostly to nonischaemic distribution patterns, were detected using 3D PSIR than 2D PSIR. Although 2D and 3D results were found to be highly correlated for scar volume, Bland-Altman analysis indicated a systematic smaller infarct volume on the 2D PSIR scans (R2=0.81). Conclusions Free-breathing 3D PSIR turbo FLASH imaging is a promising technique for the assessment of left ventricular scar particularly for scar quantification and the detection of small nonischemic scars in the myocardium. It can be an alternative method to detect of the infarcted myocardium in the clinic, particularly suitable for patients who cannot breath-hold.


Because of noise and reverberation, accuracy of speech recognition systems decreases when the distance between talker and microphone increases. In this paper a new method for microphone array processing is proposed in which parameters of array processing are adjusted in calibration phase based on phones used in language and maximum likelihood method. Optimum filter length first studied and then optimized filter parameters are stored and used during recognition phase. A new modified Viterbi algorithm using optimal phone-based filter parameters is introduced for recognition phase. The proposed algorithm is analytically formulated and improvement in recognition accuracy in various noise level and reverberation time is studied.


This project was executed as a part of the bachelor assignment of Industrial design at the University of Twente. In order to fulfil this project an internship was done at design centre Brightbird in Groningen. The aim of the assignment was to design an orange juicer with increased usability, specifically aimed at the reduction and removal of the pulp. Starting point in the design process was the Inventum GC75, as the original designer, Bart Kip, who also supervised the internship at Brightbird, knew all the ins and outs of this product. Based on the GC75 an orange juicer with a modern look, matching the high mid-end segment and increased usability was developed as follows.
For the greater part the design process was carried out according to Eger, Bonnema, Lutters, & van den Voort (2013). In the preliminary phase research was done on the current juicer market, style trends in kitchen design, a task analysis of an orange juicer, the GC75 was analysed and patents were researched. This resulted in a choice for the market segment, a choice for styling and requirements were set. The high mid-end was chosen in combination with a not too distinct design, in order to cover the chosen market segment in the best possible way. Apart from the general requirements there was a strong focus on usability and pulp reduction within the requirements.
Then the ideation phase was started, in this phase solutions were generated for a mechanism aimed at the reduction of the juicer getting soiled by pulp, without a decrease in juice. Two ideas with potency came up in this phase.
After the ideation phase a start was made with the concept phase. During the concept phase these two ideas were elaborated, with a strong focus on fitting the new mechanism within the juicer and the feasibility of the design (costs, usability, performance and expected lifetime). Two prototypes were made to test the mechanism. This resulted in the decision for the final concept. The embodiment and design phase was the last design phase. In this phase a design was created for the looks of the juicer and the way in which the mechanism is implemented. Furthermore the juicer was made in CAD. Using this model renders could be made, resulting in the final design with the potential of being further developed.


We derive the fading number of stationary and ergodic (not necessarily Gaussian) single-input multiple-output (SIMO) fading channels with memory. This is the second term, after the double-logarithmic term, of the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) expansion of channel capacity. The transmitter and receiver are assumed to be cognizant of the probability law governing the fading but not of its realization. It is demonstrated that the fading number is achieved by independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) circularly symmetric inputs of squared magnitude whose logarithm is uniformly distributed over an SNR-dependent interval. The upper limit of the interval is the logarithm of the allowed transmit power, and the lower limit tends to infinity sublogarithmically in the SNR. The converse relies inter alia on a new observation regarding input distributions that escape to infinity. Lower and upper bounds on the fading number for Gaussian fading are also presented. These are related to the mean squared-errors of the one-step predictor and the one-gap interpolator of the fading process respectively. The bounds are computed explicitly for stationary mth-order autoregressive AR(m) Gaussian fading processes.


