Gas sensors based on metal-oxide-semiconductor transistor with the polysilicon gate replaced by a gas sensitive thin film have been around for over 50 years. These are not suitable for the emerging mobile and wearable sensor platforms due to operating voltages and powers far exceeding the supply capability of batteries. Here we present a novel approach to decouple the chemically sensitive region from the conducting channel for reducing the drive voltage and increasing reliability. This chemically gated field effect transistor uses silicon nanowire for the current conduction channel with a tin oxide film on top of the nanowire serving as the gas sensitive medium. The potential change induced by the molecular adsorption and desorption allows the electrically floating tin oxide film to gate the silicon channel. As the device is designed to be normally off, the power is consumed only during the gas sensing event. This feature is attractive for the battery operated sensor and wearable electronics. In addition, the decoupling of the chemical reaction and the current conduction regions allows the gas sensitive material to be free from electrical stress, thus increasing reliability. The device shows excellent gas sensitivity to the tested analytes relative to conventional metal oxide transistors and resistive sensors.


Objectives: Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) is a leading cause of death for patients with epilepsy; however, the pathophysiology remains unclear. Focal-to-bilateral tonic-clonic seizures (FBTCS) are a major risk factor, and centrally-mediated respiratory depression may increase the risk further. Here, we determined volume and microstructure of the amygdala, a key structure that can trigger apnea in people with focal epilepsy, stratified by presence or absence of FBTCS, ictal central apnea (ICA) and post-ictal central apnea (PICA). Methods: 73 patients with only-focal seizures and 30 with FBTCS recorded during video EEG (VEEG) with respiratory monitoring were recruited prospectively during presurgical investigations. We acquired high-resolution T1-weighted anatomical and multi-shell diffusion images, and computed neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) metrics in all epilepsy patients and 69 healthy controls. Amygdala volumetric and microstructure alterations were compared between healthy subjects, and patients with only-focal seizures or FBTCS The FBTCS group was further subdivided by presence of ICA and PICA, verified by VEEG. Results: Bilateral amygdala volumes were significantly increased in the FBTCS cohort compared to healthy controls and the focal cohort. Patients with recorded PICA had the highest increase in bilateral amygdala volume of the FBTCS cohort. Amygdala neurite density index (NDI) values were significantly decreased in both the focal and FBTCS groups relative to healthy controls, with values in the FBTCS group being the lowest of the two. The presence of PICA was associated with significantly lower NDI values vs the non-apnea FBTCS group (p=0.004). Significance: Individuals with FBTCS and PICA show significantly increased amygdala volumes and disrupted architecture bilaterally, with greater changes on the left side. The structural alterations reflected by NODDI and volume differences may be associated with inappropriate cardiorespiratory patterns mediated by the amygdala, particularly after FBTCS. Determination of amygdala volumetric and architectural changes may assist identification of individuals at risk.


Students all over the world at some points have to make a choice of profession for sustaining their livelihoods. If the chosen profession is according to their choice, they can excel in their field of work. In the present scenario, students and their families are more concerned about their future. In this regard, a study has been conducted to know the vocational interests of Secondary School students concerning their gender. Through this study, the researcher has tried to know and acknowledge the vocational interest of secondary school students in relation to their gender. The simple random sampling procedure selected a sample of 100 students (50 Boys and 50 Girls) reading in various schools in the district of Meerut of Uttar Pradesh state. A standardized tool developed by Bansal V. P and Srivastava D. N. (1975) named "Vocational Interest Record" was used for the collection of primary data. The data were analyzed with the help of Mean, SD, and t-test to study the vocational interests of secondary students. The result revealed that there existed a difference in the vocational interest pattern of secondary school students in different vocational interest areas. The result also revealed that there is a significant difference in the vocational areas of secondary school students in relation to gender variation.


In this study, we investigate the sentiment of social media to predict stock market performance. In particular, we test the relationship between the twitter activity, number of tweets and followers, and the stock return, volume, and volatility of top 82 companies listed on ASX. We obtain a data set of number of tweets and followers from each company's twitter account at end of the fiscal year 2019. Our results indicate that stock return is positively associated with the number of organizations' twitter followers, suggesting firms with high returns are likely to have significant number of followers. Moreover, stock trading volume is positively (negatively) associated with the number of organizations' tweets (twitter followers). These findings suggest that firms with high liquidity tend to have significant flow of tweets information rather than many followers with few tweets. However, we find no evidence suggesting that twitter followers and tweets are associated with stock volatility. This study will assist regulators in understanding to what extent the information on major social media platforms can help investors in their investment decision-making.


A time-of-flight spectrometer with differential pulse sweeping was developed for the mass and energy analysis of ions emitted from liquid metal ion sources. The system was tested with a gallium liquid metal ion source. The angular intensity of the total source current, the mass spectra and the energy spread for , and as function of source current have been measured. A mass and energy resolution of about 700 has been obtained independent of the ion mass.


Metal bound macrocyclic compounds found in biological systems inspired us to design and synthesize two Robson-type macrocyclic Schiff-base chemosensors, H2L1 (H2L1=1,11-dimethyl-6,16-dithia-3,9,13,19-tetraaza-1,11(1,3)-dibenzenacycloicosaphane-2,9,12,19-tetraene-1,11-diol) and H2L2 (H2L2=1,11-dimethyl-6,16-dioxa-3,9,13,19-tetraaza-1,11(1,3)-dibenzenacycloicosaphane-2,9,12,19-tetraene-1,11-diol). Both the chemosensors have been characterized with different spectroscopic techniques. They act as multianalyte sensor and exhibit "turn-on" fluorescence toward different metal ions in 1X PBS (Phosphate Buffered Saline) solution. In presence of Zn2+, Al3+, Cr3+ and Fe3+ ions, H2L1 exhibits ∼6-fold enhancement of emission intensity, while H2L2 shows ∼6-fold enhancement of emission intensity in the presence of Zn2+, Al3+ and Cr3+ ions. The interaction between the different metal ion and chemosensor have been examined by absorption, emission, and 1H NMR spectroscopy as well as by ESI-MS+ analysis. We have successfully isolated and solved the crystal structure of the complex [Zn(H2L1)(NO3)]NO3 (1) by X-ray crystallography. The crystal structure of 1 shows 1:1 metal:ligand stoichiometry and helps to understand the observed PET-Off-CHEF-On sensing mechanism. LOD values of H2L1 and H2L2 toward metal ions are found to be ∼10–8 and ∼10–7 M, respectively. Large Stokes shifts of the probes against analytes (∼100 nm) make them a suitable candidate for biological cell imaging studies. Robson type phenol based macrocyclic fluorescence sensors are very scarce in the literature. Therefore, the tuning of structural parameters as the number and nature of donor atoms, their relative locations and presence of rigid aromatic groups can lead to the design of new chemosensors, which can accommodate different charged/neutral guest(s) inside its cavity. The study of the spectroscopic properties of this type of macrocyclic ligands and their complexes might open a new avenue of chemosensors.


The image of a beacon on the photosensitive plane of pointing sensor in a receiving terminal is usually considered as the acquisition and tracking target of optical antenna for the Free Space Optical Communications (FSOC). The receiver processes the acquired image to ascertain the position of the transmitting terminal by the relevant algorithm. The tracking veracity of the algorithm to a target position is not the same under different conditions. Improving the algorithm veracity could improve the tracking accuracy of optical antenna and guarantee the optical link stabilization. In the paper we proposed that the acquisition position should be ascertained based on the geometric centroid for terrestrial FSOC in the city. Based on the experiment of terrestrial long haul optical link, we analyzed the tracking veracity of the centroid and geometric centroid algorithms for the stationary and locomotory targets under different intensity scintillations. A comparison of the two algorithms is also studied. The results show that the geometric centroid algorithm on ascertaining the acquisition position is superior to the centroid algorithm. This work contributes to the design of FSOC systems.


This study investigates how constraint-based routing decision granularity significantly affects the scalability and blocking performance of QoS routing in an MPLS network. Coarse granularity, such as per-destination, has lower storage and computational overheads but is only suitable for best effort traffic. On the other hand, fine granularity, such as per-flow, provides lower blocking probability for bandwidth requests, but requires a huge number of states and high computational cost. To achieve cost-effective scalability, this study proposes using hybrid granularity schemes. The overflowed cache of the per-pair/flow scheme adds a per-pair cache and a per-flow cache as the routing cache, and performs well in blocking probability. The per-pair/class scheme groups the flows into several paths using routing marks, thus allowing packets to be label-forwarded with a bounded cache.


Background. The aging of liver transplant (LT) recipients, the weighting of the model for end-stage liver disease score, and the increased prevalence of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis has led to an increased number of older LT recipients with pre-LT chronic kidney disease (CKD). There are limited data on the impact of increased recipient age on post-simultaneous liver-kidney (SLK) transplant outcomes among patients with CKD, leading some centers to employ subjective age cutoffs for potential SLK recipients. Methods. We evaluated United Network for Organ Sharing data of adult SLK recipients from February 27, 2002, to December 31, 2018, restricted to recipients with ≥90 days of waiting time and CKD (estimated glomerular filtration rate persistently <60 mL/min/1.73 m2 for ≥90 d using the modification of diet in renal disease-4 equation). We fit mixed-effects Cox regression models (center as random effect) to evaluate the association of recipient age and patient survival. Results. Among 3146 SLK recipients with CKD, nearly two-thirds were 50–64 years of age, while 465 (14.8%) and 93 (3.0%) were 65–69 years and ≥70 years, respectively. Compared with nondiabetic SLK recipients aged 50–59 years, SLK recipients ≥70 years of age without diabetes (hazard ratio, 1.97; 95% CI, 1.20-3.23; P = 0.007) and with diabetes (hazard ratio, 1.90; 95% CI, 1.16-3.09; P = 0.01) had higher mortality compared with the reference group. In absolute terms, SLK recipients ≥70 years of age had 25% lower patient survival at 5 years compared to recipients aged 40–49 years. Conclusions. Although careful selection is required of any SLK recipient, especially those with increased comorbidities, there are no objective data to justify a specific age cutoff <70 years among potential SLK recipients with CKD.


Mechanistic Investigation and Modeling of Asphaltene Deposition by Narmadha Rajan Babu The potential for asphaltene to get precipitated and deposited in wellbore and flowlines under changes in pressure, temperature, and composition of crude oil is a major concern for the oil and gas industry. In this work, an integrated approach to model asphaltene precipitation, aggregation, and deposition on a single platform is presented. It focuses on the development of a deposition simulator that performs thermodynamic modeling using the Perturbed Chain version of the Statistical Associating Fluid Theory Equation of State (PC-SAFT EOS) and depicts the deposition profile by means of a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model based on Finite Element Method (FEM). The developed deposition model for predicting asphaltene deposition in wellbore and pipelines consists of three parameters, one each for precipitation, aggregation, and deposition. The precipitation and aggregation kinetic parameters are calibrated with respect to an NIR spectroscopy experimental technique and the deposition kinetic parameter is calibrated with respect to packed bed column deposition tests. The model not only helps in simulating asphaltene deposition in a packed bed column, but it is also extended to simulate asphaltene deposition in RealView, a wide-gap Couette-Taylor device. The effect of chemical dosage on asphaltene deposition is investigated with the help of a modified version of the developed model, which helps in assessing the inhibitive and dispersive tendencies of the chemicals used to mitigate or remediate asphaltene deposition. The calibrated model parameters are studied as a function temperature and driving force towards precipitation and deposition, and scaling functions are established to scale the parameters from the laboratory-scale to real field conditions. Simulations are performed with the help of the developed asphaltene deposition simulator and the model captures the behavior of asphaltene deposited along the length of the wellbore, for deepwater oil reservoir under gas injection. Simulation methods for oil flow and asphaltene precipitation in the near-wellbore region of the reservoir and inside the production tubing are coupled to provide a comprehensive and wholesome understanding of this complex flow assurance problem. This work contributes to the development of a proficient simulator that can predict asphaltene deposition in both laboratory scale experiments and production tubings.


Interstitial lung disease is occasionally reported in patients with psoriasis as drug-induced pneumonitis secondary to concomitant use of immunosuppressants in most cases. Although few cases have been reported describing the simultaneous existence of psoriasis and interstitial pneumonia, there are no reports that clearly show their direct association. A 55-year-old male known case of psoriasis and hypertension presented to the emergency department with complaints of pain and weakness of bilateral upper limbs following an episode of seizure and shortness of breath on exertion for one year. Following workup, the patient was diagnosed to have interstitial lung disease. There was no history of any immunosuppressant or use of biologics. So, immune dysfunction triggered by psoriasis might have caused the lung fibrotic changes. Careful monitoring of lung and skin lesions is vital for diagnosing psoriasis-associated pneumonia.


After administration of the coumarin anticoagulant racemic warfarin to normal humans, seven fluorescent compounds were chromatographically separated from extracts of their urine. Four of these were identified using mass spectrometry, thin-layer chromatography, and ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy. One metabolic pathway, reduction of the acetonyl side chain of warfarin, resulted in the formation of a second asymmetric carbon atom, and two diastereoisomer alcohols were identified. These warfarin alcohols are structurally similar to pharmacologically active coumarin derivatives. They have not been reported in animal studies. In addition, 6- and 7-hydroxywarfarin were identified. These are the first studies to document the metabolic fate of warfarin in the normal human.


This paper elaborates on the Triple Helix model for measuring the emergence of a knowledge base of socio-economic systems. The 'knowledge infrastructure' is measured using multiple indicators: webometric, scientometric, and technometric. The paper employs this triangulation strategy to examine the current state of the innovation systems of South Korea and the Netherlands. These indicators are thereafter used for the evaluation of the systemness in configurations of university-industry-government relations. South Korea is becoming somewhat stronger than the Netherlands in terms of scientific and technological outputs and in terms of the knowledge-based dynamics; South Korea's portfolio is more traditional than that of the Netherlands. For example, research and patenting in the biomedical sector is underdeveloped. In terms of the Internet-economy, the Netherlands seem oriented towards global trends more than South Korea; this may be due to the high component of services in the Dutch economy.


Nanocomposites are multiphase materials where one of the structural units, either organic or inorganic, is in a defined size range 1-100 nm. In order to prepare organic-inorganic nanocomposites either the particles or the polymers or both can be synthesized "in situ" or used in the final state. When dispersing the nanoparticles, the need of lowering the interface free energy would lead to their agglomeration. Alternatively interactions between inorganic particles and matrix polymer or between particles and an ultrathin layer of surrounding organic molecules must be set up. This is commonly indicated by saying that the inorganic nanoparticles must be compatibilized (Kickelbick 2007). When organic reactive groups are present at the surface of the nanoparticle allowing attachement of matrix polymer molecules, a firm polymer–particle interface can also be obtained. The proper nanoparticle surface engineering can give: 1. good dispersion of NP into polymer at high filler content 2. adjustment of rheology at high filler content 3. covalent bonds between filler and polymer and higher network density 4. Materials with improved mechanical properties (fatigue strength, toughness, scratch resistance...) and flame retardancy and coatings with barrier properties Recently numerous synthesis methods were explored and successfully used to produce organic-inorganic hybrid nanoparticles with controlled defined shapes (core-shell, multinuclear, hairy-like raspberry ...), nanoscale sizes, structure and composition. They have potential applications in a variety of domains, starting from their use as components of advanced both functional than structural nanocomposite materials, where, as reminded above, the engineering of the interface is critical to have good dispersion and for the tailoring of the final properties. The paper will show that the Sol-Gel method is an outstanding route to the synthesis of hybrid nanoparticles and nanocomposites. Generally speaking it gives inorganic high purity materials at mild synthesis conditions (temperature and pH). An outstanding variation is the so called Stober method allowing colloidal particles (with well-defined size and shape and with narrow size distribution) be produced through hydrolysis and polycondensation of silicon alcoxides in water /alcohol /ammonia mixtures. The sol gel method allows, also, easy functionalization of silica nanoparticles with specific organic groups. Many of the hybrid nanoparticles synthesis methods take advantage of all this. The sol gel method finds, however, applications in many other research fields. The aim of this paper is to give also, shortly, a contribution to the knowledge of the basic principles of the method, with


Incident rates of cardiac arrest are reported as being from 0.54 to 17.5 per 10,000 (0.54-17.5/10,000) spinal anesthesia patients. In our hospital, four cases of cardiac arrest occurred in 903 spinal and combined spinal and epidural anesthesia patients over 15 months (44.3/ 10,000). Common denominators were ages below 60 years, ASA-PS 1, rapid onset of T10 blockade within 2 minutes and leg raising from 3 to 6 minutes after administration of hyperbaric bupivacaine and T4 blockade. All patients recovered without any side effects. The conditions suspected of causing strong bradycardia leading to cardiac arrest are thought to be maintained parasympathetic activity, lack of blood volume before anesthesia, rapid progress of spinal blockade, decreased blood return to the heart by high spinal blockade (T4) and protective cardiac parasympathetic reflex (Bezold-Jarisch reflex).


Background: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a potential tool for alleviating various forms of cognitive decline, including memory loss, in older adults. However, past effects of tDCS on cognitive ability have been mixed. One important potential moderator of tDCS effects is the baseline level of cognitive performance. Methods: We tested the effects of tDCS on face‐name associative memory in older adults, who suffer from performance deficits in this task relative to younger adults. Stimulation was applied to the left inferior prefrontal cortex during encoding of face‐name pairs, and memory was assessed with both a recognition and recall task. Results: Face‐name memory performance was decreased with the use of tDCS. This result was driven by increased false alarms when recognizing rearranged face‐name pairs. Conclusions: This result suggests that tDCS can lead to increased false alarm rates in recognition memory, and that effects of tDCS on a specific cognitive task may depend upon cognitive capability for that task.


Daniel Peddle's film The Aggressives makes perceptible an intolerable yet quotidian violence, as the index of our time. Putting queer theories of temporality into proximity with anticolonial ones, this essay seeks to remain aware of what in The Aggressives escapes attempts to contain it yet nonetheless can be felt and perceived even though—or especially if—it remains unrecognizable or unintelligible to our current common senses. We can think of what escapes these operations as the content that exceeds its expression, that through which poetry from the future might be perceived yet not recognized. Poetry from the future interrupts the habitual formation of bodies, and it is an index of a time to come in which what exists potently, even if not (yet) effectively, today but escapes us will find its time.