Introduction The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) 2017 guidelines on valvular heart disease recommend 30-days and 1-year echocardiography along with one year and then life-long annual follow up with cardiologist post heart valve surgery to detect early deterioration in prosthetic function or ventricular function or progressive disease of another heart valve. Aim: The aim of this study was to assess if the ESC guidelines were being adhered to after the heart valve surgery and if there was a difference in the outcomes of patients being followed up as per above guidelines compared to those who were not. Methods Data was collected retrospectively from tertiary centers in Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board region in Scotland from 2016 to 2018. Two independent clinicians checked electronic records for individual patients. Telephone calls were made to contact patients to confirm follow up arrangements if electronic records were unclear. Results 695 patients were included in the study. 58% were male (mean age 65.5 years - SEM 0.5) and 42% female (mean age 68 years - SEM 0.8). Of the total valves operated: 70% were aortic (44.9% of total were bioprosthetic AVR, 25.1% were metallic AVR), 22% mitral (12.3% of total were mitral valve repair, 9.7% were metallic MVR), 5% tricuspid and 3% pulmonary. At 30 days post-surgery, 24% of the patients had transthoracic echocardiogram done. At one year post-surgery, 66.6% had a follow up echocardiogram and 53% were clinically reviewed by a cardiologist. Death, major and minor complications as defined by the European Association of Cardiothoracic Surgeons were recorded at 1 year. Major complications recorded were thromboembolic disease, infective endocarditis and out of hospital cardiac arrests who survived. Minor complications recorded were sternal wound complications, suppurative complications, need for permanent pacemaker and new decompensated heart failure. 7% deaths (p=0.0004), 10.6% major complications (p=0.199) and 12.5% minor complications (p=0.160) were recorded in the group with no follow up, compared to 1.6%, 7.8% and 16.2% respectively in the group that was followed up (figure 1). Conclusion The mortality and morbidity rates are higher among patients not followed up regularly after heart valve surgery. The death rate is significantly higher in the group with no follow up while major and minor complications were statistically not significant between the two groups. Conflict of Interest None


The purpose of the research was to make an Arduino-based mini shaker for automatic mixing of chemical solutions. The use of the tool was expected to save time and energy in the process of mixing chemical solutions, facilitate laboratory workers in mixing the chemical solutions quickly and efficiently, and for a safety reason in the laboratory. The design of this tool consists of a time sensor, speed sensor, microcontroller, motor driver and Dc motor. This tool can regulate the speed of a DC motor with three speeds namely 100 RPM low, 150 normal RPM, and 180 high RPM. Based on the results of motor speed measurements, the average error at the motor speed is low 1.4%, normal 2.5%, and high 2.54%, and the average error at the timer is 1 minute 0.03%, 2 minutes 0,1%, 3 minutes 0.05%, 4 minutes 0.016%, and 5 minutes 0.03%.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: DIPG is among the most devastating brain tumors in children, necessitating the development of novel treatment strategies and advanced imaging markers such as perfusion to adequately monitor clinical trials. This study investigated tumor perfusion and 3D segmented tumor volume as predictive markers for outcome in children with newly diagnosed DIPG. METHODS: Imaging data were assessed at baseline, during, and after RT, and every other month thereafter until tumor progression for 35 patients (ages 2–16 years) with newly diagnosed DIPG enrolled in the phase I clinical study, NCT00472017. Patients were treated with conformal RT and vandetanib, a vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 inhibitor. RESULTS: Tumor perfusion increased and tumor volume decreased during combined RT and vandetanib therapy. These changes slowly diminished in follow-up scans until tumor progression. However, increased tumor perfusion and decreased tumor volume during combined therapy were associated with longer PFS. Apart from a longer OS for patients who showed elevated tumor perfusion after RT, there was no association for tumor volume and other perfusion variables with OS. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that tumor perfusion may be a useful predictive marker for the assessment of treatment response and tumor progression in children with DIPG treated with both RT and vandetanib. The assessment of tumor perfusion yields valuable information about tumor microvascular status and its response to therapy, which may help better understand the biology of DIPGs and monitor novel treatment strategies in future clinical trials.


Tourist guiding has held its vital position in any tourism system and with specific reference to Turkey, owing to the vocational law enacted in 2012, it has become a legal and obligatory element and finally recognized as a profession. Further, the nature of tour guiding entails a face to face interaction with tourists, which is why the roles of tourist guides are noteworthy in creating customer satisfaction and realization of tourism potential. It will not be wrong to hold that tour guiding does not have the righteous place in academic studies from their point, i.e. supplier side. In this context, this paper sets out to examine the vocational commitment of tourist guides in terms of two variables. The results of the study suggest that there are statistically significant differences between the sub-dimensions of vocational commitment and second employment as well as tour guiding education level. Besides, considering the specific nature of tourist guiding, suggestions have been put forward for potential future studies.


Study objective: To examine the effects of chronic exposure to aircraft noise on children's school performance taking into account social class and school characteristics. Design: This is a cross sectional study using the National Standardised Scores (SATs) in mathematics, science, and English (11 000 scores from children aged 11 years). The analyses used multilevel modelling to determine the effects of chronic aircraft noise exposure on childrens' school performance adjusting for demographic, socioeconomic and school factors in 123 primary schools around Heathrow Airport. Schools were assigned aircraft noise exposure level from the 1994 Civil Aviation Authority aircraft noise contour maps. Setting: Primary schools. Participants: The sample were approximately 11 000 children in year 6 (approximately 11 years old) from 123 schools in the three boroughs surrounding Heathrow Airport. Main results: Chronic exposure to aircraft noise was significantly related to poorer reading and mathematics performance. After adjustment for the average socioeconomic status of the school intake (measured by percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals) these associations were no longer statistically significant. Conclusions: Chronic exposure to aircraft noise is associated with school performance in reading and mathematics in a dose-response function but this association is confounded by socioeconomic factors.