1.Collection and handling of blood 2. Reference ranges and normal values 3. Basic haematological techniques 4. Preparation and staining methods for blood and bone marrow films 5. Blood cell morphology in health and disease 6. Supplementary techniques including blood parasite diagnosis 7. Bone marrow biopsy 8. Molecular and cytogenetic analysis 9. Iron deficiency anaemia and iron overload 10. Investigation of megaloblastic anaemia: cobalamin, folate and metabolite status 11. Laboratory methods used in the investigation of the haemolytic anaemias 12. Investigation of the hereditary haemolytic anaemias: membrane and enzyme abnormalities 13. Acquired haemolytic anaemias 14. Investigation of abnormal haemoglobins and thalassaemia 15. Erythrocyte and leucocyte cytochemistry 16. Immunophenotyping 17. Diagnostic radioisotopes in haematology 18. Investigation of haemostasis 19. Investigation of a thrombotic tendency 20. Laboratory control of anticoagulant, thrombolytic and antiplatelet therapy 21. Blood cell antigens and antibodies: erythrocytes, platelets and granulocytes 22. Laboratory aspects of blood transfusion 23. Approach to the diagnosis and classification of blood diseases 24. Laboratory organization and management 25. Quality assurance 26. Haematology in under-resourced laboratories 27. Appendix


In the area of traffic sign detection (TSD) methods, deep learning has been implemented and achieves outstanding performance. The detection of a traffic sign, as it has a dual function in monitoring and directing the driver, is a big concern for driver support systems. A core feature of autonomous vehicle systems is the identification of the traffic sign. This article focuses on the prohibitive sign. The objective is to detect in real-time and reduce processing time considerably. In this study, we implement the spatial pyramid pooling (SPP) principle to boost Yolo V3's backbone network for the extraction of functionality. Our work uses SPP for more comprehensive learning of multiscale object features. Then, perform a comparative investigation of Yolo V3 and Yolo V3 SPP across various scales to recognize the prohibitory sign. Comparisons with Yolo V3 SPP models reveal that their mean average precision (mAP) is higher than Yolo V3. Furthermore, the test accuracy findings indicate that the Yolo V3 SPP model performs better than Yolo V3 for different sizes.


Falls associated injuries often result not only increasing the medical-, social- and care-cost but also loss of mobility, impair chronic health and even potential risk of fatality. Because of elderly population growth, it is one of the major global public health problems. To address such issue, we present a Deep Learning enabled Fall Detection (DLFD) method exploiting Gait Analysis. More in details, firstly, we propose a framework for fall detection system. Secondly, we discussed the proposed DLFD method which exploits fall and non-fall RGB video to extract gait features using MediaPipe framework, applies normalization algorithm and classifies using bi-directional Long Short-Term Memory (bi-LSTM) model. Finally, the model is tested on collected three public datasets of $434\mathrm{x}2$ videos(more than 1 million frames) which consists of different activities and varieties of falls. The experimental results show that the model can achieve the accuracy of 96.35% and reveals the effectiveness of the proposal. This could play a significant role to alleviate falls problem by immediate alerting to emergency and relevant teams for taking necessary actions. This will speed up the assistance proceedings, reduce the risk of prolonged injury and save lives.


Abstract:
 Morphological and functional characteristics of flowers have been the primary criterion for traditional plant taxonomy and systematic classification because of their assumed constancy among individuals within a population. The effects of resource competition and pollen limitation from those of inflorescence architecture were separately studied during flowering season of the species to investigate patterns of investment allocation and fruit set among flowers within inflorescences of Sedum praealtum. I found that architecture was primarily accountable for the variation observed in reproductive traits of flowers within inflorescences. Specifically, the S. praealtum inflorescences exhibit a proximal to distal investment allocation sequence from female-biased to male-biased flowers, whereas the observed differences in fruit set were at least partially attributable to pollen limitation in distal-positioned flowers. Given the opportunity for different contributions of female and male functions to reproductive success, potential gender specialization of flowers at different positions within the inflorescence are discussed.


: The (R/S)-5-hydroxy-4-hydroxymethyl-3-oxapent-2-yl derivatives of the uracil, thymidine, cytosine, adenine, guanine and 1,2,4-triazol-3-carboxamide were synthesized using 1,3-diacetoxy-2-(1-acetoxy)propane and 1,3-dichloro-2-(1-chlorethoxy)propane as alkylating agents. The guanine derivatives exhibited activity against HSV-1 (chemotherapeutic index 32).


We introduce new jailbreak attacks on vision language models (VLMs), which use aligned LLMs and are resilient to text-only jailbreak attacks. Specifically, we develop cross-modality attacks on alignment where we pair adversarial images going through the vision encoder with textual prompts to break the alignment of the language model. Our attacks employ a novel compositional strategy that combines an image, adversarially targeted towards toxic embeddings, with generic prompts to accomplish the jailbreak. Thus, the LLM draws the context to answer the generic prompt from the adversarial image. The generation of benign-appearing adversarial images leverages a novel embedding-space-based methodology, operating with no access to the LLM model. Instead, the attacks require access only to the vision encoder and utilize one of our four embedding space targeting strategies. By not requiring access to the LLM, the attacks lower the entry barrier for attackers, particularly when vision encoders such as CLIP are embedded in closed-source LLMs. The attacks achieve a high success rate across different VLMs, highlighting the risk of cross-modality alignment vulnerabilities, and the need for new alignment approaches for multi-modal models.


A double-fed printed monopole antenna having a wideband characteristic is presented. The monopole is rectangular in shape and is fed by a 50 ohms two-branch microstrip line. The antenna is designed and prototyped on a FR4 substrate. Both the simulated and measured results for impedance bandwidth are presented together with measured radiation patterns. The impedance bandwidth of the antenna is 2.2 GHz to 7.5 GHz covering all WLAN bands and frequencies in between. The antenna possesses approximately.omni-directional radiation properties throughout this bandwidth. It is easily fabricated using low-cost printed circuit technology. In addition this antenna is mechanically stable and readily Integratable with various mobile and portable devices.


Angle‐resolved polarized transmission spectra of thin‐film opals are studied experimentally and theoretically as a function of the azimuthal rotation of the plane of incidence at different angles of light incidence. In such 3‐dimensional lattices, the refraction acquires the form of diffraction orders, each with a distinct spectrum, that propagate simultaneously along different directions. The corresponding continuous and patchy stop‐bands in the photonic energy band structure of the opal photonic crystal are determined numerically. For diffraction at high Miller index planes, the diffraction pattern is often distorted due to multiple‐wave diffraction. The finite stacking of hexagonally close‐packed layers leads to an intrinsic 3‐fold rotation symmetry of these spectra, which is particularly pronounced in transmission for frequencies that correspond to wave vectors within the 1st Brillouin zone. Despite the cubic symmetry of the opal lattice, cross‐polarization coupling effects occur in the volume of the opal crystal. These effects are associated with the fact that, the opal eigenmodes are Bloch waves whose electromagnetic field distributions and dispersion relations are markedly different from plane waves.


Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is a radiation therapy for cancer that employs a neutron beam and a /sup 10/B-loaded drug to selectively kill tumor cells whilst sparing surrounding healthy tissues (HT). In conventional radiation therapy, treatment planning systems (TPSs) implementing simplified models of radiation transport and dose deposition allow to efficiently optimize all the relevant parameters prior to the patient's irradiation. This simplified approach is not feasible in BNCT, because the presence of neutrons requires the use of more complex radiation transport models. For this reason, current BNCT TPSs routinely perform several radiation transport simulations based on the Monte Carlo method. Our team has been involved in BNCT TPS research since 1996, introducing the original trait of employing in the simulation a three-dimensional map of the highly heterogeneous boron distribution in tissues, obtained through PET scanning of the target region. This approach differs markedly from the standard one, in which boron concentration is assumed to be uniform in each "macro region" within the patient's head, and its value is estimated on the basis of blood sampling. The first result of this research was the prototype software CARONTE, employed to test the feasibility of the new approach and to carry out a comparative study by applying the two different approaches to the same test case. The results, presented in this paper in terms of the computed physical dose rate due to the /sup 10/B reaction, show how the different assumptions made in the two approaches can significantly influence important TP parameters. This led to the development of Boron Distribution TP Software (BDTPS), an original and complete TPS. The different phases of the experimental validation of BDTPS, which included the design and construction of an ad hoc phantom able to host a number of vials loaded with /sup 10/B solutions, is presented here. The phantom, which subsequently underwent computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography (PET) scanning, was irradiated in the High Flux Reactor (HFR) at JRC, Petten, The Netherlands.


Oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) is a process to directly convert methane into ethylene. However, its ethylene yield is limited in conventional reactors by the nature of the reaction system. In this work, the integration of different membranes to increase the overall performance of the large-scale oxidative coupling of methane process has been investigated from a techno-economic point of view. A 1D membrane reactor model has been developed, and the results show that the OCM reactor yield is significantly improved when integrating either porous or dense membranes in packed bed reactors. These higher yields have a positive impact on the economics and performance of the downstream separation, resulting in a cost of ethylene production of 595–625 €/tonC2H4 depending on the type of membranes employed, 25–30% lower than the benchmark technology based on oil as feedstock (naphtha steam cracking). Despite the use of a cryogenic separation unit, the porous membranes configuration shows generally better results than dense ones because of the much larger membrane area required in the dense membranes case. In addition, the CO2 emissions of the OCM studied processes are also much lower than the benchmark technology (total CO2 emissions are reduced by 96% in the dense membranes case and by 88% in the porous membranes case, with respect to naphtha steam cracking), where the high direct CO2 emissions have a major impact on the process. However, the scalability and the issues associated with it seem to be the main constraints to the industrial application of the process, since experimental studies of these membrane reactor technologies have been carried out just on a very small scale.


Configuring network devices in a large network needs a relatively long time when manually configured by a network administrator. Thus, it will make the possibility of error in writing configuration commands becomes even greater. The concept of network automation can be a solution to these problems. The configuration process will be centralized. A programming language is needed in order to make the concept of network automation to communicate between the central computer and all devices in the network. In this research, two libraries in the Python programming language are used, namely Paramiko and Netmiko to enable dynamic routing processes on routers wherein the routing protocol used is Open Shortest Path First (OSPF). The experiment results of a comparative test of the performance of the network automation process show that the use of the Paramiko library provides a 4.14 time faster configuration time than Netmiko.


Recent studies have reported a widening in the relative mortality gap between the socioeconomic classes in several industrialized western countries. The present paper aims to determine whether or not education-related differentials in mortality have increased between 1981/82 and 1991/92 in Austria, and compares the findings with those from other European countries, the USA and New Zealand. For the Austrian analysis the source of the data is based on a one year mortality follow up of the entire Austrian census population, and contains for the examined population aged 30-74 in total 3,805,208 individual records for 1981/82 and 4,064,184 records for 1991/92 of which 34,218 and 29,443 were deceased. The study applies a sophisticated measure of inequality that takes into account the relative position of the educational groups, since changing educational compositions over time may reduce comparability. The findings suggest that educational inequalities in mortality have widened in Austria, but more among men than among women. The Austrian results are similar to patterns observed in the other countries. However, the international trends vary with regard to age groups and sex.


Immunostimulants are greatly required for the upregulation of immunity to fight against viral and bacterial infections and cancers. Bell peppers (Capsicum annuum L.), eaten as vegetables, are rich sources of vitamin C and E, provitamin A, β-carotene, and numerous phenolic compounds. Antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-mutagenic and anti-inflammatory properties of Bell peppers were reported. Our research group for the first time reported the immunomodulatory activities of Bell peppers. In this study, we evaluated the antibody production abilities of two different colored Bell peppers (red and green) in the culture of antibody producing splenic B cells of mice. Antibodies and the number of viable cells were determined by an ELISA and MTT assays, respectively. Red Bell pepper Extract (RBPE) at the doses of (0.375, 0.75, 1.5, and 2.25 mg/mL) significantly augmented the production of polyclonal IgM and IgG antibodies in-vitro. The highest amount of IgM antibody production was observed by the dose of 1.5 mg/kg which was 3 times higher than that of the untreated cells. Similarly, RBPE also enhanced the production of IgG antibody in the culture of murine splenic B cells. On the contrary, cultural treatment of murine splenic B cells with Green Bell pepper Extract (GBPE) could not stimulate the B cells, and hence, failed to produce neither IgM nor IgG antibody. Thus the current findings suggest that consumption of Red Bell Pepper extract or its vegetables, not green pepper, may be beneficial to strengthen humoral immune responses.
Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Journal 24(1): 45-53, 2021


The use of alternative electrical energy sources to batteries is of particular significance to remote sensor systems. A vibration-powered micro-generator, based on a screen printed piezoelectric material, is proposed for this purpose. Theoretical and experimental results show that 2 µW can be generated for a vibration frequency of only 80 Hz. The device is not optimized and significant improvements are envisaged in the future.


Based on 42,063 airport reviews collected from Google Maps, we conducted a sentiment analysis and a topic modeling. We showed that the sentiment scores computed from textual reviews are good estimates of their paired star-ratings (r=0.63, p<0.01). Next, using the LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation), we extracted latent topics from the textual reviews and compared them with the standard categories utilized in the Airport Service Quality survey (ASQ). The topics extracted from reviews correspond well with the categories used in ASQ. We, in turn, compared the online ratings with the ratings annually updated by ASQ. While online reviews discuss almost identical topics with those of ASQ, the correlation between the ratings from two was weak (r=0.2). We suggest that the text mining approach using online reviews not only provides an inexpensive, dynamic, and locally customizable means of monitoring airport quality but also complements the standard survey by offering an alternative metric.


This study analyzed the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission patterns of 'S' University in Korea to develop an energy consumption & CO2 emission reduction plan for university buildings. According to the analysis, a total of 7,698 tCO2 were produced. Among them, nearly 60% was consumed for electricity. Therefore, it is quite urgent to develop a decent energy consumption & CO2 emission reduction plan.


Since the publication of Four Quartets as a complete poem in 1944, the question of meaning, of how to understand the poem, has remained foremost in the mind of the reader. Insight into T.S. Eliot's last major work of prose has run the gamut of interpretive (and evaluative) schools; yet, as perhaps should be the case, exact meaning eludes the critic. That this is a major work of modernism goes without saying, but the analysis of historicism is tied to one, timely dimension. As a religious poem the reverence of its lines ascends into the realms of metaphysics, but simultaneously they lack a dogma and just as easily connect the reader to the corporeal, gritty fundaments of life. A rhetorical reading resonates with the overt linguistic structures prefigured by Eliot himself, but after it is all said and done the experience remains architectural at best. The purpose and method of this thesis are interconnected. The attempt is not to assume or criticize any discipline of analysis, but rather to "care" for, or "curate" the images that Eliot has placed in this work. Through the overlay, the map if you will, of the labyrinth, the effort has been made only to suggest that meaning is a movement, like a river, developed between the poem and the reader. How or why such a relationship works is not the focus; the "focus," if that is the word to be used, is simply to cultivate an awareness of movement, and an awareness of meaning. Just as when we are lost in a maze we ask "what if," what if we were to follow this path here, where does this thread take us, and how deep?


Interface quality is an important factor for the functionality of semiconductor modern devices. Routinely, these characteristics are probed qualitatively by photoluminescence. However, quantitative microscopic structural information to corroborate models is not commonly available. Among different techniques, atomic resolution transmission electron microscopy images represent the basic experimental method to analyze the quality of buried interfaces. In this work we describe the analysis of chemical changes determined from the quantitative comparison of intensity distribution across an interface in high resolution transmission electronic microscopy (HRTEM) images. We have shown that a careful analysis of HRTEM images contrast can provide extremely useful quantitative information on interface roughness. We have characterized four different samples of InGaP/GaAs quantum wells grown with different interfacial schemes. Limits in the quantification from different sources, such as sample preparation, sampling, an...


Background: Elimination targets for Plasmodium vivax are approaching, with the Cambodian target of 2025. Quantitative tools can assess if proposed strategies are likely to be sufficient to meet those targets. Methods: We calibrated the Optima Malaria transmission model to reported case data from 2011–2018 for six provinces with different transmission levels. The model had two human populations: males aged 15 years and older, and everyone else. We assessed the addition of the new low-dose primaquine intervention (0.25 mg/kg daily x 14 days) for diagnosed P. vivax infections where males aged 15 years and older were prescribed primaquine after testing glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrognase normal to the 2018 status quo (blood-stage treatment only). Results were evaluated over stochastic iterations of the calibrated compartmental model, incorporating best and worst case interpretations of the available case data given uncertainty over underlying P. vivax incidence in 2020. Results: Under 2018 status quo conditions in the absence of primaquine radical cure, we found that P. vivax elimination would be unlikely to be achieved by 2040 in any province. Elimination by 2025 was not projected in any province even with best case assumptions for primaquine intervention coverage, G6PD-based eligibility, and primaquine efficacy; however, we estimated that the addition of the primaquine intervention could reduce P. vivax transmission by 67%-83% by 2025. We found that sustained application of the primaquine intervention was likely to result in elimination by 2040 in all six provinces with best case estimated baseline incidence, and in the two lowest incidence provinces with worst case baseline incidence. Conclusions: Without additional novel interventions, the primaquine radical cure (0.25 mg/kg daily x 14 days targeting adult males with diagnosed P. vivax infections) is not projected to result in elimination from any province by the 2025 target even under the most optimistic interpretation of the available case data. However, the implementation of a primaquine intervention in Cambodia is likely to have a substantial impact on transmission of P. vivax and may make elimination feasible over the longer term.


Tomographic Diractive Microscopy is a technique, which permits to image transparent living specimens in three dimensions without staining. It is commonly implemented in two configurations, by either rotating the sample illumination keeping the specimen fixed, or by rotating the sample using a fixed illumination. Under the first-order Born approximation, the volume of the frequency domain that can be mapped with the rotating illumination method has the shape of a "doughnut", which exhibits a so-called "missing cone" of non-captured frequencies, responsible for the strong resolution anisotropy characteristic of transmission microscopes. When rotating the sample, the resolution is almost isotropic, but the set of captured frequencies still exhibits a missing part, the shape of which resembles that of an apple core. Furthermore, its maximal extension is reduced compared to tomography with rotating illumination. We propose various configurations for tomographic diractive microscopy, which combine both approaches, and aim at obtaining a high and isotropic resolution. We illustrate with simulations the expected imaging performances of these configurations.


ABSTRACT Legumes establish symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing rhizobia through root nodules to acquire nitrogen. Legumes control nodule number through systemic (autoregulation of nodulation) as well as local regulation. Moreover, plants defend themselves against bacteria and other pathogens through the induction of localized (localized acquired resistance) and systemic (SAR, systemic acquired resistance; ISR, induced systemic resistance) responses. Herein, we show that the number of root nodules is suppressed by programmed cell death (PCD), and is simultaneously controlled by SAR and ISR in soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.). The wild-type soybean cultivar Williams 82 showed markedly fewer root nodule primordia and PCD symptoms, including accelerated DNA degradation, enhanced generation of reactive oxygen species (visualized by 3,3′-diaminobenzidine staining), and excessive cell death (detected on staining with trypan blue) compared to the hypernodulation mutant NOD1-3. These results suggest that PCD suppresses the formation of root nodules in wild-type soybean. In addition, microarray and gene ontology analyses showed that essential components of hypersensitive response (HR) or disease resistance, such as resistance (R) genes, mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade, SAR, salicylic acid, jasmonic acid, ethylene, etc., were activated in wild-type plants. These analyses corroborate the above findings, demonstrating that the suppression of root nodule formation by PCD is accompanied by HR, and is simultaneously controlled by SAR and ISR in soybean. These findings provide new insight into the control of nodulation to balance nutritional requirements and energy status in legumes.