Neuroplasticity is a complex physiological process occurring in the brain for its entire life. However, it is of particular importance in the case of central nervous system (CNS) disorders. Neurological recovery largely depends on the ability to reestablish the structural and functional organization of neurovascular networks, which must be pharmacologically supported. For this reason, new forms of therapy are constantly being sought. Including adjuvant therapies in standard treatment may support the enhancement of repair processes and restore impaired brain functions. The common hallmark of nerve tissue damage is increased by oxidative stress and inflammation. Thus, the studies on flavonoids with strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties as a potential application in neuro intervention have been carried out for a long time. However, recent results have revealed another important property of these compounds in CNS therapy. Flavonoids possess neuroprotective activity, and promote synaptogenesis and neurogenesis, by, among other means, inhibiting oxidative stress and neuroinflammation. This paper presents an overview of the latest knowledge on the impact of flavonoids on the plasticity processes of the brain, taking into account the molecular basis of their activity.


Immunocytochemistry was used to assess the location of xanthine dehydrogenase (EC 126.96.36.199) in the infected region of nodules of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata [L.] Walpers cv. Queen Anne Blackeye). Polyclonal antibodies raised against purified cowpea xanthine dehydrogenase were used to localize this enzyme at the electron microscopic level. Sparse nonspecific labeling was observed after treatment of nodule sections with preimmune serum. Although immune serum cross-reacted with the ground cytoplasm of both infected and uninfected cells, significantly more labeling was observed in the uninfected cells. No labeling above background was observed in peroxisomes, mitochondria, proplastids, endoplasmic reticulum, cytoplasmic or peribacteroid membranes, peribacteroid spaces, or bacteroids. The enzyme is soluble and not present in any organelle or membrane. The greater concentration of xanthine dehydrogenase in the uninfected cells suggests that xanthine or a precursor to xanthine, rather than uric acid, is the intermediate that moves from infected to uninfected cells during ureide biogenesis.


UNLABELLED
Former studies demonstrated that small amounts of heparin might remain in the prepared retransfusion blood during intraoperative autotransfusion. This could lead to serious complications in patients suffering from heparin-induced-thrombocytopenia type II (HIT II). Lepirudin is an approved anticoagulant in HIT II-patients. We studied to what extent lepirudin is washed out during the preparation of retransfusion blood, when it is used as anticoagulant for the autotransfusion device cell saver 5.

METHODS
We investigated four different concentrations of lepirudin solutions, 5 mg, 10 mg, 20 mg and 30 mg per litre normal saline. In order to imitate a clinical situation, each lepirudin solution was mixed with human blood in a 1:5-ratio and put into the reservoir of the cell saver. The device was started in the automatic mode using 1000 ml saline as washing solution. Several runs were carried out (five times using the 5 mg/l solution, ten times the 10 mg/l, eleven times the 20 mg/l and eleven times the 30 mg/l solution). The lepirudin concentration in the prepared retransfusion blood was measured.

RESULTS
The median percentage reduction of the lepirudin content from the reservoir blood to the retransfusion blood was 100% for the 5 mg/l, 90.4% for the 10 mg/l, 94.3% for the 20 mg/l and 86.3% for the 30 mg/l solution. The differences of percentage reduction are not significant. But the different lepirudin concentrations in the anticoagulant solution have a significant influence on the lepirudin concentration in the retransfusion blood. The lepirudin concentration (median) in the retransfusion blood was 0.00 microgram/ml for the 5 mg/l, 0.16 microgram/ml for the 10 mg/l, 0.19 microgram/ml for the 20 mg/l and 0.66 microgram/l for the 30 mg/l lepirudin solution.

CONCLUSION
Lepirudin as an anticoagulant for intraoperative autotransfusion is effectively eliminated using the cell saver 5 device in the automatic mode with 1000 ml saline as washing solution. A clinically relevant disturbance of coagulation is not to be expected, even if the highest concentration of lepirudin anticoagulant solution investigated in this study is used.


This paper addresses the collision avoidance problem of UAV swarms in three-dimensional (3D) space. The key challenges are energy efficiency and cooperation of swarm members. We propose to combine Artificial Potential Field (APF) with Particle Swarm Planning (PSO). APF provides environmental awareness and implicit coordination to UAVs. PSO searches for the optimal trajectories for each UAV in terms of safety and energy efficiency by minimizing a fitness function. The fitness function exploits the advantages of the Active Contour Model in image processing for trajectory planning. Lastly, vehicle-to-vehicle collisions are detected in advance based on trajectory prediction and are resolved by cooperatively adjusting the altitude of UAVs. Simulation results demonstrate that our method can save up to 80\% of energy compared to state-of-the-art schemes.