The postcondensation of nylon 6 in the solid state was studied. The reactions were carried out on fine powder in a fluidized bed reactor in a stream of dry nitrogen in the temperature range 110-205°C and during 1-24 h. The solid-state polymerization (SSP) did not follow melt kinetics, but was found to be limited by the diffusion of the autocatalyzing acid chain end group. Factors thought to influence SSP were studied, e.g., heat treatment, starting molecular weight, and remelting. Surprisningly, heat treatment had little effect, but the starting molecular weight had a strong effect on the reaction rate. The higher the starting molecular weight, the faster the reaction. This could be explained as a changing concentration distribution of the reactive groups in the solid state on SSP. The kinetics of the SSP had more than one region, and the rate of reaction for conversions of over 30% could be expressed as - dc/dt = k(c/t), where k is a dimensionless constant independent of temperature with a value of 0.28. The integrated form has the form - In(c/co) = k In(t/), where co is the acid end-group concentration at the start, t is the reaction time, and is the induction time. The value of is both dependent on the starting concentration co and the reaction temperature and has an activation energy of 105 kJ/mol.


Objective—Postprandial hyperglycemia observed in type 2 diabetes mellitus is a risk factor for atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of strict glycemic control by nateglinide on common carotid far wall intima-media thickness in type 2 diabetic patients who were already under good glycemic control. Methods and Results—We performed an open labeled randomized prospective trial on 78 drug-naive type 2 diabetic patients whose HbA1c was less than 6.5%. Thirty-eight patients were randomly assigned to receive nateglinide (270 mg/dL) and 40 to control group (no treatment). After 12 months, a significant reduction in HbA1c was observed in the nateglinide group, whereas a significant increase of HbA1c was observed in the untreated group. The carotid intima-media thickness at the end of 1-year follow-up was significantly reduced in the nateglinide group compared with the untreated group (−0.017±0.054 mm/year versus 0.024±0.066 mm/year, P=0.0064). Whereas nateglinide treatment also reduced triglyceride, highly-sensitive C-reactive protein, and E-selectin, multiple regression analysis identified HbA1c as the only significant independent determinant of the change in carotid intima-media thickness. Conclusion—In type 2 diabetic patients with good glycemic control, further strict glycemic control by nateglinide results in regression of carotid intima-media thickness.


First-principles chemical shielding tensor predictions play a critical role in studying molecular crystal structures using nuclear magnetic resonance. Fragment-based electronic structure methods have dramatically improved the ability to model molecular crystal structures and energetics using high-level electronic structure methods. Here, a many-body expansion fragment approach is applied to the calculation of chemical shielding tensors in molecular crystals. We begin by exploring the impact of truncating the many-body expansion at different orders and the role of electrostatic embedding are examined on a series of molecular clusters extracted from molecular crystals. We then assess the quality of fragment-based ab initio isotropic $^{13}$C, $^{15}$N and $^{17}$O chemical shift predictions for a collection of molecular crystals with a variety of commonly used density functionals. We explore the relative performance of cluster, two-body fragment, combined cluster/fragment, and the planewave gauge-including projector augmented wave (GIPAW) models relative to experiment. When electrostatic embedding is employed to capture many-body polarization effects, the simple and computationally inexpensive two-body fragment model predicts isotropic $^{13}$C chemical shifts and the chemical shielding tensors as well as both cluster models and the GIPAW approach. Compared with $^{13}$C, fragment-methods give larger RMS errors relative to experiment for both $^{15}$N and $^{17}$O nuclei. However, $^{15}$N displays similar performance to $^{13}$C with electrostatically embedded two-body fragment methods yielding comparable performance with both cluster and cluster/fragment methods. In the case of $^{17}$O, local many-body effects make a combined cluster/fragment approach necessary for accurate treatment of the chemical shielding. In every case, hybrid functionals predict chemical shifts in noticeably better agreement with experiment than generalized gradient approximation (GGA) functionals. Finally, we asses the ability of these techniques to correctly identify molecular crystal polymorphs and to assign experimental chemical shifts to atoms on individual monomers in the asymmetric unit cell for: sulfanilamide, testosterone, 2-aminobenzoic acid, phenobarbital, and the three colored polymorphs of 5-methyl-2-[(2-nitrophenyl)amino]-3-thiophenecarbonitrile. Many of these systems provide challenging examples of NMR crystallography that require the discrimination among spectra whose $^{13}$C chemical shifts differ by only a few parts per million (ppm) across the different polymorphs. Fragment-based PBE0/6-311+G(2d,p) level chemical shielding predictions correctly assign the polymorphic forms for each of these systems, often reproducing the experimental $^{13}$C chemical shifts with 1 ppm accuracy.


In this study the end milling is used to optimize and analyse the aluminium materials using different parameters, like speed, feed, depth. This influence is usually reflected in other variables and parameters (output), such as, among others, forces, temperature, tool life and tool wear. Cutting force is one of the most relevant output variables since the information that can provide for the machining process evaluation. So the material is analyzed and optimized using the analysis software and optimization software, and to obtain the result according to the inputs of speed, feed, depth given


The adsorption and dissociation of water on the oxygen pre-covered Cu(110) surface are studied with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). At room temperature, oxygen atoms are adsorbed on the Cu(110) surface and self-assembled into ordered (21) Cu-O chains along the[001] direction. The relative proportion of clean and (21) O-strips can be tuned by the sample exposure time to oxygen gas. When the oxygen pre-covered Cu(110) sample is exposed to water molecules at 77 K, the water molecules are adsorbed at the edges and on the top of the Cu-O chains. On the bare Cu(110) surface, we observe the formation of a hexagonal structure right next to the Cu-O stripes at 77 K. This is different from the water molecule adsorption on the clean Cu(110) surface, in which water molecules are adsorbed and self-assembled into ordered zig-zag chains along the[001] direction. While on oxygen pre-covered Cu(110) surface, water molecules prefer to hydrogen bond with oxygen atoms inside the Cu-O chains and then bond with the other water molecules, forming stable hexagonal network. From our earlier STM results, we find that water forms zig-zag chains only when oxygen pre-coverage is lower than 0.125 ML. On the top of hexagonal network, we observe the bright spots and attribute them to the 2nd layer water clusters. The fact that the 2nd layer clusters form on the top of the hexagonal water-hydroxyl regions rather than at the other locations on the Cu(110) surface indicates that the mixed hexagonal network may have more H-dangling bonds that facilitate the 2nd layer growth. In order to remove the upper layer water molecules, we apply a 5 V bias voltage for scanning, for which the tunneling electrons provide enough energy for overcoming the water desorption and dissociation barrier (0.5-0.55 eV at UHV and low temperature). With the excitation of tunneling electrons from the tip, the water molecules in the hexagonal network react with oxygen atoms inside the Cu-O chains (H2O+O2OH). According to Forster proposed Bjerrum defect model, the hexagonal network is formed by water donating hydrogen to hydroxyl, in which two hydrogen atoms are located between two adjacent oxygen atoms. Our results demonstrate that the oxygen atoms pre-adsorbed on the Cu(110) surface act as nucleation centers for water adsorption and catalyze its dissociation, which is important in water gas shift reaction study. However, we still need more X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy experiments to certify whether the water molecules react with the pre-covered oxygen atoms at low temperature (below 100 K).


In this article, we investigate the impact of radio irregularity on wireless sensor networks. Radio irregularity is a common phenomenon that arises from multiple factors, such as variance in RF sending power and different path losses, depending on the direction of propagation. From our experiments, we discover that the variance in received signal strength is largely random; however, it exhibits a continuous change with incremental changes in direction. With empirical data obtained from the MICA2 and MICAZ platforms, we establish a radio model for simulation, called the Radio Irregularity Model (RIM). This model is the first to bridge the discrepancy between the spherical radio models used by simulators and the physical reality of radio signals. With this model, we investigate the impact of radio irregularity on several upper layer protocols, including MAC, routing, localization and topology control. Our results show that radio irregularity has a relatively larger impact on the routing layer than the MAC layer. It also shows that radio irregularity leads to larger localization errors and makes it harder to maintain communication connectivity in topology control. To deal with these issues, we present eight solutions to deal with radio irregularity. We evaluate three of them in detail. The results obtained from both the simulations and a running testbed demonstrate that our solutions greatly improve system performance in the presence of radio irregularity.


Abstract  Carcinosarcomas of the ureter are rare biphasic neoplasms, with distinct malignant epithelial and mesenchymal components. To the authors' knowledge there have been only 12 cases reported in the literature. Primary cartilaginous tumors of the ureter are also rare tumors. Thus far there has been a single case report of an extraskeletal mesenchymal chondrosarcoma of the ureter in the German literature. Herein a unique case is reported of ureteral carcinosarcoma in an 81‐year‐old woman presenting with gross hematuria in which the sarcomatous component had extraskeletal mesenchymal chondrosarcomatous differentiation. This is thought to be the first reported case of a carcinosarcoma with such a differentiation in the sarcomatous component.