The adduct formation of protonated bis(N-confused porphyrin) (BNCP, 3,3'-bis(meso-tetratolyl-2-aza-21-carbaporphyrin) with chiral anions, carboxylic acids, and alcohols was studied in solution by means of (1) H NMR and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopic analysis and DFT methods. The addition of enantiopure guests to the acidified BNCP resulted in optical activity that vanished after neutralization. Pairs of the (1) H NMR-distinguishable diastereomers were formed when enantiopure guests were applied, although a single form was observed upon the addition of the racemic mixtures in each case. Unidirectional configuration change that led to diastereomeric excess was observed in several instances. Such an excess was memorized by metalation of the adducts with AgBF4 , thus resulting in optically active silver(III) complexes of BNCP with some enantiomeric excess. Absolute configurations of BNCP cations and bis(zinc) and bis(silver(III)) complexes were determined on the basis of time-dependent (TD)-DFT calculations of their CD spectra. It was shown that some of the chiral carboxylates induced opposite directions of enantiomerization of di- and tetracations or di-/tetracation and bis(zinc) complexes. The source of the optical activity of the equimolar diastereomeric mixture of adducts is discussed.


Phytoremediation is one of the lowest-cost methods for remediation of soils contaminated with heavy metals. This study was conducted to investigate the phytoremediation potential of corn and canola, grown under single and mixed culture systems. Thus, a pot experiment was carried out on a calcareous soil contaminated by Pb and Zn. Treatments included single culture of corn, single culture of canola and mixed culture of corn and canola. Results showed that bioavailability of metals, lead, zinc, nickel and copper increased with decreasing soil pH and increasing DOC as influenced by root activity. Root uptake of metals; lead, zinc, copper and nickel in mixed culture, was more than that of in canola and lower than that of in corn. Zinc and nickel uptake by shoots of canola and mixed culture, were more than corn. Also, the results concerning the uptake of metals in the total biomass (sum of roots and shoots) showed uptake of copper and nickel in corn was more than mixed culture and it was more than canola while, uptake of lead and zinc in corn and mixed culture was more than canola. Also, the total yield of corn and canola in mixed culture increased. Therefore, it seems use of mixed culture system may extract metals, zinc and nickel more than corn, and copper more than canola, in single culture systems.


New electrostatic instabilities in the plasma shock front are reported. These instabilities are driven by the electrostatic field which is caused by charge separation and the parameter gradients in a plasma shock front. The linear analysis to the high frequency branch of electrostatic instabilities has been carried out and the dispersion relations are obtained numerically. There are unstable disturbing waves in both the parallel and perpendicular directions of shock propagation. The real frequencies of both unstable waves are similar to the electron electrostatic wave, and the unstable growth rate in the parallel direction is much greater than the one in the perpendicular direction. The dependence of growth rates on the electric field and parameter gradients is also presented.


Serpula (Treponema) hyodysenteriae, the etiologic agent of swine dysentery, produces a hemolysin which is thought to be an important factor in the pathogenesis of the disease. We report the cloning, sequencing, and expression of a hemolysin gene (tly) from S. hyodysenteriae B204. A pUC19 gene bank of strain B204 was constructed in the Escherichia coli K-12 strain DH5 alpha, and hemolytic recombinants were identified by plating the library on blood agar plates. From the hemolytic recombinants, a 1.5-kb DNA fragment could be isolated that contained information necessary for the production of a hemolysin/cytotoxin in E. coli. Nucleotide sequence determination of this 1.5-kb fragment showed that it contained an open reading frame capable of encoding a 26.9-kDa protein. The recombinant hemolysin was easily released from E. coli by osmotic shock. As with the native hemolysin, the recombinant hemolysin is EDTA insensitive, thermolabile, and cytotoxic for several eukaryotic cell lines. Southern blot hybridization showed that the cloned S. hyodysenteriae hemolysin gene tly is present in all pathogenic strains of S. hyodysenteriae tested and absent in the nonpathogenic, weakly hemolytic spirochete S. innocens.


The capability of accelerating a high-intensity polarized $^{3}$He ion beam would provide an effective polarized neutron beam for new high-energy QCD studies of nucleon structure. This development is essential for the future Electron Ion Collider, which could use a polarized $^{3}$He ion beam to probe the spin structure of the neutron. The proposed polarized $^{3}$He ion source is based on the Electron Beam Ion Source (EBIS) currently in operation at Brookhaven National Laboratory. $^{3}$He gas would be polarized within the 5 T field of the EBIS solenoid via Metastability Exchange Optical Pumping (MEOP) and then pulsed into the EBIS vacuum and drift tube system where the $^{3}$He will be ionized by the 10 Amp electron beam. The goal of the polarized $^{3}$He ion source is to achieve $2.5 \times 10^{11}$ $^{3}$He$^{++}$/pulse at 70% polarization. An upgrade of the EBIS is currently underway. An absolute polarimeter and spin-rotator is being developed to measure the $^{3}$He ion polarization at 6 MeV after initial acceleration out of the EBIS. The source is being developed through collaboration between BNL and MIT.


This paper presents a system to determine differences between 3D reconstructed interiors and their corresponding3D planning data with the aim of correcting identified differences and updating the 3D planning data based onthese deviations. Therefore, a point-based comparison algorithm was developed with which deviations can berecognized regardless of the topology of the data used. Usually, resolution and topology of a 3D reconstruction donot match the CAD data. Here, our solution overcomes this problem by segmenting and extracting objects relevantfor comparison (e.g., doors, windows) from the reconstruction and planning data separately with a subsequentanalysis of the proximity of these objects to connected walls within the corresponding data set. Starting from theconnection points of a segmented object to its walls, adjacent spatial data is located for a correction of detecteddifferences to update the 3D planning data. The quality of the result of the developed process is shown in differentexamples localizing doors and windows to find deviations. In addition, detected differences between the planningand the measurement data are visualized and compared with the ground truth state of the building interior.


CP2K is a powerful open-source program for atomistic simulation using a range of methods including Classical potentials, Density Functional Theory based on the Gaussian and Plane Waves approach, and post-DFT methods. CP2K has been designed and optimised for large parallel HPC systems, including a mixed-mode MPI/OpenMP parallelisation, as well as CUDA kernels for particular types of calculations. Developed by an open-source collaboration including University of Zürich, ETH Zürich, EPCC and others, CP2K has been well tested on several generations of Cray supercomputers, beginning with the XT3 in 2006 at CSCS, through XT4, XT5, XT/XE6 and XK7, to Ivy-Bridge and Sandy-Bridge based XC30 systems in 2014. We present a systematic view of benchmark data spanning 9 years and 7 generations of the Cray architecture, and report on recent efforts to carry out comprehensive comparative benchmarking and performance analysis of CP2K on the XE6 and XC30 systems at EPCC. We also describe work to enable CP2K for accelerators, and show performance data from the XK7 and XC30 at CSCS. Keywords-CP2K; Benchmarking; Cray XT/XE/XC Series; Application Performance;


Taphonomy is central to many attempts to address social questions from archaeological animal remains, especially where those questions relate to practices of consumption and deposition. Without a clear analytical framework for this purpose, however, results can verge on the anecdotal. Following a review of the structure of taphonomy, this paper presents just such a framework designed to isolate archaeologically relevant patterns of behaviour through a comprehensive, quantitative analysis of numerous taphonomic variables. The typical formation processes shaping zooarchaeological assemblages are grouped into five broad stages and considered in reverse chronological order, allowing the analyst to work backwards towards the 'death assemblage' while identifying evidence of cultural practices. Particular attention is paid to differences between taxa, context types, phases, etc., that cannot be explained in mechanistic terms. This process is illustrated with selected data from a wider study of the Vinca (late Neolithic) site of Gomolava, Serbia, tracing the identification of one particular set of depositional practices. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


A discussion on the main challenges designing efficient antennas for bio-implantable communication devices is presented, along with some of the main issues encountered in their characterization. Such devices are used in conjunction with health monitoring or health care systems. Implantable antennas are, by nature, electrically small, and difficulties linked to electrically small antenna design apply. But implants are also located in a lossy host body, which induces a major change of paradigm with classic Electrically Small Antennas (ESA), as the main design challenge for implantable antennas will be to reach an acceptable efficiency, and not a broad enough bandwidth. In this paper, we present first the main challenges to be met in designing implantable antennas, followed by suggestions for an efficient design procedure. Finally, the specific difficulties in characterizing implantable antennas are emphasized.


AIM
To investigate antihypertensive efficacy, effects on endothelial, diastolic function of the left ventricle and metabolism of combination of ACE inhibitor quinapril (accupro) with diuretic indapamide SR in patients with hypertension of the second-third degree and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and free of DM.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Outpatient treatment was given to 60 patients with AH (mean age 55.3 +/- 9.6 years) in combination with mild or moderate DM (group 1) and free of DM (group 2). The patients were observed for 12 weeks. Clinical and biochemical blood tests, ECG, echo-CG, measurements of blood pressure were made in all the patients.