One requirement for the effective operation of the public domain at the expiry of copyright in a work is that at least one copy of the work be available to the public for subsequent reproduction by anyone. In Australia, this requirement is satisfied for print works by 'legal deposit' provisions in federal law and that of various States. These provisions, however, do not apply to audio-visual works (now very often digital), nor to texts published in digital form. There is therefore no guarantee that a copy of a published digital work will be in a publicly accessible repository when its copyright expires. In addition, if such digital works are increasingly only accessible through access control systems, or distributed with technological protection measures, it is possible that copyright in these materials may expire with no copy that can be accessed technically being available. This Submission is a response to the '2007 Discussion Paper on the Extension of Legal Deposit' published by the Australian Attorney-General's Department, exploring the extension of the legal deposit scheme to include audio-visual and electronic material. The Discussion Paper does not specifically mention the importance of legal deposit schemes to the maintenance of a healthy public domain in Australia. In the submission we suggest a number of ways in which a potential expansion of the legal deposit scheme may be drafted and implemented, in order to ensure that public rights in audio-visual and digital materials are protected, both during and upon the expiration of their copyright terms. The extension of the legal deposit scheme to audiovisual and electronic materials, is now a matter of urgency because of the extension of the copyright term by an extra 20 years. Following are some of the main recommendations we make. There should be two criteria for inclusion of audio-visual and electronic materials in legal deposit: (i) For any materials (except free access materials on the Internet), if they are sold, or distributed for free, deposit by the publisher should be required under the same conditions as would make a person a 'publisher' in relation to print materials. This would apply to all materials sold on CD, DVD or other medium, or delivered via the Internet by any means other than the World-wide-web). (ii) All materials available for free access on the Internet should be included, and provision by that means should be considered to be publication. Depository institutions should be entitled to make copies of such materials for the purposes of legal deposit, without the publisher being required to provide a copy. They should be authorised by law to ignore robot exclusion protocols for this purpose. However, if the publisher uses any technical means to prevent the depository institution collecting a copy of the materials, a depository institution may require deposit of copies as with (i). Publishers of any materials (except free access materials on the Internet) should be required to required to submit material in the best quality format in which it is provided to those to whom it is published. However, if the depository is unable to display the materials in the same way that these recipients can display or use the materials, it may require the publisher to either (i) provide software to allow such display or use; or (ii) provide the material in another format in which it can be read by the depository institution with no significant loss of functionality. Where material is available for free access on the Internet, its provision by that means will normally satisfy the legal deposit requirements, except where the depository institution cannot download the material by automated means, in which case it will be entitled to require provision of the data in accordance with the previous paragraph. Both electronic and print versions of a work should be required to be deposited, if both are published. Legal deposit should apply to broadcasts. The default position should be not that broadcasters have an obligation to deposit copies but rather that the repository has the right to collect copies from the broadcast itself. Depositories should also be given the right to require copies of broadcasts from broadcasters where they have not collected the broadcast when it was broadcast. Depository institutions should have the right, within the legislative competence of the Australian Commonwealth Parliament, to require the deposit of materials hosted outside Australia which are published on the Australian (.au) county domain or created by Australians or otherwise considered to be of cultural significance to Australia. Depository institutions should have the legal right to make copies of free access web sites (whether or not they are located in Australia) containing legal deposit materials for the purposes of the legal deposit scheme, and to make them searchable. The Copyright Act should confirm that depository institutions (and perhaps other search engine providers) are entitled to do this. In relation to deposited materials in which copyright has expired, there should be no restriction on access and reproduction. No publisher should be able to impose any such restrictions as a condition of deposit. Steps should be taken to prevent TPMs imposing such restrictions. In relation to materials in which copyright has not yet expired, on-site depository access should be permitted, for a single user. More liberal access should be provided to materials that are no longer commercially available. These forms of access should allow users to exercise rights of use of the materials allowed by the Copyright Act. Depository institutions should be part of a national scheme to identify which materials they hold that are no longer protected by copyright, and should be entitled to require information to be provided to them at the time of deposit so as to assist them to determine this. Consideration should be given to making searchable the full texts of all Australian legal deposit materials in which copyright has expired. Consideration should be given as to whether the Copyright Act should allow depository institutions to make the full texts of deposited materials searchable, provided they only provide the minimum amount of contextual information in any search results (or confirm they may do so).


Internet users are shifting from searching on traditional media to social network platforms (SNPs) to retrieve up-to-date and valuable information. SNPs have two unique characteristics: frequent content update and small world phenomenon. However, existing works are not able to support these two features simultaneously. To address this problem, we develop a general framework to enable real time personalized top-k query. Our framework is based on a general ranking function that incorporates time freshness, social relevance and textual similarity. To ensure efficient update and query processing, there are two key challenges. The first is to design an index structure that is update-friendly while supporting instant query processing. The second is to efficiently compute the social relevance in a complex graph. To address these challenges, we first design a novel 3D cube inverted index to support efficient pruning on the three dimensions simultaneously. Then we devise a cube based threshold algorithm to retrieve the top-k results, and propose several pruning techniques to optimize the social distance computation, whose cost dominates the query processing. Furthermore, we optimize the 3D index via a hierarchical partition method to enhance our pruning on the social dimension. Extensive experimental results on two real world large datasets demonstrate the efficiency and the robustness of our proposed solution.


The overall objective of this study was to examine the relative efficiency of farmers in various age groups. Nine Hundred sixty-four sole proprietors, who were members of the Kansas Farm Management Association (KFMA) with continuous data from 2002-2006, were split up into four groups based on age. Comparing the fourth age group (over 65 years of age) to the first age group (under or equal to 45 years of age) was of primary importance in this study. Comparisons were made utilizing variables pertaining to farm size and tenure, specialization, efficiency, liquidity, and solvency. In this study, there are four age groups; under or equal to 45 years, 46 to 55 years, 56 to 65 years, and greater than 65 years old. T-tests were used to compare variables among age groups. Nineteen variables were statistically different between age groups one and four. The fourth age group performed poorly in terms of cost efficiency. Based on the results, the fourth age group had a difficult time covering unpaid labor and capital expenses. Discriminant analysis was used to determine which variables discriminate the most between age groups. The top three variables in this discriminant analysis were the asset turnover ratio, the economic total expense ratio, and percent acres owned. The top three variables in the discriminant analysis involving groups one and four were the debt to asset ratio, asset turnover ratio, and net farm income.


The aim of the research has been to evaluate the contribution of the genre of bilingual literature, Arabic and Hebrew, to citizenship education. Since the Israeli society is a multicultural society comprised of both nations, Arabs and Jews who live in conflicted environment, one must regard those textbooks as civic agents. Literature is a socialization agent and as such it is an active influential factor in children's mental environment. Choosing literary pieces adapted to children's life is important, since literature, by its essence, is about values, and its function is to mold the child's character as an adult citizen. According the typology of Westheimer and Kahne (2003), the notion of being a good citizen is comprised of three types: the responsible citizen, the participatory citizen and the justice citizen. The content analysis procedure, based on Krrippendorff (2004), revealed that most the stories, hence, ten out the thirteen deal with the two elevated types of citizenship, namely, the participatory citizen and the justice citizen. Inspire of the fact that we are dealing with children's literature, the authors of bilingual children literature do not belittle the capacity of children to grasp their role as citizens in multicultural society.


New hippocampi for old While A Fo Ben recognises that only a limited number of mice attend the average neurology clinic, occasionally murine news is sufficiently noteworthy to merit a mention. We have known for some time that new neurones are produced in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus in adult animals and that these cells may account for up to 10% of the granule cell layer. However, although cell death in the dentate occurs in several mood and cognitive disorders, there are no data on the behavioural effects of increasing adult neurogenesis. Here, mice with a gain-of-function mutation that increased survival of adult-born hippocampal neurones showed increased ability to discriminate between salient and non-salient fear stimuli, a behaviour dependent on the dentate gyrus. Importantly, increases in adult neurogenesis can follow interventions such as chronic antidepressant use and this study suggests that neurogenesis perhaps contributes to the long-term effects of these drugs.


Abstract Carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotope variations in baleen plates of sei whales (Balaenoptera borealis) stranded after a mass mortality event in Chilean Patagonia were investigated to assess potential dietary and migratory patterns. Carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of seven baleens from six individuals were analyzed. The δ13C values ranged from − 19.1 to − 15.9‰ and the δ15N values from 8.7 to 15.4‰. Variations of up to 2.9‰ for δ13C and 5.3‰ for δ15N were observed within one baleen. Carbon and nitrogen isotope records of each baleen were significantly correlated and showed recurring oscillations confirmed by wavelet analyses. Oscillations slightly differed in periodicity indicating variable baleen growth rates between 10.0 and 16.5 cm/year. Food sources of the whales are discussed in terms of available isotope data for potential prey taxa and potential migratory behavior on the basis of latitudinal isotope gradients of particulate organic matter. Cyclicity could be explained by regular migrations of the sei whales from subtropical calving areas to high‐latitude foraging grounds. δ15N records of baleens differed between individuals eventually pointing to diverse feeding and migratory preferences among sei whale individuals.


Kavita Kané's Lanka's Princess is the retelling of Ramayana from the perspective of the often misrepresented and misunderstood character of Surpankha, the daughter of rishi (sage) Vishravas and rakshasi (monster) Kaiskesi. Kavita Kané uses myths as a pretext to defy the idea of an ideal femininity in her book. Kané's representation humanizes the character of Surpankha (translation: woman with sharp fingernails) who was born as the beautiful princess Meenakshi, but her defiant demeanor caused her brother Ravan to give her the name of Surpankha. Kané's work exhibits the inner thought process of an unwelcome girl child in the family who has always been ignored by her mother and overshadowed by her brothers. The "violent restlessness" which is appreciated in the behavior of Ravan as a marker of heroism is often criticized when embodied by Meenakshi (Kané 28). The present study undertakes a textual analysis of Lanka's Princess and further analyzes how Kavita Kané's reinterpretation of the marginalized character of Surpankha challenges the stereotypical characterization of Surpankha as the "other" of Sita, who is the embodiment of obedience. In this light, the rewriting of Surpankha's story by Kavita Kané focuses on the neglected aspects of Surpankha's identity, which have been crucial in the formation of her female subjectivity. Moreover, Lanka's Princess as a text strives to liberate her from the stereotypical image of a disfigured monster by demonstrating her as a woman "who has survived hatred, loss, and rejection" (Arekar 131). This research has the potential to invigorate and intensify the impulse to challenge the universally accepted patriarchal discourse concerning the representation of women in Indian mythology.


During the last decade, China s growing economic importance has been considered a blessing for South America, given their still relatively high dependence on the US and commodity exports. However, this positive sentiment is starting to change. Concerns are being raised about potential adverse effects of Chinese demand for raw materials and excesive imports of cheap manufactured goods as substitutes of domestic production. In other words, there is a growing fear about extreme export concentration and, in turn, de-industrialization. We explore to what extent South America has become Sinodependent and the implications of such dependency. To that end, we create a dependency index and then assess the implications of high Chinese GDP growth rates on South American performance over the last decade. We focus on four countries (Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru) and four commodities (iron ore, soy, copper, and ores of non-ferrous metals). We find that each of the countries analyzed has become more exposed to Chinese demand for the commodities in question. In fact, in the past ten years, exposure to Chinese demand measured by our weighted dependency index has risen. This is much more the case for some specific countries and products such as Argentinean soy, Brazilian iron ore and soy, and Chilean copper exports. Despite this increased exposure, we find that Chinese demand has added less than 1 percentage point to GDP growth rates in these four economies in the last years. Although this contribution may be considered bellow expectations, there are secondary effects from the production and export of these commodities not fully captured by the statistics. For any given commodity, there are likely to be spin-off effects in that for any given country, one or two commodities may function as an important engine driving the domestic economy. In turn, any downturn in demand, especially if tied directly to China, would have negative implications beyond the marginal effect on GDP growth that we have calculated here. The combination of hopes and anxieties tied to South America s decade-long boom in economic relations with China is likely to persist. The honeymoon period of South America-China economic relations may or may not be over, but what is clear is that commodities will continue to underpin the relationship for better or for worse.


T united States' means-tested welfare system consists of over 80 programs that provide cash, food, housing, medical care, and social services to poor and lower-income americans. Total annual spending on these programs reached $1 trillion in 2015.1 More than 75 percent of this funding comes from the federal government. The last substantial reform of welfare, enacted in 1996, transformed the aid to Families with Dependent Children (aFDC) program into the Temporary assistance for Needy Families (TaNF) program. Mandatory federal work requirements for recipients were at the heart of the change, which led to significant decreases in the program's rolls, increased work among former recipients, and historic reductions in child poverty.


The aim of this study was to compare and evaluate the kinematics of baseball pitchers who participated in the 1996 XXVI Centennial Olympic Games. Two synchronized video cameras operating at 120 Hz were used to video 48 pitchers from Australia, Japan, the Netherlands, Cuba, Italy, Korea, Nicaragua and the USA. All pitchers were analysed while throwing the fastball pitch. Twenty-one kinematic parameters were measured at lead foot contact, during the arm cocking and arm acceleration phases, and at the instant of ball release. These parameters included stride length, foot angle and foot placement; shoulder abduction, shoulder horizontal adduction and shoulder external rotation; knee and elbow flexion; upper torso, shoulder internal rotation and elbow extension angular velocities; forward and lateral trunk tilt; and ball speed. A one-way analysis of variance (P ≪ 0.01) was used to assess kinematic differences. Shoulder horizontal adduction and shoulder external rotation at lead foot contact and ball speed at the instant of ball release were significantly different among countries. The greater shoulder horizontal abduction observed in Cuban pitchers at lead foot contact is thought to be an important factor in the generation of force throughout the arm cocking and arm acceleration phases, and may in part explain why Cuban pitchers generated the greatest ball release speed. We conclude that pitching kinematics are similar among baseball pitchers from different countries.


Microcredit emerged in the 1970s, in Bangladesh, as a tool for sustainable development. However, in Portugal, it only took its first steps in the late 1980's and emerged as a response to unemployment. This paper provides an overview of micro credit system in Portugal and aims to identify the profile of the successful microentrepreneur and point out the reasons that most contribute to the sustainability of microcredit business initiatives. Although the paper is mainly exploratory, we combined different methodologic approaches. First, we conducted interviews with key informants, then, we applied a questionnaire to microentrepreneurs. The survey contained three sections, namely, socio-demographic characteristics; characteristics of project; attitude as an entrepreneur. A sample group consisting of 96 participants of microfinance programme participated in the research. The findings indicate that the profile of the successful microentrepreneur is an individual with a superior degree, already have been employed, with positive or very positive level for the innovation of the product/service, for the adjustment of the business to the environment, for prior planning and for the accompaniment by public/non-profit institution. In a less degree, a positive level for training/professional experience in the project area and a positive level for self-esteem/self-confidence have also some influence. The results point out that the attitude as a microentrepreneur is less important than the characteristics of the project to the outcome of the microenterprise.


UNLABELLED
Recently, recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) has been claimed to diminish red blood cell transfusions in premature infants. After a year of experience, we investigated whether early rhEPO treatment would reduce the need for transfusion.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Fifty premature infants of gestational age < or = 32 weeks admitted to our NICU in 1997, received rhEPO 750 UI/kg/week from day 3 to 5 for six weeks. They were compared with 50 untreated controls admitted in 1996.

RESULTS
The treatment and control groups did not differ for gestational age, weight at birth, CRIB score, and blood losses. We were not able to detect any difference in the number of transfused infants, and in the number of transfusions per infant until discharge. However, treated infants received significantly fewer transfusions per infant between day 16 and day 45 (0.42 +/- 0.67 vs. 0.8 +/- 0.99). Infants with a birth weight between 1,000-1,250 g received fewer transfusions in the EPO group.

CONCLUSION
rhEPO treatment can be useful, but in association with other procedures: conservative transfusion criteria, minimization of phlebotomy losses and early iron supplementation.


Background: To compare the short-term efficacy of the transtibial pull-out technique and gracilis autograft with suture reinforcement technique in the treatment of medial meniscus posterior root tears. Methods: A total of 64 patients with medial meniscus posterior root tears received reconstruction of the posterior root of the meniscus attachment point through the tibial tunnel between June 2018 and April 2019 were included in this study, patients were divided into 2 groups (transtibial pull-out technique group: 35 cases; gracilis autograft with suture reinforcement technique group: 29 cases) according to the different posterior meniscus root tear repair methods. Clinical outcomes were evaluated by the visual analogue scale (VAS) and Lysholm score and IKDC score, and the demographics and functional recovery of the knee were compared between the two groups.Results: Intraoperative and postsurgical complications such as infection were not found in the two groups, and there was a statistically significant improvement in the Lysholm score,IKDC score and VAS score (P<0.001; respectively). All the patients were very satisfied with the function of their knee at the last follow-up. However, compared with the transtibial pull-out repair group, the reinforced medial meniscal root reconstruction technique with gracilis autograft group were significant improvement in the meniscus healing rates and Lysholm score, IKDC score and VAS score at the end of follow-up (P<0.05; respectively).Conclusions: Compared with the transtibial pull-out technique, the reinforced medial meniscal root reconstruction technique with gracilis autograft is advantageous for treating these patients because it is a minimally invasive procedure with superior clinical outcome and meniscus healing rates.Levels of Evidence: Ⅲ, Case-control study Retrospective comparative study


Current coal mining and processing procedures produce a significant quanity of fine coal that is difficult to handle and transport. The objective of this work is to determine if these fines can be economically pelletized with calcium hydroxide, a sulfur capturing sorbent, to produce a clean-burning fuel for fluidized-bed combustors or stoker boilers. To harden these pellets, carbonation, which is the reaction of calcium hydroxide with carbon dioxide to produce a cementitious matrix of calcium carbonate, is being investigated. Previous research indicated that carbonation significantly improved compressive strength, impact and attrition resistance and weatherproofed'' pellets formed with sufficient calcium hydroxide (5 to 10% for minus 28 mesh coal fines).


Background: Urinary tract infection is the most common nosocomial infection creating potential bacteria. UTI incidence can be a possible indicator of the quality of catheter care in the hospital. Aim: This study aims to assess the knowledge regarding prevention of urinary tract infection in clients with indwelling catheter with a view to prepare a Health education module. Methodology: One group pre-test post-test design with evaluative approach was adopted for this study. The study was conducted at Krishna Hospital, Karad. Purposive sampling technique was used for selecting the 30 samples from the selected wards of Krishna hospital, Karad. On the first day a structured knowledge questionnaire (MCQs) was used to assess the knowledge on prevention of urinary tract infection and health education was given followed by pretest. Post-test was conducted after 7 days of pre-test. Results: This study shows that subsequent increase in knowledge, in pre-test majority 15(50%) had average knowledge, 8(27%) had good knowledge and 7(23.3%) had poor knowledge where as in the posttest 17(57%) had average knowledge, 9(30%) had good knowledge, 4(13.3%) had poor knowledge regarding prevention of UTI before and after intervention of health education. Before intervention mean was 8.9, standard deviation 2.13 and in after intervention the mean was 12.86 and standard deviation 2.46.the computed t test value was 16.076. Since the 'p' value for the test is less than 0.0001. Conclusion: The study concluded that the Health education on prevention of urinary tract infection was effective in improving the knowledge of clients and thus helps them to understand how to prevent urinary tract infection. There is significant association found between occupation and the knowledge of prevention of urinary tract infection.