RESULTS
Quinapril course (mean dose 23.3 +/- 9.8 mg/day) in combination with indapamide (1.5 mg/ day) produced a complete hypotensive effect in group 1 (23 patients, 76.7%), in group 2--25 (83.3%). DM patients demonstrated reduction of fasting and postprandial glycemia and cholesterol, time of isovolumic relaxation reduced in group 1 by 9.1%, in group 2 by 19.8% (p < 0.01). Left ventricular diastolic function improved, endothelium-dependent vasodilation in diabetics rose by 40%, non-endothelium-dependent--by 21.8%, in hypertensive patients free of DM--by 51.9 and 43.2%, respectively.

CONCLUSION
Combination of quinapril with indapamide produces a significant antihypertensive effect in patients with AH of degree II-III associated with type 2 DM, improves carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, left ventricular diastolic function.


The present paper discusses a new approach to the Brazilian production and transaction of genetically modified soybeans, especially the Roundup Ready seeds from Monsanto, taking into consideration principles of the Bioethics and of the New Institutional Economics. The author supports her arguments on the studies of Bioethics and the biosecurity regulatory system in Brazil, proving that the original promises of a reduction of the production costs which would be derived from the use of genetically modified seeds did not come out to be fulfilled as farmers had to deal with other negative externalities such as an increasingly amount of money paid in royalties and the spending on the acquisition of other herbicides, but the Round-up, to prevent resistant weeds from growing up around the plantations, thus turning each croft less profitable.Meanwhile, the modification of the agribusiness scenery created two different consumer markets to the production of this important commodity, the soybean: the Asian market which accepts genetically modified seeds and the European market which does not. These differences increased the transaction costs of selling to Europe, as it created another necessity to the organic cultivators which had to spend much more money on certifications to prove their seeds and products to be genetically-modified free.The work leads to the conclusion that the regulatory process did not take into account the aims of maximization of profits with a minimum of costs and Bioethics principles over the production in this specific case as the farmers and the Government have to cope with the described externalities and another one such as the probable damages to the environment by the insertion of an even higher amount of herbicides into the crofts. The farmers are responsible for their activity which is potentially dangerous and the Government for its failure in producing a preventive regulatory system considering the principles of Bioethics, especially the precaution principle.


This paper presents insights on driver's User Experience (UX) in terms of systematically investigating predicted experience, actual experience, and recalled experience. By conducting a three-week field study with car commuters in two countries, we studied how frustration and anger differentiate in prediction, actual experience, and recall. Our results show that commuters accurately predict their upcoming anger or frustration in a traffic congestion, however, lower their experienced frustration when being recalled. Moreover, unexpected traffic congestions (in contrast to expected ones) are prone to higher levels of anger. We further found that time of day is related to the prediction of anger, and mood is related to the prediction of frustration. With our study we provide a holistic view on commuters' everyday emotions and experiences -- not only when being on the road, but also before and after the trip.


Abstract:This essay explores a preliminary attempt to map the circulation and use of Korean ceramics, specifically tea bowls, in sixteenth-century Japan, using the integrated application, Palladio, developed at Humanities + Design, Stanford University. I focus on the diaries kept by sixteenth-century Japanese merchants, who were active collectors and participants of Japanese tea practice called chanoyu: a cultural forum where Korean tea bowls became highly valuable items among Japanese elites from 1537 onwards. The four diaries, Matsuya kaiki, Tennōjiya kaiki, Imai Sōkyū chanoyu nikki nukigaki, and Sōtan nikki, which document tea gatherings that took place in sixteenth-century Japan, demonstrate the growing popularity of Korean tea bowls among merchants, warriors, and Buddhist monks. While these historical texts are key sources of information on the appreciation of premodern Korean ceramics in Japan, they have been overlooked by scholars of Korean art history, since their renown has been limited to the specialized field of premodern Japanese tea culture. Moreover, the idiosyncratic format of these diaries requires knowledge of premodern Japanese tea practice to understand, and there have been no formal translations into other languages, making them inaccessible to those who do not read Japanese. Palladio presents the opportunity to digitally visualize and map the author's own English translation of more than 600 diary entries from 1537 to 1591 that mention Korean ceramics. I consider how data visualization can expand our understanding of the transnational impact of premodern Korean ceramics, and facilitate the introduction of unfamiliar primary sources to the field of Korean studies.


Chiara Massera and Helen Stoeckli-Evans introduce this special issue of Acta Crystallographica Section E on 'Weak interactions in crystals: an integrated approach' where the contributions serve as an excellent introduction to the importance and the interest these have been acquiring in the scientific arena over the last two decades or so.