Objective Our objective was to use longitudinal data from a US birth cohort to test whether the probability of overweight or obesity during the first 6 years of life varied according to socioeconomic status. Design and Methods Using six waves of longitudinal data from full-term children in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (2001–2007; n≈4,950), we examined the prevalence of overweight or obesity (Body Mass Index (BMI)>2 standard deviations above age- and sex- specific WHO Childhood Growth Standard reference mean; henceforth, "overweight/obesity") according to age, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity using generalized estimating equation models. Results The association between socioeconomic status and overweight/obesity varied significantly by race/ethnicity, but not by sex. Overweight/obesity was significantly associated with socioeconomic status among whites, Hispanics and Asians; the adjusted odds of overweight/obesity began to diverge according to SES after the first 9 months of life. By approximately 4 years, children with the highest SES had a significantly lower odds of overweight/obesity. SES was not significantly related to overweight/obesity among African Americans and American Indians during early childhood. Conclusions Few studies have assessed the associations between SES and overweight/obesity within racial/ethnic groups in the US. We find that in contemporary, US-born children, SES was inversely associated with overweight/obesity among more racial/ethnic groups (whites, Hispanics, and Asians) than previously reported.


Abstract Chile is living a constitutional moment, and the achievement of parity democracy might be part of it. The constitutional roadmap includes a plebiscite where citizens will decide whether they want a new constitution. The plebiscite was to be held in April 2020 but, due to the COVID-19 emergency, it had to be rescheduled to take place in October this year. If the option for a new constitution wins, a constituent body must be elected. To ensure parity in that election, a group of feminist political scientists and a cross-party alliance of women deputies drafted a parity bill that was approved by the Chamber of Deputies in December 2019, and is now being discussed in the Senate. If the bill is passed in its current terms, the new Chilean Constitution will be the first constitution ever written by an equal number of men and women.


The factor analytic model of the practitioner-oriented Opinions About People (OAP) was tested with a population of gerontological practitioners (N = 558). A confirmatory factor analysis was performed to ascertain the degree-of-fit between these data and the published OAP factor model. After results supported the hypothesis that the two samples differed, a second factor analysis was designed to yield estimates of communalities by a least squares multiple regression technique. This analysis eliminated nine items not warranting inclusion in the instrument, redistributed the factors, and brought out a completely new factor. Finally, to test the hypothesis that attitudes toward aging and the aged are uncorrected, a third analysis was performed in which the six scales of the oblique solution were refactored. The resulting higher order dimensions tended to support this hypothesis.


To achieve this CBA we use a series of specific steps and process documentation and references provided by the guide in preparation for submission of projects CBA as 125/FEADR/2010. The content of the cost-benefit analysis it is described in the document developed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development "Recommendations for developing cost-benefit analysis". For a clear image of the situation described in the project we will try to analyze three scenarios. The method used in developing the financial analysis is " discounted cash flow ". The chosen project is an example, but the dates and figures are real.


Teaching and learning process in the school is still teacher-centered. As the effects, students are less active and the process is not effective. Based on the problem, teachers are expected to develop learning materials in the form of modules combined with Problem Based Learning approach. This study is aimed to develop teaching materials in the form of modules with Problem Based Learning approach on three dimensional space materials. This research is a development research using 4-D development model consisting of 4 stages: 1) Define (definition), 2) Design, 3) Development and 4) Desseminate. The stages are limited to three stages. The validation is done by experts and linguists and the practicality is derived from questionnaires filled by teachers and students. The result shows that the module is quite valid (82,5 %), practical (80,5%) from the teachers and (86%) from the students. It can be concluded that the module have an impact on improving student learning outcomes, especially in grade X SMA Ekasakti Padang.


The objective of this study is to enhance students' understanding of solving linear equation with one variable through teaching using balancing model. To achieve this research objective, design-based research approach was chosen. The target population of the study was grade five students and their mathematics teacher. From this population, the participants of the study were grade five section A students and their respective mathematics teacher who were selected using simple random sampling and comprehensive sampling techniques, respectively. The data were collected through observation, teacher made tests and interview. The test results were analyzed using paired samples t-test and percentage, and the interview and classroom observation data were analyzed through thematic description. Findings showed that most students performed better in the post-test as compared to the pre-test, and most students came to use more flexible strategies to solve linear equation after a series of learning attempts made using balancing model. Moreover, the students and their mathematics teacher showed positive attitude towards learning linear equation through balancing model. On the basis of these findings, the researchers have forwarded relevant recommendations in the paper.


Underwater decommissioning is a challenging and expensive job especially when a company is not getting any benefit. The efficient, economical and environmentally friendly technique is highly desirable. The main objective of this paper is to discuss the available techniques for the nondestructive test (NDT) that can be potentially used for the decommissioning project to identify clear cut during cutting. Therefore, this paper discusses the stat of the art techniques that can be used preferably underwater NDT for cut detection application. The approach will focus on existing methods available for NDT. There are various NDTs but the current study only focused on the techniques that can be used underwater monitoring. Therefore, review of past studies and techniques that are commonly used in industry for NDTs will be discussed, particularly for Alternative Current Field Measurement (ACFM), Magnetic Partial (MPI), Eddy-Current (EC), Ultrasonic testing (UT), Radiographic Testing (RT), Visual Testing (VT) and Acoustic Emission (AE) Testing techniques will be discussed with real application in O&G with selected case studies. In the end, the advantages and disadvantages will be discussed to compare the suitability for the decommissioning project. The matrix presented summarized the key elements that need to consider before selecting a system for decommissioning project for considering cut detection.


Possible future changes of clustering and return periods (RPs) of European storm series with high potential losses are quantified. Historical storm series are identified using 40 winters of reanalysis. Time series of top events (1, 2 or 5 year return levels (RLs)) are used to assess RPs of storm series both empirically and theoretically. Additionally, 800 winters of general circulation model simulations for present (1960–2000) and future (2060–2100) climate conditions are investigated. Clustering is identified for most countries, and estimated RPs are similar for reanalysis and present day simulations. Future changes of RPs are estimated for fixed RLs and fixed loss index thresholds. For the former, shorter RPs are found for Western Europe, but changes are small and spatially heterogeneous. For the latter, which combines the effects of clustering and event ranking shifts, shorter RPs are found everywhere except for Mediterranean countries. These changes are generally not statistically significant between recent and future climate. However, the RPs for the fixed loss index approach are mostly beyond the range of preindustrial natural climate variability. This is not true for fixed RLs. The quantification of losses associated with storm series permits a more adequate windstorm risk assessment in a changing climate. S Online supplementary data available from stacks.iop.org/ERL/9/124016/mmedia


Questions: How do physical microsite conditions of microsites affect germination and seedling survival in different successional stages? Do different species germinate in similar microsites in a given successional stage? Location: Coleman Glacier foreland, Mount Baker, Washington State, USA. Methods: Two methods were used to characterize safe sites. 1. Grids of 300 10 cm × 10 cm plots were located in four different age classes on the foreland. 2. 105 pairs of plots, with and without seedlings of Abies amabilis , were located in each age class. For each plot we identified all seedlings and all individuals < 1 m tall. Microsite characteristics such as topography and presence of rocks or woody debris were noted for each plot. Microsite characteristics were compared between plots with and without each species. In addition we examined the effect of distance from seed sources on the presence of Alnus viridis seeds and seedlings in a newly disturbed area. Results: In early successional sites, seedlings of several species were positively associated with depressions and presence of rocks, and negatively associated with ridges. Patterns were generally consistent among species. In later succession, seedlings were not significantly associated with any microsite characteristics. For Alnus viridis, seed density decreased with distance from seed sources but seedling density did not. Conclusions: Because of harsh conditions in early succession, physical microsites are important, and most species have similar microsite requirements. In later succession, physical microsites characteristics are not as important and are more variable. Microsites appear to be more important than seed rain in controlling the distribution of Alnus viridis in early succession.


Numerous studies have shown that conflicts between local people and Protected Areas (PA) can undermine conservation goals. This study explores attitudes towards Vieques National Wildlife Refuge (VNWR), Puerto Rico, USA, a former military site with a controversial political history, high ecological values and a toxic legacy including unexploded ordnances as a results of the area's former use as a naval bombing range. Our objective is to evaluate how residents perceive VNWR and to elucidate conflicts associated with former and current uses of the area through semi-structured and key informant interviews. Socio-economic factors and misconceptions about management were among the variables influencing attitudes about the refuge. Overall, many residents did not express particularly strong attitudes, but there were many significant differences among demographic groups. Older and less educated individuals, and those living longer on Vieques Island, had poorer attitudes about the refuge and its management while younger, more educated, short-term residents, and those employed in the tourism sector, had more positive attitudes. The most common reasons for expressing discontent were restrictions on access and rules limiting resource extraction. Some negative concerns were false impressions of current restrictions (i.e. many resources can be legally removed from VNWR), while some others were issues not under the control of the Fish and Wildlife Service (i.e. fishing rules are set by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico). The results suggest that much more public outreach and education are urgently needed. We recommend that VNWR expand public uses where feasible and better-publicise formal regulations and the reasons for them.


In this paper we prove that every smooth complete closed complex hypersurface in the open unit ball $\mathbb{B}_n$ of $\mathbb{C}^n$ $(n\ge 2)$ is a level set of a noncritical holomorphic function on $\mathbb{B}_n$ all of whose level sets are complete. This shows that $\mathbb{B}_n$ admits a nonsingular holomorphic foliation by smooth complete closed complex hypersurfaces and, what is the main point, that every hypersurface in $\mathbb{B}_n$ of this type can be embedded into such a foliation. We establish a more general result in which neither completeness nor smoothness of the given hypersurface is required.
Furthermore, we obtain a similar result for complex submanifolds of arbitrary positive codimension and prove the existence of a nonsingular holomorphic submersion foliation of $\mathbb{B}_n$ by smooth complete closed complex submanifolds of any pure codimension $q\in\{1,\ldots,n-1\}$.