At last year's edition of EVS, we presented an improved model for iron losses prediction in Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machines (PMSM) [1]. The benefit of this model holds in that it fits more closely the real material behavior than the standard Steinmetz or Bertotti approaches [2], by including 1) magnetic material characteristics measured at high frequency and 2) an improved representation of iron losses at the approach to saturation (by introducing a higher order term in J). We are taking this model a step further by considering now another phenomenon impacting iron losses in electrical machines: the decrease of magnetic permeability and the increase of local hysteresis loss at the vicinity of lamination edges due to the cutting process. This paper presents a quantitative analysis of the impact of lamination processing (cutting, punching, etc) for high quality low loss electrical steels used in automotive traction applications. It is important to perform the analysis over a wide frequency range, because of the large speed range of PMSM drives in automotive applications and the presence of higher harmonics (PWM supply). Our approach consists in measuring the material characteristics for sample sets with different ratios of degraded vs. non degraded material and at various frequencies. Starting from that experimental data we propose a method to determine the local magnetization curves, as function of distance from the cut edge. These local material characteristics can then be implemented in a FE model so that the effect of punching on the machine performance can be determined quantitatively: (1) the cutting impact on magnetization modification allows more precise field calculations; (2) a proposition is made on the implementation of the cutting impact on the loss calculations in post processing via an enhanced version of the loss model developed in [1].


Abstract Pay for performance plans are spreading across the country due to the Obama administration's $4 billion Race to the Top initiative, which places a high priority on merit pay. Through a program that involved public accountability and bonuses, the state of North Carolina awarded more than $1 billion in school-based performance bonuses for meeting test score growth targets between 1997 and 2009. Using statewide student-level data from North Carolina, I examine the effects of accountability consequences on test scores in 2008, a year in which math and reading scores were "high stakes" and science tests were "low stakes." Results from nonparametric discontinuity models show that at the margin, accountability incentives cause higher reading gains and have no adverse effects on science scores or on low achieving students. Incentive effects on science are generally positive rather than negative. Effects on science are much stronger in low-poverty schools, however, which suggests that interventions implemented in these schools to increase math and reading scores may have complemented, rather than substituted for, science instruction.


Aarskog, D. ( 1970) 'Clinical and cytogenetic studies in hypospadias.' Arra Paediarrico Scandinavica. Suppl. 203. Janerich, D. T., Piper, J. M., Glebatis, D. M. (1974) 'Oral contraceptives and conginital limbreduction defects.' New England Journal of Medicine. 291, 697-700. Nora, A. H. . Nora, J. J. (1975) 'A syndrome of multiple congenital anomalies associated with teratogenic exposure.' Archives of Environmental Health. 30, 17-21, Royal College of General Practitioners' Oral Contraception Study (1976) 'The outcome of pregnancy in former oral contraceptive users.' Brirish Journal qf Ohsrerrics and Gynaecolu,qy. 83,


In this article, I examine how a territorial imaginary conflating culture, territory, nation, and security allows "elites of statecraft" in Europe to frame citizenship and integration policy as (inter)national security matters. Focusing on post-Soviet Estonia, I argue that this imaginary legitimized the denial of citizenship to Soviet-era Russian speakers and enabled the government's integration policy objective of creating the "Estonian cultural domain." Drawing on historical, archival, and ethnographic research, I demonstrate how the invocation of national security justified these events and how the territorial imaginary structured the making of integration policy from the 1991 reestablishment of independence to E.U. accession in 2004.


The world economy started slowing down since the third quarter of 2008 leading to economic crises worldwide. GDP declined from an average growth of 3 per cent during 2003-2007 to 1.5 per cent during 2008-2012. The decline of world GDP growth was the sharpest at 42 per cent during the third quarter of 2008 to the second quarter of 2009. Not only capital inflows to developing and emerging market economies declined during this period, there has been significant shrinking of markets for developing country exports. This paper determines overall consequences and its policy implications of Global Crisis. Time period is 2003-2012, from these 2003-2007 is the pre crisis and 2008-2012 is the post crisis period. JEL CLASSIFICATIONS-, F1, F6


This paper establishes the strong consistency and asymptotic normality of the quasi-maximum likelihood estimator (QMLE) for a GARCH process with periodically time-varying parameters. We first give a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a strictly periodically stationary solution for the periodic GARCH (P-GARCH) equation. As a result, it is shown that the moment of some positive order of the P-GARCH solution is finite, under which we prove the strong consistency and asymptotic normality (CAN) of the QMLE without any condition on the moments of the underlying process.


The aim of this research was to identify, analyze and classify disorders in behavior which occur in the use of mirrors in patients with right cerebral damage presenting left visual spatial hemiplegia. This work was based on models of visual information processing. Seven controls and eleven patients with right cerebral damage performed a test involving grasping of an object using only specular information from a conventional mirror and then from an inverted mirror. The controls grasped up all the cubes straight away. They only experienced minor difficulty with the inverted mirror, mainly in relation to lateral displacement. The patients revealed a variety of behaviors: 1) searching for and trying to seize the object in the conventional and/or inverted mirror, 2) inversion of the paralysed side (left versus right) in the inverted mirror or the appearance of a visual spatial hemiplegia, 3) modifications in the order of grasped (from right to left, from left to right, or at random), 4) directional anomalies in the horizontal plane linked (or not) with disorders in the use of the anteroposterior space. The results of this study confirm that the patients have abnormal behavior in mirror spaces. While the characteristics of this behavior shows analogies with those described in the non-recognition of objects and/or defects in the processing of visual information for localising objects in space, they can be disassociated from them, and constitute separate syndromes. Specific terminology and taxonomy for the clinical forms of mirror agnosia and specular agnosia, of mirror paralysis and specular paralysis, and of specular ataxia are proposed.


This work presents the results of a study on the amplification of live load in the vertical direction due to derailment of a train, i.e. derailment impact. The study was performed using numerical models based on a single span precast prestressed concrete girder bridge, with a range of typical stiffness values. Two representative transit vehicles were considered. The transit vehicles were modeled in LS-DYNA, accounting for all geometry, stiffness and damping of the car body and suspension system. The bridge was idealized as a spring-supported rigid surface, with the spring stiffness related to the computed stiffness of the full composite bridge structure. The model simulated the condition of the vehicle derailing and falling vertically through the height of rail and supporting plinth to impact the deck of the bridge. Two different drops were considered, representing the height of rail only and height of rail plus plinth structure. Derailment impact was estimated as the difference between effects of the static load applied to the rails and the dynamic force due to the derailed vehicle impacting the deck. The study also examined the effects of structure stiffness by considering two additional values of stiffness values, representing the range of stiffness expected in typical transit structures. The results showed that the peak amplification of live load due to derailment varied from 300% to 625% over the range of stiffness and vertical train drop considered. The results are based on simplified conditions and compare only peak amplification but are high enough to warrant a more detailed examination of and approach to the derailment forces currently used in North American codes to determine more accurate loads.


Abstract Domain walls and spin states of permalloy were investigated by electron magnetic chiral dichroism (EMCD) technique in Lorentz imaging mode using a JEM-2100F transmission electron microscope. EMCD signals from both Fe and Ni L3,2 edges were detected from the Bloch lines but not from the adjacent main wall. The magnetic polarity orientation of the circular Bloch line is opposite to that of the cross Bloch line. The orientations of Fe and Ni spins are parallel rather than antiparallel, both at the cross Bloch line and circular Bloch line.


Abstract In the Christian tradition, it is rather natural to assume that a person can receive salvation only if she believes that certain crucial and relevant propositions are true. Louis Pojman has, however, attacked this assumption. He has formulated what I call the 'ethics' argument against the claim that belief is necessary for salvation. After explicating this argument, I complain that it is based on an unnecessarily controversial premise and that it proves too little. I then construct a parallel argument to the same conclusion that avoids the concerns I raise against Pojman. This new argument depends principally on two intuitive ideas: that 'ought' implies 'can' and that belief is not subject to direct voluntary control.


The violation of a Bell inequality is the paradigmatic example of device-independent quantum information: the nonclassicality of the data is certified without the knowledge of the functioning of devices. In practice, however, all Bell experiments rely on the precise understanding of the underlying physical mechanisms. Given that, it is natural to ask: Can one witness nonclassical behaviour in a truly black-box scenario? Here we propose and implement, computationally and experimentally, a solution to this ab-initio task. It exploits a robust automated optimization approach based on the Stochastic Nelder-Mead algorithm. Treating preparation and measurement devices as black-boxes, and relying on the observed statistics only, our adaptive protocol approaches the optimal Bell inequality violation after a limited number of iterations for a variety photonic states, measurement responses and Bell scenarios. In particular, we exploit it for randomness certification from unknown states and measurements. Our results demonstrate the power of automated algorithms, opening a new venue for the experimental implementation of device-independent quantum technologies.


The article argues that the fundamental transformations of business processes, characteristic of the era of digital economy, have so far affected Russian motor transport industry to a small extent. Digital transformation assumes a cardinal revision of the role of information technologies in management of the transportation process, based on a deep and comprehensive analysis of data, a fundamental change in approaches to organization of road transport production.To this end, it is proposed to consider the concept of enterprise architecture, covering various aspects of shaping different aspects of a transport and logistics company, as well as methods for modeling system solutions. The article analyzes transportation management system solutions, compares different approaches to the architecture of an enterprise, tools of its development like ER-charts, basic notations, life cycle, business motivation model. The suggested model semantically links real objects, ITand business processes, social aspects, and structure organisation of an enterprise.